Ok, But CAN I Judge People? (Luke 6:37-42) - Podcast Episode 17

Hey friends, welcome to another episode of the KPC Podcast, and

we're happy to have you along for the ride.

We spent some time this last week leading up to Sunday in

Luke 6 and specifically versus 37 to it was like 42, I believe.

So not a ton of text, but still a lot like a lot going on.

This is Jesus teaching on, on not judging, not condemning, on

learning to be generous, on following the right teacher, on

loyalty, I think as we put it on Sunday, but who we follow and

who we learn from and who we apprentice ourselves to

mattering and mattering significantly and then

ultimately landing on what was the third one.

I can't. It was loyal.

General log in the. Generosity, loyalty and

integrity was the third one. So good Kingdom principles to

live by. And so we're gonna jump into

some questions conversation to wrap up that discussion.

And we're finishing off Luke 6 this week.

Yeah, yeah, which will be great. So yeah, we hope it encourages

you to have good, meaningful conversation.

And as always, we would love to hear some of your questions and

the feedback that you have. You can reach us on e-mail is

the best way to send your questions to to us.

We always check the e-mail before recording.

Yeah, always, always. And it's, it's a lot of fun when

we get one like, you know, it'll, it'll be, we'll get in

like I would get in usually just before 9:00 AM on Monday morning

and, and be like, OK, let's see what we got.

And, and sometimes they'll be one that came in like at, you

know, 830 like this is great. Yeah.

Perfect. It's been like a lot of great

discussion, you know, between the community Bible study and

then the sermon and then the podcast.

As we've been saying, it's been a great little trifecta.

But this past week in particular, a lot of a lot of

not heated, but like a lot of like there's an intensity to

discussion of of this passage, I feel like.

Yep, and I'll just I'll hop in there while you choke on coffee.

What what I I think too like week 3, right?

Week 3 of the. Getting more comfortable.

Exactly. Yeah, which is really fun to

see. So like I would put a little

plug in there for small groups because I do just wanna say like

shout out to the people who jumped into community Bible

study. And we know that many of you

wanted to but weren't able to. And some of you were trying to

for the first time and didn't know what you were in for.

But like you don't sign up for a group.

So you sign up, there's a hundred and change people.

Like there's four or five people coming out and we put you in

groups. So you show up.

You maybe know people at your table, maybe you don't.

But. That's kind of the point.

But that's exactly the point is, yeah, you get to have

conversation with people and interact with folks who maybe

you don't usually on a Sunday or throughout the week.

And it just contributes to the breadth of experience.

And like I, I find this beautiful, encouraging moment to

look out over all the groups and see the the breadth of life

experience and age, the intergenerational piece to

conversation. As always, I think really

encouraging and one of the pieces of feedback I've gotten

throughout this study of what people appreciate.

I think some of the younger, not maybe younger Christians in

terms of new to faith, but younger in age getting to have

conversations with folks have been around for 60 years in the

church, 70 years in the church and and that's really beautiful.

So the small group piece, the small group plug is that's

actually what we want for all of our community life to begin to

look like is not just during community Bible study, but

throughout the entirety of the year for you to find yourself in

a small group. And maybe that's a small group

of friends, but probably more likely it's a small group of

people who are also looking for meaningful conversation.

And there's a a beauty in just trying to get into that level of

discussion. So that's what I would, I think

that's what we would love to see is for this to continue on

through all of life. Yeah, we, we last year when we

did the community Bible study, we had a, an offshoot group

after that that, that my wife and I hosted at our place for

kind of between I guess it was mid-May through to the end of

end of June kind of thing, just for like a month and a half.

And it was very similar, very like, you know, everyone from,

you know, us in our late 30s views and people in 20s and

people in their 50s, sixties. It was, it was a blast.

Like it was, it was a lot of fun and so highly recommended.

There are not many contexts in our world.

We talked about this before. There are not many contexts in

our world where you get the chance to interact with, with

such a diversity of, of age, where it's that level of

mutuality and learning from one another.

Like when you go to school, you are in your age category and

you're learning from someone who's older than you.

There's not usually a lot of reciprocal learning, right?

Whereas this is, you know, there is a way to learn from one

another and honor one another. And it's it's a beautiful

picture of the Kingdom of God. Yeah, yeah, So yeah, judging

others this a lot of meat in this passage, a lot of things

for consideration, potentially some confusing things.

And so the first, the first question I want to jump into is

when, when we look at Jesus call to to not judge, you know, do

not judge, you will not be judged.

Do not condemn and you will not be condemned at the very end.

