Judging Others: Matthew 7:1-6

[Music] if you drove down to LAX and hopped on a plane and flew east to Tel Aviv Israel you'd be in the air I don't know 12 or 13 hours you land at Tel Aviv hire a taxi get on a bus whatever it would be drive another couple hours you can make it to the Sea of Galilee and if you drove over around to the north side of the Sea of Galilee like where Capernaum is you would see a hillside that slopes up especially this time of year when it's a little cooler and there's some rains you'd see it covered with grass you'd see flowers throughout you'd be at the approximate spot of course we don't know the exact X that marked the spot but you'd be in the approximate place where Jesus sat down before a multitude and taught them what we call the Sermon on the Mount and Sermon on the Mount is an amazing message it's Jesus's explanation of the principles and the values of the kingdom of God and it has a lot of different sections to it in the particular section that we're going to talk about starting with this morning Matthew chapter 7 verses 1 through 6 Jesus is making a transition in the Sermon on the Mount much of what we've already saw in the Sermon on the Mount has to do with the interior life of the disciple for example Jesus talked about how we should give how we should fast how we should pray things that have to do with the interior life of the disciple of Jesus which is very important but that's not all there is to being a disciple of Jesus it's not just about what we are in the inside it's also about how we treat other people God's very concerned about how we treat other people so Jesus is going to begin to speak about that now Matthew chapter 7 beginning at verse 1 where he says judge not that you be not judged for with what judgment you judge you will be judged and with the measure you use it will be measured back to you now I don't know if you have a favorite bible verse sometimes I think my favorite verse in the Bible is whatever I'm studying this week but some people have seem to have a favorite bible verse I tell you if there's any Bible verse that our broader culture knows I've heard so many unbelievers quote back this verse judge not that you be not judged that seems to be a verse that people who don't know anything about the Bible seem to know and they seem to use that verse as sort of a weapon against Christians to say you are not permitted to make any moral judgment of me but whatever I do is off limits to your moral judgment because judge not that you be not judged it seems like people who quote this votes verse are hoping that what Jesus condemned here was any kind of assessment or judgment of the lives of other people the friends I don't think that's what Jesus meant at all number one if that was what Jesus meant I want you to notice he contradicted himself in the very same Sermon on the Mount in just a few verses Jesus is going to talk about measuring our life and the life of others by using a figure of a tree bearing fruit and Jesus says take a look at the fruit of the life and you can tell what kind of tree it is that demands some kind of moral assessment sometimes I think of when Jesus got into it with the scribes and the Pharisees the religious leaders of his day could you imagine one of the points where Jesus was railing on the religious leaders just really given it to them for their own hypocrisy could you imagine a Pharisee one of the religious leaders saying back to Jesus well Jesus judge not that you be not judged no I mean we understand Jesus was not prohibiting any kind of moral judgment that's not the point of the verse no instead what Jesus speaks to is how Christians should be towards others how his disciples should be and the way that they should assess and look at the lives of other people friends the Christian is called to show unconditional love but we are not called to show unconditional approval we really can love people who do things that the Bible does not approve of it is really possible to love a sinner and to hate their sin do you want to know how you can know it's possible to love a sinner and hate their sin because you do it with yourself all the time all the time you look at yourself and you say I'm okay with me but I hate this thing I do we are familiar with that concept and it really can be put into practice I'm lately kind of on the side I've been studying through the Book of Psalms and just recently I did a study of Psalm 139 and I read something that an old anglican bishop his name was George horn and he wrote in the 18th century and George horn in his commentary on Psalms Psalm 139 he used his phrase it really stuck in my mind he said this quote we are neither to hate the men on account of the Vice as they practice nor to love the vices for the sake of the men who practice them I love that God doesn't give us the privilege to hate people who practice a particular sin and sometimes even if those sins are so hateful to our society we're still not given the right to judge them or to I should say condemn them for the sake of their sin but notice the second part of it he also says nor are we to love the vices for the sake of the men who practice them and isn't that a tendency in our culture today well I really like you so I guess I have to like your sin as well the Bible says no we really can have a love a care and a compassion for an individual center while disapproving of what they do but what Jesus said here in a reach of the verse again judge not that you be not judged what Jesus says here it does not prohibit examining the lives of others it certainly prohibits doing it in the spirit in which it is often done there are many people many people who call themselves disciples of Jesus who unjustly condemned other people and allow themselves to hate other people for the sins that they practice ladies Jim this is a command we got to take very seriously let me tell you many ways that I think we can break the command to judge not that you be not judged number one we break this command when we think the worst of other people isn't that easy to do you just think the worst of them any evil thing that's said about it you immediately believe it because you've determined in your heart you want to think the worst of them number two we can break this command when we speak to other people only about their faults so let's say you've