The Critical Spirit
Luke 6:37-6:42
Illustration: Guilty as sin! It happened just a few years ago. The banks in New Jersey had been robbed systematically, one after the other. What made the robber stand out was his politeness. He just gave the tellers a note which said, "Please place your money in this bag. Thank you." The newspapers called him the GENTLEMAN BANDIT. The widespread publicity led to a very unlikely arrest - the suspect was a Catholic priest. His church was appalled but stood beside him, saying they knew he could not be the bandit. They signed petitions, held protest marches and came up with his bail. But the police were certain they had their man. All of the eyewitnesses positively identified him. And the news media dug into his past, to find that in a previous church he had left under a cloud because of financial irregularities in the parish. For a priest he had a pretty expensive lifestyle - his own apartment and a fast car. His church was probably standing up for him because otherwise they looked like dupes. As I watched the story unfold on the news, I was positive this priest had pulled a fast one. He probably had a sociopath personality so he could rob banks and preach the next Sunday without feeling any guilt. No one outside his congregation was standing up for this guy. But then a funny thing happened. The REAL Gentleman Bandit was caught red-handed. As it turned out, he was the spitting image of the priest. It’s just that he WASN’T the priest. The priest was released, his church threw him a big party, and the news media and I felt a little sheepish. Source: Rev. David Holwick First Baptist Church Ledgewood, New Jersey
We must careful and merciful we all need to be in our judgments. We may be wrong! Even when we are right we can still be wrong in our response. Are we doing so with a critical spirit or a merciful spirit?
What Exactly is a Critical Spirit?
An obsessive attitude of criticism and fault-finding, which seeks to tear others down The person with a critical spirit usually dwells on the negative, seeks for flaws rather than good.
“Constructive criticism." The only criticism that is ever constructive is that which is expressed in love to "build up," not to tear down — it is always expressed face-to-face, never behind their back.
Imperative that we deal with the critical spirit because it is:
1.Destructive to our walk, witness, and our world.
2.Harmful to our relationship with God as an unforgiving, unloving , and critical attitude toward another person.
3.Harmful to our witness because the world is watching us
4.It is harmful to our families, are churches, and our workplaces.
5. Few things do as much damage and cause as much dissension within marriages, churches and workplaces as a critical tongue and attitude.
Jesus our Lord, Savior, and Teacher gives us some instructions concerning the critical spirit in Luke 6:37-42.
Read Luke 6: 37-42
I. V’s 37-38: Jesus gives us a Warning against having
a critical spirit.
II. V’s 39-40: Jesus gives us a warning against listening to
those who have a critical spirit.
III. V’s 41- 42: Jesus gives us an illustration of the
foolishness of having a critical spirit.
I. Jesus Gives a warning against a critical spirit
Jesus begins, "Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will but not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven."
This statement "do not judge" many believe that Jesus was saying that we should never make any kind of judgment or evaluation about right or wrong in other people’s lives.
This is often carried to ridiculous extremes in our tolerant culture. I once heard of an example of this when on a jury with a woman said after hours of deliberation that she could never vote to convict the woman on trial, even though she was clearly guilty, because the Bible says, "Judge not, lest you be judged."
We know this from the Bible that Jesus was not forbidding us from making necessary evaluations about right or wrong or from being public about them when necessary.
For Instance:
1.The Bible says we are to recognize and expose false
teachers - that certainly requires that we make a
judgment.
2. The Bible also says that we are to deal with sin when we
see it in the church, which certainly requires evaluation
and judgment also.
3. The Bible says we are to discipline believers who
Continue to willfully live a life of sin - that requires
making a judgment.
A.Jesus forbids a critical, fault finding evaluation of others.
B.Why? This attitude tends to hurt rather than to heal.
C.Jesus exhorts us to be very careful and be very loving in our evaluation or judgment of others.
D. He is telling us to be slow to note their faults.
STORY: A man was irritated by his wife’s refusal to admit her hearing problem. Speaking with his doctor one day he asked, “How can I get my wife to admit that she needs a hearing aid?”
“I’ll tell you what you need to do,” his doctor replied. When you get home peek your head through the door and ask, “Honey, what’s for dinner?”
“If she doesn’t answer, go into the living room and say, “Honey, what’s for dinner,”
Then walk into the kitchen and ask, “Honey, what’s for dinner?” “If she still doesn’t answer walk right up behind her and say, “Honey, what’s for dinner? Then you will be able to convince her that she needs a hearing aid.
