Judging Others – 6

Sermon on the Mount - 77

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.

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?

Matthew 7:5 (AMP 2015)

5You hypocrite (play-actor, pretender), first get the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.

We have a tendency to exaggerate the faults and failures of others while we minimize the seriousness of our own faults and failures.

We seem to find it impossible to be strictly objective and impartial when comparing ourselves with others.

On the contrary, we have a rosy view of ourselves and a skeptical view of others.

Jesus says to first remove the plank from our own eye—first deal with the sins in our own lives—and then we will have the clear vision needed to be able to take the speck out of our brother or sister’s eye.

John Stott: We need to be as critical of ourselves as we are of others, and as generous to others as we always are to ourselves.

Galatians 6:1–5 (NIV84)

1Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin (overtaken in a fault, kjv), 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.

Is caught = προλαμβάνω prolambanō = be taken unexpectedly, be overtaken, be taken by surprise.

Sin (fault, kjv) = παράπτωμα paraptōma = a stumbling aside, a false step; a trespass, fault, offence, transgression.

“a fall beside, a false step, a blunder, a failure to achieve.” The word in the papyri means “a slip or lapse,” rather than “a willful sin.”

This describes unintentional wrongdoing—a stumble rather than a deliberate choice to violate God’s will.

Paul uses a different word, parabasis (transgressions), when speaking of willful stepping beyond legal boundaries. (Galatians 3:19)

The word means being tripped up, or it means being trapped. You didn’t see it coming, it’s not premeditated, you got trapped into this, you got drawn into this, you stumbled into this, you fell into this.

Being “caught” in sin means you’ve been tripped up or trapped—the fall wasn’t premeditated or anticipated, but rather something you stumbled into or were drawn into. This describes momentary vulnerability rather than deliberate wrongdoing.

A believer who speaks an unkind word, judges too quickly, or engages in gossip falls into this category.

Saints occasionally fall into impatience, envy, wrath, or doubt through the enticement of the devil or their sinful nature.

A Christian leader loses his temper in a meeting; a church member views pornography during a weak moment; someone spreads a rumor they immediately regret. These are departures from their normal pattern.

Galatians 6:1 (AMP)

1 BRETHREN, IF any person is overtaken in misconduct or sin of any sort, you who are spiritual [who are responsive to and controlled by the Spirit] should set him right and restore and reinstate him, without any sense of superiority and with all gentleness, keeping an attentive eye on yourself, lest you should be tempted also.

Martin Luther: The saints in this life now and then, through the enticement of the devil, fall into impatience, envy, wrath, error, doubt, distrust, and so on, for Satan always attacks the purity of doctrine through sects and dissensions, as well as attacking the soundness of life with daily offenses. Paul therefore teaches how those who have fallen should be dealt with: namely, that those who are strong should raise them up and restore them gently.

Are spiritual = πνευματικός pneumatikos = spiritual (mature): of or characterized by the Holy Spirit; especially of the mature, Christian life and its relation to the Spirit.

You who are spiritual. People who have put aside the envious, competitive nature of the flesh and have led the way in developing the fruit of the Spirit in their own lives.

Should restore = καταρτίζω katartizō = to correct, conceived of as restoring someone by replacing a part or putting together what is torn or broken; repair.

“to repair, to restore to a former good condition, to prepare, to fit out, to equip.” It is used of reconciling factions, of setting bones, of putting a dislocated limb into place, of mending nets, of manning a fleet, of supplying an army with provisions. It is used by Paul usually in a metaphorical sense of setting a person to rights, of bringing him into line.

Gently = πραΰτης prautēs = the quality of not being overly impressed by a sense of one’s self-importance, gentleness, humility, courtesy, considerateness, meekness in the older favorable sense.

acting in a manner that is gentle, mild, and even-tempered.

Watch = σκοπέω skopeō = to pay careful attention to, look (out) for, notice.

to watch carefully: to be vigilant, be on the lookout or be careful.

