Matthew 7: Look Within and Toward God Before You Judge

Introduction

Andrew Gibson closes the Foundations series at Christian Fellowship Church, four weeks devoted to the Sermon on the Mount. The aim of the series: to understand what it means to follow Jesus, and how that touches our lives, our thoughts and our actions. When we pray "may your will be done on earth as it is in heaven," this is what we are asking for: to live the way of Jesus every day. The Sermon on the Mount has been called the "manifesto of the kingdom."

The preacher begins with good news: the week before, at a Crown Jesus event in Dungannon, 127 young people gave their lives to Jesus. "He is our truth. He is our life. He is our way. And everything falls into place when our life is ordered from him."

It is from this place that the message approaches Matthew 7:1-6 and the question of judging. Jesus does not forbid all discernment. He shows how to judge and whom to judge: look inside yourself, then toward God, before looking at your brother. And never do it without being close enough to look him in the eye.

Outline of the Message

1. The Kingdom Orders All of Life

The kingdom comes before everything else: before nationalities and identities, before passports and allegiances. Our allegiance goes first to the One who sets captives free.
As a boy, Andrew Gibson belonged to the BB, a uniformed youth movement. Each evening began with a line-up: the tallest on the right, the smallest on the left. Everyone jostled and puffed out their chest to find a place. Everything was ordered from the tallest.
It is the same when you seek the kingdom first: everything flows from the One who holds authority. "Who has the highest place in your life?"
A former physical education teacher in Northern Ireland, the preacher mentions his Prizm-lens sunglasses: they filter out what should not be there and bring into clear view what should be. Being a citizen of the kingdom means putting on "Jesus' glasses."
It is from him that we order our thinking about anger, worry, money, and today about judging.

2. Judging Without Crushing

Judging is part of our culture. On television, talent shows turn judges into stars. In everyday life, we endlessly comment on what this or that person posted on Facebook. In Jesus' day, it was no different.
"Do not judge" does not mean never telling good from evil, nor never correcting someone who is straying from the way of the kingdom. A few verses later, Jesus asks us to recognize the wolves disguised as sheep. In John 7:24, he says: "Don’t judge according to appearance, but judge righteous judgment." Paul writes to the Corinthians that they are to judge those inside the church.
In this very passage, Jesus speaks of removing the speck from your brother's eye once the plank has been taken out of your own. So judgment does exist. "How you judge and whom you judge, that is the key."
The Greek word used, krinō, carries here a shade of condemnation: putting the other person down in order to lift yourself up. That was the culture of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, hence the word "hypocrite."
That kind of judgment is born of pride and a sense of superiority: "I judge you to feel better. I judge you because it makes me feel you are worth less than I am." Whoever lives this way will receive it back, with the same measure.
The preacher shows the image of a climbing wall. Judging in the way Jesus condemns means staying at the top, sure you are right, without reaching out a hand to the one lower down. Kingdom judgment is that of someone who knows the way, who has removed his own plank, and who reaches out a hand to help the other climb: "Come on, it's this way."

3. Looking Inward and Toward God Before Looking at Others

Before learning to climb, many things had to be settled. The words of Jesus echo David's prayer: "Search me, God, and know my heart. Try me, and know my thoughts. See if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the everlasting way." (Psalm 139:23-24).
David speaks of no one but himself. Judgment begins there. Hence the preacher's formula: look inward, then look up, before daring to look outward.
This is not about locating God geographically, since he is everywhere and even within us, but about a direction, as in the psalm: "I will lift up my eyes to the hills. Where does my help come from?" (Psalm 121:1).
"If Jesus' disciples spent more time looking inward and upward before looking outward, the Church would be in better shape." Those outside have often felt looked down on by the Church, and those inside as well.
As a young Christian, Andrew Gibson was judged for the version of the Bible he read. Why not simply rejoice that he was reading the Scriptures?
His son went to a baptism on a Friday evening, dressed normally, as his father had advised. He was the only one not dressed up, and his hoodie was bright red. On the way out, he said: "Dad, I have never felt so judged."
A church planter in Belfast told the story of her conversion during her baptism: Jesus had appeared to her in a dream. She was then reprimanded: "Who do you think you are, Joseph or Daniel?" Later, a friend who had only just come to faith was kept from communion because her outfit was not suitable.
Then the preacher stops to examine himself: is what he has just told not already a judgment? "It's so easy to slip into judging." He does not even know these people. Hence the second question: whom do you judge? Not someone you could not look in the eye, who does not trust you and does not know that you love them.

