Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

As human beings we all make judgments.

This morning you made a judgment whenever you got up and looked at your phone to decide what to wear.

Some of you got in your car to drive here this morning and you immediately made a judgment as you left your house and turned onto a street or drove through an intersection.

You had to decide if you had enough time to turn without causing an accident or if you had enough time to pass through the intersection before the light turned red.

We make judgment each and every day and many of these judgments are good - if you didn’t make any judgments then that would be a very bad and dangerous thing!

However, with even the best of intentions, this tendency to make judgments often comes back to bite us, doesn’t it?

In the times that we are living in people are very judgmental, either in public or in private.

Many claim to be inclusive and non-judgmental but the moment that you disagree with them about a political or religious thing what do you receive from them?

Judgment!

We all are guilty at times of passing judgment.

Here’s the danger of passing judgment: We can’t know the inside of another person and we rarely if ever know the “full story” of someone else!

One pastor was invited to preach at a week long conference and he was excited to arrive the opening night and get the conference started.

Whenever he began preaching there was a couple that arrived a little bit late and the sanctuary was packed and the only place that still had seats was the front row… So this couple quickly came to the front and began following along.

The preacher continued his message and read the text of Scripture.

About 5 minutes after this point he scans through the crowd and his eyes land on the couple that walked in late and he realizes that the husband is already asleep.

He continues through his message and just assumes that the man had a long day at work.

The next night the exact same thing happens as the preacher begins to read through the text of Scripture and this same couple comes in late and sits on the same 2 seats in the front row.

After about 10 minutes of preaching, the preacher looks and sure enough, the man is back asleep!

Now the preacher begins to think that the husband must just be coming with his wife because the wife wants to attend and the husband couldn’t care less about the conference and that’s why they must be arriving late and that must be why he’s taking a nap during the message.

This continues each night and finally after the last message the couple approached the preacher and the preacher was about to lay into the husband and call him out for sleeping through each night… The wife said that they were so thankful they were able to make it to this conference because this preacher had made a profound impact on their lives.

The preacher was taken aback a little bit and inquired about their past.

The wife said that her husband was undergoing treatment for a terminal cancer diagnosis and the medication made him drowsy but his final wish was to attend this conference in order to hear his favorite Bible teacher preach the Word in person… The preacher stood there stunned.

There he was assuming that this individual was at best a lazy Christian or at worst a non-Christian snoring through his preaching.

Come to find out this man was a devoted Christ-follower facing a serious illness.

This preacher was guilty of passing judgment on this man.

We all are guilty of doing this from time to time.

Jesus reminds us in His Word that we cannot do this because we aren’t God.

We cannot pass judgment and assume that we know the whole situation and know whether someone is a Christian or not, but we can make judgments.

We can analyze and use discernment to evaluate what is going on around us and what someone says.

That’s no being judgmental - that’s being Biblical!

Whenever someone tells you that God told them _______, it’s not being judgmental to ask them to tell you which chapter/book/verse it is that God told them that in! 1 John 4:1 commands Christians to be discerning of what’s going on and to test all things against the Word of God.

Newsflash, this morning we’re going to look at Scripture and you all are responsible to “judge” this message against what the Word of God says.

That’s not you being judgmental - that’s you being obedient to Scripture!

As we continue to study in the Sermon on the Mount, we arrive at one of the most misunderstood places in all of Scripture - Matthew 7:1-6.

The point of this text is not to be someone who is gullible .

The point of this text is not to be someone who lives a reckless lifestyle and yells, “ONLY GOD CAN JUDGE ME!” The point of this text is not to be someone who is insanely quick to find faults in others.

The point of the text is to focus on Jesus.

To focus on His work of transformation in our own lives.

To lovingly help others grow to be more like Jesus.

Today are you more focused on your appearances, making other people feel like you have it all figured out, or are you more focused on being like Jesus and humbly helping others grow to be more like Him too?

Focus on God’s Standard, Not Yours (1-2)

For years and years and years it seemed as though every human being knew what John 3:16 was.

It didn’t matter if the person was a regular church attender or never came to church, it just seemed like most people knew what that verse meant because they came to VBS once or because they were told it by their grandparents or something along those lines.

While it’s true that not everyone literally knew the verse, it just seemed like most did.

