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There was a college professor that was an atheist and constantly mocked God in class. At the beginning of each class, he would stand in a chair and say, “If you really exist God, then knock me off this chair.” Nothing happened class after class and the professor would say, “See, no God.” And start his class.

One day, just like all the other days, he gets up on the chair and says, “If you really exist God, then knock me off this chair.” About that time, “Wham.” The professor gets knocked off the chair. Lying on the floor, he looked up and saw a Marine Recruiter standing over the top of him.

The professor said, “What was that for?” The Marine replied. “God is busy protecting my brothers and sisters in still fighting for your right to say and do stupid stuff like this, so He sent me.”

Now this story is not true, but it makes me smile. Let me tell you, someone can be an Atheist and that is their choice, I will talk and discuss with them about how God exists and at the end of the day, we all have the right to choose. And that is in our everyday actions as well.

Let’s read from our main text. Luke 6:37-45

I want everyone to look at this title. Holelier. Not a word, but man I like it. If something has holes, it is holey. If something has more holes than something else, it is holelier, right?

The Pharisees, Sadducees, and religious leaders at the time of Jesus thought they were better than everyone else, because they were more holy. Holier than thou. But really, Jesus points out how their mindset and practices were holey (with holes) than holy (pure, God like, or divine).

Let’s be honest with each other, sometimes we get it wrong. Sometimes, we get it wrong and we will die, fighting on that hill, instead of listening to godly council. Too many times, we have more holes in our beliefs than we do understanding. Let’s look at a few ways that we can be Holelier than Thou. Point #1…

1. Don’t be critical of others that sin (live, worship, translate, understand) differently than you.

Luke 6:37

Anyone ever know that person, that will just suck the life out of you? Always negative. Always looking at things with a bad attitude? Anyone honest enough to say, you brought that person with you this morning? Well good, they need to hear this message as much as you do.

Last week in Sunday School, (oh yeah by the way, if you aren’t attending Sunday school, we want to invite you. Classes start at 9:45. We have something for all age groups. Wes does a great job with the adults.) Anyway, Wes mentioned that he worked with a guy that went to a different church than Wes. This guy flat out told Wes that because Wes didn’t go to his denomination of church that Wes was going to hell.

Well, that’s pretty harsh, right? I have had friends that didn’t come right out and say that to me, but they alluded to that very idea, that because I didn’t go to a specific denomination or because I didn’t have a certain gift, that I really wasn’t saved.

According to this verse, “Do not judge others, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn others, or it will all come back against you. Forgive others, and you will be forgiven,” they should not do that. And you know what?? Neither should you.

Some of us will look at other church people and in our minds condemn people because they “sin” differently than us. Maybe, they believe a little differently, maybe they worship differently, understand or translate the bible different.

What if we have it wrong, we are trying our best to read and understand, but what if we have misunderstood something? What if we condemn others for one thing and we have something else wrong? It is not our place to judge, condemn or criticize others. Our responsibility is to love the Lord, our God, with all our heart, soul, mind and strength and to love our neighbor as ourself.

If someone believes that Jesus Christ is the one and only Son of God and the He died for their sins and that it is only through Jesus that we can be saved, then that should be enough for you. Let God sort out the rest. Which brings me to point 2…

2. Clean your house first.

Luke 6:41-42

Cheryl is a cleaner. I don’t know if she loves to clean or if she hates dirty clutter. Either way, she like our house to be cleaned and picked up, but right now, that ain’t happening. We are in the process of moving her sowing/hobby room upstairs and moving the stuff from the upstairs room downstairs to the old hobby room.

You can’t just move stuff from one room to the other. You have to clean it, paint it and rethink the whole lay out. So, we have stuff in the hall, stuff in my man cave, stuff in the dining room. Once it is all painted, then we can move stuff, more and more stuff. Eventually I might even get inspired to clean out the garage. Naaahh! If we have one thing out of place in our house, wouldn’t it be wrong to talk bad about someone for having a dirty car?

Never, ever, ever, ever….ever, should you ever talk about someone else’s anything in a negative way. We have enough struggles in our own lives to worry about. If we are looking at other people’s dirty house, then we are going to miss out on seeing the dirt in our own house.

I love the story of the woman caught in adultery that was brought to Jesus for Him to render a verdict on whether or not she should be put to death because her house was too dirty. It wasn’t clean enough for the Pharisees. So, Jesus said, “those without sin, cast the first stone.” “Those whose houses are clean are welcome to judge and condemn this woman.”

It was kind of obvious that the all those people realized how bad they really were.

Here’s a thought. Let’s just say for the sake of argument that you have completely eliminated all the sin in your life, that you are walking the perfect walk, so, you are perfect and you look at someone else and think, “I really need to show them the things they need to clean up.” I guess you might have to work on your house again. Maybe, it would be better to think, “I wonder how I might encourage them to be more like Jesus”? “What can I do, to help them out”? This brings us to our 3rd point.

3. The proof is in the pudding.

Luke 6:43-45

Luke 6:38

What kind of fruit would an apple tree make? What kind of fruit would a grapevine make? What kind of fruit would a blackberry briar bush produce? What kind of fruit would our lives produce if we are connected to Jesus? Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Do those sound familiar?

How about I read Galatians 5:22-25… But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!

24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there. 25 Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives. 26 Let us not become conceited, or provoke one another, or be jealous of one another.

God doesn’t call us to be holier than anyone. God calls us to be holy. Holy like Jesus. Living our lives like Jesus did. Loving others, full of patience, and kindness, and goodness, and gentleness and self-control. I guess when you master all of the fruit of the spirit and you can walk on water, heal the sick, raise the dead, then you can judge like Jesus did.

Oh wait, Jesus didn’t judge. He told the woman caught in adultery, neither do I condemn you, go and sin no more. The crippled man that was at the pool of Bethsaida, Jesus didn’t condemn him. Jesus told him to stop sinning before something worse would happen to him.

So, if Jesus didn’t judge or condemn, “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him.” What do you think that our mission should be?

Are you living a Holy life? Or is your life full of holes when it comes to following Jesus? My prayer is that you find the path that God wants you on and surrender to following it.

Holier Than Thou