Luke 6:37-42

Transcript

00:00:00:36 – 00:00:25:24
Clint Loveall
Everybody. Welcome back. As we finish out a week in the Gospel of Luke, the sixth chapter. Yesterday, we saw Jesus in one of his core teachings, talked to people about loving their enemies and the way in which Christians are called to love people who are hard to love. And today we get a kind of an offshoot of the same type of theme.

00:00:25:42 – 00:00:59:09
Clint Loveall
Yesterdays was positive. A thing we are to do today is couched maybe a little bit more in the restrictive or a thing that we’re called not to do. We’re starting in verse 37 of Chapter six and will read through verse 42 or so. To start with, do not judge and you will not be judged, do not condemn and you will not be condemned, forgive, and you will be forgiven, give and it will be given to you a good measure pressed down, shaken together, running over will be put in your lap for the measure you give will be the measure you get back.

00:00:59:52 – 00:01:19:17
Clint Loveall
He also told them a parable. Can a blind person guide? A blind person will not both fall into a pit. A disciple is not above the teacher, but everyone who is fully qualified will be like the teacher. Why do you see the speck in your neighbor’s eye? But you do not notice the log in your own eye? How?

00:01:19:19 – 00:01:38:06
Clint Loveall
How can you say to your neighbor friend, Let me take the speck in your eye. Let me take out the speck in your eye when you yourself do not see the log 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 neighbor’s eye.

00:01:38:42 – 00:02:01:40
Clint Loveall
So again, I think words that most people are kind of familiar with from Jesus, particularly those who have been in church, strong words about judging others. Interesting that we are called yes to love and no to judge. You know, Christians in our history have sometimes gotten that backwards. And when we have it, it costs us I think it hurts our witness.

00:02:02:38 – 00:02:27:52
Clint Loveall
This idea that while we are called to love others and I think it helps best to put these two sections in conversation with one another while we are called to love others, part of what that means is not judging them and not looking down on them. And then there’s this parable. You know, Jesus does this. He teaches with stories, will have lots of chances to talk about that.

00:02:27:52 – 00:02:58:19
Clint Loveall
This is a fairly simple one. Blind guides, they they put everyone in danger. If the guide can’t see, then then the people who follow them are also in danger. And then I think, again, Michael, well-known words that you see a speck in your neighbor’s eye, but you miss the log in your own eye that speaking to the human tendency to be harder on others sometimes than we are on ourself, to justify things in ourself that we condemn in others.

00:02:58:44 – 00:03:24:53
Clint Loveall
I think Jesus is hitting a lot of us pretty close to where we live. I think these are the kind of words that are often guilt producing, and I don’t think that’s their intention. But I think because they’re so applicable to most of us and because we get these wrong relatively often, they probably feel fairly sharp, fairly pointed, and unfortunately, at least in my case, fairly accurate.

00:03:25:17 – 00:03:50:16
Michael Gewecke
I think that we find, in Jesus’s words, an extension really of the teaching that we had yesterday. And it’s important that we hold yesterdays lesson together with today. So if you missed that, jump back and definitely give that a listen. But it’s striking that as we talk about this idea of God being merciful, I think yesterday we very much leaned into that idea that Jesus was describing the character of God.

00:03:50:17 – 00:04:16:57
Michael Gewecke
This is who God is. If you see God, this is what God looks like, because this is who God’s character is. And now today, as we move into the section, do not judge and you will not be judge. Don’t condemn and you won’t be condemned, forgive, and you will be forgiven. All of these are actions that we do because they’re a reflection of the goodness of the one who has saved us.

00:04:17:06 – 00:04:50:31
Michael Gewecke
They are ways in which we’re participating in God’s character is by the act of not judging by the act of forgiving. And the point here being, when you do these things, this is what happens in response to you. And I think that we often get this out of order, especially at our worst. You know, those seasons of life where we hold a grudge, we expect the other to forgive first, and then we think, well, then I might be willing to forgive them, but I think what Jesus makes very clear here is that we’re held to account for what we do.

00:04:50:31 – 00:05:15:01
Michael Gewecke
And that’s what makes this so challenging, is you have to be the first one to take that step, to not judge. You have to be the one to pursue forgiveness. You have to be the one to give. And these are the the measures that we are held against. And of course, as Christians, we know that we are held to the measure of grace and mercy and that Jesus Christ sufficiency is enough for our lack.

