KINGDOM CULTURE Be Rigorous in Judging Ourselves and Candid in Judging Others by Senior Pastor Tom Harrison November 5, 2017 Journal Intro: It is easy to cut ourselves slack while ringing up others. This happens in marriages, families, neighborhoods, work, school and church. In Romans 2, Paul speaks to the religious folks who have been harsh in their condemnation of the immorality of the pagans. We must understand that none of us is righteous because, All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). On the other hand, some of us can flip this around and beat ourselves up. Having either a superiority or an inferiority complex moves the focus from God to us. We must make judgments. Certain things ARE right and certain things ARE wrong (Hebrews 13:4-5). Sin is to be confronted and rebuked, especially within the church. Wesley did this with the Methodist people. He could be quite direct. Since no one is perfect, grace must always prevail. People (that is, souls) are always more important to God than the rules. APPLICATION: How well are you doing in receiving grace? How are you doing with extending grace? This comes from the Sermon on the Mount. When Matthew wrote his gospel, he did not cite chapter and verse. That didn t happen until 1551 (New Testament) and 1571 (Old Testament). Martin Luther couldn t quote Matthew 6:33 because the numbering did not exist. BTW, how are you doing on your memory verses? 30 verses: the very 1 st one = Matthew 6:33 (Philippians 4:13, Ps. 118:24, John 3:16, Proverbs 3:5-6). Matthew 6:33 but seek first his kingdom and righteousness and all these things shall be added to you. Jesus wanted us to make the Kingdom of God THE priority of our lives. Not family. Not friends. Not money. Not sex. Not politics. Not education. Not career/work. Not sports. Not arts. In Matthew 6:8, Jesus said, Do not be like THEM. Them refers to 2 groups: The PAGANS/PHARISEES. This corresponds to what Paul was saying in Romans 1 and 2: some people (pagans) do unrighteous or evil things, while some people (Pharisees) are selfrighteous but are guilty of pride. Either way, Paul mentions one of our memory verses in Romans 3:23 for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. All! CONDON CONDEMN
Permissive: Anything goes Authoritative: Judgmental Pagan Hypocrite Romans 1 Romans 2 Like many things in life.only 2 alternatives are presented, an A or a B. For instance, some parenting styles are Authoritative and Dictatorial. They are harsh, critical and unloving. Everything is about following the rules. There s little emotional connection. They correspond with what Jesus said about the Pharisees. He said, Don t be like them. Don t be ALL RULES. On the other hand, some parenting styles are Permissive and non-directive. There are NO rules. Their children tend to be wild and anything goes. They are like the party boy, Prodigal Son. Jesus called them pagans. They just want to have fun. This is equally destructive. They are like the Gentiles. These are the folks who would quote, Judge not, lest ye be judged. If a parent just overlooks the behavior and attitude of a child, that kid will be a monster that people will avoid and may well end up in a lot of trouble. We not simply overlook things. If a warning light comes on your car, like Your Car Is About to Catch Fire, you should probably pay attention to it. Putting your head in the sand may work out, but there s a high probability that it won t. MATTHEW 7:1-5 "Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 2 For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. 3 "Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 4 How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye. Intro: 1.) This is not about suspending critical judgment! America s favorite Bible verse used to be John 3:16 but now it may be Matthew 7:1: Do not judge, or you too will be judged. Many people, including some Christians, want believers to accept certain behaviors and will quote this verse, Judge not! Of course, saying Do not judge is actually a judgment in itself. We can t help but to make judgments. Do not judge can be a way to say that Christians should suspend critical judgment, particularly about human sexuality. Yet, everyone makes judgment calls all the time. If you put black olives on my nachos I ll pass judgment on your action! We make judgments about running red lights, drinking or texting while driving. We make judgements against racism, embezzlement or financial fraud, abuse (children or adults). When someone says they don t believe we should judge, steal their billfold or purse and use their credit card or steal your identity. Try cheating someone of a few dollars in a cash
transaction and see how non-judgmental they really are. Certain things ARE right and wrong. Human society cannot live without standards. They want Christians to just say, Everything is okay. Do whatever you want. That is another way of saying, Nothing really matters. But we MUST make judgments. In fact, in the very next verse (7:6), Jesus makes critical judgments himself: "Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. Calling people dogs and pigs is a severe judgment. In v 15 Jesus tells people to Watch out for false prophets. That s a judgment, too. Dogs, pigs and false prophets = judgment statements. Dogs and pigs have 4 legs and a tail with nasty habits. The dogs he described aren t our cute little puppies we adore but were the savage dogs that roamed wild on the streets. Peter picks up on this and says a dog returns to his own vomit and a pig returns to wallow in the mud (2 Peter 2:22). The Jewish rabbis had a prayer: I thank you, O God, that I am not a woman, a Gentile or a dog. Christians must have critical thinking. We must exercise judgment. Doctrine and beliefs matter. We must judge actions. Certain things are NOT okay. They must be resisted. Knowing we will be judged by the same standards we judge others should make us think carefully about how we judge others. "If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her." We must judge, as in discerning. And while we condemn certain acts, we never condemn people. That s God s business. How do I judge another person? There is a standard the Bible gives to us of what is right and what is wrong. When we violate clear Biblical teaching, we must stand firm on the scripture. When David sinned with Bathsheba he covered up his adultery by killing her husband. The prophet Nathan told David, who came from a shepherd s life, a story of a rich man with lots of sheep took the only little lamb of a very poor family and served it as lamb chops for the rich man s guest. David was outraged. He said the guy should die. Nathan said to David, YOU are the man. Nathan didn t say, Oh, it doesn t matter. We all make mistakes. He also didn t tell David that he would be destroyed. David needed correction. Nathan spoke the truth in love. This led to David s great prayer of confession and repentance that is recorded in the Bible as Psalm 51. Nathan candidly judged David. What David did was wrong. Adultery and murder are violations of the 10 Commandments. David was confronted by the truth. He judged himself. Terrible consequences followed. Here s the important point - While Nathan condemned David s actions, he did not condemn David as a human being. In John 8 a woman was caught in the act of adultery. It takes two to commit adultery, but they only brought her. They threw her at Jesus feet and asked what should be done. He said, Whoever is w/o sin can cast the first stone.
