{"id":187,"date":"2008-10-12T16:49:00","date_gmt":"2008-10-12T16:49:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/bibleandculture\/2008\/10\/judge-for-yourself--a-sermon-on-mt-71-6.html"},"modified":"2008-10-12T16:49:00","modified_gmt":"2008-10-12T16:49:00","slug":"judge-for-yourself-a-sermon-on-mt-71-6","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/2008\/10\/judge-for-yourself-a-sermon-on-mt-71-6.html","title":{"rendered":"‘Judge for Yourself’– A Sermon on Mt. 7.1-6"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a><\/p>\n

The following is a sermon for Oct. 15, 2008 in Estes Chapel, Asbury Seminary<\/p>\n

YOU BE THE JUDGE—- Mt. 7.1-6<\/p>\n

Some texts in the NT ought to be able to sue for abuse and misuse. Mt. 7.1-6 is one of those texts. How many times have you heard someone say \u2018judge not lest you be judged\u2019 to neutralize this text and in effect promote doing nothing at all, since we are all sinners who have fallen short of God\u2019s highest and best for us? The Greek verb krino <\/strong>here however does not mean \u2018expose not, lest you be exposed\u2019, it does not mean \u2018do not be morally discerning lest someone discern your flaws\u2019, it does not mean \u2018never correct or hold someone morally accountable, lest you be held accountable for your behavior\u2019. It means none of those things. <\/p>\n

Much nearer to the mark would be a translation \u2018condemn not, lest you be condemned\u2019. In other words it is basically the synonym of the slightly stronger verb katakrino<\/strong> in John 8.11 where Jesus says \u2018neither do I condemn you\u2026\u2019 This is legal language, and it may well be the ancient equivalent of saying \u2018do not damn someone to Hell, lest you be so damned\u2019. It has to do with passing full and final judgment on someone\u2019s life or even their souls, and only God has the right, the knowledge, the authority to do that. Jesus is preventing his followers from assuming the posture of judge, jury, or executioner of someone else\u2019s foibles, and deeming them irretrievably lost and undoubtedly heading for outer darkness. <\/p>\n

Instead, Jesus is trying to refocus the disciples on getting their own houses in order. He does this is several ways. First of all he reminds them that they will be evaluated with the same severity that they evaluate others. A lot of folks can dish it out, but they can\u2019t take it when it is their conduct that is being critiqued. Jesus suggests that we have an infinite capacity for maximizing the critique of other people\u2019s sins, and minimizing and rationalizing our own.
But Jesus\u2019 sapiential metaphor of the speck or the plank in the eye suggests that the moral critique meter might well actually be pointing in the opposite direction. We strain over the gnat in someone else\u2019s life, and swallow the camel in our own, so to speak. We totally ignore or are oblivious to our own even greater flaws, sins, shortcomings. And even worse, we assume the condescending posture of one who is in a morally superior position by saying \u201chere let me help you with that speck in your eye\u201d. Notice in vs. 5 Jesus does not suggest that one shouldn\u2019t morally critique others or hold them accountable. What he says is, don\u2019t be a hypocrite\u2014first take the plank out of your own eye, and then go deal with others. It\u2019s a matter of the order of things. We must get our own house in order first. <\/p>\n

The term hypokrites<\/strong> is certainly an interesting one. It is a term that comes from the ancient Greek theater and refers to a person who plays a role, rather than being in real life what they seem. We of course take the English derivative of this term to mean someone who does not practice what he preaches, someone who does not walk what he talks. But in fact the actor is not actually trying to be or become the person he depicts, he is simply playing a role.
Too often in the church, leaders play roles which do not in fact represent what they are living into. An actor who plays the role of Jesus, such as Henry Ian Cusick, the character we know as Desmond from \u2018Lost\u2019 who did play Jesus in the movie the Gospel of John, (he was found before he was \u2018lost\u2019), is not pretending he is actually Jesus, and certainly thereafter will not be held accountable for not being just like Jesus once he finished making the movie, anymore than he will be held accountable for not being Desmond when \u2018Lost\u2019 finishes its run in another two seasons.<\/p>\n

The point is, Jesus doesn\u2019t want actors or pretenders, nor does he want hypocrites either. In view of a whole series of texts in Matthew where Jesus insists that his followers be morally discerning, hold each other accountable, and to be critically evaluating conduct, (see Mt. 7.15-20; 10. 11-15; 16.6-12; 18.17-18), this text provides no excuse for pretending or abdicating one\u2019s responsibilities to be thy brother\u2019s or sister\u2019s keeper. The issue here has to do with unfair critiques, uncharitable evaluations, and judging others by a different standard than the one uses to judge yourself. <\/p>\n

The text calls for rigorous self-examination instead, not merely a \u2018non-judgmental\u2019 attitude. We are reminded however that God will judge us by the same strict standard by which we judge others. We can morally evaluate and critique words and deeds of others, but not hearts, heads, persons, lives. T.W Manson puts it this way:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe whole business of judging persons is in God\u2019s hands, for he alone knows the secrets of men\u2019s hearts. This does not mean we are not to use all the moral insight we possess in order to discover what is right and wrong; but that we are to confine ourselves to that field and refrain from passing judgment on persons. For our judgment is a factor in shaping their lives, and a harsh judgment may help a fellow-creature on the road to perdition.\u201d<\/p>\n

