Only God is the Judge

 “Do not judge, so that you may not be judged. Mt 7:1 NRSV

What does that mean? Are we supposed to gloss over all sin? Are we to think that Hitler or Stalin were only mentally ill?

What is God trying to say? Should we differentiate between good and evil? Absolutely.

Should we confront and resist sin? Of course.

If you are a church leader or pastor and someone in the church is causing trouble or abusing children, should you passively allow it? God forbid.

On the other hand, if a pastor or priest becomes arrogant and authoritarian and causes trouble in your family, are you allowed to rebuke that man even though he is the leader?

What does Jesus say?

“If your brother or sister sins, go and point out their fault, just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over. Mt 18:15 NIV

Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. Eph 5:21 NIV

We must confront other Christians strongly, sometimes.

But we must never forget that only God sits on the heavenly judgement seat, not us.

If you correct another Christian, you must first bow before God's judgement seat. We are all flawed.

“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. Mt 7:3–5 NIV

We must sometimes confront other Christians, but if you're acting like a policeman always on the lookout for sins in the community, then you've really gone astray.

It is sometimes all right to correct other Christians. Sometimes.

But am I appointed by God to correct all the faults I see in other Christians? Christians who think this way are proud and self righteous.  

Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted.

Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfil the law of Christ.

If anyone thinks they are something when they are not, they deceive themselves. Gal 6:1–3 NIV

“You who are spiritual” is an important qualification. People who think they are always right are not spiritual. Spiritual Christians are humble, gentle and loving.

Back to Basics with Jesus

Jesus was surrounded by conflict and rejection from his birth in Bethlehem to his death on the cross. 

He was born in a barn. Mary and Joseph had to flee to Egypt to save their baby from assassination. 

When Jesus began his ministry, he was opposed and persecuted by the religious leaders for three years until they had him executed on false charges.

His nation was occupied by brutal Roman soldiers. The Jewish people were divided between religious and political factions, religious legalists, violent freedom fighters, corrupt collaborators who worked for the Roman occupation.

In this chaotic environment Jesus loved people, cared for people, practised and taught forgiveness, loved his enemies.

The world we live in now is catastrophically messy. When I vote in an election, I am painfully aware that which ever way I vote, I am supporting some horrible anti-Christian policy. When I vote, I ask myself which alternative is worse.

There is no really good alternative on offer in most countries, no party which supports the teachings of Jesus in a balanced way. Christian churches are painfully divided by political issues. Both sides appeal to biblical principles to justify their preference.

I find myself engaged in culture wars. My opponents are often fellow Christians. 

Jesus himself had to deal with these kinds of conflicts. We need to get back to basics.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Mt 5:6–7 NIV

If we are committed to personal righteousness and moral virtue, we must also be committed to social justice, because the original bible word for righteousness included both moral virtue and social fairness.

If we are committed to mercy for unborn babies but not equally committed to care for poor single mothers, and for victims of rape and incest, we are not merciful as God wants us to be.

God's Laws for a Just Society

 When Jesus preached in his hometown of Nazareth, it was the Sabbath day, and he read this text from the Old Testament.

“The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, 

To proclaim liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed;
To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD.” Lk 4:18–19 NKJV

The acceptable year of the Lord was the Jubilee.

Every fiftieth year was the jubilee. Anyone, who had sold his inherited land to pay debts, could repossess his inheritance free of charge.

Jesus read this text on the Sabbath. Every seventh day was also a day of rest. This was a great mercy for workaholics and poor labourers.

In addition, every seventh year was a year when the land rested. The crops that grew in this year must not be harvested by the landowners, but the poor could help themselves.

Every seventh year, all debts were also cancelled.

In the OT Law of Moses, the Hebrew landowners harvested the grain, the olives and grapes, but they were not allowed to harvest too thoroughly. They had to leave a generous portion of unharvested produce for the poor to gather. This was called gleaning.

An evangelical preacher in the USA explained these laws. He then asked his congregation, what they would think if these laws were not in the Bible and we applied these principles today.

The conservative congregation answered, that this would be Communism.

Does this shock you? It seems to me, that evangelical Christians in America and similar countries have badly misunderstood what it means to be Bible believing Christians. We have been indoctrinated to accept uncritically the priority of maximising investment returns and corporate profits.

What does the bible say about financial greed?

Woe to you who add house to house and join field to field till no space is left, and you live alone in the land. Is 5:8 NIV

In America, Australia and some other countries, real estate speculation has resulted in mass homelessness.

These Bible laws were not just principles for believers to follow, but laws to govern a just society. If we live in democratic countries, and governments are not adequately providing for the care of the poor, the disabled and the sick, churches should do more to provide help. 

In the past, many schools and hospitals have been founded by churches to help people in need.

But it is not enough for Christians to help. We should also call upon governments to do more.

When the Luke and the Apostles wrote the New Testament, they said very little about principles of government. It was already in the OT. The early church also had no possibility of influencing Roman laws. They were like the church today under dictatorships.

In democratic countries, Christian political activists do try to influence laws. Many oppose homosexual marriage and try to restrict abortion, but conservative activists often ignore the OT principles of making adequate provision for the poor.

Many churches do help the poor but they don’t understand that they should pressure governments to help the poor and sick adequately.

Many American Christians have become so indoctrinated with the philosophy of big business, that they think affordable universal medical service is evil socialism.

What many conservative Christians fail to understand, is that poverty often leads to prostitution and more abortions.

In most democratic countries, the majority of people are no longer bible believing Christians. Political action to stop abortion has usually had little or no success. Adequate social welfare for poor or single mothers could reduce the desperation to get abortions.