You are NOT the Judge
Sermon on the Mount • Sermon • Submitted
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1 “Do not judge others, and you will not be judged. 2 For you will be treated as you treat others. The standard you use in judging is the standard by which you will be judged.
3 “And why worry about a speck in your friend’s eye when you have a log in your own? 4 How can you think of saying to your friend, ‘Let me help you get rid of that speck in your eye,’ when you can’t see past the log in your own eye? 5 Hypocrite! First get rid of the log in your own eye; then you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend’s eye.
6 “Don’t waste what is holy on people who are unholy. Don’t throw your pearls to pigs! They will trample the pearls, then turn and attack you.
7 “Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.
9 “You parents—if your children ask for a loaf of bread, do you give them a stone instead? 10 Or if they ask for a fish, do you give them a snake? Of course not! 11 So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask him.
12 “Do to others whatever you would like them to do to you. This is the essence of all that is taught in the law and the prophets.
This passage has been misrepresented ALL the time!
We hear, “Do not judge” and automatically think we aren’t allowed to have a standard, or even aren’t allowed to use discernment with someone’s character and actions.
A Student who would say “Don’t judge me...” when I would question his actions...
A parent who would say, about her 5 or 6 year old son, “I can’t tell him to behave differently… You know, I am not the judge on his behavior.”
OR, the church member who refuses to use discernment to hold leaders accountable who says, “Well, I am not to be the judge on this issue.”
But, that is CLEARLY NOT what Jesus intends for us to interpret his teaching as.
Jesus tells us to make a judgment call in v. 6
6 “Don’t waste what is holy on people who are unholy. Don’t throw your pearls to pigs! They will trample the pearls, then turn and attack you.
We have to judge what is Holy and who/what are dogs/pigs...
1- Those who waste our time
These are those who, at least at this point in time, will continue to refuse the message of Jesus and the Kingdom of God. It is a waste of our time, breath, resources, to argue with them. While, all the while, there might be someone who is receptive to the message. And, we miss out on the blessing of sharing with them the message of the Kingdom and Jesus Christ because we are too busy sharing holy, sacred, ideas with those who would rather behave beastly.
14 If any household or town refuses to welcome you or listen to your message, shake its dust from your feet as you leave.
2- There are people and systems who will cause us to lose our saltiness.
Jesus said that pigs will trample the pearls we give them under their fee. He also has said the same thing about salt that looses its saltiness.
13 “You are the salt of the earth. But what good is salt if it has lost its flavor? Can you make it salty again? It will be thrown out and trampled underfoot as worthless.
Some have equated the similarities in Jesus’ saying of trampling underfoot to highlight that there are people, and associations, who might cause us to lose our salty, Kingdom of God, preservative. Therefore, if we follow their ways, ideas, etc… we have cast our pearls of the Kingdom of God to pigs, and have lost our saltiness...
The point is, Jesus tells us not to judge, but then he gives a situation where we have to make a discerning judgement call on our associations and how we interact with others...
We are called to discernment- but people often view that as judging...
1 Dear friends, do not believe everyone who claims to speak by the Spirit. You must test them to see if the spirit they have comes from God. For there are many false prophets in the world. 2 This is how we know if they have the Spirit of God: If a person claiming to be a prophet acknowledges that Jesus Christ came in a real body, that person has the Spirit of God. 3 But if someone claims to be a prophet and does not acknowledge the truth about Jesus, that person is not from God. Such a person has the spirit of the Antichrist, which you heard is coming into the world and indeed is already here.
4 But you belong to God, my dear children. You have already won a victory over those people, because the Spirit who lives in you is greater than the spirit who lives in the world. 5 Those people belong to this world, so they speak from the world’s viewpoint, and the world listens to them. 6 But we belong to God, and those who know God listen to us. If they do not belong to God, they do not listen to us. That is how we know if someone has the Spirit of truth or the spirit of deception.
Jesus calls us to discernment, but not to a criticizing, condemning, judgmental attitude.
The better way to translate what Jesus says in v. 1-2 would be “Do not CONDEMN others...”
Condemning others is the critical judgement of the Pharisees.
It places US in the seat of God, the great and only Judge
Often, we condemn others because of our own perspective and we do not know, and cannot see the big picture. That is why God, who is all seeing, and all knowing, can be the only one to truly judge/condemn others.
IN our discernment of others, we must do so in a way that is not critical, non condemning, and ultimately shows the love of God in Christ to our brothers and sisters and to our world.
We must remember that we need to allow for grace and for the Holy Spirit to work in people's lives.
But, when Jesus says don't judge he is NOT saying don't have a standard.
Jesus teaches us that there is a standard...
15 “Beware of false prophets who come disguised as harmless sheep but are really vicious wolves. 16 You can identify them by their fruit, that is, by the way they act. Can you pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17 A good tree produces good fruit, and a bad tree produces bad fruit. 18 A good tree can’t produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can’t produce good fruit. 19 So every tree that does not produce good fruit is chopped down and thrown into the fire. 20 Yes, just as you can identify a tree by its fruit, so you can identify people by their actions.
