weekly sermon2-21-10
Judge Not
I read a poem a couple weeks back that would really make you think about the person you are verses the person you THINK you are. I would like to share this poem with you before we go into this weeks message.
I was shocked, confused, bewildered As I entered Heaven's door, Not by the beauty of it all, Nor the lights or its decor.
But it was the folks in Heaven Who made me sputter and gasp-- The thieves, the liars, the sinners, The alcoholics and the trash.
There stood the kid from seventh grade Who swiped my lunch money twice. Next to him was my old neighbor Who never said anything nice.
Herb, who I always thought Was rotting away in hell, Was sitting pretty on cloud nine, Looking incredibly well.
I nudged Jesus, 'What's the deal? I would love to hear Your take. How'd all these sinners get up here? God must've made a mistake.
'And why is everyone so quiet, So somber - give me a clue.' 'Hush, child,' He said, 'they're all in shock. No one thought they'd be seeing you.'
I truly believe that most of us have some sort of image in our minds of what we think Heaven will be like, who will be there and who will not be there. I also truly believe that we will be in for a great shock when we get up there and find out who is really there. The reason I believe that we will be so shocked is because we tend to judge folks by their outward appearance instead of what is inside.
Open your Bibles if you will and turn with me to Luke 6:37, "Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven:" This, almost, same verse is mentioned on two different occasions in the New Testament, once in Matthew and here in Luke. I choose to use Luke only because I prefer Luke's writings over Matthew's. Luke, before he was one of the disciples, was a physician, so he has a way of showing more compassion in his writings.
In this passage of scripture we just read, in Luke, we find three of the four justices that were given, by God, to Luke for him to put in this particular chapter. The very first, of the four justices, that we see is "judge". I believe that God gave this one to Luke first, because God believes it to be the most important. I am NOT saying here that the other three are any less important, but that this one, if followed, would take care of the other three. It states here that we are to judge not and we in turn will not be judged. Many folks tend to read this verse the wrong way. This verse is not saying that if we do not judge someone, they will not judge us, and this is how most folks perceive this passage. Many folks state they are judged all the time and this, in turn, gives them a great excuse to be able to judge others also.
There are a couple of things here that we MUST truly understand. The true wording of this verse is "judge not, and ye shall not be judged". The first thing we have to understand is the true author of the Bible. The Bible was penned by many different authors but the words that were written, by them, were given to them by God. The words to the Bible were breathed, by God, to man and penned to paper to, eventually, become, what we now know as, the Bible. With all that being said, this would make God the ONE true author of the Bible. Now, if God is the true author of the Bible, then He must be the one talking. With God being the one talking, He is saying in this particular verse that, if we do not judge folks, then He will not judge us in the same manner. I am not saying there will not be a judgment day, where we will be held accountable for our sins, but that however we would have judged them, or what we would have judged them for, He will also not judge us the same type way, if we do not judge them.
I have several different friends that, if you saw them, you would wonder, how in the world does he know, or even associate with them. They could be considered some of the roughest looking, bad boys, you have ever met, but they also have some of the biggest hearts you have ever found. If you looked at their outward appearance, you would see long hair, shaggy beards and even tattoos. If you could close your eyes and discover the true person you are associating with, you would be surprised at the person you are talking with. There is a rite, involved in a fraternity, that requires you to, before you can proceed, be blindfolded. They require this and state that they want your mind to perceive, before your eyes can behold, the beauty of what lies within their organization. I think we could all take a huge note from this one line. If we all closed our eyes to the outward appearance of fellow men and let our minds perceive the true inward person, we would more than likely be friends with far more folks and see the true them.
There are many folks that have crossed our paths, whether directly or indirectly, that we would never believe heard of God, much less knew Him, believed in Him, or believe that His Son died for them. I honestly believe we would be VERY surprised at what type of folks are really true followers of our Lord Jesus Christ. We would, in turn, also be very surprised at some folks that we believed were very Godly folks, that had no clue who God was or what He means to their after life.
For the reasons mentioned in that last statement, this is why it is so profound that we make ourselves an outward living Bible for all to see, just in case we run into those that we may never speak to, directly, and they may see who God really is through us and what He means to their after life. This also shows us that we should be telling EVERYONE about God, no matter if we believe they are saved, by the blood of Christ, or whether we believe they are not.
We have to understand that Jesus lives in our hearts, so He only sees what is inside of us instead of how we look on our outside, as we do. God and Jesus understand that it is not the outward, but the inward, appearance that tells the heart of the real man.
Do you look at the inward part of a man before you judge who he might be? Do you give everyone a chance to show you the real them? Do you know that Christ died on the cross to change the inside of you, NOT the outside, that you may be glorious in His eyes? Christ did not and does not look at your outward appearance, but only your inward actions and beliefs. Do you know this type of God? Do you know that Christ shed His blood that your inside would change, making you a new person in His sight? If you do not know this Jesus, then I give you this opportunity to do so by saying a simple prayer with me.
Say this simple prayer with me, Dear Lord, I want you to be the Lord over my life, forgive me of my sins, and give me the gift of everlasting life. Amen.
If you have said this simple prayer, then we believe that you have received salvation. We would love to rejoice with you, so please drop us a note, in our link, to let us know and confess Jesus before man, so that we may send you a few things that we hope will help you in your new Christian walk.
With Love in Christ,
Pastor Stone
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