The Teachings of Jesus Christ. Pt. 20 The Sermon on the Mount
What a wonderful morning this is. I hope all of you are able to enjoy your morning as well. Another fall day us upon us and the sky is a deep gray color while the leaves are muted and somber shades of earth tones. It is still very pretty and a reminder that the harvest time is almost over.
We move into the last chapter of Matthew's record of the Sermon on the Mount. This is a sermon where the King of glory is telling His subjects what His kingdom will be like. Christ explains the spirit of the law along with the letter of the law so that we can see our heart needs to be transformed by our King.
This first paragraph is about judgment. We may often hear someone say to us "Judge not, that ye be not judged" when we have attempted to use scripture to help them see their sin and their need of salvation.
However, this paragraph stands as a unit and the context of verse 1 makes it clear what Christ is teaching.
What does it mean to "judge" someone?
The word "judge" means to render an opinion concerning right or wrong behavior or to decide between moral and immoral acts. The Pharisees put Christ under their microscope and were constantly critiquing Him trying to find fault. They did not like the kind of kingdom that Jesus was offering because they were hypocrites as we noted.
Jesus is not saying that Christians should never make moral "judgments" because we make moral judgments every single day. Civil laws govern our actions in a wide variety of areas such as traffic laws. We make judgment calls when we obey or disregard the civil laws.
The same is true about the moral law of God. If we choose to disobey the commands about lying or idolatry then we have made a judgment call. We are showing God that His laws do not matter to us. If someone tells us something in a conversation then we judge the credibility of what that person said to us by believing it or disbelieving it.
We do judge things all of the time. However, the idea here is that someone is constantly judging and critiquing others. In the Greek, it refers to a censorious spirit which is someone who is always ready to affix blame on someone else with derogatory words and condemning speech.
Jesus Christ continues to help us see that our heart must be right when we need to make some type of a judgment. If we have a hardened heart that takes delight in judging someone by finding fault in them Jesus says the same spirit of judgment will return upon us.
Chaff is like a small mote that gets into someone's eye
Photo of Chaff
The word "mote" refers to a dried out piece of straw of chaff blown about by the wind that ends up in someone's eye. The "beam" refers to a piece of lumber like a 2x4. Christ paints a picture not unlike Paul did in 1 Corinthians 12 where he imagines the whole body as an eye or an ear.
A beam is like a 2x4 in someone's eye
Photo of 2 x 4 lumber
Jesus teaches us how foolish and hurtful it is to walk around with a 2x4 sticking out of our eye as we try to help a brother get a small speck out of his eye. A person with a censorious spirit is like a man with a 2x4 sticking out of his eye who cannot see anything clearly and yet tries to remove a speck from someone else's eye.
Matthew 7:1-6 Judge not, that ye be not judged. 2 For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. 3 And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? 4 Or 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? 5 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. 6 Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.
Don't judge others because we all have our sin issues that must be dealt with before God
Jesus provides the remedy for a censorious spirit. It is looking inward at your own heart and examining it by the Word of God to address your own shortcomings and sins.
The apostle Paul speaks of our natural tendency to take it easy when doing a self evaluation. In his discussion on communion and those who participated inappropriately, Paul tells us that we will not hold ourselves to the same standard that we are willing to impose on another person.
Our Father will judge us if we fail to do so and He will not let His children slide by.
1 Corinthians 11:31-32 For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.
In this text to the Romans, the apostle reminds those who are censorious that they will stand before the Lord of glory and give an account, just as the person they are judging will give an account. There is no point in judging others because Christ is the ultimate Judge and He will render a right decision in each and every case.
Romans 14:7-10 For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself. For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord's. For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living. But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.
The Corinthians were constantly judging the motives of Paul and the apostle had to address the issue. He reminded them that he is judged and justified by the Lord Jesus Christ alone and not by men's words. He reminds us not to be censorious and to avoid judging others because the Lord will come and bring all things to light even hidden things of darkness.
There is no need for the believer to be preoccupied with judging others. Each one of us still carry the "old man" with us and have our own sinful tendencies to deal with before God.
1 Corinthians 4:3-5 But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man's judgment: yea, I judge not mine own self. For I know nothing by myself; yet am I not hereby justified: but he that judgeth me is the Lord. Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God.
We must exercise discernment and prayer in attempting to help another person see the error of their ways. We must seek wisdom from above to understand if what we are thinking about will be beneficial to them.
The last verse in this teaching of Jesus Christ reminds us that even when our heart is right and we truly want to share the truth in love with someone who needs it, that person may turn on us. They may become harsh or hateful toward us.
The Word of God is holy and the things of God are holy. Christ warns us to make sure that we do not take those holy things and cast them before the swine (sinners) who may trample those precious things into the ground and may rend or tear us apart. The idea here is of the fool who is an obstinate rebel against God and who stubbornly refuses the Good News.
The Barna research Group discovered in a poll that 14% of professing Christians admit to judging others on social media and that they are aware that this is harmful or negative behavior.
Points to Ponder....
We move into the last chapter of Matthew's record of the Sermon on the Mount. This is a sermon where the King of glory is telling His subjects what His kingdom will be like. Christ explains the spirit of the law along with the letter of the law so that we can see our heart needs to be transformed by our King.
This first paragraph is about judgment. We may often hear someone say to us "Judge not, that ye be not judged" when we have attempted to use scripture to help them see their sin and their need of salvation.
However, this paragraph stands as a unit and the context of verse 1 makes it clear what Christ is teaching.
