The Hypocrisy of a Critical Spirit

Good morning. This year we decided to focus on Growing in Gospel Gratitude.

• That seems reasonable. We ought to be very thankful for the gospel.

To encourage this in all our hearts we did a series through Philippians – a book dedicated to the joy associated with gospel partnership. This summer we decided to discuss a possible threat to gospel gratitude --- Handling Criticism.

It is possible to address this subject from multiple perspectives. We could think about the implications of being the critic. What would be true of us?

• Pastor Viars began the series in Numbers 11 explaining that critics cling to their greedy desires despite experiencing God’s grace and deliverance.

• He followed that up with a lesson from Numbers 13 reminding us that critics fail to honor God, to fulfill his commands, or set up future generations for success.

Wow! Ouch! We do not want to be one of those people.

Pastor Folden, using Romans 16, looked at a different aspect of this subject. What should we do if a critic is close to us or we have a critic in our own homes? He exhorted us not to join them, and if possible run away from them.

Pastor Aucoin has been looking at yet another aspect of our subject. He has used Numbers 16 and 21 to answer the question, How do I know if my criticism is sinful? His answer has been sinful critics reject God’s design for their position so they can have more prominence, they gather malcontents to push their narrative, they reject Scriptural truth, they are adversarial, they are consumed by impatience, and they fail to appreciate God’s provisions.

We have covered a lot of helpful ground. I think it is fair to say, however, that we are not done. The aspects covered so far are not fully covered. There are aspects to this subject that we have not raised yet.

Today, we are going to ask ourselves, What should I think about before offering criticism? We said from the beginning that this series is not a reaction to sinful criticism. In fact, criticism can be very helpful. It let’s us know ways that we need to grow that we might not have seen before.

Maybe the most important word in my question was “before.” I will speak for myself, some of you might be willing to join me, and admit that I have offered criticism without thinking very wisely about what I was going to say. Anyone else?

• As I thought more later, I realized that my criticism was not very honoring to the Lord.

So I want you to imagine a moment with me.

• Your husband has been leaving his laundry (or dishes, or you pick the analogy) on the floor. You don’t get it. How hard is it to pick up after yourself?

• Your child’s room has 3 day old dishes, clothes everywhere, and crumbs from a late night snack on the floor. You don’t get it.

• Your boss, co-worker, subordinate is driving you crazy. You cannot understand their logic.

• Your church or your neighborhood asks you to fill out a survey. Here is the chance you have been waiting for. You can finally say what you think and they asked!

I want to speak into that moment. You could wait until later – after you said something you should not say. Or you could think through a mental checklist to decide whether what is in your mind should go out of your mouth.

With that in mind please turn in your Bibles to Matthew 7:1. That is on page _5?__of the back section of the Bible under the chair in front of you.

The title of the message today is The Hypocrisy of a Critical Spirit. I will organize my time into 3 Reasons to carefully evaluate our hearts before criticizing others.

There the words is again, “before.” We are going through an evaluative process before we criticize because we know that critical spirits are also hypocritical ones. Besides, we do not want to be the person described by Pastor Viars.

Please follow along as I read Matthew 7:1-6. This is the Word of the Lord.

Verse 1 might be the most misquoted verse in the Bible. People use “do not judge” to mean that you cannot have an opinion or make a choice. Such a task is impossible. We must judge in the sense of evaluate all the time.

• When I came up to the pulpit everyone of you made a judgment. Oh, man, Rob is preaching today. I was hoping for __________. Or yay! I like it when Rob preaches. Or, who cares? What time is lunch?

• You decided what to wear and you judged some of your clothes as either inappropriate or undesirable this morning.

• Whether you watch Stranger things is a judgment. I have not seen any episodes, but I am current on the Obi Won series. I decided I have so much time for entertainment and Stranger Things did not make the cut.

• When I spent $110 to fill my take, I made a decision to neglect some restaurants and eat leftovers instead.

Lest we think this is just a practical problem. Paul calls judgment upon those who preach the wrong gospel in Galatians 1. In Philippians he warns the church of the dogs and false teachers. John speaks of false prophets in 1 John 4 and Paul calls the church in 1 Cor 5 to join him in handing someone over to Satan for the destruction of their flesh. None of these things is possible without a judgment.

