A Matter of the Heart

I've previously posted comments on the Sermon on the Mount which shows us with an inside-out look at life and worldview thinking mirrors that perspective. Diagram 1 below depicts what Jesus taught and how it relates to the idea of worldview. Paraphrasing from Matthew 6, “you have heard it said, don’t murder. But I say don’t be angry with your brother because in the heart, murder and anger come from the same place. I say experience my transformational power in your inner man and you will become the kind of person who will treat his brother in the way I would.” This doesn’t happen by accident. A series of cause and effect relationships move what is on the inside of a person into outward action.

Look at the center circle of diagram 1. In blue I’ve labeled it “what is real.” The group of assumptions that I hold about what is real fits into this circle, for example that the Creator God of the Bible is the source of all that exists. My concept of reality will determine what I know to be true (the next layer), like people have inherent dignity because they are created in God’s image. What I know to be true will determine my idea of what is good (the next layer), such as helping others in need. And, my idea of what is good will ultimately determine what I do (the last layer), including working in my community to alleviate homelessness. Now, look at the green labels for the same circles. My assumptions about what is real make up my worldview. My worldview will determine my beliefs. My beliefs will determine my values and my values will determine my actions.

These relationships tell us two things. First, if my behavior does not match up to what I say my assumptions about reality are – how I characterize my worldview – then my worldview is really something different. Second, worldview matters. If we intend to live our lives differently, in conformity with God’s expectations, then we must make sure our worldviews agree with His revelation. If my worldview contains the wrong story about how things really are, may attempts to live differently will have short term or spotty results because they will lack the necessary foundation of supporting values and beliefs. I’ll be constantly swimming against the tide of my worldview much like the man Paul describes in Romans chapter 7 who wants to do what God expects, but finds himself doing the very thing he doesn’t want to do. If he remains in that state, the Romans 7 man has nothing to say but “what a wretched man I am!”

You might be thinking, “I don’t have concentric circles painted on my chest, so, where does a worldview reside in a person?” The concept of a worldview originated outside of biblical theism or Christianity, but as Saint Augustine points out, that does not make it off limits to us. “Moreover, if those who are called philosophers, and especially the Platonists, have said what is true and in harmony with our faith, we are not only not to shrink from it, but to claim it for our own use from those who have unlawful possession of it.” He surmised that this practice mirrors how the Israelites plundered the gold of the Egyptians during the Exodus, taking what had previously been put to ungodly use to a godly purpose. So, as David Naugle points out, we ought to drop the secular baggage that comes with this immigrant idea and replace it with a biblical perspective. Worldview is a valuable piece of Egyptian gold that we ought to bring captive to Christ. Doing so will help us track down the biblical location of one’s worldview.

The “heart,” used over 1,000 times in the Old and New testaments reflects the totality of personhood. It operates as the seat of our intellect, emotions, will, and spiritual pursuits. Jesus’ comments on “treasure” in the Sermon on the Mount underline the central place of the heart. In the heart we hold our treasure, from it we produce fruit, and out if it flow our deeds and thoughts. If we hope to have an accurate view of the worldview concept, we must strive to understand it terms of the biblical doctrine of the heart. “In other words, the heart of the matter of worldview is that worldview is a matter of the heart.”

“Believing, thinking, feeling, and doing and transpire within it. It is concerned with a particular treasure as an ultimate good. It is the source of how one speaks and lives. It is a reflection of the entire man or woman. It constitutes the springs of life . . . on the basis of a vision of the heart, for according to its specific disposition, it grinds its own lenses through which it see the world. According to the Bible, therefore . . . the heart and its content as the center of human consciousness creates and constitutes what we commonly refer to as [worldview]." (David K. Naugle, Worldview, The History of a Concept (Grand Rapids, 2002) 270.)

The experiences of life and our thoughts about those experiences flow into a person’s heart and in the process begin to develop the assumptions we use to make up our worldview. In turn, those assumptions influence our beliefs and values and determine how we live.

They are the work of the heart which establishes the foundation for all human expression and experience. Though mostly hidden, and often ignored, these most basic intuitions [assumptions] guide and direct most, if not all, of life. They are compass-like in effect, a Polaris in the night sky. They are gyroscopic amid many imbalances, a thread in the labyrinth of life. These baseline beliefs are so humanly significant; they are like a nest to a bird or a web to a spider.

