2008-10-10
Good Morning Cherished of God,
Once again, I’m led to continue discussing the parallels between MT 7: 1-5 and RO 2: 1-6, 17-24. The first passage is Christ’s Sermon on the Mount words about judgment, and the second two passages are Paul’s discussion of the hypocrisy of the Pharisees and Jewish teachers of the Law of his time. One of the questions we can raise is: Do you think a person will escape God’s judgment when he hypocritically judges others? To answer this, let’s remember Christ’s words in MT 7: 1, 3-5. “Do not judge others, so that God will not judge you…why, then, do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the log in your own eye? How dare you say to your brothers, ‘Please, let me take that speck out of your,’ when you have a log in our own eye? You hypocrite! First take the log out of your own eye, and then you will be able to see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.” Now, look at RO 2: 3, “But you, my friend, do those very things for which you pass judgment on others! Do you think you will escape God’s judgment?”
If my own experience is any teacher, I have discovered that it will surely take my physical lifetime to become sufficiently perfected that I might have a right to pass judgment on another person. The idea here is tell even the most mature believer that he or she is still a sinner, as long as we dwell on earth. We have subtle, hidden pockets of sinfulness that we have yet to discover. While we are working hard at discovering and expunging our own sins, there simply isn’t time for us to be judgmental of others. I have had the experience of dealing with my own hidden prejudice concerning people who speak with German accents. This arose out of heavy-duty conditioning as I was growing up. The stories told to me about the Holocaust and the Nazi’s who wiped out a portion of my own family were very detailed and compelling. Then Rosemarie Kraus came to WLC, the leader of JoshuaMission, a ministry in Europe to help people learn about forgiveness and about the difference between Nazis and others who speak with a German accent. Rosemarie had been Hitler’s goddaughter. When her father, a general in the Nazi army, refused Hitler’s assignment to kill 15, 000 Jews in a concentration camp, the General was put to death himself. Rosemarie escaped Germany only to be persecuted at the hands of the Russians in Poland. She eventually married, professed her faith in Jesus Christ, and, with her husband, established this ministry. My negative judgment was based on irrational fear, and Rosemarie prayed with me breaking through this hidden knot of sinfulness within me. God would want us to see people as individuals, not as groups, in this respect.
We must accept and understand that God is omniscient, i.e. He knows the content of each person’s heart, and nothing can hide that from Him. If we are living righteous lives, lives which are obediently faithful to Him, then we can welcome that He knows our true heart-attitude. The only people who have to fear His omniscience are those who know they have something wicked to hide. PS 147: 5, “Great and mighty is our Lord; His wisdom cannot be measured.” HE 4 :13, “There is nothing that can be hid from God; everything in all creation is exposed and lies open before His eyes. And it is to Him that we must all give an account of ourselves.”
If we now look at RO 2: 4, we will get a window into God’s heart. “Our perhaps you despise His great kindness, tolerance, and patience. Surely you know that God is kind, because He is trying to lead you to repent.” This is not the only place in the Scriptures that speaks of God’s kindness and patience with sinners who really want to get rid of their sinning ways. He knows we are far from perfect, but wants us to return to Him sanctified. 2 PET 3: 9, “The Lord is not slow to do what He has promised, as some think. Instead, He is patient with you, because He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants all to turn away from their sins.” His desire to bring people to repent of their sins and bless them with faith in His Son is surely expressed in His own mission statement, in EPH 1: 4-5, “Even before the world was made, God had already chosen us to be His through our union with Christ, so that we would be holy and without fault before Him. Because of His love God had already decided that through Jesus Christ He would make us His sons-this was His pleasure and His purpose.” There is no question that it is sometimes painful to examine one’s own sins. Our tendency at times is to shove them so far down that they are difficult to bring up to the surface of our consciousness. However, God knows that it must be done and gives us prayerful direction or places us in situations where we must be brought to doing this. He is even right there with us, with His loving arms around us, as we feel that pain and must, step by step, put the sin causing that pain behind us. He reminds us in 1 JN 4: 4, “But you belong to God, my children, and have defeated the false prophets, because the Spirit Who is in you is more powerful than the spirit in those who belong to the world.” Who could ask for a more loving Parent than the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob?
PRAYER: O Lord, there are times when we must go through self-analysis of our sinfulness which is indeed emotionally and spiritually painful. And yet, You lead us to this, not to cause us the pain, but, instead, to make it possible for You to perfect us, preparing us for our eventual glorification. We have inherited sin, and we heap more sin on top of that when allow the desires of the flesh to tempt us. You have given us Your Son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross for our sins and to release us from certain spiritual death when we believe in Him [JN 3: 16]. His death is the propitiation, bringing sufficient satisfaction to You as a Sin-substitute in demonstrating Your own righteousness [RO 3: 24-25]. We, who believe in Him, are truly blessed. His death on the cross and subsequent resurrection are a signal to us that this “once of all” grandest of all sacrifices was done out of You love for your human creation and Christ’s obedience, which was perfect [HE 10: 10]. You deserve for us to cooperate with You, as a part of our mutual Covenant of Grace, in spending time discovering and getting rid of all the hidden sins within us. Of course, this process applies also to the sins that we have which are more obvious too. I have a spiritually adopted cousin who was raised in a Catholic orphanage, because no one in his family was willing to take care of him as a young boy when both his parents died. He had a chance to see the many boys with whom he had been raised with turn to crime due to their hardened attitudes. By the grace of God, he made up his mind not to take that route. The lesson of their troubles and punishments led my cousin to go to the police academy in Los Angeles and become a police officer. Dearest Father, You loved my cousin enough to give him faith in Your Son and lead him out of the wilderness of uncontrolled anger, crafty behavior, and sullenness. He knows it would have been easy for himself to allow the adversary to establish a stronghold in his soul. He is forever thankful, as am I, that my brothers and I discovered this cousin in his adulthood and could embrace him as a part of our family. Today, he is in his 60’s and is working part time as a retired police officer helping with security on movie lots and directing traffic when there are fires in the area. His life is an example of Your love, and Your willingness to give us Your wisdom when we ask for it. Praise and thanks be to You forever. In Christ’s mighty and holy name, we pray. Amen.
Next week, the comparison between MT 7: 1-5 and RO 2: 1-6, 17-24 continues, in accordance with the will of the Holy Spirit. I’m am led to take up how not to make things worse for ourselves on Judgment Day. Every criticism that God levels at hypocrites is a reminder to us that we should not be one. God wants us to know the consequences of this behavior and to see the pain to others that it brings upon them. Then, He hopes that will begin to make wise choices and direct our thinking to godly avenues. He intervenes in our daily lives, not to be a “heavenly pest” but instead, to improve our chances of being able to gain eternal life. He rewards the righteous and gives them inner peace. PS 94: 12-15, “ Lord, blessed is the man You instruct, the one whom You teach Your Law. You give him rest from the days to trouble until a pit is dug to trap the wicked. The Lord will not abandon His people; He will not desert those who belong to Him.” God Himself is always-righteous. PS 145: 17, “The Lord is righteous in all He does, merciful in all His acts.” Praise and thanks be to Him, for the love He has for all of us!
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn