Matthew 7:1-6 is a passage that has been ripped out of context in our culture today, and has been used to give permission and license for people to live however they want without accountability. That is not a fair or accurate use of this passage. What we are actually talking about here is a spirit of judgmentalism, not necessarily making a judgement call for spiritual accountability. Jesus's words in this passage was a direct indictment on the Pharisees, who wanted to see everyone though law and punishment.
Verses 1-2 say this:
“Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you."
Jesus is making a prophetic statement here: legalists are judged legalistically!
An Earthly & A Heavenly Reality
This is an earthly reality. When you frame your view of others through the grid of performance, people will see performance as the grid you want to be judged by as well. I have seen legalistic, judgmental people have moral failures. When this happens, people usually aren’t seeking to be very gracious. I can remember being a young parent and having other people my age trying to give me advice on how to parent. Then they became parents and...you can finish the story.
This is a heavenly reality. If you think you can earn God’s favor through law-keeping, you will only have law-keeping, and not God’s favor. Law-keeping can not satisfy your sin debt. Romans 2:1–5 says,
"Therefore you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things. We know that the judgment of God rightly falls on those who practice such things. Do you suppose, O man—you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself—that you will escape the judgment of God? Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed."
Avoiding Judgmentalism
The opposite of judgmentalism is kindness in how we view people, which puts into practice the beatitude of mercy. Recall what Matthew 5:7 says:
“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy."
This echoes the idea in the Lord’s prayer of asking God to help us be forgiving with others as He is forgiving with us. This is not, however, a spirit of carnal acquiescence that allows everyone to live and act however they choose. Jesus stated in other places like verse 15 to make important judgment calls! Verse 6 is actually the balancer of assessing or “judging” evil intent, but we will get to that momentarily.
How do we keep from being judgmental? There are a couple of steps to this:
Focus on the mirror more than the magnifying glass.
Address what you see of your own reflection in the mirror of God’s word before confronting what you see of others through the magnifying glass of your perceptions. Verse 3 says,
"Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?"
Similarly, James 1:22–25 states,
"But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing."
Once, Jesus healed a man's whithered hand on the Sabbath. When questioned by the Jews on the matter, He responded inJohn 7:24,
"Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.”
This was not just a moral law issue, this was also a theological issue. The law of love or charity always outranks legalism, even in theology.
2. Surrender to macro-surgery before engaging in micro-surgery.
In other words, focus on the big things that need to change in your own life before you point out the minor offenses of others. Engage in the macro-surgery of your own sanctification instead of the micro-surgery of your neighbor’s sanctification. Verse 4 emphasizes this idea:
"Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? 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."
Galatians 6:1–5 says it this way:
"Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself. But let each one test his own work, and then his reason to boast will be in himself alone and not in his neighbor. For each will have to bear his own load."
Sometimes there is a need for righteous judgment, and verse 6 of this chapter is the balancer; there are times to call out danger or dangerous people and shut down a conversation. The verse says,
“Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you."
The illustration is not of domesticated animals, but of wild, dangerous and dirty animals. If you toss a pearl necklace to a wild boar, not only do you risk losing the treasure, but also your life. The premise of this verse is “the devil's dogs and the devil's pigs are not worth our time and attention.” Peter said something similar in 2 Peter 2:22 quoting the book of Proverbs:
"What the true proverb says has happened to them: 'The dog returns to its own vomit, and the sow, after washing herself, returns to wallow in the mire'."
Titus 3:10 says,
"As for a person who stirs up division, after warning him once and then twice, have nothing more to do with him, knowing that such a person is warped and sinful; he is self-condemned."
Winston Churchill once said, “You will never reach your destination if you stop and throw stones at every dog that barks.”
Facing Judgmentalism
How should I respond to judgmental people?
I should give a soft answer when I am criticized unkindly.
1 Peter 2:23 speaks of Jesus's response to unjust treatment:
"When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly."
Draw wisdom from the following Proverbs:
15:1--"A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger."
17:28--"Even a fool who keeps silent is considered wise; when he closes his lips, he is deemed intelligent.
26:4–5--"Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest you be like him yourself. Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own eyes."
You can let people think the worst about you; that doesn’t make it true. Saying less is saying more. In addition, saying nothing is always a viable option.
2. I should preach the redeeming Gospel of freedom to myself.
Romans 8:1 tells us,
"There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit."
Accept that you are worse than the accusations. Paul David Tripp has said in his book Instruments in the Redeemer’s Hands,"Sinners tend to respond sinfully to being sinned against. (Tripp, 11).
Believe that you are at your very best in Christ.If you have the approval of God the Father because of Jesus, you don’t need man’s approval or praise. Speak truth with kindness for the goal of grace and leave the results to the Lord.
Keep About Your Work
I offer this encouragement from a sermon preached by Dr. H.M.S. Richards who happens to have been a Seventh Day Adventist. I have heard this quote since I was a kid and never heard who the author was. It turns out no one in evangelical circles wanted to name the author, which is quite honestly a spirit of judgmentalism. We have to learn how to hold on to orthodoxy and not demonize people who sincerely love God but differ on theological specifics. Even a broken clock is right twice a day.
"The Lord has given to every man his work. It is his business to do it and the devil's business to hinder him if he can. So surely as God has given you a work to do, Satan will try to hinder you. He may present other things more promising, He may allure you by worldly prospects, He may assault you with slander, torment you with false accusations, set you to work defending your character, employ pious persons to lie about you, editors to assail you, and excellent men to slander you. You may have Pilate and Herod, Annas and Caiaphas all combined against you, and Judas standing by ready to sell you for thirty pieces of silver; and you may wonder why all those things come upon you. Can you not see that the whole thing is brought about through the craft of the devil to draw you off from your work and hinder your obedience to God? Keep about your work! Keep about your work, that God has given you.
Do not flinch because the lion roars;
Do not stop to stone the devil's dogs;
Do not fool away your time
chasing the devil's rabbits.
Keep about your work! Let liars lie,
Let corporations resolve,
Let the devil do his worst;
But see to it that nothing hinders you from
fulfilling the work that God has given you. Keep about your work!
He has not commanded you to get rich.
He has never bidden you to
defend your character.
He has not set you at work
to contradict falsehoods about yourself,
which Satan & his servants may start to peddle.
If you do those things, you will do nothing else.
You will be at work for yourself & not the Lord.
Let your aim be as steady as a star. Keep about your work!
You may be assaulted, wronged,
insulted, slandered, wounded, and rejected;
You many be abused by foes, forsaken by friends,
and despised and rejected of men.
But see to it with steadfast determination,
with unfaltering zeal, That you pursue the great purpose of your life
and object of your being until at last you can say:
'I have finished the work which you gave me to do!'"
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