Who Are You Looking At?
Notes
Transcript
Introduction:
One of the major reasons that a lot of people don’t go to church and the gym is one and the same reason. They don’t want to be judged!
I would argue that one of the most well known Bible verses today is no longer just John 3:16 (if that one is even remembered by people anymore) but also Matthew 7:1.
“Judge not, that you be not judged.”
People hate going under the microscope of inspection. They don’t want people to see their flaws and they don’t want to feel vulnerable. At the same time, we don’t mind casting a judging eye and giving our opinion of another for free.
The story is told of a mother who sent her little boy to the store to get 5 pounds of apples. She called up the grocer and complained when her son got home and said, “I sent my little son, James, to your store to by 5 pounds of apples and I find on weighing them that you only sent 4 1/4 lbs.
The grocer replied, “Madam, my scales are regularly inspected and are correct. Have you weighed your little boy?”
We like to jump to judgment really quick, don’t we? And while we are busy looking at others, we fail to look into our own lives.
Today, we are going to take a look at what Jesus had to say about our relationship with others. Particularly we are going to look at how we view others in relation to God’s high moral standard and how we view ourselves.
1 “Judge not, that you be not judged.
2 For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you.
3 Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?
4 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye?
5 You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.
6 “Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you.
Pray
1. Jesus’ Command (v.1)
1. Jesus’ Command (v.1)
1 “Judge not, that you be not judged.
We won’t belabor this point long, but Jesus is speaking of us taking the role of God in trying to judge others rather than leaving that into the realm of God’s domain.
What Jesus is not talking about is helping hold each other accountable. That’s one reason we need the church. If that were the case then the rest of the Scriptures in the Bible that speak about judging fruit and taking our problems before the church would not make any sense.
2. Jesus’ Warning (v.2)
2. Jesus’ Warning (v.2)
2 For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you.
We are warned that we will incur the same judgment that we dish out at other people.
We often want people to overlook our flaws but we are not willing to ignore theirs or extend the same measure of grace we want extended towards us.
3. Jesus’ Example (vv. 3-4)
3. Jesus’ Example (vv. 3-4)
3 Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?
4 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye?
Jesus gives an illustration from his time as a carpenter. If you’ve ever worked with wood, you know that saw dust can fly up into your eyes and nearly blind you.
That can be really dangerous!
4. Jesus’ Remedy (vv. 5-6)
4. Jesus’ Remedy (vv. 5-6)
5 You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.
6 “Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you.
Jesus gives two solutions for us when it comes to judging.
Fix up your own house first
5 You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.
Before we can help someone else out, we are going to first need to see clearly.
I have to admit to you all something this morning that I may have told you before, but I’ll say it again. I have major trust issues when it comes to my eyes. I don’t know why it is exactly, but I cannot stand for someone to come near my eyes with their finger or anything else. I can’t even handle it well when the eye doctor is the one doing it. It just really weirds me out!
I cannot even begin to imagine someone trying to help me get something out of my eye when they cannot see themselves. I cringe at the thought!
Jesus tells us that we have to first see about our own house before we can see clearly to help someone else remove sin from their own lives.
In Galatians 6, Paul writes:
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.
3 For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself.
4 But let each one test his own work, and then his reason to boast will be in himself alone and not in his neighbor.
5 For each will have to bear his own load.
Now, notice that in both of these passages, we are to fix our own house up first.
Illustration
I have a friend and former college roommate who’s dad was in the sprinkler business and he told me once that his dad had to make sure that their yard looked amazing or it would be bad for business.
How can you or eye suggest to someone that they should live in a way that is different than we are willing to live ourselves? That’s like trying to dig something out of someone else’s eye while having something stuck in our own.
Jesus uses hyperbole, or exaggeration, to prove a point. You can’t get saw dust out of someone’s eye while you have a big tree sticking out of your own!
2. Help Your Brother Out!
The second thing that both Jesus and Paul say is that we should help each other out. Many people stop at verse 1 and think that we are simply not to judge one another and that’s it.
That’s not it! We are told to check ourselves first, but then we are to help each other out.
Look again in verse 5.
5 You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.
Notice the word “then?” We are expected to help.
Also look at Gal. 6:1
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.
2 Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.
We are to help a brother out. We are to help a sister out. We are to help one another out.
It’s important that we examine our own house first, because we don’t want to fall into the same sins we are trying to help someone else out of.
Conclusion
Jesus ends by giving one last word of instruction. Look with me in verse 6.
6 “Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you.
Jesus is clear with the disciples that not everyone is going to like being held accountable. People don’t like to hear you confront them!
But when that person is a believer and they are humble, they understand the Proverb:
6 Faithful are the wounds of a friend; profuse are the kisses of an enemy.
I would much rather hear of my flaws and failures and need for repentance from a friend that loves me than to be flattered by an enemy that praises me only to watch me fall. How about you?
But there are some people that simply will not allow you to correct them.
Now, if this person is outside of the church and they are an unbeliever, the only thing you can really do is try to share the gospel with them and love them. We are not called to judge those outside the church. They have a Judge before Whom they will appear one day.
But if that person is in the church, then we are to hold one another accountable. That’s why we have passages like 1 Cor. 5-6.
However, what do you do if that person refuses your counsel and attempts to scoff at what you have to say?
Jesus tells us to not give what is holy to the dogs or cast our pearls before swine. Both of these creatures were considered unclean. If people won’t hear us and God’s Word, we are to treat them as though they were an unbeliever.
How would you treat an unbeliever? You would share the gospel when you can and live out the testimony you have, but you would not force the issue beyond their willingness to hear.
Now, there are some folks that are so hardened that you just have to shake the dust off your feet and move on. John says this about some of them:
16 If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask, and God will give him life—to those who commit sins that do not lead to death. There is sin that leads to death; I do not say that one should pray for that.
17 All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that does not lead to death.
God even told Jeremiah regarding Israel who had hardened their hearts against His prophets, “Don’t pray for this people because I won’t listen to you.”
We need to understand this morning that we can get to a place in our lives where God will no longer send us warnings. We can get to a place where God will no longer tell us to believe and turn to Christ for our salvation.
Don’t wait that long before you respond! Today is the day of salvation! If not today, why not? What would you need to change to believe the gospel? Do you not realize that you are trampling underfoot Jesus who saved you when you reject God’s invitation?
He will not take that lightly! You see this passage is about human judgment, but one day every knee is going to bow and every tongue is going to confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. One day those who are not believers in the Lord Jesus for the forgiveness of their sins will appear before the Great White Throne of Judgment.
11 Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them.
12 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done.
13 And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done.
14 Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire.
15 And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.
Jesus, the one is trampled by those who won’t believe is going to be the one sitting on that throne. None other than Jesus Christ Himself.
You don’t want to be judged by another human? I get that. But God has given human agents as his ambassadors to go before this great and terrible day of the Lord. I can assure that it is far better to stand before the judgment of man than to stand before the Lamb on that day.
Today, you have an option. Live your life in obedience to Christ and come to Him and be saved. Or you can shun His loving invitation and face the wrath of God one day in the future.
God loves you and sent His son for you. Believe today and be saved.
For you believers, know that we too will give an account to God for what we have done with what He has blessed us with. We will account for every idle word we say. We should be loving people and pointing them to Christ. We should examine ourselves and remove our trees from our eyes and then we can help our brother or sister with their issues a whole lot easier.