Living in the Kingdom 18
Scripture: Matthew 7:1-6; First Corinthians 5:1-5; Galatians 6:7-8
As I am continuing my series “Living in the Kingdom”, this morning we begin with Matthew chapter seven. We will be looking at the first five verses where Jesus talks about not judging. Let’s read Matthew 7:1-5. It says, “Do not judge so that you will not be judged. 2. For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you. 3. Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? 4. Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ and behold, the log is in your own eye? 5. You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye. 6. Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before swine, or they will trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.” (Matthew 7:1-6)
Many Christians have read what Jesus said and walked away believing that they could not “correct” another Christian about the way that they were living because they were not allowed to judge. Because they might have things that they have done wrong in their life, or because they “were not perfect”, then they had no right to talk to anyone else about how they were living. Is this what Jesus was talking about? You see, our enemy has used this interpretation of this passage to place a lock on the mouths of Christian when it comes to them speaking against the lifestyles of other Christians – notice I said “other Christians.” As a child of God, we are commanded to live a certain way and we are allowed to “police” or judge one another according to what the Bible says, not according to our personal beliefs and choices. First Corinthians 6:2-3 speaks about Christians judging matters of life versus going to a worldly court. It says, “Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? If the world is judged by you, are you not competent to constitute the smallest law courts? Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more matters of this life?” So what did Jesus mean when He said that we were not to judge one another and to remove the log from our eye before we attempt to remove the speck from someone else’s eye? And what did He mean in verse six when He said we should not give what is holy to dogs? Stay with me as the answer might surprise you.
A couple of years ago I was having a conversation with someone and we were discussing how some of their family members were living their lives. During this conversation I asked the person why they did not say something to their family members who were not living for Christ. They told me that they did not feel that they could because they had made mistakes in their past, some similar to their family members. While I understood exactly what this person said, it saddened me that they had believed one of the greatest lies that Satan has ever laid upon the Church. That lie is this: “You cannot talk to someone about their sins when you have sinned, especially if you “did” the same thing you’re trying to tell them not to do.” This lie is based on the truth of what Jesus said in the verses we just read. Jesus was talking about judging someone else; He was not talking about trying to help someone come out of sin which we will see shortly. Satan uses what Jesus said about judging to whip us into silence so that sin might run free. If nobody is talking about sin because we are all guilty either present or in our past, then there is no accountability.
This lie, when believed, keeps us in the shadow of our sins and we never move beyond it to help others come out of where we were. If and when we come to the point where we have dealt with our past, we will be able help others without the fear of our past being thrown up in our face. If we remain ashamed of the mistakes that we have made and allow Satan to keep us silent about them, we will never muster up the courage to correct someone who is living wrong. We cannot continue to walk in the lie that says because I have sinned I cannot correct someone else; especially if I have done the same sin that they are doing. It is our learning from and understanding of where they are that enables us to talk with them on a personal level. I am speaking from experience as I have been questioned about why I take a stance against some things that I did myself. But here is what some do not understand: Rodney is not the standard. The Bible is the standard. You will never be judged based on Rodney’s standard. I can’t send anyone to hell. What I may have done cannot ever justify anyone doing the same thing. This morning I want to encourage you to move beyond your failures and use that experience to help someone else move beyond theirs. Always remember that God can use the mistakes we make to help someone else, if we stop allowing Satan to beat us over the head with them. Now let’s look for the truth in what Jesus said in His message.
In verses one and two Jesus said, “Do not judge so that you will not be judged. 2For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you.” The term “judge” is used in more than one sense in these verses, but Jesus’ meaning is very clear. Jesus does not prohibit the civil judgment of the courts upon people who are guilty of crimes as we have many examples of this throughout the Bible. Likewise He does not prohibit the judgment of the church, through its officers, whose standard for judging is the Bible, upon those who walk disorderly, for both He and the apostles have instructed this. Remember what was recorded in First Corinthians 5:1-5? A man had slept with his father’s wife (his stepmother.) In verses three and five Paul says, “For I, on my part, though absent in body but present in spirit, have already judged him who has so committed this, as though I were present….I have decided to deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of his flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.” (First Corinthians 5:3,5) Paul commanded the Church to deal with the situation. Their dealing with the situation was passing judgment on the man’s actions as being sin. Paul stated that He had already judged him but the Church needed to act. Finally Jesus does not forbid those private judgments that we are compelled to form with wrong-doers as He Himself tells us that we are to judge men by their fruits which we will discuss in detail later in this chapter.
