Daily Devotional For Wednesday, November 6, 2024
Yes, you have made it to what is called “Hump Day” – Wednesday. It’s mid week and we are making our way through the most famous and best sermon ever – Jesus’ Sermon On The Mount. You can read this in its entirety in Matthew chapters 5, 6, & 7. We have finished looking at chapters 5 & 6 and today, we come to chapter 7, specifically, Matthew 7:1-6:
“Do not judge so that you will not be judged. (2) For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you. (3) Why do you look at 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,’ and behold, the log is 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 what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before swine, or they will trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces” (NASB).
There is no question who Jesus had in mind as He said this – those hypocritical self-righteous, judging and condemning religious leaders. They were so bloated with their own self-righteousness, that they had had a hard time getting around. These six verses provide a sharp contrast between the humble, loving and trusting spirit versus a prideful one. Anytime we set our standards higher than God’s in terms of evaluating people, we will always judge others by our standards, not God’s. Over centuries, the religious leaders had replaced the authority of Scripture with their own standards. Look at:
- Matthew 15:2, “Why do Your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread” (NASB).
- Matthew 15:6, “And by this you invalidated the word of God for the sake of your tradition” (NASB).
These religious leaders really believed they were better. Thus, they were unmerciful, unforgiving, unkind, censorious, and lacking in grace and compassion for others. They based everything on appearances and their superficial externals. Look at Jesus
Comments about them in the following verses:
- John 7:24, “Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment” (NASB).
- John 8:15, “ You judge according to the flesh; I am not judging anyone” (NASB).
They lived their whole lives justifying themselves in the eyes of others, but Jesus told them that their judgment was contrary to God’s and detestable to God. Look at Luke 16:15, “And He said to them, `You are those who justify yourselves in the sight of men, but God knows your hearts; for that which is highly esteemed among men is detestable in the sight of God” (NASB). This so angered Jesus that He taught a parable called “The Parable of the Pharisee and the Publican.” Let me share it from Luke 18:11-14:
“And He also told this parable to some people who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and viewed others with contempt: (10) “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. (11) The Pharisee stood and was praying this to himself: ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. (12) I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get.’ (13) But the tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, the sinner!’ (14) I tell you, this man went to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted” (NASB).
Jesus’ point is clear. Anytime we justify ourselves, we condemn others. Anytime we elevate ourselves, we lower others. There is a spiritual deception people have in thinking they qualify better than God to judge others. We can act and strut across the stage of life but God sees that we are only actors – fakes. There is a big misunderstanding people have when they read this passage.
It is erroneous to think or suggest that believers should never evaluate or criticize anyone for anything. In our present culture, it hates absolutes – especially both moral and theological absolutes. Many even in our churches resist dogmatism and strong biblical convictions about what is right and wrong, godly and ungodly, righteous and unrighteous and holy and unholy. There tends to be more modern pop-psychology in our churches where love is taught as something that is all embracing, all accepting, and all-inclusive in order to fulfill our command to love others and keep the unity of the faith. This is a lie straight from hell.
In some churches, those who do speak up are called down for violating Jesus’ teaching here. They are seen as being judgmental, troublemakers and causing controversy in the church. If you read both the Old and New Testaments, as well as study church history, spiritual and moral reform was never achieved apart from confrontation and conflict. Just read the prophets. They were bold in their calling out kings and the people even while they were being mocked and resisted. It was church reformers in the 16th century that called out and protested against the Roman Catholic Church and created what is called The Protestant Reformation. Men such as Martin Luther, John Calvin, John Knox, William Tyndale, Huldrych Zwingli, Johannes Guteberg, John Wycliffe and Ulrich Zwingli to name a few.
When the church strays from biblical doctrine, reformation is needed even as people resist. The darkness hates the light and there are many in the church who are not sheep, but “wolves in sheep’s clothing” as Jesus called them. The whole Sermon On The Mount, Jesus shows the difference between true Christianity and false Christianity, between what is spiritually right and what is spiritual heresy. Jesus says as His disciples, we must be discerning and perceptive in what we believe and what we do.
As people of God, we have to make a distinction between what is right biblically and what is the misuse of the Bible to justify one’s ways. In a few later verses, Jesus said this in Matthew 7:15, “Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves” (NASB). And in Matthew 18:15-17, Jesus tells us to confront a brother who is sinning. If we fail to do this, then it is not due to love, but to loathing and hating the Word of God. See below:
“If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother. (16) But if he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you, so that by the mouth of two or three witnesses every fact may be confirmed. (17) If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector” (NASB).
We will look more at this over the next couple of days. As we will see, Matthew 7:1-12 leads up to what we call “The Golden Rule” – treat people the way you want them to treat you. If worrying from the previous passage we looked at is our favorite pet sin, then judging others is our second pet sin. Have you ever noticed how easy it is for us to judge others but when we learn they are judging us, we get angry? Tomorrow we will look more at what Jesus means by “judge.”
Questions To Consider
- Do you ever judge others and then get angry when someone judges you?
- Do you ever think you are better than someone else? Is it a particular type of person or people? Why or why not?
- Are you open to being confronted when you are wrong? Why or why not? Do you willingly confront other believers when they are wrong? Why or why not?
- Though we did not discuss it, what is the best approach to confront a believer who is sinning?
- Through the whole Bible and church history, there have been those who called out sin and confronted believers who were sinning – sometimes at a great cost to them but for a greater good to that person and others. Why do you think it is hard for the person being confronted to see that greater good?
Scripture To Meditate On: Romans 2:1-2, “Therefore you have no excuse, everyone of you who passes judgment, for in that which you judge another, you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things. (2) And we know that the judgment of God rightly falls upon those who practice such things” (NASB).
Prayer To Pray: “Dear Jesus, I can be great at judging but very weak on confronting other disciples of Jesus Christ who err and sin. I know I do not like to be confronted with my sin. There is an imbalance in my life when it comes to this. Please help me to be open to others who need and should confront me. Please help me listen to You and others on this. I love You Jesus. In Jesus’ name, Amen!”
I love you Southside!--Pastor Kelly