"Don't Judge" | The Bible Doesn't Say That | Trinity Sermons

Today's reading is from the Gospel of Matthew,

Matthew 7:1–6

chapter 7, verses 1 through 6. 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 pearls to pigs.

If you do, they may trample them under their

feet and turn and tear you to pieces. The word

of the Lord. Order, I say. Order. Order. We're

going to begin this, call this service to order.

Order. These are awesome. Does anyone have one

of these? These are fantastic. Order. You're

out of order, Ted. Ted, you are out of order.

Bailiff, remove this man. Remove this man. These

are way too fun. I think I want to take one of

these to the next advisory board meeting and

just take it over, just start hammering away

at that thing. I think the truth is we all love

to play the judge, right? We all love the idea

of having the gavel in our hand and making decisions

about what's right and what's wrong and what's

good and what's bad. But the question, of course,

is are we supposed to be? The ones with the gavel

in our hand? Are we supposed to be people who

judge? Now that is the question we're going to

attempt to tackle today. Because we're in the

middle of this teaching series, which is called

The Bible Doesn't Say That. Where we're looking

at some verses that are in the Bible. At least

we think that they're in the Bible. But they

might actually not be in the Bible. But even

if they are in the Bible, maybe they don't mean

what we think that they mean. And today we are

coming to this one. Of course. Don't judge. Just

about everybody believes, assumes, and knows

that the Bible says don't judge. And it's not

just that we think the Bible says that, but we

like to say that too. We live in a culture where

we're always saying, don't judge. Don't judge

me. You can't judge me. You know, somebody decides

to eat a whole family -sized bag of potato chips

in one sitting. And they look at you and they

say, don't judge me. right? Or they decide, you

know, they're going to walk in 10 minutes late

to church with Starbucks in their hands, and

they say, don't judge me. Or maybe you, you know,

you still like to listen to Nickelback, and you

say, no, don't, don't judge me, don't judge me.

My kids tell me this, you know, at the dinner

table, sometimes if we're sitting down, hearing

about their day, and if I say, oh, if I do that,

then, oh, dad, don't be so judgy. Right? That's

the language of the day. And celebrities, if

they get into trouble and they do something that

they shouldn't do, they just say, hey, you can't

judge. Don't judge me. Right? It's like a get

her to jail free card for their conscience. Right?

So we need to talk about this phrase because

we're always talking about this phrase. The other

reason we need to talk about this is that it

is... Believed, I think, by a great many people

that in the church, Christians do way too much

judging. In fact, there were two researchers,

David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons. And I don't know,

10 or more years ago, they wrote a book called

Un -Christian. The book was based on lots and

lots of research. They asked like tens of thousands

of people who weren't Christians. They asked

them just one simple question. And the simple

question was this. What words best describe your

impression of Christians? That's what they asked

10 ,000 people who weren't Christians. And the

answers were very sobering. The top three, I

only listed the top three, but were anti -homosexual.

That's what came to their mind right away. Second

was judgmental, and third was hypocritical. Now

again, those numbers don't reflect the actual

behavior of every Christian or their actual beliefs,

but this is the perception. This is the perception.

Judgmental is right up there at the top. So we're

known. As the gavel people. Christians are known

as the people who wield the gavel. We're judgmental

according to their impression. And you can check

out some quotes from this book. It's actually

got some pretty telling quotes. One is, we have

become famous for what we oppose rather than

what we are for. It's interesting because Jesus

was famous for how he extended compassion and

welcomed to sinners. But now Christians have

become famous for their disapproval. of others.

Another quote was, the primary reason outsiders

feel minimized and rejected by Christians is

that they believe Christians are too focused

on pointing out other people's faults. That kind

of speaks for itself. Or this one, they say we're

judgmental, not because we tell people that they're

wrong, but because we act as if we are right.

So it's not just what we say, but it's our posture,

it's our tone, it's our attitude. Here's the

deal. On the one hand, you've got a culture that

loves to go around and say, don't judge. You

can't judge. On the other hand, you've got a

church who is known for judging. So we've got

to talk about this, right? To judge or not to

judge. To hold the gavel. Or not to hold the

gavel? That is the question. And so what we're

going to do today is we're just going to go through

that passage that J .P. just read for us. It's

like literally the most famous passage on the

topic of judgment right in the Sermon on the

Mount. Matthew 7, verses 1 to 6. And this is

Matthew 7:1–6

the thing. I know we're looking for easy answers

for questions like this, but you're not going

to get an easy answer with this one. In fact,

when you come to this passage and you ask, should

we judge others? I think this is actually the

answer that you get. You get this answer. Should

we judge others? Should we judge? No. But in

some ways, yes. But seriously, Jesus says no.

