Judging Others
1 “Judge not, that you be not judged. 2 For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. 3 Why do you see 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,’ when there is the log 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 dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you.
Jesus warns us here not to judge others because as we pronounce judgement on another, so the same standards that we employ to judge them will be the very ones that God uses to judge us in turn. If we measure the achievements of another then in the same way God will measure our achievements. It belies that we should instead be merciful to our brother, or sister, that God might in turn be merciful to us.
How often do we see the faults in our brother, or sister, and become furious with them. How can they do this or that which upsets us. How can they so casually break the law of God and injure those we love? Yet their wrongdoing is a mere speak in their eye compared to the beam in our own eye which we don't even seem to know is there.
The judgement that we are giving to them is in its own way a large part of our wrong doing, a part of the beam in our own eye. H
ow many other sins do we commit that are just as bad as those we see in others, or maybe much worse. What are we doing in our lives. Are withholding tithes or committing some infraction of the law of God that is far worse than our brother, or sister, are doing. So we need to look into our own hearts and do some housekeeping of a cleansing and repentant nature so that we can see with clear eyes to assist our brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ.
There are times to share your faith but there are times when your audience will not be worthy of the pearls of knowledge that the Holy Spirit has revealed to you. Times when the wisdom of God would be so rejected as to be metaphorically trampled underfoot.
Ask, and It Will Be Given
7 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. 9 Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? 11 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!
Here Jesus tells us to pray earnestly and to spend time in prayer. Ask God specifically for your needs and tell Him what you seek and He will see that you find it. Knock and He will open the wisdom of heaven to you. Be determined, be diligent to pursue the things you need from God. For God is our heavenly Father and just as we know how to give good gifts to our children and will not give bad or dangerous gifts neither will God give us bad gifts. In fact, God will give us much more wonderful gifts and things that will help us in every aspect of our Christian life and walk.
The Golden Rule
12 “So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.
13 “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. 14 For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.
Jesus starts this short passage with the commandment "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you" This commandment fits with another well-known scripture "Love your neighbor as you love yourself. This is the Law of the Prophets and Jesus came to fulfill the Law.
There are two gates in the this world in which we live. One is wide and the path to it is wide and easy and those who make their way to perdition are many. Just follow your fallen nature and listen to the lies of the devil and the path of least resistance will carry you straight through the wide gate on the road to hell.
Narrow is the second gate and the road that leads to it is steep, rough, difficult and sometimes near impossible to negotiate. Few find it and those who do are the children of God. You have to really love God and follow Him closely to enter by the narrow gate. It means fighting the fallen nature. It means believing on Jesus Christ unto eternal life and being baptized into His death and coming out of the waters into His resurrection and to the newness of life. It means being sanctified by Holy Spirit and finally being resurrected perfect, and holy, into the Kingdom of God.
A Tree and Its Fruit
15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. 16 You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17 So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. 18 A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.
In this passage Jesus warns of false prophets who come to deceive you. Usually, they come seeming to be shepherds of the flock. Pastors of the children of God. False prophets though have false teachings and lead the flock away from God and from the word of God. In our time there have been cult leaders who have led their flocks even to death and many who have established Churches based on false teaching just as in earlier church periods entire libraries of false doctrine have included into the wisdom of the Church which impact us to this day.
Jesus says here that we can recognize these false prophets by their fruit. If they seem to be focused on wealth rather than the betterment of the Church for God's will. If they have the wrong attitudes to those who question their motives or if they tend to accumulate beautiful things and to gather beautiful women around themselves. If they don't stand when their witness and testimony are compared to the word of God. Anything that counts as fruit can be assessed to see whether it is from God and of the Holy Spirit, or is it from the world and the devil.
Jesus tells us that those trees which don't bare good fruit will be cut down and burned. Thus they can be recognised by their fruit.
I Never Knew You
21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’
Jesus warns here that to enter the Kingdom of Heaven requires obedience to the will of God. It requires that you believe on Christ Jesus for the forgiveness of sins and genuine repentance as the Holy Spirit sanctifies your heart. Some people will attempt a form of token worship and not commit to the narrow way. You cannot continue in your sins as you walk with the Savior. Repentance is a prerequisite.
On the last day if you are not genuinely converted then Jesus will tell you "I never knew you; depart from me you workers of lawlessness."
Build Your House on the Rock
24 “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 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. 26 And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. 27 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”
A wise man ensures that the house he is about to build is built on the rock whereas the foolish man builds his house upon the sand. When the rains come and there are floods the house built on the rock stands fast whereas the house built on the sand is undermined and swept away in a great catastrophe. Thus, those who build their house upon the rock are those who listen to the wise council of Jesus in the word of God and who listen to the Holy Spirit in their hearts. They have eternal life. Those who build their houses on the sand are those who turn their backs on God and refuse to listen to His wise council from the bible. They lose everything including their souls and the second death is theirs for eternity.
The Authority of Jesus
28 And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, 29 for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes.
The people who came to listen to Jesus began to realize that they were in the presence of a Prophet of God and started to see that Jesus of Nazareth was the promised Messiah, the Son of God and their deliverer.
From <https://www.blueletterbible.org/esv/mat/7/1/s_936001>
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