• To be wise and thoughtful we must make judgments about a myriad of topics.

Did I just take my proverbial scissors and cut Matthew 7:1 out of the Bible? Not at all. Jesus is talking about being judgmental. That is our first check …

I. It is possible to sin by being judgmental

Back to my moment again … I am about to say something to my spouse, my child, my co-worker, my boss, my church, or my neighbor. What will control my words?

One such item on my checklist is the question of judgmentalism.

• This is not first and foremost about the words I use, but the attitude with which I say them.

When do not judge is placed in the proper context, then our attitude is not about how much better we are, how much more righteous we are, or how pathetic they might be.

One of the great dangers is that growing in Christ requires a certain discipline. You must say no to many things so you can say yes to what pleases Christ.

• It is not a far leap to then argue that those who have not made such choices and sacrifices need to understand how bad they are and how good you are (if only in your mind).

• I can think of times when I criticized in a judgmental fashion. What I said might have been accurate, but it was not blameless.

When we are being judgmental, we fall into some common traps. The person who knows it best is us. Sometimes …

We evaluate by our standards rather than the Lord’s (Verse 1-2)

Matthew 7:1–2 “Do not judge so that you will not be judged. ² “For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you.

Please notice that little phrase “standard of measure.” All of our judgments require a standard. Standards can be good. For example,

• I am glad gas stations are tested to ensure that we receive a gallon of gas when we pay for a gallon. How would I know? I do not routinely take off the gas tank and measure it myself.

• I am glad we use standard units at the gas station and the grocery store.

I am not equally excited when things seem sketch. I remember having a car repair done and I was changed for 4 hours of labor. They had the car for 90 minutes. I realize I am not the sharpest knife in the drawer, but I can add.

• I asked about the labor charge and they said, “well, we charged you the standard labor charge for that repair. It doesn’t matter how long it actually takes … as long as it is less.”

• That answer raised about 50 other questions in my mind including who created this standard? I also started wondering if Pastor Viars’ allocated 10 hours of my week for sermon preparation, and I get it done in 2, can I have the rest of the day off? 😊

Well, when we are being judgmental, we create our own standards and ask people to live up to them.

Let’s walk back into our moment again. Here I am ready to offer criticism to my spouse, child, friend, co-worker, subordinate … “What standard am I using to criticize?”

I can remember being very judgmental in my younger years (maybe I still am, but hopefully less). I made certain choices and accepted the consequences. Others made different choices and experienced different results.

• I could become very self righteous because my choices cost me something. That gave me a right to speak to them.

• That is judgmentalism at its finest.

As parents, we say that we have no greater joy than to see our children walk in truth. Is that accurately reflected in what we criticize?

• Or, is our criticism over other things … things that we find annoying or embarrassing, but hardly matters of great spiritual significance.

As spouses, we say we want our spouse to live for Christ. Does that accurately reflect what we criticize?

• Or are the criticisms more reflective of the things we do not like or appreciate about them?

We can become critical of other church members due to the educational choices; the books they read; the news they listen to; the politician they like best; etc., etc.

Matthew 7 demands we avoid judgmentalism and to do that we must not create our own standard and then criticize people for not meeting it. Another way that godly judging can move to judgmentalism is when

We pretend that own failings are non-existent or not significant

Matthew 7:3–5 “Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? ⁴ “Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ and behold, the log is in your own eye? ⁵ “You hypocrite…

I have a love-hate relationship with these verses. I love to hate them. 😉 They are tough aren’t they? When I offer criticism, in that moment, I need to check for logs. It might be true that the speck is meaningful. Specks in our eyes can be painful. The question is whether I am in the best position to remove it.

Jesus calls that hypocrisy. We are supposed to run through the mental checklist first … let’s see:

• Am I using my standards? Nope… great-check.

• Are their logs in my eyes?

All too often we fail over the same things we criticize in others.

• The sermon on the mount provides a powerful context. I have never committed murder! Jesus said that is like having anger in your heart.

• I have never committed adultery! Jesus said if you have lust for another person you have committed adultery in your heart.

• I have never broken a promise! Jesus said that your yes or no is your promise.

