How To Successfully Perform Spiritual Surgery

Title: “How to Successfully Perform Spiritual Surgery” Script: Mt. 7:1-6

Type: Series Where: GNBC 1-31-22

Intro: As many of you know, my son in law, Jon, is an ophthalmologist who regularly has to perform eye surgeries as part of his practice. Earlier this week I asked Jon what was the smallest and most delicate procedure he has to perform. (Show slide). If you notice on the penny, above the date is an “istent”. It is the actual size. An istent is implanted into the trabecular meshwork (The drainage system of the eye for Glaucoma. The istent is the smallest implant that can be placed in the body. In order to carefully perform the operation the surgeon usually has visual magnification of about 10-12x normal vision! As you can probably imagine, requires incredibly STEADY hands and the breath control of a marksman! Now in today’s passage we see that Christ makes an important analogy between judging one another’s spiritual condition and perform a delicate procedure on another’s eye.

Prop: Exam. Mt. 7:1-6 we’ll realize 4 requirements to perform successful spiritual surgery.

BG: 1. Mt. 7 is part of the SOM. 2. Our culture is obsessed with not judging. 3.

Prop: Exam. Mt. 7:1-6 we’ll realize 4 requirements in performing successful spiritual surgery.

I. Successful Spiritual Surgery Requires Avoiding a Judgmental Attitude. Vv. 1-2

A. Is all Judging Banned by Christ’s Command?

1. Does Christ’s command mean we should never judge anyone or anything?

a. Illust: When I was a child, John 3:16 was the most quoted verse in the world. Today, Matthew 7:1 is. It is also the most misquoted. If one looks at vv. 13-27, which contextually is still a part of the same sermon, we realize that Christ immediately calls for the use of discernment and judgment. He calls His listeners to discern/judge between 2 gates, then 2 trees, and then 2 foundations for two different houses. Implicitly understood in each instance is the difference of the outcome. There are 2 men who make a judgment and put the events into motion.

b. Judge – krino – Gk, judge, discern, but also means “condemn” or avenge. Often, when we hear someone say: “Don’t judge me!” what they really mean is that they want you to affirm them in their thinking or behavior. They want you to affirm them in their mistaken thinking that actions and ideas don’t have consequences. However, that simply isn’t true. And, I don’t believe that is what Jesus is talking about here. Christ was the most honest and direct individual Who ever walked this earth. This passage does not mean we are to ignore evil or harmful behavior in others.

2. Jesus does not ban all discernment and discrimination in this passage.

a. Now, if we were to apply this passage with the hermeneutic of the average Christian who glibly reads the passage there would be no basis for Church Discipline (Mt. 18) Even take a look a few verses down in this chapter. Jesus tells us to “Beware of false prophets.” How does one determine the difference between a false and a good prophet? Paul warns us repeatedly in his epistles (Gal. 1:6; Col. 2:20; ITim. 1:3) to judge the content of one’s teaching in the Church to determine if they are true or false. He as well as other NT authors also tells us to examine the content of professed teachers/preachers’ lives so as to determine if their behavior lines up with the WOG’s moral and ethical standard. (Jude 4, 8, 15,16). Even the selection of elders and deacons requires judgment for believers to employ in a wide area of character and instructional qualities (I Tim. 3:1-7; Titus 1:6-9; I Tim. 3:8-12).

b. One of the weaknesses of what is commonly referred to as “Big Evangelicalism” is often its unwillingness to express any disagreement, any condemnation, or offer any censorship of practices or individuals who violate

B. I am convinced Christ’s Reference Here is to an Attitude more than an Action. He is addressing a judgmental attitude that all too often is an epidemic in Christian circles. So, how do we apply this instruction?

1. Beware of Judging People’s Hearts. Illust: Do you remember in the OT when the Lord told the prophet Samuel to go to the house of Jesse so as to anoint a new king over the nation of Israel? When he saw the son Eliab, he thought to self: “Surely this is the Lord’s anointed.” However, God corrected the prophet and says: “God does not look on the outward appearance nor considers his height (Saul was the tallest man in Israel.) People look at the outward appearance, God looks at the heart.” (I Sam. 16:7). You’re not God. I’m not God. We look at appearances but rarely the heart. Even when we think, we rarely know.