Quick Answer
This teaching from Matthew 7 explains that judging others starts with a critical, condemning posture we were never meant to hold. Instead of assuming the worst, believers are called to examine their own hearts first, then lovingly help others become who God made them to be.
Key Takeaways
- Judgment wears two faces: a sudden verdict or an ongoing critical spirit.
- Jesus calls us down from the seat of judgment because only he judges with perfect justice.
- Before pointing out the speck in someone else’s eye, we must remove the plank of pride from our own.
- The gospel gives us the verdict of being loved before we perform, freeing us from needing to prove ourselves right.
- Jesus calls us to see others as image bearers to be restored, not problems to be fixed.
- Loving correction requires wisdom—sometimes it speaks, sometimes it listens, and sometimes it trusts a person to God.
What does Matthew 7 teach about judging others?
This morning I want to walk us through Matthew chapter 7, starting in verse one, because I think judging others is something we do more often than we realize, and it’s sneaky. Judgment can wear two faces. Sometimes it’s a verdict like a gavel coming down in a single moment, and we’ve decided, ‘that’s who this person is.’ But just as often, maybe even more commonly, it shows up as a critical spirit that doesn’t say much out loud but shows up as an eye roll, a sigh, or a quiet story we tell ourselves about someone.
Back when I was in college, I had to take a particular Spanish class for my minor, and there was only one professor who taught it. Her reputation preceded her, and the class was known for being brutal, mainly because of her. I had never even spoken to her before, but I had formed a confident opinion and walked into that first class with my guard up, looking to prove what I already knew was true. Long story short, I ended up loving the class and loving her. She became one of my favorite professors, which is not at all where I expected that story to go.
I had judged her before she even had an opportunity to teach me, and I learned something important: getting to know the actual person will disrupt the story we’ve already written. Jesus, in all his kindness and goodness, wants to free us from both kinds of judgment. He understands our human tendency to do this, and he’s going to be abundantly clear.
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.
Matthew 7:1-2
What does it mean to “come down from the seat” of judgment?
Jesus calls us deeper into the life we were made for through three movements in this passage: first he calls us down from the seat, second he clears our vision from the inside out, and third, once we can see, he sends us to see others the way he sees them.
It’s helpful to start with what Jesus is not saying. He’s not forbidding every kind of moral discernment—verse six later in this chapter actually requires discernment, and he tells us elsewhere to recognize a false prophet by their fruit. The word he uses here for judge means to pass a final verdict, to condemn. He’s confronting the part of us that assumes the worst, reduces people to labels, and passes judgment, whether that’s a loud verdict or a quiet, constant critical spirit.
I love the way pastor and theologian John Stott puts it: the command to judge not is not a requirement to be blind, but rather a plea to be generous. Jesus is teaching us to see another person truthfully without putting ourselves in the place of God.
Once you begin to make up your mind about someone, you start interpreting everything through that story and that lens, and you stop being curious about what’s actually going on. That’s someone who has traded verdict for curiosity.
Sadly, this has become our reputation. The Barna Group asked young people outside the church what came to mind when they thought about Christians, and the top word at 87% was judgmental. Judgment isn’t just something we do, it’s a place we sit, and there is only one person who judges with perfect justice, and it’s not us—it’s Jesus himself.
I do not like that man. I must get to know him better.
Abraham Lincoln
Why does Jesus tell us to remove the plank from our own eye first?
Jesus doesn’t stop at calling us down from the seat; he turns it inward. I was thinking this week, if I had something stuck in my eye and went to the optometrist, and that optometrist walked in clearly unable to see, stumbling around trying to grab their instruments, I would not let that person touch my eyeball.
Jesus turns that image on us: this is what we look like when we’re sitting in a seat we weren’t made to sit in. The speck may be real, but the person trying to help can’t see clearly because they’re operating from a posture that isn’t actually helpful.
Then Jesus calls us hypocrites, a word that was actually a theater term meaning an actor playing a role behind a mask. The hypocrisy isn’t that we have sin—each of us has our stuff and we’re all people in process. The hypocrisy is putting on a mask as someone qualified to fix everything while refusing to look within.
Years ago I walked through some tough relational things with friends over a difference in parenting styles. Looking back, I can see the posture I was viewing everything from, as someone who had it all figured out. The plank wasn’t that I noticed something; the plank was the pride in me that thought I could see the whole situation and the whole person perfectly clear, and being right about them became more important than loving them.
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, let me take the speck out of your eye, when all the time there is a plank in your own eye, you hypocrite. First take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.
Matthew 7:3-5
Judging others makes us blind, whereas love is illuminating.
Bonhoeffer
How does the gospel free us from a critical, judgmental spirit?
So what gives us the courage to examine ourselves honestly and remove the plank? I was drawn to David’s prayer in Psalm 139: ‘Search me, God, know my heart, see if there is any offensive way in me.’ You open your heart to God and ask him to reveal what’s there, and the Holy Spirit will be faithful to show you if something needs to be transformed.
When something in us gets exposed, our reaction typically isn’t gratitude—it’s to hide, deny, explain, or compare. But the gospel gives us another way. God is the righteous judge and sin matters, but the good news is that the judge left his seat and came down. At the cross, Jesus did not ignore sin or deny judgment; he absorbed it. He didn’t condemn guilty people from a distance—he stood in our place and received the measure we deserved.
The judgment that matters most has already been spoken over you as a dearly loved child of God. Because Jesus carried our condemnation, we don’t have to hide or put on a religious exterior. Exposure in the presence of Jesus does not end in rejection—it ends in healing and freedom and life. When our identity is secure in Christ, correction no longer has to feel like condemnation.
Search me, God, know my heart, see if there is any offensive way in me.
Psalm 139
The gospel is the only thing that delivers the verdict before the performance.
Tim Keller
What does it mean to see others as image bearers?
Once Jesus clears our vision, he sends us to finally see others. It’s so much easier to give mercy when you’ve truly received mercy. The word for ‘see clearly’ here means to see all the way through, with the obstruction gone. Jesus doesn’t clear our vision so we can become better critics—he means seeing people as image-bearing souls who matter to God, not a problem to fix or a label to confirm, but someone he is making new.
