Judging others! – Matthew 7:1-6
Judging others! – Matthew 7:1-6
By Pastor Lee Hemen
May 12, 2019
One of the first justifications people will use to excuse or defend their poor choices in life or ungodly lifestyles are the verses we will look at this morning. I have found it interesting that while they never read the Bible, often neglect church, and have no clue who God truly is they can quote this passage almost verbatim. What they fail to realize is that it doesn’t expose Christians for “judging” them incorrectly but rather the hypocrisy of their choices and ignorance of Scripture.
The Pharisees were some of the most judgmental people in history. They were quick to judge the actions, spiritual behavior, and the cultures of others around them while neglecting their own spiritual ineptitude. They were the Muslims and Mormons of their day. While some believers can be seen as having the same judgmental attitude we need to fully understand what Jesus was teaching and why. Let’s take a fresh look at what Jesus taught about judging others…
READ: Matthew 7:1-6
My mother used to remind us that we may not fully understand why people do some of the things they do and that we needed to “walk a mile in their shoes” before we could. She meant that you should see what that person is going through to fully understand something about them. Basically you don't know what I’m going through until you are me. This is patently false. Let’s see what Jesus taught…
I. We need to use a proper scale! (Vv. 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.
1. There is in reality no such thing as blind justice. Juries and judges are influenced by evidence, arguments, examination of evidence, not to mention their own past histories and experiences. We do not live in a vacuum. Jesus fully understood this and he also understood how peopled lived, judged one another, and were judged. They lived under constant judgment by their rabbis, the temple priests, the Pharisees, and the Sanhedrin. Not to mention one another because one of the favorite local pastimes of the day was to talk about every little thing people did. It was these Pharisees who were now judging Jesus. He did not teach the same way they did and they resented it. Jesus taught that one’s righteousness, standing with God, was not dependent upon their acts but rather on how they loved God and one another. He was not teaching the kind of kingdom they anticipated or asking for the kind of uprightness they were exhibiting. So they rejected him. They had elevated themselves above the common crowd while Jesus easily mingled and fellowshipped with them. Jesus therefore warned them and the crowd against hypocritical judging: “Do not judge, or you too will be judged.” Jesus meant the hypocritical judgmental attitude of the Pharisees and not the judgment of a person’s sinfulness. “For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” If you judge someone hypocritically you will be judged by the same harsh nearsightedness you judged another with! Jesus was teaching we need to use a proper scale!
EXAMPLE: Being able to have the correct weight or measurement when one went to the market was extremely important in Jesus’ day. There were no set standards of weights or measures during that time and people were often cheated. The Romans tried to set standards but even they were guilty of tilting the scales in order to gain an advantage and more money in their coffers. Jesus deliberately used terms his listeners could readily understand and being measured by an unfair advantage they understood. The same is just as true of our lives today and we need to use a proper scale as well when we judge someone else!
My Mom could slice and dice another person’s faults faster than a Veg-O-Matic. While she hated it if others looked at her life too closely she was often more than willing to inspect the lives of others and render her verdict. While we cannot judge someone’s eternal destiny we can look at someone’s lifestyle and deduce if they are saved or not, or if they are living in sin or not. However, before we do Jesus taught that…
II. We had better have 20/20 vision! (Vv. 3-4)
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?
1. Here we discover that indeed we can judge someone else’s life but we had better make sure ours was in focus first. Jesus was raised by a carpenter, which meant he knew how to use brick, mortar, wood, stone, and how to repair, build, or replace furniture or buildings. One of the worst things that can happen when you are working with wood is to get a piece of sawdust in your eye. Anyone who has ever experienced this understands immediately what Jesus was teaching here. You never rub your eye when you get dirt or sawdust in it because that can make it far worse and you could lose your eyesight! One of the first things to do is rinse it with clean water and to have someone else look into your eye to see if they can see the speck of sawdust. It is amazing how one miniscule piece of sawdust can create such irritation. This is why on the idea of judgment Jesus related, “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?” Someone else’s small sin may be just a speck compared to the sinful prideful plank protruding from our eyeball! And this is exactly where the Pharisees were coming from! They could easily pick at the small slivers of sin they saw in other people but had a prodigious problem with the plank in their eye! Jesus therefore asks them, “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?” This certainly can be true for us as well. We dare not try to judge someone else’s sinful condition if we ourselves are walking in the same sin! However just as we want someone to immediately help us to remove the speck of sawdust irritating our eye we would do well in listening to someone who comes to us to help us see our own sin that is blinding us. Jesus is teaching us that when we judge someone else, we had better have 20/20 vision!