“Great! I think that will work.”
So he repeats the question as he goes through the house. No answer any of the times.
Then he walked right up behind his wife and spoke directly into her ear. “Honey, what’s for dinner?”
She turned around in a huff and resolutely replied, “For the fourth time, I said WE WERE HAVING SPAGHETTI!!!”
A. Don’t go looking for mistakes and dwelling on the negative.
B. We must be sure that we don’t have a critical spirit and words for our spouse, children, employer, churches or neighbors, etc.
Jesus is saying that we are to evaluate and respond to other people’s sins with mercy. We are to lovingly correct when it is necessary but we are not to condemn people or to disparage them
C. We all need to be careful that an unmerciful, fault finding critical spirit does not reside in us.
D. We are to show people mercy by judging them kindly and understandingly. If we do God will treat us in the same way.
God’s abundant mercy in my life allows me to walk in freedom. If I don’t show others mercy, but instead have a critical attitude toward them I will forfeit these things.
An interesting thing happened one day in a church where the great American businessman Samuel Colgate was a member. During an evangelistic campaign a prostitute came forward and confessed her sins. She was broken-hearted and wept openly. she asked God to save her soul and expressed a desire to join the church. ’I’ll gladly sit in some back corner," she said. The preacher hesitated to call for a motion to accept her into membership, and for a few moments the silence was oppressive. Finally, a member stood up and suggested that action on her request be postponed. At that point Mr. Colgate arose and said with an undertone of sarcasm, ’I guess we blundered when we prayed that the Lord would save sinners. We forgot to specify what kind. We’d better ask Him to forgive us for this oversight. The Holy Spirit has touched this woman and made her truly repentant, but apparently the Lord doesn’t understand she isn’t the type we want Him to rescue." Many in the audience blushed with shame. They had been guilty of judging like the Pharisee in the temple who exclaimed self-righteously, ’God, I thank You that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers" (Luke 1811. Another motion was made and the woman was unanimously received into the fellowship.
Read Verse 38
A. In context though Jesus is not talking about giving money
but he is talking about giving mercy.
B. Jesus is saying that when we show mercy to others God will
pour out so much mercy in our lives that we will be overflowing with his kindness and forgiveness toward us.
In New Testament times they wore their outer garment in such a way as to have a pocket on the front which was used for holding wheat that had been purchased.
They would buy a pocket full of wheat and pour it into the pocket and press and shake it down so as much as possible would fit in.
If the purchaser received so much wheat that even after doing all that it still overflowed outside of his garment he was considered to be especially blessed.
Jesus is saying that we can be especially blessed receive mercy in the same fashion. He says that we will have mercy poured into our life abundantly, "a good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over!" God’s mercy and his kindness can and will overflow in our lives.
Jesus says, "with the measure you use it will be measured to you."
It’s the measure we use that determines how much we receive. The choice is ours.
Illustration: As child my parents would occasionally let us have a glass of soda. One night my mom told me to go pour my sister and me a ½ a glass of soda. I thought I would be wise, so I gave my sister a ½ glass of soda from the shortest and narrowest glass I could find, while I poured myself a ½ glass from the widest and tallest I could find. After pouring the soda and giving it to her my sister complained so my mom said that my sister would get to pick which glass she wanted since I had done the pouring. I found out what I means when Jesus said "with the measure you use it will be measured to you." I got what I had given to her.
Read Verses 39, 40
1. Jesus warns against a critical spirit
II. Jesus warns against listening to those with a
critical spirit
A.To listen or learn from those who have a critical spirit
would be like following a blind man.
B.Jesus said with a blind lead the blind both fall into the pit, both are brought down.
C.Jesus sometimes referred to the Pharisees a "blind men" and this is probably who he is referencing in this parable.
D.Their leadership had influenced the entire culture! It is the same with us.
E. If we listen to those who have a critical, unloving attitude toward others we will soon find ourselves having that same attitude.
F.To this kind of thinking Jesus said " a student is not above his teacher..."
A woman named Ruth Knowlton told how she came to see this truth. The building across the alley was only a few feet away, and she could easily look into her neighbor’s apartment. Ruth had never met the woman who lived there, but she could see her as she sewed and read each afternoon. After several months, she noticed that the figure by the window had become indistinct. She couldn’t understand why the woman didn’t wash her windows.
