When I was home from college for the summer… many years ago… my mom’s boss was getting ready to sell his rental home.  To prepare for the sale, he decided to paint the inside of the house and have new carpet installed.  After doing some research, he realized that to have a professional to do it, he’d have to pay several thousand dollars.  He didn’t want to pay a professional to do it, so he hired me!  I agreed to do it for a thousand dollars.  I had helped my dad paint the inside of our own house, but I had never painted an entire house.  Despite my lack of experience, I thought it would be an easy thousand dollars.  After asking around a bit, I was convinced that using a paint sprayer was definitely the easiest way to go about the job.  I spent weeks … sanding, masking, taping plastic over all of the cupboards… it took me weeks to prep the house!  Before I knew it, I had only a few days to paint before the carpet was to be installed.  I went out and spent several hundred dollars to rent a sprayer, and then I realized…

I didn’t know how to use a paint sprayer!  I had globs of paint falling from the living room ceiling!

Making an easy thousand dollars seemed so appealing… until I had to deal with the reality that I couldn’t do the job.

Isn’t that just like sin?  It seems so appealing; the rewards seem so grand, and the cost seems so minimal… soon, though, we have built ourselves into a mess and we can’t get out!

Check out this Calvin & Hobbes cartoon:

(Cartoon)

Please turn in your Bibles with me to Matthew 7:1-12.

So far in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus has been telling us how to live in the Kingdom; we are to seek first His kingdom and his righteousness…

But how do we do this in the midst of our own sin and the sin of those around us?

To begin answering this question, let me finish my house-painting story…

When I realized that I couldn’t paint the house myself, I decided to do what any normal person would do, cry for HELP!

I am so thankful for the friend who was an experienced paint-sprayer – he made a last minute cancellation of his fishing trip and spent his Saturday painting the house!

I needed help.

This is what Matthew 7:1-12 is all about.  How do we Christians, as we are seeking to live Kingdom-centered lives… how do we help others in their sin?

We all struggle with sin; it is a fact of our existence.  The Bible says, “All have sinned…” and “we all, like sheep have gone astray, each has turned to his own way…”

And we all know, from experience, that sin destroys us.  As desirable as it may seem, in the end it only brings ruin.

But we continue to sin anyway.

We need help!  The truth is, whether we verbalize it or not, we are all saying:

“Help!  Sin is killing me!”

Paul writes in Romans 6:23: “The wages of sin is death…”

Sin kills.  Sin destroys.  If we Christians believe what we say we believe, one of our main goals in life is to help others be free from chains of sin… we want to help people find Jesus and be set free from sin.

So how do we do this?  How can we help others quit sin?  Not that we or anyone else can ever quit sin completely – that is not what I am saying –

What I am saying, though, is that sin separates us from God and from each other.  If we want to live the Kingdom lives that God has called us to live, we will be all about helping one another quit sin.

The author of Hebrews writes in Hebrews 3:13:  “But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness.”

And in 10:24:  “And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.”

And in 12:1:  “Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.”

How are we going to do this?  How are we going to help others see through sin’s deceitfulness?  How are we going to spur one another on toward love and good deeds?  How are we going to help one another to throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles?

In summary:  How do we help others quit sin?

In Matthew 7:1-12, we find that there are four things that we can do to help others quit sin.

The first thing we can do is this:

Have the right attitude

Jesus says in verses 1 and 2:  “Do not judge lest you be judged.  For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you.”

There was an owner of a manufacturing plant who decided to make a surprise tour of the shop.  Walking through the warehouse he noticed a young man just lazily leaning up against some packing crates with his hands in his pocket doing nothing.  The boss walked up to him and angrily said, “Just how much are you paid a week?”  Well, the young man’s eyes got rather big, and he said, “Three hundred bucks.”  The boss pulled out his wallet, pealed off three one hundred bills, gave it to him, and said, “Here’s a week’s pay.  Now get out of here and don’t ever come back!”  Well, without a word the young man stuffed the money into his pocket and took off.  The warehouse manager was standing nearby staring in amazement.  The boss walked over to him and said, “Tell me, how long has that guy been working for us?”  The manager said, “He didn’t work here, he was just delivering a package.”