Given this central and controlling position of the heart, we must carefully follow the father’s instruction in Proverbs 4: 23 “Watch over your heart with all diligence, for from it flows the springs of life.” But how? Two passages from Paul’s epistles provide guidance. First, Romans 12:2, “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect." This passage points out three reference points in the workings of a worldview. The mind forms the gateway to our heart. Through our mind assumptions enter our hearts and life-determining thoughts emerge. Renewing our minds will unlock the transformation of our hearts. No longer will we conform to this world. Instead, we will live out abundant lives, demonstrating God’s good and acceptable and perfect will in every inch of our existence.

Ephesians 4:23-24 amplifies this thought. “And that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.” Be renewed in the spirit of your mind and put on the transformed new self. The next eight verses detail what kind of living this will produce – just what one expects from a new self created in righteousness and holiness of truth. Renew your minds so that your hearts will be transformed so that you live righteous and holy lives.
Worldviews matter; worldviews are a matter of the heart; Christianity is a worldview.

Who Cares What I Think?

What determines how I live my life? Do I have a master plan that I’ve created to govern how I’ll think and feel and act? Could I even construct such plan? If not, is my life just an unplanned series of events without direction or purpose?

When you stop to think about it, these are really big questions. Unfortunately, many of us miss the opportunity to stop and think or when we do, we can’t figure out how to get to the answers. The next few minutes could begin a thoughtful journey, one that over time develops clarity regarding what you regard as really real and its affect on how you live.

Each of us has tucked away the building blocks that make up our understanding of how the world works. Some of these blocks form a foundation and others the walls and various rooms of our house of reality. The ideas that we use in the process of thinking itself form the foundation. Characteristics like self, things that are not a part of self, relationship between things and between ideas, the ability to place things and ideas into groups or categories, the relationship of cause and effect, the dimensions of space, time, and the like. We use these thoughts as tools to explore and determine what we hold to be real.

On that foundation of thinking tools, we have assembled a series of other ideas that we may have consciously examined or which we simply take for granted. Either way, we cannot imagine the world without these characteristics or ideas. They comprise the things we hold to be really real, the answers to the big questions in life that help us make sense of it all. These ideas form our worldview and consist of the principles by which we understand what our experience in life really means. Maybe this sounds a little too theoretical to have any practical use. Some have described a worldview as:

• A basic model of reality

• A Set of presuppositions which we hold about the makeup of the world

• A set of assumptions that explain reality

• The interpretive framework we use to make sense of the totality of our reality

One thing lies at the core of each of these definitions. A worldview consists of assumptions or presuppositions that we apply to the world to make sense of it all, to figure out what is real. Over time, people have assembled sets of questions to identify what assumptions or presuppositions form the walls of a particular worldview structure. These are the big or ultimate questions of life I referred to earlier. Questions like where did we come from? Why are we here? Where are we going? What’s wrong with the world? How do we fix it? How should we live our lives?

My hope is that this series of discussions leaves you with at least on foundational idea: Christianity is a worldview. Yet, even within Christianity, we have our family differences about the details of how the world works. For example, has God chosen me out of the population of rebellious humans, dead in their sin and unable to respond to Him without His choice? Or, did the death of Christ bestow on all mankind the ability to decide to allow Him to save us from our sin? Worldviews which compete with Christianity experience these same internal tensions. To characterize a person as a naturalist does not put that person in perfect lock-step with every other person identified as a naturalist. Because we're people, this business can be a little messy.

So, to some degree, our worldviews are personal (shared in the fine detail only by ourselves) as well as public (shared in general form by our group, for example evangelical Christians). This spectrum of worldview variations sometimes provides the wiggle room to talk one way and live another. What we state as our assumptions about life and how we actually live out our lives doesn't always match up. Now we’ve gotten to the place where personal examination will yield sometimes difficult, but very fruitful results. In great DVD series The Truth Project, instructor Del Tackett often says that in the church today, Christians don’t always believe that what they believe is really real. This observation deserves some unpacking. As we’ll see in the next chapter, a Christian worldview gathers it’s assumptions about what is real from God’s revelation of Himself, both in creation and in Scripture. Tackett says, in other words, that even though we profess to believe God’s revelation as our assumptions about life, we may not - and if not, it shows up in how we live our lives. The proof really is in the pudding.

A Question for the New Year

(NOTE: Three weeks of illness and the Christmas holiday left the blog dark during December, but it now returns to its weekly schedule.)

