JUDGE NOT, LEST YE BE JUDGED (MT 7:1-6)

SERIES: DON’T BELIEVE IT, PART 4

GCEFC: AUGUST 16, 2009

INTRODUCTION

1. This morning we’re in Part 4 of our series: Don’t Believe It. We’re looking at 7 common beliefs assumed to be taught in the Bible—but are not.

2. Have you ever expressed your opinion to another person, saying that something or someone is wrong, or that a particular position or issue is not right?

3. Only to have the person respond with: Judge not, lest ye be judged. Or: You know, it’s not right to judge—you should be tolerant of what other people think and do.

4. The more astute may even quote the Bible as part of their position. They may quote MT 7:1: Do not judge, or you too will be judged.

5. And the very astute may even refer to the time when the Pharisees brought to Jesus a woman who had been caught in adultery.

a. They wanted to execute her by stoning her to death. And they wanted Jesus to agree with their judgment.

b. But when they looked for Jesus to confirm their decision, he simply said: If any of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.

c. One by one the woman’s accusers left. So Jesus asked if no one had condemned her? She says: No one. Jesus then says: Neither do I condemn you.

d. The person might at that point get a bit pious on you and say something like: I follow in the tradition and example of Jesus—I don’t judge other people!

6. So here’s a verse from the Bible telling us that we must not judge others, or we will be judged ourselves.

7. And when Jesus has the opportunity to condemn a person for a capital crime, he chooses NOT TO CONDEMN HER—but to send her away with no retribution at all.

8. So it seems as if we are not to judge others. It’s right here in the Bible.

9. But does the Bible actually teach that we are not to judge the words, actions, and attitudes of others? That we are not to determine whether someone or something is right or wrong?

10. That we are to accept all opinions, whether they agree with ours or not—even if we know the position to be wrong?

11. Let’s take a few minutes this morning and determine whether judging is something the Bible forbids or allows.

A. WHAT DOES MATTHEW 7:1-6 ACTUALLY TEACH?

1. Let’s begin with MT 7:1-6, the passage read: Do not judge, or you too will be judged.

2. But let’s not stop there, let’s keep reading: For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the same measure you use, it will be measured to you.

3. Those words that follow set the context for the words that preceded, so we have a better understanding of what’s being said.

4. What if I said: Don’t drive too fast—or you’ll get a speeding ticket.

5. But what if a state trooper drives fast while chasing a criminal? Or an ambulance driver does while trying to get to the hospital? What if you’re driving in the Indianapolis 500?

6. In those cases, driving fast is perfectly fine. The implied context of the statement is that you don’t drive over the posted speed limit on a public road where other cars are driving. If you do, you may get a speeding ticket.

7. In regular speech, context determines meaning. In the Word of God, the same principle applies—context determines meaning.

8. MT 7:1-6 is not a blanket statement against judging. MT 7:1-6 is a warning against the wrong kind of judging. We must read further to know what the wrong kind is.

9. First we see that whatever standard we use to judge others, that same standard will be used to judge us.

a. Maybe we should call this the Law of Jim Bakker, or Jimmy Swaggart, or Ted Haggard, or Senator Mark Sanford, or the Law of Elliot Spitzer.

b. That if you judge other people by a strict standard, don’t be surprised if other people come back and judge you by that same standard.

c. And there’s hypocritical judging. V3-5: 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? 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? 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.

d. This is a warning against judging the actions or words of another person when you’re guilty of a greater infraction than the one you’re judging them for.

e. The speck is a minor infraction. The plank is a major infraction. Before you judge someone for a minor offense, make sure you aren’t guilty of a major offense yourself.

f. But notice it says that when you remove the plank from your own eye—THEN you’ll be in a position to judge.

g. It doesn’t say it’s wrong to form a judgment. It says it’s wrong to form a hypocritical judgment. So clean up your own act before you try to clean up the acts of others.

h. Then V6 says: 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 then turn and tear you to pieces.

i. This is also about judgment. It’s about discerning whether what you’re investing your time and energy in are worth the time and energy you’re investing.

j. So you must make a judgment. You can only not give what is sacred to dogs after you identify who the dogs are. You can only not throw your pearls to pigs after you identify who the pigs are.

