Exposition of the Gospel of Matthew Chapter 7:1-5

September 15, 2020

(Sermon on the mount)

Questions to be answered I this study

1. What was the first sermon Jesus preached in His public ministry?
2. What kind of righteousness is required to enter the Kingdom of Heaven?
3. Is it always wrong to judge others?
4. What is the one thing that is always wrong to judge about others?
5. If there is a legitimate to judge someone, what is the first thing we must do according to Jesus?
6. How does what Jesus said concerning judging others apply to court judges in the legal system?
7. Is it right for the church to judge? Explain.

Introduction

We are coming to the end of the sermon on the mount. We have reached the third and final chapter of Jesus’ first sermon in His public ministry. This sermon is considered the most excellent sermon ever preached on one of the most outstanding subjects, righteousness. Jesus began His sermon in chapter 5, revealing that perfect righteousness is required to enter the Kingdom of Heaven as stated in Matthew 5:48, “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” That righteousness can only be the righteousness of Jesus, which is imputed to those who trust in him. “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us so that in him we might become the righteousness of God,” 2 Corinthians 5:21(KJV).

In chapter 6, Jesus talks about how to live a righteous life here on earth, which is “Christ in you the hope of glory,” Colossians 1:27 (KJV). Jesus also teaches in chapter 6 that we should strive to please God in all we do, in our giving, prayers, forgiveness, and fasting.

In chapter 7, Jesus prepares his disciples for living in a world of unrighteousness and fighting the ever-present spiritual battles. All through this sermon, Jesus has been talking about true righteousness in contrast to the hypocritical Pharisees. Instead of Scripture for their guide, the Pharisees used the Mishna, a guidebook of oral rules passed down to them through the ages, which contained burdens so heavy to bear that they were distracted from keeping God’s law rather than encouraging. The Pharisees made themselves the Judge and jury over Israel, commanding them to bear burdens that they would not. When Jesus said to judge not others, He talked about how the Pharisees felt others by their own artificial rules.

Matthew 7:1-5, “Judge not, that ye be not judged. 2For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye give, it shall be measured to you again. 3And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? 4Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? 5Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.”

It is essential in this case to understand in what context Jesus is teaching on judging. Is He saying here that we are never to judge others? “Judge not lest ye be judged.;” this is the best-known verse in the Bible because it is used for defense of one’s sins. Based on this verse, many think no one has the right to judge them concerning anything.

The present-day culture teaches that we should exercise tolerance, be politically correct, etc. We should accept, for example, homosexuality; it is just an alternate lifestyle, even though the Bible teaches that it is an abomination to God, or abortion because it is the woman’s right. However, the Bible says, “Thy shalt not kill.” After all, doesn’t true love means accepting others’ choices and their way of living. To judge them by the way they live is wrong and biased according to the present-day method of thinking. Some very famous people have said it is wrong to think of others in any case. That, they say, is up to God. So, we have to decide whether it is always wrong to judge others, and probably most of the time, it is, but there are exceptions. However, to make a sound decision, we must first fully understand what Jesus is teaching here.

First, as I said, we need to consider the context of what Jesus has been emphasizing throughout the sermon on the mount. Matthew 7:1-2 says, “Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.” The context of this entire sermon has been Jesus contrasting true righteousness with the false righteousness of the Pharisees. The statement Jesus makes in these first two verses is obvious. Beware if you judge others, you also will be judged. Jesus does not stop here, as some might want to indicate. Jesus uses an illustration in verses 3-5 to clarify what He meant in verses 1-2:

Matthew 7:3-5, “And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? 4Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? 5Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.” To Whom is Jesus addressing this? It is the hypocritical Pharisees who were quick to judge others when they were more guilty themselves.

The Pharisees judged someone who had a spec in their eye while they had a log in theirs. Jesus says, “Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.” Jesus is not teaching that we should never judge others; He is speaking against a blind, self-righteous, hypocritical kind of judgment, which the Pharisees were guilty of doing. They refused to look at their faults but were quick to judge others for the minor offense.

