Matthew 7:1-12 – Failure and Forgiveness in the Kingdom

Jesus, after unveiling the full extent of our sin (Matt. 5:17-48), tells us we need to perfect, as our Heavenly Father is perfect (Matt 5:48), and explains how to love our Heavenly Father (Matt. 6:1-34), introduces judgment. In so doing, Jesus addresses how to live in a world full of failures. We might try to be perfect as our Heavenly Father is perfect, but we fail miserably; we might try to love God and others as they should be loved, but we never love them the way they deserve. Jesus has been teaching about love, but now his focus is on how to handle our failures as we try to love God and others. Jesus said,

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.

Matthew 7:1

Quite simply, Jesus tells us that when we judge another person we judge ourselves. The other guy might have murdered someone, committed adultery, or stolen, but we hate, lust, and welch on our agreements. The other person’s behavior is not becoming of a citizen of the Kingdom of Heaven, but neither are our thoughts. We are not the sort of people God wants us to be — none of us — and anytime we judge others, we also judge ourselves.

But we need to understand that by using the words “judge,” “judgment,” “judged,” “measure,” and “measured,” Jesus was talking about both passing judgment and pronouncing condemnation. Judging isn’t merely saying, “that’s not a good thing”; judging also includes saying, “so now you are condemned.” It might be an oversimplification, but most trials usually have two parts: 1) determining guilt or innocence, and 2) passing a sentence. When Jesus says, “Judge not, that you be not judged” he includes both the determination of guilt and the sentence. When Jesus tells us to not judge he isn’t telling us to forgo discerning between right and wrong; he is telling us to not condemn the guilty.

Really? How do you know that? Probably some Greek word thing, right?

Not really. If we jump ahead to Matthew 18:15-20 we find Jesus clarifying what he means about judgment when he says, “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen…” Jesus wants us to confront brothers or sisters who sin, and that means we have to judge (determine right or wrong). This part of judgment is what we do for the sake of reconciliation, but not for the sake of condemnation. Jesus continues and explains how we are to escalate the confrontation if the one who has sinned is unrepentant. But the sole purpose of these words is that the body of Christ needs to have a way to lovingly confront sin in their midst.

Let’s look at Paul’s writings for a minute because he, in a very specific way, shows us how this works. Paul writes,

Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful. But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court. In fact, I do not even judge myself. For I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me. Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the hearts. Then each one will receive his commendation from God.

I Corinthians 4:2-5

Paul is addressing the second half of the trial when he says he has been acquitted. This means that there is no condemnation placed upon him for his wrongdoings. He tells the Corinthians that, “pronouncing judgment” is something God will do; Paul doesn’t even pronounce judgment on himself. But Paul doesn’t mean that we don’t confront sin. Paul continues and writes,

It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans, for a man has his father’s wife. And you are arrogant! Ought you not rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you.

I Corinthians 5:1-2

When Paul judges this person’s behavior as wrong he is addressing part one of the trial. He is even telling the church they need to remove the person from their assembly. I realize that this might seem like part two of the trial, but note that this step is taken because the person is arrogant and proud of his sin. He shows no signs of repentance. Even so, Paul explains the reason for removing the person from the church when he writes,

You are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the lord.

I Corinthians 5:5

Casting the sinner out is not a final or eternal judgment, it is part of the process of bringing him to repentance. Paul clarifies this view about judgment when he writes,

Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? God judges those outside. “Purge the evil person from among you.”

I Corinthians 5:12

Paul is still in the first part of the trial; he has called the behavior sinful. And in the case of someone who is unrepentant, Paul excludes them from the church. But Paul didn’t leave his instructions there. In his second letter to the Corinthians, he readdresses this topic because the church didn’t seem to completely understand what he was telling them. He writes,

For such a one, this punishment by the majority is enough, so you should rather turn to forgive and comfort him, or he may be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. So I beg you to reaffirm your love for him.

II Corinthians 2:6-8

Judgment — determining right from wrong — is what we do for fellow believers. But we don’t venture into the second part of the trial — the second step of imposing a final and eternal sentence. We declare behavior right or wrong so the sin may be confessed and the sinner may repent; all for the end goal of restoration. What Paul does here is what Jesus described in Matthew 18:15-20; recognizing sin as sin. But we have not been called to pass the sentencing part of judgment; the condemnation. That alone rests with God, and that sort of judgment — the second part of the trial — is what Jesus speaks about when he says, “Judge not, that you be not judged.”

But please don’t think this means we have the freedom to go about willy-nilly pointing out the sins of other people in our church. In fact, Jesus seems to tell us just the opposite. When we consider the sins we commit and the sins others in the church commit, we must realize that one of those sins is worse than the other. It is that sin that needs our full attention. Jesus said,

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.

Matthew 7:3-5

Our sins are a log; the sins of others are a speck.

Really? Being angry at the fool on the expressway is worse than killing another person?

I knew you were going to ask that, and I don’t have an answer to that question. But what I do know is that when it comes to sins I can actually address, my anger is the only one under my control. An interesting thing about specks and logs is that specks only obscure your vision, but logs completely block it. With a speck, things might seem a bit cloudy, but with a log, you actually can’t see anything at all.

But remember, Jesus didn’t actually mention any specific sins, he only addressed the sin’s location: within us or within others. When we judge others instead of ourselves, we ignore the only sin that really matters to us: our own. When our imperfections show — and they show every day — we need to go to the Father seeking his forgiveness and asking for him to remove the log from our eyes. Sure, we can pray about the other person and their sin, we might even need to go down the path of Matthew 18, but don’t misunderstand Jesus here: our time should be taken up dealing with our own messes before we jump into another person’s eye. If, however, we do get to the point of addressing the sins of others, remember that if we want to receive the Father’s forgiveness we must also forgive others (Matt. 6:14-15). In other words, how can we reserve the right to judge someone else’s sin when we expect God to forgo judgment on our own sins?

