Overcoming Judging

How do we get past judging, being critical, hasty, condemnation?

We live in a Kingdom.

God is the King of that Kingdom

The church is the body of that Kingdom

Christ is the head of the body

Within this body, we operate as Family

Matthew 7:12 (KJV 1900)

12 Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.

The basic positive affirmation that governs all human relationships is, as you have heard it since you were a child, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”

True love reaches out and does to others what it would wish to be done to itself, even though it may know that it never will be done.

We are selfish individuals. All cultures have turned this Golden Rule into a negative rather than a positive.

“Don’t do anything to someone that you don’t want done to you.”

Anybody can do this because it is a great principle.

Selfless love is able to do, and to do, and to do what it wishes were done to it, even though it knows it never will be that way.

But the positive aspect is utterly impossible. To assume in your own heart what you would want the very most and do that for somebody else is beyond the purview of an unregenerate man. It just isn’t going to happen. Why? Because, apart from God, the Bible says men are, 2 Timothy 3:2

2 Timothy 3:2 (KJV 1900)

2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,

Titus 3:3 (KJV 1900)

3 For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another.

Now, every once in a while, you know, somebody may stumble on a good deed and do something, like the blind pig that finds the slop now and then. It may happen inadvertently. But it’ll never be a pattern of life. It’ll never be a conscious, purely motivated, free giving pattern of life.

Why? Because we are selfish.

The worlds ethics, the negative rule, is driven by fear. Fear of retaliation or evil.

God’s ethics, the Positive rule, is driven by Love.

We are driven by self preservation, so the the negative rule of ethics is easy for us. Because none of us like bad, harmful, evil things done to us.

Love on the other hand can only be produced by God in us.

And the world in its ethics can restrain itself from doing certain things because of fear, but will not find the power to do other things of a goodness nature because it doesn’t have the love of God shed abroad in its heart. That demands the knowledge of Christ.

Philippians 2:20–21 KJV 1900

20 For I have no man likeminded, who will naturally care for your state. 21 For all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ’s.

Only Christ can get you to put others needs before yourself.

So what does this look like.

Close your eyes for just a moment, I want you to seriously think way down in your own heart and determine what you would really want or desire for yourself.

Have you got it? Do you know what you would really, really, want?

Then do what you really want, buy what you really want, for someone else.

Typically, everything we do, we do for a self seeking goal whether it is to gain the affection of your peers, to gain a reputation, to make a name for yourself in society, to have a martyr’s complex, to go down in history, to whatever, whatever.

Almost never do we ever take our desire and do it for someone else.

Now you understand a little more Romans 3:10-12

Romans 3:10–12 (KJV 1900)

10 As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:

11 There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.

12 They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.

God’s Purpose Demands Obedience.

Matthew 7:12 (KJV 1900)

12 Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.

The standard of the law is focused on this principle.

The Old Testament is focused on just not doing things.

But Jesus elevated it to

Matthew 22:37 KJV 1900

37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

The last half of the ten commandments present the standard to do not kill, you will not covet, you will not lie, you will not steal or Commit adultery.

But Jesus elevated it to

Matthew 22:39 KJV 1900

39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

Notice this elevation is not based on fear, “an eye for an eye” but on love.

Matthew 5:20 KJV 1900

20 For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.

The Scribes and the Pharisees were not doing this things commanded to abstain from in the law, but they sure were not doing for others as they would want for theirselves.

James, the half brother of Jesus, refers to it as the royal law.

James 2:8 (KJV 1900)

8 If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well:

The whole Bible teaches that love is what hangs in the entire law and prophets.

The law is the very minimum standard.

Love is the maximum realitity.

Look at another scripture,

Romans 13:8 (KJV 1900)

8 Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law.

If you love your neighbor, you are giving instead of taking.

Romans 13:9–10 (KJV 1900)

9 For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

10 Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

God’s Promise Demands Obedience.

Matthew 7:12 (KJV 1900)

12 Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.

Now that we understand the purpose of the principle, lets follow the therefore back.

Matthew 7:7–8 KJV 1900

7 Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: 8 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.

Do you see the promise?

Whatever we ask and seek and knock for, we’re going to receive.

Let me ask you a serious question:

How many of you have ask for things that you never received? or sought for things that you didn’t find? or knocked and a door wasn’t opened.

We use this verse so wrong all the time and then when it doesn’t work, we say the Bible is not true and is full of lies.

We are always getting the promise before the purpose.

Let’s jump to James 4 right quick.

James 4:1–3 (KJV 1900)

1 From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members?

2 Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not.

3 Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.

James 4:4 KJV 1900

4 Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.

Are you getting the promise before the purpose?

Now, listen, with the context of the purpose.

God is saying we can feel free to give to others and to do for others and to sacrifice for others and to love others because we can be confident that, in giving up all we have to someone else, we have an ultimate and eternal resource to replenish our own needs. You see?

Oh, this is so good:

I can do unto others what I would do for myself without fear of having nothing left, because all I have to do is turn to my loving Father, who gives me bread for every day and takes care of me in every way, and I shall never do without that which I need. Now, is that a far cry from the way we live? You’d better believe it. We are so selfish and possessive.

Why would Jesus Christ confuse us by giving the illustration and promise before giving us the Purpose?

Because He is the master teacher. We are just the students and context, context, context.

Notice again

Matthew 7:1-5 gives the negative side of human relations.

What is the negative side of human relationships?

The tendency to do what? Judge.

So he says, “Judge not”.

Don’t criticize. Don’t be gossiping, backbiting critic.

Now, remember, the danger of that is that in not wanting to criticize, we may become gullible and vulnerable, not wanting to speak up, right?

Does that mean we’re not supposed to reprove and rebuke a brother in sin? No.

Does it mean we’re not supposed to discriminate and discern false prophets, false teachers and apostates? No.

Matthew 7:5 (KJV 1900)

5 Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.

Remember, the purpose of confronting sin is repentance and reconciliation, not Condemnation.

Matthew 7:6 KJV 1900

6 Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.

Remember, 2 Peter 2, the hogs and dogs are those false teachers that teach damnable heresies, deny the price Jesus paid for forgiveness, and teach others to follow their pernicious, toxic ways.

Who is it that’s able to discern or be able to see sin in a believer’s heart or life and lovingly go and restore that believer?

Only God can discern the heart. Therefore, we must go to God

Matthew 7:7 KJV 1900

7 Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:

When we deal with sinners, we need spiritual discernment, we need the non-condemning love of Jesus Christ.

That is looking backwards in the context, but what how it reaches forward to the therefore.

How do we know the speck is out of my eye before I approach someone else with a beam in their eye?

Not with criticism or condemnation, but with love.

Knowing that God will give us what we need to give to others.

You are not asking to be used on you, you are not seeking to find for your benefit, and you are not knocking for it to be opened for you.

You are not wanting to consume it on your own lusts and desires. You are wanting to bless others and bring them to repentance and reconciliation with God, our father, and when we have them reconciled with our Father, then they will be reconciled to us, no longer hogs and dogs who cannot appreciate the holy, precious things of God.

That is why Jesus uses 3 imperatives here. Keep asking, keep seeking, keep knocking.

Persistence, constancy, and simplicity.

God’s Pattern Demands Obedience.

Remember Eph 5:1

Ephesians 5:1 KJV 1900

1 Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children;

Walk as God walks.

Conduct your life the way God does.

If I am a child of God, shouldn’t I resemble God in looks and actions?

That why Paul says in verse 2

Ephesians 5:2 (KJV 1900)

2 And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour.

So, notice this pattern.

Matthew 7:9–10 KJV 1900

9 Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? 10 Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent?

Will any of you parents give your child a rock when they ask for bread?

Absolutely not, they might break a tooth or get it lodged in their digestive tract. It would be costly or even deadly.

Ok, What about if they want a fish, would you slip in a serpent?

Now I read this thinking about the fear factor because I hate snakes. But the assumption is to eat so it is dead and cooked. According to the law, a fish was a clean animal and a serpent or eel, was an unclean animal.

Would you as a parent willing cause your child to violate the law?

Matthew 7:11 (KJV 1900)

11 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?

“If ye, then, being evil,” and, beloved, there is one of the greatest statements made from the beginning to the end of the Bible on the fallen nature of man—even when he does good things to his children, he does not override the basic evil nature—

“If ye, then, being evil,” and you are evil when you even give a good gift to your child, like bread and fish and an egg, just basic substance, but if you, with an evil, vile, fallen, corrupt and sinful nature, do that much out of a sense of parental love,

“then how much more”—there’s that how much more argument that He used in chapter 6—

“how much more shall your Father”—instead of saying “who is good,” He says, “who is in heaven,” which implies His holiness,

“give good things to them that ask Him.” And Luke adds, “give the Holy Spirit, the best of all things, to them that ask him.”

And the point is this. If evil, unregenerate, sinful fathers give their kids the basics of life, don’t you think God’ll do that?

And the idea that I see here is that

God is the absolute giving Father, who gives to all what they need, knowing full well they could never give back to Him anything, in kind or measure. And if that’s the way He is, then isn’t that the way we, His children, should be toward others? See?

His purpose demands Obedience. It’s the whole reason for the law.

His promise frees us up to do it, because He will replenish everything that we do for others.

And here we find the majesty of this thought, His pattern is this way to us.

How can we say we are His children and do less for others than Jesus does for us?

Matthew 7:12 (KJV 1900)

12 Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.

We ask, He gives, and He gives what is best, and never deceives and never defiles and never destroys. He is our pattern. And with that pattern we are to give to others out of love.

But the problem is this. Basically, we are evil. And even when we become Christians, we still have sin in us, don’t we? And the fight for selfishness dominates our lives.

So how do we get there?

We start with a broken heart, we recognize our spiritual poverty, we mourn, we submit to Christ and His authority, we hunger and thirst for Jesus Christ, and then we can be merciful, pure in heart, and peacemakers, and then we become salt and light.

So we need to be broken in our hearts, that we might be unselfish toward others.