AM I A “SERMON ON THE MOUNT” CHRISTIAN?
REVIEW SOM 5-7, PART 3
SELF-EVALUATION OF MY BIBLICAL WISDOM
INTRODUCTION:
600-300 BCE has been called “the axial age” (when people in remote and apparently unrelated lands achieved major spiritual and intellectual breakthroughs) in human history, Mankind’s intense search for meaning during that period produced Confucius, Buddha, Zoraster, the prophets of Israel and the philosophers in Greece.
The core question they all asked: “What does a righteous, right-living, person look like? How should we live?” Job states the question clearly, “How can a mortal be righteous before God?” (Job 9:2)
When the 70 Jewish translators of the Old Testament into Greek (The Septuagint) came to the word “righteousness” they used the Greek term that Plato’s Republic used for right living and translated righteousness as dikaiosune {dik-ah-yos-oo’-nay}. A good, modern day translation of righteousness: “true inner goodness” or “moral excellence.”
Dikaiosune is the very word used in the Sermon on the Mount for righteousness. It is as if Jesus was answering the question asked by Confucius, Buddha, Zoraster, the prophets of Israel and the Greek philosophers.
For I tell you that unless your righteousness (dikaiosune) surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, (and the Confucians, Buddhists, Zorastrians, Greek Philosophers) you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven. (5:20)
But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness (dikaiosune), and all these things will be given to you as well (6:33).
For four years we have been studying our Lord’s description of a righteous person. He has been telling us what true inner goodness, moral excellence looks like.
TABLE ACTIVITY: Read through the 15 statements carefully. Write CL in front of the statement if you feel clarification of the statement would be helpful. Write CH in front of the statement that you feel is the most challenging.
Put me on trial, Lord, and cross-examine me. Test my motives and my heart. . . . Examine me, God, from head to foot, order your battery of tests. Make sure I’m fit inside and out (Psalms 26:2, NLT, The Message)
Examine your motives, test your heart (thoroughly), come to this meal in holy awe. (I Cor. 11:28, The Message, Amplified)
(Examine, evaluate and) test yourselves to make sure you are solid in the faith (that your faith is genuine). Don’t drift along taking everything for granted. Give yourselves regular checkups. You need firsthand evidence, not mere hearsay, that Jesus Christ is in you. Test it out. If you fail the test, do something about it. (II Cor. 13:5, The Message, Amplified, NLT)
Never (0) Rarely (1) Sometimes (3) Generally (5) Always (7)
31. I live daily with the full-consciousness of God’s presence (6:2-8)
“But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret. … (Matthew 6:5-8)
Dallas Willard speaks of living in a “God-bathed” world. We cannot
escape His presence. He is always near.
“The eyes of the LORD are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their cry …” (Ps. 34:15).
32. I am constantly aware that my Heavenly Father sees and knows everything I do. (6:2-8)
“And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. (Matthew 6:7-8)
The omniscience of God on one hand can be exceedingly frightening – He knows and sees everything about us …. We would be embarrassed if others knew everything about us. On the flip side he knows us so well that He knows exactly what we need.
“I the LORD search the heart and examine the mind … to reward a man according to his conduct” (Jet. 17:10). “Nothing in all creation is hid from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of Him to which we must give account” (Heb. 4:13). “I am He who searches the heart and minds and I will repay each of you according to your deed” (Rev. 2:23). “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. And even the very hairs of your head are numbered.” (Mt. 10:29-30)
QUESTION: Since God knows so much about us why does He tell us to pray? Why doesn’t He just give us what we need?
(1) He wants to lead us to real dependence on Him; (2) He wants us to cultivate a relationship with Him; (3) When we see answered prayer we develop more confidence in Him; (4) He wants to protect our freedom.
33. My prayers are meaningful, prayed with full attention to what I am saying. (6:7-8)
And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. (6:7-8)
We need to avoid both the hypocrisy of the Pharisees (praying on the street corners to be seen by men) and the pagans (babbling, thinking they would be heard because of their many words).
