As kingdom people we need to be wise in sharing the truth or our experience of Christ with others.
In dealing with people and caring for them we need to live and behave as kingdom people, and we should not give that which is holy to the dogs or cast our pearls before the hogs; this means we need to be wise in dealing with people.
The first twelve verses of Matt. 7 speak in detail concerning the principles of the kingdom people in dealing with others.
How can we as people of the kingdom of God take care of others, and how should we relate to the people in the kingdom of God? In dealing with others we need to be those living under the heavenly rule of the kingdom, and in caring for others we need to do everything according to the spirit.
The very first thing that the Lord Jesus deals with is our judgemental spirit; in the kingdom of God we should not judge, lest we be judged.
In the world today everyone criticises, gossips, and judges others, but in the heavenly kingdom – the proper church life today – we should refrain from judging others.
If we judge others with righteousness, we ourselves will also be judged with righteousness by the Lord, but if we judge others with mercy, we will also be judged with mercy by the Lord.
Mercy triumphs over judgement. Whenever we see a fault in someone, we should first contact the Lord; we shouldn’t be quick to judge, knowing that the measure with which we judge, we will also be judged by the Lord.
For us to deal with others we first need to reject ourselves with our feelings and opinions, and then we need to consider them, symphatize with them, and be merciful to them.
It is easy to “react” to what others say and do, and it is “natural” for us to judge others; Satan is the accuser of the brethren, and just as the Lord lives always to intercede, so Satan lives to accuse us before God. Oh Lord Jesus!
May we learn to not cooperate with Satan in his work of accusing and judging others, and may we learn to reject ourselves, consider others, symphatize with them, and be merciful toward them.
Just as the Lord had mercy on us, so we should have mercy toward others in our dealings with them. If we notice a “splinter in our brother’s eye”, we should realise that there’s a beam in our own eye.
It would be hypocritical for us to try to remove the splinter (the fault) from our brother’s eye while we have a beam (even more faults) in our own eye. May the Lord shine on us and enlighten us in this respect so that we may be afraid to pronounce judgement or judge others.
We need to be Wise in Sharing the Truth or our Experience of Christ with Others
In Matt. 7:6 the Lord says that we should not give that which is holy to the dogs, neither should we cast our pearls before the hogs, lest they trample them with their feet, and then turn and tear us.
What does this mean, and how does this apply to our experience?
That which is holy must refer to the objective truth which belongs to God; many times we enjoy the word of God and the light of the truth shines on us and in us, and we’re ready to speak it to others.
However, we need to be wise in sharing the truth to others, for some are like “dogs” who not only not appreciate the holy things but even turn to tear us and bite us.
Pearls must refer to the subjective experiences which are ours; as we enjoy and experience the Lord, we have many precious inward, subjective experiences of Christ, and when we meet with others, we would like to share these experiences with them.
However, we need to be wise in sharing our experiences of Christ with others, for some of them may be like “hogs”, who not only not appreciate what we want to share, but they may even turn and devour us.
Dogs don’t have hoofs nor do they chew the cud, and hogs divide the hoofs but don’t chew the cud; in God’s eyes both such animals are unclean (see Lev. 11:4, 7).
Peter and Paul both speak of such people in 2 Pet. 2:12, 19-2, and Phil. 3:2, indicating that even in the churches there are some like dogs. Such ones are religious, but they are not clean.
As we enjoy the Lord, pray over His word, and want to care for others, we may have a certain truth, doctrine, light, or experience that we want to share with them, but we may not consider whether the ones listening are “dogs”, “lambs”, “hogs”, or “wolves”.
We need to be wise in our sharing the truth or our experience of Christ with others, considering not only our own excitement and enjoyment but also others’ situation.
We may be ready to shout out loud, Praise the Lord, I have seen the church, I love the Lord, and I love the church life – what a glorious and wonderful place! – and there’s nothing wrong with doing this, but if we do this with the wrong person, we ourselves may be in trouble.
Some people are open, ready, and willing to receive the word, while others are closed, unclean, and ready to bite, so we need to be wise in our dealing with people and caring for them.
We should not give holy things to the dogs nor cast our pearls before hogs. Rather, as we speak to others about holy things, truths, and experiences of Christ, we need to observe the basic principle of taking care of others.
We need to perceive how much they can receive, what is their need, are they open and willing to receive, and what is their spiritual condition; then, we can speak something by looking to the Lord what to say and how much to say.
But if we care only for our own feeling, our excitement, and our desire, we may damage others and also damage ourselves in the process.
When we speak to others concerning spiritual things, we should not speak according to our feelings or desires, but speak according to their capacity to receive what we have to say.
