Humility is the Antidote to Judgment
Matthew 7:1-6 (ESV)
“Judge not, that you be not judged. 2 For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. 3 Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? 4 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.
6 “Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you.
This past Sunday Nick preached a message over Matthew 7:1-6, which is an often misunderstood and misused text from the Sermon on the Mount. In our modern context and language it’s wrongly understood as “Don’t judge me” or really meaning “don’t condemn me.” That is not at all the contextual point that Jesus is actually making. It is not a passage that the person supposedly being judged is to use as a shield, but it is condemnation against the one doing the judging and an encouragement for them to take a humble look at themselves. The reality is we are all guilty of unfair judgment against others, so we should all be taking time to take our own conduct into account and get the plank out of our own eye.
The frustrating reality that we all need to be honest with, especially those who want to use this passage from Matthew as a catch-all “don’t judge me” free pass, is that we are all sinful and self centered while at the same time lacking humble self awareness, which leads us to excuse in ourselves the same sins we want to judge harshly in others. Ironically this would include those instances of demanding not to be judged to then turn around and be unfairly judging others. Paul says in 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.”
This exercise in whataboutism is just a diversion tactic to either project sin and guilt on someone else or to deflect the judgment, all in an effort to minimize the appearance of our own sin and to make the guilt more tolerable for ourselves. Remember the context of Matthew so far, in 6:1-18 Jesus was calling out the religious hypocrisy of making a show about your prayer, fasting and generosity. In the same way here, to posture yourself as “holier than thou” and point out flaws in others is inherently hypocritical because we all are in sin and need a savior. On the other side of the coin, to try to use the verse as a retort against feeling judgment is shortsighted, because we’ve all sinned (Rom. 3:23), and even if someone was harsh in correctly pointing out your sin it wouldn’t negate the fact that it is still sin.
What is the correct heart and conduct then for both sides of the judgment? Humility. A willingness to admit fault and seek growth, redemption and reconciliation. James 5:16 says “Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.” One another implies a two way street. We’ve all sinned and are not immune to temptation, which is why we need to build a culture of confessing our sin and humbly receiving counsel when brothers and sisters in the church with perspectives outside of your own will offer a word to you.
The Bottom Line from this Sunday’s message was “Humbly and regularly confess my sins, asking for help with the beam in my own eye, in order to be helpful with others' struggles with sin.”
The reality is we aren’t called to never judge sin, but to do so with humble discernment through the power of the Holy Spirit. A concept all Christians must come to grips with is that other sinners will inevitably point out their sin in this life. We must be ok with that, because what other choice is there? All Christians, pastors or otherwise, are all sinners saved by grace, so there’s no sense in calling “foul” thinking they’re incapable of pointing out your sin because of their own. The only One who can lovingly judge sin who has no sin of His own is Jesus, and He’s given us all we need in Himself and His Word (2 Peter 1:3-4), and as the church we need to lean on Him in our encouragement for one another, to both humbly give and humbly receive accountability.