Romans 14:13
12 Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in your brother’s way.

This advice from the apostle Paul is at least 2,000 years old–and yet we modern Christians still haven’t learned from it, if the church’s actions themselves to be believed.

One of the main outside critiques I hear about the modern Christian church is that it is full of “judgmental” people. Yet we Christians often refute this claim as vehemently as if we were being accused of a horrible crime. “We’re not judgmental!” we say in defense of ourselves. “Jesus taught us to be loving and kind, and compassionate!”

That He did, most certainly. But how long is it till someone from church slips up, and we can’t help but gossip just a little bit about them?

• “Didja hear what So-and-so did? I heard he’s been sleepin’ around, right under the missus’ nose…”
• “Well, I heard that So-and-so’s goin’ drinkin’ at all hours, drinkin’ and dancin’ like she ain’t got no shame!”

And, after we’ve finished our gossip, we usually add the phrase, “And they still think they’re a Christian.”

That right there is judgment of our fellow Christians. The Roman church was doing it too, and the apostle Paul rebuked them for it in this verse. He knew that Christians judging each other could lead to more sin and corruption within the church than anything, and he wanted to halt it before it got too much worse.

When we judge one another, especially harshly, we make it harder for the one we’ve judged to return to church, to worship with us, maybe even to pray or have a personal relationship with Christ. After all, when church reminds you of all the people who’ll be looking at you askance, why would you even try to return? Harsh judgment is an obstacle and a stumbling block to others, especially when we too sin and make mistakes.

When we become saved, we do not magically become unable to sin anymore. Our human nature is still there, though Jesus has paid the cost of all our sin and we no longer have to answer for it all. And so, being still imperfect, we are not suitable to judge each other–only God, being perfect and holy, is suitable to judge each of us.

Every person in church is battling sin in some form; as a church, we are simply a family of believers worshipping God together. The best thing we can do is to lift each other up and encourage each other to keep battling that sin, and to support one another when the battle seems nearly lost. To rush to judgment is to doom that person to a lost battle, and perhaps even a lost war.