INTRODUCTION
1. ILLUSTRATION:
A few years ago, a church in Oklahoma expelled a woman for immorality. When she filed a lawsuit against the church, the story made all the national news media.
One of the shows to give the lawsuit coverage was Phil Donahue and on that show, I think the attitude of Donahue and most of the audience could be summed up in the words: "Judge not that you be not judged!"
2. Sadly, we live in a lifestyle that seems to say "You live your lifestyle and I’ll live mine. But don’t you tell me how to live, and certainly don’t you try to impose your standards of morality on me."
3. What was Jesus saying in Matthew 7?
I think one of the key verses in understanding our passage today is
Matthew 5:20: "For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven."
All of SOM has taught this principle: We must have a different kind of righteousness from what the scribes and Pharisees had. They wore theirs on their sleeves; it was superficial righteousness based on status and human recognition.
Ours must grow out of a heart committed to the Father. And Matt. 7 is part of that context. In our text today, Jesus deals with two different extremes of the problem of human judgment.
The first extreme is a harsh, critical, condeming spirit.
The second extreme is permissiveness.
This morning, in trying to understand the concept of judgment, we take a look at both.
I. DON’T JUDGE (MATTHEW 7:1-2)
READ VERSES 1 & 2
In Luke 7.36, the story is told of Jesus at the house of Simon the Pharisee to have lunch. A sinful woman anointed his feet, Simon said, "if this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is-that she is a sinner" " (Luke 7:39). The Pharisees, in their self-righteous arrogance, had created a special class of people called "sinners," as if they themselves were not such.
Notice what Jesus told Simon in Luke 7:40+ - READ LUKE 7:40-47
The Pharisees were used to judging others self-righteously. Jesus said there are problems with that kind of judging. It’s overly critical, always going around with a nit-picking attitude, digging and searching for faults, always suspecting the worst.
A. Let’s Consider The Word "Judgment"
1. Now he’s not talking about the judgment in a courtroom. He’s not talking about judging open and obvious sin (we’ll get to that later). He’s not talking about judging false teachers.
What he is talking about is a hasty, unloving, "holier than thou" type of attitude. We sometimes call this "jumping to conclusions" of which we’ve all been guilty! It’s at the very heart of gossipping and rumor-bearing.
2. ILLUSTRATION: John Stott put it this way:
"Jesus does not tell us to cease to be men but to renounce the presumptuous ambition to be God (by setting ourselves up as judges)."
3. God once made the point that "Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart." (I Samuel 16:7). That’s why I don’t have the right to sit in judgment on someone else’s motives, because I don’t know what they are. Only the Lord knows all.
4. Notice in vs. 2 "the measure you use…"
"For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you." That self-righteous judgment has a "boomerang"
In other words: "Look, if you start throwing out this critical spirit on other people, it’ll come back."
Jesus is warning us:
We’ll receive the same kind of treatment that we dish out. If we judge others harshly and jump to the worst conclusions about others, we can be certain that we’ll be treated in the same way, I believe by both others and God.
II. SEARCHING FOR SPECKS (MATTHEW 7:3-5)
There’s another problem with the Pharisee Righteousness. Not only was it overly critical, but it was also hypocritical. It was two-faced. NOTICE…
READ VERSES 3-5a
It’s like the parable of the Pharisee/Tax Collector in Luke 18 -
READ LUKE 18:9-14
" The Pharisee looks through his self-righteous eyes and says,
"Oh my! I’m glad I’m not like that scumbag out there."
" Then he looks through those blinded eyes and says to God,
"You are just so blessed to have me on your side."
In our text, that’s the kind of judging Jesus condemned. The bad part is that many of us don’t even realize we have this attitude of judgment within us.
" EVERYTHING HAS TO BE PERFECT FOR US!
" WE BLAME SO MUCH OF OUR LAZINESS ON ANOTHER!
" WE FEEL OTHERS ARE SICK AND DON’T REALIZE HOW SICK WE ARE!
But it’s important for us to notice that he didn’t stop there. He didn’t instruct us to stay out of other people’s business. Rather, he gave us the responsibility of helping our brother:
READ VERSE 5:
" What’s the loving, Christian thing to do? Turn and walk away? No!
" Do you say, "Oh, no. I could never take that speck out of your eye. I’ve had specks in my eye before"? Of course not!
" He’s got something in his eye and he needs it taken out.
Suppose a child comes to you with a splinter in his finger. He’s crying, "Please take this splinter out!" Oh but wait, you don’t have your glasses on. What are you going to do? Leave the splinter there? No! You correct your eyesight and then You take the splinter out.
But first you take out the "plank" - "log which denotes that huge piece of wood" that two-by-four piece of self-righteousness out of your own eye.
Paul put it this way, "Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness." (Galatians 6:1).
You who are spiritual -- not self-righteous, but spiritual -- those of you who have the evidence of the fruit of the Spirit in your life, you go & (don’t condemn) but restore him. Matthew 7 shouldn’t interfere with the responsibility we have to go to somebody in loving confrontation.
III. THE RIGHT WAY TO JUDGE (MATTHEW 7:6)
READ VERSE 6
Jesus doesn’t end his discussion of judging with the command "judge not". He goes on to say, "Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs."
" ’that which is sacred (holy’
The reference is to the meat offered in sacrifice. The picture is that of a priest throwing a piece of flesh from the altar to one of the dogs which infest the streets. Jesus say’s don’t be so ridiculous!
" ’throw your pearls to pigs’
Another picture of a rich man throwing handfuls of small pearls to swine - These small pearls, called by jewellers seed-pearls, would resemble the maize on which the swine feed.
Pigs do not realize the value of pearls; all they know is that they cannot eat them, so they spit them out and then trample them into the mud.
Let’s Translate the Meaning:
" There are evil people who cannot grasp the value of the gospel (sacred and pearl), so they scornfully cast it away.
" Don’t waste your time! On those that are not willing to be restored - MOVE ON!
IV. CONCLUSION
So what is the message of Matthew 7:1-6? I think it’s a warning for us to avoid the extremes of judgment. We need to be careful not to become harshly judgmental, looking for faults, taking the opportunity to look down on others from our position of self-righteousness.
But neither are we to overlook sin. We need to be able to recognize sin for what it is. Any attempt to overlook or justify sin on any grounds is itself sinful.
We’ve seen the teachings of Jesus; as we close, let’s notice his example. In John 8, Jesus is confronted by a mob pushing before it a woman that was caught in the act of adultery. The mob tried to use her, as if she were a thing, in order to trap Jesus. The Jewish law said she must die. Roman law said that she couldn’t be killed without their permission. There was never any doubt about her guilt, nor was there any doubt as to the seriousness of her action.
So what did Jesus do when confronted by this sinner? First, he refused to look down on her. He wouldn’t allow the mob to treat her as a thing. Rather he forced the mob to consider their own sin. But, second, he didn’t justify her behavior. He wouldn’t refer to her action as anything other than sin. He forgave her and challenged her to stop sinning.
Jesus will do the same thing for you this morning. If you come to him, he will also forgive your sin with the challenge to live a life of purity for him.
