Sermon
Judging Our Judgments
July 31- August 1, 1999
Pastor Leighton Sheley

We're in Matthew 7:1-6 (NIV) which reads, "Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. "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. "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. 

This passage of six verses can easily be divided into two main portions, and each of these main portions could be subdivided into three sub- portions. The first of the two main portions is found in verses 1 through 4, and in this Jesus identifies the problem, it's man's tendency to make hasty judgments. In the second portion found in verses 5 and 6 Jesus provides us with the solution, and that is to judge our judgments. This passage is often misquoted and misapplied in today's society to discourage absolutes. When someone is caught doing something wrong, this passage is often brought up as a means of silencing criticism or impeding a call to justice. 

We've seen this misuse of this scripture dominate the media's coverage of recent revelations in Washington D.C. And often the words, do not judge, are spouted by a man in a cleric's collar or carrying the title Reverend and accompanied by quotes from other religions along the theme of love and unity. When people of strong convictions speak up and confront society's wrongs, they're often branded as controversial, or religious bigots, or hypocrites, or troublemakers. And their accusers who display their ignorance of the Scripture often claim that they're in violation of this particular passage right here, this biblical command that tells us not to judge. Perhaps you've made a statement declaring what's right and wrong at some point in your life, and someone has confronted you and said, what give you the right to judge someone else? Don't you know your Bible? Your Bible says you're not supposed to judge. 

Well, that's not what this passage says. If this passage were telling us that we should never under any circumstances judge, then how could we possible fulfill Jesus' commandment in verse 15 to watch out for false prophets? In order to distinguish a true prophet from a false prophet we have to make a judgment, so therefore Jesus cannot be saying never, ever under any circumstances make a judgment, can He? This scripture does tells us not be quick or hasty in our judgments, but rather be thoughtful, wise, and discerning in the judgments that we make. You know, mankind has a propensity for making quick judgments. One of the most common is what we call the first impression. You know, where in the first few seconds you look somebody over and you'll draw your conclusions and you'll make your judgments. 

You know, some judgments that people have made over time actually have gone down in history? There was this note that was carried. A partially deaf boy came home from school one day carrying a note from the officials. The note suggested that the parents take the boy out of school, claiming that he was "too stupid to learn"; that note was carried home by Thomas Edison. I'll bet you the school official regrets having made such a judgment, wouldn't you think? Louis Pasteur was rated as "mediocre" in chemistry. Pasteurized. You know, he's pretty famous for only being mediocre in chemistry. Albert Einstein was regarded by his teachers as being retarded, a slow learner. Winston Churchill flunked the sixth grade. Abraham Lincoln began the Black Hawk war as a captain. By the end of the war, he had been judged suitable only to be a private. He had been demoted all the way down to being a private. Walt Disney was once told you have no talent. And then there's this evaluation made by some movie executive on Fred Astaire; can't act, can't sing, can dance a little.

You know, people pass judgments, and hasty judgments at that, all the time. That's part of the problem. And what Jesus here is forbidding us to do is to make self-righteous, hasty, unmerciful, prejudiced, and unwarranted condemnation based on human standards and human understandings. And He gives us three reasons why such activity is sinful. First off, it reveals an erroneous view of God; verse 1. Secondly, an erroneous view of others; verse 2. And thirdly, an erroneous view of ourselves, verses 3 and 4. 

First verse, Matthew 7:1; Do not judge, or you too will be judged. Now the word here for judge is krino, the same as in our communion devotional today. In the first case it's found in the present-active-imperative tense and suggests a simple statement of perceived fact viewed as occurring in real time, or making an instantaneous statement of judgment based only on what you see, or a hasty judgment. Now in the latter case, krino is found in the aorist-passive- subjunctive tense which is characterized by a punctiliar action or one time event, and that's a reference to God's judgment. So what Jesus is telling us is that we are not the final court. He's reminding us that we are not the final court. And to play judge over another person's motives or to curse another one to condemnation is to play God. 

