How Jesus Overcame Others’ Faulty Assumptions - Matt. 22:23-24
Illustration:Leadership is the discipline of deliberately exerting special influence within a group to move it towards goals of beneficial permanence that fulfills the group’s real needs.
Dr. John Haggai, Lead On!.
Everyone knows how difficult it is to associate with people who rely on faulty assumptions and prejudices. Jesus once said to the Pharisees, "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites!
You give a tenth of your spices, but you have neglected the more important matters of the law - justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel." (Matt. 23 :23,24)
The Lord seeks to correct the hypocritical attitude that assumes God can be pleased by observing microscopic issues while neglecting the macroscopic matters of greater importance. Jesus was the Master at identifying, correcting and changing faulty assumptions.
Illustrations:On one of his European tours, the master magician and locksmith Harry Houdini found himself locked in by his own thinking. After he had been searched and manacled in a Scottish town jail, the old turnkey shut him in a cell and walked away. Houdini quickly freed himself from his shackles and then tackled the cell lock. But despite all his efforts, the lock wouldn’t open. Finally, ever more desperate but completely exhausted, he leaned against the door--and it swung open so unexpectedly that he nearly fell headlong into the corridor. The turnkey had not locked it.
Harold Kellock, Houdini.
1. Jesus knew that many people are not even aware of their faulty assumptions. The Lord said, "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 to you. 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?’ (Matt. 7:1,2)
Illustrations:HUMOR
A family of five was rushed to the hospital to have their stomachs washed out after the cat with whom they had shared a meal of mushrooms suddenly began to have stomach contractions. While members of the family showed no signs of illness, the doctor still had them rushed to the hospital. When they returned home they found the cat feeling well, after having produced five kittens.
England Post, in Homemade, April, 1989.
2. Jesus is not suggesting that we should remain naive about other’s faulty assumptions, but that we should begin by correcting our own sins of omission, sins of commission, sins of wrong disposition and sins of erroneous assumptions. James writes, "If anyone knows the right thing to do it but fails to do it, for him it is sin."
Illustration:The photographer for a national magazine was assigned to get photos of a great forest fire. Smoke at the scene hampered him and he asked his home office to hire a plane. Arrangements were made and he was told to go at once to a nearby airport, where the plane would be waiting. When he arrived at the airport, a plane was warming up near the runway. He jumped in with his equipment and yelled, "Let’s go! Let’s go!" The pilot swung the plane into the wind and they soon were in the air. "Fly over the north side of the fire," yelled the photographer, "and make three or four low level passes." "Why?" asked the pilot. "Because I’m going to take pictures," cried the photographer. "I’m a photographer and photographers take pictures!" After a pause the pilot said, "You mean you’re not the instructor?"
The Jokesmith.
3. Jesus assured people that wrong assumptions begin with faulty understandings of the character of God. The Lord said, "If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask Him."(Matt. 7:9-11)
4. Some people believe that God is distant, uncaring and harsh. Faulty assumptions about our heavenly Father may have been influenced by the early impressions of our earthly Father. Jesus stresses that our heavenly Father is eager to give good things to those who entreat God for real needs. By learning more about the Lord’s attributes you will begin to see life from His eternally wise perspective.
5. Jesus gave us the acid test for people with faulty assumptions when He said, "Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will know them." (Matt. 7:15,16) People may pretend to be something that they are not, but their attitudes, behaviors and works know them.
6. Jesus warns people who try to live by faulty assumptions. The Lord said, "Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire." (Matt. 7:19) God is in the business of pruning, chastening, and refining people so that they may bear more fruit. Those who are persistently rebellious will be cast away to make room for people willing to do God’s will.
7. Jesus warns non-Christians who live by faulty religious assumptions to repent or perish. The Lord said, "Not everyone who says to me, ’Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven." (Matt. 7:21) False assumptions about the Lord, about His will and our responsibilities to obey are no joking matter.
8. Jesus encourages people to not build their life on faulty assumptions. The Lord said, "Everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash." (Matt. 7:26,27)
9. Jesus knows that people who are not consistently obedient to Him will not be able to stand the tests of difficult times. People who assume that they can withstand any adversity must remember that only those who have faithfully done the will of God will be able to stand up to the pressures, pleasures and temptations that will eventually come flooding into their life.
10. Jesus amazed people because His teaching identified faulty assumptions that they thought were hidden. Matthew wrote about the crowds’ reactions, "The crowds were amazed at his teaching, because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law." (Matt. 7:28,29)Do not be surprised if people are initially surprised as you expose their faulty assumptions.
Illustration:When the 1960s ended, San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury district reverted to high rent, and many hippies moved down the coast to Santa Cruz. They had children and got married, too, though in no particular sequence. But they didn’t name their children Melissa or Brett. People in the mountains around Santa Cruz grew accustomed to their children playing Frisbee with little Time Warp or Spring Fever. And eventually Moonbeam, Earth, Love and Precious Promise all ended up in public school. That’s when the kindergarten teachers first met Fruit Stand. Every fall, according to tradition, parents bravely apply name tags to their children, kiss them good-bye and send them off to school on the bus. So it was for Fruit Stand. The teachers thought the boy’s name was odd, but they tried to make the best of it.
"Would you like to play with the blocks, Fruit Stand?" they offered. And later, "Fruit Stand, how about a snack?" He accepted hesitantly. By the end of the day, his name didn’t seem much odder than Heather’s or Sun Ray’s. At dismissal time, the teachers led the children out to the buses. "Fruit Stand, do you know which one is your bus?" He didn’t answer. That wasn’t strange. He hadn’t answered them all day. Lots of children are shy on the first day of school. It didn’t matter. The teachers had instructed the parents to write the names of their children’s bus stops on the reverse side of their name tags. The teacher simply turned over the tag. There, neatly printed, was the word "Anthony."
Luanne Oleas in Salinas, Calif., Reader’s Digest.
11. The Lord understands everyone faulty assumptions and He alone has all the facts. While you are serving God be careful to not try to play the role of God and wrongly judge other’s motives. Only God is able to make wise judgments about people’s faulty assumptions with complete objectivity.
Conclusion:A violinist noticed that his playing had a hypnotic effect on his audiences. They sat motionless, as though they were in a trance. He found he had the same effect on his friends’ pets. Dogs and cats would sit spellbound while he played. Wondering if he could cast the same spell over wild beasts, he went to a jungle clearing in Africa, took out his violin and began to play. A lion, an elephant, and a gorilla charged into the clearing, stopped to listen, and sat mesmerized by the music. Soon the clearing was filled with every kind of ferocious animal, each one listening intently. Suddenly another lion charged out of the jungle, pounced on the violinist, and killed him instantly. The first lion, bewildered, asked, "Why did you do that?" the second lion cupped his paw behind his ear. "What?"
Bits & Pieces, July, 1991.
