As always, I'm happy to be able to come to the time of the week for the Weekend Sermon. I hope that everyone had a great week. I thank the Lord that I had a good week of writing. I felt pretty good this week, too.
We have a ways to go yet before we finish up with our current series on the Sermon on the Mount, but I am thinking about what we should study after our current series is over. Right now, I'm considering three possibilities. I've thought of going verse by verse through I Peter, studying the first three chapters of Revelation or going into the Old Testament and studying the book of Malachi. If you have a preference, leave a comment.
Last week, we studied what Jesus meant and what He did not mean in His statement, "Judge not that ye be not judged." We learned that we shouldn't judge the state of someone's eternal destiny, and we shouldn't judge what a person's motives are behind a particular action. The reason is that we can only look on the outward appearance. All judgment has been given to Jesus by the Father. Jesus is able to make the right judgment because He knows what is in a person's heart.
We also talked about not making judgments on personal appearance spiritually and in general. I want to talk a little bit more about this this week.
Jesus' brother James in his epistle talks about how that it is wrong for Christians to show favoritism or judge based on the clothes someone is wearing or whether or not someone is rich or poor. A lot of this type of thing goes on in churches today. I know many people who don't want to go to church because the people look down on them because they are poorer than the rest of the people in the congregation. They feel that they are looked down upon. This isn't right. We are to be brothers and sisters in Christ and not have prejudice or pride in our hearts.
Religious people are often very judgmental on external things. This was one of the major problems that I faced as a young man in the churches my family attended. You had to fit their expectations based on externals, or you weren't a Christian. Just because a man has long hair or a woman wears slacks doesn't mean they aren't a Christian, but the church that I grew up in thought this way.
Many people often stereotype people. This isn't right either. I get tired of people judging me by the stereotype of what a writer is supposed to be. I've actually had trouble finding a job outside of the field of writing because I've worked as writer most of my adult life. People will say to me that writers don't really work, or they all have strange personalities, or they can't be part of a team.
One reason that I love Jesus so much is that He never did this sort of thing. The only people that Jesus every criticized were the religious leaders of His day who looked down on everybody else, judged everyone and tried to exclude people from the love of God.
OK. I've said my piece on that subject. Now, let us look at Chapter 7 verse 6 where Jesus says, "Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls to the swine, or they will trample them with their feet, turn and tear you to pieces."
I have to tell you a story about something that happened to me that relates to this verse. As most of you who read this blog know, I love animals, especially dogs. Once when Toby was very sick, I mentioned to the pastor of the church my family attended that I was praying that the Lord would heal my dog Toby. The pastor said that it was wrong for me to pray for a dog because Jesus said not to give what is holy to dogs. He was serious. You can see what I was up against. When I look back on stuff like this, I wonder how I stayed a Christian. I learned who Jesus really was, and that made the difference.
I think that what Jesus meant by this statement is that we are not to keep trying to convince skeptics, scoffers and critics of the Christian faith who simply want to take what we say and use it to further ridicule the things of God. Some comedians I've heard are extremely blasphemous of all that is holy. There is no point in arguing with people who want to blaspheme. The best thing to do is pray that the Lord will give them the grace of repentance, and leave it at that.
Now, starting with verse 7, Jesus begins another area of teaching. He speaks about perseverance and prayer. Jesus says in verse 7, " Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you."
I believe that Jesus' primary application of these statements concerns prayer. We will talk about this next week. However, I think that there is a general application for the spiritual life in this verse. The Christian life is a journey. It is a hard road. I think that life is just hard period. Sometimes I feel like I want to quit in life. Sometimes in my spiritual life I get discourage when I see people who don't believe in God with all the money they need and good health while I was born with so many health problems.
These words of Jesus inspire me to keep going in spite of hardship and problems. Jesus is with me, and He will see me through. I am surrounded by the great cloud of witnesses mentioned in Hebrews 12. I must keep believing in Jesus and His love. I must keep doing my best in life knowing that whatever I do I am doing it as unto the Lord.
Whatever problem you may be facing, don't quit. Trust in Jesus. Ask Him several times a day to help you. Read His words in the Gospels, and know that He loves you. That is what helps me.
Next week, Lord willing, we will keep going in the Sermon on the Mount. Wednesday, I will post another chapter in the book about Toby. May you known the love of Jesus. Amen.
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