Judge Rightly: How Not To Judge By Appearances

John 7:19-24

Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment (John 7:24)

“Do not judge” is arguably, Jesus’ most misinterpreted words with many interpreting it as no correction, no confrontation and no criticism. And the verse often used for that sentiment is Matthew 7:1: “Judge not, that you be not judged.”

If we stop at the verse 1, then it will mean Jesus precludes any form of judgment or correction. However as you read on, you get the true sense of Jesus’ words. He is addressing equity and fairness, holding others by the same standards we will hold ourselves (vv. 2-4). Ironically, in the same Chapter, Jesus pronounced judgement:

You hypocrite, 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 (v.5)

The Reality of Judging

In life, the reality of personal conflicts in relationships cannot be ignored. People will sin against us and we will wrong others. We will be misunderstood and misinterpreted. Sometimes sincere intentions may be taken out of context. There will be sin to confront. We will be brought into situations where we will have to make judgement.

Now one of the difficult things for people to do, even Christians, is to confront one another with their sins. In fact many grievances will go unconfronted with people rather bearing grudges. But the Bible doesn’t teach that. Jesus teaches we confront when we are sinned against
(Luke 17:1-4)

In John 7:24, Jesus has healed a man on the sabbath (back in Chapter 5:1-18) and the Jewish authorities took offense seeking an opportunity to kill him. Jesus confronts them by pointing out their disobedience of the law while yet seeking to uphold the law: “Has not Moses given you the law? Yet none of you keeps the law. Why do you seek to kill me?” (v.19).

They were law breakers seeking to enforce the commandments of God. Now all of us are held to the same standards of obedience to God. None of us is special that the standard’s of God’s holy demands will be relaxed for our benefit. James tells us we should be doers of the word and not hearers only.

And this was the problem Jesus was dealing with. They were holding Jesus to a standard they themselves were upholding. That is hypocrisy. Holding people to a standard we do not keep ourselves (Romans 2:21-23). Like the Jews in the narrative, we are all law-breakers who have sinned against God and justly deserve his judgement. Every other person in this narrative is a law breaker, a sinner and yet they seek to kill an innocent person. And Jesus confronted them.

Sin must be confronted, corrected and rebuked. Sin must be judged.

But how must that be done?

Humbly

We are sinners judging other sinners. We must therefore be humble in confronting or dealing with sin in others because we are all guilty sinners. We must not be judgmental; overly critical of the sins of others, while we confront them. Have you ever have to deal with sin in another person’s life? How did you go about it? Are you a person of one character? Saying one thing and doing another thing? Do you hold people to standards you yourself do not adhere to?

Truthfully

In the 10 commandments, the 8th commandment forbids bearing false witness. And the Jews in the narrative are guilty of doing that. They are wrongly accusing Jesus of breaking the sabbath when indeed he hasn’t broken it. Commentators have noted they were not arguing the true sense of the sabbath, but rather their own extra regulations. The true sense of the sabbath is to give rest and Jesus healing on the sabbath is giving rest to the weary.

Jesus truly offers rest to the weary. All those who put their faith in him, he gives them rest from their sins. Regardless of what your situation may be, if you will trust in Christ, you will receive rest for your soul.

The man in the narrative was bound in sickness for 38years and when he met, Jesus, he had lost all hopes of help from anywhere. But that day was his day of freedom. His life changed. He was freed from his bondage. Dear reader, f you have encountered Jesus by faith, then truly, you are a free man: “If the Son sets you free, you are free indeed (John 8:36).

But sadly, not everyone rejoiced in the freedom of the man, but rather found cause to wrongly accuse Jesus. Jesus pointed their inconsistency to them (v.23). We must not slander and seek to destroy people in our judgment. To judge rightly in truth is not to slander, gossip, backbite and seek to destroy one another. Titus 3:2 sums up things clearly: “to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy toward all people”

In judging right, we must not bear false witness. We must follow the biblical pattern of conflict resolution.

If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. 16 But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. 17 If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector (Matthew 18:15-17).

Non-Legalistic

To be legalistic is simply to think what we do is what saves us. The Jews wrongly imposed their human traditions on the law of God. The law no where forbade healing on the sabbath. Like the Jews sometimes we can wrongly judge others by our strongly held opinions, rather than biblical truth and completely miss the point of Grace.

Sometimes past, I saw a conversation on X that is a perfect illustration.

A man posted on his feed: “I accepted Christ into my heart today”. Then another person commented on that post: “You don’t invite Him into your heart. You bow the knee and confess Him as your Lord. If Christ isn’t your Lord then He isn’t your Savior.”

Now, that response was absolutely unnecessary. Someone has publicly confessed their faith in Christ and that is when you want to talk about fine theology? I got into the comment session and responded: “That someone has expressed faith in Christ is something to rejoice over. This is not the time to argue over fine theology. Accepting Christ into your heart, bowing your knee to Christ is just the same language of faith in Christ.”

Let us not become obsessed with fine theology and miss the hand of God at work. This is precisely what happened with the Jews in this narrative. They acknowledged the work of God in Christ, yet they rejected him. That’s really what verse 21 is about, seeing the hand of God and rejecting it because of who it is coming from

Graciously

God has dealt with us graciously. What he asks us to do, he himself upholds. God doesn’t judge us by our appearance, else none will stand before him ( 1Samuel 16:7). What he demands, he has satisfied in Christ.

Let us extend the same grace that has been extended to us in addressing the sins of others:

Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted (Galatians 6:1).