Trinity 4
Luke 6:36-42
July 5, 2020

“Don’t Judge—Live in Forgiveness”

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

“DO NOT JUDGE.” That’s what Jesus says. Right in our text today. Luke chapter 6, verse 37. Don’t judge. Now I know that those words are misused all the time. I know that. I know that people love to take those two words like they’re a baseball bat and club Christians over the head with them, “Don’t judge! Don’t judge! The Bible says so! Jesus says so! Don’t judge.” I know all that. I know that there’s a lot of different meanings for the English word “judge”. Different contexts and different understandings. Yes, and I will make sure to talk about all of that in a little bit here.

BUT, it doesn’t change His words. He means what He says, “Don’t judge.” He didn’t say, “Don’t judge,” and then clarify, “Well, I don’t really mean that you shouldn’t judge.” No, He means that you shouldn’t judge. And that means that you and I need to repent. Because we judge all the time. And I don’t mean we judge in the good kinds of judging. Again, I’ll talk about the different judgings in a minute. But first and foremost, you and I need to ask forgiveness because we’re judgmental in the worst way. Because we’ve judged other people, especially people close to us, with no mercy, no forgiveness, no love, and we’ve been total hypocrites about it.

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