Kingdom Living: Relationship Challenges (Matthew 7:1-6)

1. Handling people with problems with gentleness (vs. 1-5)

a) “Do not judge” does not mean never evaluate someone’s moral/spiritual condition, or confront, or speak critically of them (v5b,6,15 call for this). I Corinthians 5:11-13 calls us to judge fellow believers. Jesus spoke of those who are overly-critical. They have a condemning manner & take delight in finding faults. Those who refrain from treating others in this way will avoid being judged, and our standard of measuring (measuring cup) others will be applied to us. Although this might apply with other people, it primarily includes before God as our Judge. The unforgiven judgmental attitudes of non-believers will be called to account at the Great White Throne Judgment (Rev. 20:11f). For Christians, this could include God’s discipline of sickness/death (I Cor. 11:31-32) and the Judgment Seat of Christ where the quality of our life as a Christian will be evaluated (2 Corinthians 5:10, I Cor. 3:13-15).

b) Examine yourself first (vs. 3-5a). Funny illustration of someone spotting a little speck of wood/straw (irritating foreign material) in a brothers eye, but not noticing the log/beam of wood in their own eye (context implies their harsh judgmental attitude though other sins could apply). You cannot see or maneuver properly to get near that person to help them. You have to admit you are a hypocrite & then take the log out of your eye through repentance & confession. It would take a while and the loving help of others to heal from such an ailment.

c) Help your friend (v5b): Now you can see clearly to remove the small speck of wood/foreign material from someone else’s eye. “Do not judge” does not mean we do not intervene to help others. With the fault-finding, critical log our of our own eye, we can do this with gentleness & precision.

2. Handling hardened people with discernment (vs. 6)

a) This calls for a discerning evaluation (judgment) of people’s spiritual condition. He gives two examples of behavior His audience would find repulsive & dangerous.

b) “Do not give what is holy to dogs”- Jesus’ audience would likely have thought of sacred food that had been offered to God in sacrifice. One would not throw this to a pack of unclean, wild scavenger dogs who roamed the city rubbish heaps. They might turn & tear you to pieces (ABB′A′). They have no appreciation for the sacredness of what you fed them.

c) “throw pearls before swine”- these unclean animals would mistake the priceless pearls for food & then upon discovering that is not the case, trample them in the mud under their feet as worthless.

d) holy food/pearls = truths of the Gospel/ kingdom of God treasures

e) dogs/swine = scornful, non-believers who have become hardened & hostile against the Gospel. Further attempts to share with them the precious truths of the Gospel will be met with contempt, rejection, hostility and further harden them.

f) We want to be patient & careful about reaching such a conclusion about someone’s spiritual condition, but for those who become like this, continuing to share the love & truth of Christ is just provoking them to blaspheme. We should turn away from them, with the hopes & prayers that God will change their hearts, and give what is the holy food/pearls of the Gospel to others that might be more open. This goes with Jesus’ instructions when He sent His disciples out to minister (10:14-15), and the practice of the early missionaries (Acts 13:44-48, 18:5-6). Don’t keep going to the same hardened people when there are many others who need to hear about Christ, some of whom will believe & become part of His kingdom.

We need a discerning love to know how to relate to people that is best for their spiritual well-being.