Don’t Judge Me: Truth to Trust
Matthew 7 and Selected Scriptures
Connect:
Share how you have seen God in the Highs and Lows of your week.
Prayer:
Pray that God would lead your discussion time and bring fresh insight, conviction, and hope through your time together.
Review:
Jesus tells us, “Do not judge,” yet He also calls us to “judge rightly.” How can both be true? In this two-week series, we will explore the vital difference between judgmental condemnation and biblical discernment. We begin with God’s self-revelation as the foundation of truth. Because God has made Himself known, truth is not something we invent but something we receive. That truth becomes the basis for our trust in God and in one another. From there, we will consider God’s call to His people to live the truth, speak the truth, and do so with humility, courage, and grace. While judging the hearts of people belongs to God alone, discerning truth and error is a responsibility entrusted to us. Judging people is God’s job. Discerning truth is ours.
This week we looked at the way a shared view of truth grounds trust in our relationships…
The Grand Tour of the message: Thinking back on what you heard this Sunday…
o What did you learn about God?
o What did you learn about people?
o What did you learn about yourself?
o What do you want to commit to putting into practice?
Reflection:
Personal Experience & Discussion:
Discuss: Pastor Mark told a story about a German plot to use counterfeit currency as a weapon! Talk about the ripple effects of REALLY good counterfeit money; if that happened, and millions of counterfeit bills were in circulation, how might it affect your life? How might it affect the nation…?
Reflective Discussion (Remember to look at the context of the verses as you are reading! Look for key terms and help the group unpack and define them):
This message contrasts a “self-created” identity with an identity grounded in our being intended and loved by our Creator God. Most of us are tempted in some way to define ourself by achievement, approval, desire, failure, relationships, or culture rather than by belonging to God. DISCUSS: Refer to these passages and discuss the contrast between the “self-made” person and our identity as known, loved and intended by God. What is the difference? (Ps 100:1-3, Is 43:1-3, Gal 2:20, 1 Peter 2:9-10)
Read Genesis 3:1-7 together. DISCUSS: What is the lie? What are the ‘shards of truth’ in the lie? Why would someone ‘sell’ God’s clear instruction about eating fruit to ‘buy’ that lie? What would you have done?
The central core of this message was the distinction between self-righteous judgement of each other VS discernment of right & wrong, truth and error. We can challenge each other, but final condemnation of a person is God’s role as judge, not ours. We can warn and challenge, only He can condemn. DISCUSS: Let’s say one of your teen daughters came to you and said, “All my friends keep telling them I am judging them when I talk about their need to be “Saved”— my friends don’t care if the Bible calls stuff sin, so they just feel judged!!” How might you respond to her? (Ps 19:12-14, Matt 7:1-5, Matt 7:15-20, John 7:21-24, Rom 2:1-4)
Application:
To discern God’s will, we must know God’s Word. Commit to spending real time daily this week to read and to meditate on God’s Word. You might even want to keep a journal!
Prayer:
Spend some time thanking God for His revelation of Himself in His creation, His Word, His Son, His indwelling Spirit and in the shared discernment of believers seeking Him! Thank God for the beauty of His truth, the gift of His grace and the power of His Spirt to pursue God’s purposes in our lives.
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