How goes it everyone? Happy 2025. I’m making some small changes to the show. I’m dropping video and focusing fully on writing and audio. I will be dedicating my focus to Substack and growing a community there. God is growing in the world and He is calling many of us.
Biblical times…
In this episode of Order Within, I reflect on the nuances of judgment within Christianity, exploring how to discern between corrective and condemning judgment. Using scriptures from Matthew, John, Corinthians, and James, I discuss Jesus' teachings on proper judgment, the importance of self-reflection, and handling judgment within the church.
I urge you to approach judgment with humility, focusing on love and restoration rather than condemnation. The episode concludes with a prayer for wisdom, right judgment, and righteousness in serving God and helping others find compassion and healing.
For my readers, you can find the transcript below.
Table of Contents
00:00 Welcome and New Year Greetings
00:30 Format Changes and Focus on Substack
01:17 Spiritual Growth and Daily Practices
03:33 Introduction to the Topic of Judgment
04:45 Biblical Perspective on Judgment
12:02 Judgment Within the Church
19:55 Final Thoughts and Prayer
Transcript
Beyond Condemnation: The Art of Restorative Judgment
Brandon Ward: Hello and welcome. I'm your host, Brandon Ward, back with another episode of Order Within. I hope y'all are having a wonderful New Year so far. Took a couple of weeks off here during the holidays, so I hope you had a great Christmas and you're having a great 2025.
[00:00:30] It's wild 2025 time is moving rapidly y'all So i'm mixing up the format a bit here I'm dropping the video. I've been doing it for a little bit over a year It just doesn't make sense. I honestly think it limits my freedom. I feel kind of captured by the video. It's not a lot. I don't feel like I can speak freely you know when I started this show, it was just audio only and I'm going to continue with the audio only path.
[00:00:59] I'm also focusing on my Substack community, which has been great so far. If you're not on Substack, I'd invite you to come join there. It's a great, it's a great community. A lot of engagement, engaging more, creating more, writing more. So that's a lot of this too, is getting closer to the Lord, praying every day, reading the Bible every day.
[00:01:23] I can feel the, my vibes changing. The way that my life is flowing. Just, it's like a different sync, kind of. So, this falls back in line with that. But, that, for you, hopefully it doesn't matter. Hopefully you'll still enjoy it. Hopefully you'll notice more engagement from me.
[00:01:46] Substack is growing.
[00:01:47] It's wonderful. There's a lot of great people there. So I want to focus on that. I'm going to be doing more writing. I'm also going to be doing, uh, some audio like this. So what I'm going to do for my listeners out there, the podcast listeners who have stuck with me throughout this journey, which I really appreciate you guys and gals.
[00:02:07] Uh, anything that I write long form that I end up sending out to my subscribers on Substack, I will Record my voice reading it to you. So that way the audio listeners out there will continue to get audio. And then for my Substack readers, if you're not reading, or if you're not listening, I should say, I'll have the transcripts for you of the long form audio episodes that I do.
[00:02:32] So it's going to be a mix of audio and writing. And diving deeper and deeper in to God, Christianity, religion, the Lord, Jesus, all of those things, because it's so important. And I've just found so much love and value and healing and power through trusting in God and letting him leading my life and trusting in Jesus and embracing Jesus as my savior and just understanding what he gave for humanity.
[00:03:04] So I hope you all are enjoying the content so far, and I hope you enjoy this new pivot. It's a bit back to the old school. I think going lo fi is the way. And that's one thing that I really like about Substack and audio and podcast and writing, is it's lo fi. It's much more focused on just being present.
[00:03:24] And that's what it's about for me in a lot of ways, is helping people be present, find connection to God, and find empowerment in their life. Through our Creator So today, we're going to be talking about judgment. This is something that I've noticed a lot in the Christian community, but it also is just a prominent component of life on earth is judgment.
[00:03:50] And how do we handle judgment? Is judgment proper or not as Christians? And you gotta think, right? People judge whether you're religious or not. Humans judge. We judge all kinds of things. We judge things all the time. We write reviews for restaurants, for products, for people. We do all kinds of things.
[00:04:13] We're always out there judging and having perspectives on things in, in the world and giving our opinion about it and stating our position. So, why would that be any different? As Christians. And so for me, it's going to be talking about that. We're going to be talking about to judge or not to judge, effectively.
[00:04:35] And whether, is there a right kind of judgment? Is there a good kind of judgment? We're going to be talking about some scripture. So to start us off, what I've been learning and what I've been researching and reflecting on, and reading the Bible. Is that there are, there are absolutely good types of judgment and not so good types of judgment.
[00:04:59] And what it comes down to is, is it a condemning type of judgment, where you're condemning someone's spirit, someone's soul, someone's personhood, someone you're judging their character, you're judging who they are as a person. Or, Is it judgment to correct? Is it a correctional judgment? Is it judgment meant to help someone, to, to show compassion, to put them back on the path of living a righteous life
[00:05:28] the distinction there is crucial. So we're going to look at first Matthew 7, which is a common verse that is often cited regarding judgment and whether we should or we should not.
[00:05:52] Okay, so Matthew 7 says, Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged. And with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. And then it goes on to say, Well, first, that's often what people stop at. Do not judge, or you too will be judged. That's basically where we stop.
[00:06:16] But the, there's more there. Verse 3 goes on to say, Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye, and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? So, your brother has sawdust in his eye, you have a plank in your eye, but you're focused on the sawdust in your brother's eye.
[00:06:35] How can you say to your brother, let me take the speck out of your eye, when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite. First, take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.
[00:06:52] So that was Jesus, right? That's Jesus in Matthew 7, verse 1 through 6 there. Or, I'm sorry, 1 through 5. And he's talking about judgment very clearly. He's not saying don't judge at all. He's saying, handle your own stuff. If you have something going on in your life, in this instance, he's talking about a plank in your eye.
[00:07:18] But you're talking about the sawdust in your neighbor's eye, in your brother's eye, in your friend's eye, in your spouse's eye, whoever. You're not focusing on the bigger problem. Which is that you have a plank in your own eye. So we have to handle our own things first. And that's a huge problem with this.
[00:07:38] With judgment in general. And I think this is why so many people are tweaked by it. Is because hypocrisy is painful. It turns us off. It's a huge turn off from a, just from an interaction perspective. We don't respect hypocrisy. So when we're judging, we have to look at our own life first.
[00:08:05] That's what Jesus is telling us. Look in our own lives first. Manage our own situation first. Before we worry about what's happening with others. Before we go out and judge others and try and help other people. It's the same analogy that we hear about the airplanes, right? Put your oxygen mask on first before you help others.
[00:08:27] Because if you don't have your oxygen mask, you can't help others very long. So if you've got a big, giant plank in your eye, how can you help others see the world clearly? It's not possible. So we have to focus on our own lives first. So that's one component of judgment. So there is already a distinction of good and not good judgment.
[00:08:51] Don't be a hypocrite. Manage our own stuff, right? If I have a terrible relationship or a terrible marriage and I'm out giving people marriage advice or relationship advice, that makes me a hypocrite and I really don't have a place to speak. But if I have a 30 plus year marriage that's loving, healthy, strong, then right?
[00:09:13] I can share.
[00:09:15] It's coming from a place of honesty and authenticity. And if we're inexperienced, be honest and authentic about that, right? That's what I'm doing with this, with the Bible, with the journey that I'm on. I'm not claiming to be an expert. I'm new at all this. So I'm coming at it with a beginner's perspective.
[00:09:33] So we have to approach life like that. And we have to realize that our, our task is to look at our own life. Manage our own selves first before we go out and we manage the world. We go out and we tell people all these other things.
[00:09:51] Now we're going to look at John 7, verse 24 and it's Jesus talking to a crowd. And they're accusing him of being possessed by a demon. Who is trying to kill you? Says, You are demon possessed, the crowd answered. Who is trying to kill you? And Jesus said to them, I did one miracle, and you are all amazed. Yet, because Moses gave you circumcision, you circumcise a boy on the Sabbath.
[00:10:23] Now, if a boy can be circumcised on the Sabbath, so that the law of Moses may not be broken, Why are you angry with me for healing a man's whole body on the Sabbath?
[00:10:35] Stop judging by mere appearances but instead judge correctly.
