To judge or not to judge?

Ya eva been judged? I have. I stood in front of a judge and was "highly encouraged" to consider joining the US Army. I deserved to go to jail. I had earned it. I was not looking forward to my paycheck that week. Then the judge and my grandfather conviened and I was allowed to go to see the recruiter too see if they could still get me into the military.

People have been coming up to me frequently here at Ft Bliss and starting conversations with me about how bad the world around us is. I wear a cross on my uniform and everyone knows that means I must have something to do with it. There could be many different reasons for this but I suspect one of the reasons hinges on the reality that if we see ourselves as one of the "in-crowd" (christian) then talking about how screwed-up those who are on the outside are should make me feel a little better about ourselves.

It doesn't work for me. I have tried focusing on the world and its problems but I can't do it with integrity. The world has always been screwed-up by God's standards.
When I read the papers I am not necessarily shocked.

It seems really weird for me to be standing in the world, while the world watches, and talk about how screwed-up they are.

Recently I did a funeral. After the funeral, in a very busy foyer loaded with family, a woman approached me and cleared her throat for my attention. I was initially talking to someone else. When I turned around she then, way too loudly, began to thank me for the sermon that day because there were many people present at the funeral who needed to hear my sermon. She was, in a very nontactful manner, making the undeclared statement that she was one who had heard and responded to the gospel, unlike her heathen family and friends watching and listening to us.

I did not feel compelled to jump in her boat and align myself with what she had just said. I wanted to crawl in a hole, not with her, but away from her.

No one wants to be judged! I believe the world is hyper-sensative to our message because they have all felt the sting of statements like that.

Should we be passing judgment? How and when? All of this caused a lot of study and a good sermon this past Sunday evening.

I focused on the difference between being a good judge and being judgemental. We are all called to discern (make judgments) between right and wrong, good and evil, falseness and truth. We are exhorted and commanded in the New Testament to excersize our faith in an authoritative manner.

But isn;t it true that we are also admonished not to judge lest we be judged (Matt 7)? We are and I think this is the verse many use to confuse the issue around judgment.

Remember this for me. We (Christians) must be willing to allow judgment to happen in our ranks (in the church) before we wil ever be able to minister to a watching and waiting world.

The key to all of this is attitude. A humble attitude that has examined itself in the mirror before examining someone else will be gentler and better prepared to guard against the temptation to self-righteousness and pride.

Here are some of the texts I used to prepared this study...
Matt 7:1-5
Ephes. 5:11
2 Thes. 3:6
Romans 16:17
Luke 12:57