Do Not Judge
Matt 7:1-6; Luke 6:37-42
37 “Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. 38 Give, and it will be given to you; a good measure—pressed down, shaken together, and running over—will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.”
39 He also told them a parable: “Can the blind guide the blind? Won’t they both fall into a pit? 40 A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like his teacher. 41 “Why do you look at the splinter in your brother’s eye, but don’t notice the beam of wood in your own eye?
42 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take out the splinter that is in your eye,’ when you yourself don’t see the beam of wood in your eye? Hypocrite! First take the beam of wood out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to take out the splinter in your brother’s eye.
Luke 6:37-42
6 Don’t give what is holy to dogs or toss your pearls before pigs, or they will trample them with their feet, turn, and tear you to pieces.
Matt 7:1-6
Jesus’ command to “not judge lest ye be judged” is probably the most misquoted section of scripture in history and what most people do with these verses is they believe what Jesus was saying is like, “You can’t tell me I’m wrong.”
1. Jesus is not telling us to never judge
This is actually the climax of the Sermon on the Mount and he is comparing true righteousness to self-righteousness. Jesus is using hyperbole through the exaggerated example of having a 2x4 stuck in your eye to mock spiritual pride. People miss this because Jesus is making a joke and using humor to drive home how absurd self-righteousness looks to God.
First of all, we know this because every choice is a judgment.
For example, choosing a flavor of ice cream is sometimes a difficult choice but it is a judgment. Ex: We all know that bubble gum ice cream is satanic, so we choose something else… The fact is you are making a judgment every time you choose between wearing a sweater or a jacket or whether to wear your hawkeye jersey or the, God forbid, a Nebraska hat.
So it can’t be that kind of judgment. What about judging danger?
Consider this snarling dog . If you chose to stay away from this dog, you are judging that dog based on some red flags. Snarling, growling, foaming, and biting are all traits we attribute to dangerous animals and this is a judgment, “ya, but not people.” Consider this…
Imagine your daughter is staying the night at her friend’s house and a guy is just watching from across the way. She calls and says, “this guy is looking at me and he is creeping me out”. Would you say to your daughter, “Now honey don’t judge, get to know him first. He might be nice”?
Of course not. We would say, tell your friend’s dad and stay away from him…. Again, this would be wise. So we see that it is not judging danger which is the problem either. In fact, the bible teaches us over and over again to use good judgment to avoid danger. For example,
The sensible person sees danger and hides himself, but the simple go on and suffer for it.
Proverbs 22:3
So, Jesus didn’t mean all judgment was wrong, because we can obviously choose our ice cream and we should avoid danger. So what is he talking about? The fact is…
2. The goal is Correction
When parents discipline their children they are judging their child’s actions. Not only is this right, we are commanded by God to do it.
For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.
Hebrews 12:11
Disciplining our children teaches them right and wrong and, even though no one likes to be disciplined, we know that through discipline our children learn there are consequences for their actions and, if done correctly, when they get older they will make better decisions and make better judgments of their own.
Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.
Proverbs 22:6
Someone might say, “Of course, we need to correct our children. We need to teach them right from wrong but that doesn’t give you the right to correct adults.” No, it actually does.
Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; correct, rebuke, and encourage with great patience and teaching.
2 Timothy 4:2
Someone might say, “Well that doesn’t mean that you should tell them they are wrong.”
Again, no, that is exactly what scripture is teaching. In fact, we are told that part of the purpose of scripture is to make wise judgments and help people see and understand that they are wrong.
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.
2 Timothy 3:16-17
Jesus’ point is that, for the sake of our brother or sister, we are called to confront sin, not to be mean or to get vengeance or to show them we are right and they are wrong, but to help them grow and mature, because, like our children, we love them.
This helps us see that Jesus’ point is…
3. Judge yourself first
The first principle of judgment is to begin with yourself. EX: It is not just difficult, it is almost completely impossible to correct our children when we, as parents, do the same thing.
Studies at places like Harvard Medical School show that kids who grow up in a home with parents who do drugs are 2 to 8 times more likely to do drugs. It doesn’t matter how much these parents tell them that drugs are bad. Children generally follow the example of their parents.
It is hypocritical for parents who use drugs to tell their children to not do drugs. When I was growing up I knew lots of parents who just did drugs with their kids because they thought, “At least they can get high or drink at home and be safe.” This is wrong and sinful parenting.
Ex: I was working with a guy whose marriage was a mess. I was finally able to talk him and his wife into getting counseling, but after the 2nd meeting their counselor encouraged them to get divorced. Why? because the counselor was already on her third marriage.
This is hypocrisy. How are you going to teach people to work through the struggles in their marriage when you never worked through yours? This is exactly what Jesus was talking about.
The point Jesus teaches us is that we need to correct the sin in our own lives so that we can correct others. Jesus says,
Hypocrite! First take the log out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.
