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Now, let's dive into today's teaching from Pastor Skip's son, Nate Heitzig. Turn to James chapter 4, verse 11 through 12. I've titled our message today, Don't Judge Me. Don't judge me. Who's ever said that or heard that said about something in your life?
Don't judge me. Don't judge me for what I'm doing.
Now, usually, when we say that, we're saying it after a situation where we deserve to be judged, right? We're usually saying it after we've said something, done something really stupid, and people are looking at us like, Are you an idiot? And our response is, Don't judge me because we don't want to take the penalty for the thing that we've just done. Let me give you a few examples. Maybe you're a really buff, athletic, manly man, and all your friends are coming over to your house one night for a movie.
Now you're gonna watch like John Wick or something, like something really manly and tough. And they turn on your TV to find out that you have a secret addiction to gossip girl. Don't judge me, bro. Right? Or maybe your parents come to your dorm room, you're at college, and they expect their beautiful little princess to be keeping their room so nice and clean.
And they realize that their little princess's room looks more like Henry the Hobo's room, not the clean freak that you're supposed to be. Don't judge me. Maybe you and your friends decide to do a diet together and one night your friends come over to encourage one another in your diet and they discover in your trash can, hidden under all the vegan wrappers to hide it, 15 cans of Ben and Jerry ice cream. Don't judge me. You know, judgment is a really funny thing.
We try so hard to fit in into the world around us so that we don't get judged. We pass judgment on so many people before we ever really know them, before we've ever even had a conversation with them. We pass judgment on people. We hate to receive judgment, but we love to give it, don't we? My wife and I were at the pool several weeks ago.
And anyone in here like to people watch? Any people watchers? We love people watching, right? I love looking at what people are wearing or their facial expressions, what shoes they have on. And we make these little judgments about them, right?
Well, I think they're in a fight. You can tell by the way she's looking at him, they're in a fight. Or why would they possibly wear that to a park or in public? Or we have all these little adjudgments and evaluations we do.
Well, my wife and I were. at the pool and we were judging people. We were looking at people and we were talking about them to one another quietly, but but talking about what they were wearing, what they were doing, until we noticed out of the corner of our eyes that there was some people at the other end that were looking at us. Whispering about us. And then the tune changed, right?
Then it's no longer talking about other people. It's where do they get the nerve? Who do they think they are looking at us and talking about us? Why are they judging us? Don't judge me.
And we come now to a famous and often misquoted scripture. In the book of James.
Now, this is one of the most frequently quoted, as well as one of the most frequently misunderstood statements concerning the subject of discernment and judging. And I've seen two common traits in the lives of believers over the years in this area specifically. Two faults. Number one is going overboard in the area of judgment and being overly judgmental. Being arrogant, self-righteous, and having a bad attitude towards those who have sinned.
Have you ever experienced anyone like that who's overly judgmental? Just everything, they jump down your throat and it's like, goodness, I don't even want to talk to you. Or even sometimes they do that towards those who haven't sinned, but are perceived to have done so because of the tendency that some of us have to jump to conclusions and be overly judgmental. The second fault is just as dangerous as the first. The second is completely lacking in the area of discernment and accurate judgment and being fooled by every charlatan or con artist wielding a Bible saying the Lord says.
So, my question is: What is the place of the believer in the area of judgment and discernment? Are we supposed to. Judge within the church? Are we supposed to have discernment or evaluate things within the church? And if so, on what basis are we supposed to do it?
We're going to see two things in our text today. We're going to see: number one, we need to stop condemning. And number two, we're going to see that we need to start condemning. Let's look at Rho uh James chapter 4 verse 11. Through 12, as we see our first point.
Verse 11 says, Do not speak evil. of one another brethren. He who speaks evil of a brother and judges his brother speaks evil of the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law You are not a doer of the law, but a judge. There is one lawgiver who is able to save and to destroy.
Who are you? to judge another. Let's stop there. We see our first point, and it's derived here from verses 11 through 12, and that is that we need to stop condemning. I want you to notice something.
It says the word in this text, judge or judges, five times. It says that word five times in two verses.
So it's obviously a very important word, and it shows us what James wants us to focus on in this text. It's all about judgment, it's all about how we judge others. But my first question is: what does the word judge mean? Because I think a lot of our problems when it comes to judgment come with us not really understanding what the word judge means.
So when we say, don't judge me, or who are you to judge another? I think we need to understand what it is that we're saying. The word judge. Is a Greek word. It's the word creno in this context, and it really has this word very, you know, dozens of meanings, dozens of shades of meanings.