And, and this is where I admit I, I've gotten this passage

wrong. I have literally preached on

this passage early on. I remember it, it was one of my,

maybe even one of my first like public sermons.

I, I'm, I'm, I pray it's gone off the, the Internet.

But, but maybe, maybe it is somewhere, I don't know, but

where I took the last section. So he ends.

Then he says, first take the plank out of your own eye.

After that, all these analogies about planks and specs.

First take the plank out of your own eye.

Then you will see clearly to remove the spec from your

brother's eye. And what I inferred from that,

and I think incorrectly now, is that means once I have got taken

care of my stuff, once I've dealt with my stuff, judge away

that was. I can take care of your stuff.

Too, That was my take away. That was and, and, and man, that

is not what Jesus is saying here.

But what I think it what I think it sparks for me is a question

about judgment versus discernment.

We are called to be discerning. In fact, I think like it's, it's

considered a spiritual gift of sorts to have a, a discerning

mind, that there are people that are, are better at discerning

than others. And in our English language, we

would actually sometimes exchange those words like that

that person can judge rightly. They can look at a person, a

situation and discern or judge, right.

So that's maybe where it gets a little confusing is judging and

discernment can have some overlap, but not always.

Where would we draw the line there?

And and where would we see us living out our call to be a wise

and discerning people versus a judging or maybe the most

negative iteration of that word to judgmental?

Yeah, this is a great question. I love it.

We're jumping in. I wanna answer it two ways.

I think there's a quick, a quick answer that I want people to

remember and that is, uh, I think when we've, we've felt on

the receiving end of these, uh, judgment is away from life.

I think that the judgment, the judgment that Jesus is talking

about here when he says stop judging is a judgment that yeah,

that that leads away from life and away from flourishing and

toward exile and isolation and loneliness.

And I'll get into why in a minute.

But the so judging leads away from life, discerning I would

say leads toward life. And that's a good, I think

that's a good principle, just to sit with and think in my own

life as I go, am I helping people?

Am I, am I myself learning to see clearly in a way that leads

toward life for myself and for others?

Or am I living in a way that leads away from life and toward

exile and loneliness and isolation?

So I think that's a helpful starting question because it it

again, just a quick on the way rule for the road kind of

mindset to have is, is my action leading toward life.

And if you have to justify or rationalize it, well be like,

well, they're sinful. So it's gonna hurt now, but it's

going to lead them toward like. It's kind of like, you know, my

loving you looks like actually I'm going to, you know, I'm

going to make you feel like garbage.

Right, right. But it's didn't love.

So truth and love. You know, if you have to

rationalize it or like justify it in your own mind, Probably

not. I think those in my life who I

would call the most discerning usually speak up the last and

least like they're ones who are slow to speak and who speaks

slowly. So I think we rush to judgment,

and I think we slow down toward discernment.

So is it leading toward life? Is it slowed down?

Is it leading away from life, toward isolation?

Is it rash? Quick.

Easily just done, yeah. So I think those are helpful

starting points. If I back up though, there's a

really interesting thread through this passage that we

didn't touch on much during the Bible study and I didn't touch

on at all during the sermon. And that is so that the link

between where Jesus says do not judge, and then in the end where

he says you will be able to see clearly to take out the spec

from your brother's eye, There is a connection there.

And so if you look at the way Jesus says by best backup here,

so judge, and this was, I believe mentioned, um, actually

I believe it was Lindsey who pointed this out to everybody at

the Bible study. She's a smart.

One, yeah, absolutely. Is that to judge has this social

implication of cutting off. So it's not just judging as in

I've decided that what you are doing is wrong, right.

And we like doing that. We like, we like the armchair

judge, like I've decided you're wrong.

Usually what that means is I've decided I'm right.

Yeah. So, you know, that's also just

something to watch out for. But in Jesus day, this idea of

judging and creno, that verb to judge that Jesus says stop doing

actually is a judgment that includes this social isolation

or casting out. So to judge someone actually

implied that they were also cast out of Christian community.

Well, in Jesus day wasn't Christianity was the Jewish

community and to be a member of that community was like your

salvation was wrapped up in your membership too, the Jewish

community. And so to cast out from the

Jewish community is is like we're talking now to cast away

from like you're no longer part of the covenant people of God.

You no longer have access to your your rights and rituals of

spiritual formation, forgiveness, reconciliation with

God, with others, all of it. So this is like, this is

judgment toward literal isolation, like, like social,

emotional, relational isolation, but also toward religious

exclusion. So like, that's a really serious

move to make against somebody. And so she says like, stop

judging them, stop condemning them.

