Luke 6:37-49 "Discipleship 201"

This is a continuation of last week’s message, “Discipleship 101.” We can call it “Discipleship 201” but it’s really just the second half of what we started last week.

This is Luke’s version of the Sermon on the Mount. The Beatitudes. Blessed are the poor, the hungry, the sad, the rejected. Woe to the rich, the well-fed, the laughing, and the ones that are respected in this life. Jesus gives comfort to us when life is hard—He promises it’s going somewhere good in the kingdom of God. But He gives a serious warning to us when our bellies and our bank accounts are full because it’s too easy for us to get distracted by those things and stop paying attention to what He wants us to do.

Then He gets to the heart of what that is—what He wants us to do. He wants us to treat people better than they deserve. I mean, that’s basically it, it sounds simple but it’s really hard. Be kind to people who are not kind to you. This is what Jesus came into the world to do for all of us—for you—and He tells us to do the same thing for everyone else. Real hard.

That’s the theme we’re still running with today. I know what you’re probably thinking, “Oh, goody! More commands that point out all the ways I fail to be the person God wants me to be. Great. Can’t wait.”

Yep. Let’s pray: Father in heaven, once again, help us to hear the words of Jesus and believe them. Not only believe them but do what He says. Also, help us to hear His words of grace and believe those, too. AMEN

The passage I’m about to walk through is all the same big idea—the same context. You have probably heard a bunch of these verses taken out of this context, bent and twisted to mean whatever people want them to mean—but let’s try to keep in mind this is all from the same sermon. Jesus has one big idea for all of this. He’s telling His disciples what kind of people He wants them to be. What it’s supposed to look like to follow Him. If we pay attention to Jesus, we’ll notice this is the kind of person He is. So, here we go, Luke chapter 6, verse 37: We’ll kick it off with the most famous and most quoted verse in the entire Bible…

“Do not judge” 

I could spend the rest of this message just talking about this little line. “Do not judge.”

Even people who have never read the Bible know this one. Anytime a Christian says anything that might sound like someone shouldn’t be doing something. Anytime a Christian calls anything a sin—implying of course that anyone who does the thing is a sinner! They’re like, “Oh yeah? Well, I happen to know a Bible verse, too! Do not judge. You like Jesus quotes so much, how about that one?”

And what do we say in response? We always say the same thing. “That’s not really what it means.” 

Somehow “Do not judge” doesn’t actually mean “do not judge.”

How about this, instead… Yes it does! That’s exactly what it means. The pagan who has never read the Bible understands this verse a lot better than we do. Let’s read the whole thing—in context:

“Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. 

Pretty straight ahead. 

What’s the number one thing unbelievers say about church people? That we’re so dang forgiving? So incredibly gracious? So kind? So accepting?

No. They say we’re too judgmental. Why would anyone want to be around us when we just make them feel like crap? Rejected. Judged. Like we think we’re better than they are.

This is a big theme for Jesus—it’s all over His teaching. He didn’t come to condemn the world but to save it. He tells us to pray every day that God will forgive our sins in the same way we forgive those who sin against us.

Here, this isn’t a direct quote of Jesus but I think it gets to His point: You have heard it said, “love the sinner but hate the sin” but I say unto you, “love the sinner, hate your own sin.”

We get it wrong when we confuse sharing the Gospel with explaining to unbelievers what their sin is. 

If we’re going to share the Gospel, we need to know what it is. Here it is, try to remember this: The Gospel is everything God does for you through Jesus that you can’t do for yourself. Everything else is law. Everything else points out your sin—other people’s sin. If it’s something we’re supposed to do or not do, it’s law. And if it’s up to us, something we’re supposed to do, we can all be sure that we’re going to screw it up. And anytime we screw something up, we have sinned. We’re all sinners. Every one of us. We sin, and sin leads to death. If we die in our sin, we do not inherit the kingdom of God. Every sin, even the smallest, most accidental kind, leaves a deadly stain on us—there’s no way for us to scrub it off. It’s impossible.

So the Gospel is Jesus doing the impossible—doing for us what we can’t do for ourselves. He removes the stain of sin. Washes you clean. He takes your sin on Himself and takes your condemnation—so that you can die in His sinless perfection—so that you can be resurrected to eternal life and live in the glory of God without your sin burning you up. You can live in the kingdom of heaven.

What did you do to make that happen? Nothing. Someone told you about what Jesus did for you and you thought that sounded pretty good. Your sins are forgiven—it’s a good deal. Free is good.

So now it’s your job to share that amazing truth, the Gospel, with all the pagan unbelievers who are heading to their graves, stained with the same deadly sin you were stained with, everyone without faith in the Gospel of Jesus. They haven’t heard the Good news yet. They don’t believe yet.

