Bible Study March 25, 2013

Hey Gang,


We continue this week in our series on "What it Means to Follow Jesus." Jesus says that there are some people who profess to follow Him but live lives no different from unbelievers. And there are others that follow Him for comfort and satisfaction, but not to be transformed and obedient. I think that even today, we need a clear understanding of what it really means to follow Jesus. He has presented some contrasting thoughts to the disciples over the last three lessons. They first thought that He wanted to abolish the Law, but Jesus said that He not only affirmed the Law, He came to fulfill it. Jesus tries to get the disciples to understand that God is more concerned with who they are than what they do. You can't follow Christ on the outside without following Him on the inside. Something must change in you!




Now, this week don't be deceived by the chapter break. The sermon does continue; the purpose and theme as well. Jesus was giving His disciples and others who heard Him instructions on what discipleship meant. Those who followed Jesus were not just religious practitioners like some. Jesus' disciples lived by the highest standard of righteousness, certainly a righteousness superior to the pretentious righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees. Disciples of Jesus are to be like their Father in heaven. Thus, Jesus continued to describe just what that meant and how it could be evident in various life situations.  In this study, Jesus talks about living in right relationship with others and with God. Hopefully we can learn and change how we see ourselves, how we relate to others, and how we can walk with God.

Have you ever had these thoughts?

What qualifies a person to judge someone?

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What qualifies a person to judge someone? What does it mean to judge? Paul told the Thessalonians “… test all things. Hold on to what is good” (1Thess. 5:21).

• We test drive cars before we buy them.

• We test our children by giving them increasingly larger amounts of responsibility.

• We test our physical stamina by seeing if we can do one more lap on the track than the last time.

• Depending on the context, judge can mean to judge with justice, to condemn, or to be judgmental (v.1). The context here is being judgmental or harshly critical.

• Good judgment is a crucial skill for Christians (7:6), but we get hung up on 7:1-5 or apply it wrongly. Sometimes we wrongly ignore obvious sins with the excuse, “Who am I to judge?” At other times we fail to make use of our best resources for strong relationships: listening to God. As we follow Christ, we need this lesson about self-examination, discernment, and faithful prayer to guide our relationships with believers, non-believers, and our Lord.

• In our Christian walk, we should test ourselves and others even more carefully. In this passage, Jesus commands His believers not to put others to the test – that is until we’ve examined ourselves with greater scrutiny than we would use on a neighbor.

Relationships are a big deal. This study prompts us to develop a right view of ourselves and godly relationships with others.

I. USE GOOD JUDGMENT – MATTHEW 7:1-5 Do Not Judge

7 “Do not judge, so that you won’t be judged. 2 For with the judgment you use, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. 3 Why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye but don’t notice the log in your own eye? 4 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ and look, there’s a log in your eye? 5 Hypocrite! First take the log out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.
 

Are we to judge or not to judge?

• Jesus tells us to examine our own motives and conduct instead of judging others. The traits that bother us are often the habits we dislike in ourselves. Our untamed bad habits and behavior patterns are the very ones that we most want to change in others. Do we find it easy to magnify others’ faults while excusing our own? If we are ready to criticize someone, check to see if we deserve the same criticism. Judge yourself first and then lovingly forgive and help your neighbor.
• Jesus’ statement, “Do not judge,” is against the kind of hypocritical, judgmental attitude that tears others down in order to build us up. It is not a blanket statement against all critical thinking, but a call to be discerning rather than negative. Jesus tells us to expose false teachers (7:15-23), and Paul taught that we should exercise church discipline (1Cor. 5:1-2) and trust God to be the final judge (1Cor. 4:3-5).
• Jesus was warning His disciples “to stop judging” other believers in a hypocritical way. Hypocritical judgment is harshly criticizing the faults of another person while ignoring one’s own sins. It is like acting like you are better than you really are. Jesus condemned pride that leads a person to view themselves as better than others.
• The hypocritical judges would be subject to judgment themselves. The judgment pronounced and the measure, meaning standard, used or meted out in evaluating and criticizing others would be the same judgment and measure used against those doing the judging.
• Those who judge harshly can expect to be judged harshly. Those who are unfair, lacking in love, showing no mercy, mean-spirited, bent on destruction, and the like can expect to be judged in the same manner.
• Those who nit-pick over details and expect a greater perfection in performance than they themselves can do, can expect the same standard to be used against them.
• Jesus did not say explicitly who would exercise that judgment, whether other people or God. Likely it is both. The standard of judgment we apply to others will in turn be applied to us, if not by others, certainly by God.
• Any exercise of judgment needs to begin with one’s self. What are my faults? What sin do I need to deal with? What confession do I need to make? What commitments do I need to renew? What broken relationships do I need to restore?
• Destructive criticism and petty fault-finding have no place in our relationship with fellow believers.

Question: What does the Bible mean that we are not to judge others?