10. So this passage is not teaching that it’s wrong to judge. It just giving guidelines for judging. And they are:

a. Realize before you judge others, that others will use the same standard on you that you use on them. So use caution before you judge.

b. And don’t be a hypocritical judge. Don’t judge someone else for an offense that’s less than the one you’re committing yourself. That’s hypocrisy.

c. And making decisions of judgment will necessarily involve judgment. In fact, we are in the process of judging practically every waking moment.

d. We judge weather it’s better to get up in the morning or stay in bed. Whether to take a particular route to work or school.

e. We judge what kind of weather the day is likely to bring. We judge what articles to read in the newspaper and which ones to skip.

f. We judge whether our kids are behaving properly or whether they need to be disciplined. We judge whether to make an issue of an offense or let it slide.

g. We make judgments all the time about all kinds of things—including judgments about people. This is not a news flash.

11. Which may cause us to wonder why anyone would say that we should not judge—and to claim that even the Bible teaches that we should not judge.

B. WHY OTHER PEOPLE SAY WE SHOULD NOT JUDGE

1. I’d like to suggest that the main reason someone might challenge you to “not judge” is because your judgment does not agree with theirs.

2. Suppose in a conversation with someone, you take a stand on the controversial issue of homosexuality. You say: Homosexuality is just wrong and it’s condemned in the Bible.

3. And the person says to you: Who are you to judge another person’s sexual preference? You have no right to judge!

4. But the fact is, they want you to agree with their position. You see, they’ve already judged the person too—but they’ve judged them differently than you did.

5. They don’t so much have a problem with your judging—they have a problem with the fact that your judgment disagrees with theirs.

6. You might follow up with: Why are you judging me for my position on this issue? And they might say: Why are you judging me for judging you for your judgment on this issue?

7. There’s a lot of confusion in our culture on the concept known as tolerance. Tolerance used to be a valuable and helpful concept. But it’s been so distorted in the modern world that many don’t understand what it really means anymore.

8. Listen to how tolerance is actually defined: The ability or willingness to tolerate something, in particular the existence of opinions or behaviors that one does not necessarily agree with.

9. In the modern world, tolerance is seen as the acceptance of all points of view, all opinions, all philosophies, and all beliefs as equally valid.

10. In other words, my opinion is just as right and just as valid as yours is, which is just as right and valid as everyone else’s.

11. But this is not what tolerance means. Tolerance requires that every person be treated courteously and respectfully, no matter what their view.

12. Tolerance does not require that we accept all views as equally valid, equally valuable, or equally right.

13. To say that I’m intolerant because I disagree with a person’s viewpoint is just misguided and wrongheaded.

14. To disagree with an opinion or idea or to argue that something is false, immoral, wrong, silly, or even stupid does not violate any meaningful definition of tolerance.

15. Tolerance is typically understood now as agreement with the opinions and positions of others. If not, then you’re labeled intolerant or a bigot.

16. But tolerance applies to how we treat people we disagree with—not to how we treat the ideas we think are false.

17. So often in today’s world, you’re labeled intolerant if you think someone’s idea is wrong—regardless of how you treat them for having the idea.

18. Tolerance is about how you treat those you disagree with. It’s not about whether you agree with them or not.

19. In fact, you can’t tolerate someone unless you disagree with them. We don’t “tolerate” people who share our views. In that case there’s nothing to tolerate.

20. Tolerance is applied to those we think are wrong. You don’t need to tolerate someone you agree with.

21. Some ideas are just wrong. Some ideas are lame. Some ideas are just plain stupid.

22. But our society has turned the concept of tolerance on its head. In the old days, tolerance meant granting respect to people you disagree with. Now it means acceptance of all ideas, opinions, and philosophies—regardless of their validity and rightness.

C. SO HOW DO WE JUDGE RIGHTLY?

1. So if the Bible does not forbid our judging, then how are we to do it in a way that’s acceptable and in a way that pleases God?

2. Let’s go back to one of the classic Bible passages that people use to argue against judging, the passage from JN 8 we considered earlier.

3. When the Pharisees brought to Jesus the woman caught in adultery, he did not excuse her behavior. Nor did he disagree with the judgment of the Pharisees.

