Deeper Church
Judge Not
What does not judging people actually mean and how we help people on paths of destruction. Sermon covering Matthew 7:1-14
Locations & Times
Deeper church
15434 10th Ave SW, Burien, WA 98166, USA
Sunday 10:00 AM
• Relationships that start out great, but then go down hill quickly.
• Long Friendships that begin to drift and fade, or suddenly fall away.
• Family that we avoid.
• Our spouse that we hide things from.
When you meet someone new for the first time, you either accept them where they’re at, or you move on to others. After forming a relationship, and sharing life, you become invested and involved in that person’s life. You actually begin to know them, and that’s when you start noticing stuff. "Hey, this person is not so normal." "Wow, that’s a bad habit." "Hey now, you can’t keep doing that without serious consequences."
We Judge people when we want to change something about them.
We judge people when we don’t like something that they are doing or aren’t doing and we want change. The majority of the time this is for things that are good.
This doesn't work well. Jesus knows this, and he is teaching us a better way.
• Long Friendships that begin to drift and fade, or suddenly fall away.
• Family that we avoid.
• Our spouse that we hide things from.
When you meet someone new for the first time, you either accept them where they’re at, or you move on to others. After forming a relationship, and sharing life, you become invested and involved in that person’s life. You actually begin to know them, and that’s when you start noticing stuff. "Hey, this person is not so normal." "Wow, that’s a bad habit." "Hey now, you can’t keep doing that without serious consequences."
We Judge people when we want to change something about them.
We judge people when we don’t like something that they are doing or aren’t doing and we want change. The majority of the time this is for things that are good.
This doesn't work well. Jesus knows this, and he is teaching us a better way.
There are two things going on here that need clarification.
1) Jesus is using terminology that his readers are very familiar with. This goes back to the basic concept of non-escalating retaliation seen in the Law of Moses:
1) Jesus is using terminology that his readers are very familiar with. This goes back to the basic concept of non-escalating retaliation seen in the Law of Moses:
Babylonian Talmund Sanhedrin 90a
"...all measures [of judgement] which are dispensed by the Holy One Blessed Be He, are dispensed measure for measure."
"...all measures [of judgement] which are dispensed by the Holy One Blessed Be He, are dispensed measure for measure."
Mishnah Avot 2:7
[Hillel the Elder] once saw a skull floating on the face of the waters and he said unto it, "Because you caused [someone] to drown, they drowned you, and in the end, they who drowned you will be drowned!"
"midach negid mida"
[Hillel the Elder] once saw a skull floating on the face of the waters and he said unto it, "Because you caused [someone] to drown, they drowned you, and in the end, they who drowned you will be drowned!"
"midach negid mida"
2) He is referring to condemnation more than judging.
In terms for us today we can say:
Don't bring condemnation on people, but be discerning.
We are to judge. The Bible clearly teaches this. Judging is not the enemy. The Greek word for judging means to cut apart. [TDNT pg 469]
Let's look at a few passages:
In terms for us today we can say:
Don't bring condemnation on people, but be discerning.
We are to judge. The Bible clearly teaches this. Judging is not the enemy. The Greek word for judging means to cut apart. [TDNT pg 469]
Let's look at a few passages:
Be discerning, not condemning.
Here is the difference: you have a bad cavity in your tooth. The condemning dentist will come in and say "You are the most irresponsible person I have ever seen, etc. you have this horrible cavity, I don't even know if we can fix it, but we most take care of it right now."
The discerning Dentist will say, "Here is the problem, your back molar has a pretty serious cavity, and we need to take care of it now, before something worse happens.
Here is the difference: you have a bad cavity in your tooth. The condemning dentist will come in and say "You are the most irresponsible person I have ever seen, etc. you have this horrible cavity, I don't even know if we can fix it, but we most take care of it right now."
The discerning Dentist will say, "Here is the problem, your back molar has a pretty serious cavity, and we need to take care of it now, before something worse happens.