Judging Others 7 “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. 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 turn and tear you to pieces.
Judgment is one of the main ways that we fall as humans. James talks about this problem in his book too, citing favoritism and slander as symptoms of the same sin of judgment. Here, as Christ continues his concepts in the Sermon on the Mount, he addresses how we should be treating each other.
We have to recall that Jesus is operating in the space of the Pharisees. Pharisee means “Separate One”. This gives us an idea of how the religious order of the Jews operated. They put themselves above the people. Jesus is refuting this concept. Instead, he’s turning it around to an eternal outlook, in which we need to view how we conduct ourselves before we begin to look at others.
Jesus warns against passing judgment on others. We will be judged in the same way we judge others.
Now, the opposition looks at this verse and hurls it back at the Christian. They say that this verse explicitly says that Christians are not to judge a lifestyle. If we are truly a Christian, then we must accept the lifestyle with love. But that is not true. We are meant to love unconditionally. We aren’t commended to accept unconditionally.
This is a very important distinction. How does a Christian do this? Well, we have to understand the brokenness of our world. People are hurt in a variety of ways and in different depths. We’re all broken. So we have to use that as our baseline. It’s the one thing we all have in common. Secondly, we have to understand that hurt people hurt others. Sin is rampant. People use all sorts of different ways to cope with hurt and sin, and it comes out in a variety of ways. We all do this, again, at different depths. So if the baseline is our brokenness and we “steam” this hurt in different ways, we have to understand that we’re all coping with our weakness. God calls us to love each other, despite these weaknesses. So we must find the person in there, despite the way they act out, and love the person. It’s like having a friend who is addicted to drugs. You love that person but hate what the drug has done to him. You can still love the man and hate the action, right? The problem comes with the tangle, though. When someone becomes so indistinguishable from the sin. How do we deal with that? That’s where prayer and connection come in. We have to believe that person is in your life for a reason. Either you are helping them or they are helping you. But it should never be at the expense of your faith.
We need to examine the lives of others around us, but only through the Holy Spirit’s leading. As Christians, we are called to judge in only one way: by seeing the lifestyle of others and if they are operating outside of God’s will. The judgment is not the action you see; the process is to bring them along in a conversation about what you are seeing. If we had stepped out of step with God, wouldn’t we want someone to care enough to bring us back?
God will measure us by the same measurement we use to judge others. If we want mercy from God, we need to extend mercy to others.
V.3-5 - Jesus uses hyperbole to accentuate an important point. We can often be critical of others and not see that we are guilty of the same thing. This is hypocrisy. We are judging others without looking at ourself. First you must deal with the plank in your eye. The problem of your heart.
V. 6- Jesus wants to remind us that we must discern who we attempt to tell God’s word to. He says to be careful, because the dogs and swine (unbelievers), will not accept the message and will attempt to fight us on it. Godly correction is a pearl, and if we are to discern through the spirit and attempt to correct, it can get hard if that person is unwilling to listen. Although we are commanded to preach to everyone, it is clear that not everyone is willing to accept it (Acts 19:9).
Ask, Seek, Knock 7 “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. 9 “Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11 If 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! 12 So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.
ASK: Jesus reminds us to be persistent in our faith and especially in prayer. He says ask, and it will be given to you. Now many people will throw scripture out all together, saying that “I asked God for this” and I didn’t get it, so prayer doesn’t work. One thing we must remember that prayer is communication with God. It is the deepening of the relationship. For God to hear us, we must be in contact with him authentically. As James puts it in James 5:16,”the prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.” Righteousness is an important component to answered prayer. How does one become righteous? By building the relationship with God, by being led by the spirit, by changing one’s life to fit God’s plan. But James 4:3 gives us another piece: motive. Our motives must be right. They must not be selfish, but in alignment with the will of God. But we must be mindful of the active approach this calls for. Asking is activity.
SEEK: To seek is to search out. Again, our activity is important. If we aren’t seeking (yearning), then are we really passionate about the relationship?
KNOCK: Knocking implies the last stage of the activity. To climb the stairs to the door, with confidence, and rap on the door. With all human houses, there is a 50/50 chance the door will be opened. But with God, if we are actively seeking Him, the door will be opened. James 4:8 says this: “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.” This relationship is dependent on us taking a step toward God, to ask, to seek, to knock.
