A Lion’s Lesson: The Just Judge

Last time we looked at a lesson I learned during my days as a Bryan College Lion, and since the effects of past and recent events are still playing out, my alma mater has still been largely on my mind. So this week, I’d like to share another set of lessons that has been applicable both to life generally and more specifically to the current situation at Bryan.

The tutorial began when I walked through a period of grief and emotional pain beginning my sophomore year of college. It was messy, to say the least, with plenty of hurt and wrong to go around on all sides. That God-given sense of “ought,” which Dr. Boling named in an apologetics class I later took with him, was my constant companion during those months, both convicting me when I behaved in ways contrary to how I ought and grieving me when others behaved in ways contrary to how they ought.

In the former instances, I tried to be faithful to confess. In the latter, the wounds brought deep pain and often some level of anger (for more on that, see an earlier post). The perceived injustices were great--at least to me, but to the offenders they appeared to be nonexistent, which made it all the worse. I began to question whether or not it was all in my head, whether I was just being selfish or melodramatic or petty. Perhaps the parties involved really had behaved as they ought, and I was just hurting for some other reason.

That’s when I came across 1 Peter 2. Sure, I had read it countless times before, but this time, it jumped off the page and burrowed deeply into my soul.

“For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly” (1 Peter 2:21-23, ESV, emphasis added)

Whether I had been wronged or not, Christ obviously was, being the only sinless man to ever walk the face of the earth. And yet He did not retaliate against the perpetrators; He did not even speak in his own defense. Instead, He entrusted his very self to the One who knows all, sees all, and judges justly.

What did this have to do with my situation? Simply this: even if I couldn’t tell sometimes if I truly had been wronged, I could fully rest in the fact that God knew. If wrongs had been committed, there was an ironclad guarantee that He saw. He is not blind to injustice in whatever form it may take. So my visceral desire to defend myself and my sense of helplessness to have things made right did not have to consume me or even accompany me, because God, the Most Powerful, also happens to be the Just Judge.

What peace and relief came from this realization! No matter how feeble my own understanding was, He knew perfectly and would see that things worked according to His will.

Fast-forward a few years, and the tutorial continued as I sat under the preaching of J. D. Greear one day.[1] The passage was Matthew 7:1-6, the all-familiar, oft-quoted, and oft-misinterpreted passage about judging others. The whole sermon was excellent, as Greear explained that “judging is not about assessing; it’s about sentencing,” and laid out what judging others actually does and does not entail. But there was one facet that particularly stood out to me.

One of the ways, Greear identified, in which we do wrongly judge others is by essentially acting as if we can condemn their souls. Of course, we don’t have this power, but we often pretend to. That’s crazy, I’ve never done that! you might be thinking. You might think you haven’t, but have you ever thought, “She’s too far gone” or “There’s no way he’ll ever repent”? Have you ever stopped reaching out to someone because you thought his case was hopeless? Have you ever given up on pouring into someone’s life because you think positive change in her life is impossible?

That’s what it means to judge someone--to “regard someone as hopeless.” Greear showed that this attitude involves our placing ourselves in the judge’s seat--the seat that only belongs to God Himself. We presume not only to declare a sentence but even to know whether or not someone is deserving of one. And that is what I have to constantly guard against.

Those “he’s just hopeless” thoughts can be so subtle, even unconscious at times, yet they are so devastating. They cripple our prayers, if they even allow us to pray at all. They weaken our faith, and they constitute sin. In short, they are pride, as we think we know more or better than God.

On the flip side, though, there are many things that are considered judging today that actually are not. For instance, disagreeing with someone’s choices is not judging them. Neither is voicing that disagreement, speaking truth, or attempting to win or warn someone off of a dangerous, unhealthy path. As Greear said, “It’s what you do after you tell someone the truth that determines whether or not you are judging them.” We must still speak truth, but we shouldn’t write people off after we do so.

Putting all this together, then, we can better understand the balanced posture we are to maintain. There are times when we’ll be hurt, and we’re not sure if we’ve been wronged or not. There are times when we’ll be hurt, and it will be absolutely clear that we’ve been wronged. There are times we will observe a fellow brother or sister in Christ commit wrong against us or against someone else.

In each of these situations, we can do the following:

Trust that God sees all, and, more than that, He cares. When wrong is done, it is ultimately His Name that is profaned and He that is abused. He will not take that lightly.

Submit to the fact that vengeance is God’s. Go to war against the desire to lash out in self-righteous self-defense. Take action where needed to combat wrongdoing, but avoid waging vendettas against the perpetrator(s).

Speak truth to those who are straying. Do so out of a genuine love for them and concern for their souls, not out of a sense of self-justification.

Persist in loving, speaking truth to, and praying for those who are committing wrong. Do not shrug them off as hopeless or discount the power of God to convict and draw them to repentance and healing.

In all things, remember that God is the one who is the possessor of perfect wisdom, not us. This gives us cause both for great comfort and for humble reverence. And, thank God, He--the only Just Judge--is patient with us and will be faithful to vindicate His Name.

Photo Credit: Andrey Korzun 

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[1] The quotes and paraphrases in the following paragraphs are attributed to J.D. Greear’s sermon on Matthew 7:1-6 given at the 2015 Southern Baptist Convention’s Pastors’ Conference in Columbus, Ohio.