Sometimes people make such judgments in the heat of emotion or perhaps reacting to a perceived slight. There was one day I was in the gas station and I was filling up, and I was washing my windows and a lady came in and she was pursued by an aggravated man, and he got out and he started cursing her, and his final statements were, he finally got in the car and drove away, you go to… And I think you can fill in the blank. You know, for us to make such a declaration is presuming upon the role of God, because the Scriptures tell us that the only one who has the authority to send somebody to hell is God. And so basically what this person was doing was saying, God, since you're not here I'll take care of this judgment; hey, you, you…! We're very poor representatives of God. The Scriptures reveal that God is omniscient, that means He knows everything. You know, there is nothing you can tell God that is going to surprise Him. You know, God, I've got to tell you about, you know. O really! I didn't know. God never responds like that because God knows everything. But you know, when God passes a judgment, a significant judgment, the Scriptures reveal that He does something. Before judging those building the Tower of Babel, Genesis chapter 11, the Scripture reveals that the Lord came down to the city and tower which the sons of men had built. He did a personal inspection. 

And before destroying Sodom and Gomorrah, Genesis 18, God said, "I will go down now, and see if they have done entirely according to its outcry, which has come to me." I know what's going on, but I'm going to personally review the situation before I pass judgment. God doesn't pass hasty judgments. Some people think that God is some kind of angry ogre in the sky just waiting for somebody to do something wrong so He can, gotcha [brings down hand on pulpit], punish them. And such a resumption really misrepresents God altogether because God is so patient, and so merciful, and so forgiving with our failures. I came across this study on the relationship between our judgments and the root of bitterness in a book entitled The Choosing to Forgive Workbook by doctors' Les Carter and Frank Minirth. I'll read it for you, this excerpt: "When was the first time you became aware of justice, that wrongs should be corrected with some form of punishment or retribution? You were probably a very young child. If you hit your sister there were consequences to pay when your parents caught you. If you cheated at school you would receive a zero. If you were caught cutting in the lunch line, you were sent to the end of the line." It happened to me more than once. "You get the picture. 

The concept of justice has been reinforced throughout your life. A major roadblock to forgiveness is the requirement that justice must first be served." Did you hear that? That's an important statement so let me say it again. A major roadblock to you forgiving someone is your prerequisite that your justice must first be served. "Inwardly you can cling to the notion that fairness should always win over injustice. And as logical as it may seem to hope for that, you can set yourself up for bitterness when you face the possibility that your justice may never be served." What causes bitterness to take root within us? Well sometimes it's our impatience with God's justice system. We want that person punished NOW for what they did to us. So where are you God? [rapping impatiently on pulpit] Don't You know what's going on here? Why don't You do something? They're getting away with it God. And while we wait for what we think is justice; anger, and resentment, and judgment grow deep in our souls and ultimately germinate spreading discontentment everywhere. And it affects our ability to judge any and everything, the root of bitterness. 

But God is patient. He is not eager to condemn, but rather to restore. Romans 2:4 says, do you show contempt for the riches of His, God's, kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God's kindness leads you toward repentance? God is slow to pass judgment because He wishes to give us opportunity to repent. God's love is awesome. His mercies are new every morning. His forgiveness is complete. You know, someone has said that God's judgments would be our judgments if we knew what God knows. In other words, we would concur that God's judgments were right is we knew what He knows. Now, what is it that God knows? Well, God knows the future. 

You know, He knows the results and the impact of every decision. Do we? You know that we make decisions today that are going to affect us a month from now, a year from now, ten years from now? We don't know that do we? We don't know what the long-term impact is. You say, should I buy this car or not? Two years later we regret having bought it because we don't know the future. God does. What about the applicable surrounding circumstances? Do we know all of the circumstances that are contributing to whatever the issue is that we're dealing with? No, we can't. 

