Matthew 7: 1-12

            This morning we are rightly inspired by the achievement of these graduates. We honor them especially, but all of us are still students in life. As someone has said, "When you're enrolled in the School of Experience you never graduate."  Notice that doesn't say you never grow up - but wise people never graduate - they keep going to the school of life and learning new lessons every day.

            The world in which all of us are going to school is a world of harsh, relentless judgment. Probably this is nothing new, but it seems like every shred of politeness and civil behavior has been replaced by a hard judgmentalism. The examples are everywhere. As soon as a new movie comes out, the critics are all over it, tearing it apart. A major league baseball player strikes out, and obviously feels bad enough - but the fans boo him off the field. A radio talk show host doesn't even pretend to talk about the issues of the day, instead exercises character assassination on the other side. We are over three years away from the next presidential election, and already books are coming out to slam potential candidates. In what is played like an innocent game, but is actually quite cruel, people judge the physical attractiveness of members of the opposite sex on a scale of I to 10. And a woman of color writes a letter to the editor describing how her husband, out shopping, was accused of stealing in front of his little girl - accused, clearly, because of a stereotype about the color of his skin. It's a judgmental world we live in, and it seems like everyone's caught up in it. We are judged in this world before we are known, and we do that to other people as well.

            Jesus' take on that is simple: Judge not. For at least a couple good reasons - first of all, you are going to be judged by God the same way that you judge others. Because God knows that there's no love in all this judgment. There's no Christian kindness in it. God will know your heart if you play this cruel judging game.

            The second reason not to judge is that you can bet that while you're pointing your finger at someone's else's faults, you're ignoring plenty of your own. This is called hypocrisy, or self-righteousness, and it was the mark of the people Jesus couldn't save. He can save the worst criminal in the world, but he can't save the self-righteous person who doesn't recognize his or her own faults, and his need for a Savior.

            There was a church that began a program for street people, and became a place where those people could hang out. One of the long-time members came to the pastor, and objected to all the dirty, scruffy-looking people who were now roaming the hallways. The pastor said, "Well, I'm just trying to save some people from going to hell." The woman said, "Well, I don't necessarily think they're going to hell." And the pastor said, "Oh, I wasn't talking about them. I was talking about you."

            In this school of life, it's the people who judge themselves better than others that are truly lost. Jesus said, "Judge not." Be kind to others, instead of judging them.

            He also said this strange thing: "Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before swine." I think that raises the second course for us today, the subject of respect for holy things.

            You and I are given some precious, holy things to take care of. Here's just a partial list: our minds, that are capable of learning things, knowing things, using facts and expanding; our bodies, that turn food into energy, that have strength and abilities we take for granted; the natural world, filled with detail and beauty, and nourishment for our minds, bodies, and souls; the people around us - both those who help us along the way, and those we don't know, but who make up this great club of humanity that we all belong to; the potential that is in each one of us to make a difference in this world, to develop our spiritual gifts and talents, and to better ourselves day by day.

            These are precious, holy things that are entrusted into our care - there are many other things we could add to the list. And how often people throw these holy things to the dogs, and cast their pearls away to the swine. We let our minds vegetate in front of the television, or numb them with alcohol or drugs. We don't keep testing ourselves and growing in knowledge. As someone once said, "The person who graduates today, and stops learning tomorrow, is uneducated the day after." Many people waste the minds they've been given.

            Or we let our bodies waste away - can't quite get to that exercise program; can't quite resist that third plate of food. Or, people punish their bodies in other ways - through irresponsible sex or dangerous substances. Throwing away what is holy.

            Every credible scientific report indicates that there is a very small window of opportunity to preserve the quality of the natural world in which we live - action must be taken now; and our government ignores the warning - doctors up the science to support policies of wastefulness - who will protect the sacred things of life?

            Perhaps a contemporary example of throwing pearls before swine is what has come to be known as 'reality television,' even though most of it has very little to do with reality. What most of it has to do with is throwing away every shred of human dignity. How else would you describe the hundreds of people who will eat anything, wear anything, do anything, risk anything - for the chance to win some money? People will chance their marriages, their health, their pride - anything. One TV producer bragged that if he could put out a TV show where one person won a million dollars, and everybody else died, he could find enough contestants to do a show. We know that is probably true.

            Of course, those stunts on those programs are so outrageous that we would never do them. But the fact is, people risk holy things every day by driving carelessly, eating carelessly, treating friends carelessly, or carelessly neglecting their souls. We don't have to live that way - we don't have to throw our pearls before swine. We can choose instead to honor the great gifts of our bodies, minds, and spirits; of this earth; of our friends, our relationships, our marriages. Sacred things before God.

            That brings us to the third subject Jesus wants to raise today - the subject of faith. And he raises it with these strange words: "Ask, and it will be given you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For every one who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened."  These may very well be the most misunderstood words in the Bible. A lot of people confuse these words into a kind of Santa Claus mentality - you can make out your list to Santa and he'll just give it - ask and you shall receive. That is surely not what Jesus meant.

            To illustrate what he did mean, Jesus gave a Father's Day lesson. He said, "…what man of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent?"

I am blessed with a wonderful father. My father died about seven years ago, but he is still very much with me, and very much a blessing to me. He proved his love for me in more ways than I could ever list. And I know that if I went to my father and asked him for anything, he would do his best to provide it - as long as it was the best thing for me! There were many times I asked for things and my father said No. And I know he loved me because then he had to put up with my whining. But I look back now, and I realize that my father knew best. Those were not things I needed.

            In the parable Jesus tells here, the son asks for basic, important things in life - things you needed to live in those days - bread, fish. And he knows that his father would not respond by giving him harmful or worthless things instead - a stone, a serpent. That's not what a loving father would do.

            So, when Jesus says to ask and we will receive - he's inviting us to live our lives in a loving relationship with a God whom we can trust will gladly give us what we need to live a deep and wonderful life. In other words, Jesus is inviting us to live a life of faith. We know that there are a lot of elements that go into a successful life - things like creativity, initiative, perseverance, kindness, morality. Those are the stuff of commencement speeches. But faith is the foundation on which those things stand. Without faith, you can ask, you can seek, you can knock - you may even succeed in getting many of the things you're looking for. But they will be the wrong things. Because there is always a spiritual part of us that can only truly be satisfied by a living faith in the God who made us and cares for us, and the Savior who forgave our sins on the cross.

            Here then are three courses in life from Jesus - a course in not judging others; a course in not disrespecting holy things; a course in building a deep faith in God. The last verse of our scripture is one of the most familiar in the Bible - the Golden Rule- Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. This is the standard for kindness in this world. These lessons from Jesus will help all of us live successfully.

            Someone has said that we all have a lot in life, and we have a choice what to do with it. Some people make theirs into a parking lot - wasting themselves while the action passes them by. Wiser people make theirs into a building lot - with a sure foundation of faith, with all kinds of possibilities. Who knows what it might end up being? For every one of us, whether we are just starting out, or whether we've been building for a long time - the best lies ahead of us, if we are looking ahead with faith, and building on the sure love of Jesus.