Did Jesus Really Mean We Can't Judge People At All?

Introduction
When I arrived at church early Sunday morning, I was surprised to find a pickup truck parked crooked across the space where I normally park.  I thought it was sort of odd because no one is usually at church that early and people don't normally park in that spot.  Furthermore, the truck was taking up 2 spaces.  As I wondered what was going on and also noticed the lights inside the church were not on yet, our sound technician came walking out toward me and said, "Hey Chris.  I got here early to turn on the organ for Sarah (his wife).  It acts funny if it doesn't have a couple hours to warm up.  I wasn't sleeping well and decided to come on down and turn it on."

I'm gad I didn't judge Bobby for parking so badly this morning before I found out the whole story.  He wasn't worried about parking properly.  No one else was going to be at church and he would only be there a couple minutes.  So he just pulled in real quickly.  He's such a good husband to help out his wife like that--and to help out the church so we have a good sounding organ in worship.

Meanwhile, I go on in to my office and realize, I've had a small piece of toilet paper stuck to my chin the whole time I was talking to Bobby.  I nicked my chin shaving that morning and used the toilet paper to stem the blood.  I didn't expect to see anyone at church so early and didn't think about the toilet paper stuck to my chin as I was talking to Bobby.  Bobby never said anything about it.  I'm glad he didn't judge me either!

Matthew 7:1-5
¹ “Do not judge others, and you will not be judged. ² For you will be treated as you treat others. The standard you use in judging is the standard by which you will be judged.

³ “And why worry about a speck in your friend’s eye when you have a log in your own? ⁴ How can you think of saying to your friend, ‘Let me help you get rid of that speck in your eye,’ when you can’t see past the log in your own eye? ⁵ Hypocrite! First get rid of the log in your own eye; then you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend’s eye.

Judging vs. Being Judgmental
Jesus words here are often misused and misunderstood.  Saying defensively, “Judge not lest ye be judged!” has become a common comeback when people get challenged on their bad behavior.  Did Jesus really mean we can’t call people out on their bad behavior or even make judgments of any kind? 

Absolutely not.  In fact, if you skip down just a few more verses in this same chapter, Jesus teaches people how to judge if someone is a false prophet.  He says you judge them by their actions.  There’s a difference between judgement and being judgmental.

Good judgment is a virtue the Bible applauds, and it is a valuable asset in life.  We need to use good judgment.  When a boy wants to date your daughter, you definitely need good judgment.  If the boy shows up acting high and wearing a t-shirt with a pot leaf on the front, good judgment says, "This boy is not taking my daughter out on a date!"  You have to have wisdom in like, which include using good judgment about people and situations.  Good judgment is based on facts about people’s behavior.  

Being judgmental is rushing to judge someone negatively based on limited information.  If you notice someone has parked their truck crooked.  Well, that’s a fact.  You can see the fact and know it.  But you need more information to make a good judgment about why the truck is parked crooked.  But the judgmental person won’t wait for more information.  They rush to judgment.  They might say:  “The person who parked that crooked is a bad driver or is inconsiderate or must be drunk.”  And when we are judgmental, there’s often a feeling of superiority attached to it.  We might say, “I would never park like that.  I'm not that kind of person.”

The meaning of Jesus teaching in Matthew 7:1-5 should be clear.  Don’t be judgmental.  He even uses a funny illustration to drive home the point. “Why worry about the speck in your friend’s eye when you have a log in your own eye?”

We all have issues.  We are gracious with ourselves when it comes to our own faults, but we might not extend the same grace to others.  “My problems aren’t that bad because…  I have a reason for this bad behavior.  If people understood, they would excuse me.  But my neighbor’s behavior is truly annoying, disappointing, or appalling…”

Jesus points out vividly that our sins are no small thing.  How did He describe them?  He said they are like a “log in your eye”.  If you saw someone with a log in their eye, you would immediately call 911 and rush them to the hospital.  And that's the way Jesus described our spiritual condition!

Our sin is so rancorous it required Jesus to die for us on the cross.  That’s serious. But often, we would rather worry about everyone else’s sin than come to terms with our own.  It’s more comfortable to focus on everyone else’s sin than deal with our own.  But Jesus reminds us, we have a serious problem.  We need to be taken to a spiritual emergency room, not be worrying about the specks in our neighbor's eye.

Warning
Jesus gives a stern warning. He said, “The standard you use in judging is the standard by which you will be judged.” This has at least 2 ramifications for your life. One for now. One for later.  If you are gracious, think the best of people, and give them the benefit of the doubt, people tend to be gracious with you too.  But if you are overly critical of others, you may be over-critical of you.  So there is an immediate benefit if you have a generous spirit with others.  

But there may be consequences for being judgmental later too.  We will all stand before Jesus one day.  As the Apostles' Creed says, "We believe Jesus will come again to judge the living and the dead..."  Now that’s a sobering thought.  Especially when you consider Jesus words: “The standard you use in judging is the standard by which you will be judged.”  How do you think Jesus will take it if you have been judgmental all your life with other people?  Why should he be gracious about your faults if you have refused to be gracious with others?

Conclusion
Now back to the log in your eye.  What can you do about that?  That’s why Jesus came.  I mean, you’ve got a log in your eye!  I’m not judging you.  I’ve got one in my eye too.  What are we gonna do about these logs sticking in our eyes!  That’s why Jesus came.

Here's the biggest log – Sin!  Not sins.  Sins are the bad things we do.  But the SIN is  rejection of God.  It is the attitude from which all the other bad behaviors flow.  We have turned away from God.  We don't not want Him to be in charge of our lives.  We want to live however we want to live.  We put ourselves above God.  That is the Sin that leads to all the other sins.  And Paul tells us in the letter to the Romans:
All have sinned and fallen short of God’s glorious standard.  
And the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ our Lord.
So call upon Jesus and be saved.  Believe Him in your heart and confess He is Lord with your words.
Take up your cross and each day and follow Him.

Jesus can remove the log from your eye (and from your neighbor's) if we will let Him.  But we have to repent, turn away from our sin, and let Him heal us.  Won't you do that today?