You know there was a time I was 16 years old. We were coming back from a family vacation, driving down the freeway, and I made the mistake, I was driving, of changing lanes right in front of a police officer who resented coating the asphalt with his tires, and I got a ticket. What the officer didn't know and what I didn't know how to communicate to him, was the reason that I had done that lane change was because I was trying to avoid getting in a wreck with a reckless driver who was swerving all over the road. That officer made the best judgment he could by what he saw, which was a 16-year-old kid making an improper lane change, but he didn't see all of the surrounding circumstances. But God does. What about the background experiences and the conditioning that are woven into the very fabric of a person's being? Do we know what makes a person respond the way they do? Do we know about why they have the insecurities that they have? Perhaps some childhood experience that resulted in them reacting the way they do?

You know, I venture to say that we don't even know that about ourselves. There are things that are buried in our childhood that are covered and closed, and we don't know why we react the way we do sometimes when circumstances prevail upon us. But God does. God knows the past, the present, and the future. An unknown poet wrote: Judge not the workings of his brain, And of his heart thou cannot see. What looks to thy dim eyes a stain, In God's pure light may only be A scar brought from some well-won field Where thou wouldst only faint and yield. Secondly, an erroneous view of others, verse 2, For in the same way that you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. You know, some people feel free to judge others because they erroneously think they are superior to the other person. To be critical or judgmental is to really live with the false impression that someone else is inferior to us. 

You know, sometimes we reveal stories from our lives; they make impacts on other people. My son just this week, as we were together, asked me to repeat a story that I had told him a number of years ago. So it obviously made an impact, because I hadn't told him in years. But I remember a story that my father told me a number of years back and it's made a deep impact on me, and I've asked his permission to share it with you, and he's granted because I think it will impact you as well. He was a younger man, much younger. One day he was busy about his business and he went to the post office and out in front he saw a postal worker sitting in front of the little planter box plucking [extremely slow weed pulling motions]…out…weeds. And he made a snap judgment. 

He got angry, and he walked in and he stood in line, and when he got to the counter he told the clerk, no wonder my postage costs so much, look at the people you guys hire here. And the clerk behind the counter said, Sheley, you ought to be ashamed of yourself. You've never gone to war. He has. While you were sleeping in your warm bed, he was sleeping in the mud of the battlefield. The reason he's like that is because he nearly had his brains blown out by a hand grenade. My dad walked out of there feeling about that tall [approximately 1/2 inch measure with fingers]. Jesus tells us that God will judge us with the same type of judgment with which we judge others. If we assume the role of judge, then we imply that we're qualified to judge; that we know all the laws, and the facts, and the circumstances, and the motives that are involved with the case. And then, having thus presumed that we know all, we're in a very poor position plead ignorance when the law is applied to us. 

Thirdly, an erroneous view of our self, verses 3 through 4, "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? Now that word karphos is in some translations translated speck and other ones. The idea that's communicated when we think of it is something very, very small. Sometimes I'll see somebody going like this [blinking and rubbing right eye] and I'll say, what's the matter? I've got something in my eye. I look, and I can't see anything because it's so small, but it's there and it's irritating their eye. Actually the word in the original language meant a stalk, or a straw, or a splinter, possibly a big splinter. The word that's translated plank or beam or log is dokos and could have referred to something so large as a telephone pole. So then Jesus' comparison is not then between something very, very small and something large, but rather between something large and something gigantic, you see. 

Now this is actually a case of Jewish humor that generally is lost upon us. You know, some humor does not translate across cultural. My wife was born and raised in Eastern Europe. And some of the humor that is American humor is nothing short of offensive to her. And sometimes she'll tell a joke and I'm still waiting for the punch line when it's long gone. But actually this is a case of Jewish humor. We have a tendency when we study the Scriptures; we look at the word dokos and it means a big, okay, I wonder if it's smooth or rough? I wonder if it's oak or walnut? I wonder if it has knots? Is there a spiritual significance in the knots? Okay? And we miss the whole word picture. Okay? Now the people that were sitting there, the Jews in Jesus' day, would have been laughing hilariously, because they would have seen the picture that we miss. 

