Everybody Judges Somebody

FREE to Be ME!

Have you noticed a trend in society that is building? Its banner is “Do whatever, be whatever, and love whoever makes you happy!”

If anyone disagrees or has a classical moral compass they are immediately labeled “judgmental”, “ignorant”, even a “bigot.”

Let’s get this straight right out of the gate …

Everybody judges somebody, it just comes down to what is the standard by which we are judging?

Some judgments are irrational and illogical, others are human nature (a survival mechanism), and then there are those that fall into the category of righteous judgment.  The lines between rash judgments and proper discernment seem to become more and more blurred with each passing day.

A fourteen year old girl can kill her baby and end her pregnancy without her parents’ permission but another teenager is not allowed to refuse cancer treatment because she is deemed too young to make such an adult decision. A man can declare he loves a man. A woman can claim she loves a woman. Bruce Jenner stated he “felt” like he was a woman and has the whole world applauding him as he brutally mutilates his own body. Rachel Dolezal “identifies” as a different ethnicity.  

With the help of liberal politicians, psychologists and feminists our culture has managed to redefine human life and the entire DNA construct by word alone because life is now whatever you want to make of it. There are no rules, no terms, just me, myself, and I. Happiness is the end goal and the concept of shame is outdated at best.

“How dare you judge that person! Unless you feel what they feel you have no room to speak. The Bible says ‘Don’t judge!’  My God is love!”

The Most Popular Bible Verse

If those who are not Christians know anything about the Bible they know “God is love” and “Do not judge”.  These are quoted often, only in part, and completely out of context every. single. time.

“Do not judge so that you will not be judged.” Matthew 5:7

This prevalent attitude has infiltrated our churches so much so that Christians are often just as convinced that they are completely unable to distinguish what is obviously right and wrong in other people’s lives.  “I might think this is wrong but who am I to say what is right or wrong for someone else?”

The most glaring issue is the inconsistency among Christians and liberals alike in what they choose to accept and that which they choose to punish. They want to say “Everyone just do what makes you happy” but where do you draw the line? Isn’t it making a judgment to draw a line of any sort concerning what makes someone happy?

Those that revere the pure and chaste judge the fornicator. The fornicator judges the gossip. The gossip judges the adulterer. The adulterer recoils from the pedophile. The pedophile judges the homosexual. The homosexual recoils from the rapist. The rapist thinks the murderer went too far. … You get the picture.

Everybody judges somebody, but without a clearly defined standard the line is completely fluid against man’s love for himself and his own vices versus those things he personally finds distasteful. 

The Bible does in fact require that we make judgments as believers about other people and their lives, just as it forbids, at other times, judging men’s actions and motives.  

What is interesting is that we often get these two confused. We refuse to judge what we have been commanded to judge and endlessly scrutinize and condemn things that Scripture has forbidden us to judge.

“Do Not Judge” in Context

1 “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. 3 “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, 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.” Matthew 7:1-5

To further clarify, Do not judge so that you will not be judged means that standard of judgment that you apply to other people, will be applied to you as well.  This is a caution not a ban on judging.  

There is much attributed to this statement that was not meant by Christ, but when we approach Scripture it is most often the wisest course to begin with what is being said, before we look at what is not being said. 

Jesus in his ministry had been revealing the error and danger of the teachings of the Pharisees.  The Pharisees had a harsh judgment before them, in large part because of how they had judged other men.  The standard they judged men by was not God’s standard or God’s law, it was their own impossible standard.  They would be judged by this same standard, and they would not escape the wrath of God to come (Matt 23.33). 

Christ made it clear that the Pharisees were not practicing righteousness in all their “good deeds”, and that without faith leading to repentance they were not heaven bound.  A disciple of Christ cannot and must not have the attitude of the Pharisees.  

Christians cannot live to build themselves up, and tear others down by some invented and impossible standard.  True children of God are not like that. Righteousness does not look like that.  God is not pleased by that, and His wrath will surely be poured out because of it. 

Cautious Discernment

“Do not judge so that you will not be judged.”

An irresponsible use of this verse would be to use it to prohibit making any judgments of any kind, ever.   Jesus, in Luke 12.56-57, actually criticized people for failing to judge what was right and what was wrong.  He rebuked them, because they had sense enough to understand the change in weather, but not sense enough to judge for themselves what was clearly right and what was wrong. 

“Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment.” John 7:24

The problem is not with judging what is right and what is wrong.  The problem is with whether or not the judgment is made according to our standard or to God’s.

If we judge according to our own standard, then we place ourselves in the position of God, who alone is able to determine what is right and what is wrong. God in His unchanging nature, as Creator and absolute Sovereign over all, is alone able to declare what is right and what is wrong.  He sets the standard.

Because we are not the ultimate judge, we do not set the standard, but because we do not set the standard does not therefore mean we are not both able and commanded to judge what is right and what is wrong, in our lives and in others.  God has given us a standard, a standard that according to Jesus is farther reaching in many areas that even the Pharisees ever realized (Matthew 5.21-48).  It is His standard that we measure everything against, first in our own lives, but also in the lives of others. 

Who Do We Judge?

1. We judge ourselves. The cry of our hearts should daily be “Search me, O God! … Try me … and lead me in the way everlasting!” (Ps. 139:23-24) always working out our salvation in “fear and trembling” (Phil. 2:12)
2. We judge our brothers and sisters in Christ.  You will know them by their fruit (Matthew 7:16).  We judge sin in the lives of those who profess Christ out of love for God and out of love for them. No Christian ought to enjoy pointing out sin in another Christian’s life. We do so only in the loving effort of restoration and unity for and with the Body of Christ. Matthew 18:15-17 and Jude 22-23 give specific guidelines for how to approach a believer in continuous sin.
3. We are to judge those not in Christ. The Bible is clear that Christians are not to deal with every person in the same way.  We do not treat believers as though they were unbelievers, nor do we treat unbelievers as though they believed.  We do not treat the repentant and the unrepentant in the same way; to some we are to show mercy and patience (Jud 22), others we are to rebuke and cast out (1 Cor 5.11-13; 2 Thes 3.14).  These are both to be done in love, for the glory of God alone, and saturated in MUCH prayer. 

How Do We Judge?

3 “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, 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.

Albeit, the speck and the log analogy is meant more for a Christian looking at his brother or sister in Christ, but there is still application. God is concerned both with the log, and the speck.  Jesus does not tell the crowd; “who are you to judge anyone else, you all have logs in your eyes, so be concerned only with yourself.” 

What did He say?  He said that when you have taken the log out of our eye, “then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.”  Jesus desires the speck in your brother’s eye to be removed.  

God desires that you help your brother or sister in Christ overcome his sin.  He simply says that you cannot do that until you are able to see clearly, until you have dealt with the sin in your own life.  

How do I feel this applies to non-Christians as well?  We must always be utterly aware of the grace we were extended in Christ in order to properly extend love and grace to others.  Because you KNOW that you deserve no better, you approach other’s sin in a completely different way.  There is a certain understanding of the bondage they are in and an excitement for the freedom message you have to offer when you have a proper view of your own salvation.

Christians are not to be judgmental people, yet they are called to be shrewd as vipers (Matt 10.16).  We are not called to be naïve, gullible simpletons who do not question anything, and walk around blind to reality. 

We are called to make disciples of all tongues, and tribes, and nations (Matt 28.18; Rev 5.9).   We do not withhold the Gospel from people because of their race or because of their sin. The Bible states clearly that the gate is narrow to eternity with Christ (Matthew 7:13).  Our culture would have us think otherwise.  

Paul said that apart from the supernatural work of God in an unbeliever’s life, our message is a stumbling block and foolishness.  That does not mean that we do not evangelize, we have a clear mandate to go out and make disciples.  What that does mean, is that we must be wise in how we do it.  When we interact with someone who does not believe, we should press no further with our message than the Spirit has gone before to make them ready to receive. 

When in doubt, we share the Gospel and deal with the consequences, yet when it is clear that we are only strengthening the hardened resolve of a person, we leave it alone and wait for a time when God works and opens the door.  No one, alive on this earth, is beyond the reach and the power of God to save, yet we need to be careful that we do not think that we are more eager to save than God is.  It is not us who does the saving, but God, and God alone.  Look to the Word, continue in prayer, and keep searching for fertile ground to cast the seeds of the Gospel.

Standing Firm in Faith

There is too much at stake for Christians today to take the virtue of Godly discernment lightly. We are living in a culture constantly shifting away from God. 

There are churches folding under the pressure of being politically correct today.  These churches and its “Christians” are changing God’s Word to say something it does not, to accept those things it clearly defines as damnable. Where they claim this positions them to better help those in need, it in fact points to the wolves lying at wait within their church doors.

Christians can talk a brave game when it comes to standing in the face of hypothetical persecution, but in the moment persecution becomes reality we fail.  We fold because it was never Christ we were depending on to help us stand the test of the fire.

If you are in Christianity for yourself, Christ is clear that you won’t get very far (2 Timothy 3).  Being a disciple is about more than love, peace, and fluffy feelings. We have sentimentalized Christianity to death it seems. Being a disciple of Christ is about bringing glory to God by finding your joy in Him and spreading the Gospel. You were a rebellious sinner that hated God and now you have been set free, but you are not nor will you ever be your own (1 Corinthians 6:19).

We as Christians must be prepared to stand firm in unity, on the inerrancy of Scripture, in the face of sure persecution. 

We must be a discerning and wise people.  We are called to love all men, especially the family of God, but certainly even our enemies.  We are called to judge but only by God’s standard.  We know what we are and that it is only by the grace of God that we are who we are in Christ.  How we love each person changes a great deal with the condition of their heart toward God.  May we be willing to see what is before us, pray for who is before us, not to judge and condemn, but so that we can properly love.  May we be willing to do what is hard even when that love will require us to walk away or cast out. 

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Lindsey

I am a wife to a wonderful husband and mother to four beautiful children five and under: three girls and one boy. I am a disciple of Christ and I am fulfilling my role to my husband and family as a homemaker. I began The Road to 31 almost two years ago in an effort to focus more as I studied the Word of God and researched those things which were important to me. I found that God used The Road to 31 within my own life to bring community to my front door and allowed me to minister and be ministered to by other women who are walking along the same road as I.

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