Wednesday Wake Up #11

Righteous Judgement

Many people say "don't judge" or "judge not lest thee be judged." They take a Bible verse and misinterpret it by not reading the whole context of the verse, the section of the chapter or the Bible as a whole. The words they quote are from Jesus, but how it is often understood is different than how it is used.

Jesus saw that many judged based on appearance and not on what was the below the surface truth. Have you ever seen a homeless person and thought that they must have done that to themselves? People jump to conclusions and think the person must be a drunk or drug addict. They don't know that there are people with mental issues that have been left to fend for themselves. God knows the context for all of our situations. Just because you see someone at one moment it does not mean that the person is that person overall. We don't need condemnation for our mess ups, we need compassion. Christ was full of compassion whether you were blind (John 9:1-7), and adulterer (John 8:1-11) or a tax collector who was known for taxing too much (Luke 19:1-10).

Jesus was known to also respond accordingly when God's house was disrespected (Matthew 21:12-13) or religious leaders were misleading people (Matthew 23). We cannot judge on appearance and what we think unless it is in line with what God wants from us. We are not judging on personality and fashion sense and character. We don't know why people do what they do. Maybe they weren't raised well? Maybe they were abused? Do you really want to condemn an adult who may have been abused? We don't know motives. We don't have the full picture. I make mistakes and bad decisions just like you do. We can love each other through our sin and help one another with mercy and compassion, or we can condemn and keep reminding people of what they have done wrong. I don't need all of my sins brought up over and over again just like you don't.

It is okay to evaluate and confront a sinful brother/sister in Christ. That takes a judgment. It is a judgment call. We must use proper judgment when seeing who are the false teachers and false messiahs. We must use right judgment in order to serve God and encourage others, lovingly.

To hear a sermon on righteous judgment click here for John MacArthur

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