“Judge not, lest you be judged!” How often have you heard someone say that?
How should a Christian think about judging? We live in a day when no one wants to be “judgmental” – and the greatest virtue is to tolerate (or at least, to be thought tolerant!).
Paul talks a lot about judging in 1 Corinthians:
“The spiritual man judges all things.” (2:15) So we should judge, right?
“I do not even judge myself…It is the Lord who judges me.” (4:3-4) That makes it sound like we shouldn’t judge!
“Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? God judges those outside.” (5:12-13) Okay – so we shouldn’t judge outsiders!
“Do you not know that the saints will judge the world?” (6:2) Wait! I thought we had said don’t judge outsiders!
“Judge for yourselves what I say!” (10:15)
“If we judged ourselves truly, we should not be judged.” (11:31)
Wait.
The spiritual man judges all things – but Paul doesn’t even judge himself. We are to judge those inside the church – but the saints will judge the world. If we judge ourselves truly, we will not be judged.
It might seem that Paul is contradicting himself. Are you supposed to judge or not?!
Featuring a sermon puts it on the front page of the site and is the most effective way to bring this sermon to the attention of thousands including all mobile platforms + newsletter.
Text-Featuring a sermon is a less expensive way to bring this sermon to the attention of thousands on the right bar with optional newsletter inclusion. As low as $30/day.
