Overcoming Harsh Judgments and Faultfinding

 Intro
 The Bible still reads, "Judge not, that you
 be not judged.  For with what judgment you judge, you
 shall be judged" (Matt 7:1,2).  And, "Speak not evil one
 of another, brethren.  He that speaks evil of his brother,
 and judges his brother, speaks evil of the law, judges the
 law: but if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the
 law, but a judge" (Jas 4:11).

   What is Judging?
  Sometimes judging is forbidden (Matt 7:1;
             Jas 4:11,12),
  and sometimes it is encouraged.  (Jn 7:24; Lk 12:57
             1 Cor 5:12,13).  Hence, it is apparent that
 judging is used in more than one sense in the New
 Testament.  Now, the question in this study is what is the
 judging the Lord forbids in Matt 7:1-6 and Jas 4:11?
  (1)  What is the kind of judging Jesus DOESN'T forbid?
     (a) judgments of the civil courts, Rom 13:1-7
     (b) judgment of the church on disorderly members
      (1 Cor 5:1-13; 2 Thess 3:6)
     (c) individual judgments we must make of wrongdoers
        and evil people (Matt 7:1-5) plus 6;7:15-20;
               3 Jn 9; Tit 3:10,11
     (d) recognizing and disapproving the faults of
              others. (Gal 6:1, Jas 5:19,20)
     (e) decisive preaching that draws the line between
         truth and error, the lost and the saved,
        (2 Thess 1:7-9; 2 Pet 2:1)
     (f) the identifying of false teachers (1 Jn 4:1;
                                   Jude; 1 Thess 5:21)
  (2)  What is the kind of judging Jesus DOES forbid?  "All
    judging from surmise, or from insufficient premises,
 or from ill-will is prohibited." (McGarvey).  "The habit
 of consoriousness, sharp, unjust criticism.  Our word
 critic is from this very word."  (Robertson).  Commenting
 on Jas.4:11,12 Guy N. Woods says that the judging
 condemned "is to impute unworthy motives to others, to put
 the worst possible interpretation on their works and
 actions...Forbidden here, as also in the Sermon on the
 Mount (Matt 7:1), are all censorious judgments exercised
 without sufficient information by people who are without
 right to do so, and whose design is destructive, slander
 and defamation of character."  Thus, as well as from an
 observance of the context (Matt 7:1-6), the kind of judging
 forbidden by the Lord is harsh, hasty, unfounded,
 censoreous, hypercritical, uncharitable, malicious,
 slanderous, ill-natured judgment.

 What Causes Judging And Mote-Hunting?
 (1)  An effort to divert attention from one's own sins.
      Feigning concern for the poor, Judas accused
     Mary of wastefulness when he himself had been stealing
     from the bag   (Jn 12:5,6).
 (2)  An effort to justify one's own sinful life
     and console a biting conscience.  The mote hunter, upon
     finding a similar fault or comparatively insignificant
     wrong in another person, will magnify it out of
     proportion and then sit back and think "...why I'm not
     bad after all." (2 Cor 10:12).  But, we cannot
     whitewash ourselves while blackening others.  "Judging
     others is a dangerous thing, not so much because you
     make mistakes about them but because you may be
     revealing the truth about yourself."  Indeed,
     we judge in others that of which we ourselves are
     guilty.  (Rom 2:1).
     He who criticizes, "These are the most indifferent
     people,"  may be the most spiritually indolent.  And,
     he who complains, "These are the most unfriendly
     people," may be very cool and unfriendly.
  (3)  An intent to build up oneself while tearing down
     another.  Such originates in an inferiority complex.
     Such was the fault of the Pharisee.  (Lk 18:9-14).
  (4)  Envy and hatred.  Envy seeks to get rid of its victim
   (Did not Saul seek to kill David; and, did not Haman
 build gallows for Mordecai?)  And, this envy seeks to
 do by hurting, wounding and stabbing with unfounded,
 harsh, censorious, malicious, uncharitable and critical
 judgments.