When you put it that way, okay. But what about —

Sorry, but there is no but. When can’t think we are doing everyone a favor by pointing out the “big” sins in the community without addressing the sin in our own lives.

Okay, but what about…well…“those other sins?” You know which ones I mean; they are really worse, aren’t they?

I don’t know. Maybe they are worse, maybe they aren’t. Maybe they are the lone exception to Jesus’s words, “Judge not.” Maybe there are sins for which we are to pass final and eternal condemnation. But I can’t, for the life of me, find any teachings by Jesus to back that up. Even Paul is not as judgmental as we often think. When we confront sins in other believers we do it because we love them and we want them to be reconciled with God and bring them back into our church community.

So, what you are saying is that I need to love the sinner but hate the sin?

Well, not really. I haven’t found that passage in the Bible yet. I mean, that sounds like a great thing to do, but I’m not so sure how easy is it really to “Love the sinner but hate the sin.” What I mean is that for my part, when I think in those terms, my hate for the sin quickly turns into my rejection of the person. I might begin judging the sin, especially those sins I don’t understand, you know, “those other sins,” but I’m not able to stop there. It isn’t too long before my hate for the sin turns into a judgment of the person. And before long I find myself hating the person and then ostracizing them from the community. Others might have the capacity to draw the sort of line necessary for “loving the sinner, but hating the sin,” but I don’t. But I think I have the capacity to increase my love for the other person if I just focus on loving them (let’s not even call him or her a sinner…we are all sinners, so why state the obvious?).

Besides, the way that seems to give me the greatest chance of being perfect in my love for others as the Father is perfect in his love for us is to just love the other person and leave the punishment to God. And if or when that time arises when I feel the necessity to bring up their sin, it might be helpful to remember Jesus’s words on the cross, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34).

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.

Matthew 7:6

Most Bibles include this verse with the section addressing judgment, but that seems problematic to me. I mean, if Matthew 7:6 does belong with the section on judgment, then it would seem that judging one another is profitable if the other person is clean: a Jew or a believer. But if the other person is an unclean dog or pig, then our judgment, a holy and valuable thing, is wasted. But such an interpretation seems a bit of a stretch.

What makes the most sense to me is that Matthew 7:6 introduces the verses that follow. And when read that way, it creates what I’d like to call a “sandwich” of Matthew 7:6-11 The first piece of bread forming the sandwich is the proverb-like statement from Matthew 7:6 about dogs and pigs, the meat (or if you are a vegetarian or vegan, the “vegetable”) in the middle of the sandwich is found in verses 7-8,

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.

Matthew 7:7-8

And the other slice of bread completing the sandwich is found in verses 9-11,

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!

Matthew 7:9-11

The two pieces of bread address the same issue of giving gifts. The first slice of bread, (Matt. 7:6), emphasizes the insanity of giving holy and valuable gifts to dogs and pigs, while the second slice, (Matt. 7:11), emphasizes giving good gifts to our children. Sandwiched in between these two statements, Jesus emphasizes two things: 1) how easy it is to receive those good things the Father wants to give us, and 2) that we are his children; we aren’t dogs or pigs. The Father’s children merely have to ask and the Father will give; they merely have to seek, and we will find; we merely have to knock, and the door will open.

Okay. But what are the good things the Father wants to give us? Holy pearls, bread, and fish?

Maybe. But before we go to pearls, bread, and fish, step back and take a look at the entire Sermon on the Mount. Jesus is not preaching the gospel of health, wealth, and prosperity. Asking God for lots of “stuff” doesn’t seem to be his point. Jesus told his disciples in an earlier teaching from the Sermon on the Mount that they might ask for food, drink, and clothing (6:31), but only when they seek the kingdom of God and his righteousness (Matt. 6:33a) from their Heavenly Father (Matt. 6:32, 33b) will anything be given to them. And then, stepping further back in the Sermon, Jesus tells us what we can expect to receive from the Father. Jesus said,

Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

Matthew 5:6

The meek might inherit the earth, but they aren’t satisfied until they begin to hunger and thirst for righteousness. Get all the holy pearls, bread, and fish you want, but until you hunger and seek for righteousness you will never be satisfied. The good gifts the Father gives us are his righteousness and, as Luke further explains, the Holy Spirit (Luke 11:13). We don’t throw holy pearls before dogs or pigs; we don’t give our children stones and serpents; God does not give bad things to his children who ask him.

So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.

Matthew 7:12

Then, as if it really needed to be said, Jesus explains that if we wish for these things to be done to us — not being judged, receiving God’s holy and valuable gifts — then we should do the same for others; we should love them. We cannot expect God to forgive us if we don’t forgive others, we cannot expect God to suspend judgment on our sins if we pass judgment on the sins of others, and we cannot expect God to bless us if we curse others. This is what it means to be perfect in our love for others just as God is perfect in his love toward us; this is the meaning and the intent of all of the Law and the Prophets.

The kingdom for which we pray is the kingdom wherein God does not judge us, just as we do not judge others. It is the kingdom where God pardons us from our sins. It is the kingdom in which God gives us holy and valuable gifts: his forgiveness and his Spirit. And it is the kingdom where Jesus provides us the strength and courage to help others find these good gifts from the Father, if only we ask it of him.

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