SERMON ON THE MOUNT
PROFANING THE HOLY
DR. JIM DIXON
MATTHEW 7:6
DECEMBER 9, 2001
When David said, “The Lord is My Shepherd,” he was using a metaphor. When William Shakespeare said, “All the world is a stage,” he was using a metaphor. When Martin Luther said, “A mighty fortress is our God,” he was using a metaphor. Metaphors are comparisons that cannot be taken literally. God is not a literal shepherd. He does not tend sheep. The world is not a literal stage. God is not a literal fortress. But, you see, metaphors enrich language and communication, and our Lord Jesus Christ loved metaphors. He loved metaphors, similes, and parables. He was constantly drawing comparisons and conveying messages through these means. He was particularly fond of animal metaphors. He called people “sheep.” He called false prophets “wolves.” He called Herod Antipas “that fox.” He called the Pharisees a “brood of vipers.” He referred to the shrewd as “serpents” and the innocent as “doves.” Most of His metaphors are easy to understand, but today we come to two metaphors that are difficult to understand. Today we come to one of the most difficult verses in the Bible: “Do not give what is holy to the dogs. Cast not your pearls before swine lest they trample them underfoot and turn and attack you.”
Now, scholars have given two very different interpretations to this verse, and I want us to examine both of them this morning. They will comprise our two teachings. First of all, there is the missionary interpretation of this verse. There are many scholars who believe this verse has to do with missions and with mission strategy. In the early church, this verse, Matthew 7:6, was used as an application for communion and how communion was to be administered. Do not give what is holy to dogs—do not serve communion to unbelievers. That’s how the early church interpreted it. Today, all Bible scholars agree that this was a false application of the verse. Certainly, we should not serve communion to unbelievers, but that’s not what this verse is talking about.
Jesus said, “Do not give what is holy to the dogs. Do not cast your pearls before swine lest they trample them underfoot, turn and attack you.” It’s difficult to imagine why anyone would attack you for serving them communion. Furthermore, while it is true that the Jewish people sometimes refer to non-Jews as dogs and use that metaphor, it is not true that Christians ever refer to non-Christians as dogs. This use is not found in the Bible, and Jesus did not refer to non-Christians as dogs.
But there are Bible scholars who believe that certain types of unbelievers, certain types of non-Christians might be appropriately referred to as dogs and pigs. These scholars believe that when Jesus referred to dogs and swine, He was talking about unbelievers who were hostile to the gospel. They point out that, in the Bible, the gospel is sometimes called holy. They point out that in Matthew’s writings the gospel of the kingdom is compared to a pearl, and so their interpretation of this verse is this: we should not take the gospel, which is holy—we should not take the gospel of the kingdom, which is a pearl—and cast it before unbelievers who are hostile, lest we just make them angry. They would trample the gospel underfoot and rise up and attack us. We need to be careful in our mission strategy.
This is the way this verse is interpreted by many, and those who so interpret it also compare it to Matthew, chapter 10, where our Lord Jesus, sending His disciples forth, told them that as they go into villages and towns and into homes and share the gospel, that when people reject it and reject them, they are to kick the dust off their feet and move on. So, this is the missionary interpretation of Matthew 7, verse 6. “Be careful when you share the gospel. If people are hostile, they’ll just trample it underfoot and attack you. Do not share this pearl with those who are hostile. The gospel is for the unbelieving but not for the hostile.
I must say I do not agree with this interpretation, the missionary interpretation of Matthew 7, verse 6. I must also say that most scholars hold this missionary interpretation. If you were to consult commentaries, you would find that most of them hold the missionary interpretation and render Matthew 7:6 in this light. But I have problems with this particular interpretation because it’s clear that the disciples of Christ never understood it in this way and it’s clear that the apostles of God never understood it in this way. In fact, there is no doubt that they took the gospel to the hostile, and they gave their lives taking the gospel to hostile people.
Matthew himself, who wrote these words and who penned this verse, took the gospel to Ethiopia and he died there a martyr’s death as he preached the gospel to people who were hostile. Mark took the gospel to Alexandria, Egypt, and he died there a martyr’s death. They dragged him through the streets of Alexandria because he had preached the gospel to those who were hostile. Luke died when they hanged him from an olive tree in Greece because he had preached the gospel of Jesus Christ to those who were hostile.
You know the Apostle Paul was beheaded at Three Fountains in Rome by the order of the Emperor Nero because he had preached the gospel in a hostile empire. You know the same is true of Peter. He was crucified upside down near the place where the Basilica of St. Peter stands today because he had preached the gospel to people who were hostile. James, the brother of our Lord Jesus Christ who was the great head of the Jerusalem Church, died when he was pushed off the pinnacle of the temple. And surviving the fall, he was then stoned to death where he fell because he had preached the gospel to those who were hostile.
James the Greater was beheaded for preaching the gospel to the hostile, as recorded in the scriptures. James the Less was beaten to death for preaching the gospel to those who were hostile. Phillip the Evangelist was strung from a pillar and died of strangulation in Phrygia near the village of Hierapolis, which is called Pamukkale in modern-day Turkey. He died there, but until he drew his last breath, he preached the gospel to those who were killing him.
Thomas, Doubting Thomas, took the gospel to Coromandel in the Indies, and he was run through with a lance there because he preached the gospel to hostile people. The truth is that every disciple, every apostle, died a martyr’s death because they preached the gospel to the hostile (with the exception of John). Even John was imprisoned on the Island of Patmos because of his testimony for Jesus Christ.
You see, clearly the apostles did not understand this verse to mean that they were not to take the gospel to those who are hostile. Really, it’s not just Matthew 7:6. Even when you go back to Matthew, chapter 10, you see that Jesus isn’t really saying, “Don’t preach the gospel to those who are hostile.” He’s telling them to go into villages and into towns and into homes and to preach the gospel to whomever. He’s simply saying to them that “as you preach the gospel, when people reject it, if they continue to reject it, there comes a time when you should kick the dust off your feet and move on. “But that time must be guided by the Holy Spirit.
The truth is, Christian history and the history of missions is just filled with examples of women and men taking the gospel to hostile peoples and persevering by the power of the Holy Spirit, some through the shedding of their own blood. But the gospel prevails and people coming to see the love of Jesus Christ.
I was reading this past week about Jim Elliot. Some of you are probably aware of the fact that there’s a Jim Elliot School right here in Denver. In truth, there are Jim Elliot schools all over America and in other parts of the world. But who is Jim Elliot? Jim Elliot was a missionary. He was born in 1927 in Portland, Oregon. He went to Wheaton College in Illinois. Many of you went to Wheaton. Jim Elliot graduated with honors from Wheaton, as I’m sure many of you did. He was a great scholar, and he was called by Christ to be a missionary. He did not live to see 30 years of age because Christ called him to Ecuador to a hostile people called the Auca Indians in Eastern Ecuador in the jungles on the eastern side of the Andes. He went with Nate Saint and with three other young men, all in their 20s. They went to share the love of Christ with people who did not know Christ.
They circled some of the jungle regions with their plane. In a period of weeks and months, they stopped briefly here and there to talk to a few Auca Indians. Then they decided they were led of God. They went and they just settled in and began to share Christ with the Auca Indians. Some of the Auca Indians seemed friendly, but ultimately they killed all five missionaries—Jim Elliot, Nate Saint and the other three. All of them were killed by the Auca Indians. It’s hard to believe what God did in the aftermath of that. Word spread throughout the Christian community in America, and word spread throughout the Christian community all over the world—what happened, how these five young men had died sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ in Ecuador.
Elizabeth Elliot, Jim Elliot’s wife, wrote two powerful books. In 1957 she wrote “Through the Gates of Splendor,” and in 1958 she wrote “Shadows of the Almighty,” two awesome books. People read those books. The Holy Spirit moved in power in Christians. Christians all over the world said, “We want to go to the Auca Indians even if it costs our lives.” The wives of those five missionaries said, “We want to go and take the love of Christ to those who killed our husbands.
Today, an incredible thing has happened because today almost all of the Auca Indians in Ecuador believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior because there were people who loved the gospel more than they loved their own lives and were willing to take the gospel to those who were hostile.
Clearly, in terms of world missions, we need to be wise. It is true that there are times when we look for fertile soil. We look for places where the fields are white for harvest. There are also times when the Spirit of God leads us to take the gospel into very dangerous places and into very dangerous people. The truth is that as a church, Cherry Hills Community Church, we take the gospel all over the world and you take the gospel all over the world by your giving and through the enabling of your prayers. We take the gospel to places in the world where it’s very dangerous.
