2008-12-12
Good Morning Dear Ones,
We have to ask: In the course of being prepared to make judgments, are our hearts teachable? If you talk with anyone who is really faithful and intelligent, he will relate that, “the more I learn the more I realize how little I know in comparison to God.” That reveals a person who is teachable. At one point, Jesus was in Jerusalem for the Festival of the Shelters [Sukkot], and the Sanhedrin [Jewish ruling council] was looking for Him. He went into the temple when the festival was half over and began teaching. In JN 7: 15, the Jewish authorities asked, “How does this Man know so much when He has never been to school?” That was when He spoke the words of JN 7: 16-18. “What I teach is not My own teaching, but it comes from God, Who sent Me. Whoever is willing to do what God wants will know whether what I teach comes from God or whether I speak on My own authority. A person who speaks on His own authority is trying to gain glory for himself. But he who wants glory for the One Who sent Him is honest, and there is nothing false in Him.” This effort to teach humility wasn’t well received by the Jewish authorities then, nor is it now. I believe that Christ understood this would be a problem, which is why He brought it up in the first place. Our tendency is that whenever a person gets a lot of power [influence] and/or money [or any kind of mammon], one is the first things to suffer is his humility. As always, Christ [and the Holy Spirit, for that matter] are always trying to tell us that we should be directed by God and get answers from God to questions humbly offered in prayer. Such teaching goes against being led by one’s natural desires. Remember GA 5: 16-17 tells us that the things of the Spirit are always opposite to the things of the flesh.
Christ, in His God-driven wisdom, presents a hard argument for the legalistic Jews to counter in JN 7: 19-22, “’Moses gave you the Law, didn’t he? But not one of you obeys the Law. Why are you trying to kill Me?’ ‘You have a demon in You!’ the crowd answered. ‘Who is trying to kill you?’” Jesus answered, ‘I performed one miracle, and you were all surprised. Moses ordered you to circumcise your sons (although it was not Moses but your ancestors who started it), and so you circumcise a boy on the Sabbath.” I’m sure the crowd including the Jewish authorities were beginning to feel uncomfortable by then. Christ delivers the perfect logic which could only have come from God in (23-24). “If a boy is circumcised on the Sabbath so that Moses’ Law is not broken, why are you angry with Me because I made a man completely well on the Sabbath? Stop judging by external standards, and judge by true standards.” And what did Christ mean by “true standards?” We are given the answer in RO 12: 2, “Do not conform yourselves to the standards of this world, but let God transform you inwardly by the complete renewal of your mind. Than you will be able to know the will of God-what is good and is pleasing to Him and is perfect.”
There are both inactive and active steps to take. The inactive part is that of opening one’s heart to the prompting of the Holy Spirit and allowing God to supernaturally transform one’s mind. The active part is to rely on God for standards and answers to questions through prayer and study of His word. This also includes making choices, judgments, decisions, and taking actions in accordance with that transformed mind. The results for doing both the inactive and active steps is living a life in Christ. One might ask if this is being God’s puppets on a string. I would argue not at all. My reason for saying this is that so many variables exist in the practice of these principles. God may tell us what to say, as He did for the Lord Jesus in the exchange in the temple above. However, the way we carry out our beliefs, the actions we take, are left up to us. God is not directing every detail, although He is very interested in every detail of our lives [PS 37: 23-24]. I’m also convinced that God is in charge of the timing of when things will happen, however. At this time, God was not yet ready for His Son to be arrested, tried, crucified, and resurrected. We get to see this because of our hindsight. No one had the foresight to see it before these events actually happened.
There are lots of issues that come up in the process of making judgments. Naturally, we who believe in Christ want to make sound judgments that are within the realm of God’s will. However, there are times when our human imperfections get in the way. Christ would see how kind and how severe God is. Christ made the point in (22b) when He refers to God not sparing the Jews, who are like natural branches [pruned from the olive tree –ref: RO 11: 17-18]. “He is severe toward those who have fallen, but kind to you-if you continue in His kindness. But if you do not, you too will be broken off.” Making judgments with kindness reveals the fruits of the Spirit [GA 5: 22-23]. That is so opposite to jumping to conclusions without proper evidence, acting on prejudice against either an individual or a group, or using one’s power and influence to bring about change which is not godly. Both the authority for our judgments and the glory belong to the Lord alone. We must claim PS 115: 1, “To You alone, O Lord, to You alone, and not to us, must the glory be given because of Your constant love and faithfulness.”
PRAYER: O Lord, each morning of our lives, we awaken by Your gentle touch to Your presence in our lives. How could there be any greater blessing? We should always start our day with thanks and praise for getting through the last day and for looking forward to Your guidance during the usual challenges of the day ahead. Day upon day, we build endurance even though our faith is being tested with one challenge or another. We must thank and praise You for Your wise advice available to us in making ordinary judgments any time we ask for it. Christ set the example for us, taking Your advice and always asking for it first. We must follow that example. As for those trying moments, they have a purpose. RO 5: 3-4, “We also boast of our troubles, because we know that trouble produces endurance, endurance brings God’s approval, and His approval creates hope.” Can we imagine what it must have been like for the Lord Jesus when He was facing the most gigantic task of His life [or anyone’s ever contemplated]? That was the night in the Garden of Gethsemane before He was to take on the sins of the world on the cross. LK 22: 42, “’Father,’ He said, ‘if You will, take this cup of suffering away from Me. Not My will, however, but Your will be done.’” Christ could have run and hidden, he could have refused to identify himself when Judas Iscariot pointed Him, or any other evasive tactic. But, He lived up to His word as He had throughout His entire earthly life, demonstrating that no sin was in Him. He went to the cross in total obedience to the Father, and the Father rewarded Him with being “the first among many brothers” [RO 8: 29] to be given eternal life. While there may have been nothing ordinary about Christ’s making the judgment to obey God in this circumstance, His Atonment has made it possible for all of us to have an open doorway to heaven for our faithful obedience. Thank and praise You, Dear Father, for giving us this precious blessing of Christ’s sacrifice for us all and the chance to make ordinary judgments along the path toward spiritual maturity. In Christ’s name, we pray. Amen.
By no means is making these judgments easy. There are problems that are along the way, and some of these will be the subject of next week’s devotion. We must be thankful to God for His justice and believe in His perfect time, it will be worked out. PS 9: 9-10, “The Lord is a Refuge for the oppressed, a Place of safety in times of trouble. Those who know You, Lord, will trust You; You do not abandon anyone who comes to You.” PS 9: 15-16, “The heathen have dug a pit and fallen in; they have been caught in their own trap. The Lord has revealed Himself by His righteous judgments, and the wicked are trapped by their own deeds.” If we study the Scriptures and pray often, we will come to perceive that God is near. Not only does He refuse to abandon the faithful, but He will protect them with His wise advice and sound judgment. That should be sufficient motivation to give one’s life over to Him. Through faith and obedience to God’s teaching and that of the Son, we can face the tough challenges of our lives with confidence in Him and the knowledge that we are never left alone to be buffeted, as if by the wind, by our natural desires. Our desires of the flesh are fickle and leave people miserable; conforming to God’s will produces an inner peace matched by no one else. God has told us through Paul in PHIL 4: 12-13, “I know what it is to be in need and what it is to have more than enough. I have learned this secret, so that anywhere, at any time, I am content, whether I am full or hungry, whether I have too much or too little. I have the strength to face a conditions by the power that Christ gives me.” Praise be to Him!”
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn