Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? II Corinthians 6:14 |
Fellow Believers,"Judge not, that ye be not judged" (Matthew 7:1). That is one truth almost every churchgoer knows and many like to tell others. How often have you been told, "Stop judging others!"?
But does God really forbid us to make any judgment about anyone? Let's look at the way the Lord elaborates on that command:
How wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye (vv. 4,5).
Christ is saying there, stop criticizing others for their wickedness while your own sins are condemning you to eternal punishment in hell. First make sure that you have become saved. Only after your spiritual eyes have been opened are you qualified to bring the gospel to others.
We are not to criticize our fellow believers either. Romans 14:4 says, "Who art thou that judgest another man's servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be holden up: for God is able to make him stand." Every believer is a servant of the Lord, it teaches here, and is living out his Master's perfect plan for him. If we should grow faster in Christ than others, it's all because of the grace of God. There is no cause, therefore, for us to look down on any fellow brother or sister.
But all this does not mean that we Christians should not exercise judgment. Over and over again, the Bible warns us to beware of false prophets. We are told not to welcome anyone who comes to us with other gospels (II John 10), and we are to avoid those "which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned" (Rom. 16:17).
While we should not judge the unsaved at large nor fellow believers, you see, we should indeed have discernment about those who come into our midst as tares among the wheat. They were put there, as Jesus says, by "an enemy" (Matt. 13:28). And their mission is to deceive and divide us, especially in these end-time days.
So, beloved brothers and sisters, let's be vigilant in differentiating born-again believers from professed Christians. Make sure we don't willfully come under the spiritual leadership of those who promote false gospels. At the same time, beware of those who try to cause division among us believers. As John 7:24 says, "Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment."
Fourth Quarter, 2001