3 So watch yourselves!
“If another believer sins, rebuke that person; then if there is repentance, forgive.
24 Look beneath the surface so you can judge correctly.”
And so does the rest of the New Testament
25 So stop telling lies. Let us tell our neighbors the truth, for we are all parts of the same body.
1 Dear brothers and sisters, if another believer is overcome by some sin, you who are godly should gently and humbly help that person back onto the right path. And be careful not to fall into the same temptation yourself. 2 Share each other’s burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ.
12 Be careful then, dear brothers and sisters. Make sure that your own hearts are not evil and unbelieving, turning you away from the living God. 13 You must warn each other every day, while it is still “today,” so that none of you will be deceived by sin and hardened against God.
Jesus, and the New Testament, clearly teaches that there is a standard. But, we are not to sit in the seat of God and judge/condemn others based upon that standard. However, we must have discernment, in living ways, as to how to hold other followers of Jesus to the standards of the Kingdom of God.
We are given advice about discernment and judging - check ourselves first (unlike pharisees)
3 “And why worry about a speck in your friend’s eye when you have a log in your own? 4 How can you think of saying to your friend, ‘Let me help you get rid of that speck in your eye,’ when you can’t see past the log in your own eye? 5 Hypocrite! First get rid of the log in your own eye; then you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend’s eye.
Clearly, Jesus teaches that we should use the same standard on ourselves that we will use on others. If we are going to be critical towards others, we must apply that criticism to ourselves FIRST. Then, after we have discerned our own actions, then, and only then, can we speak to the actions of others!
Before we are critical towards others, before we discern their errors, we need to take a look in the mirror and use the same measuring rod on ourselves that we are using for others...
When you point your finger, there are 3 more fingers pointing back at you.
Anything less than that makes us like the Pharisees. They LOVED to point fingers at others, but never cared to examine themselves.
Hypocrite = play acting
1 You may think you can condemn such people, but you are just as bad, and you have no excuse! When you say they are wicked and should be punished, you are condemning yourself, for you who judge others do these very same things.
For this type of discernment we need the Holy Spirit. For this type of discernment we need the wisdom the Holy Spirit will provide.
Jesus encourages us to pray for this wisdom and this Spirit.
7 “Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.
9 “You parents—if your children ask for a loaf of bread, do you give them a stone instead? 10 Or if they ask for a fish, do you give them a snake? Of course not! 11 So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask him.
It is true, Jesus is teaching us about prayer and asking for good gifts from our Heavenly Father. And, it is true, this type of prayer can keep us from worry (like we discussed last week).
But, in the context of discernment, I hear Jesus reminding us to ask for THAT specific gift from the Father - the gift to discern without being condemning - the gift to look at ourselves first before we think critically towards another - the gift of a different perspective by which we view the attitudes and actions of the other - the gift of true discernment.
9 “And so I tell you, keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.
11 “You fathers—if your children ask for a fish, do you give them a snake instead? 12 Or if they ask for an egg, do you give them a scorpion? Of course not! 13 So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him.”
13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own but will tell you what he has heard. He will tell you about the future.
5 If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking.
This whole teaching on judgement, and really the whole teaching on displaying a righteousness that is greater than the Pharisees, can be summarized easily
12 “Do to others whatever you would like them to do to you. This is the essence of all that is taught in the law and the prophets.
Many religions/teachings state this in the negative- What you don’t want done to you, don’t do to another.
But, Jesus frames it positively - that which you want done to you, do to another. It is a lot easier NOT to do negative things towards others. But, Jesus challenges His followers to live in a way that EVERYTHING they would appreciate being done to them, they first do to the other.
In the context of discernment/judging...
Jesus is saying, they way you want people to be gracious towards you - that is they way you need to be gracious towards others.
Think of the police officer who pulls you over, vs. when someone who is speeding gets pulled over. We pray for mercy for ourselves, and often pray for judgement for the other...
May we criticize ourselves the same way we criticize others
May we criticize others the same way we criticize ourselves
Don’t rehearse their faults
Don’t withhold grace
Don’t hold their mistakes against them
Why? Because that’s how you would want others to view your mistakes, faults, and shortcomings.
As we receive communion this morning we are reminded that we have had our relationship with God restored. This is NOT because we deserved it. This is because God chose not to hold it against us and to send His Son to make a new relationships possible.
3 Once we, too, were foolish and disobedient. We were misled and became slaves to many lusts and pleasures. Our lives were full of evil and envy, and we hated each other.
4 But—When God our Savior revealed his kindness and love, 5 he saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He washed away our sins, giving us a new birth and new life through the Holy Spirit.
We are here, in a new relationship with God, because, although we don’t deserve it, God sent Jesus to save us.
May this be the model of our ways of dealing with others!