SECRET #37 OF FOLLOWING JESUS

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As Jesus continues His first extended teaching session recorded by Matthew in chapters 5-7, He shifts gears away from the judging issue to a description of two gates-the narrow gate and the wide gate. Jesus puts it this way: "Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it." (Matthew 7:13-14)

NOTE the narrow gate is small and therefore difficult to go through and the wide gate is wide and therefore easy to go through. NOTE also that Jesus begins with the command urging us to enter in through the narrow gate. Remember, the entire Sermon on the Mount is answering the question, "How does your teaching differ from what we've been taught, Jesus?" His answer here is that to follow Him and His teaching will be difficult, but will lead to life. To choose not to follow Him and His teaching will be the easiest thing to do, because the masses are going in that direction. Don't follow the crowd. Follow Jesus!

Now that's the standard way of looking at this passage. But there is something more here. So much is made of the narrow gate being so narrow that only a few find it. I have a little different take on this imagery of the narrow and wide gates. I see it as Jesus making a very important point of how people authentically embrace life rather than destruction.

Think of it this way. When you are going along with the crowd-even a good crowd, it's so easy to pass up personal participation. There is no way to tell whether or not someone in the crowd really got it and understood or actually participated in acts of faith. But when you are within the context of the few, participation is required and it is very easy to tell whether or not someone really gets it. When I meet with a person-one-on-one, I know what they are getting.

Jesus came to launch a dynamic movement-a few here and a few there, gathering together in His name. This is where He promised to show up-where two or three are gathered together. And when Jesus shows up among the gathering of the few, He changes lives dramatically and authentically. This is vital! The church of Jesus is all about transformation and that transformation that leads to life happens within a "narrow" space where you will experience the life of Jesus within the context of a relational few.

Jesus was into the power of the few! Instead of going on CNN and seeking to produce mass seminars, mailers and email blasts, Jesus sought out three religious rejects to come and be with Him. And, from this relationship with the three, then the twelve and the seventy-two, the Jesus movement rippled throughout the world and the revolution is still on today!

We are seeing this play out in our ministry. We are focusing on the few and as those few really get it, the message of Jesus spreads like a wildfire. You see, within the context of the few, you are able to really get to know one another and put the principles and teachings into practice. This kind of experience is the taste of reality everyone is longing for. This is the Jesus movement at its best!

Jesus taught: "Where two or three are gathered together in His name, He will show up." This is what we want. This is what we desperately need. SECRET #37: The follower of Jesus will find himself walking with a few.

SECRET #36 OF FOLLOWING JESUS

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Jesus finishes his teaching on how to make some common sense judgment calls in the most effective way possible. Step #1 is to JUDGE WITH THE PROPER SPIRIT. Remember that in the way you make a judgment call about someone or something, you will be judged in the same way and by the same standard as you judge. So be careful how you judge others. Judge with the proper spirit-with a balance of grace and truth.

Step #2 is JUDGE WITH THE PROPER STARTING POINT. Start with yourself first. When you see something wrong with someone else, quickly go look in a mirror first before saying a word about your friend. Take the "log" out of your eye first, then you are better able to help your friend with the "speck" in his eye.

Step #3-JUDGE WITH THE PROPER SCREENING. Be careful to share your judgments within an appropriate context or you may face strong resistance and maybe total rejection of the wisdom you share.

Step #4-JUDGE WITH THE PROPER PERSPECTIVE. Here's how Jesus taught this principle: "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. Or what man is there among you who, when his son asks for a loaf, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, he will not give him a snake, will he? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!" (Matthew 7:7-11)

When you judge with conclusion, common sense, judgment, don't rely only on your insights and wisdom. Be sure to seek God's perspective on the matter. Ask for wisdom on the matter! Jesus uses three action steps here to describe how to seek after a proper perspective-ask, seek and knock! It isn't just ask, seek and knock, but ask and keep on asking, seek and keep on seeking and knock and keep on knocking. And, this is the best part, as you keep on asking, seeking and knocking, your heavenly Father will give you exactly what you need! This is SECRET #36 The follower of Jesus judges by seeking spiritual perspective.

Then Jesus sums up His teachings on judging with the golden rule: "In everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you, for this is the Law and the Prophets." (Matthew 7:12) This same principle can be found in other religious systems, but only Jesus says it positively. All others use the negative approach.

I call this teaching of Jesus THE PERSPECTIVE PRINCIPLE. Jesus' perspective on judging is just the opposite of what most think when they say, "Don't judge!" This Jesus principle requires that you be a judge-bringing discernment into our world, so that we can know what is right or wrong, good or bad, and wise or foolish. Without sound judgment, balanced with grace and truth, the entire society is in danger of falling apart. So you be the judge and do it Jesus' way!

SECRET #35 OF FOLLOWING JESUS

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Jesus is teaching about how to make some common sense judgment calls in the most effective way possible. Step #1 is to JUDGE WITH THE PROPER SPIRIT. Remember that in the way you make a judgment call about someone or something, you will be judged in the same way and by the same standard as you judge. So be careful how you judge others. Judge with the proper spirit-with a balance of grace and truth. Judging another with truth only can be harsh and lacks the relational dimension of a proper spirit. Judging another with grace only is weak and lacks the truth necessary to get people back on track.

Step #2-JUDGE WITH THE PROPER STARTING POINT. Start with yourself first. When you see something wrong with someone else, quickly go look in a mirror first before saying a word about your friend. Take the "log" out of your eye first, then you are better able to help your friend with the "speck" in his eye. There is a "speck" in his eye that needs to come out, but your judgment as to how to best help is distorted by what's in your own eye. Your perspective is distorted.

Jesus continues His teachings on how to judge with: "Do not give what is holy to dogs and do not throw your pearls before swine, or they will trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces." (Matthew 7:6) This may seem to be out of place in Jesus' teachings on how to judge another, but I don't think so. This is Step #3-JUDGE WITH PROPER SCREENING.

This is a warning by Jesus that your very good, sound, common sense judgment calls must be matched to the context where it is shared. This is SECRET #35: The follower of Jesus judges with a certain filtering.

When you judge with conclusion judgment, don't just randomly make your judgment calls wherever you might be. For instance, don't walk into a bar and start making pronouncements against drunkenness and alcoholism. This will be throwing your pearls before swine. They not only will not appreciate your words, but they will not be able to hear them at all. Your conclusions will not be appreciated and they may have valid grounds to criticize you.

Jesus uses two interesting images here. The first is "giving what is holy to dogs." Moses wrote about this very image. He recorded God's words, "You shall be holy men to Me, therefore you shall not eat flesh torn to pieces in the field; you shall throw it to the dogs."

That which is holy is that which is separated unto God for His special purpose. God warns the priests through Moses that any meat that is torn to pieces in offering a sacrifice is not holy and should be thrown out to the dogs. On the other hand, Jesus is saying that which is holy or that judgment conclusion which you have made before God is special and should not be thrown to the dogs as if it is meaningless.

The second image is "throwing your pearls before swine." The word pearl is where we get the name Margarita or Margaret. It means to have a value. Pearls look a bit like peas or acorns and might initially deceive the pigs, until they figure it out. Pigs or wild boars were well known during that time in the Jordan Valley. The way a wild boar, especially if angered, attacks you is to run at you with its tusks. It can't turn its head and bite you, but must gore you and knock you down. It tries to trample you.

When you make a proper judgment, you judge with a proper spirit, start with yourself first and be careful who you share your judgments with. Your fine judgment calls might not be received well. This can be easily applied to your interaction with those outside the faith. Don't just preach to someone what you have determined or found to be true. If the people you are talking with are not interested in, leaning in a bit or open to what you are saying, your audience may tear you to pieces. And, who could blame them?

The Good News of Jesus is that He loves and accepts you just as you are. That, in itself, can be offensive, if you are more interested in earning your acceptance with God. Also, 50% or more of the people of the world are turned off by Christianity and its religious system. Unless you are able to disconnect Jesus from Christianity, your audience may be already turned off with your thoughts and conclusions.

So be careful what you say to whatever audience you encounter. SECRET #35: The follower of Jesus judges with a certain filtering.

SECRET #34 OF FOLLOWING JESUS

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If I were to write the song "What The World Needs Now?", I would offer a substitute for the normal answer of love. What the world needs more than anything else right now is good, sound judgment-common sense judgment. We have become intoxicated with the spirit of political correctness. This toxic spirit is so fearful of offending someone, so there is very little that is wrong, bad or foolish. In fact, we don't even want our youth to feel the pain of losing athletic contests, so many don't even want to keep score, where one team is the winner and the other a loser.

As followers of Jesus we have no right to judge someone with condemnation. This is what Jesus means when He introduces the idea of judging. We are to judge-to judge by making conclusions about what is good or bad, right or wrong and wise or foolish. This is common sense judgment. Common sense judgment or discernment is woefully lacking today. And when you make a conclusion kind of judgment, there are four steps to keep in mind as to how you go about making these kinds of conclusions.

Step #1 is to JUDGE WITH THE PROPER SPIRIT-to remember that in the way you make a judgment call about someone or something, you will be judged in the same way and by the same standard as you judge. So be careful how you judge others. Judge with the proper spirit-with a balance of grace and truth. Judging another with truth only can be harsh and lacks the relational dimension of a proper spirit. Judging another with grace only is weak and lacks the truth necessary to get people back on track.

Today we come to the second principle Jesus teaches on how to judge: Step #2-JUDGE WITH THE PROPER STARTING POINT. Jesus says it this way: "Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, `Let me take the speck out of your eye,' and behold, the log is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye." (Matthew 7:3-5)

This brings us to SECRET #34: The follower of Jesus judges himself first. There is a really basic principle underlying this principle of how we judge things and one another. No matter what you set out to do, begin with yourself. If you want your child to be disciplined and responsible, you must be disciplined and responsible. There is no way you can give away to your child anything you don't own yourself, so you must begin with you.

We have really messed up this principle in our sense of outreach or as many call it, evangelism. So much time is spent investing in better and more effective outreach, however outreach must begin with you first. In order to be most effective in your outreach, you must reach yourself first. Everything begins with you personally. This has been violated over and over when it comes to making disciples. Jesus commands those who follow Him to make disciples of Him. The problem is that most of those who are leading discipleship classes haven't learned to be a simple follower of Jesus yet. Therefore, making disciples has been most ineffective.

When you judge with conclusion, common sense, judgment, it's vital that you look at yourself first. Don't go after the speck in your brother's eye, until you have taken the log out of your own eye. It's all a matter of perspective. Once you remove the log out of your eye, then you will be able to see clearly how to take the speck out of your brother's eye.

What's interesting is that when you haven't dealt with your own "stuff", you tend to pick away and condemn others for whatever their "stuff" happens to be. And, when you haven't dealt with your own "stuff", there are two problems that emerge. First-you lack any credibility to help another with his problem. Second-with a log in your eye you can't see well enough to help anyone else. In fact, you'll probably poke your brother's eye out while attempting to be a helper.

The violation of this secret, SECRET #34, is rampant among those who call themselves Christians or followers of Jesus. It's even come to the point that the favorite indoor sport for most churches is to come together weekly and confess the sins of the world! The follower of Jesus judges himself first.

SECRET #33 OF FOLLOWING JESUS

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As we come to the 33rd secret of following Jesus we insert ourselves into the last 3rd of Jesus' extensive teaching in Matthew 5-7. Jesus shifts gears a bit here and emphasizes a few principles on how to relate to one another, especially when you are not necessarily in full agreement. It's here that Jesus makes a statement that has been one of the most frequently quoted sayings of Jesus. Even though this saying is widely quoted, its intended meaning is rarely fully understood.

The popular saying I'm talking about is "Don't judge that you be not judged." Here's the full quote of Jesus: "Do not judge so that you will not be judged. For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you." (Matthew 7:1-2)

This passage seems to say "No judging!" and is commonly quoted in this way. However, there are so many other passages in the Scripture that imply the necessity for making judgment calls in a variety of ways. There has to be sound judgment in our world, otherwise there would be chaos, confusion, attractive cults and cultishness, rampant lying throughout our society and immorality reigning on every hand. But wait a minute! That's exactly what we have now! It's because of the misunderstanding of what this passage really means.

There are two types of judgment: FIRST-There is condemnation kind of judgment-a pronouncement of condemnation and rejection that is reserved for God only. SECOND-There is conclusion kind of judgment-making a judgment call after examining the evidence. This is really a personal responsibility for us.

This passage isn't saying not to judge, but when you judge, make conclusions about things and people. Judging by making conclusions about a person or a matter is really having a rare wisdom quality of life-discernment. We desperately need more discernment to understand what's right and wrong, good and evil, wise and foolish.

The great need for discernment-for making judgment calls and conclusions about a variety of things sets us up for SECRET #33: The follower of Jesus judges by conclusion, never condemnation.

And, as you make conclusion kind of judgments, be sure to conduct your judgment in the proper way. There are 4 steps for doing this that we'll handle one day at a time.

STEP #1-JUDGE WITH THE PROPER SPIRIT: "Do not judge so that you will not be judged. For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you." In essence, Jesus is saying that when you judge another with conclusion kind of judgment, understand that you will be judged by others in precisely the same area. If you are critical of another's parenting style, you will be critically analyzed for your parenting prowess.

So, what is the proper spirit? I think it's the balance between grace and truth. Practically speaking, to have the proper spirit in making conclusions or exercising discernment, you must view life and people through the eyes of Jesus. By the way, who is the only one who is said to be "full of grace and truth"? Only Jesus. So judging with the proper spirit is treating others as Jesus would treat them. SECRET #33 is The follower of Jesus judges by conclusion, never condemnation.