DO NOT JUDGE

Matthew 7:1-12

Key Verse 7:12

“So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.”

So far in this sermon on the mount, Jesus has taught what his disciples inner character should be like. He taught about the real meaning of the law, about how we should do our “acts of righteousness” and how we can have all of our material needs through our heavenly Father’s provision. Today’s passage deals with how we treat others. Jesus begins by saying, “Do not judge…” This is probably harder to obey than seeking first God’s kingdom and receiving our material provision. Then he concludes by saying what we should do, which is found in our key verse for today. Let’s pray to learn how to overcome our judgmental spirit and live as a blessing to others. 

I. Do Not Judge (1-6)

Look at verse 1. “Do not judge, or you too will be judged.” Jesus had said great things about his disciples. He called them the “light of the world” and told them to “shine their light before men.” He taught them the highest standard to live by, “Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.”  They could have thought so highly of themselves and so lowly of others. 

In fact, this was the problem of the religious leaders, the Pharisees, of Jesus’ day. At one time, Jesus gave a parable about this matter. Luke 18:9-12. “9To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable: 10’Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: “God, I thank you that I am not like other men—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. 12I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.” ’ ” This parable shows the kind of judging Jesus is prohibiting in this passage. It is a disposition to condemnation, criticizing others, fault-finding, which leads to slander. It is to make such a declaration against others, whether outwardly or in our hearts.

As we try to obey Jesus’ teaching, we develop a critical eye, because his standard is so high. This is good. Jesus teaches us what is right and what is wrong, what we should and should not do, and even how we should do it. His teachings in this sermon on the mount are the most challenging and set the highest standard for us to aim for. However, the problem Jesus is addressing in this passage is that we often turn that critical eye to others and judge them. And we find that this judgmental spirit comes to us so quickly and subtly that we think that we have become really good at “discovering” the shortcomings or sins of others and passing judgment, especially on those people we don’t like. We watch closely what people are doing or not doing, what they have or do not have. When a new, brand new car pulls into the church parking lot, we ask each other, “Whose car is that? It’s a nice car.” And when we find out who owns it we say, “Oh really? He’s so worldly.” There are many reasons why we judge each other: we’re proud, we’re personally prejudiced and bothered, we insecure about ourselves, we may think that nothing is being done when others do something wrong so we have to step in and pass judgment. We think that we are doing well. We feel that we are right, and others are wrong. If we used just one verse from this sermon on the mount, “Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect,” we could judge each other endlessly until Jesus’ second coming. 

This is a very serious problem. And Jesus properly addresses this issue at the end of his teachings so that we can apply his teachings properly to ourselves and others. We must not judge. Let’s look again at verse 1. “Do not judge, or you too will be judged.”  

“…or you too will be judged.” These words tell us the first reason why we must not judge. It is because we are all under God’s judgment and we need to be always aware of this. In everything we do, we stand accountable before God. Yes, Jesus is telling us not to judge so that we will not be judged. And yet it still stands that we are all under his judgment, because if at some point we do judge others, we will be judged. So the eyes of God are always watching what we are doing. Judging particularly is something that God is very displeased with to the point that he will judge us. We are not the judge. God is the only Judge. We are all under his judgment. 

Second, God will judge us in the same way. Look at verse 2. “For in the same you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” This is scary. In chapter 6, Jesus taught us to pray, “Forgive us our debts.” We pray daily for God’s mercy, for his forgiveness. We never pray, “Lord, please judge me as I have judged others.” Why? Because we’re all sinners. Although we may feel that we can judge others on some point, God has many, many more by which he can judge us. We don’t want to be judged in this way. We would be completely crushed under our own harsh judgments. Therefore, if we are judging, we are living by our own self-righteousness which is very offensive God and destructive to others. 

I have had many experiences to know that it is indeed true as something working in my daily life. For example, during my first couple years of being a Christian, I was so critical of the music and dramas. Finally, my judgment came back at me when I served dramas. Do you remember a drama about a meteor? It was so bad on stage. I’m still so ashamed to even mention it.  On a more serious level, at other times, when I saw people leave the ministry to pursue their sinful desires, I judged harshly. And finally, there were people who still stuck around but were openly immoral. I judged them harshly too, inwardly and outwardly. But to my shame and surprise, I found myself caught up in sin too, after being so proud about my integrity for so long. Of course, I wanted to hide it. But God revealed my sin and judged me as I had judged others. I’m the worst. And I learned firsthand what Jesus says, “Do not judge, or you too will be judged.” 

