Judging Others | Matthew 7:1-6

Bible reading as I mentioned before is the beginning of Matthew chapter 7. If

Matthew 7 · chapter mention

you are using one of the Bibles that are provided on the seats you can find

today's passage by turning to page 788 and looking for the big

number 7 in the heading judging others. These are the words of our Lord Jesus.

Do not judge or you too will be judged for in the same way you judge others

you will be judged and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. Why

do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention

to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother let me take the

speck out of your eye when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You

hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye and then you will see

clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye. Do not give dogs what is

sacred. Do not throw your peals to pigs. If you do they may trample them under

their feet and turn and tear you to pieces.

Thank you Liam. Good morning church. It's great to be together. God's kindness and

providence has brought us together for another week to hear the words of

eternal life and that's what we are appearing into this morning which is in

incredible grace and mercy on our Father's part but also something that we

don't want to take lightly as we come to his words this morning. So would you

please pray with me to our Lord before we look at his words. Lord Jesus we thank

you that you have not left us as orphans but have sent us your spirit. Lord these

are words of eternal life and we ask by your spirit that you would pierce our

hearts, give us ears to hear, eyes to see, minds to understand what you would have

us to understand and that by the work of your precious Holy Spirit that you

would give us changed lives and a zeal for the worship of you in this world. We

ask for this in your name Jesus. Amen. So our church over the past three and a

half months we've been going through this incredible sermon that Jesus gave

that's come to be known as the Sermon on the Mount and over the months as

we've seen our Lord unpack incredible things we've learnt what it is where the

place of the law is in the believers life, how we are to view things like

divorce and hatred and how we are to love our enemies among other things and

as we've been making our way through this sermon we've seen that his address

is vitally important because it's not just a sermon it's not just a sermon

it's an address from a king to a people who have been gathered into a kingdom

and I say that because before Jesus came on the scene and made this address

Matthew has been very careful to record for us that a kingdom was indeed

expected. We see this theme in the ministry of John the Baptist for example

who was sent by God to the people of Israel to announce to them that the long

awaited kingdom of God that was promised to them by prophets such as Isaiah and

Jeremiah had finally come it was at hand and more than that John was sent to

announce that the one that was to come after him would gather his wheat into

his barn and would baptize them in none other than the Holy Spirit. We also saw

that John preached that this man who was to come after him would be so

deserving of honor that he himself Israel's most famous preacher at the

time wouldn't even be worthy enough to carry this guy's sandals. In other words

John was sent to announce that the one coming after him would be Israel's king

and it would be this king that would usher in the long-awaited kingdom of

heaven. So when Jesus came on the scene and called his disciples to himself here

on this mount much in the same way God did with Israel at Mount Sinai and tells

them that they are the salt and the light of the world he's drawing their

attention to themes that are meant to make them aware of their uniqueness in

this world. In other words Jesus wants them to know that they were not like

those around them who were still trapped in the dominion of darkness but had been

rescued into the kingdom of heaven. And it's interesting that Jesus has said

this to his disciples right because from the start of this sermon Jesus has made

it crystal clear to them that the community that had gathered around him

was something different in this world set apart if you will as they were a

ray of sunshine in this dark cold world. But we might ask here how were they the

light of the world? Well it must be said it wasn't because of anything in and of

themselves. You see Matthew makes it clear in chapter 4 verses 15 through to

16 quoting the prophet Isaiah that before Jesus came on the scene everyone

everyone including these disciples were trapped in darkness saying land of

Zebulun and land of Nephtali the way of the sea beyond the Jordan, Galilee of

the Gentiles the people living in darkness have seen a great light on

those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned. So why does

Jesus call his followers the light of the world? Because quite simply out of

all the people that had heard Jesus's preaching they were the ones that had

believed what he had to say. They were the ones who had repented who had left

their own ways and followed him. To say this another way they believed in Jesus

and what he had to say and in the doing as they believed as they repented as

they followed they had become imitators of their Lord meaning that they were in

fact like little mirrors reflecting the light of the world and that church is

what it is to be a disciple of Jesus. It's not to just hear the words of Jesus

no it's to hear the King's call of repentance and it's to put into practice

what you have heard. In other words it's to do the will of the one who has called

us from darkness into light. This is why this address here is so vitally

important for us to understand because like the disciples we read about here

gathered around Jesus we too confess that Jesus is the King of God's heavenly

kingdom. We too confess that he is our Lord that we trust him with our

eternities and as his disciples we want to not only hear about his unpacking and

applying of what it is to be a follower of him but we too want to obey our Lord's

words in all that we do. We want to live out obediently what he has to say to us

in this world. We want to be like mirrors that reflect his light in this dark

world. As it's already been said that's not because we in and of ourselves are

the light. No in and of ourselves we were as Isaiah put it the people dwelling in

darkness who had been dwelling in the region and shadow of death. It might I

say this morning if you have heard the word of the King if you have repented if

you have trusted in what Jesus has to say if you have turned from going your

own way and turned to King Jesus and there has been an awesome supernatural

work of the Holy Spirit in your life. Where whereby you have been transported

from death to life from condemnation to justification from the dominion of

darkness to his kingdom of light. And like the disciples we see gathered here

in our passage this morning we too have been gathered into a community of people

who are seeking to obey our Lord in all that he has to say. And as we do that as

we together obey King Jesus as we seek together to put into practice our Lord's

words well we too will indeed be the salt and light in this world. And that's

the aim of our passage this morning brothers and sisters. We don't just want

to understand our Lord's words but put into practice what he tells us this

morning. And it's as we do this at Grace Christian Church that we will look

drastically different in this world because we are a community that is

seeking to reflect the light of this world. So in saying that let's turn to

our passage this morning if you have your Bibles in front of you that will be

handy because we're going to be in the text quite a bit this morning. So looking

at verses 1 & 2 these are the words of our Lord. Do not judge or you too will be

judged. For in the same way you judge others you will be judged and with the

measure you use it will be measured to you. Alright seems pretty straightforward

right? Don't judge and with that said let's pray and we can all go home. And

all the aspiring lawyers in the room just well their dreams have been crushed.

And though it seems a bit extreme to say that believe it or not people like

Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy have taken these very words and argued that Jesus

was saying that law courts well they shouldn't be a thing. And Tolstoy isn't

alone in this kind of textual misuse as the phrase do not judge or you will be

judged is actually one of the most misused, misunderstood sayings in the

whole Bible. I mean you don't have to be on social media for very long before

somebody saying hashtag judge not usually in connection with some horrendous

public behavior. Indeed this sentence is a favorite of many that like to use it

as a type of get out of jail free card. But we might ask what is Jesus actually

commanding here? Is he saying get rid of the law courts? Is he saying don't have

about any opinions about anyone you meet? Is he saying close your eyes to the

world around you and simply just presume the best of everyone? Well as it's

been said many times from this pulpit before a text without a context is

simply just a con. So let's not fall into that trap church. Let's understand the

context here so that we will get a better understanding of what Jesus is

actually telling his disciples. See this statement hasn't been made in a vacuum

right? It's not been made in a vacuum. Jesus has said it in the middle of a

sermon that he's delivering to his disciples, to his community of followers.

So that's the first thing we need to take note of. This is addressed to his

disciples not to judges and to lawyers. The second thing we have to notice is

that he doesn't say don't judge and that's that let's move on. No he goes on

to explain what he wants from his disciples in the rest of this passage

in regards to this very theme and as we'll see his disciples well we are to

make judgment calls in regards to certain things and we will look at that

in just a moment. But for now I want you to notice something very interesting in

the text, very interesting about judgment in verse 2. He said with the measure you

use it will be measured to you. That's an interesting phrase right? And I say it's

interesting because his warning is we all have a standard by which we measure

the people around us and Jesus is saying be careful not to judge people by your

own standard because it will only ever come back to bite you. We've actually

seen this warning from God before in the Bible. We see it in 1st Samuel 16 7. God

says to his prophet Samuel whom he had sent to anoint David who he'd chosen to

be the new king of Israel as God had rejected Saul and Samuel gets to

Bethlehem and he meets David's oldest strongest tallest brother and he thinks

to himself wow this guy is going to be an awesome leader just look at him. But

God warned Samuel. He says don't look on his appearance or the height of his

stature because I've rejected him for the Lord sees not as a man sees. Man

looks at the outward appearance but the Lord he looks on the heart. Hear that

church. Man looks at the outward appearance but the Lord looks at the

heart. To put it simply God was warning his prophet about the standard he was

using about his measurement that he employed to judge other people and what

was it? Well Samuel was looking for Israel's next king by his outward

appearance looking to such things that people look for in a strong leader like

his height his strength his place in the family. Yet ironically it was this very

standard this very measurement if you will in which Israel chose Saul which

had landed them in a shocking predicament namely with a king whom God

had rejected. See church Jesus came to gather his wheat into his barn and he

calls people from all over the world to be his from all walks of life meaning

he calls people that don't look sound or think the same way that you and I do. He