Jesus is condemning verbosity, especially those who ‘speak’ without thinking.’ They heap up empty phrases. The word “babble” describes any prayer which is all words and no meaning, all lips and no mind and heart. (John Stott, 143-44)
ILL: Buddhist prayer wheel, prayer flags, mindless use of the rosary, mindless participation in liturgical forms of worship, empty phrases in extemporaneous prayer, mindless use of evangelical jargon in prayer. In short any kind of prayer is forbidden when the mouth is engaged and the mind is not!!!
They think “they will be heard because of their many words.” But John Stott writes, “What sort of God is this who is chiefly impressed by the mechanics and statistics of prayer, and whose response is determined by the volume of words we use and the number of hours we spend praying?” (Stott, 144)
34. To my best knowledge I have forgiven anyone and everyone that may have wronged me. (6:12, 14)
C.S. Lewis wrote, “Forgiveness is the Christians most unpopular virtue.”
The forgiveness talked about here is not “judicial forgiveness.” People who pray this prayer are assumed to have received “judicial forgiveness” for they are calling God “Father.” The forgiveness focused on here is “Parental Forgiveness,” the forgiveness needed to maintain an intimate relationship between parent and child.
Jesus responded, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.” Jesus is saying, “Don’t even count” and thus demolishes the Rabbinic counting system. Jesus reverses the “Law of Revenge” given in Gen. 4:24, “Lamech said to his wives, . . . . ‘I have killed a man for wounding me, a young man for injuring me. If Cain is avenged seven times, then Lamech seventy-seven times.’”
“No part of his teaching is clearer: and there are no exceptions to it. He doesn’t say that we are to forgive other people’s sins provided they are not too frightful, or provided there are extenuating circumstances, or anything of that sort. We are to forgive them all, however spiteful, however mean, however often they are repeated“. (C.S. Lewis)
John Stott says and it’s true, “One of the surest antidotes to the process of moral hardening is the disciplined practice of uncovering our sins of thought and outlook as well as word and deed and the repentant forsaking of the same.”
GOD’S FORGIVES US IN PROPORTION TO OUR FORGIVENESS OF OTHERS
St. Agustine called this request “the terrible petition” because he realized that if we pray “Forgive us our debts, as we have forgiven our debtors” with an unforgiving heart, we are actually asking God not to forgive us, for “debts” here really mean “sins.” (Hughes, 188)
Charles Williams, a friend of C.S. Lewis and famous British author wrote, “No word in English carries a greater possibility of terror than the little word ‘as’ in this clause.”
When we pray the Lord’s Prayer with an unhealed relationship we are asking God to limit his forgiveness of us.
Charles Spurgeon is quoted as saying, “Unless you have forgiven others, you read your own death-warrant when you repeat the Lord’s prayer.” (Hughes, 189) So this prayer that we are commanded to pray by our Lord can be a self- inflicted curse.
If we are stubborn and will not forgive a person, we need to remember that God is twice as stubborn and will not forgive us
35. Fasting is a regular and consistent part of my devotional life. (6:16)
John Stott said that we evangelicals live as if this portion of Scripture, Matthew 6:16-18, were torn out of the Bible (and did not exist.)
“For evangelicals, this whole question of fasting has almost disappeared from our lives and even out of the field of our consideration.” (MLJ, 34)
The Bible teaches that fasting is a support to prayer, emphasizes sorrow for our sin, averts the wrath of God and is for God’s blessing on important undertakings.
“[Fasting] is a strong statement to God about the seriousness of our concern and the depth of our desire for the Lord. ‘It is the physical exclamation point,’ writes John Piper. ‘This much, O God, I long for you and for the manifestation of your glory in the world!’” (Bill Haley, Falls Church, VA).
