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In Matthew 5-7, Messiah Yeshua gave us a reality check on whether our lives are trending toward the righteousness that God seeks. In Matthew 7, Yeshua tells us how to “judge” with mercy and discernment. Matthew 12, shows us Yeshua’s practical application of this principle.By the strict definition of the Torah, the apostles were guilty of threshing grain on the Shabbat. Yet, Yeshua, rather than confirming the harsh edict of the Pharisees, comes to their defense and turns the tables in favor of mercy.
Many believers in Yeshua — and those who don’t believe in Yeshua who purposefully misappropriate His words to justify their own ends — use Matthew 7:1-5 as a blanket prohibition on using any discernment between good and evil. However the later texts of the same chapter show that Yeshua doesn’t want us to walk around without any sense of judgment or discernment. He wants us to discern and judge with mercy and compassion.
Thought questions
Am I doing my own will or the will of the Father (John 6:38)?
What is the “light of the world”?
Where do our good works originate?
How do we “exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees”?
What does it mean not to judge anyone?
How should we want to be judged?
Why wasn’t David punished for eating the shewbread (Matt. 12:1-7)?
How was Yeshua showing mercy to His disciples?
What does God want?
What are the dogs and pigs in this context (Matt. 7:6; Prov. 26:1-12; 2 Pet. 1:16-21; 2:1-21)?
What do false teachers do with the pearls given by God?
What are we supposed to ask God to give us?
What should we want from God?
What are we knocking for?
What do wolves do (Prov. 22:5)?
How do we guard our souls against perversity? What is true perversity?
Speaker: Richard Agee