Sermon Transcript — February 10, 2007
Well, we have seven weeks to go until the Passover and we recognize that this is a very important season of the year as we look forward to the time that, of course, we observe the remembrance of the death of Jesus Christ. So I'd like you turn with me, if you would today, to I Corinthians 11:31 and I'd like to introduce a topic that a number of brethren had asked me about over the past, probably six months to a year, and it starts with looking at this particular Scripture in I Corinthians 11:31 where the Apostle Paul says:
For if we would judge ourselves we would not be judged - if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.
So he talks about the partaking of the Passover and understanding the bread, understanding the wine, understanding the sacrifice that Jesus Christ made for us as an individual. We recognize that the importance of judging ourselves is a part of the Passover time, but there's a flip-side to judging ourselves that we want to look at today in the sermon. Is it not actually looking at other people as well, and sometimes sitting in a kind of a position of evaluating and looking at their situation, perhaps with a jaundiced eye.
Judgment and judging of self, if properly done, creates a high degree of sensitivity. When we critically evaluate the motives, the intents, and the actions dealing with cause and effect in our own human heart, it is really a wonderful thing. And over the years of being ten, twenty, thirty years in the Church of God, we can learn how to effectively judge ourselves and discern ourselves as God has intended. But one who effectively does such becomes an expert in human nature - they become an expert in human nature - not only their own, but sometimes the human nature of someone else. And sometimes this can become a problem.
So today, I would like to examine some aspects of judging. There seems to be a dichotomy in the Scriptures on this topic, so I would like to take you through a topic entitled simply "All About Judging", which really isn't all about judging, it's just some basic principles that we can understand about the concept of judging. Don't turn in your Bible yet to these Scriptures, but I want you to notice this dichotomy that sometimes, as brethren in the Church, we don't know exactly how to handle. We are told in Matthew 7:1, "Judge not that you be not judged."
But on the other hand Jesus said over in John 7:24, "Judge not according to appearance but judge righteous judgment." So, in one case it says, "judge not", and the other case Jesus says, "judge righteous judgment".
Paul however tells us in Romans 2:1 that "you are inexcusable, oh man, whoever you are that judges wherein you judge another, you condemn yourself". But then on the other side, Jesus said that "judgment, mercy and faith were a part of the weightier matters of the law". But on the other hand, the Apostle Paul said in Romans 14 "not to judge another man's servant, or even to judge anyone anymore". And finally, he said after telling us in I Corinthians 11:31 that a man should judge himself, he tells us in I Corinthians 4:3,5, he said " I judge not my own self" - I judge not my own self - and later he says, "I judge not my own self and judge nothing before Christ returns".
So, you read many statements about judging - you read many statements about not judging; we're told to, and we're told not to. And we do have to evaluate and look at the entirety of the topic of judging. So let's begin by going back to those few Scriptures and let's look at the context. One of the most important things we can do as members of God's Church is to take a look at the context in which the Scripture finds itself. Notice over in Matthew 7 - let's begin there first of all this morning in Matt 7:1 of the words of Jesus Christ. He said:
Verse 1: "Judge not, that you be not judged.
Verse 2: "For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with what measure you use, it will be measured back to you.
Verse 3: "And why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye?"
So, what we've begin to see here is that Jesus Christ was condemning what seems to be judging, but in reality it is not condemning judging, it is condemning another spirit or a frame of mind that we have to look at. The word for judge here in 7:1 in krino (the Greek word). It means to assume the office of a Judge, where someone sits in a position of judging, yet it is found only in the context of a posture of condemnation in this particular case. So there's a difference between judging something and condemning - there's a world of difference, and Jesus said that you have to get the log out of your own eye in order to get the speck out of your brother's eye, as he pointed out here in Matt 7:3.
So, He said you're unworthy to judge properly because you have a spiritual flaw, which is the log in your eye. Yet it's not wrong to be able to judge properly, because there is a world of difference between condemning, and discerning - there's a world of difference between condemning an individual, and discerning, and it's very important that we learn how to properly judge and how to properly discern.
Now, let's go over to John 7:24. Let's see the other side of this particular statement that Jesus made here in John 7:24.
John 7:24 "Do not judge according to appearance, but judge righteous judgment."
So, Jesus now begins to separate the difference between judging outwardly by an appearance, and secondly by the ability to understand the righteous ability to discern what needs to be discerned. Jesus was dealing with the problem of circumcision on the Sabbath. He was dealing with a very narrow frame of mind by the Pharisees who simply said, "Any deed whatsoever on the Sabbath is nil, wrong, nix - you can't do that." And yet, He showed that mercy and kindness is a part of the spiritual intent of the law in keeping the Sabbath. And He went on to point out how a man receives circumcision and it is not wrong - therefore, it is not wrong to be able to judge situations by simply being able to see beyond appearance and to have a spiritual capacity to see beyond what we describe as the "letter of the law", where mercy and kindness are shown.
Let me give you an example: You're in Walgreens Drug Store, and as you're in Walgreens Drug Store you're working this one aisle for something that you want to buy and in comes one of the Church members - his name is George. And as George comes walking in down the aisle, he's weaving from one side of the aisle to the other, and you look at him and you say, "Oh no, George is stone drunk - look at that, he's terrible". And he reaches over and he grabs a chocolate bar and he rips it open, throws the wrapper on the floor, and he crams it in his mouth and wheels around and again, still weaving, walks out of the store. He said, "Oh no, he was drunk, then he stole a chocolate bar, and he walks out of the store without paying for it". Now, if you really knew George's problem, you may not have understood that he may have been a diabetic, and he just had a diabetic attack, and that he was having to take chocolate in order to be able to save his life, from what? - from dying of a diabetic coma. And so what he did, he was out of his mind and he knew he had to find that chocolate, and he did. Now when he was walking he was weaving because he did not have the ability to keep his body upright in the way that it should have been because his mind was spinning.
Now, how do I know that might be true? My father was a diabetic - my father had attacks - my father had to reach for candy in order to save him from going into a diabetic coma. But you see, if you and I were to look at this man coming down the aisle weaving, grabbing this chocolate bar, stuffing it in his mouth and going out the door, you would say, "He's a thief, and he's drunk". But that would be judging by appearance, and then you would find out a little bit later when you did begin to talk to George that he had a problem, and that problem was that he was a diabetic. He probably didn't even know - he didn't even know about paying for it, because he had lost the capacity to judge properly.
So, we see, as we deal with things from a broader base, as Jesus said here, "don't judge according to appearance". But you've got to step back, and you have to ask the question, "do I understand all of the facts?" And Jesus said these people were so narrow that they had no ability to understand mercy, and kindness, and the capacity to understand the spiritual intent of keeping the Sabbath day holy.
Let's go to Romans 2. Let's see another Scripture here in:
Romans 2:1 Therefore you are inexcusable, O man, whosoever you are who judge, for in whatever you judge another, you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things.
What we find sometimes among people is the inability to recognize that their sins are just as equal to putting Christ on the cross as this persons over here. And sometimes the other side of it is that they have their own set of problems that simply need to be dealt with and they sit in judgment of somebody else thinking that their sin, their problem, their weakness is greater than theirs. We have had an occasional time when we see it's a hypocritical form of judgment accusing someone of doing the same things that you're doing, or putting it this way, they're sinning, but sinning in a little different way than you do. And you find that there comes this vaunting of yourself in self-righteousness at times, because you didn't do what they did. And so you have to watch that, you have to be very careful of critical hypocrisy that may come.
This is what the Apostle Paul was dealing with, and the problem was that everybody has to come before the judgment seat of Christ, and everybody has to realize who and what they are as they deal with their problems. It's not wrong to realize that that individual may have a problem - that individual has to be helped. But the point is sometimes hypocritical judgment and judgment of the person by putting them down (putting yourself up) becomes a major issue, especially in a religious world of keeping of principles that are within God's law, or God's word.
Now, let's go over to Matthew 23 for a moment - let's take a look of another aspect of this. Over in Matthew 23 we see the example here in Matthew 23:23 the following - it says:
Matthew 23:23 "Woe unto you Scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint, anise and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law; justice (or judgment) and mercy and faith. Now all these things ought you to have done (that is to obey the laws of God so far as tithing) but not leave the others undone.
There is a spirit of the law which says that mercy, compassion, and love, which is greater than the letter, needs to be enacted. But I think what happens sometimes with human beings, that when they compare themselves with others, (as did the Pharisees with the individuals that they were criticizing), we recognize that we come far short-sighted in our judgments, and we present a problem to ourselves.
As we come to the Passover season, we recognize that Jesus did understand the problem of people who kept the letter of the law but did not understand a broader perspective on how to judge and deal with one another. Over in Job 42 (you don't need to turn there) from Verses 1-5, when Job went through his entire problem and all of the situations that he had to face, he had to come to realize that he had to see himself in relationship with God, and sometimes what happens with the Pharisees, they saw themselves in relationship only with another human being. And so what we see here is that Job said, "I have heard of you by the hearing of my ear, but now my eye seesyou". He said, "I repent, seeing I am dust and ashes".
The recognition sometimes that we have to realize that they had a narrow perception of God - they had a narrow perception of individuals and the need to be worked with by God, and they just simply put human beings down in a comparison. This goes on and on and on through the entire four gospels of Jesus Christ. It isn't, as we're going to see in a little bit - it isn't permitting sin. We're going to see that there's a broader perspective as people try to work through their problems, but as we, as members of God's Church, have to understand the importance of discerning and perceiving where they are in their growth and being able to be a helper to them. I'm going to show you some examples of that in a couple of minutes.
Over in Romans 14 - Romans 14. Let's look at this particular example presently and see what this one points out to us. (This is Romans 14:4.) We see the example of eating and not eating - we see the example of being a vegetarian as opposed to being an individual that was eating all things that were considered edible that God gave to man, and we read here in Verse 4, it says:
Verse 4: Who are you to judge another man's servant? To his own master he stands or falls. Indeed, he will be made to stand, for God is able to make him stand.
He's talking about a concept of an individual coming within the congregation who may only be able to eat certain things, and they don't feel that they can eat others that God has permitted for us to eat. And so therefore, he says that one should receive them until they grow in the ability to understand what God says about eating. This had to do - this entire chapter has to do with eating and not eating - drinking and not drinking. That's the concept that is found here in the entire fourteenth chapter. Now Verse 10 - let's notice what is says in Verse 10:
Verse 10 : But why do you judge your brother? Why do you show contempt for your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.
You have to begin to realize that in judging you have to watch the attitude that is going to be there. You can point out in your mind that something may be wrong before God, but you have to be careful not to do what it says here, and that is simply, (as he tells us in Verse 10), to show contempt - to show contempt for the individual. It was the act and the attitude of despising, looking down on, criticizing and condemning one who did not yet have the knowledge - they did not have the strength yet, nor did they have the understanding. Notice Verse 3. It says:
Verse 3: Let not him who eats despise him who does not eat, and let him who does not eat judge him who does eat; for God has received him.
So, we begin to understand that we strive to be renewed in the spirit of our minds daily - but in what? What are we to be renewed in? Well, the Bible's very simple when it tells us that you start with knowledge - you obey that knowledge; that knowledge becomes, number two: Understanding. Then as you understand and you begin to discern, the third thing that you strive for is Wisdom, or the ability to judge righteous judgment, under every case. When you're a young Christian, and new, you sometimes don't have all of that - you have knowledge, and you have zeal for that knowledge, but that knowledge is not with understanding yet, and that knowledge is not with wisdom to go along with it yet, so you have to learn to back off to understand that through the process of time, experience, and age, this should come.