But then again, he says yes. But then in the

end, he says, maybe not. No, I'm not trying to

be silly. I'm not trying to be cute or funny.

I actually think that if we read this, we'll

see this is not a simple yes or no. This is not

a simple either or. There is a tension, a back

and forth in this passage that we have to wrestle

with. I've given you some sermon notes if you

want to follow along. Let's dive right in. Should

we judge? The first answer is no. Simplest answer

is no. Most straightforward reading of this passage

is no. Jesus says in Matthew 7, put the gavel

down, put the gavel away. He says right off the

hop, do not judge or you too will be judged.

Sounds conclusive, sounds open and shut. And

at first glance, it's like Jesus saying, never

judge, ever judge. He actually goes on to say,

don't judge or you too will be judged. Now that

I find is interesting. Because Jesus doesn't

actually tell us who will judge us if we are

the type of people who judge. Who exactly is

this person who's going to judge us back? Well,

I think there's probably a couple answers that

you could support from the Bible. The first is

that other people will judge you back if you

judge them. If you're harsh, critical, and cynical,

if you're always pointing at other people's faults,

then guess what? It's not a surprise when it

comes back. to you, right? People are going to

respond in kind. And you know what? People will

start to avoid you. They'll be defensive. They

might retaliate. Because there's this thing about

human relationships that you kind of reap what

you sow. I'm not saying it's karma, but you reap

what you sow, Jesus says, right? So Jesus actually

adds on to this. He says, because with the measure

you use, it'll be measured to you. Now this is

interesting because this is actually language

from the marketplace. When you went to the grocery

store in Jesus' day, when you went to the market,

you didn't buy pre -packaged goods. You would

buy... stuff in bulk. And so it would have to

be weighed out. It would have to be measured

out and poured out. And the trouble was, some

vendors were really shady. So they'd have a little

scoop. They'd say, oh, I'll give you three scoops.

But in the bottom of the scoop, there was a bump.

So the scoop didn't actually hold as much as

you thought it did. Or, you know, they would

have scales that had weights, counterweights

on them. But the counterweights didn't actually

weigh what the counterweight said that it weighted.

Or vessels that were deceiving. You know, you

thought you got a liter of oil, but instead all

you really got was about 800 milliliters of oil.

And the point is you got less than was fair.

You got less than you deserve. And if you got

caught doing that kind of thing in the marketplace,

then actually other vendors would start doing

the same thing to you. They'd start ripping you

off. They would cheat you right back. And so

the image that Jesus is kind of using here, he's

saying, listen, if you short measure, people,

then you know what? If you judge and criticize

other people, don't be surprised when that same

measure gets used against you. So don't judge

or you too will be judged. Okay, I think it's

safe to say yes, we will be judged by other people

back. But I think it is also true that Jesus

could be meaning that if you judge others, you

will also be judged by God. harshly in return.

So Paul seems to say stuff like this in some

of his letters. He says, you then, why do you

bother to judge your brother or sister? Or why

do you treat them with contempt for... We will

all stand before God's judgment seat as if to

say, like, listen, if you're going to be real

harsh on the people around you and treat people

around you with contempt, you better be worried

when you step before God's judgment seat because

God will judge you back with the measure that

you judged. Is that where it's going? You know,

then, therefore, judge nothing before the appointed

time, Paul says. Wait until the Lord comes. Judging.

is his job. That's Paul's point here. You don't

know someone's whole story. You don't know what's

going on in their lives. You see their actions,

sure, but you don't see their motives, right?

Only the final judge, the real judge, God, can

make those kind of judgments about a person.

So you put the gavel away. It's not your gavel.

It's God's gavel. God is the one who gets to

judge. And he will judge you. in the way that

you judge others. And by the way, I should just

state that this inclination that we have to judge

goes right back to the Garden of Eden. This,

you could say, the original sin was that we wanted

to be the ones to decide what is good and what

is bad, what is evil and what is true, right?

