Hypocritical: The Good Life (5)

. 2 min read
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