The past few weeks of learning from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, have mainly been focusing on like, internal spiritual life things. Things such as our outlook on good works, and prayer, and fasting before the Lord. Also, our outlook on material things on this earth versus eternal things and the treasure of heaven. And then last week we considered Jesus’ teaching on whether or not we are worrying or anxious more about all of these material things of this world or if we are more concerned with our King Jesus and His Kingdom. It wasn’t that material things don’t matter, or that we don’t need some of it to get by, but the question was, what is the main focus of our lives? Jesus told us to seek first His Kingdom, and His righteousness, and that when we do that, He will help take care of the needs that we have. That’s where we’ve come from in the past few weeks, and now for today, Jesus is still talking heart issues, still talking perspective, but adds in today some lessons for how we engage with and treat other people. Let’s read our verses for this morning.
Read Matthew 7:1-6
This is a passage that is desperately needed in our culture, and really especially needed in the church right now. There is always so much going on in this world, but these last few years, have really taken that into overdrive. With people dividing, fighting, judging, and whatever else over things like covid, masks, vaccines, politics, abortion, women’s rights, crime, war, race, a bunch of different social issues, and so much more. And it’s not that Jesus’ teaching hasn’t all been perfectly relevant, but we’re at a moment in time right now that we really need to step back consider what Jesus has to say in these verses.
Jesus says in verse 1: “Judge not, that you be not judged”
And so what does judge mean? Well as I usually do, I just go to google, and type in “define judge”, and it gave me a few different answers:
- form an opinion or conclusion about something
- to form an opinion about through careful weighing of evidence and testing of premises
- to express a bad opinion of someone’s behavior, often because you think you are better than them
Those first two definitions, talk about like, carefully looking into something and deciding whether or not something is one way or the other, and that is one proper use of the word judge. But what Jesus is talking about here in Matthew is much more in line with that third definition. It’s thinking and talking bad about someone, and that definition even adds the statement after, often because you think you are better than them. And I thought that was a good definition for this, because the original word used in this passage, can be translated as judge, or even condemn, and it has this idea of unfairly and harshly finding fault in other people, which can often times be rooted in the fact that people think they are better than other people.
And so, Jesus says, don’t do this, especially if you don’t want to be judged the same way in return. So many people are quick to make judgmental, and hurtful, assumptions, and comments, about other people. But they don’t understand the context of that person’s situation at all, and then they get all taken back, and bent out of shape, when people come back at them in the same way. And that’s a cycle that will probably just keep going back and forth once it’s started. But Jesus here at the ground level of the situation is like, just don’t start it, don’t judge other people from that condemning, negative, better than them mindset.
And why do people do this? Why do we do this? I want to go to a passage that we were actually in not too long ago.
Read Luke 18:9-14
And so, I asked the question, why do people do this? Why do people judge like this? And I think we can see it in this Pharisee. He thought that he was better than this man, he thought he was better than a lowly tax collector, and not just the tax collector, but he in his pride thought that he was better than probably everyone there that day. He started listing all types of people, and talking so highly, about himself. But I don’t think that it’s just the thought of being better, that answers our question. I think sometimes people actually feel that they can make themselves more righteous or at least look more righteous to others by judging and demeaning other people around them. So, as they in their judgement try to make everyone else feel like less, it helps them in their pride feel like more. I mean we should, just do better, do more, to serve, and to love, and to follow Jesus, but instead it’s easier for many to just tear down other people to make themselves feel better, but not, actually better, in any way.
So, Jesus said, “Judge not, that you be not judged” in verse one. And this wasn’t just some light offhanded thing that Jesus is talking about, because He follows it up with a warning in verse 2. Let me read that again.
Read Matthew 7:2
Jesus tells us that whatever standard that we use to judge other people by, will be the standard by which we ourselves, will be judged. And we should probably think about that, we probably need to keep that in mind, when we’re thinking about, and talking about other people. But I do want to recognize something here. Jesus isn’t saying that we don’t ever evaluate, or consider, or even judge in a neutral sense, the lives of the people around us. But the point of this is: why are we doing it? and what standard are we using when we do it? The problem that Jesus is dealing with is this mindset, this mindset that is just looking to tear people down because maybe it makes me feel better about myself. But the reality is that sometimes we really do have to consider and evaluate the people around us.
