The Most Requested Sermon Text of My Ministry!
Over the past 45 years whenever I have asked a congregation what passages they would like me to preach on, one passage has consistently remained at the top of the list. It is, perhaps, the passage people struggle with the most. Can you guess which it is? Of course there are many difficult passages in the Bible. Passages that require us to read them with far more thought and introspection than if we were simply reading a recipe from a cookbook. But it is this passage which was always at the top of the list: Mathew 7:1-5, Judge not, lest you be judged!
This passage seems to run 180 degrees in the opposite direction of what many, many very good and fine people, people just like you and me, do numerous times every day. And if that weren’t enough of a problem we only need to read a few verses further in chapter 7 verses 15- 20 when Jesus himself is telling us to beware of false prophets and how we will know then by the fruits of their lives (their observable actions and consequences of those actions). Is Jesus teaching one thing one moment and another contradictory thing later? And our job is to simply accept this trusting in God. (The old “ours is not to reason why, ours is but to do or die” argument. Or is the teaching on judging just an impossible one to uphold that points out our universal need for God’s forgiveness!
I want to suggest there is a far better way to understand these scriptures than either of the above alternatives. Life requires we make judgements. Every time we make a decision, we are making a judgement! For we Christians, the most consequential and important decision of our lives, to surrender our hearts to Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior involves making a judgment! Don’t be fooled by a superficial, non-thinking reading of the text. What Jesus is talking about is whenever we judge ourselves, to be better than others, superior to others, more important or valued than others. This is especially true when we forget that there is much of another’s heart we cannot see. Then our judgements become acts of nothing more than self-righteous piety, something the Pharisees of Jesus’ day were infamous for!
But we are not freed from the requirement to make judgments in life. One of the insidious cop-outs of our day is when Christians puff up their chests and proclaim themselves free of making judgments in moments that call for us to judge, not in terms of being better than, but in terms of what is faithful to the call and command of Christ in our lives. The teaching on false prophets drives this point home. Actions reveal the character of a person’s heart. This is what Christ means when he says of false prophets, “you will now them by their fruits”. In all likelihood we will never know the deeper wounds and scars that only God knows of a person’s heart, but we can see the character of their hearts by their actions. This does not make us better than another but neither does it free us from our responsibility to speak the truth in love. False prophets cannot be ignored. If we do, we do so at great peril.
One of the great tragedies of our time is how divided and partisan we have become. It is as though we have forgotten that our country is the United States of America and that unity has much to do with what we have to offer each other and our world. We have many issues to address that require new ideas and cooperation. We will never succeed in doing this if we are so busy judging how much better we are than the other side, be it republican or democrat. We cannot pretend or wish our problems away. We cannot abide by the name calling, no matter which side it comes from. We cannot afford the lies and misinformation that have tragically become too common place and threaten the very fabric of both community and country. We can not seek refuge in the comfortable phrase that all lives matter until we are committed without reservation to making the reality that every life matters, - black, brown, yellow, red and white, as much a part of life as our most sacred beliefs. And above all we cannot keep our faith which calls us to do justice (the biblical meaning is to respect and seek the well-being of all), to love kindness, and walk humbly with our God in the nice safe confines of friends and church when there is so much hurt, fear and brokenness in our land and in our world. We must demand this and settle for nothing less.
Grace and Peace, John
An Update on Our Outreach Ministry!
Even though our church building is pretty well closed up, our church most certainly is not closed. Out outreach ministries continue and are needed more now than ever before. Here is a quick update:
Elementary School Support:
Because of you and are partnership with Thrivent Financial (Thank you Cindy Cook) we were able to furnish Manatee Elementary School to date with over 50 backpacks, over 110 boxes of 24 crayons per box, over 400 pencils, 36 packages of wide-ruled notebook paper, scissors for 25 kindergarten children and glue-sticks, and hand sanitizer. You are making a positive difference in the lives of some of the poorest families in Manatee County. You are helping offer some hope in difficult times and an example of the love of Christ in a mean-spirited, callus world. Thank you.
Homeless Outreach Ministry:
Simply put everyone who is involved with and supporting this outreach ministry is offering a tangible ray of love and hope to our homeless friends here in Palmetto who have been pretty well beaten down by life. Thank you.
East Coast Head Start Migrant Center
Later this week I believe Joan will be taking a wide variety of “goods and goodies” to the migrant center head start program. Head Start feeds approximately 61 children, ages newborn to 5 years old, breakfast and lunch while their parents work in the fields. We have been involved in this ministry for over 2 years and it is very special.
If you haven’t yet made a contribution or you would like to continue, please just mark you check in the memo line to designate where and how much you would like to give to these 3 outreach ministries.
Once again, I remind each of us that our support of any or all three of these outreach ministries makes a big impact on the people who are so often ignored or forgotten. Thank you for your faithful support, past, present and future.