Discipleship and the
Unbeliever - Part 2
Scripture
Read Matthew 7:6
Saving your breath
The
“pearls before swine” or “pearls to pigs” as it is in the NIV is one
of the more interesting passages in the Bible I believe. Jesus has
just told us not to make comparative judgments, but here he is
asking for a comparative judgment.
Essentially, Jesus is telling his disciples that with some people it
is obvious they are wasting their time and they should save their
breath in the presentation of the gospel. This message is later
repeated as the disciples are sent out to the nearby towns. If they
are not accepted by the town, they are to shake the dust off their
sandals and move on.
Simply put, we can’t save everyone. If we present the gospel – or
at least try to – and are rejected we have done our duty. Sometimes
it is worth trying later on and continuing to work with a person.
Other times it is obvious that we are wasting our time and should
move on. We shouldn’t consider this a failure. We should simply
move on and hopefully save our time and resources for someone who
will be more receptive.
Proverbs backs up what Jesus says as well. In some places it says
that if you correct a person, they will see the errors of their way
and be thankful. Other places it says that if you correct a fool,
he will hate you.
We
are ultimately called to make a judgment between those who are fools
and those that are worth spending our time on. So why is this
judging not directly going against what Jesus told hold disciples in
the earlier verses? The judgment is not comparing ourselves to
another person, it is making a judgment of the person’s openness to
the gospel and nothing more. If we take it any further, we have
gone to far. (For example, if we encounter a rotten sinner who is
not open to the gospel and decide that they aren’t worthy of hearing
the gospel anyway.)
Personal projects
Each of us probably has at least one person who we’ve been waiting
faithfully to see come to the Lord. Some of these people would be
considered the fools that hate us for correction and otherwise are
the pigs that Jesus is telling us not to waste our time on.
So
should we give up on these people?
The
answer is absolutely not. We should continue to pray for these
people and work with them. When the disciples shook the dust off
their feet and moved to another town, they did not see or interact
with those people again. The people we continue to pray for, we
likely cannot or do not wish to separate ourselves from. Thus we
need to continue to pray and to work with them so that they might
see the truth of the gospel.
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