1 “Do not judge, so that you will not be judged. 2For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you. 3Why 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? 4Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ and look, the log is in your own eye? 5You 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!6 “Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, or they will trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.
Matthew 7:1-6
The Well Off know to judge, intimidate and belittle is to not get the best out of others.
Demeaning Gets the Worst From Others
Jesus spoke to the religious elite and the down & out. Throughout the sermon, he switches his focus back and forth between the two.
Now he focuses on the religious elite. Their system of religion required them to demean others in order to get them to perform spiritually. So the down & out gave up playing their religious game. Thus led the religious leaders even more into an elite status because they’re the only ones who tried to be close to God.
Today, people won’t play religious games either. If it smells of judgement, we will run away. There’s better things to do with our Sunday mornings.
Then we go to work. And our workplaces are judgmental, demeaning and intimidating. We can leave church. No one requires us to go. We can’t leave work. Our family depends on the paycheck. We can try to change jobs (and a lot of people have), but what happens if we end up in the same exact type situation?
Getting People’s Pearls
To lead through intimidation, you lead people to stop putting out their pearls.
When leaders step on the best things people produce, leaders will stop getting people’s best.
When every idea is a bad idea, leaders will stop getting people’s ideas.
When failures are rewarded with reprimands, leaders will stop getting cutting edge work.
When creativity is impossible, leaders will stop getting people’s creativity.
Jesus gives us the remedy to this. Have a culture that wants everyone to get better, starting with yourself.
When you give others permission to get the log out of your eye, you get permission to take the speck out of theirs.
Unfortunately “Do not judge” has led to us thinking Jesus told us to never speak about where others fall short. Not true. Jesus is telling the religious elite to stop spiritually intimidating the down & out. People will discern who gets the most precious parts of themselves.
A leader who longs to be better, starting with themselves, will always get the best out of others.
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