Hypocritical: The Good Life (5)

2014/02/16
Christ Church, Mountain Top

Prayer,
Psalm 130

Children,
Matthew 18.21-35

Message,
Matthew 7.1-6

Cookies
in the airport

1.    
Judgment requires assumption-making

2.    
Judgment distances us from others and from Jesus
(superior)

3.    
Judgment makes us hypocrites (Greek – actor,
today’s “poser”)

Impacts
our witness

      “Sons of the devil”

We
judge all the time – feel superior

      Overweight

      Sexual orientation

            By persons whose adolescent fantasy
life was exclusively hetero

      Skin color, race/ethnicity 

            Illegals, dangerous

      Politics, religion, social issues

            opposite sides of the street on
Sundays

High
school segmentation

      Athletes – not a single active brain cell

      Loners – the dangerous profile, like me

      others

Connect
external w/ holiness categories … “pre-judgment”

      What of behavior?

            Adultery – Lust

            Murder – Anger

Log
in eye / eye drops demo

      (Get a volunteer)

Qualifications:

Discernment

Empathy

      Telemarketer

      One who has hurt me

Abuse

1.    
Judgment requires assumption-making

      Structure of assumptions

            We know reality

            We know the other person’s situation

            We possess an absolute standard

            We are objective

      On the other hand,

            God knows reality

            God knows the other person’s
situation

            Jesus is the standard; it is not an
“it” that we possess

            Jesus is NOT objective

                  “the Passion of the Christ”

                  Jesus LOVES

2.    
Judgment distances us from others and from Jesus
(superior)

“Instead
of cutting themselves off from their brother as the just from the unjust, they
find themselves cut off from Jesus” (Bonhoeffer, 203).

Romans
14:4  Who are you to judge someone
else’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls.

3.    
Judgment makes us hypocrites

      “Judging others makes us blind” (Bonhoeffer,
205).

Romans
8:1  There is therefore now no
condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

            Jesus is NOT objective

                  “the Passion of the Christ”

                  Jesus LOVES

Resources:

Dietrich
Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship