How Would You Like Your Judgment? #2

All I can do is tell you is that your response to the things that you're hearing today have great consequence for eternity.

And I'll say it one more time. I want that day to go well for you. Scripture would have that day go well for you. Thanks for joining us on the Truth Pulpit with Don Green, founding pastor of Truth Community Church in Cincinnati, Ohio. Hi, I'm Bill Wright, and today Don continues our series, The Art of Discernment, with part two of a message titled, How Would You Like Your Judgment? Last time Don drew our attention to two manifestations of judgment. God's judgment on non-Christians in hell, and his judgment on the lives and works of Christians. We were reminded that there's a correlation between the attitudes we bring to the evaluation of others and our own coming experience at the judgment seat of Christ. Today Don will discuss the tailoring of God's judgment to each individual.

Turn in your Bible to Matthew 7, and let's join Don Green now in the Truth Pulpit. God will evaluate our lives to determine a reward that somehow will echo for us throughout all of eternity. There are eternal consequences to the very thing we're talking about right now. Martin Lloyd-Jones said this on the subject, and I quote, he said, But that there is a judgment of believers is clearly taught. It will make a difference to me. It is a judgment of my life since I have become a Christian.

End quote. Now, let's step back. Here we are, I'll address you all as Christians. I don't believe that every one of you is in Christ, but I'm going to assume that for what I'm about to say. Here we are as Christians. We are in Christ. We have been saved. There is a point in which our lives were converted, and now we are living for Christ.

We are in Him, and we are safe and secure from eternal judgment. Now, what we have to realize is that this realm of blessing has bestowed upon us. It has been given to you as a stewardship. What you do with that stewardship is ultimately something that you are going to give an account for. With the lives, the relationships, the resources, the opportunities, the giftedness that God has given to you, there's a sense in which there's going to be a time where it is laid out before Christ, and let's say, well, let's see what you did with what was given to you.

What did you do with it? And the answer to that question will be reflected in the reward that you were given as you enter into eternal glory. You know what that does?

You know what that does? What the reality, the truth of that does is it makes you realize that this life is very significant. Even if it seems like you have been assigned a portion where you don't have much significance, you're not a high-profile person, you just kind of quietly live life, there is eternal significance to what you do.

And you will not be judged by God according to the opportunities that have been given to me, for example, and I won't be judged according to the opportunities that have been given to you. You will have a unique accountability, a personal accountability for everything that God gave to you and say, okay, what did you do with it? And then you realize and you step back.

You step back and you say, wow, this matters. This is of consequence. And what should the impact of that be on the way that you think about life and the way that you live and the way that your whole perspective on existence, what should that be? Well, Paul says in verse 11, 2 Corinthians 5, verse 11, look at it with me. He says, therefore, because those things about the judgment seat of Christ are true, therefore, as a consequence of that, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade men. Paul says, knowing these things are true instills a fear of God in me that makes me reverent in my approach to life and it causes me to want to persuade men to consider Christ for salvation if they don't know Him and to persuade men who are in Christ to take life seriously, to be devoted to Christ. The fear Paul describes is the sober reverence that comes from knowing that you will give an account to God. That holy fear, my brother, my sister, sometimes I'm just overwhelmed at the consequence of what we're saying here. And I think with Paul, who's adequate for these things? My tongue is not worthy to speak of these things and I realize that some in front of me will blow it off.

And you just say, who's adequate for these things? Unless the Spirit of God helps us, we're wasting our time, aren't we? But what that fear should produce in your heart is this. It should produce that that holy fear should cause you to take God's Word seriously and maximize your life opportunities for His glory. God given you a family, God given you a spouse, whatever the circumstances of that may be, it's for His glory. And you say, God, what do you say in your Word about how I should deal with my family relationships?

I want to get this right. You're in a body of believers like truth community. God, here's my giftedness.

