The
Judging Knot
“We are to judge
what is right."
People
say,
·
“Don’t judge!”
·
“Judge for yourselves”
·
“Only God can judge!”
How do we reconcile
those three opinions?
There
are three categories of things that can be judged:
1. Concepts
2. Christians
3. Non-Christians
There
are three categories of judgers:
1. You
2. God
3. Church/Civil Government
·
To
determine
·
To
condemn
Concepts:
These
are things like books, movies, ideas, and philosophies. They are not expressly connected to any
people, although many people have become connected to them. (In other words, these are the unseen things
that we judge that often lead us to judge the people who have them)
Christians:
Grey
area (things that are not expressly mentioned in the Bible, but you can find a case for/against them in Scripture)
Honor
other parents’ choices
Honor
other people’s doctrinal positions, as long as they are not core “Jesus saves”
issues
White
area (These are amoral issues)
Don’t judge in dumb
things, like shoes or clothes or manner of speaking (bar swearing)
“…The
average Christian is the most penetratingly critical individual.…The effect of
criticism is a dividing up of the one criticized; the Holy Ghost is the only
One in the true position to criticize, He alone is able to show what is wrong
without hurting and wounding. It is
impossible to enter into communion with God when you are in a critical temper;
it makes you hard and vindictive and cruel, and leaves you with the flattering
unction that you are a superior person,
Jesus says, as a disciple, cultivate the uncritical temper. It is not done once and for all. Beware of anything that puts you in the
superior person’s place. There is no getting away from the penetration of
Jesus.…Every wrong thing that I see in you, God locates in me. Every time I judge, I condemn myself. Stop having a measuring rod for other
people. There is always one fact more in
every man’s case about which we know nothing.
The first thing God does is to give us a spiritual spring-cleaning;
there is no possibility of pride left in a man after that. I have never met the man I could despair of
after discerning what lies in me apart from the grace of God. …
Jesus
says – “Judge not, that ye be not judge”; if you do judge, it will be measured
to you exactly as you have judged, it will be measured to you exactly as you
have judged. Who of us would dare to
stand before God and say – “My God, judge me as I have judged me fellow
men?” We have judged our fellow men as
sinners; if God should judge us like that we would be in hell. God judges us through the marvellous
Atonement of Jesus Christ.”
-
Oswald Chambers
Black
area (These are matters of salvation)
Read Matthew 7:1-5 and
Matthew 18:15-17. This is how you deal
with sin in the church. Pray,
self-examine, and then approach in humility and brokenness.
Unbelievers:
You are not to be their
judge. Recognize their need for a Savor
and go after them!
Dealing with being judged
If
you feel like someone is judging you, check your heart--is God convicting you of something? Sometimes the person doesn't even mean to judge you, but God uses them to show you an area of weakness. But then, sometimes someone is judging you without cause--if that's the case, remember that God is the only Judge you have to worry about.
“We are to judge
what is right.”