Jesus was talking about a guy with this log hanging out of his eye, you see. You know. And he's telling someone, hey, come here. Let me fix your eye. Watch my branch. Yeah, that's my woodpecker. Come here. That's the picture that would have gone through their mind, so it was really a very humorous way of communicating a truth. And you know humor is a great anesthetic for the surgeon's scalpel. In fact, we're going to enjoy its wonderful use next week with Custer and Hoose. Now the speck and log are word pictures of something wrong or foreign in our lives. It's the picture of someone who's desperately in need of help trying to help someone else. 

Now, what things could cause somebody to ignore this log hanging out of their eye? Well, it could be, first off, that they're spiritually insensitive. They're unaware of this telephone pole hanging out of their eye. It's all right; I don't use that eye anyway. You know, we often ignore our own failures and our own weaknesses. Or it might be a way of excusing our failures. What, this? [points to pretend log in eye] This? This is not a log. This is a cornea. It's just larger than most. It's just a cornea, you know? It's a natural growth, you know? I don't have a problem. I was born this way. Have you heard that excuse? I was born this way. Now YOU, on the other hand, have a problem. Here, come and let me get that speck out of your eye. Or how about it might be that someone is trying to redirect attention away from this log hanging out of the eye to somebody else. You know how a guy will stand on the street and look at the side of a building [gazes questioningly at pretend building] and other people come around [looks at a pretend person then attempts to view what they're looking at]. You know? So you get this picture of this guy with this log hanging out of his eye. Come here and let me help you Fred. Hey George, come here. Can you see that speck in? Wilbur, come here we need your help. Can you see that? And the whole time his whole attention is to get the attention away from this log hanging out of his eye and the speck in his brother's eye. It's the picture of a busybody who neglects his own condition. 

The word considerest in the King James Version, attention in the NIV, is katanoeo which means to consider attentively, or to fix one's eyes upon or mind upon, or thoughtfully consider. And so what Jesus is really asking is, won't you stop and consider or think about your own sin? We often feel free to pass quick judgments on other people when we ignore or discount the sin that's in our own life. The primary point that Jesus is making here is that the sin of the critic is much greater than the sin of the person that he's criticizing. But Jesus doesn't leave us there with the problem; He gives us a solution. He tells us that we should judge our judgments. You hypocrites. First take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see to remove the speck from your brother's eye. 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. 

What Jesus does is He provides us three guidelines in judging our judgments. The first one is deal with our own sin first. The second one is confront in meekness, and the third one is judge justly. You know, this whole Sermon on the Mount is identifying the characteristics of the people of God's kingdom, and He says that they are poor is spirit, they are humble, and they are those who hunger and thirst after God's righteousness. These are the kind of people who are going to be aware of and penitent for their own sins. And what Jesus is telling us to do here is not to ignore the speck in the brother's eye, the sin that's in your brother's life, but first deal with the issues that are in your life, the sin that is in your life. First take the plank out of your own eye. 1 John 1:8-9, If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. Oh, that was written to the world. No. That was written to Christians. If we claim to be without sin we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 

And then the passage continues to tell us how we can be rid of sin, If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. And you know, we recognize our sin, we recognize our need for a savior, and when we recognize our need for a savior we perceive others as being in the same condition we are, and then we can perceive others as being brothers and sisters not inferiors that should be judged by us. 

Secondly, we're told to confront in meekness. You see some people would stop right there and they say, don't make any judgments on anyone else, you're just supposed to get rid of the sin in your own life, but this is part of the same passage. After having dealt with our own sin, Jesus commands us to remove the speck in our brother's eyes. This is not a passage suggesting that we do not confront sin, but rather it specifies to us improper and proper attitudes with which to do so. All confrontation of sin must be done out of an attitude of meekness, not pride. Galatians 6:1 reads, Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted. And just to make sure that we understood that this passage was not telling us not to judge, Jesus continues by telling us that we are to judge justly. 

