Do not Criticize
Published by Stanley Pouw in 2012 · 26 February 2012
This evening turn in your Bible to Matthew 7:1-6, “Judge not, that you be not judged. 2 For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. 3 Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? 4 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye. 6 Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you.”
Let me give you a little background as we approach this topic of judging others. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus has touched on all of the areas in a wonderful summation of truths related to Godly living.
He began with our perspective on self in the Beatitudes, with our perspective on the world in the statements on salt and light, with our perspectives on the Word of God as He talked about the law and the fact that it was immutable and unchanging, and our perspective on holiness as He discussed the fact that we are to have an inward commitment as well as an external one.
He discussed our religious activity, giving, praying and fasting. He looked at our perspective, on money and possessions, material goods. And now he is teaches us about our relationship with other people. Now, as in all the other elements of the Sermon on the Mount, the perspective here is given in contrast to the view of the scribes and the Pharisees.
They were the existing religious influence of the time, and, against the background of their perspective, the Lord presents the truth. Their view of life was to be proud, and the Beatitudes were to be humble. They were a part of the system at that time. Christ taught us that we are to be salt and light to the system. And they were teaching the wrong human relationships, and the Lord sets it right here.
Now, the area of human relations goes all the way through verse 12, but we're only going to be considering the first six this evening, and we'll get to the second section, the second six verses, next Sunday. The Pharisees were so proud and so self-righteous and so convinced of their own superiority that the results were that they became totally condemning and judgmental of everybody else who didn't come up to their standards.
Jesus said to them in John 7: 24, "Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.” It was their habit to judge in a very superficial manner. Also in Luke 16:14-15, “The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all these things, and they ridiculed Him. 15 And He said to them, “You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God.”
In other words, you think you've got the answers. You think you're the judges. But you're wrong. Their judgment was inevitably the reverse of God's judgment. For example in Luke 18: 9 it says, "Jesus also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt.”
Now, there are books on behavioral psychology ad infinitum, trying to figure out how to coordinate human relations. Jesus says more in 12 verses in Matthew 7 than all of them put together. First you have what we are not to do, that's verses 1 to 6, and then what we are to do, verses 7 to 12. And the sum of the two is enough to govern all existing human relationships.
Now this evening, we're going to look first at the negative, what not to do, and the principle appears in verse 1, "Judge not." Now, you can stop there. That's the principle. And you hear people throw that around, "Who are you to judge?" There are many people who've misunderstood this.
They say, "We should never criticize. We should never evaluate anything at all. We don't want to judge, lest we should be judged." And that phrase fits our time. Because we live in an age when the wrong use of "judge not" would find a ready audience. Our time hates theology. Our time resists doctrine. Our time doesn't like convictions. People speak about love, and they speak about compromise. And somebody who talks about doctrine or convictions is generally very unpopular in many circles.
However there have been times in the history of the church, when men were praised for being men of conviction. They were praised for being men of principle, men of standards. Frankly, there wouldn't have even been a reformation if there hadn't been men like that.
But the Lord is not condemning judgments from law courts. In fact the Bible instituted that. The principle of an ‘eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth’ is based upon a law court, and Romans 13 affirms the right for a nation to rule its people. The Bible is not condemning all kind of judging. The Bible tells us, as believers, that we must discern the truth from falsehood.
And the Sermon on the Mount is predicated on a clear understanding of the distinction between true religion and false, between hypocrisy and reality. We're not to be undiscriminating and blind. For example, Matthew 7:15 says, "Beware of false prophets who come in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves." Now, if you only perceive things superficially, you'll see the sheep's clothing and never know the wolf that's under there.
Now, having said that, let’s look at "Judge not." What is Jesus talking about? What He's talking about is the critical, judgmental, condemning, self-righteous egotism of the Pharisees. They weren't criticizing people because of sin. They were criticizing them because of their character, and perhaps the way they didn't do the things the way they did.
In the first place, don’t do any official kind of judging. That's for the law courts, and you have no right to carry those things out. You are not allowed to be the judge and the executioner. There's no place in the Bible for personal vengeance.
Secondly, the Bible forbids hasty judgments. Don’t make judgments before you know all the facts. We don't always have full information. We're not to set up some human standards, and then if people don't live up to our non-Biblical standards, put them in another category spiritually.
That's even more judgment than God does, for God is rich in mercy! James 2:13 says, “For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.”
That kind of a judgment manifests a wrong view of God, verse 1. "Judge not, that you be not judged." Jesus simply reminds us all that they are not the final court. You do this, and you will be judged then. Have you forgotten that you are not God?
John 5:27 tells us that judgment belongs to God, and He's committed that judgment to the Son. We are not, at this time, to sit in judgment. There will be a time in the future when we will be a joining together with the Lord as He reigns, and we will carry out some of His rule and judgment, the Bible says.
Every time you sit in judgment on someone, every time you criticize their motives, or every time you think you have a right to make an evaluation, you're playing God. Every time you carry out vengeance or you get even on your own, you are playing God. Every time you pass sentence on someone arbitrarily, you're playing God.
Secondly, don't judge, because it's a wrong view of others. You see, most Pharisees thought they were exempt. But Jesus says in verse 2, "For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you.” In other words, God is going to evaluate you on the basis of your knowledge.
That's why the Bible says in Luke 12:48, "To whom much is given, much is required." Because the more you reject, the greater evidence you give of guilt. And that's really what He's saying: The more you know, the more you're responsible for. And the more you know, the greater the judgment.
Finally, when you critically judge other people, you manifest a wrong view of yourself. Some of us should take the time we spend criticizing other people and use it in prayer and confession of our own sin. Because until we get our own life straightened out, we have little usefulness in assisting someone else.
That is essentially what the Lord says in verses 3 and 4. Listen to it. “Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? 4 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye?”
Now, people have argued back and forth about what the speck is and what a log is. And some have said the speck is sort of a little sin. Well, I think it's pretty severe sin, more like a twig in your eye. And then they say, "But the log is a vulgar, evil and horrible sin." I don't see that, either. People with a vile, evil, horrible sin aren't going around trying to straighten out other people. They're usually trying only to justify themselves.
Usually the people who see everything wrong in somebody else's life see nothing wrong in their own life. And the only gross, vile, wretched sin that never sees anything wrong in its own life is self-righteousness. And that's what the log is.
Do you realize that every situation in the New Testament, Jesus condemns sin, not the sinner, except self-righteousness? And there He blasted the sinner with the sin, because it is the worst sin of all. It plays God. It denies the gospel. It denies any need for redemption. It says, "I'm holy."
You see, that's the key in the Beatitudes. Until you have humbly and meekly hungered and thirsted for righteousness out of recognition that you're sinful, you can't follow up on any of these things. The truly holy person is lost in his own sinfulness.
However this does not mean that you should not judge. If you say, “I'm going to go in a corner and confess my sin and take care of me. I'm not going to deal with others.” That immediately causes two dangers. Danger number one is we will not be willing to confront a sinning brother. And danger number two, we will not discern or discriminate false teaching at all.
And those are two real dangers, because if we don't confront sin, then the church is going to get corrupted. And if we don't discriminate the true from the false, we're all going to go waltzing down the line into heresy. And so the Lord closes, then, with an injunction to cover both of those.
First of all, even though we have to be careful, we must maintain the tension and the balance, so that we still have the courage to reprove and rebuke a sinning brother. Verse 5, "You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye.”
How do you do that? I believe it's a matter of confession of sin. I think first you have to look and see that it's there. Don't you see you've got an ungodly self-righteousness that makes you judgmental and critical of other people? Consider that." Having considered it, you go to verse 5, "Cast it out."
Listen to how David put it. Psalm 51, "Create in me, O Lord, a clean heart." Did you hear that? Now listen, "Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you.” But there's no way to teach a transgressor the right way, and there's no way to convert a sinner to God, until I have in my own life a clean heart.
The second danger is that people who say, "Well, judge not, judge not," like today, they say, "Well, we don't want to discriminate. No doctrine. We don't want to get anybody upset. We just want to love everybody." And then verse 6 comes like a thunderbolt to them. Listen to it. "Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you.”
The Jews believed dogs to be filthy. The Old Testament talks about them as being unclean. In other words, the Lord is saying, "Look, you'd better be discriminating in your ministry. There are some people who will hear your criticisms and who will respond to your work and respond to your word and respond to your efforts, but don't waste the precious truths on those who would shred it and tear it without any thought of its significance."
And then He says, "You don't throw pearls to swine, either, because they'll trample them under their feet, and they'll get so angry they'll turn and tear you up." Who's going to throw a pearl to a hog? True? Don't waste things on those who don't appreciate them. Therefore, you're going to have to discern, discriminate that.
Now, who are the hogs and the dogs? Look at 2 Peter 2, it says, that there were false prophets among the people. And verse 2 says, "And many will follow their destructive ways."
You could take one of those street dogs and bring him in and try to change his diet, but he'll go right back to his vomit if you let him. You can take a hog in the house, clean it up, leave the door open, it'll be right back in the slop. Hogs and dogs are those who, having known the truth, still follow the way of false teachers, false prophets, liars and deceivers.
What is so holy in verse 6? It's the truth of the Word of God, encompassing the gospel and all of the contents of the Scripture. I speak sometimes in places where I'm very careful how I use the Bible, because there are many things unbelievers will reject and mock and despise. And I sometimes choose not to give them that opportunity, for God's Word are precious treasures to me not to be trampled on.
Are you criticizing or are you evaluating, are you discerning or are you discriminating in order to show the truth and honor God? Or are you doing it to exalt yourself and hurt somebody else. Ultimately, it’s that decision that counts, Amen?