Punching Down & Pushing Pearls

Well hello and good morning. Thank you my name is Mark I want to welcome all of you it's such a great day to be together as a congregation. Those of you joining us on our live stream every weekend we meet people who join us on the live stream and then they have opportunity to join us in person and so fun so bless you all for being here. It is just a great day and before we go into the message I want to give you an update on what we call the Hope Center. This is a project that we are pursuing and if it's new to you there's a display out in the lobby that has all sorts of information about what the Hope Center will serve but it will provide it will be a place of hope.

One of the highest hurdles in the whole process is to get approval from the Santa Cruz Planning Department. Before you get your permit you got to get approval on just the project itself, making sure that it conforms to the various aspects of zoning in our area. We were on the agenda before the administrator on Friday morning. It's a public hearing and this is where they give the answer yay or nay. Before the deputy zoning administrator did that, she heard a report from the staff and they talked about the project and then they asked for any public input.

That was an opportunity for me. You know, can't resist a microphone if you're a pastor. What I wanted to do was convey your heart for this project. By that point, they've got all sorts of information about the nuts and bolts of the project but I wanted them to hear your heart because that's not something that goes into the application per se. I said here's the thing: the folks that we want to serve are people that are going through recovery. There are people that are in a season of grief. There are people who have mental illness struggles either in their own self or in their family.

There are folks who come to our food pantry on a weekly basis—over 425 clients every week on Wednesday afternoons—and there are people who want to grow through our adult education and discipleship programs. It's all that and more that this facility would accommodate. One of our goals as a congregation is to do that in a way that communicates dignity, that says we see you, we value you, we love you, and we want a facility that sends that message.

Quite frankly, deputy zoning administrator, our 30-year-old aging modulus don't quite cut it when it comes to conveying that level of value. We have beautiful buildings on campus; those are not among them. So that's the heart of our congregation for this project. It's not just ambition or let's go build another building. She answered and she had a smile on her face and she said, "Thank you, Mark. Yesterday I was out on your campus and I agree with you. I think this project is going to communicate not only that you love the folks that you're serving but I believe that this will be a blessing." I don't know if she used but I think she said benefit to the broader community and so I'm happy to say we approve this project.

That was a very cool moment and so now we move on to the building permit process, which is actually simpler in the sense that it's a little more black and white. We will be finalizing the construction documents and then going for the building permit at that point. So continue to keep this in your prayers and again, if you want more information, you need to go online at TLC dot TLC dot org slash hope or out in the lobby.

But now I want to begin by asking if anyone knows what this is? Yes sir, it's not the starship enterprise; it's a label maker. How many of you had a label maker at some point? A lot of us say it's so funny. I had one of these as a kid. This was like pre-video games, right? As far as entertainment value, I experienced hours of endless entertainment and fascination. I can't even remember the things I thought needed labeling. It was like, you know, desk, chair, lamp, you know, all the things you would never know what they were unless you had a helpful label on them.

There's something alluring about the process that you have a sense of power. I can define the things in my world with a label. In fact, I think that this connects to something deeply embedded in human beings because we love to label not just things; we love to label people, don't we? I mean, labeling others, it's like here's a good guy, there's a bad guy, you know, she's weird, oh she's cool. The labels that we put on people tend to stick like for life. You probably remember what you may have been labeled as a kid. Maybe it was something like brain, jock, artist, klutz, nerd, dork, cook, fatso. For me, it was carrot top. My ginger hair was much more orange when I was a young youngster.

Labels can still hurt, can't they? They really stick. Whoever said sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me, I mean that person was an idiot. I just labeled them, so it's that easy to do. But where labels really hurt in a particular way is within a religious context, a church context, a Christian context. In fact, a lot of people see Christians as nothing more than labelers. That church is like a labeling society where we sit here and we think of people in the community or even people in the pews and we think to ourselves, sinner, oh so secular, so depraved, whatever the case may be. It's a problem.

