“In this generation, it is considered worse to judge and expose evil than to do evil.”
“Don’t Judge Me!” We heard this screamed all the time. Sadly, “Don’t Judge Me!” is just another form of Do What Thou Wilt, the motto of occultist Aleister Crowley.
Here in lies a hard fact. The entire world is going to be judged, by our Heavenly Father, who is a righteous judge. When a Christian approaches the lost with Truth or even when a Christian approaches another brother or sister with Truth in order to help them not stumble on something, the last thing you should be saying – whether you are lost or saved – is “Don’t Judge Me!”. You ought to be thankful – if you are lost – that the LORD sent someone to you with the gospel of Jesus Christ so that you can be reconciled back to our Father in Heaven and not burn in eternal Hell fire. And – if you are a believer in Christ – that your brother or sister in Christ cared enough about you, and authentically loved you as we are taught to love, to point out to you where you may be stumbling, even risking you getting angry with them, because they would not want to see you fall down on the battlefield here on Earth before the LORD calls you home.
I think it’s important for you all to understand that in the passage about not judging a brother or sister – yes, this paragraph is talking about a brother or sister in Christ – it’s not even talking about the unbelieving world – but you will hear “Don’t Judge Me!” from them, too. But, that passage has the word “hypocrite” in it. So, let’s define a hypocrite.
Here is a definition of hypocrite from vocabulary.com – A hypocrite preaches one thing, and does another. You’re a hypocrite if you criticize other people for wearing fur, but pull out your big mink jacket as soon as it gets cold.
Wikipedia does a pretty good job of explaining hypocrisy –
Hypocrisy
Pretense of virtue; failure to follow one’s own expressed principles
Hypocrisy is the practice of engaging in the same behavior or activity for which one criticizes another or the practice of claiming to have moral standards or beliefs to which one’s own behavior does not conform.
So, let’s read the passage in question:
Matthew 71 Judge not, that ye be not judged.2 For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.3 And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?4 Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye?5 Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.
If you read the passage, you will understand that if you cast out the beam from thine own eye, then you can see clearly to cast out the mote from thy brother’s eye. In other words, you can’t judge someone else or help someone else when you are doing the exact same thing as them – fallen into the same sin – that’s being a hypocrite – BUT once you have freed yourself from that particular sin, THEN you are able to help your brother also get free from the same sin because you’ve already gained victory over it.
Paul writes in 2 Corinthians:
2 Corinthians 1:3-53 Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort;4 Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.5 For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ.
As the body of Christ we are to righteously judge.
I’ve created an entire video on righteously judging which you can view here: https://terrywiththeword.com/are-we-the-church-not-to-judge/
We are supposed to be the body of Christ. We are to work together, We are to bear one another’s burdens and admonish one another so that no part of the body is weak.
Dictionary.com defines admonish as to caution, advise, or counsel against something
Cambridge dictionary defines admonish as to tell someone that they have done something wrong: / to warn someone not to do something, usually in a kind way, or to tell someone to do something:
Paul wrote:
Romans 15:14 And I myself also am persuaded of you, my brethren, that ye also are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able also to admonish one another.
And in
1 Thessalonians 5:11-13:11 Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do.12 And we beseech you, brethren, to know them which labour among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you;13 And to esteem them very highly in love for their work’s sake. And be at peace among yourselves.
Notice how he says to esteem them very highly in LOVE for their work’s sake and to be at PEACE.
When Jesus said there was no greater love than to lay down your life for your friends, I often think of times like these, when your flesh has to be crucified. When you need to die to self, knowing you may lose a friend in admonishing them for something, but knowing that the work of the LORD and saving of their soul is more important than fear of man, loss of friendship. The body has to remain strong. When any brother or sister sees a part of the body becoming weak, falling into sin or temptation or being lead astray, he or she is obligated to step in and admonish in love and truth to try and save that soul.
Read what Paul wrote in 2 Thessalonians:
2 Thessalonians 3:14-1514 And if any man obey not our word by this epistle, note that man, and have no company with him, that he may be ashamed.15 Yet count him not as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother.
Loving people is a difficult thing sometimes, and by this I mean truly loving them, caring more for their salvation than the friendship you have on this Earth. There have been plenty of times where I have known that when I warned someone of something – admonished them – that they would not be happy about it, but I did it anyway because I truly love them. Sometimes it led to gossip about me. Other times slander. Sometimes a nasty text message. Sometimes I was unfriended on social media. Sometimes I lost friends and family members for good, they walked right out of my life. I’ve been told I have “extreme views” I’ve been told I practice “legalism”. I’ve been called prideful and haughty. All because I didn’t want to watch my family or friend fall into idolatry or be led astray by new age religion or witchcraft. It really, really hurt. I would cry for weeks and even still do at times because of the pain I felt. It’s the price of true love. Jesus died on a cross to show us true love.
It doesn’t always end that way when you admonish a brother or sister in Christ, so don’t ever be afraid to do so. We are commanded to. I have plenty of brothers and sisters in Christ who have admonished me and who I have admonished and they were very grateful for the warning. I, too, have felt very blessed for the warnings as I would never want to stumble before the LORD, although we all do and we all will. We are sinful. Our best efforts are dirty rags. But, I count it a huge blessing to have a brother or sister who can catch me when I fall or warn me of the cliff ahead before I fall off it. I am so thankful for my brothers and sisters in Christ who are not afraid to obey the commandments of our LORD, for without them, our enemy who walks around like a lion looking for someone to devour may have devoured me. When the body is Christ truly loves one another and obeys the Word of God, we are stronger against our enemy!! So, if you have taken a beam out of your eye, please come take the mote out of mine and righteously judge me in true love.