We used to have an award that we gave out each month at the VW dealer, where I worked as shop foreman. It was called the “Crybaby” award and it was a baby’s pacifier mounted on a piece of wood. We gave it to the technician that griped and complained the most, each month. It’s sort of funny that the one in charge of presenting the award, our parts and service comptroller, usually did the most gripping.
We live in a world today that is very quick to pass judgment on others without looking at themselves first. We are quick to judge people based on their race, their income level, where they live and even their past.
We find it very easy to judge others based on our own standard of measure.
But if we will honestly measure ourselves against God’s standard we see how low we really are.
I have come to even understand, as I work in God’s church, that the church is not immune to criticism and judging. In the 20 years that I have been in ministry I have seen church folk judging each other, criticizing each other, running each other down, talking on the phone about each other and the list could go on and on. It seems to me that even the body of Christ is infected with this sickness.
Just because we say we know the Lord, and put on a suit on Sunday, go to church, read Scripture, sing, and shout does not mean we are totally right with God.
We can participate in all of the activities on Sunday then turn right around on Monday, if we wait that long, and judge and criticize one another.
You see the word judge means to: “Render a decision about someone or something based on either right information or wrong information.” Most of the time, when we judge our fellow man it’s based on wrong or false information.
Let’s take a little survey:
“How many in here this morning have been judged based on rumors and lies?”
“How many in here this morning have been judged because of your past?”
“How many in here this morning have been criticized for doing something different or just being different?”
Fault Finding Is Easy. Isaac Murray illustrates this in his story on how a dog hitched to a lawn mower stopped pulling to bark at a passerby. The boy who was guiding the mower said, “Don’t mind the dog, he is just barking for an excuse to rest.”
You see it’s easier to bark than to pull the mower.
Now when I was in the world, living in opposition to the Word of God, I thought that kind of stuff happened only in the world. But when I came to Jesus and got involved in the church I found out that it not only happens in the church but it takes on a whole different meaning and level.
See church folk criticize and find fault but then try to hide behind the Bible or their own personal so called righteousness.
You see we try to destroy others for what they are doing or not doing but then we forget about what we are doing behind closed doors at home, or that we say the very same things that we criticize someone else for saying, when we think no one is listening.
You see there are two categories of church related people:
There are SAINTS and then there are CHURCH FOLK.
Saints identify with Christ while Church Folk identify with the Devil.
Saints have the characteristics of Love, Peace, Joy, Longsuffering, Mercy, Compassion and Forgiveness.
Church Folk have the characteristics of Hate, Animosity, Jealousy, Vindictiveness and Criticism of others.
Listen to these quotes I read:
For every action, there is an equal and opposite criticism. - Harrison’s Postulate
It is much easier to be critical than to be correct. - Disraeli
He has the right to criticize who has the heart to help. - Lincoln
You can’t hold a man down without staying down with him. - Booker T. Washington
Remember this while you’re trying to bury someone in the mud of shame and disgrace… The whole time you’re pushing their face into that mud, you’re getting that same mud all over yourself.
Let’s go to our passage for this morning and see what the Word of God has to say.
I. What does Criticism and Judging show the world about the Christian? -- vv.1-2
1 "Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 2 For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
A. Criticism shows a lack of Christianity
James 4:12 There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the One who is able to save and to destroy; but who are you who judge your neighbor? Jesus tells us that He will use our own measuring stick to measure us. You can either let Him use His or yours but His will be more merciful…
B. Criticism shows a lack of control.
1 Corinthians 9:27 But I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified.
We must learn to be God controlled and not self-controlled. Before you try to tell someone else how to live or criticize someone for what they do, you might want to make sure you’re right in all that you do. (The parent who punishes the child for smoking while puffing away)
C. Criticism shows a lack of sanctification.
Ephesians 4:32 Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.
Poem Don’t Find Fault
Don’t find fault with the man who limps
Or stumbles along life’s road,
Unless you have worn the shoes he wears,
Or struggled beneath his load.
There may be tacks in his shoes that hurt,
Though hidden away from our view,
The burden he bears, if placed on your back
Might cause you to stumble, too.
Don’t be too hard on the man who errs,
Or pelt him with wood or stone,
Unless you are sure—yea, double sure,
That you have no fault of your own.
II. Jesus’ Words Concerning Judging v.3
"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?
A. It’s easier to See my neighbor’s sin: BUT
You first need to see your own sins. The person whose shortcomings you are pointing to will fade and be a distant memory if you’ll just focus on you.
B. We are quick to see another person’s slackness.
We are quick to determine who does not tithe or give, who does not come to Sunday School, who does not come to church, who does not come to Bible study, and who is not qualified to teach or lead.
Before you criticize or say something about someone else’s slackness you better make sure that yours is consistently tight.
