Daytime television is awful. There’s a newsflash, right? Are you hearing the parrot from Aladdin (Iago was his name) saying, “Oh there's a big surprise! That's an incredib – I think I'm going to have a heart attack and die of not surprise!” The trashy talk shows, the soap operas, and the court shows. All with the same commercials…technical colleges and lawyers. Thank you, television, for insinuating that the primary reason for being home during the day is because I’m uneducated or injured in an accident (or injured at the hands of an incompetent doctor or drug company). But I must confess that the reason I know that those are the only commercials is that I like People’s Court. It was an addiction that started with Judge Wapner and Rusty when was home from school in the summers. They have had some real clunker replacement judges, but I like the lady they have now. Smart and no-nonsense without being rude and well, just rude like Judge Judy. People’s Court is the only judge show I watch, but I love to watch it. Why? I don’t know. Because honestly there’s nothing inherently must-see-tv about a woman with 7 parking tickets getting her car towed while it’s the shop because the mechanic parked it outside so she’s suing the mechanic, or a woman suing her upstairs neighbor for $5,000 because his fishtank leaked on her 35-year-old, crusty, moldy couch and ruined it. But I like to watch it. You never know when that information might useful, I guess.
But while I like to watch Judge Milian (the name of the People’s Court judge lady) on television, that doesn’t qualify me to be a judge. It doesn’t qualify me at all…anymore than watching Andy Griffith qualifies me to be a sheriff or watching Top Gun qualifies me to be a Navy fighter pilot. As a quick aside, watching football on television, apparently DOES qualify us to be head coaches and general managers, though. Just ask us, right?
On the sign front of the church here a while back (or maybe it was a couple of years ago) we had this: God called us to be Witnesses, not lawyers or judges. But how often do we do the lawyering and judging vs the witnesses we were called to do?
Matthew 28:18-19 Then Jesus came up and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. Anything about judging in that? Jesus himself did not come to Earth all those years ago to judge. He said so himself.
John 12:47-48 If anyone hears my words and does not obey them, I do not judge him. For I have not come to judge the world, but to save the world. The one who rejects me and does not accept my words has a judge; the word I have spoken will judge him at the last day. Did you catch that? Jesus will judge on that last day. Not when we decide that it’s judgment time.
We’re called to be CSI agents, not Mattlock or Judge Judy. We observe the facts and the situations and compare it to God’s Words as the standard. We’re not to condemn, only point out the deviation from the Word. Like Jesus and the accused adulterer. They all had their stones in their hands ready to be judge, jury and executioner…and did Jesus roll up his sleeves and say, “You caught her! Hand me a big, jagged one!” Nope. “Let he without sin cast the first stone.”
Judge not, lest ye be judged. Luke 6. Luke 7:2 For by the standard you judge you will be judged, and the measure you use will be the measure you receive.
Whom does Jesus judge? The religious people of his day that judged others. The Pharisees knew the Old Testament text inside and out, and then they used it to manipulate people to their way of thinking and to corrupt the Word of God to say what they wanted it to say. They knew the Old Testament well enough to carry on conversations and debates using only adjacent verses…you know, rimezzes. (did you remember that word before I told you?) We can barely quote what 25? 50 verses? We give awards if someone can do 100. Yet somehow think we know enough Bible to cast judgment on someone’s style of worship or nuances of their beliefs when they differ from ours? The Pharisees knew the Scripture inside and out and were chastised by Jesus for judging.
I would guess most of our egregious judgers today couldn’t name the 10 Commandments in order or even which of the 12 apostles were brothers. But even if you can…even if you can start with “In the Beginning,” and quote all the way to “The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God’s people. Amen” (That’s Genesis 1:1 to Revelation 22:21, by the way), that doesn’t give you the position of judge.
So the next time you decide to pass a heaping helping of judgment on someone…because they don’t go to your church…or they use music, or don’t use music…be careful. These are the essentials: God is God of all…the Creator God, the Father of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (“His name forever” as he told Moses). That God came to Earth in the form of Jesus Christ to pay the ultimate sacrifice for the sins of the world. That based on Jesus’ own words, no man comes to the Father except through him. Belief, Faith, Baptism, Repentance, Absolute Submission are all essential. Each of those are things that Jesus himself said we had to do. If it’s not essential, it’s not worth arguing about. We need to quit judging and quit trying to convert everyone that doesn’t go to our own church. Believe me, I have enough beams in my own eye without worrying about specs that I perceive in the eyes of the folks in a church down the street.
But most importantly – Now is not the time to judge. God will judge at the appointed time. And will use our own standards against us. In fact, I do not even judge myself. 1Corinthians 4:4 For I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not acquitted because of this. The one who judges me is the Lord. 4:5 So then, do not judge anything before the time. Wait until the Lord comes.
The next time you start getting an itch to start passing a little judgment, Listen for the Whisper that tells you that it’s not your job to judge, and it’s not time for the One that judges to pass His judgment. When the time is right, Jesus is quite capable of judging the world. Thanks for the help, but if He can create the world, then in due time Save the world, then He can most certainly judge the world alllll by Himself when it comes down to judgment time. Let’s stick to watching the People’s Court to get our fill of judging and leave judging the world to Jesus.
~Dwayne
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