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Jan. 22, 2023 - Just Informed Talk - Craig James
15:57
Jesus Teaches The RIGHT & WRONG Ways To Judge - Luke 6:37-49 | God's Grace Is Greater
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Hi and welcome back to another episode of God's Grace is Greater where we talk about the scripture.
We do an in-depth dive into the scripture and we talk about what it means for us in our lives.
And today we have powerful scripture.
We're continuing on in the Gospel of Luke.
We're in chapter 6 and we're picking up in chapter 6 at verse 37 from where we left off yesterday.
Yesterday we talked about Jesus telling us how we should love our enemies.
And in the very next breath of this incredible sermon that Jesus is giving, this explanation through parable of how to live our lives, he goes into this section about judging others, telling us essentially not to judge others.
Now, I'll make the clarification at the beginning here to say that we are meant to make decisions about right and wrong.
And there's a difference between making a decision about right and wrong and making a judgment toward others about it.
And I am not innocent of the sin of judgment, as well as I'm sure most, if not all of you, probably all of you, I would assume, are guilty of the same sin, right?
Sometimes it's easier for us to pronounce judgment on others than to look inwardly at ourselves and try to understand how we can help the world become a better place by reserving that judgment and trying to use our discernment to understand why we are falling into the same traps over and over again.
I will personally say on my own end that judgment to me is described here in these verses very well.
And Jesus gives us a good idea of what we should be looking at when we judge and what we should be understanding about ourselves in that judgment.
But like I said, this is not to be confused with having discernment and understanding right and wrong and rebuking evil in all its forms as we're called to do.
Those two things should not be conflated at all whatsoever.
And I'm going to explain with the scripture that Jesus gives us in this Gospel of Luke how that is meant to be understood.
So...
At least as far as I am concerned and I can understand it.
So let's go ahead and read in verse 37, Luke chapter 6.
And we're going to read all the way to the end of chapter 6 to verse 49.
And then we'll talk about it.
So let's go ahead and read.
We start here.
Do not judge, and you will not be judged.
This is Jesus speaking.
Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned.
Forgive, and you will be forgiven.
Give, and it will be given to you.
A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over, will be poured into your lap.
For with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.
He also told them in a parable, or told them a parable, Can the blind guide the blind?
Won't they both fall into the pit?
A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like his teacher.
Why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but don't notice the log in your own eye?
Or how can you say to your brother, Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye, or that is in your eye, when you yourself don't see the log in your eye?
Hypocrite, first take the log out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to take out the speck in your brother's eye.
A good tree doesn't produce bad fruit.
On the other hand, a bad tree doesn't produce good fruit.
For each tree is known by its fruit.
Figs aren't gathered from thorn bushes or grapes picked from a bramble bush.
A good man produces good out of the good storeroom of his heart.
An evil man produces evil out of the evil storeroom.
for his mouth speaks from the overflow of the heart.
Why do you call me Lord, Lord, and don't do the things I say?
I will show you what someone is like who comes to me, hears my words, and acts on them.
He is like a man building a house who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock.
When the flood came, the river crashed against the house and couldn't shake it because it was well built.
But the one who hears and does not act is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation.
The river crashed against it and immediately it collapsed and the structure of that house was great.
Now, let's look at these verses and kind of break them down piece by piece and understand what Jesus is saying, I hope, more clearly.
First, he tells us these instructions, saying, Do not judge, and you will not be judged.
Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned.
Forgive, and you will be forgiven.
Give, and it will be given to you a good measure.
Press down, shake in together, and running over will be poured into your lap.
For the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.
Well, what is that saying?
I mean, it's fairly simple, but it can be broken down simply by saying Jesus is extending basically to us an idea of how to look at others and not live in a judgmental way.
Now we're going to get into why he tells us to do that in a second here, but he gives us the simple diagram.
Do not judge and you will not be judged.
Do not condemn and you will not be condemned.
Forgive and you will be forgiven.
Are these not the same principles that we live by in understanding what Christ did for us?
Though Christ is, was, and is, and was perfect, he came to judge.
He is the judge.
God is the judge.
He stands at the door.
But, We are not the judge.
So, as it stands, Jesus is telling us, we are not the judge.
Do not judge others, lest that judgment be used back against you.
If you condemn others, if you don't condemn others, you won't be condemned.
Because only truly God can condemn them.
You can condemn others' actions, right?
But you can't condemn others' actions.
To the hell, right?
I mean, I think that's how I read it.
It's essentially telling us that you can hate the sinner and not, or hate the sin and not the sinner.
And that's how I read this.
Again, in saying, forgiven, you will be forgiven.
Well, Jesus is telling us, again, to do unto others as we'd want done unto ourselves.
Would we want to be forgiven if we made a mistake?
If we wronged somebody, would we not want that made right by forgiveness that would be given?
I think I would.
But then he gives us this hope.
He says, given it will be given to you.
He's telling us the formula for success in life.
To give to others.
Because through that giving, we will find abundance.
Through God and His blessings.
Because God knows what's in our heart.
And God loves a generous giver.
And that's why we're called to do it.
And Jesus tells us in no uncertain terms that we will have something that will be running over.