We often evaluate ourselves through the lens of mercy and grace while evaluating others through justice.

• We give ourselves the benefit of the doubt.

• We demand that justice occur on others.

It is not hard to play this out in real life.

You are about to criticize your husband. He is not as spiritual as you would like him to be. While you are not perfect, of course, he is partly to blame for your spiritual state. So you criticism him for his latest failure without considering your own. They do not matter right now.

• You can be mean and harsh, but he is too lazy for your liking.

You are about to criticize your child. They are not performing as well in school as you would like. They begin to reject the criticism. What comes out next is the fact that you walked to school uphill both ways, you always did your homework on time with excellence. Somehow your memory has been warped.

Do you see the picture? Judgmental people give themselves lots of mercy and grace because their problems are not nearly as significant as yours. When it comes to you, they demand justice.

Just for fun, let’s evaluate the sermon today. Shall we?

• Pretend that I ask you later this afternoon, “What did you get out of the sermon today?” and you respond with “nothing”.

I could say to myself … what is wrong with you?

• Get your sorry self to bed early enough to be awake. While you’re at it, check your attitude.

• Did you come to learn something or have roast preacher for lunch?

• I know you well enough that at least 7 illustrations apply directly to you, would you like me to personalize them now?

Or, do I go back and look at my notes and ask how I could have said that better.

• What would have resonated with you?

• What language did I use that made it confusing rather than clear?

• Did my illustrations hide the Word or make it more understandable?

In my moment of criticism, am I considering my own failures? We are discussing right now how godly judging can turn into sinful judgmentalism. First, we use the wrong standard; second we pretend that our failures are not significant; third …

We maximize the failings of others, while minimizing ones own (v3)

This is not radically different than what I just said. However, it looks at the same problem from a slightly different angle. We can pretend our own issues are irrelevant. We can also maximize others’ problems.

My point here is that we might acknowledge our problems but still conclude that yours is a bigger one.

• You see, there is my problem and there is YOUR problem.

When we were flying to Romania we thought we checked all the vaccination rules for all the countries. I even called the night before to talk to rep and did a chat with another rep to be sure everything was set.

• Well, everything was not exactly set. We did not know that until we went to check our baggage. They were not going to let one of us on the airplane. I told them that I called, I showed them the chat I had with an agent the night before.

• We were going to have a tough decision to make because one of us was not getting on the airplane.

Our rep that day could have decided to let me have it. I was partly to blame. I missed something too. As I was trying to make a pressure filled decision, the rep said, “Sir, I see you did some significant work to avoid this problem, let me see what I can do.”

• Wow! What a relief. She came through for us big time. She decided that she was willing to let Delta be more wrong than Rob.

If she had maximized my failures, our trip would have looked very different and could have been much more expensive.

My guess is that many of us have experienced the “it is all your fault” thing. Let’s not be that guy --- the judgmental person that Jesus rebukes.

The last way that we can tell our godly judging may be turning into sinful judgmentalism is when …

We fail to understand the universality of God’s judgment of mankind

God is everyone’s judge. While we might serve as a judge in some cases on earth, we all stand before our king.

2 Corinthians 5:10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.

No one escapes God’s judgment. God’s judgment is different than ours in several ways. His ability to know everything is one such difference. We always judge with incomplete facts. Even if we know the actions, we do not know the myriad of motivations.

As we offer criticism, we remember that we are also under judgment. Those who fail to remember that are likely to move to sinful judgmentalism.

We are talking this morning about the moment right before giving criticism. We are about to say or write something. We are evaluating ourselves to ensure our criticism does not come from a heart of sinful judgmentalism. We can tell it does when we use our own standard, pretend that our failures are insignificant, maximize your failures, and fail to remember that we are all face God’s judgment.

Reason for evaluating our hearts #2.

II. It is possible to suffer in significant ways

Offering criticism brings a certain amount of risk. Risk to us and risk to the people we criticize. If we are not careful, we can do more harm than good. Let’s see how that is possible …

The same unfair standard you used to judge others will be used against you

Matthew 7:2 “For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you.

Whoa! Verses like this should stop us in our tracks when we are reading the Bible. We need to ponder the implications.

The first implication in this passage is that the standard we use to judge other people will be one that God uses for us. In other words, he takes our attitude and puts it right back on to us.

• Sometimes this happens in life now. The Lord allows or brings a person into our life who does to us exactly what we have been doing to others to show us that it is not kind.

• Let’s say you blow off some people in your life. You don’t answer their texts or calls. Give lame excuses. You get the picture.

• Weeks or months later, others do that to you. It is not that they took your standard because they did not know you did that. But God did.

As if that was not bad enough, God is still going to judge based on his own standards!

Judgmentalism brings suffering on the life of the critic because his own standards are dumped on his head.

• I have told my children 1,000 times that you cannot control everything in life. The Lord is sovereign and there are some things he wants to accomplish through you. Part of that might be suffer in certain ways.

• However, fools suffer. The way of a transgressor is hard. You can decide how many self-inflicted wounds you want to experience.

A second way that sinful judgmentalism creates suffering is …

Being blind to your own failings (vv. 4-5)

Sinful judgmentalism focuses on your failures. There are my problems and there are YOUR problems. But the Bible consistently wants you to focus on your growth. He wants you to mature.

When your eyes are focused on others, you miss the opportunity to experience the change needed in your own life.

Writing these words took me back to several moments in my lifetime. Times when I succumbed to thinking I was righteous when others were sinful. Rather than being open and teachable, I was proud and judgmental.

I destroyed those relationships. I was sinful against the Lord and others, and I also suffered the loss of relationships around me.

We are back to our moment again … I am about to offer criticism. Am I going to do so with proper words and proper attitude that I might be partly (or mostly) to blame? Will my self-righteous judgmentalism dominate?

If it does, I will suffer right along with the person I am talking to.

Suffering also happens in sinful judgmentalism because you are …

Unable to actually serve your brother well (v. 5)

Matthew 7:5 “You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.

This speaks to the suffering you cause when your sinfully judgmental.

• You are far more inclined to be harsh in your criticism.

• We ask for evaluations every year at the BCTC. I read every comment. There are some comments that people make that have lived in BCTC infamy.

• One person thought we should serve deviled eggs during the breaks. Uhhh… okay, we will get right on that one.

• One person said of one of our speakers that they are too fat to be teaching counseling. Wowzers!

• I struggle to believe that was done in godly way.

Besides, sinful judgmental people are, according to Jesus, hypocrites. Who wants to be criticized by a hypocrite?

• You have been there and so have I. When I am criticized by a person with 6 foot logs sticking out of their eyes, my sense of justice immediately kicks in. You want to criticize me?

• You have your own issues.

As Christians, we are called to serve each other by addressing sin in our relationships. When you see a brother sinning, we are duty bound to talk to them about it.

Galatians 6:1 Brethren, even if anyone is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; each one looking to yourself, so that you too will not be tempted.

If our criticism is not gentle, then we can cause significant suffering because our criticisms will be harsh rather than gentle.

The second reason we need to evaluate our hearts in that moment of criticism is that we can bring about suffering in our own life because God will use our standard against us, we will miss growth opportunities, and we will criticize with harshness as opposed to gentleness.

Our final reason this morning is…

III. It is possible to criticize consistent with Gospel Truth

Some might hear this message and conclude that with all the dangers we should not criticize at all. Such an opinion would be swinging the pendulum too far.

We must judge and we must offer godly criticism. We want to have lots of those little moments where we offer counsel and advice. We looked at the warnings. Now, lets consider a few ways to do it correctly.

By using God’s standards

Verse 2 talked about the measure. Instead of inventing our own, let’s use the one we have – God’s Word. To use that one well … we must remember.

1. It requires a saving relationship with Jesus and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

You might be here thinking … I have been sinfully judgmental most of my life. Maybe your first action step is to realize that you need a saving relationship with Jesus. You need his Spirit in you to do what these verses command.

• I appeal to you to acknowledge this sin and place your faith and trust in the D/B/R of Jesus.

• You will need the freedom that comes from have your sin placed on his account while his righteousness applies to yours.

The Bible will not simply be a literature book. It will be a book that relates to every second of your life. You will read passages like Matthew 7:1-6 and think about how it applies to you rather than an ancient book of good advice.

1. It requires knowing your Bible well

Devotional reading

ABF

Teaching children’s ministry

The more you let Scripture saturate your thinking the more you are likely to use God’s standards for evaluation and the less likely you will use your own.

Let’s go back to our moment again … we are ready to offer criticism. We have checked our hearts ensuring we are not being sinfully judgmental, ensuring that we neither cause suffering in our life or in those we are criticizing. We know we have a saving relationship with Jesus. Now…

• Am I judging my spouse through the truth of the Word (chapter and verse)?

• Am I judging my child, friend, co-worker, neighbor by God’s Word (chapter and verse)?

Judging is good and right, but to do it properly we must know and use God’s standards.

1. It requires community

Some choices are hard. They fit in the wisdom category. It is not always “Thus says the Lord.” In Ephesians 3 Paul states that the only way to fully know the love of God is to be in community. God’s love is too large for one person to experience it all. The same is true for wisdom.

• Maybe it is time for church membership, serving, and connecting.

We can do gospel centered judging when we use his standards and

By ensuring that we look to ourselves first. (v5)

Matthew 7:5 first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.

Imagine a relationship where people were quick to own their sinfulness, repent, and request forgiveness.

• If spouses would confess that things are their fault … and their “arguments” were about taking responsibility, it would change their marriage.

• Same with parent/child relationships … co-worker relationships … and church relationships.

It is the attitude that says I will take responsibility first before I start telling you how you need to get to a better place.

In that criticism moment this week…

• Did you check your heart for anger? What about pride? Did you ensure that your words were appropriate before you said them? Did you check your motivation to ensure there was not a “here is ME” and “here is you” mentality?

We judge properly and in a gospel centered way when we use his standards and when we evaluate our own attitude first. Next …

By criticizing to seek potential growth and benefits of others

Specks hurt. We want them out of our eyes. I appreciate it when someone gently helps me get one out. I am less appreciative of those who see a speck and want to poke my entire eye out. It is inappropriate and not effective to attempt to kill a fly with a sledgehammer.

• People can be criticized without being blasted.

• Honestly, I fear that most times we blast someone it is less about growth and more about us.

Gospel centered and focused criticism is designed to help others. These words are designed to help. Proverbs 27:17 says, “Iron sharpens Iron. So one man sharpens another.” Finally …

Focuses on the household of God, not the world. (7:6)

Matthew 7:6 “Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before swine, or they will trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.

John MacArthur explains it well when he says …

It is clear that Jesus does not exclude every kind of judgment…It would have been unthinkable for a Jew to have thrown to those dogs a piece of holy meat that had been consecrated as a sacrifice in the Temple…Jesus’ point is that certain truths and blessings of our faith are not to be shared with people who are totally antagonistic to the things of God. Such people are spiritual dogs and swine, who have no appreciation for that which is holy and righteous. They will take that which is holy, the pearls (the rarest and most valuable of jewels; see Matt. 13:45–46) of God’s Word, as foolishness and as an insult. A wild animal whose primary concern is scavenging for food will hardly appreciate being thrown a pearl. He will resent its not being something to eat and possibly attack the one who throws it. John F. MacArthur Jr., Matthew, vol. 1, MacArthur New Testament Commentary (Chicago: Moody Press, 1985), 437–438.

Here is the concluding point for all of us…our job is not to worry about judging the world…our job is to keep our focus on the church.

• We have civic duties and responsibilities, but God’s standards don’t matter to some of them. Just like the dogs and pigs (think wild and dangerous not Lassie and Charlotte’s web), they reject the Word and turn on you.

Our focus is inside the church.

Friends, we must judge. We have no choice. This week you will make lots of judgments. When you are going to speak critically avoid the sinful judgmentalism that uses our standards, pretends our issues are insignificant while maximizing the issues of others, and fail to remember that God judges all of us. Remember that sinful judgmentalism creates suffering for ourselves, those we criticize or both.

The hope is that through Christ and his Spirit in us we can criticize using the Word as our standard, owning responsibility for our failures, seeking to help someone rather than put them on blast, and focus on the church.

Criticism done biblically can be a way we grow in gospel gratitude. The implications of the gospel apply to everything.