Luke 6:37-42
“It’s so Un-cool to Judge”
By: Rev. Ken Sauer, Pastor of East Ridge United Methodist Church, Chattanooga, TN
What brought you or first attracted you to Christ?
Was it a judgmental and harsh attitude or was it a grace-filled loving acceptance of who you are and where you are?
C.S. Lewis wrote, “there is someone I love, even though I don’t approve of what he does.
There is someone I accept, though some of his thoughts and actions revolt me.
There is someone I forgive, though he hurts the people I love the most.
That person is me.
There are plenty of things I do that I don’t like, but if I can love myself without approving of all I do, I can also love others without approving of all they do.
As that truth has been absorbed into my life, it has changed the way I view others.”
Friends, what could happen if we were to view others with the same grace we extend to ourselves?
We would be living a bit more like Jesus would we not?
We are not to judge because that’s what God is like.
God is astonishingly merciful!
Anyone who knows their own heart truly, and still goes on experiencing God’s grace and love, will agree with this!
How can we, God’s forgiven people, be any less merciful?
Our passage for this evening is part of a larger sermon by Jesus.
Before this, Jesus is instructing His listeners to love their enemies…
…to do good to those who hate them…
…to bless those who curse them…
…to pray for those who mistreat them…
…Jesus says, “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.”
Isn’t it wonderful to know that we have a merciful, loving, forgiving God?
Isn’t it marvelous to know that we have a God Who does not repay evil for evil…
…but even loves us long before we love God.
It was “while we were yet sinners that Christ died for us.”
God loves some pretty seemingly unlovable people, and this should be our aim in life as well!!!
For it is only because of God’s love for you that you are in Christ!
And it is in showing others the unconditional love of Christ that we are able to do what we have been called to do…
…make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world!!!
As Christ followers we are to learn to respond to people the way Jesus did!
Look how Jesus influenced those who followed Him.
It was primarily through relationships.
And when it comes to our interaction with others, we ought to realize that our relationships, our interactions with people comprise the picture of Jesus that people retain.
God has wired human beings so that spiritual influence occurs most often through relationships.
We do not “spin” the Christian message—we live it.
We do not exaggerate or hype our faith; we embrace and describe all the potency, depth, complexity, and realism of following Christ!
A wise Christian has written, “Do you want to remove the unhealthy judgmentalism you have in regard to the poor? Make sure you have poor people who you love and welcome into your life.
Do you want to remove the unhealthy judgmentalism you have in regard to persons of other races and nationalities?
Make sure you have persons of other races and nationalities whom you love and welcome in your life.”
And of course, this could apply to any type of person we feel a judgmental attitude toward.
Jesus gives a clear example of accepting persons where they are.
Think of the woman caught in adultery, whom the religious leaders were about to stone…
…or what about the tax collectors—Matthew was a tax collector when Jesus called to him, “Come, follow me.”
Jesus scandalized a judgmental culture by hanging out with the least desirable people…
…the prostitutes…
…the deranged…
…the demon-possessed…
…the lepers…
…the poor…
…the least and the last.
Would they have loved Him so if He had judged them?
You have to love Jesus’ sense of humor in this passage of Scripture for this evening.
In making His points, He makes them memorable by deliberately sketching a verbal cartoon.
He talks about a blind man leading another blind man…
… “Will they not both fall into a pit?”
Then He says, “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?”
Ever seen anyone walking around with a plank in their eye?
Kinda funny picture is it not?
It’s funny but memorable and true at the same time.
It has often been said that what people criticize in others is frequently, though not always, what they are subconsciously aware of or afraid of in themselves.
The speck and the plank are a classic case of what psychologists call “projection.”
The person knows there’s something seriously wrong with his or her own eye, so tries to avoid the problem by telling someone else there’s a tiny problem with theirs.
Of course, the teachers of Jesus’ day were trying to make Israel holier and holier as a way of separating their nation from other nations; but the point of the Law and the prophets was to make Israel the light to the nations.
They were hunting for specks in each other’s eyes with magnifying glasses, but couldn’t see that there was a plank—a single massive disobedience—in their own.
How many of us are wasting God’s precious time doing the very same thing?
Jesus is inviting us to a way of life which is so completely new and freeing—it’s a call to a change of heart, a change deep down in the personality.
How awesome is that?
Jesus is calling us to cultivate deep concern and sensitivity to others.
This means being compassionate, soft-hearted, and kind to people who are different from us, even hostile toward us.
Even while on the Cross, Jesus refused to respond with anger toward outsiders, even those who killed Him.
“Forgive them,” He prayed for His killers.
That is radical stuff!
The most radical stuff in all the world!!!
Forgiveness, mercy and compassion is what Christ exhibits and this is what we are to seek to cultivate in our lives.
The Bible makes it clear that God wants the lives of God’s people to bless others.
The greatest role in life is to serve others.
We are to be known for living humbly and pursuing justice and offering mercy.
We are to love people who seem to be enemies and pray for them.
Jesus came not to condemn the world, but to save it!
How can we possibly even think of judging others with this kind of knowledge in mind?
Praise God!
Amen.
