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James (selected); Luke 18:9-14 * James references so often our speech as an indicator of the level of grace we are experiencing and offering to others. 1:19- “slow to speak…” 1:26- “if you consider yourself religious and don’t keep a tight rein on your tongue, you are deceived and your religion is worthless”. 2:12- “speak and act as those who are going to be judged…” 2:14- empty profession (words without deeds) 3:2- our speech is indicative of an ordered-life. Our speech is most often what betrays our failed attempts at cover up! * When we speak, we reveal the condition of our heart; we shed light on the mystery of the human soul. Although our words appear so superficial, they are actually coming from some place very deep! But, it all seems so harmless; so inconsequential. * As a society, we love lists and rankings and polls (i.e. Top 10, SAT’s, placement in class, weight, dress sizes, etc.) Everything seems to involve some attempt at measuring (gauging) others; ranking people; putting them in “their” place… so we know where we are! * Our tendency toward judgmentalism shows up most often in the passing remarks that we make about others (i.e. “Is spandex the right decision for her?” “You might want to think about puttin’ down that corndog, dude!”) * It’s such a subtle form of judgmentalism that it’s easily overlooked (i.e. we treat it like we do 4-way stops; we roll through it! We know we’re supposed to come to a complete stop, but no one does…) * We’re not merely commenting about another, we are labeling them (attaching labels). We are making blanket assumptions about people without any real context; attaching permanent, fixed means of identifying another. * It’s hard to even imagine that we could actually live in such a non-judgmental way given the atmosphere of our culture. - We determine value through “appeal” (which, by the way, got us off to a bad start in the beginning: Eve saw that it was pleasing to the eye…) - We thrive on conflict (it’s the premise of almost every reality TV show: “reality”- this is the way things really are!) And, isn’t conflict inevitable when our means of determining worth (rating each other) is so subjective? * When you’re a kid, there’s not a lot of forethought behind your words; you pretty much just open the valve and let it spill out! No checks and balances; no grid through which to run your words… just free-flowing speech. I remember a specific instance when just such a grid would have proven extremely helpful. Maybe it was then that I began to realize that I was void of an “internal monitoring system”; it would have been helpful if there would have been some means of seeing the outcome or realizing the potential fallout from such uncontrolled speech. On this specific occasion, something came out of my mouth that later, I desperately wished had remained inside. My mother moved quickly to rectify the situation convinced that if she could actually cram the entire bar of soap into my mouth she could eliminate the flow of senseless and harmful words (‘cleaning the inside of the cup’!) Upon realizing the significant health risks that such a procedure might cause, she determined a healthy coating of “Dove” on the gums might suffice. * So, too, James warns us that if the water coming out of the well is bitter (brown), the remedy is not to change the bucket! (i.e. if the tap-water is brown, a new “Moen Faucet” will not remedy the situation). Luke 18:9-14 “To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable:…” "confident”- (Gr) convinced; depend upon; trust “own righteousness”- in keeping with what’s right or fair; justice “looked down”- devalue; diminish worth * I believe that the posture was not just an internal attitude, but meant to create a certain atmosphere; meant to send a message, so to speak. Pharisees- the religious “elite”; religious aristocracy. The fault wasn’t their desire to please God or live according to his expectations, it was just their misguided means of going about it. In essence, he was “confident” that the standard he had set for himself was both achievable and would allow him to be viewed in the most favorable light. Tax Collector- My wife and I enjoy watching a show on the Discovery Channel called “Dirty Jobs”. The show highlights the tasks that people perform which are at best ‘undesirable’ and at worst, ‘repulsive’. In the first century, the Tax Collector would have been one of the episodes. Their job? to collect taxes for the Romans. Chief tax collectors bid on the contract for collecting taxes for a certain district. If they won the contract, they would be responsible for delivering to the Romans the amount of money agreed upon. Then these chief tax collectors would employ others who resided in the various villages and sections of town to collect the taxes. Anything they collected “over” the agreed upon amount was profit. “he prayed to himself” (or “about himself”) Then, listen to his prayer; see who he compares himself to: robbers, evil-doers (just a good ‘catch all’ category for ‘the rest of you losers!’), adulterers (each category with a face attached to it). * Notice the tax-collectors posture: head down, at a distance, pounding his chest (used to be a sign of sorrow). Imagine being in the Temple, the place where heaven and earth converged; the place where God promised to meet with man and feeling distanced. “Who do you think was responsible for such feelings of distance?” Reflections… ►Humility allows you to see nothing or no one as beneath you. “Who’s usually on our lists?” (looking down): the pierced? the tattooed? the promiscuous? the immigrant? those with multiple failed relationships? the dirty? the different? ►It’s not that we’re interested in being good, just not looking so bad! The key to comparative success is to always find yourself opposite the least desirable or talented (by comparison, you win!) Judging is an attempt to elevate ourselves by degrading another. Who of us does not derive some warped sense of satisfaction from having the flaws of another exposed? Any of these phrases sound familiar… “Wow, I would never _____”. “At least I didn’t ___”. “I’m certainly not perfect, but at least I never ___”. * Suddenly, our stock rises; our status is elevated! ►Allow us to keep our distance. “How will they ever desire to get close to God when we say, ‘That’s close enough’?” * Actually, it intentionally creates it. By doing so, it prevents us from engaging in the often messy and always inconvenient process of actually getting involved! * We’re not really prone to alter our stance toward another individual until we personally encounter them; until life thrusts us into a situation that causes us to feel their pain; to understand their dilemma. The Pharisee asks God for recognition (to notice him for what he does); the tax-collector hopes only for mercy (to notice him in spite of what he’s done!) * Can you imagine the respective responses to Jesus’ parable? Pharisees- livid over having their status questioned. Thieves, adulterers, other tax-collectors, everyone else- elated over the possibility of approaching God; having the restraints cast off and the labels removed. ►Judgmentalism is “religious profiling”. It’s our attempt at monitoring who’s IN and who’s OUT! (who’s acceptable, and who we’ll dismiss). Matthew 23:13 “Woe (an exclamation of grief) to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to”. “I’m glad I’m not like them” Be aware that the next time you have that conversation with God, you’re talking about someone that he knows and loves! ►Jesus refused to offer us a system of measure which would convince us that we were okay without him. Judgmentalism allows us to focus on our “sins” (in particular) rather than our “sin” (propensity; flawed nature apart from God). Judgmentalism allows us to feel good about what we’ve done while rationalizing what we’ve left undone. Matthew 23:23 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices- mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law- justice, mercy and faithfulness”. Justice…requires that you use the same stick! That you are held accountable to the same standard as everyone else. Mercy…don’t expect others to have to earn what you expect to receive freely! Faithfulness…the extension of God’s love despite another’s inconsistencies (OT, God’s faithfulness was celebrated as his commitment to us despite our rebellion). “What’s God’s law?” Love.
*Judgmentalism makes it impossible to love
others like we love ourselves, because we don’t make the same grace available to
them. Our love comes with sorts of stipulations and conditions. |
