Therefore you are without excuse, every man of you who passes judgment, for in that you judge one another, you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things. And we know that the judgment of God rightly falls upon those who practice such things.

Romans 2:1-2, NASB

We have all heard it. Maybe we have said it ourselves: "Don't judge me!" When we say such things, however, it's often because we have done something that is worthy of judgment. But when we look at this passage, combined with Jesus' instruction "Judge not, that ye be not judged", we often feel justified in our claim that no one has the right to tell us what we are doing is wrong. After all. that would be judging, wouldn't it?

We were looking at this very passage in Bible class yesterday morning. We have a teacher who has a talent for engendering discussion no matter how sleepy the class may be, and this day was no exception. He was pointing out how tricky this verse can sometimes be - are we to notice that people are sinning when we have sin in our own lives? Wouldn't that be judging? 

One gentleman with many years of Bible study and teaching gave this example: He said that he had once bought a truck in which someone has left behind a very nice level. The level was made of brass and wood and was four foot in length. It was state of the art when it was made and still functioned beautifully. He admitted that he used it often. He said that he used it to prop open a door!

His point was that though he did use it from time to time in it's intended function to check the level of something, he usually used it in a way other than was intended by its maker. He further pointed out that though some men will occasionally use the Bible for its intended purpose, that they are all too often just as likely to misuse it for something that fits their own purpose. Then he made this point: The Bible is a standard!

I remember one day being chastised by one of my favorite people who I had coached and played countless "pickup" games with in basketball. My daughter and I had been coaching her team in a summer league camp, and they had done very well. But the championship games were played on a Sunday, so my daughter and I were not there to coach since we were at worship. Compounding the matter was that another daughter who was playing on the team was also at the worship and missed the final games.

Later that evening, I saw my friend at the gym. They had lost their games that day and she was wondering where we all were. When I told her, she wanted to know why we would do such a thing. I told her it was because we were not heathens! She told me not to judge her! I replied, "I wasn't judging you, sweetheart. I was just making an observation!"

Now, of course, we were both just engaging in friendly banter, but there is a point in all of this. As the gentleman said in Bible class, we do have a standard. Furthermore, it is God's standard. Sometimes people will misuse that standard to try and get away with things that they know they shouldn't really be doing. And so, they take the meaning of Scripture and then twist it to "prove" the complete opposite of its meaning.

In the passage above, we are given a standard: Judgment is not in our realm! All have sinned and fall short (Romans 3:23). But God has still set a standard, and we are told in the same passage that, though we have no right to be passing judgment on our fellow men, that God will rightly judge each one of us. Since He has just had the Apostle Paul itemize a long list of sinful activities in the verses that preceded the one that is quoted above, we are without excuse. The reason for this is that we can know what is right and wrong without taking God's role in the Judgment.

In other words, we can know by the stated standard that something is sin without going to the extreme of taking God's place. If we pretend we cannot tell when someone is sinning, how can we possibly help them stop that sin? We must look to God's Word for the standard and then by observation we can love our fellow man enough to warn them. This doesn't require judging. It requires love! Our part on both sides is to be careful never to cross the line between our duty, and that of God.

We do have a standard! The question is are we using it in the right way?