Don’t Judge Me! | Sunday, May 8, 2022

Welcome to Cross Connection Church online! We're so grateful that you're joining us today. Before we get started, we want to let you know that if you're interested in any information about Cross Connection Church, you can check out our website at lifeinconnection.com.

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The head that once was crowned with thorns is crowned with glory now. The Savior knelt to wash our feet; now at His feet, we bow. The One who

The fear that held us now gives way to Him who is our peace. This final breath upon the cross is now of life in me.

Your name, your name is victory. Yes, it is! All praise will rise to Christ our King. Your name, your name is victory; our praise will rise to grace the key.

By Your Spirit, I will rise from the ashes of defeat. The resurrected King is resurrecting me. In Your name, I come alive to declare Your victory. The resurrected King is resurrecting. By Your Spirit, I will rise from the ashes of defeat. The resurrected King is resurrecting me. In Your name, I come alive to declare.

Your victory, all the resurrected King, is resurrecting me. What our God is doing is truly historic and monumental news. Without a doubt, there is nothing bigger in the news this week than the leak this last Monday of a draft majority Supreme Court opinion on a decision that would overturn the Supreme Court's 1973 Roe v. Wade decision.

This event has brought the concepts of courts, justices, judges, and judgment to the forefront of our national mindset in a spectacular way. As is often the case, the news fits perfectly with what we are going to be considering in the Scriptures today. I didn't plan it this way; I couldn't have planned it any better either.

We are going to be in a passage of Scripture today that deals with judgment. The reason that the court's decision is such huge and historic news is because the issue of abortion, which is obviously the core focus of Roe v. Wade, is the major political dividing point in American society. It has been for decades, for all of my life and more.

For those with strong religious affiliations in America, especially Christians, a candidate's policy and their views on abortion are often at the top of the list for making voting decisions in the U.S. For those who are ideologically left-leaning or progressive, and may not necessarily identify as religious or Christian, it is often no different.

A major determiner for a lot of people, or at least at the top of the list of things they consider when casting their vote, is the issue of abortion. If you are on the right, it is highly likely that you are pro-life, and if you are on the left, then it is equally likely that you are pro-abortion. I’m not sure there is a more inflamed debate in America than the topic of abortion. This means that as soon as the leak hit the news this last Monday evening, social media was lit, and the condemnations began flying.

Some on the left were saying things like, "You hate women! You want them to die! You want women to be subjugated and enslaved! You don't care about choices!" In response, some people on the right would say, "Well, you hate babies! You want to kill babies! You don't care about life!" In such an environment, it is virtually impossible to have a calm, coherent conversation with someone who believes differently than you do.

The chaos that I anticipated at the beginning of 2020 just continues. It continued through 2020, 2021, and well into 2022. We are not even halfway through the year yet, and you can be certain that the chaos of the next six months leading up to the midterm elections is going to be crazy once again.

When major divisive issues like those in the news this week arise, individuals line up with their side, pointing fingers of condemnation at the other side and shouting things like, "You hate women!" or "You hate babies!" At that time, when there is such contention and condemnation, the teaching of Jesus in Matthew chapter 7 could not be more appropriate. We read in Matthew chapter 7, verse 1, "Judge not, that you be not judged." This is a favorite verse of many people who have never read the Bible. My friend David Guzik, commenting on this passage, says that among those who seem to know nothing of the Bible, this is the verse that seems to be the most popular.

Marriage was at a fever pitch here in my state, California. This verse was thrown around quite frequently by people who are not necessarily Christians or churchgoers. More than a few times, I have heard people say to Christians—these are people who aren't Christians saying to Christians—"You're not a very good Christian because Jesus said thou shalt not judge."

This is perhaps the most well-known, least understood teaching of the Bible. It is right up there with another well-known, least understood teaching of the Bible: that God helps those who help themselves. I say "most well-known, least understood teachings of the Bible" because the Bible doesn't teach either of those things. It does not teach "thou shalt not judge," and it does not teach that "God helps those who help themselves." Yet, a lot of people think that the Bible does teach that.

I absolutely love when I hear someone say something like, "How dare you judge me, you bigot!" They do not recognize that they just did the very thing they are chastising someone for apparently doing. In actuality, it is impossible for us not to judge. We would not survive as individuals, or really as a species, if we did not make manifold judgments continuously.

We judge foods that we should or should not eat. We judge places that we should or should not go. We judge people we should or should not associate with. Every single day, you and I make judgment after judgment, and we have to do that to survive. The problem is, as we all know very well, our prejudice—which simply means our prejudgment—is not always valid or accurate, right or true. There are times when we make wrong judgments, snap judgments of people or of things.

So, we get it wrong. Because we get it wrong, Jesus teaches something very important in this passage about judgment. Does Jesus teach "thou shalt not judge"? Well, the answer to that question is no; that's not what this passage is teaching. As we are going to see, ultimately this passage isn't really entirely about judgment or judging as much as it is about humility and self-examination.

Personal individual transformation is important for us to remember the context where this teaching is found. The larger context of our current study here at Cross Connection Church is in Jesus's teaching called the Sermon on the Mount. We are doing a short series over the last two weeks, this week, and then next week, called "Unmasking Jesus," where we are looking at some passages of Scripture that I think are sometimes overlooked and sometimes misunderstood, but are very applicable for us at this moment.

The teaching in Matthew chapter 7, specifically the first five verses that we will consider today, is in the midst of that context as Jesus is teaching His disciples. In Matthew chapters 5, 6, and 7, He is speaking to His followers, those we would identify as disciples of Jesus. He is talking about the importance of true righteousness. The religious leaders of Jesus's day, identified in this passage and in other places as the scribes and the Pharisees, considered themselves, and in many cases were considered by others, to be righteous. However, Jesus teaches in the Sermon on the Mount these words that we looked at last week and the week before in Matthew chapter 5, verse 20. He said, "Unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven."

I think this was probably a shocking statement that Jesus gave to His followers. Most of the people He was speaking to at that point in time were common individuals; they were farmers, fishermen, carpenters, and tax collectors—people with all kinds of different jobs, just normal things. They were not the hyper-religious or hyper-spiritual. So, He says to them, "Your righteousness needs to be greater than the most religiously righteous," and I think that was probably shocking.

You see, while the Pharisees and the scribes considered themselves righteous and were considered by many to be righteous, what they actually had, when you really deconstructed and looked at it, was a superficial self-righteousness that, according to Jesus, was only skin deep. It was not kingdom-worthy. I say that it was only skin deep or that it was shallow righteousness because, in another place, that's exactly what Jesus says in Matthew chapter 23.

In verse 25 of Matthew 23, it says, "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisees! First cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness. Even so, you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness."

Look at the poetic back and forth between outside and inside in that passage. Scribes and Pharisees, on the outside, you look really good to everybody, but on the inside, you are full of wickedness. It was a shallow righteousness. If you are going to be right before God, which is far more important than being right before men—especially if you desire to see the kingdom of God or heaven—then you must have a righteousness that exceeds or is far greater than the superficial self-righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees.

This entire teaching in the Sermon on the Mount is, I believe, pointing us to true righteousness in Christ as His followers and as His disciples. We considered the path into righteousness a couple of weeks ago when we started in Matthew chapter 5. That path into righteousness begins by acknowledging and recognizing our poverty of spirit, recognizing that in and of ourselves, we do not have righteousness before a holy God. We see that in Matthew chapter 5, verse 3, where Jesus said, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."

Notice that He said in Matthew 5, verse 20, that the scribes and the Pharisees had a righteousness that would not get them into the kingdom of heaven. But in Matthew 5:3, He says, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." The right path into righteousness and the right path into the kingdom of heaven begins with being in that place of being poor in spirit, having poverty of spirit, which I think means to acknowledge and recognize our spiritual poverty before a holy God.

That leads right into the next verses at the opening of Matthew chapter 5. We recognize and realize our own deficit, and then we humbly mourn over that deficit and over that lostness. In Matthew chapter 5, verse 4, it says, "Blessed are those who..."

Mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, and that is connected to humility, for they shall inherit the earth. This leads into the very next thing: blessed are the poor in spirit, blessed are those that mourn, blessed are the meek, and finally, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.

A righteousness that's not their own is not manufactured by their own keeping of the rules, regulations, statutes, laws, and rituals. Jesus says in Matthew chapter 5, verse 6, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled." That is the path—the path into true righteousness, a righteousness that exceeds and is greater than superficial self-righteousness, the religious self-righteousness of the Pharisees and the scribes.

As we go through that path, recognizing our deficit, our poverty of spirit, mourning over it, and being humbled, we hunger and thirst for righteousness. This leads us into a place where we seek to walk after the pattern of Jesus as His disciples.

In our time last week in Matthew chapter 6, we considered a contrast between superficial self-righteous religious devotion and truly righteous devotion that is before God and not necessarily before man. The scribes and the Pharisees, the worldly righteous, if you will, did their good works. They gave, they prayed, they fasted, and they possessed their wealth. They did all of this to be seen by people. It was not about God; it was about them and who they were in the eyes of other people, not who they were in the eyes of God.