And we’re all like, “Hey, you lost sinner, you need to hear the good news.” They wince and get ready for the strange Christian to say something super awkward, “Okay? What’s the good news?” And we blast them with, “You’re a sinner and going to hell!” 

I heard someone say one time, “if that’s the good news, what’s the bad news?”

We need to figure out how to share the actual Gospel with people, without turning it into condemnation.

I’m not saying we don’t acknowledge sin. We do. Sin is sin. God defines what sin is and what it’s not. He’s pretty clear. It’s certainly not our job to water what He says down. We don’t ignore it and we don’t look for loopholes. But when it comes to sharing our faith with unbelievers, we need to love the sinner and hate our own sin. If you attack their sin first, they’ll think you’re attacking them. They probably like their sin. I’ll bet you like your sins, too. I’ll bet some of your favorite things to do are sin, too. I know mine are. I could make a big long list of things I really like to do that God says very clearly are no good. 

Don’t look for loopholes. Don’t try to hide your own sin. Maybe the best way to share grace with other people is by talking about your struggles—your own sin. How Jesus has taken away our struggles with shame and guilt.

One of the biggest problems we face in the time we live in is that people don’t think sin exists. There’s no such thing as sin. They pretend like God doesn’t exist. And if He doesn’t exist, then who defines what sin is and what it’s not? No one. Everyone. At the end of that little wild goose chase of logic, the only sin people end up believing in is the sin of telling someone else that what they’re doing is wrong. Judging other people’s behavior is considered to be the worst thing you can do in our society. Calling someone a sinner is our the highest crime—it’s the only sin.

And then we, the church, are so eager to stand up and accuse people who sin in different ways than we do, to label THEM as sinners. How dare those pagans who don’t know about the love and grace of God, how dare they act like people who don’t know about the love and grace of God!

Here’s a funny thing. The name “Satan” means the “accuser.” See, that’s supposed to be his job, to go around accusing people of being sinners. But he tricked all of us into doing his job for him. Clever little beast, isn’t he?

Jesus knew this was going to be our biggest problem. He knew it was going to be the biggest stumbling block to people hearing His message of grace and forgiveness. That’s why He told us not to do it. Do not judge.

Jesus came to bring a ministry of repentance and forgiveness. Turn away from your sin, turn toward Jesus, and be forgiven. No shame. No condemnation. No judgment. 

So that’s how we’re supposed to do, too. Everywhere we go, with everyone we meet. Lead with compassion and grace. Not judgment.

Church should be the least judgmental place on earth. A place where no one is canceled—let all the demons in the godless world out there cancel each other over all their petty offenses against each other. But everyone is accepted here. No exceptions. You. Me. All of us.

Love the sinner. Hate your own sin. Once all those sinners become a disciple, Jesus will start working on them, too—you don’t need to worry about that. 

Okay, moving on, remember this is still the same sermon, Jesus is not changing topics.

Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” Luke 6:38

Ever heard a sermon use this verse to talk about tithing? Not what He’s talking about. Jesus is still talking about giving forgiveness. Compassion. Giving away His mercy and grace to sinners. Not judging them. Not condemning them. You want God’s mercy to be poured into your lap? With the measure you use, it will be measured to you.

He also told them this parable: “Can the blind lead the blind? Will they not both fall into a pit?
Luke 6:39

Self-righteousness makes us blind. Being judgmental makes us blind. Looking at other people’s sin makes us jerks. If we look at the world through the lens of condemnation, we’ll just fall into a pit and only lead other people to fall into the same pit with us. 

If we stand on the corner with signs that say God hates, for example, certain kinds of sinners or certain kinds of sins—you know what I’m talking about—we’re just leading people into the pit. If we walk around trying to scare people into turning or burning, wearing sandwich boards that say “the end is near!” It’s all just the blind leading the blind. That’s not how Jesus told us to make disciples in His name.

Remember, all that stuff about loving your enemy from last week? Doing good to people who aren’t nice to you? Turning the other cheek? Treating people the way you wish they would treat you? All those things Jesus did that ended up with Him on a cross praying for God to forgive the people who were murdering Him? Paying for all the sins and awful things that He didn’t do?

That’s the same way He wants us to make disciples. By treating people better than they treat us. Like He did.

