According To Luke: Making Good Judgements

According To Luke: Making Good Judgements 

Do We React In The Heat of the Moment or With The Heart of God?

Opening Illustration:

Steven Covey recalls riding on the New York subway one Sunday morning. It was a quiet time with many simply reading the paper, resting, or thinking quietly to themselves.

But the quiet was shatter when a man and his children entered the car Covey was sitting in. The man sat down and appeared impervious to the noisy and rambunctious children who began to disturb the other passengers.

After a few moments Covey could take it no longer. He turned to the man and said, "Sir, your children are really disturbing a lot of people. I wonder if you couldn't control them a little more?"

It brought the man back to consciousness of the situation, Covey goes on to say, which caused the father to say, "Oh, you're right. I guess I should do something about it. We just came from the hospital an hour ago where their mother died. I don't know what to think, and I guess they don't know how to handle it either." Covey goes onto say that he saw and experienced the situation from an entirely different perspective after that and sought to help the man.

Point:

It helps when we slow down and put ourselves in the shoes of other people. It is beneficial to us when we slow down, try to be more considerate, and ponder the experiences of others. Why do they act this way? What would Jesus do? How would Jesus respond? Instead we often fly off the handle. We judge other quickly and with the wrong attitude and heart. 

Point:

Jesus addresses these matter in Luke 6:37-45.

Background and Context:

In the context of the passage we are studying in Luke, Jesus is talking about judging enemies, forgiving enemies, and lending to enemies. When he says give and it will be given to you, however, he isn't saying that if you give to your enemies they will give back to you. To the contrary. We aren't to expect them to return our generosity (6:35). But God will give it back and more. It's part of the paradox of the Beatitudes:

"Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.

Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied." (6:20-21a)

Be faithful to obey me, Jesus is teaching his disciples, and you will surely be repaid. Maybe not now, but in the future -- fully, completely, overwhelmingly. Be faithful, for the reward will surely come. In generosity toward our enemies, too, we can't out-give God. We can only hope to emulate his abundant mercy and grace to his own enemies.

Transition Statement:

So, let’s dive back in to the greatest sermon every produced. Jesus’ sermon on the mount. Reading today from Luke 6:37-45 from the English Standard Version. 

Luke 6:37-45 ESV

37 “Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven; 38 give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.”

39 He also told them a parable: “Can a blind man lead a blind man? Will they not both fall into a pit? 40 A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher. 41 Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? 42 How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take out the speck that is in your eye,’ when you yourself do not see the log that is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take out the speck that is in your brother's eye.

43 “For no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit, 44 for each tree is known by its own fruit. For figs are not gathered from thorn-bushes, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush. 45 The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.

Make Good Judgements Requires…

I. Humility vs. 37-38

Luke 6:37-38 ESV

37 “Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven; 38 give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.”

Point:

This is perhaps the most wrongly quoted Scripture in all of the Bible. This particular verse has been twisted by people to to justify all sorts of sin. We hear statements like “Jesus says that you cannot judge me” thus giving credence to all sorts of bad behavior and wrongdoing. It must have been real problem even back in Paul’s day because he addressed the nature of sin and grace in Romans 6. 

Romans 6:1-4 ESV

What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? 3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

I am sure that even in Paul’s day there were people running around doing all sorts of sin while claiming the protective shelter of God’s grace. 

You cannot judge me! Jesus says so. 

Well friends context is everything. Yes, Jesus says to judge not and He is clearly speaking His followers. Remember who else was in the audience. The Pharisees! Jesus would later call these men “whitewashed tombs”. They look great on the outside but they were dead on the inside. They would stand of the foundation of their self proclaimed righteousness and man made holiness and pronounce judgement and condemnation on everyone. Jesus was specifically talking to them. What gave them the right to judge other sinners? The answer is clear, they didn’t have the right. 

Next, you have to look at the word “judge”. The Greek word for “judge” is krē'-nō. The word actually means to rule or govern. The actual definition of the word is to to preside over with the power of giving judicial decisions, because it was the prerogative of kings and rulers to pass judgment. What Jesus is saying is that no man, or woman for that matter, has the right to sit in ultimate authority over anyone else. We humans do not have the authority to pass out ultimate condemnation, judgment, or eternal punishment. 

Whose job is that? Well, God’s of course. 

How do I know this? Nearly 80 times in the Bible God is mentioned as our ultimate judge. 

Psalm 75:7 

But God is the Judge; He puts down one and exalts another.

Isaiah 33:22

For the LORD is our judge, The LORD is our lawgiver, The LORD is our king; He will save us--

James 4:12

There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the One who is able to save and to destroy; but who are you who judge your neighbor?

Hebrews 10:30

For we know Him who said, "VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY " And again, "THE LORD WILL JUDGE HIS PEOPLE."

Point:

I know that is hard to believe that men, or generally people, would unknowingly unseat God from His rightful place as judge only to pass condemnation on another human being. It may be hard to believe but it happened before Jesus, it happened during Jesus’ ministry, and it happens each and every day. We make, in most cases, snap judgements condemning people based on their outward appearances, their known past, the country they come from, the religion they practice, or their race. 

Anytime we curse at someone, anytime we give them the ole #1 in a fit of rage, anytime we tell someone to go to a particular spiritual hot spot, we judge them. We may know realize what we are doing, but that is the reality. 

Point:

Jesus is the judge. He is the rightful judge and it is He who can see into someone’s heart and core and know that person better than they know themselves. Jesus alone makes eternal judgements on man, not me and not you. 

Point:

So, if we are not to judge, what should we do? Well Jesus responds with the answer to that question. 

“condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven; 38 give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.”

We are to “condemn not”, “forgive”, and “give”. Jesus is just circling back to His earlier statements about how we are to love our enemies. We do not stand in judgement over them because we are just sinners ourselves. Rather, we forgive them, and give to them out of the charity that the Holy Spirit has given to us. 

Point:

So some of you are probably saying, “sounds like if the preacher won’t condemn sinners, he must be preaching to condone sinners.” Hardly! Jesus does not tolerate sin and neither should we. It was our sin that nailed Jesus to the cross. However, Jesus did not throw the baby out with the bath water. 

Ever heard the statement, “hate the sin, not the sinner”? That’s what I am talking about. We can hate sin and we should hate sin. However, we should not condemn the sinner. We should be the model, the example of Jesus to them in hopes that they too would come into saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. Our hearts should not be hard towards them, rather we should remain tenderhearted towards the lost. 

Remember, it is not God’s mission to condemn and destroy, but rather to save and restore. 

John 3:17 NLT

God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.

Follow Christ’s example of patience and love towards the sinner. God does not what that human to perish but He wants them to respond in love to the Gospel message. 

2 Peter 3:9 NIV

The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

Make Good Judgements Requires…

I. Humility vs. 37-38

II. Capability vs. 39-42

Luke 6:39-42 ESV

39 He also told them a parable: “Can a blind man lead a blind man? Will they not both fall into a pit? 40 A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher. 41 Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? 42 How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take out the speck that is in your eye,’ when you yourself do not see the log that is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take out the speck that is in your brother's eye.

Illustration:

Have you ever heard the curious story of Leonid Rogozov. He was a Russian on an expedition to the polar region of Antartica. While on the expedition, Rogozov developed symptoms of a badly swollen appendix. The only problem was that he was the only doctor and the closest ship was nearly a year away. He was practically on his own and dying. So, instead of dying, he got to work. He was the first doctor ever to perform surgery on himself. With the help of a few assistants, Leonid Rogozov removed his own appendix and saved his life. 

Sometimes I wish it were that easy to remove sin from my life. Just find the problem, pull out a scalpel, and get to work. While it is not that easy, isn’t if funny that we try to do that to the people around us? After all, finding flaws in others is usually easier that seeing the flaws in ourselves.  

Point:

One of my primary callings as a pastor is to try to be there for people who are hurting and sufferings. So, this means that I am hospitals on a regular basis. Just the other day I was looking back at my last month of hospital visitations. I try to keep a record of people that I have visited so that I can remember them in my prayer life. Just last month, I visited various hospitals 38 times. That’s a lot of hospital visitations. What a great joy it is for me to pray for those of you who have been hospitalized or about to have surgery. 

I dare say that most of us have had some sort of surgical procedure at some point in our lives. Surgery is a bit scary isn’t it. You are trusting another human being, albeit skilled and educated, to cut us open and remove all sorts of things. There are those of us who have trusted our eye site to doctors, our hearing, we have had organs removed, we have had organs replaced, we have trusted doctors with our hearts and in some cases our very brains. 

This a singular act of faith.  Part of the Hippocratic Oath for a doctor is to “do no harm” and we place a great deal of faith and trust in our doctor’s ability to keep that oath. 

Point:

Imagine for a moment that you were entering renal failure. Your kidneys had shut down and your body was beginning to experience all the symptoms of that horrible diagnosis. Now imagine that instead of seeking surgery from a trained professional, you decided to do the surgery yourself. How do you think that would go?  Pretty poorly Id imagine. 

