Wrongly Judged

Prayer

Wrongly Judged

I’m guessing that many of you remember the story of Nick Sandmann - a Kentucky high school student who was at the Lincoln Memorial for national March for Life. There were several other groups there as well, involved in protests and marches for other causes, including a native American by the name of Nathan Philips for Indigenous People’s Day and a group of black Hebrew nationalists. Quite a mix

Initial story came out that Sandmann was blocking the way of Philips, who was walking along, beating his drum, chanting.

It was painted as a picture of racism, this privileged white kid and his friends showing incredible disrespect for this elderly Indian.

Turns out, that portrayal was taken wildly out of context - the young man and his friends hadn’t instigated anything, they were simply there waiting for their buses to come pick them up - others had approached them.

But his name and face were plastered on screens across the nation as being a prime example of racism, of our nation’s problem with white supremacy. As you might imagine, the comments and even threats made in response were angry and ugly. He needed to learn a lesson and there were plenty of folks ready and willing to do that.

Story of being wrongly judged. Of people seeing a brief clip of video taken out of context and jumping to conclusions about who this young man was and the motives out of which he was acting.

And this happens all the time. It happens because we participate in it - I certainly have made more than my fair share of wrongly judging and condemning others, questioning their motives, assuming things without knowing the fuller story.

And like all of you, know the pain of being misjudged. Of others not taking the time to understand. Of people taking a look at our appearance or just knowing a little bit about the situation and then making judgments.

It makes more and more sense to me why Jesus taught us so plainly in his sermon on the Mount, “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”

Because we judge poorly, get it wrong. Even worse, we do it in a spirit of condemnation. We judge others’ behavior (or they judge ours) with a sense of moral superiority.

Two weeks ago, we started a new sermon series, Jesus Gets Us. We talked about how Jesus gets us in our doubts. Last week we talked about how Jesus gets us in our financial struggles - he knows what poverty - and true wealth - are all about.

Today we’re going to look at another way Jesus gets us…He Gets Us video

Jesus gets us in what it’s like to be wrong judged, with others misunderstanding who you are and what you’re about. And there’s no doubt Jesus knows exactly what this feels like. It’s hard to imagine being more misjudged than Jesus. Let me give you some examples...

Jesus was wrongly judged by the most influential, most powerful people in his community, the religious leaders - John 8:48, The Jews answered him, “Aren’t we right in saying that you are a Samaritan and demon-possessed?”

This is what the Jewish leaders thought about Jesus - and not just thought about him, but how they openly talked about him! When they describe him as a Samaritan, that’s not just an innocent mistake, it was an ethnic and moral slur. Samaritans were despised. Jews would take a longer route traveling from Galilee to Judea in order to avoid going through Samaria. They are saying he’s not a real Jew. He’s unclean, morally suspicious.

And not just that, he’s crazy, demon-possessed! He is in the grasp of evil itself!

Aren’t we right in saying that you’re a cheat and a liar? That you’re stuck up? That you’re a sexual degenerate? Just admit it.

And it wasn’t just the religious leaders, the people most esteemed in the Jewish community - but the people Jesus grew up with, his own hometown folks who misunderstood him, Mark 6:2-4, this is their response when he comes back to visit and teach and heal.

“Where did this man get these things?” they asked. “What’s this wisdom that has been given him? What are these remarkable miracles he is performing? Isn’t this the carpenter? Isn’t this Mary’s son and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas and Simon? Aren’t his sisters here with us/” And they took offense at him.

In their eyes, Jesus was just a carpenter, an ordinary guy who was part of a family they knew. They’ve already judged him to be that and only that. And they get offended that he’s trying to be anything else.

And not just the people from his own hometown, but his very own family! Listen to this passage in Mark 3:20-21…Then Jesus entered a house, and again a crowd gathered, so that he and his disciples were not even able to eat. When his family heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, “He is out of his mind.”

and then, just to pile, it on, the very next verse…And the teachers of the law who came down from Jerusalem said, “He is possessed by Beelzebul! By the prince of demons he is driving out demons.”