At the root of this is the pride of the Pharisees, which made it easy to see the fault in others. A good example is the Pharisee and the publican mentioned in Luke 18:10-14, “Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. 11The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. 12I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. 13And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. 14I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.”

The point Jesus is making here is, the Pharisees wore a mask of piety, even though they weren’t pious at all, but at the same time, they were judgmental, critical, and self-righteous toward others. Jesus has been emphasizing all along what makes a person pleasing and acceptable to God. Jesus was saying, people who have a self-righteous, critical, judgmental and condemning, attitude toward other people are not pleasing God. Looking down on others because you think you are better than they is what Jesus is stressing here, and that is an attitude that we must avoid at all costs. It is an attitude that displeases God. That was the attitude of the Pharisees.

We need to examine ourselves as to why we judge others. What is our reason for complaining, criticizing, and condemning others? Is it to make us feel better about ourselves? Do we think we know better than they do? Have we allowed pride and spiritual blindness to cause us to see things wrongly without truly knowing what the other person may be going through? Unless we are all-knowing, it is easy to misinterpret another person’s life while incorrectly estimating our own. It is always wrong to judge others’ motives because we have no way of knowing them.

In all of this, Jesus does not say don’t judge in all situations. He says we need first to take whatever is that is blinding us out of our eye to see when we do Judge. Sometimes we are to be truthful to others about what they are doing but always out of concern for them. That by no means is being unkind or unloving. When I go to the doctor, I want him to be truthful to me. If there is a problem, I want to know. He would not be sparing my feelings by not telling me otherwise. In a nutshell, Jesus is teaching His disciples not to have a self-righteous attitude while failing to consider their own life carefully. If we are to be faithful to God, first confess our sins and shortcomings, and when we are right with God, we may be able to help someone else.

What about the court of law? Is it right to have judges and juries who judge people to find them guilty or not guilty? What does Jesus say about this? When He talked about not judging others, did He also mean the courts? Indeed, He is not talking about the court of law, which is based on the Bible from which we get our system of law. I realize that the court sometimes makes mistakes that result in innocent people being prosecuted, but are we to toss the court out because it makes mistakes. No, because otherwise, there would be anarchy, and no one would be safe from criminals.

We read in Deuteronomy 16:18-19 (KJV), Also, we read in Proverbs 17:23 (KJV), “A wicked man accepts a bribe in secret to pervert the course of justice.” God expects our courts to be run with all integrity, and of course, they aren’t always.

When Jesus said “Judge not,” it was also directed to judges. They are to be sure there is nothing in their eyes to keep them from judging fairly without bias. If any of us judge others unfairly, we are putting ourselves in jeopardy of being judged by the Lord. “Judge not lest ye be judged.” At the center of this message of Jesus is not what we do or don’t do; it is what we are at heart. We must also remember before we judge others that we all have sinned and done wrong. “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God,” Romans 3:23 (KJV). If it were solely up to us, we would all have missed the mark. It is only in Jesus that we are acceptable to God.

Is it right for the church to judge? The church is responsible for assessing what is right and wrong, evaluating character, and determining those who qualify or are spiritually worthy of leadership. The church does this when it ordains pastors and deacons. 1 Timothy 3:8-13 has a list of things to determine if a man is qualified to be a deacon or a pastor. We select a committee to meet with candidates to judge if they meet those qualifications; this is the same with pastors. Jesus is not saying that there is never a time to judge. Judging is necessary, and people must be held accountable for the things they do.

There was a time when the church did not turn a blind eye to atrocious sins in the body of Christ. It was called church discipline. In my lifetime, I have only seen it executed one time. I’m not advocating that we should take it up again. I think it is way past that time, lest we wind up without a church because it would cause such a disturbance.

We all fall short, but the good news is that we have an advocate with the Father, which is Jesus the Lord. He came down to earth, lived a perfectly righteous life, and then died as a ransom for our sins. He was our substitute, taking the condemnation of our sins upon Him. Now we can freely receive forgiveness. John 3:16-18 (KJV), “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.”

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