J.P. Moreland in his book Kingdom Triangle recommends the following: "Each year, I ask myself this question: How much of my life and ministry last year required the existence of the Christian God to explain it? How much would have happened if God did not exist? Here's the point: Life in the Kingdom - corporately in our churches and individually - is a supernatural colaboring with God in which we both matter." That's a tough question and one that simultaneously caused me to reflect on my participation in expanding the boundaries of the Kingdom by God's power and repent over living a naturally unsupernatural life.

Moreland's book (as the title suggests) presents a three-part strategy for advancing the Kingdom. First, developing the life of the mind, learning what and why we believe and acquiring a thoughtful Christian worldview. Worldview as an important concept for the church is gaining momentum. Chuck Colson says that Christianity itself is a worldview - a set of beliefs by which we make sense of the world, define reality, answer life's ultimate questions. Moreland's challenge here is to make sure our beliefs are biblically accurate, to make sure that we actually believe they are true, and to put these beliefs on center stage in what we hold to be real - our worldviews.

Second, cultivating our inner lives by developing emotional intimacy with God through spiritual disciplines and literature of the formation of the church. Jonathan Edwards would call this the development of religious affections where our desires and our wills are aligned with the desires of God. No small task and disciplines like silence, solitude, meditation, contemplative prayer, memorization, and fasting when understood and applied can provide the nutrients necessary for flourishing spiritual growth.

Third, Moreland urges us to learn to live in and use the Spirit's power and authority of the Kingdom of God, developing a supernatural lifestyle, receiving answers to prayers, learning to effectively pray for healing and demonic deliverance, and sharpening our ability to hear God's voice. This, of course, is the point of the quoted question. Have we lived lives of self-powered moral uprightness where the shining best is really just mediocre, or have we hurried on the path to walk shoulder to shoulder with Jesus encountering whatever comes our way in the power of the Spirit and the authority of Jesus?

These three ideas, recovering the Christian mind, renovating the soul, and restoring the power of the Spirit form what intelligent design theorists call an irreducible complexity. Michael Behe describes an irreducibly complex system as "composed of several well-matched, interacting parts that contribute to the basic function, wherein the removal of any one of the parts causes the system to effectively cease functioning." If we fail to develop any one of the three legs of the Kingdom Triangle, Kingdom life will break down. If our Christian beliefs are not what we hold to be really real, if our desires are not joined at the hip with God's desires, if we fail to rely on the power of the Spirit or exercise the authority of Jesus, our lives and the lives of those we touch will remain locked in the realm of what we can see, taste, hear, smell, and touch. Our deepest longings will remain unsatisfied, and God's redemptive work will continue on without us and without the joy and fulfillment of participating.

Something to be Thankful for

I pray that this day of thanks is filled with reminders of blessings and renewal of relationships.  Today I was blessed far beyond our celebratory meal and outstanding fellowship.  Today I read a document entitled the "Manhattan Declaration: A Call of Christian Conscience."  I've written much in the past about the meaning and effect of a Christian worldview.  The Manhattan Declaration demonstrates what can happen when your mind, your heart, is gripped by Christianity as the explanation of reality, as a worldview.  It will burst out of our personal sanctuaries and blow the doors of our corporate sanctuaries.  It will cause the Kingdom of God ooze, flow, splatter, and spray over our world - reclaiming territory for King Jesus, putting things back to the way their supposed to be.  Below you'll find the preamble to the Manhattan Declaration which briefly documents the profound preserving and advancing influence of Christianity on western culture.  This is much more than a profession of Christian ideas.  In this act of declaration Catholic, Orthodox, and Evangelical Christians have joined together out of a common understanding of what is really real and how that understanding ought to be lived out by real believers.  I urge you to read the complete document and if it agrees with your convictions about the way things ought to be, to sign it and pass it on.

Christians are heirs of a 2,000-year tradition of proclaiming God’s word, seeking justice in our societies, resisting tyranny, and reaching out with compassion to the poor, oppressed and suffering.

While fully acknowledging the imperfections and shortcomings of Christian institutions and communities in all ages, we claim the heritage of those Christians who defended innocent life by rescuing discarded babies from trash heaps in Roman cities and publicly denouncing the Empire’s sanctioning of infanticide. We remember with reverence those believers who sacrificed their lives by remaining in Roman cities to tend the sick and dying during the plagues, and who died bravely in the coliseums rather than deny their Lord.

