101: Thou Shalt not Judge (Sunday, June 19th, 2022)

OT Lesson: Genesis 3:1-7 (CEB)

The snake was the most intelligent of all the wild animals that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say that you shouldn’t eat from any tree in the garden?”

The woman said to the snake, “We may eat the fruit of the garden’s trees but not the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden. God said, ‘Don’t eat from it, and don’t touch it, or you will die.’”

The snake said to the woman, “You won’t die! God knows that on the day you eat from it, you will see clearly and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” The woman saw that the tree was beautiful with delicious food and that the tree would provide wisdom, so she took some of its fruit and ate it, and also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then they both saw clearly and knew that they were naked. So they sewed fig leaves together and made garments for themselves.

NT Lesson: John 5:19-29 (NRSV)

Jesus said to them, ‘Very truly, I tell you, the Son can do nothing on his own, but only what he sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, the Son does likewise. The Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing; and he will show him greater works than these, so that you will be astonished. Indeed, just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whomsoever he wishes. The Father judges no one but has given all judgement to the Son, so that all may honour the Son just as they honour the Father. Anyone who does not honour the Son does not honour the Father who sent him. Very truly, I tell you, anyone who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life, and does not come under judgement, but has passed from death to life.

‘Very truly, I tell you, the hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. For just as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself; and he has given him authority to execute judgement, because he is the Son of Man. Do not be astonished at this; for the hour is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and will come out—those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation.

Sermon

Introduction

Good morning. As it was announced before, today is a very important day. Two big holidays fall on today—Father’s Day and Juneteenth. To some of you, today is special because of Father’s Day. And to some other people, today is special because of Juneteenth. But today, I am not going to talk about either Father’s Day or Juneteenth. I am not ignoring those days. It is not because I don’t like those days. It is my third Sunday preaching here and I really want to talk about a few very fundamental things in Christian life. So next year, I may preach about Father’s Day or Juneteenth, depending on the schedule. But today, please bear with me for not preaching on Father’s Day or Juneteenth.

Today’s topic is judging. You can see that from the sermon title, but you may not be able to guess it from the Scriptures. Don’t worry. We will get there. While writing the sermon, I was reminded of an incident that I had when I was in the seminary. By the way, if you don’t know, I studied at McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago. One day, a friend of mine—actually he is not my friend. I did not know him. He was a friend of my friend—anyway he asked me to visit his church and see. The guy said that he wanted my honest opinion as a seminarian and he specifically asked me to tell him the good things and not so good things about his church if I could find some. And I can tell he really loved and was very proud of his church, which is a wonderful thing. So I said OK, and one Sunday I visited his church with my friend, the one who knew both me and the other guy. The church was quite big and young with a few hundred young people gathered to worship. I quite enjoyed the worship experience. After the worship service, my friend, the other guy, and I went to a nearby Starbucks and had a conversation over my experience. I took some notes during the worship service, and told him what I wrote—seven wonderful and amazing things and two things which might be improved. When I talked to him the seven wonderful and amazing things, he was so happy with his mouth ear to ear. Then I said, “And I found two things which might be improved.” His face turned to ice cold. When I said the first thing, he looked quite angry. When I mentioned the second thing, in the middle of my talking, he slammed the table and yelled at me, ‘You’re so judgemental!’ and left the Starbucks. My friend and I were so shocked. My friend apologised me like hundred times. I realised that I was very naive. I should have known when people say that they want my honest opinion, that means “Just say something nice, a few, and make me feel good.” I did not know about that. I was too naive. And I became the judgemental one.

What is Representing God?

Since then I have never met him. I didn’t tell his name not to protect his privacy but I just don’t remember his name. I met him only once in my life. But to me, the guy became the Symbol of “Short Temper.” And I guess to him, I probably became the symbol of “Being Judgemental.” Speaking of symbol, what is a symbol? According to the Oxford dictionary, a symbol is a thing that represents or stands for something else. Let me give you some practical examples. When it comes to Australia, you may automatically think of a kangaroo. So a kangaroo may represent Australia in your minds. When I see a maple leaf, I think of Canada. So a maple leaf represents Canada. A windmill may remind us of Netherlands. There are many things in Australia but the kangaroo represents Australia. Canada is not only about maple leaf. They have many other things such as hockey, moose, marijuana, northern lights, constant apology, and the list goes on and on. But among many, the maple leaf became the symbol, and now represents Canada. Netherlands the same. Among many things they have, the Dutch windmill represents their country as their symbol.