Answer: This is an issue that has confused many people. On one hand, we are commanded by the Lord Jesus, “Do not judge, or you too will be judged” (Matthew 7:1). On the other hand, the Bible also exhorts us to beware of evildoers and false prophets and to avoid those who practice all kinds of evil. How are we to discern who these people are if we do not make some kind of judgment about them?


Christians are often accused of "judging" whenever they speak out against a sinful activity. However, that is not the meaning of the Scripture verses that state, "Do not judge." There is a righteous kind of judgment we are supposed to exercise—with careful discernment (John 7:24). When Jesus told us not to judge (Matthew 7:1), He was telling us not to judge hypocritically. Matthew 7:2-5 declares, "For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. 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? 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? 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." What Jesus was condemning here was hypocritical, self-righteous judgments of others.


In Matthew 7:2-5, Jesus warns against judging someone else for his sin when you yourself are sinning even worse. That is the kind of judging Jesus commanded us not to do. If a believer sees another believer sinning, it is his Christian duty to lovingly and respectfully confront the person with his sin (Matthew 18:15-17). This is not judging, but rather pointing out the truth in hope—and with the ultimate goal—of bringing repentance in the other person (James 5:20) and restoration to the fellowship. We are to speak the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15). We are to proclaim what God's Word says about sin. 2 Timothy 4:2 instructs us, "Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage — with great patience and careful instruction." We are to "judge" sin, but always with the goal of presenting the solution for sin and its consequences—the Lord Jesus Christ (John 14:6).

How can we know if we’re using good judgment or judgmentalism? How can we assess our motives?

• Wrongly judging others starts by failing to judge ourselves first. The idea is that once we get rid of our own sin, then we will be ready to help others. We must never wink at sin in someone else’s life; that does more harm than good. However, when we do help them deal with it, we’ll be better equipped if we remember the ache of our own.
• Many behaviors we criticize are truly wrong. How can we help others with wrong behavior using all of Matthew 7:1-7? Then when we start to gripe about someone else, take time to pray Psalm 139:23-24 23 Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my concerns. 24 See if there is any offensive way in me; lead me in the everlasting way.
• The fault we see in another person may be rooted in something much deeper or a pain more severe than what appears on the surface. If our goal is to restore, not just to judge or criticize, it becomes important that we “see through” the person in an effort to be understanding and sympathetic.
• Judgmentalism fractures fellowship. It makes things worse rather than better. Developing and maintaining good relationships with our Christian brothers and sisters is crucial. Our job isn’t to judge others for their shortcomings; our job is to help them do better.
• So, what are we to do when a fellow believer’s Christian behavior in some area is flawed? Gossip about them? Tell the preacher to straighten them out? Detail their faults in prayer group? Disassociate from them? Chew them out? Jesus pointed to a better approach and it begins with not judging. Good judgment helps – the judgment described in 7:1-5 does not.
• Love, ideally, is unconditional. Unfortunately, however, love is often conditional, for most people. It's dependent upon others measuring up to their standards, satisfying their needs and desires. Conditional love requires criticism and judgment in order to determine whether or not another individual measures up, is good enough. It's human nature to analyze, criticize, and judge each other, to some degree. We judge and evaluate each other on many different things - ex., physical appearance and attractiveness, personality, intelligence, heart, character, values, beliefs, spirituality, occupation, ambition, success, status, wealth, possessions. Judgment and criticism can, of course, be constructive, and may be very helpful. When they're negative, however, they can be very hurtful, harmful, and destructive. When criticism and judgment are negative, they can lead to many things that are very detrimental. They can, for example, lead to being deeply hurt, to believing that one is not good enough, in some way, to low self-worth, low self-esteem, to feeling inferior, and to feeling, therefore, that one is not desired or loved enough, and to insecurity, to fear - fear of being hurt again, fear of being rejected, abandoned, and to building walls within oneself to protect oneself from emotional pain, walls that can cause one to feel much less, because they not only wall out the pain, but they may also wall out a lot of the good feelings, and these walls become emotional blocks that can be very difficult to be free of. Self-protective walls also often come between people and cause them to be emotionally disconnected, separated, much less in touch with their feelings and love for each other. Being criticized and judged can not only be very hurtful, create fear and the building of self-protective walls, they can also cause great anger, resentment, hatred, and conflict.

What are comments believers make that could be considered “judgmental?” What attitudes are behind these?

• Judgmentalism can be based in arrogance, fear, anger, revenge, jealousy, insecurity, more.
• Some might say you’re judgmental if they don’t like what you say. Other times you are judgmental. God knows. You typically know too.
• We are in no position to judge people’s hearts. We can only uphold the truths of Scripture and let it do its work (Heb. 4:12).

What are comments believers make that would be considered good judgment? What attitudes are behind these?

• Approached with love and humility.

What might this look like in marriage? At work?



Why is it so much easier to pass judgment on someone else than to evaluate our own lives?

• Discuss the measures we use to judge other people. Which are valid?
• Our most effective judgment is toward ourselves. As children of God we have been forgiven of our sins; however, we will still give an account for our works (1 Cor. 3:10-15).

