Moving Past Judgment to Mercy
Introduction: When I was skiing in Colorado three years ago, I was waiting in line for the ski lift and not paying attention to what I was doing. All of a sudden, I turned and looked over my shoulder just as the chair lift came around and clobbered me. I cracked a couple of ribs and to my utter embarrassment had to ride the ski lift down to the base of the mountain. If that wasn’t enough, the next day one of the party I went with was riding up on the lift with a businessman from Denver. As they were discussing how crowded the mountain was, this guy from Denver starts bemoaning the less than expert skiers he had seen, including some idiot he saw the day before who didn’t even know how to use the chair lift. There was no mercy from that man to this one.
We are going to talk about mercy this morning. Our passage is the final part of the sermon Jesus began in verse 20 of chapter 6. It is important to recall that Jesus’ audience is His disciples. At least the twelve apostles are there, but possibly others are too. These are people who have chosen to identify themselves with the carpenter from Nazareth. This sermon is the centerpiece of Jesus’ teaching about what it means to be followers of Him. He is laying out a new standard that is the exact opposite of the standards the Pharisees set. It a standard that is seen lived out in relationships with other people, not in pious devotional duties.
First, Jesus taught that the value system of the disciples is to be turned upside down. Next, he outlines a radical ethic of love. He is describing a set of values which run contrary to the natural course of the world. These are values that can become quite painful as they are lived out.
The final part of the sermon does not get any better. In verse 36 of chapter 7, we see Jesus saying, “Be merciful just as your Father is merciful.” It summarizes Jesus’ teaching thus far about love and it leads us into the next section.
A merciful spirit is a characteristic of those who follow Jesus.
Jesus describes what a merciful spirit will look like in the life of a follower:
“Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” (Luke 6:37-38)
This is one of the best known and most misused sayings of Jesus. Jesus is not saying we are to stop being discerning between truth and error. He is not saying we should turn a blind eye to sin and pretend it is not there. He is not saying we should stop exercising church discipline. He is not telling us constructive criticism is inappropriate. The whole counsel of Scripture teaches otherwise. What Jesus is telling the disciples and us is that …
We are to abandon a judgmental and condemning spirit. Last month, I attended the funeral of the father of an old college friend and roommate. Before the service, I was talking with some mutual friends and catching up on some of the details of Bill’s life. When I asked whether he was married, they said, “Didn’t you hear? Bill is gay. He came out two years ago. He is living with a guy now.” As I sat through the funeral, I caught myself patting myself on the back for the holiness of my life, but the self-elevation was at Bill’s expense. Because the sorry reality was that on the outside I was projecting compassion and empathy, but in my heart I was very quick to judge and condemn my friend for his choice of lifestyle.
Jesus is cutting at the root of our natural inclination, which is a bent towards finding our worth and value by establishing ourselves as the standard, criticizing and judging other people by our standard and then condemning them for failing to keep the standard. It is a spirit that openly or privately elevates ourselves at the expense of another. This elevation of self builds on the destruction and the negation of another person. Instead of judging and condemning, …
We are to develop a forgiving and giving spirit. Behind Jesus’ exhortation is the assumption that we will be sinned against and people will hurt us grievously. People will knowingly or unknowingly sin against us. Either in small ways or large ways, we have all been hurt by others. Parents, spouses, people we have dated, even a brother or sister in Christ has hurt us. Jesus is calling his disciples to a life of forgiveness and grace. That means giving people who hurt us mercy they may not deserve.
To forgive someone means we voluntarily pay out of our own life a debt someone else owes us for a sin committed against us. Forgiveness means you voluntarily choose to pay the price of someone else’s sin through your hurt. Forgiveness is voluntarily giving up your right to get even with the person who has sinned against you. Forgiveness is not denying you have been sinned against. Forgiveness does not mean the offending person will ever experience all the full benefits of your forgiveness.
One of the barriers to forgiveness is bitterness. We are encouraged in Hebrews 12:15, “See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many.” Bitterness knows no boundaries. Bitterness affects all genders, all ages, all colors. It affects the rich and the poor alike. A bitter spirit shows itself in many forms. It can result in physical symptoms like sleeplessness, ulcers or headaches. But it is most often seen in how we respond and relate to other people.
Bitterness and unforgiveness cause us to separate ourselves from people who have offended us. Sometimes we may have to separate from others for good reason, since the offender may be physically abusive. At other times a bitter root will find its expression in relationships with different people, in particular the people closest to us. Our spouses, our friends, and our children become the recipients of our unforgiveness. Having no outlet for our bitterness we become highly critical and judgmental of their behavior.
Paul writes, “Forgive as the Lord forgave you” (Colossians 3:13). Our model for forgiveness is Jesus. Today is Palm Sunday. It is the day Jesus entered Jerusalem one last time. What is holy week to us becomes hell week for Jesus. Jesus doesn’t make it back to Nazareth for the weekend. Before Friday is through, he will be whipped and spit upon, mocked and nailed to a cross and left to die. He is the ultimate victim of injustice.
But Paul tells us that another story was going on simultaneously. He wrote in Romans 5:8 that “God demonstrates his own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Jesus died to set us free from sin so that we might have a relationship with God again. A relationship that was severed because of our sin against him can be restored.
God didn’t have to do this. God could have been bitter, judging and condemning of me and be perfectly justified because I deserve judgment and condemnation. But God moved beyond justice and condemnation towards mercy. How did he do it?
Jesus voluntarily went to Jerusalem that last time. Without any guarantee that anyone would recognize or respond to His actions, Jesus himself paid the debt I owed to God. In His death, He was not denying the reality of my sin. For years, I never experienced the benefits of His sacrifice. In fact, my sin enslaved me and made my life miserable. But God had made the first move through His Son.
You and I may be set free from our own sin but still be enslaved by the sins of another person — sins of fathers, sins of mothers, sins of perpetrators. It is not wrong to want to have your past back or to be paid back for the violation against you. The wrong can never be undone but the past can be rendered powerless as we move from judgment to mercy.
Making this move is not an easy or short-term process. But this is the kind of mercy we are called to live out as followers of Jesus. As we begin to make the move, we will discover something very enjoyable because …
A merciful spirit affects us and the people around us.
A merciful heart that is marked by forgiveness and grace is in our own best interest because as we show mercy to other people, it will be reciprocated in kind.
We will receive mercy as we show mercy. Last week we saw that Jesus encourages us to “Do to others as you would have them do to you” (6:31). The companion principle here is that as you do to others, so also will it be done to you. The measure we use in our relationships will be the same measure used by other people in their relationships with us. The law of reciprocity is at work. Those who are givers receive grace in return. Those who are condemners receive condemnation in return. Givers are given back to.
If I approach my friend Bill with a condemning spirit because he is a gay man, more than likely he will reflect that back to me and deal with me in a condemning way as a Christian man.
Jesus says that the move towards forgiveness will bring a return in even greater measure than what we give. He illustrates this with a picture from the ancient markets. A benevolent grain salesperson would fill a basket with grain; but before pouring it into the lap of the buyer, she would shake the basket and press down the contents so there was room for more grain. And then the seller would add to the contents until it was overflowing.
This week I talked with Benny Ford, who is pastor of a predominately African-American congregation that serves the poor and needy in North St. Louis. For 19 years he worked for one of the major building contractors in St. Louis. Ben developed a reputation with the owner as someone who was extremely giving of his time and energy for others. Last year the owner of that company heard how Ben’s church had an opportunity to build a facility in North County but lacked funds. The owner called a meeting of all the subcontractors he had used over the years. He invited Benny to this meeting to tell of the church’s need and testified to the group of Ben’s character. On their own, some began donating lumber, another donated the electrical wiring, and others donated the site work. When it was all done, the church had a $350,000 facility for less than $20,000. How did this happen? Was it because these barons of business were benevolent to the cause of Christ? I think not. Benny is a contagious person. His grace and mercy are infectious and has come back to be a blessing to him. The law of reciprocity took over.