God also has many characteristics, shades and attributes. God is merciful. God is love. God is powerful. God knows everything. God plans ahead. God executes justice. God prepares and provides for his children. God has a real good sense of humour. The list of course goes on forever and ever. But among all those characteristics and attributes, which one do you think represents God? You may think it is love. Of course. Why not?. Bible also says that God is love. But God also shows his anger many times especially in the OT. Omniscience? Yes, but God does not always show off his knowledge. Justice? Yes, but God does not always give us the instant karma. Power and might? Sure enough, but in the book of Job, God had let Satan exercise some power as well. In other words, God may share his power with someone else according to his divine choice. There is one thing that God has never ever shared with anyone—the authority to execute judgement. And Jesus today says that the authority to judge is the representing characteristics of God. Only God the Father has the authority to execute judgement and the Father gave that authority to Jesus Christ who is God the Son. On the last day, God will judge everybody. No one else will judge but God only because God is the only judge of the world.

We must have it in mind all the time that God is the only judge. God is love. God loves us. So we should also love others. God is merciful, showing mercy to us. So we should also show mercy to others. But when it comes to judging, we must admit that God only can judge. We shall not judge. God is the only judge and we are not. This is very important, but it is one of the easiest things to forget and to fail.

Knowing Good and Evil

Today’s OT lesson is a very famous passage and also one of the saddest moment in human history—the fall of the humanity. Without doubt the snake has a wonderful debate skills. He mixed the fakes with facts to confuse the woman, and also asked a question instead of stating it. And the snake told a very sweet lie. The exact same skills have been being used by the politicians in the past and in the present as well. The big and sweet lie of the snake is that human can be like God. This is the oldest and sweetest lie which is not true. Some religions or so-called spiritual movements say that humans can be god or we are already god that we just need to find our inner divine self. But all those are nothing but the repetition of the oldest lie by the snake. We must admit that we are not God. We were created and God made us. Just like a car is not a horse, we are not God and there is no way we can become a god. Please don’t be cheated by the oldest and sweetest lie of the snake. But one thing that really attracts my attention is the phrase of the snake that eating the fruit will let you know the good and evil. What does it mean to know good and evil? We have to pay attention to the full sentence of the snake: “You will be like God, knowing good and evil.” Among many characteristics and attributes of God, the snake chose knowing good and evil as God’s the representing one. Interesting, isn’t it? So the snake says that being like God is not about having power, not about loving, not about controlling, not about being omniscient, but all about knowing good and evil. So what is it really knowing good and evil?

When you know good and evil, then you can tell what is good and what is bad. Distinguishing good and evil and telling it is in one word judging. That is exactly why the snake said it is being like God, because God only has the authority to execute judgement. On the last day when the world ends, there will be no judge but God himself. Satan may have some power in the world now. We may share some of God’s wonderful characteristics such as loving, caring, being merciful and so on. But no one can be a judge like God. God is the judge and God alone will judge both the living and the dead.

Acting like God

Adam and Eve wanted to know good and evil. In other words, they wanted to judge others. Again in other words, they wanted to be like God, and they wanted to act like God. And that was a sin. Well, I should say not A sin, but THE sin. We are the descendants of Adam and Eve. So should we also try to act like God or should we admit that we are not God? Sometimes I look around and see many devout Christians—some are Presbyterians, some are from other denominations—they are quite busy judging others. There are Christians condemning women standing on the pulpit. You may not agree with the women clergy but you don’t have to judge them. If that is wrong, God will judge them. But if that is not wrong, we will be judged by God for judging the innocent wrongly. Let us not act like God by judging others. There are Christians condemning divorced people. You don’t have to divorce yourself but you may need to provide them emotional supports. If divorce is wrong, God will judge them. But if that is not wrong, we will be judged by God for judging the innocent wrongly. Let us not act like God by judging others. There are Christians condemning homosexuals. You may agree or disagree with the homosexuality. But you don’t have to point fingers at them. If that is wrong, God will judge them. If that is not wrong,  we will be judged by God for judging the innocent wrongly. Let us not act like God by judging others. There are Christians condemning pregnant teenage girls and single moms. If they did something bad, God will judge them. Our job as Christians is not condemning them but helping them. Let us not act like God by judging others. There are Christians having the attitude of holier-than-thou, judging others. But we should know that every time we pass judgement and condemn others, we are actually acting like God, and putting ourselves in the place of God, just as Adam and Eve wanted. 

Conclusion

The very first and the most fundamental thing as we live the Christian lives is to admit that we are not God. We believe in God but we don’t act like God. We love our Creator but we don’t act like God. We serve Christ but we don’t act like God. But there are many other characteristics of God which we can resemble. For example, there are something called the fruits of the Holy Spirit, which are, please repeat after me: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. So friends, this is my appeal to you. Let us stop judging others if we ever had. Instead, let us exercise the fruits of the Holy Spirit to our family, to our neighbours, and to our friends in Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour. Then on the last day of judgement, God will judge us innocent, washed clean by the blood of the Lamb. Amen.