July 21, 2019
Evening Service

This morning we revisited the end of chapter 6 emphasizing the importance and benefits to “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness.”  As a Christ follower we need to truly understand and learn to put this practice into action in of putting God first in every aspect of our lives.  Our relationship with God should be the single most important relationship in our life; one that we work at growing and cultivating.  “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.”  Tonight we will begin chapter 7 of Matthew as we continue our study on the Sermon on the Mount.  These teaching again are easy to understand, but sometime difficult to apply to our lives. 

Mat 7:1-2 "Judge not, that you be not judged.  (2)  For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.

            Judge means to form an opinion or a conclusion about someone or something.  When you judge you imply that you have a broader knowledge of whatever it is you are forming and sharing your opinion about.  We have judges who preside over our courts of law and use their excellent knowledge of the law of our land and experience to judge (form an opinion) cases in which they decide how the law is justly applied to each and every individual case.  Any of us could be called to serve on a jury in which we are presented with a case and are exposed to the law that pertains to that situation and then we are asked to “judge” from the facts presented what is the truth of whether a law of our land was broken or not.

            Jesus here is not forbidding us from doing this type of judgement as this pertains to the law of the United States of America.  It is the judging of others actions and motives in their spiritual life that we are being forbidden to do.  This type of “judging” implies that we are above those we judge and show a hypocritical superiority towards them as we form our opinions about them and what they are doing.  This judgement is often harsh and can even be destructive in nature towards our brother.  To judge our brother in this manner is not part of our job description.  We all will stand before the One True Judge at the end times and answer for the decisions we made in our lives.  Paul addresses this also in his letter to the Roman church.

 

Romans 14:10-12 But why do you judge your brother? Or why do you show contempt for your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.  (11)  For it is written: "AS I LIVE, SAYS THE LORD, EVERY KNEE SHALL BOW TO ME, AND EVERY TONGUE SHALL CONFESS TO GOD."  (12)  So then each of us shall give account of himself to God.

            It is Christ that will the Judge of each of us as well as to all of mankind.  He alone is worthy to form an opinion and draw a conclusion on whether we have been true to His Words or we if have chosen to disobey them.  Jesus Christ is the Judge and we are not.  Paul also said this in the 2^nd chapter of Romans.

 

Rom 2:1-11 Therefore you are inexcusable, O man, whoever you are who judge, for in whatever you judge another you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things.  (2)  But we know that the judgment of God is according to truth against those who practice such things.  (3)  And do you think this, O man, you who judge those practicing such things, and doing the same, that you will escape the judgment of God?  (4)  Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?  (5)  But in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God,  (6)  who "WILL RENDER TO EACH ONE ACCORDING TO HIS DEEDS":  (7)  eternal life to those who by patient continuance in doing good seek for glory, honor, and immortality;  (8)  but to those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness—indignation and wrath,  (9)  tribulation and anguish, on every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek;  (10)  but glory, honor, and peace to everyone who works what is good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.  (11)  For there is no partiality with God.

            Often times we are very judgmental of traits in others that we possess ourselves.  A person who gossips often is critical of those who gossip.  We must be extremely careful as we are critical of faults in others and condemn them for it, yet we are unaware that we are guilty of the same thing.  This again points to living a life of a hypocrite; appearing to be just and righteous, but living in the total opposite way.  Jesus gives us a great example of this back in Matthew.

 

Mat 7:3-5 And why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye?  (4)  Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me remove the speck from your eye'; and look, a plank is in your own eye?  (5)  Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.

            Jesus “opens the eyes of our heart” to understand fully what it means to not judge others.  How can we help to remove a splinter in our brother’s eye when we have a 2x4  in ours?  We are all sinners saved by grace and none of us are without our faults, so who are we to judge others?  That is not our job, that belongs solely to Christ who knew no sin and lived that perfect life to set Himself up as the only One qualified to fulfill the qualifications of the position of Judge.

            With our many imperfections, we often judge others from the point of view that our life has given to us.  The old saying that we are not to judge someone until you have walked a mile in their shoes is so true.  We all have our own stories and those stories sometimes carry some pretty heavy baggage along with it.  We often wrongly judge or condemn someone over something that we cannot fully understand because we lack the experience or knowledge of what others have lived through in their journey of life.  Abuse, neglect, and addiction are just a few of the things that people have to deal with and we, unknowingly, judge them without knowing what it is they have lived through or are living through.  Shame on us for having such a self-righteous attitude!  We have not been given the ability to see through all the pain and see the true heart of a person as only God can.  We judge without knowing all the fact!

            Our job is not to judge others, but to simply love them.  We are to learn to “discern” what is true and what lines up with the scriptures and use that knowledge to counsel others to understand it as well.  Judging plays no part in that process.  We as a tool in God’s hand are to point others to Christ, live a life that reflects His goodness, and then allow the Holy Spirit to call them to repentance.  Those who attend the rallies that celebrate “alternative lifestyles” and shout to them that they are “going to hell” are not doing the work of God by loving them, but have become both self-appointed judge and jury and are hating them.  This is not right and certainly does not please God.  We have been called to love others as Christ loved us.  Love never fails!

 

1Co 13:4-8 Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; (5) does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; (6)  does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth;  (7)  bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.  (8)  Love never fails.

            Our job is to portray this type of love to the world reflecting the love and goodness of God in our lives.  Recall from the passage in Romans 2 that we read earlier that it is “the goodness of God that draws men to repentance.”  Judging others falls outside of our job description and is not putting God first in our lives.  We place our own judgmental attitude above what He has commanded us to do.  Be very careful if you judge, because Jesus promises that whatever standard you use on others will be used on yourself.

 

Heavenly Father, open the eyes of our hearts to understand that we are called to love our brothers and sisters and not judge them.