It will be overflowing as it is poured into our lap.
The measure of which we will be given back from what we give into the world.
So he tells us finally there that the measure we use to judge others...
We'll be used to measure ourselves.
And the measure we use to condemn others will be used to measure ourselves.
The measure we use to give others will be given back to ourselves.
So he's telling us that the reciprocity of our judgment and our condemnation will be there.
And that's why it's important to understand that before you judge others.
He gives us a parable saying, can the blind lead the blind?
Well, of course not.
They'll both fall into the pit.
And then he tells us that a disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like his teacher.
Now, I found a great analysis of this verse where it says, Jesus is warning his followers that they should not expect better treatment from the disciples of the Pharisees than Jesus received from the Pharisees themselves, because if the teacher was blind, the followers would be too.
Proteges can be expected to act In fundamentally the same way as their teachers.
So in that sense, Jesus is telling us that if you are being led by somebody who doesn't fully understand this and doesn't have the humility to recognize their own shortcoming before God and doesn't have the humility to see that they are imperfect and to see that they may not know everything, then you are essentially in a position where the blind are leading the blind.
And that's what happens a lot of time with those who proclaim judgment and condemnation in the name of God without recognizing their own shortcoming and pitfalls and doing it outside of that.
And that's what the Pharisees a lot of the time did.
They condemned others for things they themselves were doing.
So you remember the context, too, of the time Jesus is telling this to the people listening is they're seeing rampant hypocrisy.
And Jesus even calls out the hypocrites here saying, why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye and ignore the log in your own?
He says, this is the trick, though.
This is really the answer to it all.
First, take the log out of your eye.
Then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's.
So what he's saying, essentially, don't be a hypocrite.
Fix your own life.
Show others through the example that you can give by doing the right thing.
And I like to say always, do the right thing when no one's watching.
That's the true measure of anyone, I believe.
If you do the right thing when no one's watching, that is a true measure of character, in my opinion.
And that goes along with this perfectly, saying take the log out of your eye, which means clean yourself up, ready yourself, clear your own set of iniquity before you even try to help others.
And it's not easy.
And I can tell you personally, through my own experience, I have failed.
I have failed miserably time and time again.
I was a woeful sinner and I still sin to this day, but I work to get better every day.
I'm clearing the log out of my eye.
In the best way I can, every morning when I get up, to try to do it so I can help others.
I say, God, in my prayers, I always pray, Lord, help me become a better man for you so I can be the man that you need me to be in this world for others.
And that's a prayer I think we can share after this lesson or this scripture reading today.
But then Jesus tells us a measure.
How do we judge, right?
Well, we judge based on the example given here by Jesus.
He says, a good tree doesn't produce bad fruit, and on the other hand, a bad tree doesn't produce good fruit.
For each tree is known by its own fruit.
So he's telling us that if you want a measure from which to judge others, just look at what they do.
Saying here, a good man produces good out of the good storeroom of his heart, and an evil man produces evil out of the evil storeroom, for his mouth speaks from the overflow of his heart.
So, pay attention to those who you are around, and look at what they say when they are not on guard, right?
When they think that no one's watching.
Like I say, do the right thing when no one's watching, because that is going to be the measure by which Jesus tells us biblically to judge others.
What fruit is that tree producing?
And then finally, Jesus gives us the ultimate basic roadmap for how to build our lives, saying, he asks the question first, why do you call me Lord and don't do the things I say?
So he's saying, why do you worship me if you're not going to follow what I'm telling you to do?
He says, I'll show you what someone is like who comes to me, hears my words, and acts on them.
So he says, this is what it's like for somebody who believes and does through action follow me, saying Jesus.
He says, that man built his house and laid the foundation on a rock.
And when the flood came, it was able to withstand it.
But he says the one who hears me and does not live in accordance with the teaching of Jesus that person foolishly built their house on an unsturdy foundation and it was collapsed and destroyed.
So that's the roadmap, right?
That's our, you know, judgment.
What is judgment?
Well, there you go.
And I know it's, from my perspective, Jesus' teachings are perfect, but my explanation, I hope, did somewhat justice to it.
And I hope that these words opened up a new perspective for you in understanding what it means to judge and how we should judge others if we do engage in that.
But again, it's talking about judging others' actions here when it talks about the tree and what kind of fruit it produces.
The only true judge of a man is God.
The only true person who's able to condemn man is God through Jesus, or with Jesus, I should say.
And let us never get too far ahead of ourselves where we condemn others And judge others without recognizing our own faults beforehand.
Because as he says, that would be equivalent to ignoring the log in our own eye while complaining about the speck in our brothers.
So, I'm going to go ahead and leave it there.
We'll say a prayer and then we'll wrap it up.
Lord and Heavenly Father, I pray for discernment.
I pray that you'll help us all listening here become the men and women that you need, Lord, so that we can help others.
And let us not judge others or condemn others.
Let us recognize others, though, for who they are based on the fruit which they produce.
And I pray you'll help us all produce good fruit, Lord, for you so that we can share that with others and show them the way to you.
Lord, I thank you for everything you've given us and I thank you most of all for our eternal salvation through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
In Jesus' name, amen.
All right.
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Until then, my name is Craig.
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