Judge Righteously

One of the things I have learned in my Christian journey—a very important lesson that I learned the hard way, and I'm still learning to understand it—is that the Word of God and the Spirit of God need to be one.

The Word of God alone is powerless; the Spirit of God alone is powerless. But the Word of God plus the Spirit of God, that is where power is, because the Spirit uses the Word of God to take effect in our lives: to convict us, to heal us, to deliver us, to bless us.

We live in a very dangerous time, a time where lies reign supreme—a time where lies feel good, look good, sound good, and taste good. We live in a time where the truth is too far-fetched.

The Bible teaches us about faith. Now, if faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen (Hebrews 11:1), how difficult is it to believe in the things of God when all we ever see is darkness? If Jesus is Lord, what about all those challenges you are going through?

It is easy to believe in the wrong things because what we see with our fleshy eyes, we can quantify it. All the evidence of our hardships, failures, disappointments, terminal illnesses, divorce, murder, rape, suicide, unforgiveness—all these are very much to believe in because we can see them; the evidence is right in front of our eyes.

Faith, on the other hand, demands us to believe in what we cannot see, what we do not understand. And as human beings, it is in our nature to reject what we do not understand. This has led us into a very dangerous habit, a habit that has been slowly eating at our relationship with God.

We have arrived at a point where we, rather than being guided by the Spirit of God in the Word, draw our own conclusions. Over time, human wisdom has watered down the Word of God into what we see today: a tool for blessings. We have taken up very dangerous positions that, rather than building, are destroying the church of God.

One of the ways in which we are destroying the church of God—dividing God's children—is in how we judge the world. As God's children, it has been given to us to judge the world.

You could probably quote me one or two verses to this point. Knowing the verses is not the problem; the real problem is understanding them to the point of applying them in a manner that is pleasing to God.

One of the verses that we often misuse—or to better put it, lack a proper understanding of—is Ephesians 5:11:

"And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them." (Ephesians 5:11, NKJV)

How many times have we gossiped about our neighbors because of the wrongs they are doing? How many times have we harbored bad feelings or not been on speaking terms with a colleague because of the wrongs they did to us?

Why is it that we harbor bad feelings or negative thoughts about certain organizations, or religious organizations, that do not share the same beliefs as us? All because of a difference in opinions?

How do you judge a fellow Christian brother or sister? How do you judge an organization that does not share the same beliefs as you? How do you judge your neighbor who does not share the same religion or the same faith as you? How do you judge your family? How do you judge your community? How do you judge your president?

The Bible teaches us to expose darkness, to not be acquainted with it, to not share space with it, but to expose it and bring it to light. So, when a fellow brother or sister in Christ falls into sin, what do we do then? Yes, the Bible says expose it, but in what manner do we expose the darkness?

Take note of this. The Bible does not say expose the sinner. It says expose the darkness. Expose the sin, not the sinner.

And this is something that we have very much failed to understand. Because if you go on social media, you go on YouTube, you go wherever on the internet, there is a rise in Christian channels or podcasts that seem to spend most of their time bringing to light the wrongs that are committed by public figures more especially. Celebrities, well-known people, famous people.

And the real problem is that when we do these things, we make it more about the sinner than we do about the sin. And this is a very painful act.

I am not saying they are wrong, no. But there is a right way of doing things and a wrong way of doing things.

When it comes to putting the Word of God into action, there is only one way of doing it right. And that is if, and only if, you are led by the Holy Spirit.

And this is where the Spirit of God and the Word of God come together. Let's put our actions to the test.

Ephesians 5, verse 11, tells us not to be in fellowship with darkness, but rather to expose it. But how do we expose this darkness in a manner that is pleasing to God? Well, let's see if the Word of God can't answer this question.

John 7, verse 24 reads:

"Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment." (John 7:24, NKJV)

The operative word here is righteous, which means judge righteously—that is, judge according to the Word of God. If the Word of God says forgive, then that means unforgiveness is wrong. One cannot call themselves a Christian unless they live a righteous life.

But let us be honest with ourselves. What is righteousness? What does it mean to be righteous? What does it mean to judge righteously?

This is where things get very interesting. Because when we read the Book of Romans, chapter 3, verse 10, it says:

"As it is written: 'There is none righteous, no, not one;'" (Romans 3:10, NKJV)

Well, this presents us with a bit of a conundrum, doesn't it? How can we judge righteously if we ourselves are not righteous? You can't exactly give what you don't have now, can you?

Righteousness is not knowledge-based. It is spiritual. It is a spirit. It's not something you can buy at the shop or some book can teach you. It is not by works, but by the grace of God.

If we as human beings are not righteous, and Jesus is the only one without sin, this now means that the only way for us to do anything righteously—for us to speak what is righteous, to act what is righteous, to help in a righteous manner, to judge in a righteous manner—is if we are led and directed by the Holy Spirit.

This means that if we are to judge righteously, then we need to judge according to the Word of God. Let me give you a simple example of what this means.

Now, if me and you get into an argument, I'm offended, you're offended. I'm holding a grudge against you, you're holding a grudge against me. If you decide to forgive me—but me, on the other hand, I decide to hold on to that grudge, to hold on to that unforgiveness...

By simply forgiving me, committing the act of forgiveness—which is putting the Word of God into action, the same Word of God that tells us that we need to forgive—have you not judged me by doing so?

Or are you looking for a narrative that fits human understanding? That fits into the standards of this world?

The best way to expose darkness is by shining light on it. That is, the more we put the Word of God into action, the more we expose darkness: the more we love our neighbors, the more we forgive, the more we bless those who curse us. By doing so, we are actively judging this world. We are actively exposing darkness.

