Pearl Haters - Matthew 7:6 Series

Matthew 7:1 "Do not judge so that you will not be judged. 2 For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. 3 "Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 4 How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye. 6 "Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and then turn and tear you to pieces.

Introduction

After everything we have read in the Sermon on the Mount so far, the first three words of verse 6 come as a shock: Do not give…what is holy… Do not give? Jesus has said so much about giving and generosity and pouring yourself out. He said Blessed are the merciful. He said If someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you. He called us to provide salt and light to this world. He told us to love our enemies and imitate God, who gives sunshine and rain to His enemies. He told us to give to the poor, and to have good eyes (which is a metaphor for generosity). He told us to freely give forgiveness. The whole sermon it has been, give, give, give – freely you have received, freely give. And so when we run into these words in verse 6 – Do not give – that is a shock. Especially when you see what it is we are not to give. Do not give … that which is holy… The NIV translates it sacred, but holy and sacred mean the same thing. It is just the common Greek word for holy (hagios). Jesus is actually placing a restriction on the giving of holy things. When I read that I immediately have two huge questions that come to my mind: Who are these people that we are not allowed to give holy things to? Why?

Review

Be careful

Before we answer those questions let’s make sure we are up to speed on the context. We left off last week discussing this matter of helping a brother remove the speck from his eye. Jesus called every one of us to be eye surgeons as we help one another overcome the sins in our hearts. We do that through encouraging one another, strengthening one another, rebuking, exhorting, instructing, comforting, correcting, admonishing, etc. And the shorthand term we use for all that around here is “biblical counseling.” We all want to excel at those things, and I talked about the various resources for doing that – the class I will be teaching starting on the 21st, and CD’s and books that can help you, etc. But the most important ingredients to being an excellent counselor – the way to really be effective in helping remove the speck from your brother’s eye is to have those two all-important virtues: love and humility.

You need love because the soul is a very delicate thing. I think Jesus picked this analogy for a reason. Helping your brother with a sin is not like removing a splinter from his finger; it is like removing a speck from his eye! Have you ever tried to remove something from someone else’s eye? That is a delicate procedure. If someone is going to be touching your eye, you want that to be a person who loves you a lot. If the person is even slightly indifferent toward your wellbeing, you do not want them touching your eye. This is a procedure that requires the utmost care, because the soul is even more sensitive than the eye. So gentleness is the name of the game.

Galatians 6:1 Brothers, if someone is caught by a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently.

If you are judging people harshly, unfairly, superficially, unmercifully, or hypocritically then you are going to do more harm than good. You will get the speck out of their eye and cause permanent damage in the process.

“Here, let me help you with that speck in your eye – I’ll just wipe it out of there with this piece of sandpaper.”

“I’ve got a pair of pliers here, let me just help you with that speck in your eye.”