Restoration's Enemy

The world would like Christians to believe that they should never judge. It's a nonsensical concept, of course, because they are judging Christians for judging. Further, living without judgment is just plain stupid. It cannot be done. You need to judge if this food is dangerous or that action could get you killed or this person is trustworthy or ... judgments all around. In fact, Christians have the obligation of using right judgment for the purpose of restoration.

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. Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. (Gal 6:1-2)

You can't catch anyone in any transgression if you have no judgment, and clearly the aim here is to "restore him in a spirit of gentleness." Jesus's well-known comments on "If a brother sins against you" (Matt 18:15-17) were aimed at getting repentance, not "justice" or "revenge." Paul ordered the delivering of a sinning church member to Satan "for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord" (1 Cor 5:5). Judgment is always necessary. It is required for restoration. It is an act of love.

So why do we get in the way, so often, of this act of love? I mean "we" Christians. We will discover transgression in another and seek their repentance (often in precisely the wrong way, talking behind their backs and gossiping), and when it comes, we shut them out. It is dangerous in many church circles for a divorced Christian to admit he or she was divorced. It is a kind of death to admit as a believer that there had been a time when they practiced homosexual behavior or lived a life of sin. There is one unforgivable sin -- blasphemy against the Holy Spirit -- but we believers have our own versions as well, and if you commit them, regardless of repentance and the restoration we're supposed to provide, the bearing of one anothers burdens we're commanded, the love of the brethren that Jesus said should mark us, you can rest assured you'll never get in with that mark on your record. So we end up defying God's command to restore sinners and consider ourselves more holy for doing so. Perhaps we ought to check for logs in our own eyes? Self-righteousness is the enemy of restoration.