Judging Others

1 Corinthians 5:12-13 

"For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? God judges those outside. 'Purge the evil person from among you.'"

Matthew 7:1-6

"Judge not, that you be not judged.  For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you.  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?  Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye?  You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye. Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you."

1 Corinthians 4:3-5 

"But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court. In fact, I do not even judge myself. For I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me. Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive his commendation from God."

I believe many believers have heard the phrase, "Do not judge, lest you be judged" about a hundred times in their time as a follower of Christ. Usually from someone who has begun a discussion on holy things, but then feels uncomfortable when the topic of sin and accountability is brought up. There has always been a big misunderstanding with the word judge. Jesus did tell us not to judge, but did He mean that we are to completely separate ourselves from others help in our walk with God? This is where it is important to note that there are two scenariso for judging and also two types of judging. Firstly, the two types of  judgment. We have judging someones rightness with God and we have judging a brothers walk with God. When Jesus tells us not to judge, we sometimes assume he means that we are not to look on someone else's life and find things in it that do not line up with Scripture and nudge them closer to God. This is not the type of judging that He is refering to, however. The judging that Jesus is referring to is the first type of judging. I can never look into someone's heart and know that they are right with God. To be honest, I can not even look into my own. I am not the Judge of my rightness with God. I can have confidence in my rightness through my reassurance in the promises of God's word, but I am not the Judge. This is the type of condemning judgment that we are forbidden to make. We can not look upon someone and state that they are right or not right in the eyes of God. This is what Paul wrote abput in 1 Corinthians 4:3-5. The second type of judgment, Jesus actually teaches us how to do directly- following the infamous phrase, "Do not Judge lest you be judged!" He goes on to tell the story of these two guys with a plank and a speck, and the one guy has to pull the plank or the speck out the other guys eye.... And then there is this bit about throwing jewelry at pigs... Nobody really cares to read into this because they are stuck on the do not judge and assume that the story just goes with that. However, these two parables after the "Do not judge" phrase actaully clarify the appropriate way in which we are to judge. If we find that a brother has sin in their life (the speck), and we in love want to remove it, because we know that sin separates from God, we must first deal with the sin in our own life (the pile of fire wood). We must lay it down, and then we are better able to help our sinning brother. In reality this would look like if I had a gaming addiction and my friend had movie watching addiction. I go up to him and say, "I think that you watch too many movies, and it takes time away from your relationshipp with God, and may even take the place of it. The Bible says that we should not allow anything to lord over us, and I think that this does over you." And he simply remarks, "Who are you to judge me? You play video games all day long. You even missed your final exam, because you stayed up all night playing that new game and slept through your alarm!" When we have sin so prevalent in our own lives, no matter how lovingly we come to our brother or sister in Christ, they will not accept it. The pearls before swine is discussing the judgment (or discernment as it is better known) of where and when and with whom we share the gospel. We assume that we are supposed to just tell every single person we meet about Jesus. But there were many people with whom Jesus even refused to discuss holy things. When the Pharisees would ask Him a question, simply to trick Him, he would not answer it directly. When they would ask for a sign, He would send them away empty handed. There are certain people who are our enemies, who only ask questions because they want to waste our time. And we are told to use our judgement and not share with them the pearls of God's great wisdom. These are the two types of judgments that Jesus said were acceptable. Now for the two scenarios of judgment. As stated in 1 Corinthians 5:12-13, we do not judge those who are outside of the faith (this being the judgment of the logs and speck). How could we come to them and explain about sin in their life, that we would like to help them extract with the word of God, if they have never experienced Jesus as their ultimate Savior from all their sin? We should never expect a person who does not have the Holy Spirit to behave as if they do. This is an old thought that basically means, before someone can change they need Jesus. We should not tell the drunkard to stop drinking and come to church; we should tell the drunkard come to church, and then the Holy Spirit will deal with his soul. After this, he is able to stop drinking. In the passage in 1 Corinthians, Paul is addressing the fact that a brother in Christ has committed a gross sexual sin, and must be dealt with accordingly; however, there is sexual sin happening all around us. But we only deal with it inside the body of Christ. If I walked up to a man looking at a dirty magazine and said, you should not look at that. He would obviously ask why, and I would explain that God states that it is adultery to even look upon a woman with lust, and we are to be pure. He would laugh in my face. He knows not the Scripture or the urge to follow God's commandments that lead to life. No, this type of judgment, the type that sees a brother or sister in sin and longs to help them in love and with the Word of God, is reserved for those inside the church.