One of the biggest traps in marriage is trying to fix your spouse. God gave you your spouse as a helpmate, not as a fixate. God wants to do more work in you and use you to do work in your spouse. The same is true with others in our lives. This chapter contrasts the proper way (doing the will of the Father) and the false way (not doing the will of the Father). Having exposed hypocrisy, Jesus pointed out our tendency to judge others, not ourselves. › The righteousness of Jesus’ followers will be evident in their relationships and daily choices. What Does Jesus Say About Judging Others? Matthew 7:1-2  1. The Measure You Judge Will Be The Same Measure Applied To You The disciple who takes it upon himself to judge what another does usurps the place of God and, therefore, becomes answerable to him. Judging unjustly or unqualifiedly also includes condemning or rejecting someone doing wrong without sincerely desiring to see the person turn to God and receive forgiveness. It is an attitude that would prefer God’s judgment on people before they respond to his mercy. This passage is often abused and taken out of context to defend immoral behavior contrary to the instruction in God’s Word. However This verse must not be used as an excuse for not exercising church discipline. God does not expect us to tolerate continual sin in our own lives or the lives of people in the church because it will cut off the flow of the Holy Spirit’s work in and through a congregation. Can you imagine if God measures you like you measure others? Do you want to be graded that harshly? We should extend the same grace to others that we expect them to extend to us. Matthew 7:3-5  2. Focus On Your Log But when a brother in a meek and self-judging spirit removes the log in his own eye, he is still responsible for helping his brother remove his speck. It is one thing to exercise judgment and quite another to have a judgmental attitude. One is an action that might be carried out with right or wrong motives; the other is a negative character quality. Jesus also knew well our human tendency to take truth and use it to feed a new kind of hypocritical supremacy. He did not want the hypocritical followers of the Pharisees to become the hypocritical followers of Jesus. So he stopped and warned them to apply his teaching to themselves and others. God did not call you to police the world. You have enough to work on to keep yourself busy until you meet Jesus. Matthew 7:6  3. It Is Not Your Job To Change Hearts Jesus follows his warning about making undue judgments by saying that we should “not give dogs what is sacred” or “throw pearls to pigs.” He says there is no use in teaching or correcting a person beyond their ability to understand the truth. Dogs and pigs (wild and unclean) likely refer to people who are not only unbelievers but also active enemies of the gospel. The most likely interpretation is to take what is sacred and pearls to refer to the gospel or truth and to take pigs and dogs to mean any person who persistently rejects the gospel or truth, whether Jew or Gentile. Jesus was teaching his people to use discernment when sharing the truth with others. We need to be patient, giving our own lives a chance to speak as a testimony for Christ and allowing the Holy Spirit to take his time to work the truth we have shared into the heart and conscience of the unbeliever. There is an art to walking the line between pushiness and apathy. The way we live our lives can be the best sermon. What are our transformational moments? What measure are you currently being judged? Do you need to focus inward? Are you living a life that points to God?