Don't Judge Me (August 21, 2022)

DON'T JUDGE ME (August 21, 2022)

Text: Matthew 7: 1 – 5

Matthew 7:1 "Do not judge others, so that God will not judge you, 2 for God will judge you in the same way you judge others, and he will apply to you the same rules you apply to others. 3 Why, then, do you look at the speck in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the log in your own eye? 4 How dare you say to your brother, 'Please, let me take that speck out of your eye,' when you have a log in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite! First take the log out of your own eye, and then you will be able to see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye.

Whether or not we like to admit it or not, we are all hypocrites because of our double standard judgments we make. As it has been said, “We are umpires at heart; we like to call balls and strikes on somebody else.” (Michael P. Green. ed. Illustrations for Biblical Preaching. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1989, p. 206). How quick are we to point out the shortcomings, faults and disqualifications in others while we neglect our own? Do we deny that we do these things? Do we also say or think “Don’t judge me”?

We always see the good in each other’s Facebook posts only because we report the good. Those who oppose us might not be so kind.

There is in us all a built-in inclination to judge others. It begins in in our minds.

Today we will look at without, within, and transformation.

WITHOUT

How much time do we spend looking at the faults of others?

1) Time spent: Have we ever stopped long enough to measure the amount of time we have spent judging others? That is not how we normally think about things is it? It is human nature to judge someone almost automatically.

2) Automatic to the flesh: Don’t we seem to operate on automatic pilot when it comes to judging others? Thoughts precede actions and we are always thinking aren’t we?

3) Critics: Aren’t we all critics? Do we always keep our criticism to ourselves? Or do we say what we think out loud?

How often are we right about the ways we judge others outwardly?

1) Pop quiz: Has God ever given you a pop quiz? Years a ago I was preaching a sermon about judging others in what appeared to be God’s timing. I was preaching about judging others that morning. In that sermon, I mentioned how we are often quick to make judgments without knowing all the facts. I had no idea that we had a visitor who was in the balcony that day. He chose to isolate himself from the congregation because he had tattoos, and he was not sure that he would be welcomed. Here I was preaching about being judgy of others when it seemed like God gave us a pop quiz that day with that visitor.

2) Cookie cutter: One size does not fit all! How many times do we sum others up with a cookie cutter point of view? Do we not incriminate ourselves when we act as if all people should be just like us? Do we invite people to come to church as they are but expect them to be just like us?

3) Disciples: Think about Jesus twelve disciples. Apart from becoming disciples, they did not have much in common except for Jesus’s calling of them to be disciples. Simon the Zealot and Matthew would likely not have been in other’s company without conflict.

? Peter, Andrew, James and John were fishermen.

? Matthew was a Jewish tax collector for Rome.

? Simon (not to be confused with Simon Peter) was a former Zealot. They were all different in their own ways but Jesus called them to follow Him. Simon Peter was a fisherman who was known to shoot from the hip. He was not to be mistaken with Simon the Zealot

? Nathanael was prejudice against Nazareth at one time before becom8ing a disciple. Who Were the 12 Disciples (Apostles of Jesus)? Their Names and Facts (crosswalk.com)

? Thomas called the twin because he was believed to look like Jesus was a doubter.

? Judas Iscariot was a traitor.

? We do not know much about the backgrounds for the rest of the disciples, James the less, Thaddeus and Philipp.

Jesus called them to come together as His disciples meaning that they would humbly follow in His footsteps and become more and more like him.

How does judging others disrupt our calling as Jesus’s modern day disciples?

1) Never lacking an object: We never have trouble finding someone or something to judge or criticize do we? We judge strangers, friends, enemies, teachers, leaders, coaches, athletes, actors, musicians, authors, spouses (did you think I would leave that out?) and the list goes on.