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THE NORTHERN KENTUCKY SEARCHER VOLUME 3, NUMBER 18, JUNE 1, 2003 JUDGE NOT, THAT YE BE NOT JUDGED! In the seventh chapter of the Gospel of Matthew, which is part of the great Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said in verses 1 – 5, “Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or 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.” Oh, how many times has this passage been brought up to me! So many times folks have accused me of violating the precept of our Lord expressed in these verses! So many times I have been told, “Judge not, that ye be not judged!” Yet, every time I have been told that I was violating Matthew 7:1-5, it has been by someone whose doctrines or practices I had called into question. “You don’t have the right to judge!” That is what I have been told; and I guess that in a certain sense that is true. To have the right to do something implies having the right not to do it as well. I don’t have the right not to judge (Teachers, is that a double negative?), for I have been commanded to do so, and so have you. Jesus also said in John 7:24, “Judge not according to appearance, but judge righteous judgment.” Is this a contradiction or is the Lord talking about two different kinds of judgment? In 1 John 4:1, we read, “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.” That is obviously going to require judgment on our part. Does this contradict what the Lord said in Matthew 7:1? Consider a passage like 2 Thessalonians 3:6, that requires us to “withdraw from every brother that walketh disorderly”; does this not demand that we make a judgment? Of course it does. What than did Jesus mean in Matthew 7:1-5? What the Lord was condemning in Matthew 7 was harsh and rash, uncharitable and censorious judgment. It is the kind of judgment that comes from someone who is always seeking to find fault and who does so without truly examining the evidence. It is the same kind of judgment that Paul condemned in Romans 2:1-3, where he wrote, “Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself: for thou that judgest doest the same things. But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit such things. And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things, and doest the same, that thou shall escape the judgment of God?” One who judges, and that is to be all of us, must welcome the same kind of judgment for themselves. When we call in question the religious beliefs and practices of someone we must be willing to have our own religious beliefs and practices judged by the same standard. When we judge someone’s conduct, we must be willing to have our conduct judged by the same standard. Failure to welcome the same judgment is to be a hypocrite of the worst order. There is only one standard by which we are to judge and by which we are to be judged. That standard is the Word of God. 2 Timothy 3:16-17, says, “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.” It is the standard by which all are to walk in this life and according to our Lord in John 12:48, it is the standard by which we will all be judged when He returns. Welcome the judgment of the Word of God! Greg Litmer WHAT MAKES A ROPE STRONG? What makes a rope strong? Pulling together. That’s the answer. Many tiny strands, each weak by itself, but united in a common effort, becomes strong enough to bind a giant. What makes a rope strong makes a church strong also. When you take hold of a rope, you seldom think of those tiny little parts that are entwined about each other so as to give the rope such strength. When we speak of a strong church, the little things that really combine to make the unity and the power are often overlooked. The strands that make a church are individuals. Under the mind and hand of God, they are directed toward a common end, united in a common cause – God’s glory and man’s salvation. This is true if the church is a strong church. It cannot be strong unless its members are united. Remember this, strong ropes don’t just happen. Neither do churches just happen to be strong. It takes pulling together. The influence of every member, his thought and time, his money and his prayers, should all be coordinated with that of every other member to give the church its greatest strength for its task. Selected REMEMBER “BIBLE TALK”, MONDAY THROUGH FRIDAY, 1:30 PM – 2:00 PM. IT IS ON WTSJ, 1050 ON YOUR AM DIAL. PLEASE FEEL FREE TO CALL IN A QUESTION!
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