“Don’t judge me lest you be judged!” has become the anthem of this generation as Christ’s disciples bring forth the Word of God with penetrating conviction. However, could this verse really mean that Jesus wishes no one to ever be confronted with the Word of God regarding their sin unless it comes from a perfect angel or God Himself? There must be a better application of Jesus’ words than how it has been used otherwise the entire Bible would be considered vain judgment and rendered useless by the countless examples of men correcting and rebuking other men.

Accordingly, living consistently by this view of judgement there would be no civil law, moral law, or even parenting law in our world because all the guilty would have to do is cry out, “Jesus said, ‘Don’t judge me!'” and they would have to be free to continue in their lawlessness because only God can judge them. So it is with this in mind that I hope to properly teach what Jesus meant when He said, “Do not judge.”

TEXT

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. 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.” 

SERIES TERMS

  1. SERMON ON THE MOUNT: The longest single portion of Jesus’ teaching found in Matthew 5-7 that serves as the foundation of Christian morality and spiritual practice. #KingdomBasics 
  2. DISCIPLES: Born again committed students and followers of Jesus Christ.
  3. KINGDOM OF GOD/HEAVEN: The active rule and reign of Jesus in one’s life and upon the earth with kingdom blessings. The kingdom is all about the King!

INTERPRETATION

  1. DON’T JUDGE BY UNBIBLICAL STANDARDS: Judge, “to approve or condemn one’s actions.” Jesus rebuked the Jewish leaders who approved of the practices that God condemned and condemned things that He approved as spoken of in Isaiah 5:20. Because they stopped judging according to God’s standards (John 7:24) they even falsely judged Jesus and had Him arrested and crucified. Therefore, Jesus was warning them that if they condemned people like Him by unrighteous measures (standards), they too would be condemned, vs. 1-2.
  2. DON’T BE A SPECK INSPECTOR WITH A PLANK EYE: Jesus also rebuked the Jewish hypocrisy of the day because the leaders tried to instruct others in the Law when they themselves were blind guides and far from God (Matthew 15:7-9 & 23:1-39), vs. 3-5.
  3. DON’T GIVE PRECIOUS THINGS TO DOGS OR PIGS: Jesus then directed His attention to “judge” those who mock and scorn the gospel (either Jew or Gentile) and instructed His disciples to “judge” in the same way so they would not waste their time giving precious teachings to those who had no interest in learning but only blaspheming what is holy, Matthew 10:13-15. This kind of “judging” (discerning a person’s character) is also seen all throughout the book of Proverbs in 12:1, 17:10, 26:4, & 29:9; v. 6.

APPLICATION

  1. JUDGE RIGHTEOUSLY: Though we as Christians are commanded to not judge by our own standards we are commanded to preach and make known the judgments/teachings of Jesus; John 7:24, Matthew 28:18-20, & 2 Timothy 3:16-4:4.
  2. REMOVE SPECKS WITH CLEAR VISION: Jesus didn’t say, “Since everyone has specks just walk around blindly waiting for perfect angels to help you.” Rather Jesus taught in Matthew 7:5, “… first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.” Therefore, it should be the standard position of the believer to have their planks removed so they can humbly help others by the grace of God remove theirs, Colossians 3:12-17 & Ephesians 4:13-16. 
  3. TEACH THE TEACHABLE: Being led by the Holy Spirit and grounded in the Word of God disciples of Christ should spend their time teaching those who truly desire to learn about God, Proverbs 9:8-9. 

So DON’T love the WORLD, BUT love the WORLD. DON’T judge, BUT judge! And be ready whenever and wherever to PREACH THE WORD!