So far, in Part One, we have talked about the fake pews of #1 – “Christians live by blind faith,” #2 – “It’s all about living a good life,” and #3 – “It is all about the list of dos and don’ts to “save yourself,” and in Part Two, #4 – “Christianity is exclusive, and Christians are arrogant when it insists that Jesus is the only way to God and salvation.” We will now tackle more distortions of God and the Christian faith. This is a popular one right now. Fake pew # 5 – "Christians should never judge." To do so, is to risk being labeled “judgmental” or hypocritical.
Fake Pew #5.
Christians should not judge others and are hypocrites.
Before we get started let’s be good philosophers and define the terms we will be discussing. The first word is judge. Put succinctly means to “evaluate rightly.” Our whole judicial system is built on the premise that human beings are capable of doing this with some level of proficiency. The word judgmental, is defined as condemnation or alienation based on false or incomplete information or a general attitude of superiority. This is also closely akin to prejudice.
The Scripture that is most often quoted to use against judging is Matthew 7:1-3, “Judge not, that you be not judged. 2 For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. 3 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?
First, let’s look into the Greek here to get at what Jesus is saying here in the Sermon on the Mount. (Matthew 5-7). The Greek word from the root krino, means “decree” or “judgment” of others deeds. Notice it is not oriented toward the person themselves, but rather, their conduct or actions. This is an important distinction. While a person’s actions certainly reveal the character of someone, the deed itself is what is being judged not the person. For instance, you can fail without “being a failure.” You can do an evil deed without being thoroughly and completely an “evil person.” Therefore, what Jesus is referring to here is to judge the action and not the person. The judgment of the person is God’s job alone. He is the only one who has the perfect standard by which to “evaluate rightly” the person. And he does it rightly because he sees the condition of their heart, which either results in salvation or condemnation for eternity. More on this a bit later.
Second, Jesus is not saying that we go through life never recognizing or challenging wrong and evil when we encounter it. We are to “evaluate rightly” as best we can so as to reflect the nature of our God who is just. We need to evaluate rightly in order to avoid evil or committing acts that harm others or violate God’s righteousness. Jesus supports this understanding when he says that the measure you use will be used to measure your deeds as well. We all like to think our measuring stick is the right one and is the most fair. However, there has to be some kind of absolute standard by which to “evaluate rightly” the deeds and ethical foundations of people that supersede our own opinions.
The only true measure is God’s yard stick. Part of the reason we have his Word, the Bible, is to help us determine how to evaluate wisely. We will never get it completely right because we are fallen, corrupt, and selfish people at heart. Read Psalm 14. The reason we are so lousy at it is because we were never meant to have to perform this function. We were not meant to eat form the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. It is a burden God did not intend for us to carry.
Third, the type of judging and measuring Jesus is talking about is self-righteous presumption that somehow, we have it all together and it gives us a right to exclude, dismiss, or condemn someone based on our own self-developed moral standard. Hence, we have only two choices when it comes to judging morally and ethically. We either dismiss absolute truth and morals altogether and declare with Frederick Nietzsche, “You have your way, I have my way. As for the right way…it does not exist.” (this type of attitude underlies most if not all civil and human rights violations in godless countries who have turned their back on God). Or, we can look into God’s Holy Word and find a measuring stick from someone greater than ourselves who sees perfectly, knows perfectly, judges perfectly, and loves perfectly. The Ten Commandments were given to the Hebrews at Sinai out of God’s love for them. They were, and still are, meant to guide us into forming ways of living together that holds suffering in check, reveals our need for God, and points us to God for right evaluating in human affairs. Our measuring sticks are faulty and corrupt. God’s is not.
Fourth, this is why Christians fall short of the mark. (No pun intended) It’s God’s measure that we use, which means the bar is set really, really high. Impossibly high. We like Paul, in Romans 7:18-19, just can’t get it together.
“For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing.”
So, Mark, what do we do then? Is it hopeless and we should just give up on trying to be good and do the right thing? Paul says unequivocally, “No!” But what’s the solution then? Keep reading.
