Judgy

May 8th, 2024
by Kevin Darnell

Judgy
One day, I was having a conversation with a young lady about sin. She said, “Aren’t you being a little bit judgy? Doesn’t the Bible tell us not to judge?” Well, she is partly right.
The verse that she was referring to is Matthew 7:1, and this is often misquoted and taken completely out of context. Jesus wasn’t prohibiting us from judging, He was giving us warning about the way we live our lives and the judgment that we exercise.
He followed verse one with this in verse 2, “For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you.” He was letting us know that we are to be careful how we judge because the standard that we use will be used on us.
He then gave the example of seeing a speck in your brother’s eye while you overlook the log that is in your eye. Had Jesus not wanted us to judge He would have stopped there. If that’s all there was to it, then He would be warning us that we are not to judge at all.
However, He followed that up in verse 5 by stating, “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.” The speck and the log represent sin, of course in different amounts with the log being bigger and the speck being smaller. So His point is that once we deal with our own sin, we are free to help our brother deal with his.
Understand too that our judgment is not passed upon the unbelieving world but on your brothers and sisters in Christ. We are to judge one another and hold each other accountable. That is why the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians chapter 5 commanded the church in Corinth to judge a young man involved in open and unrepentant sexual immorality. He concluded his argument to them in 1 Corinthians 5:12-13 by stating, “For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Do you not judge those who are within the church? But those who are outside, God judges. Remove the wicked man from among yourselves.”
So our prescription for dealing with sin within the church is to deal with our own sin first and do whatever it takes to remove that sin from our lives. Then we can approach our brother or sister in Christ about their sin. When we do that, we are to do so firmly but lovingly and humbly. This wasn’t the only time that Jesus gave us a prescription for judging as He also spoke again about it in Matthew 18:15-18.
It might seem a little “judgy”, uncomfortable and messy to confront someone about their sin. But understand that sin only brings death and destruction to a person’s life. Reputations can get damaged when confronting someone about their sin, but doesn’t eternity matter more than people’s reputations?
These are your Words for Wednesday.
We are having a Bicycle Rodeo on Sunday, June 2 from 4-6 pm at Ballentine Elementary School. We need volunteers either individually or Small Groups to help manage some of the zones that we will have. If you can help, please let me know! Have a great rest of your week!
In Christ,
Kevin