Judging Others

Matthew 7's "do not judge" is one of the most misapplied verses in the Bible, but read in context it isn't a call to never hold anyone accountable. God alone judges the world outside the church, while believers do have a real responsibility to lovingly hold one another to the standard of Jesus, never superficially, never hypocritically, and always with an eye toward restoring, not destroying, one another.

The good news is that God offers mercy to people who have no hope of earning their way to Him. Romans 2 shows that religious, "good" people are just as condemned before a holy God as anyone else, because heaven requires perfection, not goodness. Our only hope is not behaving better but believing in Jesus, who satisfied God's justice in our place.

Jesus doesn't call us to condemn one another, but to love people right where they are and help them toward something better. Pastor Bill shows from Matthew 7 that judging others' motives makes us hypocrites and blinds us to our own need for grace, while confessing our own faults first frees us to bring truth in love, the way Jesus did.