Here Come Da Judge!

We also make judgments based upon our own perception of what someone else should be as well, and the consequences can often be very devastating.

The story is told of a young boy who about 10 years old and attending a Baptist church in his hometown. He grew up in a time when people were very judgmental about the length of your hair and the way you dressed. When the body went to the church and asked if he could join the choir, he was rejected as being too rebellious. On that day that young man began to drift farther from God and deeper into the world. He felt the rejection of the church but the worldly crowd was quick to accept him. In just a few years he began to sell records and to gain in fame in popularity and in 1977, at just 42 years of age, the King of Rock and Roll, Elvis Presly, left this world as a worn out, sick man who died as a result of prescription medicine overdose. He left behind a vast fortune, but he was a broken and sad man and probably left this world without Christ.

Matthew 7:1 Judge not, that ye be not judged. Does that mean that we should never judge one another? Many have used this scripture to say that even the courts of our land have no right to pass judgment upon men, especially when it comes to the death penalty.

This verse does not mean that we should never pass judgment on another no matter what. It is God who established the Law and who also gave the punishments for those who break that law. Without law and judges we would live in anarchy. Judgment and punishment for crimes is a very necessary thing and is the only deterrent that will keep criminals at bay.

It is God that establishes governments, even in the church. It is not unscriptural to call a brother or sister into question when the laws of God have been broken.

Paul said in 1 Thessalonians 5:12 that we should …”know them which labour among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you;” How are you going to know whether your brother or sister in the Lord is doing the right thing unless you judge their works according to God’s Word? We are not told to never judge anyone, but we are told that when we judge, we should use the right criteria for judgment.

Matthew 7:2 gives us a hint at the kind of judgment that God expects each of us to have for one another, “For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.

What this verse says is that we must not judge one another based on our own prejudiced information. Our judgment must always be based solely upon what is found in the Word of God. I cannot judge your heart, for only God truly knows the motives behind what you do or say. But what I must judge is your actions, what you do and what you say.

It is not sin to judge someone as being a sinner when there is sin in their lives. But it is wrong to judge them and think that we are better than they are because we don’t do what they do, go where they go, or say what they say. The great divisions in the Body of Christ are always the result of Pride. Pride says that I am better than you. Pride says that I know the truth and you don’t; that makes me better. Pride says that you are condemned because you don’t believe like I do.