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SERMON OUTLINE & SUMMARY |
| Series: Free to Love - How to Leave the Judging to the Judge Part 2: How Big a Deal is This to Jesus? September 27, 2009 | by Ken Wilson SERMON OUTLINE & SUMMARY Series topics: 1. The Original Sin: Eating from Knowledge of Good & Evil [last week] 2. The EMPHASIS in gospels on love without judgment 3. The Sin of the Pharisees 4. The EMPHASIS in Paul on love without judgment. 5. The EMPHASIS in James on love without judgment. 6. The teaching of Paul in 1 Cor. 5-6 about the need to judge in the church 7. The teaching on speaking the truth in love to each other, in light of the fact that true community includes accountability. Today: How big an emphasis is this in gospels? Why is it important to pay attention to what Jesus emphasizes? Because it is an important safeguard in our pursuit of truth. Jesus emphasizes: 1. It is not our job to judge, 2. It is our job to love. Jesus & Judgment in John's Gospel The Genesis Backdrop in the Gospel of John + the creation accounts in Genesis 1 & 2 + Gen. 1:1-2 The Eternal Life Theme + big in John's gospel: Jesus gives eternal life + evokes Gen. 2: 9, the tree of life [for it's eternal nature Gen. 3: 22] The Choice in John's Gospel: + is not between good & evil, per se [or good-bad; righteous unrighteous] + but between two competing visions of righteousness Jesus: Rooted in the Tree of [Eternal] Life Pharisees: Rooted in the Tree of the Knowledge of Good & Evil Read gospel of John with this backdrop: Jesus is offering the tree of life--the one that we eat in order to live for ever, eternal life--to people who are used to feasting on the knowledge of good & evil. "For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him." (John 3:17) Context: Jesus tells Nicodemus that he has to start over: a whole new approach to righteousness. John 4: Jesus and Samaritan woman. A woman in a continuing state of adultery plants the first Jesus community. John 5:19, 22, 24: Jesus, who is authorized to judge doesn't; he gives eternal life. John 6: What's to eat? (Feeding of 5,000; Jesus, the Bread of Life) Corresponds to Gen. 2: 16-17, which answers same question. John 8: 1-11 Jesus, the Pharisees and the woman caught in adultery "You judge by human standards, but I pass judgment on no one" (Jn. 8:15) Notice he doesn't say, "You judge by human standards but I judge by Godly standards." He is holding them to a higher standard: not just correct judgment: withhold judgment John 9, Pharisees investigate Sabbath healing [Often we judge without bothering to investigate; in this respect their righteousness is superior to ours.] They use their judgment to exclude [as we often do] To this, Jesus says: "For judgment I have come into this world so that the blind will see and those who see will be blind!" (John 9:39) The only people Jesus judges in the gospel of John are the people judging. John 12: 47-50 Jesus is all about giving eternal life and withholding judgment. Food he offers is from the tree of life, not the knowledge of good & evil. If you are a member of the moral outcast class, Jesus is protecting you from the judgments of the righteous people who are using their knowledge of good and evil to exclude you. He offers you eternal life. Jesus is pressing the restart button on sin, righteousness, judgment, holiness, religion, how God and humans connect. Everything before was rooted in old order. He had to work with people who had eaten from tree of knowledge of good and evil...so they could be like God and judge. And that had its place. But he is replacing that order! Christianity is not about enforcing righteousness! Christianity is not about separating the wheat from the chaff. The wheat will be separated from the chaff one day, but NOT NOW! Christianity is about something else. It has a different EMPHASIS! For complete sermon notes online, visit our sermons page. |
| PRACTICAL TIPS |
 1. Try to remember a time when you were walking in darkness in some way, and someone loved you without judging you, and how God worked in your life through that particular way of being loved.2. Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you someone in your life right now who needs to be loved like that by you. During this series, storm the heavens until God enables you to love that person like that. This week, ask the Holy Spirit to sensitize you to this tendency to judge. Ask God if this is a big deal in your life. |
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION |
 1. Do you often find yourself making judgments about people? Who are you most likely to judge?2. What are the topics in the Bible where you see the most disagreement and confusion among Christians? 3. Is there a clear difference between "discerning" good and evil and "judging"? If so, what is it? 4. What do you imagine when you read the words "eternal life" in the Bible? What does it look like? 5. Who are the people in our world Jesus would be defending from the religious authorities, as he did the woman caught in adultery? 6. Jesus says, "You judge by human standards..." (John 8:15) What does he mean? |
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I like to think that this sermon has more to do with JBS than the last one. We are called not to judge others but to love. We are not called to use our knowledge (of good and evil?) but our life (experience/love) to help others, or simply care for them.
ReplyDeletethe thought that Jesus is now the tree that we must eat from is really a great idea. His fruit is where we should nurishment, through Him only can we find eternal life.
I also like the dichotomy of life and knowledge of good and evil (KOGE). We are in a sense given a choice with this. A choice that in fact forces us to look beyond what a person does to who they are. Instead of asking what they did, asking why they did it and try to help heal a hurt (either the one that might cause us to judge or the one that existed beforehand.)
to bring adultery into the equation i feel makes it the extreme case. These are women who have done the "worst" deed. Jesus walks up to them and offers life beyond what any man has even been capable of considering. This is His love.
Then there is the being born again. It sounds so much better than dying to the world. but it is a very similar thing. we must be born into the glory of the kingdom now present. tied to our judgemental selves, and our judgemental history we cannot see the kindgom. we must be reborn to the glory and mercy God has for us in order to truly understand what kind of love we are called to show.
I feel that when people judge it is very sad because they have never really walked in the persons shoes that their judging. I don't understand how people could be so blind and to not realize the hurt they could bring to others lives by their righteousness. This is the world and I try to avoid being around people who are like this. I always look for the good in others we all have our paths we have to walk and only God knows are heart. I have a saying that I often read and it goes like this.
ReplyDeleteHumility
"Perpetual quietness of heart. It is to have no trouble. It is never to be fretted or vexed, irritable or sore; to wonder at nothing that is done to me, to feel nothing done against me.
"It is to be at rest when nobody praises me, and when I am blamed or despised,it is to have a blessed home in myself where I can go in and shut the door and pray to my fahter in secret and be at peace, as in a deep sea of calmness, when all around and about is seeming trouble."
Through my life I made many bad choices and it has been a long process of change. Today I have to live with those choices I made. Not always easy. It took a long time for me to go to the Lord but I knew one day I would. Repentance is changing your life and not making them same choices. I go to church to be lifted up. And I will continue to do so. I have been the broken hearted and I have seen many people with broken lives I don't ever want to be the one to say if they have a right to be in church I would not want that put on me. The battle inside one evening an old Cherokee told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people. He said, "My son, the battle is between 2 wolves.
"One is evil. It is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority and ego.
The other is God. It is joy, peace, love, hope,serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith."
The grandson thought about it for a minute and asked his grandfather,"which wolf wins?"
The old Cherokee simple replied, "The one you feed."
I think this topic at church is a great topic and will hopefully bring people together. I think I will leave the judging to the Lord.
I love that comment about the wolves! Not only did I like the story about the wolves itself, but everything else you had to say too.
ReplyDeleteSometimes I hear this refrain in my head: "life is tough! life is tough!" I think about babies and kids and teens and adults and seniors and think about how life isn't easy for any of them. We all are sooo vulnerable. This creates a deep love for others in me for some reason. It also makes me feel so safe remembering the Help we have with us and in us.