It’s a Judgment Call

September 16, 2012

 



Matthew 7:1-6

 

First words people see in this text is judge not and we think that God is saying not to judge but that is not true. We make judgments every day.

Webster’s dictionary says to judge means to form an estimate about something. To judge just means to make a decision. We are called to make decisions every day. It’s easy to judge a light. Green means go, red means stop. But stop signs require judgment.

We make judgments at school, at home, at work. God has made us to make decisions. A sad thing is when one cannot make a decision or makes a decision based on another people’s opinions and not there own.

The text says the same meter that you use to judge someone else will be the meter you will be judged by. Be very careful about how you come to a decision about someone.

All Jesus is doing here is making it clear; do unto others as you would have them do unto you. As you see the splinter in someone’s eye remember that it’s broken off of the plank in your own eye.

We may not have all the facts when making final decisions about some one. Jesus is saying make sure you have all the facts.

We judge things from a point of prejudice. We take people’s opinions and how we’ve grown up as a frame of reference not considering that we could make the same mistake. Jesus asks us to put ourselves in that person’s shoes. We want to look at the person with fresh, open eyes. We need to take our time. We don’t want to be the jury that finds one guilty only to find out that they are innocent.

That’s why Jesus called us hypocrites. We don’t look at it from the other side. We don’t want to be at the mercy of man.

The first thing we need to do is look at ourselves, understanding the biases we have. First we must remove the plank from our own eye. We need to remove anything that would impede our judgment before we go to help our brother. We have to be willing to take care of our brother. We come with a quick response of judgment. But its not about quick response its about making your brother whole. Instead, we condemn.

The Pharisees always came with condemnation. Jesus came to make us whole again.

An unfair judgment or decision will come back to bite you. From one extreme to the other can condemn us.

Judgment evaluates before you come to the conclusion. Once something comes out of your mouth you can’t get it back. If you come with biases you are not going to get it right. A Christians we need to realize that judgment calls affect other people's live. Therefore, we need to use righteous, godly judgment.

God made a judgment call with Jesus Christ. We were guilty. He could have destroyed the world. God looked down the road and saw everything that man is doing now and will do. In that instant he could have destroyed the world but he saved us instead.

Let's do judgment God’s way so that in the end he is honered.

 

Pastor Pete