Not only is it in our best interest to move towards mercy, but it also benefits others as well, in particular those under our spiritual care. Jesus tells this parable, “Can a blind man lead a blind man? Will they not both fall into a pit? A student is not above his teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like his teacher” (Luke 6:39-40).
It is difficult to know exactly what Jesus is trying to say in this parable. I suspect that given the context of judgment and mercy, he is preparing his disciples for when they will reproduce into others what Jesus has put into them. One of the frightening realities of spiritual leadership is that people who follow us do what we do and become what we are. This will happen regardless of what we say. This goes for pastors, teachers, leaders, shepherds of community groups and parents. If we develop a merciful spirit, it is far more likely that …
We will reproduce mercy in those who follow us. It is also a warning that if we harbor a critical and condemning spirit, we will reproduce the same attitude in those who follow us. Judgmental and condemning pastors produce judgmental and condemning parishioners. Parents who are highly critical of their children produce children who in turn are highly critical of their children. The character of the fathers is passed down through multiple generations. We get to decide what kind of character we will pass down.
We have seen that a merciful spirit is a characteristic that Jesus wants his followers to develop and how a merciful spirit will be a blessing to us as well as a blessing to others. Besides bitterness, another barrier to developing a merciful spirit is an unrealistic attitude about ourselves.
A merciful spirit develops from a realistic perspective of ourselves.
Either we think that we are qualified to be just judges, or we throw up our hands in the air and say we can’t change. Neither of these attitudes is realistic.
We have no basis to be judges. In Luke 6:41-42, Jesus says to the disciples,
“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when you yourself fail to see the plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.”
Apparently Jesus’ followers considered themselves qualified to be spiritual optometrists, doing spiritual eye exams. This practice continues to be a common pastime. It is our tendency to be hypercritical of the faults and failings of others while simultaneously minimizing and diminishing our own faults, which are often larger issues of the same species.
The disciples seemed to go beyond eye exams and apparently felt qualified to do surgery and help their “brother” with his problem. Jesus uses the exaggerated imagery of a speck and a log to point out how ridiculous it is to be a blind eye surgeon and think that you can perform surgery.
Jesus is not telling us to mind our own business and not be concerned about the moral and spiritual lives of others. But he is calling us to self-examination so that his disciples do not become blind optometrists and blind eye surgeons who deny their own condition. Jesus has a strong word for it–hypocrisy.
A hypocrite in this situation is a person who believes that his judgments about another person are right on, while being blind to the very same problem to a greater degree in himself. He is calling his disciples to humble assessment of their own condition. But a merciful spirit can also develop in us. We are not trapped into being critical and judgmental persons forever. The more realistic perspective is that for those who are in Christ, …
We are reborn in Christ to bear good fruit. Jesus tells another story, beginning in verse 43, this time using the imagery of a garden.
“No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thorn bushes, or grapes from briers. The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks” (Luke 6:43-45).
Jesus makes a parallel between fruit and people. You can tell what kind of plant you have by the fruit it produces. Figs come from fig trees. Grapes come from grape vines. Thorn bushes and briers do not and cannot produce either.
People are like plants. You can tell the character of the person by the fruit that is produced in his life. Good things come from a heart that has good stored up in it while evil comes from a heart where evil is stored. The fruit will be seen in the words that come out of a mouth. If bitterness is in our heart, then eventually fruit will be born out in our speech, often in judgmental and condemning tones. A bitter root produces judgment and condemnation. A humble broken root produces forgiveness, mercy and grace.
Jesus is telling the disciples this story because he wants them to examine themselves in this regard to see what fruit is being produced in their life. That is a sober thought, isn’t it? What kind of fruit do your coworkers see on your tree? Your small community group? Your children? Your spouse?
Jesus told his disciples later,
“I am the true vine and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit, he trims clean so that it will be even more fruitful … This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples” (John 15:1-2,8).