His point is that we need to correct the sin in our lives so that we can begin to see clearly enough to help others correct the sin in their own lives. Jesus wasn’t telling us to never judge sin. His point is that you should quit sinning and set an example. Correction begins in your heart and…
4. Correction is for his church
The parallel passage in Luke helps us understand. He says, “Do not judge”, but he continues,
“Can the blind guide the blind? Won’t they both fall into a pit? A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like his teacher…Hypocrite! First take the beam of wood out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to take out the splinter in your brother’s eye.”
Luke 6:37-42
Jesus asks, Can the blind guide the blind? He asks, won’t they both fall into a pit? Jesus is literally telling us that if no one can see the sin in their lives we will all die. Therefore his disciples, those who call themselves Christians, have to do the hard work of getting the planks out of our eyes so we can help our brothers see clearly. This is why Jesus adds,
6 Don’t give what is holy to dogs or toss your pearls before pigs, or they will trample them with their feet, turn, and tear you to pieces.
His point is that we should not waste our time telling people about the deep truths of holiness if they don’t want to hear it because all it does is make you and them angry. It is a waste of time.
The point again is so much more clear when we read and study the bible in context. Jesus is saying that if you are sinning in a specific way, you are not capable of helping others recover from their sins, which is part of being a follower of Jesus and a good Christian brother or sister.
Imagine an alcoholic going to an AA meeting at a bar run by an alcoholic. Imagine a heroin addict getting advice from a counselor who is currently a heroin dealer. Imagine telling your spouse you love him or her, while you are having an affair. Imagine telling your child you love them, while you beat them. This is hypocrisy and it’s not just wrong, it’s evil.
Jesus is just stating the obvious. Don’t be a hypocrite! Live the life that you were called to live and help each other live this life as well. But here is the warning, we need to recognize that this pertains to us, not the world. We are not here to judge those outside the church.
If we look at those bible verses again we see that these things were said to Christians. We are not called to judge those who don’t trust in Jesus. We are not called to protest everything we disagree with or to tell sinners they are going to burn in hell or to point our finger at the world as it acts like the world. Paul even makes this point perfectly clear,
But now I am writing you not to associate with anyone who claims to be a believer who is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or verbally abusive, a drunkard or a swindler. Do not even eat with such a person. For what business is it of mine to judge outsiders? Don’t you judge those who are inside? But God judges outsiders. Put away the evil person from among yourselves.
I Cor 5:11-13
Paul’s point is that it isn’t our business. We are not sent here to shove our beliefs down people’s throats. We are not called to force people into submission to God’s word. We are called to live a different kind of life. We are commanded to live as peaceably as possible with others.
We are not called to be the world’s conscience, but that doesn’t mean that we ignore sin.
John the Baptist did this to Herod when he said it was a sin that Herod took his brother's wife for himself but this wasn’t random. Herod claimed to be a follower of God. This statement led to John being killed and Jesus called him the greatest of all the prophets. We still call sin “sin”.
We call sin what it is, which means that if I was a pastor in the mid 90’s and president Clinton was running around on his wife, I would call it a sin because Clinton claimed to be a Christian.
This is the reason that I talk about current events and I call things out occasionally, but I will never organize a protest because our purpose is not to correct non-believers. The purpose of the church is to equip the saints to live lives that honor God, which is what it means to be holy.
Pursue peace with everyone, and holiness—without it no one will see the Lord. Make sure that no one falls short of the grace of God and that no root of bitterness springs up, causing trouble and by it, defiling many.
Rom 12:14-15
Too many Christians are so angry at the world and yet we are commanded to not let that bitterness build up in us. Jesus and Paul both taught us to expect the world to act like the world but we should also expect Christians to act like Christ. As Paul says if we do not live holy lives we will, through our passivity, defile the lives of others. This is our heart issue.
If you claim to be a follower of Jesus, you should know your non-Christian friends and family are watching you closely. They want to know whether you actually believe this stuff about Jesus. They want to know if you really are a true believer. They need to see what righteousness looks like. We cannot be hypocrites. If we are, we will be judged by God for our hypocrisy.
Jesus did not say that we should not tell people they are wrong. He was saying that we should set an example and have enough humility to recognize the sin in our own lives and remove it otherwise the church has no hope of changing the world. We are the example.
If we don't take the first steps we are just the blind leading the blind. Someone has to repent and clean out their eyes. Someone has to practice humility and judge themselves, so they can help others see. In other words, Christians are not expected to be perfect, but we are expected to try.
That is the lesson that Jesus is teaching us, we are to pull the logs out of our eyes so that we can see clearly enough to help others in the church remove the specks from theirs. The blind can’t lead the blind. We are the only ones with the holy spirit and we are called to lead by example.
This is why we are told to count the cost of our salvation, because unlike the world, when we have the option to lead, follow, or get out of the way, we are commanded to lead every time.
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