Tag: Judgmentalism

Worry About Yourself First

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Last week, I was out of town, and Pastor Dave did a great job walking everyone through the second part of Matthew 6. This week we are getting into the final third of the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus opens this next section talking about judgment, and specifically not judging others. Or does He? What Jesus has to say about judgment here is more nuanced than it seems, often misunderstood, and absolutely vital for us to get right. Let’s dive in.

Worry About Yourself First

Have you ever been judged before? I don’t mean in a court of law. I mean you did something somebody else didn’t think you should have done and they made sure you knew it. Now, as for how they communicated this disapproval, the options are manifold. Maybe they just told you to your face that you were wrong. The direct approach usually does get the job done. Perhaps they didn’t use their words, but their face said plenty. I’ve been told I can sometimes use my outside voice without ever opening my mouth. Anybody else struggle with an overly expressive face? They could have been more indirect with their judgment as well, expressing their distaste for your chosen path in how they treated you thereafter. However they made their thoughts plain to you, if you were confident in your chosen course of action, you probably processed a single thought in your mind: I sure wish they would quit judging me. 

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Morning Musing: Romans 14:10-12

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“But you, why do you judge your brother or sister? Or you, why do you despise your brother or sister? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God. For it is written, ‘As I live, says the Lord, every knee will bow to me, and every tongue will give praise to God.’ So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Christians have often been accused of being judgmental. Sometimes this label has been well-earned. Other times it results simply from our inviting people to live in God’s kingdom with its ethic of righteousness instead of the world. The teachings of the New Testament on judgment can be confusing. Sometimes we’re told to judge, sometimes we’re told not to judge. Let’s explore what Paul has to say here and talk about how to get judgment right as followers of Jesus.

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Digging in Deeper: Romans 14:4

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“Who are you to judge another’s household servant? Before his own Lord he stands or falls. And he will stand, because the Lord is able to make him stand.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

One of the biggest critiques against the church and believers more generally is that we are judgmental. We’ve talked about this issue before in other contexts, but the reality is that sometimes we have been deserving of that criticism. But not always. There’s a difference between standing firmly on a particular moral position and actively condemning those who hold and act on the opposite view. Where judgmentalism becomes an even more pressing problem for believers, though, is within the church. When we start judging one another as fellow members of the body of Christ, we sew the seeds of division and disunity which eventually grow to split churches and to create bad church experiences that can drive people away from the church entirely. As with the situation of judgment cast outside of the church, the situation is a bit more complicated than it appears at first glance. What Paul writes here offers some helpful wisdom in our efforts to get things right.

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Digging in Deeper: Romans 2:2-4

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“Now we know that God’s judgment on those who do such things is based on the truth. Do you think — anyone of you who judges those who do such things yet do the same — that you will escape God’s judgment? Or do you despise the riches of his kindness, restraint, and patience, not recognizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Self-righteousness is not a good look. What exactly is self-righteousness, though? Oxford says it is having an unfounded certainty of one’s moral superiority. Essentially, it’s the feeling that you are better than the people around you. Of course, you don’t feel that, but I’ll bet you know a bunch of other folks who seem to as far as you are concerned. In somewhat more robust theological terms, self-righteousness is the mindset that you have made yourself right with God. If our culture generally condemns the Oxford sort of self-righteousness, it ranges from being more ambivalent to openly encouraging of this second sort. Paul doesn’t agree. Let’s talk about why.

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On Specks and Logs

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The world hates judgmentalism. The idea that someone would loo kat another person, assess their behavior or lifestyle choices, and enforce some sort of negative relational or social consequence on them absolutely makes our blood boil. And there is no institution in the world more associated with this kind of thing than the church. But what if this all-too-common image of the church wasn’t actually rooted in reality? No, I’m not saying the church hasn’t ever been judgmental in the past (or present). It has. A lot. We’ve worked hard to earn our reputation. But what if that wasn’t how things were supposed to be? What if Jesus hated judgmentalism just as much as – or more than – the world does? What if several of the common negative perceptions of the church fell along about the same lines? This week we kicked off a brand-new teaching series looking at this very question. Join me as we look at what the world thinks, what Jesus said, and what this all means for the church.

On Specks and Logs

Used to be, if you wanted to be someone in this culture, you needed to be a part of a church. It didn’t really matter much which one, you just had to have your membership in their record books and attend just often enough that people knew your name and thought of you as a member. Of course, if you wanted to really achieve something significant in the culture, you had to be more than just a member. You had to be an active member. You needed to be on a key committee or two. Bonus points were definitely given if you were a deacon. You also needed to be fluent in the language of faith. Now, whether or not you actually believed any of this was an entirely separate matter. In fact, it was often better if you didn’t, because then you could keep your eyes on the prize you were seeking without worrying about God coming along and messing things up by calling you in a different direction. Whatever level you wanted to achieve, though, being a part of the church was the entrance gate. Today…not so much. 

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