Open your Bibles this morning to Matthew 7. We are beginning our third month in the Sermon on the Mount and a new worship series called, “Live the Life.” When we talk about living the life, we have to define what that means. We want to go beyond what the self-help gurus, coaches and the Tony Robbins of the world are teaching. Those folks may teach some great stuff that we can practice, and it will make some positive difference in our lives. But, when we talk about “living the life,” we’re talking about living the GOD life, the life that we were created to live. Now, Jesus said, “I have come that you may have life and have it abundantly.” One of the weak teachings of today’s Christian theology is that Jesus came to save us for heaven, and that we just need to “suck it up” here on Earth. Jesus didn’t say “I came to save you for heaven.” He said, “I came to give you life, and that that life might be full and meaningful.” And then he said, “I am the path to that life.” Now, John the Baptist, when he was trying to fully embrace that life in his relationship with Jesus, said for that to take place, “I must decrease, and he must increase.” It’s a progressive change that God is doing in our lives every day. Daily, I must strive to ensure there is “more of God and less of me.”

People ask. “What is God like?”  When we look at Jesus, we see the face of God. God is like Jesus. Aren’t you thankful that God is not the vicious, condemning, angry god that so many picture? Instead he is merciful and forgiving and full of grace. But also, when we look at Jesus, we see who you and I are created to be. In the fullness of his humanity, Jesus showed us how we are supposed to live our life. Now, before we open God’s word and prepare ourselves to come to this table, will you bow your head in prayer with me right now? Ask the Lord to help you identify any area, maybe even subconscious, that is resistant to what he wants to do in your life. Ask him to help you break out of the restrictions and limitations of false beliefs that you might have, or religious traditions, that are not right.

Father, we today just pray that we can break out and live life in the abundance of Your empowering spirit, and Your indwelling Son. It is in Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.

As Christians, we are often given the rap of being judgmental. Have we earned that rap in any way? Do you know who Anne Rice is, the author who did all those vampire books? Ten years ago, she had a conversion to Christianity. She left atheism, quit writing vampire books and started authoring some Christian stuff. Recently she announced that she is leaving Christianity. She said she couldn’t take the anti-everything that Christians are about. Although she said she was not leaving Jesus, she was leaving Christianity. Can some of you identify with that? Do you ever get frustrated with how people who use Jesus’ name act? Any of you ever feel that Christians are mean-spirited? Believe me, I know. I get emails! They start out “Dear Pastor Pigface” but are then signed “In Jesus Love.” Jesus tells us is that we are to be judging, but not judging of other people. We are to be judging of ourselves. We are going to begin in Matthew 7:1, “Do not judge or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured against you.” In other words, I’m not supposed to judge you, but I’m supposed to fearlessly examine myself. Listen to what the word says in 2^nd Corinthians 13:5: “Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith, test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you--unless of course you failed the test?” We are not looking for you to have the right belief. The Pharisees had right theology, but they had a wrong spirit. What we are looking for is the evidence of the fruit of Jesus’ spirit in your life.

Now we are a recovery church. One of the very first things I started the first month I was here, over 31 years ago, was AA meetings in our little two-room country chapel. So, the 12 Steps are something that I’m familiar with and practice in my life. I practice the 4^th step every morning. Here is the 4^th step: we are committed to make a searching and fearless moral inventory. In other words, we courageously identify and confront our weaknesses. Every day of my life, every morning, and I did that this morning I identify my weaknesses and confront those weaknesses in my life. Now, what Jesus uses in this Matthew 7 passage is an incredibly painful hyperbole, or an exaggerated example, about someone getting a speck of sawdust in their eye. Read with me in verse 3: "Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in someone else's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from the other person's eye.” Would you agree that it is painful to get anything in your eye? I have an eyelash that will sometimes get in my eye, and I can’t think about anything else. Dan Bracken and I were talking about this last night and he told me a story that made my eyes start watering. He said he lowered a basketball hoop so he could dunk, and he got rust in his eye. What it formed on his eyeball was this little bubble, and he had to go to the doctor who took a needle to open the bubble. He had to wear a patch on his eye for six days. And, in just hearing that story, my eyes started watering! As painful as a speck of sawdust would be in your eye, here Jesus goes to this ridiculous illustration of how much would it hurt if I took a 2x4 and hit you upside the eye? He is pointing out to us that we can never be a source of health and healing in other people’s lives until we deal with our own stuff. See, I can’t deal with your stuff, because I’ve got so much stuff of my own. The only way I’m going to be a source of health and healing for you is to really get honest about my own stuff.

