Judge Not? (5)

Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers. Ephesians 4.29

Therefore comfort each other and edify one another, just as you also are doing.1 Thessalonians 5.11

Let all things be done for edification.1 Corinthians 14.26

The end in sight
The fear many people have, when they caution us against judging, is that judging others puts them down and vaunts those who judge. That’s a gracious and reasonable concern, but it betrays a misunderstanding of the purpose of judgment.

If, following Jesus’ instruction, we judge with righteous judgment, then our purpose is neither to puff ourselves or to humble or put someone else in their place. The purpose of righteous judgment is that righteousness might be expressed and recovered. And where righteousness thus flourishes, Christ-likeness is achieved, and His presence is known among us, with all the beauty, goodness, and truth that entails.

This is the proper end of every act of judging and judgment. We want to see Jesus, and we want others to know Jesus and be transformed increasingly into His image. Where King Jesus reigns, and His holy and righteous and good Law is observed, peace and joy obtain (Is. 9.6, 7; Rom. 14.17, 18). The shalom God intends for the world shines a little brighter when the proper ends of righteous judgment are achieved. We will know that we are becoming a holy people unto the Lord as we see Jesus formed in us and in our communities.

All acts of judgment must therefore be unto edification, to build ourselves and others up into Jesus Christ. Our goal in life is to know Jesus and to make Him known, and when we are judging with righteous judgment, this is precisely what happens. This makes exercising sound or righteous judgment an integral part of the process of making disciples and building the Church.

Judging and disciple-making
Paul explained the goal of disciple-making in Colossians 1. 28: “Him [Christ] we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.” Paul focused on this goal for the members of all the churches in his care, because he knew this to be the goal the Holy Spirit is working toward in every believer (2 Cor. 3.12-18). 

Moreover, Paul understood that, as believers increase in Jesus, and His Spirit fills them more and more, they overflow with the presence and power of Jesus and bring His reconciling and restoring presence to bear on the world. Jesus’ objective is to fill the world with Himself (Eph. 4.8-10), and He does this by building-up individual believers and their churches into His likeness, and sending them into the world to express and exude Him in every place.

As we have seen, believers have a duty to judge one another with righteous judgment. As we carry out this responsibility, we must keep in mind that the end of all judging is Christ-likeness. We are helping to shape one another into the image of Jesus – His mind, heart, and priorities, as well as His words and deeds. We must focus on Jesus and measure one another only against Him. We must look to Jesus as we take up the work of judging and judgment, seeking His guidance, help, and grace. We must abide in Jesus as we work out the applications of sound judgment. And we must give thanks and praise to Jesus for the results, of righteousness and shalom, that we anticipate.

Judging one another is thus a critical component of the work of disciple-making, for by it we work to grow increasingly into the image of Jesus Christ, laying aside everything that is contrary to Him and His ways, and putting on Jesus more and more in every aspect and facet of our lives (Eph. 4.17-24; Rom. 13.13, 14). 

As believers, we are all charged with the mandate of making disciples (Matt. 28.18-20). If we are to be effective and fruitful with the disciples in our Personal Mission Field, we must learn to faithfully practice the discipline of exercising sound and righteous judgment. We’ll have more to say about this in Part 3 of our study.

Judging and building the church
As it is the Lord’s objective to form, not only individual believers, but entire congregations into His image and likeness (Eph. 4.11-16), we must assume that practicing righteous judgment is crucial in helping our churches realize their full potential as signs and outposts of the Kingdom of God.

To that end, we must ask some hard questions about our churches: Is our church the kind of disciple-making community such as we see in the gospels and the book of Acts? Is our worship and preaching sufficiently Christ-centered? Are we growing in unity and maturity in Jesus as a congregation? Do our shepherds carry out their work like Jesus did? In what ways is our church demonstrating the presence of Jesus in our community? Are we, like Jesus, fulfilling our calling to be signs and outposts of the Kingdom of God? To what extent do these and other similar questions shape the vision of our church?

Church membership is not a spectator sport. In all our involvement in the local church, we must work for the edification of our fellow believers, but also for the edification of the congregation as a whole. As we are able, we must, through our participation in the church, work to see Jesus, and bring the life of our congregation into line with His life. Where this requires church discipline, we must participate graciously, first, by submitting to the process as outlined in the New Testament (which is typically included in membership vows), and second, by fulfilling our part, whatever may be required, in edifying our brethren and the congregation as a whole.

Judging is thus crucial to the work of building Jesus’ church, and every one who believes in Jesus must be willing and ready to fulfill this calling in the Lord.

For reflection
1.  Why do we say that the end of judging is to see Jesus?

2.  What can you do to make sure you are judging for the purpose of edification?

3.  Where do you need to improve in knowing how to exercise righteous judgment?

Next steps – Transformation: Review your answer to question 3. Begin to take steps immediately to make those improvements, so that you can exercise righteous judgment to edify others and your church.

T. M. Moore

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This week’s study is part 2 of a 4-part series, To Judge the World. Each part consists of seven lessons and is available as a free PDF download at the end of the study. In the tag for part 7, we’ll give you a link to download part 2, Judge Not?

An excellent companion to this series is our book, The Ground for Christian Ethics. Here you’ll discover the basis on which Christians learn to judge with righteous judgment. You can order a copy by clicking here.And when you order, we’ll send you a free copy of Bricks and Rungs: Poems on Calling.

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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission.