Living In The Kingdom 18 Series

Living in the Kingdom 18

Scripture: Matthew 7:1-6; First Corinthians 5:1-5; Galatians 6:7-8

As I am continuing my series “Living in the Kingdom”, this morning we begin with Matthew chapter seven. We will be looking at the first five verses where Jesus talks about not judging. Let’s read Matthew 7:1-5. It says, “Do not judge so that you will not be judged. 2. For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you. 3. Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? 4. Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ and behold, the log is in your own eye? 5. 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. 6. 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.” (Matthew 7:1-6)

Many Christians have read what Jesus said and walked away believing that they could not “correct” another Christian about the way that they were living because they were not allowed to judge. Because they might have things that they have done wrong in their life, or because they “were not perfect”, then they had no right to talk to anyone else about how they were living. Is this what Jesus was talking about? You see, our enemy has used this interpretation of this passage to place a lock on the mouths of Christian when it comes to them speaking against the lifestyles of other Christians – notice I said “other Christians.” As a child of God, we are commanded to live a certain way and we are allowed to “police” or judge one another according to what the Bible says, not according to our personal beliefs and choices. First Corinthians 6:2-3 speaks about Christians judging matters of life versus going to a worldly court. It says, “Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? If the world is judged by you, are you not competent to constitute the smallest law courts? Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more matters of this life?” So what did Jesus mean when He said that we were not to judge one another and to remove the log from our eye before we attempt to remove the speck from someone else’s eye? And what did He mean in verse six when He said we should not give what is holy to dogs? Stay with me as the answer might surprise you.

A couple of years ago I was having a conversation with someone and we were discussing how some of their family members were living their lives. During this conversation I asked the person why they did not say something to their family members who were not living for Christ. They told me that they did not feel that they could because they had made mistakes in their past, some similar to their family members. While I understood exactly what this person said, it saddened me that they had believed one of the greatest lies that Satan has ever laid upon the Church. That lie is this: “You cannot talk to someone about their sins when you have sinned, especially if you “did” the same thing you’re trying to tell them not to do.” This lie is based on the truth of what Jesus said in the verses we just read. Jesus was talking about judging someone else; He was not talking about trying to help someone come out of sin which we will see shortly. Satan uses what Jesus said about judging to whip us into silence so that sin might run free. If nobody is talking about sin because we are all guilty either present or in our past, then there is no accountability.

This lie, when believed, keeps us in the shadow of our sins and we never move beyond it to help others come out of where we were. If and when we come to the point where we have dealt with our past, we will be able help others without the fear of our past being thrown up in our face. If we remain ashamed of the mistakes that we have made and allow Satan to keep us silent about them, we will never muster up the courage to correct someone who is living wrong. We cannot continue to walk in the lie that says because I have sinned I cannot correct someone else; especially if I have done the same sin that they are doing. It is our learning from and understanding of where they are that enables us to talk with them on a personal level. I am speaking from experience as I have been questioned about why I take a stance against some things that I did myself. But here is what some do not understand: Rodney is not the standard. The Bible is the standard. You will never be judged based on Rodney’s standard. I can’t send anyone to hell. What I may have done cannot ever justify anyone doing the same thing. This morning I want to encourage you to move beyond your failures and use that experience to help someone else move beyond theirs. Always remember that God can use the mistakes we make to help someone else, if we stop allowing Satan to beat us over the head with them. Now let’s look for the truth in what Jesus said in His message.