Our Journey Out of Judgment

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Introduction

Mankind has been on a journey of judgment almost from the beginning.
In Genesis 3, notice the first misjudgment that set the human race on a journey to judgement.

When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.

There is no way anyone could have foreseen the grave consequences of their misjudgment. Sin entered the world and death was passed on to all men for all have sinned.
Adam and Eve “saw” and made a decision based on the appearance of the fruit. They ignored the truth. God had revealed truth to them and they chose to disobey Him because they didn’t believe Him.
What is sin? It is the ultimate misjudgment—It is rebellion against God.
Sin is believing a lie. Adam and Eve believed Satan’s lie.
Is it not true that every sin is based on a lie? Is it not true that every sin is a misjudgment? We use our limited senses and reasoning and deduct that something is good, that we want it, that it will be good for us, we will enjoy it, there will not be consequences for our decision. We make a huge misjudgment when we choose to go our own way and disobey God.
Mankind has been making misjudgments since Adam and Even’s first act of disbelief.
Caine’s choice to sacrifice His way instead of offering God the proper sacrifice not only speaks of every effort of man since then to come to God on their own terms, it was misjudgment. When he saw God was pleased with his brother, Able’s sacrifice, he made another misjudgment. He became jealous and angry. He decided violence was the answer and to kill his brother would remove the competition.
You may say, “That’s insane! How did he think he was going to get away with that?” I agree. Sin comes from a denial of truth, a denial of reality…a misjudgment.
All of us are sinners. We have all believed lies. We have all acted on what was not true. We have all misjudged.
What have we misjudged? [God, one another, ourselves, the value of life, the purpose of life…]
What is a foolish decision? A misjudgment.
Mistakes are not necessarily misjudgments. We all make mistakes. We all drop the ball, misspell, misunderstand things, forget things… these mistakes are the natural result of being a fallen human. As it has been said, “To err is human.”
We misjudge the value of life. From pre-born children to the elderly, people are misjudged and valued wrongly.
We misjudge the purpose of life.
We misjudge ourselves. Not only to we believe lies about ourselves from others we believe our own lies. “I’m not good, pretty, handsome, smart…enough.”
On the other end of misjudging ourselves is arrogance and pride. We think we are better, brighter, better looking, wiser, and smarter than others.
Either extreme is still misjudgment and leads to pain and disappointment.
We misjudge things. Something looks good, so it must be good, right? Everybody likes it, the commercials show how wonderful it is, the sales person can’t say enough good about it.
We misjudge the value of things.
We misjudge others.
We misjudge our parents. We think just because they aren’t familiar with some new technology or term, we are smarter than them.
We misjudge people. We do this with celebrities and politicians. A few news releases or talk shows and some celebrity is the best… or the worst. We believe what the media says about someone or we hear about someone and take it as fact. The appear to be good, they appear to be bad, everybody says they are a certain way and we believe them. Some think our president is perfect, others think he is demented. Both misjudge. The media tells us something, so it must be true.
Oh, but we misjudge people we see and encounter in everyday life.
We’ve all done it!
I’ve misjudged people and thought they were the best and they were the worst. I’ve also misjudged people thinking they were the worst and they were some of the best! There have been times I’ve misjudged country boys, young black men, motorcycle riders, executives, pastors…
Oh, we may not be able to help memories, experiences, and information we’ve been told from coming into our minds and misjudging others based on their appearance, their color, their job, their clothes, their education...
While a college student, I worked at a clothing store in a mall in Orange Park Florida. One evening after we closed, while we were all trying to finish up and go home for the night, this man opened the wrought-iron gates at the front of our store and leaned in and asked, “Are you closed?” I thought, “Duh! What do you think?” He asked if he could just come in and look around and I said, “Sure!” and went on with my work. Later, I looked towards the back of the store and saw this man with his little daughter and one of our salesmen. There was a pile of clothes stacked up and the man was trying on a full-length, leather, Yves Saint-Laurent coat! I had to go back to them and figure out what was going on. This tall, lanky, white guy, with hair over his shoulders introduced himself to me as Allan Collins—the lead guitarist for the rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd!
Not only did I miss getting to know a talented rock star, I also missed the huge commission on his sale!
All because I misjudged him!
One day I was at a hospital in Savannah waiting while one of our members was having surgery. I wanted to get some coffee, but there were no cups. An elderly African-American lady saw me who worked or maybe volunteered at the hospital saw me and offered to help. She led me to the staff at the desk and got a cup from behind the counter and offered to fill it for me. “No, ma’am.” I said, “You’ve done enough. Thank you so much!”
