You Who Judge Another

 

When is it okay to judge someone else’s actions as right or wrong? No one likes a judgemental person, but what if we are supposed to be making judgments? How else do we determine who is of God and who isn’t? These are all excellent questions, mostly because I only ask excellent questions, but is there an answer for them? That is another excellent question. At various times in my life, these questions have rattled around, with first, one answer coming out on top, then another. Today I would like to attempt a satisfactory answer to these questions using the best source for answers to all good questions, the Bible. 

John 8:15-16 NKJV "You judge according to the flesh; I judge no one. 

16 "And yet if I do judge, My judgment is true; for I am not alone, but I [am] with the Father who sent Me. 

It would appear Christ Himself did not judge in His time on earth. His time was not yet; He was here to offer a life preserver to a doomed humanity. He did pass judgment, though, a couple of times. Every time He judged, it was not on a sinner but on the Pharisees for being hypocritical. Now, that answers at least one question, if we are to judge, it had better not be from our fleshly mind but with the Spirit God has given us. Everyone sins; we are here not to condemn them but to teach of a better way of life. We judge not out of being able to tell people what terrible people they are but because their way of life will hurt them, and there is a better way.

Are there different kinds of judgment, then? It would seem so. None of us have the authority to condemn anyone either to eternal life or eternal death. That is God’s realm. 

1 Corinthians 4:4-5 NKJV For I know of nothing against myself, yet I am not justified by this; but He who judges me is the Lord. 

5 Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord comes, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness and reveal the counsels of the hearts. Then each one's praise will come from God.

When we try to condemn another person, we miss out on vital evidence because we cannot see their heart. God sees and knows everything making Him a righteous and perfect judge. We definitely cannot make a judgment on partial evidence. People always have a chance to repent. It’s not over until it’s over. Where does that leave us regarding judgment, then? Is there a judgment not leading to death? We certainly have to make judgments regarding who we keep as friends and who we allow in fellowship with our congregation. What do we judge? 

1 Corinthians 5:9-13 NKJV I wrote to you in my epistle not to keep company with sexually immoral people. 

10 Yet [I] certainly [did] not [mean] with the sexually immoral people of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. 

11 But now I have written to you not to keep company with anyone named a brother, who is sexually immoral, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner--not even to eat with such a person. 

12 For what [have] I [to do] with judging those also who are outside? Do you not judge those who are inside? 

13 But those who are outside God judges. Therefore "put away from yourselves the evil person."

Paul addresses something pretty controversial here—keeping company with an unbeliever who is sexually immoral. That’s pretty much everyone in this day and age. He’s right; avoiding those people would mean that we didn’t fill our mission to be a light. We can’t be a light for God’s ways if we aren’t out there where people can see us shine. Christ kept company with many perverse people, the difference was they were not His close friends, and He expected them to repent and change. We are something of spiritual physicians in a world of spiritual sickness. The physician goes not to the healthy but to the sick. The people in the world are very sick. Even in what we might consider “the fringes” of Christianity, those lawless ones who keep Sunday and forsake God’s laws, have great spiritual dysfunction. We cannot just ignore these people, for they are seeking to follow Christ, but they need to be shown the way. There is a saying that who you are is a composite of all the people you have ever spent a significant amount of time with. Who we choose to spend time with has a great deal to do with who we become and the beliefs we hold. In other words, our friends rub off on us unless we are careful. All of this brings us a little closer to what sort of judgments we are supposed to be making. 

An important question to ask ourselves is, “Where is this judgemental thought coming from?” Quite often, our judgments of our brothers come from a spirit of despisement. 

Romans 14:10 NKJV But why do you judge your brother? Or why do you show contempt for your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.

Everyone has an energy about them that we glean information from. Have you ever met someone and felt an odd sense of despisement for something about them? The way they dress, perhaps the way they laugh, their size, or even their lack of hair are all favorite targets of Satan. He is the power of the air, and he can easily mimic these energy fields and put a different air around someone to influence the way we treat them. I know I have experienced these counterfeit energies when dealing with some people. However, sometimes it is an energy that the person cultivates around themself after being treated a certain way for long enough that they come to expect it. This energy manifests as a victim or beta mentality, especially in men. Not so easy for the rest of us; we have to train ourselves to be able to look past this and see them the way God sees them. God does not see as we see, obviously. We must learn to see how He does, not with a self-righteous attitude.

1 Samuel 16:7 NKJV But the LORD said to Samuel, "Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For [the LORD does] not [see] as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart." 

Seeing people this way is not an easy thing to learn, and it is something that I still struggle with greatly. We have to make sure that any sort of judgemental thoughts that we have stem from a deep-seated concern for the spiritual well-being of our brother and not a self-righteous attitude. 

Galatians 6:1-2 NKJV 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. 

