MATTHEW 7:1-2 nasb 1995

PROVERBS 11:1 A false balance is an abomination to the Lord, But a just weight is His delight.

JOHN 7:24 Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment.”

JUDGING SOMEONE – DISCERNING THE TRUTH BASED ON FACTS

BEING JUDGEMENTAL – FINDING FAULT WITH SOMEONE, BEING CRITICAL WITHOUT CAUSE BASED ON PERSONAL FEELINGS

BEING JUDGMENTAL TOWARDS SOMEONE

1. THEIR APPEARANCE (physical/behavior)

JAMES 2:1-4 My brethren, do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of personal favoritism. 2 For if a man comes into your assembly with a gold ring and dressed in fine clothes, and there also comes in a poor man in dirty clothes, 3 and you pay special attention to the one who is wearing the fine clothes, and say, “You sit here in a good place,” and you say to the poor man, “You stand over there, or sit down by my footstool,” 4 have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil motives?

MSG - 1-4 My dear friends, don’t let public opinion influence how you live out our glorious, Christ-originated faith. If a man enters your church wearing an expensive suit, and a street person wearing rags comes in right after him, and you say to the man in the suit, “Sit here, sir; this is the best seat in the house!” and either ignore the street person or say, “Better sit here in the back row,” haven’t you segregated God’s children and proved that you are judges who can’t be trusted?

MSG - 8-11 You do well when you complete the Royal Rule of the Scriptures: “Love others as you love yourself.” But if you play up to these so-called important people, you go against the Rule and stand convicted by it. You can’t pick and choose in these things, specializing in keeping one or two things in God’s law and ignoring others. The same God who said, “Don’t commit adultery,” also said, “Don’t murder.” If you don’t commit adultery but go ahead and murder, do you think your non-adultery will cancel out your murder? No, you’re a murderer, period.

(EYEBALL, SINK PICTURE)

WE JUDGE FROM A PLACE OF SOUND DISCERNMENT, LOVE, & COMPASSION

WE ARE JUDGMENTAL BASED ON:

2. OUR EXPERIENCE

MATTHEW 7:3-4 nasb 1995

- All sin is the same size and same weight

Romans 2:1 You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge another, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things.

(MSG) - Those people are on a dark spiral downward. But if you think that leaves you on the high ground where you can point your finger at others, think again. Every time you criticize someone, you condemn yourself. It takes one to know one. Judgmental criticism of others is a well-known way of escaping detection in your own crimes and misdemeanors. But God isn’t so easily diverted. He sees right through all such smoke screens and holds you to what you’ve done.

BEING JUDGMENTAL IS SEEING OTHERS SIN BIGGER THAN YOUR OWN

1 CORINTHIANS 5:12 For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Do you not judge those who are within the church?

MATTHEW 7:5 nasb. 1995

HOW DO WE MAKE RIGHTEOUS JUDGMENTS

1. IN THE RIGHT ORDER (our own sin first)

2. WITH THE RIGHT HEART (humility)

3. FOR THE RIGHT PURPOSE (to help a brother) not to shame them

MATTHEW 7:6 nasb 1995