Let’s talk about why we must judge.
Last week, I talked about how Christians can be overly judgmental and how that comes across to other Christians and to the lost world. This week, I want to talk about the flip side of that, why Christians should judge, even though it will offend, as long as we do it the right way.
Let’s start by looking at the Scripture that is probably most often used to say that we should not ever judge.
Matthew 7
1 “Judge not, that you be not judged.
2 For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.
3 And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye?
4 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye’; and look, a plank is in your own eye?
5 Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.
This is part of the sermon on the mount and it is often quoted, in whole or in part, along with an admonishment not to ever judge other people. After all, it says “judge not”, right? Yes, it does say that, but what was Jesus really saying here? We must carefully examine Scripture to see what the true meaning is and not take it out of context and assign our own meaning. One way to help to find the true meaning of Scripture is to look it along with other Scripture which covers similar principles.
Look at what Jesus said just a little later in the Sermon on the Mount.
Matthew 7
15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.
16 You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles?
17 Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.
18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit.
19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
20 Therefore by their fruits you will know them.
21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.
22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’
23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!
In Matthew 7:1, Jesus says “judge not” but then later in verse 16, He says “you will know them by their fruits and He basically repeats this in verse 20. When you look at the whole passage, clearly, their fruits” means their actions and He is saying that you can tell by someone’s actions if they are what they claim to be, in this case if they are actually living a Godly life, if they are living the way that we, as Christians, are supposed to live. He then talks about the consequences of not doing that. This, of course, is a form of judgement.
You may say “This was Jesus and of course He can judge”. However, He said “you will know them by their fruits”. He didn’t say “only I will know them by their fruits”. This is a form of judgement that He intended others to exercise. But, in verse 1, He said “judge not”. Did He get confused between verses 1 and 16? Of course not. God is never wrong and, as such, will never contradict Himself, even when it may initially appear so. Therefore, we have to reconcile verses 1 through 5 with verses 15 through 22. How do we do that?
It is helpful to look at verses 3 through 5, where Jesus talks about getting the sin right in one’s own life before passing judgement on the sin in another’s life. If you are trying to help someone with their sin, while not holding similar sin in your own life in check, you are being a hypocrite. Not only that but the sin in your own life will negatively impact your relationship with God and this will make you unable to see the sin in your friend’s life clearly. It will also impair your ability to truly address that sin in love. Both these things can only be done in Christ and require a strong relationship with Him. Your own sin hampers that relationship. Everyone struggles with sin, as I said last week, but if you are letting sin reign in your life, then you need to ask God to help you to judge yourself rightly and take your own sin to Him before you start Judging the sin in others lives. Also, we must remember that we are not the judge of someone’s salvation. God reserves that job for Himself.
If you are walking closely with Him and taking your own sin to Him daily, then not only is it OK to call sin what it is and point out sin in others lives, but it is necessary in order to live as a disciple of Christ. How can we evangelize lost people and make stronger disciples of other Christians without talking about repentance? How can we talk about repentance, which is turning from sin, if we don’t talk about the sin that we are supposed to be turning from? That would be like trying to teach someone how to run a bank without mentioning money. You just can’t do it. We must call sin what it is and urge people to turn from it, but we must be careful how we do that.
Galatians 6
1 Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted.
Paul says that if someone is overtaken in any trespass (letting a particular sin reign), those who are spiritual (those who are walking closely with Christ and have their own sin in check) should restore the person (confront them about their sin and urge them to turn from it). This must be done in a spirit of gentleness (in a loving manner), while considering ourselves (taking care that we don’t fall in to the sin that has ensnared them).
This is the way that we are to “judge”. It’s a pretty high standard and one that we often do not meet. If you haven’t already, take a look at what I wrote last week concerning that subject.
If we are to judge then we must have a standard by which to judge and I will write about that next week. For now, I would like to close by saying this. If you have been hurt by someone being overly harsh in their judgement, I am truly sorry. However, just being willing to call something a sin, because God says it is a sin, is not being judgmental. We Christians must become willing to stand up for God’s Word and lovingly but unashamedly proclaim it as the only source of truth, even when that truth concerns sin and even when it makes people (both us and others) uncomfortable. Right and wrong can’t be just whatever we want them to be, as much as popular culture would like us to believe that. There must be a standard and that standard is God’s Word. The standard is not what the lost world wants it to be and it is not even what Christians want it to be. We who proclaim His name are called to be His representatives in this world. That includes communicating what He has to say about sin and it’s consequences. We must do that and we must be very diligent to represent Him accurately while also demonstrating His love.