Then we’re able to help restore, and that word restoration is worth pausing on. To restore something is to bring it into wholeness, like remodeling an old house or restoring a classic car—you don’t throw it out, you bring it back to what it was made to be. Paul reaches for a word used for setting a broken bone or mending a torn fishing net: careful, gentle, but aimed at making something whole again. That’s what loving correction really is.
The author Andy Crouch tells a story I come back to often. Stuck in an airport with a couple hours to kill, he decided to walk the terminals and turn it into a prayer, saying ‘image bearer’ over every person he passed—a weary man in a suit, a soldier, a mom pushing a stroller, even a rude airline employee. That was with strangers he’d never see again, which is the easy version. The hard version is doing it with people you know, the coworker who drives you crazy, the family member across the table, the one whose story you’ve already written.
All the way back in Genesis, God tells us he made human beings in his own image. The person in front of you isn’t just a problem or a personality or the sum of their worst moments—they carry something of God in them, someone he made, loves, and is at work in. When Jesus clears our vision, people stop becoming a problem to be judged and start being seen as what was actually already true: an image bearer to be honored and loved and called into the fullness of life with Jesus.
What does Jesus mean by not throwing pearls to pigs in Matthew 7:6?
Before we end, Jesus adds something in verse six. To first-century ears, dogs and pigs were unclean animals, and what’s sacred is what’s holy. The picture is don’t force sacred truth, don’t force correction, don’t force the message of the kingdom on someone who’s set on trampling it.
It can feel like Jesus changed the subject here, but he’s actually giving the passage balance. Humility doesn’t mean the absence of wise discernment, and loving correction doesn’t mean forcing truth on a person determined to reject it. Sometimes wisdom listens, sometimes wisdom speaks, and sometimes wisdom looks like trusting a person to God—not giving up on them, just remembering we’re not their savior.
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 turn and tear you to pieces.
Matthew 7:6
How can I practically stop judging others and start seeing them like Jesus?
So what do we do with this passage? We come down, we look within, and then we see others the way Jesus intended. This week I was drawn to three questions to help us live this out. First: what posture am I seeing with—a critical spirit and condemning judgment, or humble love? Second: where does my vision need to be cleared—what plank is Jesus inviting me to bring to him? Third: where can I humbly help—is Jesus illuminating someone he’s inviting me to come alongside of in a courageous conversation?
Here’s a simple practice to carry this week. When you think of that person whose story you’ve already written, before the criticism comes, try saying it first: image bearer. It’s really hard to stay in the seat above them when you’ve just called them the image of God.
Here’s the beauty of what we do every week when we come to the communion table: it reminds us the judge did not stay distant. Jesus gave his body and poured out his blood for us; he stood in the place of the judge and carried the condemnation we deserved. Because of that, we don’t have to hide from whatever he wants to reveal. Before you take the bread and the cup, invite Jesus to search your heart—is there someone whose story you’ve already decided, is there a plank he wants to remove and heal—not to shame you, but to bring you into the life you were made for.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does “do not judge” mean in Matthew 7?
It doesn’t mean we stop discerning what’s true; the word Jesus uses means passing a final verdict or condemning someone, and he’s confronting the tendency to assume the worst and reduce people to labels.
What is the plank and speck in Matthew 7:3-5?
The speck is a real flaw that may exist in someone else, while the plank represents the larger issue in our own heart, like pride, that keeps us from seeing that person clearly and lovingly.
Why does Jesus call the critical person a hypocrite?
Because “hypocrite” was a theater term for an actor playing a role, and the hypocrisy is putting on a mask of being qualified to fix others while refusing to look within at our own sin.
How does the gospel help us stop judging others?
Because Jesus, the righteous judge, left his seat and absorbed our judgment at the cross, we already have the verdict of being loved before we perform, so we don’t have to hide or judge others from a place of fear.
What does “image bearer” mean in this teaching?
It means seeing every person as someone made in God’s image, carrying something of God in them, rather than seeing them as a problem to fix or a label to confirm.
What does Jesus mean about not throwing pearls to pigs in Matthew 7:6?
It means loving correction requires wisdom—not forcing sacred truth on someone determined to reject it, but sometimes listening, sometimes speaking, and trusting a person to God.
Watch the full Ethos Church gathering to hear this teaching on judging others from Matthew 7 in its entirety.
Read the full transcript
Heat. Heat. Hey, good morning. How’s everybody doing this morning? Slowly waking up. Feel the same. Hey, let’s take a second and just get our hearts and minds focused in on the Lord. I’m going to read from Isaiah 40 as we begin.
Lord, we come into your presence this morning. We honor you. We’re grateful for the work that you’ve done in each of our lives, God. We thank you for your invitation to live life with you, to commune with you. And this morning, we just draw near to you, come into your presence as your people to exalt you, to worship you.
I waited patiently for the Lord. He inclined to me and he heard my cry. He drew me up out of the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog. And he set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure. He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and put their trust in the Lord. Blessed is the man who makes the Lord his trust, who does not turn to the proud, to those who go astray after a liar. You have multiplied, oh Lord, my God, your wondrous deeds and your thoughts towards us. None can compare to you. I will proclaim and tell of them, yet they are more than can be told.
And sacrifice and offering you have not delighted, but you have given me an open ear. Burnt offering and sin offering you have not required. Then I said, “Behold, I have come. In the scroll of the book, it is written of me. I delight to do your will, oh my God. Your law is within my heart. May all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you. May those who love your salvation say continually, ‘Great is the Lord.’
As for me, I am poor in need, but the Lord, he takes thought for me. You’re my help and my deliverer. Do not delay, oh my God. Lord, we come into your presence with singing this morning. May you be glorified in every word that comes out of our mouths. Name of Jesus. The dwelling of your presence is what we’ve always wanted. The movement of your spirit is what we’re longing for. We’ve come to bring you glory, all the adoration. You deserve the highest praise.
Worship and song 6 min mark
With our hearts wide open, our hands held out, we see your beauty in our voices cry. King of kings and Lord of lords. You’re the one who came before. We worship you. We worship you, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. You’re the one hearts adore. We worship you. We worship you. Come on, sit down. Gave your blood and body to pay the sinner’s ransom. Dignity was poured out for the ones you love. So how could we not sing out for all you’ve done to save us? For you deserve the highest praise.
