The New Covenant - Judgment

Introduction

Matthew 7:1–6 KJV 1900

1 Judge not, that ye be not judged. 2 For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. 3 And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? 4 Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? 5 Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye. 6 Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.

Body

Six humans trapped in happenstance In dark and bitter cold, Each one possessed a stick of wood, Or so the story's told. The first woman held hers back For of the faces around the fire, She noticed one was black. The next man looking across the way Saw not one of his church, And couldn't bring himself to give The fire his stick of birch. The third one sat in tattered clothes He gave his coat a hitch, Why should his log be put to use, To warm the idle rich? The rich man just sat back and thought Of the wealth he had in store, And how to keep what he had earned, From the lazy, shiftless poor. The black man's face bespoke revenge As the fire passed from sight, For all he saw in his stick of wood Was a chance to spite the white. The last man of this forlorn group Did naught except for gain, Giving only to those who gave, Was how he played the game. The logs held tight in death's still hands Was proof of human sin, They didn't die from the cold without, They died from the cold within.”

“The Cold Within” — James Patrick Kinney

Elaborate on our society today, how lack of understanding and attitudes toward those who are in any way different contribute to hatred and violence.

The Pharisees were very critical of others, and very liberal toward themselves.

Again, the legalism of the Pharisees was being called into question by Jesus and condemned.

They would be very critical and legalistic toward any infractions of the Mosaic law, but could not see their own spiritual shortcomings.

Sounds a lot like our society today, at least as we see it portrayed by our media.

Jesus is really teaching us about self-government: We must exercise self-discipline, dominion over ourselves; our passions, our lusts, our spirits, and hold ourselves accountable to God’s law, and allow others to do the same!

We are not given authority to sit in judgment over others, Christians or non-Christians.

Our word is NOT law

We are not given permission to speak evil against our brother or sister.

It is forbidden for us to despise our brother or sister.

Oftentimes, we are most critical of others when we see our wrong actions in them.

If I have a problem with telling the truth, I will be very critical of those who lie.

If I have a problem with greed, I will be very judgmental of those who are stingy with their money.

We cannot just take a snapshot of a person’s life and claim that’s who this person is.

We do not know people’s motives or intentions. Only God can (and will) try the heart and know the thoughts of man.

We cannot, we must not try and usurp God’s rightful place as Judge.

If we will refrain from judging others with a wrong spirit, God will not judge us either.

Those who will try and sit in God’s throne and judge other will themselves be called before the judgment seat of God.

If we will take care to judge ourselves, and not take it upon ourselves to judge others, then God will not have to judge us.

We must be ruthless and sit in judgment over our own actions, thoughts, speech, but when dealing with others, we must seek to understand.

We are not to judge, but we are given permission, and even a command to reprove sin.

We must be careful to make sure our room is picked up before we try and correct someone else’s dirty room.

We must always be checking our attitude and our motives.

We must approach our brother or sister humbly and fearfully.

Our intention must be to restore them to God out of our love for them.

We love the sinner, but hate the sin.

Not everyone is fit to receive correction.

“Dogs” and “Swine” — the most despised creatures in the Jewish world.

We must preach the gospel to every creature, but we are not to spend a lot of time on those who, after hearing the gospel, are stubborn and blasphemous toward it.

Those who are not worthy to receive godly correction will let you know by their reaction to it.

The unworthy will become defiant. Angry. Defensive. Condemning.

The worthy will be thankful, penitent, restored.

Conclusion

In our lives we will all need correction, and we’ll be in a place where we’ll need to do the correcting. Remember to always do both with the right attitude and God will in both instances forgive and restore.