Kingdom Wisdom Part 1

At Keys Vineyard Church, we are presenting a series called ‘Kingdom Wisdom,’ which we post here on Online Bible Institute.

We are starting a new series this week called Kingdom Wisdom, based on Matthew 7. Last week, as we finished our Kingdom Alignment series, Jesus brought us to a simple but life-shaping invitation: “Seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness…” For thirteen weeks we walked through Matthew 6, and again and again Jesus brought us back to the heart. Why do I give? Why do I pray? What do I treasure? What am I looking at? Who am I serving? What am I worried about? What am I seeking first? Kingdom Alignment was about learning to live with our hearts aligned with the Father.

Matthew 7:1–5 (NIV)
1 “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 2 For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. 3 “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? 4 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? 5 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.

Now we come to Matthew 7, and Jesus begins to show us what that aligned life looks like when it encounters other people. Following Jesus is never only about my relationship with God. Eventually, the life God is forming in me has to show up in the way I see you, speak to you, respond to you, and even disagree with you. And that may be where things get difficult. It is possible to know the right things, believe the right things, and even practice the right things—and still treat people terribly.

So Jesus begins this part of the Sermon on the Mount with an important lesson: Kingdom wisdom begins with humility. Before I focus on what is wrong with someone else, Jesus invites me to let Him deal with what is happening in me. Jesus gives us this unforgettable picture of someone trying to remove a tiny speck of sawdust from another person’s eye while a plank is sticking out of his own. It’s funny. Jesus intends it to be. Imagine someone walking around with a two-by-four sticking out of his eye saying, “Excuse me…I noticed something in your eye.”

The problem isn’t that the speck isn’t there. Jesus never says the other person doesn’t have something in their eye. The problem is that I can become so focused on their speck that I become completely unaware of my plank. And isn’t that deeply human? We can recognize someone else’s impatience while excusing our own. We can see someone else’s pride while remaining blind to ours. We can identify someone else’s harsh words while justifying the words that come out of our own mouths.

Jesus isn’t telling us never to discern what is right or wrong. Later in this same chapter, He tells us to recognize false prophets by their fruit. Discernment matters. But Kingdom discernment begins differently. It begins with humility. It begins by asking, “Father, before I talk about what You need to do in them, what do You want to do in me?” That is Kingdom Wisdom.

This weekend at Keys Vineyard Church, we will discuss all this and more, so be sure to join us in person or online.

Steve Lawes is a pastor at Keys Vineyard Church and also the founder of the Online Bible Institute Network.