LOC 059 Judge Not

LOC 059 Judge Not

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus goes on to tell his disciples more of the character and conduct that is to be theirs are how it is to be manifest to others.

Matthew 7:1 is the most misused and abused verse from the sermon on the mount.  Especially in our day, our society dislikes any judgment passed by one person or one group upon another.  The three cries thrown back at the one perceived to be “judging” are this verse, “Judge Not, that you be not judged,” a second from this passage, “Take the log out of your own Eye first,” and finally, “let he who is without sin cast the first stone (John 8:7).”

These passages are used defensively with intent to silence the one who has spoken any thought to be judgmental in the least.  This understanding of these verses cannot be right because it is contradicted by the plain teaching of the Scriptures in other places.  There are some places where we are told by God to pass judgment.

1 Thess 5:21 tells us in the plural present active imperative, the same sense as we saw when we talked about SEEKING. to Test all things; hold fast what is good.

To fulfill this command the disciple needs to think about all things that come into their life from internal and external means, test or examine them by some standard, which assumes objective standards actually exist, hold dearly to what is good and by implication let the rest go.

To do this what do you need?

Reason: the ability to think about what is in our lives.

A Standard by which to test what we think.

The ability to discern or pass judgment.  Anything less would leave us unable to do what God commands of his disciples.

Or consider, 1John 4:1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

Without judicious judging, the church and individual Christians would be left at the mercy of all heresy and false practices of religion.  We would also be left with a Word from God full of contradictions and misdirections. 

We must not strain these texts beyond their meaning to remove ourselves or others from being measured by the standards of God’s Word, nor should we leave the judgment about ourselves or others in sin or error to God alone.  We are commanded to test, to try to examine and to pass judgment.  Twice in I Corinthians, Paul uses the exact word from Matt 7:1 to tell the Corinthians to judge themselves as regards to doctrine and practice.  Judgment is not left to God alone, it is the imperative of Christians to judge themselves and to judge among themselves to determine the truthfulness and righteousness of tangible things.

1Cor. 10:15 I speak as to wise men; judge for yourselves what I say.

1Cor. 11:13 Judge among yourselves.

What is most likely to be wrong: the opinion that Matt 7:1 is a universal statement to govern the behavior of all believers to never pass judgment upon another, or that there must be another way to harmonize the sentiments in this passage with the other commands to test and judge in Scripture? 

There is judging that is good and right and judging that is bad and evil.  This is the point of all three passages mentioned earlier, this morning we will examine the two in Matthew 7:1-6.

Let’s read the text:

More direction from Jesus

1. The Concern Stated

Matthew 7:1-6  “Judge not, that you be not judged.

2. The Effects of Bad Judging

        2  “For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.

3. Further Illumination

        3  “And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? 4  “Or how can you say to your brother,  ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye’; and look, a plank is in your own eye?

4. The True Character of bad Judges

        5  “Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.

       

5. The Importance of Discernment for Ministry

        6  “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.

The parallel passage is found in Luke 6:37-42. In Luke we have some wonderful splashes of color to round out the depth our understanding of what Jesus taught and what he meant that day and today.  Let’s compare Scripture with Scripture.

Flip over to that passage where we will read without comment.

Luke 6:37-42 “ ¶ Judge not, and you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.

        38  “Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you.”

       

        39 And He spoke a parable to them:  “Can the blind lead the blind? Will they not both fall into the ditch?

       

        40  “A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone who is perfectly trained will be like his teacher.

        41  “And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not perceive the plank in your own eye?  42  “Or how can you say to your brother,  ‘Brother, let me remove the speck that is in your eye,’ when you yourself do not see the plank that is in your own eye? Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck that is in your brother’s eye.

Let’s look a bit deeper into Matthew 7:1-6 with Luke 6:37-42 filling in our understanding.

1. The Concern Stated

Matthew 7:1-6  “Judge not, that you be not judged.

Luke 6:37. Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.

The passage in Luke demonstrates an intimate connection between judging and condemnation. 

J C Ryle comments “What our Lord means to condemn is a censorious and fault-finding spirit. A readiness to blame others for trifling offenses or matters of indifference, a habit of passing rash and hasty judgments, a disposition to magnify the errors and infirmities of our neighbors, and make the worst of them, --this is what our Lord forbids.  It was common among the Pharisees; it has always been common from their day down to the present time. We must watch against it. We should “believe all things” and “hope all things,” about others, and be very slow to find fault. This is Christian charity 1 Cor 13:7.

