A New Walk On An Old Path - The Sermon On The Mount

by Don Hatfield

nothing in answer to James question. I just stood there with my head down.

  I know that He knew what I was thinking for in a kind voice he said, “Isaac, hear what Jesus said next. For which of you by taking thought can add one cubit to your stature? Isaac, Jesus was talking about reality when he said those words.” I said to James,” I do not understand what you mean when you say He was talking about reality.” James replied, “Isaac, reality is being honest. If you honestly think about your life and where you are right now can you make yourself any taller by worrying about what is going to happen next?” I smiled and said, “Only if I stand on my tiptoes.” James laughed and said, “You cannot stand like that forever for reality says you have to come back down onto the soles of your feet where God intended you to be. Isaac, after Jesus said that about you stature He ask another question. He said, and why take ye thought for raiment. Consider the lilies of the field how they grow they toil not neither do they spin. And yet I say unto you, that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Consider Isaac, examine the things around you that God has put there and you will began to see His care for you. Live like a child of the King and think like a child of God. Consider and examine the things around you and you will began to see your Father’s hand in everything.” I said to James, “How blind we are to our Creator. He is declaring and speaking all the time through the things which He created and we are continually missing it.” James shook his head in agreement and then told me what Jesus said next. “Wherefore if God so clothe the grass of the field which today is and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall He not much more clothe you O ye of little faith?” It was those last five words that really got me. O ye of little faith. O ye who can see everything I have done if only you would look. O ye who trust so little. O ye who come to me for eternal life and refuse to live in it now. I felt ashamed because I realized how very little I really trusted my Savior. James in a soft voice then said the following words, “Therefore take no thought saying what shall we eat or what shall we drink or with what will we be clothed?” I started to speak but James put his finger to his lips and continued, “For after all these things do the Gentiles seek for your heavenly Father knows that we have need of all these things.” James stopped and opened his arms as wide as he could and then starting turning round and round. He then began to raise and lower his arms and head as he turned. I looked at him as if he were crazy and as I watched him I began to laugh. He then began to laugh also and we both actually got into one of those laughing fits. You know the kind. The one where you try to say something but as soon as you do you start laughing again. We laughed and laughed until we both fell to ground. We laid there on the soft grass looking up at the sky and then it hit me as to what he was doing. I turned to him and said, “I see! If only we would look, think and consider we would see our Father everywhere.” He looked at me and smiled. Then he said the simplest thing and the words had more wisdom in them than I had ever heard. He said, “But seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.” The words he spoke were so simple that he did not even have to comment on them. Seek God and His integrity, virtue, purity of life, rightness, correctness of thinking feeling and acting and the rest would take care of itself. For me it came down to five simple words. Get to know your God.

  We finally sat up and spotted a small fishing boat out on the Sea. It gently rocked back and forth on the small waves. We watched as the men hauled in their nets and it looked as if they were rejoicing with their catch. Over to our right a flock of birds were feeding on some kind of insects that God had provided. At the same time on our left two rabbits sat munching on the grass. The sun was warm on our skin. The breeze was cooling to our hearts. Yes, it was true our Father was there speaking through His creation if we would only look.

  James said, “Isaac, I have a little more to say and then I must be on my way and you must continue your journey. Jesus said, Judge not that ye be not judged.” I stopped James right there and said, “How can that be? People steal and murder. James, how can we not judge them?” James said, “I am going to try to tell you what Jesus meant when he said that. Isaac, we have laws that judge people who have done wrong and that is as it should be. When we see people doing evil and morally wrong things we of course form an opinion as we should for God tells us that we are to be holy as He is holy. There are times when we if are in the right position of authority that we have to call people to account for their actions. What Jesus meant is this. When we get into a spirit that has us judging every action of a person hastily, harshly and without any allowance for what they might be going through then we are judging wrongly. When we think that we know what their motives are and began to tell one another that we know why they do this and why they do that we are judging wrongly. When we fail to pray for them it only shows that our concern is not for their wellbeing or their walk with Jesus. It only shows that our concern is one of criticism because they do not act as we do. Isaac, we are very good at speaking of evil where no evil exists. As always Jesus was looking at our hearts and motives. Do we judge with a heart of concern, pity, and prayer for our fellow believers and those who are lost or do we judge with a heart of criticism, envy, and self-righteousness. For one way will make us humble and loving while the other will make us proud and full of conceit. “As usual after James had said these things of Jesus I felt like I had been slapped in the face. For in so many ways he was describing me without even using my name. Later in my life I discovered that God often dealt with us in that way. He often used those like James, who had no idea that they were being used. I prayed and ask forgiveness for all the wrong things that I had said to others out of the wrong motives of my heart. I then said to James, “I am not sure I want to hear more but I know that I must for it is the only way that I will become like Him. I must have my own faults exposed for if He does not show them to me then He will never be able to overcome them in me. So if you would James please let the words of my Savior expose more of my need to Him” James gently put his hand on my shoulder and said, “Just remember that we all come from the same stock of sinners. What He is doing in you He has to do in all of us. Here is what Jesus said next about judging. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judge: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. And why behold thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but consider not the beam that is in your own eye. Or will you say to thy brother, let me pull out the mote out of your eye: and behold, a beam is in thy own eye. Thou hypocrite, first cast the beam out of your own eye: and then shall thy see clearly to cast out mote out of thy brother’s eye. Isaac, with what degree of spite, self-righteous and proudness we judge our brother we too shall be judged by the only righteous judge that there is. Jesus will judge all things for to Him is this honor given. Every time we see a fault in another we must also ask our Savior to reveal our faults to us. For as an old proverb says every man is right in his own eyes. There are two sides to every argument, two sides to every discussion and two opinions on everything. If we will but let the Holy Spirit examine our lives then He will change us into the likeness of our Savior.” I said to James, “so much of what I concern myself in others will make so little difference in eternity. Perhaps that is why Jesus called the things I see in others a mote or a straw or a twig. My examining their lives for the straws and twigs only proves that I have a log in my own eye. James, could we pray right here and right now that the every time I see a fault in another that first I would realize that God knows it is there, second that I would pray for them and third and probably most important that I would let Him examine me to find my own diseases of the soul that need cured.” James said Amen and we prayed together. James then said Isaac, “it is so sad that so many of us think if we ignore our sins and faults that God does not see them or that He will not hold us accountable for them. Wha
t foolish children we are to think that our heavenly Father will not deal with us. We must always remind our brothers and sisters that our Father is our Father and will treat us like His children.

  I asked James what Jesus said next. James said that Jesus said what seemed to be an odd thing. Jesus said, “Give not that which is holy unto the dogs neither cast ye your pearls before swine lest they trample them under their feet and turn again and rend you.” I ask James, “Why did Jesus say this after just telling us about judging?” James answer, “Isaac, we must learn discernment. After our eyes are opened to the truth of God’s grace and forgiveness we often think that everyone will welcome it. So we come to all in a non-judging manner and began to tell them of our Saviors sacrifice for them. Then they rebuke us and scorn us and we are shocked and dismayed. Jesus is saying that yes we should not judge any but present to all the good news of His saving grace. However when it is resented, scorned and mocked we