Pastor Dave Dummit kicked off our new series, "
The Read Letters." The purpose of this series is to look more closely at the actual words of Jesus to better know and understand what He actually said rather than what others may claim He has said. For this series, we'll spend the majority of our time in a few chapters in the book of Matthew.
Today's kick-off teaching was about Things Jesus Said About Judgement. Pastor Dave began his teaching in Matthew 7, where verse one says, "Do not judge, or you too will be judged." Right off the bat, we need to understand that judging is not discernment. Often the two are mistakenly intertwined. Throughout our days, in both small and big ways, we need to make judgment calls. Meaning that we need to exercise discernment to determine what is good and what is bad, what is wise and unwise, etc. What Jesus is talking about when He says do not judge is do not condemn. To judge literally means to pass final judgment, to evaluate with the intention of condemning. We should not judge others with finality in mind nor judge ourselves that way.
Matthew 7:2 says, "For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you." What Jesus is saying is I want you to apply the golden rule to your judgment. I want you to judge others the way you want your heavenly Father to judge you.
Pastor Dave then lead us to verses 3-5, “'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.'"
It's easier to identify someone elses' faults than our own, but the irony is that often what we identify in others is what we ourselves struggle with. Pastor Dave challenged us, "What's the plank in your own eye?"
There are three reasons Jesus doesn't want us to judge others:
1. We are not licensed to judge (Psalm 7:11, 9:7-8)
God is the righteous judge sitting on His throne, which is for judgment. We cannot possibly judge the way God does, so we shouldn't even try.
2. We don't have all the facts to judge (Psalm 9:7-8)
The second reason God doesn't want us to judge is because we will never have all the facts to judge someone properly.
3. Judging others is dangerous (Matthew 7:1-2, Romans 2:1-3, John 8:7-11)
This is like the wise saying, when we point our finger at someone else, we are pointing three other fingers back at ourselves. We must be very careful with the measure that we use to judge others as it comes back to us. Pastor Dave said, "Call out sin in a loving way? Yes. Make judgment calls in situations? Yes. But Jesus is serious when he says do not judge. Don't pass final judgment—condemnation—on people."
