A SERIES OF DEVOTIONS BASED ON THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW 

LIFT UP AND ENCOURAGE ONE ANOTHER      

Matthew 7:6 “Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.”   

Jesus’ words in Matthew 7:1-6 are cautionary. You need to be careful in judging your fellow Christians. He is making His disciples aware that because of their sinful nature they can become judgmental of their brothers and sisters in Christ. It is a warning against hypocrisy. (“Take the log out of your eye before attempting to remove the speck from your brother or sisters’ eye.”) 

Professor Gibbs in his Matthew commentary comments: “To condemn and reject a fellow believer unjustly is like giving something holy to be mistreated by dogs. To deal with the speck of sin in the life of your Christian sister when your own sins are overwhelmingly huge is like hurling pearls before filthy pigs so that they will be trampled— and you might end up being trampled as well! . . .wrongful judging of other disciples is the abuse of those valuables.” (God’s word and the Sacraments.) 

Jesus’ point is the fellowship you have with your fellow Christians is priceless and to be guarded at all costs. Your words and actions toward them can build them up but they can also tear them down. As a recent devotion said, as a Christian Jesus wants you to encourage and build up your brother and sister in Christ.   

When your brother or sister has sinned, your goal is to show them their sin and also their Savior. That is why Jesus taught (see Matthew 18:15ff) when there is a sin between you and your fellow believer you should go to them and settle the matter with the goal of confession and absolution. Unresolved sin is a festering spiritual sore. Confession and absolution remove sin’s poison through application of the blood of Jesus.   

Prayer: Dear Jesus, help me to properly minister to my fellow believer when there is a sin between us. In Your holy name. Amen. 

“As surely as I live,”   
God said, “I would not see the sinner dead.   
I want him turned from error’s ways,   
Repentant, living endless days.”  

And so our Lord gave this command:    
“Go forth and preach in ev’ry land;  
Bestow on all My pard’ning grace  
Who will repent and mend their ways. 

“All those whose sins you thus remit  
I truly pardon and acquit,  
And those whose sins you will retain  
Condemned and guilty shall remain. 

“What you will bind, that bound shall be;  
What you will loose, that shall be free;  
To My dear Church the keys ae giv’n  
To open, close the gates of heav’n.” 

The words which absolution give  
Are His who died that we might live;  
The minister whom Christ has sent  
Is but His humble instrument. 

When ministers lay on their hands,  
Absolved by Christ the sinner stands;  
He who by grace the Word believes  
The purchase of His blood receives. 

All praise to You, O Christ, shall be  
For absolution full and free,  
In which You show Your richest grace;  
From false indulgence guard our race. 

Praise God the Father and the Son  
And Holy Spirit, Three in One,  
As was, is now, and so shall be  
World without end, eternally!  

"As Surely as I Live," God Said - LSB 614