Only God Can Judge Me!

Matthew 7:1 ““Do not judge others, and you will not be judged.” (SLIDE)

Introduction:

I was so afraid to come to church! I had this great fear that I was going to be judged!

Can you identify with this statement?

The church has had quite the reputation for being judgmental. Some of that reputation has even been earned by nosey “Karens” who involve themselves in everyone else’s business.

I am sure you know the type:

Karen: “Did you hear Susie took the kids and is living at her mom’s? Her and Ricky looked so perfect. I guess he started drinking and taking his anger out on her since he lost his job.” He would probably still have that job if he would show up to work on time.”

Jody: “I heard he was flirting with one of the office girls down there at the mill.”

Mary Jo: “No, I heard he was hanging out with the boys too much and spending money on playing cards.”

Karen: “We really need to pray for them; bless their little hearts.”

On the other hand there are many Christians walking around so bound up. There are people who have quoted the words of a prayer but live a life that in no way represents the life that God intended for them.

There is this “anything goes” mentality that runs rampant through our society.

One says that they can do whatever they want because Jesus loves them and ONLY GOD CAN JUDGE ME!

Many churches are filled with people who refuse to call sin what it is because they have allowed confusion to cloud their thinking and let the unbelieving world dictate how to read scripture.

Today I want us to look into this issue of JUDGING and see if we can clear up some of that confusion.

Is Judging Wrong? (Don’t read the title) (SLIDE)

Is judging wrong? The passage we just read seems to be cut and dry — don’t judge and you won’t be judged.

Well then, there it is! That’s the end of the discussion. Let’s just all go home now.

Well let’s not leave just yet. Maybe we should look a little deeper.

Let’s participate in a little exercise for just a second, if you will indulge me.

Look at the next few slides and see if you can tell me what you see.

Slide One - Is this a man or a woman? (SLIDE)

Slide Two - Is this a man or a woman? (SLIDE)

Congratulations you are all guilty of judging!

Maybe it would be clearer if we made some distinctions and said that we are able to discern that slide one was a man and slide two was a woman.

Many people’s idea of the word “Judgment” carries with it a legal connotation, meaning that someone’s fate has been decided.

Where the idea of discernment carries the thought of gaining understanding and making a distinction between one thing or another.

When we speak of judging, we really mean the latter as in “judge for yourself.”

Commanded to Judge? (SLIDE) DON’T READ

Our verse warns against judging but Jesus didn’t exactly give His church a command to turn a blind eye to sin. The verse in Matthew and also in Luke 6:37-42 are often taken out of context.

Let’s read the whole passage and do some unpacking:

Matthew 7:1–6 NLT

“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.

In verse 6, Jesus tells us not to waste what is holy on people who are unholy.

How do you know if someone is unholy unless you judge that this is the case?

You will judge them. You will discern that they are not holy. You can tell slide one is a male and slide two is a female and so can you tell someone who is holy and someone who is unholy.

NOTE: Because you identify someone as whatever they are, you yourself are not condemning them.

In just a few verses later Jesus tells us to beware of false prophets. (Matthew 7:15)

He tells us that you can identity them by their fruit, that is by the way they act.

He uses a great illustration that is still effective today: “Can you pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? (vs. 16)

He goes on to say, “A good tree produces good fruit and a bad tree produces bad fruit.”

A Case in Point (SLIDE)

There are examples where sinful behavior is discovered and action must be taken.

Matthew 18:15-20 deals with the concept of church discipline.

The Lord puts it in a process easy for people like me to get.

Step One - go privately to point out the sin against you, if they confess you have won that person back

how can you go to them if you don’t recognize the sin and point it out

Where are you winning them back from?

Step Two - If they don’t confess, take one or two others as confirming witnesses

Step Three - if they still don’t confess take it to the church

Step Four - if they don’t accept the church’s decision, treat them as a pagan or corrupt tax collector

Verse 18 tells us a powerful insight - Matthew 18:18 ““I tell you the truth, whatever you forbid on earth will be forbidden in heaven, and whatever you permit on earth will be permitted in heaven.”

HAVE WE PERMITTED THINGS THAT WE SHOULD NOT ?

We see another example in the New Testament where sin is called out.

1 Corinthians 5:1–5 NLT

I can hardly believe the report about the sexual immorality going on among you—something that even pagans don’t do. I am told that a man in your church is living in sin with his stepmother. You are so proud of yourselves, but you should be mourning in sorrow and shame. And you should remove this man from your fellowship. Even though I am not with you in person, I am with you in the Spirit. And as though I were there, I have already passed judgment on this man in the name of the Lord Jesus. You must call a meeting of the church. I will be present with you in spirit, and so will the power of our Lord Jesus. Then you must throw this man out and hand him over to Satan so that his sinful nature will be destroyed and he himself will be saved on the day the Lord returns.