calls people from all sorts of backgrounds into his kingdom that's the

amazing and wonderful thing about our King and this means that his kingdom is

filled with all sorts of people from all sorts of walks of life. I mean let's

apply this to us here this morning look around you church look around at all the

people the Lord Jesus has brought together from different nations different

races economic contexts different life stories different cultures yet we all

have one King one Lord and Savior one Father in heaven one spirit one baptism

so we are in that sense brothers and sisters a real spiritual family. This is

what Jesus is saying to us here this morning. My disciples if you are quick to

judge one another on say things like what denomination you've come from where

you live what job you have on the outward appearances on race if we measure

each other by each other's standards of what we think it is to be a good

Christian then we'll quickly cease to be a community that is light in this dark

world. Why? Because like any other community will be full of hypercritical

judgmental gossips that glory in being an exclusive club that is unwelcoming to

those who don't fit the outward superficial mold. Jesus is prohibiting

something here. He's prohibiting something that his disciples must not

do and it's to see ourselves as the moral standard and judge of his people

that he brings into his kingdom. No we are simply brothers and sisters who have

been rescued by our great King meaning we don't choose the mold we don't set

the standard and then measure others by it. Yes we may have opinions yes we may

have observations and concerns of others in our Lord's community but these things

must never become the standard that we impose on our Lord's blood-purchased

people. Jesus is the king of his people not us. Jesus is helpful here because he

gives some practical application to his point verses 3 & 4. He says why do you

look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to

the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother let me take the

speck out of your eye when all the time there's a plank in your own eye? Notice

the language here it's hyperbolic I'm so hungry I could eat a horse but it's

big. Jesus is giving a picture of a person who thinks that the moral rule

of the roost who pretty much has a plank for a head and walks around seeing other

people's little issues telling them how they can fix their problems. The picture

is meant to think meant to make us think how humorous how ridiculous but Jesus's

point it's serious it's dead serious because it's a direct warning against

those who have a pharisee to cool attitude towards their brothers and

sisters in the faith. Church I want to make this clear this morning

Jesus isn't telling us to ignore each other or to be ignorant of each other's

behavior to never help with the specks in others eyes that would be incredibly

unloving as we're going to see but think about the context context is important

Jesus is speaking to his disciples who are surrounded by and as we've seen

through the months may have been educated by the Pharisees we've seen

that through the months and they demanded a higher religious life from

those around them all the while breaking God's law themselves because of their

own traditions. In other words they had erected impossible standards for the

people and they had measured others by them while not even living them out

themselves. They literally peered into other people's every move and criticized

their every action looking for so-called specks in their eyes to accuse them by

and their sin totally blinded them to the work of God in their midst as these

as they had these planks through their heads. I mean just read through the book

of Matthew you'll see them be appalled by Jesus eating with the how casts but

he's forgiving their sins not to mention plotting to kill Jesus because he

wonderfully healed someone on the Sabbath. That's the context that's the

world that Jesus is speaking into. We might say well that's not our context

but let's not be so quick to dismiss the point of our Lord here. The warning is

just the same. What traditions of men have we employed and held people to in

our own lives? Do you look at your brother and think to yourself they

can't possibly be a Christian like me because they such and such. Do you look

at your sister and say she couldn't possibly love Jesus as much as me

because she's such and so forth. I think this is the point our Lord is making. This

is what he's making to all his disciples and it's this. His precious people, his

people are all works in progress. We have all sinned, we are all dealing with

specks in our eyes in various degrees and because of the work of the Holy

Spirit we are all, every single one of us, me included, we're all at various

stages of that wonderful progress of leaving our old life behind. So church

don't be the one walking around with tweezers in your hands nitpicking other

other people's sanctification because like the one with a plank for a head

that's to display a pharisee-tical attitude. It must be said, Pharisees know

nothing of the love and grace of God. They have an inability to reflect that

wonderful love and grace to others around them. But in saying all of this

there is a great hope in this passage. Our Lord is amazing at doing this right.

