Worship Service Livestream


March 8, 2026
  • Welcome and Announcements
  • Prayer of Invocation
  • Forever
  • At Calvary
  • Scripture Reading and Prayer - Matthew 7:1-6
  • Offering
  • Pastor's Message - To Judge or Not to Judge? That is the Question
  • Lord's Supper
  • White as Snow


Matthew 7:1-6

  • 1 "Do not judge so that you will not be judged.
    2 For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you.
    3 Why do you look at 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,' and behold, the log is 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 what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before swine, or they will trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.


SERMON NOTES - To Judge or Not to Judge? That is the Question

INTRODUCTION
  • Today we come to a passage of Scripture that many people not only know, but have used it at one time or another, specifically the 1st verse, "Do not judge so that you will not be judged."
  • This statement of Jesus is used to justify all kinds of sinful behavior.
  • We need to remember the context when we read, "judge not, that you be not judged," because Jesus is not teaching that we should never judge, think critically or ever make moral discernment. Neither is He teaching that it is wrong to expose and confront sinful behavior, or exercise church discipline.
  • Jesus was not abolishing moral clarity; He was exposing an issue of the heart. Look beginning in verse 3: "Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' and behold, the log is in your own eye? 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."
  • Jesus is not condemning judgment or discernment. He is condemning hypocrisy, and that distinction is essential to understand what "not judging" means.
  • The Greek word for "speck" does not mean a speck of dust or dirt, but a piece of dried wood or chaff, splinter; a very small particle that may irritate.
  • The Greek word for "log" has the idea of a log on which planks in the house rest; a joist.
  • The point of the hyperbole is not just to exaggerate the size of the piece of wood in a person's eye, but how it affects the ability to see clearly.
  • Jesus calls the person with a log in their eye a hypocrite, a pretender, an actor.
  • It is as if Jesus is saying, "stop judging others with a hypercritical, complaining, petty, fault-finding, hurt inflicting attitude."
  • Even on those occasions when we come to a negative evaluation of others, our judgment should be constructive and redemptive, not destructive and merciless.

UNINFORMED JUDGING
  • It is so easy to form an opinion, come to a conclusion, or make a criticism about someone without knowing little or anything about them.
  • "When we see a brother or sister in sin, there are two things we do not know: First, we do not know how hard he or she tried not to sin. And second, we do not know the power of the forces that assailed him or her. We also do not know what we would have done in the same circumstances." - F.B. Meyer

UNFAIR JUDGING
  • Judging others can be unfair because it is dishonest. We are quick to point out the faults, failures and sins of others, but refuse to deal with the sin in or own lives.
  • Hypocrisy is at its worst when it is exposed in people who claim to be devoted to God.
  • Our prayer should not be so much, "Lord there is a speck of my brother's eye," as it should be, "Lord, show me if there is a log in my eye."

UNLOVING JUDGING
  • When we judge others out of a perceived sense of moral superiority, we position ourselves as the final authority over another person's standing before God.
  • To judge with an unloving attitude is a call to humility, self-examination, and mercy.
  • Jesus is not teaching that we should never confront one another, or hold each other accountable. As children of God we are to help one another, encourage one another and, if need be, admonish one another. The issue is not whether correction happens, but how and from where it happens.
  • "Brethren, even if anyone is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; each one looking to yourself, so that you too will not be tempted." - Galatians 6:1
  • We are to speak truth but we are to speak it in love.
  • Dogs in first‑century Judea were not pets; they were wild, scavenging, aggressive animals.
  • Swine were ritually unclean animals and symbolized what was morally resistant or spiritually unreceptive.
  • Jesus is not insulting people but using stock Jewish metaphors to describe those who are hostile to God.
  • What Jesus is teaching is while we are not to hypocritically judge people we are to have discernment in giving spiritual truth.
  • Dogs and swine describe profane people who treat spiritual matters with contempt.
  • Jesus is telling is telling His disciples to exercise discernment in how, when, and to whom they offer the most sacred things of God because some people are not merely unreceptive, but are hostile, and the holy can be profaned and the messenger harmed.

CONCLUSION
  • Jesus challenges us to self-humility, outward grace, and sacred discernment.