With our hearts wide open and our heads alive, we see your beard. And our voices cry with our hearts wide open and our hands out. We see your beauty and our voice is cry. King of kings and lord of lords. You’re the one who came here before. We worship you. We worship you. King of kings, lord of lords. You’re the one who hearts adore. We worship you. Oh, we worship you. We worship you. We love you. We all of the glory and honor and power be unto your name. Unto your name.
All of the glory and honor and power be unto your name. Unto your name. All of the glory and honor and power be unto your name. Unto your name. All of the glory and honor and power be unto your name. Unto your name. All of the glory and honor and power be unto your name. Unto your name. All of the glory and honor and power be unto your name. Unto your name. All of the glory and honor and power be unto your name. Unto your name. All of the glory and honor and power unto your name.
King of kings, Lord of lords. You’re the one we came here before. We worship you. We worship you. King, King of Kings, Lord of Lords. You’re the one who hearts adore. We worship you. Yeah, we worship you. All of the glory, honor, power to your name. I see your name. All of the glory, honor, power to your name. To your name. All the victory and honor and power be unto your name. Unto your name.
Unto your name. Name of Jes. Yes, you are. Yes, you are. All of the glory and honor and power to your name. Unto your name. All of the glory and honor and power be unto your name. Unto your name. All of the glory and honor and power be unto your name. Unto your name. All of their glory and honor and power be your name.
Fix your eyes on Jesus. Behold the one radiance splendor of every living thing. You are the word. You are the light. You are the face of God. Oh, you’re beautiful. Oh, you’re beautiful. Behold the man of grace and truth, the image of the father’s outstretched hand. Desire to love the sacrifice. We sing the face of God. Sing it out. Oh, you’re beautiful. You’re beautiful. Oh, you’re beautiful. Oh Jesus. Oh, you’re beautiful. So, so beautiful.
The angels cry out this unending song. Fully is the Lord God Almighty. We all bow down in wonder and awe forever. We’ll sing of your beautiful sing. Angels cry out this unending song, holy is the Lord God Almighty. We all bow down in wonder and awe. Forever we will sing of your beauty. The angels cry out his unending song. Holy is the Lord God Almighty. We all wonder sing. Oh, you’re beautiful.
Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Glory is the God Almighty. We all wonder forever. We will sing your beauty. Forever we sing. We’ll sing of We fall down. We lay our crowns at the feet of Jesus. The greatness of your mercy and love at the feet of Jesus. And we cry holy, holy, holy. We cry holy, holy, holy. Oh, I give Maybe we’ve made this complicated more than it was ever meant to be.
Returning to simplicity 19 min mark
Hasn’t it always been about the same things? Lord, bring us back to simple things. And you be the center of it all. My heart belongs to you, my savior. Falling on. You’re the one I hold on to. For the beauty of your name. My soul live to say, “Jesus, I love you. Teach us to discern the moment when to serve and when to sit here at your feet. Keep us awake to what’s important. Just like Mary shows the better thing. For you are the center of it all.
My heart belongs to you. My savior all and all. You’re the one I hold on to. For the beauty of your name, my soul will live to save. Jesus, I love you. For you are the center of it all. My heart belongs to you. My savior all and all. You’re the one I hold on to. For the beauty of your name, my soul will live to sing. Jesus, I love you. Oh, how I love you. Oh, how I love you, Jesus. I love you. Oh, how I love you. Sing it out. Oh, how I love you, Jesus. I love you my whole life, my whole life.
For your glory, my whole world, for you all the everything, for the honor of your name. And if my days tell a story, let it be of you only everything for the honor of your name. My whole life for your glory. My whole world for you all everything for the honor of your name. And if my days tell a story, let it be. Are you everything for the honor of your name? My heart for your glory my heart for you everything for the name is my Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Is my sto of your name. Long for the honor of your name. Jesus I love.
Oh, how I love you. Oh, how I love you. Oh, how I love you, Jesus. I love you. Oh, how we love you. Oh, how we love you. Oh, how we love you, Jesus. We love you. You be the center of it all. My heart belongs to you. My savior all and all. You’re the one I hold on to. For the beauty of your name, my soul will live to say, “Jesus, I love you. Jesus I Good morning, ethos.
Scripture reading from Matthew 7 26 min mark
You guys can follow along with me for the reading of God’s word in Matthew 7, starting in verse one. 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. 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, “Let me take the speck out of your eye,” when all the time there is a plank in your own eye, you hypocrite, “First, take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye. 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 turn and tear you to pieces.” This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
Introduction and welcome 27 min mark
Give a thanks to Karen and the rest of the team for leading us this morning. Hey, before you grab a seat, I want to invite you to just find someone around you, say hello, make them feel welcome this morning as as we begin our time in the word together. Hey, if you don’t have a Bible, now’s a great time to grab one. You can grab a Bible from any of the tables around the room. We’re going to be in Matthew chapter 7, as Karen just read this morning. Excited to to jump into the word together.
If I have not met you yet, my name is Andrew. I’m one of the pastors here. Um, and one of the things I I get the joy of helping oversee is um, disciplehip. And so I want to let you know about something specific that’s happening o over the next month. And we’ve already
New grow classes starting in July 28 min mark
Been talking about it, but there’s actually three new grow classes that are starting this month. And so, um, if you weren’t able to sign up for any of the grow classes that happened in June, uh, don’t worry. Uh, you didn’t miss your chance. We actually have three grow classes that haven’t even begun yet that are starting uh, in July. And so, NextGen prayer is coming up. So, all the parents in the room, uh, this is a class that’s designed to help you pray with your kids more wholeheartedly, learn how to pray with your kids and take them into the heart of Jesus. We have, uh, apologetics and sharing your faith. And so, this is a grow class that’s aimed to help you um, understand, hey, what does it actually mean to share your faith? How do you do that? And also speaking to the apologetic side of things. It’s really awesome. If you’ve never taken Dave Dave Wilson’s class, it’s one you need to one you need to take. And then we’re also going to be jumping into gifts of the spirit. And so we actually did this two years ago. Um and the class filled up. And so we’re we’re coming back to the gifts of the spirit class. And so if you’ve never kind of dove into this topic, gifts, um how to use your gifts to the glory of God, this would be a great one for you to jump into.
