Another passage dealing with judgement of others is Romans 14. This is a fascinating chapter, for it places a greater level of responsibility on those who believe themselves strong in the faith. However, it is not a greater responsibility to judge, but instead a greater responsibility to bare with the failings of the weak. In verse 1f Paul writes: "Accept the one whose faith is weak, without quarreling over disputable matters. One person’s faith allows them to eat anything, but another, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. The one who eats everything must not treat with contempt the one who does not, and the one who does not eat everything must not judge the one who does, for God has accepted them. Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To their own master, servants stand or fall. And they will stand, for the Lord is able to make them stand. 7:“For none us of lives to himself alone and none of us dies to himself alone. If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that He might be the Lord of both the dead and the living. You, then, why do you judge your brother? Or why do you look down on your brother? For we will al stand before God’s judgment seat………therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. When I read these words I get the sense that Paul believes the more mature we are in Christ, the less we judge others, not the other way around. It makes sense, for the closer we get to the Light, the more our own sin is exposed. And the more our own sin is exposed, the less likely we are to stand in judgment of those who are certainly more like us than not like us. Would you not agree?
Then of course, there is the passage we church people love to quote when we take a notion to judge others within our church - 1 Corinthians 5. It is always important to remember that each portion of Scripture is written within the context of the words surrounding the text, both behind and before. Paul has been discussing the lack of church unity, which seems to be the primary problem going on in this church. By the time he gets to chapter 5 he is highlighting what can happen when a church is not united. Not only will such a church become soft on sin, as in the case of the man being identified, but they will not be a united body living in a healthy enough place to exercise church discipline, which is obviously what this man needed. Paul called for the entire church to take note, and to work together, to bring a resolution in this man’s life. A church not united, full of people claiming this leader and that leader, this doctrine and that doctrine, a church unwilling to submit to God’s clear direction and the clear direction provided by church Elders and Leaders, is in no place to deal with anyone’s sin. He makes it clear that the pride they revel in has to be dealt with if they are to confront anyone. ! Corinthians 5 is clearly about church discipline, not one person's right to judge another person. Even Paul stresses that The Lord must be present, and the Spirit of God must be in charge, as the church together exercises redemptive discipline in life of a fellow believer. This passage is not giving anyone a private license to exercise judgement against a person they do not approve of.
If anything, Paul's issues sound very much like the words of Jesus, when he tells us to deal with the log in our own eye before we think we can help our brother clear the speck out of his eye (Matthew 7 and Luke 6). Self Examination on the part of the church is recommended by Paul. Church unity is the answer, and church discipline is exercised in the context of a loving Body, not in the midst of a fragmented church full of people going there own way, all claiming teaching and the teachers they choose to embrace. When such a church attempts to discipline they will inevitably do so in a spirit which will not come close to what the Spirit of God would lead us to portray. In the final analysis, church discipline is an act of love done in a spirit of humility, as a church agrees together upon the direction God is leading and guiding. It is not Apollos who knows the truth in Corinth, nor is it Peter or Paul. It is the Lord Jesus who is our judge. And in his hands judgment will always look and feel more loving and compassionate within the church than anything you or I can muster or display on our own.
When we take it upon ourselves to judge another person we are clearly acting above our pay grade, above the authority given to us as children of God. As individuals we do not carry with us the ability to exercise church discipline, since church discipline by definition is a church function, not a personal or private agenda. This is precisely why Paul encourages the church to gather themselves within the presense of the Holy Spirit in order to exercise Church Discipline. Much harm is done in our churches because the Spirit is not invited to our discussions or our sentencing sessions of other persons. Secondly, by ourselves we can seldom arrive at the truth, especially if we were not an eye witness to the sin or sins in question. This is precisely why the Scriptures direct us against receiving testimony that cannot be verified as fact by more than one witness. By the time we hear a story, any story, the small fish is huge whale, a beer turns into a keg, a fender bender turns into a 20 car stack up, and a mistake in judgment becomes a reason for impeachment.
Scripture gives us the right and authority to exercise church discipline, and to investigate truth. It never gives us the right or authority to judge a person apart from the Body we are a part of, the Scriptures which guide us, and the presence and activity of God’s Holy Spirit to guide and convict. The Holy Spirit will always judge according to Truth, and never convict a person without facts or Truth, for the Holy Spirit is the source of Truth. Could it be that one reason the Spirit of God is not convicting people of the same sins you convict them for is that He is not seeing them the same way you are seeing them? Could it be that The Holy Spirit at work inside your brother or sister simply does not see this person the same way you see them? Conviction is a process that we trust within the institutions of a Spirit led Body, not within the framework of what we deem our own superior wisdom. Why do we find ourselves so frustrated when others, even the Holy Spirit, do not necessarily agree with our personal assessment of another person? Do we discount God's ability to do His perfect work inside the heart and life of the person we have already judged and condemned? Peace/Out.
Written on Monday, 28 March 2011 10:06 by Rick Farmer
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