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Text: Matthew 7: 1-12(NIV)

¹"Do not judge, or you too will be judged. ²For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.

³"Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? ⁴How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? ⁵You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.

⁶"Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and then turn and tear you to pieces.

⁷"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. ⁸For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.

⁹"Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? ¹⁰Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? ¹¹If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! ¹²So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.

Discussion Questions

-When you condemn other people, what is it that you’re really trying to accomplish? Does it work?

-Read verses 1 and 2. Jesus says that when we judge other people, we usually just get judged right back. What effect does that have on your relationship to that person?

-What is the lesson of verses 3-5 regarding our qualifications to be able to judge others?

-Take another look at verse 5. Is Jesus telling us to never try to discern right and wrong in regards to other people’s behavior? What should be our real motivation for doing so?

-Read the proverb in verse 6. Sometimes we have perfectly good solutions to people’s problems, but when we try to impose them, our relationship still breaks down. Why is that?

-Rather than condemning people or trying to impose our solutions on them, verses 7 and 8 offer a different approach. What is that, and why would it be more useful in trying to help people?

-Verses 9-11 also bring God into the process of trying to help people. What do you think the “good gifts” are that Jesus is referring to?

-The “golden rule” in verse 12 is connected by Jesus to the whole discussion we just had about how to treat people dealing with moral issues in their lives. If you were having a problem in your life, are these the ways you would like to be treated? How does what we discussed accomplish what the Scriptures (the “Law and the Prophets”) really intend?

Each study on the Sermon on the Mount is based on the fact that God has translated us into the Kingdom of God, with all of the benefits and expectations being things that should currently characterize our “life in the Kingdom.” Each lesson illustrates an important Kingdom principle that, when taken together, will help achieve a “Kingdom worldview,” in order to live healthy and significant lives while we await the complete fulfillment which will attend the second coming of Christ.

Review of Kingdom principles so far:
5:1-12 (Beatitudes): The eternal perspective on our lives which comes from living in the Kingdom should be able to transform our attitude toward life because we have constant access to what is really important.

5:13-16 (Salt and Light): Good works are not the means to God’s salvation, but are still critical in order to accomplish Kingdom ministry and mission in this world.

5:17-20 (fulfilling the law): We cannot keep the law of God by trying hard—we keep it by becoming the kind of people who naturally live in accordance with what God desires for us.

5:21-32 (sex and violence): healthy relationships with others come from dealing with the underlying heart issues of selfishness and pride rather than just managing our outward behaviors.

5:33-48 (Integrity and Crazy Love): The confidence we have as children of God and citizens of the Kingdom who have a different value system allows us to be in control of situations where other people are trying to control us.

6:1-18 (Impressive Piety): people who live in the kingdom of God are motivated to pursue spiritual disciplines; not out of a sense of ritual or duty or in order to impress other people, but to deepen their relationship with the Father.

6:25-34 (Anxiety Antidote): when our value system is aligned with the Kingdom of God, our lives in this world become much healthier.

The kingdom principle in this passage is that helping people grow in godly living doesn’t come from condemning them or trying to “fix” them; but happens through respecting them, developing a relationship with them, and praying for them.

-When you condemn other people, what is it that you’re really trying to accomplish? Does it work?

This is a question to set the stage for discussion. The best motive for condemning other people would be that we really want to help them change and actually believe that judging them will help to accomplish that. But it rarely (if ever) works out that way. If we’re honest with ourselves, we will also have to admit that many times we condemn others because we need to feel better about ourselves. Knowing that we’re not quite right, if can declare others to be even worse off we’ll at least be able to feel more righteous by comparison. That doesn’t normally work too well either, since condemning other people usually hurts them and we just compound our own guilt.

-Read verses 1 and 2. Jesus says that when we judge other people, we usually just get judged right back. What effect does that have on your relationship to that person?

Sometimes we assume in reading this text is that Jesus is just talking about being judged by God if we go around judging other people. There is certainly an element of truth to that—earlier in the sermon he affirms that if we do not forgive others, God will not forgive us (6:14,15. But this question focuses on the issue of retaliation by other people, since the broader context of this passage has to do with healthy, caring relationships. When we run across behavioral issues in other people’s lives and choose to respond by simply condemning them, normally that just creates an angry, defensive response that does nothing healthy for the relationship.

-What is the lesson of verses 3-5 regarding our qualifications to be able to judge others?

The basic point of these verses is pretty clear. We’ve all got problems as well, and no-one can stand in judgment of others with a totally clear conscience. The issue for some may be just what Jesus is referring to when he speaks of the “plank” in their own eye. Everyone admits that they aren’t perfect, but we don’t normally see ourselves as having issues that are so bad they look like “planks”, vs. “specks” compared to the person we are condemning. What Jesus may be referring to, however, is that it is our willingness to condemn others that is the plank which needs to be removed. As long as we insist on a judgmental approach, we’ll never be able to really help people.

-Take another look at verse 5. Is Jesus telling us to never try to discern right and wrong in regards to other people’s behavior? What should be our real motivation for doing so?

Clearly the broader teaching of Scripture reveals an accountable community which helps each other in regards to their growth in godly behavior. Discernment is not the issue here: it is motivation. Verse 5 makes it clear that our goal is to help people, not just inform them of how evil they are. Ultimately, we do want to help “remove their speck”, but not by means of condemnation.

-Read the proverb in verse 6. Sometimes we have perfectly good solutions to people’s problems, but when we try to impose them, our relationship still breaks down. Why is that?

Please be clear about this with your group: Jesus is not calling people who have problems pigs and dogs. He is referring to what is actually helpful. Dogs cannot understand what is sacred, and pigs cannot digest pearls. Our motivation is to really help people, so we want to do what really works to accomplish that. Even if we do better than just standing in judgment of people, many times we feel as if we have “done our duty” if we just tell them what God says about something. Or we try to “fix” them by simply telling them what to do or not to do. But this doesn’t help the relationship either, because it devalues people, implying that they need us to be making their moral choices for them. Instead of wanting to have a relationship with them, they can tell that we just want to try to control them and impose our solutions on them.

-Rather than condemning people or trying to impose our solutions on them, verses 7 and 8 offer a different approach. What is that, and why would it be more useful in trying to help people?

This is one of those verses that we have tended to rip out of its context, which causes us to miss the real meaning. Rather than just telling us that we’ll get whatever we ask for from God, it is better to see these verses as Jesus actually offering a different way to relate to people. Instead of condemning people, or imposing solutions on them, we ask their permission to help. We seek solutions together. We knock on the door of their heart before just barging in to explain to them how evil they are or how to fix themselves. It is more useful, because it values people. Asking implies that they can say no. That elevates them above the level of being an object of our contempt, or a project to be fixed. We treat them as real people who have every right to make their own choices, just as we do. The language implies continuing activity: keep asking, keep seeking, keep knocking. It takes time and persistence to have a really helpful effect on people when they are caught up in things that require our assistance.

-Verses 9-11 also bring God into the process of trying to help people. What do you think the “good gifts” are that Jesus is referring to?

We never leave God out of the picture, of course, and these verses put the focus on what it is we are asking God for. Here again, we have tended to think of these verses as referring to things we ask God for in regards to our own needs. In the context of this discussion, what we are trying to do is to help people with kingdom behavior issues that need addressing. We pray for God to help them as well, and we pray that we will be able to play a constructive role in that process. The “good gifts” will be whatever God chooses to do to accomplish our real purpose: helping other people.

Hopefully this lesson will help to put the golden rule into perspective. Being a caring community in the kingdom of God will mean walking alongside each other in our spiritual journeys to help each other become who God wants us to be. In that process, we won’t find it helpful for people to condemn us or simply try to “fix” us and walk away. We want to be in real, caring relationships that accomplish true spiritual growth over time. So that is what we offer to others in the kingdom. This fulfills the Law and the Prophets (a phrase meaning the whole revelation of God’s intentions up to that point). It is a picture of the people of God the way he intended for them to be: a caring community growing together in Christ-likeness through prayer, mutual respect and loving concern.