Great men in the Bible, such as Moses, and the prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah, stood out as men who obeyed and served God in their generation. God had used them to preach his message to a disobedient people to help them repent and turn to God. But these men didn’t judge or speak against the people, even though they were in the wrong. Instead, they prayed to God on their behalf. And their prayer was, “Lord, do not remember our sins.” “Lord, have mercy on us.” They didn’t “their sins” or “Lord, have mercy on those people,” but they said, “Have mercy on us.” So, we don’t judge because we realize that we are under judgment as well and worthy of judgment. And we don’t want to be judged by the same measure we judge others. Judging just produces more judging. We need to learn to speak and act towards each other as people all under God’s judgment. If we are merciful to others, God will show mercy to us. If we are not merciful, God will not show mercy to us. Mercy triumphs over judgment (James 2:12-13)!

In verses 3-5 Jesus talks about our hypocrisy. We even judge others under the name of “helping” them. And we fail to examine ourselves first. Let’s read these verses. “3Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 4How 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? 5You 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.” 

Jesus’ illustration is comical, yet clearly reveals our gross level of hypocrisy. Do you think that when these hypocrites point out and offer to help those with the speck of dust in their eyes that they are really concerned about that person? No. They cannot see clearly and even their motives are wrong. So Jesus calls attention to the plank in our own eye. In verse 3 Jesus says that we “pay no attention” to the plank in our own eye. We know that something is not right, but we ignore it. We think that it’s a big issue, but that speck of dust in another person’s eye is a big deal, and we better go and help them. We have to remember that we are not better than others. Usually, the areas in which we judge others are the areas in which we ourselves have problems in. These verses teach that we need to apply a critical eye to ourselves. It means that we need to first repent and remove the plank from our own eye. We have to be strict with ourselves. 

Hypocrisy among Christians is one of the biggest road blocks in promoting God’s kingdom. 

One of the number one reasons why young people do not want to come to church is because they think it is a house for hypocrites and judges. Our children also cannot grow up under hypocritical parents. We can’t tell them not to do one thing and yet do it ourselves. They may grow up only to despise God and the church because of our actions. In this way we can be very destructive to the lives of many. 

Only once the plank is removed are we able to genuinely help others, because judging and helping others to remove the dust from their eyes are two very different things. Once a plank comes out, can we go and judge others? No. Do we have only one plank in our eyes? We cannot judge angry people, for example, just because we are not angry. We’re all sinners who need mercy. For example, if you commit adultery, can you condemn the murderer? No. They’re both sinners. So we don’t ever reach a point to where we’re “qualified” to judge others. But instead as God helps us to remove the plank from our eyes, we are humbled. We take a proper view of ourselves as sinners in his hands. And we develop compassion and mercy for those who are really going astray because we understand their need. 

I think that another reason why we judge others is because we do not have faith in God. We think that God is not doing anything, so we need to volunteer to clean up other people. But we need to leave judging in God’s hands. Think about it. If we saw a speck of dust in someone else’s eye, don’t you think God saw it first and is doing something about it? It’s not our business to know when or how he’s taking care of it, unless he wants to make it our business. We have to accept and apply to ourselves that we are the ones with the plank in our eye and others have the speck of dust. Usually, we see it the other way around and think that we just have a small speck and so we pay no attention to it, but others have a big plank and they need help.

If we really do want to help others, then we need to take the plank out of our eye first—which means to repent first and be strict with ourselves. Look at verse 6. “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 then turn and tear you to pieces.” Once we can see clearly to help others, we need godly discernment to know how to take care of God’s sacred things and give to others properly. It is very important that we do help each other out and not ignore each others’ sin. It is our duty and love as brothers and sisters in Christ. But there is a big difference between genuine help that comes from the Lord, and judging others.

