Romans 2:1-4 -- Matthew 7:1-5

Well, we have reached the fifth of six sermons about six texts from scripture that define who we are as Presbyterians. These were inspired by Earl S. Johnson's book “Witness Without Parallel – Eight Texts that Make Us Presbyterian.”
First we heard that Jesus Christ alone is our Lord and savior. Then that through him we are saved by grace, through faith. The third week I talked about predestination. Because God has predestined that all who receive this free gift of Christ's grace will be saved, we are assured that all are chosen for salvation totally apart from ever having deserved or earned it.
And because we are equally loved and chosen as God's children, we are all called to be equal partners in God's service and ministry.
And now number 5.

Let me begin by asking you a question. Is there any particular one of the Ten Commandments that you wish weren't there? Perhaps there is one of those ten that you would have preferred Moses to have missed as he transcribed God's dictation?
Taking the Lord's name is vain seems to get neglected quite a bit. And a lot of teenagers would probably like to see honor your father and mother deleted from the list. Then there's coveting – where would the advertising business be without coveting? It's just plain un-American not to covet something. We each have, I think, one commandment - at least one commandment - that doesn't sit quite as well with us as the other nine.
OK. Now - question number two. Is there one commandment that you think God should have added, or actually did – and Moses edited it out?

What other Thou shalt not makes your top ten – or top eleven list.
I realized what mine was as I began to think about this sermon. My addition would be Thou shalt not judge others. I must confess that I am judgmental about judgmental people.
I live with this ironic conundrum of passing judgment on those who pass judgment on others. It is bad enough to be judgmental, but to be judgmental about judgmental people is to be in quite a bind. But here we go.
Judge not, lest ye be judged. That's how I learned Matthew 7:1 in the King James version of my childhood. Paul put it even more bluntly. “Therefore you have no excuse, whoever you are, when you judge others; for in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself.” You have no excuse for judging others.

Now I don't think either Matthew nor Paul was saying we are not to ever question the behavior or values of others, to ever raise a voice in protest against a wrongdoing, or look the other way when we see something amiss. Neither Paul nor Matthew were particularly reticent about holding back their opinions on things.
“Judge not, lest ye be judged.” In a translation of Matthew 7:1 in a commentary by Donald Hagner he adds the word unfairly to the end of the first phrase. “Do not judge unfairly.” Then he finishes it with: “lest you be judged in a similar way.” Verse two expands on this thought.
“With the judgment you make you will be judged.” In other words, when you come before God in final judgment, God will measure you the same way you measured others. Might Jesus be saying here that if you judge with harshness and a narrow mind, that is how God will judge you? And if you judge others with grace, so it will be for you before God?

I actually think that's exactly what he's saying.
Jesus isn't stupid. He knows that many of us are quite happy to be moral judges, demanding changes in others. But Jesus being Jesus, he just doesn't leave us standing there squirming in our own judgmental shoes. But Jesus says that before we demand a transformation in someone else, we are to be transformed ourselves. What he is offering is an invitation to repentance and self- transformation. And Paul repeats that same idea when he says,
“Do you not realize that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? “
Before we pass judgment on anyone else, we're to first take a good look at ourselves. We are to turn the moral spotlight on ourselves before shining it on anyone else. Rather than taking a speck of sawdust (that's how Hagner interprets “speck”) we need to be about pulling the two by four from our own eye,
because we are too blinded by the log of our own self- righteousness to even be able to see the minute fleck of error in another's eye.
Once we recognize that we, too, are broken and flawed, then we are not only moved to seek repentance, forgiveness, and transformation for ourselves, but also moved from self-righteousness to compassion. When we realize that the high moral ground where we thought we stood above the rest, is level with everyone else, then we can look another straight in the eye, and perhaps see, not a splinter, but a tear. Instead of poking a finger into a neighbor's eye, we reach out to wipe it.
And not just that. Once we can see – and experience - the log in our own eye and know God's mercy in lifting that from us, then it is far easier to extend that mercy to someone else. So few people are ever changed, ever helped, ever transformed by scolding and judgment. But they can be helped when they learn, experience, see face-to-face, the grace of God.

When we can admit our own brokenness and be open to and receive the free grace of Christ, how much easier it is then, not to be focused on another's brokenness, but on their own need for forgiveness, grace and love. Perhaps what Jesus meant was: Judge not, lest you miss the free gift of God's grace that I am giving you and your neighbor.
In a sermon about Paul's statements about judging others in Romans Fred Craddock tells about a time he had a few free hours while attending a conference in the low country of South Carolina. He decided to visit one of the old church cemeteries in town and was standing there staring at a strange shaped grave when he was approached by another man who had been walking near-by.
“You're looking at that grave aren't you?” the stranger asked Craddock. “Yes. Do you know why this burial is at an angle?”
“Because that's the kind of guy he was.”

“What do you mean - 'that's the kind of guy he was.'”
“He was crossways with everybody and everything. We never knew him to be pleased about anything at home or at church. The family decided not to change him because he was dead. So they buried him crossways.”
As Craddock talked to the stranger he learned the resident of this crossways grave had been a regular attender at church. He even served in various leadership capacities. But he was never in agreement with anyone or pleased about anything. Craddock says, “He was picky, picky, picky, all the time, but he was always there at church.”
Then he adds that's the way the folks in the Roman church were – picky, picky picky – about everyone and everything. They just couldn't seem to get along with each other.
“What the apostle Paul understood,” Craddock writes, “is that if you are not careful, being judgmental or critical of others goes along with a Christian life.

You care more than you did before, and one way this caring can get expressed, not admirably of course, is by being discontent, even ill-tempered sometimes toward people who do not measure up.
“So Paul said that instead of us picking on each other about little things that do not amount to a hill of beans, we should let our energy and our sensitivity be devoted to what really matters in the world. - to begin to value human life, to treasure people as they are, rich or poor, young or old, educated or uneducated. The gospel lets you see them as children of God, created in God's image.”
And it seems to me that Paul and Jesus are both saying about the same thing. When you get picky and crossways about other people, when you start whining about the speck in somebody else's eye, you neglect your own log and miss out on the wonder, beauty, and enjoyment of all God's gifts – whether they be found in other people, in yourself, in the church, or even, and most especially, in Jesus Christ.
The one who is really hurt is not the one being judged, but the one doing the judging. Being judgmental hurts the heart and empties the soul of love. I think you know what I mean. You can even see it on some people's faces.
You can see they've missed out on the grace – and isn't that a shame?
Presbyterians affirm that Jesus is Lord and Jesus is judge. And we believe that all of us creatures here below are God's beloved children, and if God loves all of us, we should at least give it a try too. And it really is a shame when we miss out on that chance.
Therefore it is not our job to be the moral judge and jury of others, and when we make that our business, we end up being judged in the exact same way we've been judging others. And we miss out on all that God-given love and grace – both giving it and receiving it.

Too often these days, Christians seem to be known by their moral self-righteousness and judgmental superiority. But if I hear Jesus and Paul right I don't think that's how we or our reputation ought to be.
Doesn't it go - “They'll know we are Christians by our love, by our love. Yes – they'll know we are Christians by our love.”