Don't judge me

Read Colossians 2:16–17 “So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ.”

Introduction

The phrase don’t judge me is one the most popular phrase today.

There are countless songs and books titled, don’t judge me.

In fact, I have no doubt, that you have heard someone else use this phrase.

In fact, you might have said to someone, don’t judge me.

However, it is also one of the most ironic phrases used today.

We don’t want others to judge us, but game shows that are all about judging contestants like America’s Got Talent, are industries that make millions of dollars.

It’s one of the most hypocritical things we say today.

We basically are saying, don’t judge me, but let me judge you.

And then there are the reasons people give as to why they say don’t judge me.

They say things like, ‘don’t judge me, only God can judge me’.

Or, ‘I don’t judge what other people do with their life’.

Why is this statement so popular today?

It’s because we want to be guilt free.

We want to be innocent of the wrong that we do.

We don’t want to face consequences for our actions.

But did you know, that the Bible also teaches you to say, don’t judge me?

Wouldn’t you like to say don’t judge me that’s not in an ironic or hypocritical way?

Wouldn’t you like to say don’t judge me in a godly way?

That’s why the title for today’s sermon is Don’t Judge Me.

1. Because I now understand the Old Testament (v.16)

How many of you actually see the Old Testament as a blessing rather than a source of confusion?

In fact, non-Christians will often use the OT as a weapon against Christians.

They’ll quote laws from the OT, such as the command to the Israelites to not wear mixed fabric clothing, and then ask you to check the tag on your clothing and find out that it’s 70% polyester, 20% rayon, and 10% cotton.

Isn’t that confusing?

Or how about when you read the OT?

Do you ever wonder, ‘should I also do that?’

Should I also not eat certain foods?

But when you understand what the Old Testament is about, you will realize how helpful it is.

And how the OT can help you say don’t judge me.

So what is the OT about?

Let’s look at v.16 where Paul writes, ‘so’

And you might be asking, why are we looking at one word, ‘so’?

And it’s because by writing ‘so’ Paul is signalling that the result of him teaching the Colossians that Christ is all you need, is so that he can command them to ‘let no one judge you’.

What this also implies is that there were people judging the Colossian believers.

They were looking down on them, excluding them and condemning them.

And they were forcing them to do things for some particular reason.

What are these reasons?

Paul writes, in food or in drink.

One of the most common restrictions people like to make on others is to tell them what they can eat or drink.

Islam for example teaches that you can’t eat pork or drink alcohol.

In Hinduism you can’t eat beef.

Mormons can’t drink coffee.

Even the Old Testament laws taught the Jews to not eat certain food like pork or shellfish.

But the reason was because God wanted to show how the Israelites were different from the rest of the pagan nations.

That’s why God gave the Apostle Peter a vision in Acts 10:10-15

Acts 10:10–15 NKJV

Then he became very hungry and wanted to eat; but while they made ready, he fell into a trance and saw heaven opened and an object like a great sheet bound at the four corners, descending to him and let down to the earth. In it were all kinds of four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, creeping things, and birds of the air. And a voice came to him, “Rise, Peter; kill and eat.” But Peter said, “Not so, Lord! For I have never eaten anything common or unclean.” And a voice spoke to him again the second time, “What God has cleansed you must not call common.”

You see Peter was confused about this topic as well, and so if an apostle could be confused about this how much more we?

So God gave Peter a vision showing him that being a Christian is not about following the OT dietary laws.

While we may learn lessons from the OT, we are not to follow its practices because it was written for a specific people in a specific time.

You’re not a Jew living in the kingdom of Israel are you?

That’s why Paul is telling the Colossians to not let people judge them in regards to what they eat or drink.

The second reason the Colossians are to not let anyone judge them Paul writes, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths.

These all refer to the OT holy days that Israelites were to observe.

A modern example are the Seventh Day Adventists who teach that you must observe the Sabbath on Saturday, and so they go to church on Saturday.

Another example is when I encountered the mother god cult which I shared with you guys before.

They approached me in a mall, a target, a parking lot etc.

So I simply ask them, ‘how do I go to heaven?’

And they say, every month during the new moon you have to take the passover.

All of these things, what you eat or drink, and special days you must observe, are all things that people were trying to force the Colossians to do.

They were trying to make the Colossians follow the OT laws and saying that if you don’t follow them, you are not saved.

But instead, Paul tells them don’t let them judge you.

Because as Christians, you are free from following the OT rituals.

Because Christianity is not based on doing rituals.

It’s based on faith alone in Christ alone not works.

Ephesians 2:8–9 (NKJV)

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.

Our salvation is based on God who gives us faith, not our works.

So that when a person gets to heaven, he doesn’t say, ‘look what I did, I earned my way here, I’m such a good person’.

No they will say, ‘I’m not a good person, but God was gracious and saved me.

‘To God be the glory!’

You can say to people who tell you, you need to do this or that to go to heaven, don’t judge me because I understand the Old Testament.

And that’s what these false religions want to do.

That on the outside they may seem holy and righteous when they do all these external practices.

But in reality in their hearts is the same prideful heart that Satan has.

That wants all the spotlight on them instead of God.

How wicked is that?

That these people claim to be so favored by God, and at the same steal all the glory due to Him because they don’t eat pork, or don’t drink coffee?

That’s gaslighting God.

Do you know what Jesus says to those self-righteous people?

He says in Matthew 9:10-13,

Matthew 9:10–13 (ESV)

And as Jesus reclined at table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were reclining with Jesus and his disciples. And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” But when he heard it, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Jesus said this to the Pharisees who were self-righteous people because they were always showing off their self-righteousness through following OT practices, and added their own laws too to make themselves extra righteous.

Such as, ‘I don’t eat with sinful people’ where the Bible never taught that.

And while Jesus kept to where the OT taught Jews to not eat certain foods like not eating pork or shellfish when He ate with the lost, He did not follow man made rules, like the Pharisees did in having zero contact or communication with sinners.

Because guess what, we’re all sinners!

So if you can’t eat with sinners, you can’t eat with anybody!

And then Jesus tells them His desire to save the lost, and then quotes from Hosea which is in the OT.

He tells them go understand the OT which teaches that God does not want your rituals, works or outside appearances, but He desires mercy.

Which means He wants a heart of flesh, a person who is born again on the inside.

That’s what the OT taught, that salvation is not based on doing rituals, but on a new heart that God gives.

Psalm 51:10 (NKJV)

Create in me a clean heart, O God,And renew a steadfast spirit within me.

Do you now understand why you can say don’t judge me?

Because you now understand the Old Testament.

The OT did not teach a works based system of salvation, it taught the need for a genuine conversion on the inside.

You even see people do this at church!

Where people go through the motions and go to church only because their friends of family go, or get baptized because everyone else is doing it!

That if you don’t get baptized or go to church, then you are not a Christian.

Students, that’s wrong.

When you decide to get baptized, I’m going to talk with you first.

And I’m going to ask you if you are saved.

‘Where will you be if you died right now?’

Because I will only baptize you, if you have already been saved by the Lord Jesus.

If your reason for going to heaven is not based on whether you go to church or do more godly acts than ungodly ones.

Because your identity as a Christian is not based on doing rituals, going through the motions, or what you do, but based on what God has already done in your heart.

The NT doesn’t teach that, and neither does the OT.

That’s why you can say don’t judge me.

So now that you understand that the OT is not a point of confusion for you, you can now understand how it’s a blessing.

Why is it a blessing?

This leads us to our final point of don’t judge me.

2. Because I have Christ (v.17)

Paul writes in v.17, which are a shadow of things to come.

Paul is calling the dietary laws, and the observance of special days as shadows of things to come.

A shadow is a dark figure that comes from an object that is shone with light.

Shadows come and go.

They are outlines of the shape that is the source of their existence.

They point to the actual thing that they are representing.

Paul tells us that these dietary laws and special days all are shadows that point us to Christ.

He writes, but the substance is of Christ.

In other words, the reality is of Christ.

These purpose of these OT rituals and practices is to show you and direct you to Jesus Christ.

What’s absurd about these people who tried to enslave the Colossians back to following the OT rituals, is that these rituals were not the end goal of worshipping God.

Hebrews 10:1 (NKJV)

For the law, having a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with these same sacrifices, which they offer continually year by year, make those who approach perfect.

The writer of Hebrews says this very thing, that the law, the OT, is just a shadow.

And that following it can never make you perfect.

God didn’t give them to the Israelites just to do them and make them feel better about themselves.

No, He gave them as a lesson to the Israelites to put their hope in the coming Messiah, Jesus Christ, who will make us perfect when He gives new bodies in eternity.

When you read the OT, you must realize that the purpose of it is for you to place your trust in Jesus Christ.

That’s what the OT is about!

Galatians 3:23–24 (NKJV)

But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed. Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith.

That’s what Paul taught to the Galatians who were confused about the OT too.

So Paul explained to them the law is a tutor to bring us to Christ!

A tutor, helps you understand more clearly what you are trying to learn such as math, or music.

Or a coach who helps teach people a sport.

That is what the OT is, a coach, a tutor to help explain Jesus Christ more clearly.

And you see students, this Jesus Christ, is someone you already have.

You have the real thing.

Why mess around with the shadow, following rules and regulations in order to go to heaven, when you already have the real thing, Jesus Christ?

You already have eternal life in Jesus Christ.

In Christ, you are free from guilt, and you are completely innocent from failing to obey His Word perfectly.

That’s why you can say to people who try to tell you need to do this or that to be saved, don’t judge me because I have Christ.

Gospel

If you are listening today, and you judge others based on their participation in rituals and see salvation based on doing good works, than I urge you to repent and put your faith not in good deeds but in Jesus Christ.

So that you can be saved from the judgement of your sins by Christ, by His blood on the cross and resurrection on the 3rd day.

And so you can truly say, don’t judge me.

Let’s pray.