EXAMPLE: “I can’t see a thing without my glasses!” my mother would often lament. And we would laugh at her because more often than not they were perched on top of her head hidden in her high red hair! She loved to read and I learned to read at an early age because of her. She was an avid reader but she did not always read things that were accurate. Like folks who think everything they read on the Internet is true, my Mom would read things like Fate Magazine, the National Enquirer, or Star Magazine and think that what they wrote was real. I remember her cautioning me one time when I showed her just how false one of their stories on the Bible was: “Don’t look for the speck in someone else’s eye without removing your own!” I reminded her that I had in fact not only read the Bible in both Hebrew and Greek but had to study its history, archeology, and context all the time. She was undeterred. Jesus taught that in judging someone else’s sin we had better have 20/20 vision!
My mother grew up extremely poor and never got over the fact. She never went past 7th grade in her education and often thought she knew more than others. While she was extremely well read, she never got over her past. She was however a very hard worker but often saw other people’s work ethic as slovenly or useless so consequently if it wasn’t done her way it was incorrect. Her advice wasn’t always asked for but she was more than willing to give it! Jesus teaches his listeners here that…
III. We should be discerning as to who will listen to the truth! (Vv. 5-6)
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. Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and then turn and tear you to pieces.
1. Jesus immediately places the problem of spiritual nearsightedness where it belongs and he is also quick to label it for what it was: “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.” Jesus knew that it is easy to stand back and judge someone before one judged themselves. We all do it. Sadly my mother was often quick to place labels on others but hers were not insightful like Jesus’ were. They came from her childhood background and prejudice, which by the way is a word that comes from prejudging someone before knowing all the facts. Interestingly Jesus does in fact support the notion we can indeed judge some for their actions if they say they follow God, however, we must first do surgery on our own eyesight. We must be willing to examine our lives in the issue involved. Notice he did not say you had to be without sin or that any sin would disqualify you but rather the idea here is that you had better make sure you do not suffer from the very sin you are judging in someone else’s life! First remove your sin and then you can help your brother see clearer his own sin. And notice he uses the term “brother” meaning a fellow believer and not someone who does not know God. Yet Jesus continued by also giving his disciples a warning: “Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs.” Jesus did not mean we were never to go and witness to the lost but rather we were not to give to those we know who disdain God the sacred truth so that they can further pervert it. The reason was obvious: “If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and then turn and tear you to pieces.” We often forget that we have a sacred calling to share a sacred truth. The good news, the gospel message of mankind’s redemption! The wonderful truth is he has also given us the presence of the Holy Spirit (John 16:13) to help us know when, where, and to whom we are to share our faith! Jesus is teaching us that we should be discerning as to who will listen to the truth!
EXAMPLE: My mother used to buy Lottery tickets all the time and she used to enter every sweepstakes and crackpot game she could. She was always “on the verge” of winning and of course she never did. Now she did not spend a ton of money on these schemes, only a few dollars once in a while. Yet she did it with regularity. Recently I heard a radio host ask a financial advisor what someone should do if they won the bazillion dollar jackpot. His first advice was, “Do not tell anyone.” He reasoned that you’d have every crackpot, scammer, and unknown relative show up with their hand out. Jesus understood that the gospel is the same because it is more valuable than any treasure. Therefore, he taught that we should be discerning as to who will listen to the truth!
Conclusion:
We need to use a proper scale! We had better have 20/20 vision! We should be discerning as to who will listen to the truth!
---
This article is copyrighted © 2019 by Lee Hemen and is the sole property of Lee Hemen, and may not be used unless you quote the entire article and have my permission.
