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“That Darling Evil”
23 July 2006
Text:: Matt. 7:1-6; James 4:6-12
Whatever could I mean by a darling evil? Darling sounds so cuddly, so comfortable and intimate--the very opposite of evil which is dark, scary and repulsive. Or, at least evil ought to be repulsive. However, in this business of judging, we cannot be too careful. For instance, it is a commonplace to note that every vice has two names. One name is the polite, flattering and minimizing name that I use for a vice when it is mine, when it is my darling evil. The other name is the impolite, ugly and maximizing name that I use for the same vice when that vice is yours. For instance, I may “like” and “admire” someone else’s fancy, new sports car--but you are “coveting, or lusting” after it. The brutal truth is that the level of admiration could be identical and I am either unwilling, or unable to admit it. I believe that this tendency is in us all, this maintenance of two sets of scales is what Jesus has in His sights in this passage. God soundly condemns the possession of two scales in the Old Testament. It is neither just, nor right! How desperately we need each other’s help in seeing straight, in rightly discerning! How careful we need to be in searching out our own hearts, in confessing our own sin, before we even consider helping another person in reformation, or in growth in holiness. Things are rarely as they first appear to be. Some old protestant virtues are coming back in vogue, things like introspection and moral purity.
Now I have no desire to create difficulties, or to make things unnecessarily complicated, but, in these six verses, we have a clear dilemma. In verse 1 we have Judge not, that you be not judged and in verse 6 we have an act of clear discernment: Do not give what is holy (the first distinction) to the dogs (a second distinction) nor cast your pearls (a third distinction) before swine (the fourth critical distinction). And the remedy for the dilemma is given in verses 7 & 8: ask, seek and knock. It is hard work, this business of godly introspection, but it is both doable and expected. At the very least, we should hear in this a severe caution: godly reproof, so necessary to give and to receive, requires diligent, persistent inquiry of God--that is, prayer practiced with expectant listening. We all have darling evils, ferocious little beasties, quartered in our hearts--we feed, protect and coddle our idiosyncratic sin. No, we do not always do this consciously, but we do do it persistently. Have you considered the indelibility of your besetting sin? For instance, let’s say that someone is given to harsh judgmentalism--after all that is what the passage is about and Jesus must suppose some general currency to the problem. This person may find that kicking the habit of criticizing others is just as hard as kicking the nicotine habit of a benighted smoker. The smoker wants to quit, sees the health risks, resents the high cost of his habit, even has all kinds of support in friends and family to quit as well as patches to wear, but the darling evil simply will not go away. And this is true regardless of the vice involved. A gossip is just as addicted to tale-bearing as the smoker is to his cigarettes--and maybe more so. And who’s to say which is worse? Well, we are. If we are a smoker, we will tend to be more down on gossip--it’s a really bad sin. If I smoke I’m only harming myself we say defensively, coddling that darling little evil. But chat with the gossip, if you dare, and you may find that smoking is rather higher up on the scale of wickedness than sharing concern, yes, even prayer concerns for you know who.
Now Jesus, who moments before was seeking to excise worry from our lives, is here working towards the goal of excising the cruelly critical tendencies potential in us all. He doesn’t want us to be cynical critics. We are all prone to being Pharisaical, or legalistic, or proud and self-conceited. They are all connected. In fact, those who are most critical of others have, in my experience, tended to be those who are also most insecure in themselves. Beyond this, deprecation is rather too much in vogue these days--people aspire to be devastatingly negative as if they were in the thrall of a spirit of detraction. Children of God are not to be like this. They are to build each other up, they are to keep one set of scales--they are to be humble, meek/gentle and kind--not proud, harsh and cutting. Sarcasm is a darling sin that spent way too much time around my life--I was raised and schooled in its haughty, unkind ways. In fact, the people that I admired were gifted with sarcastic wit. But since I have learned that a critical spirit is the bane of our existence and that far too many folks have been wounded by it, I have repented. But that doesn’t mean I am entirely free of it, it’s such an enticing vice. It appeals to my competitive side and to my pride--both are hard to resist. It is too easy to be very clear about what you don’t like, and so very silent about what you do like. There appears to be something of ingratitude in such a style. But when the sarcastically disaffected put on an air of regret--as in “I’m so sorry to have to tell you this, but no one is good, or kind, or true. . .grow up and be cynical like me,” there is hypocrisy on display! This is the spiritual rot that Jesus is trying to root out in our own hearts. It is not loving, merciful, or even kind; in fact, the critical spirit is deadly.
