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.
This group of Jews whom Jesus addressed allowed what they saw with their own two eyes to distract them from a proper perspective of the Law. So, how many times are we distracted from using the correct measure, because we become overly focused on the faults of others? Jesus informed them, “Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment” (John 7:24). We need to make sure that we are not so offended by what we see that we jump to a hasty conclusion. We need to slow down and take some time to consider what the Bible has to say, so that we can make a “righteous” decision instead of a rash decision.
In Matthew 7:2, Jesus continued to say, “For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged.” This statement sounds similar to one we often hear today: “What goes around comes around.” Let me tell you, when we judge others, what “comes around” or what “comes our way” is the result of human nature and vengeance, not karma and not some cosmic force.
In Jesus’ day and time there were many Jews still adhering strictly to Old Testament Law, and they would have handled criticism against them in a vengeful manner. There was one place in the Law that taught that if you suffer harm, “then you shall give life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, [and] stripe for stripe.” That’s found in Exodus 21:23-25. What the Old Testament Law prescribed sounds like “mountain justice,” like what we see in Kentucky. Jesus was pretty much saying, “Don’t dish out what you can’t take.” Beware of judging hastily, for there are some who are going to hold a grudge against you and seek to get even.
In Luke 12:58-59, Jesus said, “When you go with your adversary to the magistrate, make every effort along the way to settle with him, lest he drag you to the judge, the judge deliver you to the officer, and the officer throw you into prison. I tell you, you shall not depart from there till you have paid the very last mite.” Let me tell you, there are some people who – if you offend them – will make you pay the very last mite. They will beat you down, make your life miserable, and do everything in their power to destroy you. So first off, we need to be careful about passing judgment on others; and secondly, when we offend someone, we need to ask their forgiveness and do everything in our power to make things right.
But getting back to our main passage and what Jesus said, we must be careful not to pass judgement on others. According to Deuteronomy 32:35-36, it is not actually “our place” to judge. The Bible tells us that we can “evaluate” someone based on his or her fruit (Matthew 7:17; Luke 6:44), but not pass judgement. It is “God’s place” to judge, for justice belongs to Him. The Bible says, “Vengeance is Mine, and recompense . . . for the Lord will judge His people” (Deuteronomy 32:35a, 36a). We, as human beings, are incapable of properly judging others, for our judgment is always clouded by sin; and when we act in judgment we presume to have knowledge and insight comparable to God, which arises out of pride.
In James 4:11-12, we read, “Do not speak evil of one another, brethren. He who speaks evil of a brother and judges his brother, speaks evil of the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. There is one Lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy. Who are you to judge another?” J. R. Miller says, “In condemning and censuring others, we are thrusting ourselves into God’s place, taking His scepter into our hands, and presuming to exercise one of His sole prerogatives.”(8)
Jesus Advised to First Look at Oneself (vv. 3-5)
3 And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? 4 Or how can you say to your brother, “Let me remove the speck from your eye”; and look, a plank is in your own eye? 5 Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.
Jesus said, “Why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye?” (v. 3). When Jesus mentioned a “speck,” He meant a splinter. When He referred to a “plank,” perhaps He meant to say, “Watch out, lest you get the measuring stick lodged in your eye!” Though this interpretation of “plank” would tie in with Jesus’ prior mention of using a “measure” (v. 2), or a measuring stick, this is not what He had in mind to portray.
According to A. T. Robertson, Jesus was referring to a large log within the ceiling of a house that held up the roof, such as a ceiling joist; and he made reference to an old Arabic proverb which says, “How can you see the splinter in your brother’s eye, and not see the cross-beam in your own eye?”(9) I once worked for a contractor, and I can recall the time we worked to restore an old log cabin from the early nineteenth century. The huge poplar ceiling beams were each about 15 x 20 inches thick, and 25 feet long. This is what I imagine that Jesus had in mind.
I love the way the Visual Bible presents Jesus as teaching the multitudes on the mountain. The show depicts Him as walking over, reaching for someone’s walking stick, and then holding it up to His eye, while everyone gets in a good laugh. Perhaps Jesus really did use a similar approach, and was able to get His point across with a visual aid or prop, helping the people to relax and lower their guard as He confronted them with such a sensitive subject matter.
Jesus then asked, “How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye;’ and look, a plank is in your own eye?” (v. 4). It’s actually a funny picture that Jesus presents. Can you imagine a man with a big long plank, or a huge log, stuck in his eye while trying to remove a miniscule splinter from someone else’s eye? He would not be able to move close enough to the other person without knocking him upside the head! The point is this: We often harm others in our attempt to correct them; when in reality, we are the ones with the massive problem. Kent Crockett shares an appropriate illustration:
Driving to the office this morning, I noticed a woman driving 65 mph with her face up next to her rear view mirror, putting on her eyeliner! I looked away and the next thing you know she was halfway in my lane, still putting on her makeup.
