To Judge or Not to Judge - Justin Wadel

So there's an old proverb, I'm not sure where this came from, uh, exactly. I've heard it many times, or read it many times, and it goes like this: "Don't judge a man until you have walked a mile in his boots."

And as David already mentioned, this subject of judging, uh, can easily become unbalanced, and we can find ourselves on, in one ditch or another, uh, depending on what we may be reacting to, uh, depending on maybe how we have grown up, maybe depending on how we have been treated in the past. And I don't know that I'm going to totally judge or, or cover this subject, um, as much as it could be, um, but we are going to be taking a look at a good bit of Scripture and some other commentary just to, um, hopefully have a good balanced look at the subject of judging.

I'm going to start at, uh, reading Luke chapter 6, verse 37 is where we'll start. Very familiar passage, I'm sure, to, to most of us.

And this is Jesus speaking, uh, here in the, the Sermon on the Plane, as it's commonly known as. Verse 37 of Luke chapter 6: "Judge not, and you shall not be judged; condemn not, and you shall not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven; give, and it will be given to you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over, will be put into your bosom; for with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you."

And he spoke a parable to them: "Can the blind lead the blind? Will they not both fall into the ditch? A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone who is perfectly trained will be like his teacher. And why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but do not perceive the plank in your own eye?

Or how can you say to your brother, 'Brother, let me remove the speck that is in your eye,' when you yourself do not see the plank that is in your own eye? Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck that is in your brother's eye."

This would be a good time for a children's lesson. And, uh, years ago, when I was young, I, I watched somebody play this out in a children's lesson, and he had a big 2x4 taped onto his eye, and he walked up to a guy to try to correct him, you know, and he was about knocking him over. It was a really good, uh, a really good illustration of that. It stuck in my mind. Um, I just didn't feel that, that energetic this morning.

So I think we can see here very clearly that, that Jesus, our Lord, is clearly prohibiting us from judging or condemning others, and also giving us some clear directives on how to help one another recognize sins and faults in each other's lives. And just a few points I'd like to make for this passage.

Number one, by judging or condemning others, we invite the same measure of judgment or condemnation on ourselves. Uh, it will come back to us. Number two, a perfectly trained disciple will be like his teacher, not above him. And Jesus many times, uh, spoke about this subject in reference to himself and said, "I did not come to judge. I am, uh, I am not here for judgment."

And a, as a, as a trained disciple of Christ, we want to be like him, not try to be above him.

Number three, we have a tendency to see the small faults and sins in our brothers' and sisters' lives without recognizing the big faults and sins in our own lives.

Number four, in order to have any success in helping a brother or sister remove the small faults and sins from their lives, we need to first examine ourselves and remove the faults or sins in our own life.

Jesus said, "If you don't do this, you're a hypocrite."

And just to make us aware, I think we know what these two, um, things are, but a speck, um, is basically just a small twig or a small piece of straw, just something really small, something that might not even hardly cause irritation.

In contrast, a beam, and I do use the word plank here, but I think the word beam is used a lot of, in a, in a lot of other translations. A beam is a large piece of wood, uh, picture a supporting beam to a structure, a beam going across the top of a structure. It's, it's something big and important. Uh, so Jesus is using this contrast, I think, on purpose, uh, just to get this thought through our mind that so many times we get, uh, we, we pick out these small faults and, and twigs, you could say, in other people's lives, not realizing that we ourselves have this beam that we're carrying around and, and have not gotten rid of.

There's a good example of this teaching found in John 8, where we have the story of the woman caught in adultery. I want to go ahead and read that. John chapter 8, verse 1: "But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives."

Verse 2: "Now early in the morning he came again into the temple, and all the people came to him, and he sat down and taught them. Then the scribes and Pharisees brought to him a woman caught in adultery. And when they had set her in the midst, they said to him, 'Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery in the very act.

Now Moses and the law commanded us that such should be stoned. But what do you say?' This they said, testing him that they might have something of which to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with his finger as though he did not hear.

So then they continued asking him, and he raised himself up and said to them, 'He who is without sin among you, let him throw his stone at her first.' And again he stooped down and wrote on the ground. Then those who heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning with the oldest even to the last. And Jesus was left alone and the woman standing in the midst.

When Jesus had raised himself up and saw no one but the woman, he said to her, 'Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?' She said, 'No one, Lord.' And Jesus said to her, 'Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more.'

Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, 'I am the light of the world. He who follows me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.'

There's a lot of speculation as to what Jesus was writing on the ground.

And I would personally love to know what, what he was writing. And, uh, there's, you know, different thoughts on that. Personally, I think that he was just simply listing the different sins that each of these people here who were accusing this lady were committing or involved in or had committed.

And as these people stood there and they thought about their own lives and they thought about their own sin, it says, "Beginning from the oldest even to the last, they all walked out." Uh, it's, it's very interesting. And finally, only Jesus is left. And Jesus, being the only sinless one in the crowd, could have picked up a stone and took care of this.

According to the law, he, he had that right. But instead, he gave mercy. Also, Jesus seems to be equating judging and condemning others with walking in darkness. And we'll see that more later. I'm going to, I'm going to try to point that out later. But whereas giving mercy, showing mercy is a big part of walking in, in light. And I think that's why Jesus made this, this comment that he did after this scenario, after this all happened. I mean, he talked about walking in darkness, those that walk in darkness or walk in the light.

Whenever we refuse to give mercy, it is a step into darkness. All right, so now let's look at what some of the apostles have to say on this subject. And, uh, we'll start with James. James chapter 2, just a couple verses here. You don't have to turn there. Verses 12 to 13: "So speak and so do as those who will be judged by the law of liberty. For judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy.

Mercy triumphs over judgment." The law of liberty that James refers to here is the second great commandment of Christ. We should all know that: to love our neighbor as ourself. That is the law of liberty. This is the correct standard of judgment. The standard by which we judge is that by which we will be judged.

The mercy we give to others is the mercy we will receive. Okay, that's Jesus had already made that clear. And I think James, that's why James is saying this: God has shown great mercy to us. Let us in turn show mercy to others. There's a quote by a man named Thomas Adams that, that goes: "He who demands mercy and shows none ruins the bridge over which he himself is to pass."

I think there's a lot of truth to that.

We all want mercy, just like the, the, the story of the unmerciful servant who demanded almost expected mercy from his Lord, but then turned around and did not show mercy to his fellow servant.

Um, and we could put forgiveness in there as well. Kind of the same, same thing. All right, James chapter 4, verse 11 to 12: "Do not speak evil of one another, brethren. He who speaks evil of a brother and judges his brother speaks evil of the law and judges the law.

But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law, but a judge. There is one lawgiver who is able to save and to destroy. Who are you to judge another?"

Okay, so, so speaking evil or belittling criticism of others is a lack of faith united with evil works and offense both to the person criticized and to God.

It is a way, I think, to lift ourselves up above our brother or sister.

God's will is that we love others with mercy and humility, even if they are in the wrong.

There is one lawgiver and one judge, and who are we to think that we can take his place by condemning others, by criticizing others, by speaking evil of one another? So there again, another command: do not speak evil of one another.

Kind of put in the same place as, as a judge. 1 John 2:9 to 11, just kind of going into this thing of walking in the darkness or light. He who says he is in the light and hates his brother is in darkness until now. He who loves his brother abides in the light, and there is no cause for stumbling in him. But he who hates his brother is in darkness and walks in darkness and does not know where he is going because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

So just think about this: when we have critical thoughts towards one another, when we begin to judge one another, this is a form of hate. I really think this is a form of hate, like that John is talking about here. At least it's, it's the first step towards hate.

And in the end, it hurts us as much or more than it hurts others because it leads us into a spiritual darkness, a spiritual blindness. Um, and, and it leads us into this state of unforgiveness, a state of bitterness that I just put kind of all together into spiritual darkness.

That is where critical thoughts lead. That is where speaking or thinking evil one another leads. It leads to hate. And we need to be quick to deal with those thoughts. Uh, when those thoughts or feelings come, we need to be very quick to deal with that before they cause us to get to the next step, to the next level.

Because John makes it very clear that if we hate our brother, then we're in darkness.

Pretty simple. Uh, let's look at what Paul has to say in the subject. Uh, you can go to turn to Romans 14 because I'm going to read the whole chapter.

And this is a pretty big discussion here. And I'm not going to claim that I understand all of this. I'll let David cover it when he makes it to this chapter someday. It might be a while. Um, I really look forward to that because this is the end of Romans.

I just always enjoy the end of the last couple chapters in Romans. And so I want to be very careful not to take this out of context. Um, I'm just going to be making some, some observations that I see here that definitely go along with this, with this subject.

So let's go ahead and read the whole chapter.

Romans chapter 14: "Receive one who is weak in the faith, but not to disputes over doubtful things. For one believes he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats only vegetables. Let not him who eats despise him who does not eat, and let not him who does not eat judge him who eats, for God has received him. Who are you to judge another servant? To his own master he stands or falls. Indeed, he will be made to stand, for God is able to make him stand.

One person esteems one day above another. Another esteems every day alike. Let each be fully convinced in his own mind. He who observes the day observes it to the Lord, and he who does not observe the day to the Lord, he does not observe it. He who eats, eats to the Lord, for he gives God thanks, and he does not, and he who does not eat to the Lord, he does not eat and gives God thanks.

For none of us lives to himself, and no one dies to himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lords. For to this end, Christ died and rose and lived again, that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living.

But why do you judge your brother? Or why do you show contempt for your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. For it is written, "As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God."

So then, each of us shall give account of himself to God. Therefore, let us not judge one another anymore, but rather resolve this not to put a stumbling block or a cause to fall in our brother's way. I know and am convinced by the Lord Jesus that there is nothing unclean of itself, but to him who considers anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean.

Yet if your brother is grieved because of your food, you are no longer walking in love. Do not destroy with your food the one for whom Christ died. Therefore, do not let your good be spoken of as evil.

For the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. For he who serves Christ in these things is acceptable to God and approved by men. Therefore, let us pursue the things which make for peace and the things by which one may edify another. Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All things indeed are pure, but it is evil for the man who eats with offense.

It is good neither to eat meat, nor drink wine, nor do anything by which your brother stumbles or is offended or is made weak. Do you have faith? Have it to yourself before God. Happy is he who does not condemn himself in what he approves. But he who doubts is condemned if he eats, because he does not eat from faith, for whatever is not from faith is sin.

Like I said, big discussion, and I'm, I'm definitely not going to try to, to cover everything that he's speaking about here. But here's some observations. Paul seems to be talking about the way different people respond to what he calls doubtful things.

Um, and I'm going to say that doubtful things could be matters not related to essential doctrines and teachings.

And I think it's probably pretty obvious that he's speaking of Jews and Gentiles coming together here just because of some of the, the, the restrictions that the one group has. But we'll try to apply it to ourselves here.

The one group of people place a lot of importance on those secondary matters. Okay, the, the maybe just the, the things that we can't nail down as doctrine or, or clear teaching or clear commands.

But so they, they place a lot of importance on these matters like food restrictions and observing particular days over another. The other group are those who have no need to be bound to these restrictions. So then we have this potential for each group to judge or hold contempt for one another. You know, the one group judges the other group because they're not keeping these, um, special days or they're not eating. They're, they're eating things that they shouldn't be eating. Whereas the other group looks down on that group because, look, we have freedom in Christ. We don't have to observe all those things.

And so you have these different convictions and this, this tension.

And this tension can easily happen where you have people of different backgrounds and cultures coming together in church life. It really happens. And I'm going to give a real-life example of, I would say, something that probably applies the closest to us that I could think of, um, in this context. And that is the example of whether or not we view Sunday as a, a, um, day of rest, um, as kind of like a Sabbath day. So, so I'm going to say probably about half of us here grew up very similar to the way I grew up, where, uh, for the most part, Sunday was viewed as definitely a very distinct day from the other days of the week.

And it was a day that obviously normally you went to church. And then other than that, it was also a day that was kind of kept holy. And it was called a day of rest. Um, a lot of people went so far as to say it was the Sabbath.

And so that meant that there were certain things you didn't do on Sunday. You didn't, uh, go out to eat. Okay, you didn't, you tried not to spend money. You didn't go out to eat. You didn't stop for gas on Sunday. You didn't, um, mow your grass on Sunday or, you know, do, you know, paint your living room. You didn't do extra things that could easily be done the other day of the week. Now, obviously, there are certain jobs you, you can't get away from working, but any kind of work that you didn't have to do, you definitely didn't do on Sunday.

And I think some of us here have experienced a lot of different levels of that. Now, some of you come from a background where Sunday was, yeah, maybe a day you went to church, but it wasn't necessarily considered a holy day or any like special day of rest. And you might have went to church and then went home and ate lunch and went out and mowed your grass because that was just the best day to do it. It worked better than the other days of the week.

Um, you might, you know, have painted your living room on that day because it was an off day. You weren't working. Um, fortunately, most, most workplaces still give, uh, give you the day off on Sunday.

So we, a lot of us have grown up with these different mentalities and different things that were, were ingrained in our DNA about how, how we operate on Sunday. So I remember one time, this is a number of years ago, that it was a Sunday evening. I think we were relaxing outside. I think it was nice outside. And David called me up and said, "Hey, could we stop in for a visit?" I was like, "Yeah, that would be great."

Um, and so David, knowing how a lot of us Mennonites are, that we don't tend to eat that much on a Sunday evening, we kind of have our big meal at lunch and then we don't have much to eat. He did a very kind thing. They stopped at Wendy's and picked up some cheeseburgers and frosties and I don't know what all. And I think by the time they got to our house, he was starting to have second thoughts about this.

And so he comes up to me and he kind of, he kind of pulled me aside. He goes, "So we stopped at Wendy's and got, you know, some, some food for everyone, but I didn't even think about it until later that maybe this would be offensive to you."

And I was like, "No, that's fine. You know, that's, that's, that's great. Sounds good. Frosties. It was hot outside."

My point in that was at that moment, now I, I grew up with kind of a lighter view on it that we, we were definitely careful on Sundays, but we, and we didn't do much extra, but there were those occasions where if we were traveling, we stopped and got something to eat. If, if the vehicle was empty, we got gas. It wasn't. So I was kind of in the middle ground somewhere.

And that was all fine. We, we ate together. We enjoyed our fellowship and had a good time. Now, in saying that, I still probably never have made a habit of going to Wendy's on Sunday and buying cheeseburgers and frosties for my family. There is just something in that has been instilled in me from little up that, that, that that's kind of off limits.

Um, and some of you, I'm sure, just don't understand that, but, and I know a lot of you do.

My, my, my reason of bringing up this example is this is one of those things when people come together and we're having church and, and we become a, a church family and these things can come up and cause tension.

Uh, these things can come up and cause offenses. You know, we can all of a sudden, you know, I could drive by Daniel's house on Sunday afternoon and see him out in his riding motor and be like, "Wait a minute, you know, what's he doing out there? Does he know today's Sunday? It's a day of rest." You know, and that kind of thing can come up where we have to realize that because of my culture and background, there are different views that I have than, than, than what Daniel's culture and background was. And then we had to learn to, to blend those. And we have to learn to give mercy. And we have to learn to be flexible.

And I think that's what Paul is trying to get at here, uh, when he talks about this.

In both cases, or on both sides, we are commanded to give flexibility to others just as God himself is flexible with us. How do we know how God views some of these things? How do we know how, how much we do that God is merciful because we don't quite understand the right way? We don't quite understand what we're doing. And God be like, "Man, he's doing that again, you know, doesn't he get it?"

And he's merciful. Paul reminds us that we belong to the Lord. And for that reason, we have no business judging others' practices based on our own ideas, background, or culture or heritage.

These things cause us to lose sight of the fact that we are united in Christ, who is our one Lord and judge. We are all fellow servants with one master to whom we must give account. Verse 13 and 19 are key to all this, where we are told that instead of judging one another or creating these offenses that could cause our brother or sister to fall, we need to resolve our purpose to always be finding ways to edify and encourage each other and pursue the things that unite us. And that's kind of another topic, but that's very important in this discussion.

And I feel like that, that we are working very hard at that very thing here at CCF. And I hope to see that continue where we do have people from other backgrounds coming in. We do have people from different cultures.

And instead of focusing on the things that are different about us, we try to focus on the things that unite us and bring us together.

And I like verse 19. Therefore, let us pursue the things which make for peace and the things by which one may edify another. Very important verse. So, as I'm sure you're all aware, I think I've covered most of the references to judging where we are commanded not to judge one another. But there is another side to this. There's actually other places in the New Testament where we are commanded to judge, even by Paul himself.

Obviously, the church has been given the responsibility to, to confront and deal with sin. I don't think that any of us here believe that we are all just some kind of free agent who doesn't answer to anyone. In fact, here at CCF, we, we believe strongly in accountability and speaking into each other's lives, coming to each other and helping us, helping each other grow.

In fact, we welcome that kind of interaction. It's not seen as a threat or an invasion, an intrusion into my life. We all need each other to help us see our blind spots. And definitely, we want to help each other fight against sin. So how do we do this without judging each other? How do we do this without criticizing each other? And it's definitely possible. How do we judge without judging?

Instead of me answering that question, I'm going to let an Orthodox brother named Lawrence Farley answer it in an article that he wrote. And in this article, he mainly quotes a scripture and then he, he quotes a good bit of, um, a sermon from John Chrysostom to help bring this all together.

And I felt like since he did so much better job than I could, I'm just going to go ahead and read this article. It's a very good article. It just excuses some of the references to orthodoxy.

I think we'll, we'll be okay.

We don't want to judge him.

So what we're trying to, what we're trying to think about is how, how do we judge the way that we have been told we are supposed to judge without judging?

The title of this article is "Grant Me Not to Judge My Brother."

Those familiar with Lenten liturgy will recognize the title as part of the Lenten prayer of St. Ephraim the Syrian, which reads in part, "Oh Lord and Master of my life, grant me to see my own transgressions and not to judge my brother, for you are blessed unto ages of ages."

This prayer is not the only part of our tradition that forbids us to judge. The counsel of the Desert Fathers is replete with admonitions not to judge our brethren. And Holy Scripture says the same. St. Paul says, "Let him, let not him who eats, disdain him who does not eat, and let not him who does not eat judge him who eats. Who are you to judge the servant of another?"

That was in Romans 14:3. St. James says the same. "Do not speak against one another, brethren. He who speaks against a brother or judges his brother speaks against the law and judges the law. There is only one lawgiver and judge."

Such an apostolic attitude goes back to the Lord himself. In his sermon on the mount, he said, "Judge not, lest you be judged. In the way you judge, you will be judged." Why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye? First, take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye.

The teaching is clear. We are not to judge.

But this is not the only part of our tradition which speaks about judging. In other New Testament passages, we are commanded to judge. In his letter to the Corinthians, St. Paul said, "I wrote to you not to associate with any so-called brother if he should be immoral or covetous or an idolater or a reveler or a drunkard or a swindler.

Do not even eat with such a one. For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Do not, do you not judge those within the church? But those who are outside, God judges. Remove the wicked one from among yourselves." That's in 1 Corinthians 6.

This command and expectation of judgment is echoed by the Lord as well. Why do you not, even on your own initiative, judge what is right? Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment. That's in Luke 12 and John 7.

On the one hand, we are forbidden to judge, and on the other hand, we are commanded to judge. What's going on?

We are not the first ones to notice this apparent discrepancy in the tradition. John Chrysostom, that passionate and careful preacher, also noticed these varying counsels in his homilies on the Sermon of the Mount, commenting on the Lord's command, "Judge not, lest you be judged." The preacher of Antioch in Constantinople says the following.

So this is from John Chrysostom. What then? Ought we not to blame them that sin? Because Paul in Romans 14 also says the same thing. Why do you judge your brother? Who are you to judge the servant of another?

How then does Paul say elsewhere in 1 Timothy 5, "Them that sin rebuke in the presence of all." And Christ too says to Peter in Matthew 18, "If your brother sins, go and reprove him in private. And if he refuses to hear, take to yourself another also. And if even then he does not yield, declare it to the church."

And how has Christ set us clergy over so many to reprove and not only to reprove, but also to punish? Perhaps not surprisingly, Chrysostom could not only see the problem, but also its solution. We quote at length once again. This is Chrysostom again.

In the command, "Judge not, lest you be judged," Christ speaks to them that are full of innumerable ills and are trampling upon other men for trifles. And I think that certain Jews too here are hinted at, for while they were bitterly accusing their neighbors for small faults that came to nothing, they were themselves committing deadly sins.

In the Corinthians 2, Paul did not command absolutely not to judge, but not to judge their own superiors. They should not refrain from correcting them that sin. What then you say? If one commits fornication, may I not say that fornication is a bad thing and correct him that is fornicating? Correct him, but not as a foe, nor as an enemy expecting a penalty, but as a physician providing medicine. For Christ did not say, "Do not stop him who is sinning," but rather, "Judge not." That is, do not be bitter in pronouncing sentence.

Christ does not forbid judging, but commands you first to take out the log from your own eye and then only then set right the doings of the first of the rest of the world. It is in this extended bit from one of Chrysostom's sermons, it was on the Matthew's Gospel, that we can see the common sense and pastoral care of the church. The prohibitions against judging were never meant to suspend or blunt our moral faculties. They were never intended to induce moral confusion wherein we could not recognize sin and brokenness for what they are, nor to induce a muddle-headed cowardice wherein we were reluctant to rebuke sin.

Rather, the prohibitions against judging were meant to save us from self-righteousness, from a spiritual blindness which can see all sins except our own.

It is fatally easy to arrogate to ourselves the roles of accuser, judge, and jury and to condemn our brethren for trifles when we ourselves commit either the same offenses or even greater ones. And let's be honest, most of the time we judge our brethren, we condemn them for insignificant things, for making the sign of the cross wrong. Doesn't apply here.

For not fasting as we think they should, for indulging the same behaviors that we ourselves also often exhibit. And when we judge them, we do it because it makes us feel good. "Oh God, I thank you that I am not as other men are." Most of the time we judge others, we are dressed in the long robes of the Pharisees. At these times, the word of the Lord is clear, "Judge not, lest you be judged."

But there are other times when judgment is essential and when it would be sinful not to do it. St. Paul mentions these times as did our Lord. Even the law knew that there were times when love required open rebuke. "You shall not hate your brother in your heart. You may surely reprove your neighbor and not incur sin because of him." Leviticus 19.

This is especially the task of the clergy who are set as watchmen upon the walls. To them especially applies the word to the watchmen. When I say to the wicked, "Oh wicked man, you shall surely die," and you do not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require from your hand. Ezekiel 33:8. If we love our brethren and see them walking headlong into wickedness and disaster, we will surely reprove them. If we do not, they shall die in their iniquity and some of their guilt will be ours.

Though our Lord's words about not judging are misused by many today and made into an absolute, an inability, an ability to judge sin and a willingness to reprove it are crucial if the church is to fulfill its role of spiritually forming her children.

This ability to see and condemn sin is called by St. Paul aesthesis. I do not know this word. Sometimes translated discernment, perception, insight, moral understanding. Paul prayed that the love of his dear Philippians would abound in all knowledge and aesthesis so that they might approve the things which are excellent in order to be blameless for the day of Christ.

Philippians 1:9 and 10. Their joy on the last day depended upon the health and growth of this moral faculty. Only by discerning which things were excellent and which things were sinful could they be blameless before Christ on the day of judgment.

It is the same for us as well. The church is a bulwark and a pillar of the truth, a light shining in the midst of a dark and sinful world. We are charged by God with knowing what is true righteousness and of living it in such a way so that we so that all can see its beauty.

We fail God, our children, and ourselves if we allow the world to blunt our sense of the difference between righteousness and sin. If we become reluctant to see and judge sin for what it is, our message is always repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. And like the apostles, we must go out and tell men to repent.

For this, we need aesthesis or discernment and a willingness to judge starting with ourselves. The weary world languishes in sin and desperately needs to be called home.

That's the end. Any thoughts or comments?