Christians - What do you think of this devotion message?

Question

Here is part of a Pastor Greg Laurie devotional. I think this passage has a similar message to my other question about being judgmental. Enjoy!

Judge not, lest you be judged. . . . We have all heard it. It is in the Bible, in Matthew 7:1, where Jesus said, "Judge not, that you be not judged."

But let's understand these words contextually. A better translation of the statement would be, "Condemn not, that you be not condemned." In other words, God is the final judge. He decides who gets into heaven and who does not. Greg Laurie doesn't decide that. You don't decide that. No one else decides that. We are not to condemn, meaning to pass final judgment.

But we are to judge, in the sense of making evaluations—even corrections when necessary—regarding fellow believers. Paul addresses this very subject in 1 Corinthians 5:

I wrote to you in my epistle not to keep company with sexually immoral people. Yet I certainly did not mean with the sexually immoral people of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. . . . For what have I to do with judging those also who are outside? Do you not judge those who are inside? (verses 10, 12)

Paul was saying that it is our job to judge those inside the church. But a lot of believers ignore this. They say, "Oh, no. Just be loving." But I would say that they don't really know what love is. Love cares enough to confront.

We are so into loving everyone, not even understanding what the word means, that we have lost our sense of discernment in standing up for what is right. We should do it with compassion, concern, and humility. Yet we should make the stand.

Because many of you do not know who Pastor Greg Laurie is, I will tell you. He is a pastor that preaches in CA and is featured on KWAVE a station on the radio that preaches the bible.

Answer 1

I am in full agreement with Pastor Greg Laurie, (whoever he is).

We (especially) who are Preachers, Teachers, Pastors and the likes MUST correct, MUST tell someone when they are living away from "the Word", That is what we are here for,

WE ARE SHEPHERDS! to herd, guard, and care for.

I do not want to be judged by God for NOT telling Christians the TRUTH!

Answer 2

Excellent Kathryn! "Judge not that ye be not judged" is one of the most misquoted scriptures in the bible. Like Kait pointed out, that verse is completed by saying we should "judge" but only after we have closely examined ourselves.

Churches should be practicing church discipline, the actual confronting of those practicing sinful lifestyles. That takes some kind of judgement to be able to do that.

You all are right on the money with that devotional and what Kait added to it also!

Answer 3

You know there is a lot written about this but here is what I think the bottom line is and it isn't just quoting a few scriptures but looking at the bible as a whole.

I think the idea is not to judge if someone is a Christian or not. It is not yours to judge. However you are free to judge anything and everything if you want. If you are going to be on jury duty, that is exactly what you are going to have to do.

However, I think too many religions want to impress on their members to do just that... judge others to see if you think they are Christians so you can avoid them or help them, depending on your denomination. I think you shouldn't ever.

If they are immoral, it is not yours to judge if they are a Christian or not. It's yours to judge if they are immoral or not but it would be wrong for you to judge them as not being a Christian because they are immoral so you should avoid them or tell them they should be different or better.

I think a lot of busy-bodies in the church try to twist the words around so as to allow them to judge if someone is or is not a Christian so they can elevate themselves. This to me is a terrible sin and one of the worst ones. They are not God nor Christ.

Answer 4

It seems that whenever one person confronts another person over an issue, the statement "Do not judge!" comes up. Christians are often accused of "judging" in contradiction to what the Bible says whenever they speak out against a sinful activity. However, that is not the meaning of the Scripture verses which state, "Do not judge." When Jesus told us not to judge (Matthew 7:1), He was telling us not to judge hypocritically. Matthew 7:2-5 declares, "For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, Let me take the speck out of your eye when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye."

In Matthew 7:2-5, Jesus warns against judging someone else for their sin when you yourself are sinning even worse. That is the kind of judging Jesus commanded us not to do. If a believer sees another believer sinning, it is their Christian duty to lovingly and respectfully confront the person with their sin (Matthew 18:15-17). This is not judging, but rather pointing out the truth in hope of bringing repentance in the other person (James 5:20). We are to speak the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15). We are to proclaim what God's Word says about sin. 2 Timothy 4:2 instructs us, "Preach the Word ; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage — with great patience and careful instruction." We are to "judge" sin, but always with the goal of presenting the solution for sin and its consequences - the Lord Jesus Christ (John 14:6).

Recommended Resource: Hard Sayings of the Bible by Kaiser, Davids, & Brauch.

Answer 5

I'm an atheist, but I don't really like that message. Judging is human. I think that judging is a good thing, unless you are judging by trivial differences like skin color or sexual preference. If we didn't judge, we'd never get ahead. We have to figure out what is good or bad for us to survive.

When you say "love everyone" it sort of dilutes the emotion. It really trivializes the love for those that are close to us. I think we should give each other a certain level of respect, but later more respect can be earned or lost based on behavior. We shouldn't coddle bad behavior.

Answer 6

I agree.

The gospel message is for everyone; both believer to keep them challenged to live a Holy life before God in word and deed. And for the sinner who knows he needs God and wants a right relationship with God. Sadly it is the unbelievers choice for him to reject the gospel message. But believers must continue to preach it no matter what.

Answer 7

The Bible says that if a believer is sinning, you should confront him about his sin. If he doesn't repent, take two or three people from church to confront him. If he still doesn't, then he should be taken in front of the church and asked to repent. This is all done with love and compassion - not in your face hate. We should take the stand because God told us to, even though it is very difficult. A man at our church was involved in homosexuality and they did this. He refused to repent, so they took him off church membership. He can still come to our church, of course, but he is not a member any longer.

Answer 8

Agreed. Sometimes we arrest someone because we love him. A criminal's best place is a prison cell where he can repent his sin and study the law. Sometimes we must sentence some people to death, because we love them. It's a pity there is no death penalty in most states in America. I am for capital punishment and gun control. I am also for abortion by the way.

Answer 9

I agree with this. In the church, we should be lifting one another up and helping eachother to walk righteously. Somewhere else (I don't remember where it is off hand) it talks about those who administer correction should be those who are spiritual. When we are called to do this, we should do it with the utmost of care - and make sure that we don't have the same sin lurking in our own closets.

Answer 10

Admonishing the sinner and instructing the ignorant are two of the Spiritual Works of Mercy.