Every Reason to Judge

Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye and do not notice the log that is in your own eye? That doesn't mean you're not going to struggle with forgiveness or even fail, that you're not going to battle a resentment, that you're not going to desire to be vindicated when wrong. But as a Christian, this is your attitude. It reflects the attitude of Jesus Christ himself and we, through this attitude, demonstrate to a world that is vicious. A cultural buzzword you'll often hear is the word tolerance. Have you been encouraged to be more tolerant? In secular society and even in some Christian denominations, tolerance is promoted as a virtue.

Being labeled as intolerant is an insult. After all, didn't Jesus tell his followers not to judge? Well, we're going to explore what God's Word really says today.

Stephen Davey is returning to Luke 6. Jesus makes clear to his disciples that godly judgment, when done correctly, is an essential quality of any successful church body. Here's Stephen with a message called, Every Reason to Judge.

Luke, chapter 6, verse 37. Judge not and you will not be judged. Condemn not and you will not be condemned.

Forgive and you will be forgiven. The Lord isn't defining someone's salvation as we'll see. He's defining someone's spirit. The verb here, to judge, means to sit in judgment.

That kind of hints at what he's going to cover. To sit in judgment. He's talking about someone who's quick to condemn. Someone unwilling to forgive. And this spirit, as Jesus is teaching his disciples, is really contrary to Christianity. It's contrary to those who've been forgiven.

Those who will not fear the condemnation of the Lord. Now, if we go to Matthew's parallel account of this sermon. Matthew took a little bit more detailed sermon notes, evidently, in Luke.

He adds some context that gives us a little more insight. He writes in chapter 7 and verse 1. Judge not that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce, you will be judged.

And with the measure you use, that is the standard, it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye and do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Now, that's later on in Luke's Gospel. We'll get to there eventually. But what he's saying here is that, essentially, if you're a Christian, a disciple of Christ, that doesn't mean you're not going to struggle with forgiveness or even fail. That you're not going to battle a resentment. That you're not going to desire to be vindicated when wronged. But as a Christian, this is your attitude. This is your disposition. It reflects the attitude of Jesus Christ himself and we, through this attitude, demonstrate to a world, by the way, that is vicious.

They will eat each other alive. Step out of line in that PC world and watch what happens. He says, here's how we can show that we're different. Now, the question remains, is Jesus telling the believer here to overlook everything? To ignore everything? To overlook immorality?

To cover our eyes and our ears and our mouths? To hear nothing, see nothing, say nothing, judge nothing? Well, the answer is found, really, by examining other scripture.

When we as Bible students compare scripture with scripture, and that's the key, if you're new into faith and you find a difficult passage, study, get out the concordance, track the words through, compare the word of God with the word of God. And that's what I'm going to do with you today. So let's answer the question this way. Is it ever right to judge and when is it wrong to judge?

Let me answer the first part of that question first. When is it right to judge? Well, first, it's right to judge someone's behavior as immoral.

In 1 Corinthians 5, verses 1 through 3, the apostle Paul writes this to the church. It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, for a man has his father's wife. In other words, he's having sexual relations with his stepmother. And then he goes on to talk about how pagan that is. And then he says, and you are arrogant. He's writing to the church.

And you are arrogant. Ought you not rather to mourn? Let him, let this guy who has done this, doing this, be removed from among you. In other words, evidently, this man is refusing to repent of this immorality. So they're to discipline him, they're to remove him from the church. Paul goes on to write in verse 3, I, get this, have already pronounced judgment on the one who did such a thing.

Paul wrote, I have already judged this man. You as a church need to do the same. And this is quite a message for the church today at large, isn't it? Isn't it ironic in respect to mainline denominationalism around us today that Paul here considered the church in Corinth that refused to condemn immorality. He doesn't say you're such a tolerant church.

You're such a loving church. He says, no, you're arrogant. You're an arrogant church.

You're disobedient. He sets the record straight. Instead of covering his eyes regarding sexual immorality, he actually judged the church in Corinth first. He calls them arrogant. In other words, they have become superior to God's word.

They have become smarter than God, evidently. So Paul renders this judgment on the church, calls them what they are, and then he tells them to render judgment on this immoral man and to remove him. Somebody will say, well, you know, are you saying that we just, you know, kick all the sinners out of the church? No. If we kicked all the sinners out of the church, who would be here today?

Right? So this issue isn't really about sin. The deeper issue is unrepentant sin.

It is that immoral activity that becomes a scandal. It dilutes the integrity of the church. It destroys the moral testimony of the believer. It literally defaces the reputation of Christ, especially when the church covers its eyes. So in light of this misquoted, misinterpreted judge-not-unless-you-be-judge verse, evidently the church is to render judgment on that which is immoral. And the church body has actually been called to hold one another accountable to this biblical standard. In fact, later on in chapter 5, the apostle Paul makes this statement that I think the average church would find appalling today. He writes in verse 11, I'm writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother.