One sunny day Ruth decided to do some housecleaning, including washing her own windows. Later that day, she sat down to rest by the window. To her amazement, she could clearly and distinctly see her neighbor sitting by her window. Ruth said to herself, "Well, finally she washed her windows!" By now you’ve guessed what really happened: Ruth’s own windows were the ones that needed washing.
G.If the teacher or the speaker has a critical, finger-pointing, fault finding attitude than the learner, the listener will develop the same.
I Jesus warn against critical spirit
II.Jesus warns against listening to those with at C/S
III. Jesus gives us an illustration of the foolishness of having a critical spirit.
Luke 6:41-4241And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not perceive the plank in your own eye? 42Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me remove the speck that is in your eye,’ when you yourself do not see the plank that is in your own eye? Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck that is in your brother’s eye.
Jesus has so far given us a warning concerning the critical spirit and he is given us a warning about listening to those with a critical spirit.
A.Now Jesus gives us in these verses an illustration of those with a critical spirit.
1. Jesus is saying that it is pretty foolish, and hypocritical to point out others errors when your own problems are so much greater.
2.You see a speck of sawdust in someone else’s eye, which represents a small problem, while you yourself have a telephone pole in your own eye.
3.In other words you have much greater problem than the person you are criticizing. Jesus is saying it that you are in no position to be critical of anyone.
Illustration: In Charles Schulz’s "Peanuts" comic strip, Linus asks Lucy, "Why are you always so anxious to criticize me?" She answers, "I just think I have a knack for seeing other people’s faults." "What about your own faults?" asks Linus. Her response is, "I have a knack for overlooking them
Illustration: Imagine me going to Peyton Manning. and telling him how to throw the ball.
Imagine me having the nerve to criticize the golf game of Tiger Woods.
In both cases the problem is that I am in no position to criticize them. My problem, my errors are far, far greater then theirs.
We all have a tendency to exaggerate the errors and failing of others while we tend to minimize our own weaknesses and failures.
4. The illustration of the sawdust and the log reminds us of
how easy it is to see the problems with others when we
need to be looking at ourselves
6.As Jesus said in verse 42 "You Hypocrite, first take the plank our of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye."
Illustration: A practicing lawyer loved to attack his opponents through scathing letters printed in newspapers. In 1842, he ridiculed the wrong man. James Shields did not take kindly to the anonymous writer who lampooned him in the Springfield Journal. Mr. Shields tracked down the attorney who had publicly embarrassed him and challenged him to a duel. The man was a writer, not a fighter, but he could not get out of the duel without losing his honor. He was given the choice of weapons and chose swords in hopes of using his long arms to his advantage. He trained with a West Point graduate as he prepared to fight to the death. On the appointed day he met Mr. Shields on a sandbar in the Mississippi River. At the last minute their seconds intervened and convinced the men to stop the duel. The lawyer returned to his practice as a changed man. Never again did he openly criticize anyone. In fact, years later when he heard his wife criticize the southern people of the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln said, "Don’t criticize them; they are just what we would be under similar circumstances." Do you have a critical spirit? Lincoln did, but he changed.
FOUR WAYS TO LEARN OVERCOME MY CRITICAL SPIRIT
1. Stop walking through life like a whiner.
Philippians 2:14 simply says, "Do everything without complaining or arguing..." Don’t walk through life chronically discontent with everything..
2. Work to see the positive in each situation and each person.
and they spoke to all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying: "The land we passed through to spy out is an exceedingly good land.
(Numbers 14:7 NKJV)
3. Ask the Lord to help you overcome your critical behavior.
If the LORD delights in us, then He will bring us into this land and give it to us, "a land which flows with milk and honey.’
(Numbers 14:8 NKJV)
God want to delight in you. He want to help you. But you have to stop thinking that way. 4. Teach others to be encouraging.
This is the opposite lesson from this chapter. Miriam was critical on an individual basis, and this led to a whole group of people who were critical of Moses, the mission, and even God. One person, and then eventually 10 people taught other people to be critical. It may have been subtle, but it was taught. The same can be true with us.
The only way we can overcome a critical spirit is to teach others not to be critical.
This means that we need to hold our tongues sometimes when we want to say something about someone in public or in groups. We are
Here is my challenge to you: Make it an effort to stop criticizing.
teaching others when we share our criticisms. We need to stop saying the critical and start talking the encouraging.
Jesus has so far given us and exhortation concerning the critical spirit and he is given us a warning about listening to those with a critical spirit.