Fifth, we need a righteousness that comes from outside ourselves. We can muster all our will power to do the right thing only to come to the realization that we fall short. (By the way that is the basic definition of sin, “falling short.”) This is why the whole secular humanist motto of “Good Without God” is just ridiculously futile. We must be transformed on the inside by Jesus Christ so that our inward motivations change and our desire and capacity to love and do what is right comes from a deeper nature-changing source. When we believe and receive Jesus Christ he comes and lives within us through the power of his Holy Spirit. He then gives us his righteousness, not one we have willed or worked ourselves up to on our own. Trying to do it on our own is like trying to walk up a thousand foot “down” escalator. Instead, Jesus comes down, saves us, works in us, and gives us his righteousness that declares us forgiven and then gives us the identity of “Children of God.” We can’t earn or merit this title. But this identity is the source of power from which we come to understand what is truly “good” and to "love our neighbor as our selves." (Mark 12:31).
Sixth, this is why being a “good person” will not get you into heaven. Our own self-developed ethics or free-formed relativistic morals are doomed to fail. That’s what prompted Albert Calamus to state, “A man without ethics is a wild beast loose upon the world.” But that is what you get with the relativist view of truth and morals that is so dangerously prevalent in the world and dominates communist and other godless thinking. This has wormed its way into our society to the point where we are afraid to call someone’s actions or lifestyle wrong for fear we will be labeled judgmental. But the truth is, we cannot live without judging. It is part of the human experience. You can’t live in the world without absolute ethics of some kind upon which to build free society and healthy human relationships.
Once again Paul puts it well.
"Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” Romans 12:2.
But, we can avoid being judgmental – that which is done out of self-righteous and hypocritical thinking and elevates ourselves “above” others. As Christians we are called by God, by virtue of our identity as Children of God, to live differently – set “apart” not “above,” so that we can show our gratitude and love for God and love for others that should naturally flow from a transforming relationship with Jesus Christ who has given us HIS righteousness. It is here that we can discern the will of God, have a clearer picture of right and wrong, and test everything according to God’s standards found in the Bible. Yes, the Bible! It is when we deviate from God’s ethics clearly revealed in his Word that we run amuck and create a mess. It is impossible to “evaluate rightly” without God’s standard for absolute truth and morals! Will we still drop the ball? Sure. Will we still fall short of God’s standard? Of course. But the key is to look in the right place for your foundation and starting point. The real arrogance lies in thinking that we as humans can come up with the right judgments on our own. And that we then, in or own estimation, have the right to judge others. Isn’t this idea even more self-elevating?
Here’s the upshot! Do we as Christians get judgmental and high and mighty? Too often, yes! The key is to discern using the love, righteousness, and Spirit-led wisdom that comes from God and not our own invention. However, if we don’t judge we run the risk of falling into a flimsy Nietzschean philosophy that reduces us to animal status. The question to ask ourselves is, “Am I doing what is right for God, others, and myself based on the fact that everyone like me, is made in the image of God or based on something I heard from Oprah or some other self-styling moral guru?”
When we accuse someone of being judgmental, are we not ourselves judging them? How is that justified and the other person’s judgments unjustified. (Hypocritical?) Again, this is a result of us insisting on our standard of measure. This method automatically puts a “log in our eye.” Furthermore, relativism has resulted in poorly formed consciences in society that have us on the path to destruction by our own pathological human-developed ideas. If you think humans can make things better by ourselves, just look at the historical record. In the twentieth century, the godless countries of the world combined to create the bloodiest century in all recorded human history. Conservative estimates put execution of their own citizens in excess of 100 million. Yes, Christianity had the Crusades and other atrocities. And why? Because we lost our focus on God and the loving guidance in his Word. We have a spotted history of failing at our “set-apartness” and the honoring of the sanctity of human life we have as creations in the image of God. God’s standards have never changed - only our adherence to them.
So, evaluate wisely, with the One who compassionately forgives, saves, and truly transforms you kept in mind. To refuse to discern right from wrong for fear of criticism and name-calling from godless people is a fake pew, don’t sit on it. Resist it. Take it outside and burn it. It does not serve the purposes of God. It has already been shown to collapse under the weight of all humanities self-centered evil and hypocrisy. Trust God’s measure. It is sturdy. Only his truth holds up.
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