Judge the Individual.

"There was a man of the Pharisees..."


It is to one's loss to judge a person solely on his associations. There are good/bad republicans, good/bad democrats, good/bad baptists, and good/bad catholics. Are we justified in judging the afore mentioned parties? I believe we are. In politics the two or three parties have foundations. Those foundations may/can be judged. In "religion" there are foundations. Those may/can be judged. It is the individual we must be careful to judge. I am not talking about doing away with church discipline, God forbid. The church should increase discipline. I'm talking about judging a person from a distance and refusing to take a closer look.
Nicodemus was a man OF the Pharisees. For all the theologians out there - doctrine is in the small words. Doctrine is guarded by "if", "and", "but", "so", and "of". The small words are God's Watchman. Nicodemus was a man Of the Pharisees. He did not have the spirit of a Pharisee, however. The Pharisees stated that Christ was a devil, they tempted Him, they joined with their enemies to conspire, they were always "seeing" Him in order to criticize (ouch!), they were the recipients of the Master's Woes.
Does the above sound like the Nicodemus that came to Christ? I think not. Can we criticize him for coming at night? I suppose we can. If we choose to criticize, without mercy, let us be certain to never give an invitation with "every head bowed and every eye closed" again. Let us never give an "unspoken" at Wednesday prayer meeting either. Remember... judge not lest ye be judged in the same unmerciful manner.
One important reason we should be careful in judging is the fact that we do not know what spiritual state one is in. What many of you would have done the night Nic. came is to judge him, without mercy, and run him off. Nic. displayed his true colors at the death of the Master as will many others at His return.
The Master said in John 7:24, "Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgement." That means don't judge the person solely on his association (appearance) but use righteous judgement (look at the individual and look for the right in him).
Both writer and reader would have accepted Judas gladly and rejected Nicodemus.

Buried in Christ,
St. Loder