Judging Others – 4

Sermon on the Mount - 75

Matthew 7:1–6 (NIV84)

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

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

3“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?

4How 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?

5You 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.

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

This series on Judging Others covers these verses of Scripture.

We’ll look into each of these verses in more detail, the Lord willing.

Matthew 7:5 (NIV84)

5You 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.

Hypocrite = ὑποκριτής hypokritēs = hypocrite (actor): a person who professes beliefs and opinions that he or she does not hold in order to conceal his or her real feelings or motives.

One who pretends to be other than he really is.

Matthew 23:25–28 (NIV84)

25“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.

26Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.

27“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and everything unclean.

28In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside, you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.

The Pharisees were hypocrites who looked good on the outside but inside they were full of sin: greed, self-indulgence, wickedness, hypocrisy, and everything unclean.

2 Corinthians 2:17 (HCSB)

17For we are not like the many who market God’s message for profit. On the contrary, we speak with sincerity in Christ, as from God and before God.

Sincerity = εἰλικρίνεια eilikrineia 3x (1 Cor. 5:8; 2 Cor. 1:12; 2:17) = the quality of being honest and straightforward in attitude and speech (the absence of affectation or pretense).

A.W. Pink (1886-1952): Sincerity is the opposite of counterfeit and dishonesty, of pretense and imposture. It is to be genuine, to be in reality what we are in appearance—frank, true, unfeigned, conscientious.

The Greek word for sincerity in our text properly means “that which is judged in the sunshine, that which is clear and manifest.”

Our English word sincere is derived from the Latin sine cera, which means “without wax,” and the origin of that Latin expression approximates very closely the etymology of the Greek word.

The ancient Romans had a very delicate and valuable porcelain, exceedingly fragile, and only with much trouble could it be fired without being cracked.

Dishonest dealers were in the habit of filling in the cracks that appeared with a special white wax, but when their ware was held up to the light the wax was evident, being darker in color than the porcelain. Thus it came about that honest dealers marked their ware sine cera, “without wax,” having sun-tested it.

Sincerity is opposed to mixture: of truth and error, of godliness and worldliness, of loveliness and sin.

A sincere person has not assumed Christianity as a mask, but his motives are disinterested (unbiased) and pure, his conduct is free from double-dealing and cunning, his words express the real sentiments of his heart.

He is one who can bear to have the light turned upon him, the springs of his actions scrutinized by God Himself.

Matthew 15:7–9 (NLT)

7You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you, for he wrote,

8‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.

9Their worship is a farce, for they teach man-made ideas as commands from God.’”

R.C. Sproul: The people of God were giving God only lip service—praising His name, singing hymns, and praying, but not loving Him from their hearts.

They obeyed the external traditions, but internally there was nothing but decay and spiritual death.

They taught manmade rules as God’s commandments. The spirituality of the Scribes and Pharisees was pointless and empty.

Matthew 7:5 (NIV84)

5You 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.

First = πρῶτος protos = before anything else.

Take = ἐκβάλλω ekballō = to cast out, eject by force; to expel, force away; to extract.

to throw or cast out of a place or absolutely to throw out, throw overboard.

We are not simply to relocate the plank; we are to throw it away, far from us with the intention of never getting it back again.

Psalm 51:7–13 (NIV84)

7Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.

Hyssop was used in cleansing: the case of the man who had been healed of leprosy (Lev. 14:4) and the case of the man who had touched a dead body and defiled himself by so doing (Num. 19:18).

Israelites used hyssop branches to apply the blood of the Passover lamb to their doorposts (Exodus 12:22).

I will be clean = טָהֵר ṭâhêr = to be pure (physically sound, clear, unadulterated; uncontaminated; morally innocent or holy).

Wash me. Let it not merely be in type that I am clean, but by real spiritual purification, which shall remove the pollution of my nature. Let the sanctifying as well as the pardoning process be perfected in me. Save me from the evils which my sin has created and nourished in me. (C.H. Spurgeon)

8Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice.

9Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity.

10Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.

11Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me.

12Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.

Restore to me the joy of your salvation. None but God can give back this joy; he can do it; we may ask it; he will do it for his own glory and our benefit.

This joy comes not first, but follows pardon and purity: in such order it is safe, in any other it is vain presumption or idiotic delirium. (C.H. Spurgeon)

13Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will turn back to you.

Before you can teach or witness to others, you must address your own sins first.

Psalm 139:23–24 (NIV84)

23Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.

24See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

Search = חָקַר ḥāqar = to explore, search out, probe.

explore, search out, discover, probe, sound out, examine, test, i.e., try to find out information about.

Test = בָּחַן bāḥan = to put to the test in order to ascertain the nature of something, including imperfections, faults, or other qualities.

test metals by melting; to examine, put to the test.

Anxious thoughts = שַׂרְעַפִּים śarʿappîm = troubled thought: thoughts that cause a person to be troubled or disquieted.

Offensive = עֹצֶב otseb = hurtful way (of any wicked habit; way of idolatry)

Way is one’s course of conduct.

Thomas à Kempis, The Imitation of Christ: All men are frail, but you must admit that none is more frail than yourself.

King David’s desire was to be holy through and through. He asked God to examine the depths of his inner being and to expose anything that was offensive to Him so that he could repent of it.

1 Corinthians 11:27–32 (NIV84)

27Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord.

28A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup.

29For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself.

30That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep.

31But if we judged ourselves, we would not come under judgment.

1 Corinthians 11:31 (CSB)

31 If we were properly judging ourselves, we would not be judged,

32When we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned with the world.

