Today we are in the second week of a series looking at verses that often get twisted so they end up saying something other than what God wants them to say. The verse we are going to look at today is particularly troubling because it is often used when people talk about why they don’t attend worship or belong to a church. When asked why people don’t attend worship, they often say they don’t feel welcomed, which when translated, often means they feel judged.
While serving as a pastor in Lewisburg, I had the opportunity to talk to many college students from Bucknell. One young man talked about attending a church in our community and he told me about walking into the sanctuary and sitting in one of the pews. A person who wasn’t sitting that close to him looked him up and down and then got up and moved to a pew farther away. Let’s just say, he didn’t return.
Many people feel that Christians are too judgmental and their response is to always quote these words from Jesus.
Do not judge, or you too will be judged. Matthew 7:1
Does this verse really mean that we can never judge anyone or anything? Tolerance and acceptance are some of the highest values in our culture today and while these are things we should value, when we hold place them at the top, it makes it difficult to say anything and provide any kind of guidance or critique. Are we really not to judge anything? Is that what Jesus is saying?
If we take this verse at face value and say that we can never judge, then what does that mean for our judicial system? Can judges and juries never rule on crimes? What about teachers who need to grade papers so we can evaluate how and if students are learning? Do we do away with judges, referees and umpires in sports? Are we forced to say that all actions and behaviors are appropriate and acceptable? Can we never speak into a friend's life when we see them making poor choices? Can we never provide guidance and direction to our children for fear of being judgmental?
It’s easy to see how judgment is needed in the world and it might be helpful for us to look at this verse and realize that Jesus isn’t telling us not to judge period, but to judge appropriately and faithfully. So how do we make sense out of this verse? How can we understand this teaching faithfully?
Last week we learned that there are three things that are important to our understanding of any verse in the Bible. The first is context. What is the context of the verse? Who said it? When was it said? What was said before and after it? The answer to these types of questions helps us interpret the verse correctly.
The second thing that helps us understand any verse is to interpret the verse in light of other scriptures. No verse stands on its own. We have to read all of God’s word and allow the fullness of the message to help us understand any one part of the text. And then we need to be doers of God’s word and not hearers only - apply it.
The more we live out the word of God, the more we understand the word of God. God’s word was not given for us to just read, but to live, and we won’t understand the fullness of God or His message to us until we begin to live it out.
These three things can help us untwist verses that we might struggle to understand, so let’s go back to Matthew 7:1 and look at its context. In Matthew 6, Jesus talks about hypocrisy. He tells His followers that when they are living out their faith through prayer, fasting, and giving, they shouldn’t do it for show or recognition. The goal of prayer, fasting and giving isn’t for the world to see us and say, wow what great people they are. The goal is for God to be glorified and people to be cared for. If we say we want to live for God first, we can’t look for attention and make ourselves look good.
We can’t judge others in order to make ourselves look better than we are. We can’t judge others so that people will see us as being holy and righteous. But does this mean we can never judge anyone or anything? If we keep reading in Matthew 7, Jesus says this:
Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Matthew 7:15-16
If Jesus says we are to watch out for false prophets, then we have to be able to critique and judge the teaching of others? We have to judge what they say and see if it lines up with what we know God says. We have to judge between what is a grapevine, a fig tree, and a thornbush. So some kind of judgment must be appropriate.
Jesus also calls us to judge properly right in this passage.
“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. Matthew 7:1-5
Jesus doesn’t tell us to ignore the speck of dust in someone else’s eye, but He does say that we need to examine our own eyes first to make sure we are speaking to others from a place of humility and grace. Before we judge others we have to examine ourselves. We have to take a good, long, honest look in the mirror and deal with our own problems and struggles before we jump into someone else’s life. And the way we judge others will be the way we will end up being judged.
The context of Jesus’ teaching on judgment doesn’t rule out all judgment, but it begins to show us how to judge appropriately and with humility. This is also what we find in other teachings on judgment found in scripture.
While the Bible has lots to say about how to judge others, we are going to look at 4 things it says about how to judge faithfully.
1. Never judge superficially. Jesus said, Stop judging by mere appearances, but instead judge correctly. John 7:24
So much of our judgments are based on appearance. We judge others based on what we see and what we think we see. If you remember back to the story of David we looked at last month, his father and brothers all judged him by what they saw. They saw the youngest in the family who was only good enough to watch the sheep. They judged by appearance, but God judged his heart and anointed him King of Israel.
It is so easy for us to judge by what we see and the assumptions we make when we look at people. Many people will look at those who are rich and make the assumption that they have all that money because they are selfish and corrupt. They make judgements without knowing that the person might be outrageously generous. Or maybe we pass judgment on those who are poor and assume they are lazy and have mishandled all the money they have ever had in life. What people might miss is that they are hardworking, faithful and generously gave away all they had.
I know a man who is in his 90’s and struggles to make ends meet. He worked well into his 80’s and felt the need to keep working because he needed the money. I also know for a fact that this man has given away tens of thousands of dollars to those in need. He has quietly helped more people than anyone could possibly imagine. When others may have been putting money aside in savings and investments, he was paying the bills of people he knew that were struggling. We cannot judge superficially.
