Don't Judge Me

Happy Sunday. Today I will begin with a story that is absolutely not true. Again, the story I'm about to tell is make believe. I just got out of jail a few hours ago. It all started when I was out drinking with my new girlfriend. I dumped my wife, and I met my new girlfriend online.

We decided to go rob a bank, so we broke into the First National Bank around midnight. The alarm went off, and the police arrived, and I told the police that I was a hostage and it was all her idea, because I'm a preacher and I couldn't do anything like that. And they believe me and let me go. She'll be sent to prison for 20 years, I suppose, but I got off scotf free. End of story.

Now, if that story was true, you'd have a choice to make, wouldn't you? You may decide, and you should, to stop listening and watch something else. If you're a financial supporter of this ministry, you may decide to stop donating, as you should. Maybe you would delete me from your contact list.

I may invoke scripture in my own defense, and I may use the words of Jesus and tell you, don't judge me. Judge not, lest you be judged. Today we begin the seventh chapter of Matthew, and let me read to you verses 1 to 5:

"Do not judge, so that you may not be judged. For the the Judgment you give will be the Judgment you get, and the measure you give will be the measure you get. Why do you see the speck in your neighbor's eye but do not notice the log in your own eye? Or how can you say to your neighbor, let me take the speck out of your eye, while the log is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you'll see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbor's eye."

This scripture is often misused. Some treat it like a get out of jail free card. Are we really not to judge? Are we to overlook everything? How do we not judge?

Do we let our daughters run off with just any boy that comes along? Do we trust a known con artist with our savings? Do we just pick a random person off the street to babysit our kids? This scripture is so misused in our time.

When Jesus tells us not to judge, he's talking about being judgmental. He's forbidding a critical spirit. He's not, however, encouraging us to disengage our critical thinking. In fact, later on in this chapter, he tells us to be beware of false prophets and to judge them by their fruits.

What is a judgmental spirit? It's the exact opposite of a loving Spirit. We're to be known for our love, not our ability to find faults. In verse two Jesus says, "For the Judgment you give will will be the Judgment you get, and the measure you give will be the measure you get."

Jesus lets us know that if we are harsh with others, that at the time of our judgment God will be harsh with us. We need to know that we are not God. We are not the ultimate judge. We all will be judged. It seems to me that our concern should be to help others make it through the judgment and not to pronounce our own judgment upon them.

In verses 3 to 5, Jesus uses a human illustration: "Why do you see the speck in your neighbor's eye but do not notice the log in your own eye? Or how can you say to your neighbor, let me take the speck out of your eye, while the log is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbor's eye."

What Jesus says here is so true. We tend to trivialize our own sin while magnifying the sin of others. The perfect illustration of this is in the book of 2 Samuel 12, the story of King David. After King David took bath Sheba as his own and had her husband killed, the prophet Nathan was sent by God to confront David.

Nathan used an illustration to point out the sin of David. Nathan told the king a story about a rich man that had everything he wanted and a huge flock of sheep, and a poor man who only had one. The rich man stole the poor man's sheep, and this story made King David Furious. Listen to David's words from 2 Samuel 125 and 6, after hearing the story.

It says, "Then David's anger was greatly kindled against the man. He said to Nathan, as the Lord lives, the man who has done this deserves to die. He shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing and because he had no pity." Nathan then tells David, "You are the man."

And Nathan then tells the story of David stealing basba and killing her husband, and David's guilty, and he knows it, and he now sees his own sin. Later on, in Psalm 51, David wrote these words: "Create in me a clean heart, oh God, and put a new spirit and a right Spirit within me. Do not cast me away from your presence, and do not take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and sustain in me a willing spirit, and then I'll teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you."

David confesses that he needs to be clean to help others: "Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and sustain in me a willing Spirit. Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you." This is exactly what we see in Matthew 7:5: "First take the log out of your own eye, and then you'll see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbors eye."

When we see clearly, we'll see with Eyes Of Love, not eyes of hate. When we see clearly, we see that we are all sinners in need of a savior. God, help us to see clearly. Pray with me.

Father, if we've been critical and judgmental of others, forgive us, and help us T not to do that. Help us to be loving, even to those that are hard to love, because, well, you do that with us, don't you, Father? Help us to work on our lives, to first and foremost worry about us. Change us, and then with love we can reach out and minister to others. In Jesus name, amen.

God bless. Thanks for joining me today.