An Error In Judgment - Matthew 7:1-2 Series

Matthew 7:1 "Do not judge so that you will not be judged. 2 For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. 3 "Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 4 How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye. 6 "Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and then turn and tear you to pieces. 7

Introduction: Context of the Sermon on the Mount

For hundreds of years the people of God have been eagerly waiting for the descendent of David to arrive and set up His kingdom. And when that King finally did arrive, He preached a sermon that would become the most famous sermon ever preached – the Sermon on the Mount. The topic of the sermon is righteousness – specifically, what righteousness looks like in His kingdom. He began with some instruction about the role of the Law, then the rest of chapter 5 was all about Righteousness and Relationships – what righteousness looks like in this kingdom when it comes to personal relationships. Then in the first part of chapter 6 He moved to Righteousness and Religion – what righteousness looks like in this kingdom when it comes to religious observance (things like praying and giving and fasting). Then in the end of chapter 6 it was Righteousness and Resources - what does righteousness look like in this kingdom when it comes to money and possessions? That is where we left off last week. Now Jesus moves to Righteousness and Sinners. In this kingdom, how does a righteous person deal with sinners? And Jesus begins with the negative – telling us what not to do.

1 Do not judge

The King says, “You are not to judge each other in this Kingdom.”

Righteous Judging

What does that mean? I can tell you what our culture wants it to mean. Matthew 7:1 has become a mantra in our culture. “Judge not, lest you be judged.” “Who are you to judge?” “Don’t ever pass judgment.” Our culture hates all moral evaluation, so they would take Jesus’ words here in an absolute way. Just shut your brain off when it comes to ethics and do not make any distinctions. Do not ever say anything is wrong or evil or sin and do not use the word “ought” regarding any moral obligation. Accept everyone as they are unconditionally and do not even so much as believe something that someone else is doing is wrong. That is really the spirit of our age.

And that is not surprising. If you have a whole culture of people who want to ignore God and His will and His law and do whatever they please, the last thing they want is anyone reminding them that they are evil.

But is that what Jesus is saying? We know for sure that it is not because of verse 6. He warns us about people who are dogs and pigs. Then a little later He tells us to watch out for false prophets and that we will know them by their fruit. So obviously we have to be able to discern who the dogs and pigs and false prophets are. In fact, in other contexts Jesus commands us to judge.

John 7:24 Stop judging by mere appearances, and make a right judgment.

In chapter 18 Jesus says this:

Matthew 18:15 If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault

Not only must you judge him to be in the wrong, but you are to confront him about it.

Leviticus 19:17 Do not hate your brother in your heart. Rebuke your neighbor frankly so you will not share in his guilt.

Do not hate him – rebuke him. We recently had a visitor who was shocked to hear that we were carrying out church discipline. She said, “We should just love everybody.” But according to God’s Word if you fail to rebuke your brother for sin that is an act of hatred, not love. Scripture is loaded with commands that we make judgments.

1 John 4:1 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.

Philippians 3:2 Watch out for those dogs, those men who do evil