Luke 6:36-42

Judgmental Judging

4^th Sunday after Trinity

July 9, 2017

Zion Lutheran Church + Nampa, ID

One of the worst cultural sins nowadays is that of telling someone that they are wrong, or that what they are doing is wrong.  It was just about a week ago I was following a conversation on facebook, which is a horrible place to argue theology.  One side was trying to state the Biblical position on some moral issue, the other side was throwing out phrases like, “you’re intolerant, hateful, ignorant, stuck in the dark ages, judgmental.”

In our current American culture, this is a pretty common type of argument when one person disagrees with another.  It’s poor rhetoric, a bad way to argue, though all too often it is effective.  No one likes to be called hateful or intolerant. It makes it very hard to make an argument for or against something when the other person isn’t using rational thinking.  Many people today doesn’t understand the word “sin” anymore. It’s gone from our vocabulary. When truth is relative, the worst thing you say is that there a definite truth, an objective right and wrong, that the individual or majority is not the decider of morality, but that God is. And then to make things worse, one of the worst charges brought back against a Christian when calling out sin is that they are being judgmental, that the Christian isn’t perfect either, and/or they are being hateful.

We’ve probably all been there at some point, or maybe even used, parts of our Gospel reading for today in regards to this.  It’s one the most used and misused parts of Scripture, especially in terms of speaking God’s truth in love. So let’s unpack this Scripture a little.

This section comes in the middle of a long sermon by Jesus.  In the Gospel according to Luke, this is part of Jesus’ sermon on the plain which begins with the Beatitudes followed by a series of woes.  Then Jesus speaks about loving one’s enemies, from which directly flows our Gospel reading. After this, we hear how a good tree bears good fruit and a bad tree bad, and then the to build the house of faith upon a firm foundation of the rock rather than upon the shifting sand.

So, this section, then, comes right in the middle of Jesus’ sermon.  What Jesus is telling us here is that, as Christians, as people blessed by Christ and enlivened by the Holy Spirit, we are to be merciful toward others as God has been merciful to us, for this is the fruit of our faith being built upon the rock that is Jesus. We are to be long-suffering, loving and doing good to any and all people, expecting nothing in return.

Keeping this in mind, it is a little easier to see how these words of our Gospel apply to us.  We are to judge and condemn not, but rather forgiven and give. The Lord has been merciful to us, despite us deserving otherwise, and because of this we ought to be merciful to others even when they don’t deserve it.  Verse 38 of our text uses the illustration of honest marketing, not padding the product, but dealing with integrity and truthfulness. This is simply bearing the good fruit of faith.  To do otherwise, to withhold forgiveness and generosity is not befitting of one who has been blessed by Christ, but rather is a rejection of Christ’s mercy.

So what does this mean for us?  Does it mean that we should only be concerned with ourselves and not speak up about truth and sin and salvation to our neighbors, to our friends, to our family?  Of course not.  God is judge of hearts, not you. But as a Christian, it is your responsibility, it is your duty to proclaim both the Gospel of Jesus Christ crucified for the forgiveness of sins, but also God’s righteous Law.  Exposing sin where it exists, calling evil evil, is not being judgmental, it is pronouncing God’s judgment. It is not an act of hate, it is an act of love and correction.  It is not intolerance of a person, but it is intolerance of sin. It is not out of ignorance or stuck in old fashioned ways, but it is a morality, it’s a truth, it’s a life built upon the will of God, the creator of the universe.

Who gives us the right to do all this?  Well, Jesus, the judge does.  Before His ascension, He says that all authority in heaven and earth belongs to Him, and then He sends out His people into the world to preach and teach the whole counsel of God. To do any less, to avoid proclaiming God’s judgment to the world, to never speak of God’s intolerance of sin and evil, to spare the rod is to spoil to hell.  This is all in light of the 8^th commandment, You shall not bear false testimony against your neighbor. Part of this is putting the best construction on things.  And the best construction is simply calling a thing what it is. To not speak against sin, to not call out the evils of society, to keep silent and do nothing is to live a lie, is it to bear false testimony.  Not calling sin sin is to be bear false testimony.  There is nothing more hateful, nothing less merciful, nothing more selfish than failing to proclaim God’s Law, followed always by the sweet Gospel and forgiveness we have in Christ.

Lastly, then, Jesus warns of hypocrisy in doing just this.  He uses the absurd analogy of having a log in your own eye while trying to pick out a splinter in another’s. The point is this: before worrying about out the sin in others, first recognize your own.  Repent. Repent of your own sin, be forgiven and receive God’s mercy.  Then, and only then, are you in the place to share God’s love through His Law and Gospel.  Then, and only then, are you empowered to be merciful even as your Father is merciful.