Matthew 7 Devotional Bible Study

What Does It Mean to Judge?

Matthew 7:1-2 – “Do not judge others, and you will not be judged.  For you will be treated as you treat others. The standard you use in judging is the standard by which you will be judged.”

There’s a meme going around of a person telling someone, “You can’t judge me! Only God can judge me!” And the other person says, “You know that’s worse, right?”

If I judge someone, I have no authority to enforce my judgment. I can’t sentence them for their crimes. But God can. The twist in what Jesus is saying here is that the person you’re judging is not the person who will be punished; it’s you, for judging them.

So what does it mean to judge in this context? Does it mean we can never point out something that’s wrong? No, because in the next section, Jesus says you can help take the speck out of someone’s eye, which means you’ve seen and recognized the speck for what it is. Further down, He says you can know people by their fruits. You can make a judgment about what’s right and wrong, who is doing good and who is doing evil.

To judge in this verse isn’t judging what’s right and wrong; it’s passing judgment against someone. It’s pronouncing them guilty and deserving of judgment. It’s not showing grace or forgiveness. It’s not offering second chances. It’s being harsher than God.

Are you being harsher than God to someone?

 

Helping with the Speck

Matthew 7:3-6 – “And why worry about a speck in your friend’s eye when you have a log in your own? How can you think of saying to your friend, ‘Let me help you get rid of that speck in your eye,’ when you can’t see past the log in your own eye? Hypocrite! First get rid of the log in your own eye; then you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend’s eye. Don’t waste what is holy on people who are unholy. Don’t throw your pearls to pigs! They will trample the pearls, then turn and attack you.”

Again, Jesus doesn’t say you can’t help someone take the speck out of their eye. In fact, you can and should notice and point out and help with something that’s wrong in another person. But you have to first make sure you’re in a right spiritual state yourself. Your concern starts with you, not other people. If my attitude is one of judgment, that I'm looking down on that person for having a problem in their life, that judgmental attitude is a log in my eye that I need to remove before I can approach that person in a helpful way.

And notice who He says to help with their sin, and who He says not to. Jesus says you help with the speck in your friend’s eye. Other translations say in your brother’s eye. He’s talking about fellow Christians. You help them correct their problems because by being a believer they’ve agreed to live by the same standards you have. You don’t try to correct unbelievers, because they won’t listen to you. They’ll only be offended at you pointing out their sins.

 

It's a Speck

Matthew 7:3 – “And why worry about a speck in your friend’s eye when you have a log in your own?

The other person has a speck in their eye. It's a relatively small issue. It's not a tree. It's not even a log or a plank. It's just a speck. So don't blow it out of proportion. If it's a relatively minor problem, treat it as a relatively minor problem. 

But as Christians, we're called to live holy lives, so even relatively minor problems need to be removed. We don't keep the speck of sin because we think it's just a little sin. No, it's still a speck in your eye. It shouldn't be there. 

 

Confidence in Asking

Matthew 7:7-11 – “Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.

“You parents—if your children ask for a loaf of bread, do you give them a stone instead? Or if they ask for a fish, do you give them a snake? Of course not! So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask him.”

I think the message of this section is very simple. Why can I be confident in asking God for things? Because He’s a good and loving Father who wants to give me good gifts.

Do you believe God wants to give you good things?

 

What Do You Want Others to Do to You?

Matthew 7:12 – “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.”

This is the Golden Rule. Some people come up with the Platinum Rule, what they think is an improvement to Jesus’ words here. They say you should treat people the way they want to be treated. For instance, if someone was born a male but wants to be treated as a female, that’s what they say you should do.

But what Jesus is saying is you treat others not how they want to be treated by you but how you want to be treated by them, assuming you’re following God’s laws. If I’m in a right relationship with God, I shouldn’t want others to agree with my sin. I should want them to point it out. I shouldn’t want people to help me make mistakes. I should want them to correct me.

And if I don’t want people to cheat me or take advantage of me or sin against me in some other way, I shouldn’t do any of those things to them. If I would want someone to forgive me, I should forgive others. If I would want others to encourage me and look out for my good, I should encourage and look out for the good of others. If I would want others to be respectful toward me, I should be respectful toward others. And so on.

Is there anyone you’re treating in a way you wouldn’t want to be treated?

 

Fitting through the Gate

Matthew 7:13-14 – “You can enter God’s Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way. But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it.”

Jesus is saying going to Hell is easy. But if you want to be a Christian, it’s going to be very difficult. Instead of doing what you want, you have to do what God wants. You have to follow His rules, not your own. But following that narrow set of rules and walking that difficult road is worth it, because it leads to God’s Kingdom.

What road are you following? Are you lined up to enter through God’s gate?

I’m picturing someone standing at a narrow gate, but they have a huge backpack on, overstuffed and bulging out the top and sides. That pack is their sin and pride, and their own ideas of how life should go. They can’t fit through the narrow gate carrying that pack. They have to put it down and leave it behind.

What do you need to leave behind to follow God’s way?

 

What’s My Fruit?

Matthew 7:21-23 – “Not everyone who calls out to me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter. On judgment day many will say to me, ‘Lord! Lord! We prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name.’ But I will reply, ‘I never knew you. Get away from me, you who break God’s laws.’”

What if I taught the word of God to people every week, but then went home every night and yelled at my wife and drank myself drunk and watched pornography and gambled online? Would I truly be following Jesus? I would be doing good things in His name, but I would also be a hypocrite. Most of my fruit would be bad. I would still be in sin.

It’s possible for someone to be doing good ministry but not be in a real relationship with the Lord. Think about your own life. Is there anything in you that makes it so that you’re claiming Jesus as Lord but you’re not actually doing the will of Jesus’ Father in Heaven? Recognize that rotten fruit for what it is and ask Him to make you into a strong and healthy tree that produces only good fruit.

 

The Promise

Matthew 7:24-27 – “Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock. Though the rain comes in torrents and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that house, it won’t collapse because it is built on bedrock. But anyone who hears my teaching and doesn’t obey it is foolish, like a person who builds a house on sand. When the rains and floods come and the winds beat against that house, it will collapse with a mighty crash.”

Jesus’ promise here is that if we listen to His teaching (if we’re studying the Word) and obeying it, we won’t have to collapse when we face problems or temptations or loss. We can stand strong as we keep trusting in God to get us through those difficulties.

But if we don’t obey Jesus, we’ll crash because we don’t have anything to stand on, nothing to keep us secure when problems come.

Are you being wise and building your life on a solid foundation of obedience to Jesus’ teaching? Or are you being foolish, thinking that big problems won’t come to you and so you don’t need a good foundation, or that you can stand up to life’s problems based on your own flimsy foundation?

 

I Have No Authority

Matthew 7:28-29 – When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, for he taught with real authority—quite unlike their teachers of religious law.

Like the religious teachers of Jesus’ day, I have no authority in my teaching. All they could do was repeat and comment on what the Old Testament said. Most of what I do is repeat what the writers of the Bible said and maybe make the meaning a little clearer. I have no authority to give you new information from God. If I did try to say something that was in addition to the Scriptures already given, I would be overstepping my role, and no one should accept what I say.

But Jesus did have that authority. He was providing new revelation as the author Himself, and the people recognized the difference between Jesus’ authority and the commentators.