What can I do? How do I use this? How do I live amongst other believers in order to promote the unity of the body for which Christ died? And how do I serve in a way that will be pleasing to you and which will position me for reward when I stand before you? These things become matters of great urgency. Because you realize that the most significant thing is still ahead. That that time of judgment, you know, you live 70 years on this life.

It's a puff of air compared to the eons of eons of ages of ages. And there's just eternal consequence to this window of time. And that eternal consequence is what really matters. Not your job, not your profession, not any of this other stuff.

It's incidental by comparison. So I don't know how else to tell you. I point you to Scripture, plead with you to take it seriously. But ultimately, your response to that is not to me. It's before the Lord and what you're going to do with it. All I can do is tell you is that your response to the things that you're hearing today have great consequence for eternity.

And I'll say it one more time. I want that day to go well for you. Scripture would have that day go well for you. But I can lead you to the water, but I can't make you drink it. You have to respond on your own. You have to believe these things by faith to be true, based on the Word of God, and then work it out.

Work out your salvation with fear and trembling, as Philippians 2 says. Point number three. I'll introduce a point by saying this.

You know, here's the thing. We've laid the foundation to get back to Jesus' words. And if you think for just a moment, this question should become of burning importance in your mind. Okay, I accept the fact that Scripture tells me that I'm going to give an account of my life before God, and that somehow there's going to be a reward to me, and there's going to be some kind of accountability.

There's going to be some kind of judgment, Scripture describes it as. Here's what I want to know. If I were you, this is what I would want to know.

I would want to know this. By what standard is God going to judge me? What is going to be the basis upon which he makes his determination about the generosity of his reward to me that I'm going to carry throughout all of eternity?

What's the measure of that going to be? Recognizing and understanding that Scripture does not give us everything that we would like to know. The quote from Martin Lloyd-Jones spoke about that. It doesn't tell us everything that we might want to know about it.

I want to know what's the standard. I'd like to move my life in that direction. In the direction of blessing and reward rather than squandering the opportunity and finding out that I had missed reward that otherwise could have been mine. Well, Jesus is teaching you that very thing here as we come to point number three.

It's this. God will tailor his judgment to each individual. God will tailor his judgment to each individual.

Everybody wants teaching to be practical. Nothing could be more practical than this, than what I'm about to say. Beloved, the tenor of your life will be the basis for the tenor of your judgment. The way in which you live and interact with men is going to contribute substantially to the standard of judgment that God applies to your life. This is very sobering. This is very sobering, but go back to Matthew now.

Matthew chapter five verse seven. You know, when I think about how miserably short of the glory of God I fall in my life, as a believer, as a pastor, as a husband, as a father, when I think about that, I really want, I'm really hoping that God will deal generously with me, kindly with me, graciously with me. Because I know that in myself that everything, everything that I do is tainted and tinged by sin. That I myself have squandered opportunity, wasted opportunity time and again. That my prayers are often so cold and formal and mechanical.

Praying to the God who ordained my salvation. And I'm just going through the motions. When the world's wrong with me? I'm a pastor.

What's wrong with me? Times where his word has been a matter of indifference to me. Cold, indifferent, whatever. And I think about that in light of these themes of which we speak here today. And my heart cry is, God, don't give me what I deserve. God, be gracious to me. Be merciful to me.

Give according to your grace and kindness that which goes far beyond what I deserve. Because if it's according to what I deserve, Lord, it's going to be very meager for me. Now, is there a basis upon which we might expect that?

Is there a way in which we could orient our life so that that might somehow be true for us? Well, Scripture's pointing us to words of hope and direction here. Look at Matthew 5, verse 7. Jesus says, Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. Those who pattern their life with a merciful disposition are positioning themselves to receive mercy from God at their final judgment. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. Notice, blessed are the merciful, present tense, now in this life, merciful. Marked by kindness, marked by forgiveness, marked by grace.

