Is there someone that you know that is not living life the way they should?
Have you been trying to help someone fix their life, but been avoiding fixing your own?
Do you fixate on other people's problems, but avoid your own?
Trust me... I've been there.
This episode is on the teaching of Jesus Christ about judging others and that we shouldn't try to help others fix their problems until we have fixed our problems and faced our own demons. I pair this with prayer, scripture, and 3 takeaways
Today's episode is the first of a new ongoing series that I'm going to be doing on this podcast. So several weeks ago I did an episode about ways to rest our weary souls in Jesus Christ and I went over four different ways. The last way that I went over was the teachings of Jesus Christ, and a couple of weeks ago I went over four different teachings (one from each book of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John). I thought that was all that I was going to talk about the teachings of Jesus Christ. I didn't think I was going to go any further into depth with those teachings or that series at all, but while I was doing the series for the four ways to rest our souls in Jesus Christ I had been directed to read the book of Luke. In the book of Luke there are a lot of really amazing teachings from Jesus Christ, and as I was reading and studying it I knew that people really needed to hear these teachings and to really understand them.
At first I was just thinking that I was reading the book of Luke possibly for it to be my next book that I was going to do a Bible study on after the book of Acts (right now that's what we're studying,) but it came to me after recording the episode of part 4 about the teachings of Jesus Christ and as I was reading the book of Luke and seeing all of these teachings of Jesus Christ, God made me realize that I was supposed to do this new series about the different teachings of Jesus Christ. Now I'm not sure how long this series is going to go on for and I'm not sure if I'm going to be doing it every single week, but I'm just kind of going with the flow and letting the Holy Spirit guide me. As of now, each week I'm gonna be doing a different teaching of Jesus Christ. I'm going to go into the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and really just go into depth with these teachings. I am so excited about this new series and all of these things we're going to be talking about with these teachings, because I know so many people really need to hear and understand the teachings of Jesus Christ and live by them.
First I want to say a quick prayer... Lord I pray that you lift up every single person reading this right now. I pray that you open up our eyes to see the truth of your words and that you open up our minds and our heart to you Lord. I pray that we take this teaching today and we really understand it and live by it, and that you show us the truth. Holy Spirit please guide us, help us discern the truth, and help us to portray the fruit of the Spirit to others. Lord I also want to pray for healing for every single person that needs healing. Please put your hand on them Lord and heal them. I pray that you just continue to lead, guide, and direct us through every aspect of our lives. I love you with my whole heart. In Jesus' name, Amen.
So there's 2 different books in the Bible that I'm going to go over where Jesus teaches about judging others and they are Matthew and Luke. I'm just going to put these verses here and then I'll discuss them:
1 "Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 2 For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
3 "Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 4 How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye." -Matthew 7:1-5
37 "Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. 38 Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you."
39 He also told them this parable: "Can a blind man lead a blind man? Will they not both fall into a pit? 40 A student is not above his teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like his teacher.
41 "Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 42 How can you say to your brother, 'Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,' when you yourself fail to see the plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye." -Luke 6:37-42
We can get so consumed by what others are doing wrong and forget about our own mistakes. Sometimes we focus so much on trying to help others with their issues and their problems to avoid fixing our issues and our problems. No one is perfect except for God and Jesus, and Jesus didn't come to condemn or judge the world, but to save it. So who are we to judge? We can't help anyone do better until we face our own demons, repent, and change our ways, and that's what this teaching of Jesus is saying here.
How are we supposed to help our brother that has a speck in their eye if we can't even see the plank that's in our eye? If we fail to repent, and if we fail to try and fix ourselves and the things that we've done wrong, then how are we going to help other people be able to better themselves and fix their mistakes? We can't. We have to first look inside and become the person that we need to be to fulfill the calling that God has placed in our hearts and the purpose that God has for us. Then we can try to help others and gently instruct others based on what we've learned from Jesus, God the Father, and the Holy Spirit.
