The Danger of Judging ** Matthew 7:1-5 October 14, 2012 Ken Holden

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1 The Danger of Judging ** Matthew 7:1-5 October 14, 2012 Ken Holden We are still in a series of sermons with the overall theme of Jesus on Relationships. And as we look at the life of Jesus Christ, and seek to become more and more Christ-like, we are using as a resource the book, The Relationship Principles of Jesus by Tom Holladay. [Show the book.] In these first weeks we have looked at three powerful relationship principles modeled by Jesus: 1) place the highest value on relationships, 2) love as Jesus loves you, and 3) communicate from the heart. A few people have asked about power-points or notes. After consultation with Pastor Steve and Mary Clanney and Letha Drury; we agreed it might be helpful to some if we make the sermon manuscripts available. It is something just for the Midway Baptist Church family and your personal study and devotion. So, if that would be helpful to you please just let Mary know and those copies can be printed. Also, I certainly would be glad to talk with you about any of the messages or questions they may have brought to your mind. I am certainly enjoying the study and series. I am learning much. I pray that I am also growing. Today our primary scripture lesson is again from the Sermon of the Mount. Matthew 7:1-5 ************************************** Confession! It seems like I begin with a lot of confessions doesn t it? - I am not sure I really like the title I have given the message today. Well, actually I gave it two titles and maybe I should have just given it one. The second one, The Danger of Judging. Because the title, Who Made You Judge and Jury? sounds a bit defensive, does it not? Here s the confession. That title may have opened a window into ME that at a more guarded moment I would have rather kept closed. So then, maybe we lean towards the title, The Danger of Judging. It has kind of an ominous sound to it. Kind of like a ride a Disney World with pirate Jack Sparrow saying, There s danger in them there waters! What danger? This danger! Jesus said, As you judge, you will be judged. Tom Holladay says that he believes these particular words of Jesus in the first five verses of Matthew 7 are some of the most quoted and most mis-understood of all Jesus words. They require of us lives that express love and truth without being judgmental. There is indeed a cowardly approach to this teaching. It s kind of a live and let live approach. A you do your thing and I ll do mine. It sounds much like the lazy approach we mentioned last week of just trying to be nice.

2 The truth is that not being judgmental doesn t mean you can t be discerning; nor does it mean you can t say it s right to do one thing and wrong to do another. The proof of that follows in the very next words of Jesus, in verse 6. He said, Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. That calls for some discernment, some measurement if you will. Holladay put it this way. Being judgmental has to do with our judgment of people s thoughts and motives. We can err in two ways here. When we don t like someone, it is so easy for us to attribute all their actions to bad motives. On the other hand, for the people we like too often we excuse them by saying, Well, they have a good heart. Both are judgmental! Friends, there is so much that can be said, taught, thought about and applied to life from Jesus teaching in this passage. All we can do today, however, is ski across the surface of a very deep lake. I do hope you will do some diving into deeper waters on your own this week. Do you want to be a non-judgmental person? To say it in a more positive way, if you want to have a Christ-like magnetism and attractiveness about your life, then apply to your relationships the principles that Jesus teaches us in this passage. He is teaching us: 1) don t say one thing and do another - don t be a hypocrite; 2) judge yourself rightly and be willing to make changes - show that you have integrity; and 3) give to others the same kind of understanding, grace, and forgiveness that God has given you - make sure you show mercy. [Holladay] I. Saying No to Hypocrisy. In verse 1 and 2 Jesus gives the command and then states why it s wise to keep the command. Don t judge! And then, as if hearing someone in his congregation saying, Make it plan Jesus, make it plan! ; So, Jesus shares an example, a story that his listeners would find very funny...and very penetrating. It s Bible-times humor. It s exaggeration. He literally says that there is this guy with a two-by-four sticking out of his eye. And he comes up to another guy who has a speck of sawdust in his eye. And the fellow with the two-by-four in his own eye says, Hey, you ve got a speck in your eye. Better get that out. Looks bad. What is Jesus saying to us? That is hypocritical. That is judgmental. Jesus starts here: Just say no to hypocrisy. Jesus talked much about hypocrisy. Hypocrisy is caring more about appearances than what is on the inside. Hypocrisy is expecting more of others and from others than you expect of yourself. It is pointing out the wrong in someone else s life but not admitting the wrong in your own life. It s pretending to be something you aren t. It s wearing a mask. And we are all hypocritical at times. If it is true that we all struggle here, how do we say no to hypocrisy? You will have to do it one day at a time, one relationship at a time, one conversation at a time. It s what we said the very first week. You make a choice. You choose to love with your words and actions. Choose to do that with your wife or husband, your son or daughter, your mom or dad, your co-worker, your teammate, your neighbor. Stop pretending!

