The Sermon on the Mount: Judging Others
In the eighteenth of his series on the Sermon on the Mount, Pastor Shane looks at what Jesus had to say about judging others. Click here for the recording of this 7/13/25 Service, and you can fast-forward to 28:37 to get to the start of the sermon.
Our text comes from Matthew Chapter 7.1-6
1 “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 look, 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 pigs, or they will trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.
Introduction
we live in a postmodern world which has all but forgotten objective truth
Because of this, much of culture sees very little of right and wrong, and would rather defer to matters of opinion- “I think, I feel…”
Leadership has to make the call, when right and wrong is on the line
How does the pastor, the teacher, the judge, the police officer, or parent operate in such a world, in light of this text?
v 1-2
Do not judge (4x), krino- to decide, consider, as preferring one thing over another or determining the correctness of a matter; by extension: to pass judgment on, condemn in a legal sense
So that you won’t be judged
You will be judged/evaluated by the same measure you do so to others
v 3-4
He asks a question to provoke thought (there are way too many unthinking people in the US church today)
Why do you see the small particle in your brother’s eye, but miss the log in your own eye? Hyperbole…
He is asking his audience why they don’t notice their own shortcomings
People don’t, because they don’t want to
v 5
He then calls his hearers a hypocrite, hupokritēs-hypocrite (the extension of an actor in a play), implying arrogance and hardness of heart, utterly devoid of sincerity and genuineness
Take out the log in your own eye, and then you can deal with the speck in your brother’s eye
He is wanting us to look always at our own issues first, and only after that, call out what is needed in others
v6 - giving pearls to pigs
Do not give what is holy (hagios- sacred, pure) to the dogs, or Pearls to pigs
They will trample it under foot; they will have no regard for the sacred (many today have no regard for the sacred)
They will turn on you violently
Carefully evaluate whether the hypocritical person has the capacity to appreciate objective truth
“We do not live with the truth of our lives; we live with the stories we tell ourselves about the truth of our lives”- RD Dobbins
Judgment elsewhere in the NT
Acts 16.4- …they were delivering the ordinances for them to follow which had been determined [krino- judged] by the apostles and elders in Jerusalem.
1 Cor 11.31- But if we judged ourselves rightly, we would not be judged.
1 Cor 14.29- Have two or three prophets speak, and have the others pass judgment.
Thus, there is a time/place for judgment, in specific instances
Practical application
Judgement is always to begin with the self, first
Own the truth about yourself
Self deception is the worst kind of deception
We will be measured by the measures we use on others
There is always a price to pay for speaking truth, no matter how it is communicated- it is painful, precisely because it is true
Rather than giving his listener an absolute prohibition against judging, he’s telling us to start with ourselves first
