REVIEW
FLIP CHART: SOM’S KEY VERSE, GOAL, MOTTO
“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness ….” (Mt. 6:33a).
The law sends us to Christ for justification; Christ sends us back to the law for sanctification.
FLIP CHART: Show new “Perfect Righteousness” chart explaining steps to coming to Christ (As a worm, mourning, meek, spiritual hunger/thirst with the result of legal righteousness). Explain: moral righteousness, immediate moral change at conversion, gradual change through life’s challenges and speeding up moral change via CCRC (Concentration, Choice, Reflection and Confession/Thanksgiving). Key verse, “By one sacrifice He has made perfect forever those who are being made holy” (Heb. 10:14).
“Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye. (Matthew 7:1-5)
REVIEW:
Chapter 7 focuses on relationships. The first relationship deals with helping a brother who has a fault. How do we minister to such an individual?
Mt. 7:1-5, that tells us not to judge, is one of the most misquoted, misapplied and misinterpreted passages in the Bible. Tolstoy actually built a political philosophy around this text that taught that law courts were unbiblical. His philosophy was defined as Christian Anarchy.
The common Christian runs to this verse the first time someone challenges him about a peculiar activity (or sin) and defends himself by saying, “Do not judge.”
“Krino (to judge) means basically to separate, choose, select, or determine and has a dozen or more shades of meanings that must be decided from the context.” (MacArthur, 432)
These verses must be interpreted in their context and the whole Sermon on the Mount is based on both our ability and need to judge.
In verse 6 and 7 we are told to judge between dogs and pigs. And later judge who is a false prophet. The same chapter tells us to judge between the wide and narrow way, good and bad fruit, solid and shifting foundations. The whole sermon tells us to judge between true righteousness and false righteousness and the practitioners of true and false righteousness.
It is truly unchristian for us to suspend our critical faculties. God has given us the ability to discern good and evil and we need to use this ability in a God-given way as we move through life. Christlikeness is not to be equated with blindness towards the faults of others.
It is completely wrong and unscriptural for a Christian to just turn a blind eye to the faults of others and act as if nothing is wrong.
OUTLINE FOR TODAY:
THE CHRISTIAN AND JUDGING
I. Defining the word “judge”
II. The Christian is Commanded to Judge
III. The Christian is not Commanded to Abandon His Critical Faculty
AVOIDING JUDGMENTALISM
I. Definition of Judgmentalism
II. Marks of a Judgmental, Censorious Spirit
THE FINE ART OF SPECK REMOVAL
AVOIDING JUDGMENTALISM
I. DEFINITION OF JUDGMENTALISM
If the context clearly states that the phrase “Do not judge …” does not mean abandoning our critical faculties and never calling sin, sin, then what does it mean?
QUESTION: What do you think ‘judgmentalism’ means?
It means “Don’t be judgmental.” What is the difference? A judgmental person has a critical, condemning, censorious, hyper-critical, fault finding spirit.
A hyper-critical person is meticulously or excessively critical. A censorious person is harshly critical, apt to blame or condemn, inclined to fault-finding.
John Stott: Censoriousness is a compound sin consisting of several unpleasant ingredients. It . . . . judges people harshly. The censorious critic is a fault-finder which is negative and destructive towards other people and enjoys actively seeking out their failings. He puts the worst possible construction on their motives, pours cold water on their schemes and is ungenerous towards their mistakes. (Stott, 176)
MacArthur: Along with many others sins spawned by their self-righteousness, the scribes and Pharisees had become oppressively judgmental. They proudly looked down on everyone who were not a part of their elite system. They were unmerciful, unforgiving, unkind, censorious , and totally lacking in compassion and grace. (MacArthur, 430)
Martyn Lloyd-Jones: It is a self-righteous spirit that is condemning, censorious and hypercritical which expresses itself in a derogatory manner with a tendency to despise others are regard them with contempt, look down on them. (Summary of MLJ, 167)
A.B. Bruce: Censoriousness is a Pharisaic vice – that of exalting ourselves by disparaging others, a very cheap way of attaining moral superiority. (A.B. Bruce)
The main error is judgmentalism and censoriousness is that it seeks to judge another person’s thoughts and motives. We especially tend to do this if someone is in conflict with us or in some way does not meet our expectations. We immediately attack motives or character flaws – He tends to think of himself, he doesn’t know how to reach out, she is not a sensitive person, she doesn’t know how to show love etc, etc.
Final Definition: Judgmentalism is a condemning spirit that springs from a self-righteous heart and shows itself as censorious, hypercritical and fault-finding, often of another’s motives.
QUESTION: A good way to understand the meaning of a word is to discover its antonym. What are some antonyms for judgmental / judgmentalism?
charitable, accepting, generous, empathetic, big-hearted
ILL: For John the Baptist came neither eating bread not drinking wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon.’ The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and “sinners.”’ (Luke 7:33-34)
The Christian is commanded to judge (“. . . if you are to judge the world, are you not competent to judge trivial cases?” – I Cor. 6:2) but not to be judgmental (“Do not judge ….” – Mt. 7:1)
“The Christian life is always one of balance. There is a great deal to be said for the point of view that to walk by faith means to walk on a knife edge. You can fall on this side or that; you have to keep on dead centre of truth, avoiding the error on the one side or the other.” (MLJ, 165)
We need to judge without being judgmental. This is the knife edge!!!!
