"Don't Judge Me!"

"For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him would not perish but have eternal life." You know this one. John 3:16

"'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the LORD. 'Plans to prosper and not to harm you. Plans to give you a hope and future.'" You might even know this one too. Jeremiah 29:11.

Oh, how about...

"I can do all things through Him who gives me strength." Another good one for the ole bumper sticker. Philippians 4:13

Hmmmm... oh, a new favorite of the millennial generation...

"Do not judge, or you too will be judged..." So where's that from?

Anyone? Where in the Bible is that passage? Can someone tell me?

Matthew 7:1. Or a similar rendering in Luke 6:37.  I'm sure you knew that though. And I'm sure you know the context as well, right? Like where Jesus was when he said that, what he was talking about just before he spoke those words, and what he said just immediately after.

My generation has a serious problem, one that I certainly struggle with as well. It's one that we inherited, if I may type honestly. We grew up in a "Christian culture" where memorizing short Bible verses plucked out of context was a key spiritual discipline. We were told that if you were having a bad day, just quote one of those verses that I mentioned above and suddenly we would be able to conquer the world. Stressing for your science test? Well, you can do all thing through Christ! Feeling weak and vulnerable? His grace is sufficient for you (and something about power, perfection, and weakness). Not sure of what college you should go to, or who you should marry and how many kids you are going to have? Have no fear, because God knows the plans He has for you! And they all are good ones too. See what I'm saying?

Memorizing and quoting Scripture is not a bad thing at all. Jesus did it, as did his followers.  The difference is that Jesus and his early followers didn't view Scripture as a series of individual quotes to be taken out of context and used for their own situations (plus they didn't really have the New Testament back then).  The Bible was God's story of redemption and grace. It was all and always had been about Him and how He interacted with flawed and broken humans to bring about His purpose in the world.  When Jesus did quote Scripture, it was always for a purpose outside of his immediate need. I could go into this more, but for now we should simply understand that the Bible didn't have split up chapters and verses that could be ripped away from each other and used for whatever purpose someone desired.  Jesus and his early followers saw Scripture as one cohesive story.

Today, we grab one phrase or one sentence and create entire theologies out of it without even questioning whether or not the original writer meant it that way in the first place. The every day Christian has not been taught how to "exegete", or pull the meaning out of the text through careful study and respectful examination. After all, that's for seminary graduates. And who has time for that sort of study anyway? So that's one problem.

A second problem, ironically, is what I'm doing right now. Blogging. Social Media.

We all have a voice, with little to no filter and certainly no authority over us to keep us from saying something stupid. So trolling and bullying and youthful ignorance (guilty) have a huge platform to say whatever they want, and eventually their opinions become commonly agreed upon. Now, I'm not claiming to be some expert or theologian. But I do hold to what my philosophy professor, Dr. Esther Meek, drilled into our heads at Geneva College. Before I can critique, criticize, or even form my own opinion on a subject, I had better have thoroughly read and researched the topic and its experts. And even then, I still don't really have a right to say much. Shut up, and listen.

So what does Matthew 7:1 and Luke 6:36 have to do with this? Well, for us Christian millennials, most discussions surrounding morality and our ethical choices inevitably come back to this verse (even for people who wouldn't call themselves Christians).  I imagine that somewhere along the line in debates and conversations regarding morality, someone read these words from Jesus and decided "Yes! See? Jesus said no one can judge me or my actions, so there. No one can judge me. If I want to do X or Y, then I can do X or Y and they just have to grin and bear it. Only God can judge."

But Jesus wasn't giving us a bullet in our ethical-debate gun. He wasn't giving us an out for our morality.  How do I know? Context. These texts are found in the middle of Jesus' famous "Sermon the Mount" where he gives a glimpse into what life in His Kingdom should look like. If you decide to sign up and play on Jesus' team, here's how things will go: (just a few examples)

You will be blessed even when things around you seem to fall apart (Matthew 5: 1-12).

That person who cut you off in traffic? Forgive them, and let them drive as slowly ahead of you as they'd like (This happened to me today. And well yeah, I didn't do too well). After all, flipping them off would be the same as killing them in Jesus' Kingdom (5:21-22, 43-47).

Your religious duties should be done humbly in order to please God and God alone (Matt. 6:1-18). Jesus liked some forms of religion, by the way. But that's a different blog...

There's no room for worry and anxiety in Christ's domain. After all, if God cares for the lilies of the field, won't he care for you (6:25-34)?

The sermon on the mount was all about how our relationships with God and one another should look radically different in the Kingdom of Heaven than in the kingdom of this world. And in the middle of this message Jesus says, "Do not judge and you will not be judged. Do not condemn and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven." (Luke 6:36). But Jesus is not saying this so we can look someone in the eye after we've broken God's standards and say, "Jesus told me you can't judge me." He's telling you and me that WE can't judge or condemn or withhold forgiveness. Don't worry about the judgmental "speak" in someone else's eye. Let's pull out that giant cross-beam of self-righteousness and entitlement from our own eyes first...

Jesus clearly reinforced the moral standards that the Father laid down in the Old Testament. That's the whole point of the sermon on the mount.  If we have encountered his love and mercy, then our lives should look drastically different.  We should want to please God, not ourselves. Pleasing God always involves loving and serving others. It always looks like imitating Jesus. Always. After all, Jesus pleased the Father perfectly.

In Matthew 5:17-20, Jesus states that not only did He come to uphold the law, but He came to fulfill it.  He knew that for us imperfect, messed up humans, we couldn't fulfill the whole law on our own. If we want to base our relationship with the Almighty Creator of the Universe on our morality and ethics then, "I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of God." And  those guys got paid to follow the law. But if our righteousness is given to us by Jesus, who was perfect in everything He did, then we inherit the kingdom as well as a new heart full of devotion and desire to please God.  Christ fulfilled the law and then was murdered and rose from the grave so that we might receive that righteousness that none of us could ever earn by our own merit.

So don't use this passage as a way of justifying yourself and getting out of living differently. The Son of God didn't die a brutal death on a Roman Cross so we could shout "Don't judge me!"  He died so that when we are wronged and when we are hurt, we can look at the other person and forgive them. He died so that we would want to serve and live for the God of all Creation in a way that leads us to serve and love even our worst enemy. I know this is a lot more difficult than simply doing  what we want and asking God to forgive us later. But it's why Christ came.  And it's what faith requires of us.

Yes, God is the only true judge. And we are all guilty. But for some reason, like John 3:16 states, Jesus went from preaching a sermon on the mount by the Sea of Galilee to later being hung on a cross on the mountain of Calvary in order to break the chains of moralistic legalism or relativism that keep us all in slavery. He didn't come to be your buddy whose quote you put in your status update or cute meme.

He came to be the Lord who sits on the throne of your heart. And that's exactly where He belongs. For He is a good and gracious King, and His kingdom has no end. Does he hold that place in your life?

You be the judge.