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Kingdom Gems - Week Eight: The Sermon on the Mount
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We're continuing our journey through Matthew 7 in the Sermon on the Mount. Today's message addresses something that's very controversial in our culture—the command "don't judge me." But we need to bring balance and context to this text.
The Bible says in Proverbs 11:1, "A false balance is an abomination to the Lord, and a just weight is his delight." Everything we approach according to His word requires balance. We don't need to be too far to the left or too far to the right. God delights in a just way.
"Judge not that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce, you will be judged and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye when there is a log in your eye?' 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. Do not give dogs what is holy. And do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you."
John 7:24 brings clarity: "Judge not according to the appearance, but judge with righteous judgment." Does that mean you don't judge? No. It means you are using the scepter of righteousness to judge.
Many of us judge based on outward appearance. We see someone and think, "She thinks she's all that," but we don't know what's happening internally. She might be dealing with self-esteem issues. The makeup and external presentation might be because she's struggling internally. God says, "Do not judge according to the appearance."
We see this in Scripture when Samuel came to Jesse's house. He looked at all the fine, impressive brothers and thought, "You look like a king." But God said, "Samuel, that's not it." The one doing God's work in the field might have been dusty and dirty, but he had the heart. That's what matters.
The word "judge" in Greek is krennos, which means to decree—to discern rightfully between good and bad. But there's a contrast. In our culture, when we hear "judge," we immediately think condemnation. God is saying to anchor it in righteous judgment.
When we judge, we should judge from:
But when you judge from a place of condemning—that's condemnation. Romans 8:1 tells us: "Therefore, there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh, but walk after the spirit." There is no condemning. You don't have heaven or hell. You don't put anybody in either one.
What brings balance to judgment is not only discernment, wisdom, and righteousness. It is the word of God. This is what anchors it and keeps the balance together.
When dealing in righteous judgment, you're always doing it from the word of God—not from your opinion, not from your experience, but based on God's word. However, if we leave it only on that, we look like a Pharisee or Sadducee, walking around thinking we know everything.
But grace balances that thing. As we speak, we have to reflect on our own stuff, our own heart. This is where grace comes in—recognizing our own need for God's mercy even as we help others.
God has given a hierarchy in the kingdom of God. In Ephesians 4:11, we see the fivefold ministry ascension gifts—apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers. Their responsibility is to perfect the saints, to do the working of the ministry, to edify the body of Christ. While edifying, they're training, equipping, rebuking—but doing it in love.
Matthew 7:3 asks: "Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?"
Your brother's is a nuisance. But yours is a hindrance. Yours is very visible and unsightly. We have to check our hearts.
A lot of times, we don't even know we have this pole in our eye. We go through traumas in life, pain, and disappointments that create these poles. The reason we can't identify them is because they have now taken on an identity. We say, "I'm just stubborn," or "I ain't got no patience," or "I'm just rebellious."
But God said rebellion is like witchcraft. Stubbornness is likened unto idolatry. We've taken on that identity and come into agreement with it. When somebody points out the pole, we say, "I ain't got no pole." We've identified with it so deeply we can't see it.
We have to begin to see it from the lens of righteousness, see it from the lens of his grace.
One of the most recorded trials in biblical history is Solomon's judgment. Two women, both prostitutes, lived together. Both were pregnant. One had a baby, and the next day the other had a baby. They were home with their newborns.
One woman accidentally laid on her baby and suffocated it. She woke up in the middle of the night, realized what she'd done. She took her dead baby, laid it on the other woman's breast, and took the living baby for herself.
In the morning, the other woman woke up to find a dead baby on her. Not only was the baby dead, but she could tell it wasn't her baby.
They went to the king. The guilty woman spoke first (because that's what guilty people do—they want to talk first). Solomon, in his wisdom, called for his sword. "I'll slice this baby in two. You take half. You take half."
The real mother cried out: "No, no, no, no, no, Lord. Let her have the baby!" The other woman said, "Yeah, neither you nor I will have him." Righteous judgment exposes the heart. Solomon gave the judgment to the true mother.
This is what happens when you're tapped into the wisdom of God. We can't do anything by flesh.
1 Corinthians 5:12 states: "For what business is it of mine to judge outsiders and non-believers? Do you not judge those who are within the church to protect the church as the situation requires?"
This brings balance to the audience in which you judge. God will judge those that are without. When we said "I do" to Christ, we came into a new kingdom. We were not born into this kingdom. We learned mindsets and characteristics from the old kingdom.
A kingdom is simply a territory in which a king rules. In God's kingdom, there is a constitution—the word of God. There is a governor—the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost's responsibility is to teach you the constitution so you can live a peaceable life. You know the code of conduct in this kingdom.
God is asking: Why would you judge them when they haven't even been confronted with this constitution? They might have heard about it from their mama or grandma, but they don't have an association with it. They can't identify with it. God said, "Those are mine."
We go outside of the word of God and judge non-believers. That's why they don't want to come into the church. We're going against what God told us to do. Our responsibility is to pray for them. Jesus said, "No man comes unto me unless the Father draws him." So we pray: "Father, draw them by your power."
