Often times I will get into discussions with Christians about whether or not it is right for one person to “judge” another, especially as it relates to their salvation.  My short answer is that while I am not the ultimate authority on someone’s salvation, or the intentions of their heart, we as Christians are called to exercise wisdom and discernment, which includes by necessity making judgments and acting upon them.

To give an example of this, Michael Jackson was a fantastic singer.  He did a lot of good things.  He was accused of sexually molesting children.  Now, ultimately, the authority of whether or not Michael Jackson was guilty of the crime he was accused of is determined to be the court (not me).   That being said, if I was looking for a babysitter, Michael Jackson would not have been on my list of people to call.

That seems perfectly reasonable, right?  That’s me using my God given discernment and wisdom to make a judgment that in my mind, would protect my children.  God, in the same way, wants to protect his children.  Jesus tells us in Matthew 7:15-17 – “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?  So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit.”  Now this only seems loving and helpful for Jesus to warn his children, Christians, to be on guard against dangerous teaching/people that would potentially lead to Christians getting hurt or led astry.   What does Jesus encourage us to do?  Look at the life of a person, and make a judgment about whether there is good fruit (love for God manifested in obedience to God) or bad fruit (a desire to pursue their own will apart from God).  That judgment He is calling us to make, is exactly whether or not a person is a true follower of Christ, or merely pretending.  Now, this was Jesus saying this, but I’m afraid that if he said this in most churches today, they would tell him “it’s not your place to judge, who are you!”. 

In 1 John 3:9-10 it says – “No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God.  By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.”   Why would this be in the Bible if it were not meant to be read, understood and acted upon?  Now, we are all sinners, God is not calling us to go around beating down struggling sinners, comparing our strengths against their weaknesses.  That is what most people think of when they thinking about judging, and that is NOT how Christians are to love one another.  We are called to love all people, especially our Christian brothers and sisters, and encourage them at all times.  God wants us to enjoy community with other struggling sinners, saved by the grace of God.

At the same time, because living as a Christian brings with it enough struggles on its own, we are called to judge with wisdom and discernment those persons who are in authority in our church, as well as those who we would surround ourselves with in Christian community.  Many will ask, ok, what does that look like?  Thankfully we have a model in Matthew 18:15-20 – “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother.  But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses.  If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.  Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.  Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven.  For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.”

My encouragement to all of us to this, judge with a loving heart.  Even after Jesus gave this model in Matthew 18, immediately afterwards, Jesus instructs on forgiveness, that we should always be ready to forgive and receive someone who is truly repentant of their wrongdoing.  Make judgments as you need to, in order to protect yourself and those under your care, but make sure that there is always love and a desire for reconciliation with all people.  We cannot bend the standards of God, but we can always call people to be reconciled to Him.  One of the pastors I admire in many ways, John Piper once levied a gentle rebuke to another pastor who was speaking sarcastically about a church that espoused bad theology, he said, “I am not against your judgment, but those comments should come behind tears for those who are lost there”.  So that’s what I would say.  Make your judgments as you need to, but make them with tears and prayers for all to be fully reconciled to God, remembering that apart from the grace of God, no one has any hope.

Grace and Peace,
Adam