BibleProject | Sermon on the Mountنموونە

Wisdom in Relationships

Today we’ll look at another section of the sermon where Jesus talks about doing right by God and others in our relationships. Yesterday, we focused on our relationship with money and possessions.

In this next section (Matthew 7:1-12), Jesus lays out a vision for his followers to live in healthy relationships with one another. An important part of healthy personal relationships is knowing when and how to offer correction and wisdom to one another. So in today’s video, we’ll look specifically at a teaching where Jesus warns his followers about judging one another.

Let’s watch episode 9, Wisdom in Relationships.

Video Reflection Questions:

1. In this section of teaching, what kind of trap is Jesus warning his followers to avoid?
2. When we feel the urge to judge others, what two things does Jesus encourage us to do instead (see Matt. 7:1-5)?
3. Jesus advises people not to cast “pearls in front of pigs.” In your own words, how would you describe the wisdom he’s communicating through that metaphor?
4. Matthew 7:7-8 is sometimes used to support the idea that God gives people anything and everything they ask for. But in the larger context of Matthew 7:1-12, how might we interpret Jesus’ words?
5. Notice the repeated phrase “the Torah and the Prophets” in Matthew 5:17 and Matthew 7:12. Matthew uses the same phrase at the beginning and the conclusion of Jesus’ message in this section. What might he be suggesting by bookending Jesus’ teaching this way?
6. The Golden Rule is Jesus’ simple yet challenging way to live—to do unto others what you would prefer to have done to you. What kinds of situations make it most difficult to follow Jesus’ instruction?

Let’s read Matthew 7:1-12. Below is the BibleProject Scholarship team translation, and we also encourage you to read this passage in other translations.

1 Do not judge

so that you will not be judged.

2 Because with the judgment that you judge,

you will be judged.

And with the measure that you measure,

it will be measured to you.

3 Why do you see the speck in the eye of your brother,

but you don’t perceive the beam in your eye?

4 Or how can you say to your brother,

“Allow me to take out the speck from your eye,”

and look, the beam is in your eye!?

5 Hypocrite! First take out the beam from your eye,

and then you can see clearly the speck in the eye of your brother.

6 Do not give what is holy to dogs,

and don’t throw your pearls in front of pigs,

so they don’t trample them with their feet

and turning around, they will tear you apart.

7 Ask and it will be given to you,

seek and you will find,

knock and it will be opened for you.

8 For everyone who asks will receive,

and the one who seeks will find,

and to the one who knocks, it will be opened.

9 Or what person is among you who,

when their son asks for bread,

will give him a rock?

10 Or when he asks for a fish,

will give him a snake?

11 So then, if you all are bad,

but you know to give good gifts to your children,

how much more will your Father in the skies

give good things to those who ask.

12 So then, everything you desire

that people do to you,

so also you do to them,

for this is the Torah and the Prophets.