Judge Not…
Matthew 7:1-5 and 1 Cor 5:1-13
Matthew 7:1-5
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.
1 Cor 5:1-13
Dealing with a Case of Incest
5 It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that even pagans do not tolerate: A man is sleeping with his father’s wife. 2 And you are proud! Shouldn’t you rather have gone into mourning and have put out of your fellowship the man who has been doing this? 3 For my part, even though I am not physically present, I am with you in spirit. As one who is present with you in this way, I have already passed judgment in the name of our Lord Jesus on the one who has been doing this. 4 So when you are assembled and I am with you in spirit, and the power of our Lord Jesus is present, 5 hand this man over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh,[a][b] so that his spirit may be saved on the day of the Lord.
6 Your boasting is not good. Don’t you know that a little yeast leavens the whole batch of dough? 7 Get rid of the old yeast, so that you may be a new unleavened batch—as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. 8 Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old bread leavened with malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
9 I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— 10 not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world. 11 But now I am writing to you that you must not associate with anyone who claims to be a brother or sister[c] but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or slanderer, a drunkard or swindler. Do not even eat with such people.
12 What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? 13 God will judge those outside. “Expel the wicked person from among you.
Not, Least You Be Judged
Judge not, lest you be judged.
This is an extremely popular saying and one of the most searched for verses on Google. We all know the words, but we don’t know the context. We’ve totally ripped this out of context, making this one of the most misused verses in the Bible. It’s become a mantra of sorts for those that believe we shouldn’t judge and just let everyone live their lives.
So many use this verse as an excuse to not listen about the faults others see in them. But that’s totally missing the point. When someone points something out in your life you should listen carefully. Every follower of Jesus should be getting the logs out of their eyes so they can see more clearly in order to help their brothers and sister. That’s why Jesus follows up this verse with Matthew 7:3-5.
We shouldn’t point fingers and condemn. That’s what the religious of Jesus’ day (and today) did. And that helps no one. What we should do is come alongside each other in love. It’s not judging to help someone see the sin in their life. It’s judging when we condemn them for that sin rather than helping them. There’s a big difference between the two.
OK, so in recap, what is this verse really saying?
1. Notice how I bolded the first words of the text in Matthew 7, do not judge. I did because most people only quote that part of the verse and then stop there. That is unfair and downright wrong because, please keep reading and we will see further what Jesus is really referring to here. He is not saying, nor was He ever saying, don’t judge. If I had a quarter for every time a Christian said we shouldn’t be judging, I would be rich, or at least better off financially. But that is not what it is saying. Jesus was talking about hypocritical judging.
2. Why? Because Jesus went on the say first look at the plank in your eye and get that out first, then you can see clearly to get the plank from your brothers eye. See the point? The point is that both have no planks in their eye’s anymore. They BOTH are good now.
3. So, this verse was never saying, don’t judge which usually means, don’t say anything, don’t do anything, just pray and let God sort it out. Saints, that is not biblical because that is not what Jesus is saying here. Repent yourself, then help others to repent so both of you can see clearly! This verse does not mean, don’t say anything and let people continue to be wrong. NO! Saints this is not what is being said here.
4. Lastly, I included the story in Corinthians were Paul judged the sin in the church of incest. Not only did Paul rebuke the man for his sinful incest but do you also see where he rebuked the church for NOT rebuking him? So, he, and the church got rebuked for not confronting the brother and his sin. My point? Saints we are supposed to deal//judge sin the Body of Christ and get it out of HIS church, that is biblical. If we were to never judge, how are we supposed to deal with what Paul did here? Go back and look at what Paul said and did in this letter. Does that sound like a man who never judges or says anything? I believe not, that’s why saints I included it in this teaching to show how we have taken Matthew 7 out of context for years. Hence, look at the words judge or judgment in what Paul was saying. We are to judge sin inside the Body of Christ, hence, why I put in in bold so you can see it, enjoy!
Closing Prayer:
Lord, I love You and I thank You for grace. However, I will not suck Your grace dry by continuing to sin over and over again. I repent and make sure I walk in Your ways and Your love. However, I realize that that we are to judge sin and it’s not a sin if fellow believers do it to me if I am wrong. Thank You Lord for bringing people into my life to correct me. I might not like it at the time, but I look back at it and thank You! Bless them for correcting me, in Jesus’ name, Amen!
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