JUDGEMENTALNESS
DR. JIM DIXON
LUKE 6
DECEMBER 19, 1982
Judge not; two words spoken almost 2,000 years ago by our Lord Jesus Christ. This morning, I want to speak to you from the sixth chapter of the Gospel of Luke on the subject of Judgementalness. I have three teachings. The first teaching is this: we must never judge others because our judgment is flawed. Jesus tells us that not one of us sees clear enough to take the speck from our brother’s eye. We all have impaired judgment.
Almost two weeks ago on a Tuesday night, Karen Key, a reporter and TV helicopter pilot for KOA, crashed her Jet Ranger helicopter near the crest of Monument Hill, north of Colorado Springs. She was on a rescue mission. Tragically, her life was taken along with the life of a mechanic who was also in the helicopter. According to subsequent toxicology reports, her blood alcohol level was 0.095. She had been described as borderline drunk. The last few days, many articles have been written in the newspapers about her. Many statements have been made on the radio and over the television. Some have criticized her for recklessness, irresponsibility. Others have tried to praise her for her courage, for her willingness to risk her life for the sake of others. But some have made comments that go far beyond the specific circumstances of that crash itself. I’m always amazed how some people in a circumstance like this feel qualified to evaluate, criticize, summarize, and judge a person’s entire life with a few strokes of the pen. God warns us not to do that because only God has the full information on your life and on mine.
It’s a dangerous thing, a very dangerous thing to drive a car or fly a plane when your judgment is impaired. But God wants us to know that it is even more dangerous when having impaired judgment, we then begin to judge others. James, the apostle of our Lord Jesus Christ, said “There is one law giver and there is one judge. He has power to save and He has power to destroy. But who are you if you would judge your neighbor?”
18 years ago, in 1964, I was on a ship called the Northern Prince. We were going north on the Canadian coast up to Alaska. The Northern Prince was freighter and it served some of the small towns and villages along the Canadian coast bringing supplies and bringing food. I remember one night we were coming into a little town on the Canadian coast called Bella Bella. A ship the size of the Northern Prince has to reverse its engines when it’s still a considerable distance from shore in order to come delicately into that harbor. It’s a very difficult thing for a ship that size to come into a small dock. This time they made a mistake, a misjudgment. I remember I was standing up on the bow and I was looking down. It looked like we were barely moving as we came into that dock. But all the force, all the power, all the tonnage of that ship hit that dock and broke it backwards. The people who were lined up to greet us were driven backwards. Some of them fell to the ground and we put a V right into the dock.
God wants us to know that when we judge other people and we’re just a little bit off, the results will be devastating, the consequences raised. Having impaired judgment, therefore, he warns us not to judge others. James the Apostle, our Lord Jesus Christ, tells us not to use our tongue to criticize other people. James says, “We all make many mistakes and if anyone makes no mistakes in what he says, he is a perfect man able to bridle the whole body as well. If we put bits in the mouth of the horses that they may obey us, we control their whole bodies Look also at the ships, though they are so great and driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. So also the tongue is a little member which boasts of great things. How great a forest is set ablaze by a small fire (and the tongue is a fire), an unrighteous world among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the cycle of nature and set on fire by hell. For every kind of beast and bird, reptile and sea creature can be tamed and has been tamed by humankind, but no human being can tame the tongue. A restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless our God and Father and with it we curse man who are made in His image. From the same mouth come blessings and cursing. My brethren, it ought not to be so. Can a spring pour forth from the same opening both freshwater and brackish? Can a fig tree, my brethren, yield olives or a grapevine figs? No more can saltwater yield fresh. Who is wise and understanding among you? By your good life, let you shew forth your works with meekness of wisdom.”
So in this passage, James warns us not to use our tongues to criticize, not to use our tongues to curse, not to use our tongues to judge, but rather to use our tongue for blessing. Our judgment is flawed. Therefore, we should not judge. As Christians, God has called us to exercise a prophetic voice in a sinful world. He does want us to lovingly exhort a brother or sister who has gone astray. He wants us to evaluate people’s teachings, people’s statements, people’s actions in the light of God’s Word. But He never wants us to judge the people themselves. He never wants us to judge a person’s worth. He certainly never wants us to judge a person’s destiny.
