Proper Judgment and Decision

Well, I thank all of you for your wonderful singing today. Even though we're a smaller group, we still are able to sing out, and so I appreciate that. I appreciate Dr. Housalton's sermonette. Very, very appropriate because, you know, as we study through... See, Dr. Housalton has started on a new series. It has 150 parts.

And...

But part 119 is more lengthy than the others. So all of you are familiar with the book of Psalms, and certainly it is... It's good to be able to read, as we did today, like in Psalm 3, how David obviously was distressed, you know, for many different reasons, many different problems, and some of them of his phone making and others, you know, that God allowed. And yet, he wanted to continue to focus on the fact that God is the answer. You know, we have hope because God is faithful. I'm not as faithful as I would think God is, you know. I see that as something to seek, that's something to look forward to. And yet, God is faithful, and so we have hope in this life, and we clearly have hope beyond the grave. So it's important for us to be mindful of those. Here in the last few times that I've spoken, we've covered different segments of the Sermon on the Mount. And I hope that it is something that is helpful to you. It is helpful to me to go over what Jesus taught and be able to have more and more in mind. As we started out, he talked about the attributes of a converted mind that we normally think of as the beautiful attitudes that are described there, but clearly attitudes that we should seek, attitudes that we should desire, and you could make out of any one of them a complete sermon or more about what it is God is like and how He wants us to become. Well, we went through a sermon about how Jesus magnified the law and about how He explained that, well, it wasn't just the breaking of a direct command, the letter of a law that was sin, but that sin involved anger and hatred and lust and envy and a lack of commitment and being vengeful and even not having love for our neighbors, love for even our enemies. You know, those are amazing things that, you know, these three chapters, Matthew 5, 6, and 7, are really just incredible. We went through chapter 6 last time about the proper way to pray and fast and how God expects us to be growing in the way of giving that He teaches us, giving to Him, but also giving to others as we are able to do so. And today I want to cover the next part of this series, starting in chapter 7, and I'm entitled to this. In a sense, this kind of answers Dr. Hausl to one another. Well, part of that's explained here by Jesus. And so the title of what I'm going to cover today is proper judging. And perhaps we could say proper decisions because, you know, this is kind of a wide-ranging category, but it's certainly very beneficial instruction for us as members of the Church of God. Now, the Church should be a safe place regardless of whether we're succeeding or whether we do fail as we do from time to time. And when you read Matthew 7, verse 1, it says, judge not lest you also be judged. It starts talking about making judgments or making determinations, in this case, about someone else. And I think when we properly understand this, this has far more a positive bent to it than we might think. But unfortunately, we often find that our judgments maybe have a basis that is more so in criticism or in condemning than we might care to think. But here in Matthew 7, starting in verse 1, I want to read through this first section and discuss this with us because it really is important that we learn what Jesus was talking about. I think there's clearly a very easily understood basis why he said what he did.

He says, do not judge so that you may not be judged, or judge not lest you also be judged. For with the judgment that you make, you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get. Why do you see the speck in your neighbor's eye or brother's eye and do not notice the log in your own? How can you say to your neighbor, let me take that speck out of your eye while the log is in your own eye? He said, 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.

See, now that's a pretty succinct explanation of something that Jesus was very familiar with. Now, as we've mentioned in others of these verses, we see that Jesus was pointing out in many ways how that the Judaic religion and the chief proponents, the Pharisees, of how that religion functioned, they were, in most cases, off-target. You know, they were not applying properly the direction. And actually, this has very positive direction, but we find that, you know, the Pharisees, we read this last time in Luke 18. Now, the Pharisees, Luke 18 verse 9, he said that he gave that parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and they regarded others with contempt. He was talking about a Pharisee and how that they tend to be far more picky, far more critical, far more accusatory, far more condemning because they looked down upon others. And of course, he goes ahead and enumerates. I'm sure he'll go ahead. I'm not like everybody else. And certainly glad I'm not like this tax collector.

