Judge Your Brother With Righteous Judgment

We have all heard "Judge not lest you be judged" ripped out of context, and applied to a situation where someone is pointing out another person's offense and/or sin.  Never mind that a few verses later Jesus actually gives instruction on how you ought to judge your brother righteously by first removing the plank from you own eye.  There may not be a more often part of Scripture that is quoted by the world.  It's one of the few times in the modern vernacular that so many people use the otherwise uncommon word, "lest".  It just seems more official when quoting something old sounding.

I earnestly believe this is a ploy of the devil to get us all to hold hands and give ourselves false warm-n-fuzzy feelings while our houses made of straw burn down around us.  "Don't correct your brother... don't bother inspecting your own heart in the hopes that you can approach him or her rightly.  Just don't pass judgment at all.  Just let it continue without saying a word until they meet the judgment of God head on some day.  God will judge them, and only God can judge them."  God's Word says no such thing.  And, I will argue that there is nothing more that Satan would love than for you to let your brother or sister slip deeper and deeper into sin on your watch when you could have pulled them out from the fire with a well placed and Spirit lead, loving, and meaningful judgment.

Now that said, it is true that we aren't suppose to judge ignorantly, unfairly, or void of a heart of restoration.  Our heart in all correction, rebuke, and judgment of sin, ought to be that of construction instead of destruction of the eternal person, with the destruction of the flesh.  God will separate the sheep from the goats someday, as only He can.  We have all sinned... we have all fallen short of the glory of God.  We are all hopelessly doomed without His mercy... and we woudl all do well to remember this in every word we speak.

There is a lot to be said about judging in the Bible, so I will try and keep this short with only a few versus.

John 7:24

Stop judging by mere appearances, but instead judge correctly.

Jesus was inditing those who were judging others for circumcision according to the flesh, and passing judging on those who "worked" on the Sabbath.  One thing that can be drawn from this is that there is righteous and unrighteous judgment.  Of course Jesus says to judge using righteous judgment.  Don't merely judge according to the flesh, or according to your own standard... judge according to the righteous standard of God.

1 John 2:10-11

Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling. But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

What is a plank in the eye, but something that would make it hard to see?  When you judge another, is it truly in love or is it in hate?  Do you seek to ultimately build up the person or to destroy?  Though it's true we seek to destroy the flesh, we seek to build up and save the person from trouble—all by the power and leading of God's Spirit.  Is that your goal?  Before you judge, ask yourself this question.  Do you love him/her?  If you can't first say honestly and sincerely—before God whom all things are laid bare—that you love him/her, then it may be certain that you are not ready to judge.  You need to go back to the drawing board, work on that plank, and return when it is removed.  A hard thing to do in and of ourselves, but judgment can be righteous if motivated by love.  God help us.

Romans 2:1

You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge another, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things.

Do you judge hypocritically?  An interesting passage.  Read what Paul writes, by the Spirit of God.  If Paul is saying you can't judge others, then he ought to have gone back and had the very sentence erased.  In the very sentence Paul says not to judge, Paul passes judgment—does he not?  He is judging while saying not to judge.  He is correcting those who are judging hypocritically—those who are doing the same things they judge others for.  What is Paul's judgment of said people?  It is quite stern and firm!

(v5) But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed.

Woah Paul, that was kind of harsh.  Did you just mention God's wrath?  I mean, calm down buddy... easy goes it.  You need to remember Jesus said judge not lest you be judged Paul!  More often than not, when the "judge not lest you be judged" is whipped out of context by others, they are the ones falling under the righteous judgment of Romans 2:1.  They, ironically, are the ones passing judgment on others while saying that someone else should not pass judgment on another person.  In the very breath they condemn themselves while they pass judgment on another person for judging another person!  That's the way hypocrisy goes.  Is an endless circle of error and blindness. When you judge, use righteous judgment.  Only by the power and help of God's Spirit, Who reveals to us all things... can we truly and fully do so.  Judge according to His Word, not your own.  Do not jump to conclusions.  Instead, leap to faith!

1 Corinthians 2:15-16

The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. “For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.

If you are a spiritual person, and if you have the mind of Christ, then the Spirit within you will be leading you; you will be inclined to judge all things according to His Word.  You will seek things that are above, not below, seeking to please your Father in heaven and see Him glorified.  When we judge, we judge for the edification of others and the glorification of God

Now go and judge all things—all things.  All in love.  Do you love your brothers or sisters enough to see them spared from the fire?  Do you love your brothers or sisters enough to see them built up by correction and not torn down by sin?  Then go judge yourself, and then go judge your brother with righteous judgment.  It may be you whom God uses to spare others from His wrath.  Those are the kinds of things I (and we) should hope for in return.  I desire to have a brother come to me in love, sincerity of heart—sometimes softly and other times sharply—to correct me when I am missing the mark.  As I write this, I can honestly say I desire that in fellowship. I desire that it would continue to be my desire in fellowship.  I desire Spirit lead correction from you, brother.  I believe if it is, we would all serve the Lord more effectively.