As kingdom people we need to be wise in dealing with others, and we need to be wise in sharing the truth or giving our testimony.
If we are not wise but excited to share something that we really enjoyed, and if we care only for ourselves but not for the others, we may get into trouble or cause trouble.
We need to be wise in contacting others; whenever we contact other people, we should sense what “their temperature” is, and we need to care for their situation.
We should do things not according to our feeling but in a proper way, being wise in sharing the truth or our experience of Christ to others, so as not to provoke “dogs” to bite us or the “hogs” to attack us.
Lord Jesus, teach us to be wise as kingdom people in sharing the word of God and in testifying concerning our experience of Christ. Save us from giving what is holy to the dogs or casting our pearls before the hogs. May we be the wise kingdom people who know to sense the situation of those who listen, so that we may speak not according to our feeling and excitement but according to the Lord’s leading within. Lord Jesus, we love You, we want to testify of the word You spoke to us and the experience You gave us, and we want to do this in a proper way, according to the principles You set forth in the kingdom!
Asking, Seeking, and Knocking before the Lord in Dealing with Others and Caring for Them
Right after the verse on not casting our pearls before hogs and not giving the holy things to the dogs, the Lord encourages us to ask, seek, and knock before the Lord (see Matt. 7:6-8).
We all know this wonderful word of the Lord that we need to ask and it will be given to us, seek and we will find, and knock and a door will be open to us, but we neglect the context of this word.
It is in the context of dealing with others in the kingdom, in the context of caring for others in the kingdom of God that we need to come to the Lord in the way of asking, seeking, and knocking.
As citizens of the heavenly kingdom, we need to be the wisest people, and this is possible only as we contact the Lord generally and even specifically concerning the need of those we are about to speak.
We have to admit, however, that many times we fail to do this; we think we know what to say, we are full of the excitement, and we just say things – but without contacting the Lord.
Many times we are not wise; we do not discern the situation and condition of those we are about to speak to, and we do not consider what is the proper word to speak to them.
In contacting people and dealing with them, we must look to the Lord and ask Him, Lord Jesus, tell me how to contact these people; show me how to deal with them! This is a general way of asking.
We need to even go deeper and ask Him, Lord, I seek Your face and Your will concerning the ones I am about to speak to; shine on Your word and on their situation, and let me speak what is in Your heart for them – not what is in my feeling or mind for them.
We may even go deeper and insist before the Lord, interceding before Him for each of them, and knocking at the heavenly door for the Lord to open the heavens and pour out His speaking and blessing over them.
May we be saved from being careless in dealing with people, and may we be rescued from behaving in a loose or light way as we contact others.
We all have the experience of speaking to someone and being quite excited about what we were sharing, for it was our enjoyment and experience in the word and of the Lord, but then those persons didn’t talk to us anymore, or they even criticised us and spoke negative things concerning us or against us after this.
As kingdom people we need to learn to ask the Lord, seek Him, and knock before Him in dealing with others and caring for them.
Lord Jesus, we want to learn to ask, seek, and knock before You as we deal with others, speak to them, and care for them. Save us from giving holy things to those who can’t receive them or sharing our pearls with those who would turn and bite us. Lord, may we learn to ask the Lord, seek Him, and knock before Him for the proper way to contact people and the right words to say to them. Make us those who are constantly before You, always checking with You concerning all things, so that we may be one with You in speaking or not speaking, in sharing or not sharing, and in contacting people or not contacting them.
This article is also avaiable in Romanian / citiți acest articol și în limba română la următorul link, Trebuie să fim înțelepți când împărtășim adevărul sau experiența noastră din Cristos altora.
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by bro. Mark Raabe for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Matthew, msg. 23 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Development of the Kingdom of God in the Church Life and the Christian Life (2019 spring ITERO), week 4, Living the Kingdom Life by Taking Care of Others according to the Spirit and by Realizing God’s Forgiveness.
- Hymns on this topic:
# Jesus, O living Word of God, / Wash me and cleanse me with Your blood / So You can speak to me. / Just let me hear Your words of grace, / Just let me see Your radiant face, / Beholding constantly. (Song on, Jesus, O living Word of God)
# Ask, and it shall be given unto you; / Seek, and you shall find. / Knock, and it shall be opened unto you. / Hallelu, Hallelujah! (Scripture song)
# Once we walked a soulish person, / Wandering in the wilderness, / Never knowing that our spirit / Craved God’s fullness to express; / At the moment Jesus entered / Instantly the whole was changed. / Now we’re people spirit-centered! / Hallelujah! Rearranged! (Hymns #1181)
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