Live Judgement Free

Unmasking Judgment: Living Free from Criticism

Bible Passage: Matthew 7:1–6

Game: No hands cookie

Music Take You at Your Word

Gratitude

Summary: In Matthew 7:1-6, Jesus teaches about the dangers of judgmental attitudes and the importance of self-examination before condemning others. He emphasizes the need for humility and discernment in our interactions with others, particularly in the context of our own faults.

Application: This message is crucial for teens who often face peer pressure and judgment. By learning to approach others with grace instead of criticism, they can foster healthier friendships and a more supportive community. It also empowers them to reflect on their own behaviors and attitudes, promoting personal growth.

Teaching: The sermon teaches that genuine love and understanding must replace the tendency to judge others harshly. It encourages self-reflection and calls for caution in how we look at the faults of those around us, urging an attitude of grace instead.

How this passage could point to Christ: This passage points to Christ as the ultimate judge, who demonstrates grace and understanding rather than harsh judgment. He embodies the principle of mercy, having offered Himself as the solution for our shortcomings, enabling us to extend the same grace to others.

Big Idea: Living judgment-free starts with examining ourselves and embracing grace, allowing us to foster stronger, more loving relationships with those around us.

Recommended Study: As you prepare for this sermon, consider using Logos to explore the cultural and historical context of judgment in Jewish society at the time of Jesus. Investigate the original Greek terms used in the passage for deeper understanding, particularly focusing on the nuances of 'judging' and 'pearls before swine.' Additionally, examining commentaries can provide insights into common misinterpretations of these verses and how they can be misapplied.

Intro

Illustration? -I went to a youth conference when I was in High School called truth and peace. Its this big leadership conference for teens, and there was this guy there named jacob. Now when I first saw Jacob, I thought he was a loser. I immediately thought he was weird, he was this real tall skinny kid from southern alabama, I figured he was your typical I’m so holy type of person and i immediately judged him for that. Come to find out he thought around the same things about me. Because of this judgment, we were never friends. Later on I end up going to college and my roommate starts hanging out with this guy jacob. And im so confused because my roommate was cool why would he be hanging out with this loser guy jacob. Well I ended up hanging out with him some, and fast forward a few years and jacob is one of my closest friends and was not at all the guy i thought he was. You see, we really like to judge people. We think we have everyone figured out, and I know that example wasnt super serious, but how often have we totally incorrectly judged peopel? I remember a time in church where if you showed up to church wearing what I’m wearing now you were a heathen! and some churches can still be liek that today! but what does the Bible say about judging people? What does the bible say about it? Well I’m glad you asked because the next part of the sermon on the mount jesus talks about exaclty that.

Recap

Live Different

how we should live

Built Different

Live Defeated

How we should think

Live Genuine

how we should practice

Live Focused

where our motives should be

Live Gracious

how to live with others

What the world tells us

1. Swap Judgment for Grace

Matthew 7:1–2 ““Do not judge, so that you won’t be judged. For you will be judged by the same standard with which you judge others, and you will be measured by the same measure you use.”

Maybe you can begin by highlighting Jesus' warning against judging others and His teaching that the measure we use will be the measure used against us. Teens face constant judgment in social media and school environments. Encourage them to replace criticism with understanding. You could suggest cultivating a habit of grace, echoing Christ's own love and mercy, fostering a supportive community.

First off what is judgment?

this is not talking about courts

not talking about turning blind eye to sin

talking about looking for negatives in everyone else

Greek word krinete, means dont pass judgment on someone, meaning dont judge as if you are above someone you are not

condemming us pretending to be judges over our brother

its this idea of looking at other people and judging their character based on actions

have you ever looked at someone and decided you knew exactly what type of person they were? or talked to someone and thought you knew who they were, or seen someone’s post and thought you did?

thats the type of judgement Jesus is talking about here, not judging / punishing someone for their actions, I’m sorry but Jesus is not saying your parents can’t “judge” your actions and sentence you to being grounded, he’s not talking about that

It’s that judgment when we dont judge someone’s actions, but their character

because here’s the thing, who are we to judge someone’s character? we dont know their heart? only God does, that type of judgment is reserved for God in the final judgment like we talk about a couple sundays ago

its ok to judge an action, the Bible talks a lot about that, but its not ok to judge character, Luke 18:11 “The Pharisee was standing and praying like this about himself: ‘God, I thank you that I’m not like other people—greedy, unrighteous, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.”

Jesus knew that after he had just told us to have righteousness greater than Pharisees, that our first inclination would be to judge others as measly sinners who arent as good as us

trust me i know this feeling, when I first started to get really serious about my faith, I started judging other people who werent and thought man I’m just a better Christian than them… HOW WOULD I KNOW THAT?

