Matthew 7:1 is perhaps one of the most memorized and most quoted verses in the Bible? It is true! For instance, I am going to make a few statements. Let’s see if you agree with me.
1. Homosexuality is a sin. Homosexuals need to repent of this sin in order to be right with God.
2. All pre-marital sex is wrong. Two people living together out of wedlock are living in adultery.
Now when those statements are made the world immediately trots out their favorite verse in the Bible: “Judge not, that ye be not judged.”
That brings up this question: is it ever right to pass judgment on the actions of others? Be careful how you answer that question! Because if you really look at our passage today, Jesus it not saying that it is never right to judge another. Instead, He is saying, “It depends! There are times when you can judge and times when you cannot judge.”
Tonight, I want to look at this verse in detail and I want us to examine three things: One , there is a warning to be heeded. Two, there is a challenge to be heard. And three, there is advice to be honored.
I. v. 1-2 THERE IS A WARNING TO BE HEEDED
The word “judge” means “to pronounce judgment; to expression of strong disapproval or harsh criticism.” It refers to “act the part of a judge; or to pass judgment on the words and deeds of another.” And Jesus said to “judge not”. Does this mean that all judgment is wrong? No! There are some occasions mentioned in the Bible where Christians are called on to exercise judgment over others. Let me give you a few examples:
1 Cor 5:3-5; 12-23 – Here, Paul judges a man guilty of inappropriate action with his father’s wife. He condemns the man and his actions and calls on the church to do the same.
1 John 4:1-6 – Believers are commanded to judge religions and statements of preachers and teachers to see is they line up with the Word of God and the teachings of the Gospel. That’s why you often hear me criticize some preachers on TV no matter how good they look or how floweredy their theology. False doctrine is false doctrine.
Matt. 7:15-20 – We are obligated to examine the fruit of those around us and base our fellowship with that person based on what we see in their life.
And the one we often don’t like to talk about:
Matt. 18:15-18 – There are times when the church must exercise discipline against a wayward member. This will require judging their fruits according to the Word of God.
So, what is Jesus talking about here? The word “judge” means “to criticize, condemn, judge, censor.”
It is an old fault-finding attitude; it is being picky; it is the habit of carping criticism; it is a mean, critical spirit that sees only the bad in others.
Jesus is talking about looking at people and attempting to judge their motives and their real spiritual condition based on what we see in their lives.
The idea here is that the judge presumes to know the condition of another person’s heart. He sets himself up as judge and jury and proclaims the guilt and innocence of all those around him. This is the attitude that Jesus condemns!
And look at Matthew 7:2 (READ)
The person who sets himself up as the judge of others, will himself face judgment someday! The critic forgets that he will also face God in judgment. In that day, God will use the same yardstick to judge the critic that he used to judge others! That is a scary thought! In other words, when you judge another person, you will eventually reap what you sow, Gal. 6:7.(READ) By the way, for every person you watch and criticize, there is someone else watching you and criticizing your life!
Here is the bottom line: We have no right to judge and criticize the lives of those around us. There are a few good reasons why I say this.
Don’t criticize because you don’t know all the facts.
I read about an owner of a manufacturing plant who decided to make a surprise tour of the shop. Walking through the warehouse he noticed a young man just lazily leaning up against some packing crates with his hands in his pocket doing nothing. The boss walked up to him and angrily said, “Just how much are you paid a week?” Well, the young man’s eyes got rather big, and he said, “Three hundred bucks.”
The boss pulled out his wallet, pealed off three one hundred bills, gave it to him, and said, “Here’s a week’s pay. Now get out of here and don’t ever come back!”
Well, without a word the young man stuffed the money into his pocket and took off. The warehouse manager was standing nearby staring in amazement. The boss walked over to him and said, “Tell me, how long has that guy been working for us?”
The manager said, “He didn’t work here, he was just delivering a package.”
Don’t we often do that? We see someone leave church early and they must have had an attitude problem when in reality it may have been a medical emergency. Someone is not here for awhile and they must be backsliding when in reality, they are having some reasons they’re out of town each week. We can’t judge something unless we have all the facts and most of the time, we don’t.
Don’t criticize because we all fail God and sin, 1 John 1:8-10.
If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 1If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.
Don’t criticize because you do not know the content of the other person’s heart.
Something that gripes my gut everytime is when we think we can guess someone’s motive around here. Someone wants to serve on a committee… “Oh, they’re just wanting to be in control.” And we know this because….?
Don’t criticize because, when you do, you are attempting to assume the authority of God, James 4:11-12.
Consider Romans 14:4—
Who are you to judge the servant of another? To his own master he stands or falls; and he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.
Or James 4:11-12—
Do not speak against one another,brethren He who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks against the law and judges the law; but if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge of it.
There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the One who is able to save and to destroy; but who are you who judge your neighbor?
Don’t criticize because one day you will face God in judgment yourself,
Rom. 14:12.
So then each one of us will give an account of himself to God.
ITHERE IS A CHALLENGE TO BE HEARD
Here, Jesus speaks to the real issue. When we judge another, we always do so from a warped perspective. He uses the humorous image of a man with a log sticking out of his eye trying to help remove little splinter from another person’s eye. The word “mote” refers to something we might call “a splinter”. The word literally refers to “a log”. Imagine how impossible that would be! This is proof that Christ had a sense of humor and often used it to illustrate a point.
