We Don’t Stand in Judgement, We Kneel in Judgement.
Have you ever felt judged by the church? Have you ever felt judged by a Christian friend? Have you ever felt looked down upon? Have your interactions with Christians ever made you feel inferior, shameful, or less valuable as a person? Have you ever noticed a critical stare or heard a disparaging comment from a follower of Jesus? If you are curious about Christ and are exploring our church, I want to applaud you for coming here, even though you may have experienced the judgmental posture of Christians. I want to unpack for you today how judgment fits into Jesus’ thinking.
Balancing Moral Expectations and Compassion
Many of you here today would say that you are following Jesus and would identify as a Christian. Let me ask you if you have ever struggled with being judgmental. Have you felt the tension between the moral and ethical expectations Jesus has for your life and the compassion he calls you to have for those not following his way? Have you felt the tension of standing for moral truth and loving those that disagree with you? It is incredibly hard to balance faithfulness and compassion at the same time. Today, I want to unpack for you how judgment fits into Jesus’ thinking and how that should influence your posture toward those who are not yet following Jesus.
The Presence of Judgment in Jesus' Work
Judgment is a part of the work of Jesus. Judgment is not something we can remove from the Christian story and still say that we are faithfully telling the Christian story. The question is how we judge not if we judge. Let’s first start by examining how judgment fits into the work of Jesus and then we will unpack how his judgment should affect how we receive and tell the Christian story.
Luke 3:15-17, “15 As the people were in expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Christ, 16 John answered them all, saying, I baptize you with water, but he who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 17 His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”
Exploring John's Perspective: Jesus' Baptism and Worth
As we have been studying the work of the Holy Spirit in the writings of Luke, we have frequented this story about the baptism of Jesus by John. Today, I want to study specifically how John spoke about the work of Jesus. He said that Jesus would “baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire.” This is a phrase that is loaded with meaning and will help us understand how judgment plays a part in the ministry of Jesus. First, it is important to note how John treats Jesus.
John confessed that Jesus was greater in power and worth. John said that Jesus was “mightier” and confessed that he was worthy of more honor than he was. He illustrated his understanding of Jesus’ worthiness by saying that he could not even untie his sandal. The untying of a sandal was a demeaning task. A student was expected to serve his teacher in many ways. This task was seen as too demeaning for a student to perform. An ancient rabbinic saying reads, “
Divine Restoration: Six Words of Transformation
In order to comprehend what it means for Jesus to baptize with the Holy Spirit we need to understand the story of the Bible up to this point. I believe I can summarize that storyline in six words.
Those six words are paired together in three statements: “Do it”, “you can’t”, and “I will.” These words are delivered by God to his people. “Do it” refers to the laws of God. God created humanity and gave the guidelines that would lead to their flourishing. If the guidelines were followed then humanity would live in joyful intimacy with God. Sadly, the second phrase, “you can’t,” entered the story of humanity very early. Mankind chose to rebel against God’s design and permanently damaged itself, leaving them incapable of obeying God and enjoying his presence. The hope for humanity comes in the last phrase, “I will.” God promised to do the work necessary to restore humanity. God made a way for forgiveness to be embraced and inward transformation to happen. The prophet Ezekiel spoke of this forgiving and transforming work of God.
Ezekiel: 36:25-27, “25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. 26 And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.”
Verse 25 speaks of the forgiveness of God. Verses 26 and 27 speak to the inward transformation he brings about by the work of The Holy Spirit. The Spirit provides the inner work that needs to be done in order to have our intimacy with God restored. Notice how God’s law is not thrown away or forgotten in this new work that He is doing. He gives them a new heart and his Spirit in order to empower them to obey his law.
The Heart of the Issue: Battling Sinful Nature
Humanity needs this level of transformation. Our biggest problem and our greatest threat is our sinful heart. What jeopardizes our intimacy with God is not the sin of others but our sin. And, our sin goes heart-deep. We are infected with sin at the core of who we are. Yes, we still bear the image of God, but that image is so distorted and broken we can not reflect back the glory of our creator.
Transformation Through Confession: Jesus' Healing Baptism
As sinful people, we don’t need help, we need heart surgery. Jesus is the one who can immerse or baptize us with the Holy Spirit and bring about the inner transformation we so desperately need, but are incapable of performing. This truth highlights the importance of confession. Following Jesus is not first about obedience, but rather confession. Confession leads to transformation and then obedience. The concept of confession is the truth that helps us balance our understanding of judgment. John speaks of the judgment of Jesus when he mentioned that he will baptize “with fire.”
Baptism of Dual Consequences: Spirit and Fire
It is important to note that John was referring to one baptism, not two. The two nouns share the same preposition “with” and are connected to the same object “you.” The work of Jesus, which was described by John as baptism, has two different effects. This point is illustrated by the analogy that John used. He spoke of using a winnowing fork to separate the wheat from the chaff. When harvesting grain, a winnowing fork was used to separate the wheat from the chaff. The fork allowed the harvester to throw the grain in the air and let the wind separate the parts. The wheat was heavier than the chaff and would fall to the floor while the lighter chaff would blow further away. The chaff would be used later as fuel for a fire, whereas the wheat would be used for food. The messiah's work or ministry would have two radically different consequences: some would receive the Spirit and others would be judged. The wheat are those who repent and receive the Spirit while the chaff are those that refuse to repent and our judged by fire.
“Fire,” as used by John here, should be understood as referring to judgment. This matches what John just said in verse 9. Luke 3:9, “Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.” The use of fire as a symbol for judgment also matches what Jesus would say later in Luke's Gospel. Luke 12:49-53, “49 I came to cast fire on the earth, and would that it were already kindled! 50 I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how great is my distress until it is accomplished! 51 Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. 52 For from now on in one house there will be five divided, three against two and two against three. 53 They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.”
Jesus spoke here about the judgment and division he will cause. Like the work of the “winnowing fork” Jesus will separate and divide humanity into two groups: those who receive forgiveness and transformation by the Holy Spirit and those who receive judgment.
Divine Judgment and Renewed Intimacy: Isaiah's Fiery Prophecy
The idea of division and judgment was spoken about by the Old Testament prophets. The prophets often used the imagery of fire to refer to God's work of judgment. The prophet Isaiah wrote about a day when the fiery judgment of God would purge his people of unrighteousness and bring them to a place of renewed intimacy with him.
Isaiah 4:2-6, “2 In that day the branch of the Lord shall be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land shall be the pride and honor of the survivors of Israel. 3 And he who is left in Zion and remains in Jerusalem will be called holy, everyone who has been recorded for life in Jerusalem, 4 when the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion and cleansed the bloodstains of Jerusalem from its midst by a spirit of judgment and by a spirit of burning. 5 Then the Lord will create over the whole site of Mount Zion and over her assemblies a cloud by day, and smoke and the shining of a flaming fire by night; for over all the glory there will be a canopy. 6 There will be a booth for shade by day from the heat, and for a refuge and a shelter from the storm and rain.”
This is the only Old Testament passage that uses “Spirit” and “fire” together. Isaiah refers to the Spirit's work as a fire that purifies God’s people and purges them of unrighteousness. Here the Spirit purges the people so that they may dwell in God’s presence. This day was fulfilled by the work of Christ. When John said that Jesus would baptize “with the Holy Spirit and fire,” he was teaching us that forgiveness, transformation, and judgment would characterize the work of Jesus. “Fire” should not be understood here as an image of empowerment, but rather one of judgment. A judgment that purges and divides.
Balancing Judgment and Salvation in the Christian Story
This teaching on judgment must be seen in the light of John’s call to repentance. John's message was not just an indictment, but an invitation. He invited his audience to repent. He invited them to confess their need for forgiveness and inward transformation. We must maintain a balanced view of John’s teaching. He spoke of both salvation and judgment. Salvation through the work of the Holy Spirit and judgment by fire.
Judgment is a part of Christianity. We can not faithfully tell the Christian story without mentioning the idea of divine judgment. Judgment is a part of the story, but it is not the whole story. The Christian story is about salvation and rescue. The Christian story is about God doing for us what we could not do for ourselves. The Christian story is about God making a way for our sins to be forgiven by the death of Christ and for our hearts to be made new by the work of the Holy Spirit. The Christian story is not only about judgment but rather about how to escape judgment and be restored to intimacy with our loving creator. So how does this affect how we judge?
Big Idea: We don’t stand in judgment, we kneel in judgment.
How we judge is important. We judge from our knees. We judge as those who have seen the severity of our sinful hearts and have confessed that we are incapable of saving ourselves. We judge as those who have been baptized by the Holy Spirit. We make moral judgments as those who have first admitted our innate immoral condition. We judge as confessors. We have seen first the grim reality that our hearts are sinful. We are disgusted by the sin in us more than the sin outside of us. We call out to the world not as those who stand in moral superiority, but as those who have fallen to our knees confessing our own moral inferiority.
As followers of Christ, we judge from our knees. Our posture is one of humility. We must speak the truth about morality. We are to speak about this truth not as those who have authored it or achieved it, but as those who have sinned against it. Christians, the key to not being judgmental is being confessional. Do not ignore your sin or the sins of others. Confess your sins and help others to see the freedom confession can bring to their lives.
If you are not yet following Jesus, but you are exploring the things of God, please believe me when I say that we don’t stand over you. We kneel beside you. We are not the judge in the courtroom, God is. We are the convicts who have been pardoned. We have heard the charges against us and have pleaded guilty. The judge in his mercy has allowed another to willingly take on our punishment. Christ has taken our guilt and shame. He has cleared our name. This judge has also signed us up for the greatest rehab program which has an astonishing success rate of 100%.
The Holy Spirit is transforming us into obedient followers. We speak of your sin, not because we are ignoring our sins, but because we have been freed from ours. We speak of your sin not to condemn you, but to persuade you to confess and receive mercy. Our appeal to you is that you would come kneel with us. My prayer is that you would confess your sins today and receive forgiveness and inward transformation.