Future tense, people like that are going to receive some manner of mercy. They will receive something different from the hand of God than those who are not merciful. James 3, 1, listen to what it talks about judgment here. Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such, we will incur a stricter judgment. I'm making a very small point here.

It's a very important point, but it's a very narrow point. That God is going to apply different standards of judgment. For teachers, there's going to be a stricter accountability than those who are not teachers. Those who have taught God's Word, those who have held positions of spiritual leadership, a stricter standard will apply to them. There is a merciful judgment, a more merciful judgment that awaits those who have shown mercy in their lives.

All you need to see at this point is this. We don't know exactly what those standards of God are going to be. We know they're going to be righteous. We know that they'll be right and they'll be true, but Scripture tells us to recognize that there will be different standards applied. Now, with all of that in mind, finally, let's get to our text here in the first two verses of Matthew 7.

And now we have the groundwork laid so that we can land this plain where it needs to go. Matthew 7, verses 1 and 2. With the sober reality of judgment laid before us, with the warnings that it's going to matter, Matthew 7, verses 1 and 2, Jesus says, do not judge so that you will not be judged. For in the way you judge, you will be judged, and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you.

He's speaking to his disciples, and, beloved, here's what he's saying. He says you will be judged. Notice that he doesn't say who's doing the judging. It's a passive voice. You will be judged. By whom?

Well, it's a divine passive. You will be judged by God. He's our only judge.

He's the one to whom we will give final account. And so Jesus says, Jesus says plainly, you will be judged. Now, in verse 7, he says, do not judge so that you will not be judged. He does not mean that you can avoid absolutely all accountability before God whatsoever if you just take an entirely passive approach and exercise no discernment and say nothing to anyone about sin or error and you can avoid all judgment simply by being a limp Christian. He's not saying that.

We established that last week. Indeed, verse 2, look at verse 2, says, in the way you judge, you will be judged. And so he's assuming that there will be a judgment in everything that he's saying here. Here's what he's saying. He's talking about judgment in a comparative sense.

And here's his point. How you judge others is somehow going to flavor the manner in which God judges you is what he's saying. And in verse 1, when he says, do not judge so that you will not be judged, it could be translated this, stop judging. Stop being so harsh and judgmental and critical and hard on people, my Christian friend, he says, because that, as you live life that way, God is going to judge you by the same critical standard that you're judging others in this life. You are setting yourselves up for a difficult time before the judgment seat of God by the harsh critical spirit with which you live your life.

So Jesus says, stop that so that your judgment won't be so difficult. It's a word of grace. It's a word of instruction. It's a word of warning.

And this is so sobering. Beloved, think about it in the context of your own family relationships. Think about it in the context of your own marriage.

I insist that you do this. Or your other family relationships. And realize this, that your own attitudes in the context of those close relationships is somehow going to influence the final reward that you receive from God. And if you are harsh and unbending, you can expect a stricter judgment as a result. God will measure out our rewards according to the measure that we used with men during our earthly lives. What Jesus is saying is that if you deal generously and graciously and in a forgiving spirit with others, and that's the tone of your life, there's mercy that comes out of you, you can expect a judgment from God that's going to be more generous and merciful and gracious as a result. So that the reward, you'll walk away having lived a merciful, gracious life. I'm making this up.

I'm just using a picture. You'll walk away staggered with reward and bending under the weight of what God rewards you with because he has not applied that strict standard to you. But on the other hand, beloved, you've got to listen to me. You have to.

It's too important. It's for your own sake that I insist upon it. If you love to criticize the faults of others, if you are harsh and unbending in your dealings with men, be warned. God is going to use your own unbending standard on you. If you are ungracious and unforgiving, don't expect God to be merciful to you. It's the merciful that are going to receive mercy. Pastor Kent Hughes summarizes this well when he says this, and I quote, judgmental believers will still be with God forever, but they will have very little reward, for their hypercritical spirit will have vitiated much of the good they have done. Our Lord means to put a holy fear in us but we will put away our critical hearts. The tone of our lives is going to become the tone of our judgment, end quote. Now, in defense of the holiness of God, God is not going to judge you by the childish way that you and I sometimes act.