4. Jesus and the Woman Caught in Adultery

In Matthew 7, Jesus teaches. In John 8, he shows how it is done. The scribes and Pharisees bring a woman caught in the act of adultery: the law says to stone her, what does Jesus say?
Jesus says nothing and writes on the ground with his finger. As they keep asking, he says: "He who is without sin among you, let him throw the first stone at her." Then he bends down and writes a second time.
When did God write twice with his finger in Scripture? For the tablets of the law. Moses broke them when he saw the people worshiping the golden calf, and God wrote them again. Now God compares idolatry to adultery.
Some New Testament scholars see in this what Jesus was doing by writing twice. These men realize that they are as guilty as the woman, and that all the people are. They had their own planks to deal with. Convicted by their conscience, they leave one by one.
Jesus, the only one without sin, throws no stone. "Neither do I condemn you. Go your way. From now on, sin no more." The preacher sees in this the kite of grace, held by the handles of truth.
Sin is not ignored. It is named, and repentance is asked for. But Jesus, at the top of the wall, wants to lift this woman up: "It is still sin, but I do not condemn you. I love you, and I want to see you raised up and whole."

5. A Speck Is Removed Up Close

The image of the speck and the plank speaks to the preacher: his father is blind in his right eye, ever since, at eleven, he ran through the house with a pencil in his hand.
As a family on Portstewart Strand beach, rugby games with his boys often ended in tears, with sand in their eyes.
To remove sand from an eye, you have to be very close and very gentle. And the child has to trust you: to know that you love them and want only their good. It took enough relational credit to do it. And it was better not to have sand in your own eyes.
"You have to be close to see the speck. The speck is a matter of intimacy, of relationship, of face to face." Stop worrying about specks, take care of the relationship. For the preacher, this is the heart of the passage.
John Chrysostom, one of the Church Fathers, wrote about this text: "Correct, but not as an enemy or as an adversary demanding a penalty, but as a loving physician bringing remedies, and even more, as a loving brother, eager to help and to lift up."
Not condemnation, but moral discernment and growth in Christlikeness. Helping without wounding, drawing others closer to Christ without pushing them away from him, seeing clearly first before wanting to help others see.

6. Pearls and Pigs

Verse 6 is often quoted out of context. The preacher once heard a man at the gym say about a former relationship: "I'm not going to throw my pearls before pigs." The expression has entered everyday language.
The verse must be understood with the ones before it. Once the plank is out, you see clearly. And you discover that the judgments you make and the path you take will not be accepted by everyone.
Jesus moves from the language of the brother, close and bound to you, to that of dogs and pigs, which were unclean and stayed outside. The speck and the plank concern those who are inside, in relationship.
Even when you choose pearls, like the pearl of great price, some will find worthless what you have chosen and trample it underfoot. Do not expect everyone to accept your way of life or the gospel you proclaim.
Think slowly and carefully before passing judgment on someone who is not in relationship with you in the kingdom, or whom you are not close enough to look in the eye.

7. Responding With David's Prayer

The congregation prays Psalm 139 together: "Search me, God, and know my heart. See if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the everlasting way."
The preacher asks the Holy Spirit to reveal the planks, "because they are there": attitudes of the heart, opinions, words we need to repent of.
He also invites those who have suffered a judgment unworthy of the kingdom and of Jesus to receive healing.
He issues a particular challenge to men: to have other men in their lives who can look them in the eye, whom they trust, in order to make holy, good and well-informed judgments together. "Now is the time, eye to eye, face to face, to take out the planks and the specks."

Key Takeaways

Jesus does not forbid discernment. He condemns the judgment that puts the other person down in order to lift yourself up.
The order of the kingdom: look inside yourself, then toward God, before looking at others. "Search me, God" starts with me.
Jesus names sin without condemning the person. He wants to lift her up, not keep her at the foot of the wall.
A speck is removed up close, gently, in a relationship of trust. Take care of the relationship before taking care of the speck.
What is holy and precious will not be received by everyone. Be very careful before judging those who are not in relationship with you.

Personal Application

Who has the highest place in your life, the one from which everything else is ordered?
When did you last judge someone, and was it to help them climb or to feel above them?
What plank is the Holy Spirit showing you when you pray "Search me, God, and know my heart"?
Is there someone whose life you comment on without being close enough to look them in the eye?
With whom do you have a relationship safe enough that they could help you remove a speck, and you theirs?

Verses Cited

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Jesus forbid all judging in Matthew 7:1?

No. Andrew Gibson points out that Jesus elsewhere asks us to judge with righteous judgment (John 7:24) and to discern false prophets. What he condemns is the judgment that puts the other person down in order to lift yourself up. The question is therefore how you judge and whom you judge.

What does "look inward and toward God before looking at others" mean?

It is the order the preacher draws from Matthew 7 and Psalm 139: first let God search your heart and remove your plank, then lift your eyes to him, and only then look at your brother. David, in his prayer, speaks of no one but himself.

What does "do not throw your pearls before pigs" mean?

For Andrew Gibson, this verse continues the ones before it. We move from the language of the brother, who is close, to that of dogs and pigs, who are outside. Even what is holy and precious will not be received by everyone: do not expect everyone to accept your way of life or the gospel.