We have missionaries who are ministering to the Cantik people. The word Cantik means “beautiful.” These people are beautiful to God and they are beautiful to us. They are not really called Cantik. They have another name. We cannot use that name because they are hostile. If they knew we had missionaries there, they might kill them. That’s how it is in missionary work. But, you see, Jesus said, “You will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of the earth.” Jesus said, “Go into all the world and make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things I have commanded you. And lo, I am with you always, even to the close of the age.” So, there is the missionary interpretation of Matthew 7:6, but I do not believe it is the best interpretation. There’s a second interpretation, and it is the moral interpretation of Matthew 7:6.
I know that all of you have heard of the ship called the Queen Mary. The Queen Mary was built in 1936, and it was the greatest ship in the world. It was the biggest ship. It was the fastest ship. It could cross the Atlantic in four hours! It was luxurious. The Queen Mary, together with its’ sister ship, the Queen Elizabeth, enabled people in Europe and in America to cross the Atlantic and to visit the continents every single week because they were constantly in service.
Of course, the Queen Elizabeth sank in Hong Kong Harbor when it caught fire. They have since built the Queen Elizabeth II, which is still working today. I just read this past week where the Queen Elizabeth II, as it travels across the ocean, only is able to get six inches to the gallon of fuel. Six inches to the gallon of fuel. That has nothing to do with anything, but it might make you feel a little better if you’re getting 10 miles to the gallon or something like that. Six inches to the gallon of fuel.
Of course, you know where the Queen Mary is today. The Queen Mary is in Long Beach Harbor. It’s anchored there. It is no longer in service. It served for four decades, but today it doesn’t journey over the oceans but it is stationary and it serves as restaurants and it serves as a hotel. Of course, when the Queen Mary was being prepared for its current role in Long Beach, they made the decision to remove the three smokestacks from the Queen Mary. They were going to replace them, and an amazing thing happened.
They brought these big cranes in. They lifted the three smokestacks from the Queen Mary’s deck. The smokestacks just crumbled. They just crumbled into dust, and the dust just fell on the deck. They found that the 3/4-inch steel plate that the three smokestacks had been made out of in 1936 had almost completely rotted and decayed. Basically, the smokestacks consisted of paint—30 coats of paint administered over four decades. They were mostly paint, and when they were lifted, they crumbled. They looked great—30 coats of paint—but there was just residual steel inside. It was mostly rust.
Of course, we’re all painted. We all have rust inside. There’s a little rot in all of us because we’ve all “sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” Jesus condemned the Pharisees, and He rebuked them because they denied that they were painted, and they denied that there was rot underneath. They were self-righteous, and they denied the sin in their own life, the sin within. Of course, we don’t want to be like the Pharisees. We want to acknowledge that we are sinners. We don’t want to be self-righteous. We want to admit that we are sometimes painted and there’s rust underneath.
We should also remember there was another group of people that Jesus was displeased with, another group of people besides the Pharisees that Jesus condemned and rebuked. This group of people Jesus called the Balaamites and the Nicolaitans. You read about them in Revelation 2 and 3. Jesus described them as people who basked in sin, people who just embraced the rot. Maybe they didn’t even both with the paint. They were people who were involved in multiple forms of idolatry and sexual immorality. He called them Nicolaitans. He called them Balaamites. Surely these are the kind of people that might more accurately be described as dogs and swine. They were people who lived like animals.
We need to understand that in the Jewish world, dogs were considered unclean. When we think of dogs, we think of household pets, but they thought of the wild packs of dogs that roamed the streets of villages and towns and ate out of the garbage dumps. In the Levitical dietary laws of the Jews, both dogs and pigs were deemed to be unclean. They became metaphors. They became metaphors for unclean people, people like the Nicolaitans and people like the Balaamites, people who had just given their lives over to immorality and embraced the rot, people who were living like animals, unclean dogs and swine.