I want to invite you to grab your message notes if you haven't already as we continue in our series the Jesus way because Jesus is going to address this today. Part of the greatest sermon ever preached, the sermon on the Mount, it's in Matthew's gospel chapters 5, 6, and 7. Today Jesus is going to be talking about what I call punching down and pushing pearls. We'll unpack that in a moment. But again, I think religious people have a particular problem in this area. I'm not talking about, you know, first-century Pharisees or American Puritans; I'm talking about us lapsing into, you know, church lady mode. You know, remember church lady? Well isn't that special, right? Or just a little bit superior.

It resonated with people because it rang true. The first thing I want to talk about is punching down. Punching down is to mock, criticize, attack people who you believe are weaker than you or beneath you. You can punch down on the poor. You know, they made better choices, they'd be making a better life. But you can also punch down on the rich. Oh man, they never have enough; they're so into material things unlike me, so much more pure of heart. The possibilities are endless and in every instance, punching down is about passing judgments, whether it's making assumptions based on appearances or even worse, assuming that if I were to inhabit the exact same circumstances of someone else, if I was to truly walk a mile or more in their moccasins, well you know what? I'd make better choices, I'd be a better person, I'd have a better life because after all, I'm better.

Judgment always looks down on other people. It's what comedian George Carlin once said about driving. Remember him? He said this: "Ever noticed that anybody going slower than you is an idiot and anyone going faster than you is a maniac?" Okay, confessions good for the soul. How many of you, that's you right there? Okay, there's some of us here. The rest of you are perfect; please pray for us, we're judgy. You know, it's one thing to mumble in your car about somebody else's driving. Something that I had to confess I just did this week with my kids in the car. But not to dismiss that, but that's almost mild when it comes to judging other people's lives, passing judgment on what you see as their deficiencies, even their sins, looking at them with this holier-than-thou attitude.

In view of this, Matthew 7 begins with these words by Jesus: "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." Now these are among the most famous words in the Bible. People that are not churchgoers know these words, but they are also among the most misunderstood. Sometimes when people read this, their takeaway is that, you know, there's really no room to make any assessments about someone's conduct or their attitude or their words. It's as if Jesus is saying here, okay, you know, ethics, morals, that is so Old Testament. From now on, gang, just follow your heart, just do whatever you want, and as long as it makes you happy, that's fine.

Well how does that work when someone may be approaching you with evil motives? How does it work not to discern their actions, their words? For instance, you know, do not judge even if you suspect you're being conned or set up by someone. Do not judge when TV preachers tell you you can enjoy health, wealth, and happiness so long as you send them money. So okay, open up the checkbook. Do not judge when somebody's words are so consistently different than their actions. I mean that can't be because in fact Jesus is going to say some words just a few verses later that contradict that notion when he says this: "Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them." In other words, have sound judgment. You should be discerning about your pastor's teaching and the fruit of their lives.

I mean Jesus cannot mean never try to discern anything about someone's conduct or their words. So if that's the case, what in the world is he talking about here? Well the word that Matthew uses for judge here in this passage appears almost a hundred times in the New Testament in the original form, the Koine Greek, and guess what? It means exactly the same thing in English because there's an aspect of judgment where you are exercising judgment, right? You are using good judgment, which is essential to wisdom. On the other hand, you can pass judgment on others, condemn them in the court of your own opinion. That's one word, two very different meanings, and the latter to pass judgment always comes from a sense of moral or spiritual superiority, actually condemning them as if I am qualified to do so.

On this, James the brother of Jesus writes this: "There is only how many? One lawgiver and judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But you, who are you to judge your neighbor?" I love that: who are you to judge your neighbor? Well, let's see. First of all, you're not God, and second, you don't live up to your own standards, let alone the Lord's. So we would do well to examine ourselves. I mean let me ask you, do you really want to be measured by the way that you sometimes measure others? Not me, Lord, have mercy. Jesus is going to unpack this as he continues. He says, "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?" That word could be referring to a supporting beam in a roof or a floor; that's why sometimes it's interpreted log. Even it's not a little stick; it's a big piece of wood.