4. Nor did he say that the woman had not sinned, nor that she was not deserving of punishment. He didn’t say that what she had done was acceptable or okay.

5. What he did was forgive her of what she had done. He was granting grace to a woman who had sinned.

6. Notice what he actually said to the woman: Neither do I condemn you. He didn’t say you aren’t guilty. He said: I don’t condemn you. He forgave her.

7. Notice his parting words to the woman: Go now and leave your life of sin. Which means he recognized what she had done as sinful.

8. So he had judged her. He called what she had done sin. And he now commands her to cease this behavior in the future.

9. Here are some other guidelines.

a. In JN 7:24 Jesus says: Stop judging by mere appearances, and make a right judgment. The prohibition isn’t against judgments—it’s against wrong judgments.

b. In 1 COR 5:11 we read: But now I am writing you that you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater, a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat.

c. If you’re not to associate with a person like this claiming to be a believer, it will require you to make a judgment regarding the kind of person they are.

d. And a passage quite familiar to most, MT 18:15, dealing with church discipline says: If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault.

e. If this was the only verse in the Bible on this topic, it would be sufficient to lay to rest the erroneous teaching that the Bible forbids Christians from judging.

10. Now, please don’t leave here today thinking that Pastor Sam is encouraging us to become self-appointed critics and judges.

11. PRO 19:11 says: A man’s wisdom gives him prudence; it is to his glory to overlook an offense.

12. 1 COR 13 says: Love is patient, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.

13. But we should not fall prey to some misguided nonsense that the Bible forbids judging.

D. CONCLUSION

1. The Christian life cannot even begin without the process of judging. It starts with an honest and accurate self-judgment, where we determine we fall short of God’s standard.

2. Jesus said he didn’t come to call the righteous, but the sinner to repentance. Sinners are recognized for being sinners only after a judgment takes place.

3. Then, as we move through the journey of discipleship, we must constantly judge, assess, and evaluate.

a. We judge what is true from what is false.

b. We judge what is right from what is wrong.

c. We judge what is edifying from what is destructive.

d. We judge what is pleasing to God from what is displeasing.

e. We judge what we hear, what we read, what we see—whether it conforms to God’s standard or does not.

f. As we are commanded in 1 THESS—we test all things and hold on to what is good.

4. Tolerance is a good thing when rightly understood. It does not mean believing that all arguments are equally valid and equally true. Such an idea is absurd.

5. If fact, the foundational principle of misguided tolerance is that: All views have equal merit and none should be considered better than another.

6. But such an idea is hopelessly contradictory. If all views have equal merit and none should be considered better than another, then disagreement becomes impossible.

7. No person or idea can ever be considered right or wrong. I could claim that this pulpit is made out of cheese. You could claim that it’s made out of wood. But your idea has no more merit than mine. So the discussion would have to be abandoned.

8. Tolerance means granting the right for someone to have and express an opinion I disagree with. Tolerance does not mean treating all ideas as equally valid and right.

9. Ideas must be judged and evaluated and their merit determined through civil discourse, discussion, and debate. An idea shouldn’t be accepted just because someone has it.

10. Nor should you be labeled intolerant because you disagree with Angelina Jolie’s view on marriage. Or you think Michael Jackson had some very strange ideas.

11. Or you don’t think that homosexuality is simply an alternative lifestyle. Or you disagree with Oprah’s Winfrey’s life philosophy. Or you don’t think that acknowledged gay bishops should be ordained.

12. This doesn’t make you intolerant. It may just mean you’re thinking and that you have a sense of what is right and what is wrong.

13. Tolerance applies to how we treat people we disagree with, not to how we treat ideas those people have that we think are false.

14. Tolerance requires that every person be treated with courtesy and respect, no matter what their view—not that all views have equal worth, merit, truth, or validity. The first view of tolerance is right and good. The second view is absurd and meaningless.

15. The next time someone accuses you of being intolerant, ask them why they’re being intolerant of your intolerance?

16. If you both agree, then tolerance is unnecessary. I don’t need to be tolerant of those who agree with me—they agree with me.

17. The Bible does not forbid judging. It does command us to be cautious when we judge, and to apply solid biblical guidelines when we do. I trust we will.