We saw that in Matthew chapter 6 last week. Now, this week, we're going to continue with that contrast in a sense and a call to a wholly different kind of righteousness—not a superficial self-righteousness, but a true righteousness. Remember, Jesus wants us to be truly righteous, not superficially self-righteous.

The fastest path, or perhaps you could say the primary path to superficial self-righteousness, is hypocritically judging other people, which never engages in self-examination and is wholly the opposite of humility. True righteousness requires the humility and self-examination of the heart.

Personal judgment is a bit of a jump ahead, but the key focus of this passage of Scripture, as we're going to see, is in the very last verse, verse 5. There, in Matthew 7:5, Jesus says, "Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye." I don't want to jump to that quite yet, but that's where we're going.

It's important for us to see verse 2 to understand this truth: personal judgment, or judging myself, requires humility. It requires self-examination. This is what one counseling discipleship program called biblical self-confrontation emphasizes. Matthew 7:5 is the core verse of that entire program, which I went through about 20 years ago in a counseling class. The book is called Biblical Self-Confrontation, and it was a six-month-long class. The core focus of that entire book was those words: "Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye."

That was a challenging class. At the time, I was about 22 or 23 years old, but I can say that it really challenged me to take a look at my own life through the lens of Scripture and to examine myself. I needed to first remove the plank from my own eye so I could see clearly to help other people. That class was transformative in my life; it required me to look in the mirror of God's Word and to see the dirt of my own life, which is not easy.

Now, that's something that Pharisees don't do. They avoid self-examination and introspection, using the light of God's Word to reveal what's really in our hearts and lives. Pharisees don't engage in that kind of reflection. Don't miss this: all of us can very easily become what my friend Larry Osborne calls accidental Pharisees if we are not very, very careful.

Jesus says in this passage, "Judge not, that you be not judged." He goes on in verse 2, "For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you." If you skip down ten verses from Matthew 7:2 to Matthew 7:12, you will see the continuation of this important teaching.

The verse that we typically call the Golden Rule is found in Matthew 7:12, where Jesus says, "Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets." This serves as a fitting reminder at this point; it embodies the simple truth of what I like to call Thumper theology. Do you remember Thumper from Disney's movie Bambi? In the movie, he says, "If you can't say something nice, don't say nothing at all." This reflects the same kind of thinking present in this passage.

We find a similar theme a few verses back in Matthew 7:2. As I mentioned previously, we cannot not judge. Let me say that again, because sometimes we mix that up in our minds: we cannot not judge. A life without judgment might sound nice, but I don't think it is possible. So, if we must judge—and I believe we must—then we need to keep this in mind: my judgments of others must be humble and not hypocritical.

For both of these requirements to be met in my life, I need to recognize that I will be judged with the same judgment by which I am judging others. We will be measured by the same standard by which we measure others. My friend David Guzik comments on this, noting that according to the teaching of some rabbis in Jesus' time, God had two measures that He used to judge people: one was a measure of justice, and the other a measure of mercy. He makes the statement that whichever measure you want God to use with you, you should use the same measure with others.

We are going to make judgments of other people; it is part of being human. However, when we do judge others, we need to ensure that we are not judging them with a different standard than we would judge ourselves. Self-righteousness is always arrogant and hypocritical. It compares the best part of us with the worst part of others. To this, Paul says in 2 Corinthians 10:12, "We dare not class ourselves or compare ourselves with those who commend themselves, but they, measuring themselves by themselves and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise."

It is unwise to establish your goodness or your righteousness by looking at other people. It's very easy for us to do that because we can always find someone who is worse off than us. Now, I don't think that it is entirely possible to judge others without...

Comparing ourselves to others can be tempting, but first and foremost, we need to humbly consider ourselves in the light of Christ. It's always easy for me to find someone who, when compared to myself, seems a lot worse and makes me look pretty awesome. However, the plumb line isn't the other guy down the street; it's not even the person sitting next to you as you're watching this. The plumb line is Jesus Christ. His perfect righteousness is the standard.

We saw this when we were back in Matthew chapter 5. Jesus, the Christ, the Word of God, tells us what the true nature of the law is and makes the law more weighty than it ever seemed to be. This realization causes us to go all the way back to Matthew chapter 5, verse 3, and recognize our poverty of spirit—that we are lacking in righteousness. If my judgments of others are going to be humble and not hypocritical, then self-examination and self-confrontation are necessary; they are essential.

