Who Made You Judge?

What would you say is something that people do that really drives you crazy? A pet peeve of yours?

Dealing with people can be hard, can’t it? We all have difficult people in our lives, whether it’s family, friends, teammates, or teachers, we all have difficult people that we have to deal with. But have you ever noticed yourself getting into a mood where there’s problems with everyone else but you? We’ve all been there before and that can become a real problem because if it hangs around long enough, it’ll be a cancer that you can’t get rid of. You’ll become a mean-spirited person who is critical and impossible to please and that’s why I want us to focus our attention on Matthew 7 this morning. It is here we will address the issue of a critical spirit as well as approaching relationships properly. So, with that being said, I want you to remember these truths for today. Whenever I find myself being critical of others, I should ask God for grace to judge them as I would want to be judged, for eyes to see my own sin, and for wisdom to handle different people.

Whenever I begin to notice the faults of others, I should ask God for:

Grace to judge as I would want to be judged.

Ask yourself how you would behave if you were in the same situation

John Gill said, “It would be well, if persons subject to a [judgmental] spirit, would put themselves in the case and circumstances the persons are in they judge; and then consider, what judgment they would choose others should pass on them.”

Ask yourself if you’d like others to judge you in the same way.

Gill continues, “such [judgmental] persons rarely have the good will of their fellow creatures, but are commonly repaid in the same way; or else by God, which will be the most awful and tremendous: for such persons take upon them the place of God, usurp his prerogative, as if they knew the hearts and states of men; and therefore will have judgment without mercy at the hands of God.”

So, what we learn here is quite similar to the story about the forgiven servant. You remember the story Jesus tells about the master who forgave a man of millions and millions of dollars and that guy runs off and throws a guy in jail for owing him just a few thousand? If we expect people to be gentle with us when we mess up, then why are we so harsh on others? And if we say that God has been gentle with us sinners by saving us, why would we feel justified in being harsh on sinners?

Now, this isn’t saying that you can’t make any judgment at all. This is teaching us to be gracious, level-headed, and not to walk around with a mentality to condemn everyone.

John Stott said, “the command to judge not is not a requirement to be blind, but rather a plea to be generous. Jesus does not tell us to cease to be men (by suspending our critical powers which help to distinguish us from animals) but to renounce the presumptuous ambition to be God (by setting ourselves up as judges)” (Stott, p. 177, emphasis his).

Eyes to see my own faults

Illustration: Imagine you are driving down the road and your phone falls into the passenger seat floorboard. So here you are driving down the road with one hand on the wheel while you’re trying your best to reach your phone and all of sudden you run off to the shoulder and hit those rumble strips that vibrate your car and make a bunch of noise. You see, you were focused on other things than what you should’ve been focused on and the result is that you were shook up, literally. Well, this also applies to our dealings with people too.

Imagine that you go out to eat with a friend and you begin to notice that they have a problem; maybe you’re noticing that they behave a little too immature so you bring it up to them and they take offense to it and begin to say, “With all due respect man, I don’t really think you have any room to talk. You’re the worst gossip I know. Or you're the most arrogant friend I’ve got.” Just like that car ride, you’ve gotten so caught up in reaching into everyone else's lane that you’ve found yourself shook up because you figured out they were right.

Well, this is the case here, Jesus is calling us to check ourselves. To examine our hearts and lives before trying to address the issues of our friends. The reason for this is first, it makes you look like a hypocrite. And second, even if what you see is right, your own bigger issues are a stumbling block.

This is where we need to back up and pray Psalm 139:23-24, “Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!”

It is the person with this heart that Paul says, in Galatians 6:1, “Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted.”

Wisdom In Handling Different People

Now, this verse has a different flavor to it than the other verses and it seems that Jesus is giving us a balance here. He’s teaching us not to be too harsh but also don’t be foolish in dealing with people who won’t listen.

What He is teaching us in this verse is to be wise in confronting someone who will not hear you. So, say you and a few friends notice that someone you really care about is in sin and they say that you should approach them about it. Well, you’ve checked your heart, confessed your sin and genuinely care about this person and when you lovingly confront them, they lose their minds on you. Jesus tells us here to not continue casting valuable, loving truth to those who will disregard the truth and turn on you.

This is explained in Proverbs 9:7-8 “Whoever corrects a scoffer gets himself abuse, and he who reproves a wicked man incurs injury. Do not reprove a scoffer, or he will hate you; reprove a wise man, and he will love you.”

Jesus isn’t telling us not to give the gospel to sinners or anything like that. He is telling us that if we approach someone with the gospel and they reject it, we shouldn’t continue to focus on them so much that we forget about others who need to hear. And in the case of rebuking someone who refuses to hear you, we are instructed not to waste our time.