Those who are truly “spiritual” should have enough humility to remember that they too are capable of stepping off the path.

Wuest Translation: Brethren, if however, a man be overtaken (by sin) in a certain false step, as for you who are spiritual ones, be restoring such an one in a spirit of meekness, taking heed to yourself, lest you also be tempted.

Luke 17:3–4 (NIV84)

3So watch yourselves. “If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him.

4If he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times comes back to you and says, ‘I repent,’ forgive him.”

Watch = προσέχω prosechō = to beware; to be on one’s guard, be cautious or wary about, or be alert to.

So watch yourselves. Be alert or on guard as to how you may react. Watch out how you respond.

Hebrews 12:14-15 (NIV84)

14 Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.

15 See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many.

Don’t let an unforgiving spirit develop into a root of bitterness.

Rebuke = ἐπιτιμάω epitimaō = to express strong disapproval of someone, rebuke, reprove, censure also speak seriously, warn in order to prevent an action or bring one to an end.

ἐλέγχω (show his fault) focuses on exposing or demonstrating the fault.

ἐπιτιμάω (rebuke) focuses on the rebuke or authoritative admonition concerning the fault.

Sins = ἁμαρτάνω hamartanō = to act contrary to the will and law of God—‘to sin, to engage in wrongdoing, sin.’

To sin, to miss a mark on the way, not to hit the mark. One who keeps missing the mark in his relationship to God.

John MacArthur: This sin (hamartanō) is the kind of sin that reaches a level where it is regular, where it is a course of action, where it becomes a pattern, where it becomes a direction.

This is the kind of sin that is planned, that is willful, that is premeditated, that is habitual.

It is willful sin, directional sin, the sin of repeated choice, the sin that is even public and manifest.

Those are the sins that are to be dealt with on the level of conditional forgiveness, when they involve the church.

You go to the person when there are sins like that and ultimately you have to take it to the church if they don’t repent.

And until they repent, there is not a restoration to the fellowship of the church.

This conditional forgiveness involves church discipline. Until the person has repented, he is not to be restored to the fellowship of the church.

Mark 11:25 (NIV84)

25And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.”

To pray standing. Standing was the usual Jewish attitude in prayer, as kneeling is with us. In prayer, a Jew usually

stood,

turned towards Jerusalem,

covered his head,

fixed his eyes downwards.

The ancient Church prayed standing on Sundays and festivals, but kneeling on fast-days, and the Eastern Church still observes this rule.

The standing posture when praying is not commanded here, nor is it the only posture allowed. The word merely calls attention to a practice among the Jews.

Forgive = ἀφίημι aphiēmi = from apó, from, and hiēmi, to send. To send forth or away, let go from oneself; to send from.

to stop blaming or taking an offense into account.

Mark11:25 speaks of unconditional forgiveness.

Luke 17:3 speaks of sin that needs to be confronted.

Mark 11:25 speaks of sin that doesn’t need to be confronted.

If you confronted someone (your spouse, for example) every time they did something that was less than what you thought was perfectly righteous, you would end up with a disaster.

If you made a public confrontation of every single person in the church who didn’t do something that was perfectly righteous, you would end up with no church.

Anything against anyone. Includes both sins and simple dislikes that cause the believer to hold something against another person.

Anyone includes believers and unbelievers.

The forgiveness in view here is not the eternal forgiveness that accompanies salvation, which is not based on works and cannot be lost.

This referred to relational forgiveness—the sins that are part of believers’ daily lives and disrupt their enjoyment of fellowship with the Lord.

The command to forgive applies every time that someone prays.

Matthew 6:14–15 (NIV84)

14For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.

15But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.

Matthew 6 does not teach that our eternal destiny is based on our forgiving other people; however, it does teach that our relationship with God will be damaged if we refuse to pardon those who have offended us.

The Bible is clear that God pardons sin by His grace based on Christ’s work on the cross alone, not on man’s actions.

