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Passage: Mt 7:1-6
Do you realize what is concerning about this
overview on judging? It’s an internal investigation without “pointing a finger”
at any believer or pastor. Rather, it’s a clarion call to all who claim
to be followers of Christ in America to turn back to the Scriptures unashamedly
as the supreme and final authority in all matters of faith and practice, not
just intellectually but experientially as well. A prime example of the reality
of apostasy in our day is believers buying into the world’s interpretation of
Scripture!! A tragic illustration of this is the “judge not” of Mt 7:1. By
embracing the world’s spin on Scripture and how we should live in this world,
we are disavowing God’s right to rule in our lives (cf. Jdg 21:25).
This passage in Judges (no pun intended) is so
much at the forefront of Christianity today, you think by me referring to it so
frequently in my writings that it was my favorite verse to use as a bloody
pulpit. Well, I suppose that it is because in the headlines of Christianity in
America today we read, “Humanism has won a great victory! Every man and woman and child is doing what is right in their own eyes!” And you read of them
doing the devil’s jig around the bonfire in the streets of Bibles piled high
aflame.
It’s reminiscent of Hitler’s public book-burning parties in Nazi Germany. Of
course, I am waxing hyperbolic but not about the apostasy, not about the
reality of professing Christians walking away from the very truth that sets men
free, and you can see it evident in their lives. Everything has gone grey;
everything has gone relative. Grey is in; black and white are out. It’s real
right now in many churches claiming to be so-called “evangelical” churches!
In God’s eyes, we are ripe to be chastened. Oh,
that the rapture would take us out of this mess we have gotten ourselves into!
Self-righteousness doesn’t clean itself up; it only gets dirtier. It is
wrongfully believed, “Oh, but our God is a God of love; He wouldn’t paddle our
bottom!” Oh, really? It might be a good idea to read Hebrews chapter 12. Verse
11a doesn’t thrill my soul at all, but stupid gets what stupid does, and
apostasy or turning away from God’s truth is s-t-o-o-p-i-d. There is no fear of
God in the heart when someone decides to go proverbially south on God
(apostate). It makes me weep like Jeremiah when He saw firsthand the hand of
God move against His people and wrote of it in Jeremiah and Lamentations. It
didn’t have to end the way it did; it doesn’t have to be that way in America. Nebuchadnezzar
was allowed by God to be very unkind to Israel in the final siege in c. 586
B.C., and that’s putting it mildly.
You see; having the mind (or understanding) of
Christ discerns fairly and rightly. Ignorance and avoiding judging rightly
encourage no accountability or godliness among assembled believers. The uncomfortable fact is that we are
commanded to judge non-hypocritically (Jn 7:24), but you and I know that is not happening. Generally speaking, believers are avoiding judging altogether like the
plague as if it was some kind of loving, spiritual thing to do! This is why “judge
not” is so controversial; most believers will side with the world’s
interpretation to “judge not” and dismiss the sound arguments for the very
reason they are not judging themselves or others now.
The
first time I ever hit my thumb with a hammer, the rest of my body came to its
rescue. I think it was my mouth that first arrived on the scene. Someone
needing spiritual restoration and freedom from some troubling sin is not
rescued when the body of believers is numb to accountability and to the leading of the Holy Spirit. As the thumb throbs uncontrollably, the mouth cannot say, “You
idiot, you should have known better; you deserve it, or it’s none of my
business.” How can the hand say to the feet, “I’m going this way” while the
feet head in the opposite direction? What we all do individually matters and
impacts the body of Christ. We are in trouble if we leave it up to God to judge
because we don’t have the wherewithal to judge ourselves and others righteously –
persecution follows historically (read Heb 12:11a that I mentioned
earlier).
Jesus will address individual sin, but the body takes a beating when the majority agrees to do what is right in their own eyes, like buying into the prohibition of all judging according to the world which only promotes ungodliness. When we pattern our lives by “everybody is doing it,” it causes problems for Christianity as a whole in America. Pop culture fads disappear like wood, hay, and straw in the fire. Gold, silver, and precious stones of discernment rightly possess eternal longevity and are fireproof!
Jesus will address individual sin, but the body takes a beating when the majority agrees to do what is right in their own eyes, like buying into the prohibition of all judging according to the world which only promotes ungodliness. When we pattern our lives by “everybody is doing it,” it causes problems for Christianity as a whole in America. Pop culture fads disappear like wood, hay, and straw in the fire. Gold, silver, and precious stones of discernment rightly possess eternal longevity and are fireproof!
Allow me to quickly give an example of a no-brainer judgment. The Bible condemns murder and theft, right? We should,
therefore, declare it to be wrong because the Scriptures say not to murder or
steal. ISIS would disagree with that because the members of ISIS do not respect
Yahweh’s authority. The civilized world only agrees with the position of
Christians when we are against the very same things that they are against, as
in the case of murder and theft. If the Bible conflicts with their worldview
on things like fornication, adultery, homosexuality, same-sex marriage,
abortion, global warming, et al, they expect us not to make a judgment
because that would be judging which is prohibited by their interpretation of Mt
7:1. In essence they are guilty of the very thing they are telling us not to
do! So, what’s new in the world?
Offering tolerance to the world as some kind
of olive branch is something we should never do because we are
called to judge righteously based on the Scriptures, and judging between right
and wrong is something we must do every single day (24/7), not just on Sundays!
With that said, in our discernment, people need to see that the Word of God,
not our opinions or theories, is making the judgment call on morality and
ethics.
This was the position I had to take when
talking with some New Agers. Our worldviews naturally collided. I took the high
road of biblical authority; they took the low road of humanism. They didn’t
recognize the authority of the Scriptures, and I didn’t recognize a human
authority greater than the Scriptures! It appeared to be the proverbial Mexican standoff. Before
God, I won by virtue of my position even though they may have felt differently
about the outcome. Sometimes, we take the heat for our stand on the Word of
God. If such is the case we are in good company (Mt 5:11; Jn 15:20).
You know; evil triumphs when good people do
nothing, like cowering for fear of offending others. This is nothing more than
a namby-pamby form of Christianity. Many believers are reluctant to offend
those who are offending us because the offender gets angry over the fact we got
offended by his offense! I know; it’s crazy bad. All believers must be held
accountable to a higher standard for how he or she treats the members of the
body of Christ. Is worrying over the self-esteem of others more important than
obeying the Scriptures? Is it worth going that route?
This is the identity issue we have in the
Church in our culture; are we a people of the Book or not!? Bible-believing
churches throughout America are struggling with identity, relevancy, and
credibility. Believers cannot do what is right if they don’t know what is right
according to the Scriptures. Let me repeat something I said earlier.
With a wealth of Bible knowledge available today more than at any time in the
history of man, ignorance still poses
the greatest threat to the Church, not Islamic ambitions of world domination.
As followers of Christ, we do not subscribe to
moral and ethical relativism because we believe the Bible is the supreme and
final authority in all matters of faith and practice in the past, present, and
future of human civilization. In light of that stance, we are judged as living
in the dark ages, deemed as ancient relics of the past. Hey, I’m not that old!
Yeah, this criticism emanates from the same crowd that takes Mt 7:1 out of
context as a prohibition against the judging of others. Ironically, this crowd that
believes truth is relative is very emphatic and absolutely sure about the
interpretation of, you guessed it, “Judge not!”
In reality, it is virtually impossible not to
judge something or someone from a spiritual point of view. Our very
worldview or the world’s worldview is by its very nature a judgment call that
happens to be in opposition to one another! We are not to be undiscerning
Christians. We need to examine our lives continuously (1 Cor 11:31) and
challenge others in the faith to live for God as well, regularly, humbly,
lovingly, and kindly until we all come into the unity of the faith (Jn 17:23).
Below are six examples taken from Bible Believer’s Commentary on Matthew 7:1 to illustrate legitimate
judgments that we are commanded to be more discerning between good and best or
good and bad:
1. When disputes arise between believers, they
should be settled in the church before members who can decide the matter (1 Cor
6:1-8).
2. The local church is to judge the serious sins
of its members and take appropriate action (Mt 18:17; 1 Cor 5:9-13).
3. Believers are to judge the doctrinal
teaching of teachers and preachers by the Word of God (Mt 7:15-20; 1 Cor 14:29;
1 Jn 4:1).
4. Christians have to discern if others are
believers in order to obey Paul's command in 2 Cor 6:14.
5. Those in the church must judge which men
have the qualifications necessary for elders and deacons (1 Tim 3:1-13).
6. We have to discern which people are unruly,
fainthearted, weak, etc., and treat them according to the instructions in the
Bible (e.g., 1Thess 5:14).
Should we ever judge someone when something is
in our eyes, we will judge in a hypocritical manner. If we judge
with nothing in our eyes, discerning with clear eyes, we will judge in a way pleasing to God. If we don’t judge at all, we are
in disobedience (for the fence striders, having no-opinion people, and neutral folk).
The boomerang works in all three ways accordingly. Violating Divine commands (Jn 7:24) have consequences
– chastening. It is important to realize that when God disciplines His
children, the believer is not punished but chastened (cf. Heb 12). Jesus took
our punishment for the penalty of sin on the cross (Isa 53:5; 2 Cor 5:21). When we judge rightly we are rightly judged (Mt 7:2).
Speaking of three, whenever we point our index
finger toward others, we need to be reminded there are three pointing right
back at us; it’s a good reminder to think about the boomerang and the law of
the harvest in reaping what we sow. Judging rightly honors the first and second
commands of the Scriptures.
Because Jesus is the righteous Judge (Jn 5:30), His eyes are always clear. If
we are holy as He is holy, we should see clearly to discern rightly, too!
Perhaps, the best that we can hope for in this
matter of judging is by taking our responsibility to be holy personally and
earnestly before looking into the backyard of someone else. We
really need to avoid being politically expedient by embracing the world’s
interpretation of Mt 7:1. By doing what we know from the good Book, continuing
to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, and avoiding defining godliness by doing rather than being are a great start toward healing
the rift sin brings to an individual’s life or the life of a local assembly. We
ignore sin to our peril; we are simply asking for it! Judgment must begin with
each one of us; the warning is crystal clear (1 Cor 11:31).
We all desperately need to learn the Word,
love the Word, and live the Word day in and day out, not turning away from the
truth that sets us free and unifies believers. From that desire will develop
(from the Word and the Holy Spirit) a discerning spirit (1 Cor 2:16) that
enables each one of us through the power of the Holy Spirit to judge rightly.
Revival begins not with so and so but with self, me; it always has.
If we continue to do what we are doing, chastening may be already at our doorstep since the tragedy of 911. In the event the rapture takes place before America falls like every other nation whose God was not the Lord, governing itself on relative truth, wouldn’t we rather be caught up to meet the Lord in the air while living for Him rather than living for self (cf. 1 Jn 2:28)?
If we continue to do what we are doing, chastening may be already at our doorstep since the tragedy of 911. In the event the rapture takes place before America falls like every other nation whose God was not the Lord, governing itself on relative truth, wouldn’t we rather be caught up to meet the Lord in the air while living for Him rather than living for self (cf. 1 Jn 2:28)?
Judging one another is about restoration not condemnation, liberty not bondage in bringing about the unity of faith in fellowship and avoiding judgment. We are to stop unrighteous judging and form a habit of not judging hypocritically (cf. Jn 7:24). Miss that, and you miss the truths of judging rightly: avoiding being chastened for sin and promoting unity in the faith. A prohibition of all judging by believers is not the teaching of Mt 7:1. If we can avoid chastening on an individual basis (1 Cor 11:31), why can we not on a collective basis (2 Chron 7:14)? You be the judge of that. <><
I highly recommend going to “Three Areas of Worldliness in the Church, Part 2, Judging” by clicking on the bicycle b; there is also a part 3. It will expand and enhance what was said in the “You Be the Judge” series. <><
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