MAKE A RIGHT JUDGMENT

MAKE A RIGHT JUDGMENT

“Stop judging by mere appearances, and make a right judgment.” (John 7:24)

The very idea that Christians should not make judgments is absurd. The church at Corinth was rebuked for refusing to make judgments. Please consider: “If any of you has a dispute with another, do you dare to take it before the ungodly for judgment instead of before the Lord’s people? Or do you not know that the Lord’s people will judge the world? And if you are to judge the world, are you not competent to judge trivial cases? Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more the things of this life! Therefore, if you have disputes about such matters, do you ask for a ruling from those whose way of life is scorned in the church? I say this to shame you. Is it possible that there is nobody among you wise enough to judge a dispute between believers? But instead, one brother takes another to court—and this in front of unbelievers! The very fact that you have lawsuits among you means you have been completely defeated already. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be cheated? Instead, you yourselves cheat and do wrong, and you do this to your brothers and sisters.” (1 Corinthians 6:1-8)

The verses that follow indicate that making a “right judgment” also involves sexual purity: “Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” (1 Corinthians 6:9- 11)

WHAT ABOUT MATTHEW 7:1-5?

Please take another look at these famous verses: “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.” (Matthew 7:1-5)

This passage does not forbid judging, it forbids hypocrisy! You must first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye. In this way you will be able to make a right judgment.

Yes! We must be constantly aware that God will judge us in the same way we judge others! “if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.” (Matthew 6:14- 15). Or as James said: “Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment!” (James 2:12-13)

Remember the parable of the unmerciful servant! Jesus told of a man who owed his master a thousand talents but when he begged for mercy his master forgave him the debt. That same man, however, put someone in prison for not paying back a debt of only a few dollars. When the master heard about this he was angry and put this wicked man in prison. Jesus concluded “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart.” (Matthew 18:35)

Jesus does not forbid us from making judgments, but He does insist that we make a “right judgment”.

TO MAKE A RIGHT JUDGMENT YOU MUST PRAY TO GOD FOR WISDOM

“If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord.” (James 1:5-7)

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him and he will direct your paths.” (Proverbs 3:5-6)

MAKING A RIGHT JUDGEMENT INVOLVES MERCY AND NOT SACRIFICE

When Jesus told Matthew “Follow Me” He was criticized for eating with tax collectors and sinners. “On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” (Matthew 9:12-13)

This Scripture Jesus wanted us to study is found in Hosea 6:6. Hosea was the prophet of God who was commanded: “When the Lord began to speak through Hosea, the Lord said to him, “Go, marry a promiscuous woman and have children with her, for like an adulterous wife this land is guilty of unfaithfulness to the Lord.” (Hosea 1:2)

Hosea was to love his unfaithful wife in the same way God loved unfaithful Israel: “The Lord said to me, “Go, show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another man and is an adulteress. Love her as the Lord loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and love the sacred raisin cakes.” (Hosea 3:1)

• The focus of “sacrifice” is “inward”. We make sacrifices so our own personal sins can be forgiven.
• The focus of “mercy” is “outward”. Extending mercy involves making someone else right with God.
• The priest and the Levite did not help the man in need because they were focusing on themselves. The “Good Samaritan” forgot about himself and helped the man in need (See Luke 10:30-37)
• Jesus said: “Go and do likewise.” (Luke 10:37)
• God desires mercy rather than sacrifice!

MAKING A RIGHT JUDGMENT INVOLVES JUDGING PEOPLE AS INDIVIDUALS

Please consider this letter to the angel of the church at Thyatira: “These are the words of the Son of God, whose eyes are like blazing fire and whose feet are like burnished bronze. I know your deeds, your love and faith, your service and perseverance, and that you are now doing more than you did at first. Nevertheless, I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophet. By her teaching she misleads my servants into sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrificed to idols. I have given her time to repent of her immorality, but she is unwilling. So I will cast her on a bed of suffering, and I will make those who commit adultery with her suffer intensely, unless they repent of her ways. I will strike her children dead. Then all the churches will know that I am he who searches hearts and minds, and I will repay each of you according to your deeds. Now I say to the rest of you in Thyatira, to you who do not hold to her teaching and have not learned Satan’s so-called deep secrets, ‘I will not impose any other burden on you, except to hold on to what you have until I come.’” (Revelation 2:18-25)