As a man, I don’t scare easily. But she scared me so much, I dropped my electric shaver, which knocked the donut out of my other hand. In all the confusion of trying to straighten out the car using my knees against the steering wheel, it knocked my cell phone away from my ear which fell into the coffee between my legs, ruined the phone, soaked my trousers, and disconnected an important call. All because of that crazy woman driver!(10)
The “speck” that Jesus mentioned equals a tiny transgression, and the “plank” equals a large transgression. One time Jesus called the Pharisees, “Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!” (Matthew 23:24). They would look to pick out, or “strain out,” the tiniest transgression in another individual; while the Pharisees, themselves, would continually “swallow camels,” meaning they would commit major transgressions. The Pharisees found fault in others, but they would never take the opportunity to examine themselves.(11) It’s been said, “The man that is most busy in censuring others is always least employed in examining himself.”(12)
Jesus said, “First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye” (v. 5). Here’s a quote I want to share from the familiar devotional guide called Our Daily Bread: “It is easier to jump to negative conclusions about people than it is to assume the best about them . . . We also reveal something about ourselves [when we do], for the faults we see in others are actually a reflection of our own.”(13)
Since “the faults we see in others are actually a reflection of our own,” then we should first look at ourselves before we act to judge. For example, when the scribes and Pharisees sought to condemn the woman caught in the act of adultery, Jesus said, “He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first” (John 8:7). He meant to say that no one is without sin (Romans 3:23); so, we need to first examine ourselves before we cast stones of accusation at others.
Time of Reflection
The apostle Paul seemed to grasp the essence of what Jesus taught about judging others, for he once advised the believers at Corinth, “For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged” (1 Corinthians 11:31). In Luke 6:37, Jesus declared, “Judge not, and you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.” Allow me to share what commentator Matthew Henry (1662-1714) draws from our passage. He stated,
We must not judge rashly, nor pass such a judgment upon our brother as has no ground, but is only the product of our own jealousy and ill nature. We must not make the worst of people . . . We must not judge uncharitably, unmercifully, nor with a spirit of revenge, and a desire to do mischief. We must not judge of a man’s state by a single act, nor of what he is in himself by what he is to us, because in our own cause we are apt to be partial. We must not judge the hearts of others, nor their intentions, for it is God’s prerogative to try the heart, and we must not step into His throne.(14)
Well said. Amen? If we would just take to heart the words of Jesus shared in this passage, we could have a little more of the mind of Christ (1 Corinthins2:16), and better share His love with the world. In a book published in 1930, called The Kneeling Christian, it is stated, “The more like Jesus Christ a man becomes, the less he judges other people. It is an infallible test. Those who are always criticizing others have drifted away from Christ . . . If you have a criticizing nature, allow it to dissect yourself and never your neighbor.”(15)
I wish to leave us all with one last thought. Perhaps at one time or another you felt the call of the Holy Spirit to surrender your life to Jesus Christ and receive Him as Savior and Lord; and yet, you have never come to Him. Could it be because you, in a spiritual sense, have a beam stuck in your eye; one that is prohibiting you from examining yourself and identifying your own sin?
For example, you could be saying, “I have no wrongs that need to be forgiven. Why do I need Christ?” If so, then the beam you have in your eye is pride, and the Bible says, “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall” (Proverbs 16:18). Pride will lead to destruction as you are fooled into thinking that you are okay without Christ.
The Bible says that if we persist in sin, we will suffer the consequence of sin with is spiritual death. If you are ever going to receive salvation and eternal life, then you must lower your pride, confess your sins, and trust in Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord. We read in Romans, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23), and, “If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9).
NOTES
(1) “Judging,” Dictionary.com: dictionary.reference.com/browse/judging (Accessed June 20, 2011).
(2) “Criticize,” Dictionary.com: dictionary.reference.com/browse/criticize (Accessed June 20, 2011).
(3) “Judgment,” lexicon number G2917, Blue Letter Bible: www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=G2917&t=KJV (Accessed June 20, 2011).
(4) “Measure,” lexicon number G3358, Blue Letter Bible: www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=G3358&t=KJV (Accessed June 20, 2011).
(5) Michael P. Green, Illustrations for Biblical Preaching (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 1997), pp. 327-328.
(6) David Powlison, “Judgment by Others,” Grace Quotes: thegracetabernacle.org/quotes/Judgment-Others_by.htm (Accessed June 17, 2011).
(7) “The Woman Caught in Adultery,” posted July 2, 2003; Grace through Faith: gracethrufaith.com/selah/spiritual-life/the-woman-caught-in-adultery/ (Accessed June 17, 2011).
(8) J. R. Miller, “Judgment by Others,” Grace Quotes: thegracetabernacle.org/quotes/Judgment-Others_by.htm (Accessed June 20, 2011).
(9) A. T. Robertson, Robertson N. T. Word Pictures, Power Bible CD.
(10) Kent Crockett, Kent Crockett’s Sermon Illustrations, Jokes, and Stories: www.kentcrockett.com/cgi-bin/illustrations/index.cgi?topic=Judging (Accessed June 20, 2011).
(11) Damian Phillips, A Life Giving Ministry (Raleigh, NC: Lulu Publishers, 2011), p. 58.
(12) Thomas Lye, A Puritan Golden Treasury, compiled by I. D. E. Thomas (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 2000), p. 278.
(13) “Judgment by Others,” originally printed in Our Daily Bread; Grace Quotes: thegracetabernacle.org/quotes/Judgment-Others_by.htm (Accessed June 20, 2011).
(14) Matthew Henry, Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible, on Power Bible CD.
(15) “Judgment by Others,” originally printed in The Kneeling Christian (Kessinger Publishing, 1930), Grace Quotes: thegracetabernacle.org/quotes/Judgment-Others_by.htm (Accessed June 20, 2011).
