When you're in the airport waiting for boarding, you’ll get to observe different kinds of people. There are families, groups of friends, there are sports team, high school students, church missionaries, single individuals, business executives, etc. They do different things – some sleep, some read books, they use the computers, some eat, text, call, argue, some are happy, some are impatient, some are angry, some couples are kissing and hugging.
I read a story about a lady in an airport who bought a bag of cookies. She sat in the terminal and started reading her book. A very plain looking man sat one seat away from her and to her surprise he was slowly opening her bag of cookies on the seat between them! She could hardly believe it when the man started eating her cookies. She was so mad but she tried to compose herself. She reached into the bag and took one cookie herself. The man didn’t say anything. He just smiled and took another cookie. The lady was furious and thought she was not going to let this man eat all of her cookies, so she took another one. Then the man took another, and then she took another … racing against the man in eating the cookies. Finally, one cookie was left, the man quickly reached into the bottom of the bag, broke the cookie in half, ate it and left. The lady could not believe this man’s arrogance. Soon the boarding announcement came and the lady boarded the plane, still very mad at the audacity of that man. She sat down, buckled her seat belt. She opened her purse to get a tissue, and to her surprise and shame, her bag of cookies was there, unopened. She was eating the man’s cookies all this time!
Our sermon is entitled JUDGING OTHERS and it’s taken from Matthew 7:1-6.
Why do you think these TV shows are getting more and more popular?
Show Picture of American Idol
One reason is because of the judges. The more frank and mean and brutally honest the judges are to the contestants, people like it more.
Theologians are saying that there is a Bible verse that is getting more popular nowadays than John 3:16. That is the verse we just read, Matthew 7:1 “Do not judge so that you will not be judged.
Many people criticize Christians for being “judgmental and intolerant” when they take their stand against certain issues like abortion, same-sex marriage, premarital sex, homosexuality, etc. These critics refer to the passage in Matthew 7:1 “Do not judge so that you will not be judged.” They say Christians cannot judge because the Bible simply commands us NOT to judge.
We live in a world that increasingly promotes the idea of tolerance, but in reality this world is actually becoming more and more intolerant of Christian principles. When we take a stand, they call us judgmental.
Their definition of “tolerance” is that truth is determined by each individual, not by God and that there are no absolute truths or absolute morality, whatever one person or society believes to be true or moral becomes the standard. We call it moral relativism which is a philosophy that asserts there is no global or absolute moral law that applies to all people, for all time, and in all places.
Here in Canada, murder is illegal and we Christians are told to love our neighbours. But in other culture, in the remote villages of the Amazon Jungle, it's acceptable to eat your neighbour for dinner. So is morality relative? Of course not! Morality is absolute because there is a Moral Law Giver who gives us the discerning spirit to know what is morally right or wrong. If it´s morally wrong to murder someone in Canada, it must be wrong to murder someone in any other place here on earth.
Sometimes people develop their own ideologies, theologies or principles, and pick up a Scripture out of context to support their theology. It’s like putting the cart ahead of the horse. The right way of doing it is to read the Scripture and develop your theology based on what is written.
If you read Matthew 7:1 only, then yes, you’ll be led to believe that Christians are prohibited from judging in an absolute sense. But one principle of good hermeneutics or interpreting the Bible is when you allow Scripture to interpret Scripture. What does that mean?
It means if one verse in the Bible communicates an important principle, it must be supported by other verses because if we believe that the Bible is God’s word and it is infallible, logic tells us that the Bible will not contradict itself because God will not contradict Himself.
Let me give you an example:
Matthew 7:1 says: “Do not judge so that you will not be judged.
Now if you read John 7:24, Jesus was teaching in a feast, He said:
Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment,
So are we NOT to judge? Or is it all right to JUDGE?
I don’t think so. Not at all!
John 7:24 tells us that we can judge but there is a condition, it has to be a righteous kind of judgement. Amen? Another word for righteous judgement is DISCERNMENT! On the other hand, the command in Matthew 7:1 which tells us “do not judge” is a kind of judging that is not the same as the one in John 7:24. We can call the one in Matthew 7 as “unrighteous” judgement. Are you with me on this? This is what we call “interpreting the Scripture by another Scripture.” God cannot have contradicting principles in the Bible because as I have said earlier, God will not contradict Himself.
The word “judge” came from the Greek word “krino”
It means:
- to pronounce an opinion concerning right or wrong
- to pronounce judgement or censure
- to rule or govern
So same Greek word was used in Matthew 7:1 and John 17:24, same technical meaning but it boils down to the intentions of the heart. Matthew 7:1 is hypocritical while John 17:24 is righteous judgement.