00:05:15:01 – 00:05:41:29
Michael Gewecke
We celebrate that. On the other hand, Jesus makes it clear that our actions do matter and that the ridiculousness of the blind leading the blind should lead us to, at least for a moment. Question Am I here trying to lead another person in the direction that I have yet to attain for myself? Have I trying to fix a problem in another person when there are significant, maybe even larger problems in my own life?

00:05:41:40 – 00:06:07:48
Michael Gewecke
This is the kind of self-awareness, humility that Jesus is calling us to. I do think it hits us close to home. I think for all of us it’s accurate because it reflects Clint, this idea that ultimately what God has done for us, we are called to do and to reflect in the world. And unfortunately, anyone who’s given any real thought or time or effort to that knows that we by ourselves don’t measure up to that task.

00:06:08:53 – 00:06:41:36
Clint Loveall
But perhaps we see this most clearly when we get to something like the Lord’s Prayer and we can talk about it more at length then. But this is an interesting section in that it suggests to us that when it comes both to good and bad, the ruler we use will be used of us. That the approach we have to judging others is the way in which we will be judged.

00:06:42:10 – 00:07:23:11
Clint Loveall
If that’s with forgiveness and grace, then that’s what we receive. If that’s what with criticism and anger and judgmental ism, then we stand under that. If we forgive, we will be forgiven. If we condemn, we will be condemned. If we judge, we will be judged. And I think that that’s there’s a a fairness in that that may sound appealing on the surface until you honestly take account of what it’s saying, that the way I forgive others would be the measure of forgiveness.

00:07:23:11 – 00:07:52:10
Clint Loveall
I would receive that the way I hold grudges or forgive would be the measure of of grace that I would get that that I would be I don’t think any of us would be comfortable saying to God, please use me as a standard of judgment and forgiveness toward me. And so what we hear in this ultimately is a call to live up to a higher standard, which, again, points us toward Christ.

00:07:52:10 – 00:08:25:46
Clint Loveall
And, you know, I think it’s fascinating, Michael, without any explicit teaching here, Luke has, again pulled the rug out from under us, made us look for something beyond ourselves, condemned us over our hypocrisy, a word which means acting like something you aren’t, and turned our eyes to Jesus without really ever telling us that he was doing that. And I think that that is, you know, of course, the notion of a blind guide is absurd.

00:08:25:46 – 00:08:55:19
Clint Loveall
And of course, the idea of a log in your eye and nit picking about the speck in someone else’s eye is absurd. And then you realize, Oh yeah, I am often absurd. My judgment toward others and my refusal to to put the same standard on myself is absurd. And again, Luke pushes us into a corner of knowing how much we need grace and how much we stand in need of mercy and forgiveness.

00:08:55:27 – 00:09:09:52
Clint Loveall
And I think that this is one of those passages that if you allow it to really do its work on you, as we saw yesterday, is humbling and challenging, a little bit frightening and ultimately pretty inspiring.

00:09:10:21 – 00:09:29:13
Michael Gewecke
You know, there’s one word in here that jumps out to me and it would be easy to read past it, but I think it’s worth just slowing down for a second to look at. And that’s here in verse 42 from Let me take out the speck in your own eye when you yourself did not see the log in your own eye, you hypocrite.

00:09:29:45 – 00:09:59:12
Michael Gewecke
And that’s a sharp word to come from Jesus, you hypocrite. And the reality is that Christians are called to wrestle very seriously with our human temptation to hypocrisy. And here it’s explicit. You know, take that log out of your own eye. And unfortunately, I think that we as Christians often have fallen into that trap, that idea that we can reserve judgment for others.

00:09:59:13 – 00:10:18:25
Michael Gewecke
Our job is to proclaim that and to speak that. And I think that when we come to a text like this, it behooves us to slow down. I think a text like this, in the words of Jesus in my Bible, this is these are red letters. We are called to be those who walk the opposite road of hypocrisy.

00:10:18:25 – 00:10:40:17
Michael Gewecke
We’re called to take seriously what we do so that our actions might mirror our beliefs. And yes, we will make mistakes. Yes, there’s grace. All of that’s true. And we can have a robust conversation about that. But sometimes I think we move too quickly beyond the difficulty of attacks like this. And we we lower our standards far lower than they should be.

00:10:40:17 – 00:11:05:36
Michael Gewecke
And we miss what Jesus is saying, that a spiritual teacher or a spiritual guide should actually have something to teach or they should have some ability that they had demonstrated in their life to lead. And when one is unable to portray that or one one does not have that built into their character, then the community should have some that should have an impact and one’s ability to lead.