By Pastor Lee Hemen
May 12, 2019
One of the first justifications people will use to excuse or defend their poor choices in life or ungodly lifestyles are the verses we will look at this morning. I have found it interesting that while they never read the Bible, often neglect church, and have no clue who God truly is they can quote this passage almost verbatim. What they fail to realize is that it doesn’t expose Christians for “judging” them incorrectly but rather the hypocrisy of their choices and ignorance of Scripture.
The Pharisees were some of the most judgmental people in history. They were quick to judge the actions, spiritual behavior, and the cultures of others around them while neglecting their own spiritual ineptitude. They were the Muslims and Mormons of their day. While some believers can be seen as having the same judgmental attitude we need to fully understand what Jesus was teaching and why. Let’s take a fresh look at what Jesus taught about judging others…
READ: Matthew 7:1-6
My mother used to remind us that we may not fully understand why people do some of the things they do and that we needed to “walk a mile in their shoes” before we could. She meant that you should see what that person is going through to fully understand something about them. Basically you don't know what I’m going through until you are me. This is patently false. Let’s see what Jesus taught…
I. We need to use a proper scale! (Vv. 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.
1. There is in reality no such thing as blind justice. Juries and judges are influenced by evidence, arguments, examination of evidence, not to mention their own past histories and experiences. We do not live in a vacuum. Jesus fully understood this and he also understood how peopled lived, judged one another, and were judged. They lived under constant judgment by their rabbis, the temple priests, the Pharisees, and the Sanhedrin. Not to mention one another because one of the favorite local pastimes of the day was to talk about every little thing people did. It was these Pharisees who were now judging Jesus. He did not teach the same way they did and they resented it. Jesus taught that one’s righteousness, standing with God, was not dependent upon their acts but rather on how they loved God and one another. He was not teaching the kind of kingdom they anticipated or asking for the kind of uprightness they were exhibiting. So they rejected him. They had elevated themselves above the common crowd while Jesus easily mingled and fellowshipped with them. Jesus therefore warned them and the crowd against hypocritical judging: “Do not judge, or you too will be judged.” Jesus meant the hypocritical judgmental attitude of the Pharisees and not the judgment of a person’s sinfulness. “For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” If you judge someone hypocritically you will be judged by the same harsh nearsightedness you judged another with! Jesus was teaching we need to use a proper scale!
EXAMPLE: Being able to have the correct weight or measurement when one went to the market was extremely important in Jesus’ day. There were no set standards of weights or measures during that time and people were often cheated. The Romans tried to set standards but even they were guilty of tilting the scales in order to gain an advantage and more money in their coffers. Jesus deliberately used terms his listeners could readily understand and being measured by an unfair advantage they understood. The same is just as true of our lives today and we need to use a proper scale as well when we judge someone else!
My Mom could slice and dice another person’s faults faster than a Veg-O-Matic. While she hated it if others looked at her life too closely she was often more than willing to inspect the lives of others and render her verdict. While we cannot judge someone’s eternal destiny we can look at someone’s lifestyle and deduce if they are saved or not, or if they are living in sin or not. However, before we do Jesus taught that…
II. We had better have 20/20 vision! (Vv. 3-4)
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?
1. Here we discover that indeed we can judge someone else’s life but we had better make sure ours was in focus first. Jesus was raised by a carpenter, which meant he knew how to use brick, mortar, wood, stone, and how to repair, build, or replace furniture or buildings. One of the worst things that can happen when you are working with wood is to get a piece of sawdust in your eye. Anyone who has ever experienced this understands immediately what Jesus was teaching here. You never rub your eye when you get dirt or sawdust in it because that can make it far worse and you could lose your eyesight! One of the first things to do is rinse it with clean water and to have someone else look into your eye to see if they can see the speck of sawdust. It is amazing how one miniscule piece of sawdust can create such irritation. This is why on the idea of judgment Jesus related, “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?” Someone else’s small sin may be just a speck compared to the sinful prideful plank protruding from our eyeball! And this is exactly where the Pharisees were coming from! They could easily pick at the small slivers of sin they saw in other people but had a prodigious problem with the plank in their eye! Jesus therefore asks them, “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?” This certainly can be true for us as well. We dare not try to judge someone else’s sinful condition if we ourselves are walking in the same sin! However just as we want someone to immediately help us to remove the speck of sawdust irritating our eye we would do well in listening to someone who comes to us to help us see our own sin that is blinding us. Jesus is teaching us that when we judge someone else, we had better have 20/20 vision!
