Judging

Hello: 

Our text for today is Matthew 7:1-6   

1 Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 2 For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. 3 ”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? 4 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? 5 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. 

This is one of the most misunderstood verses in the bible.  Often times we hear, “the bible says do not judge” or we hear Christians saying when faced with difficult moral issues “I don’t want to judge anybody.”    Our teenagers scream “don’t judge me.”  The world intimidates us when we cry out against moral issues by saying doesn’t our bible teach no judging and the list goes on and on.    More often those that scream do not judge are often hiding something or want to continue doing something without reaping any negative response for their actions.   

Let’s begin with the meaning of the word judge.  The word judge in this context means to pronounce an opinion concerning right or wrong or to be of opinion, to determine, to resolve or to decree.   

You cannot take the first line of this phrase and make it a law to “not judge.”  If you interpret this phrase in its context you will see that the issue is not judging but the spirit in which you judge.  Clearly in both the new and old testament, there are many scriptures that instruct us to “judge righteously.”   

1 Corinthians2:15 says “ He that is spiritual judgeth all things….”    

Now back to the text, the first line opens do not judge or you will be judged and in the same way you judge others, you will be judged and with the same measure you use it will be measured to you.  This is basically the principle of sowing and reaping.   “What you put out there, it will come back to you.”  If we judge others with an evil heart and intent then that is the type of judgment that will be rendered unto us when we fall short.  If we judge honestly and fair and with love then that is the type of judgment that will be rendered unto us.    

In this context, Jesus is talking about between Christians.  All of us are accountable to one another to help each other grow strong in God.  All of us have a responsibility as Christians to show each other our faults and help each other overcome them.   I know that this is such a foreign concept to us because we live in a society where moral relativism (whatever is good for me works) is at an all time high.  Nobody wants to be corrected or have their actions challenged.   

So often, I have heard my Christian friends say when I tell them about a particular issue in their life “don’t judge me just love me and pray for me.”   Most times, they are saying, “I know what I am doing is wrong and talking about it will not solve it so either love me the way I am and just ask God to help me get delivered from it.    What they are really telling me is I don’t want to hear God’s word concerning this situation because I’m not ready to give it up so don’t make me feel uncomfortable while I’m doing it.  They want to have their cake and eat it too.   

Be clear my friends, we are required by Holy Scriptures to judge sin.  We are required to call right “right” and wrong “wrong.”  The problem that the text deals with is hypocrisy.    The text teaches why would you point out the speck (sawdust) that is in your brother’s eye when there is a plank in your eye?   Do you know how small a speck of sawdust is?  The issue  in the text is do not deal with a speck (a small amount of sin) in your fellow Christian when we ourselves have not dealt with the plank (the large amount of sin) that is in our own lives. 

The text teaches us to deal with our issues first then we will be able to help someone else conquer their problem and we will be able to do it in the right spirit and attitude.   Jesus always teaches us to look within first.   We must deal with our own hurts, issues, sins, and rebellions first.  It is a hypocrite that tries to make someone conform to the word of God while making them believe that they have everything together themselves.  This is what Jesus rebukes; hypocrisy not judging but judging in hypocrisy.   

Jesus closes this text with actually a command to judge.  He teaches take out the sin (plank) that is your life first then you will be able to see clearly the sin (speck) that is in your brother’s eye.   

I love this passage, because it really is about us and not the other person that sins.  It teaches us that when we judge and we should; we must have already gone through the process of repentance, healing, and restoration  first and then in actually we will be kinder and more merciful and more understanding when we judge (form an opinion of whether something is right or wrong) our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. 

So get to judging; which means we must first get to looking in the mirror.   

See you tomorrow. 

God Bless!!!! 

Don’t forget to pray and read God’s word daily. 

This entry was posted on 31. July 2008 at 09:48 and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.