Happy New Year, everyone!
I think God has a thing for newness, for fresh starts. It was in the vision of John we read together from Revelation 21 – He saw the new earth, the beautifully remade Holy City coming down out of heaven from God. And God was thrilled to be dwelling among his people.
Don’t we cling to these words we read together? We will be his people, and God himself will be with us and be our God. ‘He will wipe every tear from our eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”
And God himself proclaimed – “I am making everything new!”
AMEN?!
God is in the business of renewing all things!
This turning of the calendar is a glimpse into God’s Kingdom, I think. An opportunity for us to be partners with God in the renewal of all things – in the renewal of our lives, our rhythms, our habits, our relationships.
We’re going to do just that during our half day spiritual retreat this Saturday. I invite you to join us. You can visit ypsifree.org/retreat for all the info.
And if we want to talk renewal of habits, let’s dig into Matthew 7 where Jesus’ epic Sermon on the Mount doesn’t pull punches.
Can you see the connection? Can you see what this scene has to do with Jesus’ words? No? Not yet.
Remember Jesus says:
“Do not judge, so that you may not be judged. For with the judgment you make you will be judged, 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 will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbor’s eye.”
I don’t know about you, but I love this over-the-top word picture Jesus paints for us. I mean who of us would be so dim-witted as to not even notice the giant piece of wood sticking out of our face? That’s ridiculous! Of course we would! But let’s just say for whatever reason we’d gotten so used to our face-log that we had stopped noticing it? Would we really have the gaul to go over and try to help some other dude who’s got a speck of dust in their eye? Can you imagine how much damage would we cause with our “helping?”
Like a bull in the China Shop.
And this section of the Sermon on the Mount is about as subtle a turn from the previous sections as Ferdinand in that China Shop. NT Wright describes this final section of the Sermon on the Mount as a set of warning signs. Jesus takes an abrupt turn from the tone of his previous preaching. We go from “Blessed are the Meek” and “This is how you should pray” and “store up treasures in heaven” and “when you fast”…..to “Do Not Judge, you hypocrite, or else!”
I’m thinking Jesus takes this hard left turn because it’s something we can’t miss. We’ve got to catch this. He’s offering us warning for our own good.
In NT Wright’s Matthew For Everyone Bible Study he asks the question – What warnings or warning signs do you wish you had taken heed of?
For me, I wish I had heeded the warning sign on Plank Rd that told me the speed limit was 45. If I had, I wouldn’t have had to pay for that speeding ticket.
I wish I had listened to my mom when she told me not to ride my friend’s bike. I was just 6 years old but I decided I wanted to live life my way, so I road that bike that was way too big for me and tried to pop a wheelie and ended up flying headfirst over the handlebars and knocking out my three front teeth long before their time had come.
What about you? Take a minute right now to tell the person next to you (or type in the chat box online) about a warning you wish you had heeded.
So let’s pay attention. Let’s give as much heed to this passage of scripture (that I wish didn’t apply to me) as we wished we would have all those warning signs.
The Message paraphrase of these verses puts it this way:
“Don’t pick on people, jump on their failures, criticize their faults—unless, of course, you want the same treatment. That critical spirit has a way of boomeranging. It’s easy to see a smudge on your neighbor’s face and be oblivious to the ugly sneer on your own. Do you have the nerve to say, ‘Let me wash your face for you,’ when your own face is distorted by contempt? …Wipe that ugly sneer off your own face, and you might be fit to offer a washcloth to your neighbor.
Now I know none of us likes to be judged. And I KNOW our culture is very anti-judging. Phrases like, “Don’t judge me” or “You do you” are all ways our world encourages permissive behavior. But this isn’t quite what Jesus is getting at either. I think Mother Teresa was on to something when she put it this way: “If you judge people, you have no time to love them.”
The thing Jesus is getting at is the heart, the motivation behind our judging. Because odds are if we’re judging someone, we’re not being a humble compassionate friend. We’re probably not loving them well if we’re spending our time pointing out their faults.
Contemporary pastor Carey Nieuwhof summarizes it well: If I’m judging someone, I’m not loving them. You can’t judge someone and love them at the same time.
We know Jesus is all about love, right? That’s the core message of the Gospel – why Jesus came. Remember we just sang those words on Christmas Eve– His Law is Love. Jesus said he came not to throw out the Law but to fulfill it…and to give us a more perfect understanding of what adherence to the Law looks like. Because in our Human Nature, when we see a big long list of rules, we take it upon ourselves to make sure everyone else is following those rules. Have you ever observed a group of kindergarteners? Inevitably one or more of them will feel compelled to tattle on a classmate who’s not obeying the rules. Maybe it’s more obvious to me having been that kid myself. But by the time we’re grown up most of us have learned to stifle the knee-jerk reaction to be the dictator of rules. Nope, we’re much better than that. Instead of letting the words of judgment come out of our mouths, we ruminate on what “they” “should” be doing.
Jesus knows we are missing the point. Just like he knew his zealous Jewish friends were missing the point of the Laws.
In John 13:34 Jesus narrows in on love when he tell his followers:
“I give you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, so you also must love each other. This is how everyone will know that you are my disciples, when you love each other.”
And later in the gospel according to Matthew (chapter 22) Jesus boiled down the scrolls and scrolls of Levitical Law to Love when [He] replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 ALL the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
So the Law is Love. Love God. Love All People.
In the birth of Jesus, Love itself became flesh, Love put on skin, Love became human to demonstrate what fulfilling the law is really all about. Jesus came to demonstrate the Law of Love.