II. MARKS OF A JUDGMENTAL/CENSORIOUS SPIRIT
QUESTION: How do we know if we have become a judgmental person? How do we evaluate ourselves in this area?
1. FIND ANY, EVEN THE SLIGHTEST SATISFACTION, IN DISCOVERING FAULTS IN OTHERS?
If we are quietly pleased when we hear something unpleasant about another person, that is a sign of a judgmental spirit.
2. MAKES JUDGMENT CALLS ON THE ‘GRAY AREAS’ OF LIFE, THE ‘MISTY FLATS OF MIDDLE MATTERS.’
“Gray Areas” are those areas in the Christian life that are not defined clearly in the Word of God. The Bible defines clearly that one should not live, kill, steal etc. Those commands are clear. That is a black area. The Bible also teaches that we need to be patient, kind, loving. That is a ‘white’ area. There are things that the Bible does not speak to.
Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on disputable matters. One man’s faith allows him to eat everything, but another man, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. The man who eats everything must not look down on him who does not, and the man who does not eat everything must not condemn the man who does, for God has accepted him. Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand. . . . . Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. . . . . So whatever you believe about these things keep between yourself and God. (Romans 14:1-4, 13, 22)
QUESTION: What is the ‘grey area’ in this text?
Should we eat meat or not? The food we eat is a grey area. For the Jewish people who followed OT dietary law, what they ate was important.
We can divide grey areas into “Theological Grey Areas” and “Lifestyle Grey Areas.”
QUESTION: What are some theological gray areas that we sometimes face and tend to be judgmental about?
Calvinism, speaking in tongues, eschatology, women in ministry, young earth / old earth, evolution, Bible version
QUESTION: What are some life-style gray areas that we sometimes face and tend to be judgmental about?
Drinking alcohol, smoking, clothes, music, Sunday worship, church music, entertainment, cards, movies….
Judgmentalism: People don’t have a respect for God because of the way they dress in church. When we make a statement like that we have slipped into judgmentalism.
Judgmentalism: They only like the beat of the music. The words don’t mean anything to them.
READING: Richard DeHaan, in his book Men Sent from God lists some of the criticisms pastors receive. The list is written “tongue in cheek,” of course. If the pastor is young, they say he lacks experience. If his hair is gray, he is too old for the young people. If he has five or six children, he is irresponsible; if he has no children, he is setting a bad example. If he uses lots of illustrations, he neglects the Bible; if he does not use enough, he is not relevant. If he drives an old car, he shames the congregation; if he drives a new one, he’s setting his affection on earthly things. (Hughes, 227)
“Except as they may be continually teaching false doctrine or following standards that are clearly unscriptural, we are never to judge a person’s ministry, teaching or life – – and certainly not his motives – – by a self-styled standard.” (MacArthur, 433)
It is one thing to have a very strong opinion about a ‘gray area’ and quite another to judge another’s motives in that ‘gray area.’
3. TEND TO PUT PERSONALITIES ABOVE PRINCIPLES.
Judgmentalism tends to be harsh and unloving.
Too often there is not a deep concern for the other person, the person being criticized.
It easily turns to being a judgment on the person and not on what the person believes.
ILL: I have heard this kind of thing so many times when discussing a pastor whose sermons I enjoy hearing. Someone will remark that his is egotistical or not a people person or building his kingdom or cold etc, etc.
The spirit of hypercriticism, judgmentalism may start with judging principles, life style, theology but so easily moves in to judging personalities.
4. HABITUALLY EXPRESSES AN OPINION WITH OUT TAKING THE TROUBLE TO KNOW THE FACTS OF THE CIRCUMSTANCES.
READING: Again and again people have been guilty of the most notorious misjudgments. Collie Knox tells of what happened to himself and a friend. He himself had been badly smashed up in a flying accident while serving the Royal Flying Corps. The friend had that very day been decorated for gallantry at Buckingham Palace. They had changed from their service uniforms to civilian clothes and were lunching together at a famous London restaurant, when a girl came up and handed each of them a white feather – – the badge of cowardice. There is hardly anyone who has not been guilty of some grave misjudgment . . . “ (Barclay 262-3).
Judge not the workings of his brain,
And of his heart thou cannot see.
What looks to thy dim eyes a stain,
In God’s pure light may only be
A scar brought from some well-won field
Where thou wouldst only faint and yield.
CLASS ACTIVITY: Rewrite I Cor. 13:4-7 in the negative. You will have a fair description of a judgmental spirit:
Judgmentalism is impatient, unkind, envious and boastful. It is arrogant, rude, self-seeking, gets angry and keeps a record of wrongs. It delights in evil, always attacks, always is suspicious, always calls others hopeless, always washes its hands of others.
SO WHAT???
1. As Christians we must use our critical faculties to make judgment calls in life but we are not to be judgmental.
2. Judgmentalism is a condemning spirit that springs from a self-righteous heart and shows itself as censorious, hypercritical and fault-finding, often of another’s motives.
3. Most judgmentalism happens when discussing the “gray areas” in theology and lifestyle and slips very quickly into criticizing a person’s motives and character.
4. Having a critical spirit is not a spiritual gift. Judgmentalism is a terrible sin that wounds our brothers and sisters and often disrupts love and fellowship.
5. We need to pray that God will give us a generous heart that is accepting to those who do not see eye-to-eye on the gray areas of life.