We have been reborn to bear good fruit. When we make Jesus the Lord, the Gardener puts a rototiller in our hearts in the person of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is working in us to produce the very fruit that Jesus is calling us to bear. Paul wrote to the Galatians that “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.… Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit” (Galatians 5:22-25). The Spirit is working to till up the ground so that out of our mouths might come radical love and mercy producing kindness and goodness instead of judgment and condemnation.
A merciful spirit is possible as we cultivate a realistic perspective of ourselves. Verses 46 through 49 are the conclusion to Jesus’ sermon that began in verse 20 of this chapter. In his conclusion he makes an appeal for commitment to work toward a merciful spirit because Jesus knows …
A merciful spirit prepares us for difficulties in life.
“Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say? I will show you what he is like who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice. He is like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built. But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete.” (6:46-49)
The people who are calling Jesus “Lord, Lord” are on the surface very orthodox, polite, respectful, courteous, even zealous. Here is the rub. Ninety-nine percent of us here today have respectfully and politely addressed Jesus as Lord in a very orthodox manner. So he is speaking to us. He wants to make it clear that to be a follower of Jesus means we must make a radical choice to turn a verbal profession into active and practical obedience.
We are rewarded when we hear Jesus’ words and act upon them. The reward comes when adversity strikes. The person will demonstrate that he well built. He will not be shaken because he will be living life on a very strong foundation.
We are at risk when we hear Jesus’ words but do not act. There is danger in merely hearing Jesus’ words and not actively putting them into practice. Verbal profession is critical. It is indispensable. It is crucial. But Jesus says I want continuity between profession and practice. He wants us to have a different value system. He wants us to live a different ethic of love. He wants us to be merciful like he is merciful.
Failure to integrate Jesus’ teaching into practice comes with a high cost that will be paid when adversity strikes. When life becomes a torrent, this person will collapse under the stress and strain of the storm. Instead of being well built, he will collapse and be completely destroyed.
Conclusion: This is difficult teaching. This passage was very disruptive to me this week because it begs me to ask if I am like this. My initial response is to minimize this teaching and conclude that Jesus didn’t really mean this because this kind of life is impossible.
Then I got a copy of a letter from a woman in our congregation who wrote to her ex-husband. Here is part of what she wrote:
“For 2½ years I found it almost impossible to interact with you. I knew from the day of the divorce that I would eventually have to reach a point of letting go of past hurts … Though I knew I needed to move on and treat you in a kind and loving manner … no matter how hard I tried, the hurt, anger and bitterness continued.
“About a year ago, God convicted me of my poor behavior and took the anger and bitterness away. You may have noticed an improvement in my attitude at that time. It became much easier to exchange pleasantries as well as talk to you about matters concerning [our son].
“I struggled with writing this letter a year ago because I was willing to let you know that I was no longer angry about past hurts, but I found it difficult to confess my sins without wanting to still blame you for the deterioration of our marriage.”
She goes on to confess her own shortcomings. And then continues,
“I would simply like to ask your forgiveness. Whatever you choose is fine, it will not change the fact that I have let go of past hurts and am working toward interacting with you in a pleasant, constructive manner … It does not mean that revisiting these past hurts will not make them real and vivid again. But the choice to let them go has been made.
None of this would be possible without God’s grace and patience in teaching me how to be more … Christ-like … my goal is to be the mother and woman that God wants me to be.”
Do you want to be a person like this? I do. Next Sunday is Easter. We will gather, many of us in brand new clothes. But I think Jesus would be even more tickled if we showed up in burlap but had hearts like this woman. She is a follower of Jesus. I want to be one, too.
Prayer: Father, this has been a very disruptive series of messages from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. We desire to look like the disciples Jesus wants. We know You are not impressed by outward displays of piety. We aren’t either anymore. We invite You to mold us, shape us, lead us to this kind of life. Father, would You melt away the bitterness that exists in our relationships so that we will be merciful as you are merciful? Break our backs of the self-righteousness of our critical and judgmental spirits. Thanks. Amen.
Tags:
Mercy
Forgiveness
Judgment