2 Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. 

Everything we do for our brothers should be motivated out of love for them. This includes any sort of judgment that we make about any of their wrongdoings. Here we have an example of someone who didn’t just sin once; he has been overtaken by his addiction, whatever that happens to be. Paul tells us that we are supposed to guide this man back to Christ, though sometimes that requires a bit of tough love. Mainly for the person's good but also for the good of the congregation so that whatever they are doing doesn’t rub off on anyone else. This is why sexual immorality is treated so sternly. Paul lambasts the Corinthian congregation and takes them to task for allowing an openly sexually immoral person to remain in the congregation. They finally remove him from fellowship, and by Paul’s second letter to this congregation, this man has repented and been allowed to resume fellowship. This is major! Not only does this demonstrate that judgment is required in certain cases, but it also demonstrates that it is not a final judgment either. 

Anyone so judged can repent and turn back to God. We are not the judge, jury, and executioner. Not anymore. If we were a completely Christian society, that would be different, but it still would not extend into the realm of spiritual life. Removing someone from the congregation so they don’t corrupt the other members is not the end of the world. It will be the wake-up call for a faithful follower of Christ to repent, change, and return.

This still doesn’t exactly tell us what and when we are supposed to judge. We know that what we do is to be done out of love for our brethren. We also know that we cannot make the final condemnation judgment about someone either; in fact, it is extremely dangerous to try to do so. 

Matthew 7:1-5 KJV Judge not, that ye be not judged. 

2 For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. 

3 And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? 

4 Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? 

5 Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.

In one-on-one judgments, it is usually far easier for us to see the flaws in someone else than it is for us to see our own flaws. The funny thing is, the flaws we most recognize in other people are flaws we ourselves have. Or it is based on a fear of our having those same flaws. Christ is saying here that we must worry about ourselves and get ourselves squared away first. We are the first and generally the only ones we are to be judging. If we get ourselves squared away, then we are in a pretty good position to help our brother. Our goal is not to condemn them; it is to help them.

John 7:24 KJV Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment.

We judge with righteous judgment! I say that as though we know what that is, but we don’t. Not just yet. What is righteous judgment? When looking at people outside of the body of Christ, we cannot make condemning judgments regarding what resurrection they will be in. That is not our place, and it is not righteous judgment (Are we so sure ourselves what resurrection we will be in? I thought not). Sunday keepers may not be in the body of Christ, but they are still potentially future children of God. We must not condemn anybody! We don’t see as God sees, so we are not righteous judges. There will come a time when we are, but that time is not yet.

Romans 14:12-13 KJV So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God. 

13 Let us not therefore judge one another any more: but judge this rather, that no man put a stumblingblock or an occasion to fall in his brother's way.

Each of us has to give an account of our life to God. Each of us has to stand before Him in judgment. For those of us in the Body of Christ, that time of judgment is now. Everyone else will have to stand before Him at some point in the future, but that time isn’t just yet. We in the Church of God stand before God in judgment at this very moment. This makes the verse that says, “By what standard we judge we shall be judged,” hit a little differently. If we are constantly in judgment, then wouldn’t we want to be as merciful and lenient towards our brothers as possible? By judgment here, I mean how we view others and their actions. In dealing with people, we need a great deal of compassion and love, and in order to be able to help them fully, we have to be able to recognize where they are at in their journey and meet them there. The apostle Paul was deeply aware of this when he said, “To the Jew, I became as a Jew, and to the Greek, I became as a Greek so that I might win them to Christ.” Paul did not literally change his beliefs, but what he did is to see things from their point of view and background so that he could more effectively preach the gospel and tailor his delivery to his audience. This a very tricky line to walk, and Paul did it quite well. Some who have tried to follow his example tripped themselves up in the attempt. 

Now, what do we judge? People’s actions? Yes. People’s hearts? God forbid! Have you ever heard the saying, “Love the person and hate the sin?” The same thing goes for judgment. We judge the actions as right or wrong, righteous or unrighteous, but we never ever judge the person as saved or condemned. Thankfully we get to leave that to God. We can judge whether or not someone is a person we would like to spend time with or not based on their actions, but we can’t see their heart. When we remove someone from the congregation, we remove actions, not people. This is a vital distinction to make. We have an obligation to call out evil and point out unrighteousness and immorality in the world around us, but we do not have the final judgment.

By what standard you judge, you will also be judged. If we take an honest look at ourselves, we know that we are not doing everything perfectly, and there are things that we are missing. What is the difference between us and those who worship on Sunday? They do not have everything correct; in fact, they are missing a vital component of God’s plan. They completely overlook the fourth commandment, among other things. The statement that the fourth commandment is done away with reveals a complete lack of understanding on their part. On our side of things, we also break the commandments because none of us are perfect. We don’t love as we should in general either, so we too are also missing a vital component, but when we look at ourselves, that is only to be expected because we are not perfect. We understand our lack of perfection and still see ourselves as part of God’s family. As we will see in a moment, it does not matter who we see as part of God’s family; it only matters who God sees as part of His family. 