After the barbarian tribes overran Europe, Christian monasteries preserved not only the Bible but also the literature and art of Western culture. It was Christians who combated the evil of slavery: Papal edicts in the 16th and 17th centuries decried the practice of slavery and first excommunicated anyone involved in the slave trade; evangelical Christians in England, led by John Wesley and William Wilberforce, put an end to the slave trade in that country. Christians under Wilberforce’s leadership also formed hundreds of societies for helping the poor, the imprisoned, and child laborers chained to machines.

In Europe, Christians challenged the divine claims of kings and successfully fought to establish the rule of law and balance of governmental powers, which made modern democracy possible. And in America, Christian women stood at the vanguard of the suffrage movement. The great civil rights crusades of the 1950s and 60s were led by Christians claiming the Scriptures and asserting the glory of the image of God in every human being regardless of race, religion, age or class.

This same devotion to human dignity has led Christians in the last decade to work to end the dehumanizing scourge of human trafficking and sexual slavery, bring compassionate care to AIDS sufferers in Africa, and assist in a myriad of other human rights causes – from providing clean water in developing nations to providing homes for tens of thousands of children orphaned by war, disease and gender discrimination.

Like those who have gone before us in the faith, Christians today are called to proclaim the Gospel of costly grace, to protect the intrinsic dignity of the human person and to stand for the common good. In being true to its own calling, the call to discipleship, the church through service to others can make a profound contribution to the public good.

The End of the Sermon

Jesus' model prayer next moves from our immediate physical needs to the sustenance of the inner man. Forgive us as we have forgiven others. Though each member of the Father’s family has received forgiveness in the fullest sense so that none will answer in final judgment for his or her sin, the matter does not end there. We have begun a relationship with the Father but we have not fully rid ourselves of the old man, the rebellious man, the self-directed man. We each know that more regularly than we would like, we turn our backs on the Father and go our own ways. It may only happen for a moment, but in that moment relationship becomes broken. Forgiveness paves the way to restoration. But Jesus describes this forgiveness in a particular way – not just any forgiveness, but forgiveness that mirrors that which we extend to others. You can hear the echo of another portion of the Sermon. “For if you forgive others for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions.”

Jesus does not suggest that we can earn our forgiveness by forgiving others. No, the New Testament clearly states over and over that we, in fact, cannot earn forgiveness. Instead, Jesus points to the primacy of relationships in God’s kingdom. Remember back to when Jesus redefined murder to include something deeper than the physical act. At the end of the discussion, He emphasized the restoration of relationships – if I’m engaged in what a first century Jew considered his highest duty, ritual worship, and discovered that a brother had something against me, I ought to set aside my worship, go to my brother and restore our relationship. “God does not work by halves. He will not allow us to come to Him confessing half a sin while hanging on to the other half. It must be all or nothing. Thus if we confess our sin, our confession must of necessity involve a forgiving attitude towards others.” By asking God to forgive us as we have forgiven others, we impliedly ask God to assist us in forgiving others. For, without that the restorative act of forgiveness towards others, we cannot effectively seek the forgiveness of God we so desperately need.

Finally, we hear the call of our daily battle: lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. The term “temptation” is a neutral word, sometimes meaning to lure one into sin and other times to test or try a person. James makes it clear that God does not lure anyone into sin. “When tempted, no one should say, God is tempting me." For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. “ That leaves only one option to clarify this phrase in the prayer: do not lead us into trials. If possible, keep me away from the places where I might be tested. But if tested, deliver me from the evil one, keep me from sin. I do not want to experience testing, but I might need it.

Several biblical principles help us navigate the shoals here. First, though unpleasant, testing has its place. “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” And, finally, “No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.” Testing will help form us into the people God intends by forcing us to face the weak points where we have yet to surrender to Christ’s authority. It will provide us a history of God’s work in our lives which builds our faith into an absolute expectation. God will use even those events intended by others for the worst outcomes toward us to our good, bringing towards our inheritance one step at a time. And Finally, God will never allow the testing to go beyond the resource He provides and our ability to grasp it. He will always, always provide a way of escape.

Just after the prayer Jesus talks about our treasure, a fitting commentary on the jump from petition for bread to meet our temporal needs and the request to receive forgiveness and avoid temptations to satisfy our souls. He’s already told us not to worry about our material needs, but here He goes beyond our needs to those things we hold dear, to our treasure. What kinds of treasure do we have – horded earthy things, wealth, power, and status, or the eternal treasure of refined character, wisdom, powerful faith, and God-like love? Jesus makes it clear, we can’t have both – we’ll either “hate the one and love the other,” or “be devoted to the one and despise the other.” In the end, like metal detector beeps in the ear of a beach sand jewelry hound, our treasure will shout out the home of our hearts. They either rest in the hands of Jesus, a fitting gift for the One who turned them from stone to flesh, or we’ll have clutched them to ourselves where they slavishly serve our desires alone.