3 Make a choice! Choose to love! But, really there is a choice to make before this one. Choose to live your life so as to impress God, not others. Tell yourself each day, I am not trying to impress any other person. I am living to impress God...to please God. II. Say Yes to Integrity. Jesus tells us to say no to hypocrisy. His humorous example went on that day and expressed a second critical need. Say yes to integrity. Hypocrisy is ignoring or trying to hide the plank in your own eye. Integrity is removing the plank from your eye. Do you know what we do sometimes? We, indeed, acknowledge our plank. We say, Well, I know I m a scoundrel, I can t control my temper, I gossip, I..I...I... - but at least I m honest about it. That s just me, take it or leave it. But you never try. You never risk change. Jesus says, Start by getting the board out of your own eye. You know what is interesting? It is something I believe you know is true even if you don t want to admit it. You see in other people the very problems that are most common in your own life. The person in the office or the PTA whose personality most irritates you is probably more like you than you d care to admit. And, parents, the one child who most bugs you is typically the child who is most like you! Getting the plank out of your eye, even a speck, requires work. It s hard work and often painful work. It s so much more difficult than the lazy (and sinful), Well, that s just me attitude. But getting the plank out is so much more rewarding. Decide today - to honestly deal with the stuff in your eyes - the sin, the hypocrisy, the prejudices, the anger, the whatever. And the best way to keep that commitment to yourself and God is to tell someone else what you re planning to do. A trusted friend, or family member. Someone who can and will lovingly hold you accountable. Someone, not everyone, whom you can be honest with about your faults. And remember: Ask God to help you! We can try to do this on our own, but why would we? Not when the God of all creation desires to empower us. Even King David said, I will try to walk a blameless path, but how I need your help (God), especially in my own home, where I long to act as I should. [Psalm 101:2 LB] Tom Holladay says, Integrity is recognizing that without God s help we don t have the power to say no, but that with his help we have a new power to say yes to high and mighty things. III. Saying Now to Mercy. Hypocrisy is focussing on the speck in another s eye while ignoring the plank in your own eye. Integrity is removing the plank from your own eye. Mercy is removing the speck from your brother s or sister s eye. Did you notice in our passage, and particularly in the example Jesus gave us, that he refers twice to your seeing. He said, Why do you see the speck... and later he says,...you will see clearly... I love that chorus we sometimes sing, Open my eyes, Lord, I want to see Jesus. It s

4 a prayer isn t it? In these verses, Jesus is telling us that he wants us to stop seeing with our human, limited, sinful eyes. This only leads to being judgmental. He is telling us, Say NO to hypocrisy. Say YES to integrity. And, if you do, then you will begin to see clearly. You will see with the eyes of Christ. And then you will see that speck of sin in the other person s life and you will have compassion and a desire to help them. Here s the Biblical truth we are discovering: The alternative to judgment is not tolerance or indifference; it is mercy. It is not ignoring another person s faults, it is showing them that Jesus has forgiven all our faults. Mercy means we don t see anyone as outside the circle of God s grace, OR as beyond the bounds of our forgiveness; as outside the limits of our love. Oh my! Learning how to show mercy without judgment. Jesus, we are only human. Come on, give us a break! Sometimes we forgive. We do. But, sometimes we say we just can t forgive. We choose to show mercy to some but decide that others aren t deserving of our mercy because of the depth of hurt they ve caused. We say, You just don t know!. But God does know. He knows the other person, and He knows you. He knows your hurt. He knows your heart. In the Model Prayer, Jesus tells us to pray, Forgive us our sins, just as we have forgiven those who have sinned against us (Matt. 6:12). Be careful what you pray. Jesus told a story about a man who had been forgiven an enormous debt, yet refused to forgive a debt owed to him. [Read Matthew 18:18-35] Jesus told this story because he knows the human heart. Jesus knows that those who cannot find it in themselves to forgive haven't truly understood what it means to be forgiven. The debtor in Jesus story heard words of forgiveness, but his actions toward his fellow servant showed that the words never reached his heart. The only way for you and me to practice mercy is to remember every day what Christ did for us on the cross. Remember that it was grace...all grace. May I give you a short recipe for showing mercy? It will help you get started, but you will have to dig deeper into it s full meaning. It actually comes from the Apostle Paul and his letter to the church at Colossae. He said, God has chosen you and made you his holy people. He loves you. So always do these things: Show mercy to others, be kind, humble, gentle, and patient. Get along with each other, and forgive each other. If someone does wrong to you, forgive that person because the Lord forgave you [Colossians 3:12-13 NCV]. Saying No to hypocrisy. Saying Yes to integrity. Saying Now to mercy. That three lane highway offers us a challenging journey. But it is a journey that leads to abundant life. And of the three, mercy takes the most courage. Why? Because mercy is often rejected. It was true for Jesus, and it will at times be so for us. But we must do what Jesus did when his offers of mercy were rejected. We continue to offer mercy. Jesus gave us an amazing principle of love: The person who is forgiven much loves much; the person who is forgiven little loves little. The reality is that we can acknowledge how much we have been forgiven, and live accordingly - or not do that. God wants you to be merciful because

5 he is merciful. God s mercy is overwhelming? The secret to a heart of mercy is in seeing -- really seeing -- God s mercy toward you. If you could earn God s favor, you could easily become judgmental toward those who had not earned what you had. But that is not the case. And, the Bible directs all of us to come boldly to God s throne, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need [Hebrews 4:16]. All of us need mercy. Thanks be to God for his unspeakable Gift. PRAYER: Jesus, I hear your words, and I am convicted. I see that you speak of me in this teaching from Mathew 7. Who among us hasn t noticed the speck in our brother s or sister s eye, even while we ignore a plank in our own eye? I ve done this, Lord. I admit it. It s so easy to notice the faults in others and to ignore the faults in my own life. Forgive me. Lord, protect me from hypocrisy. Give me the courage to stop excusing the sin in my own life. Lord, give me integrity. Give me the strength to remove the board from my own eye. And Lord, help me to be a person of mercy. Give me the love to share the transformation, new life, forgiveness, and freedom from sins that you offer. Jesus, you treated people not with condemnation but with integrity and mercy. Help me to learn from you. In your name. Amen. [Tom Holladay] ************************* **Original sermon title was, Who Made You Judge and Jury? Notes: [The Relationship Principles of Jesus, Tom Holladay, Zondervan Press, 2008]