Spurgeon's Cigar

Allegedly, Charles Spurgeon invited D.L. Moody to speak at an event he hosted.

Moody accepted and preached the entire time about the evils of tobacco, and why the Lord doesn’t want Christians to smoke.

Spurgeon, a cigar smoker, was surprised at what seemed to be a cheap shot leveled by Moody, using the pulpit to condemn a fellow minister.

When Moody finished preaching, Spurgeon walked up to the podium and said, “Mr. Moody, I’ll put down my cigars when you put down your fork.”

Moody was overweight.

 

“Christians get very angry toward other Christians who sin differently than they do.” - Philip Yancey

The above story and the quotation is an excerpt from Frank Viola's new book - Beyond Evangelical.

 

One may argue that Spurgeon was not right to respond to condemnation with condemnation (actually, someone did mention this in a thread on Facebook). My take on that opinion is that there is a difference between condemnation and popping the self-righteous bubbles. Jesus constantly popped the Pharisees' self-righteousness when they judged and condemned from their high thrones (I'm not implying that one has to make a vocation out of popping the bubbles). 

We can only speculate if Spurgeon was doing either here. Regardless of what his intent may have been here, the best antidote to self-righteous judgments is the Law itself - the same tool that is used to pronounce the judgement. This is one reason why the Law is a greasy slope. The moment I judge or condemn a person using the Law, I slide myself alongside with the same person, for the Law is partial to no one.

Fortunately, we don't have to judge or condemn anyone, because sin was nailed to the cross and without the sin, there is no need for the Law. Without the Law, we do not have an ammunition to judge and/or condemn another.