We are not supposed to have “the appearance of solicitude” for the well-being and the moral improvement of others. We should have a loving commitment to assist those who are willing, those who are open to further spiritual growth. And the first step is very personal--reform starts in here, not out there. After all, if we begin with our selves we have the advantage of knowing our motives and the chance of acknowledging what we have nursed along! If we want to be useful to others, we should voluntarily suffer the pain of expelling our darling evils. Furthermore, we need to embrace the incomprehensible mercy and wondrous grace of God on a daily basis. This is the equivalent of my putting on my glasses in order to be helpful to someone who needs my help extracting some object from her eye. Confess, reform and put on grace! Then, as the passage indicates, our eye will be keen enough and our hand will be kind enough to helpfully, steadily and effectively extract the mote from our brother, or sister’s eye. What remains, of course, is this matter of discernment.
Although culturally we reward cynical critics and their sarcasm--such as sharp tongued comedians and politicians--with praise and large salaries because they are funny and make us laugh, the level of soulishness amongst them is very low. Jesus likens them to undomesticated dogs and wild swine. Be very careful around these types. We have so little experience with these animals that it might help if we considered them to be weasels--vicious, bloodthirsty critters who seem to kill for the sheer sport of it. Remember, Jesus stood silent before Herod and He remained largely silent before Pilate. The first He had likened to a fox. I’m inclined to think that both men were actually more like weasels! So we are to exercise discretion in whom we share with, or witness to. And that discretion extends to more than character, it also extends to timing, situation and the whole affect of the encounter. Some men are simply unfit for reproof. We are wasting our time with a defiant reprobate, someone who will simply scorn the gospel. Such a person will call even the most loving reproof a reproach and hate you for it! This state suggests an irredeemable pitch of wickedness by those who are impudently and notoriously vile. Therefore John was rent by Herod. Such wicked souls sin against all remedy.
So we are to deal with our tendencies to be fault finders by excising cynicism and sarcasm from our lives. We are to purify our own hearts so as not to be double-minded when it comes to battling sin. And we are to exercise discretion about what and when to share with whom. It simply cannot be that Jesus’ Thou shalt not judge is meant to suggest that all judgment of all sorts is to cease. The judgment of magistrate and minister remains: Prov 8:15-16 "By me kings reign, And rulers decree justice. By me princes rule, and nobles, All who judge rightly.” And we are taught that the disciples will eventually occupy thrones and exercise judgment over the nations. Furthermore the duty to reprove and correct remains--such as parents are duty bound to perform over their children. It is also true that some are not fit to reprove others--those, for instance, with the same fault should be especially careful about reproving their fellow strugglers. What is in view is this: Jesus is openly reproving the overly-censorious, those who with the slightest of provocations are eager to find the tiniest fault in others. There are, to be sure, degrees in sin--here we have the splinter, or twig literally, and the rafter, to joist--the beam. How do we avoid being overly censorious? Well, we learn to concentrate first and foremost on our own sin, as the most grievous and great. We are to raise our consciousness of our own sins to the level of full repentance. Secondly, we are to call upon God’s mercy for all equally. Then, having determined to reform ourselves beforehand, we can approach another in the right spirit. Gal 6:1 Brethren, even if a man is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; each one looking to yourself, lest you too be tempted. Gal 6:2 Bear one another's burdens, and thus fulfill the law of Christ. Gal 6:3 For if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. Gal 6:4 But let each one examine his own work, and then he will have reason for boasting in regard to himself alone, and not in regard to another. Let us carefully remember what we have been, and again would be if God left us to our own devices--un-forgiven and unaided by grace.
What is forbidden then is delight in faultfinding which arises from some bitter root such as hurt vanity or pride, malice or envy, cruelty, or devilish delight in doing mischief. And while these may be the roots, all too often they lie hidden, practiced out of a spiritual obliviousness, or habitual thoughtlessness. By contrast, a good man is sorrowful when a fault is discovered in self, or others. Some people are busy-bdoies--they offer uninvited scrutiny--proceed without evidence and build their case from idle tales, bare suspicion, wicked supposition, surmises and suggestiveness. The inclination is so strong that they often improvise, inventing the missing pieces of what is actually missing in fact. These sinners are easily to spot because they assume ascendancy at all occasions, there is an uncharitable sharpness in their accusations--making no allowance for human frailty, or misunderstanding. And, finally, there is a presumption of divine office in assuming the prerogative of judging another’s heart--that part of us which only God knows and fully understands. May heaven help us if fault-finding is our darling evil!
Now for application, consider these words from James:
James 4:8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. James 4:9 Be miserable and mourn and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning, and your joy to gloom. James 4:10 Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you. James 4:11 Do not speak against one another, brethren.
It doesn’t really matter what your darling evil might be, perhaps the time has come to send it packing. We all have things to turn from, and things to turn towards. May the God of all mercies assist us as we seek to become more Christ-like, both grateful to Him and dedicated to the process.
Amen.