Adam and Eve were told, don't eat of the tree

of the knowledge of good and evil. But they couldn't

resist. They wanted to be the ones to know what

was good and evil and to decide what was good

and evil and to make those decisions. And so

whenever we judge others, it's the same temptation

that happened to Adam and Eve. We're trying to

play God. We're trying to do God's job. So there

you go. It should be an open and shut case. Should

we judge? No, Jesus says. No, no, no, no. But

actually, It's not that simple, because in some

ways, yes. Yes, of course, in some ways we should

judge. You might be like, Rob, what do you mean?

You can't just do that? Yes, you can actually,

because if you look at the Greek word for judge,

which is the word krino, it's like the English

word for judge. It's got all sorts of different

meanings to it, right? So at a basic, basic level,

to judge simply means to decide, to make a decision.

To look at two options, oh, there's this and

this. Which one will I choose? And to choose

one is to krino. That is to decide. So let's

give you a few examples. If you had to choose

between chocolate ice cream or vanilla ice cream,

how many would choose chocolate? How many would

choose vanilla? You just judged. You guys are

so judgy. Or how about this one? You're trying

to replace your phone. Are you going to go with

an iPhone or an Android? How many say iPhone?

How many say Android? Trevino, you're not even

answering. Come on, what's going on? All right,

get in there. This is supposed to be interactive,

right? So yeah, you guys are so judgy. You're

always making these judgments. You're crino -ing

all the time. That's what judging is. It's just

making a decision. I'll give you another one.

Dogs or cats? What do you think about this? How

many say dogs? Hey, how many say cats? Yeah,

so you gotta make a good judgment. Some of you

have impaired judgment, apparently. But see,

we're always making these judgments. And this

kind of judging, Jesus is not saying, don't judge,

don't be a thinking person. No, no, no. I mean,

there's a way we're supposed to judge, to decide

things. Then, of course, there is the way to

understand a judge is just like a judge judge.

Like when you're watching TV and there's these

people on stage and they're singing. and they're

dancing, and they're throwing flaming batons,

and there's this group of people that are staring

at them, and they're, what are these people?

They are... They're judges, right? So they're

trying to decide. Do we give them the golden

buzzer? Do we pass them? Do we fail them? Do

we say yes? Do we say no? Or you go maybe to

the Aaron Fall Fair, and at the Fall Fair, there's

this guy in a ball cap, and he's taking these

tastes of these butter tarts, and he's making

notes in a little piece of paper. Oh, this one's

flaky. This one's burnt. This one is the winner.

He's a judge. He's judging. Or, of course, everybody's

favorite judge has got to be Judge Judy. right?

My favorite Judge Judy line is, don't pee on

my leg and tell me it's raining. Isn't that great,

right? Now, she's actually a judge. She's a judge,

and we need judges to exact justice and to have

a society that works. My point is, I'm just trying

to say, this word, crinno, To judge has all these

different meanings. It's not always bad. And

in fact, sometimes judging is really, really

important. In fact, in the Bible, judging is

often associated with discerning, making a wise

and careful decision about something going on

in your life. It's the same Greek word. So for

example, when Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus

to avoid spending time in the province of Asia,

for he was in a hurry to reach Jerusalem. Paul,

that's the same verb. Paul crinoed. Paul made

a judgment about where God was calling him as

he went about his missionary work. Or the early

church leaders were trying to decide how to welcome

Gentiles into the church. And James stood up

and he said, it is my crino, therefore, that

we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles

who are turning to God. Again, an important,

godly judgment. had to be made there. In fact,

let's just throw this whole thing on its head.

Jesus goes so far as to basically say, you guys

need to judge correctly. Judge, go ahead and

judge. He says, stop judging by mere appearance.

Instead, judge correctly. So there you have it.

Jesus just told us to judge, but to do it correctly.

He's encouraging a kind of judgment, right? but

do it wisely. So that's why I say, that's why

I said that to judge can also mean just to discern.

To discern, to do the right thing. And actually,

as followers of Jesus, we need to be very discerning.

As we grow in our discipleship, as we grow in

our following of Jesus, we have to be able to

judge between what is good and what is bad and

what is true and what is evil and what is better

and what is best. Jesus wants us to grow that

way by crinoing, by judging wisely. Okay, so

should we judge? No. That's Jesus' first word.

But in some ways, yes, we have to learn how to

discern between good and bad. But he's not done.

Because then Jesus says, actually though, seriously?

No, you should not judge. And what Jesus is saying

here is he is talking about a certain type of

judgment that we must never do. This is the type

of judgment that makes people look at Christians

and hate the way that they act. Because what

he is talking about is not, good discernment

or wise decision making. No, no. He is talking

about self -righteous condemnation. That is serious

And that is a serious no -no. Whenever we claim

a position of superiority and we make a decision

about someone based on their actions or based

on their appearances, or even we make a decision

on where they stand before God, often judging

them way more harshly than we would ever judge

ourselves, Jesus says, no. Seriously, no. That

type of judging is off limits. And to get his

point across, Jesus has this absurd sense of

humor. He tells this little parable. He says,

why do you look at a speck of dust in your brother's

eye and pay no attention to the plank in your

own eye? Some translations would say beam. In

your own eye or log 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? Jesus says, don't you

dare try to do microsurgery with tweezers on

your brother's eye when you have got a two by

four sticking out of your face, right? This is

silly. It's exaggerated. It's funny. But don't

laugh it off because there are two things in

here. The implications are huge, okay? Here's

the first implication. The first implication

is if you see someone doing something that seems

wrong or self -destructive from your point of

view, you need to assume that you do not see

it clearly, right? Because you've got a two -by

-four. in your eyeball, right? You think you

can see, but you can't see. So you've got your

own issues going on. You've got your own blind

spots, your logs, your beams, your planks. You

have impaired vision. You might be able to see

their behavior. You might be able to see what

they're doing, but you cannot see their motives.

And human beings are really, really complex creatures.

So Jesus says, here's what happens. Just assume

you're missing something. Oh, you see someone

and they look like they're doing something destructive.

Just assume you saw it wrong, you're seeing it

wrong, that your vision is distorted, right?

That should be your first thought. That's normally

not our first thought. Our first thought is condemnation.

Our first thought should be, I must not be seeing

this right, right? What Jesus is saying through

this parable. You've got a log in your eye. You

can't possibly be seeing this right. That should

be your first assumption. Your second assumption,

though, is even maybe more convicting. You have

to assume not just that you can't see properly,

but you have to assume actually that your own

problems are bigger than theirs. I mean, look

at Jesus' language. There is a speck in your

neighbor's eye, but you have a two -by -four

in your eye. Who has the bigger problem? You

do, right? He doesn't say you both have logs

in your eyes. He doesn't say you both have specks

in your eyes. He says this deliberate reversal.

You are the one with the bigger problem. That

totally flips your feeling about judgment. It

means that if I am ever tempted to judge someone,

I should actually start by assuming they are

doing way better than I am doing. And that the

issues and the sins in my life are actually way

worse than in theirs. In other words, we are

not called to condemn. We're called to deal with

our own plank first. We're not called to prosecute

people's faults. We're called to do the hard

work we have to do and humble ourselves to deal

with this thing that's in my life, this thing

that's in my eye. Start with yourself. Do honest,

hard reflection because it is only when you recognize

the depth of your own need and your own need

for grace that you will actually stop swinging

the gavel and you will instead start reaching

for the cross, right? That's a huge shift in

thinking. So let's go back. So should we judge?

No. But in some ways, yes, we have to be discerning

as we grow as followers of Jesus. But seriously

though, no. No, no condemnation, no self -righteousness

is allowed. You think that would be the end of

it, but it's actually not the end of it because

Jesus kind of continues to say, but then again,

then again, yes, there is a time, there is a

place for you to still speak truth into the life

of one of your brothers or sisters if you think

that their decisions are harmful, if you think

the decisions they're making are misguided. Let's

just go back to the reading. Go back to the reading.

Did Jesus say we should never say anything? To

someone else. Let's read it together. Is that

what he said? No. He said, first, take the plank

out of your own eye. And then you will see clearly

to remove the speck from your brother's eye.

Okay? So, actually, you can remove the speck

from your brother or sister's eye. But it's only

after... You've dealt with your own issues. So

yes, you can help others. Yes, you can speak

truth to others, but only from a position of

humility. Only when you've admitted you got your

own two -by -four. Only when you see that there's

a telephone pole coming out of your own eyeball.