Our Lord Jesus Christ said that “the father has given all judgment into His hands.” He said, “Do not marvel at this. The day will come when all who are in the tombs will hear My voice and come forth. Those who have done good to everlasting life and those who have done evil to everlasting death.” All judgment has been given into the hands of Jesus Christ and He is qualified. Before Him no preacher is hidden but all are open and laid bare. A day will come when all stand before Him and give an account. But you see, we are not qualified to judge and therefore we have this first teaching from Luke six. “Do not judge others” because our judgment is impaired.
Now we have a second teaching in this chapter and it’s this: we must not judge others because we ourselves are deserving of the same judgment. Jesus said, “Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye and not notice the log that is in your own eye?”
In the city of Jerusalem, in the biblical times near the Sheep gate, there was a mysterious pool. It was sometimes called the pool of Bethesda, which means house of grace, house of mercy. This pool was fed by subterranean waters. It had five porches with pillars rising to the heavens. Around that pool, on the porches, there sat invalids, people who were maimed, people who were lame, people who were sick, people who were diseased, people who were crippled. It was believed that periodically an angel of the Lord would descend from heaven and trouble the waters. It was believed that when the waters were troubled, the first person into the pool would be cleansed and healed. There was one man who tragically had sat by that pool for 38 years, a cripple.
The Bible tells us the one day Jesus was walking by the pool of Bethesda and he saw that cripple. The Bible says that He was moved with compassion and He said to him, “Do you really truly want to be healed?” The man said, “Yes Lord.” By the power that was in Him, Jesus said, “Rise, take up your bed and walk. Instantly, that man was healed and he began to walk carrying his bed through the streets of the city of Jerusalem. Now it was the Sabbath day and on the Sabbath it was illegal to work. Carrying a burden was work. This man was transgressing the law by carrying his bed and he ran into Pharisees and they began to judge him. They didn’t care why he was carrying his bed. They didn’t care that he had just been healed of a horrible affliction. They cared only that their law was being violated and they judged him.
When Jesus told this parable, the speck and the law, He was speaking in part to the Pharisees because they were known for their judgment. They had great power politically and religiously. They could deny a Jew access to the synagogue. They had powers of excommunication and they delighted in displaying their piety publicly before men. They loved to fast and pray in public seeking the praise of men. They regarded themselves as the custodian of the law. They took the law and they changed it from a blessing to a burden. The Pentateuch instructed us that we were not to work on the Sabbath. So the Pharisees took that, that statement and they amplified it. They categorized 39 different types of works and carrying a burden was one of those. They debated what constituted a burden and they decided that even carrying a sewing needle in your robe was a burden. You could not do that at the Sabbath. They debated whether you could wear your false teeth on the Sabbath or whether you could wear your wooden leg. They actually believed that the Shekinah glory, the divine presence hovered over their petty deliberations. They applied the letter of the law to others and they denied the very heart of the law, “Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and all thy soul with all thy strength, and love your neighbor as yourself.” Jesus said of the Pharisees that they were “straining out gnats and swallowing camels. They could see the speck in their brother’s eye, but they could not see the log in their own. And sometimes you see, we are just like the Pharisees. We judge other people for the very things that we do.
A story is told of some college students who were taking a class in Ornithology, the study of birds. You may have heard this story. These students studied hard because the final examination was coming up. They read every book they could find on the subject of ornithology. They learned everything about birds, their eating habits, their mating habits. They learned how to classify all the birds and they were ready to go. They came into the classroom for their final exam. They saw 25 bird cages up front with a blanket over each bird cage. The professor pulled a string and the blankets rose just a little bit so that they could see 25 feet, 25 pairs of feet. The professor of ornithology said, “Here’s your examination, I want you to write down on your exam paper the names of those 25 birds just by looking at their feet.” The students were enraged. They’d studied for days and weeks and months just for an impossible test like that. One student was so enraged, he took his test paper, he walked up to the front of the classroom, he slammed it down on the professor’s desk and he began to walk out. The professor looked at the paper and noticed the student hadn’t signed his name. The professor said, “Young man, what’s your name?” The student turned around, pulled up his pant leg and said, “You tell me.”
Sometimes we apply standards to other people. We apply standards to other people that we ourselves could never meet, we ourselves could never match. We do this in marriage. We criticize our husband or we criticize our wife for things that we ourselves do. I remember a few years ago, Barb and I were having the Christian Education Committee over to our house. We were going to have them for a Christmas party at seven o’clock. I’d had a kind of frustrating day, I had a lot of counseling, some hospital visitations, I’d been in and out of meetings. I’d been very busy and I hadn’t done a very good job of trusting my burdens and my cares to the Lord. I was carrying them myself and I was really strung out. I came home at about a quarter to seven. Barbara said, “Jim, would you rush down to the store and buy some whipping cream? I forgot to buy some when I went to the store.” I just hit the roof, I said, “Barb, why can’t you take care of your own job?” Pretty incredible statement, really. I’ve never been able to take care of my job. That was true at the other church, and it’s true at this church.
In fact, Barb has always helped me. She’s helped me with my work with my ministry. You see, I was criticizing her for something that I was far more guilty than she was. So God tells us not to judge other people. The judgment that we give to other people will be the judgment that is returned to us, He tells us. When we look at the standards of Christ we see that we’re all guilty. Jesus said, “You’ve heard it said of old “Thou, shalt not kill and whoever kills is liable to judgment” but I say to you, whoever is angry with his neighbor is liable of judgment. And you’ve heard it said of old “Thou shalt not commit adultery” but I say to you whoever looks upon a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. You have heard it said of old “Thou shall not swear falsely but thou shall accomplish that which thou has sworn” but I say to you, thou shall not swear at all either by heaven, which is God’s throne nor by earth, which is His footstool, nor by Jerusalem, the city of the great king. You have heard it said of old “Thou shall love thy neighbor and hate thy enemy.” But I say to you thou shall love thy enemy and do good to those despitefully use you.”
When we look at the teachings of Christ, we all fall far short. So we have this second teaching from the sixth chapter of the Gospel of Luke: “Do not judge other people for we ourselves are deserving of the same judgment.” Finally, thirdly, we have this teaching of the sixth chapter of Luke: we must not judge others even if they do judge us. Jesus said, “Love your enemy. Do good to those that hate you. Bless those who curse you. Pray for those that abuse you.”
Seven years ago, I was Associate Pastor at Faith Presbyterian Church in Aurora and there was a man who was an elder in the church and he didn’t like me. I know that’s hard to believe, but he didn’t like my teaching. He didn’t like my preaching. He questioned my call to the ministry. He questioned what I did with my days during the week. He never said those things to me personally, but he said them to someone else and that person told me. I was hurt. I was frustrated. I was angry. I didn’t know what to do. I began to pray, I asked the Lord what He would have me to do, if the Lord wanted me to go and talk to that man. It was as though the Lord was saying to me, “Love him more.” It was as though the Lord was saying to me, “Pray that he be blessed.” So I began to do that. It’s amazing what the Lord has done. In the years that have passed, he’s become one of my best friends and he has been blessed and I know that He’s praying for me to be blessed.
The apostle Paul wrote to the Christians in Rome and he said, “Bless those who persecute you, bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice. Weep for those who weep. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty but associate with the lowly. Never be conceited, repay no man evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all. If possible, and so far that depends upon you, live peaceably with all. And beloved never avenge yourself but leave it to the wrath of God for it is written “vengeance is mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. Know if your enemy is hungry, feed him. and if he is thirsty, give him drink. Now, that’s a hard teaching. We’ve been called to bless those that curse us.
