I Do Not Judge You

44 And Jesus cried out and said, “(BT)He who believes in Me, does not believe in Me but in Him who sent Me. 45 (BU)He who sees Me sees the One who sent Me. 46 (BV)I have come as Light into the world, so that everyone who believes in Me will not remain in darkness. 47 If anyone hears My sayings and does not keep them, I do not judge him; for (BW)I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world. 48 (BX)He who rejects Me and does not receive My sayings, has one who judges him; (BY)the word I spoke is what will judge him at (BZ)the last day. 49 (CA)For I did not speak [s]on My own initiative, but the Father Himself who sent Me (CB)has given Me a commandment as to what to say and what to speak. 50 I know that (CC)His commandment is eternal life; therefore the things I speak, I speak (CD)just as the Father has told Me.” (John 12:44-50)

Christians, and I include myself, have a long history of judging others when we should not judge. Can you think of anyone with more authority to judge others than Jesus the Messiah? And yet Jesus, as a rule, did not judge others. Rather than judging people by his own mind, by his own judgment, he said, “The word I spoke is what will judge him on the last day.” May we understand what this means.

Some will want to argue with me right away pointing out that Jesus did in fact judge other people during his short ministry. And, I will agree. But, consider who he did judge. He judged the Pharisees and the Sadducees, the religious leaders of his time. These were the rulers of the synagogues and the temple itself in the nation of Judah. They would be akin to the pastors or elders who rule in your particular church. In this particular passage, John 12:44-50, Jesus spoke to the general population of Judah who came out to see and hear him the very week their religious leaders crucified him. Jesus spoke the word of God to them, a word which warned them of God’s expectations, but he encouraged them by telling them that he himself did not judge them. Yet, he warned them that the word he spoke to them would indeed one day judge them! What is the difference?

The difference is timing. Jesus gives us his word so that we can respond to it. We can accept it or reject it. We can love it or hate it. We can do it or despise and neglect it. If we love it, but cannot yet do it, we can ask for power and grace to accomplish it. We can accept the fact that we will one day be judged by it, repent of our failings, and depend upon our mediator, Jesus, to make it right for us somehow.

Instead, though, Christians have a long history of judging every other person or group of people except for themselves or the particular group of people they fellowship with. Every church I ever belonged to taught and thought that we were the best representation of God’s truth on earth. We may not have consigned every other church or heathen to hell as some churches are wont to do, but we certainly thought “our church” was better than “their church!” We judged others according to our own doctrines, our own ideas of right and wrong, instead of God’s. We did not believe or understand that God’s word is the ultimate judge, not us.

For example, I still remember a brother from a church who did not believe you could play instruments in worship tell me that he did not necessarily think that he and I were Christian brothers when we were attending the same Christian college back in 1977 or 1978. I remember internally shaking my head in disbelief at his words, but I was too young a Christian to really understand what his judgment meant. He meant, in essence, “If you do not believe the same doctrines as I do about Christ and Christian worship, then you cannot be saved.” This is heresy to the nth degree. I will now tell you something that may shock you.  It is this, your doctrine will never save you!

Salvation, in essence, does not hinge upon one believing the right doctrines about Jesus. It does not even depend upon knowing Jesus’ right name. Some call him Yeshua. Some call him God. Some do not even know yet that he died for their sins and intercedes for them before the Father. Every culture and language has their own name for him. To some people he has revealed himself as their savior and the son of God; to others he has not. But two things are certain: 1) his words will judge each of us on the last day, and 2) no one will come to the Father (God) unless we come through Jesus Christ.

So, what is my point? Judge nothing before its time. Learn God’s word and do it to the best of your ability. But, do not think that you are the sole arbiter of truth. Who are you to judge your brother, your fellow servant of God, even if he does not yet call himself a Christian? Yes, you have to make decisions based upon your beliefs and yes, you have to learn to discern spirits so that you do not follow the doctrines of demons. You even have to decide when and when not to support various ministries based upon their ability to hear God and walk in his ways. You may even have to decide to leave a church whose leaders will not obey God. You might even be called to confront or publicly denounce a pastor’s, prophet’s, or teacher’s heresy or expose their sin if others are endangered by them. Paul tells us that “the spiritual man judges all things.”

But, James warns us saying, “11 (A)Do not speak evil against one another, brothers.[a] The one who speaks against a brother or (B)judges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. 12 There is only(C)one lawgiver and (D)judge, he who is able to save and (E)to destroy. But (F)who are you to judge your neighbor? (James 4:11-12, ESV)

That’s a good question, who do we think we are?

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