You know, that was sad to see that, in a sense, admission in the way that Jesus described that parable. Out of some of the commentaries and just talking about how the Pharisees were, the Pharisees not only looked down on others, but they didn't even follow their own man-made rules. And they had so many rules. It was hard to even remember what they were, much less apply them. But even among themselves, they belittled those of lesser rank and often had different degrees of lofty titles, such as Raab, which meant great one, or Rabbi, meaning a greater one or a Rabban, being the greatest one. So they categorized everything. A.T. Robertson, in his word pictures in the New Testament, describes judging in this context as the habit of sharp and unjust criticism. Our word critic is from this very word. It means to separate, distinguish, discriminate. And we do have to make judgments. Jesus was not saying don't judge. You could misapply that verse 1 of Matthew 7. He said, well, Jesus says don't judge. No, he says you need to learn how to properly judge. So Jesus was not against evaluating and analyzing situations since he goes on to say about discerning in Matthew 7.20, therefore by their fruits you shall know them. And so even later in the chapter, he's saying, well, you have to be able to take a look at something and see whether it's right or whether it's wrong. And he would also state in John 7.24, do not judge according to appearance, but judge with the righteous judgment. And so there obviously is a wrong way to judge, but then a proper way, what you could call a righteous way of judging.

So, and this is a conclusion from what this commentary was saying, you know, we should condemn the sin but be considerate toward the sinner. Condemn sin but love the sinner, I think, was the way we would commonly use that. You know, you read several different descriptions. I read to you the only one there in Luke 18 about how the Pharisees were described.

Let's take a look here in the book of Mark. How was it that the Pharisees looked at Jesus? We can go to the first few chapters of Mark. Mark 2. Starting in verse 6, this is when a paralyzed man was brought to Jesus, and they let him down through the roof. Verse 6, some of the scribes were sitting there questioning in their heart, why does this fellow speak in this way? It's blasphemous. Who can forgive sin but God alone? See, what were they doing? They were analyzing in a condemning way, and of course they didn't know why Jesus could forgive sin. They thought that was blasphemous. But that's just a description of how they went about looking at Jesus and anyone who would follow Jesus. If we jump over to chapter 3, you see Jesus entering the synagogue in verse 1, and the man was there who had a withered hand. Verse 2, those in the synagogue, some would have been Pharisees or scribes. They watched him to see whether he would cure him on the Sabbath so that they might accuse him. If we jump over to chapter 7.

Chapter 7, verse 1, the Pharisees and some of the scribes had come to Jerusalem, gathered around Jesus. They noticed that some of his disciples were eating with defiled hands. That is, they didn't wash their hands. For in verse 3, the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they thoroughly wash their hands, observing the tradition of the elders. They don't eat anything from the market unless they wash it. And they also, there are many other traditions that they observe, the washing of cups and pots and bronze kettles. But in verse 5, the Pharisees, the scribe says, why do your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders?

See, they were simply watching. They were simply watching what Jesus was doing and what his disciples were doing, and critical of how it was. In this case, they did or didn't wash their hands or the pots and pans that they were going to be using. And so, the atmosphere that the Pharisees created was one of condemning, being accusatory, and being critical.

Now, I would say that, unfortunately, at times, we create a similar environment, even in the Church of God. Now, that's not what God wants. And we have to overcome that. We have to strive to overcome that. That's actually what Jesus is teaching about how to properly judge that. That's what we've read now in Matthew 7. I want us to go over to Luke 6.

Luke 6. In verse 37, here in Luke 6, you have somewhat of a summary of some of the things that Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount. It doesn't go through all of them, and it covers them in a little different way in some cases. But here in Luke 6, verse 37, it says, you not judge, and you will not be judged. Don't condemn. You will not be condemned. But forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you.

A good measure pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be under you, into your lap for the measure you give, will be the measure you get back. See, the intent of what Jesus was teaching was realize that if you're judgmental, and if you're critical, if you're accusatory, if you are simply looking for something to pick at, well then that's pretty much what you might expect in return. That's what Jesus is pointing out. Here in Luke's account in verse 39, he told him, a parable can a blind person guide a blind person? Will they not both fall into the ditch?

The disciple is not above his teacher. Everyone who's fully qualified will be like the teacher.

Says you need to become like me. The Church of God should be a place where we are not sitting in judgment or critical or accusatory or condemning, but where we are accepting.

And loving. He goes ahead in verse 41 to say, why do you see the speck in your neighbor's eye?