Today, though, another verse has supplanted John 3:16 in terms of popularity and cultural acceptance and it is Matthew 7:1.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve watched a tv show or a movie and the person will say, “You can’t judge me.

Only God can do that.”

The idea is from Matthew 7:1 as Jesus tells His listeners “Do not judge, so that you won’t be judged.”

Think about how easy it is for us to pass judgment on other people.

Maybe we don’t do it in public, but we certainly do it in our heads and in our homes.

We see something on our social media feed and we think to ourselves or to someone else, “That’s crazy!” or “I can’t believe so and so did this… I’d never do that!”

Our world loves to quote Matthew 7:1 but our world hates applying Matthew 7:1 to ourselves.

We love to quote Matthew 7:1 whenever someone says something negative about us but we don’t apply Matthew 7:1 whenever we say something negative about someone else.

It’s so easy for us to judge others without even thinking about it… So what must we do instead?

What is Jesus’ main point in Matthew 7:1?

Again, there are times in life where we have to make a judgment.

A judge must make a judgment in a court case.

A driver must make a judgment whenever he or she makes a turn.

A teacher must make a judgment whenever they grade a test.

A police officer must make a judgment whenever they are responding to a 911 call.

Jesus’ main point is not that making judgments is something that we should never do.

Instead, the thrust of this passage is about not being a judgmental person and applying a hypocritical standard in life.

A standard where we want to experience grace all the time and we never extend grace to others.

The call from Christ, therefore, is to focus first on God’s standard and Word, not our personal opinion or feeling.

You and I have the authority to make judgments but you and I lack the authority to pass judgment.

What does that mean?

In a family structure, who is the one who passes judgment whenever there is a problem?

Mom or Dad, right?

Why do Mom or Dad have the right to pass judgment whenever a child does something wrong?

Because they are in a position of authority.

As a child, that might be something that you don’t always like, but trust me, there is a purpose behind loving parents exercising discipline as Proverbs 22:6 and Proverbs 13:24 shares.

Now, let’s examine the relationship that we have within the church with one another.

While some, yes, are older and others are younger, we don’t have this type of parental/child relationship within the body of Christ, do we?

No, the Bible shares that we’re brothers and sisters = we’re equals.

Because we’re brothers and sisters, only our Father can pass judgment on us and one day He will!

Think of how otherworldly this idea seems to us.

Everyone in our world judges others.

Can you imagine how unique the Church would be if we lived out Matthew 7:1 to it’s rightful conclusion?

Can you imagine if instead of having a negative and critical attitude of others we replaced that with an attitude of helping others out and loving our neighbor and praying for those who persecute us?

That almost sounds like what Jesus tells us to do… Wait, that’s what He’s already mentioned in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5 and 6! Sinclair Ferguson shares that, “The heart that has tasted the Lord’s grace and forgiveness will always be restrained in its judgment of others.

It has seen itself deserving judgment and condemnation before the Lord and yet, instead of experiencing His burning anger, has tasted His infinite mercy.”

If you’ve experienced God’s forgiveness and mercy, you are now responsible to extend that same forgiveness and mercy to others rather than passing judgment and anger upon others.

Is that easy to do? Absolutely not!

But have you ever had it done to you? Have you ever done something wrong and instead of being met with frustration, you were meet with forgiveness?

Have you read the story of the Prodigal Son in Luke 15 before?

We’ll take a few weeks and study this chapter sometime, but at the end of Luke 15 we arrive at the Prodigal getting his inheritance from his father and leaving home in order to go and squander everything.

Things get so bad that he eventually decides to return home because he has nothing to eat and says that even the servants that work for his dad live better than he was living.

He had made foolish choices and decisions.

He had wasted away 1/3 of the father’s possessions and decides to come home.

What happens when he arrives?

Does he get home and get a good spanking?

Maybe he needed one but that’s not what happens.

Does he get a stern talking to?

Maybe he needed one but that’s not what happens either.

Instead the father runs out to meet him and throws a feast because his lost son had come back home.

The son had done everything wrong and was met with nothing but grace and love.

God is all about restoration… We must seek it as well!

This is our response should be like whenever we interact with others, especially those who we are tempted to judge.

Give them grace.