14 Judge Not!

We’re looking at a very sensitive topic today. A passage of scripture that we like to use against others. Something that I feel is very misunderstood today. Let’s start by reading our first scripture.

Matthew 7:1-5
1 Judge not, that ye be not judged. 2 For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. 3 And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? 4 Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? 5 Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.

  • Many of us quote this text telling others not to judge us. We don’t like to be judged. We don’t like people telling us what to do, and more than that, we don’t like others to tell us what we’re doing wrong.
  • When someone comes up to us, telling us not to say certain things or do certain things, we like to tell them – “Hey, don’t judge us!” Judge not!
  • But if this what this text is really saying? That we shouldn’t be judging people at all?

Do you know it’s very natural for us to judge? We all judge.

  • Even as you listen or read this sermon, you are judging.
  • When a person walks through the door, we judge how they are dressed.
  • Our minds should be critically thinking all the time of our surroundings.
  • When we wonder why someone did something, maybe not personally to us but to someone in front of us, we judge.
  • A person is not there, we judge. A person comes late, we judge. A person comes early, we judge.
  • Judging is natural for all of us. So, to tell a person not to judge, it is very unnatural.
  • Is this what is passage is referring to? Simply not to judge?
  • Let’s dig a bit deeper.

Let’s go to a parallel passage found in Luke.

  • Luke 6:37-38
    37 — Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven: 38 Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.
  • This gives us a little bit of a different perspective.
  • What does this sound like?
    • Judge not, you will not be judged.
    • Condemn not, you won’t be condemned.
    • Forgive, you will be forgiven.
    • Give, it shall be given to you.
  • Treat others the way you wish to be treated. If you judge them, make sure that you are willing to be judged by them as well.
  • What you do to them, be willing for them to do the same to you.
  • Do unto others what you want them to do unto you.
  • An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth – that’s what it sounds like, doesn’t it?
  • So it’s not that we shouldn’t judge. But if we do judge, make sure you are open for others to judge you in the same way as well.

Should we judge? What does the Bible actually say about judging?

  • 1 Corinthians 6:3
    Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life?
  • If we are going to judge heavenly beings one day, how shall we not judge the things on this earth? Heaven compared to earth, which is more important? Of course, heaven.
  • So in contrast to that, the things of this earth? Surely we should be judging things on this earth.
  • Let’s read another Bible text.
  • Exodus 18:13
    And it came to pass on the morrow, that Moses sat to judge the people: and the people stood by Moses from the morning unto the evening.
  • Moses was the leader of the Israelites. And he was basically doing just one thing from morning to evening every day before he decided that he should get help. He was sitting and judging everyone’s affairs.
  • That is basically a human judge like what we see in the courts today. So should we judge? Of course we should!

So then what is Jesus referring to when he told us that we should not be judging one another? Let’s dig a bit deeper into the text that we read at the very beginning.

  • Matthew 7:3
    And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?
  • What is the problem with this person that is judging that Jesus has to tell us not to judge? The problem is that the person that is being judged has a mote in his eye.
  • What is a mote?
    • It is a straw or a twig.
  • And the person that is judging, he has a beam in his eye. That is a stick of timber. That is what is used to make fences, support for housing, table legs. It is a much bigger piece of wood compared to the straw or the twig.
  • So the person that is being judged has a twig in his eye, and the one that is doing the judging he has a big piece of timber in his eye.
  • This is what we call hypocritical judging.
    • The person that is being judged has something small in his/her life that is not right. And the person that is judging has something that is huge, one hundred times bigger, than the other person.
  • That is what Jesus is saying here. Be careful not to judge when you are far worse than the other person that you are judging.
  • Let me give you an example. Let’s consider the civil court. Do you think a judge would be allowed to pass sentence on a person that was caught stealing if he himself was a murderer? Of course not! He would have to be innocent to be allowed to be in that position.

What is the condition of the person who does such judging? Let’s look back at Luke 6. We read verses 37 and 38 just now about the judging aspect. Then look at what it says next.

  • Luke 6:39
    And he spake a parable unto them, Can the blind lead the blind? shall they not both fall into the ditch?
  • What is the condition of this person? They are blind! Not only that, but they are more blind than the person that they are calling blind.
  • Jesus is saying that the person that is judging has far worse problems than the person that they are judging who is blind as well.
  • What is the spiritual condition of the person that is judging and is blind and has this huge beam in his eye?
    • 2 Peter 1:9
      But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.
    • They have forgotten they were purged of their sins.
    • But in this case, what they have in their eyes have blinded them so much that they only see others and their problems, and not their own problems.

The pharisees were like this all the time. They were dragging the woman through the streets who was caught in adultery, yet they were the ones who had led her into sin. Moreover, they were plotting the death of Jesus. They were murderers, yet they were condemning an adulterer.

  • Their sins were far worse than the woman’s sin, yet they were ready to throw stones at her and condemn her to death.
  • If we are to judge, we have to make sure that we are not hypocrites. That we cast the beam out of our own eye first before we think that God has even called us to be a judge of others.

So what is a hypocrite in this context?

  • The usual definition is that they say but they don’t do. They tell others to do something yet they themselves don’t do it.
  • But in this case that we are looking at in these texts, it is judging others but they themselves are doing the same thing or even worse!
  • Paul tells us of such people:
    • Romans 2:1
      Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things.
  • There were people in his days that were judging others, but they were doing the exact same thing. They were condemning themselves. The only difference was that others did not know about it.
  • They were so blind! Could it be that we are that blind today as well?
  • So you can see so far that it is not that Jesus is telling us not to judge at all. But be careful. Search your own life first. Look yourself in the mirror first. Judge yourself first because you dare look out at others.