The apostle Paul was once condemned by brothers and sisters in Christ, Christians who lived in Corinth. They said that of all the apostles they had seen, Paul was the worst. They said that he was unskilled in speaking. They questioned his apostolic authority and Paul wrote to them as recorded in the Book of 2 Corinthians, the 11th chapter. Paul said, “Even if I am unskilled in speaking, I’m not unskilled in knowledge as you well know. Whatever any of these boast of, though I’m speaking like a fool, I boast of it too. Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they descendants of Abraham? So am I. Are they serving for Christ? I serve him more. Though I’m speaking like a madman.” Paul went on to describe his suffering for the gospel. He went on to describe the depth of his visions and his revelations that he had received from the Lord. How he had been taken up into the third heaven and seen things which no man is allowed to utter in this age of the world. Paul said, “I’m speaking like a fool, but you have forced me to it. I ought to have been commended by you. I am not inferior to these other apostles though in truth, I am nothing. But when I was with you, the works of an apostle were performed among you as signs and wonders, and various merits. And now I’m coming to you again for the third time and I will not be a burden to you. For I do not seek what is yours, but rather I seek you. Children ought not to lay up for their parents, but parents ought to lay up for their children and therefore I will gladly spend and be spent for your soul. If I love you the more, you love me the less.”
It’s interesting to see how the apostle Paul responded to their criticism. He did not return reviling for reviling. They said he was the worst of all the apostles they had seen. He could have written to them and said, “Of all the churches I’ve seen, you’re the worst.” But he didn’t do it. He defended his ministry for the sake of his credibility and the gospel. He told them that he would try to love them more. You see, that’s what God has called upon us to do, to love people more. Even when they criticize us.
There was a woman who hated Winston Churchill. She once said to him, she said, “You know, if you were my husband, I think I’d put poison in your coffee.” He responded by saying, “Ma’am, if you were my wife, I think I’d drink it.” Sometimes we admire somebody who can make a quick comeback and we want to do that. But that’s not what God has called upon us to do. He’s called us to return cursing for blessing.
In 1978, Barb and I were in Ireland. We were with my mom and dad and my brothers and their wives. We were at Blarney Castle, 10 miles north of the township of Cork. I’m sure you’ve all heard that at Blarney Castle there is this blarney stone, which is on the top of one of the towers. And according to legend, whoever kisses the blarney stone is given eloquent, persuasive speech. So we climbed those hundreds of steps to the top. And when we got up there, there was this big long line of people waiting to kiss that rock. When I got there, I saw that it was all gooey and slimy, and so I decided not to kiss it. But Barb went ahead and she kissed that rock. She’s been very eloquent ever since.
But I think we would all agree that what the world needs is not a stone. Not a stone to give us eloquent speech, but what the world needs is a stone to give us loving speech. The Bible tells us that there is such a stone. It’s the stone that the builders rejected. It’s the rock called Christ, the cornerstone of the body of the temple of God. The Bible says come to Him, that living stone rejected by man but in God’s sight chose and precious. So God calls upon us to come to Christ, to come to Him as Lord and Savior, to come to Him that He might empower us to love others and to return reviling for blessing.
He has given us an example as Christians. Christ was rejected by men. He came into the world and the world was made by Him and the world knew Him not. He was subjected to an unjust trial. The crown of thorns was placed on His head. He was spat upon. He was made to carry his cross of humiliation to the street, crucified between two thieves. He was mocked. He could have summoned His deity. He could have called upon His godly power through which He once created the worlds. He could have called upon myriads of myriads of angels, 10-thousands of 10,000. He could have summoned the angelic hosts, but He did not. He chose to die for you and to die for me, and He simply cried out from the cross “Father, forgive them.”
Peter says that He has given us an example and that we should follow in His steps. He committed no sin. No guile was found on His lips. When He was reviled, He did not revile in return. When He suffered, he did not threaten, but He trusted Him who judges justly. He Himself bore our sins in His body on a tree that we might die to sin and live for righteousness. By His stripes, we are healed.
So we have these three teachings from the sixth chapter of the Gospel of Luke. First of all, we should never judge other people because our judgment is flawed. Our judgment is impaired. All judgment has been given to Jesus Christ. All judgment waits for Him. Secondly, we should never judge other people because we ourselves are deserving of judgment. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. The judgment you give to someone else is the judgment that will be given back. Finally, we should not judge others even when they do judge us. “Love your enemy, do good to those that hate you, bless those that curse you, and pray for those that abuse you.” Shall we pray?