But you don't notice the log in your own.

See, that's what we have to analyze about ourselves. We have to analyze about the human nature that we have acquired from living in this world. We tend to see the problems or difficulties or limitations or sins or faults or flaws. However, we want to describe it. We tend to see others' flaws very, very easily. But we don't often tend to see ourselves in that same way. That's really what Jesus is saying.

And he goes on in verse 42.

How or why would you say to your neighbor, friend, let me take that speck out of your eye?

See, it's not a matter of just seeing something. But Jesus is making an example of, well, it's not just that we might see something, but we decide I need to say something. I need to point out how wrong. See, I don't like to be criticized.

I don't know that any of us like to be criticized. We need to be criticized sometimes. Or we need to be evaluated, but we don't necessarily like that. I actually bristle whenever I'm criticized. Whenever I'm criticized.

No fighting here in the room!

Whenever my wife points out something to me that I needed to know that I didn't want to know, I tend not to... I might eventually accept that love. But initially, I think of it as, that's pretty critical. Why is she so critical?

I mean, but that's what Jesus is saying. He says, well, you tend to, if you have an attitude that is one of being critical and accusatory and judging wrongly, well, then you tend to see everything that's wrong, and then you even want to say, because that makes me feel a little more superior. See, that was what the... Jesus struggled with that, watching the Pharisees all the time.

That was their whole, kind of their whole system.

But see, what is it that he tells us? What is it he says that we should do? Well, we should become like our master.

We should become like Jesus Christ. And that would involve speaking the truth, but in love. Not out of spite or out of a wrong comparison or an accusation or criticism. Jesus wants us to love and serve one another toward his divine family. That's really what he says here in verse 41. Why do you see the speck in your brother's eye, but you don't know the log in your own eye? Why do you say, well, friend, let me take this speck out of your eye, and you don't see the log in your own, your hypocrite, first. And so here he's saying, this is how to properly judge or love or serve someone else. And then you can see clearly to take the speck out of someone else's. See, now that's a, that is an amount of growth, an amount of development that Jesus would call conversion. He would call that not being condemning and accusing, not being judgmental in a wrong way, but actually loving enough, someone enough to try to help them, to try to do that. Seeing, yeah, I'm clearly flawed, and I have, you know, and of course he uses a comparison of a speck of sawdust maybe, and a beam or a log in your own eye. Why does he make that stark of a comparison? Well, because, you know, I happen to know more about my problems than I do yours. I know more about my flaws and sins and thoughts and intents of my heart than I know about anyone else. So, whenever you read this in Matthew 7, the first few verses, it's talking about learning to properly judge, properly love, properly serve someone else, and then that's going to be based in a self-analysis.

And he says, whenever we do look at the log in our own eye, then we're able to see clearly how to help someone else.

See, that's amazing that Jesus could teach that in about, you know, five verses. He could teach what the Church of God needed to be like. He could explain what the hypocritical attitude of the Pharisees were.

He could show how to make proper judgments. And yet, that's what he's talking about here in Matthew 7. Let's go on in chapter 7, and I'm only going to cover a few more verses here, and we'll stop when we get to verse 13, or we'll go through chapter 7 verse 12 today.

Because, as I said, this sermon involves proper judging, Jesus has just described, but then it also shows us how to make some wise decisions about other things. Verse 6 of Matthew 7, he says, Now, that seems like kind of out of the blue. In a sense, he was also saying, well, you know, I don't know how much luck we're going to have trying to instruct these Pharisees, because they don't want to know anything anyway. And was Jesus calling people names by calling others dogs or swine? Well, I don't think that's something that you could say.

Expositor's commentary says, and this is kind of an, I think, understanding of the use of dogs and pigs in this verse, pigs were not only unclean animals, but they were often wild and vicious, capable of savage action against a person. So a retaliation, more of a wild pig than a, you know, domesticated pigs, as most of them in this country. Dogs shouldn't be thought of as household pets. In the scriptures, they're normally wild, associated with what is unclean and despised. So the two animals, both of them in this verse, serve together as a picture of what is vicious or unclean and abominable. And yet, the reference to the pearls, don't throw your pearls before swine. You know, we see the Word of God. We see information that is regarding what is holy.