What Jesus prohibits is impulsive and mean-spirited judgments, a fault-finding spirit, and a disposition to condemn without examination of charges against a person. He said, “For in the way you judge, you will be judged…” and not by men, but by God. He takes note of the unkind, harsh, overcritical spirit, and deals with the man according to His own spirit. In these verses there is declared a great principle that runs through the moral government of God as stated in Galatians 6:7-8 which says, “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap.” We will receive back what we have sown – especially as it relates to wrongful judging. Do you recall what Solomon said in Proverbs 26:27? He said, “He who digs a pit will fall into it, and he who rolls a stone, it will come back on him.” Solomon basically says what we give out will return back to us. When planning someone else’s demise, we are in fact planning our own. Every deceiver will be deceived, and the man who lies will become the prey of another man’s lies. This is a law which always was and now in operation, even though we might not be able to discern the punishment others are receiving as they might not be able to discern ours. However, there are people suffering today from a pitfall they laid for another and they know in their hearts that they are only passing through the same experience which they had once prepared for someone else. The Lord makes it clear how ridiculous it is to severely judge the faults of others while we have the greater ones. Those who find fault with another’s sin while his sin is worse are hypocrites. We must not judge rashly, nor pass judgment upon another without merit or based on our own jealousy and ill nature. We must not judge uncharitably, unmercifully, nor with a spirit of revenge and a desire to do harm. We must remember that we will be judged by the standard in which we judge. Let’s continue.
In verses three through five, Jesus said, “Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ and behold, the log is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.” The first thing I want you to know that Jesus used the terms “speck” and “log”, and both are examples of sin in the context of what Jesus was teaching. So, this example proves once again that all sins are not equal as some believe. Some believe that sin is sin and all carry the same penalty. However, there is some sin that is greater than others as evident in this example that Jesus used. Do you remember the story of David and Bathsheba? Bathsheba was married to Uriah when David called for her to come to him. When David found out that she was pregnant, he had her husband killed and then married her. In his mind he had gotten away with it. But God sent Nathan to confront David about his sin. I want to read a few verses from Second Samuel chapter twelve and what I want you to focus on is David’s response. Let’s begin at verse one.
“Then the LORD sent Nathan to David. And he came to him and said, ‘There were two men in one city, the one rich and the other poor. The rich man had a great many flocks and herds. But the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb which he bought and nourished; and it grew up together with him and his children. It would eat of his bread and drink of his cup and lie in his bosom, and was like a daughter to him. Now a traveler came to the rich man, and he was unwilling to take from his own flock or his own herd, to prepare for the wayfarer who had come to him; rather he took the poor man’s ewe lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to him.’ Then David's anger burned greatly against the man, and he said to Nathan, ‘As the LORD lives, surely the man who has done this deserves to die. He must make restitution for the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing and had no compassion.’” (Second Samuel 12:1-6)
David wanted another man’s wife and to get her he had her husband killed. Nathan comes to David and tells him a story about a rich man taking a poor man’s lamb to serve to his guests and David judged that the man was worthy of being put to death. Think about it! David had a man killed so he could have his wife and he is pronouncing a death sentence on a rich man that supposedly took a poor man’s lamb. When Nathan told David that he was that rich man David truly saw himself and the sin he had committed before God. But prior to that moment, David was angry and incensed at the rich man he thought had done such a wrongful deed in taking the poor man’s lamb. This is an example of what Jesus talked about. How often do we judge others much harder than our own sins? How often do we judge others for doing the same things we are doing in secret? How many examples have we seen of famous televangelists who preached against something only to be exposed for actively participating in the very thing(s) that they preached against? We all have a past and we all have sinned. You have heard me preach against sins that I have committed, but my failures do not change the word of God! When we come out of something that does not mean we cannot attempt to help others overcome the same things – but it’s how we do it. Remember what I said at the beginning about how Satan will try to keep us quiet because of our past sins and keeping our sins before us with guilt? David could have been a prime example of this except for what was recorded in Second Samuel 12:13. It says, “Then David said to Nathan, ‘I have sinned against the LORD.’ And Nathan said to David; ‘you shall not die.’” David acknowledged his sin and repented and then Nathan told David, “…the LORD also has taken away your sin…” When we repent and God forgives, He removes the sin so we do not have to walk in the shadow of it. Not walking in the shadow of our past sins allows us to remember them but not be shackled from helping others because of them.
Jesus said that “…take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.” Jesus is talking to those who are insensitive of their own faultiness and yet presumes to deal with the faultiness of others. Understand, He is talking about people who know they have faults and are choosing to ignore theirs while condemning others. It would literally be impossible for anyone with even a small chip of wood in their eye to be unaware of it. Our eyes are so delicate that any small object would cause acute annoyance. So imagine the effort it would take to ignore a small speck in your eye while trying to remove another speck from someone else’s eye. As you imagine that, imagine trying to remove a stick from your eye to be able to see well enough to help someone else remove a speck from theirs. This is the image that Jesus is describing. He is talking about someone who knows they have a log in their eye and yet they are trying to ignore the log and help someone else get a very small speck out of theirs. Now here is the thing, we might try to ignore our logs and try to forget them, hoping no one else see them, but that will not work before God. God commands that we deal with our own in order to help someone else. Remember how David thought he had gotten away with taking Bathsheba after causing the death of her husband?
