Word of Salvation – Vol.47 No.21 – June 2002
Do Not Judge
Sermon by Rev J Haverland on Matthew 7:1-6
Scripture Readings: Romans 14:1-18; 2 Samuel 12:1-7
Congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The theme of this sermon is: As people who will be judged by God we must not be judgmental of others yet still be discriminating. And the purpose of the sermon is: To warn us against being judgmental while also encouraging a right judgment.
Maybe you have tried to offer someone some advice at some time, or a criticism, or maybe you only gave your opinion on a matter that was being discussed, and perhaps you got a response like this: Who do you think you are?! Who made you the judge and jury over me?! Get off my back! Mind your own business! Don’t judge me!
Responses like that are reasonably common today because of a strong emphasis on tolerance. This is a key word for people today. Tolerance is regarded as the highest virtue, whilst the worst vice you can have is being intolerant, or judging others, or trying to impose your view on others. Instead, we are called to tolerate everyone and everything. People who know a little about the Bible might even quote these words of Jesus in support of this idea. Didn’t Jesus himself say, “Do not judge!”?
Is that right? May someone use these words of Jesus to support this attitude of toleration and the general acceptance of all behaviours and ideas? Is this what Jesus meant? Certainly not! When Jesus said, “Do not judge”, He did not mean that we must tolerate everyone’s lifestyle and accept everyone’s ideas as being equally legitimate. Not at all. Jesus himself did not tolerate everything. He made some strong judgments on people and their ideas and He urged others to do the same.
Even in verse 6 He tells us that we must judge who are the dogs and pigs, and in verse 15 He tells us we must watch out for false prophets. In Matthew 23 He makes a number of harsh judgments on the Pharisees, calling them hypocrites and blind guides, snakes and a brood of vipers!
So believers are called to makes some judgments. We are to judge between true and false doctrine, right and wrong behaviour, and between true and false prophets. So what does Jesus mean then when He says, “Do not judge.”? How should we see this? As we look at these verses we will see how we should:
1. Avoid a wrong judgment;
2. Remember God’s judgment;
3. Practice self-judgment;
4. Pray for good judgment.
1. Avoid a wrong judgment – “Do not judge”
When Jesus uses the word ‘judge’ He is forbidding a judgmental attitude to others. Do not judge hypocritically or self-righteously.
The Pharisees were good at this, but all of us are inclined to it. All of us have a tendency to look at the faults in others rather than their good points. We have an inclination to be glad when we find those faults and to pick on those. We are quick to condemn others without knowing all the facts or the circumstances of their lives. We are often ready to judge people harshly and to be critical in a destructive way. There is nothing wrong with being able to think critically about something (that is a good ability) but there is a lot wrong with being hypercritical.
Jesus is warning us against setting ourselves above other people. Don’t go round looking for their faults. Don’t be negative or destructive. Don’t try to pick holes in others. Don’t delight in criticism for its own sake. Don’t be nasty, petty, rigid or judgmental.
So, avoid making a wrong judgment about other people. Don’t have a judgmental attitude. This is the main principle Jesus wants to get across; but He also gives us a reason for it.
2. Remember God’s judgment
Remember that God will judge you one day. Verse 1: “Do not judge, or you too will be judged.”
This is a theme running through this whole chapter and it is introduced right here at the beginning. God is the Judge and He will determine who may enter the kingdom of heaven and who may not. God will determine who has been on the wide road and who has walked the narrow path.
Remember that “you too will be judged.” So be careful about how you judge other people. The Apostle Paul makes this point in Romans 14:10, 12-13a (read). This should make us careful about judging each other. Leave it to the Lord.
But Jesus adds another reason here which also has to do with God’s judgment, and that is, God will use your standard (read vs 2).
The way this is phrased suggests that this was a Jewish proverb. Jesus uses it to warn us against judging other people. If you are judgmental in your attitude to others then God will apply the same standard to you.
That’s a sobering thought! All of us know that we have condemned others for doing something, but then we have done the same thing ourselves; or we have sinned in a different way but just as badly.
Imagine if you carried around a little tape recorder or dictaphone and it recorded every judgment you made on another person. “Did you see so and so yesterday? – that was wrong!” “Fancy saying that to me! – that was on the nose!” “Did you hear about her and what she did at school last week? – that was serious!”
This little dictaphone records every criticism and judgment you make about another. All of those will be sufficient to condemn you on the day of judgment because we fall into the same sins, or ones that are even more serious. So be careful about judging others because God will apply the same standard to you.
That thought might make you despair if it wasn’t for the Lord Jesus and His death on our behalf. The One who is our Judge is also our Saviour. The One who will sit on His throne is also the One who died in our place. So if you believe in Jesus and trust in Him, you do not need to fear the judgment. “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Rom 8:1). However, this should not make anyone casual about the judgment to come. Having given us the main principle – don’t be judgmental; and the reason for this – you, too, will be judged; Jesus then applies this to us.
