Don't Be a Judga'

Sunday morning I had a great time giving a message from Matthew 7:1-6 at NECC. This is the section from the Sermon on the Mount that Christ speaks this famous phrase "Do not judge, or you too will be judged." I won't recap the sermon (you can listen here if you'd like to hear it) but I did tell the group there that I would blog today on judging and its connection with anger, contempt and shame. All 12 of my readers are clamoring I'm sure so here's the fulfillment of my Sunday AM promise.

Some brief context for those that weren't there (and won't take the time to listen to the sermon...I know who you are):

1. I defined judgement (the way that Jesus is using the word here in Matthew 7) as "the deeply rooted human practice of condemning and blaming." On reflecting today I realized I should have given Dallas Willard almost complete credit for this definition. I have read and internalized him so much over the years that the phrase just flowed out of me like it was my own...it is not. Much of my theology here has been shaped over the years by his thoughts on the subject.

Judging is the practice of condemning and blaming.

2. It hurts so much because at it's core with judgement we are communicating to the person we are judging that they are in some deep and possibly irredeemable way "bad." Why does it hit us so deeply to be judged? Because at judgements center we are being told "You are not acceptable..You have not measured up...You are bad."

It doesn't take much reflection at all to realize how powerful these kinds of words are. They cut to the core of our being. So the decision to turn away from this kind of judgement, this kind of blaming is a major turning point in one's life. I mean the decision to both stop condemning and to stop "receiving" condemnation that's directed our way.

One major step in that direction is to give up anger and contempt. These two things (anger and contempt) is why I encouraged the listeners Sunday AM to read Matthew 5, 6 and 7 in their entirety, so they could get some context. Those that took me seriously would see that Jesus talks a lot about condemnation as it relates to self-righteousness and distancing ourselves from the ones we are condemning. Self-righteousness always involves some level of comparison.

In Luke 18:9 Jesus spoke of "some who relied on themselves for their right standing with God AND were despising others." He didn't choose that combination accidentally. When we hold people in contempt we are much more likely to condemn them More hopefully however for living the full life, when we STOP viewing someone with contempt we will very rarely condemn them.

This leads right to Anger...the relationship between anger and condemnation is a little more difficult...but this much is clear (think about your relationships as you read this), when we are angry with someone it almost always leads to condemnation. Mostly because blaming/judging is the easiest way to hurt the person we are angry with the most deeply. That's what anger always wants to do by the way....hurt. And then of course the one that receives the hurt responds with anger and they hurt in return...and the cycle of redemptive violence is prolonged.

And what about the connection to shame? It seems like judging/blaming/condemnation often grows into shame. I find that shame is most often seen in people who take righteousness and and "being good" seriously. This is the level where condemnation hits the deepest, because shame is self-condemnation..where we are condemned for being the person we are. We want to be someone else and since we can't, we are trapped and live hopeless lives.

Instead of this cycle of despair I suggested Sunday a Full Life Progression:

1. We become the kind of people who stop blaming and condemning
2. The Full Life becomes more freely available to us.
3. Then we are are able to bless and guide those around us into following the way of Jesus.