So, his own family thought he was out of his mind, crazy. “Excuse us, we’ve just come to get Jesus and take him home. He’s not well.”

Talk about being wrongly judged - community leaders, your own hometown, your very own family!

And not that they miss the mark by a little bit, but by a mile! Moral degenerate, demon-possessed, crazy!

Jesus knows what its like to experience pain of being misunderstood, wrongly condemned. Misjudged. He gets it.

It’s important to consider how Jesus handled it. How did he respond to being wrongly judged? This is what I really want you to see - because we’re all going to be misjudged, there’s no way to escape it.

The Audience of One - the perfect judge

See here in 1 Peter 2:23…When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly.

So, when Jesus was wrongly judged, when others targeted him with insults and mockery - what did he do?

To those who hurled the insults…nothing. He didn’t look to get even, to hurt them in return. He bore the pain.

Instead - and this is the main point I want to share with you this morning - he entrusted himself to the one who judges justly. He gave himself over to the one who really knows the score, who knows what’s up, who gets us.

The problem with our judgments is that so often - we don’t know. We work off of very limited information. We can only know so much about the hearts of others (and then, only if we bother to try to listen and learn), we so often don’t know the whole story. That’s why we don’t judge justly - we judge wrongly. And are wrongly judged.

But not God, because he knows. He understands. I can’t think of a better passage that describes how well God knows us, Psalm 139:1-6

You have searched me, Lord, and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you, Lord, know it completely. You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.

It boggles David’s mind! That much knowledge, that knowing, it’s too much, I can’t even begin to comprehend how absolutely God knows us, inside and out.

This is why the Psalmist declares in Psalm 96:13...Let all creation rejoice before the Lord, for he comes, he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples in his faithfulness. Because he knows. He understands.

Why Jesus entrusted himself to the Father. Jesus made the day-to-day decision to live to what we would call, an Audience of One. Lots of people have opinions, myself included - but, Lord it’s what you think that matters most. Because you know. You, you alone, get me.

So when the religious leaders are coming against Jesus (admit it, you’re Samaritan, demon-possessed), his hometown folks, his people, reject him, and his very own family thinks he’s gone a little crazy - there’s one voice that he looks to, the one who truly knows him, the one who judges justly: Matthew 3:17, And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”

That was voice that Jesus listened to and listened for, the Audience he wanted to please with how he lived. This is what I mean by Jesus entrusting himself to the one who judges justly.

Wisdom is to entrust ourselves to the one who judges justly. To listen to voice of the Father above all others voices, that his matters most. What he declares, what he thinks, that’s where we root ourselves. That’s what gives us firm foundation to stand on.

By the way, this is not to say that we shouldn’t listen to others, that what they think doesn’t matter. We would be wise to listen to others (discernment about who to listen to), but others can see things in ourselves that we may miss or be hesitant to acknowledge.

God will place people who love us and can offer wisdom in our lives, they can be a wonderful gift to us.

But there’s one voice above all. There’s one Audience we want to live for - Audience of One.

Proverbs 3:5-6 puts it this way, Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.

Notice here that it’s not just others misjudgment, but our own judgment that we shouldn’t be relying on. It’s not just that others can judge us wrongly, but we ourselves can be our own worst judge. And that can go in two directions...

Deem myself unforgivable, not gifted - don’t have anything to offer. I’m unlovable. We can be our own worst critics, our self-condemnation can be stronger than condemnation that anyone else can bring against us.

Or we give ourselves too much credit, more than we deserve. Great capacity for self deception. We’re very good at spotting the speck in the eyes of others and ignoring the log in our own eye. I believe Jesus said something along those lines.

