Don’t Judge Me…

This has been a long road to conclude the little mini-series on “God Speaks”. As I have written and re-written the final piece, I struggled with all that is going on and being said in the world today. One thing I find interesting is the idea that “I can be the master of my destiny” followed by “It is somebody else’s fault because I failed”. Mankind desires to be in charge but when the chips fall, almost always points the finger elsewhere to avoid responsibility. We are all guilty of this at some point. Part of being a Christ-follower, is that we recognize that we are accountable to God for our own actions. I came across a passage the other day that enforced this though and before I conclude the series, I feel compelled to share it.

The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not suffer for the iniquity of the father, nor the father suffer for the iniquity of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself. (Ezekiel 18:20 ESV)

With that, let us continue…

“Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? 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 ESV)

After having dealt with this last section over a few months, even longer if I consider when I wrote the original version, I came to this conclusion, I have no real business trying to create an answer to the idea of “don’t judge me”. When we look at this passage, we see Jesus reminding us that we are all flawed. We have a sin nature within us that, even as believers, gets in the way. (See Romans 7:15-20) So what does this have to do with those who are quick to say that believers shouldn’t judge them? In Paul’s letter to Rome, he admonishes the believers to not judge each other simply because they would be found guilty of the same offenses (Romans 2:1). We should be cautious here. Just before Paul makes this statement, he shows the nature of man and the rebellion against God. Getting back to what Jesus said, we are to get our hearts and minds clear, ask forgiveness for our failure, our own personal rebellion against God. At this point, we are in a position to help our brothers and sisters to see where they are failing God. It should be said that judging someone is more like making a pronouncement against them and James is clear that this is not our place. We are not in a position to make judgements. But this still doesn’t answer the world’s statement. Let’s clear a some things up first.

Recently, as I was teaching a class, we dipped into the discussion of church discipline. We looked at what Jesus had to say (Matthew 18) and how Paul continued this theme in letter to the Corinthians. If someone is found living in sin and is defiant about his or her behavior, Jesus has given us clear instructions on how to handle discipline and Paul reminds the church that the ultimate purpose of this is to bring about reconciliation. In all cases, love is the motivator and restoration is the aimed result. Paul carries this a step further, in dealing with a particular sin found within the Corinthian Church, that the offending member was to be cast out so that his soul might be saved. All too often a church will let things fester and the fellowship suffers as a result. It is not an easy thing to do but is important to maintain the fellowship of the body. Any person is well acquainted with what happens when a part of the body is not healthy and the effect it has on the rest of the body. So, within the church, believers are to deal with sinful behavior.

After this topic, we looked at false teaching within the church. With all that is going on in churches around the world, it is amazing how some, especially here in America, have drifted from the truths of God’s word. Paul wrote to the church at Galatia about this very subject.

But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed. (Galatians 1:8-9 ESV)

Why is this a big deal? Because the Gospel of Jesus is being perverted to appease the minds of people who would desire to live their own lives outside of how Jesus has called his followers to live.

I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. (2 Timothy 4:1-4 ESV)

Paul’s direction to Timothy is ours as well. Life in Christ is fulfilling but is not always easy. When someone is deviating from the truth, we have a responsibility to point them back to the truth. However, this is to be done in the context that we are prepared mentally and spiritually (back to the log in the eye). Again, as with the sinful behavior, believers are to correct false teaching within the church and purge unrepentant persons from the fellowship.

Here is where the problem lies. How do we deal with sin outside the church? In the time that Jesus walked physically on this earth, he was constantly challenged by the religious leaders and their zealous effort to “enforce” the law as they saw it. Paul’s example the church in Corinth was not to judge those outside their fellowship. Also, he stated that they would still be among non-believers (1 Corinthians 5). So what happens now? Let’s look at a particular event from the Bible and draw our conclusion from it.

This story is found in John 8:1-11 and concerns a woman caught in the act of adultery and the religious leaders. Jesus was confronted with the law and how the woman defiled its rule. People will point to this passage as a justification for the argument against judging them. Highlights include

• Scribes and Pharisees bring a woman caught in the very act of adultery.
• Same men point to the Mosaic law and its consequences (by the way, they were not wrong about the law)
• While talking, Jesus just wrote on the ground. (We are not given what He wrote and I am not going to speculate.)
• After continued ranting by the religious leaders, Jesus finally spoke to the point that the one without sin being worthy of casting the first stone.
• Religious leaders leave (they were wrong in their motives and actions)
• Woman encounters Jesus directly concerning her accusers
• Jesus doesn’t condemn her either

With that recap, we see the “law” shoved in Jesus’ face and how he responded. Now I know some are already jumping ahead and letting me know that part of the story was left out. That was intentional. This is where the “don’t judge me” crowd typically stops as well. We have a bad habit of wanting to avoid the consequences of our actions and just receive complete forgiveness. Perhaps we even think that this is justification for our action. We will take it a step further and say “well now, Jesus didn’t “directly” address that action so it must be okay”. Any excuse to avoid responsibility for our action is what we will say. (I should add a small footnote here, think warning labels on packages and consider that someone, somewhere did some of those things just because the instruction didn’t say they shouldn’t.) Now if we think this is a new thought, again, I want to take you back to Genesis.

He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” (Genesis 3:11-13 ESV)

Since the fall, man has always tried to dodge responsibility for his own actions along with the consequences that follow. We are all wired this way and the “no judgement” crowd is no different. Christians are not exempt from this either. Paul wrote about it many times in his letters.

Where the world stops, I want to pick up. Jesus’ words to the woman were more direct and give us the conclusion.

She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.” (John 8:11 ESV)

Jesus required repentance for her actions. “Sin no more” is a theme repeated throughout the New Testament as “repent”. Repentance is turning from sin and going in the opposite direction. We are obligated, as believers, to make the Gospel known. We are required to point people to the cross and Jesus will confront their sins. Sins (plural) is not the same as sin (singular). Sin, as described by Paul and discussed by Jesus as a separation, great gulf, if you will, between a sinful man and a Holy God. We are born into this condition (see Ephesians 2:1-3). This separation can only be bridged by Jesus and His finished work on the cross. Sins are just symptoms, the natural result of life without God (Romans 1:28-31). We will need to take Jesus at His word, that He is who He says He is, did what He did and will accomplish what He said he will do. God bridges the gulf through Jesus Christ, alone. We cross this bridge through repentance and belief. This is the beauty of our story as God writes it. I will close with this passage.

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:4-10 ESV)