In the Bible the word “hagios,” the word “holy,” is only once used in conjunction with the gospel. But countless times the word hagios is used to describe the teachings of the Decalogue and the moral and ethical instructions of Christ. You see, the standards of righteousness that come from God and are revealed in scripture are hagios. They are holy. The instructions of Christ and the moral and ethical teachings of the Bible, Judeo-Christian values, these are pearls. The truth is, in the gospel of Matthew; the gospel of the kingdom is not compared to a pearl. It’s the kingdom itself that is compared to a pearl. The gospel gets you into the kingdom, but the kingdom is characterized by the righteousness of Christ, and the people of the kingdom are called to that righteousness and its holiness. This instruction may be called a pearl.
Jesus is saying, I believe in this verse, “Do not take Judeo-Christian values, the moral and ethical instructions of scripture, and use them to lecture dogs and pigs. Do not use the moral and ethical standards of the Bible to lecture the Nicolaitans and the Balaamites, people who have given their lives over to immorality. Your pearls are not pearls to them. What is holy to you is not holy to them. They will just trample your values underfoot, and you’ll make them angry. They will just turn and attack you.
Of course, this interpretation of Matthew 7:6 fits contextually because Jesus has just been talking to us in Matthew 7:1-5 about the dangers of judgementalness. “Judge not, that you be not judged.” “Do not look for the speck that is in your brother’s eye.” Then He moves to this thought. As you lecture people in morality, they feel judged. They can’t receive it. It’s pearls to you. It’s judgementalness to them.
I was reading this past week about Queen Nzinga. Queen Nzinga lived in the early 17th century. She was Queen on Angola on the continent of Africa. It was at a time when the Portuguese people and the Portuguese explorers were establishing settlements on the African coast. They encountered this powerful queen. She lived an immoral life. She lived an incomprehensibly debauched life. She kept a harem of men, and she used that harem of men sexually for her gratification. I think she would be called a nymphomaniac.
What she would do is take two men out of her harem, and she would force them to fight to the death, and then she would take the survivor and she would have sex with the survivor. She would sleep with the survivor and then she would kill him in the morning. She had to constantly restock her harem. Through all of this, she could not get pregnant, she did not give birth, and she was jealous of women who were pregnant and did give birth. She was enraged, and she commanded that all pregnant women in Angola be killed. Incomprehensible.
Well, as Portuguese missionaries came into Angola and they heard of the activities and the behaviors of the queen, they were understandably appalled, and they lectured her. When they saw her, they lectured her. They lectured her on biblical morality. They lectured her on Judeo-Christian values and standards. She became enraged. She felt judged, and she just became enraged.
This went on for years and years. Countless lectures. None of them did any good, but you know what happened when she was 76 years old? When she was 76 years old, she gave her heart to Christ. She gave her heart to Christ because there was a group of missionaries who decided to love her. They just decided to love her—not judge her, but love her. As they decided to love her, they shared with her the love of Christ and the love of the cross. Her heart melted, and she was convicted by the Holy Spirit, and she repented. She came to Christ, and then Christ began to transform her. Her later years were years of compassion.
I know most of you have heard of John Newton. This past week I was reading a booklet on John Newton. I’ve read many books dealing with John Newton. I was reading a booklet from the Trinity Forum. It was describing John Newton’s life. He was 20 years old in 1745 when he boarded the ship called Pegasus. It was a slave ship. John Newton was a slave master. He was a slaver. He was 20 years old and dealt in the buying and selling of human flesh. The Pegasus moved down the windward side of the African coast. They stopped in villages where rivers came into the sea. John Newton would talk to Indian chieftains, and he would try to buy human beings, men and women, and for a cheap price. He would bring them aboard his slave ship, and then John Newton would brand them. Then he would shackle them. He would put them in irons. One-third of the slaves typically were women. He would keep them nude in the hold. With the other slave masters, he would divide them up for sexual purposes. Night after night, John Newton would sleep with these women he had enslaved.
He was, by his own description and in his own words, debauched. He had become an animal. He said he was no longer human. He had become an animal. Dogs and swine, living like an animal. He received countless lectures by moral and righteous people. He received the condemnation of many who condemned him for the practice of slavery and also condemned him for his immoral life and his sexual debauchery. But none of the lectures did any good. None of the lectures did anything. He was an angry atheist. He was, he said, an angry atheist, and he became more and more angry as people lectured him.
But, you see, finally a group of people decided to love him. He heard about the love of Jesus Christ. He read “The Imitation of Christ” by Thomas à Kempis. He read about the cross, and he melted. His heart broke. He was convicted of the Holy Spirit, and he repented in tears. He accepted Jesus Christ as His Lord and Savior.