That's key. They claim to be a Christian. If he is guilty of sexual immorality, and then he just kind of goes on with his list, or greed, or he's an idolater, reviler, drunkard, swindler, not even to eat, such a one. In other words, we treat sinning unbelievers with open arms so that they can hear the gospel, but sinning unrepentant believers differently. This is why Jesus eats meals with sinners.

But to those religious leaders who claim to know God, oh, man, watch out as we've already seen. So Paul is implying that believers are to exercise this ability to actually determine guilt, make a moral judgment, and then withdraw any kind of fellowship as a demonstration of what that individual has lost with God, fellowship. But keep in mind, what's our attitude in all of this? Do we delight in someone's sin? Do we gossip about some moral failure?

Do we get out of club and go over and let them have it? Now Paul writes this to the Galatian believers, if anyone is caught, literally ensnared is the word, in any transgression, you who are spiritual, those of you who are spiritually minded, here's what you do. Restore him in a spirit of gentleness.

The word restore is a medical term for mending a broken bone. More on that kind of attitude later. So first, it's right to judge someone's behavior as immoral. Listen, it's right to look at somebody and say, you're wrong, that's sinful, be warned. Secondly, it's right to judge someone's beliefs as unbiblical. Here's Paul writing to the Roman church, I appeal to you brothers to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught.

He's talking about false teachers, avoid them. For such persons do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites. And by smooth talk and flattery, they deceive the hearts of the naive. They're smooth, they're appealing, they're telling the church what they want to hear.

But Paul pulls the mask off them and reveals all they really want is popularity and prestige and book sales and a following. Don't be naive. The church today is more naive than ever. And the reason why is because they're resisting more than ever the idea of theology, the idea of doctrinal absolutes. Let's just put doctrine on the shelf and let's unite in love. In fact, let's not even worry anymore about speaking the truth in love.

Let's just speak in love and forget about the truth. The Bible, of course, delivers a far different warning to the Galatian church. Paul warned him, if anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.

That's a strong word. Let him be eternally damned is what he's saying. So imagine the implications of that text. The minister who preaches that Jesus Christ didn't literally rise from the dead is to be eternally damned. The religious leaders who deny the sufficiency of Christ's atonement are accursed.

Church leaders who preach a doctrine of salvation by grace plus works are to be accursed. Even, he's going to say, if an angel showed up and delivered it. So in that context it's interesting, even if an angel comes along and delivers this new message to you, beware. I mean, here's an angel. You get your phone, you take a selfie to prove it was an angel and he delivered this message to me.

So what? Supposedly an angel came to Joseph Smith and gave a gospel that required belief in his teaching as a prophet of God in order to arrive at the highest heaven and a workspace gospel. An angel supposedly appeared to Muhammad and delivered a different gospel that Jesus didn't die on the cross, memorized from the dead. Listen, I personally don't doubt these men had an angelic encounter. I don't doubt that.

I don't think Paul is exaggerating. Even if an angel came to you and delivered this message, don't believe it simply because it came from an angel. What was the message?

What was the message? That's the question. See, Paul understood this and he wrote to the Corinthians in 2 Corinthians 11 and 14, even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. Look at him, brilliant, glorious. I think if Satan came into this auditorium and that physical manifestation of who he is, we would more than likely be tempted to bow down and worship him. An angel of light. You see, we don't measure it based on what he looks like. We measure it based on what the message is. What is that message? How does it compare to the message of the Bible? We're to make judgments on whether what is being taught is biblical. By the way, there are lesser errors out there that lead believers astray that are distracting the church from its mission. Not heresies but just those things that destroy our testimony and unity and the reputation of the Lord. It might not be wrong doctrine as we think of core doctrines, but it might be foolishness.

It might be sinfulness. The kind where the news hits and the world kind of rolls its eyes and say, you know, those Christians are just as immoral as us. Those Christians are just as greedy as us.

They're after the same stuff we're after. Look who just got exposed in the church. Just this week I saw a news report of a new church in another state that is being planted and co-pastored by a husband and wife. The reason, that's typical these days, but the reason the news item got my attention was the fact that the wife, the co-pastor, is an adult actress in the porn industry.

I got to read this announcement. I was looking for the part where she came to Christ and left that world behind. No. She defended her profession and then proudly claimed along with her husband that they are planting a church, here's their byline, by sinners, for sinners. And then she went on to complain that Christians and the church are probably going to judge her.

There you go. Judge not. Well I'll tell you, Paul wrote to Titus about these kinds of false teachers. He said they profess to know God but they deny him by their works, their lives. And here's his judgment on them.

They are detestable, disobedient, and unfit for any good work which would include church planting. Thirdly, believers are encouraged that it's right to judge our own sin as unacceptable. Whenever the believer approaches the Lord's table, the apostle Paul exhorts us all to examine ourselves. 1 Corinthians 11.28, we are to test ourselves. We're to make sure we're in fellowship with our Savior.

We're to make sure we're confessing our sin, that we're not managing it, or hiding it, or justifying it, or excusing it, or redefining it. He goes on to write in verse 32 of chapter 11 that the believer who doesn't judge himself in that way is heading toward the discipline of the Lord. So let's not be too quick to judge others if we are refusing to judge ourselves.

It doesn't matter how old you are in the Lord. You have that propensity as I do to justify anything, to redefine anything, to excuse anything. So let's judge ourselves. Number four, it's right to judge our culture in the light of biblical principle. You know, in case Paul leaves anything out here, he writes in the Corinthians, and he just sort of shoves everything else in here, when he says the spiritual person judges everything. So compare that with judge not with the spiritual person judges everything. There's a context to understand.

He wrote to the Thessalonian believers, examine everything carefully. Do we spend more time making judgment calls, which, by the way, we do all the time? We're always making judgment calls. It's going to be related to, you know, do we spend more time on what we're going to eat, what we put in our mouths, what we drink, what we wear, what we drive, where our kids go to school? We're making judgment calls all the time. That one's better than that one. That's better for you than that.

Good and better, maybe worse. So examine everything in the spiritual world or the philosophical world or the ideological world. So the Bible makes it clear it's right to judge everything. It's right to judge someone's actions as immoral. It's right to judge someone's beliefs as unbiblical. It's right to judge our own sin as unacceptable. And it's right to judge our culture in the light of biblical principle. When is judging wrong? What's Jesus talking about here in this most well-beloved verse of our world today?

So what does he mean? When is it wrong to judge? Well, there are three occasions in the Bible that specifically tell us when it's wrong to judge. Number one, it's wrong to judge before knowing all the facts. This, by the way, is the foundation of righteous judgment. So it's wrong to judge before knowing all the facts. Secondly, it's wrong to judge someone based on subjective impressions.

Well, you know, I think they did it because of that. We're going to judge their motive. Motives can't be seen and we can be wrong. Paul warns against this kind of judgment in 1 Corinthians 4 verse 5. He writes this, the Lord will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the motives of men's hearts.

Only the Lord knows the motives. So be very careful, especially be warned if you're jumping to conclusions based on impressions. We're far too quick to judge based on our impressions. You know, how someone looked, how they responded, what they said, where they sat. Jesus said this in John 7 24, do not judge by appearances, but judge with righteous judgment. I found it interesting to discover in my study that in the ancient days, the Greek courts at the height of their civilization, whenever they were deliberating an important or very difficult trial, they would often hold court in the dark. No lights, no torches in the middle of the night. The judge and jury would not be able to see the person on trial. They couldn't judge their appearance or their expression.

Only the facts of the case would be heard. I thought that was fascinating and illustrative here to this principle. One more thirdly, it's wrong to judge in self-righteous hypocrisy. And that, beloved, is the context of Luke chapter 6. Judge not, don't judge like that. Don't condemn, don't be unforgiving like that. Don't have the attitude of the Pharisee that Matthew allows us as he quotes the Lord's message.

Judging was their favorite indoor sport. So properly understood Jesus here in his sermon on the plateau in Luke 6 is wanting his disciples to develop an attitude of gracious discernment. Wake up, stay alert, examine everything, be gracious, but firm, true and right. So how do you grow in this kind of gracious discernment? Well, let me just close by giving you four spiritual exercises that will develop the skill of gracious discernment.

I'll go through these very quickly. Number one, hunger for godly wisdom. Is something robbing our craving, our appetite for wisdom? Perhaps it's hours of gaming or sports or television or news where we're feeding on that and wondering why we don't have a hunger for wisdom. For the believer, here's the challenging and convicting thing to me.

The problem is never the supply. The problem is my lack of craving. Number two, commit to godly decisions. In other words, you're not going to develop godly discernment when you already know that you're not going to follow through.

I mean, why would God give you the wisdom to do the right thing and know that you're not going to do it anyway? So commit to making these godly decisions as God gives you wisdom. Number three, saturate your mind with God's word.

It goes along with hunger. What are we saturating our minds with? Number four, finally put into practice what you learn. One of my old professors used to say, we're not studying to be able to get smarter, but to grow spiritually. Spiritual development leads to spiritual discernment. The writer of Hebrews referred to the word of God as solid food, and he really nails this principle.

Get this. But solid food is for the mature, the maturing believer, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil. Those who have their powers of discernment. That's interesting, isn't it?

How do you get that? By practicing, training, and through practice you distinguish between that which is good from evil. Put into constant practice the meat of the word, and your powers of discernment will grow. Do we ever need discernment today? Thanks for joining us today here on Wisdom for the Heart. Today's lesson is called Every Reason to Judge.

It comes from Stephen's series from Luke called The Sermon on the Plateau. In addition to these daily Bible lessons, we have a magazine that you can use to keep yourself in God's word every day. The magazine is called Heart to Heart.

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Call today. Thank you so much for joining us. We're so glad you were with us and I hope you'll be with us for our next Bible lesson tomorrow, right here on Wisdom for the Heart. We'll see you next time.