JUDGE NOT

Matt. 7:1-7

Morning Meditation 4/26/2014

"Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye. Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you. Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:"

These are the words of Christ given on the sermon on the mount. This subject deals with one of the most violated rules among Christians in the churches. It is difficult to avoid it since the Old Sin Nature is ever ready to sit in the seat of judgment in the Church. There are some people who know everything about every one. The Bible speaks about busybodies in other men's matters. 1 Timothy 5:13, "And withal they learn to be idle, wandering about from house to house; and not only idle, but tattlers also and busybodies, speaking things which they ought not."

I want to call your attention to some important principles suggested by this text.

THE WAY TO AVOID JUDGEMENT

Jesus says, "Judge not, that ye be not judged." There is a self defense mechanism built into the old sin nature that goes to work the moment it perceives to be needed. I have seen this work many times. There have been times when two friends were seemingly inseparable. Then something would happen. One of them would say something bad about his friend. When the friend heard it, he was hurt. His self defense mechanism kicked in and he began to tell all kinds of things about the other. He would never have done this, had his friend not started something on him. In fact, he would have defended his friend.

When this happen, it is not only the two friends who are involved but all those who know them and commune with them. Sides will always be taken and it will bring hurt to the Church.

If you want to avoid judgment, don't judge. If some one criticizes you, ignore it. Do something good for the critic. It will make him feel lousy. Titus 2:9, "Exhort servants to be obedient unto their own masters, and to please them well in all things; not answering again;" Next--

THE MOTE AND THE BEAM

Matthew 7:3-5, "And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye."

What is the mote? It is a very small splinter when in the eye it causes much pain. I showed one of my doctors a sack of kidney stones that I had passed. He looked at them and said, "little grains, huh." When you are having kidney stone problems and the doctor calls something that had you on you knees, standing on your head, and all kinds of positions trying to get relief, you don't appreciate him calling it a grain of sand!!! I said, "Doc, put that in your eye and call it a grain of sand!!!" Well that conversation ended and I had made my point.

What is a beam? A beam is as big as a two by four. Can you imagine a man trying to get a small splinter out of some ones eye when he had a two by four sticking in his own eye? A beam that Jesus is talking about is the spirit of judgment in the person who is trying to get the splinter out of the other persons eye.

You cannot help another person if you come to him in the spirit of judgment. He will put up a wall that you can't get through.

Jesus says, "Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of they brother's eye."

If you want to help a person, examine yourself, and deal with what ever problem that you have that would appear to the person. Come to him as a friend and in the spirit of humility and you can offer valuable aid to the person with the mote.

May the Lord bless these words to our hearts.

In Christ

Bro. White