SUNDAY LESSON, 9/13/2020
THE BIBLE DOESN’T SAY THAT
“DO NOT JUDGE!”
Matthew 7:1-5
I can hear the protest now, “It says right there in Matthew 7:1: ‘DO NOT JUDGE!'”
Yes, I know the phrase is there, and elsewhere in Scripture. The problem is not with the actual phrase: “Do not judge”, but how it is emphatically interpreted that no one can judge another person for any reason. THE BIBLE DOES NOT SAY THAT! There is a proper and an improper way to judge, and we’ll study both on Sunday.
The problem, however, lies with those who think that believers should never point out wrongs in others. We live in a society that despise absolutes, especially biblical and moral absolutes. Sadly, this thinking has infiltrated into pulpits where preachers will not call out sin in others, or even use the term “sin” because it requires moral judgment.
Jesus is not teaching that we cannot make moral judgment, but to do so using God’s Word as our measurement and with love.
MATTHEW 7:1-5
“Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 2 For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
3 “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? 4 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? 5 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.
