Judge - Judge Not

[00:00:00] This audio sermon is provided by AnabaptistSermons.com and may be freely copied and distributed. You may not sell or edit this sermon. Our prayer is that you would be blessed by this ministry. We greet you this morning in Jesus' name. We are glad for each one of you that is here and trust that God's mercy and grace can be yours. I would like to read a scripture this morning. Perhaps we can stand together as we turn to Matthew chapter 7, beginning to read at verse 1, read through verse 5. [00:00:40] Judge not that ye be not judged, for with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged. And with what measure ye meet, it shall be measured to you again. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye, and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye, and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye. [00:01:16] Drop down to verse 15. Beware of false prophets which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns or figs of thistles? Even so, every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire [00:01:50] Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them Now turn with me to James chapter 4 And I'd like to read there While you're turning there I'd just like to read a few verses that we often consider During council meeting Out of 1 Corinthians chapter 11 verse 28 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup. And then verse 31 of the same chapter, For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. [00:02:22] Now James chapter 4, I'd like to read the first 12 verses out of this chapter. From whence come wars and fightings among you? Come they not hence, even of your lusts, that war on your members? Ye lust, and have not. Ye kill and desire to have and cannot obtain. Ye fight and war, yet ye have not because ye ask not. Ye ask and receive not because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts. Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? [00:02:58] Whosoever, therefore, will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. Do you think that the scripture saith in vain, the spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy, but he giveth more grace? Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners, and purify your hearts, ye double-minded. [00:03:30] Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep. Let your laughter be turned into mourning, and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up. Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law. But if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge. There is one lawgiver who is able to save and to destroy. Who art thou that judgest another? [00:04:02] As I was considering the message this morning, I looked at these passages, I looked at a number of others, and I did a little bit of reading that was not out of God's word, but I think God's truths were in this as well. And as I consider judging, judgment, what is it to judge? What does judgment consist of? I had to think of that. [00:04:33] I looked up some of these things in scripture. I came across a writing by John Koblitz that is entitled Into His Holiness. Some of you may have seen it. It came with the Faith Builders newsletter, the last one I believe that we got, spring of 2010. And I thought that what John wrote was applied to what I would like to say this morning. But into his holiness is talking about God. [00:05:07] It's something that John wrote. And his holiness, judgment. What do they have to do with each other? And as I thought of that, I thought of holiness and I looked up holy in the Webster's Dictionary, which is often where I get my best help. And I don't know if I'm saying that to the shame of some other dictionaries or don't I know how to use them. But one of the things it said about holy is whole, W-H-O-L-E. [00:05:39] In other words, it's you have heard me talk about purity. and purity and wholeness are synonymous in that if it's whole, it is untainted by anything else and that is the meaning of purity. Now, looking at holy and looking at judgment, every time I make a judgment call, am I not, in a sense, separating something good from something evil? It's like drawing a line and saying what's on this side of the line is holy, [00:06:12] What's on that side of the line is unholy, and I came to see that there is a very real connection there. If you get the Faith Builders newsletter, I think you would enjoy reading this in its entirety. But the word for holy, John says this about it, and I'd just like to quote from this passage, just a brief paragraph here. The Hebrew word translated holy is borrowed from the butcher shop of all places. [00:06:51] The butcher shop to describe holiness. I'll go on reading here. It means literally cut apart. As the butcher uses his knife to cut, he removes the objectionable from the desired, the fat, the bone, the organs from the meat. and that portion, that which remains is choice, desired, cut apart, it is holy. End of quote. I appreciated the writing there and I wondered where John was going when he took us to the butcher shop to describe what is holy. [00:07:31] But do you see the judgment taking place as the butcher cuts with his knife? and what he has left, John describes as the desired, the