This story illustrates the point: don’t judge others!  Why?  We don’t have all of the facts.  Too often we judge from appearances… and we all know that appearances are often misleading.  Can we see beyond appearances to the heart?  No… only God can.  God judges the heart; that is his job.  Our job is to have the attitude of humility.  If we want to help others quit sin, we cannot go around condemning people out of our ignorance.  If we do, God says that we will be judged by that same standard.

Jesus is here teaching us, his people, that living in the Kingdom of God means not condemning other people.  Think for a moment about the Pharisees.  They thought they were righteous, and they looked down at everyone else as ‘not measuring up.’  They made themselves look all righteous on the outside, but on the inside they were full of pride; Jesus called them “whitewashed tombs!”  They justified themselves and condemned others.  This is what Jesus is teaching us not to do.

Jesus is teaching us to have the right attitude – the attitude of humility.  Consider Paul’s words in Philippians 2:3:  “In humility consider others better than yourselves.”

The Pharisees wanted to look good; so they made everyone else look bad.  Kingdom living means making God look good.  And we make God look good by having the right attitude – an attitude of love and humility, seeking the best in others and seeking the best for others!  We want others to grow in Christ; so instead of condemning people, we need to show them the grace of God… after all, the way we judge others, that is the way God judges us!

Jesus says in verse 2:   “For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you.”

Do you want a full measure of grace given to you?  Then give that grace to others.

How do we help others quit sin?  We can help others quit sin by having the right attitude – an attitude of humility and love, pointing people to the grace of God.

Having the right attitude is the first thing that Jesus here teaches us that we need to do to help others quit sin; the second thing is we need to is seen in verses 3-5:

Examine yourself

Jesus said:  “And 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.”

We’ve all heard the debate about global warming… some think it is a bunch of hogwash, others think that we are about to experience the end of the world.  Regardless of your perspective, Jesus’ words here remind me of the Live Earth drama we all witnessed last summer.

Live Earth was a series of concerts held around the world last July 7th, for the purpose of raising public awareness of global warming.  Pop stars and movie stars and famous politicians showed up on stage to promote earth-friendly lifestyles, admonish the public to cut down on their fuel emissions, and reduce their carbon footprints.  So how did the world take it?  Were they thankful for the information?  Not really.

Even before Madonna, Sting and their cohorts took to the stage, bloggers and talk show hosts began analyzing these celebrities’ impact on the environment.  Sting’s private jet spews more emissions in one hour than the average family car spews in one year.  Madonna herself has over four million dollars invested in Ford Motor Company.  And Al Gore’s mansion burns more natural gas in two weeks than the average household does in one year.  In fact, the Live Earth concerts themselves produced so much carbon dioxide, the world would have to plant 100,000 trees just to offset the effect of this one event.  Who are these people to lectureus on our energy spending habits?

When we are confronted with criticism, our instinct is to point the finger right back.  That’s human nature. We hear criticism, and we immediately try to decide if it’s coming from a credible source.

So if we are going to help others avoid sin, we need to examine ourselves first!

Our own sin blinds us.  If we want to help others, we need to first examine ourselves and let God work on us !  Notice that Jesus does not say, “don’t help your brother get the speck out of his eye!”  The whole point of this passage is that we NEED to help each other kick sin, and that the only way we can ‘see clearly to help’ is to examine ourselves first.

A man was having some difficulty communicating with his wife, and he concluded that she was becoming hard of hearing.  So he decided to conduct a test without her knowing about it. One evening he sat in a chair on the far side of the room.  Her back was to him and she could not see him.  Very quietly he whispered, “Can you hear me?”   There was no response.   Moving a little closer, he asked again, “Can you hear me now?”  Still no reply. Quietly he edged closer and whispered the same words, but still no answer.  Finally he moved right behind her and said, “Can you hear me now?”  To his surprise and chagrin she responded with irritation in her voice, “For the fourth time, yes!”

Here’s one.  You can never squeeze too much Calvin and Hobbes into your sermon:

(Cartoon)

It is so easy for us to focus on other people’s shortcomings and not our own! But the best way to truly help others is to become more aware of our own sins first.  For the sake of our own spiritual condition, and for the sake of our credibility, we must remove the logs from our eyes.

