Earning a Blessing: Judge Not

Grace is free, but blessing is earned.


We've already looked at one principle, that you must master your anger to be blessed. Let us look at another.

Luke 6:37-38 paints a picture of uncontainable blessing. But this blessing is given only to those who do not judge or condemn and are liberal in forgiveness. Blessing will come back to us if we do not judge others.

Matthew 7:1-5 — The word for "judge" here means to "separate, distinguish, exclude, prefer, be selective, condemn." Don't play favorites or be prejudiced against people. We don't do well with judging. Imagine this: we all have a backpack, and our backpacks are made for bricks. Some bricks are necessary, but if we take up a revenge brick it is an unnecessary load. Judgment is a brick to weigh us down and does us no good, neither does it affect the person we are judging. When we separate people out it is like putting a heavy brick in our pack, and it hurts us. We can't be blessed by God when we are speaking judgment on ourselves. This is an eternal principle, sowing and reaping. We get blessing because we sow seeds. This is not money, but grace to others.

A lot of people say, "I'm not judging, I'm inspecting fruit!" But when we are doing that we must be careful, because someone will do it to us too. "Lemon suckers" are the first to criticize and judge. They're blind to their own faults and only see the worst in others. When we are unhappy with ourselves, we are gratified by finding fault in others.

If I bless and forgive liberally, I will have immense blessing. 

Romans 2:1 — We are guilty of everything we judge because sin is sin. Break one part of the Law and you break it all. We can't judge unless we are entirely guiltless. For example, what is the difference between a homosexual perversion and a heterosexual perversion? In God's eyes, they are both evil.

Interestingly enough, it usually the sin we notice the most in others that is our own worst stumbling block.

Jesus rubbed shoulders with just about every human weakness and sin, yet he didn't judge. He only scolded the religious hypocrites, not the adulterous woman. He said, "Go and sin no more," but that's an encouraging message, not a condemning one.

What about those times when we must call a fellow Christian out on some sin? At those times we are balancing between condemnation and helping a friend. To defuse a potentially messy situation, it always helps to ask permission. Ask permission before asking a sensitive question or making a point. That changes the feeling of the conversation. You totally disarm the other person.

But when you're chastening your brothers and sisters, look out! Romans 14:1-4 — The word for "judge" here is the same word we saw earlier. The Lord will make his own people stand. When we see someone deviating, we must remember that God can handle it. Therefore we don't have to be offensive. With the sin that leads to death we can snatch them from the fire, but don't squabble over debatable issues. The only thing that can send me to Hell is to deny Christ.

1 Corinthians 4:5 — Don't judge prematurely, meaning before Jesus comes. We can't see people's intentions. Most of the time I have good intentions, even when I blow it. As great sinners we can give great grace.

Romans 14:22 — We are blessed when we stay true to our own convictions without forcing them on others.

James 4:11-12 — The rich young ruler probably judged a lot of people because he had checked off the moral checklist. Yet he was still guilty of loving money more than God.

If we unpack our bricks, we have removed condemnation from our lives and opened the way for blessing.