But in this particular case we see that it was a conscience issue - notice Verse 22 and Verse 23. He said:
Verse 22: Do you have faith? Have it to yourself before God. Happy is he who does not condemn himself in what he approves.
Verse 23: For he who doubts is condemned if he eats, because he does not eat from faith; for whatsoever is not from faith is sin.
So, we're dealing with the concept of conscience sin, as opposed to what the law of God says. But the individuals as they came into the Church - brand new, they didn't understand - and individuals who had this knowledge, they had this understanding, and they had the ability to follow God's principles - they simply judged from the point of view of condemning and despising an individual.
Now, there's a world of difference between somebody who has an ongoing, habitual sin, and an individual that has a weakness that needs to be worked with, or an individual that has what we describe simply as a lack of character. Not all character flaws are sin - we have to understand that. Not all character flaws are sin, so we have to be very careful as we see new people coming into the Church. As a young Minister, I remember, I had this one gentleman coming from the Kootenays, up in the Central part of British Columbia, and he did not eat meat. Being a young minister, I thought he was supposed to learn how to eat meat. And we had a Baptism counseling and I was explaining to him the virtues of eating meat, and I had not yet learned that you don't do that sort of thing, and so he was telling me, "When I eat meat, it stops right here", you know, "and it just doesn't go beyond here - I have a problem". And I said to myself, I said, "Well, this man has to learn how to eat meat". Well, I learned later that, you know, that wasn't the way you did it! However, later I found out that he did enjoy a steak after that - so, I hope I didn't push him into it, on a lack of - it wasn't a matter of conscience - but in his part of the world they ate root vegetables and that was all. They came from a Russian background of no meat but all vegetables. So, a fine gentleman, and yet I had to learn that that was not the right way to handle it.
Okay, let's go to I Corinthians 4. Let's read another example:
I Corinthians 4:3 The Apostle Paul said, But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by a human court. In fact, I don't even judge myself.
Verse 4: For I know nothing against myself, yet I am not justified by this; but He who judges me is the Lord.
Verse 5: Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord comes, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness and reveal the counsels of the hearts; and then each one's praise will come from God.
Now, when you look at the Scripture, you say, "Well, what does this mean, that, you know, he's not going to judge himself, and God's the only that's going to judge" - If you look at the context of the Scripture you will see that they were judging his apostolic authority. The Corinthian Church's problem was that they simply did not accept the Apostle Paul as they might accept others, and so Paul had to prove himself over a period of time to them, and he was talking about how he was striving to fulfill his apostolic stewardship, and Christ alone would judge that - Christ alone would judge that. Yet, these people sat in the seat of judgment in many of the situations we see in I Corinthians where there was a condemnation - there was a put-down. And some of the other apostles could have a wife, and the Apostle Paul was criticized that he should not be allowed to do that. And things were just that way - that was the way it tended to be.
Now, I saved this one for last, because it comes from I Corinthians 6. And this is a very interesting Scripture, as we're going to see now, as we get into the heart of this sermon this afternoon. I Corinthians 6:1-5. He said:
I Corinthians 6:1 Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unrighteous, and not before the saints ?
Verse 2: Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world will be judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters?
So, apparently in the Corinthian Church there was a responsibility to deal, at their particular level, with small problems and issues and situations among the Church and among the members. He said in:
Verse 3: Do you not know that we shall judge angels? How much more, things that pertain in this life?
So, we begin to understand the importance of the concept of simply judging properly, having the ability to discern, and the ability to make a decision in life, as the Apostle Paul said here in verse 3.
Verse 4: If you have judgments concerning things pertaining to this life, do you appoint those who are least esteemed by the Church to judge?
And apparently there were people that just simply did not know how to judge some situations and issues within the body properly. So, we must learn in this life how to judge and judge righteously. We will see that God does expect us to judge righteously. That is something very, very important to us to understand because it can be a major flaw as we come down to the Passover season and not understanding our job in relationship to other members of the Church as they, too, examine themselves.
So, what I'd like to do now, in the latter half of the sermon, is to look at some types of judgment today - let's evaluate them. I think I have about seven basic points and I'd like to go through and just show you some principles and concepts that are important.
Number one: Let's look at number one - it's called "Circumstantial Judgments"- Circumstantial Judgments. This is rendering judgment on what appears. Remember the example that I gave you of the man coming into Walgreens and in actuality having a diabetic attack, (and yet the person might not know that), and that's why they both were weaving, and secondly that's why they grabbed a candy bar - they may have been completely out of their mind and didn't know that they were supposed to pay - maybe they did. My dad was one of those lucky people that had candy at home, and the reason he had candy at home was because he used to cheat! Don't tell my dad that, but he did have the candy at home for two reasons: one for cheating because he loved to eat candy, and even though he was diabetic, but the other one was when he had a diabetic attack - it was like that (snap of your fingers) - it was thirty seconds in his mouth and he came out of it immediately. Literally, his eyes would go fuzzy, in the sense that he couldn't see - he'd have black spots in front of his eyes - so, I know that that is an important thing for a diabetic to be able to have something with them in that regard.
But circumstantial judgments are rendering judgments on what appears, reading things into situations. People have been hung on circumstantial evidence over time, and in history, and we hear this term being used also in the courts - circumstantial evidence. There was an example some years ago when the Church did not use makeup, and a woman came to church wearing a facial cream, (which was an allergy), which had a tinge of red, and she looked like she had - what would you call it? Some type of blush on her cheeks, and church members were "Aah" - aghast, you know, because she was wearing makeup. And finally when someone told everybody that she was doing that because she had an allergy, (you know, there a few people say, "yeah, yeah, yeah, tell me about it" ) - you know, that type of thing - and then the rest of them said, okay, that was fine. But you see that you have to be careful and not just simply (snap of your fingers) make a decision like that - it can create a problem.