EXAMPLE: “I can’t see a thing without my glasses!” my mother would often lament. And we would laugh at her because more often than not they were perched on top of her head hidden in her high red hair! She loved to read and I learned to read at an early age because of her. She was an avid reader but she did not always read things that were accurate. Like folks who think everything they read on the Internet is true, my Mom would read things like Fate Magazine, the National Enquirer, or Star Magazine and think that what they wrote was real. I remember her cautioning me one time when I showed her just how false one of their stories on the Bible was: “Don’t look for the speck in someone else’s eye without removing your own!” I reminded her that I had in fact not only read the Bible in both Hebrew and Greek but had to study its history, archeology, and context all the time. She was undeterred. Jesus taught that in judging someone else’s sin we had better have 20/20 vision!
My mother grew up extremely poor and never got over the fact. She never went past 7th grade in her education and often thought she knew more than others. While she was extremely well read, she never got over her past. She was however a very hard worker but often saw other people’s work ethic as slovenly or useless so consequently if it wasn’t done her way it was incorrect. Her advice wasn’t always asked for but she was more than willing to give it! Jesus teaches his listeners here that…
III. We should be discerning as to who will listen to the truth! (Vv. 5-6)
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. Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and then turn and tear you to pieces.
1. Jesus immediately places the problem of spiritual nearsightedness where it belongs and he is also quick to label it for what it was: “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.” Jesus knew that it is easy to stand back and judge someone before one judged themselves. We all do it. Sadly my mother was often quick to place labels on others but hers were not insightful like Jesus’ were. They came from her childhood background and prejudice, which by the way is a word that comes from prejudging someone before knowing all the facts. Interestingly Jesus does in fact support the notion we can indeed judge some for their actions if they say they follow God, however, we must first do surgery on our own eyesight. We must be willing to examine our lives in the issue involved. Notice he did not say you had to be without sin or that any sin would disqualify you but rather the idea here is that you had better make sure you do not suffer from the very sin you are judging in someone else’s life! First remove your sin and then you can help your brother see clearer his own sin. And notice he uses the term “brother” meaning a fellow believer and not someone who does not know God. Yet Jesus continued by also giving his disciples a warning: “Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs.” Jesus did not mean we were never to go and witness to the lost but rather we were not to give to those we know who disdain God the sacred truth so that they can further pervert it. The reason was obvious: “If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and then turn and tear you to pieces.” We often forget that we have a sacred calling to share a sacred truth. The good news, the gospel message of mankind’s redemption! The wonderful truth is he has also given us the presence of the Holy Spirit (John 16:13) to help us know when, where, and to whom we are to share our faith! Jesus is teaching us that we should be discerning as to who will listen to the truth!
EXAMPLE: My mother used to buy Lottery tickets all the time and she used to enter every sweepstakes and crackpot game she could. She was always “on the verge” of winning and of course she never did. Now she did not spend a ton of money on these schemes, only a few dollars once in a while. Yet she did it with regularity. Recently I heard a radio host ask a financial advisor what someone should do if they won the bazillion dollar jackpot. His first advice was, “Do not tell anyone.” He reasoned that you’d have every crackpot, scammer, and unknown relative show up with their hand out. Jesus understood that the gospel is the same because it is more valuable than any treasure. Therefore, he taught that we should be discerning as to who will listen to the truth!
Conclusion:
We need to use a proper scale! We had better have 20/20 vision! We should be discerning as to who will listen to the truth!
---
This article is copyrighted © 2019 by Lee Hemen and is the sole property of Lee Hemen, and may not be used unless you quote the entire article and have my permission.
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