[Gary Petty] How many times have you heard someone say, "Jesus said, 'Judge not, lest you be judged.'"? And that statement is used to justify almost anything. "Oh no, we can't judge that person, we can't judge what they did as wrong – I mean what might be right for them is different than what might be right for you. Remember what Jesus said – 'Judge not.'"
Well, actually, that statement is right from the Sermon on the Mount. But let's look at that statement in the context in which Jesus said it, in Matthew chapter 7. "He said, 'Judge not, that you be not judged. For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged. And with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you'" (Matthew 7:1-2). In other words, when we look at what He says here, He says whatever measuring stick you use – whatever standard you use, are the standards you're going to be judged by, by God. He goes on and He says, "Or why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye?" Hyperbole. It's like someone with a little speck in their eye, you know, and someone's trying to get it out, and they have a two-by-four coming out of their eye, and just causing mayhem as they knock people down and swipe it across, and just cause mayhem all over the place. He says, "Or how could you say to your brother, 'Let me remove the speck from your eye', and look, a plank in your own eye. Hypocrite!" (Matthew 7:3-5). It doesn't say "hypocrite" so you can never judge anything as right or wrong. Remember, it's the standards we must use. He says, "Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye." He said, yes, remove the speck from your brother's eye. If someone else is doing something that's against the standards of God, we're supposed to bring that to their attention. But before we ever do anything like that, we're to first look at ourselves.
Are we measuring up – not to my standards, your standards, or anybody else's standards – but are we measuring up to the standards of God?
So you see, when He says, "Judge not, that you be not judged", He's not saying that we're never to judge anything as right or wrong. What He's saying is that we're to look at God's standards and judge by His standards – and before you look at anybody else's faults and problems and sins, first look at yours. First make sure you're right with God and His standards.