Finally in verse six Jesus says, “Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before swine, or they will trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.” For a long time I did not connect this verse with the verses dealing with judging. I often only thought of this verse when I thought about why we should not argue with people about Scripture. But when we read this verse in context, Jesus said that we are not to force truth upon people who reject it, or give holy things to faultfinders, speck hunters, or evil speakers. To give holy things to dogs was to profane them. Therefore we are here forbidden to use any religious office, work, or ordinance, in such a manner as to degrade or profane it. Likewise, to give pearls to swine is to press the claims of the gospel upon those who despise it until they persecute you for annoying them with it. Jesus acted on this principle in refusing to answer the Pharisees, and the apostles did the same in turning to the Gentiles when their Jewish hearers would begin to contradict and blaspheme. But how does this verse connect with verses one through five as it relates to judging?
It is not an easy thing to be morally and spiritually useful to other men – especially when others might not want to hear correction. Therefore our usefulness to others requires careful discernment of what is fitting or unfitting, and a power of reserve when necessary. Jesus used this illustration to make a point of what would be unbecoming and unsuitable for Christians in the delivery of sacred truths to profane persons. In the first example a priest or Levite, who, upon leaving the temple, observed one of the ever-hungry dogs that prowled about the city of Jerusalem, but were never admitted within the gates of the sanctuary. Forgetting all considerations of manners and correctness, he returned into the court and took a portion of the flesh from the burnt offering which had been on the altar and threw it to the dog. Such an action would violate the Divine law which assigned the flesh of the offerings to the priests and it would indicate a gross disrespect for it. In the second example, a wasteful rich man, who for some notion, or intending a practical joke, threw pearls, as if they were seeds, before a herd of swine. The swine in Palestine never were tame creatures, as they are with us. Though in some parts of the country they were kept in herds, they were by the Jewish law unclean animals, and disallowed as food for man and accordingly, they were at the most only half-tamed. Now, if one should cast pearls in the way supposed before those animals, they might rush for what seemed to be grain, since they are always hungry, but, quickly discovering the hoax, would trample on the pearls, as pigs commonly put their feet into and upon their food. Also, an enraged boar would possibly rend the foolish man who had played this dangerous game, by a side upward stroke of his tusk, as the manner of such creatures are.
Jesus used two extreme instances in order to put a much-needed lesson in a strong light. But what is the lesson? It cannot be that Christians are never to press the gospel on an indifferent, unsympathetic, or even hostile audience because that is part of what we must do to bring souls to Christ. In that case it would contradict all those counsels and charges which require a fearless and even an aggressive testimony to the name of Jesus and it would be at odds with the example of our Lord and His Apostles, who preached the word in the face of angry opposition. No the positive lesson conveyed in this symbolic saying of Jesus is one of reverence and discretion. First and foremost, we must remember the time and place. While Christians not to evade opposition or even personal danger sometimes when it comes to sharing the Word with others, they are not to expose things that are sacred to open and egregious contempt. For example, it would not be appropriate to address religious truth with a drunkard in a bar while he is still drinking or to try and have a truth discussion with scorner. This would be inappropriate because neither has a desire to hear and with the drunkard, they are incapable of understanding in their current state. Also with the scornful, their purpose is to grin at the word of God, to mock at holy things, and to persecute those that bring them the gospel. With these people sharing the sacred things of God is the same as casting what is holy to dogs or throwing valuable pearls to swine to crush and then having the swine turn and attacks you. Remember when Jesus stood before Herod and Herod was questioning Him? Jesus refused to answer him, although the curious ruler asked many questions. Sometimes we have to remember that there are people who “will not hear the word.”
Jesus tells us not to judge one another, but this does not mean that we cannot correct one another, especially as Christians. You see, how we live as Christians reflects on God and our lives are a testimony to His goodness. If we are living in sin and yet we are trying to correct someone else, that does not work. Therefore we must stop ignoring our lifestyles and make the corrections that we need so that we will be in a position to help others. Does that mean that you have to be sin free before you can tell others what the Word says? No! But it does mean that you need to be trying to live according to the Word you profess to believe in because no one will accept the Word from you if you are not trying to live it! That being said, verse six makes it clear that we must be mindful of when we are sharing and with whom. We should not waste our breath arguing with anyone who does not want to hear or with those incapable of understanding in a given moment. Trying to discuss the truth with people who just want to argue will not be profitable to anyone.
The last point I want to leave you with is this: do not let your past sin put you in a prison that keeps you from speaking the truth. You are not judging someone when you tell them what the Word says about how they are living. However, you need to come to them from a place of caring about them versus trying to minimize your own sins by elevating theirs. God does not look kindly on those that do such things. Remember, the Word says, “For judgment will be merciless to one who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment.” (James 2:13) God bless.
Until next time, “The Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you. May the Lord lift up His countenance on you and give you peace.” (Numbers 6:24-26)
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