To Judge or Not to Judge
Luke 6:36-42
June 27, 2020 anno Domini
Sometimes I think we should end certain Scripture readings not with “This is the Word of the Lord,” but, “This does not mean what you think it means.” For instance, “Judge not, and you will not be judged.” This does not mean what you think it means. It is the world’s favorite Bible verse to throw at Christians. President Biden, according to Roman Catholic doctrine, should not be communed. He supports and encourages what Roman Catholics deem a mortal sin. Abortion is murder. The College of American Bishops of the Catholic church is elected to judge doctrine and practice. They are doing what they are supposed to do. How does the unbelieving world respond? Judge not.
It is such a common misunderstanding that even we Christians try to excuse ourselves. Well, I’m not one to judge, but … (actually if you say that you are judging). “My grandson is living with his girlfriend and my godchild is divorcing her husband, but who am I to judge?” In both of those cases God calls you to judge because of the place you are in – a grandparent or a god parent.
Let’s examine this Bible verse by using the rest of the text and the rest of Scripture. I hate to sound like a politician, but “context matters.” The narrow context is Jesus’ words around this verse and the wider context is God’s Word. Scripture interprets Scripture. Since Scripture is God’s own Word it cannot and does not contradict itself.
What are we told in this text?
Jesus tells us to forgive. If you are to forgive, must you not first see a sin, call that sin “sin” and therefore judge? How can you forgive if you cannot judge sin?
You are to help your brother by taking the speck out of his eye. Do you not need to see that speck of sin and judge it hurtful to him so you can help him to remove it?
Jesus says take the log out of your own eye. How are you to see your sin, know that it is wrong, unless you judge yourself and remove that sin by repentance?
Let’s look beyond the text to the rest of Scripture. Does God ever tell us what is right and wrong? Does He command pastors to hold firmly to His Word and refute those who oppose it? (Tit. 1:9) Does God command the government punish those who do wrong? (Rom 13:4) Didn’t God command fathers to bring up their children in the instruction of the Lord? Are we to ignore those words? Or does “judge not” carry more weight since our comfort is more important than our confession.
Did any of God’s people ever judge? Did Noah judge his neighbors when he built the ark? Did Lot judge Sodom when he wouldn’t open his door to rapists? Did Nathan judge David guilty of murder and adultery? Was John the Baptist judging when he called the Pharisees a “brood of vipers”? (Matt 3:4). Did Peter judge his congregation in Jerusalem when he said, “You killed the author of life”?
Now there is something important to learn from these Scriptural examples. These men were given authority by God to judge. In each area of life. God – in the secular realm government judges, in the church pastors are given to judge, and in the home, fathers judge. If you are a parent, grandparent or god-parent, God has given you authority to judge. Scripture even enjoins fellow Christians to judge one another as brothers and sisters.
If you believe “judge not” means never, ever, in any situation judge, then you must not judge your husband for looking at pornography or your wife for having an affair or your son for drunk driving or your granddaughter for putting a fork in an electric outlet. As a pastor, I would dare not call your sin sin, because that would be judging.
The key word to understanding this text is the word of judgment Jesus Himself uses against us. “You hypocrite.” The classical meaning of the word hypocrite was used of actors. Actors pretend to be someone they are not. You are a judging hypocrite when pretend to be someone you are not. This happens in two ways. First, you judge where you have not been given to judge. You judge someone else’s children. You judge your parents as ignorant so you disobey them. You judge your president as deranged. You judge which part of God’s Word you are going to listen to. That’s not your place to judge.
The second judging sin is to pretend you have not been forgiven, to judge without God’s mercy in mind.
We confess it in the creed every week – there is One Judge, the Son of God, who will come again in the flesh to judge the living and the dead. His Word is clear about judgment – the evil will go into eternal fire and the righteous will go into eternal life. If you believe His Word, you know you are evil. You daydream during the sermon. Exclaim “O My God” 415 times a day. You grumble about your parents. You were more concerned about your children learning to play ball than memorizing the catechism. You covet that marriage down the pew from you and that big house down the street. You are among the evil and not the righteous. You’ve got a log, a big beam of sin in your eye and it’s been there so long you’re blind to it.
What does Judge Jesus do with you? He carries your beam to Golgotha. The Judge judges you guilty of sin, but then takes your punishment. He covers your sin with His atoning blood. He doesn’t point out your sins to the angels. He doesn’t tell the Holy Spirit, “Don’t go there, he’s too far gone.” Jesus forgives your sin. He sends the Holy Spirit to deliver His righteousness to you.
He does not forgive you sparingly or with a stingy measure. When you give to others what God has given to you (judgment and mercy, law and Gospel) this is what God promises (Read vs. 38 b). This is how the Lord gives His gifts – He measures out the material for the robe of your righteousness and He throws in an extra yard of Christ, just to make sure it covers. He gives you the grain of the bread of life and He shakes it down so it’s all you can hold. He pours out for you the cup of salvation and it’s a full pint, overflowing the glass, cool and refreshing forgiveness.
Without judgment there would be no mercy. If the Spirit did not afflict you with father who judged you or a Police Officer who pulled you over or a pastor who preached the Law you would not know your sin and you would not need or seek Jesus. You would be blind and fall into the ditch of eternal despair and death.
God judges because of mercy and that is what He asks of you His children. Where you have been given to judge – judge, but don’t judge for the sake of judging. Don’t condemn those people over there so you can feel better about yourself. Judge for the sake of mercy. Judge that little speck in your neighbor’s eye remembering Jesus has carried the big beam of your sin to the cross. Call sin “sin” and when your brother calls his sin “sin,” forgive him as God has forgiven you. Give out the good measure that has been measured to you In the name of Jesus. Amen.