I think most of you know the rest of the story, because John Newton went to seminary. He returned to England. He became a pastor. This debauched man, saved by the blood of Christ, became a pastor. Together with William Wilberforce, John Newton helped bring about the abolition of slavery throughout the British Empire. Of course, John Newton became one of the greatest hymn writers in Christian history. He wrote my favorite hymn, “Amazing Grace.” “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost but now I’m found. I was blind but now I see.” He wasn’t saved by lectures, but he was saved by love.
I saw a video yesterday. It was only a half-hour long. I wish you could all see the video. The video was about a woman named Norma McCorvey. You’ve all heard of Norma McCorvey but you don’t know her by that name. The year was 1969. She was single and very young and pregnant again, for the third time. She had given her first child to her mom. Her second baby she had given up for adoption. Now here she was, 21 years old, single and pregnant again.
Norma didn’t want to have this baby, and she didn’t want to give it up. She just wanted an abortion. She lived in Texas, and abortion was illegal in Texas. She went to court. It was a long process. During that legal process, she gave birth to her third child, but she continued the fight until 1973 when it came to the Supreme Court of the United States. Norma McCorvey was given a fictitious name. They called her name Roe, Jane Roe. Of course, the Supreme Court case in 1973 was Roe v. Wade, but Roe was Norma McCorvey.
You know what happened in that Supreme Court case in 1973. Jane Roe won. Norma McCorvey won. Since 1973, abortion has been legal in the United States in every state for any reason—abortion on demand, in any and all trimesters. For 22 years after 1973, Norma McCorvey worked in abortion clinics. She worked in abortion clinics. She saw things, and she heard things she could barely stand to hear. During those 22 years, she drank until she was drunk, and she took drugs, and she attempted suicide, but she hated Christians. She hated pro-lifers. They just enraged her.
They had given her countless lectures, and they just made her more and more angry. As she worked at abortion clinics, the pro-life people would be outside. Many times, they were shouting at her. She would come outside. She would curse at them, and she would curse a blue streak, telling them off. She was SO angry.
One day a man came up to her who was a pro-lifer. He looked at her. For some reason she stopped to talk to him. He said to her, “You have murdered 35 million babies.” This was in 1995. She was shocked at the accusation, but she was not changed. The man who had made the statement went back to his home, and Jesus Christ convicted him that he had said and done the wrong thing. Jesus Christ led this man to repent of what he had said to Norma McCorvey. He led this man to repent of his lack of love and of his judgementalness.
The man then felt led to go back to Norma McCorvey. For some strange reason she was willing to meet with him. He began to cry. He said to her, “I’m so sorry. I repent of what I said to you. I should never have said that to you. The Lord has convicted me. I was wrong. I’m so sorry. The Lord loves you. The Lord loves you and I want to love you too.” They both began to cry. For the first time in her life, Norma McCorvey’s heart began to melt, and she began to be broken by the power of the Spirit. She began to be convicted.
One week later, a 7-year old Christian girl came up to Norma McCorvey and invited her to church on a Saturday night. Norma McCorvey said, “I’ll go.” She went to church. She heard the gospel, she felt the love of Christ, she heard about the mercy and the grace of Christ, and her heart broke. She gave her life to Christ. She repented and received Christ as Lord and Savior.
That was six years ago. Her life these last six years have seen incredible change. You can see the joy of Christ on her face as she talks on this video. She’s growing to love Christ, and she’s changed her views and she’s changed her perspectives and she’s changed her lifestyle, all by the power of Christ. It wasn’t because of lectures. It was because of love.
Understand that what’s a pearl to you, what’s a pearl to us, is not necessarily a pearl to the world. What’s holy to us is not necessarily holy to the world. There are people out there who are living in immorality. They’re living more like animals than like the people God meant them to be. But when we lecture them with Judeo-Christian values, they just become angry. They trample our values underfoot. They turn to attack us. They become enraged. They don’t need a lecture. They need love. They don’t understand our values, but they understand love.
There might be times, moments, when the Spirit of God might lead us to lecture just a little, but mostly He’s called upon us to love and to share the love of Jesus and the grace and the mercy of the cross. It’s powerful. I believe this is the meaning of Matthew 7, verse 6. Let’s close with a word of prayer.