Jesus continues in Matthew chapter 7, verse 3, saying, "And why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye and do not consider the plank in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me remove the speck from your eye,' and look, a plank is in your own eye?"

It is very important in the Christian life, and really in life in general, to help others see clearly so that they might change and be changed. However, we need to engage in some humble introspection before we try to help other people see clearly. We first need to look at ourselves so that we are not hitting them with the big old plank that is in our eye while trying to help them with the speck in theirs. I am of no help to others if I have not first examined and judged myself.

We love to say things like, "I'm only trying to help" or "I'm just being honest," but have we honestly taken a look at ourselves through the lens of Scripture, through the mirror of God's Word, to see what is actually in our lives? If not, then the first word of Matthew chapter 7, verse 5, is really important. It begins with the word "hypocrite!" If you judge others by your self-righteous standard without first judging yourself by a truly righteous standard, then you are a hypocrite. There is no way around this.

Hypocrites and Pharisees exhibit a false sense of righteousness. If you unrighteously judge other people, we often don't like to hear that. We don't want to be called hypocrites. I don't want to be called a hypocrite, and it probably bothers you if you're a Christian and you hear non-Christians say, "Well, the church is full of hypocrites." The reality is that this statement is probably true, but we don't want to hear that we're hypocrites. It bugs us.

In fact, you might even say, "Hey, Pastor, why are you judging me?" when I point out that if you do these things, then you're a hypocrite. It's important to recognize that I'm not the one judging you; Jesus is the one judging you. His word is the one that says in red, "Hypocrite." If you pre-judge others without judging yourself, you might feel better about yourself. You might feel good because you can find people who are worse than you. However, you might also be a Pharisee.

You might be a good church-going person. You might drive the right speed on the freeway, carry the right kind of Bible, and have the right version of the Bible. You might have the right stickers on your car, vote for the right candidates, read the right news sites, and watch the right movies. You might subscribe or unsubscribe to the right streaming services and drink or not drink the right beverages. Yet, despite all this, you might still be a Pharisee.

Seven times in Matthew chapter 23, when Jesus was speaking about the Pharisees, He says, "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!" Woe is an expression of grief, and it's attached to the thought of how disastrous it will be for you. That's what He is saying to these very religious people. They were hyper-religious, and everybody looked up to them because they seemed to have it all together according to rituals and religious righteousness. Jesus warns that it will be disastrous for them unless there is some repentance and transformation in their lives.

Their righteousness was not true righteousness; it was not worthy of the Kingdom of Heaven. A hypocrite is a pretender. If you have Pharisaical righteousness, it is a false righteousness. It is not worthy of the Kingdom of Heaven; it is a righteousness that is barely skin deep. It cleanses the outside of the cup and paints the outside of the tomb, but inside is corruption, wickedness, and lawlessness. Jesus says, "Judge not, that you be not judged," not because He is teaching that judgment in and of itself is bad, but...

We cannot live without judging things, but Jesus speaks against unself-critical judgment, which is hypocrisy. He teaches, "Judge not, that you be not judged," so that you won't be among the hypocrites and be condemned with them.

So what then is the answer? If we can't live this life without judging, how do we navigate this in the right way? Well, first, Jesus says to remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye. This is found in Matthew chapter seven, verse five: "First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly that you may remove the speck from your brother's eye."

This is an important point for us to take note of. The self-deception of what a friend of mine calls "log-eye disease" is dangerous. The cure for this self-deception is humble self-examination and personal judgment using the truly righteous standard of the Word of God, Jesus Christ. Jesus is the standard; He is the one by whom we measure our lives.

Once we have examined ourselves in light of His Word and have confessed our sinful failings, hungering and thirsting for His righteousness, we can then see clearly to help others. We need each other in this life as Christians on this discipleship path of sanctification. When my glasses are clean, I can see clearly to help others see clearly.

These are crucially important truths, and that is why we have been going through them over the last several weeks in this series called "Unmasking Jesus." American culture, here in May of 2022, wants to shout, "Don't judge me!" while at the same time condemning and judging everyone else. As Christians, we are just as guilty of doing this as those who are outside of the church. Something's got to give, and would to God that it would begin with the church.

I was talking with my friend David Guzik about this last week because he had...

Asked me what I was preaching on this week, and I told him that I'd be in Matthew chapter seven, verses one through five. David said to me, if you don't know who David Guzik is, you can just go to his website, enduringword.com. He's written commentaries on the entire Bible. As I told him that I was teaching through Matthew chapter seven, verses one through five, he said, "Oh, I've got a great message on that passage." You can pretty much expect that David always has a great message on the passage because he's taught through everything.

