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SERMON OUTLINE & SUMMARY |
| Series: Free to Love - How to Leave the Judging to the Judge Part 4: Paul Weighs In on Judging October 11, 2009 | by Ken Wilson SERMON OUTLINE & SUMMARY Like Jesus in Sermon on Mount Paul sees gospel as a new path to righteousness: "For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed" (Ro. 1: 17) For rest of ROMANS 1, Paul sets us up for this new path by exposing the root & fruit paganism, because he's writing to center of Empire Romans 1 traces the downward spiral of paganism from ingratitude to idolatry to "a depraved mind" and its fruit: greed, envy, gossip, slander, absence of covenant love. Might expect Paul to rally the troops in a moral crusade against pagan sins. Instead, Paul unleashes the sword that pierced his soul when Jesus knocked him off his high horse of judgment when he was an up & coming Pharisee: Romans 2: 1-4, Paul's version of "Don't judge or you will be judged." (Mt. 7:1) Fast forward to Romans 13: 8-10 Love is our aim! Same two-fold emphasis in Sermon on Mount "Do not judge or you too will be judged." (Mt. 7:1) followed by a laser focus on love: "So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets." (Mt. 7:12) Ro 13 love focus followed by judgment prohibition: Ro 14: 1-13 These debates in early church were a REALLY BIG DEAL, as fierce as any today. A PAUSE IN THE SERIES TO REVIEW AND CLARIFY People unfamiliar with the teachings of Jesus, might hear sharp teaching about not judging as gentle Jesus meek & mild saying, Anything goes! If it feels good do it! Meanwhile mature believers get nervous that "not judging" could lead to moral anarchy, and their ears get thick to the word of the Lord. The Bible says the original choice not between good & evil, but between tree of life and knowledge of good & evil. Our lives will revolve around something, and the choices are these: TREE: Knowledge of good & evil or Life [eternal] FRUIT: JUDGMENT & JUDGING LOVE We shift orbits from the knowledge & evil and the judging that characterizes this form of righteousness, to the tree of eternal life, and the rule of love that is the fruit of this tree. Jesus transfers us from one domain to another: domain of knowledge of good & evil to the domain of eternal life. Two domains, two kingdoms, two ruling powers: judging or love And this is where mature believers get hung up. We're fear that if we give too much room to this "Don't judge" business, all we have left is anything goes! Gosh, just what this world needs more of: the anything goes mentality! You've got men who go to Thailand for a weekend of sex with girls sold as slaves, quoting "Judge not, lest ye be judged!" Right? Does anyone share this concern? It makes you so nervous, you feel like "Don't judge" is just a cover for anything goes. BUT....LOVE IS A DOMAIN: 1 Cor. 13: 4-13 Jesus brings the RULE of Love, as his is the gospel of the KINGdom! Examples of love ruling: + The young man offered "friends with benefits" + The office gossip + The tightwad at tax time Pure Love is near, and ready to RULE if our hearts are open. Paul's message sequence in Romans 13-14: Love your neighbor as yourself. The Day is near. Don't judge. But this cuts both ways! As a mature believer, you cannot let your nervousness about the judging ban change your response to the ban from Yes, Sir! To Yes, but! Judging is occupational hazard of mature believers, and it feels like zeal for righteousness. But it doesn't work the righteousness of God. For complete sermon notes online, visit our sermons page. |
| PRACTICAL TIPS |
 1. Greet every person you see with the thought, "Here is another precious image of God." Try it for a day or two and see what God does in your heart. 2. Meditate on 1 Cor. 4: 1-5 with the person you want to love without judging in mind. How certain are you of your own motives? How accurate is one person in "discerning" the motives of another? How do you feel when others "discern" your motives. |
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION |
 1. Paul probably wrote the letter to the Romans from the city of Corinth, where the temple of Aphrodite was located. Do a Google search on the "cult of Aphrodite." How does this information influence how we read Romans and 1 & 2 Corinthians?2. What is "paganism," and how does it contrast with the Christian faith? 3. If Paul were to write a "letter to the church in Ann Arbor," what do you think he would say? 4. In light of this series, how should we relate to a close friend who is engaging in hurtful and self-destructive behavior? What would be the difference between judging and loving? 5. How difficult is it to really love? See 1 Cor. 13. |
Posts
This sermon has really touched my heart. Sometimes it really feels to love love itself. I like that the idea of the absolute need to not judge seems radical. It has got me wondering about my punk rock roots.
ReplyDeleteIn high school, when I was really starting to have a relationship with God, I have to say a healthy dose of "ska" and "punk rock" music helped. Some of the music and the scene really focused on an honesty with oneself. Some of the lyrics had gotten me to care about the injustice and pain in the world with a genuine clarity I had never experienced before. Lastly, I saw a picture of how beautiful a rugged or broken community of outcasts that care about each other and the problems in the world could be. In many ways, God used these things to draw me deeply into a resolution to follow Jesus (I guess this post is also a plug for not judging the local self- ascribed "punk rocker").
Now that time has passed, I think back to some of that passion about injustice and I wonder about the similarities and differences between it and the kind of "passion" a red-faced hellfire and brimstone, judgmental religious person would have. My thought becomes... how much of man's righteousness was in this passion against injustice? What does the place passion against injustice takes look like for me now?
Also, I want to try to think about other instances and actions that people took in the New and Old testaments and try to see them through this lens of "yes sir, NO judging."
Maybe these questions are open to many avenues of exploration, but part of me also feels like there is something simple about a love that rules over your perspective, something that sort of solves the potential problems that could arise from interperetations of these questions.
I'm living in a country where I have only one peer interested in following Jesus, and many other peers who make choices that I don't see as good, loving, or true options for myself. Beyond this group of peers, I'm still learning the language of the country I'm in, and there is practically no church here (rural Japan). I think on one hand, the differences in lifestyles of those who speak my language makes it a real struggle to avoid judgement at times (so does my own vulnerability, if that makes sense). On the other hand, the ambiguity of a different culture is a blessing in teaching me to stop making assumptions of motivations and thoughts of others (something easier to do when you are familiar with the social "tell-tale signs" that we grow up learning for our own society).
Greetings from overseas! I'd love any prayers you want to say for me.