We see the message of the kingdom described in Matthew 13. You see, let's see if we can quickly pick that out. Matthew 13 verse 45, kingdom of God is like a merchant in search of fine pearls.

And finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all he had and bought it.

See, so in a sense, Jesus was saying something about, well, in essence, he was saying, we're not trying to convert everybody today.

There are people, if you bring up topics that they're not really interested in, all they're going to do is argue. That seems like all anybody any does anyway anymore. They all want to just argue about every confusing thing and then distort or lie about, you know, whatever any facts are. It's very hard to get facts anymore.

Of course, we know we're told in 1 Peter 3 verse 15 that we are to have an answer, an answer available in answering someone's question about our belief in God, our faith in God. That's a part of be ready always to give an answer of the hope that lies within you with meekness and fear. And yet, see, that's actually, in a sense, defending or explaining our belief in the gospel and not offensively trying to cram something down someone's throat.

That's really what Jesus was saying. And we shouldn't try to convert people by expounding on biblical truths when they show no interest in knowing anything about it. What good is that going to do? In a sense, Jesus was saying, use a little wisdom. If you're going to be wise as a serpent and harmless as a dove, because that's another description that he's going to use, well, you need to know.

Well, sometimes there's not much you can say. Sometimes somebody doesn't want to have any. All they want to do is argue. You know, that, unfortunately, you know, we get trapped by sometimes. That doesn't help us or help them. But when Jesus tells us, be wise when you present information about the kingdom of God, you know, that's what we have to do from the standpoint of the church. Our mission is to proclaim the kingdom of God. How we do that, you know, there are many different ways it could be done.

And we can't certainly cram it down anyone's throat, but we can make it available, and then we have to see. Let's turn over to Matthew 10. And this is actually an instruction that Jesus would give his disciples as they were to go out and to preach the gospel, in this case, to the house of Israel. He says in Matthew 10, verse 11, I want you to go into the towns and villages, find out who it is in those towns and villages that is worthy, and stay there with those who are worthy until you leave.

As you enter the house, greet it, and if the house is worthy, then let your peace come upon it. But if it is not worthy, then let your peace return to you, if anyone will not welcome or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet as you leave the house and town. So here he has, you know, more wisdom, more insight into why it is you don't throw your pearls to the swine, why you don't, you know, offer things that are holy to those who wouldn't even be interested.

Here he's actually explaining, well, I want you to go out, and I want you to find who those who are, who he describes into those who are worthy, those who want to know something, those who want to actually study the Word of God, and stay there and talk about it.

Talk about me, talking about Jesus, talking about the kingdom, talking about what God's purpose for man is. See, he's well aware. Not everyone is being converted today. So we want to use some wisdom as we would extend that. Even if we go over to Luke 9, a verse that we often, perhaps, would use in connection with understanding this verse in Matthew.

Luke 9, verse 51, The days drew nearer for Jesus to be taken up. He set his face to go to Jerusalem. And so this was where he was traveling from wherever he was in Galilee down to Judea. On their way they entered a village of the Samaritans to make ready for him. But those in this village of the Samaritans did not receive Jesus because his face was set toward Jerusalem. See, now Jesus had talked to a Samaritan woman prior to this, I believe.

At least that was in the book of John. It looks a little earlier to me. And he had told her everything about her life. She was completely blown away. How could he possibly know all of my flaws? And later he would talk to others who she brought to him and said, look, could this be the one? They didn't know. But here in this case, you see Jesus and his disciples just traveling and going from Galilee to Jerusalem. And verse 53, this village did not receive him because his face was set toward Jerusalem.

Now, Jesus could say, look, I have the message of the kingdom of God. I am the king of the kingdom.