 The Harsh Judge and Mote Hunter is Worse Than His Victim

 Remember that when you point the finger of judgment at
 another, you have three others pointing back at yourself.
 Too, the thumb is pointed downward, signifying from which
 direction the spirit of judging comes!
 (1)  The critic or censorious judge has a 'beam' in his
 eye, whereas his victim as a 'mote.'  The word 'beam'
 (dokos) denotes a stick of timber such as would be used
 as a floor joist or ceiling rafter; a saw log.  The word
 'mote' (karphos) means a dry stalk or twig; a straw or
 chaff; a speck or splinter.  So, Jesus' picture is that
 of the censorious critic having a saw log protruding
 from his eye (greater faults) while trying to remove a
 speck of sawdust (lesser faults) from his neighbor's eye.
  To illustrate, the Pharisees condemned Jesus for healing
 on the Sabbath, while they failed to render proper
 assistance to their parents. (Mk 3:1; Matt 15:1).
 (2)  The censorious judge is called a hypocrite
      (Matt 7:5).
   Why?  Well, seeing a fault in the life a person
   he envies or dislikes, he will condemn it; whereas, he
 will let the same offense go unheeded or uncondemned in one
 whom he loves.
  Why the difference?  You see, the mote hunter pretends to
 be ever-so abhoring-of-evil while, in reality, such is not
 the case; otherwise, why the tolerance in one and the
 condemnation in another.  Indeed, along with being guilty
 of greater sin, he feigns to be that which he is not.

   Why is it so Unjust to Judge Others?

 (1)  We never fully know the circumstances of others; yea,
 all the facts in the case.  The impatient passenger, trying
 to get off to sleep, wouldn't have stormed out at the weary
 and heavyhearted father holding his crying child, "Why
 don't you take that baby to its mother," if he had of
 known the child's mother was a corpse in the baggage car.
 A little child and his dog wandered away from the house.
 Several hours of searching by many proved futile.
 After several hours the dog appeared, but all bloody.  The
 distraught father, thinking the dog had turned savage and
 attacked the child, shot the dog to death.  Later the child
 was found unharmed; and, nearby was found a dead panther
 the dog had slain in protecting the child.  Then, the
 father knew he had made a serious mistake, all because he
 didn't have all the facts.

  NOTE: The above paragraph can be used in discussing
 "making hasty decisions without all the facts".
 (2)  It is next to impossible to be impartial in our
  judgments.  It is said the Greeks used to hold court in
 the blackness of night, not even being able to see
 the man being tried, so the judge and jury could pass
 sentence only on the factual evidence heard.  The Persian's
 tell of a king who had an unjust judge killed and flayed,
 with the skin being used to cover the seat of a chair.  The
 king then had the judges set in the chair as a grim
 reminder to hand down impartial and unprejudicial verdicts.
  A mother had a son and daughter to both get married within
 a month.  When asked what kind of mates they got she said,
 "The daughter got such a wonderful husband.  He lets her
 sleep late, insists on her going to the beauty parlor, will
 not let her cook, and takes her out to dinner every night."
  She then said, "But I'm not so happy for my son.  He
 married a girl who is lazy, sleeps late every morning,
 spends her time in the beauty parlor, will not cook and
 makes him take her out all the time." Truly, it is
 difficult to be impartial in our judgments.
 (3)  Not everything we condemn in others is actually sin.
 Hannah was accused of being drunken, but she was not (1 Sam
 1:12).  Jesus was accused of blasphemy, but he was not
      guilty (Mk 2:7).
 (4)  The right to judge is not ours; but the Lord's  (1 Cor
    4:3-5; Rom 14:4, 10-13; Jas 4:11,12, A.S.)
 Judging, then, is an infringement on the perogative of God!
 Thus, put down the gavel!  Since the law of Christ
 prohibits judging (Matt 7:1-6), when we censoriously judge
 another we then call in question that very law itself,
 setting our standards and opinions over and against the law
 of the Lord. Consequently, we become judges of this law
 rather than doers.  (Ja 4:11,12, A.S)  We need more and
 better judgment and fewer judges.
 (5)  We see only the outward man, not the inward man.
 (2 Cor 4:16-18).  An inexperienced sailor said, "That's a
 small iceberg."  Whereupon an experienced sailor replied,
 "You are only seeing a small portion of the iceberg.  By
 and large the greater portion is beneath the waters
 surface."  And, so it is.  What a difference it would make
 in our judgments of others if we could only see beneath the
 surface, seeing their motives, intents, inner battles, and
 desires.