It can mean to separate, to distinguish, to choose, to select, or to determine, and it really depends on the context. But in this passage, James is speaking specifically of a judgment. or an opinion that leads to condemnation. We need to understand that. Because there are two different kinds of judgment.
There is a judgment that leads to condemnation, and there is a judgment that leads to evaluation. James is criticizing a judgment in a believer's life that leads that believer to a place of condemnation of others. That's what James is speaking of here. The word he uses again is the word creno, and it doesn't refer to evaluation. That is, evaluation is if you tell me you're a Christian.
It's my job to evaluate if that's true or not, right? To assess based on your actions, your words, the things that you do. I evaluate your life. to determine if that's true or not. That's different than condemnation.
Condemnation is a kind of judgment where I look at somebody and I look at what they're doing or the way that they're dressing or the things that they've said, and I judge them with the purpose of pushing them down, condemning them to whatever it is that I'm condemning them to, whether that's you can never be good enough, you're a bad person, you're going to hell. It's a pushing down kind of judgment. It's a condemnation. That's what James is speaking of here. James is saying.
Stop. criticizing and condemning each other. And I don't know if there could be a more accurate word to the church today than this, right? To Christians, we see the amount of criticizing and condemning that Christians do to each other. And Christians do in the world in general.
And by the way, not just Christians, but... We're not called to tell the world to stop doing things if we're doing it too. But we see this in the church in spades: the amount of criticism and condemnation. His command, his warning echoes and reflects the command of Jesus in Matthew chapter 7. In Matthew 7:1, Jesus says, Do not judge others.
and you will not be judged. For you will be treated as you treat others. The standard you use in judging is the standard by which you will. Be judged. In short, Don't condemn unless you want to be condemned yourself.
Don't judge for condemnation. Judge for evaluation. Again, I mentioned a second ago: this is the proper role of judgment in the church today. It's evaluation. And by the way, that's what most of James has been talking about.
James chapter 2, talking about faith without works is dead. That requires a level of judgment, correct? If you come to me and say you're a Christian, but I look at your works and they don't match up. In order to tell that, I have to have a level of judgment, but that's evaluation. And James talks about telling us to evaluate ourselves, to judge ourselves.
And he gives us the freedom to evaluate others by their works and by their words. In chapter three, when he's talking about the tongue, again, it's this idea that the tongue is like a rudder that steers a ship. And we're supposed to evaluate our lives. What our tongue is saying dictates how we're living and moving. And so James is continuing here in chapter 4 to expound on this idea: the idea of evaluating others and evaluating ourselves.
Don't judge for condemnation before evaluation. And what James is doing and what Jesus did in Matthew 7 is the same thing. And keep in mind, James was a disciple of Jesus and also the brother of Jesus. And James was at the Sermon on the Mount.
So no doubt James is recalling the Sermon on the Mount as he's writing these words. But in James 7:1, Jesus says, Do not judge others. and you will not be judged. For you will be treated again as you treat others. The standard you use in judging is the standard by which you will be judged.
Jesus is rebuking the self-righteous person who is hypercritical, who draws conclusions for their limited exposure of what someone else said or by an outward appearance. Let me ask you a question. When did it become okay? For Christians to treat broken, lost, and hurting people like the enemy. Because we know that we battle not against flesh and blood, right?
But against spirits and principalities.
So when did it become okay for Christians to treat lost, hurting, and broken people like the enemies? When did it become okay for us to see a guy on the street corner asking for help and we take the long way around the block so that we don't have to talk to him, God forbid. Or seeing a transgender person at the mall or at a store or a restaurant, so we stare and whisper to our friends about how ungodly it is, as if people can't tell when you're talking about them or looking at them. You're listening to Connect with Skip Heidzig. We'll return to Nate Heidzig's teaching in just a moment.
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or call 800-922-822-2. Mm-hmm.
Now let's get back to the teaching of Mate Heitzig. When did it become wrong for us as Christians to just tell people, lost people, hurting people, broken people, I love you. Jesus loves you and died for your sins. And if there's ever anything I can do for you, please let me know. When's the last time you saw someone stuck in a life-altering sin, and you simply asked them, hey, what's your story?
Tell me a little bit about yourself. And by the way, I found that to be the best gospel conversation starter with somebody who very apparently looks like they're lost in sin. Which, by the way, we can usually tell, right? You can go on the street and look at somebody, and oftentimes you can tell if they're gospel open or gospel adverse. You can be sitting on a plane with somebody and see by the way they're dressed or see by the book or music they're listening to, and we can make these little snap judgments.
But I found one of the best ways to open up a gospel conversation with people who are adverse to the gospel isn't by shooting straight with, Hey, Jesus Christ died on the cross for your sins, and if you don't accept him, you're going to go to hell. That rarely turns out well. But I found a simple question of: hey, what's your story? Hey, tell me a little bit about yourself. Tell me.