We've seen it all throughout the Sermon on the Mount. He can both rebuke and he

can both encourage us greatly at the very same time and we see it again here

in our Lord's words. Verse 5, Jesus says, you hypocrite first take the plank out

of your own eye and then you will clearly, see clearly to remove the speck

from your brother's eye. Why is this encouraging? Let me explain. First because

our Lord says to his disciples, take the plank out of your own eye. Why is that

encouraging Michael? Well quite simply because spiritually dead people have no

conviction over sin. No ability to notice any plank. No ability or want or power

to do anything with it. Meaning that Jesus is applying this to those whom he

sees as his, those who are spiritually alive. And he's saying to us that when

our sin is shown to us, well we no longer have to live as slaves like we once did.

Now we can actually take the plank out and cast it off. Meaning that those sins

that once held us captive, which once seemed impossible to not indulge

ourselves in, well there's an ability, a work of God in us to put those things to

death. The Apostle Paul explains it like this to the church in Rome in chapter 8

15 of his epistle, for you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall

back into fear, but you have received the spirit of adoption as sons by whom we

cry, Abba, Father. There's such an intimacy in those words, Abba, Dad, Father. And church

this is the incredible news of the gospel. Our King came to rescue his

people. He came to redeem us, saved us from certain destruction. He is the one

who snatched us from the dominion of darkness and placed us in his kingdom

which is everlasting. We have been given by his grace the Holy Spirit. And church

God has become our Father in the process. What mercy and incredible grace, what

wonderful amazing love and when we see our sin in our lives we no longer have

to believe that we are slaves to it. We've been set free and by the help of

the Holy Spirit working in us we can cry out to our Father in heaven for help to

put that thing to death. And as we do that, as we cultivate a life of prayer and

confession and repentance, we'll witness sin really being put to death in our

life. So-called planks really being pulled out of our eyes. And when we by

the work of the Spirit live like that, then secondly as our Lord says here, then

you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye. Do you see that

church? Jesus is saying to us here, to his disciples, first deal with the sin in

your own life so that you can help others. That's what the Lord has called

his church to do. He's called us to reflect his mercy, to reflect his grace,

to reflect his love to those around us in community. He's called his disciples

to reflect him, the light of the world. And it's as we know and experience

Jesus through the gospel that we will be disgusted with our own sin and want to

be rid of it. And as we witness his tender care and work in our lives through

the precious Holy Spirit, we will want to reflect that tender mercy and work to

others around us. That's why we can't ignore. That's why we won't ignore or

leave others in sin. We have received such mercy and grace. How can we not

share that with those around us? What's it practically look like? What's it

practically look like? How do we apply what we've heard this morning? Well we

are to evaluate and correct one another in a spirit of humility. How do we do

that? How do we humbly correct one another? Well it's as we've seen here in

our passage this morning. First Jesus tells us that before we correct and

before we turn our attention to others we must first examine ourselves. Meaning

we must look at our own motives and ask why am I so concerned about this

person's life? Why do I want to correct this person? And as we pray for them, and

that's a great place to start, we pray for them. We might ask God for wisdom and

how to go about correcting them in the most encouraging, most loving way

possible. And while doing this ask yourself honestly am I mourning for what

I'm seeing sin do to their life? Do I really want this precious

spiritual sibling built up? Or do I want to feel better about myself? And reflect

am I practicing the very thing that I'm about to go and speak to this person

about? Maybe not perfectly, most likely not perfectly, but are you attempting? Are

you taking that thing to the Lord yourself? Are you able to go in love to

the one that you see struggling and say hey let me come alongside you, let me

help, let me pray with you? So that's first, Jesus says examine yourselves and

take the plank out of your own eye. Then the Lord teaches us to take out the speck

in our brother's eye. And this is all done with a view to build others up, not

to tear them down. We help with the speck, with the view to make others stronger.

Not to make ourselves seem more holy or wise or feel a moral superiority, but

that's what our Lord tells us to do here. Take that plank out so that we might

help others. I'm so thankful for the men in my life. They've taken me out for

coffee and spoken straight with me and they've said things like brother I

love you but I see this and that in your life. And like a kind parent who takes

the eyelash out of their kids eye when they're screaming something's in my eye.

