THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT (part 18)
Matt. 7:1-5
Today I'll be dealing with one of the most misused verses quoted among non-Christians and Christians alike. Whenever someone addresses a sin in our life we pull out our trump card, Matt. 7:1, “Judge not, lest ye be judged!” There's such a big misunderstanding about this that it warrants taking a deeper look so we can correctly understand what Jesus means.
1) That whole "judge not" thing.
Matt. 7:1-2, "Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you."
There's an expression that I've heard people use: 'only God can judge me'. I saw a pic of a woman who had that tattooed across her upper chest. 2Pac had a song with that title. I read some of the lyrics. There's a line that goes, 'only God can judge me; f*** everyone else'. Unfortunately, many people live by this not-so-golden rule.
The irony is, if you really allowed God to judge your thoughts, words and actions, you would come to see that it's wise to listen to correction. But it's obvious that a lot of people look at judging in a very negative way. And while it can be done in a very negative way, it's not altogether true that if I judge, I'm either hating on you or I think I'm better than you.
While it's true that only God is our judge as far as salvation and condemnation goes, and that we have no business rendering judgment in that regard, that doesn't mean judgment is off the table in every other fashion. People make judgments about things every day; based on how we see things. We judge situations and decide what we're going to do or not do.
Making judgments is part of life. We have set up our court system to have a judge and jury to determine one's guilt or innocence. And, as there have been times when an incorrect judgment has been rendered, there are times when our judgment has not been correct.
The question is, by what criteria are we making judgments? Are we looking at the facts or just stating our opinions? Am I being rational or am I being driven by my emotions? Is it done for the purpose of correcting or just criticizing?
There is a right way and a wrong way to judge. That's what Jesus is getting at here in this passage. Be careful how you go about passing judgment because the way you do it will be brought upon you; whether by your peers or by the Lord himself.
What are some wrong ways to go about it? One way would be stereotypical judging. You’ve heard the phrase, 'don’t judge a book by its cover’. We have to admit, we often make the mistake of judging by outward appearances. When God chose Samuel to pick a replacement for King Saul he sent him to Jesse’s house. When Samuel thought he saw the obvious choice God corrected his thinking.
1st Samuel 16:6-7, "When they arrived, Samuel saw Eliab and thought, “Surely the LORD'S anointed stands here before the LORD.” But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”
Whether it’s a situation or a person we can make assumptions based on how things look. It's not right to judge a person by how they look, what they have or what they do. It's not good to judge someone based on their race or culture. Stereotypical judging is wrong. Another way we can judge incorrectly is when we're being hypocritical.
Rom. 2:1-3, "You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge the other, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things. Now we know that God’s judgment against those who do such things is based on truth. So when you, a mere man, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God’s judgment?"
Back in the mid 1980s when the TV evangelist Jim Bakker was exposed for sexual sin and fraud, Ted Koppel interviewed fellow TV evangelist Jimmy Swaggert. Swaggert was asked to give his opinion about Bakker and he came off as very judgmental. In fact, he called Bakker a cancer to the Christian community. Just a short time later, Swaggert himself was exposed as being guilty of some of the same kinds of sins.
There’s nothing wrong with calling sin a sin but when I’m judging hypocritically I’m forgetting my sin and highlighting yours. I’m attacking you and in my pride I'm setting myself up as better than you. Sometimes our motive in judgment is to boost our esteem. If I can judge you then I can feel better about myself.
Bible teacher John Stott said, "Paul uncovers in these verses a strangely human foible, namely our tendency to be critical of everybody except ourselves".
Having a hypocritical spirit blinds us to our own faults. Other people have anger issues but we have justified frustration. Other people are jerks but we’re just having a bad day. Other people have a critical spirit, but we're simply telling it like it is. Other people are pushy, but we’re goal oriented.
Hypocritical judging sees the actions of others in a different light than our own. We judge others by a different standard than we set for ourselves. We fall into the trap of self-righteousness and judge accordingly. This is hypocritical judging.
And lastly, we judge wrongly when we are condemning. We're supposed to hate the sin and love the sinner but what happens sometimes is we don't make that separation; we don’t make a distinction between judging actions and judging people. We make the mistake of identifying the person according to their sin; judging the person based on their sin.
We need to condemn a person's actions without condemning the person. We can love the person without loving their behavior. We are called to judge actions but when that transcends into judging the person based on those actions that’s where we go wrong. That’s the kind of judgment Jesus, Paul and others speak out against.
1st Cor. 4:3-5, "I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court; indeed, I do not even judge myself. My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me. Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait till the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men’s hearts. At that time each will receive his praise from God."
On the surface, it looks like Paul has the same attitude as 2Pac. But Paul isn't saying he doesn't care what anyone else thinks; he's specifically addressing those who have been erroneously critical of him and the human courts who threw him in jail for preaching Christ. Paul wasn't against receiving constructive criticism or a loving rebuke. He was not prideful, he was humble, for he said he wasn't even qualified to fully judge himself. He ultimately entrusted himself, and others, to God.
That's what we need to do. When we say things like, “That person is never going to amount to anything”, or, “that person is surely going to hell”, we are determining their future based on their current behavior or merely our perception or opinion. We are not qualified to do that. That's prideful and arrogant.
If we’re seeing things correctly we will judge the actions of the person, but not the person himself. It’s one thing to address sin but drawing a conclusion about the person based on their sin is wrong. Only God truly sees the heart and knows the future. Therefore he's the only one qualified to judge a person's salvation or condemnation.
2) That whole "plank/speck" thing.
Matt. 7:3-5, "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? 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? 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."
If we minimize or even excuse our own faults how do we think we can judge accurately in addressing our brother's faults? But we need to consider something: as we could use Vs. 1 as an attack on someone who confronts us, we can do the same thing with this. Someone addresses an issue and we tell them to take their log out before they address our splinter. That's not the right response. In fact, that response might be the indicator that the log is in my eye.