Jesus is always “beating up” the Pharisees in the five sermons in Matthew, where the Pharisees are the constant focus. But, I want to say again, the Pharisees have a right theology, but they have a wrong spirit. Jesus says it doesn’t matter if you are right if you have a wrong spirit. He calls them blind guides, which would be like asking a blind surgeon to do surgery on an eyeball. We so readily identify other’s faults, but we are blind to our own. We are oblivious to our own. In psychology they call this “transference and projection,” which is a self-defense mechanism where I project my own sense of failure onto you. We live with this double standard; we fail to see in ourselves what we judge in others. One of the things Jesus said about the Pharisees was that they make these long prayers in public while all along shamelessly cheating widows out of their property. And, they are not even aware of this double standard! You have this dichotomy in your life where you profess the gospel and do religious things, but what you do during the week does not demonstrate the fruit of the gospel. We all have double standards, which is why God never trust judgment to me or you.

One of the examples that God uses to teach us is David. Remember, David was a man after God’s own heart. But anytime you begin to get confident in your own godliness, you begin to have a self-confidence and a self-strength, rather than a God-dependence. So what did David do? David has an adulterous affair, the woman becomes pregnant, and then David has a “Tony Soprano” style of hit done on the woman’s husband. (This is why every morning I fearlessly identify and confront my weaknesses, because I am just as susceptible as David to do adultery or any other sin.) Nathan the prophet wants to confront David and say to David, “David, what you have done is evil in the eyes of God.” But, you have to remember that David, as king, has the power to remove Nathan’s head. So, Nathan comes up with a story to illustrate and then goes in to David, Nathan describes a story of a rich guy and a poor guy. The rich guy has all kinds of herds of cattle and sheep, and the poor man has only a little ewe, which he raised in his house like a pet. The rich guy has visitors and takes the poor guy’s one single lamb and serves it for dinner. The scripture says that David gets incensed upon hearing the story! Here is the problem with a judgmental spirit--David gets incensed in anger and says, “That man must die!”  And Nathan says, “David, that man is you!”  See, what happens is that when we are blind to our own brokenness, we exaggerate or elevate the sins of others.

What the Bible names as sin that is creating such pain and division in the church right now across America is homosexuality. People will ask me why I don’t get up and speak against homosexuality and teach about it, and I say the reason that I don’t teach against it is that we have some precious homosexual folks in the church. You see, if I start preaching against homosexuality, then I am going to have to start preaching against everyone who’s ever been divorced and remarried. Jesus himself says it plainly; He said that if you ever get a divorce and remarry, you commit adultery. Now all of a sudden, I’m speaking to about 50% of you in the church right here. This is what happens in the church when a growing number of us experience a certain condition in the church. When it gets to be about half of us, then we find a means to find grace, God’s grace, in that. Well, then, if I start speaking against those who have been divorced and remarried in the church, now I have to start speaking against those in the church who are obese. The Bible identifies gluttony as being sin. But, you see the problem. Approximately 60% of Americans are obese, which means 60% of us in the church are obese. Now, I have to speak against everyone who’s committed adultery. Now, by no means have a majority of us committed adultery, but Jesus said that every man who looks at a woman with lust has committed adultery! I would have to be preaching against everybody in the church! I would also have to preach against or judge those who commit slander and gossip. Believe me, I know that a lot of Christian “prayer meetings” are just excuses to gossip. Now, I have to preach against everyone with greed. I am not presenting an inclusive list of sins. What the Bible is showing is that all of us have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. It’s everybody in the room. James puts it this way in James 2:10; he says that if you are guilty of violating the law at one point, you have violated it all. Folks, that’s all of us! That’s everybody here. That is why we can’t expect to change in others what we have failed to confront in ourselves. We cannot. Don’t judge others, but fearlessly identify and confront your own weaknesses.

