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1. What does Jesus mean in v. 1 when he says "Do not judge so that you will not be judged." Does that mean we are to accept all lifestyles and views even if they are anti-biblical? Should we not condemn a murderer for fear of judgement coming upon ourselves?

2. What is the criteria for judgement that Christ is giving in v. 1-5?

3. What does v. 6 mean? Who does the dog and swine here represent? What should we not offer them? Why? How does this connect with v. 1-5?

4. What is Jesus telling us about prayer in v. 7-8?

5. Why does Jesus start talking about food and rocks in v. 9? What point is He trying to make?

6. V. 12 is Jesus' big conclusion for this sermon, the next section acting as just some final statements. What is Jesus' core message for the sermon on the mount?

7. How then should we live?

Hello everyone, welcome to session 11. This week and next we are finishing out the Sermon on the Mount. This week ends with Jesus' conclusion and next week features some final statments. 

As per usual, make sure you are including some fellowship with your group. Also don't be afraid to start encouraging more vulnerability within your group. The end goal of this is to bring forth transformation, and that can only be done in a place of trust and vulnerability. Your group should know eachother well enough by now to start being able to trust and be vulnerable with one another.

Guide to this week's discussion

1. What does Jesus mean in v. 1 when he says "Do not judge so that you will not be judged." Does that mean we are to accept all lifestyles and views even if they are anti-biblical? Should we not condemn a murderer for fear of judgement coming upon ourselves?

   • To say that we should never cast judgement ever is to be unjust, and is against the very character of God. To do so would be to exclude us from maintaining justice and would condemn every police officer, judge, and jury member in every courtroom in America and the corresponding people in every other nation. 

   • The emphasis here is to give others grace. It's more of a personal ethic, like the rest of Jesus' teaching in this sermon. Much like 6:14-15 in which Jesus says that we will only be forgiven if we forgive others, here Jesus is telling us that we will be given the same strictness and the same leniency we give others. It's not to allow all sins, but it's to allow grace for personal grievances. 

2. What is the criteria for judgement that Christ is giving in v. 1-5?

   • We need to not only be gracious, but we need to precede criticism with introspection. I need to examine myself and make sure I'm right before I criticize someone else. I can't condemn someone for cheating on their wife while I'm on a date with my mistress. It just doesn't work, looping right back around to the hypocrisy Jesus has been railing against.

3. What does v. 6 mean? Who does the dog and swine here represent? What should we not offer them? Why? How does this connect with v. 1-5?

• What we are offering is criticism (preferably constructive criticism). But we need to make sure we are only offering it to those who are willing to receive it. It is fruitless for me to go tell an atheist that He's committing blasphemy or a Hindu that he's committing idolatry. They are not going to be able to receive that judgement.

• A good example of giving correction to someone willing to receive it would be Apollos in Acts 18:26. They judged him, but for the purpose of making him a better preacher. Apollos received their criticism and became a better preacher because of it.

4. What is Jesus telling us about prayer in v. 7-8?

• We need to be persistent in prayer. While God does already know what we need in advance, we also need to be consistent in prayer and persistent in our petitions to God. 

5. Why does Jesus start talking about food and rocks in v. 9? What point is He trying to make?

• If even human fathers give their sons what they need to survive, then how much more will God give us? He is much more perfect and far more good than a human father, so we can always expect God to give us what we need.

• Also don't miss that it's something the child needs to survive. We must be persistent in praying for our needs, not necessarily our wants.

6. V. 12 is Jesus' big conclusion for this sermon, the next section acting as just some final statements. What is Jesus' core message for the sermon on the mount?

• To submit and pursue God with all of us.

• To treat others with the same grace, mercy, and compassion that God has offered us.

7. How then should we live?

Hello everyone, this week we will be going through some more quite well known passages. This section of Matthew culminates with Jesus' ultimate conclusion, with the rest of this chapter (next session) are some final thoughts to leave the crowd with. We are almost through the sermon on the mount, so in about 2 weeks time prepare for Jesus' story to advance a bit.

