Sermon on the Mount - Part 8

• Context: Part of a series through the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5–7). Vijay frames the sermon as what life looks like when Jesus is truly King—citizens living under God’s reign.

• Main passage: Matthew 7:1–6 (“Do not judge…”; speck/log; pearls before pigs). The central claim: the judge’s seat is already occupied—Jesus alone has the ultimate right to judge, justify, and condemn.

• What “do not judge” means (and doesn’t mean):

  • It doesn’t eliminate moral clarity or discernment, or mean “anything goes.”

  • It does confront a judgmental spirit: self-righteous condemnation that forgets our own need for grace.

• What judgmentalism looks like:
  Quick verdicts without the full story, fault-finding without kindness or desire to restore, using “truth” to elevate self and diminish others, and placing labels that can crush people.

• Illustrations:

  • Train story: People assume a dad is careless while his kids misbehave—until they learn the mother has just died. The behaviour hasn’t changed, but perspective does: judgment often lacks crucial context.

  • Baker/farmer scales: The standard you use comes back on you—mirroring Jesus’ “measure you give will be the measure you get.”

• Deeper warning: Jesus points beyond social reciprocity to final judgment before God. The way we judge others reveals what we believe about grace and mercy. Harsh, mercy-less judgment implies we think mercy “shouldn’t count”—but no one survives God’s pure justice without mercy.

• The opposite of judgmentalism: Not moral neutrality, but mercy and forgiveness that still names wrong as wrong while longing for restoration rather than ruin. The speaker cites Luke 6 (“forgive…”), and Colossians 3:13–14: forgiveness flows from remembering God’s forgiveness and from love that “keeps no record of wrongs.”

• The speck/log teaching: Jesus’ absurd image exposes how self-righteousness makes us unfit to help—a person with a “beam/telephone pole” in their eye can’t do eye surgery. Judging others often reveals our own pride, insecurity, and unaddressed sin.

• But Jesus still expects correction: The goal isn’t silence. After removing the log, you can see clearly to help remove the speck. Humble, repentant people can help; hypocrites cannot.

• Why verse 6 matters (“dogs/pigs/pearls”): Even when correction is loving and humble, some will reject it. Discernment protects what’s holy and protects you from wasting what’s precious or being harmed. Kingdom people are judicious, not judgmental—grace without gullibility.

• Closing story (shepherd): “Sheep won’t come near a man with a raised stick.” People respond better to someone who “smells like the fold”—the “smell of mercy.” The advice: go first to the Great Shepherd, let Him deal with your pride, then speak.

• Prayer: Confession of self-righteousness and a plea to be “staggered by grace,” so that believers offer mercy when helping others, becoming more like Jesus.