Um you can do that really simply by going to ethosurch.org/grow um and jump in. And before we jump in, let me just say if like ethos is your home, if this is if this is your place, disciplehip to Jesus doesn’t just happen on Sunday mornings. Um we really believe like these areas of focused formation, these places to like grow maybe a little more intensely around a topic are very much needed for our spiritual growth. And so if you find yourself, you’re like, I’ve actually never participated in a grow class, man, I would really encourage you to jump in and do that. Um, that is going to be one of the ways that we really feel like disciplehip to to Jesus flourishes when we get in these smaller pockets of community and go after something a little more intensely. So, encourage you to sign up for that.
Opening prayer 30 min mark
I’m excited to jump into the word this morning, but I want to take a moment and just pray, just to pause and pray before we open up uh the word together. And so, Father, I I do I want to just take a moment to all just humbly come before you and acknowledging the gift of your word. Man, I I I I realize even just now in this moment how how for granted I take your actual words, Jesus, and that that we get to come to words that you spoke and that we get to sit under words that you spoke and trusting and believing that your words actually come to bring life, abundance, the life that we were made for. And so I I ask, Holy Spirit, will you help us to to to hear the word that we need to hear this morning? Jesus, will you be so present? Will you draw near right now, even in this moment? We just acknowledge that that you are real, that you are alive, and that you love you love every single person sitting here this morning. Like that you actually see them. You actually know them. You know them by name. You know their story. You know their heart. You know their struggles. So Jesus, may we just receive your ministry this morning as we open up your word. As we open up your words from Matthew chapter 7. It’s in Jesus name I pray. Amen.
Story about the Spanish professor 32 min mark
Back was back when I was in college, I had to take a particular Spanish class for my minor. And unfortunately there there was only one professor who taught it. And I say unfortunately because her reputation really preceded her and this class was known for being absolutely brutal and mainly because of her. Um now the truth is I I had never actually taken one of her classes before. I had never even spoken to her before. But somehow I had formed a pretty confident opinion. And so like any brave man would do, I went looking for a way around it. Um, could I substitute something else? Could I actually take this class elsewhere and transfer the credit in? Do I need to change my minor? I actually considered changing my minor, but there was absolutely no way around it, unfortunately, where I was at. And so, I walked in first week of class with my guard absolutely up, looking to prove what what I already knew was true, right? Long story short, do you know what happened? I ended up loving the class. I ended up loving her. In fact, she became one of my favorite professors, which is not at all where I expected that story to go.
See, I had judged her before she even had an opportunity to teach me. And I learned something really important in this moment. Getting to know the actual person will disrupt the story that we’ve already written. Getting to know the actual person will disrupt the story that we’ve already told ourselves.
Judgment and critical spirit 33 min mark
And here’s what I was hit with this week as I dove into this incredible passage. We do this more often than we realize and it’s sneaky. And I think judgment can can wear two faces. Man, sometimes it’s a verdict like the gavl comes down and in a single moment we’ve decided, “Oh, that’s who this person is.” But just as often, I think just as often and maybe honestly more common, it comes in as a critical spirit. Man, it doesn’t say much out loud, but maybe it shows up as an eye roll or maybe it shows up as a sigh or maybe it shows up as this quiet story that we’re telling ourselves about that person, whoever that person is for you. It’s one moment or it could be a mood or it could be this ongoing critical spirit. Either way, here’s what a judgmental spirit does. It takes a little moment, takes the little that it sees, and it pretends that it knows the whole person.
And Jesus in all his kindness and all his goodness, he wants to free us from both. He understands our human tendency to do this right? He understand it and he’s going to name it and he’s going to be abundantly clear. He’s going to say, “Hey, do not judge or you too will be judged.” He knows judgment can actually feel like clarity. It can feel like, man, I really see what’s going on. And here’s the question that’s confronted me all week, and I want to bring it to you. What if the very thing that’s making us feel clears is actually the thing that’s making us blind?
Three movements in Matthew 7 35 min mark
So Jesus and all his brilliance and wisdom understanding the human heart, he calls us deeper into the life that we were made for, who we were made to be. And so in Matthew chapter 7, he does so in three movements. And here’s the three movements I want to take us through this passage. First, he’s going to call us down from the seat. He’s going to call us down from the seat. Second, he’s going to clear our vision from the inside out. And third, once we can actually see, he’s going to send us to see others. To see others the way that he sees them, to come alongside of them, to help restore them to who they were made to be. So here’s our three movements. To come down, to look in, and to see others. Let’s let’s jump back into the text.
Do not judge 36 min mark
Verse one, Jesus says this. He says, “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 used, it will be measured to you. All summer long, this is what we’ve been doing. We’ve been in the Sermon on the Mount. And Jesus has just been relentlessly going after our hearts, taking what’s beneath the surface, what everyone else can’t see, and showing us what’s actually happening within. Now, he’s taking in this passage that same heart work, that same deep work, that same below the surface work, and he’s going to turn it outside to how we see others.
The problem isn’t here that we that we see something wrong. The the problem isn’t that that we notice something because sometimes something’s real in a brother or sister. The question is what happens in us once we see it. What happens in us once we actually see it? Do do we move towards that person in humility? Do we do we move towards that person with a genuine desire to come alongside of or do we very quickly place ourselves above them assume the worst and judge them from a distance? So this is where Jesus is going to begin the first movement. Jesus is going to invite us to come down from the seat. And this was a seat that we were never intended to sit in.
