(R C H LENSKI) The present imperative may mean to resist a course of action or to cease and desist. To whom is He speaking?

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1 THE BOOMERANG OF JUDGING Matthew7:1-6 Matthew 7:1-6 7 "Judge not, that you be not judged. 2 For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. 3 And why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? 4 Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me remove the speck from your eye'; and look, a plank is in your own eye? 5 Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye. 6 "Do not give what is holy to the dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you in pieces. MacArthur The entire thrust of the Sermon on the Mount is to show the complete distinction between true religion and false religion, between spiritual truth and spiritual hypocrisy. No more controversial or judgmental sermon has ever been preached. Jesus places God's perfect and holy standards beside the unholy and self-righteous standards of the scribes and Pharisees and declares that those who follow those unholy and self-righteous standards have no part in God's kingdom. This passage has erroneously been used to suggest that believers should never evaluate or criticize anyone for anything. Our day hates absolutes, especially theological and moral absolutes, and such simplistic interpretation provides a convenient escape from confrontation. What he forbids is the self-righteous, hypocritical judging which is false and calls down God's judgment on itself. (R C H LENSKI) The present imperative may mean to resist a course of action or to cease and desist. To whom is He speaking? There s nothing so unbecoming of a child of God than a critical, judgmental, negative spirit always looking for what s wrong. Besides, we are likely to be wrong. It doesn t take any brains to criticize any old buzzard can find a carcass! Don t put yourself in the place of God! Matt. 7:15-20 tells us that Christians are to judge prophets and teachers by the fruit that their lives bear. Rom. 13 tells us that government agencies have a rightful judging role in society 1 Cor. 5 tells us that the Church is proper to discern and judge lifestyle patterns, naming sin for what it is and struggling against it. 1 Corinthians 6:1-2, 5

2 THE BOOMERANG OF JUDGING Page 2 of 6 1 Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unrighteous, and not before the saints? 2 Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world will be judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters? 5 I say this to your shame. Is it so, that there is not a wise man among you, not even one, who will be able to judge between his brethren? NKJV In fact, what drives Jesus to ask the question in the first place, to include it in His famous Sermon on the Mount, is not the action of judging, but the attitude that lies behind so much of the activity of judging which occurs among us. He s not saying, "There s no room for judgement at all in the Kingdom of Heaven." Rather, He s saying, "Think very carefully, count to ten, and have a long and careful look in the mirror before you entertain the idea of judging. Stop, look and listen at your own life before you make a judgment call. WHO SHOULD JUDGE? 1 Judge not, that you be not judged. 2 For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. 5 First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye. Romans 2:3 3 And do you think this, O man, you who judge those practicing such things [sin], and doing the same, that you will escape the judgment of God? Ill. boy found a cave / called out hello / heard echo: hello / was surprised there was a boy in there / who are you? / echo / answer me / echo / I m gonna get you! / echo / I hate you! / echo / he ran home and told his momma about the mean boy in the cave / she knew it was an echo and said, son, why don t you go back and say something nice to the boy? / he said, I wanna be your friend! / echo / life has a way of echoing back the kind of treatment to us that we give to others. Sooner or later we ll all be measured by our own yardstick. This kind of negative spirit violates the golden rule: do unto others WHAT SHOULD WE JUDGE? Matthew 5:20 20 For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. Romans 2:1 1 Therefore you are inexcusable, O man, whoever you are who judge, for in whatever you judge another you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things. NKJV

3 THE BOOMERANG OF JUDGING Page 3 of 6 Their evaluation of others, like every other aspect of their hypocritical system, was based on appearances, on the external. They lived to justify themselves in the eyes of other men; but Jesus told them that their judgment was utterly contrary to God's and was detestable in His sight. Luke 16:15 15 And He said to them, You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God. NKJV Romans 16: Now I urge you, brethren, note those who cause divisions and offenses, contrary to the doctrine which you learned, and avoid them. 18 For those who are such do not serve our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly, and by smooth words and flattering speech deceive the hearts of the simple. NKJV 1 Corinthians 5:11 11 But now I have written to you not to keep company with anyone named a brother, who is sexually immoral, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner not even to eat with such a person. NKJV Galatians 1:8 8 But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. NKJV John 7:24 24 Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment. NKJV We do judge by appearance. They re not dressed appropriately for church. The preacher s not wearing a suit and does not have on a tie today. Girl at former church with T-shirt. Oh, our worship service went into O.T. today. Ever notice how much bigger the irritants are in the life of your spouse than they are in yours? I mean, after all, there is a good reason for why you ve not bothered with this or that or continue to do... But your spouse. I mean, my goodness, you d think that by now he d have... WHEN SHOULD WE JUDGE? v. 5 Hypocrite, first remove the plank from your own eye, and then... Christ directs us to the proper way of forming an opinion of others, and of reproving and correcting them. By first correcting our own faults, or casting the beam out of our eye, we can be of help to others. There will then be no hypocrisy in our conduct. THEN AND ONLY THEN... and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.

