“…judge with right judgment.”

Eh? Who said that?
Oh, Jesus? Yah but what about Matthew 7? I thought we were never supposed to judge anyone or anything at any time? Isn’t that unloving?

One of the rules of biblical interpretation is this:

When there is a plethora of clear teaching on a topic and a few verses on the same topic that seem unclear or even contradictory, you don’t re-interpret the many clear verses in favor of the few unclear verses. I say this because most people agree with this, but they throw this rule away when it comes to the topic of judging matters.

So we’re all familiar with Matthew 7:1-5.
What we may be less familiar with are the verses that seemingly say something else (they don’t, but that’s for another day).

So let’s look at them.

1 Corinthians 5:12-13 Hmm…what? Does he mean…I mean, are we supposed to really….eh? There’s more:

Galatians 2:11-21 Wow. That’s mean. He like, totally embarrassed Peter in front of the whole church. Wasn’t that a little judgmental? What right did he have to do that? And then in chapter 3 he starts off calling them fools and suggests that someone bewitched them. Gosh…

Here in 1 Timothy 1:19-20 Paul actually has the nerve to name names and pass judgment on these men and say publicly that they shipwrecked their faith. Then he says that he handed them over to Satan. Wow…the nerve.
In 1 corinthians 14:29 we’re told to weigh, or judge prophesying. We’re told in 1 Cor. 5 and 6 to judge sexually immoral people and kick them out of fellowship and that one day we will judge angels. In another letter to either Timothy or Titus, Paul says to take note of those who reject the apostolic gospel and rebuke them publicly so that all will be instructed. We previously saw Jesus say in John 7:24 that we are to judge. So in Matthew 7 He says not to do it with a plank in your eye and in John He says to do it righteously.

This is not meant to be a treatise. I’m actually leaving this open for more input from others with more time to write.
I was sorta moved to write this after reading many, many sentiments from christians who whine about being judged whenever they get under convicting preaching or whenever the truth is held up next to their behaviour. I’m tired of the whining. I’m tired of people saying things like, “aren’t we supposed to love?”, as if love has no place for being tough when needed. The bible says that a parent who doesn’t discipline his son hates him. Wow….spanking is love, ay? Love that never corrects is not love, it’s human sentiment; soulish sappyness that wants Jesus to be a sweatheart who loves everything about us and doesn’t want to change anything in our lives.

Pathetic.

No, it’s not okay to be a loud mouthed jerk or a legalistic idiot with stupid man made rules and call it holiness. It’s not even okay to say true things with a wrong spirit if it’s only you speaking from a pet peave with bible verses to back you up. Truth has to be spoken in love and when it’s not it kills. The kingdom of God is marked by peace, joy and righteousness; so if the way you express “truths” is not easily seen as coming from one of these three characteristics then you shouldn’t be talking. So I understand that people run their mouths with “truth” on their side and should shut up. If you’re out there reading this and “truth talkers” have ruined your life or just really given you a miserable time, I feel you. But that doesn’t mean that we never correct things or even say things that are jarring to other’s lives as we can see from scripture.

So pray that if you ever have to do this kind of speaking that you are known to be coming from a right spirit. Sometimes it’ll sound firey, sometimes it might sound loud, sometimes it’ll cause people to cry: and this can still be loving.

And if you’re one of these people who gets offended when your sin is talked about, try checking your heart before God before you cry “foul”. Paul told us to examine ourselves to see if we are in the faith. So do it. Let convicting words work repentance in you. Worldly sorrow is death, godly sorrow leads to repentance that leaves no regrets. What are you afraid of? If it hurts to hear hard words and if it touches sacred area’s that you don’t want disruptred, then you most likely have a serious issue in your relationship with God.
You may need this.

In sincere love, (and a touch of my “personality”)
mark jr.