How can you say to your brother, "Let me take the speck out of your eye," when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrites! First take the plank out of your own eye and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye. I got another visual aid here because I think we miss out of familiarity just how ridiculous the picture that Jesus is painting for his audience. I've come prepared today to do a little bit of eye speck removal for I'm sure everyone's got a speck in their eyes. So, you know, feel free to raise your hand if you're ready. I'm just gonna just, oh yeah, yeah, I can help you, uh-huh. You see, Daniel, if you take those glasses off, I will take those specs out of your eye. Okay, here we go.

You can imagine we don't often picture Jesus' audience laughing, but if you really think about this, it's ridiculous. It's ridiculous in large part because I can't see past my own plank, can I? It actually blocks my vision, makes me blind to my own sin. Oh yeah, I'm all zeroed in on yours, but I can't even see my own. It's like, you know, if a politician or someone running for public office or police department or something like that, they're gonna run a campaign, they're gonna be tough on crime—that's their model. I'm gonna be tough on crime only later to be convicted of breaking various laws, or a pastor who routinely thunders from the pulpit about sexual sins only until it's revealed they're having an affair themselves.

Jesus says, "Hypocrites! You are blinded by the plank in your eye." Again, rather than judging others, Jesus is calling us to examine ourselves. In other words, the application is this: it's to refocus on my need for God's grace and mercy because I certainly need it, and so do you. It's like the story that Jesus told in Luke 18. There are two guys that go up to the temple one day. One of them is a Pharisee; the other one is a tax collector. The Pharisees were the religious elites, so to speak; tax collectors, they were at the bottom rung of society. Well, the Pharisee, no sooner does he get there than he begins to punch down in prayer on people around him. He says, "Go God, I thank you that I'm not like other people, you know, robbers, evil doers, adulterers, or even like that tax collector over there. Thank you I'm not like him. I fast twice a week and I give a tenth of everything I get." Then there's the tax collector. Jesus says he stood at a distance; he would not even look up into heaven but he beat his chest and said, "Oh God, have mercy on me, a sinner."

Jesus concludes, you know, both those guys went home that day but only the tax collector went home justified before God. You remember how the sermon on the Mount begins? Blessed are the poor in spirit, blessed are the meek, blessed are the merciful for they will receive what? Mercy. They will be measured by the measure they used for others. Now before I move on, I would like to speak to any of you where the thing is it's not that you don't examine or judge yourself; it's that all you ever do is judge yourself. You just walk around through life focusing on just, "Lord, how can you even begin to tolerate me?" I want you to hear me because while it is true that we will have flaws in our character, our behavior, our thinking for our entire life, despite that, the good news of the gospel is that there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. None, zero. There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ because God sees you with the righteousness of Jesus.

In fact, the reason we're doing this flawed follower series in the fall is to kind of really get deep down into that. It's the story of Simon Peter who was famously flawed and yet God used him to make a massive impact on the world, on history. The promise is that God can work through us despite our flaws as well. In fact, sometimes he takes those flaws and he just turns them right on their head. Like you see here in recovery, sometimes your mess is your message, and God uses those things to touch other people's lives. So whenever you are tempted to crucify yourself, please remember Jesus was already crucified for you. He's already paid the price; he's already taking all your sins. They were nailed with him to the cross and you are forgiven.

So yes, seek to follow him, but live in the freeness and the lightness of his grace. That said, those of us who have been forgiven, have been the recipients of his grace, have no business judging others. When I feel that way, when I find myself thinking judgmental attitudes, here's the application again: it is to refocus on my need. God doesn't need me to be concerned about somebody else's need; I can focus on my need for grace and mercy. Now again, I want to say that doesn't mean, you know, all morals and ethics just go out the window because if punching down is about passing judgment, pushing pearls is about lacking judgment, about lacking it. I got that term pushing pearls from John Ortberg and I'm borrowing some of his thoughts as well. I acknowledge that at the bottom and there's a free resource that's also listed there as well that I recommend to you.

