Growing up As a Child of God and Raising up As a Parent

Growing Up As a Child of God and Raising Up As a Parent

Luke 6:36-42

Rev. Min J. Chung

(Sunday Lords Day Service, March 12, 2006)

36 Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. 37 Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. 38 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. 39 He also told them this parable: Can a blind man lead a blind man? Will they not both fall into a pit? 40 A student is not above his teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like his teacher. 41 Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brothers eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 42 How can you say to your brother, Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye, when you yourself fail to see the plank 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 brothers eye.

Introduction

If we look at this passage on its own, we might not understand it because it seems like a random collection of ways to treat others. But the context is the theme in Luke of God raising us as His children. He wants to expand His kingdom family. He wants us to become like Jesus Christ and represent Him, not like the first Adam who sinned but the second Adam who lived a perfect life. As we put our faith in Him, we become like Him, for Hes implanted the DNA of His Spirit in us. From that perspective, God the Father is instructing His children in this passage how to become more like Christ so His kingdom can be expanded.

Verse 36 says,Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. God wants us to be like Jesus, His unique Son, so as we try, He helps and changes us. But He doesnt solely want us to be like children. He wants us to be like Him, a parent. He wants us to grow from selfish children who cry out, Me, me, me! and fight with others, to those who are unselfish like the Father. He longs to see us able to raise up and parent others, both biologically and spiritually.

Its strange how parents get hurt more than their children in their relationship. Think about the birth process. The child is satisfied as he swims around the warm womb of his mother; things are just fine. One day, after existing for nine months, he starts to rotate. There is a flood and a waterfall and he thinks hes dying. Thats why after hes born he cries (hes saying, Im dead!). He thinks its the end of his life, but its just the beginning. But is that really painful compared to the father waiting outside?Of course, the mother goes through much more pain. Being a parent is much harder than being a child. Why do parents hurt more than their children? Because Genesis 3 tells us that a result of the Fall is pain in the family. The children, Adam and Eve, sinned against their Father, God. So He gave them pain. He wanted them to understand what they did to Him, not out of revenge or punishment but so they could understand His heart, repent, and come back to Him. Thats why parents experience more pain than their children in their relationship with each other. Theres also more love. When you become a parent, you might understand better.

Its the same with spiritual discipleship. If youre a leader, when you first joined small group, perhaps the older members and leaders poured themselves out for you. Then later, after you become a leader, you realized how you took your older brothers and sisters for granted. So you contact them and say, Im so sorry!!! When we disciple others, or spiritually parent them, we begin to understand the heart of God. And thats what He wants for us—to grow and mature.

Its a miracle the first time children start to do something voluntarily (as opposed to doing something after telling them a hundred times or threatening them). A couple of my children are now teenagers and theyre starting to do that. When they do, I think, Theyre growing up! Like when one of my children recently took out the garbage on his own—we said, Its a miracle! Then we realized he was just trying to manipulate us because he wanted something.Well, at least theyre getting smarter. Anyway, slowly but surely, they do things out of gratitude. Theyre growing up.

A large part of our church (60-70%) is comprised of college students. When do I know someone is growing up? Well, college is where a boy becomes a man and a girl becomes a woman. The first sign is when they miss their parents and become thankful for them. Thats what God wants for us. He doesnt want us to complain and have a Me, me, me attitude. He wants us to be thankful and to grow. He wants us to grow as children of God and raise others as parents. Thats the discipleship process seen in the book of Luke.

I.Growing Up As a Child
Luke 6:36-38 36 Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. 37Do not judge, and you will not be judged.Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned.Forgive, and you will be forgiven. 38Give, 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.
This passage paints four portraits of a child of God. This is what God is like to His children. Its what those with the DNA of Holy Spirit look like. Its the sign of a selfish child who is growing up, at least in part.

A.Not judging

1.As you grow up, you judge less. Do you judge? Sometimes when you meet people, you look them up and down and start to judge. And the other person also does that, so your eyes are moving up and down at the same time. Then a third person sees the two people judging each other and judges both of them.