What made you you? I find that that opens up the door because, number one, people love to talk about themselves.
So, people will often engage in that conversation, and there will often, in the midst of that conversation, Be a glimmer or a door that will open up for the gospel to be shared by simply talking to people. Not preaching at people. Talking to people. There's a difference in how we Converse with somebody. There's a difference in how we start a conversation.
You might find that the reason they are in the situation they are in today is because of a really painful situation from their yesterday. They might be stuck in sin now because something really horrible happened to them in the past, and maybe they're so used to being shown hate. That all they need to do is be shown a little bit of love.
So instead of coming to them in judgment, instead of telling them immediately what the Bible says, why don't we try first and foremost to build a relationship with them? By the way, this is the model of Jesus that we see in the Gospels. Did you know in the entire book of Matthew, Jesus only preached five sermons? Three years of public ministry, and Jesus only preached five sermons, and four of those sermons were to the disciples, not to just everyday people. Do you know what he spent most of his time doing?
Talking to people. Talking to people, not preaching at people. Talking to people. Most of them lost. Broken.
Hurting, living a sinful lifestyle, not preaching at them, talking to them. And sometimes we can find ourselves preaching at people rather than talking to or preaching to people. And we need to recognize that we have a role to play in how we present the gospel. Why don't we go out of our way to show them? and cover them in the love of Christ.
Now What I'm not saying, I don't want you to misinterpret this and walk out of this with like a soft gospel mentality that we need to just turn a blind eye to sin. I'm not saying that we should turn a blind eye to sin or that we shouldn't stand against sin when we see it. And I think that what's developed is these two different camps. There's one camp that says that we need to be bold, we need to be vocal, we have convictions, we have principles, so speak your mind and it doesn't matter what people think. Just speak your mind.
That's their fault. If they don't get it, just speak your mind. Let them deal with the truth. On the other side, there's a weak, quiet, soft voice that says that our only role is to love people and that we can never speak the truth. We can never vocalize anything because we just need to be loving and quiet and just kind of hide.
I think both of those camps are the extremes, and neither one is the right approach. We should be salt and we should be light. We should fight against the spread of wickedness, but let's remember. That the people we're fighting are the very people that Jesus died for. That's what we need to keep front and center.
Yes, stand for truth. Yes, stand for righteousness. But recognize that the way you start those conversations, the way you talk to people, that the people you can find yourself fighting against at work, on social media, in a text thread, anywhere else, the people you're fighting against are the people that Jesus died for. They're the people that Jesus loves. They're the people that he cares about.
And let that change the way you converse. Scripture tells us that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
So When we see the Last Supper being depicted with drag queens, our principles, our convictions should be appalled. We should look at that and that should affect us. We should be affected by that because of seeing that on a public stage. But our compassion. for the people on that stage.
Our love for the people on that stage, recognizing that Jesus died for them, that Jesus loves them, that compassion should be stirred as we see that they are people who are far from God, living a sinful lifestyle, in need of a shepherd.
So, the way that we approach them, the way that we talk about them, the things we say, the things that we post, needs to be bathed in grace and love, recognizing they are sheep without a shepherd, sinners in need of salvation, and it will be the love, the grace, and the forgiveness of Jesus Christ that will win them over.
So be mindful. Of how we approach and how we talk about those polarizing and divisive topics that are being pushed in the news, the things that are meant to elicit a reaction from us. Before you let it, pause and think about. What would Jesus do in this situation? How would Jesus approach this situation?
And I know we can see those kind of things and say, God will not be mocked. God will not be mocked. And he won't be mocked, but the context of that verse isn't the way that many people use it. Because Jesus himself was no stranger to being mocked. Jesus has been mocked for 2,000 years.
Jesus was mocked while he was alive by everybody, by the religious leaders, by the world who didn't understand why he had come, by even at times followers. He was mocked. Jesus Christ, as he hung on the cross, dying, was mocked by the very soldiers that hung him on that cross. You know what his response was?
Well, Jesus was being mocked. Father, forgive them. for they know not what they do.
So, if that was Christ's response to himself getting mocked, when we see our Lord being mocked, yes, it should stir something in us and our principles and convictions should be triggered, but we need to pause and approach the people with the same heart that Jesus displayed towards us. Because sometimes we live in this outrage culture. We can respond with outrage to everything that we see, and we can end up being tricked into responding to everything and end up being guilty, like Peter, of trying to take up swords to defend and protect the Lord. Hey, I want to let you know. It's not your job to protect Jesus.
