GUILTY AS SIN the headline read just a few years ago. The banks in New Jersey had been robbed systematically, one after the other. What made the robber stand out was his politeness. He just gave the tellers a note which said, “Please place your money in this bag. Thank you.” The newspapers called him the Gentleman Bandit!
The widespread publicity led to a very unlikely arrest – the suspect was a Catholic priest. His church was appalled but stood beside him, saying they knew he could not be the bandit. They signed petitions, held protest marches and came up with his bail. But the police were certain they had their man. All of the eyewitnesses positively identified him. And the news media dug into his past, to find that in a previous church he had left under a cloud because of financial irregularities in the parish. For a priest he had a pretty expensive lifestyle – his own apartment and a fast car. People whispered his church was probably standing up for him because otherwise they looked like dupes.
As people across the country watched the story unfold on the news, they were positive this priest had pulled a fast one. He probably had a sociopath personality so he could rob banks during the week and preach the next Sunday without feeling any guilt. No one outside his congregation was standing up for this guy. But then a funny thing happened. The real Gentleman Bandit was caught red-handed. As it turned out, he was the spitting image of the priest. It’s just that he wasn’t the priest. The priest was released, his church threw him a big party, and the news media and those who had prematurely judged him moved on to the next story.
Unfortunately, that true story is all too common. Without knowing all the fact we all make judgments about people confident we are correct. We spread rumors about them under the guise of telling the truth as we see it. We destroy their character, throw questions at their integrity without real proof of guilt. And unfortunately we find that to be true even in the church.
For right and wrong reasons the Christian church has a bad reputation as a bunch of judgmental hypocrites. I’ve had too many conversations with people who have been hurt by the church because of unfair judgments and condemnation they have felt from the members inside the church. There are way too many people out there who have vowed to never set foot in a church because they don’t want the first thing to do with such people. (from a sermon on Sermon Central
“Judge not, lest you be judged.” Is probably one of the better known verses to the unbeliever. And it is used by all sorts of people Christian and non Christian alike to accuse individuals of wrongly being judgmental. “How dare you say my actions, my lifestyle, my choices are sinful? Didn’t Jesus say “do not judge”? Is the teaching of Jesus, judge not lest you be judged, really meant to keep us from saying anything is right or wrong? And what is Paul trying to tell us in this morning’s text when he says, you will be judged by the way you judge others? What is a proper biblical understanding about judging others? What and who does Jesus expect us to judge or not judge?)
To understand that we must look at the Bible in totality, in other words I mean, we just can’t pull out one text or another and prove our point. That’s why these books here are so important. They are a Concordance and a Topical Bible. A Concordance lists every time a word is used in a particular Bible translation. And a Topical Bible suggests text to read based on a topic such as judging. Did you know that there are over 180 different verses on judging and 134 verses on justice in the NIV Bible alone? The Topical Bible lists dozens and dozens of stories in references to the topic of judging others. Obviously the Bible has a lot to say about today’s Tough Issue Topic.
The Truth about Judging
1. We are called to judge __truth__________ according to God’s Word in ____humility____________.
Jesus’ statement “do not judge” is speaking against the kind of hypocritical judgmental attitude that tears down others in order build ourselves up. It is not a blanket statement agains all critical thinking which needs to be done in assessing certain situations. I mean, if your child or grandchild’s babysitter shows up with a keg of beer in one hand and bunch of party invitations in the other by all means you need to judge the situation as unsafe and not leave the children with that person.
But we and our lifestyle are not the measuring rod of truth. God’s Word is. We are called to discern what is happening in the world today in our world against what the Bible says!
And we are to do it with a sense of humility – not an air of superiorty of we know whats best for you, we know God’s Word. But in humility that says I know I am not perfect either but together we can help challenge and move each other through God’s Word to being more like him.
His word is always the measuring tool not our life, not your neighbors life, not the person sitting next to you in the pew – you are not called to live up to the example of your mother or father no matter how good of an example they are. You are called to live up to the Word of God as manifested in the life of Christ.
For the truth of the matter is Truth #2…..
2. We aren’t good at making judgments because we are _self centered______________and full of ________selfish pride_____________.
We are told to make “I” statements – self centered children but when I stop to think about it I am just as self centered – just bigger and in control
3. The judgment games is a _dangerous spiritual_________________game because
a. It lulls us into a ___false of security______________ security.
You know what a lull is don’t you? When a baby is crying we sing a lullaby to lull the baby to sleep. You’re lulled when you’re gradually soothed and calmed into thinking that everythings okay, that you don’t need to worry about sin your neighbor is committing cause you got that one licked.
In fact Paul says we are often guilt of the same thing we judge others guilty of. Funny psychologist agree they say that the thing that irriates us the most in others is the thing we have a problem with. It doesn’t always manifest itself in the same way but when it boils down to it it is the same problem. For example, if you spend a lot of time jumping up and down yelling and judging people about reading the temptation of pornography and judge anybody who reads a Harlequin romance novel as reading pornography – the truth of the matter is you probably struggle with sexual temptation.
It’s kind of like back in the mid 80’s when TV evangelist Jim Bakker was exposed for sexual sin and fraud, Ted Koppel on Nightline interviewed TV evangelist Jimmy Swaggert. Swaggert was asked to give his opinion about Jim Bakker and Swaggert came off as very judgmental. In fact, he called Bakker a cancer to the Christian community. Then just a short while later Swaggert was exposed as being guilty of some of the same kinds of sins.
b. We are __blind_____________ to our own faults
We are like the Pharisee who went to the temple and prayed, “Oh God thank goodness I am not like other people – like all those sinners. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I have.” --tax collector --
All of us have blind spots, and a judgmental attitude merely keeps these blind spots blind. It’s like the woman who’s raised in an alcoholic family and she swears that she’ll live differently. Yet she develops a drug problem and drags her children through the same kind of experience she had growing up. She is blind to the fact that she’s repeated her father’s sins against her.
We all have blind spots. We just talk about our faults a little differently, figuring we have extenuating circumstances to justify our faults. Other people lose their temper but we have righteous indignation. Other people are jerks but we’re just having a bad day. Other people have a critical spirit, but we simply tell it like it is. Other people gossip but we share prayer requests. Other people are pushy but we’re goal oriented.
We are like Roger Williams, one of the early Puritans who came to America in the 17th century. Williams became convinced that the Puritan Christians were too sinful and not pure enough, so he left Massachusetts and became the founder of the Rhode Island colony. Once there he became a Baptist and started the First Baptist Church of Providence, Rhode Island. But once again he became convinced that that church too was too full of sinners, that it wasn’t pure enough, so he started a smaller, purer church. But still he was convinced the people weren’t pure enough, so he started a new church composed of just his wife, a friend and himself. His judgmental attitude blinded him to his own sins.
This tendency toward blind spots in the church is why so many unchurched people avoid the christian church at all costs. Not because we struggle with sin as much in the church as people do outside the church but because we are blind to the sins we struggle with. We are blind because we spent so much time focusing on other people’s sins that we can no longer see the ways our own lives dishonor God.
"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? 42 How can you say to your brother, ’Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when you yourself fail to see the plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye. Luke 6:41-42 (NIV)
Focus more are correcting and changing your faults then looking at others faults
c. We run the risk of _trying to play_______________ God.
Who are we to think we have the right, the purity, the righteousness to judge someone else? We are prejudice and under the influence our families and today’s culture. We show favoritism to our kind of people. We think we know it all. But we judge by outward appearances. How are we to truly know their motives, their heart, their intentions? God says his judgment, righteous judgment is based on the heart!
So What are we to do when we are called to judge
1. Remember you will be __judged___________by the same standards you use to ___judge_________ others.
How many of us truly are ready to stand before God and say “My God –judge me as I have judged my fellow man? We have all judged our fellow men and women as sinners! If God should judge us like that we would be in hell. Our prayer isn’t God please judge me as I have judged but please judge me as according to the blood of Jesus.
2. Remember that each of us is _____accountable_________ to God and ___only_________ God is able to judge fairly and justly in truth.
3. Remember how much God has shown you ____mercy______ and ___forgiveness_____________.
So what do we do, we are called to judge the truth according to God’s Word in humility. We aren’t good at making judgments because we are egocentric and full of selfish pride. The judgment game is a dangerous spiritual game because it lulls us into a false sense of security, we are blind to our own faults, and we run the risk of trying play God. So what do we do?
Paul goes on to say the best way to deal with a judgmental spirit is to remember: 1) Remember you will be judged by the same standards that you use to judge others. 2) Remember that each of us is accountable to God. And only God is able to judge fairly and justly in truth and 3) Remember how much God has offered you forgiveness and mercy.
The Truths about Judging
1. We are called to judge the truth according to God’s Word in humility.
2. We aren’t good at making judgments because we are egocentric and full of selfish pride.
3. The judgment games is a dangerous spiritual game because
a. It lulls us into a false sense of security
b. We are blind to our own faults
c. We run the risk of playing God.
What to do when you are called to judge
1. Remember you will be judged by the same standards you use to judge others.
2. Remember that each of us is accountable to God and only God is able to judge fairly and justly in truth.
3. Remember how much God has forgiven you and offered you mercy.
judge in the sense of discerning the truth in humility.
A. We are to judge the truth according to God’s word.
Teachers
Doctrine
Opposite of judgment isn’t tolerance but humility
B. We are to judge the truth of a testimony.
Do not bear false witness
Do not lie, etc…
C. We are to judge those inside the church based on God’s truths.
Is it not those who are inside that you are to judge? 13 God will judge those outside. 1 Cor 5:12-13 (NRSV)
1. Make sure you are using God’s truth as the measuring rod – scripture is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness 2 Tim 3:16 (NKJV)
2. Make sure you have proof (have witnesses)
3. Grieve for that person
4. Go one on one to that person(matt 18:15ff)
5. Then two or three together
6. Then tell the church (church discipline)
7. Then it says treat him/her as a pagan-which drives us back to the beginning- let God judge them
But then that brings us to today’s text where Paul warns us about the dangers of clinging to the call to judge others for the judgment game is a dangerous game to play. For
Gives us a false sense of security – Luke 6:41
Often what we are critical of in others – is a form of weakness in ourselves
Because we all have blind spots –
When we judge we are playing God
First though it is vitally important that we define the word judge. In today’s text and in the Matthew 7 text where Jesus says judge not lest you be judged, the word judge is a legal word that means “to judge a person to be guilty and liable to punishment” (from sermon by Timothy Peck-The Dangers of Judging People). Now before you see that definition as letting you off the hook because you never judge a person for punishment. Let me suggest to you we judge and punish people all the time. When we tell stories over and over about how someone wronged or hurt us or of when someone did something wrong we are punishing them by making sure that everybody remembers how bad they are – cause compared to them we are good. We are punishing them by making sure others remember the story so they don’t trust them. We are punishing them by destroying their character and integrity in the community and in the church by keeping the stories alive. Oh, we are pretty good at justifying it, we make statements like. “I’m not being judgmental, I’ve forgiven them, I’m just telling the truth.” We elicit prayer concerns for them, “We need to put Uncle Buster on the prayer list ‘cause you know he’s down there drinking and cussing at me and others all the time – we need to pray for him to come to Jesus - which translates we are in the middle of a family fued and I am looking for anything and everything I can get on Uncle Buster so that you will side with me and not him. We punish people by saying “you know I heard….” We punish people when we assign labels to them like money or power hungry, wild, no account, good for nothing, freeloader, control freak….
Grant it there are times when we are clearly called to judge. I mean if you hire a new baby sitter for your children or grandchildren and she shows up to your house with green hair, a pierced nose, a cigarette hanging out of her mouth and a keg of beer in one hand and party invitations in the other. (From The dangers of judging People by Timothy Peck) It is appropriate for you to decide not to leave the children with her. If we hear a preacher or teacher preaching that its okay to cheat on your taxes because the government is no good, it’s okay to stand up and say that is not what God’s Word says. I am not suggesting that we are to suspend making any and all moral judgments.
We are called to judge the truth according to God’s Word in humility. Having an affair is wrong. Stealing is wrong. It’s just when we set ourselves up as judge over other people with a hypercritical attitude, when we seek to find and point out to everyone we see their faults and shortcomings, when we set ourselves up on pedestals for people to look to to see how they should be living their lives, when we cry out like the Pharisee at the temple – O Lord thank goodness I am not a bad sinner like they are – see them over there, Lord. Jude says it when we become grumblers and fault finders. That’s when we get in trouble. It’s not the act of judgment that’s wrong, it’s just that we’re not very good at it because we’re as guilty of sin as anyone else is. Sin is just as prevalent among religious peoples as non religious people. It’s just that we commit these sins under the cloak of morality, religiosity and Judeo-Christian values. Our judgments no matter who we are always based in our egocentric, selfish pride. The judgment game is a spiritually dangerous game to play and in today’s text Paul points out why.
judge false testimonies
false teachings
discern truth according to his Word
There are a number of ways that we can discover ourselves doing that. Sometimes the most demanding parents, who refuse to put up with a moment’s laziness or defiance from their children, are trying to avoid the discovery of laziness and other bad dealings in themselves. They yell at their son to get his homework done on time, but they never get around to doing their income taxes, or are avoiding other important responsibilities.
Sometimes in marriage counseling I see these circumstances: The counselor will say, for instance, "We’ll talk about your husband’s problems in just a moment. But let me ask you to focus on your contribution to the difficulties in your marriage. Now, aren’t there some communication problems you have? Haven’t you been slightly dishonest here? Isn’t there a certain amount of manipulation? Let’s just deal with that part of it for a moment." But it’s impossible to pursue that approach, because the person who hears those things immediately says, "Yes, but if you knew what he was really like, if you could see the things that he’s done...." And what fills their thinking immediately-on both sides-is their well-rehearsed speech in which they describe all the terrible things about the other person. They literally cannot hear any discussion of what they have done to contribute to the problem, so much is their thinking taken up with the sins of the other. Yet Paul’s question comes back, "Do you suppose when you pass judgment and do the same things that you will escape the judgment of God?"
Paul calls this "thinking lightly of the riches of God’s kindness and patience." It costs God a tremendous amount to be patient with us. It cost him the life of his son to offer us forgiveness. His patience and forbearance are a very expensive business. He doesn’t offer them because we’re special and easy to love. The point of his patience is not to impress us more deeply with ourselves, but to lead us to repentance, to give us time while all sin’s consequences haven’t yet descended, in gratitude for his kindness, to call out to him for help.
does not condemn men by “class” (Jew or Gentile) but rather by conduct. All who judge others guilty of sin, and who practice the same sins, are themselves guilty, based upon their own actions. It just so happens that many (if not most) of those thus judged are self-righteous Jews. As the chapter proceeds, Paul’s focus becomes more and more directed toward the Jews, who felt smugly superior to the Gentiles and who eagerly condemned them as sinners.
Those who enthusiastically condemned the Gentile “heathen” as sinners, on the basis of Paul’s argument in 1:18-32, were self-condemned. They practiced the very same things which they condemned in others (2:1, 2, 3). The words of our Lord certainly apply to Paul’s readers:
“Do not judge lest you be judged. For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you” (Matthew 7:1-2).
Did the Jews really sin in the same way as the Gentiles? Were the Jews guilty of immorality, sexual impurity and perversion, idolatry, robbery, and even murder? The answer is a clear and undeniable, “Yes!” The historical accounts of Israel’s past actions prove Paul’s accusations to be true (see, for example, Exodus 32 and Numbers 25). The Old Testament prophets indicted the Jews of old for the same sins that Paul names in Romans 1.
Bill Sullivan sermon
13 talks about how we are to “judge those who are inside” the local church.
- 1 John 4:1 says we are to “test the spirits”
- Galatians 6:1 says that if anyone is caught in sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently...” --- something you cannot do without first making a judgment that something is sin
We should not judge:
1. people’s motives - cannot know why they do what they do, we can’t see what’s in their minds
2. service of another believer - to His own Master he stands or falls
3. conscientious scruples about things that are morally neutral
4. outward appearances - what’s in the heart is what counts
5. harshly, critically - “a habitual fault-finder is a poor advertisement for
the Christian faith” - William McDonald
Think about this:
- the Holy Spirit is the only One in the true position to criticize
- He alone is able to show what is wrong without hurting and wounding.
Oswald Chambers noted in My Utmost for His Highest that Jesus would say to us as disciples: “cultivate the uncritical temper. It is not done once and for all. Beware of anything that puts you in the superior person’s place..... Stop having a measuring rod for other people. There is always one fact more in every man’s case about which we know nothing.”
In other words, we don’t see everything, we don’t know all the facts. Chambers also notes: “Who of us would dare to stand before God and say “My God-judge me as I have judged my fellow men?” We have judged our fellow men as sinners; if God should judge us like that we would be in hell. God judges us through the marvelous atonement of Jesus Christ.”
In James 4:11, 12, He gives a command in verse 11 and then supplies a number of reasons for stating that command. The command is, literally: "Stop judging your brother." Evidently this was an ongoing problem in the church at the time that James wrote this book, and it is still with us today.
Criticism is probably the most widespread sin among Christians. It is a passion we can indulge without feeling much guilt because we have devised ways to disguise it. Our criticism can even take the form of an expression of concern or care for others. We can elicit prayer for them and criticize them all in the same breath. This is a way of venting our critical, judgmental, harsh, carping, loveless spirit.
But James says, "Stop it!" The primary reason is not that it injures the person who is criticized. There are ways that the individual who is the object of our criticism can be salvaged.
The concern is not so much for the person who is the object of our criticism but, rather, it is for us, because a critical spirit devastates us. It does something terrible to the inner man. It makes us harsh and unloving, relentless and cold.
In verse 3 Jesus said, "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?"
He was speaking against judging by appearance, which he himself prohibited in John 7:24, knowing that God judges not by outward appearance but on the basis of one’s heart.
Therefore, when Jesus said "Judge not" he was not speaking against the legitimate use of the critical powers God gave us to make judgments. No, he was speaking against any judgment that is not based on the Word.
Jesus said we should first deal with ourselves in Matthew 7: “First take the log, the plank, the beam, out of your own eye."
That principle is taught elsewhere in the NT. latians 6:4 says, But let each one examine his own work, and then he will have reason for boasting in regard to himself alone, and not in regard to another."
I Corinthians 11:31 says, "But if we judge ourselves rightly, we should not be judged."
II Corinthians 13:5 says, “Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith. Examine yourselves!"
One thing can be said with certainty about judging others: While we are judging another it becomes more difficult to do an acceptable job of judging ourselves. That is one of the many problems of a person with a judgmental or critical spirit: He seldom looks at himself with the same scrutiny with which he looks at others.
The Greek word for look here means: “to gaze at, to keep looking at something.”
Jesus is speaking of a person who has no time to consider the huge plank in his own eye, but who is always looking for the slightest misstep of everyone else. So Jesus is telling us, "Do do not be a faultfinder. Do not pronounce a final judgment of condemnation on your brother. That is God’s business, not yours."
Why is it that my dirt is never as dirty as your dirt, from my perspective, and your dirt is never as dirty as my dirt, from your perspective? My sin never seems as sinful as the sin of others either. And that is what Jesus is referring to here. I have a log in my eye and find it quite easy to ignore, but that speck in your eye is glaringly obvious.
That is what Jesus had in mind. In marriage (and other relationships) what usually happens is partners develop an attitude of "I’d move if you would. If you’d just take out that speck, I’d work on my log."
Jesus said it needs to be the other way around. You deal with yourself first.
Further, you’re a hypocrite until you do! (Look again at what he said: "You hypocrite, first take ...").
In the summer of 1986, two ships collided in the Black Sea off the coast of Russia. Hundreds of passengers died as they were hurled into the icy waters below. News of the disaster was further darkened when an investigation revealed the cause of the accident. It wasn’t a technology problem like radar malfunction--or even thick fog - it wasn’t a y2k problem come too early. The cause was human stubbornness. Each captain was aware of the other ship’s presence nearby. Both could have steered clear, but according to news reports, neither captain wanted to give way to the other. Each was too proud to yield first. By the time they came to their senses, it was too late.
One evening several college students spread limburger cheese on the upper lip of a sleeping fraternity brother. Upon awakening the young man sniffed, looked around, and said, “This room stinks!” He then walked into the hall and said, “This hall stinks!” Leaving the dormitory he exclaimed, “The whole world stinks!”
