What a wonderful week of study this has been! Jesus offered many pithy points in the Sermon on the Mount that could each be expanded into a lengthy, life-impacting sermon or lesson on its own. That is why we have been able to devote nine weeks on just these three chapters and still have much to learn. The teachings of Christ are tremendously full and rich, and the portion of the Sermon we focused on this week is certainly no exception!

We have distinguished various forms of and motives for judging, both positive and negative, how to pray for our needs with the right attitude, and treating others the way we would like to be treated.

I believe the most difficult concept to grasp in chapter 7 is Christ’s instruction on judging. He doesn’t forbid judging outright, but He does provide specific guidelines. Unfortunately, this is one of the most misunderstood portions of Scripture that is often taken out of context in order to justify prideful and mean-spirited condemnation of others. This is not the heart of Christ at all!

Let us sort through the confusion and get to the true heart of what Jesus wanted us to understand about judging. Here is what I have observed:

Judging Do’s

Judging Don’ts

Motive:

· To restore someone who is struggling with sin

· For the good of the other person

· To protect the other person

· To share the grace of God

· Rejection of sin but acceptance of the person

Motive:

· To knock someone else down while pridefully exalting self

· To cover your own sin

· To condemn everyone who looks and thinks differently than you

· Based on legalism

· Rejection of the person

Attitude:

· Other’s focused

· Humility and gentleness

· Prayerfully

· With genuine love and concern for the person

· Is heartbroken about someone’s sin and the effects it will have on their life

Attitude:

· Self-focused

· Pride, meanness, condescending, condemning

· Receives joy from making someone else feel bad

Action:

· Praying first and carefully planning the best course of action to minimize hurt and maximize growth

· Treating the other person the way we would want to be treated

· Speaking the truth with gentleness, humility, and love

· Offering wise instruction

· Looking at yourself first with a repentant heart, making sure to get rid of the log from your own eye before attempting to remove the speck from someone else’s eye

· Helping the person get back on track

· Defends the other person

· Builds up the other person

Action:

· Dishing out to others what we would never tolerate toward ourselves

· Making assumptions

· Jumping to conclusions without having all the facts

· Condemning differences of opinions and counting them as sin, even if they are not

· Presuming to be an expert on the thoughts and intentions of someone else

· Condemning someone who is doing the same sin that you are committing

· Nurtures a bitter root

· Belittles any attempt the other person makes to get back on track

· Gossips and turns everyone else against the other person, destroys reputations

In the context of Jesus’ instructions in chapter 6 about money and not worrying, He later encourages us to ask and keep asking, seek and keep seeking, and to knock and keep knocking. He also promises that everyone who asks will receive; all who seek will find; and for those who knock, the door will be opened. From this viewpoint, and upon comparing other Scriptures about prayer, we can deduce that Jesus is talking about asking for our needs to be met and praying according to His will. He is NOT saying that we can have whatever we want just because we ask. He is not in the business of catering to our every whim.

That is not saying that we can’t ask for nice things, however. Jesus encourages us to ask in prayer with the understanding that He loves to give us good gifts. The difference, however, is that His wisdom is exponentially far above ours. He knows what is best for us, and out of His infinite love for us, we can trust that whatever He chooses is always better than what we think we want. What God says is good is not always what is most comfortable or convenient for us, but it will certainly be what is best.

The important thing to remember is that when we pray, we must pray with pure motives, a clean heart, and a submissive attitude that seeks the Kingdom of God first.

Finally, Jesus summed up the heart of all the Law and the teachings of the Prophets with this one command: Do to others whatever you would like them to do to you. This is the essence of all that is taught in the law and the prophets. Matthew 7:12 NLT

If you are ever in doubt as to how to treat another person, consider first how you would want to be treated. In love and with genuine respect, this will result in natural obedience to all of the commandments. For example, since we would not want someone to lie to us or steal from us, that is a sure sign that we should not do those things to someone else. Additionally, if we want someone to treat us with kindness and generosity, then we should express those attitudes toward others in turn. This “Golden Rule” is the perfect all-conclusive guideline for our lives.

Unfortunately, there are some people who are more difficult than others to treat with kindness and respect. Some people are annoying or rude to us, but that is where the word grace comes in. Instead of expecting everyone to conform to our liking, let us cut some slack when we can. That is a perfect way to describe grace – cutting someone some slack. Accept others as they are and show unconditional love. Consider the love, grace, and forgiveness we have been shown, and draw from this endless supply to give to others.

We’ll be talking about these things in our small groups this week. I hope to see you there!

Week 8 Assignments

Read Matthew 5-7
Study Week 9: “A Foundation That Endures,” pp. 122-137; Matthew 7:13-29
Attend a small group.
Watch my video for this week.
Memorize this week’s Bible verse, Matthew 7:24-25 ESV

Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock.

Week 8 Discussion Questions

Here is a sneak peek of the questions we will be discussing this week in our small groups.

ICE BREAKER: What was the most valuable thing you owned as a child? As a teenager? Now?

Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. Matthew 7:1-2 ESV

Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits. Matthew 7:15-16a ESV

QUESTION 1: Do you think Jesus was contradicting Himself when He told us not to judge in verses 1-2 but then said that we will “recognize them by their fruits” in verses 15-16? What is the difference? When is judging wrong, and when is it a good thing?

My brothers and sisters, if any among you strays from the truth, and someone turns him back,let that person know that whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and cover a multitude of sins. James 5:19-20 CSB

Therefore, every one of you who judges is without excuse. For when you judge another, you condemn yourself, since you, the judge, do the same things. Romans 2:1 CSB

QUESTION 2: How do these verses help your understanding of the kind of judging Jesus was talking about in Matthew 7:1-5? What are some positive motives for judging? What are some areas we might be tempted to judge others which are also weaknesses for us?

Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. Matthew 7:7-8 ESV

When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. James 4:3 NIV

God detests the prayers of a person who ignores the law. Proverbs 28:9 NLT

QUESTION 3: Was Jesus saying that we will get everything we ask for? What are some reasons we may not get what we ask for in prayer?

Do to others whatever you would like them to do to you. This is the essence of all that is taught in the law and the prophets. Matthew 7:12 NLT

QUESTION 4: What do you think Jesus meant by saying that the “Golden Rule” is “the essence of all that is taught in the law and the prophets”?

QUESTION 5: Is there someone toward whom you hesitate to demonstrate the Golden Rule? Why do you think it is so difficult to treat this person the way you would like to be treated? How could you ask God to change your thinking about that person (or yourself) to make it easier for you to treat him or her better?

QUESTION 6: What impacted you most in this week’s passage from the Sermon on the Mount?

Reading Schedule

October 16-22, Study Week 9: “A Foundation That Endures,” pp. 122-137; Matthew 7:13-29
- Small groups: Discuss Week 8
October 23-29: Catch Up Week and Finish Study
- Small groups: Discuss Week 9

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