Don't Judge Me

“Don’t judge me”. I cannot count the number of times I hear people say that these days. And you know what? If you are not a follower of Christ then you are right to say that. It is not my job to judge you. But fellow Christians if that is a statement you are intent on making I am here to make a judgment on you. You see for a Christian to deny the judgment of a fellow Christian is to deny the truth of the commands of the Bible.

The first judgment I will make upon Christians is that we do not read the bible. Oh we like to read the good stuff. We love the Psalms and we love the parts about God being love. We really like the parts about grace and forgiveness. Some people even lean heavily upon Proverbs, which quite frankly, like much of the Word, can be isolated out so that we can defend just about any lifestyle we want. So we read that stuff. The problem is that God through His Holy Spirit inspired the writers and then through the early church fathers had the entire Word of God put into written form with a specific plan in mind. You see we are to read the entire Bible and we are to interpret it through the teachings of the Holy Spirit by interpreting scripture with scripture. You have to read it from beginning to end so that you can understand what it is commanding us to do.

When it comes to judgment people cling to one scripture in particular. Matthew 7:1-2, “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.”

The usual interpretation here is that Jesus is saying we should not judge each other. A lot of Christians have committed this to memory. The problem is they fail to finish the rest of the reading. This becomes the ultimate “out of context” quote. Let’s read on.

Matthew 7:3-5
“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.”

Jesus is not telling us not to judge others; He is telling us first to judge ourselves, to remove the problem we have in that area before moving on to others, and then we can see clearly to help them get the speck out of their eye. In his book Horizontal Jesus, Tony Evans gives a good analogy. He tells how when we fly on an airline the flight attendants give instruction that if the cabin loses pressure be sure to put on your oxygen mask before trying to help others. We can be little help to others if we are without oxygen as we will soon pass out and all of us will die. Jesus is saying we must take care of the things that will hinder us in helping others with a sin we ourselves have not been able to remove from our own life so we can better help them and not fall into worse sin ourselves.

In truth the Bible is replete with commandments for Christians to come alongside each other in our efforts to become like Christ. Listen to Paul’s instructions from Romans 15:14, “And concerning you, my brethren, I myself also am convinced that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge and able also to admonish one another.”

Take note of the word used in that verse. Some translations use the word admonish, others use warning, so we need to take a quick look at the Greek to be clear what the command is. The word used is noutheteô and the basic meaning is to counsel, advise, warn, and to steer. The discipline of Biblical Counseling leans heavily on this word as it is simply to counsel. What Paul is saying is that we are to counsel each other. Isn’t that what mature brothers and sisters do? When I look back at my past mistakes I wish I would have had someone I trust to counsel me with solid Biblical advice.

Paul gives the reason for this command in Colossians 1:28 saying, “We proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ.”

The goal of the Christian life is to glorify God and to shine the light of Christ and the way we do that is to become like Him. The reason we admonish each other is “so that we may present every man complete in Christ.” I am not complete in Christ. I need mature believers to come alongside of me and counsel me in this effort. My bet is that so do you.

So you see to simply tell other Christians not to “judge” you is to deny the calling of the body of Christ. But there are right and wrong ways to do this. The Bible teaches this as well. We see that Paul did not take this command lightly. Back in Romans 15 we read that Paul was convinced they were “full of goodness.” We must be filled with the Spirit before we move on because only God is good.

He says in Acts 20:31 that "night and day for a period of three years I did not cease to admonish each one with tears.” Admonishing someone should not come without serious love and compassion. Ephesians 4:15-16 tells us we must be “speaking the truth in love” so that we “…grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.” Love must abide in our hearts when we go to a fellow Christian with admonishment.We must be willing to shed tears out of our deep love for them and for Christ.

Paul explains more of how this admonishment must be accomplished in 1 Corinthians 4:14 where he said that he did “…not write these things to shame you, but to admonish you as beloved children.” You see our hearts must be pure when we come to each other with admonishment. This is not easy as our own brokenness tends to get in the way. But sometimes the truth must be spoken. We cannot continue to allow each other to walk the Christian walk in a way that does not shine the light of Christ. We cannot fulfill the Great Commission of Christ to take the Gospel into the world if we are not showing them Jesus in our own life. The greatest witness to the world is our life not our talk.

It’s time for the church to rise up and become all it can be. The end seems near and for sure each day it is one day closer. We must be the light of Christ to the lost and dying world. Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to live in us and to empower us to do the work but He also established the church so that we would not have to operate alone amongst the evil that seeks to stop us. We must be united and we must help each other.

So I say to my Christian brothers and sisters, “Judge me.” Help me. It is not easy being a Christian. More often than I care to admit I stray off the path I’m supposed to be on. But let us admonish each other with the truth of God’s Word and let us love each other through it.

I leave you with more scripture that remind us how to live with each other.

2 Corinthians 13:11
Finally, brothers, rejoice. Aim for restoration, comfort one another, agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you.

1 Thessalonians 5:11
 Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.

Hebrews 3:12-13
Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God.  But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.

We aren’t always going to get this right. One last verse to remind us how to live it all out.

1 Peter 4:8
 Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.

God Bless You Who Read This.