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From the Pastor’s Desk:
One of the most quoted (and misquoted) verses of the Bible is Jesus= words during the sermon on the mount when He says, Judge not, that you be not judged. This verse is most often quoted by a person who is being confronted in their sin. They whip this verse out as a defense against being faced with their sin against God in order to stop the conversation cold. Often times people use the verse (again out of context) to justify their not confronting a person with the sinfulness of their actions. AI am a sinner so what right do I have telling another person they are?@ is the oft stated reasoning.
Unfortunately these uses of this verse do not square with this verse in context and when we consider the rest of Scripture on the subject. Jesus said, Judge not, that you be not judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.
One of the keys to this section is the measure you use when confronting people with their sin. First of all, we are not to use human standards against other people. An example of this is looking at someone and declaring they are not dressed nice enough so we won’t let them in the church. The Corinthians experienced a similar problem when they would separate the rich and the poor during their worship services and their celebration of the Lord’s Supper. Nowhere in the Bible will you find it acceptable judge and divide people in such a manner in Christ’s church.
Related to this is the concept of a hypocritical approach to confronting people in their sin. What this means is, for example, you go to church every Sunday but are living in a state of adultery and you confront a fellow Christian and pound on them for not being in church one particular Sunday. That is hypocritical. Before you confront your brother in Christ for missing a singular Sunday (his speck of sawdust) you must first recognize and repent of your far greater sin (your plank/board) of adultery.
If the situation is reversed (you are the one who missed the Sunday and your brother is the one living in adultery) it is not hypocritical, but it is a Christian’s duty to confront them. But don’t believe me. Hear the words of Scripture: My brothers, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring him back, remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save him from [eternal] death and cover over a multitude of sins. (James 5:19-20); All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work (II Timothy 3:16-17); Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted (Galatians 6:1).@
If we cannot judge as people misuse Matthew 7, then how can we show a brother his sin and restore a right relationship between him and God? If we cannot judge, then how can we use the corrective function of God’s Word? What people fail to realize is that you cannot judge people by human standards, because then it is you and I who are doing the judging. But by confronting them using God’s Word, God’s standards, it is NOT you and I who are judging, but God Himself through His Word. We are simply the messengers; the vessels by which this Word is delivered.
The idea that we cannot talk to people about their sin because we, too, are sinners is also wrong. The question is not, Who am I to tell people they are sinning, but rather, Who are you not to tell them? The fact is, we are required by God’s Word to tell people of their sin in order to bring them back to the narrow path lest they loose their soul. What right do we have to ignore their sin or excuse it and allow them to travel down the path toward their own eternal destruction?
People often justify their failure to confront people with their sin by saying it is unloving and they don’t want to push them away. But when those who are to be our brothers and sister in Christ are living in the manifest sins of the flesh (Galatians 5:19-21) (or so called mortal sins) it is far more unloving to allow them to continue on the path to Hell.
I find that most cases of Anon-confrontation@ when our loved ones or friends are engaged in sins related to those listed in the Galatians passage, it is more for their own comfort (I don’t want that person mad at me or I don’t want to loose their friendship.) rather than for the sake of the sinner’s relationship with God. You and I do not have the right to ignore sin or excuse it away.
In fact Scripture warns that if we do, we are guilty of participating in their sin and equally deserving of their punishment (Ezekiel 3:18; 33:8 When I say to a wicked man, 'You will surely die,' and you do not warn him or speak out to dissuade him from his evil ways in order to save his life, that wicked man will die for his sin, and I will hold you accountable for his blood.@ Leviticus 19:17 Rebuke your neighbor frankly so you will not share in his guilt.).
Because of the wonderful things God has done for us in Jesus Christ, we should want all people to know and to have the same wonderful gifts. We should want them to have the same promise of eternal life and the joy of knowing the Savior in the most intimate way. We can do this when we heed our Lord’s command to proclaim repentance and the forgiveness of sins in His name.
In order to bring about repentance in people’s lives, God gives to us His Law which (in one of its three uses) shows people their sin and their dire situation before an almighty and holy God. People need to understand the depth of their sin and the serious and eternal consequences of that sin before they can understand their need for the second part of the proclamation - the forgiveness of sins.
This is the one of the most basic of the teachings of Scripture: Law and Gospel. You cannot have one without the other. The Gospel cannot work unless the groundwork has first been laid by the Law and the Law can do nothing by itself but cause despair without the healing of the Gospel. We cannot say Jesus loves you unless people first realize they are a poor miserable sinner in need of His love and forgiveness. Likewise we cannot leave them despairing the fires of Hell without showing them that God has provided a way out through His Son.
When it comes to confronting people in their sin it is not a matter of offending them. If we are using God standards and our desire is to confront them in love and in truth in order to restore them to a right relationship with God then we are helping to save them from wrath and eternal punishment. People can loose their salvation by continuing in their sin. Sin unchecked can drive out the Holy Spirit and salvation can be lost. (Smalcald Article III [Repentance]. See particularly paragraphs 43-45 [p. 304 Of Concordia].)
As such, we are called to exhort one another toward good works (Hebrews 10:23-25) and to restore one another (Galatians 6:1) when we slip and fall. This is what we do for one another as Christian brothers and sisters. We do not let one another wallow in the muck and mire of sin and risk the eternal soul of a brother or sister of Christ out of a fear of offending someone. Their eternal salvation is far too important and we ought to love them enough to treat it as such.