Do not judge, but if you do, Judge yourself first then know when to walk away.
Notes
Transcript
Judge not
Judge not
As some may have noticed we skipped a whole section on anxiety. But what you may not remember is that section actually sent us down this path of preaching on the sermon on the mount. Trust me when I say that we do not believe that one time around isn’t enough, but for the sake of going through the entire sermon on the mount we will refer you back to that series. We’ll post a link where to find them tomorrow afternoon or so.
This week we are looking at Matthew 7:1-6.
“Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.
“Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you.
Pray
Something that we might see or hear or even notice is that so many people, whether Christian or not, know this verse to some extent or another. “Judge not lest ye be judged” is the common form we experience this in.
Daniel Doriani
“According to the prevailing mind-set of our age, no one has the right to judge—or, more specifically, to condemn—anybody else. Sometimes the reasons are personal. Feeling the need to defend themselves, people ask, “Who gave you the right to judge me?”
But we love to use it against others and against each other. The question here is does Jesus prohibit us from judging at all?
We often make judgements in our day to day lives. Whether that be in decision making or how others are driving around us, especially since we ourselves aren’t the ones driving like jerks, as our turn signal hasn’t been on for 3 intersections. Making judgements is a bigger part of our lives than we often think. So are we prohibited from judging at all? The short answer is no. So what is Jesus communicating here?
In order to understand that we have to remember a few things. First, He is talking to His disciples:
Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him.
By extension, as believers, we are His disciples now. So, He is talking to us.
Next, part of the aim of this sermon was to correct some of the errant teaching that they had recieved either directly or by example from the pharisees and ancient writings (not the bible).
Jesus ultimate goal seemed to be to correct the heart posture behind what he talked about. From the beatitudes to building our house on the rock. He is resetting the hearts of His disciples back to God and not our own righteousness.
Looking at these verses with that context in mind what is Jesus saying? It is not Judging that is the issue, but the heart behind judging. There are several times in scripture that we are instructed to judge. Later in v.6 we’ll see that we have to know the difference between pearls and dogs, v.13 the wide gate and narrow gate and where to build our house in v.24-27. That’s just here in chapter 7.
“Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment.”
Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
As I urged you upon my departure for Macedonia, remain on at Ephesus so that you may instruct certain men not to teach strange doctrines,
nor to pay attention to myths and endless genealogies, which give rise to mere speculation rather than furthering the administration of God which is by faith.
In 1 Corinthians 5 we read Paul tell us how to know when someone needs correction. There are many more verses that explain this thought. So then what is Jesus prohibiting us from?
He is telling us not to condemn in our judgement. Here It would read like, “do not condemn lest you be condemned. Do not judge for judgement’s sake. Do not be merciless in your judgement lest God be merciless in His.” We need to be discerning (using right judgement), or as Jesus said in John, to judge with righteous judgement, and be merciful and charitable with one another. Earlier I brought us this idea that Jesus was talking to His disciples and by extension to us. With this in mind we can say that Jesus is teaching us to be charitable with each other in the family of believers. When we judge and condemn we try to condemn people who have been set free by the blood of Jesus.
For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you.
We will be judged by the very mode we judge. Not only that but when we judge we submit ourselves to that same judgment.
He denounces a punishment against those severe judges, who take so much delight in sifting the faults of others
John Calvin
These verses show us that if we judge and criticize to condemn we experience that same judgement and it’s not usually a judgement directly like fire and brim stone, but from a neighbor. John Calvin says that God carries out His punishment by the hand of man and continues to say:
And if men shall fail to receive punishment in this world, those who have shown undue eagerness in condemning their brethren will not escape the judgment of God.
Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.
Interesting thing to note. carpentry
Judge yourself first.
Judge yourself first.
We have the tendency as Jesus says, to make much of someone else’s life and little of our own. We see other’s failures and ignore our own. We are harsh, critical and unforgiving with other’s sins, and ever so charitable with our own.