It would be really easy for me to say that when Carolyn and I dealt with our marriage issues 18 years ago, we just realized that God hates divorce, and divorce is a sin, so we didn’t get divorced. Therefore, those of you who did get divorced are worse than me. But then, let’s not get into all of my stuff where I can easily be judged as being worse than you. Do you see where we are? Jesus shares the Pharisees’ theology; they have a right theology but a wrong spirit. Jesus is hard on the Pharisees but gentle with the prostitutes and tax collectors. What Jesus shows in this sermon is the contrast between the religiously righteous Pharisees and the people of the kingdom, whom he calls “the blessed.” Go back to the beginning of Matthew 5. The third verse says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of God.” Poor in spirit means that I can’t go around with my chest stuck out because I feel more righteous than you because Carolyn and I didn’t get divorced when we were contemplating it. Instead we stayed married. What “poor in spirit” means is that I am very aware of my brokenness and failure and know constantly my dependence upon God’s grace and mercy. It goes on to say, “Blessed are those who mourn for they will be comforted.” Who are the people who mourn? They don’t gloat over those who fail; they weep with those who weep. They hurt with those who hurt. “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the Earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.” Anybody in the room need some mercy? “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.” The “blessed,” this community of Jesus, will be the embodiment of God’s grace and truth. How do they differ from the Pharisees and religious leaders? They embody God’s grace and truth. The blessed are not a people who have a critical or judgmental spirit.

Look at Matthew 7:1. “Do not judge.” Literally, in the Greek it says “do not place yourself in the seat of the judge.” Do not act as the judge. God alone will determine the consequences of everyone’s life decisions. You and I aren’t qualified. That is why he told us to proclaim the good news. He didn’t tell us to judge. Do you know why we are not qualified? Because we all sin. Do you remember the woman who was caught in the act of adultery? They had evidence against her, and the men brought the woman to Jesus and said “Jesus, here is the book. The book says that this lady has earned stoning, execution by stoning. That’s what this book says.” You see, the Pharisees had the right theology; adultery is wrong. But, they had the wrong spirit. By the way, why didn’t they bring the guy? If the woman was caught in adultery, wasn’t there a guy involved? Isn’t it interesting that they brought the woman, but they didn’t bring the man? So, Jesus wrote something in the ground, and no one knows what he wrote in the ground. Who knows? Maybe he began to name and make public the sins of all those accusers. Jesus said to let any of them without sin to be the ones who throw stones. Is anybody in the room eligible to do some stone-throwing? Last night, a woman held a two-month old baby up and said “he is.” And I said that in about 16 more months, he won’t be. So, they all began dropping their stones, and Jesus looked at the woman and said, “Doesn’t anyone condemn you?”  She said no, and Jesus said, “Neither do I.” This is a woman who was caught in the act. The whole purpose of the Pharisees was condemnation, but the whole purpose of Jesus is redemption and restoration.

So, what is Jesus the embodiment of? Mercy and grace. Do you know what mercy is? Mercy and grace are a little different. Mercy is not getting what I deserve. Grace is getting what I don’t deserve. I have a lot of blessing in my life, and do you know what all that blessing has come from? Grace. Grace. So, that is why forgiveness is such a huge theme in this chapter. Go back to Matthew 6:12. This is the Lord’s Prayer. I was praying this earlier this morning: "Lord, forgive us our debts as we have also forgiven our debtors.” “Debtors” means those who have sinned against us. Look at verse 14. “If you forgive others when they sin against you, your Heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.’”  What we know about the “blessed” in contrast to the Pharisees is that they are not people with a critical or judgmental spirit.