Which reads, Love...1Cor. 13:7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

What Jesus is condemning is his disciples is the tendency in all men, as exemplified in the Pharisees, to be overly harsh and censorious before knowing the facts in a matter.  He is condemning those who judge on a little knowledge, perceptions, or impressions. 

This is an application of Matt. 5:20 where Jesus had taught the disciples “For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. They were to have a completely different kind of righteousness than the Pharisees.  Part of that would be to judge others judiciously based on truth according to God’s standard and not on quick impressions, false witnesses or impression.

So much of our society acts on impression and perception. We should set the example of grace, as we are slow to judge, without jumping to conclusions.  This is so important to discover truth and what is most important.

There is a basic agricultural maxim that illustrates the truth Jesus is going to develop. You reap what you sow.  We find this even in Job. In Job 4:8 it reads “Even as I have seen, Those who plow iniquity And sow trouble reap the same.”

Those who are censorious and unjust judges towards others will be treated with the same sort of contempt.

One night Sue was feeding Sean and we were flipping through the channels. One of those ever-present court shows got our attention.  The young lady was trying to undermine the credibility of her opponent by mentioning that he had been doing drugs.  Eventually the opponent mentioned that they had often done drugs together.  The judge turned on her in a minute.  The judgment she used was turned on her to her great disadvantage. 

Jesus taught the disciples....

2. The Effects of Poor Judging

        2  “For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.

The use of measured here is instructive.  Judging it not to be rash, but measured.  It is to be contemplative before it is pronounced.  Luke gives us a fuller description of all this.  He wrote:

        Luke 6:38  “Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom.

People like the sentiments of this verse without understanding what it says.  These are descriptions of how one measures grain as an illustration of the contemplative nature of judicious judging.  Someone goes to the market to buy a certain measure of barley.  They would bring a container of some sort, go to the farmer, agree on a price to fill their container, take a good measure into their container, they would want to get as much as possible for their money or in barter or trade, so what would they do?  They would put in a good measure, press it down, and shake it together. This is what ladies do when they measure for baking. They take a measuring cup, get a good measure of whatever, they pres it down, shake it around and use the measured item for its intended purpose.  This is the same sort of measuring that is needed to keep Christ’s disciples from passing inadequate and harsh judgment. 

Give judicious judgments and it will be given back to you into your bosom in an overflowing manner.  There is to be a difference in the way and manner we discern, test, try and judge matters.  We are bound to give the benefit of doubt to our brethren until we are certain of the truth.  Because, as Luke records Jesus’s words,

For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you.

Jesus brings...

3. Further Illumination

A short truth to consider:

        Luke 6:39 And He spoke a parable to them:  “Can the blind lead the blind? Will they not both fall into the ditch?

The answer is no.  Censorious people are willingly blind to the truth. They pass on their injudicious judgments and lead others into pits.  That does not happen when the judgment is just.

Then speaking directly to them, he states:

        Luke 6:40  “A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone who is perfectly trained will be like his teacher.

This is what Jesus is doing with his twelve disciples.  He is training them to be like him with his careful judgments, yet at times, judgments that cut right to the heart of matters and silence the critics and opposition. 

Matthew brings us back to more further illumination.  He tells us of Jesus question to the disciples:

        3  “And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? 4  “Or how can you say to your brother,  ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye’; and look, a plank is in your own eye?

First note the group to whom Jesus refers.  They are to practice things towards their brethren, specifically the brotherhood of the disciples.  They don't owe this to all men. We’ll get to that discomfort later on.

One must first be sure he is not guilty of the thing to be judged.  He must be absolutely certain he is not tainted by the thing to be considered.  There must be no blindness in those who sit as the jury or judge.  The picture is graphic, but needed to make the point.  It is easy to see faults in others, than to have your own pointed out to you and to deal with them. People do not like the spotlight turned on to their sins and quirks by others with the same.  It is a righteous man working in the ways of wisdom that we admire.  A man of character and integrity can tell us anything about ourselves that he has carefully measured and we more readily see the weight of evidence.  We trust it is for our good, rather than to puff himself up y putting down others. 

