“Judge not, that ye be not judged” (Matthew 7:1) is likely the most abused snippet of Holy Writ known to modern man.
It is regularly ripped out of biblical context by those who despise the Bible and thrown in the face of Bible believers to drive them out of political discourse.
That said, there is a serious and proper meaning of Jesus’ warning that we should all take to heart. That is my subject for today.
While Jesus is not counseling Christians to be blind, deaf and dumb to obvious evils, He most certainly is teaching us to refrain from personal judgments whenever possible.
This is a difficult line to maintain. And it requires every person to mind his own business.
God Himself has assigned certain responsibilities to people that require them to pass judgment on other people.
The most obvious example of this is the duty of parents to discipline the children that He has given into their care.
Parents who would abdicate this responsibility under the principle of “judge not” are not being godly but are a menace to society.
Worse, they fail to love their own children.
Likewise, when parents hire teachers to educate their kids, those teachers are enlisted to make judgments on children who are not their own.
They assign schoolwork, give grades, and require orderly behavior in their classrooms.
Everything that the Bible says about submission to authority—from employers to government officials—rests upon the principle that God Himself requires these authorities to exercise judgment.
And, in our constitutional republic, God has given every citizen over the age of 18 the solemn duty to make judgments over the people who are running for government office.
Unlike hereditary kingdoms or military dictatorships, in America “All power is inherent in the people” (Wyoming Constitution, Art. 1, Sec. 1).
During these final three weeks of the campaign season, Christian citizens should take this power seriously.
God, in His grace and wisdom, has given our generation the duty to judge fellow citizens by the eternal standards of truth and justice.
Your power to speak and to vote is not a man-made right to clamor for self interest.
It is a sacred duty to speak with the voice of God for the interests of the city, state, and nation. Lazy indifference is not a Christian option—any more than faithful parents can sleep while their kids run feral in the streets.
Christians who abdicate their civic duty to advocate for godly policies and to vote for government officers who will do the same are not following Christ.
They are, instead, following the principalities and powers and rulers of the darkness of this world (Ephesians 6:12).
But there is also a danger and a down-side to these unique civic responsibilities that God has given to 21st-century Americans.
The danger is that we extend our discreet and limited authority of judgment beyond its proper bounds.
Those proper bounds are limited both with respect to persons and with respect to time.
While we have a solemn duty to judge the character, competence and wisdom of those who are running for office, we are not given to judge everybody willy-nilly.
When speaking of your neighbors who are not running for office, “judge not that ye be not judged.”
This charge from Jesus prohibits us from participating in the disgusting scrum of cancel culture.
Christians exercising their civic duty cannot claim God’s blessing on uncharitable and personal insults directed at those who judge candidates differently.
Proper restraint requires both a robust participation in the discussion of policy and personnel and a disciplined restraint from trash talk that arises from our baser emotions.
And, just as the final three weeks of campaign season call us to take our God-given judgment and franchise seriously, the close of campaign season will call us to shift from judgment upon candidates to prayer for those elected.
November 3rd calls us to vote according to the judgment of God’s Word. November 4th calls us to stop judging and pray that God would grant grace to those elected. In this way, we can thread the needle between ungodly indifference to the needs of our neighbors and the ungodly judgmentalism of the world.
Pray that God would protect their lives. Pray that God would give them saving faith. Pray that God would give them godly wisdom. And pray that God would fill your own heart with thanksgiving and honor for those whom He has put into office.
The prayer of Johann Heermann, a 17th century pastor, is an excellent example.
“Keep me from saying words / That later need recalling; / Guard me lest idle speech / May from my lips be falling; / But when within my place / I must and ought to speak, / Then to my words give grace / Lest I offend the weak.”
Jonathan Lange is a Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod pastor in Evanston and Kemmerer and serves the Wyoming Pastors Network. Follow his blog at https://jonathanlange.substack.com/ Email: JLange64@protonmail.com