00:11:05:36 – 00:11:28:15
Michael Gewecke
I think we should be inspired by the call to be people of character so that these words are truly reflected in our life, humble enough to recognize that we aren’t some perfect example. We’re not professionals who can succeed at this at every step. But yet this is our calling and our goal. And when we fail, we, we are we call that out.

00:11:28:15 – 00:11:47:42
Michael Gewecke
We ask for forgiveness, and we truly repent. We do a 180 and we go the other direction. And I think that Jesus here sets a very high standard when he he calls that action hypocrisy and I think therefore calls the church to live a life that is the anti hypocrite, the one that is true and authentic in our lives and actions.

00:11:48:14 – 00:12:11:45
Clint Loveall
I think verse 40 is helpful. Michael, we see the goal here that anyone who is fully qualified will be like the teacher. And as Christians, this becomes our goal to be Christ like. And if we put these conversations yesterday and today in touch with one another, we have, you know, very simply yes to love and no to judgment.

00:12:12:09 – 00:12:43:30
Clint Loveall
And I know this isn’t always fair and we are leaving the realm of scriptural interpretation now, but just a word about the moment we’re in. I think it is it is troubling how often Christians are portrayed with the opposite of that loving no and judging Yes, We are often seen as people who are not particularly loving and are filled with judgment, and we don’t always deserve that.

00:12:43:51 – 00:13:13:24
Clint Loveall
There are some biases at work, but if we’re honest, I think we all have to admit that not only have we lived up to that criticism and been deserving of it at times, personally, we as people, as a faith, there have been moments that Christians have failed this test miserably and there have been significant moments in the history of the Christian faith where we have been far more judgmental than we’ve been loving.

00:13:13:48 – 00:13:38:36
Clint Loveall
We have cast far more stones than we have cast grace. We have been hypocrites. Literally, that word means actors. We’ve acted like we followed Jesus without actually doing the things that Jesus would demand of us. And, you know, this is not one of the things I appreciate about this text is this is not a text you should point at other people.

00:13:39:03 – 00:14:01:30
Clint Loveall
If you come out of this text and critique others for being judgmental. I think to some extent you’ve missed the point. And I think these two texts are wonderful bookends for us and a wonderful challenge as people of faith. If we’re going to be known for something, let it be the way in which we show love to the world.

00:14:01:55 – 00:14:22:40
Clint Loveall
Let it be the way in which we show grace. Let it be the way in which we show graciousness. Now, that doesn’t mean everything goes and it doesn’t mean there aren’t any rules. We’ll talk about all of those things in Luke, but that’s where we start to be people of love and not people of judgment. And I think Luke makes that crystal clear here.

00:14:22:40 – 00:14:52:03
Michael Gewecke
Michael That’s an unfortunate, I think, fixture in our kind of modern sensibilities as we believe that those things are opposed, that grace and morality are somehow antithetical to one another. And I just don’t believe that is a very scriptural understanding. I think that this informs the motivation of the people of God. Everything we do, especially the hard words that we offer and the church is called at times to offer hard words.

00:14:52:03 – 00:15:11:11
Michael Gewecke
But when we do that, it’s rooted in our deep nature of desiring love and reconciliation, love of neighbor, even love of enemies. We’ve had these words already. This is the thing that should be at the center of our hearts, and it is the fuel that moves us forward. And then maybe the last word that I have here is just a quick note.

00:15:11:33 – 00:15:31:42
Michael Gewecke
You know, I think growing up verse 38 here was taught over and over and over again, given it’ll be given to you, good measure. Pressed down, shaken together, running over. And then the tradition that I grew up in that was connected to this idea of prosperity and wealth, you know, give this and then all of this is going to come back to you, kind of like an investment type mentality.

00:15:32:07 – 00:15:54:23
Michael Gewecke
And when you read a text like this and we spent some time with it here together today, you can already see how easy it is to get a microscope on the Bible and pull out a passage like that and make this sound like, Hey, if you do this good thing, then God’s going to repay you. If you invest $100 into this good effort, you’re going to get a thousand back.

00:15:54:23 – 00:16:22:01
Michael Gewecke
And everybody would love that. But you’ve already seen in the course of our conversation look how costly this text is as a whole. This is about not just giving to others for a return. It’s about true, authentic discipleship. It’s about being humble enough to recognize where you fail. It’s about you recognizing that you can’t stand up under judgment, and so therefore you are not in the right position to judge.

