Jesus Christ was shamed by the religious leaders of His day for doing good.
The Pharisees accused Christ of healing on the Sabbath. Notice they were concerned more about Him observing a particular day than they were about the salvation and healing He provided people.
This is the mentality of most if not all church gatherings today. The majority of church attendees are more concerned about their rules and rituals than they are about the souls who attend.
As born-again believers, we are free to ignore the rules and rituals of men to follow the commands and principles of God. Those who place us under bondage to their idea of "religion" care little about their own character or the character of brothers and sisters in the church, their focus is on outer appearances not inner character.
The believer's life is not based on what others think of us or on outer appearances, it is based on our relationship with Christ. Seeking Him and pondering Him every day so that He can make us into what we should be according to His Word.
When the rules and rituals become the focus while the name of Christ is rarely uttered from the lips of those who attend gatherings, you can be sure there is no love in a "religious" group such as this.
Those who say; "don't judge" the loudest are those who judge the most. Why do I say this: because when not being judged is more important than character growth we know that self is on the throne. Those who fear being judged know there is something to judge about themselves so the discourage God's righteous judgment.
We are all supposed to judge every matter and we are to judge in honesty ourselves so that we can grow in holiness.
1 Corinthians 2:14-16 "…14The natural man does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God. For they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. 15 The spiritual man judges all things, but he himself is not subject to anyone’s judgment. 16“For who has known the mind of the Lord, so as to instruct Him?” But we have the mind of Christ."
Believers do not judge others to be superior to anyone. We judge everything to come in line with God's principles and we are not to judge others for about things we are also doing.
Matthew 7:1-6
Judging Others
7 “Do not judge, so that you will not be judged.
2 For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you.
3 Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?
4 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ and look, the log is in your own eye?
5 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!
6 “Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, or they will trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces."
We are to judge according to God's Word. We do not judge anything according to our own ideas, we judge them according to what God told us.
Colossians 2:21-23
21 “Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!” 22 (which all refer to things destined to perish with use)—in accordance with the commandments and teachings of man? 23 These are matters which do have the appearance of wisdom in self-made religion and humility and severe treatment of the body, but are of no value against fleshly indulgence."
Every rule man proclaims must be evaluated by the principles of God in the Bible. If the rule is good, fine, follow it, but we are sinning when we require others to follow rules God never made while judging the character of someone else based on those man-made rules.
Often we are judged according to the rules of men that God never commanded, even called rebellious because we didn't adhere to them. There are times when we follow man-made rules that are not against God's Word, but other times we see no benefit Spiritually in following the man-made rules so we are free tp ignore them. Those who love us will allow us to choose which rules we follow.
Often those who love their man-made rules are the most judgmental of all and are those who ignore many of God's commands, in other words, they are worldly and hypocritical. Their outer appearance is far more important than character substance.
Matthew 23:5-7
"But they do all their deeds to be noticed by men; for they broaden their phylacteries and lengthen the tassels of their garments. They love the place of honor at banquets and the chief seats in the synagogues, and respectful greetings in the market places, and being called Rabbi by men."
In our modern day we might substitute the word "Rabbi" with "Pastor." The men of our day like to be called a title that elevates them and the congregations love to elevate them because it relieves them of the responsibility of seeking Christ for themselves, praying alone in their homes and hearing from Christ themselves.
Many people will willingly hear from a "pastor" but will not seek Christ themselves. They go to the "pastor" for advice and never bend the knee at home to hear from Christ. I know this because of how embarrassed church attendees become when we speak of Christ outside the church building or when the person speaking of Christ is not the "pastor."
Rules and rituals bring happy feelings of satisfaction but that is all, they do not produce a Christlike character nor do they add anything to our relationship with Christ. He told us to walk by faith, not by sight. The only ritual He gave us was the Lord's supper and the head covering and lack of covering for the men. these things are symbols of the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ and the covering symbolizes the relationship between Christ and His church.
All other rituals are dead and useless except for "feelings" sake. They are not done to honor Christ they are done to satisfy feelings within those who love them.
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