Now, here is the second thing that we know “the blessed” are not; they are not people with a co-dependent spirit. See, the danger here is that you can go from rigid conservatism to a relativistic liberalism where “anything can go.” That is not how God has designed it. You see, co-dependent people empower people in unhealthy lifestyles and behaviors. Co-dependent people are overly permissive. Co-dependent people have undefined boundaries; they lack moral definition and health. Jesus is not excusing sinful behavior or promoting relativistic lifestyles. What did he say to the adulterous woman? “Neither do I condemn you.” But, what were his next words? “Go and sin no more.” I love what it says in John 1:14. The Word became flesh, full of grace and truth. The people of God’s kingdom, the blessed, will also be demonstrations of grace and truth. That is hard, folks. If you are not living deeply in the spirit of Jesus, you can have the right theology and the wrong spirit, and you won’t be an embodiment of both grace and truth, which is the presence of Jesus in the world.

So, who are these “blessed”? They are not people with a critical spirit, they are not people with a co-dependent spirit, but they are people with a discerning spirit. Matthew 7:15 says, “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit, you will recognize them.” While Jesus does warn us about judging, he doesn’t warn us against discerning truth from error. This discernment is awfully important, but it is hard to do. If you are not in the right spirit, it will always come out as a judging spirit. Look at Matthew 7:6, “Do not give dogs what is sacred and don’t throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet and then turn and tear you to pieces.” What does this mean? People have struggled with interpreting this for years. Matthew was written to Jewish Christians; all the first Christians were Jews. So, at the time Matthew was written, there were not a lot of Gentile Christians. Some Jews felt that Jesus’ words meant that the gospel was not meant for Gentiles, it was only meant for Israel, or Jewish people. But we know that wasn’t true. Salvation is not just for Israel, but all of the nations of the world were to be blessed with the seed of Abraham. What Jesus is saying is don’t try to preach at or convince people who don’t want to be convinced. Because as long as we are preaching at people, we are trying to be the Holy Spirit in their lives. You are not the Holy Spirit. It’s the Holy Spirit’s job to convict people of sin. How many times have we turned people off because we have tried to be the Holy Spirit? We’re not the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit will convict the world of righteousness and sin. What’s our responsibility? To fearlessly identify and confront our own weaknesses and then reflect or be the embodiment of Jesus’ grace and truth. Isn’t that freeing? I don’t have to be the judge! All I’ve got to do is be salt and light. It is not HEAR and see that the Lord is good, but TASTE and see that the Lord is good. SEEING is believing, not HEARING. Isn’t that great news? Isn’t it great news, too, that Jesus is not willing that any should perish but all come to life? No matter how badly you have messed things up, isn’t it great news to hear these words, “I do not condemn you”?

It’s a lifelong process; I mean some of you have known me for 20 years. God is changing me. I’m not as big of a “butt” as I used to be…I’m a smaller one! That’s the work of the Holy Spirit as everyday I continue to confront my junk. I can’t deal with your junk, I’ve got to deal with my junk. And in dealing with MY junk, I’ll be a source of health and healing in your life.

Will you bow your head in prayer? In the presence of the loving Lord, who is not condemning you but wants to heal you, name an area in your life that you are struggling with right now. It may be an attitude, it may be an action, and you know God is not happy with it. And if God’s not happy with it, deep inside you’re not happy with it. You want to overcome it, but it beats you more times than you beat it. So, right now, just give it to Jesus. Just say, “Lord, I want to live fully in Your perfect will. And any attitude that is not of You, any action in my life that’s not of You, I want You to take it and put it to death on Your cross.” Know, sisters and brothers, that when we are willing to do all we can, God will do what we can’t. But, when we are not willing to do what we can, God won’t do what we can’t.

Lord, we just thank You for the open, free invitation to Your table. And the power of Your Holy Spirit to set us free, to live in the fullness of the life that You have created for us. We pray this in Jesus’ name, Amen.