Judging Others

2 Samuel 6:12-23 presents the image of David’s wife, Michal, watching King David dancing for joy before the Lord—and despising him. That image should bother us.

People worship God in different ways—in some churches the people are relatively quiet and subdued, while in others the people dance and clap during songs, or call out “Amen!” during prayers and sermons. Neither approach is right or wrong. We can worship God in different ways and still love God.

The reason Michal’s attitude toward her husband should bother us is because she is judging him. And we are told not to do that.

In Matthew 7:1-2, Jesus said: “Do not judge so that you will not be judged. For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you.”

Luke 6:37 is similar: “Do not judge, and you will not be judged; and do not condemn, and you will not be condemned; pardon, and you will be pardoned.”

Jesus’ brother, James the Just, said the same thing in James 4:12: “ . . . who are you who judge your neighbor?”

In Romans 14:1-10, Paul tells us not to judge others based on what they eat. Paul was probably talking about eating food sacrificed to idols, or perhaps he was referring to the Old Testament concept of “clean” and “unclean” foods. So maybe that’s not something we can relate to. But what about judging others who gamble? or drink alcohol? or like to watch boxing matches or UFC fights or R-rated movies? or those who spend lots of money? or a woman who got an abortion? or homosexuals?

Jesus tells us we are not to judge—and that includes these things. But there are two exceptions.

Exception #1 – Overt misconduct within the church.

In the Corinthian church, one of the members was openly having sexual intercourse with his mother-in-law—and the Corinthians were doing nothing about it. Paul was not pleased, as we read in 1 Corinthians chapter five. But he makes a critical distinction between those who claim to be Christians and those who do not (1 Corinthians 5:9-13):

 I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people; I did not at all mean with the sexually immoral people of this world, or with the greedy and swindlers, or with idolaters, for then you would have to leave the world. But actually, I wrote to you not to associate with any so-called brother if he is a sexually immoral person, or a greedy person, or an idolater, or is verbally abusive, or habitually drunk, or a swindler—not even to eat with such a person. For what business of mine is it to judge outsiders? Do you not judge those who are within the church? But those who are outside, God judges. Remove the evil person from among yourselves.

This does not mean that we are to be the morality police—we don’t need to go snooping around our fellow Christians looking for hidden sins. These two people in Corinth were sinning openly. Since Paul had learned about it when he was not even in Corinth, their conduct must have been common knowledge within the Corinthian church, and what they were doing was clearly wrong (and probably illegal, since it was incestuous).

In Matthew 18:15-17, Jesus gave us a procedure to follow when there is overt misconduct within the church:

If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother. But if he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you, so that by the mouth of two or three witnesses every fact may be confirmed. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.

Regarding that last phrase, remember how Jesus treated Gentiles and tax collectors—He did not endorse their sinful conduct, but He did associate with them and love them. That is how we are treat everyone who is outside the church—not with judgment, but with love and kindness.

Exception #2: We are to judge ourselves.

In Luke 6:41-42, Jesus said:

Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, “Brother, let me take out the speck that is in your eye,” when you yourself do not see the log that is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take out the speck that is in your brother’s eye.

Jesus wants us to put our own house in order rather than worrying about the sins of others.

It reminds me of a line from the movie, “Miracle,” where Herb Brooks, the coach of the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team, is berating one of his players. The team captain, Mike Eruzione, tries to speak up for his teammate, and Brooks responds: “You worry about your own game. Plenty there to keep you busy.”

We need to worry about our own game—there’s plenty there to keep us busy.