When you said "I do" to Christ, you became a prayer warrior. That's our responsibility as intercessors.
Matthew 7:4-5 continues: "Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye when there is a log in your own eye?' You hypocrite. You fraud. You pretender."
A charlatan is a pretender. You don't truly carry the burdens of the gospel. You manufacture them. Jesus requires a specific heart posture—a broken and contrite heart and spirit. God is looking for our hearts.
"First take the log out of your own eye, then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye." When your vision is obstructed, you speak from a place that is broken. You speak from experience and try to call it Bible. You want God to validate your experiences and make them Scripture.
Matthew 7:6 says: "Do not give dogs what is holy and sacred. Do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you."
In Jesus's culture at that time, dogs were looked upon as something detestable, immoral, ignorant. They ran in packs and attacked weaker animals. In Levitical law, pigs were identified as unclean.
Dogs are very predictable. Pigs are unpredictable. When you cast pearls in a pig pen, by nature they eat everything. They don't care what it is. The pearl can't be digested. It doesn't taste good. So it angers them.
Jesus was speaking in the context of the Pharisees and Sadducees, who ran in packs and stood on corners acting like they were something. God said: "You don't even value the thing that you carry." You don't see God's word as valuable. You don't see it as something of great value, of high esteem.
It is an honor and a privilege to carry God's word in your heart. We don't even realize this because we came from a different kingdom.
Romans 12:1 tells us: "Don't be conformed to this world. Be transformed by the renewing of your mind." Your mind has to be recalibrated. When you renew your mind, you're going back to a place in the Garden of Eden, regaining the mindset we lost when sin interrupted us.
God is saying: "I want you to stop thinking that way. I want to transform and renew your mind according to my kingdom, according to my way." Stop grieving the Holy Spirit. He is the governor set in the kingdom to establish rule. There is a code of conduct.
When we judge from a place of righteousness, the intent is not condemnation—that brings shame and guilt, making people hide. God's desire is conviction. His promise is not slack. Jesus is on the way back. He comes with long suffering because "he wants none to perish but all come to repentance." Conviction converts the soul.
We're speaking from a place of the kingdom. Judgment means we govern and rule. Revelation 1:7 says we've been made kings and priests of the most high God. God has given us a new title. We can decree—another word for judge is to decree. That's kingdom language. We decree in righteousness.
Luke 7:36 records an important lesson. Jesus meets Simon the Pharisee, who invites Him into his home. Jesus accepts and reclines at the table, comfortable and relaxed.
A woman "great in sin" walks in with a prostrated heart. She must have heard about this man of God, this great teacher, this prophet. Something is different about Him. He doesn't look like the regular men of the law.
She walks into an atmosphere where she knows she will be judged. But she's desperate. She pushes past the judgments, comes into the church, and sits down. She walks behind Jesus's feet and begins to weep. The presence of the Spirit of God shows up. Weeping is one of the first fruits that appears.
She weeps at His feet, wipes His feet with her tears, kisses His feet as a sign of humility. She walks in with oil of flax, a perfume, and anoints His feet.
Simon watches from afar and thinks: "If this was a man of God, if this was a prophet, He would know who's touching Him." Jesus hears his thoughts. He says to Simon: "Simon, let me tell you something."
Instead of going straight into righteous judgment, Jesus tells a parable. Two people owed money to a money lender. Neither had money to repay. The money lender forgave both debts—one owing 500 denarii, the other owing 50 denarii. Jesus asks: "Who do you think loves the most?"
Simon answers: "I suppose the one whose debt was greater." Jesus says: "You have judged correctly."
There is a judgment that comes from a place of wisdom. There is a judgment that comes from a place of discernment. There is an area where you have to be in the agape love of God.
The greatest compliment in ministry is when someone comes and says, "God told me to talk to you. You can trust her." To be able to see a person through the eyes of grace but speak from a place of wisdom that brings correction and rebuke in love—that's the Holy Ghost. That's the Holy Ghost.
The job of the governor is to teach us maturation. He brings us to maturity. Jesus said: "Be ye perfect even as your father in heaven is perfect." Perfect doesn't mean you won't mess up. We all fall short. But "perfect" means to mature, to come to a place of wholeness.
We all have areas where we're broken. We all have areas where we need God to mend, shift, and help us. We have to be yielded to the process because God loves us.
Paul says in 1 Corinthians: "Do you not know that you'll judge angels? Fallen angels?" At first, I thought, "Lord, we're going to be judging Gabriel and Michael?" But Paul proceeds: "Where is the wisdom? I speak to you from a place of shame. Where are the wise men among you? You cannot even judge the things that pertain to this life."
God is appointing us to judge angels. When we judge from a place of righteousness, when we judge from a place of right standing with God (and "righteousness" simply means right standing with God—it doesn't mean we get it right all the time). Thank God for the gift of repentance. Thank God for the gift of grace.
We judge righteously for the protection of the church. Every joint supplies. We all have our responsibility in the body of Christ. God is faithful. He has raised us up in a time such as this to be His ambassadors in His kingdom.
Our language should change. The way we walk, the way we carry ourselves should reflect that we're not of this world. Even though we're in the world, we're not of it. There should always be a great distinction.