You need what I have to give. I actually have living water. You heard about that sometime earlier from the woman at the well. He could have done that, but he didn't. Verse 54, when his disciples James and John saw it, he said, Lord, should we call down fire out of heaven to consume this village? And of course, obviously, that was not right. He turned and rebuked them. So he said, no, you don't know what manner of spirit you're at of. He told Peter that at one time. I think he was essentially saying that to James and John. You're not to be retaliatory. You're not to be returning evil for evil. You need to learn that you're following me. And I have the answers, yes. I have the message of the kingdom, and I am the king. But it says in verse 56, they just went on to the next village. That's what he had actually told his disciples. Go to those who wish to receive the information of the kingdom of God. And if they don't wish to receive it, then you know, go on to the next person, because there will come a time, there will come a judgment day that all people will come to see what their need is for God. But he says that's not happening for everybody today. So that was a wise instruction that Jesus gave. He follows that up in Matthew 7, verse 7, with something we've covered here before, Matthew chapter 7. And I'll maybe not elaborate on this a lot, because we have gone over it, but I tend to think about it from my own limited standpoint. Even though I know what it says, I don't always do what it says. Verse 7, ask and it'll be given to you. Seek and you shall find, knock, and it shall be opened for you for everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks finds. Everyone who knocks the door will be opened.

See, again, we know to ask. We know that we should seek good gifts from God, but do we always do that? Are we not neglectful at times? Do we not either forget or we're just occupied with daily living? You know, I think about this as I have kind of struggled with different health issues. I'm a pretty optimistic person. I always think I'm going to get better.

I think that God's going to help me. Do I bother asking? Well, maybe not as intently as I should.

Maybe not as fervently as God would want me to ask, but see, he goes ahead and makes a description here. If there anyone among you in verse 9, who if your child asks for bread, but give them a stone? He says even humanly, parents would like to give things that would be good and favorable for their children. He ends this in verse 11. If you then who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more?

How much more will your father give good gifts to those who ask you?

See, here he's talking about, you know, do we realize that the good gifts that God wants to give us, he often wants to see us ask for. Does he know what we need before we ask? Yes, it says so. Matthew 6. He already knows what we need, but does he want us to ask, what is the benefit of that? Well, that's developing relationship with our Heavenly Father. One of dependence, one of trust, one of faith, one of encouragement. You even see in James 4, verse 2, the statement that James makes. It says, you receive not because you ask not.

Or he goes ahead to say, or you ask amiss. You ask in your wrong attitude or wrong spirit. So is God interested in how we ask and that we do actually request his help and his involvement and if we're in need of healing, if we're in need, as again we had mentioned earlier, of relief from different problems, financial or health or other issues, relationship issues. 7. Whenever Jesus gives the statement, ask and seek and knock, he's saying that this is a way to be wise. This is a wise decision. Learn to ask God for the things that you need and learn to do that in an attitude of humility before God, knowing. What do you find in the book of Job?

You can read through an extensive, numerous number of chapters where Job simply defends himself and doesn't really ask God in an attitude of humility for what he needs. He wanted to defend himself. He was angry at God. He was upset over the problems he was having. And he would say, I want to contend with God. So I read some of those verses and I think, well, that's really crazy. This is off the chart wrong. But I don't think about, well, maybe I'm that way too. I'm not as receptive to God's involvement as I should be. And clearly, he would later show Job, said, Job, you need a Redeemer. You're like everybody else. Every one of us need a Redeemer. Every one of us need mercy and forgiveness from God. You don't need to argue with God. You need God's mercy.

So we should ask, we should seek the good gifts from God. See, I want to seek God's favor. I want to seek His face. I want to seek His the mind of Christ. I want to seek the life of Christ living in me. I mean, these are all verses you could go to and read about. I want to seek the righteousness of God. I want to seek the kingdom of God. Seek His will. That's what we read in Matthew 6.

Hallow His name. Pray for His kingdom to come. Pray for His will to be done.

So do we earnestly ask and seek and knock. Too many times we find that we don't receive because we haven't asked. Again, wisdom from Jesus. And then the last verse we'll cover today.

Matthew 7, 12. Do unto others, and everything, do unto others as you would have them do to you. This is the law and the prophets. Now that's incredible wisdom. Wise decisions.

And you might say, well, why did Jesus need to even say that? Well, you would think everybody would know that. Actually, even the Pharisees taught something somewhat similar. But let's think about this. Again, Expositor's commentary says, about AD 20, Rabbi Hillel challenged by a Gentile to summarize the law in a short time, in the short time, a Gentile could stand on one leg. Sounds like a crazy proposition to me.

And he reportedly responded, what is hateful to you, do not do to anyone else. This is the whole law. All the rest is commentary. Just go and learn it. Now that was, in a sense, a similar answer, certainly a correct answer. And yet, it even has a kind of a wrong spin on it. Because what we find Jesus doing was emphasizing that rule or law called the gold called the golden rule, as many people would read this verse, as it is here in Matthew and it is in Luke. But apparently Jesus phrased the rule in a positive way. Not just don't be hateful to others, as the rabbinic statement had been made. But he says, no, I want you to do. Do. Don't not do. Do. Do. Sins of omission or sins of commission, things that, you know, knowing what we're supposed to do doesn't always get it done. Knowing that we ought to, you know, do unto others. You know, I used to quote to my volunteers that I worked with when I worked for the state, their job was to go out and help people. Help people who were in nursing homes and most of whom couldn't really help themselves and they had a lot of struggles with health and everything else, even getting whatever, you know, services they needed that maybe they did get or didn't get. And yet I would tell them, well, if it's in your power, you can read this in Proverbs 3, if it's in your power to do it, then why not do it? Go ahead and do it. And I would often read them. I don't know whether I was supposed to be reading them in the Bible. They understood because as we would study the statutes, which we often did because we have a whole list of statutes of resident rights and many other things that were supposed to be done for people in assisted living or nursing home, we would often study those and go through this section and this section. Whenever I'd start referring to chapter and verse, they would know, well, he's flipped. You know, it's the first statute and it's the fourth line, but if I refer to chapter and verse, they would know. They would know what it is. But here in Proverbs, because these were people that they were to be visiting and trying to help, if they possibly could at least know what the rules were and know what they were supposed to be getting.

But here in Proverbs 31 verse 8, it says, speak out for those who can't speak, for the rights of all those who are destitute. Speak out and judge righteously and defend the rights of the poor and needy. That was how I framed what I know. You know, I didn't say that in any of our state lit, but that's what we were supposed to do. And see, that's what all of us are supposed to do. Instead of not doing anything hateful, we need to do unto others. Again, out of this commentary, apparently only Jesus phrased the rule positively. Thus he stated it is certainly more telling than its negative counterpart, for it speaks against sins of omission as well as sins of commission.

They go ahead and describe, well, even the goats of Matthew 25 would be acquitted under the negative form of the rule, but not under the form attributed to Jesus. He says, well, you didn't do anything bad. No, well, I didn't do anything positive or good either. And so, we have, you know, an incredible wealth of information that Jesus reveals here in this sermon on the Mount. Not only the attributes that he wants us to have, not only an understanding of our nature, not only how to properly approach him in prayer and in giving, but here he tells us how to properly judge and how to have and make wise decisions in presenting the gospel, you know, presented to those who would receive it, or not forgetting to ask and seek and knock, you know, tremendous wisdom in a very short little section, and finally, clearly, you know, doing unto others as you would have them do to you. That's, that is, you know, in summary, you know, the duty that we have. Do we have a duty to others? See, it's actually saying, well, there's, it's more than just avoiding being hateful and critical or accusatory, as he talked about regarding properly judging and actually helping others. Do we have a duty toward others? Well, here in Romans 13, Romans 13, you see what ultimately fulfills the law, and this is clearly Jesus' example, and clearly what he wants all of us as his children to do as the children of God in verse Romans chapter 13, verse 8, he says, oh, no one anything except to love one another, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. Commandments, you shall not commit adultery or murder or steal, should not covet, and any other commandments are summed up in the word, love your neighbor as yourself. Love does no wrong to its neighbor, therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. See, whenever Jesus said, do unto others as you would have done unto you, this is the law and the prophets. This is the focus of what God wants to see in us. We have a duty toward others, and a duty even to properly judge if we could actually help or serve them. Instead of seeing and saying things critical, we want to create an environment where we say things that are uplifting, say things that are encouraging, say things that are doing unto others as we would like it to be done to us. So, Jesus honors what Paul would later write here in Romans 13 by simply saying that's what we owe one another, and that's the environment that we need to create in the Church of God. Jesus then concludes Matthew 7 with a series of comparisons, and all of these, in a sense, help us in drawing closer to God. So, we will finish up chapter 7 next time, and the series on the Sermon on the Mount will conclude with five, and that will be what we'll try to cover here next time.