Judging Others

Start with prayer

Hi my name is Steve, a believer in the Lord Jesus for more than 20 years. I just want to glorify God with this teaching tonight, which is why I am here every Wednesday and available to teach on Sundays. All of you impress me each week with your knowledge and understanding of the verses of Jesus our Lord. I pray that with the Holy Spirit’s help I can teach you God’s Word simple and straightforward. Always bring your Bibles. Let’s open to Matthew 7:1-6.

These verses begin the final chapter of Jesus’s sermon on the mount which is all about teaching us how to live a life as a disciple of Jesus. A how to on life in the Kingdom as believers.

v. 1: “Do not judge, or you too will be judged.”

For context, let’s consider who is Jesus speaking to here. He is speaking to His fellow countryman as Jews and the leaders the Pharisees. To His disciples and to future believers as in each of us.

The words “Do not judge” are a command from our Lord Jesus of not condemning others or else be condemned. The idea denotes expressing a negative attitude about someone else. Not simply just a negative attitude, but also it means to pronounce judgement of someone else to the degree that the judge myself and not God is deciding their afterlife. A look down your nose attitude towards others. God is the judge not us.

v 2 : “For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”

“Judge” in these verses is referring to evaluating others. Appraising their value based upon how I see the other person. Appraising others is a method of measuring a person’s value and using that measurement to determine if they go to heaven or hell. Jesus tells us that this negative attitude we have about someone else will be used by God to appraise us as well. The measurement of judgement we use will be the ruler used for us. The condemning statements I make about another believer will be what God uses to judge me. God is the Judge not us. It is written Romans 14:12 “So then each of us will give an account of himself to God.” and also

James 2:13 “For judgment will be without mercy toward one who doesn’t show mercy; but mercy wins out over judgment.”

Let’s see the following example Jesus gives us...

v 3-4: “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye?”

Our Bibles are translations from other languages. We know the authors grew up learning Hebrew as required schooling for Israelites in Jesus’s day. There is a mountain of evidence that confirms the authenticity and accuracy of every word in our Bibles, which shows us that God inspired authors to write in ancient Greek. Let’s examine a couple meanings of the words here.

“…Speck of sawdust” here means the smallest of pieces of wood and “plank” means the largest pieces of wood in Greek. The plank would actually be referring to a support beam that is used in building a floor below or a roof above. So, its strong, sturdy, and heavy. Imagine how that would look? A giant beam of wood that can hold up a roof sticking out of your eye?

For example, I used to spend every morning playing Warzone completing my battle pass with my brother in Christ Tim. We had fun and messed with people online. I joked around and maybe cussed a time or two, but nothing too crazy unlike Tim who sent hateful mocking messages to those he defeated. He cursed them and was arrogant and prideful. Tim's pride grew and he started telling other members of the church how wrong it was that I was the one who messed with other online players and cussed them when we beat them. Never speaking of the fact that he took it further with hateful messages and trash talk. Instead of being focused on his own relationship with God and his own sins he became overly concerned about my little sins and knew how to fix me. But he never approached me to talk to me about what I was doing.

Jesus here is saying that we should not focus so heavily on others and what they are doing (the speck of sawdust) before dealing with our own. In fact, if our condemnation about someone else’s sin is the very same sin we are doing than it amounts to a plank in our own eye!

Having a hobby like playing Warzone is not a sin, but spreading rumors and lies about another believer is a sin. Being mean and hateful towards others is a sin. How we spend our time is between us and the Lord. Tim who was measuring my walk by a standard of “how I acted when I played Warzone” vs “how he acted when playing Warzone” will be judged by God based upon that same measurement. Remember Tim played with me and did way worse things to others than I did? Therefore, God’s judgment will be harder on him. How very important it is that we make sure we are not doing the very same thing we are accusing another believer in Jesus of doing.

v 5: “You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.”

A hypocrite “was applied to an actor on the theater stage. Since an actor pretends to be someone other than himself, a person who ‘acts a part’ in real life, pretending to be better than he actually is, one who simulates goodness.” (Wycliff Bible Encyclopedia). Here is the point of what Jesus is teaching us about judging. That if we don't deal with our own sin first, then, we are a hypocrite when trying to help someone with their own sin. We need to have an attitude of loving our neighbors as we love our self, but to do that we have to be right with God first. We will then see clearly instead of being blinded by self-centered judgments or planks.

“First take the plank out of your own eye” is a command from Jesus, but we are not being commanded by Jesus our Lord to never have opinions. On the contrary, He is teaching us how to help each other reform from our sins as Gods family. When we see another believer sinning we should pray and examine ourselves first to make sure we don't have a plank in our own eye before humbly and encouragingly approaching our fellow believer in Christ to help them remove their speck of sin. This is something that should be done with prayer, love, grace and humility.

Here is what Paul wrote in Romans 2:1 “Therefore you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things.”

Jesus also said in Luke 6:37 ““Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven;”

How do we cleanse ourselves of the plank of sin in our own eye? Its actually quite simple. Just an act called repentance. Meaning take responsibility for our sins and pray to God the Father in Jesus name for He is faithful and by faith cancels the record of sins against us. It is written:

1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

v 6: “Do not give to dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.”

Strange verse here to say, but it has a very practical application for us. Let’s break it down.

Pigs and dogs were both considered unclean by the Torah in Lev 11:7 & Lev 11:27. Don’t worry pigs and dogs are for us because Jesus said in Mark 7:19 “since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?” (Thus he declared all foods clean.)”

Pearls are highly valued. What are the pearls in this case? Well, pearls are the words of Jesus as in His teachings. We are supposed to get out there and share the Gospel of our Savior, but it’s not our job to win people for the Kingdom. God does that work. There will be people who no matter how nice, how serving, how loving, how graceful, that we won’t be able to help and that’s okay because we did what God wants us to do. Dust off your sandals and move on. Pray for them and God does the work in their hearts not us. Therefore, don’t cast pearls because the pigs and the dogs will just smash and attack and not care for the value.

Have you ever known someone who just won’t listen to anything you say? You see them fail again and again and again. You tell them the correct way over and over and all they do is get upset and yell and run away. Well, that's what is meant here that we shouldn't waste our time badgering people whom scoff, mock, argue and never listen. Plant the seed of the Gospel. Serve and love them. Pray for them, but don't waste time in heated arguments trying to win them to your side. God is the judge not us. We plant the seeds and God makes them grow.

Application: What should we do?

Jesus has just taught us how to correct other believers in a loving graceful way by first examining ourselves making sure we are free from the plank of our sin before we seek to help gently our brother or sister in Christ with the speck of their sin. The sin is not to be ignored and we are not instructed to be opinion less bots. We are also instructed not to present holy things or pearls to those who won’t listen. To put it another way, we are not to spend our time trying to remove the specks of sin from unbelievers. Rather instead we are to spend our time helping other believers cleanse themselves from sin. It is written Galatians 6:10 “..let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.” and 1 Thessalonians 5:11 “...encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.”

Lets pray…

Is there a plank of sin you need to confess to God to see clearly?

Is there a believer you see a need to help with their speck of sin? If someone comes to mind pray for yourself and then how to help that other believer.

Have you ever been unfairly judged?