What Jesus is not saying 37 min mark
Now, sometimes I actually think it’s helpful to start out with what Jesus is not saying. It’s like, okay, what is Jesus not saying here? He’s not forbidding every kind of moral discernment. That’s where this passage, I think, sometimes gets twisted and misused. Verse 6, which we’ll get to, requires discernment later in this chapter, later in Matthew chapter 7, we’ll get to it in a few weeks. He tells us to recognize a false prophet by their fruit. In fact, uh the word he uses here for judge means to more or less like pass a final verdict to to condemn. He’s not telling us he’s not telling us to stop seeing what’s true. Not at all. He’s confronting the part of us that just assumes the worst, reduces people to labels, and passes a judgment. Whether that
comes as a loud verdict or that comes as a quiet constant critical spirit of every place you step into, every person you see, every situation you find yourself in, do you find yourself with a constant critical spirit or do you come humbly to that person in that situation? I love the way pastor and theologian John Stop puts it. He said, “This the command to judge not is not a requirement to be blind, but rather a plea to be generous.” See, Jesus is teaching us to see another person truthfully without putting ourselves in the place of God. So, let’s talk a little bit about how that that judgmental that critical spirit works. It’s not always like the gavl coming down in one moment. A lot of the times I think it’s just a posture. It’s it’s one you carry a posture you carry into conversations, into a meeting, into your own home, man. And it happens so quickly. It’s like you decide in a moment, man. You know what’s best. You have all the perspective. And suddenly you know what’s best for everyone around you. And someone makes a decision that wouldn’t match what you do. And just like that, man, they’ve got it wrong. Someone says something in a conversation to you and before they’ve even finished, you’re already decided why they’re wrong and why you’re right and how you have all the perspective in the world. It’s assuming the worst rather than assuming the best. And let me just start by saying like I do this with the best of them. Like if Kila was here this morning, she’s coming to the 11, she would tell you like he does this with the best of them. And here’s something I found to be true when it comes to a judgmental critical spirit. Like once you begin to make your mind up about someone, you start interpreting everything through that story and everything through that lens, man. You stop being curious about what’s actually going on. And this is what a judgmental critical spirit does. It stops being curious and it assumes it already knows. How many of you, you walk into a situation, you’re having a conversation with a person, you step into a room, you step into house church, and you just assume you already know everything that’s going on? How many of you are familiar with this frustratingly mature quote from Abraham Lincoln? It goes like this. I do not like that man. I must get to know him better. I do not like that man. I must get to know him better. Man, that is someone who has traded verdict for curiosity. This is this is what coming down from the seat actually sounds like. And the sad truth is this isn’t like my own personal struggle. This isn’t your own personal struggle. Somehow like this has become our reputation. The Barner group asked young people outside of the church what came to mind when they thought about Christians. The top word at 87% was judgmental. Now, we can unpack this for 20 or 30 minutes about why that is. We don’t have time for that this morning, but I want you to sit with that for just a second. Sit with that for just a second. The very people that Jesus came to reach, look at us. And the first word that comes to mind is the is the thing that he’s warning us about here in Matthew chapter 7. You see, judgment isn’t just something we do. It’s a place that we sit. And Jesus says, “Hey, that seat that you are sitting in when you think you have it all figured out is not the seat for you. There is only one person, one person who knows the whole story. There is only one person who judges with perfect justice, and it is not you. It’s Jesus himself.” And here’s the irony as I was thinking about this passage all week. It doesn’t even work. what you want it to do, it doesn’t actually do. Like a judgmental, critical spirit, have you ever had that change a human heart on the receiving end of that? Man, what’s it do? It blinds us and it makes the other person hide. Like if you’re ever around someone, and sometimes it can be me, but if you’re ever around someone who has a judgmental, critical spirit, man, the last thing you want to do is want to spend spend more time in that space. And you know what that feels like. Here’s the truth. The scriptures tell us it’s actually God’s kindness that leads us to repentance. It’s his kindness, not his condemnation. The scriptures also tell us there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ. And honestly, like this idea that we are to come off of the seat that only Jesus is made to sit in, this should really free us up. Like this should really bring about a lot of freedom. Let me tell you, like as someone who was teaching on that this week, I was really cognizant of my critical judgmental spirit. Turning that switch off as much as I possibly could. It was the lightest week I ever had. It was a light week cuz you know what? I just got to see people and be with people without trying to figure out why I’m right, why they’re wrong, how I have it all figured out. So when he says, “Do not judge,” he’s not saying, “Hey, stop caring about the truth.” Not at all. That’s not what he’s saying. He’s saying you don’t have to carry the burden of being God, man. And when you don’t have to carry the burden of being God, let me just tell you, life is a whole lot lighter. And you start to live as you were actually designed to live. Someone who comes alongside of to help. And then Jesus, he’s going to double down. He’s going to say, “Hey, not just do not judge, but he’s going to say the measure that you use to judge someone, to have a critical view of someone is going to be used against you.” If we’re honest, I think most of us want two different measuring systems, man. For for other people, we judge the action, right? For ourselves, we explain the intention, man. For other people, like one mistake reveals their character. For us, a mistake, it’s like, “Oh, it’s just a bad day. This is what was actually going on.” And Jesus says, “Hey, be careful. Be careful of your critical spirit. Be careful of your judgmental spirit. Don’t build your life around a kind of judgment that you yourself could not survive. Don’t criticize in a way that you yourself could not survive. And so that’s the first movement. Come down from the seat. But Jesus, he doesn’t stop there, right? What’s he going to do once again? Every time in the sermon on the mount, he’s going to turn it inward. He says, “Hey, before you become consumed with what’s happening in them, you need to stop and let me show you what’s actually happening in you.” So the second movement is this. Let Jesus clear your vision. Let Jesus clear our vision. And he’s going to start with the plank in our own eye. 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?” Like he has all sermon, Jesus is obviously using humor here. Like I actually think the original audience would have when they heard this like laughed out loud. We’re not really doing that here when we read the sermon on the mount. But I was thinking this week like if I had an eye issue, something stuck in my eye, I couldn’t get it out. I had to go to the optometrist and I’m sitting there in the chair and the optometrist walks in and they clearly can’t see very well. They’re stumbling. They’re like trying to grab their instruments. They they don’t really know what’s going on. like, “You better believe I’m not letting that person touch my eyeball. I’m not letting them get close to me.” And this is funny, but Jesus, what’s he going to do? He’s going to turn it on us. He says, “Hey, this is what you look like when you’re sitting in a seat that you weren’t made to sit in. The speck may be real. The other person may genuinely have something that they need help with. The problem is the person trying to help can’t see clearly. man, they’re sitting in a seat and they’re operating from a posture that’s not actually helpful. I love this Bonhaofer quote from the cost of disciplehip. He said this. He said, “Judging others makes us blind, whereas love is illuminating.” Man, love is illuminating. Here’s the thing. Jesus knows the gravitational pull of of our flesh, the gravitational pull of a fallen world is to become experts in other people’s flaws and strangers to our own souls and sin. I’ll say that again. Jesus knows, he understands the gravitational pull. Our tendency is going to become experts in everyone else’s flaws and strangers to the own things that are happening within us. This tendency allows us to hold on to that critical voice, that critical spirit within us if we will let it. Then Jesus once again, he’s going to come. He’s going to say, “You hypocrite.” And that word was actually a theater term. Like when you look at that word in the original language, it meant an actor, specifically someone who’s playing a role behind a mask. So the hypocrisy, hear me on this, the hypocrisy isn’t that we have sin. Like each and every one of us has our stuff. Like each and every one of us are people in process. You don’t have to be perfect. The hypocrisy is putting
on a mask as someone who’s qualified to fix everything while refusing while refusing to look within. Man, quite a few years back, I was walking through some just tough relational things with some friends. Don’t worry, it’s no one here before we even continue. One of the things that that we were navigating uh was a difference in parenting styles. I think that’s the like diplomatic PC way of saying it. And looking back on that season, I can see where I went wrong. It wasn’t that maybe I didn’t maybe see some things that that that needed pointing out, but I can see the posture and the seat that I was sitting on. I could see the seat that I was viewing everything from as someone who had it all figured out.