4 THE BOOMERANG OF JUDGING Page 4 of 6 It rather refers to private judgment than "judicial," and perhaps primarily to the customs of the scribes and Pharisees. What he refers to is a habit of forming a judgment hastily, harshly, and without an allowance for every palliating circumstance, and a habit of "expressing" such an opinion harshly and unnecessarily when formed. HOW SHOULD WE JUDGE? 2 Corinthians 10:12 12 We do not dare to classify or compare ourselves with some who commend themselves. When they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are not wise. NIV Scripturally, mercifully, gracefully. 2 Samuel 22:27 27 You are pure to those who are pure, but you are against those who are evil. NCV James 2:13 13 For judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment. NKJV Romans 2:4 4 Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? NKJV Hebrews 5:14 14 But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. A famous passage in the Talmud comparing Hillel with his contemporary, Shammai, tells the story: A pagan came before Shammai and said to him, Make me a proselyte, but on condition that you teach me the entire TORAH while I am standing on one foot! Shammai drove him off with the builder s measuring rod which he had in his hand. When he appeared before Hillel, the latter told him, What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor. That is the whole TORAH. The rest is commentary. Go and learn it! Matthew 7:6 6 Do not give what is holy to the dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you in pieces. Barns The meaning of this proverb, then, is, do not offer your doctrine to those violent and abusive people who would growl and curse you; nor to those who would not perceive its value, would trample it down, and would abuse you.

5 THE BOOMERANG OF JUDGING Page 5 of 6 Introverted parallelism." The usual mode of poetry among the Hebrews and a common mode of expression in proverbs was by the parallelism, where one member of a sentence answered to another. Sometimes this was alternate, and sometimes it was introverted-where the first and fourth lines would correspond, and the second and third. This is the case here. Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, Neither cast ye your pearls before swine, Lest they (that is, the swine) trample them under their feet, And turn again (that is, the dogs) and rend you Philippians 3:2 2 Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the mutilation! NKJV Revelation 22: Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city. 15 But outside are dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and whoever loves and practices a lie. NKJV Acts 13:42-46 Antioch 42 So when the Jews went out of the synagogue, the Gentiles begged that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath. 43 Now when the congregation had broken up, many of the Jews and devout proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas, who, speaking to them, persuaded them to continue in the grace of God. 44 On the next Sabbath almost the whole city came together to hear the word of God. 45 But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy; and contradicting and blaspheming, they opposed the things spoken by Paul. 46 Then Paul and Barnabas grew bold and said, "It was necessary that the word of God should be spoken to you first; but since you reject it, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, behold, we turn to the Gentiles. NKJV 1 Timothy 6:3-5 3 If anyone teaches otherwise and does not consent to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which accords with godliness, 4 he is proud, knowing nothing, but is obsessed with disputes and arguments over words, from which come envy, strife, reviling, evil suspicions, 5 useless wranglings of men of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain. From such withdraw yourself. NKJV The Jews of Jesus day were all very familiar with this phrase that the Rabbis frequently quoted. He who judges his neighbor favorably," they said, "will be judged favorably by God." They laid it down that there were six great works which brought a man credit in this world and profit in the world to come-- study, visiting the sick, hospitality, devotion in prayer, the education of children in the Law, and

6 THE BOOMERANG OF JUDGING Page 6 of 6 thinking the best of other people. The Jews knew that kindliness in judgment is nothing less than a sacred duty. Montaigne has a grim tale in one of his essays. There was a Persian judge who had given a biased verdict, and he had given it under the influence of bribery. When Cambysses, the king, discovered what had happened, he ordered the judge to be executed. Then he had the skin flayed from the dead body and preserved; and with the skin he covered the seat of the chair on which judges sat in judgment, that it might be a grim reminder to them never to allow prejudice to affect their verdicts. We would do well to concentrate on our own faults, and to leave the faults of others to God....that you be not judged refers to God's final judgment. Romans 14:13 NLT 13 So let's stop condemning each other. Decide instead to live in such a way that you will not cause another believer to stumble and fall. You may look good compared to me, but stand alongside the sinless Christ, and you will conclude, For all have sinned and have come short of the glory of God. Psalms 139: Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my anxieties; 24 And see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. NKJV