But look what Jesus says at verse 6, our last verse in today's text, when he says, "Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet and then turn and tear you into pieces." Okay, what in the world is Jesus saying there? It's a riddle and for that reason, if you read five different Bible commentaries, you're likely to read five different answers. But here's one thing that's clear: dogs have no need for what is sacred. I like to think that I have a Christian dog, but if I were to give a Bible to my chocolate lab, he would likely eat it. He would certainly try. And pigs really have no interest in pearls, Miss Piggy being the one notable exception because she's never seen without them. All the other pigs, they could care less when it comes to pearls.

I want you to bear in mind that in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus has been talking about how we relate to God and how we relate to others. That is the main subject of the entire sermon; it's all about relationships. This is really practical because there is going to come a time when either through scripture or message or something else, something is just gonna blow your mind about God or blow your mind about life and how it's best lived. You're going to be so excited about this that naturally you're going to want to share that with others, but they may not always share your same interest. They may not find your pearls as valuable as you do, which means that we are going to have to discern, judge even when to share our pearls and when not to, when to exercise restraint.

Are you following me? I think most of us have been on the receiving end of this. You've probably received advice; it might have been good advice but it wasn't advice that you were asking for. Or maybe there's a person in your life and they are following someone on, you know, TV or podcasts or YouTube or something like that, social media, and this person has just really resonated with them. They are so excited about what this person has to say, so much so that they just want to tell you over and over again, "Man, if you avail yourself to this person's wisdom, it will change your life." And yet what they have not discerned is that while you have been listening politely, you're really not as into that whole thing as they are, but they're pushing the pearls anyway.

There are pearl pushers in the office; there are pearl pushers on job sites; they're in most neighborhoods and they abound in the media landscape. But here's where it can be most damaging: it's in the home with parents and their children. Parents, hear me because out of the best of intention, out of deep love, we can sometimes push our pearls too forcefully, too aggressively, not with enough sensitivity to where our kids are at. In the process, the little piglets start to tune us out and they might even end up trampling on those pearls altogether. So on one hand, don't judge, but on the other hand, judge. Use discernment regarding when and when not to share your pearls. The application is this: just respect other people's receptivity and readiness as part of dignifying them. Just respect their receptivity and their readiness.

Later in Matthew 10, Jesus is going to send his disciples out to do ministry primarily to their fellow Israelites and he tells them this: "Look, if you enter a village or you're entering into a home, let your peace be upon that home. Bless those folks, but if you enter into another village and they're not receptive, move on. Don't push your pearls; just move on to the next village." And then he says this right on the heels of this: "I am sending you out like sheep among wolves; therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves." There's that dynamic tension right there again: have good judgment, be as shrewd as a snake, don't judge, be as innocent as a dove. Jesus calls us to embody both.

Allow me to close with this because this week I was thinking about is there somebody in my life who really embodied these virtues in an excellent way? Someone who was just full of grace and mercy and was not judgmental? My mind drifted to my maternal grandmother. Her name is Helen, like my own mother's, but we all called her grand grand. No disrespect to anyone else's grandmother, but when God created my grand grand, he created one of the sweetest, most loving, most beautiful souls I think that have ever existed. I mean, she just exuded love and grace like always. She was nobody's fool, don't get me wrong, but she just led with this loving welcome.

She had 13 grandchildren, seven of us boys, boys who were dead set on rebellion and trouble. I mean, we just wore that like a badge of honor, man. We were just creating mischief. Even though she would correct us, she had a way of communicating, you know what? I believe in you guys more than you even believe in yourself. I could tell she was looking into my heart, seeing things about me maybe yet to come that I didn't even know were there, and yet she had a way of just doing that.

You know what? Those were pearls that we treasured. Grand grand, one of her jobs was when my mother was a teenager, she would every Monday night drive up to the California Youth Authority detention center up on Empire grade where she would teach piano and she would lead the inmates in a choir. One Monday night as she's returning, she pulls into the driveway. My grandfather, my mom, her three sisters, they hear her pulling like she always does every Wednesday night, and then the car backs up and it backs out the driveway. Away it goes. They think, oh she must have forgot to pick up milk or something like that. What they didn't know was when she pulled into the garage, one of the inmates had escaped and was hiding right behind the driver's seat.

He pulls out a switchblade, presses it against her neck and he says, "Back out and do everything exactly as I tell you." She said in that moment she wanted to scream, but she didn't want to upset her daughters. So like, oh there goes mom off to the grocery store. Meanwhile, they leave Bay Street, which is where they were living at the time, and he tells her to go up to High Street and she is talking to him, trying to keep him calm, trying to encourage him. "Don't you know, throw away your life? Don't make this situation any worse?" Yeah, like kidnapping my grand grand at knife point. But by God's grace, he gets to Western Drive, right on the north end of town, northwest side of town, and says, "Pull over." And she does. He goes, "Get out," and then he races up the coast. As he nears Half Moon Bay, now he's got a bunch of police cars chasing him and eventually they catch him in Half Moon Bay. This is the newspaper that recorded it when it happened. This is the young man; his name is Richard Hansing. He was all of 18 years old and they brought him back to Santa Cruz where they booked him.

Other newspapers picked up the story and my grand grand was kind of a Santa Cruz celebrity for a little bit of time for an ordeal no one would want. But here's the part of the story that is just pure grand grand because as Richard was put back in prison here in town, you have to go, how do you respond? How do you even begin to respond to someone who kidnapped you by knife point, who so traumatized you that for the rest of her life, subconsciously, every time she sat in her car, her arm would sweep behind the seat just to reassure herself no one was there? I remember seeing her do that as a kid. I didn't know what she was doing in the moment, like what's going on with that crazy arm, grand grand? That's how deep the trauma was.

So what do you do when the tables have turned and now he's back in prison? You want to know what she did? She baked him a cake and brought it to the prison. It even had a file hidden inside. No, but she did bring him a cake because instead of judging him, instead of seeking retribution, what my grand grand was most interested in was his redemption. She knew Richard Hanson was going to spend plenty of time behind bars and so she even told the police, "I don't need to press charges. I don't need to press charges; he'll be here long enough." Because she never stopped seeing him as an 18-year-old young man, one of her students, one of her boys, as she called her.

You see, when we judge people, what we do is we diminish them, we dehumanize them, we decide what their ultimate fate will be. Yet by God's grace, she saw past that just like she did with me. She saw something in him that he didn't even see himself. It was through the grace and mercy and Christ-likeness that she exhibited. Let me tell you something: when you are a young boy and you are growing up and you're thinking about the kind of person you want to become, and then you realize your own grandmother was so full of love and grace, it could only remind you of Jesus and you want to be that kind of person—a person who actually resembles Jesus in how they lived their life, a person who is living the Jesus way.

Amen. Amen.

Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for the grace, the mercy, the love that we have in Jesus Christ. Thank you, Father. Thank you, Father, for your love. And so, Lord, I just pray that today and every day this church would be a church known for its warm embrace, known for its love, known for its desire to give people second chances. Yes, we realize it's a complex world; we can't lose appropriate judgment and wisdom. We need to maintain those things, and yet at the same time we want to lead with hope and love and generosity because these are all good gifts that we receive from you.

So, Lord, if any of us are struggling with someone in our life who frankly annoys us or we just, if we're honest, we've already kind of written the end of the story for them, Lord, would you remind us that you're not done with us yet, neither are you done with them? Fill us with humility, meekness, mercy. Help us, Lord, to live out in concrete ways the Jesus way. We pray this in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus and all God's people said, Amen. Amen.