2008-12-26
Good Morning God’s Treasures,
Using that salutation for each of you is entirely correct, because we are all loved by God and created in His own image [GN 1: 27]. For the last couple of weeks, I have been led to write about problems in making judgments and will continue on this path today. We come up against the line between what we should judge and what we should leave to God to judge in JAS 4: 11-12. “Do not criticize one another, my brothers. Whoever criticizes a Christian brother [or sister] or judges him, criticizes the Law and judges it. If you judge the Law, then you are no longer one who obeys the Law, but one who judges it. God is the only Lawgiver and Judge. He alone can save and destroy. Who do you think you are, to judge your fellow man?”
In every way available to us, God teaches us when something is an ordinary judgment made in the course of our lives and when something bumps up against that line between what is His right alone to judge. This James passage is only one example of many that help us to understand where that line is. A very reliable commentary in its discussion of this passage asks three important questions for us to consider before we level a criticism of another person. 1) What good does it do your brother/sister? 2) What good does it do yourself? 3) What glory for God is in it? Imagine how different our workplace lives might be if people took the time to consider these questions before they criticized each other! Peter and I just saw a movie called “Office Space.” It was recommended to us, and while it’s entertaining, I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone else because of the language used and it’s “R” rating. It was a story about a young man working in an office with each employee sitting in a cubicle. It uses a much-exaggerated story of all the abuses that go on in interpersonal relationships between bosses and employees in a fictitious white-collar business. However, having said all of that, it does reveal some of the reasons why the corporate experience can be soul-deadening, even soul-killing at times. Some examples are multiple bosses each sending the same memo to an employee, bringing in consultants ostensibly to increase efficiency, but actually to “downsize” a number of employees, and abuses in boss/subordinate interaction. I have used the example of a business office here, but these problems can exert themselves in any context, any venue.
In a number of places in the Scriptures we see the concept of “love your neighbor as you love yourself” being expressed [LV 19: 18; JN 13: 34-35; JN 15: 12; RO 13: 9-10]. We must remember that if God is repeating Himself in the word, then the concept must be very important to Him. RO 13: 10 deserves a closer look. “If you love someone, you will never do him wrong; to love, then, is to obey the whole Law.” When we don’t show love toward another, we are disrespecting and even breaking the Law. We are not to pick and choose whether we will accept and obey something the Bible tells us. We are to live it wholeheartedly and in its totality. Unfair criticisms of others actually speaks evil of the Law and condemns it as worthless. To break a Law is to treat it with disrespect and contempt. Few of us have gotten through our lives without allowing our natural desires to lead our tongues into negative criticism. Such behavior puts us in the position of being the judge, as if our opinion is superior to that of the Law, rather than being subject to it. I’m taking a course now based on Deborah Smith Pegues’ compelling little book “Thirty Days to Taming Your Tongue.” Solidly based on the Scriptures, this little book is a convicting and useful expose of all the evil ways that mankind uses his tongue. Once through it, I’m sure I will never use mine the same way again. Thinking before one speaks is one of the most compelling actions we can take to improve our willingness to avoid defeating others with mean-spirited or thoughtless words [PR 25: 11]. And yes, asking the three questions above is an important way to do this.
In the final analysis, God gave us the Law in the first place. Who then has the right to usurp the place of God and judge another person? This is particularly true with regard to this person’s eventual fate. God alone judges this, even though we might have caught ourselves thinking, “this guy is going to end up in hell!” It’s so easy for us to think about or even have the audacity to say that about another person. But in truth, only God knows what his fate will be. We already know that some of the people we least think will qualify for some honor before God on earth are given that honor. David is an example. Who would ever think that a man who had committed both adultery and murder in his life, would come to be esteemed by God and called “a man after My own heart” [1 SAM 13: 13-14]. We must remember that with David, God established a royal line out of which “a Shoot will come from the stump of Jesse” [IS 11: 1]. The Davidic covenant, found in 2 SAM 7: 12-13, was a promise to David from God that a Descendant of his would rule forever. Saul of Tarsus comes to mind, a man who spent the early years of his life persecuting Jewish Christians for the Jewish high court or Sanhedrin. And yet, he was to become the greatest of all Christ’s apostles, the one who began the spread of Christianity as no other had. His books and epistles contain God’s wisdom in light of Christ’s Atonement that has been a beacon to edify us all.
PRAYER: O Lord, we praise You and thank You for giving us Your wisdom in making the ordinary judgments we must, in allowing us to better understand the line between what is Your right alone to judge and what is ours. Through this understanding that we see in JAS 4: 11-12, we are better able to understand what Christ has taught us in the Sermon on the Mount, particularly MT 7: 1-6. Whether it was in the OT or NT, You have repeated Your teaching over and over again that we should love one another, as Christ loves us. You have pressed forth the notion, as seen in the following Scriptures, that we should demonstrate Christ’s love and wisdom in every thought, decision, and action. MT 5: 5, “Blessed are those who are humble; they will receive what God has promised!” MT 5: 6-7, “Blessed are those whose greatest desire is to do what God requires. God will fully satisfy them! Blessed are those who are merciful to others. God will be merciful to them!” MT 5: 17, “Do not think that I have come to do away with the Law of Moses and the teachings of the prophets. I have not come to do away with them, but to make their teachings come true.” MT 5: 34, “But now I tell you: do not use any vow when you make a promise. Do not swear by heaven, because it is God’s throne.” MT 5: 44-45a, “But now I tell you love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may become the sons of your Father in heaven.” MT 6: 19-21, “Do not store up riches for yourselves here on earth, where moths and rust destroy, and robbers break in and steal. Instead, store up riches for yourselves in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and robbers cannot break in and steal. For your heart will always be where your riches are.” MT 7: 1-2, “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.” Yes Lord, we hear Your words and dedicate ourselves to applying them in our daily lives, with Your help and that of the Lord Jesus. In His name, we pray. Amen.
Next week, the Holy Spirit leads me to take up how the Law finds fulfillment in love, rather than in judgments. It is not easy to ponder all the ramifications and problems we have with making ordinary judgments. One reason for understanding God’s view of things is to see where that line exists between what is the Lord’s only to judge and what can be considered an ordinary judgment. Another is learn how to make ordinary judgments and decisions in line with God’s teaching. The approach is so very different when we consider those all-important three questions above before saying anything or taking any action in our interpersonal relationships. We must also consider the impact of our words and actions on our own relationship with God. The latter is something that God prizes and wants not only established, but nourished so it will grow even closer. God loves us so much that He created us in His own image, gave us the faith to unite with Christ, made us “new creations in union with Christ,” and continues to renew us in His own image- so that we might better know Himself [GN 1: 27; JN 3: 7, 16; 2 COR 5: 17; COL 3: 10]. In return, we should all be encouraged, because as we mature in our faith, there is an inner peace and solace that we cannot get from any other source except from God. It is so comforting to know that God gives us the Holy Spirit to heal our ills, to convict us when we stray, and to encourage us to do only what is right. He pulls us out of our pits of despair and sets us on a solid Rock [PS 40: 1-2]. For what more can we ask? Praise and thanks be to Him!
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn