Judgment or Discernment what is it?…Ever been called a name? Something mean and condemning? There are many insults that can be hurled at us as we grow up, especially in our teenage years. But in today's world, there is one label that is far worse than the rest. It's a label that is often directed at Christians, and most of the time it is completely misapplied. The insult I'm talking about? It's being called "intolerant"! In a world that is quickly slipping into relativism, few people are willing to call something 'right' or something 'wrong'. And if you try to make a distinction in areas of truth, it won't be long before you are going to be called 'intolerant' or 'judgmental'. And that seems to be the supreme criticism in our world of relativism and blind acceptance.

Judgmental Christians…Now there are many times that we, as Christians, earn the labels that are placed on us. It's not hard for many of us to be harsh and judging toward the world around us. We often act in a spirit of 'justice' rather than a spirit of 'love' and 'mercy'. Maybe we're afraid that if we love those who are clearly living in a way that offends God, if we accept who they are as a person, we are somehow endorsing the behaviour.

Maybe it's simply a matter of our own fallen nature that we tend to lean toward condemnation every chance we get. …But the world is watching us closely to see if we judge people and then turn around and go right out participate in the same behaviours that we are condemning. …Nothing will turn the unbelieving world against us quicker than hypocrisy! …C.S. Lewis once rightly observed that people don't become Christians for one of two reasons. …First, it may simply be that they don't know anyone who is a Christian. …Or secondly, it may simply be that they DO know someone who is a Christian!

Total Truth from the Sermon on the Mount…I think it's important for us to understand how are we to live, but also how are we to treat the people around us. …Jesus had so much to say about the way that we love those in our world, and he also had much to say about the issue of judgment and discernment:

Matthew 7:1-23…"Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. "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. "Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and then turn and tear you to pieces. "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. "Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets. "Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. "Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them. "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'

Do Not Judge?…As Christians, we are often called 'intolerant' and judgmental, and it may simply be that we don't really understand how it is that we are to view the people and ideas that surround us. When we hear Jesus say, "Do not judge, or you too will be judged," are we being commanded to accept every person and idea that comes down the street without discerning between right and wrong, good and bad, moral and immoral? …More importantly, are we supposed to believe that one idea about God is better than another idea about God? …Are we being intolerant and judgmental if we maintain that some ideas about God are simply false? …The world says we are intolerant and judgmental when we say things like:

"There's only one way to go to heaven"…"There are some things that are morally wrong for you and I to do"…"There are some religions that are false"…"There are some views of God that are simply untrue"

Judging People…To make a statement like any of these, we have to determine between a series of ideas and come to the conclusion that some of the ideas are simply not true. …And when we do that, we are going to seem harsh and judgmental. …But when Jesus calls us not to judge, he is NOT calling us not to use wisdom in deciding between competing ideas. …His statement centres on PEOPLE, not on ideas. …And there is a HUGE DIFFERENCE. …When we find ourselves judging PEOPLE instead of the IDEAS that they may hold, we are acting as though we have nothing in our life or behaviour that could not also be judged. …We are acting as though we are perfect. …When we do that, we are being hypocritical. …So, in essence, Jesus is saying:

"Don't be hypocritically judgmental or condemning about people"

You cannot expect perfection in people unless you are perfect yourself. …You cannot judge and condemn the behaviour of others unless you can say that your behaviour is impeccable and beyond reproach. …Is that the situation? Are you able to completely eliminate all sin from your life? …Of course not, and for this reason, you should not find yourself condemning people who struggle with sin. …To do so, is to be a hypocrite!

Judging Ideas…On the other hand, we CAN expect perfection in ideas, because the truth IS perfect. …It is NOT hypocritical for us to judge that an idea is wrong (even that an idea about behaviour is wrong), even if we occasionally struggle with this same behaviour. …There is a difference between condemning the person who is influenced by the idea, and judging that the idea itself is wrong. Let me give you an example. Let's say you have a friend who is always lying. …You would be condemning to say:…"You're an idiot, the way you lie all the time"…On the other hand, you would be fair in judging the morality of lying:…"Lying is wrong, even though you and I struggle with it all the time"

Can you see the difference? …The first statement attacks a person (your friend who is lying), while the second statement addresses an idea (the moral truth about lying). And in the process, you are quick to recognize that you too have your own struggle, and the fact that you are also a struggling sinner does NOT disqualify you from making a judgment about the sin.

Loving the Sinner…God asks us to behave this way because He knows that we are in no position to judge the people around us, because we are so fallen ourselves. He is the only perfect being in the universe, and therefore has the right and ability to judge people without the fear of hypocrisy. If you are perfect, you are in this unusual position. In the meantime, you and I are called to love the sinner (the person), but hate the sin (the moral idea about what is right or wrong).

Total Truth…The world around us would like us to believe that we are simply evolved creatures who just happened to have ascended the food chain to the top position here on planet earth. If that's true, we can simply treat others any way that we want, because there is no perfect creator who has designed us as anything different than other animals on planet earth. But if there is a creator God who designed us personally, then we need to remember that we are in the image of this God, something special and unique on planet earth, and something that has an inherent DIGNITY. Our problem is that we tend to judge PEOPLE rather than the ideas that they hold. There is a solution for us, however. We can still use our God given powers of judgment and discernment without trampling the dignity of those around us. We simply need to remember to love PEOPLE, but be very careful about the IDEAS that they hold.

So Why Are We Still So Judgmental…Ever wonder why it's so hard NOT to judge the people who are around us? I think it may simply come down to a couple of common reasons. First, it may simply be that we find ourselves putting others down, so we can feel better about ourselves. You know, the further down the ladder we can push someone else, the further up the ladder we will find ourselves (even if only by comparison)! We desperately want to see ourselves as better than those with whom we live and work. And I think this is true because we simply want to have value. If only we realized that God has already given us great value, created in his image, with dignity and purpose. If we could realize this, it would be easy to hear God on this issue:

Philippians 2:3-4…Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.

It's easy to place others on a pedestal when we realize that we don't have to feel threatened in our own self-worth. We ARE worthy, because we are the children of the God of perfection. But in addition to our desire to feel good about ourselves, I think it is also in our nature to cling to what is familiar, shrink from diversity and judge those who are simply DIFFERENT than we are! We are drawn to those who look and sound the most like us, and when we encounter someone who is different, for whatever reason, we find ourselves drawing lines in the sand, delineating the differences and being personally judgmental along the way. There's only one way to combat this inclination in our lives. We've got to realize that we are all part of the same family. We are all children of the same God, and get this, God thought enough of us to join us here on planet earth:

Hebrews 2:11…Both the one who makes men holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers

Jesus Himself is willing to call himself our BROTHER! Think about that for a minute. If God is willing to love us in that way, with all our shortcomings compared to Him, shouldn't we be able to love those around us? After all, no matter how different they may seem, the people in our world are far closer to us in their imperfection than God could EVER be.

So How Are We To Know?…If it is clear that we are called to judge and discern between competing IDEAS in our world, how are we to proceed in judging these ideas? What are the guidelines? After all, if we are going to decide between competing ideas about the nature of God and how we might be joined to God, how are we supposed to measure these ideas? Wouldn't it just be easier to say that there is no single true idea about who God is or how we might be saved?

One Way to Heaven?…Boy it sure sounds judgmental, arrogant and intolerant to say that there is only one way to be saved or to know God. To say that is to exclude large numbers of people who believe in competing and contradictory belief systems, no matter which faith system you accept as true. It would sure be nice if all paths would lead to Rome, if any belief would save you. But that is not what Jesus says here in the Sermon on the Mount:

Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it

Jesus is clear that not every path will lead you to God. In fact this statement can be coupled with many others in which Jesus tells us that He is God incarnate and the only way to truly know God:

John 14:6-7…I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

So it appears that Jesus Himself would tell us that there is only one way to be saved. And in addition to this, Jesus also told us that we shouldn't be surprised when the world tells us that this isn't actually true

Watch Out For False Prophets…That's why Jesus warned us to watch carefully for people who claim to speak for God, but are actually speaking falsely. Now it may sound like Jesus is judging PEOPLE here when he is makes this statement, and He certainly has the right to judge, remember that perfection does give you the ability to judge imperfection, and only Jesus is perfect. But look at his words carefully. Notice that he didn't say, "Watch out for BAD PEOPLE". The focus here, once again, is NOT on the person, but on the truth that this person claims to represent as a prophet!

Now there have been a ton of people who have claimed to be prophets in both the days that preceded Jesus and in the many years that have followed Him. We still have people in our world today that claim they are prophets of God, and they have emerged from every world religion and many other belief systems that have created in the last century or so. Now Jesus tells us to watch out for false prophets, but how are we to recognize them?

By Their Fruit…Well, Jesus tells us that we will recognize the false prophets by their fruit. That definitely seems like a valid way to evaluate someone's personal character, but are there any guidelines to help us determine what KIND of fruit we are looking for? I mean, for a couple of 'prophets' from the past, it isn't real tough to decide if they are false, because their lives imploded and everything they sought to build was completely destroyed. Guys like Jim Jones and David Koresh led movements that collapsed upon themselves, and it's pretty easy to make a judgment about their beliefs based on the fruit of those movements. But other prophets and belief systems are far harder to measure.

How About a Ton of Scripture?…Can we measure a prophet or belief system based on a prolific amount of scripture? Sometimes believers will point to their scripture as an evidence that the belief system must be true. After all, look at the Quran, or the Book of Mormon or the Bahai scriptures; these are impressive bodies of work! But impressive writings don't necessarily indicate that something is TRUE. After all, the Lord of the Rings Trilogy is one of the most impressive literary feats ever written, but as impressive as it is, the Lord of the Rings is simply not true. It is fiction. The presence of scripture alone is no way to judge a faith system.

How About a Ton of Important Buildings?…Sometimes believers will point to the fact that they have incredible churches or mosques or temples as a proof that their prophet or belief system is true. After all, how could something that is false produce so many beautiful buildings? But let's face it, there are a ton of Buddhist Temples, and Islamic Mosques and Catholic Cathedrals and Mormon Temples. Are all these systems then true simply based on the fact that they have some cool buildings? They can't ALL be true, they offer contradictory explanations for the nature of God and the nature of Salvation! And we're not going to be able to determine which one is correct based on the fact that they have nice buildings.

How About a Ton of Growth?…Can we look at the growth of a faith system (or the number of followers that a prophet has) to figure out if a belief is true? Christianity still outpaces other faith systems at the global level (with incredible growth in South America and South Africa), but here in America, Islam is still the fastest growing faith system. These two groups can both offer their incredible growth as a marker indicating that their beliefs are true, but neither can obviously prove this from growth rates. Obviously they both cannot be true, as their views contradict themselves on many key points.

Here in America, home grown belief systems often point to their rate of growth to validate themselves. The Mormon church, for example, began in 1830 and today has membership at 12.2 million. But Pentecostal Christianity, which originated in Topeka, Kansas, in 1901, has membership of around 480 million adherents worldwide as of 1998 (check out www.adherents.com). In addition to this, the Assemblies of God denomination, which was organized in 1914, has membership of about 50 million members worldwide, adding approximately 3.6 million new members a year (http://www.ag.org). And the Seventh-day Adventist Church, organized in 1849, reports a membership of over 13.6 million (http://www.religioustolerance.org/sda.htm). So, are we to conclude that Pentecostalism, the Assemblies of God and the Seventh Day Adventists are "truer" simply because they are growing faster? No, size and rate of growth have little to do with whether or not something is true.

How About a Ton of Good People?…Faith systems like to point to the quality of their believers as a validation as well. But all systems can boast of truly devout members who lead a life of prayer and service. At the same time, all these systems must also admit that their histories will also reveal individuals who did not represent their beliefs well. Christians must explain the Crusades, Muslims must explain modern terrorism, Mormons must explain the Mountain Meadow Massacre and the Blood Atonement Hit Squads, Hindus must explain continuing violence and struggles with competing groups around the globe today. No faith system can say that its membership is perfect, because all faith systems have a HUMAN membership. And we know what we are like, right? It would be foolish to decide a prophet or systems truth level based on its membership, and it would also be unfair to judge that system based on the fallen nature of people.

