It is our human nature to put other people in front of ourselves to judge them. We all have yardsticks to judge other people. God is saying that your yardstick will become a boomerang to judge you.

1 – We are to apply wise discrimination

There are always those who are prepared to pass judgment. We all have to make judgments. See John 7:24. A spiritual person knows how to judge things properly. See 1 John 4:1. We are to judge the spirits to see if they are from God. See Matthew 7:15. Jesus warns to watch out. He makes a righteous judgment. It is wise. Every time you vote you have to make a judgment. We need to examine against the Word of God. There are some things are plainly wrong because the Bible says so. E.g. Adultery, lying, stealing, envy, etc. There are always self-righteous people who go “ah-ah-ah!” you are judging. See Leviticus 19. If you do not point out sin then your do not love your brother. Too many people do not have the guts to say what is wrong.

• Logs – Look in the mirror and remove the log before you try to discern the hogs and dogs.
• Dogs & Hogs – Do not give to dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs.” It seems to contradict what he has just said when he told us not to judge. After all, how can you discern who is a hog or a dog without some kind of judgment?

2 – We are to avoid wicked condemnation

See Luke 6:36. There is a self-righteous condemning attitude that is wrong. This is what Jesus condemns. See Romans 8:23-25. Jesus Christ is the only one who can condemn anyone. Why do people condemn others?

It is our own iniquity. It is the hypocritical that are hyper-critical. You have got to look real close to see a speck in a brother’s eye. The hypocrite looks and finds a speck but misses the 2 foot beam in their eye! You will find a speck in anybody’s eye if you are really looking for it. You will find God if you look hard enough! See Romans 2:1-3. Your yardstick becomes a boomerang. Jesus had more to say to the Pharisees about their sins then the prostitutes and tax collectors. Look at the prayer of the Pharisee and the Publican! Which is real? None of us is wise enough to judge another person – we don’t have all the facts. See Romans 14:4.

• Our insecurity.
• Our ignorance.
• Our insensitivity.

Do we really want people to go to hell? Why tell them to go there? What judgment you mete out will be measured against you. You could be the one on the way to hell. We may see people as unfit and unworthy. God loves us for what we can be rather than what we are.

Categories: Matthew