Welcome to another Weekend Sermon. The weather here in the American Midwest just gets more and more weird as the year goes on. It was 81 degrees here on Wednesday. Yesterday, it snowed 2.5 inches. This is the first time it has snowed this late in the year in the history of the area.
I want to thank the Lord for providing me with enough money to pay the end of the month bills. I am truly thankful. I am also glad that there was a fairly decent jobs report this morning. Hopefully, I can find more work. Please keep praying for me.
Last week, we finished up the last section of Matthew chapter 6. We began our discussion of Jesus' teachings in chapter 7.
We saw that Jesus' statement about not judging is a well known passage of Scripture, but it is a very misunderstood verse.
We focused briefly on what Jesus was not teaching when He said, "Judge not that ye be not judged." for one thing, judge not does not mean that we are not to identify what is true and false teaching or sound versus false doctrine. Jesus Himself said that we should do this as did Jude, Peter, James and John.
We live in a day when many Christians do not want to talk about doctrine. However, beliefs matter. There is an orthodox system of belief. As a minister, it is my duty to preach and teach sound doctrine, and speak out when I know someone or some group is teaching what is contrary to the revealed will of God.
I also think that it is clear that Jesus did not mean that as Christians we aren't to identify that which is sin. This is another problem the Christian church is facing today. Pastors are hesitant to say what is right and wrong. This is the reason why the values of the church people and those in the world are almost identical.
When the church speaks up concerning what is right and what is wrong, that does not mean that we have to be nasty, call people names, discriminate against people or downgrade them.
So, what does Jesus mean by not judging? First of all, we are not to be hypocrites. Jesus speaks about this in Matthew 7:2-5. Jesus says that we aren't to tell our brother to take the speck out of his eye when we have a log in our own eye. We are supposed to deal with the sin that we have in our own lives. Also, if we do go and point out something in someone's life, it should only be done in the way Jesus outlined in Matthew 18:15-20. We're not just supposed to go about heaping condemnation on everyone we know.
I also believe that when Jesus speaks about not judging He is speaking about our judging someone's eternal destiny. It is not our place to determine if someone is going to Heaven or not. Jesus said that all judgment had been given to Him by the Father. He is the only one qualified to make a judgment about what is in a person's heart. Jesus said that man looks on the outward, but that He looked at a person's heart. There is nothing I dislike more than when I hear someone say that another person is going to Hell. Let Jesus deal with that. Let us love others, and share Jesus' message of love.
We also should not judge another person's motives for doing an action. Once again, we can't tell what is in a person's heart. Someone may be doing great and good works, and we may think that they are great. But in their heart, their motivation may be their own exaltation. There are other people who really in their heart want to do what is right, but they fall short, and the outward appearance makes them look bad. Jesus knows the truth. He will judge.
There's one other area that is really important to me that I don't think Jesus wants us to judge. We are not to judge someone's walk with God based on outward appearance.
When I was a boy, the church I attended always judged others by externals. If a man had what they considered to be long hair, that must mean that they weren't really a Christian. That kind of stuff is ridiculous. Jesus had long hair and a beard. If He walked in some churches they would think that He was one of those people who were obviously lost.
We also should not judge people on their outward appearance in life in general. I know a lot of people see overweight people and immediately think that they are lazy or stupid. This isn't pleasing to the Lord. In my own circumstance, I have had people speak abusively to me that I don't look like I have problems with my legs so why don't I go and get one of the warehouse jobs in the area. They don't know that almost every night I am in excruciating pain in my legs from the limited amount of walking I do in a day. They have no idea what the truth is, they just want to come down on someone and run someone down. I am sick of all this kind of stuff.
Jesus fought against the Pharisees and religious leaders of His day for judging people based on externals. The religious leaders rejected the sick, the people with skin diseases, those who had unclean jobs, tax collectors and others they considered sinners including the very poor. These are the very people that Jesus accepted and loved. Always remember that no matter what someone says to you that is negative and hurtful, don't let it bring you down. Remember that you are very valuable to Jesus, and that He loves you very much.
Whenever we think about judging someone we should remember the old phrase, "There but for the grace of God go I."
There is more that I want to say about this, but I will leave it for next week. I will post another chapter of the book about Toby on Wednesday. Toby's birthday is Tuesday. I wish that we could still be together. Next week we will continue with our study in the Sermon on the Mount. May God bless you. Amen.
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