So why should we avoid judging others?

because we will be judged by the same standard we judge others with…

HARSH, let me tell yall the way I judge other people, I do not wanna be judged by that standard, you see we humans have a fun tendency to judge other people’s actions very harshly, and then give ourselves a whole lot of generosity, Jesus says by the same standard we judge others, we will be judged.

so then how should we judge other people? well if you want God to judge you graciously, which I hope you do I know I do, then treat others graciously. Be a people of forgiveness

reminds of me of earlier in the sermon on the mount Jesus told us to forgive others so you will be forgiven, similarly judge others the way you want to be judged.

the pharisees as we saw earlier, had established this system of judgment based around works, they were holy because they appeared holy, and tax collectors or other bad jobs, well those people were just immediately evil because they didnt fit the standard, Jesus says no, leave that judgment behind because that’s how you will be judged… I would hate to be judged by that standard

So show mercy because we need it, if you believe God has already shown you mercy, and you want to be judged with mercy, than show it to those around you

2. Self-Examine with Humility

Matthew 7:3–4 “Why do you look at the splinter in your brother’s eye but don’t notice the beam of wood in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the splinter out of your eye,’ and look, there’s a beam of wood in your own eye?”

Perhaps you can emphasize Jesus' call to self-awareness before addressing others' faults. Teens are encouraged to reflect on their own imperfections before quick to judge peers. Encouraging honest self-reflection helps foster a humble heart, mirroring the forgiving nature of Christ. This approach promotes personal growth and a mindset aligned with Christ's teachings of mercy.

Before any judging of others, we should equally judge ourselves

Jesus uses this illustration, almost like imagine you were an eye doctor trying to remove a spec of dust from someones eyes, but you yourself are blind. He uses it in terms of carpentry, like you are trying to remove a speck of wood from your brother’s eye, when you have a whole plank in front of you blocking your vision.

we have to first judge ourselves before passing judgment on others

He’s talking about hypocrisy here again, the hypocrisy of judging others when you need judgment yourself

This goes back to the idea of how we really like to exagerate other people’s problems and lessen our own, Jesus is calling us out on that!

Just like it would be pointless to remove a spec from someones eye with a log in your own, its pointless to judge someones character without first completely judging ourselves

we have to be self aware of our own faults

this awareness thought, doesnt necessarily lead us to judgment, it should bring us down to humility, humility of knowing we had a massive log in our own eyes, and so we have no need to judge, becuase we were once in the same place, or worse

The beautiful unifying theme of the gospel is that we are all equally bad sinners, the worst person you can think of and the best person you can think of are all going to the same place, unless they trust God, whcih they both have equal opportunity to do, so when you have the thoughts to judge, remember to look at yourself first, and then let that feeling lead you to not judge that person but to see them for who they are, God’s creation, and point them to Him through love

You should feel unworthy to judge other people when you look at your own sin, I know I do, maybe I see someone in an obvious lie and I begin to think to myself wow they’re a liar I can never trust them again, but then I look at myself, how many times have I lied, I don’t view myself as a liar I should show grace to them instead. Or maybe I see someone post something and I think wow they’re just an attention seeker, but then I look at myself, how many times have I done that etc etc

3. Discern and Share Wisely

Matthew 7:5–6 “Hypocrite! First take the beam of wood out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to take the splinter out of your brother’s eye. 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.”

You might focus on Jesus' instruction to avoid hypocrisy and to discern wisely in sharing valuable truths. Encourage teens to act in humility and discernment when dealing with others, akin to not casting pearls before swine. This reinforces the concept of discerning value and offering grace, as Christ does to us, laying a foundation for genuine and respectful relationships grounded in love.

Here again, Jesus reminds us that when we judge like that, we are hypocrites, how dare we think that when we ourselves are no better.

so, if you are going to correct a brother, make sure you correct yourself first. But here’s the irony in that, we will never be fully corrected, so we just shouldnt judge anyways! This doesn’t mean dont correct a brother if they go wrong, but don’t judge someone else without judging yourself first

Then Jesus gives us a fun illustration of this, he likens judging as holy things and pearls, and compares those who judge others as dogs or pigs, which jews viewed very unclean. I wonder if he maybe pointed at some pharisees when he said that. Those holy things and pearls are meant for God alone, its not our job to pass on His judgement, Judgment is for the Lord.

Application

So what do we do with all this?

I think we have a few applications we can take from these few verses

first, dont judge others character, because that is for God alone

the only person who should be able to judge others character, is one who has perfect character himself

If we do, God will judge us with the same harshness

Second, correct yourself before you correct others

if you notice a speck in your brothers eye, make sure to get the log out of your own first

its ok to correct people, but make sure you are corrected first

imagine if we had a communtiy we are all constantly correcting ourselves and helping eachother correct mistakes out of love and not judgment, it would be amazing!

Don’t be a pig

just dont its gross

So I ask you, is your heart full of judgment, are there people you’ve judged harshly, I wanna challenge you to replace that with grace this week

because Jesus showed us grace. We deserved judgment, but instead he gave us the gift of eternal life. He gave us the opportunity to have all of our sins wiped away, because of that, who are we to judge? We Live defeated knowing we could never attain God on our own, but because Jesus lived Generously, and generously gave us the gift of eternal life, we too can share that generosity in how we view those around us.