The Law leads to an emphasis on judging others: 

In a conversation I had a while back a person said to me that he had every right to judge a person within the church, as long as he was not guilty of the same sin that this person was committing. When I heard this I remember thinking two things:  “this is certainly interesting theology, and it was a take on judgment I have never heard before.” Secondly, “I immediately saw an open door for just about all of us, since the sin of one is usually not the specific sin of another.” I had this vision of all of us running around with fingers pointing out at one another, having a hay day tracking down people that were not guilty of “my particular sin” so I can heave a stone in their direction.  “Well, I’m not a murderer, so all murderers are fair game for me (never mind that Jesus redefined murder as hating our brother or sister). I’m not an adulterer, so all adulterers are fair game for me (never mind that Jesus redefined adultery as lust in one’s heart) I’m not a prostitute, so imma gonna go to town on the streets of New York (never mind that Jesus seems to have a special place in his heart when it comes to prostitutes).” Seems like the only sin that is off limits in terms of my pointing the finger at others is the sin of judging others, since we all seem to have a weakness there.

This statement set me to thinking. If it is true that I have the right to judge you for the sins you commit, as long as I’m not guilty of the same sin, then who decides whether or not I am committing that particular sin? For example, let us say that we are judging someone for a particular addiction, say, alcohol. I’ve decided that I’m not guilty of drunkenness, so I judge you for your addiction. However, I may have other addictions. For instance, What if I’m addicted to judging people? Maybe it makes me feel good. It causes me to feel good about myself and my walk with Jesus. It gives me a sense of superiority and shows others around me how much I am growing. In effect, the more I judge others, the less sin I have, since I can’t judge people unless I am innocent of this sin. So if you see me judging another then you can rest assured under this type of theology that I am void of this particular sin. But what is the sin? Is it the alcohol, or is it the addiction? And if the sin is addiction, then can I ever really say I have no addictions (excuse me while I take a puff off this cigarette while watching my favorite Soap Opera that I simply cannot live without)? You see the dilemma, don’t you? Is it possible that I am guilty of sins I am not aware I am guilty of, and will never be aware of, because I give myself the right to define my own sin? Is it possible that I might be guilty of worse sins than those I identify in others without even knowing it? Yet above even these questions is this one - is it possible that I am misunderstanding the concept of sin altogether, focusing so much on individual acts by people that I miss the big picture which includes things like pride or self-righteousness? Is it possible I am “thinking more highly of myself than I ought to think” (Romans 12), which keeps me from understanding my place in the church God has called me to serve within, since I stand apart and above most of the people there. We really must take a pretty high view of our own moral abilities if we believe we are better than the person beside us, pride and arrogance not withstanding.

Could it be the Elder brother in Luke 15 is just as lost as the Prodigal son, only he does not realize it because on the surface he just seems so “good”? When Jesus is done telling this story, who are you gonna judge? The prodigal who was wasting his life; the elder brother who was so self righteous that he no longer even considered his brother his brother and decided to go to a new church away from that sinner; or the Father who seems to be ignoring the sin of the Prodigal and instead throws a party in his honor? Who exactly would you judge in this story?