This brings us to the end of the Sermon and the final exam. We only have two options after hearing Jesus’ words: put them into practice, or not. The one who puts them into practice builds for herself a foundation that will not fail. Rain, rising water, nor beating wind can move the house built on the rock. Even if we must encounter temptation or trials, we can endure. We will have the strength to restore relationships and actively seek the good of others. Our kingdom lives will flavor the lives of those whom we touch and provide a Jesus beacon to a groping world. We will rid ourselves of contempt and lust and garnish our conversations with truth.

The other side of this canvas bears the portrait of a house built on sand. Rain, rising water, and beating wind will have their way with this house and will reduce it to a pile of rubble and bits of flotsam that disappear with the tide. This might occur through neglect or outright refusal, but the result remains the same. Can we witness any greater disaster than one who recognizes and responds to the salvation call of Jesus, yet fails to put His words into practice – one who has entered the kingdom gates but fails to put all into kingdom life?

Staying in the Kingdom

After instructing His disciples not to pray as the pagans do, mindlessly repeating the same words or phrases, hoping that repetition will have some effect, Jesus says, when you pray, pray like this:

"Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.”

Though he had an existential slant to his theology, Karl Barth was a deep theological thinker, prolific writer, and an ardent follower of Jesus. When this one who could fill a wheelbarrow with the books he’d written on theology was asked, how do sum up your theology, your view of God, responded “Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.” I’ve heard this described as simplicity on the other side of complexity. For Karl Barth to quote the words to a child’s tune means much more than when sung by a first grade Sunday School class. For Barth, these simple words were jammed with a depth of meaning that many adults may never comprehend.

I think of Jesus’ words in the Lord’s Prayer in a way. Even a cursory glance at the Gospel of John leaves one with the conclusion that Jesus and the Father are one – knowing each other so intimately that to know one is to know the other. So when Jesus speaks these simple words, only 53 in total, they carry an exponential depth of meaning. They touch the tips of icebergs that we will rightfully spend a lifetime exploring.

Though we cannot treat them exhaustion here, a helicopter view of the portions that breach the surface will do us well. First, note that Jesus introduced the “Lord’s Prayer” with a warning – don’t pray like the heathens – which indicate He intended this as a pattern for prayer rather than a literal string of words for us to repeat. Even so, we often find it useful when praying corporately or individually to use these actual words, particularly when we begin to understand their full meaning. In that way, they become for us simplicity beyond complexity – common words with deep meaning.

The prayer begins first with God and then moves to us, setting the proper relationship and attitude for our own prayer. All but once (while hanging on the cross – “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” – Jesus addresses God as Father. The Jews would have heard this as something unique and new in matters spiritual. We commonly hear how the Jews would not even speak the name of God and as a result, we do not have an accurate pronunciation of His name YHWHW. In contrast, and in keeping with the announcement that the Kingdom of God is near, that new access to God has arrived, Jesus calls God “Father.” Even with such an intimate address, we must still hallow, or hold sacred, or sanctify, or set apart, the name of God. We must use it in consideration of who He is (He’s God and we’re not).
In the second of three phrases focusing on God, Jesus addresses the Kingdom – requesting that it come. Let’s think about that for a moment. What is a kingdom? In common terms a kingdom consists of all that comes under the power and authority of its king. A kingdom exists in the place where activity bends to the will of the king. Sitting in our world with His dicisples, Jesus says we ought to pray that here, were we live out our present lives, God’s kingdom might come. He instructs us to petition the Father to make His presence as King, the one to whom the subjects defer, known.

In the third God-focused phrase, Jesus enforces the idea of God’s kingdom coming now by instructing us to pray for His will to be done just as it is in heaven. In heaven He rules unopposed, without the rebellion of sin. Later on, we’ll discuss how this Kingdom or rule of God ought to extend to every arena of life and how Jesus, sitting at the right hand of God in His place as our King lays claim to every inch of human existence.

After setting the priorities – recognizing who is King, Jesus moves to four petitions that cover the entirety of human existence. First, our sustenance. This directive thrusts at the idea of complete reliance upon the Father for sustenance. It also indicates we ought to pray this way regularly and repeatedly, today for our daily bread. Two other sections of the Sermon flesh out the short phrase, “give us today our daily bread.”