What does it mean to "judge" someone?
The word "judge" means to render an opinion concerning right or wrong behavior or to decide between moral and immoral acts. The Pharisees put Christ under their microscope and were constantly critiquing Him trying to find fault. They did not like the kind of kingdom that Jesus was offering because they were hypocrites as we noted.
Jesus is not saying that Christians should never make moral "judgments" because we make moral judgments every single day. Civil laws govern our actions in a wide variety of areas such as traffic laws. We make judgment calls when we obey or disregard the civil laws.
The same is true about the moral law of God. If we choose to disobey the commands about lying or idolatry then we have made a judgment call. We are showing God that His laws do not matter to us. If someone tells us something in a conversation then we judge the credibility of what that person said to us by believing it or disbelieving it.
We do judge things all of the time. However, the idea here is that someone is constantly judging and critiquing others. In the Greek, it refers to a censorious spirit which is someone who is always ready to affix blame on someone else with derogatory words and condemning speech.
Jesus Christ continues to help us see that our heart must be right when we need to make some type of a judgment. If we have a hardened heart that takes delight in judging someone by finding fault in them Jesus says the same spirit of judgment will return upon us.
Chaff is like a small mote that gets into someone's eye
Photo of ChaffThe word "mote" refers to a dried out piece of straw of chaff blown about by the wind that ends up in someone's eye. The "beam" refers to a piece of lumber like a 2x4. Christ paints a picture not unlike Paul did in 1 Corinthians 12 where he imagines the whole body as an eye or an ear.
A beam is like a 2x4 in someone's eye
Photo of 2 x 4 lumberJesus teaches us how foolish and hurtful it is to walk around with a 2x4 sticking out of our eye as we try to help a brother get a small speck out of his eye. A person with a censorious spirit is like a man with a 2x4 sticking out of his eye who cannot see anything clearly and yet tries to remove a speck from someone else's eye.
Matthew 7:1-6 Judge not, that ye be not judged. 2 For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. 3 And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? 4 Or 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? 5 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. 6 Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.
Don't judge others because we all have our sin issues that must be dealt with before God
Jesus provides the remedy for a censorious spirit. It is looking inward at your own heart and examining it by the Word of God to address your own shortcomings and sins.
The apostle Paul speaks of our natural tendency to take it easy when doing a self evaluation. In his discussion on communion and those who participated inappropriately, Paul tells us that we will not hold ourselves to the same standard that we are willing to impose on another person.
Our Father will judge us if we fail to do so and He will not let His children slide by.
1 Corinthians 11:31-32 For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.
In this text to the Romans, the apostle reminds those who are censorious that they will stand before the Lord of glory and give an account, just as the person they are judging will give an account. There is no point in judging others because Christ is the ultimate Judge and He will render a right decision in each and every case.
Romans 14:7-10 For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself. For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord's. For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living. But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.
The Corinthians were constantly judging the motives of Paul and the apostle had to address the issue. He reminded them that he is judged and justified by the Lord Jesus Christ alone and not by men's words. He reminds us not to be censorious and to avoid judging others because the Lord will come and bring all things to light even hidden things of darkness.
There is no need for the believer to be preoccupied with judging others. Each one of us still carry the "old man" with us and have our own sinful tendencies to deal with before God.
1 Corinthians 4:3-5 But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man's judgment: yea, I judge not mine own self. For I know nothing by myself; yet am I not hereby justified: but he that judgeth me is the Lord. Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God.
We must exercise discernment and prayer in attempting to help another person see the error of their ways. We must seek wisdom from above to understand if what we are thinking about will be beneficial to them.
The last verse in this teaching of Jesus Christ reminds us that even when our heart is right and we truly want to share the truth in love with someone who needs it, that person may turn on us. They may become harsh or hateful toward us.
The Word of God is holy and the things of God are holy. Christ warns us to make sure that we do not take those holy things and cast them before the swine (sinners) who may trample those precious things into the ground and may rend or tear us apart. The idea here is of the fool who is an obstinate rebel against God and who stubbornly refuses the Good News.
The Barna research Group discovered in a poll that 14% of professing Christians admit to judging others on social media and that they are aware that this is harmful or negative behavior.
Points to Ponder....
- Christians must judge at times and we must use the clear light of God's Word.
- Christians must not have a double standard but judge all things equally, especially as it applies to us as individuals.
- We must judge actions not motives.
- We must restrict judging to matters that are not disputable. A Christian man leaving his wife for another woman is clearly condemned by God and we can try to help that man see his sin.
- The goal of judging must be restoration of that person to God.
Today's subject matter of our Lord's teaching hits every Christian at some point in time. Jesus shows us why we must refrain from judging others when our heart is not right before the Lord. Christ also communicated to us through His apostles to tell us that we need to judge ourselves before God and not to be preoccupied with judging others.
My prayer is that the Lord will help us see our sins as He does and that He will lead us to confession and repentance. I pray that we will keep short accounts with God and that we will not be judges of others. May the Lord grant discernment and help us judge rightly on those occasions where we might be a help to someone that needs it. May we avoid a censorious spirit at all costs.
Bob
My prayer is that the Lord will help us see our sins as He does and that He will lead us to confession and repentance. I pray that we will keep short accounts with God and that we will not be judges of others. May the Lord grant discernment and help us judge rightly on those occasions where we might be a help to someone that needs it. May we avoid a censorious spirit at all costs.
Bob
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