It's only when you admit. That you are a person

in desperate need of the grace of God and that

you have serious, serious issues. It's only after

you have gone to Jesus and you have said, Jesus,

I'm messed up. And it's only after you've heard

Jesus say to you, I don't condemn you, I love

you, I forgive you, I've got lots of grace for

you. It's only after you've heard that and it's

only after that grace has transformed your heart

and transformed your life that it's only then

only then and only then do you have the ability

to go to another person and say with the same

grace and the same compassion that Jesus just

showed to you, friend, I need to talk to you

about something. I'm worried about you. Can we

have a conversation? That's the only way it can

be done. And that's why I actually think it is

really important that every week here at Trinity

we... we do this thing called communion. Because

when you come forward to communion, do you know

what you're saying? You are not saying, I'm better

than anybody else, or I've lived a more holy

life than anyone else. No, all of us come to

communion basically admitting I'm guilty as charged.

I've got a plank in my eye. I have blown my life.

My life is totally a mess. I cannot live my life.

In fact, my life is so shot that I actually need

somebody else to live my life for me. I need

Jesus. I need the grace of Jesus. Jesus had to

die for me. Things were that bad in my life.

That's what you're saying, actually. Every time

you walk up here and take the bread and the wine,

you're saying, my only hope in this life is Jesus.

If we all do that every week, then you know what?

That changes us. Because pretty soon, we realize

we're not a community where one person is set

over and against another. No, we are all with

each other. And we all needed Jesus to die for

us. We all needed his grace. That's the way forward.

It's the way forward. It's the only way forward.

Once we've been humbled, only once we've been

humbled to that degree, can we help others with

their speck. Will these conversations we have

with people be tough and messy? Absolutely. But

we can do it. We can do it. In fact, your neighbor

needs you to point out the speck in their eye.

And you need your neighbor to point out the speck

in your eye too. But it only happens in a community

where there are less gavels and more mirrors,

more self -reflection. So, That should be it,

right? You think that's where Jesus should probably

end with, but he actually doesn't. He says, should

we judge? No, we should not judge. But in some

ways, of course, yes, we have to judge to discern.

But seriously, no, no self -righteous condemnation.

But then again, yes, once you've done that humbling

work, then you can, in fact, go to your brother

and sister and talk to them about the speck in

their eye. But Jesus says, but actually, in the

end, in the end, maybe it's still not a good

idea. to have that conversation. Because even

if you've removed the log from your eye, and

even if you've humbled yourself, and even if

Jesus has gotten right to the heart of you, and

even if your wisdom is right and what you have

to say is important, even then you may not want

to say anything to them because they're not ready

to hear it. They're not ready to hear it. Jesus

says, don't give to dogs what's sacred. Don't

throw... your pearls to the pigs. If you do,

they're just going to trample them under their

feet and they might even turn and tear you to

pieces. What a strange story that is. What is

he talking about? This is important. Jesus is

making a serious point that pearls are... A pearl

and sacred things are the wisdom you have to

offer someone else. It's the hard -earned insights

that you have learned through a life of discipleship

and spiritual growth, and you want to share that

with your brother who has the speck in their

eye. You want to, but Jesus is warning, don't

share it with people who just aren't in a place

to hear it yet, right? There are times... When

people aren't ready to hear it, they're too hurt

still, or they're just too defensive, or they

don't trust you enough, frankly, to hear it from

you. And if you push that conversation, if you

push too far, too fast, it can go very badly,

like dogs and pigs ripping you to shreds very

badly. It can go very badly for you and for the

church community if we're not ready to have those

conversations. It can backfire. So that's why

the take -home here is that even truth, must

be shared with wisdom or else it gets trampled.

Wisdom isn't just knowing what to say. It's knowing

when to say it. It's knowing how to say it. And

it's knowing that sometimes the most loving thing

you can do is actually stay silent. Keep praying

and wait for the right moment. Timing is everything.

And trust takes time. So, what? does the Bible

say? Should we judge? No. But in some ways, yes.

But seriously, no. But then again, yes. But in

the end, maybe not. And somehow, if we as a church

can learn to live out that messy, complicated,

tensioned way of life, then it will be messy,

but it'll also be beautiful. It'll be beautiful,

and maybe then the world will actually start

to see Christians not as judgmental people, but

as gracious people, and as good people, and as

people who reflect Jesus himself. So thanks be

to God. Amen.