• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Sermo Humilis

Humble Speech

  • Home
  • Topics
    • Just a Thought
    • Who we Are Instead
    • Life in Christendom
  • Series
    • Topical
      • Words that Matter
      • Jesus Through all of Life
      • 8 Weeks Before Marriage
      • Life and Times of Jesus
      • Rock of Ages
      • The Ten Commandments
    • Bible Book
      • Proverbs
      • The Book of Ezra
      • 1 Corinthians
  • About
  • Contact
  • Subscribe
  • Show Search
Hide Search
You are here: Home / The Life and Times of Jesus / Jesus, Equal Measures

Jesus, Equal Measures

29 December 2019 By David Trounce

Reading Time: 3 minutes
Print Friendly, PDF & Email

#29 Jesus, Equal Measures - The Life and Times of Jesus

You and I are engaged in the ministry of mercy to those who desire mercy and we are to leave room for the mercy and judgement of God for those who reject it. This ministry includes the use of true weights and measures to judge truth and error in our own lives first and afterwards in the lives of those around us.

It also means having the discernment to spot the fool and get out of his way so that when his world begins to crash and he begins to flail about wildly, you will not be underneath.

Jesus begins by teaching the disciples to always judge by equal standards.

Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the same judgment you pronounce, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you (Matthew 7:1-2)

Judgement is inescapable. You cannot ‘not’ judge. The person who says that you should not judge others has just made a judgement about your actions—in this case, the person judges your act of making a judgement as wrong.

Let that sink in.

Jesus, who is not given to making logical fallacies as we are, anticipates that we will need to make judgements. Here, Jesus is not talking about eternal judgements. “Judge not, lest you be judged”, does not mean that if I go easy on another man’s adultery, God will go easy on my theft and envy.

“Judge not” has to do with our tendency to write other people off. Jesus says don’t do that. Avoid pronouncing your condemnation over others.

The question here is not whether we will judge, but, “By what standard?” Jesus says that the measure or standard we use on others will also be used on us.


On the move?
This article can also be seen and heard on Youtube

The fact that Jesus acknowledges the inescapable reality of judgement (or discernment) is demonstrated in the very next verse.

There, Jesus not only acknowledges that we are making judgments but goes on to tell us how to judge properly.

Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but you do not notice the log that is in your own eye? (Matthew 7:3)

The point isn’t, “Don’t Judge” but, “Don’t use unequal measures when you judge.” One man sees the speck in his brother’s eye as an opportunity to write him off. Another man sees it as an opportunity for mercy and an opportunity to bring rest to an irritated and restless soul.

Such a man knows the discomfort of specks because he has already identified similar timber, of log-like proportions, in his own eye.

You cannot escape judgement. Without a godly standard by which to judge ourselves and others, we are left with the horror show of those who execute judgement on themselves.

The purpose of our judgements—made impartially and according to the law—is mercy, not condemnation. For we who are in need of so much mercy, mercy is the goal—always the goal.

To relieve one another of sin. To lift the burden of guilt. To give sight. To bring rest. This is the goal of the gospel and therefore it is the goal of all who treasure the gospel.

Jesus expects His disciples to discern the difference between brother and not-brother (Matthew 7:3), between a speck and a plank ((Matthew 7:5), and, between a dog and a pig.

Do not give dogs what is holy; do not throw your pearls before swine. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and then turn and tear you to pieces (Matthew 7:6)

In order for you to fulfil this command of Christ, you have to be able to identify swine. You have to able to judge between swine and not swine. And that is something that is easy to do.

We are called to make a distinction between those who doubt and those who scoff (Matthew 5:44-45). We do that by giving them the gospel. If they start snorting, you know what you’re dealing with.

And so, we walk away and leave room for God’s judgement and praying that they will not continue their downhill run into the sea but turn to God and find mercy.

Related...

Jesus, to the Ends of the Earth

Artificial Sweeteners

Jesus, The Image of God

Jesus, The Harvest

Filed Under: The Life and Times of Jesus Tagged With: Judgement, Mercy, Standards


Writing Ideas on Sermo HumilisWhat do You Want to Read About?

 

Nothing like real-world issues to focus the mind. If you have something you would like me to write about, send me a message and let me know.

 

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Danuta says

    31 December 2019 at 1:01 pm

    Thank you David. One of my favourite sayings of Jesus is about the speck and the log. How clever and how wise. I try to focus on my log before I look at another’s speck, sometimes I even get it right!
    Happy new year 2020 to you and all your family.
    Love and blessings,
    Danuta

    • David Trounce says

      31 December 2019 at 1:57 pm

      Thanks Danuta. One of my favourite quotes from Charles Spurgeon is drawn from this verse also…

      “Blinded by the beams and noon, he sees the motes upon the moon.”

Primary Sidebar

Sermo Humilis

For the love of all things true, beautiful and good.


Welcome to Sermo Humilis, a digital home for biblical discipleship and cultural Christianity. A few new thoughts every week.

Please remember to like, subscribe and share. It really helps me out.

Categories

  • Life in Christendom
  • Just a Thought
  • Who we Are Instead

Find us on Social

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Medium
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Support Sermo Humilis

If you enjoy Sermo Humilis and want to say thanks you can support me here.

Support

Series

Sidebar Series - 1 Corinthians Sidebar - Words that Matter Sidebar - Jesus Through all of Life Series Sidebar Series - The Book of Ezra

The Most Popular Guff

A City of Refuge

Sunahan and Kahalek, two of the 35,000 Yali people of Central New

#14 The House of Man – OT Survey

Samuel is a book about small salvations that matter. It's about

The Little Foxes

It's the little foxes, said Solomon, who ruin the vineyard (Song of

No Mere Mortals

Look at the people around your table or the person on the other side

Jesus, Impossible Commands

We tend to want to make the gospel as easy as possible for others to

Jesus, Women Who Serve

Until now, Jesus has used Capernaum as a base for ministry. He has

Thumb Suckers

The gospel calls us to maturity, to complete manhood. It's written in

See and Hear

On the move? Weekly content can also be seen and heard via Youtube.

Topics

Beauty Charity Children Covenant Creation Death Discipleship Evangelism Faith Faithfulness Fear Forgiveness Gospel Grace Grief Guilt Holiness Hope Jesus Joy Judgement Kingdom Law Liberty Life Love Marriage Mercy Money Obedience Power Prayer Redemption Rest Resurrection Sacrifice Salvation Service Sin Suffering Truth Victory Weakness Wisdom Worship

Footer

  • Home
  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy
  • Subscribe to Sermo Humilis

Find us on Social

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Support Sermo Humilis

If you enjoy Sermo Humilis and want to say thanks you can support me here.

Support

Copyright © 2025 · Sermo Humilis

Thor's Oak

Around 723 AD, a missionary named Boniface entered Hesse in Germany. Upon finding a sacred tree named Thor’s Oak, he took an axe to it, cut it down and built a church. Many in the town, believing that the God of Boniface must be greater than Thor, left their paganism behind converted to Christianity.