3. You must practice self-judgment (vss 3-5)
Jesus pictures a man with a tiny speck in his eye. The word used here refers to a little piece of dry wood or chaff. Someone comes along and offers to remove the speck, but this person has a huge plank in his eye. The word used refers to a heavy log or beam used in the construction of a house.
Jesus is giving us an illustration that is ridiculous – it is an hyperbole, an exaggeration for effect. Jesus is applying the point about not judging. What does He mean by this? Jesus is exposing our hypocrisy. Hypocrisy is when we say one thing and do another. It is also when we point out faults in the lives of others without seeing the glaring faults in our own lives.
We all do this. Calvin says that we have “magnificent vision” when it comes to seeing the faults in others but poor vision when looking at our own. “We have an excessively sharp eye” when it comes to seeing the sins of another, but cataracts in our eyes when seeing our own.
A striking illustration of this is when the prophet Nathan came to David with the story of a man who only had one little lamb. That lamb was taken and killed and eaten by a wealthy farmer who had plenty of sheep. Nathan used that to condemn David for taking Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah, when David had plenty of wives of his own. David was ready to condemn another man without recognising his own sin. In the same way Jesus is condemning our hypocrisy in judging other people when we also sin.
Jesus is not saying that we can never go to anyone and say something to them. In Matthew 18 He tells us that if we see our brother sinning we should go and see him. So it is right to approach people about their sins. There is a place for removing the specks from people’s eyes. But this is not a job for the hypocrite.
Who may do this then? The person who has first taken the log out of his own eye. Jesus is not condemning criticism itself, but rather criticism of others without self-criticism; correction of others when you have not corrected yourself. So you need to examine yourself. You need to practice self-judgment. Then you can go to others.
When you go to them then, do so very carefully. Trying to take a speck out of someone’s eye is a very delicate procedure. The eye is very sensitive. It closes the moment something touches it. So you need to be calm and patient and sensitive and gentle.
It is the same when dealing with someone’s soul. That, too, is very sensitive, and it is precious. You need to be gentle, patient, calm, compassionate and self-controlled – and you must have dealt with your own sins. Practice self-judgment.
4. Pray for good judgment (vs 6)
Verse 6 is directly connected with what has gone before. You see, you can take verses 1-5 too far – which is what our postmodern age has done – so that you eliminate all judgment of all people. Sure, we are not to be judgmental of others, but that doesn’t mean that we should ignore all their faults or that we should pretend that everyone is the same. We are not to be judgmental, but we are not to be simpletons either.
So here Jesus gives us the other side of this and tells us that we need to exercise discernment. We need to be wise, careful and discriminating. We need to make right and good judgments about people (read verse 6a).
The dogs Jesus refers to are not the quiet obedient pets you have in your home. No, he was referring to the wild dogs that roamed around in packs and were vicious and violent. They were vagabonds and scavengers. So, too, with the wild pigs, which the Jews regarded as unclean and which were capable of doing great harm to people.
The word “sacred” can also be translated as “holy” and refers to the gospel – the good news about the kingdom of the Lord Jesus. That parallels the word “pearls” which also refers to something valuable and precious.
So, Jesus pictures a man facing a pack of wild dogs and a herd of vicious pigs. The man has a bag of pearls and he throws these out to the animals. They think he is feeding them and they try to eat them. But they find the pearls are inedible and they get angry and turn on the man in a rage and tear him to pieces. What does this mean?
The dogs and pigs are people who give clear evidence of “a hardened contempt for God” (Calvin). These are people who have heard the gospel and who reject it with scorn and contempt. They despise the message about Jesus and want nothing to do with it.
Jesus warns us that we should not throw pearls to pigs. Don’t do this for the sake of the gospel, because they will despise it. Don’t do this for your own sake, because this will provoke unnecessary persecution and hostility.
This doesn’t mean you should give up at the first sign of resistance or as soon as people show any sign of mockery or indifference. Most unbelievers will react in these ways at first; but we shouldn’t give up immediately. You need to persevere and continue to be a witness in your life and speech.
But there may come a point with some people when you should give up on them. When they so harden their hearts to the gospel that they show a persistent arrogance and cynicism and pride, then you must not give what is sacred to dogs nor cast your pearls before swine. This takes a lot of wisdom – so you need to pray for insight and discernment.
Jesus does not want us to be judgmental, but He does want us to exercise good judgment. He doesn’t want us to be hypocrites, nor does He want us to be mindless evangelists. He does not want us to be nit picking fault-finders, nor does He want us to be naively tolerant of anyone and everything.
Don’t judge people wrongly or falsely. Remember that God will judge you. Examine yourself and your own life. And in this time of toleration you must exercise good judgment and discernment in living and speaking the good news of the gospel about Jesus!
Amen.