 The Remedy for Judging
 (1)  Love.  Love is "always slow to expose,
  always eager to belive the best, always hopeful, always
  patient. (1 Cor 13:7, Moffatt).  Love covers a multitude
 of sins (1 Pet 4:8).  The faults of others will appear
 thick if our love for them is thin.  Genuine brotherly
 love, "Tis gentle, delicate and kind, To faults
 compassionate or blind."
  (2)  Consider how despicable it is.  "Why beholdest..." in
 Matt 7:3 suggests the censorious judge anxiously looks for
 a fault upon which to pounce.  Hence, he is a "picker."
  How despicable!  Furthermore, the critic is always
  actuated by improper motives (Jn 12:4-6).
 (3)  Practice the golden rule.  (Matt 7:12).
    Substituting "think and judge" for "do" in this passage
   makes it read, "Whatever you would that man should think
 and judge of you, do you even so to them."  This would
 eliminate unkind censoring and ascribing improper motives
 to the behavior of others.
 (4)  Self-examination.  (1 Cor 11:28; 2 Cor 13:5).  Upon
 examining self we will se that "there is so much good in
 the worst of us, and so much bad in the best of us,
 that it little behooves any of us to talk about the
 rest of us."
 "If we are critical of ourselves, we will be charitable
 toward others."  We will not go on mote hunting
 when we discover our own beam.  So, when looking for
 faults, use a mirror and not a telescope.  Too, before
 condemning another because of his faults, count ten-ten of
 your own.
 (5)  Look for the good in others.  Though Paul was a
  blasphemer, a persecutor and injurious, God saw
  in him the possibility of being a chosen vessel and
  minister. (1 Tim 1:13; Act 9:15; 26:16).  Be like the bee
 and concentrate on the sweet and beautiful, rather than
 like the buzzard who concentrates on the dead and the foul.
  Though the dog was ugly and mangey the little child said,
 "But he wags his tail."  He could, and did, see the good.
  Let us not concentrate exclusively on the one small black
 dot on the white sheet of paper, and fail to see and
 appreciate all the white surface that remains unmarred.  Be
 a Barnabas and see the good in others. (Act 9:26-31; 15:36-
 41).
 (6)  Ask God for help in overcoming this sin. It is not
 accidental that "Ask, and it shall be given you"
 immediately follows the Lord's classic text on judging.
             (Matt 7:7).
 (7)  Consider how much hurt you inflict into the heart of
 your victim.  The sharp barbs of harsh criticism and
 censorious judgment wound and discourage.  Too,
 they destroy the victim's reputation, that upon which his
 influence is predicated, resulting in his power and
 potential for good being seriously, if not entirely,
 hampered.
 (8)  Consider the fact that the victim is your
      brother.
 (Matt 7:3,5; Jas 4:11,12).  Judging is contrary
        to the very spirit of brotherhood.  After all, being
        members of the same family, and having the same
 Father, should make a difference in our demeanor!
 (9)  Put yourself in the other person's shoes.
  The old Indian prayed, "Great Spirit, help me never to
  judge Indian brother until I have walked two weeks in his
  moccasins."  Ezekiel sat where the people sat for seven
 days before warning the people. (Ezk. 3:15-17)
 (10)  Remember that our judgments are often so wrong.  (1
 Sam 16:6-13).  Eliab misjudged the motives of David.  (1
 Sam 17:28,29).  Lysias misjudged Paul. (Acts 21:37,38).
 Nathanael was wrong in his judgment about any good thing
 coming out of Nazareth.  (Jn 1:46).
 (11)  Consider what judging will do to you.
     (a) It will blind you to your own faults
       (Matt 7:1-6; Lk 18:9-14)  This makes confession and
 repentence impossible. (Act 8:22; 1 Jn 1:8-10)
    (b) It will destroy your friends.  Picking your friends
 to pieces, you will come to mark them off your list one by
 one; and, too, they will come to loathe you.
    (c) It wil rob you of happiness.  No one can live
 happily and meaningfully on a diet of negatives.

  The Judgment That Will Come to the Harsh Judge
    and Censorious Critic.


 (1)  We will be judged with the same judgment we render.
 "For with what judgment you judge, you shall be judged: and
 with what measure you mete, it shall be measured to you
 again." (Matt 7:2).  One of God's unalterable laws is that
 we will reap what we sow.  (Gal 6:7,8; Matt 5:7; Jas 2:13;
  Matt 18:21-35).  The mud thrower will get plastered.  Life
 is an echo.
  (2)  We will also receive judgment from God.
          (Jas 2:12,13).
  We will give an account in the day of judgment
 for every idle, judgmental statement we have made (Matt
      12:36,37).

   Conclusion
 
 J. W. McGarvey said, "The Christian must not be 
 censoriously judicial, but he should be discriminately
             judicious.

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