Hello dear readers!!! I must have been the most
inconsistent blogger ever in the history. I apologise for my inconsistencies. It
has been my pleasure and honor to share my thoughts with everyone but I certainly
welcome opinions and comments to further enhance the quality and intensity of
the posts.
So yeah I have chosen
this topic to write about and to be honest, this is a very deep topic to be
discussed. But then I will try my best to take it systematically. “Plank in my
eye-Ouch!!” is a topic or an article I wanted to write since last year. I was urged
to write about it and thanks to my friend who made me read an article pertaining
cynical criticism in church recently which eventually rekindled my interests to
write about it. This is what a Pastor mentioned in the sermon:
“Do not judge others. God is the judge and we are to
love and encourage one another with encouraging words. Stop judging others.”
Well, it was an
appropriate message to all or at least some but I was moved to think in a
different dimension. I am not saying he said something wrong but word of God is
able to speak in many different dimensions. He spoke from one and I am writing from
the other. So coming back to the topic about not judging others, are we totally
forbidden from saying anything against something that we don’t feel right? Are
we to compromise with everything and encourage everything? When Jesus ate with
the sinners and did not judge them, why we have to say something against
someone? Jesus did not condemn Mary Magdalene and so why are we? Is it wrong to
comment?
Paul says in 1
Corinthians 5:12-13 and 1 Corinthians 4:5 that do not judge others, for God alone
is the Judge. So does the Bible teach us to keep silent in the midst of
unrighteousness?
“Plank in my eye” is
withdrawn from Matthew 7:1-5 where Jesus says take out the plank in your eye
before you can take it out from your brother’s. To be honest, in these lines,
there are 2 dimensions of seeing the verse. Jesus says do not judge others for
you will be judged in the same manner. Stating all the questions and doubts,
let me take it from here to explain further the biblical principles.
What does the Bible mean do not judge in Matthew
context? What is the judging being meant here?
OK simple. Judging
comes from flesh, from our senses, from what we see, hear and so on. Jeremiah
says that trusting in the flesh in cursed. Judging does not edify others but it
justifies the judge himself. Pertaining commenting on something that is not
proper, the word “Correction” is used rather than “Judging”. In other words:
- Judging roots from self righteousness
and results in condemnation; Correction roots from concern and care and results
in edification.
- Judging is done with relation to your
state; Correction is done in relation to God’s state.
- Judging is done to justify yourself;
Correction is done to edify others.
Correction is the character of Holy Spirit given to us where He corrects us first and then prepares us to correct and edify others. Judging is only done by GOD as He is the only One who is supremely righteous. People judge just to make them feel good though they know they have not been good. People judge to put people lower than them but correction is given to raise someone up. Jesus said do not judge, meaning do not do God’s work of Judging for JUDGEMENT RESULTS IN PUNISHMENTS BUT CORRECTION RESULTS IN REPENTANCE. But Paul in 1 Corinthians 6 says that are we not supposed to judge the angels? Can’t we judge small matters around? Now this is different. Let me explain further
God has given us The
Holy Spirit who makes us sensitive to biblical principles. So anything that contradicts
with those principles, we cannot and should not compromise with it. For example,
Jesus who ate with the sinners, drove away the people who polluted the temple?
Why? Sinners were not saved to know the biblical principles and so Jesus was
more concerned about their salvation rather than their sin. But for those who
are saved, they should not be doing the same thing but they should be following
the principles of the Bible. When they failed, Jesus did correct them. And
again He did not judge them, yet. In the case of Mary Magdalene, Jesus did not
judge her but corrected her, HE DID NOT KEEP QUIET. If He had stoned, though He
is doing the right thing, He might have been thought to have judged. But He
said “Go and SIN NO MORE”. Sin no more, is a word of correction. And if she doesn’t
heed it, judgement from God will follow.
So we should not judge
right? Paul says why we can’t judge small matters? It’s simple again. Jesus and
Paul said do not judge men. But both of them taught us how to judge sins. Hate
the sin and not the sinner. Judge the sin and not the sinner. So being saints
of this age, we must be able to discern the inappropriateness in the church
done by people including us. And thus, we must judge that and not the people
who are doing it. Judge the wrong doings and correct the people.
Another important thing
is that, in the context of Matthew 7, Jesus highlights one more essential point
in verse 5. He asks the people why we always to judge others when we ourselves
have plank in our eye. He doesn’t stop there. He says “Remove the plank from
your eye….” It means Jesus says that we can correct others only when we are
corrected, or when the planks in our eye are removed. He does not say don’t correct,
but correct after being corrected. Practical isn’t it? If you are blind, how
can you direct others?
Correction is very
important in the church for proper edification and unified growth to fulfil
the goal. Failure to correct will lead to compromising and judging will
result in divisions and negative growth. A balanced healthy correction is
always essential and being sensitive to God’s word will correct us and allows
us to correct others. Why do we need to correct?
For example, about 10
people gathered to build a house. A few of them have experience and a few doesn’t.
So as they built, each of them took care of one area like painting, tiling, drilling
and so on. During the process, one experienced man saw another doing a small
mistake. And so he decided to keep quiet being thoughtful of what his response
might be. So it continued and so when they finished though others did a great
job, this one man’s failure caused the whole house to collapse and a few of
them died.
We are building the
Kingdom Of God together. All of us have different areas to minister. Failure to
correct them, though it’s not our area, might cause negative progress wholly
and also might affect someone whom we might not know. If the man had corrected
the other, the house would have stood and they would have cherished. He didn’t and
so it collapsed and their friends died. If he had judged and condemned the
worker for his carelessness instead of correction, he might have left the job
and the project will take time to finish. Judgement will delay the execution of
The Great Commission but failure to correct will cause more, So it is very
important to correct and to be corrected at the same time to not judge.
It is not easy as we
have emotional waves within us that sometimes cause us to oscillate between
correction and judgement. But with the help of Spirit of God, we will be able to
grow stronger spiritually. After all the root of everything we do must be Love.
Loving others will easily design our actions towards them.
So do not Judge, for you will be Judged in the same
manner.
But correct others and be willing to be corrected.
Let’s build His Kingdom together!
