Wednesday, December 17, 2008

The Case for Judgment


Well, of course" –insert awkward pause—" we don't really know his heart."

Broach the subject of a person's sin in a group conversation, lean back in your seat, and wait for it. One. Two. There—only minutes later, the qualifiers start to trickle in. Regardless of the act, someone can usually be counted on to flit to the defense of the perpetrator's unknown heart. To even entertain the thought that a fellow Christian might be violating God's law is unstomachable. How could a compassionate Christian dare to pass... judgment?

A better question could be, "How could we not?" Contrary to popular opinion, judgment is not a bad word and it is not condemned by Scripture. In fact, the Bible demands that we live with discernment (i.e. the act of judging between wrong and right). And if we know what is right, how can we Christianly condone wrong through silence?

Do judge. Judge wisely, judge well.

Does love judge it's neighbor?

Of course, since the Bible talks so much about the wrongness of hypocrisy and legalism, shutting our mouths from reproving any other person sounds humble and holy. Almost.

Here, we face something keenly ironic. The reason provided for avoiding confrontation is "love," compassion, or something nice along those lines. And yet, in almost every situation—even if we can convince ourselves of our own tenderhearted motives—the reality is much different. If I'm hesitant to bring up a serious issue I've observed in a friend's life, there's only one reason I fail to speak, and it has nothing to do with a tender heart.

My thought process runs something like this:

She'll think I'm some self-righteous Pharisee. Perhaps our relationship will be damaged. On the other hand, if I don't say anything, we can still maintain a reasonably decent friendship. Aren't we called to overlook the faults of others? Doesn't love cover a multitude of sins? If I do say something, she probably won't listen anyway. She would be deeply hurt...

On and on. I'm only thinking about myself—my coveted reputation, my discomfort. That's the antithesis of love. Love holds another person's highest good in mind—not necessarily their highest comfort. And the highest good for a brother or sister in sin is confrontation.

For most of us, that's a steep order. You know you're inflicting pain and discomfort by bringing something to the forefront of your friend's mind, just when that friend would much rather ignore it. It sounds harsh and unfeeling. Plus, what sort of nutcase raises her hand to walk voluntarily into a situation where she's likely to be interpreted as a grim-faced busybody who totes the tablets of the Ten Commandments around in her purse?

But God speaks through His people; we are His mouthpieces in the world. If we truly care for a person, his or her relationship with Christ will be our primary interest. Consequently, when we perceive something obstructing that relationship, the individual's spiritual good must become our top priority.

To be blunt, if I don't tell a friend—more than once, if necessary—when I see a serious area of concern in her life, I care more for myself than I do for her. With that in mind, wouldn’t it seem counter-productive to attempt to make the rebuke as conciliatory, suggestion-oriented, and pleasant as possible? The purpose of biblical confrontation is to present the untampered truth in love, so that conviction, repentance, and restoration may follow. In that order.

But everything I've written so far needs to be chucked promptly out the window if it doesn't accord with Scripture. Didn't Jesus strictly forbid judging in Matthew 7:1?

Two Kinds of "Judging"

I think it's possible that Christ's famous words from the Sermon on the Mount, "Judge not, lest ye be judged,” may be one of the most over-used and misapplied verses in the Bible. Christ wasn't instructing us to halt discernment. If you look at the context of Matthew 7:1, Christ was speaking against the moral snobbery that peers down at fellow sinners, while imagining to be in the place of God—holy and blameless. In context, the verse instructs about checking ourselves for the same sin before we confront anyone else on it. It doesn’t say we should avoid confrontation altogether.

Nowhere in the Bible is it remotely implied that it's our business to scorn weaker Christians, and react without patience or compassion. Passing hypocritical judgment is a grave sin, and it's an area I know myself to be particularly susceptible in. We need to be on the constant alert against the motives of our own hearts, so easily filled with pride.

At the same time, the whole of Scripture is abundantly clear that clear discernment between good and evil, truth and error, is an absolute necessity. Just a few verses after the "judge not" edict in Matthew 7, Christ talks about proper judging—by a person's actions, or “fruits.” The Lord scolded the Pharisees, "Stop judging by mere appearances, and make a right judgment" (John 7:23-24). Again and again, Christ's astute rebukes stirred rage in His listeners.

Romans 12:9 exhorts, "Hate what is evil; cling to what is good," and if you read any of the apostle Paul's epistles, two things will leap off the pages: immense love for the churches he wrote to, coupled with unswerving commitment to preservation of the truth. That entailed kicking false teachers out of the Church, and reproving the Christians when they strayed (just check out 1 and 2 Corinthians). In a word? ...judging.

As believers who desire to see each other mature in Christ, we need to pray for the love to confront sin when we recognize it. As long as we're filtering the sin through the lenses of grace and the knowledge of our own depravity, it's absolutely nothing to apologize for.

Labels: ,