We Must Judge!
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But if you study the whole bible and be honest about what you read, you'd see how judging is a must. Yup, we must judge. Even the context of the verse, "Judge not that you may not be judged," is really about judging your brother. Jesus didn't mean to say judging your fellow per se is bad. He meant judging your fellow without first cleaning your own backyard is wrong.
Before you try to remove the speck of dust from your brother's eye, first take out the log or plank of wood from your own eyes. That's easy enough to understand, right? After cleaning your own eyes, "then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye." Then you can judge and tell your brother he has dirt in his eyes and remove it. It's plain how dirt in the eye is not good. But religious people have taken this to mean never judge at all. So they never judge people or situations and often fall victim to fake people.
There was this guy who applied as assistant pastor for a church. He was asked to say something about himself and share his testimony. Of course, he said nothing but good things about himself. He projected an image of being so spiritual, and the interviewers were so impressed. They bit the bait. What do you expect?
But I sensed something wrong. I kept it to myself, though, but I knew the guy was a fake. The gift of discernment from the Holy Spirit enables you to judge accurately between right and wrong spirits and not depend on what you see or hear in the physical. But religious people do not believe this. They hate it. They'd just keep saying, "Do not be judgmental."
The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him—the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding...
He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, or decide by what he hears with his ears; but with righteousness he will judge the needy, with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth. [Isaiah 11]
Well, soon enough I was proven right. The guy had sexual lust in him and he had illicit sexual relations with a woman from the community. Later, he was found out. Sadly though, I heard he was taken in by another church as pastor and the interviewers failed to see through him probably because they didn't want to judge. They lacked judgment.
Jesus never said we should never judge. In fact, he told the Jews, "Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment," [John 7.24]. That's coming straight from the Lord. He didn't say do not be judgmental but "judge with right judgment." How else can you distinguish between right and wrong, good and evil, if you cannot judge correctly? Paul was so disappointed with the Corinthian church for not being able to judge correctly.
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 (who are unbelievers)? I say this to shame you. Is it possible that there is nobody among you wise enough to judge a dispute between believers?
To judge correctly, you have to declare one guy wrong and one guy right. You can't simply say, "I don't know. I don't want to judge." The bible warns that those who lack judgment are prone to adultery [Prov. 6.32]. Simply put, lacking judgment (or the ability to judge) can put you into serous trouble.
Here's another verse: "One lacking in judgment shakes hands in pledge and puts up security for a neighbor." [Prov.17.18]. In other words, if you lack judgment, you're prone to strike serious deals with the wrong person---like that church that hired a sexually immoral assistant pastor. Proverbs 28.16 says lacking judgment can make you cruel or tyrannical. And Proverbs 7.7-9 says young men who lack judgment are prone to troubles, especially to unfaithfulness.
I've seen Christians who turned a blind eye to wrongdoing and pretended nothing was wrong (although the evil was right there, so obvious) simply because they didn't want to judge or be "judgmental." So they put unrepentant sinners and rebels and those who had stinking spiritual lives in sensitive church positions and wondered why their churches were problematic.
One day a guy named Simon wanted desperately to be involved in church ministry. To folks who lack judgment, this is a good sign. They'd probably put him in the ministry front line pronto. But not Peter. He discerned his character and look at how he judged the guy:
When Simon saw that the Spirit was given at the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money and said, “Give me also this ability so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.”
Peter answered: “May your money perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money! You have no part or share in this ministry, because your heart is not right before God. Repent of this wickedness and pray to the Lord in the hope that he may forgive you for having such a thought in your heart. For I see that you are full of bitterness and captive to sin.” [Acts 8]
Paul one time was faced with a spiritual warfare situation where a sorcerer confronted him and tried to deter the conversion of a proconsul. He judged the man and inflicted punishment to put him in submission. Paul combined the gift of discernment and gift of signs and wonders:
But Elymas the sorcerer (for that is what his name means) opposed them and tried to turn the proconsul from the faith. Then Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit,looked straight at Elymas and said, “You are a child of the devil and an enemy of everything that is right! You are full of all kinds of deceit and trickery. Will you never stop perverting the right ways of the Lord?
Now the hand of the Lord is against you. You are going to be blind for a time, not even able to see the light of the sun.” Immediately mist and darkness came over him, and he groped about, seeking someone to lead him by the hand.
Clearly, we must judge. It is God's will. Correct judgment protects us from wrong paths and wrong companies of people. And correct judgment comes from God and administered by his servants.
Here are guidelines for proper and accurate judgment:
1. Don't judge people if you are in sin. Sin blocks your connection with God so that you don't receive anything from him, especially discernment. If you judge anyone and you're in sin, you'd be judged by God as well.
2. Not all judgments are for releasing. Most are given you only for information. For instance, you may discern someone to be a fake Christian. But that doesn't mean you go tell him at once or announce it to the public. God gives you the information so you can judge correctly what kind of spirit he has and pray for him. Most are for prayer and protection purposes.
3. Judgment is sometimes for correction. If the person is under your authority (like, if he is your disciple), you can judge his actions, thoughts or intentions for his own good. But everything should be done gently and fatherly, intending to restore the person spiritually. According to the Lord, this is how it's done:
If your brother or sister sins, go and point out their fault, just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over. But if they will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’ If they still refuse to listen, tell it to the church; and if they refuse to listen even to the church, treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector. [Matthew 18]
Then, correlate this with this passage to see the restoration value of judgment :
Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted. [Galatians 6]4. Judgment is always spiritual. You don't judge by what your physical eyes see or ears hear. You always go by what the Spirit tells or shows you.
By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek not to please myself but him who sent me. [John 5.30]
The Spirit will bear witness with your spirit and tell you who people really are. Hence, you should always have a healthy spiritual life for accurate discernment and judgment.
5. Judgment enables you to preempt wrongs from being consummated. God enables you to see the intentions of a man's heart and act accordingly before he implements his bad plans or commit errors.
6. Judgment also enables you to deliver justice to the wronged or marginalized party and correct injustice. Consider this passage we have quoted above:
"...but with righteousness he will judge the needy, with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth. [Isaiah 11]7. Meditate the WORD of God day and night. The spoken WORD of God in the bible should dwell in you richly. You can only know God's judgments if you are deep in the Word.
And finally, on making judgments...
The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments...
A truly spiritual person always "makes judgments" (so, how can you say do not judge?). He finds out the pros and cons of things, the advantages and disadvantages, the good and bad, and most especially, whether something is really God's will or not---whether someone is God-sent or sent by the enemy to distract him. They never just take anything for granted. They have to find out if it's of the Kingdom, mere earthly or worldly, or devilish.
But importantly, they do not use mere human judgments but rely on the Holy Spirit for everything and they can discern what is merely human judgment and judgment from God. They determine to have nothing to do with human judgments and never affected by them, even one bit. Mere mortals cannot and will never understand how God's judgments work. For....
"Who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?" But we have the mind of Christ. [1 Cor.2.16]
Present MOVE: Seeing the UNSEEN in real time.
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