00:16:22:01 – 00:16:50:40
Michael Gewecke
And I think it’s important that we learn from a text like this that the whole section matters. And I would argue the whole book matters. You need to read these things together because you might make the mistake of turning a text like Luke 638 and turning it into a formula that gets God to do things for you when in fact, I think a simple reading of this text is not a complicated or academic reading.

00:16:50:40 – 00:17:16:37
Michael Gewecke
I think it’s just to read this text for what it is. It’s clearly a warning to the church to get fixated on our own ends and not love of neighbor, which we just had in the section previous. And I mean, it’s important that we are reminded of our ability to get lost in the weeds to see the text with a microscope, and then therefore to miss the point that Jesus was trying to teach us.

00:17:16:55 – 00:17:43:24
Clint Loveall
Yeah, I certainly don’t want to be critical of a tradition, Michael, but I think it’d be difficult to read that verse and think of something physical or tangible in terms of giving or receiving. I mean everything in the passage thus far has been about spiritual realities. And so I think you would be shoehorning that text a little bit to want to talk about stewardship or prosperity or blessing.

00:17:43:31 – 00:18:09:35
Clint Loveall
And again, I’m not, as I read it, I think we’re firmly entrenched in spiritual truths. And I would I think I would be comfortable saying I think that’s where we should probably leave those words for now. There would be other texts to look at, but I think this one clearly says what it says about forgiveness, love, judgment. And I think those are they because those are the key elements of the text.

00:18:09:35 – 00:18:12:35
Clint Loveall
I think those are the things they should remain pointed at.

00:18:12:59 – 00:18:40:24
Michael Gewecke
You know, I think one maybe lingering thought as we part our ways for the weekend is, you know, can Christians live on this side of the revelation of Jesus Christ being directed towards our neighbor, being motivated by love and recognizing that judgment is merely a part of God’s action, trying to correct and change the world instead of starting with judgment and then trying to get to love.

00:18:40:24 – 00:19:10:08
Michael Gewecke
I think that we very clearly throughout the course of this week, have been making the case that Jesus calls Christians to start in the foundation of love, of God’s love for us, and then ultimately our love for neighbor. And then from that foundation, we build up the realities of what a godly disciple life will look like. And if we can begin in the right place and then begin that journey with the right spirit, I think that leads us down the path that Luke has been trying to show us is Jesus’s way.

00:19:10:30 – 00:19:30:48
Clint Loveall
Yeah, I think I think all of us, if we’re honest, would confess It’s way harder to see the logs in our own eyes than the specks in our neighbors eye. Those specks stand out really well. We are blind to some of our own faults and very quickly able to identify the faults of others and that’s why we need these words.

00:19:30:48 – 00:19:59:16
Clint Loveall
That’s why they’re here. That’s why they’re so human. And that’s why they’re also so humbling that the the fully qualified follower will be like the teacher, which is the goal to which we aspire to be like the teacher and that means saying yes to the way that he loved and saying no to our tendency and our even desire to sit in judgment over others.

00:19:59:19 – 00:20:13:22
Clint Loveall
And no coincidence, I think, Michael, that this comes at the beginning. We’re we’re not done with it. We we start with it. And it rings that bell very loudly. But it’s it’s not over yet.

00:20:13:51 – 00:20:24:30
Michael Gewecke
That one really does have the sense that Luke knows who Luke’s talking to. And we are both grateful for that. And if we’re listening, we’re also a little pinged by it.

00:20:24:52 – 00:21:03:37
Clint Loveall
Well, you know, that’s an interesting question, maybe because Luke does have in some sense the most is a fair to say, the broadest audience in mind, that maybe it remains the easiest to hear in a very different time and context. There are parts of Luke. Luke gets to the human level pretty, pretty consistently and, you know, not much contextual about that, even though Jesus said it in a very certain time and place, there’s no time and place where people haven’t heard it and been being confronted by it.

00:21:04:21 – 00:21:20:10
Michael Gewecke
We’re glad that you spent time with us today. Certainly hope that there has been some confronting ness of the conversation, but also encouragement and your own journey in discipleship. We are glad that we would get to spend this time together and we will see you as we continue on here in Luke in verse 43 next week.

00:21:20:11 – 00:21:21:03
Clint Loveall
Have a great weekend.