Sheep and Goats and Judgement...OH MY!

 

What follows is the transcript of a message I gave at Maple Valley Church on January 15, 2023. The video can be found here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmisADlNApE&t=2367s

Well…I came up and did this last summer, and at the time I said that was probably my first and last time giving a sermon, but by demand (?) … (some kind of demand, I am not sure if I would go as far as to say popular) but I guess by demand (?), I’m back. But…After today’s sermon, I really am not sure if anyone will want to have me back because we are going to talk about a super fun topic today…JUDGEMENT.

You are saying, oh poor Dan, he must not have been able to pick his topic again, David must have assigned this to him. No, no, I actually chose the topic this time. Why in the world would he do that? Well…first off, as I was contemplating different topics, I thought to myself, what are the big things that I really struggle with? What are things I consistently mess up in my life that I need to hear God’s prodding and poking at me? Ah yes…Judgement…Oh I am so good at judging; I am a regular Judge Judy here. I am a master at judging others; I am especially good at judging others for being judgmental. Wrap your mind around that for a second.

So, I struggle a lot with this, and then another big thing is it seems that almost anytime I get a discussion with people about my faith, the biggest pushback seems to come back to the fact that they struggle with how judgmental Christians can be. And that is troubling every time I hear that. So, because I desire that I, we, Maple Valley Church is a light in this valley, not a stumbling block, I really want to tackle this subject and see what God’s word has to teach us about judgement. But first, can I say a quick word of prayer?

The last time I was up here, I told you all that I was a camp counselor back in my college days. I thought I was a pretty good counselor, and it was pretty easy for me. I grew up in the Bay Area, fairly affluent, and by-and-large, those were the kind of kids that showed up at camp; I related with those kids. Every Sunday afternoon we got a new set of kids, and there was always an anticipation of, what kids would be in the cabin this week? ...am I going to get some computer nerds, or too cool for school kids, or maybe boys that were super girl crazy…what would it be? On one of these Sundays, kids are starting to show up at the cabin, and it’s the normal sort of thing, and then up walks a kid that I was like…uh oh. This kid walks up and he looked hard. (you can put the picture up on the screen) My memory is not what it used to be, but I believe his name was Vincent. Vincent was dressed like you would expect someone in an LA gang to dress, and in fact he made it known very quickly that he would be joining a particular LA gang. In any event, the minute I saw this kid, I made all kinds of judgements about him. I judged that Vincent was going to be a real problem for me that week, and that he was scary, and a threat to the other kids in my cabin, and what was he doing there at camp?!

(So, with that kind of judgement, we can go ahead and dispel the notion that I was a “good” counselor.)

And here’s the thing, man were my judgements wrong. This kid was hard, and there were absolutely some difficult moments during the week, but you see, Vincent is a child of God, and God had chosen Vincent for adoption as son through Jesus Christ before the foundation of the world. God worked on my heart that week and God worked on Vincent’s heart that week. That was by far the best week of my entire summer. God worked on my heart, and I was able to connect with Vincent and he inadvertently taught me so much about letting God judge, and not me try to judge. Vincent had been through a lot in his 12 or 13 years, in a very rough part of LA, and he gotten into some serious trouble, that many in the world would judge and condemn him for, but God got to Vincent and there was nothing that could separate Vincent from God. If God loves Vincent and pursues Vincent and meets him right where he is and does not condemn him, how is it that I would think I could judge Vincent?

There is a show I like right now, who out there has seen Ted Lasso? I think it is such a great show for so many reasons, but there is this scene early in the series where Ted is playing darts and it looks like he is absolutely going to lose the game, and everyone in the bar has judged him up as a dumb American, and the scene goes on and at a point Ted gives this advice… ‘Be curious, not judgmental’ …I like that, and all of a sudden it hits me, all them fellas that used to belittle me, not a single one of em were curious, they thought they had everything all figured out, so they judged everything and they judged everyone, I realized their underestimating me, who I was, had nothing to do with it” and the scene goes on and he throws the darts precisely where he needs to hit and wins the game. But I like that notion a lot, I judged Vincent without being curious. When I got curious and did not judge, it was life changing for Vincent and for me. And Ted is absolutely right there, what I judge about others has exactly ZERO bearing on anything, because it is ONLY how God judges that means anything.