 





II. PICK RELATIONSHIPS WELL – MATTHEW 7:6

6 Don’t give what is holy to dogs or toss your pearls before pigs, or they will trample them with their feet, turn, and tear you to pieces.

 

Even though Jesus warned His disciples against judgmentalism, He did expect them to exercise discernment in relationship to others.



What is Jesus talking about here?

• Jesus says that we should not entrust holy teachings to unholy or unclean people. It is futile to try to teach holy concepts to people who don’t want to listen and will only tear apart what we say. We should not stop giving God’s Word to unbelievers, but we should be wise and discerning in what we teach to whom, so that we will not be wasting our time.
• Disciples must have the upmost respect for the holy things God has entrusted to them – foremost is the gospel message of Jesus Christ. We must not mistreat it or take it for granted. Disciples must discern how they present the gospel to people. It behooves a follower of Jesus to know when to share the gospel and when to move on from one who adamantly and defiantly rejects the gospel.

What might Jesus consider so holy that He would never want us to handle it flippantly or carelessly?

• A conversation with a child.
• Holy - anything set aside unto God.
• Pearls – represent the teachings of Jesus.
• Disciples of Jesus are to treat the things of God with honor and respect.
• Who are the dogs and pigs here? Those who mistreat and disrespect the things of God.

Is there ever a time when we should not share Jesus with someone?

• Even Jesus knew when it was time to leave a person alone if he or she rejected truth (Matt. 10:11-15; see also Acts 13:46; 18:5-6)
• Some people won’t value the things of God. We are to be “as shrewd as serpents and as harmless as doves” (Matt. 10:16) and we must be prepared to “shake the dust off of your feet.” We must exercise discernment.
• If we encounter one who clearly refuses to consider our witness, we probably should ease off graciously. Don’t force a witness about Jesus on someone who flat out doesn’t want to hear it.

How do you know the difference between someone you need to pursue with the gospel and someone you need to leave alone?

• This must not be used as an excuse not to share.
• The goal of turning away from an individual is not to appease our fear, but to obey God. The Holy Spirit will work on our resistant friend. 

 

III. PERSEVERE IN DOING RIGHTLY – MATTHEW 7:7-12
Keep Asking, Searching, Knocking

7 “Keep asking, and it will be given to you. Keep searching, and you will find. Keep knocking, and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who searches finds, and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. 9 What man among you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask Him! 12 Therefore, whatever you want others to do for you, do also the same for them—this is the Law and the Prophets.


Jesus tells us to persist in pursuing God. God is the Source who can enable us to live up to these great demands. We pray to the Father to help us live faithfully. The three terms of ask…seek…knock are to be seen as a “rising scale of intensity.”

• Asking implies humility
• Seeking implies asking + acting (doing our part)
• Knocking implies asking + acting + persevering

It can be hard to persist in prayers when God doesn’t answer right away. What do we miss if we give up and don’t keep on praying?

• Believers who persist in prayer can expect God to respond.
• God responds to our praying with what is good because He Himself is good.
• People often give up after a few halfhearted efforts and conclude that God cannot be found. But knowing God takes faith, focus, and follow-through, and Jesus assures us that we will be rewarded. Don’t give up in your efforts to seek God.
• Christ is showing us the heart of God the Father. God is not selfish, begrudging, or stingy, and we don’t have to beg or grovel as we come with our requests. He is a loving Father who understands, cares, and comforts.

How does the “Golden Rule” (7:12) connect with what Jesus has been teaching? What does it say about our tendency to judge others? To be pushy when we share Jesus? How does it connect with earlier sections of the Sermon on the Mount?

• As disciples of Jesus, we are to treat others as we would like to be treated.
• One overall theme of 7:1-12 is treating others with the grace God shows. If we do that as we correct a brother in Christ, share with a non-believer, and pray, we will find ourselves fulfilling God’s desire for us to love Him and love others above ourselves (Matt. 22:34-40).

Which is the greatest challenge for you: judging others without examining yourself first; discernment when sharing with someone who rejects Jesus; persisting in your prayers for others and for yourself? How would you want to be treated in these situations? What do you need to do to treat others that way?

“It's okay not to be okay”

 

Prayer of Commitment

Father, may nothing in my walk with You be so pretentious that I would deceive myself into thinking I am more than I am, mislead others so that they would not be attracted to the gospel, or in any way dishonor You, the holy God who does all things well and good. Amen

We see through this study that Christians don't live in isolation. We interact with other believers, with non-believers, and surely with God. Sometimes under the strain of stress or the pressure of cultural norms, we find it easy to criticize others - believers and unbelievers alike - unfairly and fail to treat people as we would like to be treated ourselves. Furthermore, we don't always know how to relate to unbelievers, especially those who continually reject our efforts to share the gospel. Jesus offered instructions to help us deal with those issues and directed us to pray to God for His help, believing that He will answer.

Be in prayer this week for Monday night's Bible Study and we look forward to another good discussion of Jesus' Sermon on the Mount in Matthew.

See you Monday Evening!

God bless,

David