I'm going to get him back. No, God's not going to be petulant the way that you and I sometimes are. What God will do is this.

He will extract the sinfulness of your attitudes and then apply the overall tone of your standard among men to you. And so we're left with a question, my friends, that each one of us has to answer. How would you like your judgment? You know, you order eggs, I want my eggs scrambled, fried, poached, boiled, soft, hard. That's how I like my eggs.

Let's ask a more important question. How would you like your judgment to be? Do you want it to have a disposition, a flavor of generosity and mercy and leniency in accordance with what you need? Or do you prefer to get your pound of flesh now out of relationships? Oh, choose carefully, choose wisely. Or further along, maybe you're 50, 60, 70, 80.

And you're brought under a great weight of conviction as you realize that the Word of God has exposed your sinful, critical, hypercritical spirit and you realize this is the way that I have been all of my life. What's going to happen to me? Hope for me? Is it too late for me to avoid the strict judgment that my Christian lifestyle deserves? Is it too late?

I've got a long history and a lot shorter window ahead as I do the math. Is it too late? Well, I've got great news for you. I've got great news for you. The answer to that question is no, it's not too late.

Even if you're old and decrepit, it's not too late. Jesus' command literally means stop judging so that you will not be judged. That command, so that you will not be judged, implies great grace. Christ is telling you now through His Word that if you recognize you have lived with that hypercritical spirit and you've been a harsh, unbending taskmaster in your relationships, there's still opportunity for hope.

It can be different for you. Your past does not have to define your eternal future, your reward. He says this command is simply a call to repent, to fall before Him with your face and your hands and say, Oh God, I'm guilty of that. I confess my sin. I confess my critical spirit. Have mercy on me and in this window of time that you've left for me, let me be different.

Change me because I take eternal reality seriously. I want you to deal with me in kindness. And so, Lord, I would have a kind spirit for whatever window of time you give me going forward.

Jesus says if you'll respond in that way, you won't be judged according to the harsh standard that your prior life deserved even as a Christian. What a blessing. What grace. What grace. God would be delighted to expand the sphere of His grace to you when you stand before Him in judgment. So here's the question that will reverberate throughout your eternity, my Christian brother, my Christian sister. Here's the question that will reverberate throughout all of eternity how you respond to this very thing, to Jesus' words here in Matthew 7, 1 and 2.

I'll say it again. How would you like your judgment? How generous, beloved, how generous would you have God be toward you in that day that is sure to come? Jesus says let your answer to that question guide. Watch it. Let the answer to that question guide the grace, the mercy, and the forgiveness that you extend to others right now.

How will you have it? That's Don Green, founding pastor of Truth Community Church in Cincinnati, Ohio, with more of our series, The Art of Discernment. Don will have more for us next time here on The Truth Pulpit, so don't miss a moment.

Right now, though, Don's back in studio with news of a great resource. Well, my friend, as we bring today's broadcast to a close, I want to offer you a very special gift, a special resource as a gift from our ministry. It's my series called, Trusting God in Trying Times.

This series over the years has proven to be the most popular set of messages that I've ever done. It helps you know how to trust God as you're going through the deep sorrows that sometimes come to us in life. It comes from the book of Habakkuk in the Old Testament, and it comes from some very deep sorrows of my own that were present early in my Christian life. It's very personal. It's very helpful. It's very biblical.

And I would love to see you have it in your hands. It's available in CD album or by download. Transcripts are available if you prefer that. My friend Bill is going to give you information on how to find it. Just visit our website at thetruthpulpit.com to get the resource Don just mentioned. While you're there, you can also find podcasts of Don's teaching to revisit at your convenience. That's all at thetruthpulpit.com. I'm Bill Wright, and we'll see you next time on the Truth Pulpit.