• The church at Thyatira was a bad church!
• They allowed a woman named Jezebel to promote sexual immorality and idolatry.
• God was going to severely judge those who committed adultery with her.
• But “to the rest of you in Thyatira, to you who do not hold to her teaching and have not learned Satan’s so-called deep secrets, ‘I will not impose any other burden on you, except to hold on to what you have until I come.’
• There are obviously good people in bad churches!
• God, however, judges us as individuals and we should do the same!
• “The one who sins is the one who will die. The child will not share the guilt of the parent, nor will the parent share the guilt of the child. The righteousness of the righteous will be credited to them, and the wickedness of the wicked will be charged against them.” (Ezekiel 18:20)

THE VISITATION OF SINS

In the Ten Commandments God warned of idolatry and promised “I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate m.” (Exodus 20:5)

Ezekiel, for example was not personally guilty of sins committed by his father. The Scriptures are clear: “The one who sins is the one who will die. The child will not share the guilt of the parent, nor will the parent share the guilt of the child.” His father’s sins, however, were “visited” upon him for three or four generations.

If your father was a lazy and irresponsible alcoholic, for example, God will not condemn you to hell for his sins, but the poverty he inflicted upon your family could easily be “visited” upon your family for three or four generations.

INDIVIDUAL JUDGMENT IN JERUSALEM

Ezekiel was one of many citizens of Jerusalem taken into Babylonian captivity. As we have said, his fathers sins led to this punishment from God. To help him understand “why” God’s people were being punished,, Ezekiel was taken by the hair of the head in a vision and transported to Jerusalem. The horrible sins he saw in Jerusalem are listed in Ezekiel chapter 8. Please take time to read this chapter!

Ezekiel chapter 9, however, explains that while the sins of their fathers were “visited” upon them, they were not personally guilty of their father’s sins. In order to judge these people correctly they were judged as individuals. Therefore God sent a man with great discernment into the city to identify those who were innocent. “Then the Lord called to the man clothed in linen who had the writing kit at his side and said to him, “Go throughout the city of Jerusalem and put a mark on the foreheads of those who grieve and lament over all the detestable things that are done in it.” As I listened, he said to the others, “Follow him through the city and kill, without showing pity or compassion. Slaughter the old men, the young men and women, the mothers and children, but do not touch anyone who has the mark. Begin at my sanctuary.” So they began with the old men who were in front of the temple.” (Ezekiel 9:3-6)

Peter may have had this passage in mind when he wrote: “For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?” (1 Peter 4:17)

The point is, the people in Jerusalem were judged as individuals and this is precisely the same we also should judge others!

MOABITES

The Moabites are mentioned 38 times in the Bible. The land of Moab was located between the Dead Sea and the Arabian desert. When the Israelites came to this area, Balak the king of Moab hired Balaam to bring a curse upon the Israelites (Numbers 22:4-6). God refused to curse the Israelites, but Balaam taught Balak how to trick the Israelites into cursing themselves. The Moabite women seduced the Israelites into worshiping idols and indulging in sexual immorality (Revelation 2:14). This resulted in 24,000 Israelites dying (Numbers 25:9)

All Moabite women, however, were not bad. Ruth, for example was a Moabite and she was one of the most Godly women in all the Bible. She left Moab to live in the Promised Land and told her mother-in-law: ““Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you

die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me.” (Ruth 1:16-17)

Ruth is mentioned in Ruth 4:17 as the grandmother of King David, and in Matthew 1:5 as an ancestor of Jesus!

Yes! All Moabites are not bad people and if we are to make a right judgment about them we must consider each of them as individuals!

SHEPHERDS

Jesus said there were two kinds of shepherds. There were “good” shepherds, and “bad” shepherds. The Good Shepherd will lay down his life for the sheep and a bad shepherd will run away to save his own life (John 10:11-14).

David was a good shepherd and killed a lion and a bear when they threatened his sheep (1 Samuel 17:34-36).

Jeremiah warned of bad shepherds: “Woe to the shepherds who are destroying and scattering the sheep of my pasture!” declares the Lord. Therefore this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says to the shepherds who tend my people: “Because you have scattered my flock and driven them away and have not bestowed care on them, I will bestow punishment on you for the evil you have done,” declares the Lord.” (Jeremiah 23:1-2)

Yes! All shepherds are not bad people and we must consider each of them as individuals in order to make right judgments!

RICH PEOPLE

James, the brother of Jesus, said: “Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming on you. Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days. Look! The wages you failed to pay the workers who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty. You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered the innocent one, who was not opposing you.” (James 5:1-6)

All rich people, of course, are not evil. Paul wrote to Timothy: “Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.” (1 Timothy 6:17-19)

Yes! There are rich people who are good, and rich people who are bad. We must consider each of them as individuals and learn to make right judgments!