Here we see that Paul is concerned about the church.

We should be TOO!

Paul is also concerned about the man.

We should be TOO!

The difference is judging and being judgmental is LOVE. (SLIDE)

If we really love people we will tell them the truth and we will do it with love.

We don’t lie to someone who is walking into a burning house and say that its not on fire, and it will be okay.

No one would do that.

I HAVE HEARD IT PUT THIS WAY: TRUTH WITHOUT LOVE IS BRUTALITY — LOVE WITHOUT TRUTH IS HYPOCRISY (WARREN WIERSBE) or

Love without truth is hollow — truth without love is harsh

What we have to do is learn to judge correctly

Jesus has this conversation with some religious leaders about him healing someone on the Sabbath. They obeyed the letter of the law while missing the intent of the law altogether. He tells them don’t just judge the book by its cover but to actually look inside. This is what He says: John 7:24 “Look beneath the surface so you can judge correctly.””

Again, Jesus tells us to judge.

Paul tells us to judge.

But, We are to do that with love.

The Wrong Kind of Judgment (SLIDE) DON’T READ

There are certainly things that need to be judged but there is also the wrong kind of judging.

We need to be on guard of sinning ourselves. Here are some ways we can judge incorrectly:

1. Superficial Judgment (BULLET)

In Luke 7:36-50 Jesus has dinner in the house of Simon the Pharisee. A woman brings in an expensive alabaster box of perfume and anoints Jesus, weeping and kneeling at his feet.

Simon is shocked that Jesus would allow this woman of immoral character to touch him.

Simon doesn’t see the whole picture. He only sees the outside appearance and her reputation.

Jesus rebuked him for that and does us the same way.

Lord, forgive me for judging only by the outward appearance and not seeing what you see.

2. Hypocritical Judgment (BULLET)

Jesus warns us in the Matthew 7 passage to look at the log in our own eye before we worry about the speck in our friend’s eye.

This passage is so profound for many reasons.

We must make sure that we don’t judge someone for a sin that we ourselves are guilty of.

You can’t prevent someone from walking into a burning building if you are on fire and smiling about it.

We must deal with our sin

We can then help our friend, Jesus said that it was a friend

We love our friends and want what’s best for them

I heard the story of a man who scoffed and told his friend, “You stupid fool, your boat has a hole in it. You are in a sinking boat.” The friend replied, well your more stupid than me because you are in the same boat”

Lord, forgive me for judging people while I find myself in the same boat.

3. Harsh Judgment (BULLET)

Correction is not our goal

We are to be gentle

Titus 3:1–2 “Remind the believers to submit to the government and its officers. They should be obedient, always ready to do what is good. They must not slander anyone and must avoid quarreling. Instead, they should be gentle and show true humility to everyone.”

Ephesians 4:14–15 “Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth. Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church.”

1 Peter 4:8 “Most important of all, continue to show deep love for each other, for love covers a multitude of sins.”

The manner in which we judge will be the same way we are judged, so lets not be harsh but forgiving.

I heard the old story about 2 different preachers who preached the very same message about hell. The older, wise minister preached about hell and people wept and came to the altar. The young, inexperienced minister preached and nothing happened. The young minister asked the wise minister why there was a difference. The wise minister explained, “when you preached about hell, you did so wanting them to go there. When I preached I did so not wanting anyone to go there.”

Lord, forgive me for being harsh and wanting to see people punished.

4. Self-righteous Judgment (BULLET)

We are called to humility

If it was not for God’s grace any of us could be in a bad place

In Luke 18:9-14 Jesus tells us the parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector.

He rebukes the Pharisee for his unforgiving self righteous attitude

He thought he was better than the Tax Collector

Just because someone is found in sin doesn’t mean you should think highly of yourself

Lord, forgive me for thinking I am better than anyone. I know what I deserve and thank you for your mercy and grace.

5. Untrue Judgment (BULLET)

Get the facts, don’t decide based on someone else’s report

Titus 3:2 reminds us not to slander anyone

I have found myself too many times believing something about someone because someone told me something only to find out it was not true

Lord, forgive me from judging people for something they did not do.

CLOSING

Today, God has given us a great opportunity. We have been given His wonderful grace and the ability to love and share His truth. When we fully trust in God to guide us, He gives us the ability to help others. We don’t help them from a place of thinking we are better than they are, but we help them from a place of deep concern for them. We must guard against judging people from a human perspective but also from turning a blind eye to sinful practices. Let us lovingly guide each other into a life that looks more like Jesus each and every day.

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