2.Judgmentalism is the unwitting revelation of ones soul. It reveals what youre like. Judging shows how proud you are. Because people know their own sins, they rush to judge those sins in others. They are keen to see those sins. Somehow judgmental people imagine they will lessen their guilt by judging others sin. They are blind to their own sin. They put themselves in the position of God by judging, for God alone is Judge. Judgmentalism is a sign of sickness. At best, its a sign of spiritual cancer; at worst, its a sign of spiritual death.

3.Theres a difference betweenjudginganddiscerning. Do not judge doesnt mean you shouldnt evaluate or discern whether people are doing what is right or wrong. You can and should discern good and bad based on the principles of the Scriptures. It doesnt mean that you degrade a person or look down on him or her. It doesnt mean you have a negative attitude. It means you discern in a humble way.

B.Not condemning

1.To condemn means that after youve made a judgment, you act on it. Condemnation is an action derived from judging. There is no activity of condemnation without the thought of judging. The judgments you make in your mind about others are expressed in different activities, whether in front of them or behind their back.

2.Lets exegete our culture. Not judging or condemning is different than postmodern tolerance. When I was in high school, it was a very judgmental culture. Now when I talk to people about high school, it seems there is a high level of tolerance. Tolerance is good, but there can be something wrong with it. Postmodernists tolerate everyone except those who dont tolerate others. But thats not true tolerance. They tolerate youbecause you agree with them. This proves that people tolerate for sake of tolerating, not out of genuine love. Biblical love discerns, and even disagrees, yet still cares for the person. There is no favoritism. You dont leave others in sin. If you see someone floating down the river, heading toward certain death down a waterfall, mere toleration means that you would say, Oh, its OK and let them die. Thats not true love. Biblical love discerns, perhaps comes to a disagreement in principle or lifestyle, then tolerates and accepts people, as well as loves them enough to say or do what will help them to change. Thats parenting.

3.This morning I was typing away at home. When Im with my children, I usually talk in a silly way or make silly faces. But when Im typing and concentrating, I look like Im mad. So today I was typing and looking around, and I happened to be looking at Hannah. When she saw me, she froze because she thought I was mad at her. So I said immediately Hi! in a silly tone. Many times we have to adjust our behavior so that people dont think we are judging them. Although you might not realize it, some of you look like you want to kill someone. So you wonder, Why doesnt anyone say Hi to me? Maybe its because they dont want to die!We should learn to look stupid. AtAll Campus Worship, the speaker said, Learn to smile, in the elevator, in your dorm, at your workplace.

C.Forgiving

1.This doesnt mean that if you forgive others, God will forgive you. Rather, its the proof of being forgiven. If youve been forgiven, you will forgive others. When the Bible says to forgive, its not a burden, but a God-given capability. When you cant forget an offense, remember to forget. Youcanforgive, so you have the responsibility to forgive. When people offend you, its an opportunity for you to grow and a chance for them to see Jesus in you. You must choose to forgive, even if the person does it again. Or if another person does it right after—seventy times seven.

D.Giving

1.A growing child of God gives. Forgiving is the minimum. Forgiveness is a subset of love. Its the beginning of the relational process of loving our enemies. In same way God deals with us, we need to go all the way. We forgive, then give. If we forgive without giving, we may merely be performing the duty of forgiving without giving ourselves to the other person. It may merely be self-preservation, not self-sacrifice. True love always ends in sacrifice. If you really love, not only do you forgive, you give all the way. Thats when you know youre growing up.

E.Summary

1.You dont judge, you support. You dont condemn, you forgive. You sacrifice. You give yourself. You fight your selfishness. You dont hold grudges.

2.Verse 38 says,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. If we grow in this way, our reward will be great. Jesus is using agricultural language here. Farmers would load a sack with grain, then press the grain down and shake the sack, thereby squeezing out the air pockets. In that way, the most grain could be jam-packed into each sack. This is a picture of the full reward God will give His children whose hearts are growing bigger now and forevermore.

3.When Pablo Casals reached 95, a young reporter threw him a question: Mr. Casals, you are 95 and the greatest cellist that ever lived. Why do you still practice six hours a day? Mr. Casals answered, Because Im making progress. Are you growing to be more loving? 1 Corinthians 13 says that faith, hope, and love will remain forever. Even in heaven, well constantly grow in love. Are you 95 yet? Are you the greatest cellist or lover in the world? So then, lets keep growing.

