To Judge or Not to Judge?

In 1996, the well-known recording artist Tupac released a song called, “Only God Can Judge Me.”

While the song isn’t too popular anymore, the phrase has become more popular with each passing year. It seems that people have really taken that phrase to heart and now get offended when there’s even the slightest sense that they are being judged or ridiculed.

Sometimes if we even do something as silly as get a different meal when we’re out to dinner with friends, the words “don’t judge me” just seem to spill out of our mouths as to kind of cover our butts before anyone says anything.

There’s a certain truth to this statement and there are definitely things that we should not judge about people, however, today I want to talk about the importance of judging people and what the Bible actually says about it. 

*Spoiler alert* God is not the only one who can judge me.

Let me just start by saying that I don’t think it’s right for us to make judgements about a person without getting to know them or their situation.

It’s not fair for us to assume that people don’t know what they’re doing or aren’t doing the best thing for their lives, when we don’t know the background of why they’re doing that particular thing.

The verse we’re taking a look at today is Matthew 7:1 which says, 

“Do not judge others, and you will not be judged.”

It sounds like it’s a pretty straight forward verse, doesn’t it? Like we shouldn’t be able to understand that incorrectly.

Unfortunately, we have.

We normally take one of two sides when it comes to this verse.

The first is a shield for sin. We use it as a barrier to keep others at bay while we justify the way we live without any accountability.

The second is almost the complete opposite where we’re more on the legalistic side of Christianity and we think it’s important for us to judge people because that will help them become better people and maybe get us some bonus points with God.

Both of these are nowhere near what Jesus is actually trying to tell us in this passage.

Like with any other verse we’ve explored in this series, it’s important for us to know the context of the verse.

Here in Matthew 7:1, Jesus is talking to a religious group of leaders called the Pharisees.

The Pharisees were known for being very strict when it came to religious laws and ceremonies, however, they were also known for being very hypocritical in the way they lived their lives versus what they actually taught.

In the chapter prior - Matthew 6 - we see Jesus teaching on basic principles such as, giving to the poor, prayer, fasting and handling money.

And then the very first verse in chapter seven states, “do not judge others and you will not be judged.”

What is Jesus trying to say here?

If we continue on and read verse three he says, “And why worry about a speck in your friend’s eye when you have a log in your own?” 

Okay, now we’re getting somewhere.

He’s not simply saying, “don’t judge people.”

He’s saying don’t judge people in a hypocritical fashion.

For example, if I know that one of my friends engages in sex outside of marriage and I confront him/her about it, but then I go home that night and watch pornography, do I have any right to go to that person and correct them?

Or if I notice that someone in my family is cursing and using the Lord’s name in vain, so I approach them about it, but then the next day I hear some really juicy gossip and I tell my husband. How do I have any right to correct the way someone else speaks, when I can’t even control my own tongue?

It doesn’t make any sense for us to approach someone about a sin they are committing if we’re doing something similar.

God does not want us to judge people in that way. 

“How can you think of saying to your friend, ‘Let me help you get rid of that speck in your eye,’ when you can’t see past the log in your own eye? Hypocrite! First get rid of the log in your own eye; then you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend’s eye.” Matthew 7:4-5

You see, Jesus is not condemning mutual accountability here. He’s not even condemning our need to address sin in the church - he’s addressing hypocrisy.

Jesus does not forbid all moral judgement or accountability. Rather, he forbids harsh, prideful and hypocritical judgement that condemns others without first evaluating one’s own spiritual condition.

We can actually find multiple verses in the Bible where judging others is important.

“Dear brothers and sisters, if another believer is overcome by some sin, you who are godly should gently and humbly help that person back onto the right path. And be careful not to fall into the same temptation yourself.” Galatians 6:1

“Look beneath the surface so you can judge correctly.” John 7:24

“If another believer sins against you, go privately and point out the offense. If the other person listens and confesses it, you have won that person back. But if you are unsuccessful, take one or two others with you and go back again, so that everything you say may be confirmed by two or three witnesses. If the person still refuses to listen, take your case to the church.” Matthew 18:15-17

Again, friends, we have to be careful not to judge others when we have our own sin to deal with, however, it is important for us to keep each other accountable.

If we notice that someone in our lives has been struggling with a sin, it is vital for us to approach them about it so that we can help them in any way we can.

We don’t want to be hypocrites, but we also don’t want to just sit by and watch people continuously involve themselves in destruction.

If we do have someone like this in our lives, the first thing we should do is take it to God in prayer.

We have to make sure that we are not struggling with anything similar before we reach out.

After that, we should always pray and ask God to give us the right words to say to that person.

They need to know that we care about them and not feel that we are judging them because we think we’re better than them.

Remind them that we all have things we struggle with and you’re here to help in any way you can.

This is a hard topic.

It’s been a lot more difficult to write about this verse than any of the other verses and I think it’s because this is something we don’t really like to talk about.

I know I’ve been on both sides of this where at some points in my life I’ve judged people hard core even though I was doing the same things. Then at other points in my life, I didn’t want to even think about judging people because I wanted to live the way I wanted to live.

We tend to think of “judgment” in a bad light, but I think it could really help us all grow in our spiritual walk. I would rather have someone come to me and tell me something they’ve noticed about me that doesn’t reflect Jesus than for me to just continue down a road of destruction.

This is an area I know we can all grow in and learn from.

I hope after reading this, you’ve gotten more comfortable with the idea of people judging you and vice versa.

God isn’t the only one who can judge me and I’m okay with that.