But then again, we do enjoy exposing the sinner more than we do exposing sin, don't we? Do you want to know why?

The Bible teaches us that:

"...for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." (Romans 3:23, NKJV)

We are all sinners. And one of the most important things that the Bible teaches us about is repentance, which is one of the most—if not the most—powerful gifts that we have been given by God. Because as a Christian, when you repent, you renew your relationship with God.

Every day we sin, both knowingly and unknowingly. Some of these sins, they weigh heavy on us. Some of them, we have regrets about. But some of them? We enjoy.

And within these sins that we enjoy, when someone else commits sin, we point fingers because it makes us feel good about our own sins. You cannot give what you don't have. If indeed your heart is full of peace, that is exactly what you will give.

When a fellow Christian, brother or sister, falls into sin—because of the peace that is in your heart—you will want to help them. You will not expose them to the public, putting the spotlight on them for other people's enjoyment. But rather, you will want them to renew their relationship with God.

A great prophet of God once said that when he sees another pastor—a fellow pastor, a fellow prophet, or apostle—falling into sin, he is not quick to point it out at the pulpit. The pulpit is not for condemning other people, but it is for spreading the good news.

I remember him saying, when he sees another pastor falling into sin, the first thing he does is pray about it. He prays for the pastor. And if God gives him a solution, he will not do it in public; he would rather do it in private, where no one else will see, where it would be just him and the pastor. But if he fails to gain access, and be able to converse with the pastor in private, he prays about it. He prays for the pastor, having faith and hoping that God will help him.

If we see someone falling, our job is to pick them up, not to shine light on their mistakes. That is the gospel that Jesus is teaching us. If Jesus himself sat at a table and broke bread with sinners, who are we to do otherwise? Jesus hates sin, but loves sinners.

Jesus focuses on the heart because Jesus knows God. He understands God. He knows that a prostitute today can become a very powerful prophet tomorrow. And that is the difference between us and Jesus. That is the difference between being guided by human understanding and being guided by the Spirit of God.

When we are angry, relationships are destroyed. But when Jesus is angry, a drug addict turns into a pastor.

So, if what you have in your heart is indeed the Spirit of God, what you will give is peace, what you will give is a solution. But if you have something else that is not the Spirit of God, what you will give is unforgiveness, what you will give is anger. Division. Offense. Failure. Disappointment. Rather than building, you will destroy.

I remember once, on a Sunday, I was going to visit my best friend's church. Now, on our way to church, in the car, everyone was talking about this one man. A man I did not know, mind you. I've never met him. I've never seen him. This was the first time I've ever heard anything about him.

Everyone in the car was talking about how much they did not like the guy, how much they disliked him. The only thing that came out of their mouths was negative. There is not a single thing positive they said about him. All his weaknesses, all his mistakes, the wrongs he did, the wrongs he was doing—that is all they spoke about him.

I remember when we finally arrived, got out of the car, and immediately, on cue, there he was, stepping out of his car. One of the guys pointed out, "There he is."

I remember thinking: There is no one more foolish than this man in this world.

When I saw him, every single thought that came into my mind about this guy was just negative. I've never met this guy. I've never spoken to him. He's never done anything to me. I've never done anything to him. And yet, because of everything that was said about him in the car, rather than seeing him as a fellow brother in Christ, rather than seeing him as a sinner just as I am, rather than seeing him as someone who was struggling in life, who needed help, who needed my help... I saw him as a problem. I saw him as a nuisance. I saw him as an irritation.

Everything that was said in the car had poisoned me against him. And there's nothing more dangerous. So I ask you, what spirit is this?

Jesus was surrounded by prostitutes, by murderers, by tax collectors. He surrounded himself with sinners. Rather than condemning them, Jesus chose to love them. Jesus chose to ignore the sin and focused on the gift of the heart. This was only possible because he was led by the Spirit of God.

Jesus gave us one simple command. He said:

"This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you." (John 15:12, NKJV)

If the Word of God is true, if it is to be believed, then it cannot contradict itself. This would make it null and void. Jesus cannot tell us to love everyone on the one hand, and on the other, tell us to condemn people.

The way we are judging other people, the way we are judging those who do not share the same faith with us, the way we are judging those Christians who fall into sin—we are actively condemning them. So, if Jesus chose to love, why are we choosing to condemn? Which spirit is this one?

This comes because our relationship with the Spirit of God has been damaged. We are searching for the Spirit, but because we refuse to repent, we are far away from it. And being far away from it, we are unable to receive the directions and solutions it wants to give us.

Therefore, we go for the next best thing, which is human understanding. We read the Word of God. We commit it into our minds. But when it comes to putting it into action, we do not involve the Spirit of God. But rather, we act upon it according to our own understanding. Our own understanding, mind you, which is full of limitations, mistakes, and misunderstanding.

Simply put, ladies and gentlemen, to judge righteously is to be led by the Spirit of God, working together with the Word of God. Because the Spirit alone is powerless; the Word of God alone is powerless. But the two of them together? That is where change happens. That is where healing, deliverance... that is where chains are broken.

There are two standards in this world. There's the world standard of living, and then there's the godly standard of living. There is no middle ground, and there never will be. So, judge righteously.

I was using judging others as a focal point for this message because it needed an anchor. But what I was really talking about is this:

How do you judge your financial situation? How do you judge your marriage? How do you judge your relationship with your co-workers? How do you judge your enemies? How do you judge your loved ones? How do you judge your time?

How do you judge your life? Your mistakes, your failures, your victories, your shortcomings, your strengths.

How do you judge yourself?