The Narrow and Wide Gates 13 “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14 But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.
Christian followers must understand that the life that Jesus commands us to live is not an easy one. Deceptively, the verse eludes to a destination, but the real heart of the verse is about the road to the destination. narrows the road that leads to life. Small is the gate. In order to find the narrow road, one must strive for more than what’s offered to the masses. One must yearn for relationship.
True and False Prophets 15 “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. 16 By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17 Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.
This speaks directly to our culture. Often a ministry or church’s success is based on the sheer magnitude of the congregation. If there are more adherents, then there is success, right? John warns of this is 1 John 2:20-23. John is speaking of false teaching and how a Christian can judge. It is from our special anointing that we receive upon believing. This anointing is called discernment. We are given the tools to understand right from wrong, and we continue to exercise that gift, we can see who is teaching correctly and who is speaking to the itching ears (2 Timothy 4:3). False prophets don’t reveal themselves as anything but servants of light. If you simply look at the diverse religions of the world, you may realize that not all of them follow Jesus. But some of them do. How does their doctrine differ from the bible? They conduct themselves well, they may have beautiful congregations of lovely, giving people, but their word doesn’t align with God’s perfect word. What then?
This what Jesus is talking about. There are many people who preach in God’s name, yet aren’t really followers. Perhaps they want the prestige, the money, the fame, power, or just fire insurance. Their main purpose is to deceive. Jesus calls them ravenous wolves. That’s quite a picture. That implies someone who is hungry and prowling, stalking, waiting for his moment to pounce.
If we are using discernment properly, then we can use it in looking at their fruits. These are the examples they leave as a life well-lived, a life filled with serving others, not themselves. When we begin to look at it that way, the image becomes clearer. Is there righteousness (right living), humility, faithfulness? Secondly, what are they teaching? Is its God’s word or meant to live inside the world? Third, how does their teaching affect others? Is their true teaching bringing change to lives, or is the content lacking to simply entertain?
If the fruit isn’t evident, then there is something wrong. Jesus says that a bad tree can’t bear good fruit. That means that even though they preach and proclaim the word of God, their motives are wrong and it doesn’t produce anything of value.
True and False Disciples 21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ 23 Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ This is one of the most dramatic and essential pieces of scripture. Not all those who say they are followers of Jesus will actually enter the kingdom. What Jesus is eluding to is that many people practice their faith superficially. They go to church, perform religious duties, but none of those practices actually impact their life. In other words, they are living a hypocritical faith. If the relationship is not the primary motive of their life, then the world is more important. The facade they have erected in their life as a follower of God is so faulty that in the end, they still believe they will be saved. But Jesus still does not know them. It is all about relationship. Our true faith secures salvation in the end, and if we don’t have that, no amount of works will save us. They never truly had salvation (I never knew you).
The Wise and Foolish Builders 24 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. 26 But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. 27 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.” 28 When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, 29 because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law.
The foundation upon which we build our spiritual house is very important. If we build our foundation on sand, what happens? When life’s troubles visit, the foundation is easily wiped out. For instance, if we build our foundation on our finances, what happens when our finances are lost? The entire system is gone. Likewise, if we build it on hobbies, earthly delights, slander or gossip, what have you- we risk the entire system going down when trouble comes.
God allows trials in our lives to test our faith (James 1:2-4). Trials are meant to grow perseverance (enduring patience) in us. Why? Patience makes us stronger. It matures us. That is important, because when another trial comes, we can draw on past experiences to make wiser choices. But not only that, it creates a spiritual strength in us that we can help others with.
Jesus says the only way to build a proper foundation is to build it on Him. When the builder builds on stone, it can weather the flood that comes. If you lose everything anyway, then you still have your father, who provides for you (Luke 12:22-34). So to build on a foundation that lasts (rock) is wiser than to build on one that is just of this world (sand).
Finally, we must be doers of the word. This is the active faith that God wants to stir in us. If we aren’t active (yearning) for the relationship, then we can’t ever build the foundation that we need to weather the storms of life. God doesn’t want people who simply listen, then do nothing about it. As James says in James 2:22-24: “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do it is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.” This is how some people view the word. They listen, they nod, they may even claim to want to make changes, but then wander back into their lives and resume, without the word affecting them whatsoever.