If we try to help others and lead them without first helping ourselves and discerning the truth, then we're only going to lead them astray and do more harm than good. Also, we shouldn't ever look down on someone else because they are at a different place than we are at. Once we are able to discern the truth, help ourselves, and have knowledge and understanding from God, then we can gently instruct others to also be able to discern the truth and help themselves by gaining the knowledge and understanding from God.
I just wanted to go into John chapter 8 real quick in verses
1 through 11:
I'm not gonna read these verses, but I'm just gonna briefly go over what they say. So Jesus appeared at the temple courts at dawn and all the people gathered around him. The teachers of the law and Pharisees brought in this woman that was caught in adultery, they told Jesus that the woman was caught in adultery and that the law of Moses says the stone such women, and they asked Jesus what to do. These men were trying to use this question as a trap to be able to have a basis for accusing Jesus. So Jesus said that if any one of them is without sin, then let them be the first to throw a stone at her. So all the people that heard this started to go away one by one, until the only people that were left were Jesus and the woman. Jesus asked her, "Where are they? Has no one condemned you?" The woman said, "No one, sir." So he said, "Then neither do I condemn you. Go now and leave your life of sin."
This story shows as an example that Jesus doesn't judge or condemn, he forgives. We as sinners, we as humans, have no place to judge other people. If we've sinned ourselves, then how are we supposed to throw a stone at someone that has also sinned, or judge someone else that has done something that we've done ourselves? It may not be the exact same sin but we've all sinned. We have no right or no authority to judge anyone. We're all sinners, we're all humans, and that is why Jesus Christ died on the cross; to forgive us of our sins.
Here are some verses about Jesus Christ having the authority to judge, but he didn't come into the world to condemn the world but to save it: John 3:17. John chapter 5 verses 22, 26, and 30. If you want to go and look at those verses you can.
So Jesus teaches us to not judge others and to not fixate on other people's problems, but to look within, to repent, and change our ways. We're all sinners and we can't judge anyone else based on their sins. We have to first repent for our sins, ask the Holy Spirit for guidance, study our Bibles, pray, and have a close relationship with Christ, and then we can gently instruct other people to help them do the same thing.
Here are 3 Takeaways From This teaching:
I highly recommend you writing these down, putting them in the notes in your phone, or however you want to do it to really remember these and to live by them.
1. No one is perfect. We all make mistakes
-We as human beings are not perfect, we all make mistakes, we all sin, and no one is better than the other person.
2. We have no authority to judge
-Jesus has all the authority in the world to judge. We as humans, we as sinners have no authority whatsoever to judge.
3. We have to focus on bettering ourselves through repentance, prayer, Bible study, having a relationship with Christ, letting the Holy Spirit guide us, and all of those things before we can help others better themselves.
So I hope this episode helped you guys to really understand that we shouldn't judge others no matter what. I know that this world that we live in today makes it very easy to argue with other people, think that our point of view is better than theirs, or whatever the case may be, but Jesus plainly teaches us not to judge others unless we want to be judged and to treat others the way that we want to be treated. He says that we can't help someone else with the speck in their eye until we take the plank out of our eye so we can clearly see to help that other person. So it's so important for us to acknowledge our mistakes, ask for repentance, pray, study the Bible, let the Holy Spirit guide us, and seek to have as close a relationship with Christ as possible, and then we can gently instruct other people to do the same thing so they can also help themselves.
So this concludes part 1 of the teachings of Jesus Christ. Next week we're going to go into part 2 so make sure you stay tuned for that.
I love you guys so much.
Never forget to choose faith over fear.
-Lorena Camille (Faith Fuels My Fire)
p.s. If you'd rather listen to Faith-based, business, mindset, and mental health tips, then check out my podcast. There I will share my personal experiences, stories I've never told before, and bring you along with this hot mess life of mine. New episodes every week.
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Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.