Why, in repentance, invitation to the Holy Spirit, you come, you shine your light. God, reveal my heart to me, help me to see myself truly, as you see me. This is one way we entrust ourselves to the one who judges justly, listen to his voice, even above our own.

This is our main point this morning. We will be wrongly judged. People - even those closest to us will misjudge us and condemn us, and it’s painful. Jesus gets that. Knows exactly what that’s like. But I hope we’re honest enough to acknowledge that we can misjudge ourselves as well. Which is why we should do as Jesus did and entrust ourselves to the one who judges justly.

Soul Training Exercises (how we live our obedience to Jesus)…I was thinking the other day about praise song, Trading My Sorrows, and “we say, Yes, Lord, yes, Lord, yes, Lord, yes.”

That’s lived obedience to Jesus. What do you have for me, Lord. Yes. I’m open to it. What do you want to teach me? Yes, Lord, I’m all ears. What do you want to me do, to put this into practice? Yes, Lord, yes, Lord, yes, Lord, yes. What’s your yes to Jesus today?

First spiritual exercise I want to commend to you is one we talked about a few weeks ago, when we talked about making love the measure of our spiritual maturity. We talked about the difference between engaging people in an I-It dynamic (people are reduced to objects, means to an end) or we engage with them as I-Thou, as sacred other, created by God, worthy of our full love.

Peter Scazzero suggested three great questions to ask ourselves when engaging with others. One of those questions: Am I being loving or judging?

So, take that question and put it into practice this week, as you see others, especially those who are very different from you…am I being loving or judging? When you’re talking with someone, and they’re are sharing an opinion or thought you think is wrong…am I being loving or judging?

So we might move away from being people who wrongly judge others.

Second exercise is to practice living to an Audience of One. That you would direct your mind and heart to Jesus in a way that indicates your desire to live your life according to what he says.

Proverbs 3:5-6 would be a wonderful passage to memorize, and pray daily…Lord, I trust in you with all my heart. Help me today, not to lean on my own understanding, but to look to you, your wisdom, your voice, what you say. In every way possible I submit myself to you, trusting you’ll lead me exactly where I need to go.

Inspiration

Tim Keller offers a sobering thought…The gospel is this: we are more sinful and flawed in ourselves than we ever dared believe.

I think if we’re honest, this is the place that we wish God would wrongly judge. That he’d skim over those sins and flaws that we’d rather just cover up and pretend aren’t there, if we’re even willing to acknowledge it.

Hear what Keller is saying - it’s worse in us that we ever dared believe about ourselves. Your pride is far deeper, your self-centeredness is far more the default mode out of which you operate, your heart is far more captivated by other gods than you ever want to believe. Mine, too.

I am far more judging that I ever dared believe…that’s a painful reality I’m having to own up to.

Which is why our innate reaction to God - like Adam and Eve’s - is to hide. Cover up. Idea of standing before God to be judged in perfect righteousness and justice, is a terrifying thought - or it should be, if we had any inkling of what it really means, to have action, every thought, every motive of our hearts brought to light before God. God, please wrongly judge me.

But it’s not the end of the story - because our hope does not lie in our goodness - but in God’s. Tim Keller continues…The gospel is this: we are more sinful and flawed in ourselves than we ever dared believe, yet at the same time we are more loved and accepted in Jesus Christ than we ever dared hope.

This is the good news of the Gospel: The one who judges perfectly also loves perfectly. His love, his acceptance is far greater, far more complete, far deeper than you can imagine. It covers over everything.

To entrust ourselves to the one who judges justly is to hold both of those things at the same time - we can freely acknowledge the depths of our sin and self-centeredness, our judging hearts, our pride (far more than we dared believe) AND we are absolutely and fully loved and accepted. the word the Father spoke to Jesus he speaks to us: You are my son (daughter), whom I love, with you I am well pleased.

This is the awe and wonder of the Audience of One. Why he is truly worthy for us to entrust our lives to, the one who judges justly, and loves perfectly.