The Bible tells us in 1 Corinthians 15, that bad company corrupts good character or morals, and you know we would probably have to make a determination at some point, if the company around us is bad, to steer clear of that corruption. The bible tells us in 1 Timothy 6 that there are corrupt leaders that teach a different message than Jesus, that have all sorts of problems, that try to use Jesus to gain worldly things, and that passage says that we should get away from these people. And there’s many more like this. And even on the flip side, later in this chapter, Jesus is going to talk about recognizing His people, by the fruit of their lives, which is going to happen through observation and consideration.
So, Jesus is not saying at all, don’t consider your surroundings and the people in it. He is saying that we can’t be like that Pharisee that we looked at. We can’t be people, that are happily judgmental, of other people around us, while trying to build up our own pride with it. We can’t be people, that just think the worst of others, without understanding the context of their situation. We can’t be people, that judge a person’s entire life, based on their messing up in their worst moments. We can’t be people, that judge others, without considering ourselves, in the same circumstances, as that person. Jesus isn’t saying, don’t have wisdom with people, He’s telling us not to go to these prideful, judgmental places. I mean, would we want to be judged like that?
I don’t think anybody wants to be judged like that, so that’s why Jesus puts this warning here, and we should take it seriously. A lot of times judgmental people have one standard that they apply to others, and then have a different standard that they apply to themselves. This is what makes someone a hypocrite, it’s the do what I say, but not as I do, way of doing things, which is ridiculous. And is exactly why Jesus continues into verse 3 and 4 talking about considering our own selves first.
Read Matthew 7:3-4
There really is a humor or comedic element to how Jesus chose to talk about this subject. I’m sure he could have chosen any number of super specific analogies, but He chose this really memorable and kind of funny example to make His point. He’s talking about judging people obviously, and now He’s like, why are you so worried about this little speck, this tiny little thing, maybe even like a piece of saw dust or something in someone else’s eye and you haven’t even stopped to consider that there is an actually full-fledged plank of wood in your own eye? I mean that imagery is totally ridiculous, like there’s no way to even really support a small plank of wood with your eye, so how in the world would you miss it or not be dealing with it?
And that’s kind of the point, it is ridiculous, so why are we doing it? We’re all bothered and judging, maybe criticizing and causing problems, and we’re doing this all over a little speck when apparently, we have a plank in our eye. Jesus is like, how can you say, “oh, let me remove that speck that you have there in your eye”, when we haven’t even dealt with a full-on piece of wood in our own?
It’s like judging people over small things, and just random examples, like maybe someone using a word that they probably shouldn’t, or maybe making choices different than ours, or maybe different politics, or maybe different whatever else, maybe somethings that could be genuinely wrong, but if we are acting from this judgmental and prideful mindset towards that person, then who has the speck and who has the plank?
Proverbs 6 has a list of the things that the Lord hates, and the first thing on that list is pride. The most common criticism I probably ever hear people say, about “church people”, is that they are hypocrites, and unfortunately, we typically all end up getting grouped into these criticisms. But when you begin to hear people describe why they think this way, you hear a lot of stories about judgmental, prideful people, people that love to talk about everyone else’s problems, but don’t seem like they are trying to deal with their own. Unfortunately, some of that criticism is really well deserved. I have seen plenty of it myself. I think I have seen it in even greater amounts than ever before in these last few years. And so, for us today, let’s learn Jesus’ lesson, and let’s not let that be us, not because we’re prideful or better, but because we have learned from the best and we’ve taken Jesus’ message to heart.
There’s a passage that I want to go to that is a good example of a speck and a plank and will also lead us to Jesus’ next point. The passage is in 2 Samuel 12.
Read 2 Samuel 12:1-15
You know that guy Solomon that we were talking about here and there in the last two weeks? Well, this is his dad. This is King David, and King David had done some terrible things. For one he had slept with another man’s wife, but he didn’t stop there, he tried to cover things up, he tried to cover up the fact that this woman had gotten pregnant by bringing her husband back into town from the battlefield, so that her husband could sleep with her, and maybe gloss over the fact that David had gotten her pregnant. But this man, his name was Uriah, and he was a soldier, and he was a pretty upstanding guy, and he was like there’s no way I’m going to take this time and be with my wife and lounge at home when my men are back on the battlefield, and so he didn’t. So, David’s cover-up failed, and so unfortunately David didn’t stop there, once again. Instead of facing up to the problem, instead of dealing with the plank in his eye, David doubled down, and sent orders for Uriah to be sent to the front lines of the battle which was basically certain death. And it was, and Uriah was killed on the battlefield, and then David took Uriah’s wife, her name was Bathsheba, as his own.
