Sermons

Do Not Judge – But Remove Specks

            Matthew 7:1-6

 The God of the universe – who created everything and rules everything – has revealed Himself to us in a book.  A book with verbs and prepositions and sentences.  And the fact that God has revealed Himself to us in a book means that reading will help you learn about God – reading will help you come to know God. And that truth shapes the way we preach here at Mercy Hill.  Our preaching focuses on the words of this book.  And our preaching seeks to help you see for yourself the meaning of the words in this book. And the reason I mention that is because this next section of the Sermon on the Mount takes some careful reading.  So let’s turn together to Matthew 7:1-6.  If you need a Bible, go ahead and raise your hand and we will bring one to you.  Matthew 7 is on page 812 in the Bibles we are passing out. Here’s what Jesus taught us --

1                   Judge not, that you be not judged.

2                   For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you.

3                   Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?

4                   Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when there is the log in your own eye?

5                   You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye.

6                   Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you.

Now the first question I asked myself was – What does Jesus mean when He says “judge not”?  Look again at v.1 --

1                   Judge not, that you be not judged.

So what does Jesus mean when He says “judge not”?  Should we never make moral evaluations?  Let’s say there’s a married man in your home group with a loving wife and family -- who walks out on his wife to have an affair.  Jesus would say “judge not.”  But is he saying we should not make moral judgments? I don’t think so – for two reasons. The first reason is because in this passage Jesus calls us to make moral judgments.  Let’s say you see a speck in your brother’s eye. Jesus doesn’t want us to say – hey, if having a speck in your eye works for you – who am I to judge? No. Jesus wants us to remove the log from our eye, and then help remove the speck from your brother’s eye – which assumes a moral judgment.  So one reason Jesus can’t mean that we should avoid moral judgments is because in this passage he calls us make moral judgments. The second reason is because this word “judge” has a broader range of meaning than just making moral judgments.  To see that turn to Romans 14:10. A crucial part of reading is understanding what words mean.  And one way to see what words mean is to look at how the same word is used in other places in the New Testament.  And here in Romans 14:10 we can see that the word “judge” not only can mean making moral judgments, but it can also mean making condemning and despising judgments. In the first sentence the phrase “pass judgment” is the same Greek word as Jesus uses in Matthew 7 --

Why do you pass judgment on your brother?

And we can see what that word can mean in the next line --

Or you, why do you despise your brother?

So notice that here Paul says we should NOT judge others.  And what he means is that we should not despise them – should not look down on them – should not see ourselves as superior and them as inferior. So the Greek word “judge” can have two different meanings.  It can mean making a moral judgment where we say that something is right and something is wrong – and it can mean making a condemning and despising judgment where we say that we are superior and others are inferior. So with that in mind let’s turn back to Matthew 7.  When Jesus says “judge not” what he means is “do not make a condemning and despising judgment against anyone.”  So what would this look like?  Let’s take that man in your home group who left his wife and family.

We know from God’s Word that what he did was an outrageous offense against his wife, against his kids, and against God Himself.  It was morally wrong – and we are supposed to make that moral judgment.

But what Jesus does not want us to do is make a condemning and despising judgment – where we say – what a terrible person – what a horrible person – where we see ourselves as superior to him and him as inferior to us.   When we talk that way we’ve moved from moral judgment to condemning and despising judgment.

So how can we tell when we have moved from moral judgment to condemning and despising judgment?  Here’s some clues --

• If I feel superior to him, look down on him, think I’m better than him -- it’s condemning and despising judgment
• If I say things like: “at least I’ve not left my wife,” or “I’d never do that!,” or “how could they?” – it’s condemning and despising judgment
• If I’m not weeping over him, longing for him to repent and be forgiven and restored through Jesus Christ -- it’s condemning and despising judgment
• If I enjoy telling others what this man did -- it’s condemning and despising judgment

That’s what Jesus is calling us NOT to do – when He says – “Judge not.”

But if we are honest – we will see that we easily fall into condemning and despising judgment.  And here Jesus doesn’t just give us a command – “Judge not.”  He also gives us reasons which will help us obey that command.

And a crucial part of reading the Bible is to notice the reasons the Bible gives – because those reasons help us understand how to obey – and what is the right way to obey.

So let’s ask – why must we not make condemning and despising judgments?  Look at the reasons Jesus gives in vv.1-2 --

1                   Judge not, that you be not judged.

2                   For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you.

So Jesus says that if I let someone else’s sin cause me to condemn and despise them – then God will use that same standard with me.  He will let my sin cause Him to condemn and despise me.

This is not hypothetical.  If I respond to this man’s sin with condemning and despising judgment – God will respond to my sin with condemning and despising judgment.

But why?  The answer is in v.3 --

3                   Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?

Notice.  Every time I condemn and despise someone else – it shows that I’m seeing the speck of sin in their eye – but ignoring the log of sin in my own eye.  Now remember – there’s nothing wrong with moral judgment.  Not at all.

