Sermon on the Plain: Seeing Clearly - a podcast by Rev. W. Reid Hankins

Sermon preached on Luke 6: 37-42 by Rev. W. Reid Hankins during the Morning Worship Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 10/17/2021 in Novato, CA.















Sermon Manuscript







We continue today working through the Sermon on the Plain which runs through the end of this chapter in Luke. And I’m summarizing today’s message from it with the title of “Seeing Clearly”. That’s language Jesus used in verse 42. That idea of seeing clearly is useful for all the parts of today’s passage. We need to see clearly when it comes to the attitude we have toward others, especially in matters where we are wanting to find fault with them. We need to see clearly with regard to the teachers we have, even as we want our teachers to be able to see clearly themselves. We need to see clearly about our own sins and faults, so that we can see that we need the grace of God in Jesus Christ. Let us then dig into our passage and see how God’s Word will minster today again on our spiritual eyesight.







Let’s begin in our first point in verses 37-38 dealing with the measure we use with others. Here we find four parallel admonitions that Jesus gives. First, he speaks negatively against two things, regarding judging and condemning. Then, he speaks positively for two things, regarding forgiving and giving. The parallelism he uses is along the lines of what you find in Hebrew poetry. Indeed, the prophets often would speak in poetic ways, and Jesus’ rhetoric here shows such.







Let me begin by noting that verse 37 is one of the most commonly misused verses in the whole Bible. I have seen so many people quote Jesus here and think that he is saying we should not judge others, ever. To be fair, he does in fact say, “judge not, and you will not be judged.” But as I’ve been pointing out as we work through the Sermon on the Plain, Jesus often uses gives rather absolute-sounding declarations that need to be rightly understood and applied. It really is part of the poetic rhetoric and preaching style Jesus uses here. And so, taken on its own, in isolation, you might simplistically conclude that Jesus is commanding that we should never make judgments about others. But Scripture has to interpret Scripture. The Bible repeatedly calls us to make all sorts of judgments throughout life. That is even right here in our own passage. As we’ll consider in our third point, Jesus calls to consider who is and isn’t a worthy spiritual leader in our life. We need to discern that some would-be leaders in your life would just be blind guides. You can’t make such a determination unless you make some judgments.







So then, what is Jesus getting at when he gives these four admonitions against judging and condemning and for forgiving and giving? Well, we need to see it in the context of last week’s passage that called us to love our enemies and to give them good even if they give us bad. Last week we saw Jesus teach us to not reciprocate evil for evil, but instead to give good to those who give us evil. He summarized this with that golden rule principle in verse 31, that we should do to others, what we wish they would do to us. So, the context is dealing with matters of reciprocity. Jesus taught us to go beyond what the heathen do in terms of reciprocity. Don’t just give them what they give you. Do better than them. So then, Jesus continues to deal with this concept here. Do you want someone to always be finding fault with you? Do you want someone to always coming to you criticizing you and saying how wrong you are? Do you want someone to treating you with a censorious spirit and hyper-critical with you and harsh in their judgments and holding every little thing against you? Do you want someone to always go around acting like they are more righteous than you and that you always fall short in their eyes of the righteousn...

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