CC 09: Judge Not

 As many of you know, before I became a full-time minister, I was an attorney, specifically a public defender. This put me in a position where many times I would be meeting people after some of the biggest mistakes of their life. Whether it be a poor split-second decision, a scheme gone bad, or an addiction that went out of control, most of the people I met regretted what they had done. However, there were the few that seemed to have no regrets for what had happened. Some even showing pride in what they had done. I asked a client once if they understood the terrible nature of what they had done, and they said, “You can’t judge me, no one can judge me, only God can judge me.” I responded (not in the most caring/Christian way), “Well, the guy in the black robe in the courtroom is going to differ with you on that.” 

   Whether knowing it or not, my client was trying to quote scripture. “Judge not, lest you be judged.” These words come from Jesus in the section of the Sermon on the Mount we will study this morning. But what do they actually mean? Was my client right, and the whole justice system is an affront to God? Let’s see what Jesus is, and sometimes more importantly, what He is NOT saying in these verses.