POINTS TO PONDER UPON:
I said earlier that we are all guilty of the sin of judging. In our minds, many times, we judge people. We may not verbalize it but God sees our hearts. Just like any other sin, we judge others because we are in the flesh, we can’t help it sometimes. Christians have the tendency to judge others because of this prideful spirit that we feel superior than the others but obviously this is not what Jesus wants us to do. He said do not judge according to appearance.
I read a story of a young couple who moved to a small city called Maple Ridge. Living next door to this new couple was Jun and Mary. One morning while Jun and Mary were eating breakfast, Mary looked through her glass window and saw her new young neighbor hanging out her laundry. “That laundry is not clean,” she told Jun. Our young neighbor does not know how to keep her clothes clean. Jun was just quiet looking at his Facebook account. Every time her new neighbor hangs her laundry to dry, Mary would make the same comment. Jun continued to say nothing, he was busy changing his profile picture. A few weeks later, Mary looked through her window and was surprised to see a nice, fresh and clean row of laundry hung out to dry by her neighbor. In surprise, she told Jun “Look she finally learned how to clean her laundry.” I wondered what she learned, Mary asked. Jun said, Honey I might have an answer for you. I got up early this morning and washed our glass windows. I guest we finally learned how to wash our windows. There was nothing wrong with our neighbor´s laundry.
What kind of windows do you look through? This is where we sometimes fail. This is the reason why we are disqualified to judge. We judge people based on what we can see or based on what we feel. Usually we don’t know the other side of the story and we cannot see the heart of the person. This is because we are not God, we are sinful human beings saved by the grace of the Lord. The reason why we should not quickly judge somebody else is because…
Jesus said "Do not judge so that you will not be judged. For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you. Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ and behold, the log is in your own eye?
Jesus used an important metaphor here. I call this the “speck and log metaphor.” A person is being judged by another because he has an issue, and Jesus compared the person´s issue to a SPECK on his eyes. The King James version used the word “mote” which is a dry stalk or twig, or a chaff. Parang puwing. Mote -- probably this is where the word “muta” came from.
On the other hand, Jesus says that oftentimes, the person who is judging has a LOG on his eyes. The King James version used the word “beam” which is a long, sturdy piece of timber used to support the roof of a building. Did you notice how big of a difference between a speck and log? Using these metaphors, Jesus made a very clear point. In most cases, the person who is critical or judgmental of others has a much bigger issue to deal with in his own life. (v.3)
This is the reason why sometimes we judge others because we tried to camouflage our own issues by being critical of other people. Look at the person beside you, look at him in the eyes… and see if he has a “mote.” Baka may muta.
So it’s common sense, how can we make righteous judgement if we have bigger issues to deal with? It’s like the BLIND leading the BLIND!
This leads us to our second point:
Lesson 2. We must continually reflect on our own lives and deal with our own issues in full submission and humility before the Lord. (v.5)
Christ is reminding each one of us against making judgments in a hypocritical or condemning manner. This type of self-righteous judgement is a characteristic often associated with the Pharisees and the religious people during the ministry of Jesus.
Those people who love to quote “judge not” from Matthew 7:1 fail to notice the command in Matthew 7:5, when it says, “You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.”
The point Jesus emphasizes here is to judge yourself first before you make judgments about others. As Christians, we must continually reflect on our own lives and deal with our own issues in full submission and humility before the Lord. It’s a process called sanctification wherein we are transformed day by day into the image of Christ.
Jesus is saying that if we ourselves are not personally repenting of our sins, we are not in a position tell others how sinful they are. Here you can also see that Christians miss a lot of opportunities to share the Gospel simply because they don’t lead a blameless life.
How can someone have credibility in telling someone else that he is a sinner and he needs Christ in their lives if they can see that the person sharing the Gospel with them is not living a holy life and is not practicing what he preaches? No credibility, right? Remember that the first Bible that an unbeliever will read is your life.
Lesson no. 3, this is very important --
Lesson 3. We exercise righteous judgement by discerning those who will ridicule, mock or abuse us especially when we are sharing the Gospel
In verse 1, Jesus commanded us not too judge with the wrong motives because He knows that those people who are self-righteous and those who likes to judge others are not really doing it to help the other person, they are doing it so they will feel good about themselves… but Jesus said, well, look at yourself first in the mirror. You may even have a bigger issue, you may even be in bondage to a more serious sin.
If you read verse 6, Jesus said “ Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before swine, or they will trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.”
I call this the dogs and swine metaphor. This is an allegorical statement wherein Jesus called certain groups of people as “dogs” and “swines” Here Jesus is telling His disciples -- do not give what is holy to dogs and do not throw your pearls before swine... He is actually telling His disciples and to us to make a certain kind of judgment.