Matthew 6:25-34 begins “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?” And it continues “your heavenly Father knows that you need them.” Rather than worry about our daily bread, we ought to come regularly to our Father, who knows that we need them, acknowledge our dependence upon Him and simply, reverently, and faithfully ask. If we ask, “it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.“ (Matthew 7:7-11). Still, what assurance do I have that God will really do what He says? "Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 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?”

Warnings

Jesus’ warnings continue in Matthew chapter 7 – don’t judge, don’t throw valuable things to the pigs, avoid the wide road, and watch out for false prophets. Taken by itself, Matthew 7:1 appears to present a prohibition against judging. However, when we couple it with the illustration that follows something different emerges. The example ends with “first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye,” not “don’t look at the speck in your brother’s eye.” Jesus did not prohibit judging, but contemptible judging, the kind that disregards the common fallen condition of all mankind with its propensity for sin, including in us. This kind makes a determination on the value of the person judged and elevates the person judging in the process. Contemptible judging does not direct itself in any way toward the benefit of the one judged. Jesus says this kind of judging doesn’t belong in the kingdom.

What kind of judging does belong? Jesus’ example gives us a good start. First, it recognizes that the one passing judgment must guard against the infirmaries of his own flesh. He must begin with self-examination, removing the vision blocking element from his own eye before he attempts to assist his brother. Galatians 6:1-4 comes to mind. “Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted. Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. If anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. Each one should test his own actions. Then he can take pride in himself, without comparing himself to somebody else.” This passage makes it clear that we judge for the purpose of restoration and we do it in a spirit of humility, understanding the well worn saying “there but for the grace of God go I.”

Within the body of Christ, we do not posses the made-up rights assumed in today’s world. However, outside the body, proper judging becomes impossible because we have lost a common standard. Each person retains the right to make their own rules, to live life the way they see fit. Imagine what that would look like in a criminal proceeding. The defendant (named Joe) enters the court and the judge reads the charges against him. When finished, Joe’s lawyer stands up with a fat book in hand and says “your honor, I have here the law according to Joe and the violations of law alleged by the state appear nowhere in Joe’s law. Therefore, you must release Joe immediately.” If Joe really does get to make up his own law, what choice would the court have? The judge must release Joe. In fact, we should call the court official something other than a judge for no judging could possible take place. Sadly, Joe becomes the loser in this story. He misses the opportunity to have his life formed closer to what God intended. Even if Joe does not respond to the prospect of an eternal relationship with Jesus, he would benefit from proper judging because it would encourage him to live his life based on the truth.

Commentators most commonly treat Jesus’ next warning as an instruction not to spend the gospel on those who have rejected it – not throwing the “pearls” of the gospel before the swine. If we view this verse from a few steps back, a fuller meaning emerges. We should not throw our pearls to swine not because they don’t deserver them, but because they have no use for them. Pigs primarily have a single goal: food. Pearls are no good for food. Let’s not force the pearls of the gospel on folks while they remain in a pigly state, one in which they have yet to understand the value of gospel pearls. Once they recognize the value, a transformation will occur. They become like the man who discovered a pearl of great price in a field and in his excitement, ran and purchased the field so he could possess the pearl.

I recently attended a graduation party for the daughter of some old friends. They live on a small road that connects to a much busier one and if I’ve missed the turn once, I’ve missed it twenty times. If I want to actually end up at my friends’ home, I have to work at it, paying attention to the where the turnoff is and make the turn. Jesus reminds us that like visiting my friends, we do not come to the kingdom by accident. Not at all. We must choose the path that leads to the kingdom and apply some effort. The path that misses the kingdom requires little effort. It has wide margins and will take any who come. The kingdom road, on the other hand, requires that we choose and act.

Finally, Jesus warns “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves.” Alright, I’m watching. What should I look for? “By their fruit you will recognize them.” Grapes don’t come from thorn bushes and we don’t get figs from thistles. Only true prophets will bear kingdom fruit. And, what does kingdom fruit look like? It looks like what Jesus has described so far in the sermon. It runs deeper than the actions of a man. It comes from a heart which Jesus has transformed and it works itself out in action reflective of that transformation. Who should I listen to and who should I follow? Jesus has carefully laid out the pattern of a true prophet so we can discern his fruit. The rest is up to us.