Jump Start # 1436

Romans 14:13 “Let us not judge one another anymore, but rather determine this—not to put an obstacle or a stumbling block in a brother’s way.”

  Stop judging—that’s the gist of this passage. We know very well the Lord’s words, “Judge not, lest you be judged” (Mt 7:1). Some only know that one verse. Others believe it’s the most important verse in the Bible. Most define Christianity by whether a person judges or not.

First, we are supposed to judge. That is surprising for most folks to know. Without judging, how else would fellowship be determined, or a false teacher known? The only way to distinguish a wolf in sheep’s clothing from a true lamb is by making a judgment. Judging hypocritically, judging only by appearance, or simply being overly critical, riding the back of someone is neither nice nor Biblical.

The Roman passage, our verse today, is found layered in the discussion of eating meats. This had nothing to do with diet, health reasons, but spiritual concerns. The meats at the market had been sacrificed to idols. If a person ate that meat, were they condoning idolatry? Should they or should they not eat those meats? Instead of each person trying to work through this difficult maze of principles, they were pointing fingers at others. Judging others had taken over. The meat eaters were being condemned for supporting idols. The veggie folks were being condemned for being too narrow. A lot of fussing was going on. It was boiling and what generally and much too often happens, is that the lid blows. A split takes place. The veggie folks pull out and start their own church, declaring that the meat eaters were wrong. The meat eaters pointed fingers at the others as being trouble makers. Trouble was coming down the pike.

In the context Paul tells us that God has accepted both. It’s not wrong to eat meats. It’s not wrong to abstain from that. Both groups could go to Heaven. In Corinthians, Paul would give some practical help from Heaven about how to deal with the different things that came up. But here, for now, the word is to accept each other because God has accepted them both. If one was wrong, then repentance would be the call. But, it’s not. So our verse, “let us not judge one another anymore…” This is directed to those within a congregation. This is directed toward a subject which is neither right nor wrong. When folks lift verses out of context, they misunderstand and misuse what God intended. This is not a one size fits all command for every situation in life. This verse is not the Swiss Army knife of the Bible, that is able to cover everything that one may face. This verse takes place between Christians. They happen to be in the same congregation. They are disagreeing about something God has not said was wrong. That context is essential to understanding the passage.

This, “let us not judge one another” stuff is hard. We learn something about someone, especially if it is negative, and that seems to taint us for life. We have a hard time moving past that. Every time that person’s name is mentioned, we immediately think of the negative about them. Folks who have messed up morally, preachers who have failed, elders who have tripped— they may have asked for forgiveness, but we just can’t seem to let it go. I’ve known men who left religious error decades ago, yet when someone suggests their name as a possible shepherd, that reminder surfaces again. Trust is questioned, even though it has been decades since he embraced the error. We just can’t let some things go.

I’m working on this myself. It’s hard. There is a popular religious writer who is very radical, but loved by many people. When I see fellow preachers praising his books, the red flags go up, the warning sounds and I find myself ready to point that finger of mine. I’m more bothered by the way I respond than what these others are praising. I don’t want to be so critical and judgmental. Fault finding has become a fever with some. It’s like the old gold rush in the 1800’s. Everyone starts looking. Everyone sees what they think is gold. There was a lot of “fool’s gold” back then and there still is today. We jump on the band wagon of condemning one of our own instead of hearing things from his perspective. We’d rather toss him out, vote him off the island and be done with him, than to sit down and find out that there’s really nothing wrong with what he is doing. Different isn’t always wrong. My way isn’t always right. It’s God that is always right.

Judge not—that would be tough for the veggie folks in Rome. They just knew that the meat eaters were leaning toward paganism. Some probably manufactured and speculated that those meat eaters were bowing down to idols. That wasn’t happening. What they were doing wasn’t wrong. This tells us that because I think something is wrong does not mean that it is. Because I think something is sinful doesn’t mean that it is. Only God can declare what is right and wrong. I listened to a guy recently blow a gasket about women wearing pants to services. He was from the old school and I guess women only wore dresses there. He was not only declaring that it was wrong and sinful, he felt compelled to compel me to preach about it. I asked him how come it’s ok for guys to wear pants? Back in Bible times, everyone wore robes. He’d never thought about that. He looked at me as if I just landed from Mars. He walked away disgusted because I wouldn’t run up the hill waving his banner. What about suit jackets? What about ties? What about wild colored socks (now we are getting close to home with me)? Each of us must work out our own salvation but we must be careful not to define things, draw lines, and point fingers at things that are not wrong. We can sure make a mess out of things. We put so much energy into finger pointing that we often forget who the enemy is. We are in a fellowship together. We need to help each other. We need to be there for each other. When wrong, with the Bible opened, we need to gently show each other.

The worst part of judging is that it leads us to deciding who is going to be in Heaven and who is going to be in Hell. That is God’s prerogative and exclusive right, not ours. Judging sours our spirit and can turn us into an ugly person, from the inside out. We ought to quit trying to assign people to Hell and start preaching Heaven to folks.

Stop the judging of one another. We preachers can be pretty good at judging. We hand out guilt every Sunday from where a person sits, to how loud they are singing, to how well the song leader does his job. Sometimes I wonder if the only thing we know is how to give out guilt. Stop the judging of one another. Hold the mirror up and take a deep look at what you see. If we spent as much time on ourselves as we do others, things would turn around pretty good.

Take a deep breath—put your hand in your pocket and count your blessings. Be thankful that there are others. Be thankful that God includes you in His fellowship. Work more on self and rejoice with others.

This is tough stuff…but you can do it. God’s counting on you…

Roger