With that said, we do need to work on our own logs so we can address the specks, or logs, in other people's eyes. However, although the log/splinter scenario is often true for us, Jesus isn't saying we will always have it backwards. I think we will until we take Jesus' words to heart and work on humility. But we can get to the place where we are able to see things accurately.
Adam Clarke's commentary, "When we shall have as much zeal to correct ourselves, as we have inclination to reprove and correct others, we shall know our own defects better than we know those of our neighbor." If I am someone who recognizes my own faults or responds in humility when someone points them out to me, that will cause me to approach the other person in humility.
If I first know that I have my own character defects, I will be able to address yours in the right manner. I will make observations instead of accusations. I will ask questions instead of assuming. I will focus on the facts rather than opinions. I will seek to resolve the issues rather than just focus on the problems. I will try to build up instead of tear down.
I will do it this way because I have the golden rule in mind. I will do it this way because I have in mind the will of God. Therefore, my attitude in how I go about correcting someone will determine whether or not I'm in the right spirit. As the JFB commentary puts it, I will do it, "with reluctance and not satisfaction, with moderation and not exaggeration, with love and not harshness".
As we addressed some of the wrong ways to judge, now let's look at some of the right ways to judge. It needs to be factual. John 7:24, “Stop judging by mere appearances, and make a right judgment.”
A young couple moved into a new neighborhood. The next morning while they were eating breakfast, the young woman looked out the window and saw her neighbor hanging the wash outside. "She obviously doesn't know how to do laundry very well. Look how dirty it is," she said. Her husband looked on but remained silent.
Every time her neighbor would hang her wash to dry, the young woman would make the same comments. A few weeks later, the woman was surprised to see nice clean wash on the line and said to her husband, "Well, look who finally figured out how to do her laundry. I wonder what took her so long."
The husband said, "It wasn't her laundry that was dirty; it was your window. I got up early this morning and cleaned it." Sometimes we think we're seeing something clearly but we find we have judged a situation while 'looking through a dirty window'.
We need to get the facts before we make a judgment. We typically can't go by initial observations; we need to dig deeper, we need to ask questions. When I'm discerning I’m trying to get the facts so I can make a properly sound judgment. That’s wisdom. That will go much better for me than if I judge by mere appearances.
Another correct way to judge is when it's done in humility. When we look at the passage in Matthew, we see that we can presume that your sins are worse than mine. And I will always look at yours first and mine second, if at all.
Paul said in 1st Cor. 11:31, “But if we judged ourselves, we would not come under judgment.”
When we judge others we are harsh but when we judge ourselves we are lenient. But if we counter that prideful, hypocritical judging with humility, we will take our faults into consideration when we address someone else’s.
Jesus wasn’t condemning judging across the board. He wants us to consider how we judge. He warned us that the way we do it will be done to us in return. Jesus wants me to understand that if I judge based on harshness and pride then expect the same in return. He wants me to be wise and look at myself first before trying to adequately judge my brother’s faults.
Too often, if we admit we have faults we categorize them as specks and everyone else's as planks. Jesus is telling us that more often than not, it's the other way around. If we can humbly admit that and address our faults we will then be qualified to help someone else with theirs. If my judgment is based in humility I’ll accept my own character defects before I address yours.
Rom. 12:3, “Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment.” If I’m using the sober, humble judgment Jesus is looking for then I will be able to judge correctly.
And lastly, when we judge, let it be righteous. 1st Cor. 5:1-5, "It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that does not occur even among pagans: A man has his father’s wife. And you are proud! Shouldn’t you rather have been filled with grief and have put out of your fellowship the man who did this?
Even though I am not physically present, I am with you in spirit. And I have already passed judgment on the one who did this, just as if I were present. When you are assembled in the name of our Lord Jesus and I am with you in spirit, and the power of our Lord Jesus is present, hand this man over to Satan, so that the sinful nature may be destroyed and his spirit saved on the day of the Lord."
We might think Paul is wrong for making such a harsh judgment. But he's not because his motive is purity and righteousness for God’s church. And we might think he's going against his own words in the previous chapter about not judging things before the appointed time. But that's not the case; there's a difference.
Paul is not being hypocritical, stereotypical or prideful-he is being loving and protective. His desire is for the sanctity of God’s holy church and he judges accordingly to keep it intact.
Notice what his intentions are in vs. 5: ‘so that the sinful nature may be destroyed and his spirit saved’. Paul had this man’s soul in mind. When we are making a spiritual judgment call with the best interest of others at heart, we are judging correctly.
We can judge as long as it's done the right way. If we do it the wrong way, be prepared to be judged in like manner.
You may have listened to the sermon today and thought, "so and so really needs to hear this one". Or you looked over at someone in the congregation and you thought, "I hope they're listening to this". Guess what? Whenever we read the word of God or we listen to a message and a list of people come to mind that we feel needs to see or hear it, we're missing the first person God is trying to reach.
While it may be true that the person we're thinking of needs to hear it, the first person on our list should be ourselves. We need to read the bible or listen to a sermon with the focus of, 'what is God trying to say to me?'
In the list of the armor of God in Eph. 6 the bible is the sword of the Spirit. We are to use it to fight Satan's lies and deceptions. But sometimes, we take the word and use it to attack our allies. Someone comes to us and says, "you know, what you just said to that person was not very Christian". Then we immediately pull out our sword and attack them with a verse like Matt. 7:1.
Let's not use the word as a defense mechanism when someone approaches us with something we need to hear. Instead, let's allow the word to be a sword that judges the thoughts and attitudes of our hearts, like Heb. 4:12 teaches.