It's Jesus' job to protect you. God doesn't need your protection. You need God's protection. And anytime we think that it's our role to protect, it's our role to protect Jesus, we're not understanding how this whole salvation relationship thing works. We're the weak ones, he's the strong one.
We ask God to fight our battles. We don't tell God that we're going to go fight His. God's heart is still a heart of reconciliation and forgiveness. But if we're not careful with what we say and how we treat people, we can turn them off to the gospel before they've even had a chance to hear it. And some Christians are more known for our rejection of certain people rather than love for all people.
I was so encouraged by the stories of Melissa and Laverne as they were baptized. Anyone remember those two stories over the past couple months? You might have seen them. Melissa and Laverne were a lesbian couple. They were married.
And they came to church. And they experienced a radical Radical salvation moment. And it was so radical that they realized after they were saved that their lifestyle was not honoring to God. And so they honored God and they split up. And they both said that God has given them new eyes.
And they now view one another not as a romantic sexual conquest, but they view one another as sisters in Christ. Isn't that incredible? But I want you to imagine. What would have happened if, when they first walked in here, they were met with side eyes and whispers? Imagine if, when they would have come here, they would have been rejected and ostracized before they ever had a chance to hear the gospel, because that's what happens to so many people.
We should hold our principles passionately, church, but let's acknowledge the humanity of those who disagree. Let's reject the false choice between unwavering principles and genuine human connection. Church, can we start holding conviction alongside compassion as Jesus did? Instead of finding reasons to judge people, can we start finding reasons to love people? Because it's the goodness and kindness of God that leads to repentance.
And yet, the world is all too often told that Christians and by proxy Christ hates sinners. They're told that By the world, most often that you can't go to church. They're not going to accept you. They're going to ask you to leave. Have a story from one of our pastors, Coy.
On just that topic that I think beautifully illustrates holding conviction and compassion side by side, but also helping us recognize what the world thinks about Christians. Pastor Coy is our Westside campus pastor and oversees all of our campus ministries and the growth of our campuses for our vision this year. But Coy did a hospital visit in May, and this is what he says. I went and visited him because he was having seizures and wanted to talk to a pastor. He let me know he was a homosexual and wanted to make sure that wouldn't be a problem.
I assured him that I would have no problem coming to pray for him. As we were visiting, he wanted to know what our church's stance was on homosexuality. I let him know that we believed it was a sin. but we didn't elevate it above any other sin that people deal with. What we teach is that it's not in God's design and it's not God's best for him, but that we still love him and wouldn't ostracize him or differentiate him because of the fact that he was struggling with this particular sin.
He was appreciative. Because he was going to a church at the time that taught that homosexuality was okay. And even though he was struggling with it and was living in a homosexual lifestyle, he knew that it wasn't right and he wanted to go to a church that would make sure to condemn it as a sin. Which, by the way, that should be a news flash to you. We think and we want to soften the gospel and say, well, we got to make it palatable to people.
They want to feel comfortable. They don't. They want to hear the truth. Let them decide if they're going to accept it or not. You tell them the truth.
Do it in love, which we see Koi doing here. He then wanted to make sure he would be welcomed at our church. He said he had a few people tell him that if he came to Calvary, that he wouldn't be accepted and he would be told he would have to leave. And I think he was afraid he'd be humiliated.
So I reassured him that we absolutely would love for him to come and he would be welcomed and we would love to walk with him as he endeavors to follow God. I afterwards gave him a few resources and he took a bus to go live with his parents for a while so he could get out of the homosexual relationship that he was in. Come on, church. How incredible is that story? That is holding conviction.
Not backing down from the truth, saying what is true, saying what people need to hear, but doing it with compassion, in a loving way where you recognize, you know what, I've never lived this person's life. I can't imagine what they've had to experience. And so, as a Christian, I'm going to bring myself low, like Jesus did, to empathize with their humanity. To apologize to them if I need to apologize to them for what they've experienced, to repair the gospel, to be an apologist. For Jesus.
Thanks for listening to Connect with Skip Heitzig, today featuring Pastor Skip's son Nate Heitzig. Before you go, don't forget to request this month's featured resource, How to Study the Bible and Enjoy It. This book from Pastor Skip offers practical, encouraging help to take your Bible study deeper and get more out of every verse. It's our thanks for your generous gift of $50 or more to help share God's Word with more people. Call 800-922-8888 or visit connectwithskip.com slash offer.
and be sure to sign up for weekly devotionals and get your free one-sheet how to approach studying the Bible. It's a great tool to jumpstart your time in Scripture. Come back next time for more verse by verse teaching with Fad Sport here on Connect the Skip Heitzig. Make a connection! Make a connection.
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