Don't Judge // Matthew 7:1-12

Table Question: How do you determine what one person thinks of another?

It goes almost without saying that the way we view others is reflected in our actions towards that person, or the opinions we express about that person when they are not around.

Our current culture could be described as the “Age of Double Standards”

What is a double standard? (A rule unfairly applied to different people or groups)

There are two kinds of people who can resonate with this more than anyone else in the world: siblings, and people with roommates.

How many times have you told whoever you live with, brother, sister, or roommate, not to take or use something of yours, only to catch them in the act of taking your stuff.

BUT, on the flip side of things, have you ever done the exact same thing? Knowing they have asked you not to touch or use their things, you do it anyway.

This is kind of a silly example, but I think it makes the point that our issue is that...

FCF: We tend to hold others to higher standards than we hold ourselves.

There’s a famous philosopher and theologian, Francis Schaeffer, who captures this problem of ours using an illustration now known as the “invisible tape recorder,” and this is what he say:

If every little baby that was ever born anywhere in the world had a tape recorder hung about its neck, and if this tape recorder only recorded the moral judgments with which this child as he grew bound other men, the moral precepts might be much lower than the biblical law, but they would still be moral judgments. Eventually each person comes to that great moment when he stands before God as judge. Suppose, then, that God simply touched the tape recorder button and each man heard played out in his own words all those statements by which he had bound other men in moral judgment. He could hear it going on for years—thousands and thousands of moral judgments made against other men, not aesthetic judgments, but moral judgments. Then God would simply say to the man, though he had never heard the Bible, now where do you stand in the light of your own moral judgments. The Bible points out in the passage quoted above that every voice would be stilled. All men would have to acknowledge that they have deliberately done those things which they knew to be wrong. Nobody could deny it.

- Francis Schaeffer, The Church in a Post Christian Culture

If we look back in the Sermon on the Mount, however, you’ll remember that Jesus has been teaching His disciples how they ought to live out a “righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees” (Matthew 5:20) to show themselves as citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven.

In this portion of the teaching, Jesus will give instruction on our treatment of others, and what I hope we will see as we read and study the text is this:

Main Idea: Our treatment of others should reflect God’s treatment of us.

How Jesus formats these teachings:

Instruction in response to our natural inclinations.

Application rooted in a theological principle.

*Read Matt. 7:1-12 and Pray*

First, lets talk about what we’re told not to do: Judge

1. Don’t judge, discern. (v. 1-6)

When we hear and use the word judge, there are two different meanings we could be trying to communicate.

What are the two meanings we could intend when we say we are “judging” something?

Discernment, or attempting to decide

Condemning, or executing consequence for someone’s actions

The instruction that Jesus is giving here is more in line with telling us not to condemn our brother for reasons that become more evident as we continue reading.

One reason I think we need this reminder, against anger, against judgement, is because a theme that appears throughout the Bible, Old and New Testaments is that, like Deuteronomy 32:35 says,“Vengeance belongs to me [the LORD]; I [He] will repay.”

When we enact judgement on another person, we are putting ourselves in the place of God, carrying out an act that is reserved for only God alone.

Further than that, we will cause all kinds of turmoil in our relationships, because we are no better than the people we’re judging!

I want to quickly bring your attention to the word, notice in verse 3.

Who has the NIV (“pay no attention”) or the NKJV (“do not consider”)? What does your Bible put in place of the word “notice”?

Notice that Jesus does not disregard that there may actually be a splinter in our brother’s eye.

There may very well be a sinful behavior or occurence in someone’s life that is noticeable to us and others, but the more significant sin is to condemn someone else before considering the presence of sin in our own lives.

This is where the hypocrisy comes into play: Being a hypocrite does not mean that you fail to notice other’s sins or problems, but it means that you are holding others to a standard that we do not hold ourselves to. This is why Jesus teaches us to deal with the log in our eye first: it frees us to graciously help others who may be blind to their sin. But it must be done with grace and humility.

So if we are instructed not condemn, what we are encouraged to do?... Discern

Jesus explains this using a parable in Matt. 7:6

Matthew 7:6 CSB

6 Don’t give what is holy to dogs or toss your pearls before pigs, or they will trample them under their feet, turn, and tear you to pieces.

What does this have to do with anything that we have talked about? Well, its a lesson in discernment:

Who here has ever had a dog tear up something that they shouldn’t have?

Who here has ever seen how pigs live?

In neither case does the animal value the thing placed before it. Jesus is intentionally presenting things that are incompatible with each other.

But how does that apply? Honestly, I have wrestled with this and read about it and listened to podcasts, and here’s how I have started to wrap my head around what Jesus is saying in this parable:

We cannot impose or expect unbelievers to conform to the wisdom, truth, and commands of God. When it comes to our correction of others for the sake of adherence to what the Bible teaches, we need to really consider who we intend to correct and how we intend to do it.

2. Don’t withhold, give. (v. 7-11)

Jesus gives us three commands here, and all are related to prayer in verse 7. What are they?

Ask, Seek, and Knock

The pastor Charles Spurgeon offers some helpful commentary on these commands in writing:

So the prayers grow from asking, which is the statement, to seeking, which is the pleading, and then to knocking, which is the urgent requesting. To each of these stages of prayer there is a distinct promise. He who asks will have; what more did he ask for? But he who seeks will go further; he will find, will enjoy, will grasp, and will know that he has obtained. He who knocks will go further still, for he will understand, and to him will the precious thing be opened. He will not merely have the blessing and enjoy it, but he will comprehend it… I want you, however, to notice this fact which covers all: whatever for your prayer may assume, it will succeed.

-Charles Spurgeon, The Power in Prayer, 19.

The point he’s echoing here that Jesus makes is that God not only hears our prayers, but He desires that we pray to Him and promises to answer us! Not only does He promise to answer, but He delights in answering the prayers of His children.

And Jesus, really hammering down on this point uses the illustration of earthly fathers caring for their children. Look to Matt. 7:9-11

Matthew 7:9–11 CSB

9 Who among you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him.

Now this likely begs the question, “What about all the things I have prayed for that God has not given me?”

Well, first, good question, because you recognize that there are no prayers left unanswered: God either says yes or no. But to answer your question, in the words of my hero, Tim Keller:

“God will either give us what we ask for in prayer, or give us what we would have asked for if we knew everything he knows.”

- Tim Keller, Prayer: Experiencing Awe and Intimacy with God

Therefore, just as God is generous in giving to us, so we should be generous in giving to others. We should not be deceptive, nor withholding when we give, but generous, as God in heaven is generous.

Application: Your treatment of others is a direct reflection of your love for God. (v. 12)

What’s another name for this rule? The Golden Rule

I’d argue that this is the Golden Rule not because of what the world usually means by it, but more so because of what Jesus says it means: that to do this fulfills the Law and Prophets.

Again this seems somewhat out of place, but I want to take you back to Matthew 5:17

Matthew 5:17 CSB

17 “Don’t think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to abolish but to fulfill.

If this way of living fulfills the Law and Prophets, then that means Jesus lived this out to the fullest. His life directed towards others was wholly motivated by His love for His Father in heaven and for those He came in contact with.

In love, we should seek to treat others with the same care that God has for us.

Because, and we’ll close with this...

At the heart of God’s treatment of us is His love for us that He revealed in the life of Jesus.

Jesus took on judgement so that we may escape it.

Jesus placed Himself before us, knowing He’d be torn pieces.

Jesus has given the greatest gift, God’s forgiveness, to us freely.

And Jesus has done for us what He desires us to do for all others: forgive, love, and give of ourselves freely.