Then I found the nice machine the hospital had for those waiting on surgeries did not work. I asked her where the hospital had coffee and she said she would take me there. I politely said, “Thank you, but I don’t want you to have to walk across the hospital just to get me a cup of coffee!” She said with a smile, “It’s no problem! Follow me!” And despite my objections off we went.
She led me around a couple of corners, pass nurses station, and to an area reserved for doctors and staff! Then she happily poured my coffee from this nice machine in an area I didn’t know existed and wasn’t supposed to be. I could not thank her enough.
As we walked together back towards the waiting area, I introduced myself and asked her for her name. She told me her first name (I’ve forgotten) and her last name, Thomas. I asked if Savannah was her home. She said, “No” and named a small community nearby. I asked about her family and she told me about her sons. One of them worked in the legal field in Washington. I told her my wife was a paralegal for a terrific defense attorney in Manning, SC. Then I asked what type of law her son practiced. She said, “Oh, he’s one of this big judges” kind of making little of it.
We took another step and I looked at her name tag again, “Thomas”? Thomas! Then I said, “Is your son Clarence Thomas?” She smiled broadly and said, “Yes.”
I told her he was one of my heroes! We continued to talk, then I asked for permission to take a selfie with her.
As I walked back to the waiting area, I thought, what if I had not been respectful and nice to her? What if I was condescending to her? What if I had thought I was better than an elderly black lady who volunteered at the hospital?
I would have missed one of the greatest privileges of meeting the mother of a Supreme Court Justice! If I hadn’t taken time to talk I would have missed out!
I wonder how many people we pass by, ignore, don’t speak to, think ill of… who are important?
THEY ALL ARE!
Debbie and I lived in Mandarin Florida for a while. We had some really nice neighbors. The men were elderly. One was short and looked frail. The other was bald and had a pot-belly. Both were kind and I enjoyed getting to know them. Then I learned the bald neighbor was part of the invasion of Iwo Jima! Wow! Some time later, I was talking to the small, frail man who did repairs at a hotel and learned he was in the Army in WWII and landed on Normandy on D-Day!
Living right beside me—two heroes! I might never gotten to know them if I hadn’t taken the time!
I wonder how many people we pass by and ignore because of their age, color, income, clothes… who are important?
ALL OF THEM!
Each person is made in the image of God and God is not willing that any should perish!
I’ve met church members who laugh at Darwin’s theory of evolution because they believe the Bible, but at the same time they act like they believe in evolution by treating people as though they aren’t made in the image of God and are of lesser value because of the color of their skin!
Hitler studied and believed Darwin’s theory! This huge refusal to believe the truth was a misjudgment that gave him and countless others all the reasons they needed to despise the Jews and send six million to their deaths!
To think someone of another color is bad, or less of a person because of the amount of melanin in their skin is a grave misjudgment!
To think someone who wears a uniform is evil just because some who wore the uniform misused their authority is a grave misjudgment!
Jesus said, “You judge by human judgments! Judge righteously!” (?)
Look at Rahab, the prostitute. She was instrumental in Israel defeating Jericho and has a place in the line leading to the Messiah!
Look at the good samaritan. Samaritan’s were half-breeds who were despised!
Look at the Ethiopian reading from the book of Isaiah. God led him to Jerusalem and to buy a very expensive scroll of Isaiah. Then God told one of His men to leave Samaria where an awakening was taking place and sent him out into the desert to connect with this black man and tell Him about the Messiah Jesus! No doubt, when he and the scroll returned to Ethiopia, so did the good news of Jesus!
Look at the woman at the well with five husbands and believing a false religion...
Look at the many passages where God told his people to welcome the strangers and invite them in and treat them right
Look at God’s call to Abraham to be a blessing to all the people of the earth!
Look at the Persian (?) leader who went to Elijah (?) to be healed and was healed!
Look at Jesus letting a prostitute publically wash his feet at a dinner!
Look at the Lord touching lepers!
And we think we are better than someone else?
“But I don’t agree with them!”
Do we have to agree with people to treat them with love and respect?
How on earth are unbelievers to know God if God’s people (or claiming to be God’s people) avoid them?
Because of
Because of our misjudgment we put our preferences above others.

Conclusion

Our misjudgment and refusal to believe the truth leads on a journey of judgment that ultimately results in judgment—our own!
People misjudged Christ and still do!

On hearing his words, some of the people said, “Surely this man is the Prophet.”

41 Others said, “He is the Christ.”

Still others asked, “How can the Christ come from Galilee? 42 Does not the Scripture say that the Christ will come from David’s family and from Bethlehem, the town where David lived?”

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