Judgment and Decision

The Rev’d Stephen E. Stults
Third Sunday in Advent
December 11, 2011
St. Barnabas Anglican Church

"Judgment and Decision"

1Co 4:5
“Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God.”

In today’s Epistle, we have some very difficult words to digest. St. Paul tells us “to judge nothing before the time” and “he that judgeth me is the Lord.”

When one hears these sayings, one could draw a couple of conclusions. First that these sayings are difficult, which is true, and second, that we as Christians are not to “judge” anyone, which is false.

The whole question of “judgment” in our society is one that is fraught with difficulty. We are told constantly that we are not to judge anyone or anything. We are told that we not to impose our value system on anyone. “I’m glad that works for you” is the modern mantra of our times.

Let’s “unpack” this saying in two ways: first, in terms of what our society means by it and second, what our Lord means by it. I think you’ll find, as usual, there is an obvious disconnect between the two. Also, when we do this, let’s examine exactly who is judging whom.

Backing up just a moment to put this passage into context, recall that St. Paul had spent considerable time and energy in his ministry to the Corinthian church. He had built up the church in Corinth until there was a need for several congregations. Of course, the problem with congregations is that, over time, different opinions and even different leaders spring up. Corinth, after all, was a large and wealthy community. It not only could afford several churches, but as time would tell, Corinth would begin to split into several different interpretations of St. Paul’s message. We see this plainly in the third chapter of this very same epistle when Paul complains that the congregations are beginning to split off into different groups according to different leaders: 1Co 3:4-5: “For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal? Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man?”

Does this sound familiar with certain Christian groups? Sadly, it does. I’m not saying that all congregational groups do this, by any means, but there is a definite danger among some groups to follow the man, rather than the role the man performs. That is, among groups who do not have ecclesiastical authority structures, a tendency exists that a charismatic leader rises up to lead the group, with few checks on his authority. On the other hand, the historic episcopal-type church, that is to say, a church governed by bishops, tends to impose more checks and balances on any one individual priest or minister. Recall the famous words of James I, when he said, (paraphrased) “No bishops, no king. While I am monarch, I intend to have bishops govern the Church.” This statement indicated James’ belief that episcopal church government and the Kingdom of Great Britain were closely tied together. If the established Church fell, so would the government, in James’ eyes.

This situation of rampant congregationalism is what St. Paul faced in Corinth. Of course, the early Church had no bishops yet, but soon St. Paul would instruct Timothy to appoint “elders” and later, he would greet congregations in the name of the “bishops and deacons” that he and Titus would later appoint. In short, St. Paul saw the need for properly exercised authority in the Church of God.

Thus, authority and judgment are clearly linked in the Kingdom of God, but how does our society regard judgment? First of all, you may agree with the concept that our society hates the idea of judgment. Let me be clear on this, however. All of those in our society, except those involved in the criminal activities themselves would have no problem passing judgment on those who commit heinous crimes. That is patently obvious as we can see how full our jails and penitentiaries are.

But, that’s not really the point here. We all know that this is not what our society means when it says, “Don’t judge me.” In our pluralistic and hedonistic society, judgment is construed as any check on whatever lascivious, historically immoral or libertine-like activities in which we choose to engage. Without any anchor of morality or clear floor of reference, the only remaining standard of good behavior is that which keeps us out of jail!

We all know that the historic frame of reference for morality, the Christian faith, is being eroded day by day. fraction by fraction, increment by increment. That certainly is no secret. But, what exactly is this historic frame of reference? Is it just preachers railing against certain activities? Perhaps. But this is not where the real battle is waged. As usual, the answer comes to us from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ through his Holy Word. Consider this passage from John 7:24: “Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment.” In this case,
Christ had just healed a man on the Sabbath, making him whole in every way whole and for that the Pharisees were accusing him of breaking the Sabbath! Jesus had, in their eyes, done “work” on the Sabbath and for that, they wanted to accuse him. It was more important to uphold the Jewish ritual law than to do real good on the Sabbath, in their eyes. Thus, Christ says, “judge righteous judgment”.

Obviously, when we draw conclusions based on our own biases or prejudices without reference to the Gospel of Christ, or when we ridicule others, even in the recesses of our minds, are we not “judging unrighteous judgment?” Are we not being a bit pharisaical when we put people down because they don’t act or behave as we would have them to do? Once again, let me be perfectly clear on this. We are not to countenance blatant acts of moral perfidy, or dishonestly, or violence. This is, of course, considered “righteous” judgment. Concerning righteous judgment we are to put the”bridle of the Holy Spirit “, as John Calvin called it, on thoughts, impure impulses and ego drives that lead to drawing improper conclusions about others.

Envy and its close relative, feelings of superiority, often is the root of such judgments. Envy , of course, was a major reason that the Pharisees contended with Jesus, as they perceived him as a threat to their power base. That is why the battle for judging righteous judgment begins here, in the heart of man. Recall those stunningly true words of Christ as he says, in Mar 7:15
“There is nothing from without a man, that entering into him can defile him: but the things which come out of him, those are they that defile the man.”

So it is. We know that judgment occurs all the time. It is our job as Christians that our judgment is righteous and not that of the world. When we do this, we know that the world will never reciprocate. While giving out earnest statements as to the necessity of not judging, the world is constantly judging, evaluating, criticizing and unfortunately, hating Christians and the Gospel of Christ. It has ever been so. When we Christians stand, reflecting the light of Christ in our lives, we take away the cloak of darkness from the world’s sin, thus generating its displeasure and hatred.

One can see this plainly when discussions or debates occur between those of the Light and those of the World. After a period of discussion, when the Christian has exposed the untenability of his opponent’s position, the debate will usually degenerate into so-called ad hominem or personal attacks. Truth, properly articulated, always defeats error, but no one likes to lose, especially the powers of deception, darkness and despair.

Thus, who is judging whom? I leave that obvious conclusion up to you.

The day will come when true righteous judgment will proceed, not from the heart of man, but from the Throne of God. This will be true righteous judgment, emanating from the omniscient, yet all merciful Mind of God.

This is also a theme of the Advent season. Just as we look for the first advent of Jesus Christ on the historical occasion of His First Coming, so we must expect and look for His second coming.

Yet, there is one massive difference between us Christians and the world when this true judgment occurs. Christ tells us in: Mat 24:30 “And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.

The tribes of the earth will mourn because they know that true judgment is about to occur. They will have no cloak for their sin. They will have to bear the unvarnished wrath of God against their unmediated presence when He looks on them and says, “How much did you love me?”

This is not a call for Christian Triumphalism or spiritual pride. Far be it from us. It is instead, a humble and grateful recognition of the mercies of God through Jesus Christ. We will pass, not through the awe-ful judgment the World will have to endure, but into the blessed and loving fellowship of those who love Christ. He is the reason for our boundless joy this season. He is, after all, our Lord, Mediator, Intercessor, Savior and Friend.


“Thine O Lord, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory and the majesty; for all that is in the heaven and the earth is Thine; Thine is the kingdom, O Lord, and Thou are exalted as head above all.”