Why Fast? The Bible seems to indicate at least five reasons why a Christian should fast: (1) Fasting is a support to prayer. Prayer and fasting often go together in the Bible; (2) Fasting emphasizes our sorrow for sin. Fasting is often tied to brokenness, repentance, humbling of one self before God; (3) Fasting is a means to avert the wrath of God. In dire situations, God moved and held back His wrath when people fasted; (4) Fast for God’s blessing on an important undertaking. Fasting was an exclamation point on the prayers when asking for God’s blessing; (5) Fasting for guidance. When we are not sure about what direction to take, we can add fasting to our prayers for guidance.
Fasting, like Bible reading and prayer, is meaningless if it does not move us into a closer relationship with our Father, a relationship which will generate in us a godly lifestyle that will include care for our neighbor.
36. I only perform “spiritual disciplines” for an “Audience of One.” (6:18)
The purpose of all of the “Spiritual Disciplines” is not to perform a “Spiritual Discipline.” The purpose is to develop a more intimate relationship with our Father which in the end will always produce moral change in our lives.
Living with the realization that God sees all would be revolutionary to us and certainly motivate us to holy living.
ILL: Mr. Maxwell (1895-1984), the founder of Prairie Bible Institute, said that he only remembers learning one Bible verse from his mother, “Thou God seest me.” He grew up in Kansas on a farm and was in Europe during the first world war. He said that this one verse kept him from living a life of debauchery.
Dallas Willard says that we live in a “God bathed” world.
“Am I only a God nearby, and not a God far away? Can anyone hide in secret places so that I cannot see him?” (Jer. 23:23-24)
When we first started studying the Sermon on the Mount I felt that it was impossible to surpass the righteousness of the Pharisees and teachers of the law. I now believe that Jesus expects us to surpass their righteousness by focusing on heart righteousness.
In our text we surpass their righteousness in fasting by focusing only on fasting for an audience of one, our Father. When our fasting is for Him and Him alone, then we surpass the righteous of the Pharisees.
The Pharisees were not fasting for the “Applause of Heaven” and thus heaven did not applaud.
This being said remember that “being seen fasting” is much different from “fasting to be seen.”
37. Storing up treasure in heaven is one of my major motivations for giving (6:19-21)
6:1-18 dealt with the danger of improper practice of spiritual disciplines as illustrated by the religious leaders of the day. Jesus now warns against the materialism of the pagans. Kingdom citizens, those who wish to have a righteousness that surpasses the righteousness of the Pharisees must avoid both perils, both pitfalls. See vs. 32: For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Fathers knows that you need them.
Vs. 32: The pagans run after (epizeteo) all these things ….. “run after” has been translated: seek, worry about, have thoughts dominated by, fuss about, diligently seek, eagerly seek, aim their life at, busy themselves with, be deeply concerned about material things.
“I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.” (Luke 6:9)
Randy Alcorn in his book The Treasure Principle says, “I am convinced that the greatest deterrent to giving is this, the illusion that earth is our home.”
ILL: John Wesley is a great example for us. During his exceptionally long ministry, which spanned most of the eighteenth century, he earned a considerable amount of money from published sermons and other works. Yet he left only $50 when he died because he continually gave what he earned to the Lord’s work. (MacArthur, 410).
38. I am not stingy with God’s blessings. My life in marked by generosity. (6:22-23)
Here in SOM Jesus mentions, “Where your treasure is there your heart will be also” and then immediately shifts to the condition of the eye.
“These verses (22-23) expand on the previous three, and the eye becomes an illustration of the heart. (MacArthur, 413)
Ephesians 1:18 Paul writes, “I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened…”
In vs. 21 Jesus is talking about a “healthy” heart. In vs. 22 he is talking about the condition of eye.
A GOOD, SINGLE, HEALTHY OR GENEROUS EYE?
The word for good is haplous and is translated as simple, single, whole, good, fulfilling its office, sound of the eye, clear, generous.
The word haplous is used in the Septuagint translation of Prov. 11:25.