So, What is the Measuring Stick?…So how are we to decide which belief or prophet is true? Well, you know that I believe that any prophet or religious claim should be consistent with external evidence. All science and history and sociology and psychology will also align with the truth of God's nature, so when you see that a particular belief system is NOT coherent with external evidences, it is fair to put it aside and continue your search for the truth. And when we assess the evidence and realize that God is the creator of the universe in which we live, it logically follows that this same God must be unimaginably powerful. A powerful God like this has the power to be perfect, and indeed He is. And a perfect God is never going to be impressed with our imperfection. Therefore, if there is a God, it is philosophically reasonable that this God would never require Good Works on our part as a requirement for Salvation. After all, our Good Works aren't all that great in the eyes of a perfect God.

So the first measurement for spiritual truth should simply be this: does the prophet or belief systems propose that we can impress and perfect God with our own imperfection? It certainly seems that this is a ruler for Jesus as well, because He addresses the issue of Good Works as he is talking about the kind of fruit we should expect to see:

Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them. "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'

Now take a close look at what Jesus is saying here. Notice that he is addressing the issue of what kind of fruit we should look for. Notice also that He is addressing the issue of entering the Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus is talking about Salvation and a particular view of Salvation at that. It also is evident that there will be many who will try to work their way into heaven, and Jesus gives us a few examples of what they might offer as Good Works. He describes people who have done three types of service, (1) prophesying in the name of Jesus, (2) driving out demons in the name of Jesus, and (3) performing miracles in the name of Jesus. Those sound like pretty good works to me! So why would Jesus tell them that he will ultimately say, "I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers"? Jesus tells us that "only he who does the will of my Father" will find him or herself in the presence of God after we die. So what is the will of the Father? Is it a number of Good Works? No, it is something much simpler:

John 6:40…For my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.

The Early Believers Got It!…It is FAITH that God is looking for, not Good Works. And that makes perfect sense, doesn't it? Any true representation of God will reflect the fact that God is perfect and unimpressed with imperfect Good Works on the part of man. The true God would EXTEND Salvation, because a Salvation that could be earned is a LESSER salvation. It is HUMAN Salvation, not Holy Salvation. Christianity is the only belief system on the planet that offers this type of free gift, a gift that cannot be paid for by a single Good Work. And those who believe in the true historic Christian concept of GRACE (the absolutely FREE gift of Salvation) are on the path to truth and enter through the Narrow Gate that Jesus was talking about. The early leaders of Christianity understood this truth and wrote about it often

Listen to what John recorded:…Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. On him God the Father has placed his seal of approval." Then they asked him, "What must we do to do the works God requires?" Jesus answered, "The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent." (John 3:14,15,18)

Listen to what Paul said:…For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith ├ö├ç├┤ and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God ├ö├ç├┤ not by works, so that no one can boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9)

Listen to what Peter said:…Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls. (1 Peter 1:8-9)

Each of these leaders of the early Church understood the fact that truth can be measured by whether or not a prophet or belief system acknowledges that Salvation can only be offered by God, and cannot be earned by man. That's why Paul was so focused on the work of the cross:

1 Corinthians 2:2-3…For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.

Why is Paul so focused on the cross? Because it is here that Jesus did what we could never do. He paid the price for our sin. He provided us with safe passage home to God in Heaven. It was on the cross that Jesus became the doorway to heaven. The cross is the place where Jesus became the GATE:

John 10:7-10…"I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep. All who ever came before me were thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. He will come in and go out, and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

The Narrow Gate…Salvation can be found through a narrow gate. Not every road leads to Rome. Not every belief system is true. Not every 'prophet' speaks for God. Christianity stand alone as the only belief system that acknowledges an all-powerful God with a plan to get you home that will not require your own relatively imperfect effort. Oh, don't get me wrong, you'll end up with a new life and a new passion for people and doing what is right. But that wilol simply be the outcome and overflow of a joyous heart that recognizes that God has done something amazing with this free gift we call Salvation.

While the path may be narrow, it is not restrictive. It is available to EVERYONE. The offer of truth is out there, It's simply a matter of our wanting it enough to accept it.