choice, the desired, the cut apart, if you please. Going back, turning back to Matthew chapter 7, I don't know if you could follow what I wanted to do or not, [00:08:01] But as I look at Matthew chapter 7, we see that we are not to judge according to verse 1. Judge not that ye be not judged. What kind of judgment is it that Jesus is talking about here? Any kind of judgment? I don't think so. Because the verses that I read to you later in chapter 7, Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them. Is there any judgment happening there? I think so. [00:08:34] So what is Jesus saying when he says, judge not that ye be not judged? I'm just going to propose to you that we are judging every day. How do we judge? By our words? By what we do? By the kind of people that we are? I don't know how you would answer that, but as I pondered that, I think that I am judging every moment of every day. [00:09:08] If I say that I am holy, that I am set apart to God, cut apart as John said it, shouldn't all that I do fall into that category? So if I do something, shouldn't I be saying that this is holy? This is set apart unto God. And sometimes we as modest Mennonites shy away from doing that. But should we shy away from that? John gives the answer in his article a little bit later on. [00:09:41] We are set apart to God. We are holy unto God. That does not mean that we do not make mistakes. I may read a little bit more of his article a little bit later on. There is one thing, and Jesus was referring to this, and that is when I make a judgment call, I have a, I'm going to call it a handicap. What is that handicap that I have? Somebody said it like this, I think, that we tend to judge ourselves by our intentions, by our, may I say, good intentions. [00:10:19] We judge other people by their actions, by what I see them doing, by their fruits. You see the difference? My intentions aren't always what I get done. And so I tend to judge other people more harshly than I judge myself. Is that what Jesus is saying then in verse 1 of Matthew chapter 7? Judge not that ye be not judged. I don't think Jesus is trying to tell us that we shouldn't be introspective, that we shouldn't look at our lives, that we shouldn't try to determine, now is what I did today, is what I did yesterday right? [00:11:02] Is it set apart unto God? Is it holy? I think Jesus wants us to do that. But I think we need to be careful. I think I need to be careful how I look at you and how I judge you. Because Jesus said, the way I judge is the way I'm going to be judged. Jesus said many other things in the Sermon on the Mount. The fact that he has us look at the complete picture. He says in chapter 6 that if I want to be forgiven, what must I do? [00:11:35] I must forgive. Somebody has said that those people who will not forgive burn the bridge over which they themselves must pass to get into heaven. So it's good to look at the full picture And I think that is what Jesus is trying to help us to do here But I think he is also warning us against having an attitude like Okay, now, you're judging me, be careful what you say Because if you're not careful, you're judging me [00:12:07] That comes from an attitude that is not a desiring to be set apart unto God, I believe. That comes from an attitude that is not consistent with verse 20 of Matthew chapter 7 where it says, Wherefore, by their fruits ye shall know them. There are times when I have been in conversation with people and these people had good things to say, but for some reason I felt a check in my spirit as these people said all these good things. [00:12:47] And I am not here to sit in judgment of why I had a check And I could surmise But is it sometimes easy to say good things And not as easy to live them, perhaps And I need to take those things into consideration I think we need to be careful Turn with me to Romans chapter 14 And I'd just like to look at two verses here I think when we look at others, when we examine fruit, one of the ministers that I grew up under the sound of the gospel, one of the ministers that I remember hearing, I remember hearing him as long ago as when I was just a little boy sitting beside my father. [00:13:35] And he said this, he said that we as God's people are fruit inspectors. And I think that's what Jesus said, you know, by their fruits ye shall know them. You're not going to have a person that is set apart to God, really, in his heart, giving out those things that are in stark contrast to that profession. It just doesn't happen. If that indeed is the case, if I am living totally aside from that which I profess, it tells what's in here, doesn't it? [00:14:14] See, what does the scripture say? Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh. So, what comes out here is an indication of what is here. And so let us make sure that our profession and what we live say the same thing. Romans chapter 14. I suppose we are familiar with this chapter. I'd like to read the first four verses. I thought I was just going to read several verses, but I'd like to just to get the entire context here. [00:14:46] Talks here about not judging harshly, I think is what Paul is writing here. Him that is weak in the faith receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations. For one believeth that he may eat all things. Another who is weak eateth herbs. Let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not. And let not him which eateth not judge him that eateth, for God hath received him. Who art thou that judgest another man's servant? To his own master he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be holden up, for God is able to make him stand. [00:15:25] Now, drop down to verse 12. So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God. Let us not therefore judge one another any more, but judge this rather, that no man put a stumbling block or an occasion to fall in his brother's way. Now, is Paul saying that everything is subjective? There is no right or wrong? I think we understand that Paul is not saying that. Paul is simply saying there are some things that are neither here nor there. [00:16:02] Do you care whether I wear white or gray socks to work tomorrow? I doubt it. I don't care whether you do. There are, Paul is saying, some of these things are neither here nor there. And sometimes we do things to help us, to remind us of who we are, whose we are. But I think Paul is saying that in these matters, you can have your preference, I can have my preference. [00:16:35] But if I force my brother to live according to my preference, I'm not helping him. I am rather, I am judging him, I think is what he is saying. And I think we need to be careful how we look at these things that I don't give myself license. That is not what this message is about. But I think we also need to be careful that I don't say it now, Brother Daniel, you have to walk the same way I walk. Because that's the way I think I should walk. [00:17:07] Maybe I am not being charitable when I say that. But rather, may God help us to know what things are important, what things are not important. May I just say along with that, that there are things that I think are neither here nor there. But I am old enough, I have lived long enough to know that there are some lessons to be learned with the passage of time. [00:17:42] I'd just like to tell you what I specifically am referring to. We attended a funeral just in the last several weeks of a person who was a close friend in years gone by. Now, what am I saying? I'm just simply saying that there are some things that may seem to me to be neither here nor there but with a generation or maybe two some of those things come to light for what they really are [00:18:13] and I would just urge us to remember that although it may not seem that important I talked about white and gray socks and I don't think that's important I think we can hold on to these things in a way that is unhealthy, but by the same token, my observation may be flawed. And there is one thing, and I appreciated Brother Ronald's pointing us to the importance of truth. [00:18:47] If you were there on Friday evening, you heard that we have truth. Truth is non-negotiable. Truth is. It needs no defense. But then as you move on from truth, he showed us as you move on from truth, you have principles that you build on. And principles are things that they are not stand alone things. But you move on from principle to application. [00:19:18] and there's where, that's what our standards of faith and practice is about. Showing us how to put these things, I think there is much principle in our standards of faith and practice as well. But the importance of the foundational thing is truth and then principle and then application and we cannot go from this side to this side. You cannot go from practice to principle to truth. It does not work. But you can listen to those CDs yourself. [00:19:53] What is it then that is acceptable for us as God's people? We shall not, at least we shall not judge harshly, I think Paul is saying, I think, or Jesus is saying here in Matthew chapter 7. But we do need to be discerning people. We need to see the trends. We need to see where things are taking us. And so the wisdom of a number of years is helpful. But some of the words that I found to help us, one of the words is discernment. [00:20:39] The course of action. Where is this taking us? There are other things. Consider. Examine. And then on the negative side, I think where Matthew chapter 7 verse 1 comes in is criticize, blame. I think Jesus is warning us against harsh judgment. I think Jesus would tell us to judge righteous judgment. In fact, he said that. Where is it? In John chapter 4. I think he said, judge righteous judgment. [00:21:10] In other words, be careful that what you say is right. When a person has good things to say, as I told you, sometimes we have contact with people that have the right words to say. But when I see relationship issues surfacing around wherever that person moves, you just simply find out that there are difficulties in relationships. [00:21:40] Or maybe it's something else. Maybe it's difficulty in submission. If a person has the right words to say, but these are the fruits in his life, it tells us something, does it not? And I would to God that my life could and my actions, what I say, the words that I say, the life that I live could be one and the same. I don't desire that just for myself. I desire that for each one of us. That we can live what we profess to believe. [00:22:14] Sometimes