The little wooden people in Max Lucado’s story spent their days sticking gold stars and grey dots on one another, and though life is no fairy tale, we do exactly the same. This sermon walks us through Jesus’ words from the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 7): do not judge, first take the beam out of your own eye, and when words run out, ask, seek, knock. It turns out a difficult conversation does not have to be a battlefield; it can become the beginning of change. Listen and see what labels you carry with you, and on whom you stick them.
Discussion questions
For your small group or for personal reflection after the sermon.
- In Matthew 7:1-5 Jesus talks about the speck and the plank in the eye. According to the sermon, what does “do not judge” mean here, if it is not about holding no opinions but about passing verdicts?
- How do you understand the words about not throwing pearls to pigs in the context of the whole passage, and how do they fit with the command not to judge others?
- The sermon tells the story of a homeless man after an accident whom the preacher labeled as lazy. What labels do you most easily put on others, and what helps you see more in a person?
- The preacher notes that what irritates us most in others is often our own sin. What plank in your own eye might be keeping you from looking with grace at someone close to you?
- According to the sermon, the promise “Ask and it will be given to you” also applies to prayer in conflict, when someone refuses to talk. How does your attitude toward a difficult person change when you start praying for them?
- Natalia's sister asked herself how she would want to be treated in Natalia's place. In which relationship can you ask yourself the same question this week, and what will you actually do?