Here’s the thing:
When I look at your life and see your faults, I am, in fact, blind to the problems that dwell within my own heart. For instance, if my heart was as pure and as holy as I would like to believe it is; I would not be focused on criticizing and condemning you for your failures. I would, instead love you, pray for you and try to help you. I would not be in the business of tearing you down, but I would be seeking how I might build you up and restore you!
The problem with judging others is that we are often guilty of the same or worse sins ourselves, Let’s face it! None of us are anything to brag about! While we look at the way some people dress, act, and at the outward signs of sin in their lives; we are often blind to the prejudices, hypocritical spirit and other sins that lurk within our own heart! What makes me think that I am in any position to straighten you out when I am in such a mess myself? Here is the hard part. Here is the truth that is so heard to swallow. Jesus is saying that the sin of the critic is greater than the sin of the person being judged! When we talk about the flaw that is visible in someone’s life, we reveal a canyon in our own life. We are revealing a heart that lacks genuine love for our neighbor, That ought to make us stop and think before we tear another person down, just because they don’t live up to our standards!
An old poem puts it this way:
There is so much good in the worst of us
And so much bad in the best of us;
That it hardly behooves any of us
To talk about the rest of us.
FINALLY,THERE IS ADVICE TO BE HONORED
Jesus uses some pretty strong language here. He calls those people who judge and criticize others hypocrites! He says that when we do this, we are merely acting like we are holier than we really are. Then, He offers some valuable counsel to those of us who fall in to this trap from time to time.
Jesus tells the would-be judge to first clean up his own life, then he will be in a better position to help his brother. When our own heart is clean, we are told that we will be able to “see clearly.” I get the impression that we will be able to see more than the “mote” in our brother’s eye. I think we will see a few things far more clearly.
1. We will see our own heart more clearly. We will understand that we are just sinners ourselves who are prone to fail.
2. We will see God and the fact that we will stand in judgment before Him some day more clearly.
3. We will see our brother more clearly. We will see his need for love, compassion and help more clearly.
When our own heart has been fixed; when our own vision has been cleared up, we will able to reach out to a fallen brother, or a lost sinner in the right spirit. We will not approach them with a spirit of judgment,and condemnation; but we will be able to come to them with a spirit of compassion and restoration. That is the way it should be done, There ought to be a desire to help a wayward brother and to win a lost sinner. Neither is possible as long as we have a judgmental, critical attitude. When we walk in love one with another, we will be in the business of building up and not tearing down!
So you see, it is not wrong to confront a person with his sin. It is wrong if you don’t. Consider these verses:
Leviticus 19:17, “Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart: thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbour, and not suffer sin upon him.”
Proverbs 27:5, “Open rebuke is better than secret love. 6 Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.”
Matthew 18:15, “Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. 16 But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. 17 And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican.”
Luke 17:3, “Take heed to yourselves: If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him.If you love your brother, you will confront him when he is wrong. If you hate him you will not.”
Refusing to confront a person about his sin is just as wrong as a doctor refusing to confront a patient about his sickness. If you want to understand what Jesus said in Matthew 7:1, you must put right beside it what he said in John 7:24, “Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment.” Now that says it all. You cannot judge a tree by its leaves. But you can judge a tree by its fruit. You cannot judge a book by its cover. But you can judge a book by its contents. The key is not to judge by appearance.
There was a lady in an airport who bought a book to read and a package of cookies to eat while she waited for her plane. Well, after she had taken her seat in the terminal and began to read this book, she noticed that the man sitting one seat away from her was fumbling to open up the package of cookies on the seat between them. Well, she could hardly believe her eyes that a stranger would just open her bag of cookies and eat them. He took one and ate it. She was so hot and steamed. She reached into the bag and took one and ate it. Well, the man didn’t say anything. He just reached over and took another cookie. This woman thought to herself that she wasn’t going to let him eat all of her cookies, so she took another cookie. When they finally got down to one cookie, the man reached into the bottom of the bag, broke the cookie in half, ate it, glared at the woman, got up and left. This lady couldn’t believe this man’s nerve. She was thinking to herself how fresh and arrogant he was. Soon the announcement came to board the plane.
This lady got on the plane, still hot and bothered at the audacity of this man, sat down, buckled her seat belt, reached into her purse for a tissue, and there was her bag of cookies.
I came to the conclusion a long time ago that there are several reasons why people tend to judge and criticize others.
1. Criticism boosts our own self-image. Pointing out someone else’s failure and tearing him down makes us seem a little bit better, at least in our own eyes. It adds to our own pride, ego, and self-image.
2. Criticism is often enjoyed. There is a tendency in human nature to take pleasure in hearing and sharing bad news and reveling in the shortcomings of others.
3. Criticism makes us feel that our own lives are better than the person who failed. In other words, criticism builds us up in our pride.
4. Criticism helps us justify the decisions we have made and the things we have done throughout our lives. We rationalize our decisions and acts by pointing out the failure of others.
5. Criticism points out to our friends how strong we are. Criticism gives good feelings because our rigid beliefs and strong lives are proven again by our brother’s failure.
6. Criticism is an outlet for hurt and revenge. We feel he deserves it. Subconsciously, if not consciously, we think, “He hurt me so he deserves to hurt, too.” So we criticize the person who failed.
Here is the invitation. Have you been guilty of passing judgment on other people because they do not live like you do? Has the Lord spoken to your heart about this matter? If He has then you need to come make it right and get the log out of your eye.
Have you been unjustly judged by others? Have you forgiven the ones who did that to you? You need to! This altar is open to you.
Have you ever been saved? If you have, then live like it. If not, then come to Jesus and look to Him for the needs of your heart and soul
