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DAVID'S EMAIL BIBLE STUDY:
WARNINGS
A.
BACKGROUND...
since Labor Day we've used the Gospel of Luke to follow Jesus' life. Luke has taken us from the Christmas story to Jesus' childhood visit to the Temple, from his baptism to rejecting Satan, from gathering disciples to providing miracles, from courting controversy to sharing wisdom. Now we are in the middle of Luke's shorter version of Jesus' Sermon on the Mount. Before Christmas we studied his famous "Beatitudes" and even stronger descriptions of a Christian life is complete contrast to conventional wisdom. "Blessed are the poor", he said, "love your enemies". Some saw this as refreshing; others as a threat.
C.
SUMMARY...
Continuing to contrast a "Christlike" life with a run-of-the-mill life, Jesus tells us stop judging, stop condemning, stop holding onto grudges, start forgiving. And the place to start is self-reflection. Take a good hard look at yourself. Know yourself inside and out. Then and only then are you in a position to help someone else with their flaws
D.
KEY POINTS:
1.
You ARE what you EAT. Verses 43-45 contrast "good trees" vs "bad trees". In essence, Jesus says, we are our essence. If you are good inside, you'll produce good. If we bring negativity, badness into ourselves, that is what we'll produce. We bring out of ourselves what is at the heart of us, that has been "stored up in our heart". Storing up is a term for taking something form the outside and preserving it for later use. Food, money, clothing, "preserves". Or virtues, values, characteristics: good thoughts, courage, faith, kindness, energy, peacefulness, and hope. We may et them from outside - from church, the Bible, books, experience, family, upbringing, or mentors. If we take such goodness inside then what comes out later (our "produce", our "fruit") will be good.
2.
HUMILITY vs HYPOCRISY. Jesus links three hard challenges together: don't judge or condemn; AND be forgiving. For each he promises a reward. You are going to be treated the way you treat others. There will be times, now and with God, when we will want grace, kindness, forgiveness, understanding, benefit of the doubt. This is the easy part, to treat others in a way that will benefit you later on. The hard part is to refrain from judging. The Bible certainly calls for us to make judgments but to not be judgmental. Shoplifting is bad, that is a judgement. But to think a teenager wearing a "hoodie" walking into a store is a shoplifter - that is judgmental. Or to assume the worst about a person, or a motive, is judgmental. We don't want a person assuming the worst about us, do we?! Jesus is doing two things: calling for humility and opposing hypocrisy. It takes humility to look hard at yourself. It is hypocritical to ignore yourself and go after someone else.
3. SPECKS, EYES, and PLANKS. Just common sense! Jesus asks how we can see well enough to help someone with a speck in their eye if we can barely see ourselves, if we are blinded by whatever. The plank can be pride, ego, attitude, or prejudice. Something that blinds us from seeing the other person's situation clearly. Alida wears contacts. I wear eyeglasses. Sometimes life catches us without either. Neither of us can help the other until one of us has taken care of our own eyes first. Interestingly, Jesus then says, once your humility has helped you clear up your own life then you can try to help someone with their speck
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