Who is Judging who? - will get there eventually

Cure for anxiety

After covering many things that may cause anxiety, worry, concern Jesus comes around to the solution to anxiety from everyday things. Or the cure for anxiety.

May we look at the passage together as it relates to the kingdom, kingdom citizens who live in a fallen world now with a heavenly kingdom to come.

Mt6:25-28 “25 “For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 “Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? 27 “And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life? 28 “And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin,”

Mt6:29-32 “29 yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. 30 “But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith! 31 “Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’ 32 “For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.”

Mt6:33-34 “33 “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. 34 “So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”

Q: What do you see as the overall theme or problem in this passage

Q: What do you see as the overall solution in this passage

Kingdom over Earthly riches

Your life, Your food, Your drink, Your body, Your clothing, Your worry (v.25)

Don’t get tangled up in these things, worry about these things, your life is more than these things.

Spurgeon said: You cannot say that Jesus ever troubled his head about what he should eat, or what he should drink, his meat and his drink consisted of doing his Father’s will.”

Jn4:34 “34 Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His work.”

Arguments against Worry

Mt6:26-30 “26 “Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? 27 “And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life? 28 “And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin, 29 yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. 30 “But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith!”

Trust God, don’t worry and here is why.

Birds don’t worry; They are taken care of; and you are worth more then they are

Carson says: “Birds don’t worry but they do work, they don’t just sit there with mouths open expecting God to fill them, they go and get the worms or the daily provision that God provides.”

We worry so much over material things of this world that we give little thought over God and his value of us! How much He loves us and cares for us.

Our worry can add nothing, in fact can take from our lives. Stress is a contributor to disease and poor health.

Our heavenly Father knows our needs, meets our needs so why worry. So

Seek His kingdom first

Mt6:33-34 “33 “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. 34 “So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”

Put God’s kingdom first and do not worry about your physical needs, God will take care of them.

Seek First His kingdom, His righteousness make that choice first and reinforce that decision daily and He will provide your daily bread and meet your daily need. You do your part, He will do His part. So don’t worry.

So misunderstood

A passage that is commonly known that is commonly misused by man to mean “don’t judge me!” - meaning you have to accept me and my actions no matter what.

Jesus has mostly been dealing with internal attitudes, the internal spiritual life of kingdom dwellers (giving, prayer, fasting, materialism, and anxiety over material things) that was in chapter-6

That was after describing the characteristics of the kingdom citizens in chapter-5 that was contrary to that of the words of the Pharisees and the Sadducee. Not that they were bad, but they had to be better. Unless theirs was better than the Pharisees and the Sadducee they could not enter the kingdom. (can look back to 5:20)

Let’s read our passage now and then will go back and make some general observations and break it down in our time together

Mt7:1-3 “1 “Do not judge so that you will not be judged. 2 “For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you. 3 “Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?”

Mt7:4-6 “4 “Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ and behold, the log is 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 what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before swine, or they will trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.”

Look carefully as the passage who is the main character in this passage? (YOU ARE)

What is the main focus in this passage? (JUDGMENT)

What is the order of things to be done in this passage?

First judge your self, then judge/help others

Jesus shifts the theme from self to how we treat others, but this starts with selves, so maybe we need to look at ourselves before we can look at others, this passage helps us make sure we don’t have a double standard.

Remember the Pharisee played God and were judging others by the standards they were setting and not living to themselves hence they were hypocrites, Jesus even called they white washed tombs (Mt23:27).

The measure that we judge others, the manner in which we judge others is the manner in which we need to judge ourselves, and judge ourselves first.

I found this interesting that some of the Rabbi’s of Jesus time taught this: “ God had two measures that He used to judge people. one measure of justice and the other was a measure of mercy, whichever you want God to use with you you should use that same measure with others.

Jesus does not prohibit the judgment of others, just know that the judgment that you use on others you must use that same measure on yourself too, and do it first. use the same measure, the same standard.

Let’s take a journey to a passage in Luke that helps paint a passage to help us understand

Lk18:9-14 “9 And He also told this parable to some people who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and viewed others with contempt: 10 “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 “The Pharisee stood and was praying this to himself: ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 12 ‘I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get.’ 13 “But the tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, the sinner!’ 14 “I tell you, this man went to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.””

The Pharisee was trusting in his own righteousness, his own works/deeds

The tax collector did not feel even worthy to lift his eyes to heaven.

Look at (v.14) what did Jesus have to say?

Now let’s move on

Must see clearly to help others

There was an old song years ago “I can see clearly now the rain is gone” well here it is we must see clearly when the plank is gone.

Mt7:3-5 “3 “Why do you look at 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,’ and behold, the log is 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.”

this is not about not helping your brother, it is about getting yourself right first. That is what Jesus was trying to show in (Lk18) the Pharisee needed humility and to be right first.

The purpose of self-judgment is to prepare us to serve others.

We are obligated to serve others, to help others to grow in grace. The Luke passage shows judgment with no grace.

Someone with a plank might not even be aware of it, for he is blind to it. Blind to his own faults. - always quick to see the faults in others, slow to see their own.

Think of Nathan pointing out to David his own sin (2Sam12)

The Pharisees saw the sins of other people, but they would not look at their own sins. Can we do that? Come on, be honest, can we? OK, just answer to yourself, not to me.

Know this, one day we will have to answer to Christ.

Rom2:16 “16 on the day when, according to my gospel, God will judge the secrets of men through Christ Jesus.”

Col3:22-25 “22 Slaves, in all things obey those who are your masters on earth, not with external service, as those who merely please men, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord. 23 Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men, 24 knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve. 25 For he who does wrong will receive the consequences of the wrong which he has done, and that without partiality.”

I mentioned a moment ago about it is not about not helping others, it is about being right first, then helping others, and in helping others we need to exercise love and tenderness like noted

Eph4:15 “15 but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ,”

When it comes to self-examination consider

Too shallow a look in the mirror that we don’t see the heart of the matter our real heart and deceive ourselves (Jm1:22-25)

Or another extreme spiritual perpetual autopsy where we only look at ourselves and never able to look to help others at all, because we become so discouraged and defeated at ourselves because of the accusations of the accuser (Rev12:10)

Let God reveal and remove the plank (Mt7:3) then you can help your brother remove the speck (v.4-5).

Love and Discernment

Matthew 7:6 GNB

6 “Do not give what is holy to dogs—they will only turn and attack you. Do not throw your pearls in front of pigs—they will only trample them underfoot.

Accepting, forgiving does not mean not to discern. Discernment is still needed by kingdom dwellers.

Dogs/Swine are often referred to those who are hostile to the gospel. Not talking about those who have not heard the gospel or those who are reluctant to the gospel, I am talking about those who are hostile to it.

Those who represent hostile to those who represent the kingdom of God and the Good News. They have heard and traded the truth (Rom1:25). that would be then throwing it to the dogs and the swine. offing the pearls that should belong to the community of saints, the truth of God’s word.

Could this be what Paul later refers to

2 Corinthians 4:4 NASB95

4 in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

They firmly reject the gospel for they have blinded the eyes of the unbelieving.

In closing this portion, consider what Poole had to say:

“The gospel is to be preached to every creature (Mk16:15). But when the Jews were hardened, and spoke evil of that way before the multitude (Act19:9), the apostles left preaching them.”

Look back to Mt5:13-16 with me to see what Jesus said there, it had nothing to do with words, it had to do with actions.

Mt5:13-16Mt5:13-16 “13 “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men. 14 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; 15 nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. 16 “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”

(summarize) (Close)