2008-08-01
Good Morning God’s Treasures,
Once again, I am led to continue discussing Christ’s list of do’s and don’ts from His Sermon on the Mount. This morning, it is MT 7: 1-2 that we review. “Do not judge others, so that God will not judge you, for God will judge you in the same way you judge others, and He will apply to you the same rules you apply to others.” God makes it pretty clear what things are within His right only to judge and what things He leaves to us. Our way of judging people is a kind of window into the condition of our hearts, our willingness to apply God’s teaching to others in our lives. So, we’ll look at this from the point of view of human interactions.
We all know that there are people who, for the sake of greed, will make judgments that are harsh and designed to net them the maximum monetary benefit. God weighs in on this matter, without us needing to make any judgment shared with others about the wrongdoer. EPH 5: 5, “You may be sure that no one who is immoral, indecent, or greedy [for greed is a form of idolatry] will ever receive a share in the Kingdom of Christ and of God.” We are told what to do when either tempted to be greedy or confronted with outright greed in COL 3: 5, “You must put to death, then, the earthly desires at work in you, such as sexual immorality, indecency, lust, evil passions, and greed [for greed is a form of idolatry].” How can we miss that “greed is a form of idolatry” is mentioned more than once? Any repetition of this sort is a flag that God thinks this is very important for us to know. And yes, we already know how God feels about idolatry from EX 20: 5 right amidst the Ten Commandments.
By far, greed is not the only motivation for us being tempted to judge another person. We must really address ourselves to the meat of MT 7: 1-2, the issue that our own judgments, or in appropriate cases, lack thereof, have a direct bearing on how we will be judged by God. No true believer ever wants to God judged “guilty” and suffer spiritual death. Quite the opposite is true, as the things of the Spirit and those of the flesh are opposites [GA 5: 16-17]. RO 8: 19, expresses how a true believer feels. “All of creation waits with eager longing for God to reveal His sons.” We are eager for the Judgment Day to come, so that we may be judged “innocent” and taken up to heaven. A person who lives in holiness, righteousness, and obedient faithfulness need never worry that he will endure spiritual death [conscious eternal torment from which there is no escape]. Instead, he is eager to pass through those pearly gates and be reunited with our Lord Jesus in heaven.
The issues brought up about judgment in the Sermon on the Mount are divinely designed to cause us to evaluate our own attitudes and judgments of others. If we are short-sighted, quick to jump to conclusions, lacking in forgiveness, and insensitive, as some people are, we will come to wrongful or unkind conclusions about other people. These will have a negative effect on our interactions with them and our own lives. Let me give an example from my own life. I met a women when I was assigned to sit next to her in a church choir long ago. She was aloof and appeared only interested in her own small group of friends, often turning her back to me during breaks in the singing. Connecting with her seemed to be my mountain to climb. This behavior went on for several weeks, until I went to God in prayer to ask Him what to do. I like to think I can get along with most people. The idea came to me [I’m sure from the Lord] to ask this lady out with me to lunch. I was quite surprised when she agreed to it. Later at the restaurant, we began talking. She asked me about myself, and then I asked her to talk about herself. It turned out that she had been singing, including doing solos, for many years, but that her husband didn’t attend any church. This and other disappointments in her life were weighing her down. I took the time to listen to everything she had to say to me. At the end of that lunch, she expressed how grateful she was that I was willing to concern myself with her troubles. I had made a friend, who is still my friend today. It was clear that had I decided her initial aloofness was her way of telling me she wasn’t interested in being my friend, I would have missed all the years of friendship we’ve had since. Sometimes, first impressions are not accurate.
There is a question of what should we do when a person’s behavior is definitely hurting others and outside of God’s will. Even a question like that is handled by our Lord. One must begin with self-judgment as recommended by the Lord. 1 COR 11: 28, “So then, everyone should examine himself first, and then eat the bread and drink from the cup.” Christ Himself has set up a system for disciplining a person sinning within a congregation, as we see in MT 18: 15-17. First, go to the person privately. If he won’t listen, then take 1-2 others, so that the accusation may be upheld by the testimony of two or more witnesses [DT 17:6 and 19: 15]. If the sinning person still won’t listen, then tell the congregation what is going on. Finally, if the person still won’t stop the sin, he should be “treated as a pagan or tax collector” until he is willing to repent. Forgiveness is a salient issue, because of what we learn in COL 3:13, “Be tolerant with one another and forgive one another whenever any of you has a complaint against someone else; you must forgive one another as the Lord has forgiven you.”
PRAYER: O Lord, You don’t tolerate a lifestyle of hypocrisy well. We are called upon to appreciate the great sacrifice of Your Son made on the cross, so that we can enjoy salvation through faith in Him [JN 3: 16; RO 3: 24-25]. He set an example for us, not judging others unfairly, even though God has appointed Him our Ultimate Judge [DN 7: 13-14]. Christ came to save, not to judge during His first advent [JN 3 :17]. When He returns and God’s time is right, “each one will receive what he deserves, according to everything he has done, good or bad, in his bodily life” [2 COR 5: 10]. The apostle, John, reminds us, in JN 5: 21-23, “Just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, in the same way the Son gives life to those He wants to. Nor does the Father Himself judge anyone. He has given His Son the full right to judge, so that all will honor the Son in the same way as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father Who sent Him.” We are to be true to You and to Your teaching. We cannot appear one way and actually be another. Sadly, Dear Father, we sometimes encounter people who have unfairly judged us harshly and then, appear to be friends. This kind of evil leads to hurtful, evil behavior behind our backs. Your ground rules for judgments are fair and right. You don’t leave us wondering when it’s okay for us to make judgments or how to approach them. Your word is clear. It is also clear on the standard of behavior that You expect from us [RO 12: 2]. We dedicate ourselves to daily study of Your word and willingness to seek You out often in prayer for direction. In Your own judgment, You show no favoritism [COL 3: 25]. We offer You our faithful obedience, praise, and thanks for being the wonderful, fair, just, compassionate, and wise Father You are. In Christ’s mighty name, we pray. Amen.
Next week, we’ll look at the do’s and don’ts in MT 7: 6. At the end, I will compile a list for our referral in the future. In the meanwhile, we need to understand that no person living righteously is in danger of ultimately unfair punishment from the Lord. He is the Ultimate Judge, which leaves us with a mandate to be faithfully obedient to Him and to expect that if we are, we will be rewarded with a blissful eternal life of sweet fellowship with Him. That goal is so worth pursuing that we should be strongly motivated to overcome the desires of our sinful, outer being [old self] and give control of our lives over to the Holy Spirit, which is our inner spiritual being [the new creation of 2 COR 5: 17, which is in union with Christ Jesus]. Because of our faith in Him, we are no longer slaves to sin, forced to head for a one-way trip to spiritual death. Christ paid the price for our sins on the cross, and the Father made Him “the First among many brothers” [RO 8: 29] to be resurrected to eternal life in heaven. What a great opportunity this is to live righteously and be fully prepared to obey the directive in 1 PET 4: 2, “From now on, then, you must live the rest of your earthly lives controlled by God’s will and not by human desires.” In doing this, we have been given the power to change our lives for the better forever. We can look forward to something so wonderful that all our hard work to make these changes will have been worth it. Join me in claiming, PS 17:15, “And when I awake in heaven, I will be fully satisfied, for I will see You face to face.” Hallelujah!
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn