Judge Not …
This is perhaps one of the most abused passages in the Sermon on
the Mount. “Judge not lest ye be judged”
may one of the most wrongly quoted and misapplied verses in the whole of the
Bible. It’s not that there is a
translational issue. There is a
contextual issue.
The words that Jesus says literally read “Y’all don’t judge, in
order that y’all shouldn’t be judged.” {Y’all is not my ‘southern’ coming through,
it is meant to illustrate that this is a plural command rather than an
individual command.} The word judge
is a courtroom word. It means to judge
someone into condemnation. Jesus is
telling us point blank that it is not our job to tell someone that they are
going to Hell. That’s actually God’s job.
Where people get this wrong is that they apply it so that it
means, “Don’t look into my life and tell me I might be doing something wrong.” That isn’t what Jesus is saying. In fact, elsewhere in the Bible Jesus tells
us that we are to watch out for one another.
The apostle Paul tells his disciples on numerous occasions that we
should go to one another and correct them when they need it. We are to name sin when we see it! What we aren’t supposed to be about doing is
telling people they are going to Hell.
For as long as they are alive, there is still time to repent. As disciples of Jesus we are directed to
focus on identifying sin and drawing people out of it rather than focusing on
the condemned nature of a person who still has time to repent.
This is actually what Jesus means when he talks about the dogs and
the swine. The gift that God has given
to us is not wisdom to judge into Hell but rather wisdom to know mercy. He has given us wisdom to know love. We should focus on drawing people out of
their sin so that they can genuinely know God’s mercy. When we focus on the condemnation of others,
we are ignoring the greatest gift God can give to our hearts.
Ask and It Shall Be Given
Here is another often misapplied passage. Yes, Jesus says, “ask, and it will be given.” People read these verses and think in some “Prayer
of Jabez” mystical manner that if they just pray the right way they can
convince God to give them what they want.
The key to finding balance in this passage is in verse 11. The Father longs to give good things to those
who ask. The Father doesn’t long to give
anything; the Father longs to give good things.
When our mind is with God, then we will ask for the things of
God. When we ask for the things of God,
we shall receive because God’s will is done!
Therefore, Jesus is not giving us a “Prayer of Jabez” mantra to get what
we want. Jesus is subtly telling us to
shape our mind to His will and then we will want and receive what God wants us
to want.
One of the Scariest Triple Stories in the Bible
I find Matthew 7:12-23 to be the second scariest set of verses in
the Bible – only to be outdone by Matthew 25:1-46. There is some seriously blunt teaching going
on here. I’ll be honest. Unless you are ready to get on your knees and
confess, skip over my blogging on this section.
It’s not for the faint of heart.
But you may just skip over it at your own peril.
Jesus tells us about a wide and narrow gate. The wide gate leads to destruction and it is
easy to find. The narrow gate leads to life
and it is hard to find. When Jesus says “easy,”
He is actually using an engineering word describing a road that is broad,
spacious, pleasing, and with few bumps – a well made road. When Jesus says “hard,” Jesus is using a derivative
of the Greek word for persecution – a bumpy road that persecutes you. The first hard teaching is this: if you are “living
the life,” there is a good chance you’re not on the narrow way. Jesus tells us quite clearly where the fun,
pleasing, and bump-free life leads.
What’s more scary is the words that Jesus uses to talk about who
finds each gate. Many find
destruction. Few find life.
- The Greek word for “many people” is polus (πολύς). Polus means “a great many” or “a vast majority.” It is the root of words such as metropolis, which is a word that means “a measure of a great many people,” or Annapolis, which means “the many people of Anne.” {The city in Maryland was named after Anne Arundel, the wife of Lord Baltimore.} Polus – great many people – is the word that Jesus uses to talk about those who find destruction.
- The Greek word for “few people” is oligos (ὀλίγος). Oligos means “a very small number” or “few in quantity.” It is the root word for words such as oligarchy, which means “rule by the few,” and oligemia, which means “having little blood.” Oligos – a very small number of people – is the word that Jesus uses to describe those who find the narrow gate.
I’m going to be blunt here.
When Jesus talks about those who will find eternal life, he uses a word
to indicate and incredibly small number.
When Jesus talks about those who will find eternal destruction, He uses
a word that means the vast majority.
This really makes me question whether a half-hearted confession and a seldom-applied
faith life really qualifies one to call themselves a follower of Jesus. What was it we said yesterday about the Two
Masters? Oh yeah. You can’t serve two masters. God wants to be the first in line to occupy
that slot.
Then Jesus goes into a section about false prophets. But this teaching isn’t really about just spiritual
leaders. It is about being able to tell
a truly spiritual person from an imposter.
The truly spiritual person will bear spiritual fruit. The fake will bear no fruit – or worse, bear
bad fruit. Jesus says that we will know spiritual people by their
fruit. Bearing fruit is a normal process
of everyone who is spiritual. Know
fruit, know Spirit. No fruit, no
spirit. That’s blunt. That’s also rather scary.
If we’re not feeling the need to fall on our knees and repent yet,
Jesus hits us with a third teaching that is designed to shake our knees and get
us to think. There will be people who at
the time of judgment before God will say, “Lord, did I not call upon Your
name? Did I not do things in Your name?” Jesus will reply, “I never knew you. Get away from me.” If the first two do not make you stop and
think, this one will.
There are two key phrases that help us identify why people think
they are saved but will be told in the end to go away. The first one is that only those who do the
will of the Father will be saved. You
see, it’s about agenda. There are many
people who go to church on Sunday and even come to a Bible Study or a midweek
service because they also really just want to live their own life at other times. They think that if they can just be holy for
a few hours a week that they can then be the way they really want to be during the
rest of the week. They are attempting to
justify spiritual schizophrenia. Jesus
is saying, “I care about your whole motivation.” If you do something in Christ’s name but not
as a response to God’s will, it doesn’t matter.
Jesus calls that behavior “lawlessness.”
Jesus isn’t looking for spiritually schizophrenic followers.
This naturally leads us into the second dimension of why these
people are turned away. Jesus doesn’t know
them. God is about relationships. Jesus isn’t about weighing good actions
versus bad actions. He already knows
that the bad outweighs the good in all of us.
Jesus – and the Father – is about relationship. Either you are His or you are not His. You can’t be part His and part not His. You are either chasing after righteousness –
with the occasional stumble followed by repentance – or you are not chasing
after righteousness at all and instead chasing after your own desires. Don’t fool yourself; God won’t be fooled in
the end. Jesus is telling us that if you’re
not all-in with Jesus, you’re not-at-all in with Jesus.
Wise and Foolish Builders
Jesus then tells us that everyone who hears His words and
receives them is like a wise builder who builds on stone. When Jesus is our foundation – when we are
all-in with every dimension of life – we cannot be shaken. Even if death should come, we can rejoice in
Christ for we know we shall live forever.
Yet, those who hear Jesus’ words but don’t take them to heart is
like a foolish builder who doesn’t look for bedrock. Life comes along and knocks the building down
and the person is left with nothing.
When death comes, there is nothing to look forward to in eternity except
judgment.
With that Jesus finished the Sermon on the Mount. The people were amazed. In fact, the Greek word there can mean
overwhelmed. I’m guessing you know that
feeling right about now.
<><
{Leandra, if you are reading this … BLOCK PARTY!}
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