Don't Judge Facts for 3-8 Year Olds

Categories: Sermon on the Mount

• Jesus talks about the way disciples should treat others.
• He begins by saying: “Do not judge, so that you may not be judged.”
• “Do not judge” means “do not pass judgment upon.”
• Jesus is not saying, “Don’t think.”
• In this case “don’t judge” means don’t condemn or criticize.
• The Old Testament has a whole book devoted to “Judges.”
• These were real people that fought for God.
• Jesus is basically saying that was then; this is now.
• The disciples are not to go out and be heroes warring for God.
• Their job is not to cut down evil, but to overcome evil with good.
• The message is clear: Do not judge, or else you will be judged.
• Jesus adds, “For with the judgment you make you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get.”
• Jesus is really arguing for kindness, mercy, and forgiveness.
• We can do our best to be fair, but we can’t go around judging others.
• Jesus continues, “Why do you see the speck in your neighbor’s eyes, but do not notice the log in your own eye?”
• Having a log in one’s eye is meant to be really funny.
• Jesus is saying that sometimes we see the tiniest flaw in someone else, but we somehow don’t realize that we have flaws to correct.
• The religious leaders pointed out other people’s problems a lot, while ignoring their own.
• Jesus is telling his disciples not to be like them.
• He goes on: “Or how can you say to your neighbor, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ while the log is in your own eye?”
• The idea of having a log coming out from your eye keeps you from getting near enough to help with a speck in a neighbor’s eye.
• “You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbor’s eye.”
• “Hypocrite” again refers to the one who is playing a part, an actor expecting applause for his acting.
• Yet, Jesus isn’t telling us to walk away from the neighbor who has a speck in his eye.
• It hurts when someone has something in his/her eye.
• Disciples are not to be indifferent, but they are to be aware of how they offer help.
• Jesus says, “Do not give what is holy to dogs; and do not throw your pearls before swine, or they will trample them under foot and turn and maul you.”
• Pearls and holiness are Christian talents/teachings.
• They stand for something very, very precious.
• Pigs and dogs stand for enemies.
• For those people back then, dogs weren’t the cute little puppies that you see today.
• They were wild animals, scavenging for food wherever they could find it. This made them unclean.
• Pigs, of course, have always been seen as unclean.
• So this shows how “don’t judge” does not mean, “don’t think.”
• Instead, the disciples are to notice if others are interested in what they are saying.
• Some disciples were probably all ready, willing, and eager to go out and save the world.
• But not everybody is so ready, willing, and eager to be saved. They may not want to hear what the disciples have to say.
• In Matt. 10:14, Jesus will say, “If they don’t receive you, shake off the dust and go on.”
• Yelling at people doesn’t make them change.
• On the other hand, many people have turned to God because of another’s example of living a good life.