Now, imagine that you recognized the symptoms of renal failure in another person. Instead of sending that person to the doctor, you decided that you yourself were qualified to operate on that person. You had read a medical journal, consulted with a doctor, watched a YouTube video and felt that you could do the surgery. How do you think that would go?  Again, poorly Id imagine. 

Point:

Friends, unless you have been to medical school, trained under and expert, and demonstrated surgical precision for several years, you are not qualified to perform surgery on yourself or on anyone else. 

Point:

What Jesus is talked about here in verse 39-42 is akin to spiritual surgery. “41 Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? 42 How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take out the speck that is in your eye,’ when you yourself do not see the log that is in your own eye?”

What makes us think that we are qualified to perform spiritual surgery on another human being when we ourselves are suffering from a spiritual sickness? Jesus calls this sort of arrogance hypocrisy and everyone in this room is guilty of it. 

Point:

Understand that my life has benefited by the careful help hands of men and women who have lovingly helped me see the problem areas of my life and aided me in removing that sin. We are all the beneficiaries of someone else’s faith, discipline, and discipleship. Yes, those people were sinners just like me but they approached me a humble and meek way. They loved me enough to deliver to me truth even when the truth sometimes hurts. 

Jesus is not talking about those sorts of people. He is specifically referring to those who carry the weight of sin, feel no remorse over sin, and are happy with pointing out the sin of others. There is no humility. There is no conviction. Only righteous indignation that leads to haughty arrogance. 

Point:

So, what should we do when we encounter sin in our lives, or sin in the lives of others?  My best answer is let God’s Word do the convicting and let us do the loving. Trust me, God’s Word is the sharpest scalpel that can remove any form of sin. 

Hebrews 4:12 ESV

For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires.

Remember, our job is to humbly understand our role in loving, discipling and disciple making. Our role is to practice what Paul says…

2 Timothy 2:15 ESV

Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.

Make Good Judgements Requires…

I. Humility vs. 37-38

II. Capability vs. 39-42

III. Perceptibility  vs. 43-45

Luke 6:43-45 ESV

43 “For no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit, 44 for each tree is known by its own fruit. For figs are not gathered from thorn-bushes, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush. 45 The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.

Illustration:

My wife is defiantly the cook of our family. She is tremendous at it. Angela is very talented and I am the proof. She is also a whiz in the grocery store. She attacks the grocery store with the preparation of a General. She know exactly what she wants and with laser precision she get it. One thing that I have never been good at in a grocery store is picking fruit. I am not a good judge of fruit. Now I know when something is spoiled but I have a hard time determining what is ripe and what is still developing into ripe fruit. Not Angela, she is a good judge of fruit. It is pretty much why I keep her around. KIDDING!

Question:

Are you a good fruit inspector?

Point:

So, Jesus is clearly telling His followers that they were to change their perception. Judging others as the final authority is clearly wrong. But in verses 43-45 Jesus offers further explanation as to what He has already said. Sure, we are not to be judgmental as they Jews had become, we are, however, to evaluate the spiritual quality of those who claim to know Christ by inspecting the fruit being produced from their lives.  We are to “know them by their fruit.”  What is “knowable” fruit in the life of a Christian?

What Fruit Should We Inspect?

A. The Fruit of Repentance 

Matthew 3:8 ESV

Bear fruit in keeping with repentance.

B. The Fruit of Abiding

John 15:1-2 ESV

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.

C. The Fruit of Giving

Matthew 7:19 ESV

Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

D. The Fruit of the Spirit

Galatians 5:22-23 ESV

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

E. The Fruit of Light 

Ephesians 5:8-9 ESV

 for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light 9 (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), 

F. The Fruit of Praise 

Hebrews 13:14-15

14 For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come. 15 Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name.

Point:

For sure, we must avoid the spiritual pitfall of becoming judgmental. Nothing destroys Kingdom life and blocks Kingdom growth quite like that. Noting sullies God’s reputation more on Planet Earth than self-righteous pain in the neck busybody believers sticking their opinion into everybody’s business.  But if we are going to protect God’s family from false believers and fake teachers, if we are going to exhort and admonish one another on toward growth in grace and the character of Christ, and if we are going to call a lost world to a loving God, we can’t shy away from inspecting the fruit once in a while.

And a good place to start is by inspecting your own!  That in itself will most definitely keep you from being judgmental.

“Good works do not make a good man, but a good man does good works.” ~Martin Luther