Proverbs 11:25: A generous man will prosper; he who refreshes other will himself be refreshed.
The liberal soul shall be made fat; and he that watereth shall be watered also himself (Prov. 11:25)
When the 72 Jewish scholars translated the word liberal and generous in this verse from Hebrew into Greek they used the Greek word “haplous.”
So there seems ample support for translating the word “good” as “generous” and if so the verse would read: If your eyes are generous, your whole body will be full of light.”
A good, sound, healthy eye is a “generous” eye, an eye that sees the needs of others and the importance of extending the kingdom of God and gives generously. This is an eye that is focused on the eternality of heaven. A “generous” eye can see much more than a person can see with just physical sight.
“I believe that it is in this sense (generosity) of the word that is present here in Christ’s teaching. The “single eye” is the “generous eye.” And if that is the case, then Jesus is promoting a generous spirit in regard to our money. How can you tell whether riches have clouded our spiritual vision? The answer may be determined by the extent to which we are generous with the goods which we have been given. (Boice, 217)
FLIP CHART: “God prospers me not to raise my standard of living but to raise my standard of giving.” (Randy Alcorn)
Is there a soul who died, who died because of me,
Forever shut away from heaven and from Thee;
Because I tightly clutched my little earthly store
Nor sent Thy messengers unto some distant shore?
Will there be some in heaven that are there because of our giving that will “welcome” us into “eternal dwellings?”
39. The focus of my life is not on money or material wealth. (6:24)
HOW TO DISCOVER YOUR TREASURE
1. What occupies our thoughts when we have nothing else to do? What occupies our day dreams?
2. What is it that we fret about most? What do we worry about? If someone asked us “What is your major concern?” what would you say?
3. Apart from your loved ones, what or whom would you most dread losing?
4. What are the things we measure others by? Do we measure others by clothing? By their education? By their homes? By their athletic prowess? Do we measure others by their success in the business world?
5. What is it that we know we cannot be happy without?
Materialism: The theory or attitude that physical well-being and worldly possessions constitute the greatest good and the highest value in life.
If we are not materialists we are still affected by American culture. “It is virtually impossible not to be a part of modern western culture, and if you do not think in terms of measured appropriation, biblical evaluation, and thoughtful transformation, you will probably be consumed by the culture and won’t even know that you are more American than you are Christian.” (John Piper)
The big question for us: Do I have an unhealthy pre-occupation with things? Am I focused on laying up treasures on earth? Do I own a materialistic? Am I more American than I am Christian?
40. I rarely dwell on, think about what I want, physical needs or pleasures. (6:25)
John Stott writes, “It is a pity that this passage is often read on its own in church, isolated from what has gone before. Then the significance of the introductory “Therefore I tell you” is missed. So we must begin by relating this ‘therefore,’ this conclusion of Jesus, to the teaching which has led up to it. He calls us to thought before he calls us to action.” (Stott, 159)
If we focus on storing up treasures on earth we are guilty of materialism.
If we are miserly and not generous we are guilty of materialism.
If materialism is our worldview, we are living in great darkness.
If we give partial allegiance to materialism we offend God.
If we see ‘materialism’ as the theme of 19-34 we can see that the Lord Jesus is teaching that worrying about FDC means we are focusing on FDC instead of focusing on the Kingdom of God and thus embracing a materialistic life-style!!!
41. I live in confidence that God loves me and will provide my physical needs. (6:26)
The world’s ‘trinity of cares’ – FDC – Food, Drink, Clothing.
Worry about FDC is incompatible with Christian faith. It ends of choking and strangling us spiritually. We must not worry or be anxious about our physical or spiritual needs but we must be deeply concerned about the extension of God’s kingdom and the well-being of His people.
Remember that Jesus was speaking to many poor people, people that barely owned the clothes on their back. Poverty was endemic in the ancient world. That is why many families sold their own children into slavery. Many wondered where the next meal would come from. Remember when Jesus fed the 5,000 they did not have the option or the money to go to McDonalds or stay at Motel 6. They were really poor.