After telling us to examine ourselves, Jesus continues in verse 6 to teach us about how important it is to be discerning in who we try to help.   The third thing this passage teaches us to do is:

Leave some people alone

Let’s read the verse:  “Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.”

Have you ever tried to help someone who didn’t want any help?  It is not a nice experience! Unfortunately, there are many people who are violently opposed to God! Pointing out their sin will probably not get you anywhere, except maybe the hospital.

(Cartoon)

One of the best ways we can grow as people is by having people who care about us lovingly tell us how we are blowing it.

Proverbs 27:17 reads:  “As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.”

This is exactly what we have been talking about, right?  Helping one another to quit sin?  We all need people in our lives who love us enough to tell us how we are blowing it… how we are killing ourselves (willfully sinning is a form of suicide, isn’t it?)

And Proverbs 27:6 reads:  “Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses.”

How true!  A friend will wound us for our own good, but an enemy will only tell us what our tickling ears want to hear.

But some people just refuse to accept this kind of loving concern!  They refuse to hear any criticism.

Consider Proverbs 9:8:  “Do not rebuke a mocker or he will hate you; rebuke a wise man and he will love you.”

Isn’t this the same thing that Jesus is here teaching us in verse 6?  Sadly, some people are like dogs and pigs – you give them the truth that Jesus loves them and wants to heal them from their sin – and they turn on you with anger!

Don’t give to dogs what is Holy, and don’t cast your pears to swine.

That we are told to leave some people alone should alert us to another fact as well:  we don’t have the power to change people’s lives.  God is the one who changes hearts; we don’t.  All of these things that we can do: having the right attitude, examining ourselves and leaving some people alone… these things are nothing if we aren’t trusting in God to work in us and in other people.

We can start to become conceited, thinking that we are so important and necessary in the Kingdom.  Guess what: God doesn’t need us!  He doesn’t need me.  He doesn’t need you.  God has all of the power in the universe!  This leads us to the last thing that Jesus tells us to do in this passage:

Pray

Let’s read verses 7-12:  “Ask, and it shall be given to you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you.  For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it shall be opened.  Or what man is there among you, when his son shall ask him for a loaf, will give him a stone?  Or if he shall ask 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 shall your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!  Therefore, however you want people to treat you, so treat them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.”

As try to live lives pleasing to God… and as we try to help others live lives pleasing to God, we must recognize that we can only succeed by the power of God in us!

Jesus commands us here to ask, seek and knock.  What are we going to be asking for?  What are we going to be seeking?  We are going to be asking for the power of God to change us and empower us.  We are going to be asking God to fill us with his Spirit and mold our character in the likeness of Jesus.... we are going to be asking God to give us wisdom so that we can help one another quit sin and live Kingdom-centered lives.

Can you imagine us asking God for these things and God saying, “Nope, I am not going to give you what you want.”  Of course not!  God loves us!  And he wants his will to be done!  And His will is that we be like Jesus and that we help others to be like Jesus…

That is Jesus’ point when he says, “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your Father in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!”

If this is what we ask for, he will give it to us.  What a great promise!

Pray!

You may have heard this before:  “When we work, we work.  When we pray, God works.”

Jesus then wraps up this teaching with verse 12:  “Therefore, however you want people to treat you, so treat them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.”

What a great way to sum up this passage!

If we treat others the way we would like them to treat us – that fulfills the Law and the Prophets.  That sums it all up!

You want others to help you quit sin, right?  Of course you do!  But you know as well as I do that hearing about our sin from others is not a fun thing!  We want people to help us, but we want them to do it with the right attitude (one of love and humility), and we want them take the log out of their own eye, right?  And we want them to respect us enough to leave us alone if we don’t want to hear it?  And we want them to pray for us?  This is how we want others to treat us; so this is the way we should treat others.

“This,” Jesus says, “fulfills the Law and the Prophets.”

Do you want to live a Kingdom-focused life?  Do you recognize that sin abounds, both within and without?

We are a church.  We are God’s people.  Let’s work together to live Kingdom-centered lives.  We are a team, working together to help one another be more like Jesus?  Let’s help one another quit sin.

Let’s pray.