R.C. Sproul “Sometimes we judge our planks as specks, and other’s specks as planks.”
I want us to look at this word, charitable.
There are different meanings but the one that applies to this context is
2. apt to judge others leniently or favorably.
as per the Oxford dictionary.
Is that you? Is that me?
There are times when I catch myself being uncharitable to someone. And if I’m honest, it can happen very easily in ministry and leadership. Whether you talk about it or not. “So and so isn’t putting in the hours. I can do it but they can’t? Why would they say that?” and the list goes on. I tend to expect much of myself and leaders around me and can be uncharitable in my judgment, though sometimes a correction is necessary, so much of the time I’m not charitable enough.
Something we tend to do the most is Judge and be uncharitable about other’s motives. We can often assume the worst, when in reality we shouldn’t and honestly we can’t. God is the only true judge of our hearts. We do not know what someone else is thinking or feeling about any given thing. This is where charitability comes into play. This merciful and soft judgement allows for conversation to begin in order to be able to meet in the middle of each other’s understanding.
Do not speak against one another, brethren. He who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks against the law and judges the law; but if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge of it.
When we try to criticize and condemn others, when we judge without mercy we put ourselves in the judgement seat. If you notice in a courtroom, that the judge sits higher than those around them. This is a physical representation of what is going on. The judge sits higher because he has been elevated to the seat of judge. When we try to cast judgement and condemn, we are saying the same of ourselves. We are saying that we know the most and we elevate ourselves over our brother and sister. Let us remember that partiality is a sin, and we must not be partial, even if it is to ourselves.
Another cool illustration that I was thinking about is when you take a flight and they’re doing their safety brief. “Put your mask on yourself before helping someone else with theirs.” We need to confront our sins, confess and rest in mercy and grace, then lead others to the same. Not judge and condemn.
In Luke 7 we see a sinful woman with an alabaster container of ointment walk in to the scene weeping. She then uses her tears to wash Jesus’ feet and her hair to dry them off. Immediately the pharisee who had invited Jesus satrted to judge. Jesus tells a parable of two debtors.
“A moneylender had two debtors: one owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty.
“When they were unable to repay, he graciously forgave them both. So which of them will love him more?”
Simon answered and said, “I suppose the one whom he forgave more.” And He said to him, “You have judged correctly.”
Turning toward the woman, He said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave Me no water for My feet, but she has wet My feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair.
“You gave Me no kiss; but she, since the time I came in, has not ceased to kiss My feet.
“You did not anoint My head with oil, but she anointed My feet with perfume.
“For this reason I say to you, her sins, which are many, have been forgiven, for she loved much; but he who is forgiven little, loves little.”
Believer, we have been forgiven much. Therefore we must deal with each other accordingly and allow God to be the judge of the world through His Word and its proclamation.
John Calvin
He who judges according to the word and law of the Lord, and forms his judgment by the rule of charity, always begins with subjecting himself to examination, and preserves a proper medium and order in his judgments
Pigs and Dogs
Pigs and Dogs
“Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before swine, or they will trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.
fact of dogs in jesus time.
There are two interpretations of this. The first is about attempting to bring your Godly judgments to the world. Constantly attmepting to submit the world, that is against God, To God and His world. This includes culture. How much push back do we as christians get for thinking a certain way about sex, gender, the preservation of life? I’m not suggesting we keep things to ourselves, but first build the relationship necessary to have the conversation, coming charitably and ready to listen.
The other interpretation is that the pearl is the pearl of greatest value. The Gospel and that the animals represent the unbeliever. Not that we stop preaching the Gospel, but that we know when to stop and pray.
“Whoever does not receive you, nor heed your words, as you go out of that house or that city, shake the dust off your feet.
Preach the Gospel not just with your life but with words and pray. Know when to walk away and pray and remember that God brings the growth.
Believer we must discern with the mind, but not judge harshly with the heart. R.C. Sproul
God is the ultimate and only righteous Judge. we were once