ILL: Daughter worried that her mother won’t be able to purchase food for the $1000 refrigerator they just bought. Mother’s response: Don’t you think that if I had enough money to buy the refrigerator I wouldn’t have enough money to purchase food to fill it?
How many birds in the world? According to Terres, The Audubon Encyclopedia of North American Birds, “it is difficult if not impossible to get an accurate count of the total population of a widespread species…” Given that ornithologists are not even sure how many species there really are in the world, it would be most difficult to estimate total populations. Nevertheless, the same source says that in 1951 “Fisher, a British ornithologist, estimated there are more than 100 billion individual wild birds in the world,” and that Leonard Wing (1956) estimated that there were about 5.6 billion birds in the U.S. in summer and about 3.75 billion in winter. In 1931 McAtee estimated 2.6 billion breeding land birds in the U.S. Obviously these numbers are quite dated and only estimates. (J. Elliott, The Web)
ILL: Even the very hairs of our head are numbered. The average human head has about 100,000 hair follicles. Each follicle can grow about 20 individual hairs in a person’s lifetime. There are almost 7 billion people in the world. That means 700 trillion human hairs and over the lifetime of one generation 14,000 quadrillion hairs. Each one has a number. Each one is tracked when it falls from our head. If a farmer in Uzbekistan puts his hand to his forehead to swat a fly and a strand of hair comes lose, it has a number on it. Do I believe this? This is an illustration from our Lord to assure us that God really watches us.
When in doubt about God’s ability to multi-task, look to creation for the whole world is crammed with heaven and every bush (and bird) aflame with God.
42. Instead of worrying about things I cast my cares upon the Lord and have peace in knowing that He cares for me. (6:27)
Although the overriding theme of 6:25-34 is materialism the sub-theme in 6:25-31 and 34 is certainly worry.
Merimna (worry): To be distracted, full of cares, anxiety. The deep meaning of merimnao is to be divided or drawn in different directions by preoccupying thoughts which affect the mind, body and emotions.
Arthur Roche wrote: Worry is a thin stream of fear trickling through the mind. If encouraged it cuts a channel into which all our thoughts are drained.”
It is interesting that the English word worry comes from the Old High German word wurgen which means to strangle or choke. Webster says that in “dialect British” worry means to “choke” or to “strangle.” (MacArthur, 419 & Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary. 10th ed. Springfield, Mass) Worry is mental and emotional strangulation.
The command not to worry does not eliminate the need to be deeply concerned about conditions and needs of others. We must not worry or be anxious about our spiritual needs but we must be deeply concerned about the extension of God’s kingdom and the well-being of His people.
Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? (27)
The ancient Greek can mean either “adding to life” or “adding to height” and thus different translations of the verse.
“Add one cubit to his life” (RSV); “Prolong his life a single moment” (TCNT); “Add a single foot to his life” (Weymouth); “Make himself an inch taller” (Phillips); “Add anything to your life” (Beck).
The Bible is clear that God determines the length of our lives. Psalm 90, the Psalm of Moses, says “You turn men back to dust, saying, ‘Return to dust O sons of men.’ And “You sweep men away in the sleep of death. They are like the new grass of the morning. Though in the morning it springs up new by evening it is dry and withered.”
John Stott emphasizes here that Jesus is not forbidding “thought” or even “forethought” but “anxious thought” like Martha had, worry about making sure everything was just right.
We worry about two sorts of things: Things we have control over and things we have no control over. It is senseless to worry about things that we have no control over, e.g. the state of the economy, the price of gas. If we do have control over a situation then we should not be worrying. We should be doing something about it.
Someone said that worrying is like shoveling smoke. It will keep you moving and wear you out but will not accomplish anything.