PROPHETS

Jesus warned: “For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect – if this were possible.” (Matthew 24:24)

Jesus also said: “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.” (Matthew 7:15-20)

Yet, God has consistently spoken through prophets. God specifically told Abimelech, king of Gerar, that Abraham was a prophet (Genesis 20:7) Amos said: “Surely the Sovereign Lord does nothing without revealing his plan to his servants, the prophets.” (Amos 3:7) Peter wrote: “Above all, you must understand that prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophets own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.” (2 Peter 1:20-21)

The point is that we should judge each prophet as an individual. John warned: “Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are of God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.” (1 John 4:1)

Paul wrote: “Do not put out the Spirit’s fire; do not treat prophecies with contempt. Test everything. Hold on to the good. Avoid every kind of evil.” (1 Thessalonians 5:19-22)

These are just a few of many examples emphasizing the fact that making a right judgment involves involves considering each person as an individual and not as part of a group.

LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF

Here is also another teaching from Jesus that is of universal application.

Jesus said; “So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets. “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” (Matthew 7:12-14)

You will recognize that Jesus spoke these words in His Sermon on the Mount. Throughout the entire sermon Jesus was contrasting “Law” and “Love.”

• The Law said “Love your neighbor and hate your enemy” but Jesus said “Love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be the sons of your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:43-45)
• The Law said “do not murder” but love keeps you from being angry with your brother without cause (Matthew 5:21-24).
• The Law said not to commit adultery, but love demands that we not even look upon a woman with lust (Matthew 5:27-28).
• The Law says “eye for eye and tooth for tooth” but love requires that we do not strike back but turn the other cheek.” (Matthew 5:38)
• Jesus said not to be selfish but to “Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.” (Matthew 5:42)
• Etc.
• Please consider that loving your neighbor as yourself is the small gate and the narrow road that leads to life.

Paul wrote the same thing to the Romans: “Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law. The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not covet,” and whatever other command there may be, are summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.” (Romans 13:8-10)

• Please note that “love does no harm to a neighbor.” Let us suppose that your neighbor is a drug addict and comes to you wanting to borrow money to buy drugs. If you love your neighbor you will not loan him the money for drugs for that would be harmful.
• Let us suppose that you ten year old son smites you on the right cheek. Do you turn the other cheek to your son or do you take a rod and punish him? The Scriptures teach: “He who spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is careful to discipline him.” (Proverbs 13:24)
• The book of Hebrews reminds us: “My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son.” (Hebrews 12:5-6)
• REMEMBER! LOVE DOES NOT DO HARM TO YOUR NEIGHBOR. THERE LOVE IS THE FULFILLING OF THE LAW!

WHO IS MY NEIGHBOR?

When Jesus was asked this question He told the story of the Good Samaritan (See Luke 10:25- 37).

Here is a more modern story that teaches the same truth. Many years ago I was on a mission trip to Brazil working with a veteran missionary named Jim Moreland. When he told me this story it was so unusual that I asked him for documentation. It was in the Portuguese version of PEOPLE MAGAZINE (October 7-13, 1974) Philip Moreland and Joanne Bayless translated it for me.

Here is a brief summary of the article which was titled: “FAILURE TO HELP DRIVES DOCTOR INSANE.”

The doctor mentioned in this article worked in a private clinic in Pituba (an upper middle class district in Salvador-Bahia). According to the newspaper Jornal do Brasil a small boy was run over by a car that fled the scene of the accident. A taxi river stopped to help and drove the boy to HOSPITAL OUR LADY OF LIGHT where the doctor on call asked for a small administrative fee. When the taxi driver refused to pay for a child he didn’t even know, the child was refused entrance to the hospital. The taxi driver got back in his car and started for HOSPITAL GETULIO VARGAS which was 12 kilometers away. Sadly the boy died en route.

The magazine article then stated: “With the death of the boy it became necessary to investigate the case. It was determined that the child had died because the doctor refused to help him. This turned out to be a coincidence that usually happens only in the movies or on television. There was discovered a tragic circumstance. The doctor had failed to attend, and thus condemned to death, his own son.”

WOULD YOU HELP JESUS?

Jesus pictures Judgment as a time when all nations will be gathered before him like sheep and goats. The Lord will then separate them based upon what they have done.

“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’” (Matthew 25:34-36)

When the righteous didn’t remember helping those in need “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’” (Matthew 25:40)

Similarly, when the King condemned those who did not help the needy “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’” (Matthew 25:45)

THE BEST AND SAFEST WAY TO ALWAYS MAKE A RIGHT JUDGMENT IS:

“Whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving

thanks to God the Father through him.”

(Colossians 3:17)