Archived Daily Manna | Rejoice Fellowship | A mission to release people to rejoice in the world.

Message: Up until this point, the Sermon on the Mount has generally presented long sections of teachings tied together with a unifying theme. Chapter six has two sections: The first deals with worshipping in our hearts out of love of God, rather than in public for the benefit of our public image; the second, with serving God rather than the things of this world. pearls before swine, Orwell animal house Napoleon, the pig king Orwell's Animal Farm Chapter 7 is choppier than 5 or 6; like the Book of Proverbs, one teaching may have little direct relationship to those before or after it. Today’s verses do not build upon or follow from 7:1-6, “Judge not, lest ye be judged.” In fact, they are contrary in tone, since one must discern people not worthy of a gift; and Christ analogizes them to dogs and pigs! Verse 6 is structured in the poetic parallel form of a proverb; if you popped this Scripture into the middle of Proverbs, it would fit perfectly. To the Jews, this would be a poem of four lines. The first line makes a statement, then the second line restates it, a “direct parallelism.” Direct parallelism is the basic and most frequent poetic device in the Old Testament: Think of Psalm 23:2, “He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.” The third and fourth lines are also directly parallel. But there is also a “following parallel” or “consequential parallel” between the first two lines and the second two lines, another common technique. To see another example of a “consequential parallel,” we need look no further than Psalm 23:1, “The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want.” The Lord is our Shepherd; as a consequence, we shall not want. Monkey feeding a bird, from an illuminated Bible The application of the verse, in real life, needs discussion. It comes directly after we have been subjected to powerful commandments not to judge our fellow man. So what does it mean, since it encourages us to compare some people to pigs or dogs? First off, it does not direct us to stop spreading the Gospel. Christ was criticized for personally teaching, and taking meals with, Gentiles and sinners (Matthew 9:10); Matthew himself was a tax collector! When later in the book, Christ sends his disciples out into the world for their first mission trips, He will restate today’s advice a bit less colorfully; if people don’t listen to you, “shake the dust off your feet.” (Matthew 10:14-18). The demand not to judge others remains in effect; we are ourselves sinners, just as the “dogs and swine”; and furthermore, we cannot feel pride in our salvation. “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” (Ephesians 2:8) What the verse tells us, then, is although we do not judge those who refuse to listen to a Christian message, we are not expected to teach those who ridicule what we say; there is a limit to how hard one must push a non-Christian towards the Gospel. If someone is not interested . . . move along! Finally, these verses intimate, for the first time, the impossibly difficult theological concept of predestination, and the paradox of election versus free will. There are apparently people who cannot receive the Word of God. By the same token, though, we cannot know who they are; we can only seek to lead them to Christ, and if they reject us, move on to greener pastures, hoping they will change in the future.