got a friend a neighbor a relative who has some kind of problematic lifestyle when it comes to biblical morality is the only thing you talk to her about the problem you have with their life listen to have that kind of attitude is to be judgmental in a way that Jesus addressed here we break this command when we judge an entire life by its worst moments think of the three worst things you've ever done how would you like your entire life to be judged in light of those three worst things that you've ever done don't we do that to other people sometimes we'll judge an entire life by the worse things that they've done we also break this command when we judge the hidden motives of other people we can break this command when we judge others without considering ourselves in the same circumstances and we can break this command when we judge other people without be mindful that we also stand before a judge in heaven friends this is a very difficult thing for us to do in our modern age as Christians how do we as Christians stand for biblical truth and sometimes express disapproval of others or of other sins without breaking this command because more and more in our culture any expression of that's sin that's not right is treated as hatred and it's as if we're not allowed to give any expression a biblical morality let me give you kind of a crazy way that this has been exhibited just in the last few weeks there's a television show called fixer-upper it has a couple people who are in the married couple named chip and Joanna Gaines my wife and I we watch that show from time to time it's been inspiring to us matter of fact last year we see these shows oh there's this couple they're remodeling stuff it seems to be so fun we decide we're gonna remodel a room in our house and we're gonna do it together I'm here to tell you that our marriage has stayed together through that experience we and it wasn't always easy because men I mean we're tearing down walls we're putting up drywall we're redoing electrical we're doing all things with doors and windows we're doing all this kind of stuff in the room and all that you know and it's kind of the thing where you work together and do it and well praise Lord it worked out pretty good you'd be very impressed with the job Engle ill did with learning how to mud drywall and all the rest of it that's great okay but inspired by shows like that we look at a couple like chip and Joanna Gaines their shows very pleasant but let me tell you something about their show it's not a Christian show not at all it's a show about remodeling houses it's not about Church or the gospel or anything like it they themselves are believers they are Christians and you can sense their happiness there they're just wonderful there there's something kind of magnetic about them on the screen at least and any okay great wonderful and so they don't talk about Christianity or anything just a good wholesome show well the controversy started because the pastor of their church stated and it was on their website that marriage is to be between one man and one woman and that statement was thought to be a scandal over the fact that these two television personalities attend the church where the pastor would say that and the church would believe it again what was the controversial belief that marriage is to be between one man and one woman now let me tell you something without talking so much about the politics of same-sex marriage let me tell you something about what the Bible says about same-sex marriage the Bible has no recognition of it whatsoever matter of fact from a Christian perspective it is the most non controversial thing in the world to say that marriage is to be between one man and one woman I mean that's just like yes and that's just what the Bible says again there's no controversy biblically speaking to that at all now look I fully understand that there is often controversy when you take biblical truth and try to figure out how it enters into the political and social realm but because we don't believe for example that everything that the Bible talks about regarding morality should be law in the state thumb some things are some things are not and I think there's a legitimate place for discussion but just to get back to the point the idea that marriage as God recognizes it is between one man and woman completely uncontroversial but that's a very controversial thing in the society at large and so the so called scandal was about nothing that chipper Johanna said nothing at all it was simply about the church they attended and the pastor that they sat under again notice what the scandal was simply because they attended a Christian Church that believes what the Bible says about marriage they sure I think that's a very weird controversy to have but it was a big thing on the internet on social media they were being portrayed as being hateful spiteful bigoted people because they attend a church that teaches what the Bible pretty plainly says that's the kind of world we live in today and increasingly so the world is becoming hostile towards biblical truth and it presents us as believers with a big problem how do we serve Jesus how do we show ourself to be his disciples in a culture that's openly hostile to many expressions of Christianity you could say it this way that at one time in our culture there was sort of a cultural dominance of Christianity that then there was the marginalization of it then there was an indifference to it and now it's outright hostility towards biblical truth as far as I can tell it's just gonna get more and more I mean maybe that's not the case but but it sure looks like it might become more and more I mean really are we gonna come to the place where you get in trouble for what I say from the pulpit I would rather that I get in trouble for what I say from the pulpit that doesn't bother me in the slightest but again these lines are you know how do we speak to a culture that gets more like that observing what Jesus said here judge not that you be not judged let me think of three words that I think can help guide our conversation on this and I don't think that these are the final words but in my mind these are three big words number one the first word is truth now I mean truth in two ways the first way I mean truth has to do with biblical truth we have to stick to biblical truth no