Judge Not

by Gary Cox

I would like to illustrate the idea of not judging others. One of the issues the scripture speaks clearly about is the nature and purpose of marriage. God has called marriage honorable in all and the marriage bed undefiled. But those who defile it, whoremongers and adulterers, God will judge. We see God’s clear purpose and focus for marriage and the intimacies of marriage. There are 57 chapters in the New Testament that speak directly or indirectly of God’s order in marriage and warn of His judgment of those who do not follow His order. God’s order and mandate of marriage is clear, but what is not quite so clear is how we as individual families should lead our children toward God’s nature and purpose of marriage.

I once spoke to a home school group in someone’s home. I spoke of our experience in seeking marriage for our sons. After the meeting I was talking to a mom and being very candid about the principles of the man guarding a woman’s heart as she is the weaker vessel. The guiding principle is to be careful with the desire of the woman to be married and give her heart to only one man, her husband. A godly man’s role is to govern and protect the woman so she is preserved for the husband chosen by God for her. While doing this, I shared a story with this mom of the practical ways that my wife and I implemented this principle with our son. Upon hearing one example, this mom became uncomfortable because I seemed to violate a practice she held to. I was trying to respond to the Spirit on this particular occasion, but she felt a need to judge the practice as wrong, because its appearance seemed to violate her conscience. It is in this simple way that hypocritical judgment tempts the normal believer.

Hypocrisy Puts On

After twenty-seven years of preaching, I am stunned at how few “born again” people take responsibility for themselves to find out, “Lord what is it that You are teaching me?” “How do I take this circumstance that I’m in right here, and apply Your Word practically to the situation?” What most people do is ask a preacher or attend a seminar.  They rely on somebody else and translate the practice of others into a new law. This is how hypocrisy occurs.

Legalism is frustrating, but it is not Spiritual vitality. It is not walking by faith. Romans 1:17 says ‘for the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith for the just shall live by faith.’ God is holding Christians accountable to walk by faith. That means you have to go as an individual and seek His face until He gives you discernment on what it means to walk by faith in any situation. That is your responsibility. It is not the duty or responsibility of anyone else to stand in your place and walk in faith for you. It cannot be done.

The last verse of Romans 14 is astounding; ‘for whatever is not of faith is sin’. When you hear someone you admire for spiritual actions say, “this is what we did in the Lord, this is what He showed us, so we obeyed.” If you hear what someone else does and you have heard their godly reasoning for it, you may be so impressed with their sincerity that you just copy what they did. “My good brother did this, so I’m going to do it.” This is how the appearance of man becomes the standard of hypocrisy.

Don’t expect God to do the same thing twice! He is dealing with eternal individual souls. You are different from everyone else ever created. God is going to minister to you so particularly, so individually and uniquely that the ministry and work of God in you is going to be seen in a unique way. We are going to see God’s way when people trust Him and obey Him. We will find others doing things differently. Don’t get insecure when somebody does something different from you. When you get uncomfortable that others don’t do things like you, you are tempted to impose judgment on them. Don’t impose your interpretation on what others are doing. When you make someone else’s practice a principle, you make men accountable to someone else. That is hypocrisy.

This is a grave and significant struggle for believers. Don’t make a principle out of someone else’s experience! When judging others, your insecurity is driving you. You are not walking by faith before God, you are walking by appearance before man. That is the sin of judging by appearance.

Romans 2:1-3 Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things. But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit such things. And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God?

We are not to judge that we be not judged. There is a 100% ban on judging others. There is never an occasion where you can lift the ban. We often judge people out of our insecurity and that is where the problem lies.

The first reason that we judge is because our sin condemns us, so judging other people gives the false impression that we are righteous because we are able to judge someone else. The principle here is hard, fast, and universal. When you are in a spirit of judgment that is condemned by God, you are actually guilty of the sin you are judging in other people.

We always want mercy. We always want to be given time to improve. We correct ourselves in a gentle fashion, but get harsh toward others. In this way, we heap up God’s judgment against us. Evil judgment takes the law and smashes others down in order to stand up and appear godly. Judging is a devastating sin that we commit against each other. It is our greatest struggle in our relationships in the church. Don’t spend time and energy worrying about somebody else’s righteousness while excusing your own. Don’t be lazy in taking care of your own sin. You will not escape your own judgment!

…Continued next month…