He wants us to identify who are the dogs and the swines and do not share anything holy with them. Isn’t that judging? It is! Otherwise, how can you make a decision whether one person is a dog or a swine? How can you segregate them from the rest if you won’t exercise judgement?
Verse 1-5 tells us NOT to exercise unrighteous judgement but verse 6 tells us to basically judge righteously who are the dogs and the swine. He is now telling us that we must exercise discernment and righteously judge that the message of the Gospel is not going to be wasted or trampled upon.
In biblical times, dogs were not those cute and cuddly Chihuahuas and Chowchows that we have today. DOGS in those days refer to those dirty, greedy, snarling, vicious, diseased animals wandering on the streets and scavenging for food. No responsible Jew would throw meat that was used in the temple for sacrifice to these dogs since it’s not even allowed to be eaten by man. SWINE, like these wild dogs were greedy, vicious and filthy. Swine is the epitome of uncleanliness as far as the Jews were concerned. Dogs and swine represent those people who are greatly perverse and ungodly and they refuse to have anything to do with the holiness of God. What they do is trample upon the Gospel of Jesus on their feet , just like pigs, they don´t like pearls, they don´t see its value and they tear God’s people into pieces.
It doesn´t mean we refrain from preaching the Gospel. Jesus is saying, beware! You don’t just share the holy things of God with anybody – sometimes we are just too overeager to share the Gospel that we don’t exercise our gift of discernment anymore. Jesus is basically saying, hey guys --- it’s quality not quantity. Our job is not to shove the gospel down people’s throats. There’s no sense in preaching the value of pearls to pigs. The message of the Gospel is a pearl. Your time, energy, and abilities are God's pearls. As good stewards, we must take care of God´s pearls. It is possible to waste them either by using them when we should not… or not using them when we should.
FINAL THOUGHTS
In the final analysis, each one of us must recognize that ...
God is the supreme judge of everyone and He alone has the authority to determine our right or wrong motives.
Sometimes, these things happen even in the church. How many times have we looked at another person and judge them. We sometimes criticize how another Christian prays or why they don’t pray as often as we do, how another Christian performs in the ministry, we sometimes criticize how spiritually immature they are, we criticize how they raise their children or how they relate to their spouses. We play different roles in the ministry but one person is not inferior to another, anyway, we are all servants of God. The Apostle Paul tells us –
Who are you to judge someone else's servant? To their own master, servants stand or fall. And they will stand, for the Lord is able to make them stand. Romans 14:4 NIV
Don’t get me wrong, we are not talking here of a righteous kind of judgement but we’re talking here of a self-centered condemning attitude.
Jesus wants us to rebuke our fellow brothers but in humility, in love and in edifying words. We confront the sin of others with meekness and not pride because one day we ourselves will face
Christ who is the supreme judge.
We will all face judgement at the judgement seat of Christ.
Romans 14:10–12 says, “For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat. . . . So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God”
The Bible tells us that there are several kinds of judgement:
First, when a person dies, judgement happens because those who are in Christ go to a place called paradise, otherwise, you go to a place of torment awaiting for the final destination. The book of Hebrews tells us that “as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.”
Second, after the Rapture of the church, and if you believe in pre-tribulation like I do, there will be judgement of believers in heaven, this is called BEMA where Christ will judge believers based on their lives here on Earth. At the judgment seat of Christ, believers are rewarded based on how faithfully they have served Him. This is not for salvation, this is for rewards. While there is an ongoing tribulation on earth, the judgement of believers is happening in Heaven.
Third, there is the judgement of all nations which will happen after the seven year tribulation where God will separate the sheep and the goats in order to determine who shall enter the millennial kingdom or the 1,000 year reign of Christ.
Fourth, finally the Great White Throne judgement which will happen after the Millennium when Christ will judge the unbelievers of all ages and they shall be consigned to the lake of fire for eternity.
No matter how many kinds of judgements there are, the important thing is for us to know that JESUS is the supreme judge and one day, we shall meet Him face to face and definitely He will ask us, “how did we treat the least of our brothers.”
Are you ready to be judged?
Let us pray.
Prayer:
Wherever you are, whatever you situation you may be -- you need the love of Jesus in your life. Please say this prayer sincerely from your heart:
Father God, I confess all my sins to you today. Please forgive me. Today, I open my heart to your Son Jesus Christ. I accept Him in my life as my Saviour and as my Lord. May the Holy Spirit come to my life and make me the kind of person you want me to be. In Jesus Name, I pray. Amen.
The above article is an excerpt from a sermon delivered at WCCC Maple Ridge during its Sunday service on September 24, 2017
I apologise if there are grammatical and spelling errors.
I also apologise if I have missed acknowledging or making proper references to my sources, if any, as it is purely unintentional.
If you are looking for a church in British Columbia, Canada please visit our website at:
www.wordchristiancommunity.com
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