Romans 2:1 ESV — Therefore you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things.

When we look at those worshiping on the wrong day, we do not extend to them the same understanding of their lack of perfection. We tend to see them as hopelessly lost rather than uniformed and deceived. They love and serve far better than most of us do and often have the fruits of the spirit, but they do not have everything correct, just as we do not. By what standard we judge, we will also be judged. We see ourselves as leniently and as mercifully as possible, so why should we not extend that to others? We see these horrible traits in others but ignore the exact same traits in ourselves. As I said earlier, none of us have the authority for eternal judgment, nor can we see another person's heart, so why do we judge someone’s relationship with Christ? Where did we get this authority from? 

The answer is, of course, that we did not get this authority from anywhere because the authority to say who is part of God’s family and who isn’t belongs to God. We can see our own heart, and we know that each one of us absolutely needs to do better. The fact that those who worship on Sunday often do a better job at loving and spreading the gospel than we do should motivate us to do better. If even those who do not understand are doing these works, then the problem lies with us, who are in the Body of Christ. We should be a shining light of a better way, God's way, and we should be demonstrating the beauty of the system He created and that it still works and brings blessings even in our modern day and age. 

There are certainly things that are required of us, and these things are absolutely necessary to do! There are many who believe because it is very easy to say that you believe. Believe in what? Well, the name of Christ, of course. Is simply believing that Christ is the Son of God enough to be considered a follower of Christ? Simple belief implies very little action. There is no following with belief, for even the demons believe and tremble. You can believe that a singer is the best in the world, but that doesn’t mean that you necessarily follow them or even listen to them. Belief in Christ as the Son of God is the first step, but it is hardly the last. Belief is easy. The door is open to those who worship on Sunday, but they’ve got to walk through it and take action. They will remain outside that door as long as they miss the vital aspect of loving God through keeping His commandments. The only thing standing between them and the door is themselves. 

The importance of us being good reflectors of the light of Christ to guide them toward the door cannot be understated. If we are not doing a better job than the men they currently follow, why should they ever be motivated to change? Perhaps the greatest compliment that could ever be given to us is that through us, they see God. These are people who are desperately seeking God for the most part, and they have a great deal of understanding. 

People toss the word 'saved' around a lot, and they mean conversion and salvation. None of us are truly saved until the day we are turned into spirit beings. We are on the train, but we can get off anytime, and our job is to get even more people on the train with us. Sunday keepers are milling about on the platform, but they haven't gotten on the train yet. Our job is to yell, "All aboard!" to these people on the platform.

At this point, there is an important question that we must ask that is often asked in the wrong way. We can judge someone’s actions as wrong and look at people and determine that they are not someone we want to be friends with, but we cannot judge their potential. We cannot see people the way God sees them. If we could see ourselves the way God sees us, we would understand far better that none of us have everything right, we are all growing, and we all have the potential to become Sons and Daughters of God. 

Does God have people in the Sunday churches? He has people He is working with and calling without a doubt. Are they worshiping on the wrong day? Absolutely! Do they miss other important factors because of this? Sure, they do; in fact, they end up worshiping on the day Satan has claimed instead of the day God designated as the Sabbath. Does this mean that they are not following God? That would be a dangerous assumption, but let’s examine this further. The desire to follow God is often there, but there is a huge difference between just seeking to follow and actually following. The difference is in the willingness to keep the commandments of God. The one most rejected is the fourth, which is significant because the Sabbath is an important sign of being part of the covenant. It's one thing to break the commandments; it is entirely another to teach others to do so as well. There is no light in those who do not teach the commandments. 

Isaiah 8:20 NKJV To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.

Asking who our brother is, is, in a way, the entirely wrong question. The real question is, who does Christ consider to be His brother? It doesn’t matter who we think of as our brother because we are very poor judges of character, let alone what is truly going on in someone’s heart. Our perspective skews our opinions and impressions because we are humans ourselves. What does matter is who Christ sees as His friend and brother. We find an illustration of who Christ considers His in Matthew.

Matthew 7:15-23 NET "Watch out for false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are voracious wolves. 

16 You will recognize them by their fruit. Grapes are not gathered from thorns or figs from thistles, are they? 

17 In the same way, every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. 

18 A good tree is not able to bear bad fruit, nor a bad tree to bear good fruit. 

19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 

20 So then, you will recognize them by their fruit. 

21 "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter into the kingdom of heaven - only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. 

22 On that day, many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, didn't we prophesy in your name, and in your name cast out demons and do many powerful deeds?' 

23 Then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you. Go away from me, you lawbreakers!'

Those who practice breaking His laws will not even enter into the kingdom of heaven because Christ will declare, “I never knew you!” God may be working with them, but their eyes have not been fully opened yet. When the Sabbath is not recognized, a veil is upon the eyes, and God’s plan cannot be fully seen or understood. The day will come when God opens their eyes and draws them into His flock, but they are like lost sheep wandering around the hills currently. We must not look down on them because of this. As I said earlier, there are definitely things we can learn from them, and they have the treatment and service of our fellow man down far better than we do. God has used the world's major denominations to spread His word far and wide. Without them, the word of God would not have been preached to every nation, which is to our shame. We must do better because simply attending church on the Sabbath is not enough. There are other things that we are required to do. Don’t get me wrong, keeping the Sabbath is extremely important and goes far beyond simply attending church. 

We will all have points of doctrine that need to be corrected, some of us more than others, and mercy is key. It is more profitable for us to focus on what we need to improve upon than what our brother needs to improve upon unless they specifically ask for help (which is actually a good practice to get into. Just ask your friends what they see that you need to work on. They usually have a better viewpoint than you do, and once you ask them, it won’t sting quite as much when they are bluntly honest). To be able to help someone, we must have a strong foundation and base from which to operate. This is another aspect of removing the beam from our own eye first. If we are not grounded, then when we try to help someone else, we will be just as likely to be pulled off the path. 

If their actions are a danger to the congregation, that is different, or if we see them wandering away from God. However, there is a major difference between life-saving correction and nitpicking. It is not our place to nitpick. Something that has helped me in this area is as soon as I see a brother doing something that I see as incorrect or that they need to work on, I take a long hard look at myself to see if I am doing the same thing in any way, shape, or form. Often, the reason I saw it in them is because it is something that I do myself that needs correction. 

We do judge the brethren, but we do not judge the world. By “we,” I mean the congregation. Once again, this is not eternal judgment but deciding between right and wrong or whether they should be put out of the congregation. This is what Paul instructed when the man was sleeping with his mother; it was an instruction to the whole congregation, not just to the elders and pastors. 

What are we judging? We judge actions because actions are all we can see. Our place involves removing dangerous actions from the congregation and avoiding close relationships with these dangerous actions. We cannot judge the heart, so the most important thing to remember is that by what standard we judge, we will be judged by God. We are given a standard to measure truth by to see whether someone is following God. 

We’ve got to use it. Something to remember is that just because someone does something in a different way than we would, it doesn't make it wrong; it just makes it different. There is a lot of room in the rules and instructions God has given us for us to have our own way of doing things and for us to have variety. As long as it does not go against the Bible, just because someone does something in a different way than we do does not make it wrong. God has given us the freedom to live our lives, and that means that He isn't going to tell us exactly how to do every single thing. We must be able to handle this freedom if we are to follow God and understand that He did give us this freedom to order our lives and do things differently from each other.

Throughout the writing of this article, I was very close to being led astray on the topic of who we should consider our brothers, and thankfully I had brothers of my own to bring me back to the correct viewpoint. Through the use of one of His teachers, God showed me that I was asking entirely the wrong question when I asked who I should view as my brother, for it only matters who Christ views as His brother. The brother of Christ is automatically my brother as long as I am the brother of Christ. This is the formula: If I am the brother of Christ, then whoever He considers His brother is also my brother. Whoever He does not, is not. Does He consider those who practice breaking His laws as brothers? No, He does not. I cannot make someone my spiritual brother outside of Christ because only Christ can make someone a brother. Much like in our actual families, we don’t get to choose who becomes our brother or sister; they are only our spiritual siblings if they were chosen by Christ. 

So who are we supposed to be judging? Ourselves mostly. We are the only ones that have any control over how we respond to judgment and correction. Our main concern has to be our own faults, not those of our brothers. The only heart we have a good look at is our own heart. It is this heart that we must judge and correct.

1 Corinthians 11:31 NKJV For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged.

2 Corinthians 13:5 NKJV Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you are disqualified.

We’ve got to examine ourselves to make sure that we are walking according to God’s law. Before we even consider looking at others to put them down in our minds, remember that we ourselves are worthy of contempt. We were chosen out of the weak and base things of the world. We have been given the privilege to have an opportunity to become sons and daughters of God, not because we deserve it, but because God had mercy on us. It is our mission to pass this on to the lost sheep of the world. 

Our mission is to teach many how to become Sons and Daughters of God and to show them a better way of life through our words and, most powerfully, our deeds. As Christ was, we are not here to condemn the world but as ambassadors of the eternal kingdom of God. We are here to show them the Way, the Truth, and the Life; our savior, Jesus Christ.