I remember, there was a story of a man on the Sabbath that was standing at a ticket counter of a movie theater, and the individual thought he was going into the theater to watch a movie on the Sabbath. And in actuality what had happened was the man had been traveling down this street and he had to use the bathroom, and so he asked the girl at the ticket counter, "Can I go in and use the bathroom - I'm in dire straits". And so they let him go in, but the person who saw it said that they saw, you know, so-and-so buying a ticket to go in to watch a show on the Sabbath. That's kind of a situation that you have to be very, very careful of, because you don't really know for sure what might have happened. But, again, immediately someone says, "I see them - this is what they're doing", - and it becomes a judgment.
How about the fact that a man comes out of a bar, and he's weaving all over the place, and he's unsteady. And what happens is, you see him, he's a church member, and you say, "Oh no", he's been drinking and he's had too much to drink, and now he's drunk", you know. "This is a terrible situation". Then, the next thing he does, is he pulls out of his pocket a big old black "stogie" and he sticks it in his mouth, and he starts to light it up and he looks like a steam engine going down the street as he's walking. Is that a circumstantial evidence? I don't think so - I think you begin to realize that there's a third step that needs to be taken about that time. You've got to save him from doing something to himself, so you drive up and you say, "Can I give you a ride home? Can you put out that cigar while you get in my car?" And it's amazing what might happen as a result of that.
But the point is that you can see that an individual in that particular case definitely, you see, may have a problem. And so, as being your brother's keeper, what do you do? I think you just simply try to give him a ride home because of the fact that he might be finding himself in a dangerous situation, maybe trying to drive his car, etc. etc. But again, this was not a circumstantial thing once we saw him move from coming out of the bar weaving and then lighting up a cigar and, as we say, walking down the street doing that.
Then it moves away from circumstantial to something that you say, "Yeah, I know, that shouldn't be done". Boy, the best thing you can do is put your arm around somebody like that and say, "Hey, (you know), let me take you home". And you'll be amazed the next day what kind of telephone call you'll get from that individual. Hopefully, he'll say, "Don't tell the Minister (you know) that I did that". And you say, "You tell him yourself". That works so much better. But, I've seen that happen - I'm using cases that have happened in years in my Ministry with people, and I've seen that occur.
Let me give you another one that's a circumstantial judgment that people make: a woman has a child and she has to take it out time, after time, after time, during this service, and everybody's saying, "hm, hm, - every few minutes that child is going out", and the persons are saying, "Well, what are they doing ? Aren't they rearing their child properly?" And, I remember in one particular case, two or three weeks in a row, the lady was taking out the child - it was crying all the time. But they found out about a week or two later that the child had been very sick and the child had been going through a number of health issues, and so it was not in as good of health - and of course, people sometimes brought their children to Church during those days and they got themselves in trouble because they'd bring whooping cough - they would bring all kinds of things. You remember that! I'm sure there's some of you - I see some of you shaking your heads, so you know what I'm talking about. But, it wasn't that she wasn't a good mother, it was just that the child had gone through a number of illnesses for a couple of weeks, and that was the end result of it.
Circumstantial judgment - How about Jesus Christ when they said to Him, when He was talking about His Father, and talking about His relationship with His Father, and they said to Him, "We be not born of fornication". That's an awfully harsh thing to say. They didn't know better, because they think everybody has to be born through the process that we see in the relationship between a male and a female. And yet, we see Jesus Christ who was conceived in the womb of his earthly mother, Mary, by a miracle, by the power of God's Holy Spirit. So, they immediately jumped on this and they said, "We be not born of fornication", which is a terrible, terrible thing to see.
Over in Isaiah 11 - let's turn there for just a moment (Isaiah 11:3). We see a prophecy about Jesus Christ here, and the way that He judged, and how He handled things when it came to judgment. Notice 11:3-4 - He said:
Verse 3: He delights in the fear of the Lord , (and speaking of Christ), He shall not judge after the sight of His eyes, nor decide by the hearing of His ears - He shall not decide by the sight of His eyes, nor decide by the hearing of His ears.
I had an Associate Pastor back some years ago, who simply told me that before he would go out on a visit, he'd already decided what he was going to do with that person. And I sat there, my mouth dropped open about two feet, and I said, "What?" And he said, "No, I have already decided because I know enough about the individual that I've made a decision as to how I'm going to handle that". Well, Jesus didn't, and I just frankly told him, I said, "Well, Christ didn't do that, because He said He would not judge after the sight of His eyes, nor the hearing of His ears". He would judge in a very different way - He would hear the whole case - He would evaluate the whole case, and of course, being a Spirit Being, He could read the heart as well. But, we're speaking just simply as a human being, and this is circumstantial judgments that should not be rendered by us, or by a Minister; we should not simply do that.
Over in I Samuel 16:7 - you don't need to turn there, but it just simply says, For the Lord does not see as man sees. Man looks on the outward appearance, but God looks on theheart. And so you have to understand that principle, that we try to understand the needs of people, but you also have to understand that it takes time to evaluate and to look at things, and sometimes people make "snap judgments", or what we call circumstantial judgments, and really put themselves in a very bad light, because they find out later that they did not know what they were talking about.
Point Number two : Self Righteous Judgment
Now when you keep God's way of life and you follow God's principles, you will find that there is a righteous approach that people take under those circumstances. Sometimes we then evaluate someone else's problem, or struggle, on how we would do it, and you would hear words like, "If I were you - if I were you, I would have overcome smoking (snap of fingers), in a minute". Well, some people have. My mother-in-law, when she went to her baptism counseling in 1957, or 56, whenever it was, and Mr. Dick Armstrong was baptizing, he asked her the question, "Do you smoke?" And she had smoked that morning, and she said to him, "No, I don't smoke", meaning from now on I won't smoke. I mean in her mind, that's what she came to. You know what? She never smoked again, and I said, "Boy, that's scary stuff!" But she didn't. But when she had done it before and she came to that point, she had to come to realize that, no, she could never smoke again.
Now there are a few people that can overcome some things just like that (snap of fingers). But if I were a betting man, which I'm not a betting man, but if I were, I'd bet that there are other sides to weaknesses that people have, that they may have overcome smoking, but they may not have had an easy a time with some other things in life, like self- righteousness, things along that particular line.
Secondly, "If I were you, I would shut my mouth and not eat, I'd get rid of my weight, (snap of fingers), just like that! That's the way I did it, why can't you do it?" You know, it's a self-righteous judgment, and some people struggle - some people struggle - other people have an easy time. We have some Ministers in the Ministry are - (they stay thin)- they can eat all that they want to eat - it's disgusting! Some of us have to go without eating, you know, we do have to shut our mouths - sew it up mentally, and that sort of thing. But the point is, that most of us have something that we're strong in, and we also have things that we struggle with.
"If I were you, I would tell them where to get off! Just go right up to them and just smack them right in the 'old nose' and tell them, (mentally speaking, of course), that that's, you know - that's the way it is", and just tell them off. Yet, the Bible does not say that that's the way that it should be done. It says, speaking the truth in love - and you have to learn how to do that as well.
"If I were you, I would just tell them, 'will to do what is right'", you know. "It's just by that willpower - you just go and you do it". And I've watched people who had that willpower to do certain things. They could get in their prayer, their Bible Study - they'd get in their fasting - they'd get in all the things they needed to do, and I'd say, "Wow!" Then I found out that they had other little things that they struggled with, and they were not so little. But I think that's something that you come to realize.
So, self-righteous judgment is something that we have to be very careful of. Remember the example over in Luke 7 ? Let's turn over there for just for a moment. We see the example here in Luke 7, and we won't read all of the Scriptures, but I think it's a very good one to point out what Jesus Christ wants us to understand. Here was a man that had invited Christ to his home, and he was giving him dinner, and this woman appeared. And she had some serious problems that she had been going through, and she came into Christ's presence, and she began to wash His feet, she began to kiss His feet, and all of these things, and:
Verse 39: Now when the Pharisee who had invited Him saw this, he spoke to himself, saying, "This man, if He were a prophet, would know who and what manner of woman this is who is touching Him, for she is a sinner."
Big deal! Everybody's a sinner, except Jesus Christ. So the point is, it's by reason of how big the sin might be, or how great the sin might be - but the point is, Jesus begin to explain to him about how He had forgiven her because she had come to show a repent frame of mind. Now, what this kind of judgment is in self-righteous judgment, is simply putting down of another human being, and the vaunting pride of the judge. It's just simply that people get into that frame of mind - it's the putting down of another, as Simon did to this woman, and thinking of himself more highly than he ought. And there was that problem that Jesus had to deal with as he had to deal with the world of the religious Pharisee who, by keeping the letter of the law, seemed to think that he was doing everything that was right. Yet the spirit of the law, as Christ pointed out in Matthew 23:23, is a part of our thinking: These things ought you to have done, (tithing), but not let the others undone. This is the principle.
Number 3: Snap Judgment - A quick, impatient, (many times without all the facts) - shootfirst and ask questions later, type attitude - the individual is judge, jury and executioner, all wrapped up in one. Have you ever met people like that? You know, "Well, I know what can be done"- boom, boom, boom, boom - and they say, "This is what should be". And you sit there and you're shocked how quick they come to a decision, and you say, "Where did they get all their information?" Well, they got it out of their head, in many cases, and they really did not have all the facts.
I had a case one time, that - I had a man in my area that I was training - and he had been in another church area. And what had happened was, his wife was in the hospital for three days, and she had toxemia - he was a new Elder, and he had to stay up for three days and three nights with his wife. And then, he got on an airplane and flew from this city all the way over to the West Coast for a Ministerial Conference, that he felt that he just had to be there. Because of the fact - that because he was already late - he got there and he was sitting fairly far back in the place, and he was dead on his feet - he looked like something that the cat dragged in, dragged out, brought back in and beat up. You know what I mean? Have you ever been out where you just didn't get any sleep for two or three days? You know what you looked like? You know what I mean. And he's sitting there, and he's going (like that - expression) and he's looking at the man who's leading "the thing".
And so, the man came over to work for me. And so, the man in charge from the Headquarters (in charge of the International) - I said to him, I said, "I want to ordain this man as a Preaching Elder", and he says, "No way, no way - the particular individual that saw him over at this Conference said that he was in a bad attitude." I said, "He was in a what? "He was in a bad attitude - he discerned that he was in a bad attitude" - (so, he was the judge, jury and the executioner). And he said, "No, we are not going to ordain him." And I just simply said to the man, "Well, I've had 365 days - I'm with him every day - we play racquet-ball together - I've heard all his sermons, I've heard his sermonettes, I've heard his Bible Studies, I've taken him hunting with me. I've (you know) - day and night, we go out and do anointing." And I said, "You're telling me that that man, in fifteen or twenty minutes of looking at this individual, decided that he should not be ordained, and I've had this man for 365 days?" And he looked at me for a second, and I said, "Hey, fire me, cause I'm going to recommend him." And he said, "Okay, Pinelli, I'll back off." But the point was, that the man was supposedly in a bad attitude, because the look on his face was such - he'd been without sleep for three days and three nights, so what do you expect?
