A, Pentecost 15 Proper 16 - Romans 12:2-3, Matthew 16:13-20 "Dare to Judge"
Romans 12:2-3 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect. For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.
“You can not judge me!” “HOW DARE YOU JUDGE ME!” “Take the log out of your own eye before you try taking it out of mine!”
Every person will resonate with these words. If you haven’t said them at one time or another, you sure have felt like saying them!
In a time when everything is “all good”, it seems that no one can judge anyone else. Everyone’s opinion is right because everyone is entitled to their own opinion; so we’re led to believe! If a person challenges someone’s view, a label of intolerance is quickly affixed to the challenger because of their observations.
Judgement is deemed as big a problem for those having to make judgements as for those receiving judgements in an age which woos us to believe there’s no right or wrong; where there’s a perception of no one single ultimate truth.
However, this problem has been around a lot longer than just in this age of “so-called equality and political correctness”. This problem has existed from the time when humanity first sought to do what they pleased, at the expense of what we were created to do.
This problem exists because it points to the greatest vice known to humankind. Everyone loathes this vice when they see it in someone else. When someone else carries this vice, no mercy is shown to the person for being this way. However, the more we notice this vice in others the more it is present in ourselves. The more we hate it in those who carry it, the more we have it in us. So, what is this vice?
Pride is the vice and pride doesn’t like being judged. And so we retaliate with the “don’t judge me” mantra. But do you know when we make anti-judgement comments like this we ourselves are making a judgement too? It is pride that makes us tell someone else they can’t judge, regardless of the judgement being right or wrong.
So the greater our intolerance is to pride, the greater our pride actually is. If you want to find out how much pride you carry, just reflect on how you dislike being snubbed, not taken notice of, being shown up, being patronised, or how you react to a smart-aleck or show off!
Christian writer C.S. Lewis states… According to Christian teachers, the essential vice, the utmost evil, is pride. Unchastity, anger, greed, drunkenness, and all that, are mere fleabites in comparison: it was through pride that the devil became the devil: pride leads to every other vice: it is the complete anti-God state of mind. (Mere Christianity: 106)
It seems that we humans single ourselves out expecting to be tolerated by everyone else, but in doing so are losing our humility, and our ability to be accountable to each other, and ever more so, to God. However, judgement is not the problem, rather our pride and lack of humility is the true struggle we face, as human beings, and especially as God’s children in the Christian community.
The reality today is while there seems to be a push towards tolerance in all things; intolerance is still just as present as ever, if not even greater. Authority is hindered from making judgements, and therefore, chaos in society is ever increasing. People are forced to put on the “all good” facade while reality festers underneath, oozing to break the surface. And the politically correct requirement to love without judgement results in our inability to know just what true love is!
The bottom line is that while pride is concerned about being judged, pride ultimately leads us to believe we have a greater licence to judge others than they have to judge us. And in turning away from humility, we seek to incapacitate all judgements made against ourselves, while sitting in judgement of everyone else according to our own self-defined and pleasing purposes.
When you as a Christian operate with the “don’t judge me” mantra, do you realise you are conforming to the ways of the world?
As Christians, instead of not judging, we are called to judge everything. You are not an untouchable being, unaffected by pride! You are judged in need of transformation through the renewing of your minds through Christ’s love so you might discern, or judge, what is the will of God and be led away from your sin and the delusions pride places upon you.
A Christian who makes no judgements is one who does not remain under the authority of God or his word. They put aside the authority God has given to them. And a Christian whose pride allows no judgement of themselves is one who turns away from the authority God has placed over them. A Christian who does not discern, and does not allow judgement of themselves, ends up being blown to and fro by every whim of the heart, and is neither a blessing to themselves, nor to God.
But rather we need to allow the transformation of ourselves to continue. And our minds are being transformed by hearing and remaining in the word of God and the continual turning away from the will of our pride. In allowing this work to happen in us we will be conformed according to the will of God.
In discerning the will of God, Paul continues… For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.
Paul here has made a judgement according to the word of God which tells us the pride of Adam resided in everyone. He calls us not to judge ourselves higher than we ought, but rather allow the word of God to sober us when our pride inflates us to dizzy heights.
In fact, we can’t even use faith to puff ourselves up! Here Paul clearly tells us that faith is assigned to us by God. And right the way through Scripture God shows us as faith is deepened and matured, humility further rises, as the hearer and believer of God’s word is led to a to wiser understanding of just how gracious God is, as God reveals more and more just how depraved we human beings are.
God calls all Christians to judge, or test, or discern, despite our culture telling us it’s politically incorrect to do so. However, when we judge we too stand under the same judgement that we make. So it’s imperative that our judgement is made soberly according to the will of God in his written word; and it’s done to call sin to account so the gracious gift of the forgiveness of sin can be administered, received, and believed. God calls us to judge, to love one another, and build our neighbour up in Christ. In short God calls us to allow Christ “within” to be the source of judgement, of ourselves, and each other so that a community of forgiving brothers and sisters in Christ might bring glory to God.
Jesus called Peter to make a judgement when he asked him, “Who do you say that I am?” To which Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” (Matthew 16:15-19)
Peter is commended for his judgement because he remained on the solid foundation God had placed him on through Christ and the Scriptures which pointed forward to Christ’s coming. Because of this he names Simon, the Rock, or Peter as we know him today.
Yet just after this Peter stumbles because of his pride, when he rebukes Jesus for saying he must be killed and raised on the third day. And Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; for you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.” (Matthew 16:23)
Jesus was telling Peter to put his manners back in, to be once again transformed by the renewing of his mind, and not to be conformed to the will of his pride. Jesus was saying to Peter, “Put your pride away lest you conform to the ways of the devil!”
So as we live together as God’s community under his grace, bear each other in love and compassion as you continually seek to turn away from your pride. And forgive others when their pride tempts you into conforming once again to sin and death. Conduct yourselves with sober judgement. And allow yourselves to be judged with a view of letting God’s glory shine through you. For Jesus’ sake, Amen.
