2024-08-25 You Are Not the Judge

Well, we are starting a new series this week called / / Playing God!

What a name, eh? What do I mean? Well, we are going through the Sermon on the Mount, right? And we’re now through chapter 5 and 6 of the book of Matthew, and so this series is the starting point of Chapter 7. And actually, we’re through a good portion of this greater journey. If you break down Matthew 5-7 to verses, rather than just 3 chapters, there are 111 verses, and chapter 7 is the shortest with 29 verses. The other two chapters have a combined 82 verses. So, we’re basically 75% through this series.

And that’s good, because although we are just coming up to the end of August, which might feel like this year is going by too fast, but also that we aren’t 75% through, are we? And no, we aren’t, but we have Thanksgiving and Christmas, two seasons where I like to take time and focus on specific things. So, with the rest of this journey, completing Chapter 7 of Matthew, and Thanksgiving and Christmas, we’ll be through the end of this year!

And that’s not to try and rush us to the end of the year! I am really enjoying this walk through the Sermon on the Mount. I hope you are as well. And as I said last week, this is a process of preparation. God sees things long before we do, and when we are willing to be led by Him, he leads us according to His purpose. That’s a huge part of this greater series, isn’t it? Learning to follow Jesus, and that doesn’t mean just in the way we live, but in our daily, weekly, monthly, rhythms of life. Where is God leading us?

Paul says so many times in various ways encouragements to be led by the Spirit.

And / / The spirit of God wants to lead us in the every day working out of our salvation, and in the greater purposes of God for our lives and our community.

And I think this is a constant reminder for us. A lot of times people pick one or the other. They view “relationship” with God as the primary source for our lives and so they kind of put down, or neglect the written instruction, or what we could say should be a daily rhythm. They see that as legalistic, or rules oriented. And it can come across that way for sure. And that’s probably because there have been many who have swung completely that way, forsaking any “relationship” with God to give themselves to a religious system, and demand perfection in regard to the rules.

I would say I grew up more in that vein of teaching, that if you were a Christian, you obeyed the rules, and if you didn’t, you were bad, or wrong, or however you wanted to describe that, you were looked down upon. There wasn’t much grace for missing the mark, let’s say.

Then I moved to Toronto, where I went to school, and the presence of God was amazing, the Holy Spirit was actively moving, people were experiencing a direct impact, a tangible experience with God, as Father, Son & Holy Spirit. In a lot of ways it was unbelievable, until you experienced it yourself, and then you just couldn’t deny it.

But, here’s the thing, what I have come to realize is that / / following Jesus is BOTH of those scenarios.

The Written Word

The Spoken Word

And I don’t want to complicate things here, but what I mean by that is, / / What we read vs. what we hear. The written word, or what we read, is constant. It’s the practice, the instruction, the side of Christianity that is already laid out for us. You don’t have to question it because it’s pretty black & white. That’s a lot of what we are seeing in the Sermon on the Mount, an invitation to live a certain way and experience a certain life.

God has been inviting humanity into this since day 1.

By covenant, by law, by instruction, by invitation, God says, “I know how you should live because I created you and the world you live in, and if you follow my instructions you will find yourself living the life your heart truly desires. But, beware. Your flesh also has desires, and it will war with your heart for affection and pleasure. / / You will have to deny the flesh, to follow the heart.”

So, there is a way to live. There is a system. And there are two levels to that, there is what is right and wrong, and there is what is beneficial and invitational. What do I mean by that?

Well, we all know that murder is wrong. We don’t go around murdering people. It’s just wrong. So that’s very straight forward, right? Don’t murder. Notice I’m not saying kill, I’m saying murder. Intentionally taking the life of someone else in a premeditated act. We aren’t talking defense, or war, or situations where life is lost or taken in other ways, accidents and things of that nature.

That’s a big one, but there’s not so big ones either, right? Lying. Stealing. Cheating. Using the Lord’s name in vain. Worship idols, other gods. Sound familiar? Ya, the Ten Commandments are pretty black and white.

Another topic: Forgiveness, in what we’ve looked at over the last couple months seems to be more black and white than we want it to be, doesn’t it? If you don’t forgive, neither will my Father be able to forgive you. Why? Because if we choose to judge someone else we are saying that judgement is how the world should work, so we want that for ourselves.

But what about what we talked about last week - fasting, for instance. There’s no commandment you MUST fast. Not in the New Testament anyway. Leviticus 23:29 seems to suggest that fasting is a mandatory practice once a year on the Day of Atonement, but again, that’s the Old Testament, for the people of Israel. So, do we have to fast? We don’t have to. Is it good to fast? Oh there’s no doubt. And this is where the whole second side of the written instruction comes into play.

Murder, easy, don’t do it.

Lying, another easy one, don’t do it.

Stealing, of course, don’t do that one either.

But…

Fasting - if you do it, you will be rewarded. If you don’t, that reward isn’t for you.

Prayer - if you do it, you will be rewarded. If you don’t, that reward isn’t yours.

Giving - if you do it, you will be rewarded. If you don’t, that reward isn’t yours.

That’s what we have seen in Chapter 6 of Matthew, right?

Matthew 6:3-4, / / “…when you give to the needy…[give] in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”

Matthew 6:6, / / “…when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”

Matthew 6:17-18, / / “…when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”

And what’s the opposite here? It’s not punishment if you do it wrong or don’t do it, it’s that your reward won’t be from God, it will be from humanity in the way of making you feel more religious or special for a moment.

So, we have the way of life that is prescribed by God’s word. Pretty much black and white. If you do not do this, or if you do this, you are sinning, missing God’s prescribed way of life. Plain and simple. And we have the invitation to follow Jesus into greater life. I’m not saying this is what Jesus meant in John 10:10, but we can think of it this way, (ESV) / / I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. There is life, and there is abundant life. There is salvation, and there is living in the fullness of Christ.

And again, there’s no condemnation here, but think of it as doing the bare minimum and receiving that benefit, and doing more and receiving more.

Now, I’m not saying you’re doing the bare minimum, I’m not saying anyone is lazy, or anything like that. But I do want to make a point here. I mentioned this last week, but wanted to mention it again, in light of having encouraged fasting this past Wednesday, and guess what, I’m going to encourage you to do it again this coming Wednesday, and the Wednesday after that, and after that, and after that. / / The spiritual disciplines work in consistency. I would say the overwhelming majority of situations is that you don’t try something once and see incredible results. Usually these things take time, consistency and dedication.

But, as we do this. As we take this step into the disciplines of following Christ, I want you to know, and for it to be abundantly clear, that there is zero, and I mean zero shame attached to what we feel like we can or cannot do when it comes to these things. What I mentioned last week was, what if you are like me and have a food addiction? What if you have emotional or mental struggles that really get in the way of something like not eating for a day? What if you have medical concerns that you aren’t sure how this is going to work? And then I get up here and say, “There’s reward on the other side of this…” And you are like, “But I can’t. Or I’m too afraid. Or I don’t know if I should, medically, emotionally…” Hear me clearly. I am NOT saying, “Do it anyway. Have Faith.” And you do not have to “Miss out” if you are not able.

Think of it this way. We all have opportunities that arise in our lives and those opportunities are subject to our capacity and ability in the moment. If you are not able, if you don’t have the time or the ability to accept an opportunity, you can’t beat yourself up, you simply prepare yourself for the next opportunity - if you want to take an opportunity like that again.

If you have emotional, physical or psychological struggles when it comes to food, this challenge to fast might not be the invitation to give up food for the better portion of a day, but might be the invitation for you to begin a journey of healing in that area of your life. And guess what. If you accept THAT invitation, you will find healing. I know you will. But do not feel bad if you are unable to accept something you are simply not ready for.

/ / If your desire is to follow Jesus to the best of your ability, then make the choice today to prepare your life for the spiritual practices that produce in us spiritual fruit! I know God will hear that prayer!

Because the invitation is there. And we’ve talked about it, there is reward on the other side of obedience. And just because you are honestly, truly unable to participate today, does not mean you are stuck, it simply means your journey is starting at a different location. And I believe God will bless that.

Ok, so that’s what we could call / / the written word, a lot of what we’re going through in the Sermon on the Mount. A prescribed way of living.

THEN there is what I’m calling the / / “spoken word” and Paul encourages, being led by the Spirit.

Galatians 5:16, / / So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves.

Romans 8:9, / / But you are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you.

Romans 8:14, / / For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.

Now, that doesn’t mean it’s automatic, right? We don’t just say, “Ok Holy Spirit, do what you do.” And suddenly he takes over the controller of our lives and uses us like a remote control car or a puppet. I can suddenly fast without thinking a bout it. I pray but it’s not me, God is just doing it all. Of course not. We know that, right?

This is why we talk about the statement, “God is in control.” Because God does NOT take control of us, not in this way. If God were taking control of us, then the world would be a whole lot better than it is.

If God was in control of your life, wouldn’t it be perfect?

So what does it mean?

/ / In the same way that we live our lives following the written word of God, we learn, through relationship to give way in our lives to the spoken word of God. We have the Bible, and the bible gives us an amazing blueprint and instruction for life, BUT, we also have the Holy Spirit, who speaks to us, leads us, and guides us.

Jesus actually says in John 14:26, / / But when the Father sends the Advocate as my representative - that is, the Holy Spirit - he will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have told you.

And in John 16:13, / / When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own but will tell you what he has heard.

But as I said, some people choose one over the other, or one instead of the other, and it is not one or the other, it is both. We are meant to live by the rule of life found in scripture, the instructions that lead to life, as Jesus says to the apostles, / / go and make disciples, teaching them to obey all that I taught you, while also learning what it means to live by the leading of the Holy Spirit.

Here’s the best part. They don’t contradict each other. If hearing the Holy Spirit is difficult, read scripture. The more you know the bible, the more you will hear the Holy Spirit, because the leading of the Holy Spirit will be consistent with the word of God.

/ / God, the Holy Spirit, will not speak in contradiction to the words spoken by the Word of God, who is God the Son, Jesus Christ.

And this is why it’s so imperative to know the word of God because I have met many many Christians, myself included, who in NOT knowing scripture, while still learning what it means to hear the Holy Spirit, thought the Holy Spirit was speaking to them, but it was a dead giveaway because what they were hearing was not in line with Scripture.

So, all of that to say, whatever part of all of this you are at, keep going. Honestly. Whether you feel like you are on day one of following Jesus as a disciple, you’re in good company, or whether you feel like you’ve got some things down, but have a long way or a bit of a way to go in other areas, you’re also in good company, / / because our goal, as the Church, as a community, is, to the best of our ability, follow the way of Jesus Christ as His disciples, through the Word and the Spirit!

It’s why we’re going through the Sermon on the Mount, right?

So, where are we at, then?

Well, we are at Matthew 7, and for the next three weeks we are going to look at the first 6 verses. So let’s read them, and then look at the first couple verses:

/ / “Do not judge others, and you will not be judged. For you will be treated as you treat others. The standard you use in judging is the standard by which you will be judged.

“And why worry about a speck in your friend’s eye when you have a log in your own? How can you think of saying to your friend, ‘Let me help you get rid of that speck in your eye,’ when you can’t see past the log in your own eye? Hypocrite! First get rid of the log in your own eye; then you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend’s eye.

“Don’t waste what is holy on people who are unholy. Don’t throw your pearls to pigs! They will trample the pearls, then turn and attack you.”

So, if some of that sounded familiar, it’s because the concept in the first couple verses here is very similar to what we talked about in our last series when we talked through Matthew 6:12, / / “and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.”

But this certainly isn’t just a recap. Jesus remembers what he said, he remembers that he told us to forgive, now he’s also telling us not to judge. And there’s good reason.

And today we’re going to just take these first two verses: / / “Do not judge others, and you will not be judged. For you will be treated as you treat others. The standard you use in judging is the standard by which you will be judged.”

And now you know why this series is called, / / Playing God, because when we fall into the temptation to judge other people we put ourselves in the position of God for their lives, like we have some moral or righteous authority to do so. And we don’t. Even Jesus himself said in John 3:17, / / God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.

I’ve met Christians that are more into the judgement of God than they are into the salvation of God.

And don’t hear me wrong… God’s judgment will come. But just in the same way as when we talked about fasting, and saw that we are in that season of time where the bridegroom, Jesus, is away, and we are meant to be fasting, and he’s going to return again one day, but that day has not come, we are still in the day of his salvation. And one of the ways the church has got the gospel message terribly wrong is that it has used fear of judgement to be a driving motivator for the joy of salvation.

So, you know how I often quote Romans 1 as a good example of where our world is at in this present moment? Paul says how everyone instinctively knows there’s a God, simply by looking at nature, we can see God’s existence. And then he says that people have turned from God, they don’t thank him, recognize him or honor him, and as a result, vs 28-31 says, / / Since they though it foolish to acknowledge God, he abandoned them to their foolish thinking and let them do things that should never be done. Their lives became full of every kind of wickedness, sin, greed, hate, envy, murder, quarreling, deception, malicious behavior, and gossip. They are backstabbers, haters of God, insolent, proud, and boastful. They invent new ways of sinning…they refuse to understand…

And there’s more, he goes into all of the sexual sin he’s seeing around as well. It’s just a very clear example of what’s going on in the world today. There’s probably also no clearer example to show that God chooses to allow us to live our lives rather than controlling us. When it says God abandoned them to their foolish thinking. That’s not saying he did something against humanity, it’s saying he’s letting humanity be humanity and make the decision to ignore him, so he’s going to be hands off. If you say you want no part in God, because he is kind, and just, he is obliged to follow your request. That doesn’t mean God stops pursuing you, but Paul is saying that you are actively giving your life over to the flesh, the world and the devil in doing so. The grace of God is that he does keep pursuing us in those moments. You can’t run “far enough” away from God that you can’t turn around and see him standing right there waiting for you.

Psalm 139:8 (NKJV) says, / / If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there.

Hell, or Sheol, basically he’s saying, the place where the dead are.

Paul would say it this way in Romans 8:38, / / And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons…not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love.

So, as far gone as we might see the world, God still loves each and every person. Yes, even if you have all kinds of reasons that you don’t and you’d like to give God for not loving them either.

So, if we really wanted to Play God, as He is, we would have to show grace, mercy and love until they decide to come home, right? This is Paul’s response to all that bad stuff we just read in Romans 1. Romans 2:1-4, / / You may think you can condemn such people, but you are just as bad, and you have no excuse! When you say they are wicked and should be punished, you are condemning yourself, for you who judge others do these very same things. And we know that God, in his justice, will punish anyone who does such things. Since you judge others for doing these things, why do you think you can avoid God’s judgment when you do the same things? Don’t you see how wonderfully kind, tolerant, and patient God is with you? Does this mean nothing to you? Can’t you see that his kindness is intended to turn you from your sin?

SO, a few things we need to look at this morning:

/ / We are all the same

You are not God

It is not our job to judge

We are ambassadors of a kingdom of kindness

So, let’s jump right in:

/ / 1. We are all the same

The Bible is just full of scripture that puts everyone on a level playing field. Whether that is Genesis 1:27 that says we are all created in God’s image, or Acts 10:34 where Peter says he finally understands God shows no partiality, or no bias. or Romans 2:11 where Paul says, / / For God does not show favoritism.

But what’s even more defining for this is Romans 3:23, / / For everyone has sinned, we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.

There is no grading in the kingdom of heaven. The judgement of God is not based on how well you did on the test of life, and if you got a passing grade. The final judgement, and there is one, Paul says that in Romans 2:3, that we were just reading, / / “Why do you think you can avoid God’s judgement?”

Jesus says in Matthew 12:36, / / And I tell you this, you must give an account on judgment day for every idle word you speak.

Hebrews 9:27, / / And just as each person is destined to die once and after that comes judgment…

So, the problem is the same, and the solution is the same.

The kingdom of heaven has a 1 point margin of success, that’s it. You either are perfect, or you are not. You are either counted as righteous, meaning, you got it right, or you are counted as unrighteous, meaning you did it wrong. There’s no grading scale. You can’t get a 90% and then get access to 90% of heaven, or 75% and then get 75% of heaven, or maybe you were 50% and the devil and God have shared custody and you spend every other weekend in heaven, but the rest of the time you’re in hell. That’s just not how it works. To experience eternal life there is one single determining factor. Just one. / / Have you been made righteous by someone with the authority to do so? Because you can NOT do it on your own. You have to have someone else, other than you, who is perfect, advocating for your life.

Romans 5:1-3, / / Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory.

We are all on the same playing field. We are all imperfect, incapable of attaining heaven on our own. We are unable to make a way for ourselves. But by God, through Jesus Christ, who was willing to come to this earth, and give his body up to the cross, to die a sinner’s death as a perfect sacrifice, to break the power of sin and the grave….that’s the only reason.

Listen, I could be wrong on this. If you know me, you know I’m open to being wrong. And there’s a strong belief out there that Jesus died to save us from the wrath of God. Like somehow he’s so angry with us for being sinners that he wants to destroy us, but Jesus stepped in and saved us. ***phew***…. But I just don’t see it.

What I see clearer than clear is Jesus giving his life as a willing sacrifice to redeem humanity from the curse of sin and death which is the product of our OWN MAKING! God didn’t cause Adam & Eve to sin. God does not cause you or I to sin. We do that all just fine on our own, don’t we? And to think that God wants to punish us for sinning undermines the love he has for us.

If that were the case scripture would say, “While we were still sinners, God decided to punish us for our inability to be perfect…” But that’s not what it says…instead, it says:

Romans 5:8-9, / / But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. And since we have been made right in God’s sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God’s condemnation.

And you go, wait, God’s condemnation. Ya, it get’s better… listen to the ESV, / / Since, therefore we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.

Ok, so maybe there’s good reason why people think that? But where is the wrath directed? Because you can’t say, God’s great love is to save us….except he also wants to pour out his wrath on us…. what? When has that ever made sense? I don’t mean to speak to issues I don’t truly understand, and thankfully this has not been my experience in life, but if an abusive father says to their child, “I’m beating you because I love you.” what do we call that father? A abuser. A criminal. And a whole laundry list of other words. It’s not right. And we all know it. Why do we put that same mentality on God, who calls us his children, who says we are created in his image, but then wants us to suffer, and wants to punish us rather than save us? It doesn’t make sense.

One of my favorite verses, 2 Peter 3:9, / / The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent.

Say it with me, / / God does not want anyone to be destroyed.

Is there a coming judgement? Of course there is. But read the whole story, God is in this for our SALVATION, not our destruction. Does that mean that none will be destroyed? I’m not saying that. There are those that refuse to acknowledge the saving grace of God, and whether I understand that or not, I can’t say, “God won’t control you,” and then say, “but he’ll save you against your will.”

We are in a season of time, for 2000 years now, where the salvation of Jesus Christ through the grace of God and our faith in Him, invite us into eternal life AND an immediate life here on earth where we experience His goodness.

And that is true for every… single… person… the invitation is there.

So, Paul says, “You might WANT to judge people like that, all those sinners out there. But don’t. Don’t do it. Because we were all there. We are all still there. We have simply found the grace of God in forgiveness for sins through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.”

We are all the same!

/ / 2. You Are Not God

Now, this should be the shortest point made ever, but it’s true. You are not God. I am not God. Thank God! / / So, do not take upon yourself the role of judge. Do not take upon yourself the job of dishing out judgement.

Psalm 8:3-6 says, / / When I look at the night sky and see the work of your fingers - the moon and the stars you set in place - what are mere mortals that you should think about them, human beings that you should care for them? Yet you made them only a little lower than God and crowned them with glory and honor. You gave them charge of everything you made, putting all things under their authority…

It can seem like God made us to be a pretty big deal, and he did. But let’s not ever forget that the dominion and authority he gave us on this earth was to CARE for it, not to rule over it. Our concept of taking care of things is skewed. We think ruling means we can do whatever we want, but ruling in the eyes of God means giving your life for it. / / There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends (John 15:13).

As awesome as we are. As great as God has made us to be. Wonderful, beautiful, creative, with power and authority to care for the earth….we are not God.

God is just simply something other…

I was thinking of that this week. I was listening to a teaching and the preacher said, “God is the most powerful being in the universe.” True, but I also had this thought, God is not limited to the universe. I mean, what a human statement to make, putting God in our context of time and space and universe.

Now, it is true. God IS the most powerful being in the universe — And even more so because Jesus, God the Son, was willing to step into time and space, what we call the incarnation, God become flesh, but God is not of this universe. God is not substance like you and I think. God existed before time and space.

What does Genesis 1:1 say? Right at the very beginning of the good book. / / In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

Time and space.

God is something completely other. Master of the in and out of the universe. It’s hard to think through, because it’s to much for my brain.

But, because we are not God…

/ / 3. It Is Not Our Job To Judge

1 Corinthians 4:5, / / So don’t make judgments about anyone ahead of time - before the Lord returns. For he will bring our darkest secrets to light and will reveal our private motives. Then God will give to each one whatever praise is due.

I want to read from Luke 6:37-38, which is a parallel verse to Matthew 7:1-6, but Luke writes it differently, and I think it’s good.

/ / “Do not judge others, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn others, or it will all come back against you. Forgive others, and you will be forgiven. Give, and you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full - pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, running over, and poured into your lap. The amount you give will determine the amount you get back.”

Now, that second half is classically used in talks on giving financially. Of course it is. We all want “pressed down, shaken together, to make room for more, running over, and poured into your lap” when it comes to money.

And although, reading the whole of scripture you can easily make that argument. Generosity does in fact breed generosity. I think that is a spiritual law in the universe God has created. We would call it the law of sowing and reaping. Where you give, where you sow seed, provided you are sowing in good soil, there is an expected return, a harvest.

But, Luke 6 here doesn’t say anything about money…what does it say?

/ / Do not judge // Do not condemn // Forgive

Because in THOSE WAYS, what you give, you will receive.

When you judge, you’ll be judged.

When you condemn, you will be condemned.

When you forgive, you will be forgiven.

So be generous with forgiveness, and withhold judgement and condemnation!

Because not only do you receive in kind, but it’s / / “…pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, running over, and poured into your lap! The amount you give will determine the amount you get back.”

I don’t know about you, but I do NOT want running over judgment in my lap. I do not want condemnation heaped on me over and over again.

Now, I do want to make a quick point here.

The word judge is used in two different ways, one as a type of condemnation, and one as a type of discernment, and they are two very different things, BUT, I think Jesus statements in Luke 6 apply to both.

Let’s talk discernment for a second. Or how we might say, “I had to make a judgement call” or “Wow, that person really has good judgement” or “I’m a good judge of character” or maybe “Judging by this situation, I think think I would do ______”

That’s what we would call, / / good judgement - discernment, determining what is right and wrong or what should be done and what should not be done. In John 7 Jesus gets into it with a group of people about the law, and that they wanted to kill him over not following all the law as they saw fit. And he challenges them with this thought. In the Old Testament Law, Moses writes that every male baby must be circumcised on the 8th day after they are born. So, that’s a kind of work that the priest would do, but regardless of what day that landed on, it was more important to keep that law than it was to keep the sabbath, where no work was meant to be done. So Jesus says, What’s wrong with you people. You are completely ok with making a judgement call on the law in regard to circumcision, but when I heal someone on the Sabbath you want to kill me! And he says in John 7:24, / / “Look beneath the surface so you can judge correctly.”

Now, this is interesting, because when we make a “judgement call” we are really saying we’re willing to take whatever falls from that.

I made a decision, I made a judgement call, and I’m living by that decision, or that judgement. So in the same way as judging a person means I will also be judged, making a judgment call is a commitment to that decision and will return to me, shaken together, pressed down, flowing into my lap.

What I judge or discern, and therefore allow, as appropriate for my life will come back to me.

What I judge, or discern, and therefore allow, as appropriate for my family will have an effect and impact on my life.

What I judge, or discern and therefore allow, as acceptable in my own home will result in a way of life and behavior in the home that I will have to live with.

So, in matters of your own life - look beneath the surface, don’t take judgement lightly, but seek true understanding so you can discern and judge correctly.

But in matters of people. Leave the judgement at the door!

/ / 4. We are Ambassadors of a Kingdom of Kindness

We keep coming back to this as we continue through the Sermon on the Mount - we are ambassadors, representatives of Jesus Christ, not our own kingdom.

And I think in some ways Jesus is being both very practical and very spiritual as he talks about judgment. I think there are two thoughts here. Let’s take Luke 6 for instance.

/ / Do not judge or you will be judged.

Do not condemn, or you will be condemned.

Forgive and you will be forgiven.

Give and you will receive.

So, two ways to hear Jesus’ words. The first way is through what we learned in the parable Jesus tells in Matthew 18. Remember, this is where Peter asks how many times he should forgive someone, Seven times, right? And Jesus says seventy times seven. And I don’t think it’s about the number. But he then tells the parable about the servant who owed the king money, and the king forgives him, but then goes out and demands another servant that owes him money to pay up, and when he cant, he has him thrown in prison. The king finds out, gets super mad and does the same to him. And Jesus ends that story with, / / “That’s what my heavenly Father will do to you if you refuse to forgive your brothers and sisters from your heart.”

That’s not to say God is waiting to punish us, it’s saying that if God is going to be fair and just, he will treat us as we want to be treated, and Jesus is telling us that how we treat others is, let’s say, writing that down as how we also want to be treated. It does not work to say, “Punish them for their action, but forgive me for mine.” That would not be fair. So Jesus says, forgiveness is on the other side of forgiveness.

If God is going to be just and fair, he must treat everyone the same.

Now, here’s the second way I see Jesus speaking in these words from Luke 6.

When you are a judgmental person, how much do people love being around you? If all you’re doing is pointing out other people’s flaws and how they do things wrong. Listen, people might be too kind to tell you, but that’s not attractive. It’s not enjoyable to be around. And that in of itself becomes a judgment against you. You have been judged, or determined, to be judgmental, and that will effect how people treat you.

Same with condemnation. And from what I read on this condemnation here is the pronouncement of the judgement you made. When Jesus says, judge not, that word is more of a, “I’ve made a judgement against you, determined something about you, whether that is true or not, good or bad.” And that word is used over 100 times in the NT for various meanings, to / / judge - to examine, to doubt, to discern.

When Jesus says, “Do not condemn”, that word is only used 5 times, and it’s much more specific to / / a negative pronouncement of judgement requiring punishment.

Jesus gives some more explanation as he continues, and we’ll be looking at those over the next couple weeks. But here in this opening statement of Matthew 7, and then the expanded version in Luke 6, Jesus is saying, / / “Do not judge others, and you will not be judged. For you will be treated as you treat others. The standard you use in judging is the standard by which you will be judged.

And so we’ll end with this, 2 Corinthians 5:16,18,20, says, / / So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view… all this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him… So we are ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!”

Because you don’t have much of a witness if you judge people for their lives, and condemn them for their sin. But if we operate in the kindness of God, that was what led US to a place of repentance, we may just be able to lead others there as well.

Paul says, when we really understand our fearful responsibility to the Lord, we work hard to persuade others…not of judgement or condemnation, but he says in vs 14 (GNT) We are ruled by the love of Christ, now that we recognize that one man died for everyone…

/ / We all have the same savior in Christ Jesus.

We all need the same salvation through Him.

We are all sinners, irredeemable except by the grace of God.

And so…

Because we have received that forgiveness, we can forgive.

Because we have received that grace, we can give grace.

Because we are on this side of God’s mercy, and not his judgment, we can show mercy.

Because to be an ambassador of this kingdom, we have to show the heart of the king. And as we read from 2 Peter 3:9, God desires that no one perish, but that all come to repentance. And people will not come to repentance if all we do is judge and condemn them for their actions.

I know. That doesn’t sound easy. And this is the worst time of year for it, because we are surrounded by political hate at the moment. Both sides are guilty. We have to see the humanity in people that Jesus sees as worth saving. We have to see the life beyond the action that God created and said, “This is good.” Their actions may be far from it. But God loves them anyway. Their actions might be reprehensible, but God loves them anyway. How is that possible? Well, he loved me. And I wasn’t worth loving. I had problems. I had issues. Had…gosh, I still do.

But while we, all of us, were still sinners, still broken, still failing at every turn. THAT is precisely when Jesus Christ gave his life for us so that we could be redeemed, and because of that, because of the sacrifice of Jesus and the grace and forgiveness of God, there is no one irredeemable!

So, let’s leave our judgment at the cross.

Let’s leave our right to play God at the foot of the cross, dead, and gone.

Let’s pray this morning…