Constructive Criticism: v. 1-6

This passage is one that is quite frequently abused. The first verse is "Do not judge so that you will not be judged" (Mt 7:1 NASB). I have seen some take this to mean that you should never criticize or pass judgement on others, but that is a view incongruous with the whole of scripture. If that were the case then you'd have to condemn most if not all the prophets. You'd have to condemn Paul for all his epistles. You'd have to condemn even Jesus himself as He passes judgement on the Pharisees throughout this sermon and more blatantly later on (not to mention his judgements in the opening of Revelation). 

So if this passage is not telling you to never ever judge or criticize someone, then what exactly is Jesus saying here? Well to discover this we need to take a closer look at the entire passage. Jesus follows up by saying that we will be judged by the same standard that we judge others. If that sounds eerily familiar, it's because it's very similar to 6:14-15 “For if you forgive others for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions."

Jesus continues on to give an analogy of a man with a log in his eye trying to get a splinter (the word for speck refers to a minute fragment of straw, chaff, or wood. see Hollman, 1154) out of another man's eye. Jesus here gives the reasonable advice that we should take the log out of our own eye first before we can help our neighbor. 

Both of these additions help clarify what Jesus is getting at by telling us not to judge. He is telling us to be careful about how we criticize others. Criticism can be helpful and needed, look no further than Acts 18:26 in which Priscilla and Aquilla pull Apollos aside to correct him. This is criticism, this is passing a judgement, yet it is treated as a positive thing because it is. 

One aspect of this is having mercy and grace. I shouldn't needlessly nitpick my brothers and sisters in Christ, neither should I let them live wildly sinful lives unprovoked. If you notice that you neighbor sings offkey during worship, leave him be. Yet if he's having an affair on his wife, then you absolutely need to correct him. Yet you probably shouldn't the one to correct him if you came to church today with your mistress. 

Ultimately Christ is calling us to be what we were created to be: Imago Dei (The Image of God). I will have to answer to God for every horrible thing I've done (of which there are plenty) yet God has been pretty lenient towards me and has shown me immense grace. We need to do the same for others. You must always seek reconciliation and forgive all things, but there also needs to be justice and order maintained as well. 

A rather unreasonable example is that of Corrie Ten Boom. She wrote about her experience as a Christian under Nazi Germany whose family had been hiding Jews before being found out and put in a camp. She was the sole survivor of her family. In her book, The Hiding Place, she describes that later on she encountered a guard at the camp who had asked her to forgive him. Though it was hard, by the empowerment of the Spirit (which also lives in us) she was able to forgive him. I will also link a video here of her speaking of this event in her own words. For more go read the book or even watch the movie. There should be justice given to this man, yet it is on us to forgive others of what they have done against us.

Thus you are to be careful in casting judgment upon others. Sometimes correction is needed, but we must also be full of grace and mercy in so doing. We have no other choice, this is what we receive from God and what we must offer to others.

The last verse here mentions casting pearls before swine. Another issue that comes up when offering criticism is the receptiveness of our audience. To correct a Christian for following unbiblical beliefs is to offer a criticism that will be followed. Yet to correct a Hindu for being an idolater is a fruitless endeavor. We can't expect non-Christians to act in a Christian way, they have not come under Christ and so it's pointless to expect them to act as if they have. This isn't to say that we shouldn't proclaim the gospel to them, that is absolutely necessary, but we can't pass judgment on their sinful living because they don't abide by the law to begin with. 

On Prayer: v. 7-12

Now Jesus returns to speaking about prayer, focusing in on how we need to be persistent. Here we get the famous line "seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you" (Mt 7:7). This verse and the next are pretty straightforward: God does indeed answer prayer and we need to be consistent and persistent in prayer. 

Now Jesus gives an example of how God treats prayer by relating to a father giving his son food. Notice here that the son is asking for things he needs, not the things he wants. Jesus is not telling us to keep praying for a million dollars, but rather for our daily bread, the basic provisions that keep us going. 

Now the last verse here is more or less Jesus' thesis statement: "In everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you, for this is the Law and the Prophets." (Mt. 7:12). This is the throughline of Jesus' sermon here. We are to submit to God and we are treat others as God has treated us (which is also submission to God by the way). 

Bibliography

Brand, Chad, Charles Draper, Archie England, Steve Bond, E. Ray Clendenen, and Trent C. Butler, eds. “Mote.” in Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary. Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2003.