But, when you get into that frame of mind, and you think, somehow, that you've got all the facts, you may not have the reality. Wouldn't it have been terrible if they decided not to ordain a very fine man? It would have been sad. But the point is, this is the snap judgment that sometimes people have, and we have to be extremely careful not to let that become the number one thing that drives us.
It says in the Book, simply, He that answers a matter before he hears it (that's Proverbs 18:13) it is a folly and a shame to him - it is a folly and a shame to him.
You want to see an interesting example? I love this particular one, over in I Samuel - I have to go here because I love the man who's name is mentioned here in I Samuel 25. His name is Nabal - remember the story about Nabal? David had been out, and he'd been taking care of this man's sheep, and he'd been a kind of - he and his men had been a guard to them - and David just simply wanted to have the ability to have a few morsels of food, so David sent his men to talk to Nabal and ask him if they could have a little bit of food, because they'd been out there, they're without food, etc. etc. So, Nabal, when David's men come, he berates them, he attacks them, he just chews on them, and he was so condescending and so harsh with them, that the men turned around, and they went back to David, and they told David, and David said, "Gird on your swords, we're going to hack off this man's head - we're going to take care of this problem right here and now." And they probably could have taken all the food if they wanted it.
But there was a very wise lady - her name was Abigail. She was married to this particular man, and it says over in 25:20:
So it was, as she rode on the donkey, that she went down under cover of the hill; and there were David and his men, coming down toward her, and she met them .
They were on their way - they put the swords on - this boy's going to be gone, I mean just one "fell-swoop" and we're going to see things rolling down the hill - you know, that type of thing! And it was going to be this man's head.
Verse 21: Now David said, "Surely in vain I have protected all that this fellow has in the wilderness, so that nothing was missing that belongs to him." (They didn't take anything). And, he has repaid me evil for good.
Verse 22: " And may God so do more, and also to the enemies of David, if I leave one male of all who belong to him by morning light."
I mean, David was angry - David's men were angry.
Verse 23: Now when Abigail saw David, she dismounted quickly, she fell on her face,
Verse 24: She fell at his feet and said: "On me, my Lord, let this iniquity be on me! And please let your handmaid speak in your ear, and listen the word of your handmaid.
Verse 25: "Please, let not my lord regard this scoundrel Nabal. For as his name is , so is he.
You know what his name means? Fool! It's translated from the Hebrew: fool! Can you imagine growing up, "Hey Fool, come over here", you know. "Come on, play with me, Fool!" You know, that type of thing! "Come in for supper, Fool", you know. And you think about - how in the world did they name him? It's kind of like this one individual, that when Israel was losing their ability to be a strong nation, one was called Ichabod - I mean, can you imagine being called Ichabod? And that's a -- well, anyway, we won't get into that! But here this fellow was what he was - he was a fool. This woman understood that if you didn't appease this particular problem, then you were going to have difficulty, and sure enough, they were not thinking clearly. But Abigail put it in proper perspective: she brought an offering - she brought all kinds of meats and cheeses and raisins, and all kinds of things, and I use the expression in the right way: "A bribe blinds the eyes", and in this particular case, she quieted them down. There's nothing like a good meal to slow down your emotions! You follow what I mean? I've had ministers tell me, the best thing you can do is have a meal with somebody before you get into their problem! And so, I thought it was interesting that she knew what she was doing. But, she was married to a fool, and so the end result was that David's men were going to make a big mistake, and she saved them from doing that.
But, the point is, this is a problem that we have to be careful of when it comes to snap judgments, and they would have actually destroyed everybody, and not all those people needed to have that kind of judgment on them.
Number four: "Emotional judgment"
Anger when it flares - the Bible says, he that is soon angry deals foolishly, and be not hasty in spirit to be angry, for anger rests in the bosom of fools.
We are hurt when someone hurts our child - there is nothing more than "Mama Bear" being hurt by what happens to her child. I will tell you that wives strap on the verbal sword. I know that, because we've watched that happen in times past, where children got into situations and we ended up having an interesting time. But the point is, we are hurt when someone hurts our child, or someone hurts our friend, or hurt our relatives, or a close brother in the Church. It really is unfair, and it's very sad, but the point is that emotional judgment can be rendered, and you have to be extremely careful - impatience clouds the issue, frustration clouds the issue, stress clouds the issue, and I think sometimes people judge based on the way that they feel. A lawyer once said, some years ago when we were dealing with a court case, he said, "All I want to know is what the Judge had for breakfast, and if he had a fight with his wife", because he wasn't going to be as easy to deal with, right? So, if you wanted to know, you know, "What kind of reaction am I going to get from this particular judge? will it be an emotional judgment - he's had a bad day, he's already started out bad" - and so therefore he's concerned with that.
The disciples did the same thing - they began to understand the concept of Elijah, but in a wrong way. Notice over in Luke 9:53. The example here, of course, is when Jesus was not accepted in this particular town (Lk 9:53) it says simply the following:
Luke 9:53 But they did not receive Him, because His face was set for the journey to Jerusalem.
Verse 54: And when His disciples James and John saw this, they said, "Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them, just as Elijah did?"
"Let's just zap them - that'll take care of it! Make them a cinder relic, you know, and then you can bring them up in the resurrection and we'll deal with them later. But let's just take care of the problem here and now - they shouldn't treat You that way." And so this is what they wanted to do. And in Verse 55 He turned and rebuked them, and He said:
Verse 55: You don't know what manner of spirit you are. (And that's where we have to realize how easy it is to get ourselves caught up in an emotional situation).
When David was walking down a road after the struggle that he had had in that one area he had been removed - (his son had given him a great deal of trouble and he was kind of in a period of moving away from his son) - and the end result was that there was a man by the name of Shimei, and Shimei cursed David as David was walking down the road. He was throwing rocks at David, he was throwing dust at David, he was kicking up things - and just making a real, (you know), a real problem for David, and the men said: "Shall we take off his head?" You know, it's very simple - the guy's just got a big mouth and he's shooting off his mouth and saying things, and you're the king, you know, and we're unhappy with him doing that, so let's just take care of it! And David said, "No, let him curse, because this may be of God - leave him alone." Now David did, and the man continued to do that for a period of time, and then finally they went down the road and Shimei dropped off. ButSolomon didn't forget - Solomon did not forget, because Solomon told his man, he said, "You go, and you lift his head off." Because he had recognized that David did not know - David was really being very, very careful in the way that he handled himself, and I think you see how easily some things could move you. But David had a realization that maybe this was of God - maybe God was allowing Shimei to curse him for some of the things that he had done wrong, and when you look at his attitude, you see he did not go after him. But later on when it was all finally come to a full understanding of Shimei, Solomon took care of the problem. But David did not, and I think you see the difference between the two of them in dealing with this particular man.
Number five: Partial In Judgment - Proverbs 24:23-26 says:
That we need to be careful in respect of persons in judgment.
And we find out that people will sway judgment for a friend or a relative; sometimes the rules don't apply evenly across the board. Sometimes there's partiality to how a person talks, or how they look, or how they dress, and you find that this becomes a - really, a serious problem - having respect of persons. And there are people that simply will give more to an individual who is better looking. We've had cases where we've seen people who were well-to-do, had good jobs, and they were looked upon in a certain way, and yet they had serious problems with the doctrine of the Church. And somehow, people did not discern that - they just saw that they were powerful, that they were capable individuals, they were well-to-do, but they didn't realize that they had a doctrinal problem with the Church - and ultimately they left the Church. And they, you know, took into consideration what they had believed for a long time, things like: they didn't believe in foot washing, they didn't believe in how we kept the seven Holy Days - things along that particular line. And so we see that that is an interesting problem that does occur in partial judgment when you don't see the reality behind what is there.
Number six: Judgment of the person and not the problem
This is the biggest one - this is the biggest one that I find over the forty-six years that I worked with people, and that is simply the fact that I realize the Devil has done a good job on me, and he's probably done a good job on some of you - I don't know how many of you, so I don't know all of you, but I do know that he's done a good job in programming to our minds: love me, love my problem; hate my problem, hate me. It's just, you know, you can't separate the two - this is the way some people are, and they're programmed over a period of time that if you say anything contrary to them, or you do anything contrary, you hate them. And in actuality, that is not true. Probably some of the greatest love that people have is to be able to show an individual where they may need a little bit of help.
Improper judgment and a wrong attitude ensues when one confuses love - that is, one's problem stops the flow of love toward an individual and instead of loving their being, loving them as an individual and realizing they have a problem or a struggle, the individual is separated from another individual by the problem.
God expects us to develop His love. Love is - in regard to a person's being - needs to always be there. But you have to realize that sin is actually involved, and when sin is actually involved in peoples lives it can cause a tremendous problem of separation between two individuals.
The Book says very simply in Proverbs 8:13, the following:
Proverbs 8:13 To fear the Lord is to hate evil; (To fear the Lord is to hate evil)
It doesn't say to hate the person. In the Old testament, David, under that particular form of Administration of God's word and God's love, he said, "I hated my enemies with a perfect hatred" - I hated my enemies with a perfect hatred. In the new Testament Jesus said, "You can't do that, because the spirit of the law says that you can't do that."
But Proverbs 6:16 is my favorite because it says seven things God hates, and not one of them is the individual - and not one of them is the individual. If you will go back and look at the seven things that God hates, you will see that none of it has to do with the individual - it has to do with their doings, their thinking, their statements - whatever it might be, and this is what you have to realize. God so loved the world, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Understanding this in judgment gives us the mind of God and the mind of Christ. Then you can understand the concept: Jacob have I loved, and Esau have I loved less. Now that's the actual translation. God loved Jacob because of certain qualities that he had; He loved Esau, but He did not love some of Esau's qualities, or shall I say, lack of them. And God's probably in the future going to deal with them. But as many as God loves, He rebukes and He chastens - so what does that mean, that God hates an individual? I don't think so - I don't think so. God loves the person - He just does not love the deed.
You've heard people say, "You're a bad boy." Have you heard people say that? No - nottrue. Or you say, "Sam's a clod, he's unconverted." I mean, you hear people talk about things along this particular line. We learn not to reject the person - we learn to recognize there are some wrong actions. And one can act unconverted. Now let's stop for a moment here - I'm not talking about serious, habitual sins that need the removal of a member from the fellowship of the Body of Christ - I'm not talking about that. If you look at the example in I Corinthians 5 and 6, you see that a man had his own father's wife; that was wrong, that was fornication. It talks about sins that people were put out of the Church for. The Bible is very specific about on-going, habitual sin. But people do make mistakes, and we recognize that one mistake does not put a person in the lake of fire, because God gives them opportunity to repent.
Sam has some wrong actions, and he did not act like a Christian in several areas of his life. He may not be deeply converted; he may have those situations that he has to work on. But being able to be discerning and not condemning is one of the most difficult things we have to learn to do. Learning how to be discerning, to be able to stand back and say something is, when you see it, for real, like the man that came out of the bar and had a stogie that he was smoking like a locomotive, down the street, you know that there's a problem, and he needs help.
But, in the case of people who have just simply weaknesses and flaws, these are things that we work with, that Christ works with, and that we all are trying to deal with, as we go down this road. Discerning and not condemning is one of the most important things we can learn to do.
Number seven: Judgment or second guessing the value judgments of another - judging or second guessing the value judgments of another:
"George flew out of town two hours before the sun set on the Day of Atonement" - Oh, no, he was breaking the Sabbath, the Day of Atonement. But in this particular case we found out that he had a situation, going to the Feast of Tabernacles with International travel, that either he had to leave two hours before the Day of Atonement, or he had to miss the entire first day of the Feast of Tabernacles because airplanes weren't flying every day into that area. It was one of those situations that he had already dealt with so far as buying tickets, and he couldn't change them, and so he asked for a judgment by somebody. But everybody who looked at it said, "Oh, we've got a problem here."
And I think this is an interesting thing. If you remember back in the days of healing, it was either God or Doctors, and not both. And I remember that there were ministers who wouldn't go to a hospital to anoint somebody if they were going to the hospital to have something done years ago. And that's sad, but the point is that we recognize the principle today, that we deal with both in a balanced, faithful, on-going way. You learn - these are things that we learn. I learned that the example of graduation on Friday night was something that I did not understand until finally it was explained to me. But there are many, many things that we have to understand how to apply these principles when we're young, when we're in the Church for awhile, and then later on as an older person.
But we have to understand Proverbs 16:25. Proverbs 16:25 says:
All the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the spirits.
And so we begin to see, that sometimes we think we're right - people think that they're right, but they're not doing it out of rebellion - they're not doing it out of disagreement with anybody, but he just simply did not yet understand. And giving people a little bit of time to learn and to grow becomes very, very important. I am sure that as the Church has new people coming along, that we're going to have the wonderful opportunity to go all the way back to "square-one", and begin to help people from square-one that have never understood: things about the Sabbath, the Holy Days, things about tithing. They just, you know, they just hadn't had the opportunity to learn them.
Now, God weighs the spirits, and sometimes we do what is right in our own eyes; we hope that we don't do what is wrong in our own eyes. But we do what is right in our own eyes, but the Lord weighs the spirits, and in Proverbs 16:25. And so, is he just rebelling, or has he not yet understood? Had he come to knowledge; had he not come to understanding, like the people in Romans 14, who simply did not have that understanding yet of the whole concept of food.
So, as it says, have faith before God - and there are some things that are simply not "thus sayeth the Lord" and we have to be very careful not to make a judgment on those individuals, because they're operating from faith and the knowledge that they have, and we have to work with them, and over a period of time great lessons are learned.
Number eight: The last point that I have. The spirit or attitude out of which one judges - the spirit or the attitude out of which one judges.
One of the seven spirits or attitudes of Satan is a critical, negative spirit. It's always on the attack, always fault finding, always looking for the "loose brick" in the lives of people. The Devil has always come down seeking to accuse the brethren, and in so doing, sometimes people allow that spirit to infect them, and they end up (not possessed), but they end up allowing themselves to think things and do things that we shouldn't do. But I think what we have seen so far in the eight points that I gave, and the principles of the Scriptures on both sides, we have seen that we must judge ourselves first and foremost. We must learn how to judge or to discern real sin - we have to learn how to do that. It becomes very much an important thing.
We also learned that we're not to condemn another person, even though we might find them simply not understanding, or having that knowledge. You're not seeking to make thempay by you pouring out your judgments upon them. We have to come to the place where we do not judge, or criticize, beyond sin; a flaw of character is not necessarily a sin. You have to learn to work with people, and not sitting in the seat or assuming the office of a Judge, since there are many, many times, very critical people. But we are to have the correct standard - we have to learn that - we have to speak the truth in love, we have to come from knowledge, to understanding, to discernment, to good judgment, as we talked about. You have to have correct information - like that man that was in Walgreens - the person did not have the correct information. They did not understand the diabetic coma that could occur in that man's life.
There has to be the right motive of heart; there has to be a right spirit. The correct understanding or discernment is so very, very important - the correct application of principles, but tempered with mercy, justice and humility. I think these are all things that are very important.
Psalms 122:5 It says, in the Millennium, it tells us - that there are going to be set thrones of judgment, the thrones of the house of David. That's what is says, that this is going to be a time when the people of God, you and I, are going to be set on thrones to judge the house of David, to judge the house of Israel, and ultimately to judge the world. And it says, do you not know that we shall also judge angels? - as I read to you in the early part of the sermon - we're also going to do that. Why?- Why?
Psalm 82:1-6 - I want you to turn there with me if you would. Psalm 82:1-6. I find this profound because Jesus quoted this and it was a shocking statement to the people back then, but it says in:
Psalm 82:1 God stands in the congregation of the mighty; (Speaking of, in this particular case, probably Christ, the God of the Old Testament) He judges among the gods. Whoa! Did you read that? He judges among the gods! Do you know who He's talking about? He's talking about you and me! He's talking about the congregation of God - He's talking about people who are God's; He's talking about Elohim. The Hebrew word, Elohim means, simply, in this particular case, judges - that's the way He is using it in this particular case. These are individuals who will be judging the whole house of Israel; these are individuals who have learned how to judge angels. But He says, He judges among the Elohim.
Verse 2: How long will you judge unjustly, and show partiality to the wicked?
Verse 3: Defend the poor and fatherless; do justice to the afflicted and needy.
Verse 4: Deliver the poor and the needy; Free them from the hands of the wicked.
Verse 5: They do not know, nor do they understand; they walk about in darkness;
That's the way most people are - that's what you have to work with. That's the struggles that we will have to face as we deal with this world. And in the last part of it, He said:
All the foundations of the earth are unstable (speaking of the time of the end.)
Verse 6 : I said, "You are gods, (you are Elohim), and all of you are children of the Most High.
Verse 7: In their particular case it said, You will die like men, - in our case, I don't think so, because we are judges - we are to be judging; we have to learn now - we have to learn now, because we are to be working on those set thrones when Jesus Christ returns.
Today, I just gave you a small smattering of some principles about judging - I gave you some basic foundational things. There's a dozen hundred other places that we can go, but I thought I would share with you today, because a number of people have asked, "How do you judge righteous judgment?"