Question
According to Matthew 7:1, judging others is forbidden. However, judging is a necessary evil for the betterment of man himself and his society, I think. Do you think that judging the right and wrong or effective and ineffective is really bad thing?
Answer
You are correct in your understanding of judging as presented in Matthew 7:1–3. Many use this passage with the mistaken idea that Jesus prohibited us from making any kind of judgments. This, of course can not be what the passage means. In the verses following, He said, “beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes, nor figs from thistles, are they? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit; but the bad tree bears bad fruit” (Matt. 7:15-17). Certainly, just as we must judge what is good and bad fruit, we must be able to judge good and bad teachers. But on what basis shall we judge? In John 7:24 Jesus said, “Do not judge according to appearances, but judge with righteous judgment.” In Matt. 7:1-3, therefore, Jesus must be speaking of unfair or self-righteous judgment. When we judge according to God’s word, if our hearts are right, we understand that we will all be judged by that standard. If we ourselves live according to His standard, then we have no fear of “unexpected judgments” in the end, because God has revealed to us ahead of time how He will judge. But when we use our own standard of judgment, then we are sure to fail, because our standard is not perfect, and can always be used against us. Whenever a person judges another by his own standard, he fails to realize that his own standard condemns him in areas he himself does not see. There is no exceptions to his rule. A person who complains about someone else’s habits ALWAYS has some habit himself that is annoying to another. Simple annoyances may not be too significant, but when we accuse someone of sin, we better be sure we know what we’re talking about. Whether I think something is sinful or not has no bearing whatsoever on the truth of the matter. Only God can say that. That’s why when we preach and teach, we need to do so with “book, chapter and verse” so that if anyone should disagree with what is preached, let him disagree with the Scriptures rather than the teacher. In that case, the teacher is not the judge, simply the messenger of the judgment.
For more inofrmaiton please check out the following sermon by clicking here.
By Doug Focht
