Series: Twisted Scripture Message: Do Not Judge September 18, 2016 [slide 1] We re in the second week of our message series called Twisted Scripture, and we re looking at some Bible verses that we tend to misuse, misinterpret, and sometimes even misquote. Our goal is to take these verses and properly interpret them so that they make better sense. Last week we talked about three ways to properly interpret scriptures. Do you remember what they are? Understand the context. Enhance meaning with other scriptures. Apply what we learn. Today s twisted scripture is probably the number one most quoted Bible verse by non- Christians and Christians alike. Jesus said in Matthew chapter 7, verse 1, [slide 2] DO not judge, or you too will be judged. Oftentimes, we don t say this verse with such a soothing voice, do we? In fact, whenever we pull this passage out to use it against people, we go all King James on them, right? Judge not, lest ye be judged. People who don t even believe in the Bible sure do believe in this verse, don t they? In fact, in today s culture everyone is expected to live by this verse. You could sum it all up with one word tolerance. You live life the way you want, and I ll live life the way I want. As long as it makes me happy and as long as it doesn t hurt anybody everything will be okay. Don t judge me, and I won t judge you. So what did Jesus mean when he said these words? Some people walk away from the church never to return because, Christians are so judgmental. They re so narrow-minded. They re just a bunch of hypocrites. They don t practice what they preach. And all they do is sit around and judge everybody else. So they walk away because they feel judged by us Christians and state
the claim that we are not supposed to judge at all. But what did Jesus mean here? Are we really not supposed to judge at all? If that were the case, then a literature teacher has no right give me an F on my essay. A jury has no right to hold a criminal accountable. A police officer has no right to tell me that I m driving on the wrong side of the road. Judge not. So I think we could agree that on some level, we are allowed to judge. But let me give you a few examples, and you tell me whether or not we have the right to judge. And these are meant to be a little tricky. Do you have the right to judge someone s funny haircut? In your mind you re already thinking, Oh man! I can t believe they did that. But do you have the right to speak to them about it? What if it s your kid, and he shaved a bad word into his hair? Can you say something? Judge not, lest ye be judged. Do you have the right to judge a guy at work who s married, but he flirts with all the girls? It makes you uncomfortable, but do you have the right to walk up to him and say, Yo man. You re married. What are you doing? What if he s your best friend? Do you have the right to speak into his life, or do you have to sit back and tolerate it? Judge not. What about this whole heroin epidemic? We re seeing dozens of users every week right here in our own city and county overdosing and being brought back with Narcan. Do we have a right to speak into that? What if it were your grown adult son, or your wife, or even someone right here in our own church? Judge not! It s highly important that we get this verse right. Do we have the right to call someone out for improper behavior, or don t we? What do we use as a baseline? And who are we to judge in the first place? What does Jesus mean when he says, Do not judge, or you too will be judged?
What s the first step in properly interpreting the Bible? Understand the context. So our verse today comes from Matthew chapter 7, verse 1. What comes before Matthew chapter 7? Matthew chapter 6. In Matthew chapter 6, Jesus addresses the issue of hypocrisy, especially among the religious leaders. Jesus warns us to not have the same attitude of the religious leaders who are so hypocritical in their actions. They love to show everyone how spiritual they are, and Jesus says, Don t be like that. Then in Matthew chapter 7, after Jesus says, Judge not, he warns us in verse 15 to watch out for false prophets. But wait! If I label someone as a false prophet, what do I have to make? I have to make a judgment that a certain person is not from God. In the very same chapter that Jesus says, Judge not, Jesus implies that at some point I m going to have to make a judgment. So what is Jesus telling us? We Christians need to live our lives with discernment. We must be able to discern what we re doing in our own lives, and we do have the right to speak into the lives of other believers as long as we are not being hypocritical about it. Jesus says in Matthew 7:1-5, [slide 3] 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.
As Christians, we should not hold ourselves back from helping each other to see more clearly. At the same time, we cannot pick apart everybody else when we ve got our own problems. It can t be, Do as I say; not as I do. We must look at ourselves in the mirror first. [slide 4] So what do other scriptures have to say about judging? We re going to look at four verses that address this very important issue and also see how we can apply them to our lives. So what is clear about judging? If you re taking notes, write this down. We should [slide 5] never judge SUPERFICIALLY. Some of us have the spiritual gift of judging appearances. Do you know what I mean? Most times, we probably do it in a negative way. Ooh she should not be wearing those pants. Man, that guy is so full of himself. How can he be so arrogant? I ll bet that family is pretty poor. They always look so ragged. Their house is falling down. They drive a rusted out 1984 Ford LTD. But I think we do this in a positive way sometimes too. Wow! Look at that dress. You look so good, girl! That guy has a lot of charisma. He always carries himself so well. That family has it all together. They remind me of a 1940 s Norman Rockwell painting. But we have been warned. You know the famous words. Don t judge a book by its cover. Jesus says these words in John 7:24. [slide 6] 24 Stop judging by mere appearances, and make a right judgment. In this scripture from John, the religious elite got upset with Jesus because he healed someone on the Sabbath, the Jews holy day on which they were not to do any kind of work. It was their day of rest. It was also the law to circumcise a baby boy on the eighth day, and this
religious elite made exception if the eighth day fell on the Sabbath in order to keep up appearances. But circumcising a boy on the eighth day doesn t make him a Jew anymore than a man carrying a Bible makes him a Christian. There is a time to judge. And when you do judge, make sure your judgment is accurate and correct. What you see on the outside may not be what s on the inside. This may be the most difficult part of judging clearly because it means that we have to get close with other people. And when you get close with other people it gets messy. But it also gives us an opportunity to speak into other believers lives. We could come here to church every Sunday and sit back and judge the people sitting to our left and right, but until we actually get to know them beyond their physical appearances or a one time interaction with them or something we overheard them say one time, we have no right to say anything at all about them. So let s not judge others from a distance. Let s be a people of God who are for the people of God and judge correctly, not superficially. Here s the second one. We should [slide 7] never judge HYPOCRITICALLY. I know that we covered this one from the context of Matthew 6 and 7, but I want to go over to Paul s writings in Romans to maybe expand this thought a little more. In Romans 2, Paul writes: [slide 8] YOU, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge the other, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things.