we need to, in our business, we need to go and try to collect old bills. Do you think I would have very much to say to somebody if I have a problem paying my bills? I went to talk with a man who is a good friend recently, and it was kind of interesting what he had to say. He knew that his account was overdue, and I aim to collect the way I like when people come to me to collect. [00:22:48] I aim not to be hard-nosed but he said something like this I'll bet you have other people that are having difficulty paying and I assured him that that's true what does that have to do with the fact that he owes money and he made satisfaction I appreciated my interaction with him but the thing that I am saying is in order to be able to collect bills I think I need to do my best to pay mine and there is a very real connection some of my customers have pointed out that if people would pay me I could pay you you understand the connection there and I think as I go to talk with people I want to practice the golden rule as I go and I try not to be hard nosed in fact I went to talk with [00:23:48] With one person and I ended up talking with his bishop because he was not there and we have tried to make contact a number of times and I told him that this is what I told his bishop. I said we can do without the money that this man owes us but for his good I would like for him to be able to pay and the bishop understood exactly what I was saying. And I appreciate it. There are some things that happen when you go to collect bills. You can make friends as well as lose them. And I try to collect in a way that I make friends, not lose them. [00:24:28] And I want to remember what I said earlier about forgiveness. I have told people this a number of times and I mean it. And if you see that I am not living it out, I want to know. I have said this, what people owe me, I want to be sure that doesn't keep me out of heaven. And I don't know if you follow what I'm saying there or not. But what I am saying is my attitude toward that person had better be one of release and forgiveness, not meaning that he shouldn't pay his bill. If he can, I think he should for his own sake, like I said. But I need to be careful about my attitude about that person. And I trust that we understand what we are saying. [00:25:15] I'd like to turn to Titus chapter 2 and look at some of the exhortations of Paul to Titus. There is one thing that John Koblenz touched in his article that I'd just like to refer to. He said, there is something within human beings that at some point in time would like to call good evil and evil good. You know, we should pay our bills. We should not steal unless it's from government or some greedy, filthy, rich corporation. Maybe it's all right then. Is it? It doesn't matter. We need to call good, good. We need to call evil, evil. And the Bible warns us against calling evil, good or good, evil. [00:26:08] Turning to Titus chapter 2, I would just like to look at these, that two verses here, verses 7 and 8. In all things showing thyself a pattern of good works, in doctrine showing uncorruptness, gravity, sincerity, sound speech that cannot be condemned, that he that is of the contrary part may be ashamed having no evil thing to say of you. [00:26:40] Talking about a mouthful, that is. Are we showing ourselves a pattern of good works? As we think of judging, if we ourselves are what Paul writes in verses 7 and 8 in all things showing ourselves a pattern of good works Doctrine that is uncorruptible, gravity, sincerity, sound speech that cannot be condemned That's saying a lot [00:27:11] Would to God that we could be found with that kind of a life So that if we have that kind of a life, our life itself is a judgment on evil If we are truly salt and light, our lives will be a rebuke. I've had the same person. I walked into one place one afternoon to make a sales call. And the young man that's a good friend of mine said, [00:27:44] Oh, we've got to be careful, the preacher's here. I hadn't said a word to them. Then I said something, well, maybe I had. I said something later, well I like to remember that I have to give account for every word I say See, he said the preacher's here Well, I'm sorry, but that's a truth that we all must live by whether the preacher's there or not And I would that our lives could be such that they rebuke wrongdoing That they pass judgment, that they say that's not acceptable [00:28:16] Live above that and there is one thing that I need to remind myself of and that is that this is true not just when we're around other people this is true when I am by myself and when you are by yourself are we the same way then? we need to be because the same God that sees us when we're with other people sees me when I'm all alone and he sees you when you're all alone [00:28:48] May our lives be such that God can use them to bear witness of the truth of that which is right and that which is not right. May God help us to be that. And it is true that we all fail. And when we fail, it's not a time to throw up our hands and say, that's beyond me. When we fail, it's time for one thing, and that is, I was going to say confession, repentance and confession and letting God heal us. [00:29:26] I think that is enough for today. Let us kneel and pray.