And how does God judge?

Well…John 5:22 says:

For the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, ²³ that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. ²⁴ Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.

I don’t see anything there about appearance, or special performance, or any big past sins really meaning much when it comes to judgement. What I see is that judgement is under the purview of Jesus and Jesus sees judgement through the lens that while we were still sinners, he took on our sin, and he bore our judgement on the cross, in our place. I see that by hearing his word and when we come to believe him, there is no judgement from Jesus, and we enter into the fullness of life with Him. Amen?

 

So I think that is a good place to start as we look at judgement, and I don’t want to ignore scripture like 2 Corinthians 5:10 that makes it clear that “We must all appear before the judgement seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.”

But, I know that Christ’s judgement is quite a bit different than my judgement. And we know that Christ pursues us like a lost sheep until he finds us, and he rejoices when we return like the wayward, prodigal son.

So let’s explore judgement and forgiveness through that lens for a bit…

The first big point I want to make is this…

1.    God is God and I am not

This is the crux of the issue isn’t it? If you look at the totality of Scripture, there is this theme that emerges over and over, if you want to really invite the Lord’s anger, try to put yourself ahead of God. Do it your way, instead of God’s way. It never works out well, does it? You’ve got Moses and the Israelites wandering the desert for 40 years, King Saul and his failures, exile to Babylon, Jonah, it goes on and on. When we try to be God, it is never pretty.

And then throughout the gospels, Jesus makes it abundantly clear that those that are in the most danger of being cast into the outer darkness ARE the sons of the kingdom. We see in the gospels that Jesus graciously welcomes in those that the world has judged. We see that with the woman at the well, lepers, tax collectors, the prostitute who wiped Jesus’ feet with her hair, and we see that in parables like the lost son. Jesus doesn’t give these folks a pass per se, but He readily forgives their sin. Yet we, somehow think we have it all figured out and that we can look at someone else with contempt and distain, and have this notion of, “wow, look how bad they are compared to me.”

Isn’t that really just a way of us thinking we know better than God? James hits on this really well in chapter 4 verse 12:

 

12 There is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?

James 4:12

 

And then I find this REALLY interesting…and it is one of these things in scripture that I wrestle with because, I believe in an abounding grace from God and I believe whole-heartedly in Perseverance of the Saints and I believe it when Paul says that nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. But when we read what Jesus says in Matthew 6:  

14For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, 15but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

Matthew 6:14-15

Yikes, It seems that surefire way to be apart from God is to judge others and to withhold forgiveness from others. If you are like me, that is an awfully convicting scripture. Looking at the context of these verses, this is in midst of Jesus’ sermon on the mount, and it’s where he gives us the Lord’s Prayer. This is a sermon to folks who would have already been “in the church” at least in the context of that time. This was a message to believing Jews, and Jesus rails on the hypocrisy of those in the church putting on a righteous show, and he goes on to implore them not to judge. And… It’s right after he shares the Lord’s prayer that he talks about seeing the speck in your brother’s eye, but not the log in your own eye.

So…I don’t really know what to do with this scripture that seemingly says that God will not forgive my sins because I so often fail to recognize that those that offend me are children of God. That those that have done real, tangible harm to me, are children of God. There are so many times that I hold a grudge and I withhold forgiveness, that seems to be something that God has absolutely no tolerance for, and I think that is because it is just a way of me trying to think I know better than God.

I pray that John is right when he says that if we confess our sins, the Lord is faithful and righteous to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. So Lord, I confess that I judge and withhold forgiveness consistently, and I pray that you will forgive me.

 

2.    He alone is worthy! None is righteous, not even one

Romans 3:9-19

 

I alluded to this in the first point, but let’s explore this a bit further. When I look at others and judge their sin, it’s a way of putting myself on some pedestal that I am better; that I don’t struggle with THAT sin, sheesh. And so by judging someone else’s sin, I seek to judge myself as okay. I think Matthew 25 is relevant here. Matthew 25 is really interesting, it’s the passage in Matthew about sheep and goats. I’ve heard many Christians quote verses from Matthew 25 to judge for themselves who is saved and who is condemned, who is a sheep and who is a goat.

