JUDGE NOT

Here we go again! Another paradox!

Don't judge people...but by their fruits you will know them. Huh?

American society rebels today against the prophetic function of the church. How many times have you seen bumper stickers, t-shirts, even tattoos saying, “Only God can judge me.” A subtle irony here is that the one wearing that is judging the ones who judge him (or her). We do, in fact, as Christians need to make sure our focus is on the good news of the love of God poured out on the world through Jesus Christ. And that's what Jesus was talking about in verse 1.

Don't judge unless you want to be judged!

We've all known people who seem to live in hostile mode, picking out the faults of everyone. They very often say “I'm frank.” What they mean is they are rude. There is certainly a place for correcting people and calling sin what it is. But this should be done from the standpoint of one sinner to another, coming from a broken heart. The judgmental types call out people with anger and glee that they are superior. These are the people who plotted to have Jesus killed. How dare He offer forgiveness!

I once heard a preacher say that God has everything – except one thing. God doesn't have a cup! He uses YOUR cup. With the  cup you measure your judgment and mercy, so does He measure the same back to you. I like that.

Remember? God forgives us as we forgive others.
          God judges us as we judge others.
          What we sow, we reap!

ASK, SEEK, KNOCK – Three images, all pointing to persistence in prayer with the promise God will answer that prayer. One can imagine the commands as successively stronger or merely a different approach to the same thing. I have often walked up to a screen door and called for someone inside. If there's no answer, I will try rapping as hard as I can on that door or a surface near it. Finally, I have had to go around to the back yard to discover where people are. Jesus said prayer is like that. Keep at it and God WILL answer you!

He then compares God to an earthly father. We give our children good things. How much more then, will our heavenly Father give us good things. (In Luke it says He will give us the Holy Spirit – Himself!)

7:12 is the Golden Rule. It is a command to love! We often miss that He begins by saying “in everything.” The Rule is to be a constant way of life. It's close to a definition of Christian love. Treat people as you want to be treated. Resist the cute sayings of do to others before they do to you, and don't get over it, get even. You know what a default mode is? It's what  your computer is set to do automatically until you reset it. For example, the default on this word processor is to capitalize the first word of every sentence and any form of the word “I.” It will automatically do that, unless I change it for some reason. Christians should have their lives set to default on the Golden Rule all the time,  unless there is overwhelming reason to change it temporarily! Jesus says this sums  up to Bible! (The law and the prophets were the two sections of the Bible in His day.)

About those gates – Life can be tough, and Jesus doesn't make it easy. The narrow gate is not always the gate that is the most fun, nor the path of least resistance. But it leads to life! And only a FEW find it. We dodge that. We measure our churches by how many attend. Is it possible that a genuine revival would result is LESS people coming to church?  Jesus frankly says most people are on the road to destruction. That's a dose of reality we need. Remember when a secular paper some years ago got hold of figures from the Alabama Baptist Convention stating there were so many million lost people in their state? They went hysterical. We were judging. Not in this case. We were applying Jesus's statement that very few people seek genuine life, real life, by following His teachings.

Verse 21 can be scary: Not everyone who claims to be a Christian is a Christian. Genuine Christianity is seen in the behavior of the person. While good behavior won't get you in the gate, a disciple will follow his Lord and will act like it. An amazing thing I have come to see is that people who encounter Jesus have a transformation you can see. Whatever their denomination, however they met Him, you can still tell they have been with the Master.

He concludes the sermon with a story that reminds me of the three pigs! In fact, I have told it as a children's story and explained how they compared. Surely no one would build on sand! No? Almost every year they have heavy rains in California and the tv shows houses sliding off muddy cliffs. And then they go right back and built on the same places again! And people who mess  up their lives do it over and over again. In fact, each of us has a few favorite habits or “besetting sins” that we fall victim to repeatedly. Do you overspend? Overeat? Are you habitually late? Do you snap at your family and maybe your co-workers? We catch ourselves doing it again and apologize to others and to God. But next time...

How solid is your foundation?