The Fourth Sunday after Trinity - June 27, 2010

The Church Season of Trinity
The Fourth Sunday after Trinity, One Year Series
Our Savior Lutheran Church, Midland, MI (June 27, 2010)

“Judge Not”

Readings:   
    Psalm 138
    Genesis 50:15:21
    Romans 12:14-21
    Luke 6:36-42

Sermon Form    Deductive

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Grace, mercy and peace be to you from the Father
and the Son and the Holy Spirit, Amen

The text for today is as recorded in the Gospel Lesson from the 6th chapter of St. Luke, especially the following verse:

Luke 6:36-42 (NIV)

36 Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. 37 “Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. 38 Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” 39 He also told them this parable: “Can a blind man lead a blind man? Will they not both fall into a pit? 40 A student is not above his teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like his teacher. 41 “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 42 How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when you yourself fail to see the plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit

In our Gospel lesson today, Jesus Christ gives us this commandment, "Do not Judge not, and you will not judged."(v. 37)  So many times we hear this saying being used by people to say that you should never pass judgment on anything or anyone at any time.  We’ve all heard someone said it to us as one time or another, "Judge not."  It may seem that if you say that an some action is a sin, you may get the response, "Judge not."  Even if you hold to the Commandments of God at all, they still may tell you, "Judge not."

But Jesus condemned the Pharisees for this kind of thought process very often.  But there is a difference between using the Word of God to judge and using our own opinions to judge.  There is a difference between judging a person's actions and judging the person as a whole.

We may wrongfully judge others within our heart’s before speaking with that person.  When we see another person Christ sin, and we condemn them as a bad person, then we are being a hypocrite, because this kind of condemnation belongs to God alone.  For it is not the outward appearance of the works that commends or condemns a person.  It is the faith within, which only God can see and judge. 

So, if we condemn people in our hearts based on works, then we are acting like a hypocrites.  But truthfully, how easy that is!  How quickly the sinful heart leaps at the opportunity to look down upon someone whom you catch in a sin!  Every person is a hypocrite sometimes, since the flesh is always judgmental.  If fact we sometimes even revel in the fact that someone gets caught, there’s even a German word for it too.  It’s call schadenfreude, meaning deriving pleasure at the misfortune of others.  Or maybe better said in English, comeuppance, we love to see someone get their comeuppance.

 But, it is very different to judge a person based on our thoughts than it is to judge a person based upon the Word of God.  If we compare actions to the Word of God, then it is not you but God who judges if His Word speaks against sin.  Be careful, however, that you accurately judge whether someone is breaking one of God's Commandments.  If they are not, but you judge them, then you bring shame on yourself.  So you must know the Word very well, which unfortunately, most people do not.  Most people use their hearts to judge right and wrong.  Very few study the Word diligently to know how to judge properly.

But Christ indeed says that there is a time to show your brother his sin.  As we are obligated by the Eighth Commandment to defend our neighbor by not spreading words that hurt his reputation, we are also obligated by the Word of Christ to show a brother his sin.  We are obligated by the Word of God to show others their sin in order to bring him to repentance, out of love for him.  Usually that means going privately to him, in fact that is just what the Bible tells us to do.  And, at the very least, it does not mean telling someone else.

But that’s not the way we usually do it.  We love to continually judge the sins of others based on its own standards.  But, oh do we love to gossip and pass sentence on others.  But, when the light of God's Word falls upon us the Law strikes and revels our own sin.  It is the proverbial message of pointing at someone’s sin with one finger without realizing that every time you point, there are three fingers pointing back at you.  That is the build up of darkness, plank after plank and beam after beam blocks your eyesight, disturbing the right judgment of sin and righteousness.  For all have been conceived and born in iniquity, and stained by the sinful flesh.

 

Instead the standard for the forgiveness and mercy we are supposed to show is the standard given to us by our heavenly Father.  He is merciful and gracious far beyond what do or say.  For God did not destroy us even though we deserved it.  We should have been condemned, but God’s vision is not impaired by sawdust or planks.  God not only the outward appearance of our human works, but also into the soul, where the source of all sinfulness lies.  

In spite of all that we have done in our lives God loves you as His precious child and holy saint.  He forgives your sins, which are many.  He has spoken of you as righteous, that is free from sin, without any blemish in you. How can the Father speak that way and think that way about a sinner?  Because He looks upon you only through His Son.  He sees Christ in you.  That is how He judges you.  Christ was merciful and forgiving and giving.  So the Father thinks that way about you.  Christ even forgave those who crucified Him.  So the Father counts the same loving forgiveness of Christ as belonging to your good works.

But, in a way God has a sort of plank in His eye and that plank is the wooden beam of the Cross.  He looks at you, but the Cross of Jesus Christ blocks His sight from seeing your sins.  And the best thing of all is that God does not desire to take that plank of the cross from .  In fact, He put it there, Himself!

So God has made Himself blind to your sins, and able only to see goodness in you.  He is the complete opposite of a hypocrite. While human beings try so hard even to forget one tiny word said in anger by a brother, God the Father forgets about multitudes after multitudes of sins.  While mankind struggles merely to show the tiniest mercy, God the Father shows infinite mercy through His Son.

How abundant is this wonderful forgiveness you receive!  He overflows with mercy upon mercy here.  Absolution, the Word, preaching, the Holy Supper, and the abiding forgiveness of Baptism are here.  The Father delights in overwhelming you with His mercy.  Here, He not only blesses you with overflowing grace, but He also is showing you how you are to be graceful to those around you.  He is teaching your heart to forgive, every time He forgives you.  He is filling you with His mercy so that His mercy will spill over and flow to others around you.

Now, when you forgive one another, it is the Father who forgives through you.  Human forgiveness is weak and fragile.  But the forgiveness of God is powerful and lasting.  When you as a Christian forgive your brother, you show that the Gospel of Christ is in you, since no one can truly forgive without the Gospel. As His mercy comes to you again and again, He is killing the judgmental hypocrite within you, which is the sinful flesh.  He is drowning the Pharisee that lives in your heart in the grace of your Baptism.

For if you look around you in this place, you might notice that you're not the only one here.  Listen to what God is saying about these others.  These, also, are His sons and daughters.  They are His beloved, as you are, too.  As they kneel to receive His Son's Body and Blood, He is declaring them to be holy saints, part of the same body of which you are a member.  These, also, have received the same mercy that you have received, and the same approval that comes through the Blood of Christ. Therefore, forget every judgment except the judgment of God.  We are blessed because of the righteousness of Jesus Christ, God will see you into His heavenly kingdom, forever and ever.  Amen.

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.
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