Don't Judge Other People?

  One of the biggest objections that vocally appears when we are sharing the Gospel message with someone is that person telling us to not judge her, or him.

Here are Jesus' words on judging; “Judge not, that you be not judged.  For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you.  Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?  Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye?  You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye." Matthew 7:1-5 ESV

What is He saying? Here He is calling people 'hypocrites' because they have a log in their eyes.

What does it mean to 'judge'? In this case, it means to pronounce a judgment on someone else. It also involves the expectation to receive that kind of judgment in return on oneself. It is a form of looking down on others.

God has standards. No one, except the Son of God has kept those standards. Everyone else has failed them. The rules have been broken by us. And we reap the consequences for our wrongdoing.

In the passage above, a tendency we might have would be to see someone else who is in sin, and place condemnation on him or her. The problem is, we have our own sin issues that we have to deal with first, before we point out the sins of others.

But notice at the end of the passage. We are instructed to take the log out of our own eyes. That means we have to deal with our own sinful hearts before we do anything else. After that, we will be able to see the sins of others, and instead of using their sin against them, we will be able to help them out of their sin.

When people use this as an excuse for rejecting the Gospel, they misunderstand this whole section of Scripture. It is really a mask to protect themselves from hearing the hard truths of the Gospel message. Instead of being honest with themselves and wanting to deal with the sin issues in their hearts, they turn the tables around and accuse the person sharing the Gospel message with them of 'judging' them.

There is a difference between helping people see what God's word says about sin and judgment, and actually personally judging a person for their sins.

On Judgment Day, I am not going to be in front of the person I am talking to about the Gospel message. That person will be standing before God, not me. All I am expected to do is to help people understand what God says in His word. I am not God. I am not better than they are. If they don't see that, then I can't do anything about their response to the Gospel message.

Making people aware of God's standards is not judging them. They are already judged by God.
"Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him." Our job is to tell others what God says about their condition and to offer the hope of the Gospel message. God is the One who does the work in the heart.