And really, I think those two words together are like, that's

the full force of of what this casting out looks like.

So you are you are judging them, you're casting them, you're

condemning them. And it's almost like you say

you're condemning them toward a way of death, socially,

relationally, emotionally, spiritually, in the sort of

holistic way we understand human beings.

And condemning sort of has that it has that implication a little

bit more than judging, right, at least in our in our modern

language. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So then to jump down to where Jesus says it's not the same

word, but where he says you'll be able to take the splinter

out, what he actually says is Ebalo cast out.

So the flip is to move. So he says stop judging people.

The person. Don't cast the person out, he

says. Cast the splinter out.

So in my reading of it, and I don't think like this is not

like my reading. I've got the reading of this.

That's not what I'm saying. There are lots of scholars who.

But right, right. So in in my reading of this

understanding of commentaries and like in our prep for the

Bible study, in all of it prep for the sermon, I see this as a

move from being ones who judge and cast out others, other

people, to being ones who cast out the things that hurt one

another. Right.

So so distinguishing between the the person and the actions that

are are potentially harmful to to them to others around.

Them Yeah, yeah. And I'm like, I'm so I'm not

saying what we like. I'm not.

This isn't just like another version of hate the sin, love

the Sinner. This isn't that.

Yeah, no. No, but you know, like I, I

think we, we take that splinter and log analogy and connect it

with judging and think that Jesus is saying, well, don't

judge unless you first judged yourself and dealt with your own

stuff and then you can judge others.

But what he's really saying is don't cast people out toward

death, right? He says, forgive, give.

So it says this restoration, bring back into community,

embrace, move them toward life. The splinter and the log like

it. It's not judgment that he's that

he's enabling or talking about. I think he's actually saying

it's it sucks having something stuck in your eye like it hurts.

Help each other. Help one another?

Yeah. Help one another deal with the

the things of pain and sorrow and sadness and sin.

Like like help heal one another. There are things that I can't

see clearly. Help me.

Help. Exactly.

Exactly. It doesn't give you license to

judge. It gives you the ability to love

and care and heal one another. So like, it's a relief to get

that splinter pulled out. Like when you have something in

your eyes. I work, I work glasses, but I

wear contacts all the time when I run, play hockey, etc.

So like you, you're, you wear, do you wear contacts?

You don't wear contacts? No.

When you have something underneath a contact or that

contact gets like flipped sideways, like it's painful.

I remember the first time, like I lost a contact into like the

side of my eye. Yeah.

And I couldn't get it out. Like I couldn't do it.

I couldn't see to get the contact back on the right side

of my eye. I'm like, I had visions of it's

like it's on the back of my eye. It's gone forever, which is

physically impossible. I realized that much like I

stayed in, you know, school long enough to figure that much out,

but like, it hurts and it and it like sometimes you need somebody

else to fix what is broken in your at least help you.

And yet your wife like fishing. Or she couldn't do it.

She couldn't do it. She could never work contacts.

That's just. Yeah, by her own admission, she

would. The common occurrence in our in

our house is not that common, but relatively common is I'll

hear like a shriek from from the bathroom and I'll be like my

contacts on the floor. I can't find them because I my

contacts are out and so then I'll pull up my like flashlight

and you're like, oh, takes us like usually 5 minutes to

fucking. And then you don't want it back

anyways. So anyway, this is it though.

Like this is I just, I think because of the way Matthew has

that those same versus similar versus ordered, it is like 1

immediately after the other. We want to hold those things

together. And I do think that there is a

reading that is helpful. Like we do need to Jesus saying

don't judge. And he is saying deal with your

own stuff. And he is saying don't point

other people like other people stuff out while not dealing with

your own stuff. But in the end, he doesn't say

it's not a return to judging the person.

I do think there's this beautiful image where he says

expel the thing that harms one another.

Yeah. So his move is toward life

always. And that's why I turned in the

sermon. I turned to Henry now.

And who talks about becoming, like, learning to be a wounded

healer? Like your wounds, your stuff, it

doesn't disqualify you from helping one another from living

life inside the Kingdom, but you need to deal with it so that it

doesn't harm when you're trying to help.

Jesus says, like he said, you're trying to help the person.

He's not saying that you're trying to harm them, but even

best intentions, you can still harm somebody with a plank

sticking out the front of your face.

So it's a comedic way of saying. Learn to help one another.

Hmm. But it's like, put put the

oxygen mask on yourself first. Like you.

If you pass out, you can't help anybody.

Yeah, right. Yeah, it, it really is.