Our right standing before Him is established on one thing only—the finished work of Christ.

Unforgiveness creates a barrier between you and the Lord.

Unforgiveness can manifest itself in both an unbeliever and a believer.

Unforgiveness is the mark of an unbeliever.

If a believer prays for forgiveness when they have not forgiven another, then they are actually asking God to not restore a right relationship with them after they sinned.

We cannot possibly walk with God in true fellowship if we refuse to forgive others.

Matthew 6:12 (NIV84)

12Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.

Debts = ὀφείλημα opheilēma = a delinquency, offence, fault, sin.

Sin that has incurred debt with, or injury against, God.

The moral debt incurred as the result of sin; offense, sin, transgression, guilt.

Debtor = ὀφειλέτης opheiletēs = a sinner, understood as a debtor whose sins have incurred debt with or injury against God or others.

If translators render debts literally, it is entirely likely readers will think of debts we owe people, what we have to pay back because we borrowed something.

Therefore “sins” or “wrongs” will be much better.

These are wrongs against God, “forgive our wrongs against you.”

As we also have. “in the same way” or “just as.” That is, we ask God to forgive us in the same manner we forgive others.

We are asking God to forgive us in the same way or manner we forgive others.

1 John 1:8–10 (AMP)

8If we say we have no sin [refusing to admit that we are sinners], we delude and lead ourselves astray, and the Truth [which the Gospel presents] is not in us [does not dwell in our hearts].

9If we [freely] admit that we have sinned and confess our sins, He is faithful and just (true to His own nature and promises) and will forgive our sins [dismiss our lawlessness] and [continuously] cleanse us from all unrighteousness [everything not in conformity to His will in purpose, thought, and action].

10If we say (claim) we have not sinned, we contradict His Word and make Him out to be false and a liar, and His Word is not in us [the divine message of the Gospel is not in our hearts].

Unforgiveness is a sin. When we hold unforgiveness against someone, and then say we are not sinning, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.

Ephesians 4:29–32 (NIV84)

29Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.

30And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

31Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice.

32Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

Grieve = λυπέω lypeō = to sadden: to cause to feel sorrow or unhappiness.

Distress; grieve; vex.

John Phillips: The Holy Spirit can be grieved.

This is a sin of the individual believer.

The word “grieve” is a love word. You cannot grieve someone who does not love you. You might annoy, upset, infuriate, or disappoint him, but you cannot grieve him. You can only grieve someone who loves you. You can grieve the Holy Spirit.

The word translated “grieve” means “to cause pain or sorrow.”

We grieve the Holy Spirit (we cause Him pain) by doing and saying things that are contrary to His character.

In the Bible the Spirit of God reveals Himself as the Holy Spirit.

When we do things that are not holy, we grieve Him.

Believers are to get rid of the six vices of bitterness, rage (thymos, “outbursts of anger”), anger (orgē, “settled feeling of anger”), brawling (kraugē, “shouting or clamor”), slander (blasphēmia), and malice (kakia, “ill will, wickedness”).

These sins all deal with how we relate to other people.

Our union with Jesus Christ should change the way we live.

Our sin affects others negatively, and our righteousness blesses others in a positive manner.

Unforgiveness can lodge in your heart and hide from you. The following questions will help you examine your heart to see if you need to forgive someone:

Do you still secretly hope that someone will get what he/she deserves?

Are you still talking negatively about this person to others?

Do you indulge in fantasies of revenge—even mild ones?

Do you spend time mulling over what he/she did to you?

How do you feel when something good happens to him/her?

Have you quit blaming this person for how your life has turned out?

Do you find it difficult to be open and trusting with people?

Are you frequently angry, depressed, or bitter?

Do you find it difficult or impossible to thank God for your offender?

Let God examine your heart. Does He find any unforgiveness there?

“Dear Lord, examine my heart. I do not want to harbor unforgiveness. Expose it so I can deal with it in Your strength.”

Amen.