Or like a rear-view mirror which aids us to not change lanes right in front of a

Mack truck. These brothers have lovingly taken specks from my eyes so that I can

see more clearly. So might I say church all this only comes from being in

community. All this comes from being in a community that is living in light of the

gospel of Jesus Christ. It only comes from knowing that we were called, that we

were set free not to judge others by our own standards, not to destroy others by

our own measurements, but to see clearly so that we might build one another up in

our most holy faith. By showing mercy like we've been shown, by showing grace

like we've been shown, and showing love like we are loved at this very moment.

This is a wonderful community picture isn't it church? Being loved and

showing love in all that we do towards one another. Yet because we are the

light of this world and because God advances the kingdom through the gospel,

through us, through his church. Jesus also gives us a warning in verse 6, a heads

up if you will. He says don't give to dogs what is sacred, don't throw your

peals to pigs. If you do they may trample them under their feet and turn and tear

you to pieces. Church admittedly the temptation to pass over this bit and

just end with verse 5 was overwhelming. But as we know we are a people that love

the words of our Lord. We want to hear all that he has to say, we want to do all

that he tells us. Verse 6 is by no means out of place in any sense. It's

in no way contradicting what's come before. But it's a warning to us here

this morning. It's a warning to you and me. A warning that we must heed on back

on the back of what Jesus has just said and it's this. Not everyone is going to

be thrilled with the work of God in your life. That is the reality. Not everyone is

going to be over the moon about your conviction of sin. You're putting to death

the transgression and your freedom from slavery that you found. Not everyone is

going to celebrate when you come to them and witness to them about the amazing

love and mercy of God that you've been shown and that you're so excited to

share with them. Not only will they not rejoice with you, but Jesus says here

there will be some that will try to attack you. Some that will cancel you,

defame you. Some that will want you fired and as we've seen in church history and

now in the church around us in this very day and age, some will try to kill you.

All this to say, Jesus has called his people not to be judgmental in the

hypercritical, unmerciful sense where we set our own standards. But he has not

called us to be without discernment in this world and we have to keep the two

intention consistently. On the one hand, don't presume the worst, but on the other

hand, don't presume the best of everyone either. And we have to keep that in

balance church. We have to observe without harshly judging. We have to

understand without quickly condemning because as Jesus says here in our text

this morning, there are real spiritual differences with people. There

are real differences between those who have been set free who are citizens of

the kingdom of heaven and those who are dead in their trespasses. Those that are

still full pledge citizens of the kingdom of darkness and the warning is

this. The whole council of Scripture were warned. There are people that want it

that way. They love darkness. They hate light because they love their evil deeds

and don't want to be rid of them. They're hard-hearted and they hate the

gospel and what you stand for. And Jesus says because of that rejection, because

of that love for their wicked deeds, these people who are not our brothers,

not our sisters, they may turn on you. They may attack you. If that's what they

did to our Lord, what would they do to his servants? But I want to end by saying

this church. I want to end on this. This verse in no way excuses us from taking

the gospel to the nations. In no way does it discourage the Great Commission that

we are all called to. But what it reminds us of is this. There's a spiritual reality

in this world. A real enemy that hates Christ and his people and we are sent as

sheep among wolves. The battle is real but some are saved. Some hear the gospel,

some turn and come into the kingdom and they become our brothers and sisters in

the Lord. And as we live this gospel truth out here in this community in

Armidale, as we reflect the light of the world in all that we do, as we take the

good news of Jesus to our workplace, our families, our city, the nations, well

let's be as innocent as doves but as wise as serpents. Would you pray with me?

Father we thank you that you have sent the Lord Jesus into this world. That you

sent the light of all mankind to rescue, rescue to the uttermost. And indeed Lord

you have rescued that that was unsavable, us and you saved us in your grace, your

mercy, your kindness, your love. And Father these are words that are amazing.

There's no words to describe what you have done for us. Father we ask

that you would please use us. Use us in this room, use the church in Armidale, use

the church in Western Australia to do something. As we heard this morning many

of us might lose treasures on this earth in the doing. But Father we ask that the

zeal that you work in us by your Spirit as we lift our eyes to Christ would

drive us more than our love for things of this world. Might we be a people that

you use and might we have great joy in the doing. We love you because you first

loved us and we thank you for these words this morning. In Jesus name, Amen.