Be Cautious About Judging Series

This morning we are going to look at the spiritual issue of judging others. The applicable definition for the word “judge” in our main passage means, “to form a judgment or opinion” and to “decide upon critically.”(1) The key word here is “critically,” for when we judge others we are often “criticizing” them, and forming a biased opinion about who they are, or about what they have done. The word “criticize” means, “to find fault” and “judge unfavorably or harshly.”(2)

No one likes to be criticized. When believers criticize each other, it can actually drive individuals away from the fellowship of the church. In Romans chapter 14, Paul said, “But why do you judge your brother? . . . Therefore let us not judge one another anymore, but rather resolve this, not to put a stumbling block or a cause to fall in our brother’s way” (Romans 14:10, 13). Paul said that we must “resolve” judging; or rather, we should put an end to it before we cause a fellow brother or sister to stumble in his or her faith.

In our passage today, we will examine a few words that Jesus taught His disciples and a great crowd of people, as He shared what is commonly called the Sermon on the Mount. In our primary text, Jesus warned about the interpersonal consequences of criticizing others, and of the need to do some deep introspection, or spiritual self-examination, before passing judgment.

Jesus Cautioned About Judging Others (vv. 1-2)

1 Judge not, that you be not judged. 2 For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.

Right here, Jesus admonished against judging others (v. 1). First, He stated, “With what judgment you judge, you will be judged” (v. 2). The word “judgment” is defined as “the decision which one passes on the faults of others.”(3) Next, Jesus said, “With the measure you use, it will be measured back to you” (v. 2). The word “measure” is defined as “a graduated staff for measuring, a measuring rod” and “the rule or standard of judgment.”(4) He was speaking about the figurative “yard stick” that you and I often hold next to an individual to size him up.

Jesus was saying that we need to be careful about the standard of judgment that we use to evaluate others. The correct measure is the Law of God, better known today as the Bible. Amos once prophesied, “Behold, I am setting a plumb line in the midst of My people Israel” (Amos 7:8), alluding to how the Lord was holding beside them His perfect Law in consideration of possible judgment. Since Jesus did not come to destroy the Law, but to fulfill it (Matthew 5:17) - meaning that He embodied the Law - we can now look to Him as the correct and perfect measure; but what we usually tend to do is hold up ourselves as the standard. I’m going to be sharing some examples this morning from sermon illustration books; and the first one is this:

All of us frequently compare ourselves favorably with someone else. We all think of someone whom we consider to be less mature, less competent, or less able than we are. That person is a great comfort to us because he or she enables us to keep our self-image intact by saying, “Well, at least I’m not like so-and-so.” The only problem with determining our self-worth by comparing ourselves with others is that we are using the wrong measuring stick.

A little boy came up to his mother one day and said to her, “Mother, guess what! I’m eight feet, four inches tall!” His mother, greatly surprised, inquired into the matter and found he was using a six-inch ruler to measure a “foot.” The boy was actually only a few inches over four feet. This is [similar to] what we do. We measure ourselves by one another, an imperfect prototype, rather than by the standard of the Word of God.(5)

People like to judge mainly because it makes them feel better about themselves. Here’s another sermon illustration: “Have you noticed that . . . people who feel lousy about themselves are judgmental toward others?”(6)

Psychologists claim that we subconsciously [loathe] in others those weaknesses we most despise in ourselves. When we become Christians we don’t stop being sinners and if we’re not careful this subconscious loathing of our own sinfulness can cause us to harden our hearts toward others instead of having the compassion that should result from the forgiveness we’ve received.(7)

We often tend to judge others by external things and fail to see a person’s true heart and real intentions. Allow me to provide an example. Jesus once taught a group of Jews at the Feast of Tabernacles, and they criticized Him for healing a man on the Sabbath. Jesus said, “You circumcise a man on the Sabbath . . . Are you angry with Me because I made a man completely well on the Sabbath?” (John 7:22, 23). Jesus basically reasoned with them, “The Law allows for circumcision on the Sabbath day, so why not healing?” They failed to apply the Law contextually and practically, because they were offended by what they had just observed.