ifs ands or buts ladies and gentlemen the opinions of the culture and flow here today gone tomorrow what the culture believes ten years from now may be very different we now it's very different from what was believed ten years ago that the culture is always changing we have a fixed point with biblical truth and I'm sticking with it and I'm sticking with it me doesn't really matter to me what the consequences are I don't want to get overdramatic although I'm a preacher I'm gonna be a little overdramatic right here but you know if you were ever to be put in jail for teaching what the Bible teaches about biblical morality I don't mind going to jail for that again I don't they're not gonna burst through the doors you know in our service not now you know and do all that but but if it were to come to me it wouldn't even seem like a big deal of course you teach what the bible teaches and you take your lumps that's just kind of how it is so we need to stand for biblical truth but I made truth in another way as well the people we disagree with the people who attack us we have to speak the truth about them as well and sometimes Christians use phony arguments against people they disagree with it's up to us to speak the truth about people we have to argue if you want to say fairly and rightly so when I say truth is the first word I mean both biblically true and our own being true number two I'd use the word respect did you know that it is entirely possible for you to respect somebody you disagree with and Christians need to show that Christians need to show an attitude of love honor and respect to people that they disagree with if the first instinct that they get from us is that we despise them good heavens you've lost the argument right there truth respect and then thirdly I would add humility because if we get high and mighty and act as if we are holier than thou thou may not come us near me thy wretched sinner you know that kind of old thing what first of all it's phony it's not true but secondly it it turns everybody off and rightfully so oh it turned Jesus off in his own day and we need to speak to the culture but we need to speak with truth we need to speak with respect and we need to speak with humility now let me tell you something even if we do all of it right even if we speak to the culture perfectly they will often still reject us but that's okay at least we've done our part to speak rightly and I'll tell you there are a lot of reasons for us to speak rightly to the culture but one of them is just simply this that's how we wish they spoke about us when you see people who vocally and publicly despise biblical morality don't you wish that they spoke about believers with respect don't you wish they spoke about believers with humility don't you wish they spoke about believers with truth and what did Jesus say we're gonna cover it not long from now verse 12 of this very same chapter do unto others as you would have them do unto you so however we would wish they would bring to us in whatever arguments that make we should speak to them with the same kind of truth respect and love now notice this it's a second aspect of what Jesus said it's in verse 2 look at this in your Bibles Jesus says for with what judgment you judge you will be judged you could almost say it like this Jesus didn't prohibit us from judging others but he warned us your judgment has to be fair and you should only judge others by a standard that you are willing to be judged by ladies and gentlemen Christians have not always done well with this let me give you an example of how in some cases Christians have not done well with this we take a look at one particular type of sexual sin and we're horrified about it horrified about let's just say same-sex attraction homosexual action okay and we look at that and we focus on that doesn't the world have every right to say we'll look at all the adultery and premarital sex among Christians don't you have every right to say that they're saying you're judging us by a standard that you don't hold yourselves to so we need to be able to say that whatever standard we judge anybody else by we will judge ourselves by the same standard why look at it there in verse two for with the measure you use it will be measured back to you look there's always this tendency within us I want to measure to you with the teaspoon of you know grace and understanding but I want God to measure to me with like the dumptruck of grace and understanding and God says you know what you use the teaspoon with other people you better be careful I may use the teaspoon with you for whatever judgment we judge odds would ever measure we use with other people God says that measure will be used to you now Jesus is gonna illustrate this principle verse three he says and why do you look at the speck in your brother's eyes but do not consider the plank in your own eye or how can you say to your brother let me remove the SEC from your eye and look a plank is in your own eye hypocrite first remove the plank from your own eye and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye here Jesus used an intentionally funny illustration he doesn't mean that literally he's using it just to be memorable and funny he's not speaking literally about somebody who has a board in their eye I mean that you'd take that person to the doctor I mean they're dead but the illustration is funny you have a little speck of sawdust in your eye and I notice it and I say hey let me help you out with that speck of sawdust in your eye you know what I walk around hits you with the board and my eye and this and I can't see it very well it's a hilarious illustration and it's pretty powerful isn't it Jesus says that log in your own eye take it out of your own eye then deal with your brothers spec kind of nice having this up here makes you feel like it like a teacher in an old school school doesn't I'll put that away right there you get the illustration now notices Jesus did not say that you're prohibited from caring about your brothers spec but maybe your brother really does have a speck in their eye and he said oh yeah fine help your brother with their speck but only after you've dealt with the board or the plank that's in your own eye and again sometimes this has been true of those who call themselves disciples of Jesus and since that why Jesus warns us about it