Rarely do you ever hear anyone point out that Jesus calls upon us to make judgments, even about others. Matthew’s account of the Master’s words begins much in the same way that Luke’s does (6:37), but Matthew 7 goes on to record Jesus as teaching that proper judging begins with judging one’s self (remove beam in one’s own eye, v. 5). Then notice the purpose for this is so that we may properly judge others (to see clearly to remove a speck in a brother’s eye). This is intended to help the other person, but it definitely involves judging the other person.
Jesus went on to teach that we must judge who is a dog and who is a hog (v. 6). We must judge which is the right way and the wrong way to go into eternal life (v. 13-14). We must judge between true prophets (teachers) and false prophets (teachers) (v. 15-16). We must judge men by their fruits (v. 15-16). We must determine a good tree from a bad (evil tree), and again, it is by their fruits (v. 20).
Notice that God judges anyone who hears and does these things (and all that the Lord teaches) to be wise (saved), while anyone who hears these things (and all that the Lord teaches, but does not do them), He judges them to be foolish (lost) (v. 21-27).
In everything, we should not judge according to appearance only, but we should judge righteous judgment (John 7:24). That is, we should use the Word of God as our righteous standard for determining (judging) what and who is right, as well as, what and who is wrong. We should then hold on to that which is right (1Thessalonians 5:21)! Think about it!
