JUDGING Matthew 7:1-6  November 6 2016 Gill Khoury

James 1:19 (NIV)

19 My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this:

Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry,

Today we are going to talk about Judging

Matthew 7:1-6 (NIV)

7 “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 2 For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.

3 “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 4 How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.

6 “Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.

Points:            Judging means a critical mean spirit, that assumes the worst.

Discern between right and wrong but don’t impute motive.

Sin has a context, which we often can’t see.

Don’t Judge; Why?

1) What goes around comes around.

We live in community the way we treat others is meted back to us.

This is not about final judgement from God.

2) We are blind to our own sins

We are intolerant with other people’s sins but tolerant of our own. Before we try to address someone else’s sin, we need to deal with our own. We need to be culturally sensitive

3) Judging in a mean critical fashion doesn’t achieve the meaningful change we seek.

Change is like eye surgery it needs sensitivity and skill and our own ability to do it.

In the process both parties change.

Matt 7:6 Don’t cast pearls before swine

Even if you are right, don’t impose your views on others if they don’t want. That doesn’t mean that we can’t boundary a person. But boundary doesn’t mean internal change