I think it's a movement away from exclusion toward embrace.

And then it's the continuation of that that Jesus works out

where he says you've dealt with your own stuff enough that you

can learn to help one another. I'm picturing like a a scenario

where say a person is struggling with don't choose anything too

intense but also not too. Like lying, lying, stealing.

Yeah, let's just say lying, right, That they are, that they

are someone who is often extending or bending the truth.

Sure. For me, I have multiple options.

I, I could judge them and just say what, what a, what a

wretched person they are for, for being a liar.

Like they lied to me and I'm pretty mad about it.

And, and I, I have a lot of I have, I just, I want them out of

my life. I want them whenever I want them

out of the church community, whatever, right?

That's a that's an option. That would be the the do not

judge part of part of the equation where I am judging the

other part that I need to take into account.

I'm just kind of trying to unpack this for, for like what

this looks like in in real time is then I need to then look

within. Is it where, where have I been

untruthful? Where, where?

Like if I, if I'm going, and I'm not saying I should judge this

person, but I'm gonna, I'm gonna judge them.

I better at least look inside. But then Jesus then takes it

further and says, no, no, no. This should take you through

multiple layers of, of like checks and balances so that

instead of judging them, you want to aid them in their

journey of, of toward wholeness, toward stopping lying because

they're lying is hurting the community or themselves or their

family or whatever. Right.

And so like it that that's, I just wanted to kind of unpack

that as like a way to sort of like, OK, don't judge.

That's how you do it in this situation.

Look internally then help. Yeah, I think so.

I like, I think you. Yeah, this.

And listen, like I think this is where we continue to struggle to

do things well and write and in ways that help because I, I do

think that the the best, like the most well-intentioned

Christians can still in wanting to help somebody communicate in

it in a way that is that excludes or that drives away

totally. But there also needs to be like,

it's what Jesus isn't saying is avoid honest conversation,

right? So I think that I think it does

matter. Um, and it's like it's taken out

of, it's taken out of context. But John McKay, who I've talked

about many times probably on the podcast already has a line in

mission work where he says that we as Christians need to earn

the right to be heard. Yes.

And you know, what he's saying is essentially, you need there,

there needs to be a level of trust and sincerity and

relationship that's been built in order for you to be able to

proclaim the gospel into somebody's life in a way that

actually transforms them. And I would say that the same

thing is true here, that you're like, one of the things I would

hope that you would take into account as you pray through and

wrestle through, like, let us say, confronting somebody on

something is what like, what is the relational capital that you

have? And, um, is this going to drain

it? Like are you overextending?

You know, is it like, well, I can buy that car with X amount

of cash and then also this amount of line of credit and

that loan plus this extra, you know, gift?

Over here at all. Probably shouldn't be doing it

right like it's so I just I think that that is one of the

things you need to take into account is honestly assessing

yeah, that that relationship Jesus does lay out the a

paradigm for conflict right where you are supposed to go

one-on-one to someone you have conflict with.

And if that doesn't work, he says gather some people around

you. Is it gather the elder?

Like gather, you know, a group of people go together and so

like there, there is, I think there is, there has to be room

for that inside the Kingdom. But I do think that the burden

falls on you, me, you, whoever's listening, watching to do most

of the hard heart work internally.

Hmm. Yeah, before we adjust like

this, yeah, I guess the last thing I would say, I'm probably

repeating myself now is I think again, these are meant to be

rules for the road. They're meant to be quick, like

aphorisms was the word that we used a Bible study on Wednesday.

They are true statements about life inside the Kingdom.

They have meaning across all of life and time and space and that

doesn't deplete, that doesn't diminish their meaning and that

the impact and influence. But it also is like we're

probably not meant to pick apart every possible iteration or

scenario where we could or couldn't apply these things.

And I would say like, do you have a bent toward are you more

likely? Do you more often point out

other peoples stuff or do you spend more time looking at your

own heart and your own life? That's probably like the extent

to which was like, like, just leave it there.

Yeah. Spend more time working on your

own stuff and less time working on other people's stuff.

Spend enough time working on your own stuff that you

genuinely care about the other person experiencing life in a

fuller measure. Because it's not just about

like, you know, I'm going to mind my own business.

I'm just gonna do my own thing. You know, it's, it's not about

that. I mean, there are times then

yes, we should just mind our own business.

But but but yeah, it seems as though it is more about I, I

need to make sure if I am going to have a hopefully, loving,

hopefully, hopefully what they can feel cared for if I'm going

to have that conversation with someone about an area of their

life that I'm concerned about. Yeah, I am I spending more time

looking in where the OR am I looking constantly for, for to

point out people's faults, right.