He sent me his notes to look at, and I really liked this from David. I want to go through it really quick because I think it's something for us to think about as we're wrapping up our time here together today. In his message, he talks about six ways that we break the command to judge not, that we be not judged.

First, he says we break this command when we think the worst of others. Second, we break this command when we speak to others only of their faults. Third, we break this command when we judge an entire life only by its worst moments. I'm guilty of that; I think we probably are. Fourth, we break this command when we judge the hidden motives of others. We might think, "That person was thinking this," or "They were doing that," but we don't really know what's going on.

Fifth, we break this command when we judge others without considering ourselves in the same circumstance. Sixth, we break this command when we judge others without being mindful that we ourselves will be judged.

As I said earlier, we need one another on this disciples' path of sanctification, but only as we have a proper view of ourselves and are clothed in the righteousness of Christ. As we have hungered and thirsted for His righteousness, He clothes us with the robe of righteousness. I will be no help to somebody else if I'm clothed in my own self-righteousness. Clothed in our own superficial self-righteousness, we will just cast stones at sinners and crucify the truly righteous. That's exactly what the scribes and the Pharisees did, and hopefully, we won't be numbered among them.

Father God, I pray that You would cause us to think about these words, this passage here in Matthew chapter seven today and this week. I believe there's a work that You want to do of transformation and sanctification in me and in my brothers and sisters. Lord, You want us to be a light to this world, but we will not be a light to this world standing in our own hypocritical, superficial self-righteousness. We will only be a light to this world as we are reflecting Your righteousness.

Have clothed us with it. So, God, I pray if there needs to be some confession and some repentance as it relates to the things that we've looked at in this passage, would You do a work in us? May we be known by our fruits, as we also see in this passage in Matthew chapter 7. People would see in us the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control. All of those things, God, would that be what is abundant in our lives? We pray and ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.

The tomb where soldiers watched in vain was borrowed for three days. His body there would not remain. Our God has rocked the grave. Your name is victory. All praise will rise to Christ the King. Your name is victory. Yes, it is.

And by His Spirit, I will rise from the ashes of defeat. The resurrected King is resurrecting me. In Your name, I come alive to declare Your victory. The resurrected King is.

Resurrecting, and by Your Spirit, I will rise from the ashes of debate. The resurrected King is resurrecting me. In Your name, I come alive to declare Your victory. The resurrected King is resurrecting me.

Thank you for joining us for our online service today. As we close, we would love to invite you to our on-campus service here at Cross Connection Church at 8:30 and 10:30 AM every Sunday. If you'd like more information about Cross Connection Church, make sure you check out lifeinconnection.com.

Good morning, Cross Connection! It's Pastor Garrett here. First and foremost, I want to say to all of the moms out there, happy Mother's Day! You guys are amazing, and I am praying that you have a blessed day today, that God would just put His hand of blessing on you.

Aside from that, we had a great week last week, and I just want to celebrate and give it up to the Lord that we baptized 21 people at our baptism barbecue last weekend here at Cross Connection Church. What a blessing! Not only did we have 21 people baptized, but many of you hung out and celebrated with us. There’s a party going on in heaven every time somebody gives their life to the Lord, so we had a little party here at Cross Connection. We had a great time with the barbecue, and thank you again to everyone who supported our youth as they fundraised for summer camp, which is going to be from June 22nd through the 25th.

A couple of announcements for you: If you are looking to get plugged in, we have a few options. First, we have a Faith and Finances class that will be led by Pastor Miles next Saturday. So, sign up online! Don't forget, next Saturday is our Faith and Finances class here at Cross Connection Church. It will be held in the sanctuary, and we would love for you to attend. Again, it's something that all of us could use help with.

Our finances are important, so please sign up for the Faith and Finances class at onlineevents.lifeinconnection.com. If you're looking for ways to get plugged in and truly live life in connection with God, one another, and the world through Jesus Christ, one of the greatest ways to do that is to step out in faith and serve.

We have various opportunities available, and one of the needs we currently have is in our hospitality ministry. In fact, all of our ministries could use some additional support. I'm looking at all of you who are not currently plugged into serving; we would love to have you join one of our teams.

Right now, we are particularly looking to strengthen our hospitality crew. If you can smile and hand someone a donut, that's pretty much the only requirement! We would love to have you on the team. Please check that out again on our website and sign up online.