There is an important and interesting play on Greek words in this little passage between merely \u2018seeing\u2019 and \u2018seeing clearly\u2019. In vs. 3 the verb means see where it speaks of seeing someone else\u2019s faults. But in vs. 5 the verb of sight means \u2018see clearly\u2019 and what is being suggested is that when one has truly seen and dealt with the plank in one\u2019s own eye, only then can one see clearly enough to help the brother with the speck in his eye. Self-examination and self-critique, and self-reformation leads to more accurate seeing of others flaws, and the ability to help them. <\/p>\n

In his wonderful and convicting non-fiction book, An Innocent Man <\/em>(which should be required ethical reading before one leaves seminary), the Christian writer John Grisham tells the tale of a man condemned to death row and to execution for a crime he never committed. It is, quite rightly, a powerful critique of the whole enterprise of capital punishment as implemented by fallible human beings whose knowledge is limited, whose moral insight is even more limited at times, and whose right to condemn another person to death is frankly debatable and morally dubious from a NT point of view. It is precisely this sort of human legal condemnation and consigning to execution and even damnation that Jesus is critiquing in this passage. <\/p>\n

The Bible is ever so clear \u201cVengeance is mine says the Lord, I shall repay\u201d, or as Paul puts it \u2013 \u201cdo not repay anyone evil for evil\u2026 do not take revenge, but leave room for God\u2019s wrath, for God says \u2018Vengeance is mine\u2026\u2019 but to the contrary if your enemy is hungry feed him\u2026.etc. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.\u201d Had we ever thought as Christians that when we condemn a lost person to capital punishment we might well be consigning them to Hell, by depriving them of the time and opportunity to repent and know the Lord? Its worth thinking about. And please do not tell me that they have forfeited the right to such a consideration, because none of us have such a right as the right to time for amendment of life. That is something that is a mercy to all of us sinners, not a right. <\/p>\n

The last verse of this passage, like the first, is equally one that has been subject
\nto abuse and misuse. Do not throw pearls before swine, or what is holy to the dogs. Swine and dogs are images of unclean animals, and they were indeed images used by Jews to refer to Gentiles, on whom Jewish pearls of wisdom would be lost entirely, or so it was often thought. Jesus\u2019 point here however is that certain highly precious and valuable teachings are for insiders, not outsiders who will cast them aside, or make no good use of them. In other words, here we have a reminder again that this whole Sermon on the Mount ethic is not for just anyone or everyone, but rather for those who are committed to being Jesus\u2019 disciple. To whom more is given, more is required. <\/p>\n

God does indeed expect of us a higher standard of righteousness and also of mercy. He does indeed expect of us a higher standard of moral discernment and understanding of others. He expects that we entirely refrain from putting on the judge\u2019s cap and condemning someone else to death, or into outer darkness, and for me at least that means I could never serve on a capital murder jury if we lived in a state where capital punishment was the possible outcome of the trial. Only God should have that power of condemnation and execution, not human beings. And honestly for me, a consistent life ethic means no abortion, no capital punishment, no war. But that is a story for another day. What Mt. 7.1-6 calls us all to, is more self-awareness, more self-examination, more repentance, more humility, more living into a higher righteousness, and with Emily Dickinson we should all say: \u201cJudge tenderly of me\u201d remembering whenever we are about to condemn another to final judgment \u201cthere but for the grace of God, go I.\u201d<\/p>\n

AMEN<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The following is a sermon for Oct. 15, 2008 in Estes Chapel, Asbury Seminary YOU BE THE JUDGE—- Mt. 7.1-6 Some texts in the NT ought to be able to sue for abuse and misuse. Mt. 7.1-6 is one of those texts. 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A graduate of UNC, Chapel Hill, he went on to receive the M.Div. degree from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and a Ph.D. from the University of Durham in England. He is now considered one of the top evangelical scholars in the world, and is an elected member of the prestigious SNTS, a society dedicated to New Testament studies. Witherington has also taught at Ashland Theological Seminary, Vanderbilt University, Duke Divinity School and Gordon-Conwell. A popular lecturer, Witherington has presented seminars for churches, colleges and biblical meetings not only in the United States but also in England, Estonia, Russia, Europe, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Australia. He has also led tours to Italy, Greece, Turkey, Israel, Jordan, and Egypt. Witherington has written over thirty books, including The Jesus Quest and The Paul Quest, both of which were selected as top biblical studies works by Christianity Today. He also writes for many church and scholarly publications, and is a frequent contributor to the Beliefnet website. Along with many interviews on radio networks across the country, Witherington has been seen on the History Channel, NBC, ABC, CBS, CNN, The Discovery Channel, A&E, and the PAX Network.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/author\/bwitherington"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/199"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=187"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=187"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=187"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=187"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}