Verse 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 then turn and tear you to pieces. Now Jesus here is not referring to animals, but rather using animal's characteristics to describe people. And in order for us to fulfill this commandment it is absolutely essential that we make judgments about people; which people are dogs and swine. Now in the biblical times, we have a concept of dogs, you know, faithful Fido, gets the paper, plays with the children. But you know, in biblical times dogs were not domesticated. Sometimes they would be used in the herding of sheep, but for the most part, dogs ran wild and they were vicious and violent. They hunted in packs. In fact, I heard a report that in all probability more humans are killed in any given year by packs of wild dogs than by bears and other creatures. They were filthy, diseased, dangerous, and despised. 

The phrase, what is sacred, refers to the meat, the remains of the sacrifices, that had been brought to the temple and offered on the temple grounds and consecrated to God, and such meat would never, ever, ever, ever be given to dogs. Swine are considered by Jews to be the epitome of uncleanness. There's nothing so lonely as a pork chop at a bar mitzvah. You know, this is not a light issue with the Jews. In fact, in 168 they went to war. It's called the Maccabean Revolt, because they were so angered that Antiochus Epiphanes had sacrificed a pig and forced the temple priests to eat it. They're willing to shed blood over this issue. It's not a trivial matter. Now the swine that are referred to here, when we think of pigs we think of pink, rosy, cuddly, you know, Porky the Pig kind of things. That's not the kind of swine that is referred to here. This is closer to a wild boar. You know, ugly, mean, tusks, dangerous, very dangerous. 

My hunter friends tell me that one of life's more exhilarating experiences is hunting boar, wild boar, because there's the good possibility that the hunter might become the hunted and spend the night in the tree. You know, these are dangerous animals. And Jews would never domesticate a swine, so most of them were wild, vicious animals who foraged for food in the town dumps. And they would likely attack you if you ever came between them and their food or their offspring. Now dog and swine represent those who, because of their great perversity and ungodliness, refused to have anything to do with, or value, the holy and precious things of God. In their arrogance they don't ignore the things of God, they want to [beats on pulpit rapidly with both hands] stamp them out. They want to silence them. They want to put it where is cannot be seen. They're going to stomp it right into the ground so they can't even see it. And when those who confront sin, who promote godliness and holiness, will not be silenced then they turn and attack God's people attempting to tear them to pieces.

How often do we see that take place? People have stood up and said in the public arena, this is wrong and instantaneously they are assaulted and attacked, their credibility, their testimony destroyed and whatever means torn apart if it can happen, because they will not be silenced. Now there is a time that we should shake the dust off of our feet, and that again requires a judgment. You know, we at Church of the Highlands we diligently endeavor to know the Scriptures. We want to know what it says. We want to know what it doesn't mean. We want to know what it means, and we want to know what it means to us. This passage tells us that we should never be hasty about our judgments, but rather be wise and discerning in the judgments that we make. 

Let's pray. Lord we thank you for Your word and the richness that we find in it; the nourishment for our souls; the direction for our feet, our mouths, and our hearts. And Lord as we looked at this passage today we realize that each of us, everyone of us, myself included, have failed this week in fulfilling this command because I have been quick to make judgments. Lord we thank you that You're patient, and that You're forgiving, and that You want to change us and make us better people. Lord may it be that as we leave this place Your Spirit continues to minister the word in our hearts and our souls and our spirits to transform us and change us. Make us better people, better representatives of You in this world in which You've placed us. Thank you Lord. Thank you Lord. In Jesus' name we pray. Let's stand. I'll send you forth today with this blessing that is found in Numbers chapter 6, "The Lord bless you and keep you; The Lord make His face shine upon you, And be gracious to you; The Lord lift up His countenance upon you, And give you peace." Go in peace. God bless you.