Sitting in the Wrong Seat
““Do not Judge, or you will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.””
My father once told me about a couple in Southern California who were experiencing a lot of difficulties. They served on a board together and at one point his friend comes into the meeting asking for prayer for their household.
You see his wife was experiencing an incredibly rough skin disease. Her hands and arms were covered in painful rashes. Every month it would happen and nothing they tried seemed to work. It became increasingly discouraging when their prayers for healing seemed to go unanswered.
One day they had a friend over for dinner and after giving him a tour of the house, the guest asked lightly, “Is there a reason you keep potted poison ivy in your home?” It turned out that every month this poor woman would clean, by hand, the dusty plants in her home, of which there were many. Several of these plants just so happened to be poison ivy.
There are some things in life that, if left in your home or your heart, will continue to poison you.
In the sermon on the Mount, we see Jesus speak about just such a poison,
“Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” Matthew 7:1-2
We aren’t the Judge
Most people when hearing this verse want to cheer. What an incredible command! By the standards of the world, one of the worst things to be in today’s culture is Judgemental. We want no one to judge us on our decisions, life, or relationships. We want to be the ones in the judgment seat in our own life. On the surface, we love this idea.
At least until we’re asked to obey it when it comes to others.
The truth is we are not fit to be the Judge. It is like trying to hook up a small light bulb to a nuclear power plant. The bulb isn’t made to handle that kind of power, that kind of situation. Every bad attitude, toxic emotion, and destructive behavior in our lives can be traced back to the root cause of stealing God’s seat as Judge. When we judge others we create grudges that ensnare our hearts. When we judge our circumstances we create grief that separates us further from God. When we judge ourselves we create guilt that stagnates our growth. We must recognize that we are sitting in the wrong seat.
So when we are tempted to judge, what should we remember?
Remember God’s Judgement of You
Consider how God has treated us as a judge. Jesus came, lived, healed, taught, and preached the kingdom of God, and we turned and tore him to pieces for it. What was God’s response? He bore it. He bore the sins of the world. Jesus who had never known sin, became sin for us. (See 2 Corinthians 5:21) In the parable of the unforgiving steward, the steward owes the king a massive debt, one that he has no chance or hope of ever repaying. The steward pleads for patience and time from the king and shockingly the king goes beyond his request and forgives him of the debt thereby bearing the weight of the debt himself.
This same steward goes and finds a fellow servant who owes him a couple of hundred bucks and chokes him, demanding he pays back what he owes. This servant also makes a plea for forgiveness, but the steward refuses and throws him in prison. He does not remember or consider the judgment of the king on his own plight. When the king hears of it, he throws the steward in jail to be tortured until he can pay the whole sum. (See Matthew 18)
If you are having trouble with judging others, it is most likely stemming from a lack of understanding of the grace you have received in God’s judgment of you. This is why Jesus states,
“For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” Matthew 7:2 NIV
When we remember God’s Judgement of grace in our case, it begins to teach us and transform us when we are confronted by those who have wronged us.
Remember to balance Truth and Tears
Jesus also goes on to say,
“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? …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.” Matthew 7:3-5 NIV
The Bible calls us to carefully examine, or discern. If we feel compelled to bring feedback to a brother or sister, it is always done with the hope of restoration. How do you know if you’re doing it with the right motives? It all depends on what, why, and when.
Ask yourself…
What: Am I right in what I’m seeing? What is the Correction? Is this my opinion? Or is this God? Does the Bible actually back me up?
Why: Why am I considering Correcting? Is this about them or is it about me? Am I correcting to restore? Do I have the right relationship With this person?
When: When Should I bring Correction? Is this on a timeline? Urgent or not? Have emotions cooled? Can it be a text?
To balance truth with tears means simply to speak truth from a foundation built on love and empathy. This implies and explicitly means you have the relationship to do this interpersonally, not to judge but to redirect them to love in Christ. Warren Wiersbe recounts a time he went to the doctors, “…(I) once had surgery to remove an imbedded speck of steel, and I appreciated the tenderness of the physicians… We can do more damage than a speck of dirt in the eye if we approach others with impatience and insensitivity.”
Remember the value of Jesus
“Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.” - Matthew 7:6 NIV
Jesus is speaking in hyperbole here. Some scholars believe this verse means we should not throw our truth out to those who do not appreciate it. Yet this is not what Jesus himself does. He comes to earth preaching that the Kingdom of Heaven is here! The greatest news of even greater joy.
Yet we tore him to pieces.
He entered the world and the world did not recognize him. (see John 1:10)
We are the dogs. We are the pigs. Animals look at something and consider whether it will feed them, whether it will help them survive. They do not care for pearls, which have great value. Pigs were viewed as the most unclean animal. Yet Jesus bore the sins of the world so that all those who were unclean could be clean and could have hope. That we might be transformed by the grace of God from pigs into people. We are ill-equipped to be judges, we weren’t made for that seat. We are well-equipped instead to point to the righteous judge who sits on the throne, who offers grace, justly and freely. Justly because he is the judge and has fulfilled it all. Freely because he has paid it all on the cross. So we could become truly and fully human at last.