 The student is not above the teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like their teacher. Luke 6:40

See? When you’re an actual disciple of Jesus, you’ll treat people like He did. Then He makes a really funny analogy to drive home the point about how ugly self-righteousness is:

“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? How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when you yourself fail to see the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye. Luke 6:41-42

The image is ridiculous. Someone with a giant tree log sticking out of their face walking around nit-picking sawdust out other people’s eyes. Acting like they’re doing it out of kindness too, “Brother, let me help me with that spec.” But everyone sees how absurd the self-righteous jerk is being. That’s how they got blind in the first place. And they’re going to make everyone else blind, too. This is how we look to unbelievers when we start conversions about Jesus by pointing out their sin. Our very obvious sin of self-righteous, judgmental, condemnation, and satanic accusation is sticking out of our eyes like a neon sign that says “I’m a hateful idiot!” 

We’re not supposed to act like we’re holier than thou. How about if we DON’T call ourselves names the “moral majority” as if our sins don’t stink and we’ve cornered the market on morality. Little humility might go a long way. 

Love the sinner. Hate your own sin. If we judge ourselves no one else has to do it for us.
1 Corinthians 11:31 says

“if we judge ourselves truly, we won’t be judged.” 

Moving on, but Jesus still hasn’t changed the subject.

“No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thorn bushes, or grapes from briers. A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of. Luke 6:43-45

It’s easy to see what most people are full of. 

This little parable means the opposite of how some people take this verse. They think we’re supposed to become fruit inspectors. Checking ourselves, checking other people for good fruit to see if they’re a real Christian or not. Causing us to doubt the grace Jesus has shown us. Making other people doubt the grace He’s shown them. That’s completely backward.

Jesus is talking about what people need from you. They need His forgiveness. Stop acting like a thorn bush or a brier patch. They’re not going to find you good fruit behind your Judgy McJudgeface.

What’s the good fruit Jesus is looking for here? What do people need from us? Grace. Forgiveness. Mercy. Showing kindness to people who are not kind to you. Has God shown you grace? Forgiveness? Mercy? Draw from all that goodness that God has shown you through Jesus—use His words of grace when you’re talking with someone who’s sinned against you and made you angry.

And if you’re not going to try and do these things, don’t say you’re a Jesus follower. Is that too harsh? If you’re not going to try to curb your mean social media posts blasting people who don’t look like proper Christians to you—If you're going to keep walking around like your sins don’t stink and everyone is just an annoying nuisance to you—maybe you should stop calling yourself a Christian. Stay home on Sundays like a proper pagan. What else do you think Jesus means by this next verse…

“Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say? As for everyone who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice, I will show you what they are like. They are like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built. But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete.” Luke 6:46-49

At least make an attempt to follow Jesus’ basic instructions. If not, then we’re like a guy who builds his house without a foundation. A fool. 

Your life needs a foundation, too. You need to build it on something that makes sense. Jesus is like, “I’m giving you gold here people!” This is how I created the world to work. It’s how your life is supposed to work. It’s how discipleship works. It’s how being the church works. It doesn’t work any other way.

You can keep walking around like a child throwing temper tantrums. Like self-righteous jerks. Like selfish, greedy demons. It’s not the way of Jesus—it’s the way of a fool—but you can keep poisoning your faith. Keep on pushing people to hate Jesus and His church. See what that does for your life, your family, your community, your country. Keep ruining everything with your complete rebellion against everything the Lord Jesus Christ has told you to do. Keep choosing death instead of life. Darkness instead of light. Evil instead of love.

Jesus says if you do, you’re choosing destruction. Complete destruction. You’re choosing to be blind and walk into the pit and you're trying to drag people down with you.

But how about this instead. How about if you hear His words. Believe His words. And then do what He said, try to put them into practice.

You’re not going to get it perfect. Good grief. That’s not going to happen. Why do think this whole “Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven” why else do you think that’s so important?

Jesus came to bring a ministry of repentance and forgiveness. Does repentance mean to turn away from your sin? Sure. Of course. But more importantly, it means to turn toward Jesus. Not to turn toward different sins. When you hear His Word, His voice, learn to recognize it, respond to it. That’s what “repentance” means. He calls your name. He says you are forgiven. You look up and acknowledge He’s speaking to you.

Yeah, you sinned. That’s why you need to be forgiven. That’s why you need to turn away from the sin and turn toward Him.

So, He says, “Hey, you with the heart full of anger and shame and judgment for everyone who annoys you—look here.” And here’s what you see when you look up from your obsession with whatever had you so mesmerized and upset. You look up, and you see mercy. No condemnation. No judgment. No shame. No guilt. Just forgiveness. Jesus, your Savior and Lord. He forgives your sins. Even your favorite ones, the ones you keep going back to. Your Savior is very merciful to you. 

And then your Lord has some very particular things planned for the rest of your day—for your week. He’s lined up a few sinners and a bunch of meanies to cross paths with you. They’re really going to bug you. Go get em! Show them what you’re made of. Show them what you’ve got because of what Jesus gave you. Here’s a hint: love and compassion are a really good start. AMEN