Mama always told us that the guilty dog barks first and loudest…
But even if you are doing all of the right things, you don’t have the right, the privilege nor the anointing of God to put someone else down because they did something you didn't like.
Jesus taught us to take people where they are and with love and compassion bring them to where they need to be.
You may even say in your own self-righteousness that, “I don’t say those things to a person’s face.”
That’s the problem. You don’t say them to the person’s face, but you say them in meetings without that person there, you say them at home without that person present and you say them in front of your impressionable children, you say them around other believers or you even think it in your mind. You post them on some social media site or send your opinion out as text messages and emails.
How many of you know that God knows your thoughts?
So think about this…even though you don’t verbally say it, God still holds you accountable for what you are thinking.
“Preacher, I can’t understand why I am so sick and miserable all the time…” Could it be that God is trying to tell you something? Could it be that the mud of shame and disgrace that you’re pushing your neighbor down into has contaminated your very soul?... you’ll not get well until you stop pushing your fellow believer’s face in the mire.
III. What to do About Condemnation and Judging v.4
How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye?
Notice 3 Things this verse is saying
A. Cleanse yourself
II Corinthians 7:1 Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.
B. Control Yourself
Psalms 34:13 Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit.
C. Consecrate Yourself
To consecrate means to: Dedicate, sanctify or make holy…How do we do this?
Psalms 139:23-24 Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me and know my anxious thoughts; And see if there be any hurtful way in me, And lead me in the everlasting way.
But if you have the attitude that you’re perfect, you’ll never know the joy of having God cleanse you…
IV. How Do We Find Cleansing from Judging? v.5
5 You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.
A. Make it Personal -- “The hypocrite is the one who looks around the log in their own eye at the speck in another’s eye.” The reason people call Christians hypocrites is because they see the very same thing in the Christian that they’re condemning in someone else.
You must clean your own life up before you can help others.
Notice I said help others and not tear them down. We are to be building people up not tearing people down.
B. Start by Purging -- “first take the log out of your own eye.”
Before you can get someone else right, you better be trying to get yourself right.
How many of you know that some people either know what you are doing and sometimes who you are doing it to? You just think it’s between you and the one you share it with.
I get phone calls…personal messages or stopped on the street just so people can tell me how bad my people are. The problem is that we all take a beating for what a small group does… the whole body gets condemned, even those who are innocent.
So be very careful when you come to someone to tighten them up, because they might just remind you of what you are doing and then you’ll just get mad.
C. Form a Plan -- “then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.”
James 4:8 says, before we can help others, we must be right with God. One cannot live hypocritically and be able to help others spiritually.
Have you ever noticed that those who judge others misconduct are guilty of the same sin, and criticizing someone else is an attempt to cover their own wrongdoing. Those who judge others are not living close to God, nor are they living successful Christian lives. Remember: we are to love people and let God judge them.
I read this story called; "Shooting the Saints"
It is said that when the British and French were fighting in Canada in the 1750s, Admiral Phipps, commander of the British fleet, was told to anchor outside Quebec.
He was given orders to wait for the British land forces to arrive, then support them when they attacked the city.
Phipps’ navy arrived early. As the admiral waited, he became annoyed by the statues of the saints that adorned the towers of a nearby cathedral, so he commanded his men to shoot at them with the ships’ cannons.
No one knows how many rounds were fired or how many statues were knocked out, but when the land forces arrived and the signal was given to attack, the admiral was of no help. He had used up all his ammunition shooting at the “saints.”
There are times each and every day that the devil tries to shoot up our lives. The Bible says, “he comes to steal, kill and destroy.”
The devil will attack your family…he will
…attack your finances…attack your job…attack your marriage…attack your ministry…attack your church…attack your joy…attack your peace
But here is the problem: if you have spent all of your energy and ammunition shooting at other Saints then you won’t have any energy and ammunition left to shoot at the devil, when he launches his attack.
I have learned from walking with God is that it is easier for two to fight than one SO you need to spend time lifting each other up.
BECAUSE: if I have alienated others, who will help me fight?
If I have talked about others, who will help me fight?
If I have gossiped about others, who will help me fight?
If I have run others down, then who will help me fight? NO ONE!!!
I won’t you to hear me this morning because I am going to make a very important announcement for those who feel called of God to mind someone else's business here in EBC.
Do you honestly believe that the person who runs to you with some juicy news about someone else actually cares enough for you to keep your dirty laundry off the line? Are you so naive to think they wouldn't dare run to someone else with the same juicy news about you?
If a person is willing to talk to you about someone, they will certainly talk to someone else about you…JUST AS QUICK. And if you think for a minute they won’t…just keep your ears open…
THE DOG THAT BRINGS YOU A BONE WILL SURELY TAKE ONE BACK WITH HIM WHEN HE LEAVES. [Robert McKenzie]
