Are disciples supposed to pass judgment on people or are they supposed to be lenient when others sin? This devotion looks at how Jesus addressed this.
Nuggets
- Jesus told His disciple to not be judgmental.
- We all have sinned.
- Being lenient in forgiving sin does not mean Jesus wants us to continue in sin.
- We should be humble, not judging with conceit.
- We are not to pass judgment on people, but we are supposed to determine if they are following God’s laws and commandments.
Devotions in the What Is Charity? series
The Lenient Judgment of Others
Disciples have been accused of being rigid in their beliefs and judgmental of those who do not believe as they do. Non-believers cite the numerous times the Bible says we are to love one another (Lev. 19: 18; Jn. 13: 34; Rom. 13: 8; I Cor. 16: 14; I Pet. 3: 8-9; I Pet. 4: 8; I Jn. 3: 11, 18; I Jn. 4: 12-13) as proving their point.
So, should disciples be judgmental?
Don’t Judge
“Do not judge, so that you won’t be judged. For you will be judged by the same standard with which you judge others, and you will be measured by the same measure you use. Why do you look at the splinter in your brother’s eye but don’t notice the beam of wood in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the splinter out of your eye,’ and look, there’s a beam of wood in your own eye? Hypocrite! First take the beam of wood out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to take the splinter out of your brother’s eye” (Mt. 7: 1-5 CSB)
Jesus told His disciple to not be judgmental. Good gives us an idea of what is being forbidden when Jesus said don’t judge. He wrote that it “… refers to the conduct of private individuals, not to men in a public capacity; nor to hinder private persons from forming any opinion.”
Romans 3: 23 reminds us that “… all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (CSB). Even us. We can look at this a couple of different ways.
We can look at this as the sins are different. In this instance we would be judging that their sins are “worse” than ours. You know, thank-God-I-am-only-a-liar-not-a-murder-like-you judgment.
There are times, we do the I-used-to-do-that-sin-but-now-that-I-found-religion-I-don’t-do-it-like-scum-like-you-do judgment. Oh, no, no, no, no.
That isn’t what Jesus wants. Jesus talked about our getting our acts together before we even think about dealing with someone else’s act.
Rust warned about judging others because of prejudice. He wrote that we are “not to judge others by a sort of hasty inspiration, by their manner, or by their class or locality.”
I think Jesus knew we so often jump to conclusions. We see things as we are, not necessarily as the situation is. We can’t just make snap judgments.
What did God say about David? He looked on the inside (I Sam. 16: 7). I know this is always taken as don’t judge a book by its cover.
I take it to read that we can’t just go on our own determination of what the situation is. We have to listen to the other side. We have to take everything into consideration.
We shouldn’t make blind judgments. We should judge without knowing all the facts. We shouldn’t judge without the mercy.
That is the big one. Mercy is the unexpected way God responds in love to our needs. We’ve got to lead with love and compassion, not judgment.
Magoon gave several reasons why we are critical with others.
- latent pride
- malignant envy
- disguised hatred
- servile duplicity
- shameless levity
Thomas told us why we can’t see these sins in ourselves. I think habit is a big reason. We are just so used to doing it or it being there that we have become too desensitized.
That leads to association. We have chosen the sin as “our friend.” We put up with it.
Satan is always going to try to convince us that sin isn’t sin. He is going to do everything in his power to get us to not follow God.
Don’t Accuse
“When they persisted in questioning him, he stood up and said to them, ‘The one without sin among you should be the first to throw a stone at her’” (Jn. 8: 7 CSB)
The Bible also tells us of a time when the Pharisees accused a woman and brought her to Jesus for sentencing. The Pharisees had brought a woman to Jesus that had been caught in the act of adultery. Yes, it is a Ten Commandments law: “You shall not commit adultery” (Ex. 20: 14 NIV).
See, the problem was the Pharisees were judging, not following God’s laws and commandments. “If a man commits adultery with the wife of his neighbor, both the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death” (Lev. 20: 10 ESV). “If a man is found lying with the wife of another man, both of them shall die, the man who lay with the woman, and the woman. So you shall purge the evil from Israel” (Deut. 22: 22 ESV).
The Pharisees were more interested in catching Jesus than they were addressing the sin. Farrar wrote, “They saw nothing but a chance of annoying, and endangering One whom they regarded as their deadliest enemy.” This so evident because there was no reason to bring the woman to Jesus.