Another person said that worry is like rocking in a rocking chair. It will keep you busy, giving you something to do, but it won’t get you anywhere.
ILL: For several years a woman had been having trouble getting to sleep at night because she feared burglars. One night her husband heard a noise in the house, so he went downstairs to investigate. When he got there, he did find a burglar. “Good evening,” said the man of the house. “I am pleased to see you. Come upstairs and meet my wife. She has been waiting 10 years to meet you.”
43. The main focus of my life, my life goals, is the extension of God’s Kingdom. (6:33)
The “Kingdom of God” can be better translated as the “Reign of God.” It does not need to refer to geographic location but to dominion and sovereignty.
In Heaven and yet fills the whole earth. It is not of this world in that it is a spiritual kingdom and in fact exists within the believer. (II Tim. 4:18; Mt. 13:24-33, 38; John 18:36; Lk. 17:20-21)
God’s “kingdom” or “rule” is the range of his effective will, where what he wants done is done. The person of God himself and the action of His will are the organizing principles of his kingdom, but everything that obeys those principles, whether by nature or by choice, is within his kingdom. (Dallas Willard, The Divine Conspiracy, Pg. 25)
The Kingdom of God comes, in one sense, every time we submit to His reign. My obedience increases his reign.
“Seek first the kingdom of God” must mean …. Seek to enter the KOG (come under God’s divine rule), live under the divine rule of the KOG (His righteousness) and seek to extend the KOG (bring others under the divine rule of God).
The word “run after” in vs. 32 and “seek” in vs. 33 are from the same root word. These words can be translated diligently seek, fuss about, aim their life at, be deeply concerned about, clamor for.
“’Seek first’ is in the present imperative, which means we are to be in a continual quest for God’s kingdom… When you and I do this our focus is no longer on what we are to wear, eat, drink, and we are thus liberated from the blight of anxiety. If we constantly seek him there will be no room for lesser matters.” (Hughes, 225)
ILL: An email came to good neighbor insurance with this address: herestoregrets&[email protected] . If we are not prioritizing the reign of the Kingdom of God in our lives or the extension of it around the world we deserve an email address like this.
44. My heart is consistently concerned with living a holy, righteous life. This goal dominates my life. (6:33)
IMPUTED RIGHTEOUSNESS
The first four Beatitudes set the stage for imputed righteousness. A person needs to be poor in spirit, mourn for his sin, meek, that is not defensive and hunger and thirst for righteousness. Such a person will call on God in brokenness and repentance and thus experience the imputation of the righteousness of Christ.
In II Corinthians 5:21 Paul wrote, “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
INFUSED RIGHTEOUSNESS
Christ in us, Christ as Us, Christ Through Us; The Deep Things of God, The Liberating Secret, The Key to Everything; Hudson Taylor’s Spiritual Secret; Naturally Supernatural, Letting Jesus Live Through You; Life on the Highest Plane; The Christian’s Secret of a Happy Life.
INITIAL AND CONTINUAL INFILLING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. There must be a filling of the Spirit by faith, a filling subsequent to salvation. In faith we pray and accept that the Spirit fills our life, even if there is no inward assurance. Now we move forward be continually filled and also being filled with the Spirit to grow into righteousness.
Statement of Major Ian Thomas: “Godliness (practical righteousness) is the direct and exclusive consequence of God’s activity in man.”
“The key to sanctification (living a righteous life) is a divine work of God (in the life of the believer)” (Norman Grubb)
IMBIBED / LEARNED RIGHTEOUSNESS
“Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to His good pleasure” (Phil. 2:13).
“Have nothing to do with Godless myths and old wives’ tales; rather, train yourself to be godly.” (I Tim. 4:7).
“So live by (walk in) the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. . . . keep in step with the Spirit” (Galatians 5:16, 25).
45. I avoid a condemning spirit that springs from a self-righteous heart and shows itself in being censorious, hyper-critical and fault-finding of others lives and motives. (7:3-5)
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.
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)
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