2. Never judge hypocritically. Not only did Jesus talk about this when he talked about taking the plank out of our own eye before we address the speck of dust in someone else’s eye, Paul said the same thing in his letter to the Romans.
You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge another, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things. Romans 2:1
Paul seems to know us all too well. It is easy to see a problem in someone else and accuse them but then excuse the same problem in our own life. We accuse others of not living healthy lives while we are picking up BK at the drive through for the 5th time this week. We justify our actions by saying that we have been so busy that we haven’t had time to get to the store. We accuse others and excuse ourselves. We judge others but justify ourselves.
What would it look like if we excuse others and accuse ourselves? Or justify what we see in others and be willing to judge ourselves. I am not suggesting that we need to be overly harsh and beat ourselves up when we make mistakes, and I’m not saying we excuse away everything we see in other people. What I am saying is that we need to look in the mirror before we start looking at others. We need to give others the benefit of the doubt and extend them grace when we see things just as we want people to be gracious with us.
Accusing others and excusing ourselves is the hypocrisy that those who don’t follow Jesus struggle with. Too often they experience those in the church pointing out their sin while ignoring their own. I know many of us feel this is an undeserved reputation we have because most of us would say that we are sinners who stand in need of God’s grace, but like it or not, we have to be aware that those outside the church have had their view of Christians shaped by those who have judged hypocritically. Which is why we have to guard against this at all costs.
3. Never hold non-Christians to Christian standards. Again, the Apostle Paul said, What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside?
1 Corinthians 5:12
This is where Christians also get into trouble because too often we want to impose our morals and values on everyone else and judge the world by our own standards. In a free and democratic society we are free to hold our views and share them and even encourage others to see the value in them, but we harm our witness of Jesus when we start passing judgment on those who don’t follow Jesus, for not living like they are following Jesus. We are better off to love people unconditionally and help them to know and experience the love of God for themselves because it is that love which calls people to change.
The place for us to hold others accountable is IN the church. As brothers and sisters who love and care for each other, we should want to speak into people’s lives and encourage each other to live more faithfully. The Bible says that as iron sharpens iron we should help one another become more faithful. Iron sharpening iron, takes honesty and gentleness. If you work the iron too hard you can destroy it, but if you don’t press hard enough, you’re not doing any good. Jesus said that he came to bring grace and truth and both of these are needed in proper proportions for accountability and growth.
Let me also be clear that even in the family of God we cannot judge superficially and we cannot judge hypocritically. In the family of God we have to speak into peoples’ lives with humility and grace, and we have to make sure our motives are pure and that we are seeking to strengthen both faith and relationships. This leads to the fourth teaching the Bible gives us about judgment.
4. Always help restore those who have fallen.
If we are going to speak into someone's life and help them grow or make changes, then we have to be willing to walk with them in love and extend them the same grace and compassion God has shown us.
Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted. Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. Galatians 6:1-2
There is no passing judgment, or speaking into someone’s life without also being willing to walk with them and carry their burden. It is never ok to judge and walk away. It is never ok to point out problems and not be willing to work for solutions. We have to be willing to work for restoration and new life.
Judging others should be something we do with great compassion and prayer. We need to be clear about what God is asking us to do and spend some time checking our own lives and motives before we speak, but to say we can never judge is to twist Jesus' words to say something He never intended to say. Jesus told us that we need to point out the speck of dust in someone else's eye, but we have to do it after we have taken the plank out of our own eye, only then can we reach out to work in the eyes of others.
I love that the image Jesus gives us here is the eye because you don’t go taking a speck of dust out of someone’s eye the same way you would take a splinter out of someone’s finger. The eye might be the one part of the body that requires the most gentleness, precision and care. That’s what Paul said, restore that person GENTLY. Judge others gently. Speak into people’s lives with the same compassion and mercy that God has spoken into our lives.
Do not judge is not the hard and fast teaching of Jesus. Instead, we are reminded not to judge harshly, superficially, or hypocritically. We don’t judge others to make ourselves look better and we don’t pass judgment on those outside of the family of God the same way we might with our brothers and sisters in Christ. And in all ways, we judge in order to restore and redeem both ourselves and others. We judge to improve relationships and grow in our own faith. We judge with grace and compassion and mercy because that is how God has judged us through Jesus Christ.
Next Steps
Twisted - Do Not Judge
Read Matthew 7:1-5
Does this mean we are to never judge anyone or anything?
Where are places where judgment is needed?
Context: Read Matthew 6
● Why does Jesus talk about hypocrisy BEFORE judging?
● What has it felt like when you have been judged by someone who has a “plank” in their eye?
Other Scripture on Judgement
What do these scriptures teach us about how to judge?
● John 7:24
● Romans 2:1
● 1 Corinthians 5:12
● Galatians 6:1-12
Application
Reflect on a recent time you made a judgment about someone or something.
● How did it line up with Jesus’ teaching and the witness of scripture?
● What could you have done differently?
● Is there a friend or fellow believer that you feel the need to speak to? How can you speak with grace and truth?
Who do you know that has been turned off by the hypocrisy and judgmental attitude they have experienced from Christians and the church?
● Pray for them.
● Look for opportunities to bring healing & show grace.
● Invite them to join you in worship so you can show them the love of Jesus.