To eat and drink without honoring the body of the Messiah means to participate without understanding what the Lord’s Supper means and not distinguishing it from a normal meal.

unworthy manner … without discerning the body of Christ. By treating those of lower worldly status as of lesser worth, believers in Corinth failed to discern Christ’s body in one another, and thus demeaned the commemoration of Jesus’ sacrificed body.

If we are to participate in a worthy manner, we must examine our own hearts, judge our sins, and confess them to the Lord. To come to the table with unconfessed sin in our lives is to be guilty of Christ’s body and blood, for it was sin that nailed Him to the cross. If we will not judge our own sins, then God will judge us and chasten us until we do confess and forsake our sins.

The Corinthians neglected to examine themselves, but they were experts at examining everybody else. When the church gathers together, we must be careful not to become “religious detectives” who watch others, but who fail to acknowledge our own sins.

If we eat and drink in an unworthy manner, we eat and drink judgment (chastening) to ourselves, and that is nothing to take lightly.

Hebrews 12:10-11 (NIV84)

10 Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness.

11 No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.

Warren W. Wiersbe: Chastening is God’s loving way of dealing with His sons and daughters to encourage them to mature. It is not a judge condemning a criminal, but a loving Father punishing His disobedient (and perhaps stubborn) children.

Chastening proves God’s love for us, and if we cooperate with His chastening, God can use it to bring us to spiritual maturity and produce His holiness and righteousness in our lives.

We need to look at and examine ourselves instead of focusing on the perceived faults of others.

Our critical attitude of others will affect us more than their critical attitude of us.

2 Corinthians 13:5 shows us that this principle not only applies to the partaking of Communion; it applies to all of life.

2 Corinthians 13:5 (LSB)

5Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize about yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you—unless indeed you fail the test?

Test = πειράζω peirazō = to test: to put to the test in order to ascertain the nature of something, including imperfections, faults, or other qualities.

To know what a person’s weakness or strength is and to make it manifest to the one being tempted.

Peirazō means more than self-examination. A person about to buy a horse examines it. But after he has examined it, if he is a prudent buyer, he says to the person from whom he is about to buy it, “I must test this horse.” There is more in testing than in examination. It is a deeper word and goes to the root and heart of the matter. A ship, before it is launched, is examined; but it is tested and tried before it is allowed to go out on long voyages.

Examine = δοκιμάζω dokimazō = to examine (check out): to observe, check out, and look over carefully or inspect.

to decide upon after examination, judge of, distinguish, discern.

πειράζω (peirazō): “What will this person do when put to the test?”

δοκιμάζω (dokimazō): “Is it genuine/good and therefore worthy of approval?”

Haggai 1:1–11 (NIV84)

1In the second year of King Darius, on the first day of the sixth month, the word of the Lord came through the prophet Haggai to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest:

2This is what the Lord Almighty says: “These people say, ‘The time has not yet come for the Lord’s house to be built.’ ”

3Then the word of the Lord came through the prophet Haggai:

4“Is it a time for you yourselves to be living in your paneled houses, while this house remains a ruin?”

5Now this is what the Lord Almighty says: “Give careful thought to your ways.

6You have planted much, but have harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it.”

7This is what the Lord Almighty says: “Give careful thought to your ways.

8Go up into the mountains and bring down timber and build the house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be honored,” says the Lord.

9“You expected much, but see, it turned out to be little. What you brought home, I blew away. Why?” declares the Lord Almighty. “Because of my house, which remains a ruin, while each of you is busy with his own house.

10Therefore, because of you the heavens have withheld their dew and the earth its crops.

11I called for a drought on the fields and the mountains, on the grain, the new wine, the oil and whatever the ground produces, on men and cattle, and on the labor of your hands.”

These people were preoccupied with their own lives and were neglecting the things of God.

Their neglect to the things of God had consequences.

Chronic dissatisfaction despite material gain: People work constantly to get ahead but remain unsatisfied, always wanting more despite accumulating possessions and comforts. They find themselves no happier, more content, or at peace.

Financial instability and eroding resources: Money disappears as if placed in a purse with holes. Inflation, unexpected expenses, and poor financial decisions drain savings faster than they accumulate.

Spiritual emptiness and shallow faith: Life becomes so crowded with other concerns that there’s no time for reflection on spiritual matters, and the gospel ceases to be the all-embracing experience it should be.

Exhaustion from misplaced priorities: People work overtime and weekends, always pushing to get ahead but not really going anywhere—wearing themselves out in pursuit of wrong priorities.

Withdrawal of divine blessing: When God is marginalized and his work neglected, he removes his blessing, and lives become spiritually impoverished—we lose out.

Opening Up Commentary: It is as if God were saying, ‘Where has all this concentration and effort upon your own concerns got you in the end? Are you any happier, or more contented, or more at peace in your hearts? No, because I have withheld my blessing from you because you have neglected me and the work of my house. I have withheld the harvests, and what little money you have is eaten up with inflation, like putting it into a bag with holes.’

The lesson is clear. When we marginalize God and neglect his work, he removes his blessing, and our lives become spiritually impoverished. In short, we lose out.

Luke 12:13–21 (NIV84)

13Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.”

14Jesus replied, “Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?”

15Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”

16And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop.

17He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’

18“Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods.

19And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.” ’

20“But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’

21“This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God.”

Look at what wrong priorities get you!

Proverbs 16:9 (NIV84)

9In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps.

Jeremiah 10:23 (NIV84)

23I know, O Lord, that a man’s life is not his own; it is not for man to direct his steps.

Galatians 6:1–5 (NIV84)

1Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted.

2Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.

3If anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.

4Each one should test his own actions. Then he can take pride in himself, without comparing himself to somebody else,

5for each one should carry his own load.

God has prescribed a way in which we can help others “remove the speck from their eyes.”

What is the process?

What is a major hindrance to that process?

Next Week!!! (The Lord Willing)