So let’s read the passage. And let’s stand for the reading of God’s word…

 

31“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. 32Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. 34Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ 37Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? 38And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? 39And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ 40And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers,^f you did it to me.’

41“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, 43I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ 44Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’ 45Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ 46And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

Matthew 25:31-46

The word of the Lord…Thanks be to God

In thinking about this passage from Matthew, I wonder if I can get you all to indulge me in a little activity. We’ve had Bodwell activities in the past, and now I’ll take a page out of Bodwell’s book and you all get a Dan Benjamin activity. Is that okay?

Okay so up on the screens I have this little scorecard. Go ahead, take a quick look and let’s see where we land. We will take a few seconds for everyone to score these.

Okay, so how did you all do? Who checked boxes there on the left column? Show of hands…Excellent, that’s great, that’s the sheep side, you must fit into the sheep side of things, phew!

All right, what about the right column, anybody check any of those boxes? Show of hands…(I sheepishly hold up my hand), yep, there have been plenty of times that I have walked right past someone hungry on the street. And shoot, I don’t think I have ever darkened the door of a prison to speak Christ’s love to His children there. oh boy, that means we are goats.

But wait, wait, I know I checked the boxes on the goat side, but I also checked boxes on the sheep side. What does that mean? Does that mean I am a sheep AND a goat?  Is that a thing? What does the King do with that?

What I had planned to do here is to separate all the sheep to one side of the room, and all of the goats to the other side of the room, but that would be impossible, wouldn’t it? Well, I mean I guess we would have to cut ourselves in two to be able to do that..in other words we would need to be severed. If you look back at Matthew 25 there, verse 32 literally talks about the king separating one from another. I looked up separate in the dictionary and here is a definition…

To set or keep apart: Disconnect, sever

Follow me here…Because of our sheep-ness and our goat-ness, we would need to be severed or separated to either be a sheep and inherit the kingdom or be a goat and go away to eternal punishment. In the New Testament the Greek word, krisis, is used and is translated to judgement, and (according to Strong’s Greek) the Greek word krisis literally means:

 a separating, sundering, separation; a trial, contest.

 

And Hebrews 4:12 says:

For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

 

I talked about God’s word there in Matthew, about God not forgiving me, and it freaking me out because it really pierces and challenges, and I wonder if there are other Scriptures that do that for you? Are there other scriptures that make you feel cut in two as if with a sword? How about the famous passage about love in 1^st John 4? That does it to me:

“whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.” – Yahoo, I am saved, I demonstrate love to a lot of people. I am a sheep!

“Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.” – Uh oh, a lot of times I don’t love, I’m a goat

“Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.” – Ah, I confess that, excellent, I’m good, I’m a sheep

“If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.” – Oh no, a lot of times I don’t love, and I live with animosity in my heart, and I don’t forgive. I’m a goat

 

You see… God’s righteous judgement must separate our sheep from our goat. And Jesus is our scapegoat, and I believe the Word of God when it says “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.”

You see, as we fallen people tend to do, we have taken what I believe is profoundly good, God’s krisis, and tried to use that as a way to separate ourselves from others, by putting ourselves up here and other folks down here. We think we can be righteous by judging ourselves better than the other person. BUT IT DOESN’T WORK THAT WAY! The separation needs to happen in us! We all need and are saved by God’s divine KRISIS – separation – judgement. We are all goats, and only God’s judgements can save us or condemn us. No amount of our own attempts to judge ourselves righteous above anyone else can do a darn thing.

Thank God for that krisis, because as Paul said to Timothy:

“the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. 15 The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.”

And I am the foremost, and if I am the foremost, how in the world can I judge, and not forgive my brother? or my enemy for that matter?

 

3.      God calls us to keep our brothers and sisters accountable, but not to “judge” them

There always seems to be this tension in the Church that if we say “Don’t judge” we are somehow saying that we don’t want there to be accountability for sin. Or on the converse that if we talk about the need for Christian accountability, we seek to judge our brothers and sisters in Christ.

I am here to tell you that Judgement and accountability are mutually exclusive, and I think Paul gets to this distinction in his letter to the Galatians. He says:

Brothers,^[a] if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. 