4.CFC is a training ground for parenting, discipling, and helping others to grow.

II.Raising Up As a Parent
As a child grows, he learns how to take care of those who are younger. People ask me, How do you manage to raise five children? Believe it or not, my older children are able to take care of the younger ones. In that sense, having more children actually is somewhat easier. Jesus gives two parables in this passage. In the first, he talks about a blind man leading others. The point isnt blindness but leading. In the second, he talks about students and teachers. Its an academic or discipleship illustration. A parent is both a leader and a teacher.

A.Leader
Luke 6:39-40 39 He also told them this parable: Can a blind manleada blind man? Will they not both fall into a pit? 40 A student is not above histeacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like histeacher.

1.Blindness of a follower

a)This passage assumes that those who follow are blind. My kids run into tables, fall down the stairs, run into doorknobs. Its the same way spiritually. People are blind. They cant discern what is hurtful or dangerous. They run into spiritual doorknobs.

2.Vision of the leader

a)This passage also assumes that leaders can see. They see what followers cant. You have to be able to see what others cant see in order to lead. A leader has to be able to see two things: Jesus and the pathway He walked. The eyes of a leader are fixed on Christ. Also, if people are lost, a leader can teach them how to make decisions so they can walk on the right path. If theyre heading toward the valley of the shadow of death, a leader can tell them not to go there. A leader sees the future. When I give people advice, I see them fifty years down the line. A leader should see five years down the line, fifty years, even eternity.

3.Leading others

a)Proverbs 22:6 says,Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it. This is a great verse about parenting. Its debated whether the phrasein the way he should gorefers togeneral leading(i.e., in the sense that every child should follow God) orspecific leading(a persons specific calling, since it says he). I think it can refer to both. We are to lead others both generally and specifically. We are to teach children (both biological and spiritual) the general principles of the Scriptures, which in turn, they internalize and consequently discern their personal path. We are to teach others the big story of God, then help them see how their own small stories can be aligned with that big story. Train a child in the way he should go, both generally and specifically.

b)Jesus told all His disciples, Follow me—thats our general calling. Then He told Peter (John 21) that after he became old, he would glorify Christ through his death, alluding to the tradition that Peter was crucified upside-down. Peter responded, OK, then pointed to John, Uh, what about him? Jesus said, It doesnt matter what happens to him; just think about your own calling and follow Me. John had a different calling than Peter. In fact, tradition says John tried to become a martyr but couldnt, that they tried to kill him in a pot of boiling oil, but he just kept swimming around in it. We all have different callings.

c)Fifty years from now, well all be in different places in the world but well be living for the same kingdom. We need to lead others to Jesus in the different ways God calls us to. That means theres no such thing ascookie cutter discipleship. We all have the same characteristics of Christ, but with different callings. Salvation isnt the end of the Christian life, its only the beginning; were all on the pathway to heaven.

B.Teacher
A parent is not only to be a leader, but a teacher as well.
Luke 6:40 A student is not above his teacher, but everyone who isfully trainedwill be like his teacher.I did a word study on the phrasefully trained, and trained is a word we like here at CFC. Here are four New Testament verses that contain the wordfully trained(inbold):

1.Restoration

a)Galatians 6:1 says,Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual shouldrestorehim gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted.To train means to restore. We should train those who are caught in sin by restoring them, whether theyre non-Christian or Christians who have fallen away.

2.Supplication

a)1 Thessalonians 3:10 says,Night and day we pray most earnestly that we may see you again andsupply what is lackingin your faith.In order to train others, you need to supply them with what is lacking.How did Paul supply others? By praying for them night and day. Your mom thinks about you night and day; your dad thinks about youday.Paul supplied the church of Thessalonica with prayer night and day. Thats a parents heart.

3.Vision

a)1 Corinthians 1:10 says,I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectlyunitedin mind and thought. Unity in the church isnt the goal; its the result of everybody thinking about glorifying God. To train means to provide vision.