[00:10:39] So again, right? He's saying don't, he's not saying don't judge at all. He's saying judge correctly. But we superficially judge things like that based on arbitrary, arbitrary laws or rules or things that we're supposed to follow instead of what's right in the moment. And Jesus is calling us to be loving, caring, kind people, right?
[00:11:01] He's like, dude, look, the Sabbath. It's fine. I'm healing this boy. This boy needs help. I'm serving, right? God said to rest on the Sabbath. But did He say that we don't help our citizens? If someone's drowning on the Sabbath, I can't help them because it's the Sabbath? These are the types of things that Jesus is talking about.
[00:11:24] Wrong judgment versus correct judgment. We, we want to look beyond the surface of things, not be arbitrary rule followers. We have to be present in situations. We have to be active because God calls us to be active in the world, to help others in need. And so when we see situations like that happening, it's our duty to help, right?
[00:11:46] Not follow those arbitrary laws and then get upset about it. So that is another example of how judging correctly is important because we have to look at the situation. We have to assess the situation.
[00:12:02] Another verse is in 1 Corinthians 1, uh, it's actually chapter 5, verse 12, 13. What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? God will judge those outside. Expel the wicked person from among you. So, this is talking about internal judgment versus external judgment in the church, and ensuring that we have discipline and strength within the church.
[00:12:35] Suggesting that Christians should judge within the community for purity, but leave ultimate judgment to God for those outside. Again, not condemning someone's soul. That's not our place. We don't condemn people, honestly. That's God's role, but we can look at someone's actions. We can look at what they're doing, how they're living, and judge them for that, and particularly in the church.
[00:13:00] If people are in church, in a church community, if they are members of a church, representing Christ and God in the world, because that's what it means when we become Christians. We're now in the world representing our Creator. Representing Jesus. and sharing His ways through our actions, through our words.
[00:13:19] So we have a standard to live up to. We are God's representatives on earth. There is a, that's a heavy task, my friends. So we have to honor that. So if we're seeing those things where people are living wrong, right? In the sense of the way they're living, the way they're treating other people, maybe the hypocrisy that they're living by.
[00:13:41] It's our duty to call those things out, to root those things out. Particularly in the church. So again, as Christians, we're being called to look at the world and judge properly.
[00:13:53] And then the last piece of scripture that I want to share is from James chapter 4, verse 11 to 12. It says, brothers and sisters do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against a brother or sister or judges them speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it.
[00:14:13] There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy, but you, who are you to judge your neighbor? And again, this now is more about slandering and being dishonest or judging others out of a sense of superiority.
[00:14:30] Reminding us as believers that only God has the right to ultimately judge and condemn. We can look at actions, and again, right, coming back to hypocrisy. We have to manage our own lives first. We have to look at where we are first before we judge others. We don't want to come at it from a superior perspective.
[00:14:54] We don't want to come at it from a hypocritical perspective and condemning others. That's not our place. The Father in heaven will judge. He sits on the throne.
[00:15:04] So, when we're looking at these pieces, right, judgment is about correction and restoration. There are calls in scripture for Christians to judge in a way that corrects and restores, but not condemns. This involves confronting sin, especially within the church, but also within the goal of redemption and love, not personal vindication or superiority.
[00:15:29] And that's a difference too, right? We love to stand above. Look down on others and judge them down to hell. That is, that's not right from the Bible's perspective. That's, again, looking at it from a Biblical perspective, right? We are called to judge, but to judge rightly, to judge correct. Not in a condemning way, but restorative.
[00:15:49] So many of us miss on this. And it also says, it doesn't say not to judge at all. Because when we don't judge at all, that's what happens now. We become so tolerant that we allow everything to happen, no matter how offensive it may be to God, and to the Word that He shared, and the ways that He's given us, and the way that Christ has lived.
[00:16:11] So because we're told not to judge, we can't say anything to anyone? Look at what's happening in our society. We can't even call a man a man. Because he says he's a woman now. That's crazy. No. No. You're not.
[00:16:26] I'm sorry. Like, that's We have to be mindful of this. God calls us to stand in the world strong. And be present. And stand against the sin that's in the world.
[00:16:41] Not from a vindictive or superior place. We have to judge against hypocrisy. The Bible clearly warns against judging others in a way that overlooks one's own faults or out of a sense of self righteousness. That's what most people think when they think of judgment. They think of that form of judgment.
[00:16:58] The hypocritical, superior judgment. That's what we have to be mindful of. All of us are imperfect. All of us are sinful. All of us are striving to live better. So we start from a humble place. If we lose sight of that, we are now not serving our Creator. We're creating to the chaos in the world because truthfully, that's what Satan does, right?
[00:17:20] He has his own kind of judgment, his own self righteous thing. That's what he said. He said, I'm better than God. I know better than God. I will make my own rules my own way. So that's what happens if we're not careful, when we get into that hypocritical self righteous judgment. And then finally leaving the ultimate judgment to God.
[00:17:41] Because there's a role for us as believers in discernment and discipline within the community, the scriptures emphasize that the final judgment belongs to God alone. And that is it. We must remember that. Because if we don't, we turn people away from God. We push them away. If we come at them critically, condemning them, we push them away.
[00:18:01] We have to come at people lovingly, restoratively. It's hard. It takes more discipline. It actually takes more strength to do that. It's far easier to just dismiss people and judge them. And condemn them. Because there's no effort there. You just do away with them. You cast them aside. You discard them like they're a piece of trash.
[00:18:19] That's easy. That's not hard. But it's difficult to live loving lives. It's difficult to be righteous and compassionate and corrective and restorative in a caring way. That takes skill.
[00:18:36] So before we wrap the episode here, understanding that self reflection is super critical. We must reflect on our own lives before we go out and judge others. Love and restoration rather than condemnation. Discernment within the church for the sake of purity and discipline. This judgment is to be exercised with humility.
[00:18:57] Acknowledging that all humans are fallible, and that ultimate justice and judgment are divine prerogatives. So you gotta watch out for human nature with bias and hypocrisy. You gotta watch out for these things, right?
[00:19:14] Because I think, to me, ultimately it comes back to that we all struggle. We're all imperfect. We're all sinful. That's the beautiful thing about it, is that we're all learning and growing. So when we, when we come at things like that with a humble perspective, we ask God to lead us. We allow him that final judgment.
[00:19:31] We can then do right in the world. We can serve our God. We can serve Christ in a meaningful and loving way because navigating judgment biblically requires both wisdom and grace, recognizing our own sinfulness while still engaging in the necessary work of community and personal sanctification.
[00:19:51] That is a glorious path to be on, my friends. That really is. So that's all I got for today's episode. I hope you enjoyed it. Honestly, it felt so good to not be worrying about video. I feel much more free. This is, you know, maybe in the future I'll get back into video, but for now, I'm not. I'm doing my video editing for my clients.
[00:20:10] I'm going to stick with audio on my podcast. Audio and writing. So like I said, if you're not on my Substack, I'd love to have you there. I'm looking to grow that community. I've got some more things that I'm going to be doing. That is something in the future that I'm planning to do as my subscriber base grows.
[00:20:23] I will do live Q& As and connection calls. Maybe even do some live Bible study for people in the community. But other than that, I'm going to stick with writing and audio. I really hope you are enjoying it. I hope you're feeling good about 2025. And what I'd like to do here is just close the episode out with a small prayer.
[00:20:41] I think this is what I'm going to start doing.
[00:20:43] So, Heavenly Father, we pray that you will guide us with your wisdom. That you will, that you will give us your discernment. Your right judgment. Your correct form of judgment. So that we may go out in the world and that we may help others Find your compassion, find your love, find the strength that you carry.
[00:21:03] And then we may help put others on that path of righteousness to find healing, to find your glory, to find your greatness. You gave your son, Jesus Christ, so that we may have eternal life so that we may have a pathway to you directly. And for that, we are ever thankful. And so we pray for your glory, for your wisdom.
[00:21:21] We pray that we may be instruments of you. Great Heavenly Father, so that we may serve you and your will and we pray that your will will be done on earth in Jesus name we pray Amen. So that's all I got for today's show y'all. I hope you enjoyed it Please stick around make sure you like subscribe share all of those things so otherwise with that being said God bless and until next time.
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