Galatians 6:1

I think that is important, “restore him in a spirit of gentleness.” I don’t know exactly what God’s judgement is going to look like, but I do know that scripture calls us be gentle in OUR attempt to restore our friends and neighbors.

Here is another passage that I find interesting.

 

¹² Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. ¹³ But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. ¹⁴ For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end.

Hebrews 3:12-14

 

At this point, after a couple of sermons, you all may know I like to look at key words in scripture and go back to the original language and see if I can glean anything from that. So, I was interested in that word “exhort”, “exhort one another every day”…and that is the ESV translation, other translations use “encourage”. And that is interesting to me, exhort and encourage feel vastly different to me. In any event, the Greek word used here is a form of “parakaleo”. Paul uses the word in 1 Thessalonians and parakaleo is translated as “comfort” there. I don’t know what to make of all that, but it seems to me that this “parakaleo” looks quite different than “krisis”.

Parakaleo can be translated as “to call alongside”. Parakaleo or encouragement or accountability looks like someone walking side-by-side with their brother or sister in Christ, maybe holding their hand, and speaking the truth to them in love. So where “krisis” is related to a judging in legal courts, where it might look like a court proceeding, where a subject is standing in front of a judge who is looking down and sitting high above the subject in a position of authority and looking at the subject straight on, Parakaleo is something quite different.

And don’t miss this one…1 John 2 says that if we sin, we have an ADVOCATE in Jesus Christ. The Greek word used here for advocate is Paraklēton. Now, forgive me as I geek out for a second, but this kinda blows my mind. Parakleton and Parakaleo are closely related, both words are regular New Testament terms for advocate in the legal sense…in other words, an attorney or lawyer. So when it comes to standing in the legal proceeding or krisis, we have the best legal representation of all time in Christ Jesus! and what does Jesus do for us? He stands alongside us, Parakaleo. And what are we called to do? TO IMITATE CHRIST! We are not called to judge the sins of others and condemn, QUITE THE OPPOSITE, we called to be an ADVOCATE, or I saw another definition as an ADVISOR-HELPER.

Going back to my Ted Lasso reference that you all were probably going…where’s he going with that, that was a bit of a tangent…I do think a lot of this idea of accountability vs. judgement can also be summed up in being curious, not judgmental. And I not an attorney, but I have to believe that a good attorney is curious and asks a lot of questions.

So I have used this idea of a lawyer, now let me make one more reference that helps me maybe understand this Parakaleo. I’m not a counselor, but I did major in Psychology many years ago. Here is a big thing I took out of studying counseling. A good counselor listens to their patients REALLY well, they ask a lot of probing questions, and don’t let their patients off the hook when they are talking nonsense or heading down a dangerous path. A good therapist is CURIOUS as Ted Lasso says, and they gently and empathetically work to restore their patient to positive trajectory. A good therapist invests in knowing their patient, works to understand the patient, and then gently works to guide them toward wholeness.

As the body of Christ, I really think that is what Paul was getting at when he wrote to the Galatians. We don’t sweep sin under a rug, but we also don’t gouge out our brother’s eye while we try to remove the speck that might be in there.

I believe the body of Christ will be strengthened when we act in a spirit of walking alongside vs. pointing our finger down at from a perceived position of higher than-ness that is purely our own made-up allusion.

This notion of “calling alongside” has a big deal about where OUR heart is at versus the other persons heart. It goes to whether we are willing to actually HELP the other person, to do the hard work of having the tough conversation with them, to lovingly talk through what is going on with the sin, and probably admit some things about our own sin that we don’t enjoy facing. You see it’s really easy to sit back and look at someone else and think to ourselves, well, they are all jacked up, go ahead and put a fork in em, it’s a whole other thing to actually have a desire in our heart to help them work through what is going on.

You see, accountability is all about relationship. Where judgement is about us trying to separate us from others, accountability is exactly the opposite! Accountability is about being connected to our brothers and sisters in Christ. I will leave you with one last verse to consider as we wrestle with judgement, accountability, forgiveness, and love.  1 Corinthians 12:26 says this:

If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.

1 Corinthians 12:26

 

Are we doing that? Are we suffering together? That is hard stuff. That is messy. But when we do that, and we don’t simply “judge” each other, it’s then that we get to truly REJOICE together.

Let’s pray…