This week are going to look at one of the greatest excuses that people use in order to justify their wrong actions in the church. There are many that are living a life of compromise and sin and when addressed about their issue they have a tendency to say, “Don’t judge me…only God can judge me.” Part of that is true to a certain extent, but not entirely true. The Word of God must be understood within its context and then we can understand the whole aspect of ‘judging’ in the Bible. It is important that we have an accurate understanding of God’s Word on this subject, if not we will end up living in error of God’s Word, but with a false sense of righteousness. Here is this week’s passage…

“Brothers, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against his brother or judges him speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it. There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But you — who are you to judge your neighbour?”  James 4:11-12

When the Bible is saying not to judge here, we need to understand that it is referring to judging one’s motives. God makes it clear that we should not judge the motives of other people, but this does not hold up when it comes to judging another person’s actions. In order for us to have a better understanding of when to and when not to judge, we must compare Scripture with Scripture. 

Always remember that the best commentary on the Bible is the Bible. So let’s turn our attention to 1 Corinthians chapter 5. This is a book written to a really messed-up church in a place called Corinth. The bustling city was riddled with immorality. In fact, many of the believers in this church used to live very immoral lives at one point. Now the church is supposed to impact society, however, the opposite was taking place… society was impacting the church. 

The root cause of this problem was that the believers in the church were not growing in their faith. They had been saved for some time, but instead of teaching others, they still needed someone to teach them. For this reason Paul calls them ‘babies in Christ’ in 1 Corinthians chapter 3.  In other words, instead of being on a fillet mignon, they were still on Gerber mashed carrots! They were not growing up!  

Things were so bad in this first century church that a man was sleeping with his stepmother and people in the church knew about it, but did not seem to be dealing with it. How many times in our own churches in Bermuda do we know (not speculate, because much damage has been caused by the loose lips of restless immature and insecure saints) of sin that exists in the church and we ignore it causing many to label us as hypocrites.  

Hypocrites always turn people away from God. We need genuine Christians to set the example of living for Christ, not perfect, but pursuing to live right before God in humility and victory. In this case, we are told to judge the matter and practice what is called ‘church discipline’.  Notice these words…

“What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? God will judge those outside. “Expel the wicked man from among you.”  James 5:12 -13.  

Now God’s Word is very clear. Not to judge has to do with motive, but not actions. We are to judge actions in order to help protect and encourage those that are doing right. The context of James has to do with slandering or talking about other believers. We should not judge their motives or the heart behind what they are doing. However, the balance here is that if another believer is caught in a sin, we are to come alongside and restore him or her as in Galatians chapter 5.  However, if they are not repentant and could not care less about their actions, then that must be judged and we must practice Matthew 18 and 1 Corinthians 5.  

If you are living a life of compromise, but you know that God wants more of you, then I encourage you to turn back to God with all of your heart. God wants you more than you realize. Please do not continue to give people the excuse that there are too many hypocrites in the church, rather, ensure that you are one living right before God. Life is too short to spend it only on yourself or spend it causing division and hurt by judging and talking about others. I want to encourage us all to make it our priority to encourage and build our brothers and sisters up according their needs. 

Pastor Gary C. Simons serves as the Senior Pastor of Cornerstone Bible Fellowship, 82 Church Street, Hamilton.