II. Ask, Seek, and Knock (7-12)

It is not easy to do all of these things! Do not judge, take the plank out of our own eye, helping others with discernment and compassion. We need God’s help. Look at verses 7-8. “ 7Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.” The way to get it is to ask of him, to seek him, and to knock on the door that opens up to having fellowship with him. The reality is that I cannot take the plank out on my own or live up to Jesus’ high standard by myself. We need his help. We have to earnestly cry out for his help and seek him.  And we can be sure he’ll help us if we ask of him and seek him. Jesus promises: “For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.” If our motives are right, God will surely answer our prayers. Asking, Seeking, and Knocking means that we make all necessary efforts to turn to God. We have to believe that he’ll answer. He can take the plank out of our eyes. He can change us and make us new. He can help us to have the wisdom and mercy to help others. 

Why does God give to us so freely? Let’s look at verses 9-11. “9Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!” He doesn’t do it because we deserve it or have earned it, but because we asked him. In this we see our heavenly Father’s goodness. If even evil fathers know how to give good gifts to their children, how much more our heavenly Father? The good gifts that our Father gives us even includes the Holy Spirit (Luke 11:13). Therefore, we have to be like children when we come to God. Having full faith in his goodness and relying fully on his help.

These verses reveal the key to not judging others: Keeping our relationship with our heavenly Father. Jesus has mentioned so many times that God is “our Father in heaven.” We are his children. We are aiming to know him, to be like him, even to be perfect as he is perfect (5:48). Fundamentally, then, in keeping a relationship of sincerity and integrity before our heavenly Father, we live on a level that is above a humanistic, material or merely outward level. One of the reasons why we judge others so harshly is because we are operating on this lower level where all we can see are what we see other people doing or not doing, what they have or what they don’t have, and so on. We even obey Jesus’ teachings according to how we judge others are doing or not doing. But we have to keep a relationship with God first and foremost which is higher and turns our eyes and thoughts higher to his level. And we can even see how wonderfully he treats us, although we don’t deserve it at all. He is so merciful to us. And we can do the same. 

Look at verse 12. “So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.” This is what we need to do positively and proactively. We are overwhelmed by our heavenly Father’s grace and mercy. We should do the same to others. He doesn’t just want us to abstain from judging others, but we be good to them and benefit them for our heavenly Father’s sake. 

Verse 12 has been called the Golden Rule and it is compared to many similar ethical teachings in other religions and philosophies. But we have to recognize that the Bible’s presentation of this teaching is fundamentally different from all those others in that it is not just at a humanistic or good-minded level. And we find this in the words “for this sums up the law and the prophets.” These two things reveal the essence of God’s value system, of who he is, and how he wants his children to live. So it has a deep, spiritual dimension to it that produces good fruit when we put it into practice. This represents the spirit of the Law which goes even so far as to say to love our neighbors as ourselves, because we want to be loved and showed mercy to, especially from God.

Likewise, if we judge others, then we do not keep the spirit of the law, and sit in judgment on the law. So there are negative spiritual consequences. Let’s look at James 4:11-12. “11Brothers, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against his brother or judges him speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it. 12There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But you—who are you to judge your neighbor?” So, conversely, as we obey this teaching, we can please God and benefit others with patience, mercy, and love, we can benefit ourselves from not being judged, and we can draw close to our heavenly Father and learn deeply of him and how he treats us. King David asks in one of the Psalms, “What is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?” (Psalm 8:4). How has God treated us? God is so merciful, generous, and loving to us that he sent his One and Only Son Jesus Christ who sacrificed his own life to save us from the judgment we deserve for our sins. If he treated us as we treat others, or even for what our sins really deserve, we would be destroyed without hope. But instead he decided to save us through Jesus and make us his children.

The result of growing in our relationship with our heavenly Father is freedom from judging others or even being bothered by others’ judgment against us. And this freedom then enables us to treat others with God’s love and mercy, just as we want to be treated in that way, and even help others to repent and draw close to our heavenly Father as well. When we are free, we can represent God’s name properly and serve others in love, glorifying our Father in heaven. 

May God help us to keep all of his commands with the right attitude and treat others in a Godly way to glorify God.

One word: Do not judge 

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