It s the whole speck and plank illustration Jesus used in Matthew 7 all over again. You can t correct somebody in his or her actions if you are doing the same thing yourself. Who are you to tell someone to stop smoking or drinking or lusting if you are doing these things yourself, right? But then in verse 4 of the same chapter, Paul writes this: [slide 9] 4 Don t you see how wonderfully kind, tolerant, and patient God is with you? Does this mean nothing to you? Can t you see that his kindness is intended to turn you from your sin? In other words, how can we sit back and pick people apart when all the while God has been so gracious and merciful to us? How can we think we re so perfect and holy and just? We accuse others while we excuse ourselves. Who are we? God is waiting on us to change as well, and his kindness to us is intended to turn us away from our sins. We sit back and judge people with a holier-than-thou attitude, and all the while we ve got our own issues to deal with. They ve got a speck of dust in their eyes while we ve got a 2 x 4 in our own. And here s what I ve discovered: The place where you issue your harshest judgment often reveals your deepest weakness. If that didn t hurt, let me say it again. The place where you issue your harshest judgment often reveals your deepest weakness. Whenever I am quick to judge someone, it s often an indication that I should look in the mirror because it s probably a reflection of some kind of sinfulness in my own heart. Paul said it outright when you judge others, you are condemning yourself. Judge clearly without being hypocritical. Now the third one is something that I ve said many times from this platform, but I think it is so important and critical. In order to judge clearly, we must [slide 10] never hold the WORLD to CHRISTIAN standards.
The judgmental and hypocritical beliefs of Christianity are simply driving people away from the church. The people that are damaging Christianity are the so-called Christians standing on street corners in hatred holding up signs that say, Adam and Eve; not Adam and Steve. The people that are damaging Christianity are the so-called Christians who blew up abortion clinics in the 80 s, the so-called Christians who want to ban all Muslims from entering our country, the so-called Christians who bash evolutionists and atheists over the head with their Bibles, and the so-called Christians who openly stir up dissension among other churches. Let s read 1 Corinthians 5:12-13. [slide 11] 12 What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? 13 God will judge those outside. Jesus doesn t call us to change those outside the family of God. As believers, we re to help each other get better, spur one another on toward love and good deeds, and sharpen each other as iron sharpens iron. In the Klein house we have certain rules, certain shows we don t watch, and certain language we don t use. And we hold each other accountable in these things. I can t hold your kids accountable for my family rules. It s not my business. It s your family. You have your own set of standards. In the same way, we can t hold the world accountable to our Christian family rules. It s not our place to judge. God will take care of that. Jesus simply calls us to love those outside the family of God and make the most of every opportunity to introduce them to a God who also loves them and can change them. I want to be a church where everyone can come in and stand on level ground. Billy Graham used to say, The ground is level at the foot of the cross. You might be struggling with an addiction, homosexuality, pornography, an abortion you had years ago, your gender, your weight, an affair, keeping up an appearance, or whatever, but the ground is level at the foot of the cross. You re in
the right place if you re seeking to allow God to transform your life into something new. God loves you, and so do we. We will not hold those outside the family of God to the standards of those inside the family of God. It s God s place to deal with them. It s our place to love one another. Let me give you the last one. We should [slide 12] always help RESTORE fallen believers. We are so vulnerable to temptation, and at some point we will fall. We can t get it right all the time. In the family of God, when someone falls, someone in the family should come along and say, I love you too much to let you go down that road. As family, we should be willing to help each other, and we should all be willing to accept help and correction from other family members. Paul points this out in Galatians chapter 6. [slide 13] BROTHERS, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted. 2 Carry each other s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. When one of our family members messes up, we don t gossip about it. We don t kick them while they re down. We don t sentence them to hell. We go to them and restore them with grace, mercy, and in gentleness. We help them get back on the right track. And we carry each other s burdens in love. [slide 14] Jesus said, Do not judge, or you too will be judged. He never said that we don t have the right to speak into someone else s life. That s our culture s interpretation of this verse. But God tells us that we should not judge superficially or hypocritically. God tells us that he will judge those outside the church, and we the family of God should take care of each other. The proper judgment could be the difference between life and death, right and wrong, and even heaven and hell.