And I honestly I wish I could tell you like this story ends with how close we got, how much I come came to understand and love that person, how I was able to speak truth and love, but it didn’t go that way. And the sad thing was is I didn’t just notice some things. I had made up my mind. And then I began interpreting everything through that story that I had already written. And so when someone did something wrong in my eyes, when they did something wrong in my eyes, it only confirmed what I already knew to be true.
And Jesus in his kindness began showing me the plank wasn’t that I just noticed something. The plank was the pride in me that think I could see the whole situation, the whole person, and see it perfectly clear. And here’s where the trouble really, really began. being right about them became more important than loving them. When you’re more concerned about being right than you are more concerned about being loving, that is where things get really off.
And if I had to imagine, like this is not just me. This is not just Andrew standing up here. I if I had to imagine there may be someone in your life right now at the office in your family in your house church here this morning whose whose story although you maybe wouldn’t say it this way you’ve more or less already written and you may not say it out loud but the same story is kind of waiting for them every time you interact and Jesus is going to say hey first take the plank think out of your own eye.
Taking the Plank Out 51 min mark
And if I’m being really honest, I don’t prefer this order. Like, I want Jesus to deal with them. And then, hey, Jesus, if you have time, circle back around to me. Jesus like, no, no, no. First, I’m going to start with you. So, what does it actually look like to take the plank out? What does it actually look like to remove the plank? And I think Jesus’s invitation here in Matthew chapter 7 is wider than just judgment. Because Jesus’s heart for us is that we would walk whole, that we would be pure in heart. And so before we get consumed with what needs to change in someone else, man, we let him search what needs to change and shift and be transformed in us.
The plank can be anything. It may be pride for you. You probably already know it. You’re probably able to identify it even right now in this moment. It may be resentment. It may be insecurity. It may be unforgiveness. It may be the need to control. And here’s what’s striking. As I as I reflected this week, the very thing we’re hardest on in other people is usually the thing that we’re most afraid is true about ourselves. So, I think more often than not, we criticize our own reflection. It’s a way of, hey, I don’t want to see what’s here, so I’m going to start seeing it in other people. It’s them. It’s not me.
Searching Your Own Heart 52 min mark
So, what’s the invitation? How do we actually see the plank? I was drawn to David’s prayer in Psalm 139. This is what David says. He said, “Search me, God. Know my heart. See if there is any offensive way in me.” It’s like you actually open yourself up to God. You actually open your heart up to God. You actually ask him to reveal to you, hey, is there anything in me? And let me let me tell you, the Holy Spirit will be faithful to reveal if there’s something in you that needs transformed, if there’s something in you that needs cleaned up. And when he shows you something, we bring it into the light. We repent. We receive his grace.
For some of you, this is already a regular practice. This is this is nothing new. This is something that you do on a regular basis. Praise God. Keep it up. For some of you, you’re sitting in the seats right now and you’re just scared at even the thought of bringing something to the light like this. Like, there’s no way. They don’t know what I’ve done. They don’t know who I am. They don’t know the sin that I haven’t brought to Jesus yet. So, what gives us the courage to examine ourselves honestly? What gives us the courage to remove the plank? Because when something in us gets exposed, I don’t know if you’re anything like me, our reaction typically isn’t, “Oh, thank goodness. Thank you for pointing that out. It’s to hide, to deny, to explain, to compare.
The Gospel’s Verdict 54 min mark
Here’s here’s the good news. Here’s the truth. And don’t like not hear this. The gospel gives us another way. Like the gospel of Jesus Christ gives us another way. See, God is the righteous judge. True. Sin matters. Sin absolutely matters. But here’s the good news. The judge left his seat and came down. Like the rightful judge left his seat and came down. Man, at the cross, Jesus did not ignore sin. He took it upon himself. And Jesus did not deny judgment. What did Jesus do? He absorbed our judgment. Jesus did not condemn guilty people from a distance. He stood in our place receiving the measure that we deserved.
And Tim Keller said it this way. He said, “The gospel is the only thing that delivers the verdict before the performance.” Think about that. The gospel is the only thing that delivers the verdict before the performance. This is what is so distinctive about Christianity. like the gospel of Jesus. This is why I think that stat was discouraging, but this is why I think young people are actually flocking back to the church. This is why I think young people are becoming attracted to Jesus because they’ve tried it every other way. They’ve gone every other way and they realize Jesus and who he is and what he has done will give them the life that they’re looking for.
Man, the judgment on that matters most has already been spoken over you. The judgment that matters most has already been spoken over you. Dearly loved, beloved child of God, before you ever clean yourself up, man, because Jesus carried our condemnation, we don’t have to hide. We don’t have to put on our best religious exterior like the rest of the world tells us we have to do. Man, exposure in the presence of Jesus does not end in rejection. It ends in healing and freedom and life. Here’s what’s amazing. When our identity is secure in Christ, like when we truly understand what Christ has done, correction no longer has to feel like condemnation, man.
