(Text and Audio)
Title: Judgment (Part Two)
Last week as we began this three part series on judgment, we looked mainly at the difference between judgment and discernment. The conclusion that we drew to was this: one kind of judgment (condemning someone for their faults) is expressly forbidden, but another kind of judgment (which we called discernment) is not only permitted, but is commanded for brothers and sisters to keep each other holy before our Lord.
Today, the conversation will shift to the issue of qualification. Namely, when are we able to correctly discern a brother or sister’s action and call it into gentle correction.
While last week’s lesson was essential for us to understand that we must be able to make decisions and come to conclusions based on our understanding and convictions, today’s lesson deals with the “when” and “how” we do that.
(read/pray)
- How do we rightly discern (judge)?
Verse 2 offers quite an insight into the literal method of our discernment. Verse two offers some guidance, in the form of a warning. Essentially, it’s clear that this is a reflection of what we have come to call the golden rule. And this is a running theme of Jesus’ teaching in this chapter. Look down at Matthew 7:12, and you will see this idea fleshed out a bit.
“Whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them…” (7:12)
So this leaves us with a few options:
How do we want others to judge us?
- Lightly or not at all (immature Christian)
- Harshly (legalistic or masochistic Christian)
- Gently and humbly but thoroughly (mature Christian)
- Any other options that I’ve failed to mention?
When I consider myself receiving a rebuke, and I’ve received all three in my lifetime, I can tell you exactly how I reacted to each one. I once had an accountability partner that fell into category 1, and it was just a waste of time. We kind of sat around and lamented our sin together, but it never got any better. It almost felt like a weekly support group for struggling addicts. There was a lot of empathy, and a little encouragement, but not a whole lot in the way of rebuke or reminder toward what is holy. In the end, I wasn’t getting better at being holy.
I think we’ve all had some experiences with the second group, where we are blindsided by someone’s harsh criticisms, and if you are anything like me, you literally shut down to what they are saying the moment you become offending with how they say what they say. You start recalling everything you can remember about the faults in their lives in an effort to disqualify them from even having the right to rebuke you.
And we don’t do this to their face, often we are too taken aback by what they’ve said in the heat of the moment. But what we do is sit there and stew and say things like, “Well, even the fact that they treated me so harshly suggests that they are not right with God, so how can they rebuke me?” Or, “I know tons of things they have done that are questionable, so I’m going to take whatever they say with a grain of salt.”
The real tragedy here is this: Sometimes the rebuke itself is dead on, but because of the presentation of the rebuke, we shut down, turn a deaf ear to it, and we never consider it, because of the messenger and their offense to us.
But the final solution, the person who presents to us gently, probing for answers instead of indictments, the person who humbly admits they have issues themselves, maybe even struggling with similar things, it is hard to not consider what they say. It is hard to not hear the selflessness in their voice when they express genuine concern for their situation.
We should always have the right to seek clarification from each other. But we must seek that clarification in the spirit of Christ, remembering how He judges us, with grace and compassion, as well as with truth and holiness.
- Plankeye
Verses 3,4,5 serve as a warning against hypocrisy in this way: We are to examine ourselves first, before offering perspective or rebuke to others.
Why?
- It shows the utmost humility.
- Self examination almost always results in grace and empathy. (It is rare that we’d rebuke a brother or sister for something that we’ve NEVER struggled with ourselves, at least to some degree. Looking at ourselves first goes a long way to curb our aggressive attitudes when we feel some clarification is in order.)
- So that we can see clearly to perform speck (sin) removal surgery.
It is this last point that I want us to focus on as we draw to a close. In verse five Jesus tells us that in order to help our brother we must be able to see clearly.
If I won a contest and I could select anyone in this congregation to shoot one foul shot on a basketball court for a million dollars, would I choose my son, or Eric? Why? He’s more qualified because he’s more experienced.
If I had an electrical problem in my house, would I call Jenna Beadle or Zeb Dziak? Same reasoning.
How about this: If I needed open heart surgery, would I choose the second best heart surgeon in the world, or the best heart surgeon in the world, but he had to be blindfolded? They are both experienced, but only one is qualified, because only one can see clearly.
Obviously, I’d want whomever was operating on my heart to see clearly.
When we don’t examine ourselves first we don’t see clearly. If we are not humble, our pride blinds us. If we are not full of grace and empathy, our flesh blinds us.
In a very clever way, what Jesus suggests to us here is clear. Right judgment begins here, with us, in our hearts. Only then will our discernment be able to help others.