The accusers all left. Jesus was one-on-one with the woman. Do you remember what He asked her? Where are your accusers? Then He said: Neither do I condemn you, he said. He followed up with a word of judgment: Go and sin no more. He judged her sin, but Jesus did not condemn the woman. He hated the sin, but loved the sinner. This is tricky. It takes a lot of discernment to know how to do this well. People may use this to impose their own righteousness, or air personal grievances, preferences, or of being vulnerable. Imposing our opinions on others is the opposite of the freedom that Christ obtained for us. 2.) This is not just an A or B choice there is a 3 rd Way Jesus had a 3 rd way: don t be a hypocrite and don t be a pagan. Not all rules or no rules, but be people of grace. The 3 rd way is based on GRACE, not on LAW. Some of us are Romans 1 sinners (all kinds of sins are listed) and some of us are Romans 2 sinners (judgmental). Either way, all roads lead to Romans 3:23: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and Romans 6:23: The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. It s not A I m good and you re bad. And it s not B let s just not have any rules or standards. It s C there is a 3 rd way! I am a sinner saved by God s grace. I intend to lead a new life. It s the way of grace. It s living into the Kingdom of God Culture: Be Rigorous in Judging Ourselves and Candid in Judging Others 1) I need to rigorously judge myself. Before I remove the speck in your eye I need to make sure I don t have a plank or a beam in my own. There s nothing more sensitive in the human body than our eyes. Whether one has a speck or a log in their eye, vision is compromised. It s not sufficient just to ignore it. That means I need to REPENT. The first of Luther s 95 thesis was that the Christian life of repentance. That means I need to turn around and go in the opposite direction. I need to forgive. Jesus had just taught them the Lord s Prayer! In it, we ask the Lord to forgive us to the same degree that we forgive others. (2) I need to candidly judge others. How do we do this? Carefulness, gentleness and humility must be employed. Paul said we are to speak the truth in love to one another. It s not one or the other truth or love but this combination. Where do we get the truth? Scripture Tradition Reason Experience 4 sources of influence: The Bible is primary. This takes a great deal of discernment, prayer and spiritual maturity. It should be motivated by concern for another person s soul. This helps us avoid KOS judgements and focus correctly on KOG judgments.
The church. So what did Martin Luther discuss? What were John Wesley s ideas? What do other Christians think today? The Holy Spirit helps us know when we miss the mark. We also have the body of Christ helping to keep us in-line with God s law. Knowing there is a God who judges means we should be rigorous in judging ourselves if all Christians did that, we would need less correction from the Lord and certainly be more gracious toward others. Reason. We should think through certain things. Experience is also critical. Both Luther and Wesley had an intellectual grasp of scripture but didn t have a personal relationship with Christ. To be a Christian means to accept the authority of God s word into our lives. It tells us how much God loves us. It tells us that we have gone astray, like lost sheep. It tells us that God himself entered our world at Christmas, told us about His love and how to live into the Kingdom of God. Then Jesus was crucified on the cross. All of our sin was placed upon Him there. That s why we do not or have Temples or Priests offering sacrifices. Jesus body was The Temple that was torn down and the perfect once-and-for all sacrifice for our sins. God raised Him from the dead. We are judged and found guilty. But when we repent and put our trust in Him we are no longer condemned. It is the most extraordinary experience to give your life to Jesus Christ. It moves us out of trying to work to save ourselves, of trying to be good to please God, of comparing ourselves to others. All of that shifts. We re no longer condemned. Romans 8:1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.