What does the Bible say we should do if we do see someone that is in sin, someone that has a little twig or stick in their eye?

  • Galatians 6:1-2
    1 Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. 2 Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.
  • Instead of judging them, Paul tells us to help them. Do your best to restore them instead of just simply talking about them.
  • Go out of your way to bear their burdens. Maybe they’ve faltered because the load in their life has become really heavy. Maybe they’re going through something that requires our help and our prayers, instead of our judgments. Maybe they’re going through a really heavy trial at that point in time.
  • Christ’s method alone will give true success. What did He do?
    • He showed sympathy.
    • Then He ministered to their needs.
    • Then He won their confidence.
      And only then, He said come follow Me.
  • Consider the woman at the well in John 4. This woman was an outcast. She was coming to the well in the middle of the day when no one else would be there – the time that it was the hottest. You didn’t need to be God to know that there was something wrong in her life.
  • What did Jesus do? He first asked her a favour, that she would draw some water for Him to drink. He broke down the barrier by asking for help. And only then He talked about the secrets of her life. She had been married and divorced five times!
  • Jesus judged her. But He didn’t condemn her. She was heaping condemnation on herself already. What she needed was hope.
  • So if you’re going to judge someone, make sure you’re willing to go out of your way to help them as well. To restore them. To support them. To pray for them. To guide them.

You see what is the real problem? Let’s go back to Luke 6 and continue there.

  • Luke 6:40
    The disciple is not above his master: but every one that is perfect shall be as his master.
  • The problem is self. We like to feel good about ourselves. We want to make ourselves feel better. We want to be the master and not the servant.
  • Did Jesus judge? Yes He did!
    • Matthew 23:27
      Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness.
    • He called them whited sepulchres!
  • He turned over the tables in the temple. He wrote in the sand the sins of the priests that brought the woman caught in adultery.
  • Look, we don’t aim to be perfect so that we can judge. Of course that is not our purpose. We look to Jesus and He is the One that makes us perfect.
  • Matthew 5:48
    Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.
  • It is simply to be like Jesus. In His actions. In His ways. In His thoughts.
  • We need the sympathy of Christ today for those around us that are suffering. That are in need of an encouraging word rather than a word of judgment.

However, there is place for judging today. Certainly there is.

  • We all judge ok. That is normal. But we shouldn’t judge hypocritically.
  • 1 Corinthains 6:3
    Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life?
  • We shall judge angels, why not this world!?

But there is something just as bad.

  • James 4:11
    Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge.
  • Evil speaking. Evil speaking is a form of judgment. That’s what the text says. We talk bag things about a person. And yes, sometimes we get frustrated with people or situations. And it bends us out of shape. And maybe talking about it makes us feel better.
  • But we need to be careful how we express this. Talking about a situation doesn’t always help. It just makes us feel better because we want someone else to feel the same way that we feel, and we feel justified then in that situation that that person is really bad and that they really did do something wrong to us or to someone else or in that situation.
  • What then really is evil speaking? It is simply gossip. Words that are worthless. Words that are vain. Words that don’t build up but actually tear down.

Look at what the Bible says about our words.

  • Proverbs 26:20
    Where no wood is, there the fire goeth out: so where there is no talebearer, the strife ceaseth.

    • If we could just be quiet sometimes, the fire in our hearts will die down and the fire in the situation will also disappear.
  • Proverbs 26:22
    The words of a talebearer are as wounds, and they go down into the innermost parts of the belly.

    • Words can really hurt. We must be so careful how we judge and what we say.
  • Psalms 34:13
    Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile.

    • What does it mean to speak evil here? It is put in the same category as guile which is lying.
  • We must be so careful with what we say and also what we think. The tongue is just an expression of our thoughts. We must ask God to help us to train our thoughts in the righteous way.

1 Peter 2:1
Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings.

  • Peter tells us to put aside all our evil speaking, all our hypocrisies. We need to put aside all our evil judging.
  • But how? What should we be doing then?
  • 1 Peter 2:2-3
    2 As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby: 3 If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious.

    • Rather than focusing on speaking evil of others, and focusing all on others, let us put our heads into the Bible.
    • Let’s pray that God would give us the desire for the milk of the word of God.
  • Let’s use the time wisely so focus on God rather than focusing on others.

Ephesians 4:31-32
31 Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: 32 And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.

  • Paul admonishes us to put away all the evil speaking, all that hypocritical judging.
  • Instead, replace it with kindness, with a tender heart, forgiving each other.
  • We need the heart and the mind of Jesus. Only Christ can help us with that.
  • If not, what could possibly happen? Look at what Paul says just before those verses in Ephesians 4:30.
  • Ephesians 4:30
    And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.

    • We can grieve away the Holy Spirit if we keep speaking this way, if we keep viewing others this way.
    • We can commit the unpardonable sin!
  • It is the Holy Spirit that seals us to the day of redemption. It is the Holy Spirit that can help us today to cease from speaking evil, to cease our hypocritical judging of others.

The Holy Spirit can help us to view others in a better light. He can help us in our thoughts that it won’t go down the negative path. God can help us. But we need to seek for Him. To ask for His help.

  • If we seek Him with all our heart, we will find Him.
  • If we ask for the Holy Spirit, God is willing to give Him to us to aid us in our transformation.
  • We need to be born today not just of water but also of the Spirit.
  • Let’s come back to the word. Let’s spend more time in prayer. Then we will find that our outlook on the world and on other people will be much more different.
  • Then we will judge with love. Then we will judge with sympathy.
  • Then as we behold others’ sins, we won’t just simply stand there and condemn them, but we will be like Moses who went back to God after seeing the children of Israel sin and prayed that his name would be blotted our of the book of life instead of theirs.
  • May God help us and give us such a heart today for others.

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