End of My other life by Bill Sullivan
Country song, "You’ve got to stand for something, or you’ll fall for anything. You’ve got to be your own man, not a puppet on a string."
No one is worthy enough to make judgments based upon one’s own morality.
Romans 3:10 as it is written: "None is righteous, no, not one; (RSV)
What, then, is this scripture referring to? Jesus’ statement, “Do not judge” is speaking against the kind of hypocritical judgmental attitude that tears others down in order to build ourselves up. It is not a blanket statement against all critical thinking which needs to be done in assessing certain situations.
Improper Judgment: Jesus knew that the problem of judging others was a problem that needed to be addressed back then as it is also today. He is saying, “Don’t pick on people, jumping on their failures and criticizing their faults unless you want the same treatment. That critical spirit has a way of boomeranging!” (Message Bible Matthew 7:1)
When you judge, usually it will eventually come back to you. Most of us are in such a habit of judging and criticizing others that we don’t think about how it affects others as well as how it affects us in our walk with the Lord.
We seem to have the disposition to look unfavorably on the characteristics and actions of others which leads to the pronouncing of rash, unjust and unloving judgments upon them. One of the things that is so bad about judging in this way is that we don’t know people’s motives. We never know all the facts. We don’t know their hearts and we can’t read their minds. We jump to false conclusions so much of the time.
Jesus reminded his disciples of the scribes and Pharisees who were very rigid and severe in condemning people, but they were very proud and conceited in justifying themselves.
James 3:1 says, “we must not sit in the judgment seat to make our word a law to everybody.” In Romans 14:10, Paul says, “Why do you judge your brother? Or why do you look down on your brother? For we all will stand before God’s judgment seat.”
2. Judge Ourselves: Jesus goes on to give us a visual illustration. He says, “why do you look at the speck of dust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?” This was a proverbial saying that they could identify with. We usually justify and minimize the planks in our own life whereas we magnify the specks in the eyes of others. Jesus is trying to say, “Don’t justify the sins in your own life as if they don’t need any repentance.”
Our own sins ought to appear greater to us than the same sins in others but the god of this world blinds us to the things that should be obvious to us.
A man drove by a certain farm day after day admiring a certain horse he saw grazing in the field. Finally he went up to the farmhouse and said, “I have been admiring your horse and I want to buy him. I’ll pay you top dollar for him.”
The farmer said, “Oh, I don’t know. That horse...he don’t look too good.”
The potential buyer said, “Well, he looks fine to me and strong and fast. I’ll give you a hundred dollars more than my first offer.”
“Oh, I don’t know said the farmer...He don’t look too good.”
They made the deal and when the new owner got him home he saddled up the horse and jumped up on the horse and kicked him in the sides. The horse immediately galloped into the trunk of a huge tree, fell over and died. The new owner was furious.
“You crook. You sold me a blind horse.”
The farmer shrugged his shoulders and said, “I tried to tell you--he don’t look too good!”
When you are tempted to criticize others, check to see if you deserve the same criticism.
Jesus went on to say that being severe and critical of the faults of others while hanging on to our own by justifying them is a mark of hypocrisy. The Pharisees were most haughty in justifying themselves while at the same time were most scornful and condemning of others. Judging becomes hypocritical because it implies that the critic is free of similar or even the very same faults.
James 2:13 says, “Mercy triumphs over judgment.”
As God forgives us and cleanses us there are three things to remember that will help us to break the habit of judging others.
1. Remember you will be judged by the same standards that you use to judge others.
2. Remember that each of us is accountable to God. How is God going to judge us? He will judge honestly, fairly and truthfully.
3. Remember how much God has been merciful to us. It’s the principle of forgiveness and mercy.
It is a liberating experience when we realize that God has not called us to judge other people. He’s called us to be accountable to Him. James 4:11 says, “If you criticize each other and condemn each other, then you are criticizing and condemning God’s law. But you are not a judge who can decide whether the law is right or wrong. Your job is to obey it. God alone, who made the law, can rightly judge among us.” (New Living Translation).
When tempted to judge I remember one old saying of Grandma’s that we all know but don’t always put into practice. I think it is pretty good advice.
“If you can’t say something good, don’t say anything