Seeing Others Clearly 56 min mark
But let’s not end there. Let’s talk about how this how this helps us actually see others and walk with others because he’s called us down from the seat. He’s begun to clear our vision from the inside out. And once you can see clearly, you can then begin to finally see others. And the order that Jesus walks us through this is really important. The order here is important because do you know how much easier it is to give mercy when you’ve truly received mercy? Like when you have truly received mercy. Man, Kila is the best example for this. She has shown me so much mercy and grace. And when you truly receive mercy and grace, it is so much easier to extend it to others.
He says, “Then you will see clearly.” And that that word here for seeing in the original language means to be actually be able to see all the way through. Like to be able to to see distinctly what’s an obstruction is gone. He doesn’t clear out our vision so we can become better critics. That’s not what he’s after. And he means more than just like, oh, noticing someone. He means seeing them the way that he sees them. Like imagebearing souls that matter to God. Not a problem to fix, not a label to confirm, but as an image bearer that he is making new.
Restoration, Not Correction 58 min mark
And then like then we’re able to help restore. And this idea of of restoration, to restore someone is worth worth looking at for just a moment. To restore something is to bring it into wholeness. It’s what you do when you remodel an old house or you restore a classic car, man. You don’t throw it out. You bring it back to what it was made to be. Paul uh in the New Testament when he talks about restoring someone who’s caught in sin, he reaches for this word used for like setting a broken bone or mending a torn fishing net. It’s careful. It’s gentle, but it’s aimed at making something whole again. And this is what this is what loving correction really is. It’s not tearing someone down, but it’s helping them become who they were made to be. That person in front of you, that person across the dinner table, that person in your house church isn’t a problem to solve or a project to fix. There’s someone you’re called to love. Because I think
We’ve all probably felt the difference like when someone comes alongside of you to help. We’ve all probably felt the difference between someone who’s helping from above and someone who’s coming alongside of. And I want to name something here, man, because some of you sitting here this morning have been on the receiving end of correction that was anything but loving. It was more truth. It was used like a weapon, loud, self-righteous, careless with your heart. And if that’s your story, first of all, I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry that that was the case. That’s not at all what Jesus intended.
But here’s the temptation. The temptation is to throw out correction altogether, man. To decide that any word of truth must be judgment in disguise. Must be judgment in disguise. But hear me on this. Humble, loving correction is different than condemning. Judgment, man. One will stand over you and crush you. Man, the other comes alongside of and heals. Man, my encouragement, don’t let someone’s unloving, wisdomless truth convince you that truth itself isn’t worth having because I think that temptation is real. Jesus, he never asks us to choose between grace and truth. Right? He is the one that came full of both.
Image bearer practice 60 min mark
Let me give you a practice that might help. But first, I want to share a little bit of context as we end this morning. All the way back in Genesis, God tells us he made human beings in his own image. So the person in front of you, whoever it might be, whenever the whenever the time is, isn’t just a problem or a personality or the sum of their worst moments, they they carry something of God in them. Someone he made, he loves, he is at work in.
The author Andy Crouch, he tells a story in one of his books that I come I come back to this so often in my mind, which is why I’m telling it this morning. He’s stuck in an airport. He has a couple hours to kill. And instead of burying his face in his phone, he decides to walk the terminals for exercise. And he turns this walk of exercise into a prayer. And the prayer goes like this. Every single person he passes, he’s gonna actually look at. He’s gonna actually see. He’s gonna say one thing for every single person. He’s gonna say image bearer. Image bearer. So he sees a weary man in a suit. Image bearer. He sees a soldier in uniform. Image bearer. He sees a a mom pushing a stroller and the dad dragging a toddler behind. Image bear. Image bearer. Image bear. He sees a rude airline employee image bearer. You can fill in the blank. Sit with that for a second. Actually think about that because it’s the exact opposite of the judgment seat, man. Where man, every person, every outfit, every action gets quickly judged, man. Too much, too little, not like me.
But here’s the thing. This was with strangers, people he’d never see again. And honestly, I think this is the easy version. The hard version, I think what Jesus is actually getting after is doing it with the people you know, the the coworker who drives you crazy, the family member across the table, the the one whose story that you’ve already written. You see, it’s I think easier to bless a stranger’s face in an airport. It’s hard to look that person in the eye who you’ve already built the case against and say it image bearer. man. But I think this is what begins to happen when Jesus clears our vision. When we understand what he’s done for us, we’re able to see how he sees them. People stop becoming a problem to be judged. And they start seeing what was actually already true. An image bearer to be honored and loved and called into the fullness of life with Jesus.
Wisdom and discernment 63 min mark
Now, real quick before we end, Jesus is going to do something in verse six. He he he’s he’s going to share something else because he understand that hey seeing others as image bears and speaking the truth in love doesn’t mean that everyone’s going to welcome it as we see others he wants us to understand that loving correction also requires wisdom and that’s where verse 6 takes us hey don’t give to dogs what is sacred do not throw your pearls to pigs to first century ears dogs and pigs were unclean animals And what’s sacred is what’s holy. And so the picture is force sacred truth. Don’t force correction. Don’t force the message of the kingdom on someone who’s set on trampling it. It can feel like Jesus changed the subject here, but he’s actually giving the passage some balance. Humility doesn’t mean the absence of wise discernment. does not mean the absence of wise discernment. Loving correction doesn’t mean forcing truth on a person who’s determined to reject it.
Sometimes wisdom listens. Sometimes wisdom speaks. And sometimes wisdom looks like trusting a person to God. Not giving up on them. Just remembering we’re not their savior.
Three questions to practice 64 min mark
So what do we do with this passage? We come down. We look within. And then we see others the way that Jesus intended us to see them. But like every week in the sermon on the mount, we’ve been asking the question, how do we actually practice this? How do we live this out? We don’t want to just be people who come to Jesus’s words and then don’t actually live them. And so this week, I was drawn to three questions that I think will help us live into these three movements that we walk through.
The first question is this, to ask yourself this week, what posture am I seeing with? Are you seeing with a critical spirit? Are you seeing with a condemning judgment? Or are you seeing with humble love? Are you seeing with a humble and contrite heart? Are you sitting in the seat? Are you coming down alongside of?
Number two, where does my vision need to be cleared? Man, what is Jesus revealing? What what plank is he inviting you to bring to him? Man, the good news of the gospel allows us to bring every part of who we are to Jesus, knowing he longs to transform us from the inside out.