right here isn't that why he speaks to us as believers and it goes look look at your own life first now Jesus does not imply here that you have to be sinlessly perfect before you can ever talk to anybody else about their life that would be a strange exaggeration of what Jesus says but I'll say this if my life is filled with sexual compromise what right do I have to talk to anybody else about their sexual sin shouldn't I get the plank out of my own eye before I deal with the speck that's in somebody else's it's just an effective way for Jesus to illustrate this point that he speaks about now let's come back here to verse 6 the last verse we're gonna say Jesus says do not give what is holy to the dogs nor cast your pearls before swine lest they trample them under their feet and turn and tear you in pieces we we think Jesus what what are you talking about here how does this connect to this I don't exactly know maybe maybe the connection is something like this Jesus just warned us against judgmentalism Jesus just warned us against blindly criticized other people but he's not telling us to turn off all discernment there is a place for discernment in our life there's a place for us to say I'm not going to take what's holy and cast it to the dogs I'm not going to take pearls and cast it before swine there's a place for us to consider that as well we might say that what Jesus meant here is this don't be judgmental but don't throw out all discernment either now who are the dogs and the swine that Jesus speaks of here well usually we think of the dogs and the swine as those who are hostile to the message of the kingdom of God those who are hostile to the gospel of Jesus Christ and sometimes we love people so much and we care about him so much that that we're blind to their hostility and listen sometimes if a person is so hardened in their rejection of Jesus Christ you can do damage by continuing to throw it at them matter of fact it can be just exactly what Jay Carney spoke to us about earlier in the service you think that it's your job to save them and I'm gonna save them by cramming the gospel pearls down their mouths until they enjoy it thank you very much where there's a time and a place where Jesus says you know what you've cast the pearls of the gospel long enough now what you need to do is just live it before them and see what God does with it you don't need to keep you you tell them the gospel and they despise it you tell them the gospel and they despise it now maybe it gets to the place and look I think we just have to listen to the Holy Spirit as for where that place is but it can come to the place where the words aren't effective anymore and you just have to trust what God has done with that words you've already spoken and simply live it out before them I think of a funny story when it comes to that phrase pearls before swine there's a woman a couple decades ago her name was Dorothy Parker she was a writer and a very witty woman and as she got a little bit older she was going to some social occasion and she was gonna go through a door and a young attractive woman stepped in front of her and opened the door for her and she said this which should be very wrong thing to say to an older woman like this she said age before beauty and without missing a beat Dorothy Parker said pearls before swine and then that's clever I tell you that's glad it's that's a misapplication to the scripture but I gotta admit that's very very clever listen here's the point sometimes people will not refute will not receive what you have to say they'll refuse it instead and if a person is so hardened then it's better not to keep casting it before them instead trust that God will do the work that he alone can do and you be dedicated to loving them and living it out before them and then see what God may very well do with that some of you were dogs and swine before God got to you you rejected the gospel dozens of times before you accepted it and I don't know what your particular story is but some of you would say yeah that was me yet God found a way to break through ladies and gentlemen don't give up hope on those who reject the gospel but don't keep beating them over the head with it either God can do a miraculous transformation even in lives like that but this is a big deal for us we must learn how to live what Jesus speaks to us in Matthew chapter 7 in these first six verses how we come to a world and we don't judge them in Jesus name but we love them in Jesus name and hold up the standard of Jesus with truth with respect and with humility and see the work that God will do among his people today right here now I know sometimes when I talk about the culture it's depressing things are bad it looks like they're getting worse just worse and worse what's gonna happen in this world and I get some of the discouragement in the depression but let me tell you something friends this is high season for the kingdom of God it really is God has laid before us a beautiful and a powerful season of opportunity when the night gets darker the lights shine brighter my concern is that we would be faithful lights and continue to shine very very brightly my concern is that as the hostility from the culture increases that more and more people say I don't want to pay that price and they'll depart from Jesus men never be so with us now is our time to press in closer to Jesus Christ than ever and say Lord we're gonna live faithfully as your disciples we're gonna do it in a even more challenging time Lord you show us how to do it every step of the way father that's our prayer we just simply ask Lord that we need a special equipping a special help from heaven to do this work and Lord in particular I pray for those who feel like they're in a situation with their family or in their neighborhood or at their work or at their school where it seems so difficult for them to just be a Christian man or Christian woman in that setting lord I pray that you give them special wisdom and special courage pour it out before them Lord in the precious name of Jesus amen you [Music]

Channel: David Guzik

Views: 13,167

Rating: 4.7787232 out of 5

Keywords: sermon on the mount, enduring word, judging others, judgmental spirit, gospel of matthew, matthew, david guzik, guzik, matthew 7

Id: 8dr9GMN0WpU

Length: 30min 56sec (1856 seconds)

Published: Wed Mar 27 2019