So friends, let’s consider what we’re not doing when we’re judging others. 1) We’re not loving them. 2) We’re not praying for them. 3) We’re not acknowledging our own sins, 4) we’re not trying to come alongside and help them. Nope.
Ignoring our own sins while becoming fixated with the sins of others’ violates the Law of Love.
Love God.
Love All People.
Now I bet every single one of us can think of someone else’s sin. I won’t make you share this part with your neighbor, but I do want you to actually think about it. Whose unhealthy patterns or destructive habits are you fixated on? I bet you can tell me why, too? I know I can. We can all “clearly” see how that person’s sin is harming them and others. And you know what, we’re probably not wrong. Their sin probably is harming themselves and others. That’s the nature of sin.
But why are we fixated on their sin while ignoring our own? How clearly can we really see when we’ve got a log sticking out of one of our own eyes? How much concern are we actually showing them when we run towards them with our plank like a bull in a china shop? We’re doing more harm than good.
James 4:11-12 says,
“Brothers and sisters, don’t say evil things about each other. Whoever insults or criticizes a brother or sister insults and criticizes the Law. If you find fault with the Law, you are not a doer of the Law but a judge over it. There is only one lawgiver and judge, and he is able to save and to destroy. But you who judge your neighbor, who are you?
Who do we think we are? Does that strike you as close to the heart as it does me?
In the notes of my Wesley Study Bible it says,
“Assuming for ourselves the role of judge over others, we sit in the seat reserved for God alone and transgress the law by slandering others. This is nothing less than arrogance at work.
When we are judging others we are sitting in the seat reserved for God alone. Who do we think we are?
Is there another option? Is there a better way? How are we to obey rather than violate the Law of Love? What would that even look like?
To obey the Law of Love means living in a constant state of repentance and compassion.
Repentance involves taking a long look at myself and my own sin, confessing those to God, and then TURNING AND GOING IN A NEW DIRECTION.
Compassion is that new direction. Compassion shows sincere care and concern for the suffering of others. Compassion is what flows out towards others after we ourselves have encountered the incredibly vast love of God.
Remember that famous “love chapter” from I Corinthians 13? “Love is patient, love is kind, it does not envy, it does not boast…” But before these verses Paul is describing the parts of the Body of Christ and all of the various gifts we all have to offer one another and the world.
27 Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. 28 And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers; then deeds of power, then gifts of healing, forms of assistance, forms of leadership, various kinds of tongues.
That’s some pretty impressive stuff right? But you know what he says next:
And I will show you a still more excellent way.
[because] If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. And if I judge someone who is clearly needing to be redirected, but have not love, I am nothing.
The Law of Love, friends. It all boils down to this. Love is the most excellent way.
So let’s imagine for a minute what compassion looks like as compared to judgment.
The judgmental attitude focuses on how the person looks with that log in their eye. “Oh my gosh how can a person live like that? Don’t they know what they’re doing to their body? How can they stand having people look at them that way?”
On the other hand, the compassionate companion sees the log and considers their friend’s suffering. “How much that must hurt! You must be in pain? Are you looking for relief? Have you tried anything so far? How did those remedies work?”
You can tell when a person is offering advice out of judgment or love can’t you? The words might be the same, but you can sense the tone of criticism or compassion. (Frances offering help when Junia was sick – a wedge, humidifier, vicks)
Because when a person is living by the law of love their only motivation is compassion. They have experienced the compassion of God, and they can’t help but share it with others. So if there does come a time when they have sensed God nuding them to offer a sincere rebuke, they make room for any number of responses, including total disregard for their judgment and advice. And what does the compassionate person do next? They continue loving. Because that’s what love does. Love gives without any expectation of how it will be received.
So what’s next? What can we do to begin fulfilling the law of love?
This week, I will begin by noticing each time I think a judgmental thought.
You might be surprised, maybe even shocked and appalled by how often you think judgmental thoughts about someone else. Noticing and naming the thought is the first step to taking it captive and finding freedom from that sin.
Carey Nieuwhof says,
People run from people who judge them. They run to people who love them. Think about it; that’s what you do: you run from people who judge you. God never asked you to judge the world. He did ask you to love it.
And then if you’re ready for more than just noticing, maybe you can declare:
I will pray a blessing for the person in my mind.
In that same article, Carey Nieuwhof says,
Judging someone and praying for someone are pretty much mutually exclusive. You can’t pray for someone you judge because you’re actually not for them. Sure, you can pray about them, but again, your prayer won’t be grounded in humility. It might be grounded in anger, or in arrogance, or superiority, but it won’t be grounded in love. You never truly pray for someone you judge. Conversely, if you want to stop judging someone, pray for them. It’s impossible to judge someone and truly pray for them at the same time.
So let’s do it: let’s commit to praying a blessing for that person who your mind thinks to judge.
Ready for more? Commit to 21 Days of Prayer & Fasting We’re starting tomorrow exploring the depths of God’s love, leaning into confession and repentance, letting go of the foods or habits or meals that we’ve come to rely too heavily on, and letting God form us into an expression of his vast love. There’s brochures available in the lobby that give explanation to why we pray & fast together every January, and there’s a guide to focusing our prayers and scripture readings during these 21 days.
Friends –
Bring all your failures
Bring your addictions
Come lay them down
At the foot of the cross
Jesus is waiting
God so loved the world
Let’s rejoice in that incredibly good news this morning.