There was a bunch of compounding sin going on in this story. David just kept going deeper and deeper and then eventually the prophet Nathan showed up talking about this “other” situation that had gone down. Which was actually just a story, but it was an analogy of David’s sin and Nathan confronted him with it and he ended up having to deal with it before the Lord as he should have done from the beginning.
So, we look at this and yes this rich guy taking this poor man’s sheep would have been a terrible thing and David went so far as to announce a death sentence for this story character, who actually ended up being him. But this terrible thing, killing the lamb, would have been dealing with the speck, when coming from a man that hadn’t dealt with committing adultery and murder. If that other guy had been real and known about David’s issues, he would have had all the opportunity in the world to call David a hypocrite in that moment. And he would have absolutely deserved it. And so, for us, it’s like we can’t be trying to judge everyone else’s business and call out everyone else’s problems with the plank still stuck in the eye. That’s not what we’re here for. What we are here for is to lovingly and with the truth of sin, but not judgment, tell people about Jesus, and sometimes bring accountability again, in love, to a brother or sister that is messing up. It’s love and help, not judgement and pride. When Nathan told David “YOU ARE THE MAN”, he was basically just calling him a hypocrite and he actually needed to hear that and let’s see why back in Matthew 6.
Let’s see what Jesus has to say in verse 5.
Read Matthew 7:5
Jesus says HYPOCRITE! David would have deserved that, maybe we have deserved that at times. But notice where He goes from there, yes, take care of the plank, remove it, get it out there, AND THEN we will be able to see clearly to remove the speck from another person’s eye.
Do you see what the ultimate goal is here? The ultimate goal is to get both of us to the right place. The goal is to get rid of the plank and the speck, but we have to deal with ourselves first. We have to make sure that we are the right place and considering other people from the right frame of mind, and engaging people with the right intentions. We don’t look at people in judgement and seek to tear them down, we look at people in love and consideration of how we can help build them up, but we do that after we considered ourselves, after I have checked my heart, after I have checked and confirmed my intentions, and then hopefully with no plank in my eye, I can approach another in love and say “hey, I see you’ve got a little something going on there, I wonder if I could help with that?” Because I want us both to be in a better place for the Lord’s sake. And that’s a really good thing, and that’s Jesus’ main point here.
But Jesus has one final statement in this passage.
Read Matthew 7:6
We read this verse and it might seem really harshly said, and it kind of is, but what Jesus is teaching us in this last statement is that yes we absolutely shouldn’t be ignorantly and pridefully judging other people, but as Kingdom Citizens, we also can’t throw out all consideration or discernment. And what we can learn from this, is that my heart is to reach absolutely everyone that we possibly can, but there will be times that you run into people that will simply want to tear you down, that are completely hostile to Christ and the gospel message, that want to, as Jesus put it, trample these holy things under their feet.
And when I take into account the whole lesson that Jesus is teaching us this morning, then I can approach any person, without immediate negative judgement, because I don’t know everything about them. I need to worry more so about making sure I am in the right place, rather than trying to shame anyone else. And then sometimes when I am in the right place, there will be an opportunity to help another out, in love, to hopefully see them get back to the right place with the Lord as well. And beyond that, there might be times where I will run into someone that is completely hostile to the things of the Lord, that desires nothing more than to tear it all down, that is not interested in Jesus, and so Jesus tells us, to exercise discernment, to exercise caution, and leave this person alone for the time being.
Jesus started our lesson today with “judge not, that you be not judged.” There’s this old blues musician that I listened to a long time ago. He was a believer, and he told this story about walking down the street with a friend, and the friend saw this person laying in a gutter, and they were dirty, and unhoused, and the friend started talking in this judgmental way about the person. And I love what this guy said to his friend. He said essentially “you see this man right here, right now, in this situation, but what you don’t see, is the path that led him there.”
Who are we to judge people? We can’t see or know what God knows. Psalm 139 tells us that God knows every single thing about every single person, but then it says that knowledge is too wonderful for us and that only He has it. Let’s work with what we got, let’s treat people right, let’s still have discernment, but don’t forget what our mission is. We’re here to make disciples and we’re here to glorify God. There’s nothing there that would include prideful judging of other people, so let’s just no go there. Maybe we’ve messed up, maybe we have a plank in our eye right now, let’s go to the Lord and deal with it, because I want us to be in the right place, ready for the right things, and sometimes that might mean helping deal with the speck in another, in love, so that we can both be in that right place. But again, remember why, because following Jesus, the gospel, and the mission of the Kingdom of God make dealing with these things, in the right way, necessary, and worth it.