That the if I have a bench toward that, what's that about?

What I might need to explore that further, and I think even

more broadly, I, I've heard it said and there's been some, you

know, data to back this up that often our our world more broadly

sees Christians as some of the most judgmental people on.

Earth and hypocritical. And critical both.

Yeah. Absolutely.

And and so this is this is an area without being like overly

like melodramatic like this, this really matters for our

witness, for just our credibility in the world.

Hmm, yeah. Like maybe that's worth diving

into for a moment of just like how how we do this passage can

have a massive impact on on whether or not someone is

potentially even open to the message of Jesus.

Absolutely. Which is, yeah, so absolutely

worth hammering home like for those of us who call ourselves

followers of Jesus. Barna did a, I think it was

Barna. Hey, Barna and Pew Research

jointly. But anyways, Barna did a long

study of, I think it was largely millennials and back in the day

when millennials were the up and coming generation.

When we were like in the 20s. When we were the cool.

Ones I think it was like 2007 or something.

Yeah, somewhere around. There and one of the questions

was do you so the questions posed to people who would not

identify as Christians for a variety of reasons, but do you

view Christians was the question, do you view Christians

as ones who align more with Jesus or with the Pharisees?

And the vast majority, and I don't remember the exact

percentages, but I think it was like 80% or something high 70s,

maybe low 80s said that they perceived Christians actions to

align more with those of the Pharisees than those of Jesus.

And so that's not like that's not a pastor saying that.

That's not Christians of our own, you know, in our own

judgment and like denominationalism and like,

that's not, we're not, we're not doing, we're not saying that of

ourselves. That's how we're perceived,

Yeah, by the vast majority of a generation of people who either

never grew up in the church or who walked away from the church.

So like, I think we need to hear that and go back to these

passages again, because I think if we're rationalizing getting

to judgment, I go, we missed the whole plot, right?

If we are explaining away the general principles of like, no,

Jesus saying live generously, we're like, well, but yeah, but

when can I judge? Like can't.

Surely at some point I'll be good enough to judge others, he

says. No judgment is mine, says the

Lord. Unless you're gonna go to law

school and then work your way up to being a literal judge, don't

judge. Sure, fair, different kind of

judging. But right, like this is, this

is, I think this is a battle for all of for, for for many, many

Christians, if not every single Christian.

Yeah, we are. We Christians are our own worst

PR nightmare. Like, yeah, so it is.

I do think it matters the way we do those matters tremendously,

the way we learn to be generous, overly abundant, right gracious

with people. And Jesus says that like it

needs to include honesty and living an integrated life.

Put back together, mended um. Yeah, it's, I think it's worth

noting because I, I've, I'm, I'm thinking of some scenarios where

where some folks have said, man, Christians are so judgmental

about this person or situation or whatever.

And, and I would say, yeah, you're, you're, you're not

wrong. However, I think this is where

we need to distinguish between what is, you know, what is

taking the, the, the splinter out versus what is having

boundaries. So once if a person is has done

some awful things, say they're a Christian in the name of Jesus,

whatever, they've done some awful things, It's probably just

worth reiterating that it's not judgmental to say I am not going

to put it put you in a position of authority in this way anymore

or I am, you know, if if someone is is a thief, I'm not going to

put them in charge of the finances, even if I have

forgiven them. You know, like, like again,

there, there is wisdom, there is discernment and then there is

judgment. And, and, and those are

different things. And, and we can discern and, and

in community, hopefully not just by ourselves and isolation, but

we can discern and say that's probably not a wise choice,

right? So I just think it's worth

highlighting that, that I, I've heard some folks critique, like

fellow Christians critique other fellow Christians about their

judgmental attitudes when really it's like, no, that's, that's

probably a, a wise choice. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah, absolutely. So the piece that you said

though that I want to double down on is the in community,

right? Because I think that's the the

mechanism or the environment, the ecosystem in which

discernment happens. So again, like, if we're looking

for quick sort of simple principles, judgment happens in

isolation much more and at least begins like, I think it begins

in, like, in yourself. Yeah.

And then, you know, at our worst, we're like, hey, let's

judge this guy together. You're right.

This check. Which we never say outright.

But no. But like, that's right.

So the judgment happens in isolation.

Discernment happens, I would say, by and large in community.

Yeah. So if everybody around you is

saying this person should not be in a position of leadership and

you're saying, but I believe they could be or should be.

I'm just saying like be pretty crystal.