And the third question, where can I humbly help? Like, is there someone Jesus like is illuminating to you. Maybe you see something in them and he’s inviting you to humbly and lovingly come alongside of them to actually call something out in them that is going to bring healing and change and transformation. Is he inviting you to have a courageous conversation?
Practicing image bearer 66 min mark
And here’s a simple practice I think that will help us carry it all this week. When you think of that person, the one whose story you’ve already written, before the criticism comes, and I promise it’ll come quickly, try saying it first. Image bear. When that person that you’re so quick to judge is standing right in front of you, image bear. It’s really hard to stay in the seat above them when you just called them the image of God.
Communion and grace 66 min mark
And here’s man, here’s the beauty of what we do every week when we come to the table. When we come to this table right here, the communion table, it reminds us every single week, the judge is not someone who stayed distant, man. Jesus, he gave his body. He poured out his blood for us. He stood in the place of the judge and carried the condemnation we deserved. And because of that, we don’t have to hide from whatever he wants to reveal.
So this morning, what I want to invite you to do before you take the bread, before you take the cup, invite Jesus to search your heart. Is there someone whose story you’ve already decided? Is there a plank that Jesus wants to remove and heal? Not to shame you, but to bring you into the life that you were made for. Man, whatever he reveals this morning, bring it to him honestly and receive his grace again. Receive his grace again. in the body and the blood that he shed.
Closing prayer 67 min mark
I want to invite you to stand as I pray and wrap up this morning. So, Father, we we thank you for the good news of the gospel, man. We thank you for the gift of community that when we humbly and lovingly like come to one another like full of grace and full of truth, like you were there in the midst of it. So, I’d ask Jesus, will you help us to bring our our our hearts before you first so that we can see others and love them into the fullness of who you made them to be. In Jesus, it’s in your name I pray. And together we all say, “Amen.” Let’s go to the communion table this morning. If you want to pray, if you want to talk, there’ll be men and women at the respond band that would love to talk and pray with you this morning. Come here. Feel free to just continue taking your time if you’re still receiving communion. But whenever you feel ready, just join back into worship with us.
Thank you, Jesus. Thank you for the truth we’ve been reminded of this morning. God, thank you for the lightness of remembering that we are not God, that you are sovereign, you are on the throne, you are the righteous judge. And in that place we come as sons and daughters. Impart to us Jesus your perspective. We want your perspective as we lift you high and worship God. He is all I need. It’s all I want and all I see and without it. Without it there’s no meaning. Your presence is the air I breathe. The song I sing the love I need. And without it, without
It I’m not living. So I will exalt you, Lord. I will exalt you, Lord. There is no one like you, God. And I will exalt you, Lord. I will exalt you, oh Lord. Mother, make me lifted high. Your presence is all I need. It’s all I want and all I seeking without it. Without it, there’s no meaning. Your presence is the air I breathe, the song I sing, the life I need. And without it, without it I’m not living.
And I will exalt you, Lord. I will exalt you, Lord. There is no one like you, God. I will exalt you, Lord. I will exalt you. No other night be this day. Oh. and there will be no one like you. No one beside you. You alone are worthy of our praise. There will be no one like you and no one beside you alone worthy of all praise. There will be no one like you. No beside you.
Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. No other good. It’s who you are. It’s who you are. It’s who you are. It’s who I am. It’s who I am. It’s who I am. Look good. It’s who you are. It’s who you are. It’s who you are. It’s who I am. It’s who I am. It’s who I am. You could fall. It’s who you are. Who you are. You are perfect. You are perfect in all. You are perfect in all. Perfect in all. You are perfect in perfect.
Heat. Heat. Heat. I am good for you. So I am Every knee come bow before the King of Kings. Let every tongue confess that he is Lord. Lift up your shout. Let us join with all of heaven. Every knee come bow before the King of Kings. Let every time confess Lord your shout is joined with all of heaven. Sing holy singing. We cry out cry.
Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. You are Jesus. All hell of heaven and earth. All hell Jesus. All hell the savior of the world. All hell king Jesus. All hell the Lord of heaven and earth. All hell king Jesus. All hell the savior.
Mission and weekly announcements 84 min mark
As we get ready to be sent out here this morning. You know, one of the things we say every week is our mission is to love God, to love people, and to awaken a movement that Jesus begun. And we believe this happens just so steady, so slow across all the ordinary spaces of our lives. And really believing that God is going to send us into that this week.
A couple of things as we get ready to be sent out of here. Um, tonight, we don’t have our usual 5:00 prayer gathering schedule due to the holiday weekend. So, we will not be meeting tonight at the offices as we usually do, but there’s lots of opportunity to gather and pray with others this week. In fact, Tuesday morning, and we do this once a month, but this Tuesday morning is men’s prayer from 6:00 a.m. to 7:30 at our offices. Amazing time. The men will be meeting on the main level of the offices, and we now have a group of women that also meet from 6:00 a.m. to 7:30 downstairs uh at the same location.
So, I want to encourage you um all of us fall in one of those two categories. So, um you are invited on Tuesday morning to come join us for a time of prayer from 6:00 a.m. to 7:30. One of my favorite times um every single month. Andrew mentioned this earlier. We have new grow classes that are starting this month. Great way to jump in to grow as a disciple of Jesus and lots of great opportunities. If you’re part of the family and you would like to give, you can give joyfully and generously online or in the white mailboxes um throughout the room.
Commissioning prayer 85 min mark
And here in just a moment as we send you out, just straighten up your chairs and and uh clean up your seats for the next group that’s coming in. I want to pray over us as we get ready to leave. So, I encourage you put your hand on the shoulder of the person next to you. We’re going to commission each other out of here this morning. I invite you in light of what we’ve read this morning out of Matthew 7, I just invite you to repeat these words after me.
Uh, we are loved by God. We are loved by God. And we are being sent by God. We are being sent by God to show our city. To show our city and to tell our city to tell our city that they are loved by God, too. God. In the name of Jesus. In the name of Jesus. by the power of the spirit. Spirit for the glory of the father. For the glory of the father. Amen.
Final blessing and dismissal 86 min mark
Hey, I love you. Have a great day. If you met somebody new new today, uh make a plan to get to know them better this week. And uh we will see you later. Peace.
