Do Not Judge

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Let’s Jump into today’s message.

If you are new to our church today, it would be helpful for you to know that we practice a form of preaching called “Expository Preaching”.

What that means, is we believe the Bible is best taught by taking books of the Bible and then breaking them down from beginning to end, chapter by chapter, verse by verse. Our goal, to better understand not only what God’s Word says, but what it means in our lives today.

We are currently walking through the NT book of Matthew.

We have been going through a really long section of Matthew known as the Sermon on the Mount.

I want to step back for a moment and remind everyone of the background in case you have forgotten.

Matthew 5:1–2 CSB

1 When he saw the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. 2 Then he began to teach them, saying:

Jesus is surrounded by the crowds. So he goes up onto a mount or hill and his disciples followed him.

For a long time I thought when it said disciples this meant the 12 but as I have studied I have come to understand that e crowds were all around him. What we see here is that Jesus sits down (The posture in which a Rabbi would teach in the Synagoge) and those who were true followers came to listen.

However, there were still those in the crowd that were there to have their needs met, to catch Jesus in wrong doing or saying, or just to see what the fuss was all about. Still those who came to learn got what they came for.

So what are we here for today. This entire segment known as the Sermon on the Mount is Jesus’ teaching on how it is to live out God’s instructions as Citizens of the Kingdom of God. These are instructions on how his followers should live, interact, and walk in obedience to God.

As we survey this Gospel you will find a very small portion dedicated to Jesus’ death on the Cross.

In no way am I discounting the Jesus’ work on the Cross.

However, the lion share of the Gospels is spent on Jesus’ life something I believe we all should be focused on more and more as we grow a Kingdom of God Citizens.

The other problem a lot of us face is an attitude of

I Can’t Wait to Get to Heaven!

We all say this but the truth is if the bus showed up today there would be a lot of us not ready to get on an go.

The truth is we love life because God created so many things for us to love.

From lakes, oceans, mountains, and canyons. God created a place to display His Glory in order for us to discover his Goodness.

This entire sermon is about how we bring Heaven down.

Matthew 6:10 CSB

10 Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

We are supposed to be praying this and living it.

So as we sit at the Messiah’s feet and learn from him we need to grasp.

Hebrews 1:3 CSB

3 The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact expression of his nature, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.

This is our opportunity to live out what our Rabbi Jesus the Anointed Son of God is teaching us.

Which leads us into the section of Do Nots.

Matthew 7:1 CSB

1 “Do not judge, so that you won’t be judged.

This is the most misquoted scripture in history.

Everyone knows this one but very few people take the time to really understand it.

Most people use it as their “I don’t want to be held accountable for my wrong doing card”

But to say we as Christians would be very contradictory and almost hypocritical.

After all

Matthew Chapter 18 teaches exclusively on discipline with in the body of Christs followers.

Paul teaches

For example, in 1 Corinthians 5:12, Paul says the Church is to judge disputes between members of the Body, rather than taking each other to court

We do this in the hope of encouraging him or her to be obedient to Christ

Elsewhere, Paul asks the Body to carefully evaluate a man’s character before elevating him to leadership over the Church

And 1 John tells us to judge the fruit in a teacher’s personal life before accepting their testimony and teaching

And so on and so on…

So there is clear evidence for accountability with the Body of Believers.

What Jesus is dealing with is the Judging of ones Character and Righteousness based on man made rules and regulations.

This is so prevalent in the Body now just like is was within the Jews of Jesus’ day.

The religious leaders determined your righteousness based on the standards of the Mishna and all this does is cause believers to fall away from the inability to meet your standards.

The biggest three are Alcohol, Smoking, and Tattoos.

I see it all the time. Can all of those things lead to a sinful lifestyle yes. Can all of those things become idol before God, yes. Does any of this give you the right to judge yourself as more righteous than others. Absolutely not.

What about all your secret stuff that nobody sees.

I don’t know how many times when people find out I have tattoos they want to bring up Leviticus.

Completely out of context.

Here’s my thought on this unless you are going to quit trimming your beard, cutting your hair, and start making your wife sit in another room during her time of the month you have no business coming at me about tattoos.

This is exactly what Jesus is talking about here.

Matthew 7:1–2 CSB

1 “Do not judge, so that you won’t be judged. 2 For you will be judged by the same standard with which you judge others, and you will be measured by the same measure you use.

Rabbi Anmi taught: Whoever holds himself as being fully righteous in the earthly realm will be held liable according to the full standard of justice in the heavenly realm. and so Scripture teaches, “ Truth (more properly: full righteousness) springs up from the earth, and Justice looks down from the heavens.

Psalm 85:11 CSB

11 Truth will spring up from the earth, and righteousness will look down from heaven.

Here’s an idea for you to ponder.

The one who judges benevolently will be judged benevolently.

The one who judges maliciously will be judged maliciously.

When we as followers of Christ begin to look upon fellow believers as Favorable or Acceptable to God than we ourselves are Judged as favorable and acceptable.

The problem is so many of us sitting here today are not living out the relationship with Jesus that we are offered and therefore in our attempt to Judge ourselves as favorable and acceptable we impose judgements on others that we see not measuring up to the standards that we have deemed as worse than us.

This is why Jesus then uses a clever hyperbole.

Matthew 7:3–5 CSB

3 Why do you look at the splinter in your brother’s eye but don’t notice the beam of wood in your own eye? 4 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the splinter out of your eye,’ and look, there’s a beam of wood in your own eye? 5 Hypocrite! First take the beam of wood out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to take the splinter out of your brother’s eye.

This is funny. The original text referrers to the beam of wood as the cross beam of a house that holds the walls in place. That is a huge beam.

But we must also notice that both the beam and the splinter are made out to the same material.

Your beam and my splinter are both sin.

That’s right I only have a splinter.

Romans 3:23 CSB

23 For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God;

1 John 1:5–10 CSB

5 This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light, and there is absolutely no darkness in him. 6 If we say, “We have fellowship with him,” and yet we walk in darkness, we are lying and are not practicing the truth. 7 If we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we say, “We have no sin,” we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say, “We have not sinned,” we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

Look here’s the truth. There isn’t any of us in this room that is righteous unto ourselves. I can not make myself right before God only the conviction of the Holy Spirit and a life dedicated to following Christ can.

We all have stuff to work on.

The question we should all be asking one another is “ Have you made Christ, Lord of your life?”

If yes than the person is acceptable to God therefore they should be acceptable to me.

If No, than lets work at helping that person come to know Jesus.

Today we are going to take communion.

1 Corinthians 11:23–27 CSB

23 For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: On the night when he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, and said, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. 27 So, then, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sin against the body and blood of the Lord.

As we take communion this morning I want to present 3 opportunities to you.

Opportunity to accept Jesus.

Opportunity to celebrate Fellowship

Opportunity to practice 1 John 1:9

1 John 1:9 CSB

9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.