You gotta be. You gotta be very certain if you

are the one inside of a community saying this, or if

there's a situation that has risen like has arisen where, you

know, you are saying like in a family setting, I'll say if the

family together have discerned that there needs to be some

level of boundary with a particular individual, it's,

it's probably something worth listening to.

Yeah, if you're the only person saying yeah, but maybe not like

I don't, I don't agree. And that's not, I'm not saying

that the the crowds are always right, no, and the individuals

always wrong. That's not what I'm saying, but

I am saying that God gives discernment in in community,

just like he calls in community, right and encourages and equips

and these things toward life in in community as well.

You know, you know, I know we are most encouraged inside of

community. So, you know, I think why would

the why would the same not be true also for some of these more

harder but negative implication conversations also be truest in

community? And there's like I, I've talked

with some folks who have a wonderful level of

self-awareness where they will, where they will say, I'm not as

discerning on these matters as say my spouse or someone else,

right? And so, so they're like, you

know, I know that about myself. And so therefore I'm going to

defer to them sometimes, right? And I think that could be true

for, for community more broadly as well, saying like, Hey, I am,

I'm not, I don't have my, my Spidey senses don't go off in

the same way that yours do, right.

And so like, let me, let me hear what you're trying to say so

that I can understand. And and even if I may not agree,

I'm going to, I'm going to defer and submit to you out of, you

know, just your wisdom and leadership.

Yeah. Last thing I want to say on kind

of this trajectory, and I'm going to spoil next week's

sermon. Already love it.

But so far in six during the sermon on the plane, we've seen

Jesus talk about far more topics related to the heart than

action. So I think that's important just

to highlight that the blessings and woes are meant to be this

introspective looking in myself and ourselves as a community.

The love for enemies has more to say to me than it does my enemy,

right? We talked about how we we often

want to say more to our enemy than we want that situation to

speak to us. But it loving our enemies is

this internal battle that we have to move through and sort of

reckon with and now judging others and condemning, learning

to be generous again. This is this is introspective

work. This is heart work.

This is work that I need to do on myself far more than it is

about the other person. Like though, it's Jesus says

stop judging and you will not be judged, which we haven't even

touched on yet, but stop judging.

He he really doesn't care about who you're judging.

He's like, it's not stop judging unless they're deserve it,

right? Unless they deserve it, it's

just saying stop doing it. And he says stop condemning.

So it's introspective. All of the Sermon on the Mount

up to this point has essentially been saying do the hard work of

self examination of humility, the heart work that is like

turned in on yourself, not not to exclude others, but because

who you are matters in terms of how you are going to live in the

Kingdom. And so he's saying do all this

work. Now we're going to he flips in

43 and he says very clearly, no good tree bears bad fruit.

He says there is a purpose to doing all this work.

It's not just for yourself, it's for the other.

It's it's so that this community can explode.

Hmm. And and so that people will

encounter fully formed individuals who are living life

inside the Kingdom. And he says, but if you so if

you do that work, you're not going to bear bad fruit.

If you don't do that work, you're probably going to bear

bad fruit. Trees are going to be recognized

by their fruit. We again, we go, I'm going to

recognize your fruit and I'm going to recognize your fruit.

And I'm going to like good fruit over here, bad fruit over there.

But no, what he's saying is you're like, your fruit will be

recognized, right? Your heart will be recognized,

who you are will be recognized by the fruit that flows out of

who you are. And then he says 4 out of the

mouth speaks what the heart is full of.

And it's almost like we finally get to this.

So what already? Right.

If you're, if your heart is full of judgment, Yep, that will pour

out in your in your mouth, in your words and your actions.

Yeah. And So what Jesus is doing, he's

creating the new Israel, right? Like this is biblical Israel,

people of God called and equipped to bless others always

for a purpose. Jesus, we started Jesus calls 12

disciples, names them apostles, 12 tribes of Israel.

We go new Israel, new people of God called for a purpose to be a

witness in the world. And now Jesus is saying do that

hard work so that out of your mouth comes good things of the

Kingdom. And so we finally get to this

point. Where is it really?

He's been building this teaching and it's like, here's the So

what? Yeah, So that's why I, I'm

always insistent on like up to this point, we've been, it's

it's it has had more to say about who we are and who we are

becoming than the other. Because now Jesus wants to flip

and say actually go and do this. Good.

Hmm. Work in the world, speak good

things, bear good fruit. It's work that it's work that

leads to life. I mean, that you talk about a

little bit already like that. It's and you know, a tree

bearing good fruit is a tree that is bearing life, right.