We must make sure we have no logs, nor even specks in our own eyes.  We must first live a life as Christ’s committed disciples in order to judge rightly those of whom the gospel makes its pointed demands.  If we claim to be Christ’s and live like the world’s we loose all power to compel others to come to Christ. The way we live denies the reality of what we say that we believe. For misguided disciples the condemnation comes, the judgment of Jesus is given, he said:

4. The True Character of bad Judges

        5  “Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.

The one who is censorious of others while being tainted by the same sin is a pretender to righteousness.  The first obligation is to cast out the plank that is in your own eye in order to see clearly. 

In casting out your own plank and dealing with your own souls, you should become sensitive and understanding to see how one could fall into a sin or error.  In seeing clearly, grace can be given and gracious and judicial judgments can be served out courageously for the Glory of God and the good of man.

We know our own sins the best, but would rather help others deal with theirs.  Put yourselves in someone else’s shoes.  They are the same.  They would rather help you to know the sins that ought to be condemned by you than to know and act on their own.  We all must cast out our own sins first in order to minister and help others.

What is it that can keep us from this harsh censorious spirit?

The God-wrought character of Christ’s disciples that issues forth in God-honoring conduct.  There is nothing better to restrain us from injudicious judging than a constant reminder of these basic things:

Blessed are the bankrupt in spirit....

Blessed are those who mourn over their own sin....

Blessed are the humble....

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness....

Blessed are the merciful....

Blessed are the pure in heart....

Blessed are the peacemakers....

And consider the benefits annexed to these seven ways to spiritual prosperity:

Blessed are the bankrupt in spirit, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. What are disciples to pursue with all their vigor?

Blessed are those who mourn, For they shall be consoled.

Blessed are the humble, For they shall inherit the earth. Meekness is not weakness, it is a powerful weapon in the life of a disciple.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, For they shall be filled.

Blessed are the givers of mercy, For they shall receive mercy.  They reap what they sow.

Blessed are the pure in heart, For they shall see God.

Blessed are the peacemakers, For they shall be called sons of God.

These are holy things to be pursued with great energy for the good of our own souls, our brethren and that the glory of God might be found among men.

The world misuses and abuses what it does not understand. Therefore....

       

5. The Importance of Discernment for Ministry

        6  “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.

This is going to grate against the sensitivities of some of you. But, I would ask you to consider the Scriptures rather than your emotional reaction to what you will hear. 

It is not to everyone that the disciples are to speak on spiritual matters. Gospel proclamation is not owed to each and every man, woman and child. 

That is a myth. There are many who of violent god-hating opinion and lives, those who live in open immorality without a care for their eternal souls, and others who are incapable of assessing the value of what Jesus taught to his disciples. There are others who have heard many times and have not obeyed the command to repent and follow who are not owed any more of our time nor attention. Some of these are those who even use elements of God’s Word as an excuse for their sin and lifestyle. These people may be the utter unclean ones before who it would be a sin to cast the beautiful pearls of gospel living. They are the dogs to whom unholy things must not be given.  Censorious people will turn on you quickly even if you seek to do them good.

Yes, it is a sin to do what this command forbids. It is a sin against God to thrown godly pearls before swine and to feed the morsels of righteousness (the holy things) to dogs.

Jesus never sought to “win” each and every soul he met.  He called very few to follow him savingly. We have been influenced more by bad thinking in this area. We need to conform our understanding to the ways of Jesus expressed int he word of God and one of those ways is found in this command.

Telling these sorts of people of the call to discipleship and the claims of Christ upon them can wreak much havoc. To a hardened soul often sends that soul into a fit of rage. The quickest way to show unsanctified behavior it to preach on the need of sanctification.  We need wisdom. We need measured discernment to know how to apply this last verse rightly.  Yet the principle remains, their are some who by virtue of uncleanness in life and thought who are not to be taught the things of God. 

However, before we make that pronouncement, let us contemplate and consider, gather the facts, in order to pass a proper judgment on some.

Don't judge hastily on appearances alone. Don't be of a critical and censorious spirit. Be merciful, forthright and just in due humility after the plank has been removed from your eye so you see clearly. Don't be afraid to judge yourself and others according to the Standards of God’s Word. But in your judgments be right and true, ministering grace to others, especially the brethren in Christ, our fellow disciples.