But when I use condemning and despising judgment it shows that I’m ignoring my own sin.  Why?  Because when I see my own sin – and all I’ve received through Jesus Christ – my heart will be so humbled that I won’t be able to condemn and despise anyone.

Let’s try that out.

Think about you.  You were created by the God who is perfect goodness.  He created you so you could have the joy of knowing Him.  You saw that clearly – you know that clearly.

But you and me and all of us little created people said – we don’t want to know you.  We want to be in control.  We want to get the credit.  We want to call the shots.

That’s an infinite outrage against God’s perfect goodness.  And so because God is just – He rightly condemned us to eternal punishment.

But then God did something amazing.  Even though we deserved only punishment forever – He chose to save you – and He sent His own Son Jesus to earth.  And Jesus willingly went to the Cross – where God the Father horribly punished His own son for your sin.

And so the moment you turned from your sin and trusted Jesus as Savior, Lord, and Treasure – everything changed.  You were forgiven for all your sin.  Your heart was changed so you loved God.  Your heart was filled with God’s love for you.  And now forever more God is rejoicing to do you good with all His heart and all His soul.

And because of what you have experienced through Jesus – you live your life at the foot of the Cross – humbled by the log that’s been in your eye, humbly thanking, trusting, and worshiping Jesus Christ.

Now – with that humble heart – how would you feel if you bumped into that man from your home group who left his wife and kids?  If you looked at the Cross, saw what you deserved, saw what Jesus did for you – how would you feel towards this sinful man?

You would not condemn him, despise him, feel superior to Him.  You would care about him.  You would love him.  You would long for him to join you at the foot of the Cross.

But now what if you do condemn him – do despise him – have no love or care for him?  That would show that you are not living at the foot of the Cross – you are not seeing the log in your own eye.  And if that persists – it would show you’ve never been at the foot of the Cross – which would show you’ve never been saved.

Can you feel how serious this is?  Here’s a quote from D. A. Carson to back this up –The judgmental person – by not being forgiving and loving – testifies to his own arrogance and impenitence, by which he shuts himself out from God’s forgiveness.  (Matthew 184).

So how should we respond to someone who’s in sin? Jesus tells us in vv.4-5 –

4                   Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when there is the log in your own eye?

5                   You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye.

Why does Jesus say that others have specks in their eyes and we’ve got logs?  Part of it is because we can always see more of our own sin than we can see of anyone else’s sin – because we see our every thought, feeling, and attitude.  So from what we can see – we’ve always got logs compared to other people’s specks.

But another reason is to show the foolishness of hypocrisy.  Picture someone with a log sticking out of his own eye saying – “Excuse me, I am noticing a speck in your eye.  That’s a real a problem.  Just a second – there’s something in the way in my eye.  Anyway – that speck is a real problem.  It could cause a lot of discomfort – get in the way of your vision.  Here let me help you.”  It’s a powerful picture.

So what does Jesus want us to do when we see a speck of sin in a brother or sister? 

First -- Jesus wants us to remove the log from our own eyes.  That means be aware of your own sinfulness, and deal with any unconfessed sin by confessing it to Jesus, receiving forgiveness, and fighting the fight of faith to overcome it.

Then second – help your brother with his speck.  And because you first admitted the log in your eye – you will help your brother humbly, as a fellow sinner at the foot of the Cross.  And you can help your brother by listening, understanding, giving wise counsel, sharing helpful Scriptures, and praying for him.

I think I’ve shared before one of the first and most powerful times I’ve been on the receiving end of this.  Years ago I was on staff at a church in So Cal.  And I had a habit of always coming late to everything.  But for some reason thought it was all right because I was so busy.

And one day I got a call from a carpenter guy in our college/career group.  He said he needed to talk and could we get together.  So a few days later I went by his house.  He invited me in – and we sat down – and then he very humbly and lovingly shared with me that it was not right that I was always late for appointments. 

His attitude showed that he was dealing with the log in his eye – and so he was really able to help me with the speck in my eye.  He shared Scriptures, gave me some counsel, and prayed for  me.  God used him to change my life.

But Jesus knows that not everyone will be responsive to your help.  And he addresses that in the next verse.  So let’s ask -- what if someone is not willing to have me help them?  That’s the point of the next verse –

Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you.

The previous verse shows what this verse is talking about.  If you take the log out of your own eye, and lovingly and graciously reach out to help someone with the speck in their eye – if they persist in rejecting your help, continue in rejecting your help – them let them go.

So at what point would you let them go?  There’s no formula.  It’s a combination of how intense the rejection is – and how long the rejection continues.  We err on the side of mercy and love – but there comes a time to move on.

Questions?

Our pride makes us prone to judging others in a condemning and despising way. So how can we overcome that?  By living at the foot of the Cross – admitting the log in our own eye, seeing all we have in Jesus Christ, humbly trusting Him. When we do that we will be free from all condemning and despising judgment.