And, and that seems to be almost the the choices we are making

here is will you choose judgment and death and and exclusion and

exile, or will you choose life? Hmm.

So one other question kind of connected to Jesus's statements

about judging and he says do not judge and you will not be

judged. Same thing for condemnation.

The question that I have is, what is that?

What does even mean? Like who is the one judging me?

Is it other people? Is it?

Is it God? Is it both?

Is it and is the implication if if I don't, if I don't judge,

that I will not be judged because it feels like I could be

the least judgmental person I know and and possibly still

could be judged. So like what's going on here?

Is there? We talked a little bit about

last week Christian karma. We talked, you talked about it a

little bit in your sermon on Sunday.

Be curious as as we've kind of unpacked this where you know

where your head is at. Uh huh.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I just, I keep going back to

silly illustrations of TV shows and, yeah, characters who can't

give gifts without or receive gifts without also giving gifts

of comparable value, right? And just, we struggle with this.

I think we also struggle with this.

Yeah. If I if I receive something, do

I have to give something back? How how many times do you have

to say thank you in what form? Like you have to write This is

always one. Do you?

So when you after you get married, do you have to write a

thank you card to every single person for the gift that they

gave? Yes.

Like still technically, yes, absolutely.

It's a good to say thank you. It absolutely.

Is always get to be great. But it's a pain in the.

Butt it's hard to do. Yeah, yeah, I just think like

there's we, we wrestle with this idea, right?

And I think and stop me if if I said this last week already, but

I think it might be worth saying again.

The I almost think we want it to be as simple as that because not

because we are good at giving, but because we suck.

We have a really hard time receiving grace.

So I think we want it to be if this, then that if I don't

judge, I won't be judged, right? If I don't condemn, then I won't

be condemned. I don't want to be condemned and

I don't want to be judged. Therefore, I will not judge and

I will not condemn, because I receive what I give and I don't

want to receive it, so I won't give.

It great done perfect. Yeah, now you and I know that

that's impossible. Yeah, because I am gonna judge

and I'm going to condemn and I am going to like, human beings

are prone toward those things. Yeah.

So does that mean I will be judged?

Like, I think Jesus, in part, is working out what is true about

humanity. Like, he's not working it out as

in, like, figuring it out what it means.

He's fleshing it out for people. This is true, Yeah.

There is some level of reciprocity in generosity or

like stinginess. And we talk about culture.

So let's talk about culture of churches for a second, because,

you know, why would that be relevant?

OK, I've gone into some church, like there are churches, their

churches with millions of dollars in the bank, but who

live fearful to spend any of it because they might lose all of

it. And then what will they be?

What will they have? What will they do?

And that culture explodes inside of a church when every decision

is funneled through the Is this going to, is this going to tap

into our capital? Do we have the money to do it?

How are we going to replace it? What income is this gonna bring

in to, to replace the income that that at the expense that

goes out, right? Like everything, you know, it's

just this mindset of scarcity where there's never enough,

where fear drives and wins the day drives decisions, and it's

contagious. You know, in in the worst sense

of the word. Absolutely.

The flip, though, is where somebody chooses to be generous.

Generosity is also contagious. And when?

So when I scale it out and I say, what's Jesus trying to do?

Well, he's trying to form a community.

He he's not trying to. He is forming a community.

He is telling us how life will be inside the Kingdom.

Yeah. And I almost think there is a

little bit of a way to read this where he says stop judging and

guess what, you'll live inside of a community where people

aren't judged. If you're all doing it.

Including you yeah, like it's about it's about culture

creation. It's about like the values of

the Kingdom. And as much as I hate it, it

kind of is what goes around comes around, but not on the

individual. This for that.

If this then that mathematical Ledger equation type rigid

expense, right? If you're, if you're talking

through that idea of, of Jesus speaking, speaking in aphorisms,

yeah. And, and you know, these little

pithy statements that are, that are, are true, like what he's

saying is the less you all as a people judge, the less you will

all receive judgment because no one's doing the judging.

So here's the thing. Here's the thing that we do too

often is we individualize these statements.

Yeah. And I if, if I don't have like,

I don't, I, I try not to say like, well, if I have one regret

from the sermon that I preached on Sunday, because that's not my

theology of the sermon. Like it's preached.

God does something. Yeah.

And God's gonna do what he's gonna do with it.

And I go all cool. I just get to sit back and

watch. However, in a different

iteration, if I were to preach this sermon again for our

community next week, let's say same passage.

Different. Take which I really want to try

someday. Yeah, we're like we're gonna do.

This is something that I learned from so in at Princeton, some of

my fellow seminarians, which is weird.

That's a terrible word. Anyways, some fellow students

who are from the black church like Southern church in the

States, and forgive me if it's not only this community who does

this, but my experience of it was this is something very

specific to the black church in the state that they will have

these days where 7 preachers will get up and preach on the

same passage. That's so.

Cool, I I sat there. I absolutely love it.

I'm sure entirely different sermons.

Wildly different and it like the most encouraging thing you would

think would be like does it drive to like petition and like

whose sermon is like just the most beautiful grace filled

encouraging services where you get multiple people hopping up

and I've probably missed anyways.

I've probably missed a whole lot of what it actually is.

But you know, I I would love to like we're going to stay on the

same path for a couple of weeks. If I were to do this again, the

piece that I would draw us back to is Jesus isn't saying to the

individual, yeah, you individual do not judge and you individual,

you will not be judged. He's saying.

He's saying and not judge. That's literally what he says.

May crenate. Stop judging.

Yeah, Do not. Don't do it to the community, OK

Community, don't judge and you should not be judged.

Is actually literally what he says?

Hmm. So you as a community, don't be

a community of judgment, right? So in in all of its shapes and

forms, don't judge one another. But if you're not judging one

another, you're probably not being judged as a community.

Don't be a community that judges other communities.

Teach people how to not judge so that you should not be judged.

Like there there is a way in which I think he's building out

a culture of the Kingdom that teaches don't judge, you should

not be judged because this whole culture is about non judgment.

It's one of our fatal flaws as modern Christians that we do to

frequently read these passages through the individualistic

lens. And there are certainly times to

do that. And there is always the moment,

as we've said, to look inwardly and introspectively within

yourself. But we cannot lose the the

broader community congregational impact that these teachings are

meant to have for us. It's it's critical.

So like, I do think there's a little bit of just

acknowledgement that we have to give it that we're where we're

saying, yeah, like Jesus saying don't judge and you probably

won't be because you'll become a community that doesn't.

Yeah. So it's true.

It's just true. What it's not doing is that

individual Ledger of yeah, yeah, one to one or person to God.

Like, it's just, there's a lot of different ways that we can

fail in reading this. You know, if I judge somebody,

am I gonna lose my salvation? Right.

Like was I think actually a question that somebody brought

up at the community Bible study was like, to what degree are we

talking? Here, well, even more for say,

condemnation, like, you know, like you, if I'm receiving

condemnation, what if I'm receiving that from God?

That feels pretty severe, right? You know.

Yeah, yeah. Now interestingly the the

condemn is just an extra measure of judgment.

Yeah, right. Like that's the so it's, it's,

it's to judge down. I think technically is it or

judge over I'm going to look it up really quick, but anyways

really is talking about yeah to it's to judge down according to

down it it intensifies yet to act as judge.

It feels like a more more external outworking of that

judgment. Yes.

And let's talk about that, right, because that was, I think

that's a really good point. Someone brought up on Wednesday

that the judge is often an inward act, Yeah, that we're

doing in our heart. And then condemning is, is sort

of the outward working of it. And then same, the inverse.

Forgiving often has to start in our hearts because as we said,

we can, you know, forgive people after they've passed away.

We can forgive people that we never have to face, right?

Giving is the outward working of of the of what happens when we

have forgiven. Absolutely.

So, yeah, he's saying stop judging, stop condemning, Yeah.

Forgive and give extra measure of grace.

Yeah. Which is where we land with

generosity, right. Which is how we ultimately we

landed there. Yeah.

So yeah. I don't, you know, I don't think

it's, I don't think it's Christian karma because what

Jesus is moving us toward is giving the extra measure of

grace. And we talked about this last

week, but grace is this unmerited favor.

And so Jesus is he is saying to stop, to do, but it's never a

equal measure all the way through, right?

And he says it extra measure will be given so.

That feels like a good place to stop, I think.

And just what a what a awesome passage to unpack and has so

many great implications for us as a church community and

excited to see how we can live this out.

And I and I hope that this, you know, as we go through this

process that we're not just gaining head knowledge, we're

not just learning about the Greek words and whatnot, but we

are actually saying how can this make a difference?

And this is very plain to me. How can we become a community

that are that are known for their forgiveness and generosity

and and less so for their judgment and condemnation.

So however that looks for you, whether you are discussing that

amongst your family, small group, whatever that looks, we

hope that you're able to take these discussions into your

world, into your life and explore how you can really make

them make them real in your in our church community and in your

lives. Have a great week.