There was the judgment, but where was the justice? There was the religious, but where was the mercy?
Did Jesus judge the crowd when He wrote on the ground? We aren’t told what He wrote. We like to think it was the sins of those in the crowd.
It is easy for some to say Jesus was lenient because 1) she was caught in act (Jn. 8: 4) and 2) Jesus didn’t have her punished.
Yes, the woman was forgiven, but she wasn’t told to keep on keeping on. She was told to “… go, and from now on do not sin anymore” (Jn. 8: 11 CSB).
People believing the worldview equate disciples saying “sin no more” as judging. Isn’t it more that we are concerned for the spiritual condition of your hearts and lives?
If we see someone contemplating suicide, shouldn’t we step in? If we see someone cutting themselves, shouldn’t we try to get them help?
Telling someone to “sin no more” is not judging them. It is the ultimate expression of love.
Glover pointed out the double standards of the accusers. Don’t we do that? Sometimes, we hold others much more accountable than we do ourselves. But other times, we are so much harder on ourselves than others.
Isn’t it so much easier to judge someone else and deflect Jesus’ attention off our sins?
Be Humble
“For who makes you so superior? What do you have that you didn’t receive? If, in fact, you did receive it, why do you boast as if you hadn’t received it?” (I Cor. 4: 7 CSB)
Paul is talking humility here. Well, isn’t he right?
We make a lot of the judgments because of pride. We’ve already talked about pride — in this and another devotion. But this is something more.
It is judging with conceit. We like to think that we are successful because of our knowledge and skills. “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain …” (I Cor. 15: 10 CSB).
Paul told us that the only thing we should boast about is God. “So let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord” (II Cor. 10: 17 CSB).
God judges us based on what He has given us. “… From everyone who has been given much, much will be required; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, even more will be expected” (Lk. 12: 48 CSB).
Do Judge
“Stop judging according to outward appearances; rather judge according to righteous judgment” (Jn. 7: 24 CSB)
Wait. What? So, now we are supposed to judge.
Let’s start with the outward appearances. Looks may be deceiving.
What if outward appearances was more than just what we look like? What if it is how we live our lives? Have you ever known someone to put on an act when they were around certain people?
What if this means we are not supposed to judge surface, but we are supposed to judge deep down? We are not to pass judgment on people, but we are supposed to determine if they are following God’s laws and commandments. No, no one is going to be 100% perfect. We have to determine if we need to witness to them.
But we are warned about false teachers. We are warned to not yolk ourselves with non-believers.
We are not to let other lead us astray. “Children, let no one deceive you. The one who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous” (I Jn. 3: 7 CSB).
Most importantly, our job is to preach the gospel and make disciples. How can we do that if we don’t determine if they have admitted their sins, believed on Jesus, and confessed God as Sovereign Lord?
The ABCDs of Salvation
If you have not become a believer in Christ, please read through the
Plan of Salvation and prayerfully consider what God is asking you to do.A – admit our sins
B – believe His Son Jesus is our Redeemer
C – confess God as Sovereign Lord
If you have not become a believer in Christ, please read through the Plan of Salvation and prayerfully consider what God is asking you to do.
D – demonstrate that commitment by making any changes needed in our lives to
live the way in which God has called us
The Disciple’s Job Description
Complete Job Description
Individual Description
Making the Connections
I think the lenient here is do not judge harshly. Do not judge because of pride or envy.
Instead, we are to love others as ourselves and as neighbors.
There still has to be consequences for wrong actions. Being lenient doesn’t mean people get a pass.
We have to judge situations. We have to judge intent of people’s actions. If we don’t, we may be headed off the straight and narrow.
Making the Connections to Self-Discipline
Ooo, baby. Isn’t it so easy to cut loose and judge people sometimes?Sometimes, we may have to discipline ourselves to be more lenient.
How Do We Apply This?
- Don’t jump to conclusions.
- Be sure our expectations are realistic.
- Know ourselves as to what triggers judgment calls.
- Make sure we follow God’s laws and commandments.
As disciples, God wants us to love others. However, He does not want us to condone sin. He just wants us to leave the judgment to Him.
Father God. We want to imitate You. We want to love like You. We do not want to be led astray. We do not want to compromise our belief in You to placate those holding a worldview. Help us to love as You love and stand firm in our faith in You. Amen.
What do you think?
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