2009-01-16
Good Morning Dear Ones,
We are still asked to consider if our hearts are teachable in the matter of making judgments. We need to know if the judgments we are making are righteous or unrighteous. You’ll remember that last week we were dealing with the problem of whether or not we are making our judgments with the love of the Lord or without it. All of this is said on the background of MT 7: 2, “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.” I’m acquainted with an older couple who seem to be estranged from the rest of their family and have no friends either. After a long time of observing them, it is clear to me that they have set such high expectations for others that no one can attain them. In other ways, they expect perfection and carbon copies of themselves in their own eyes. Where is God in all of this? He is sadly not being consulted.
Intolerance of cultural differences can be taken to the point of disobedience to God. One of the prime examples of this kind of judgment came up when formerly pagan Christians were combined with formerly traditionally Jewish ones in Paul’s time. The issues that came up had to do with what foods may be eaten and what day was set aside for the Sabbath. RO 14: 1-3, “Welcome the person who is weak in faith, but do not argue with him about his personal opinions. One person’s faith allows him to et anything, but the person who is weak in the faith eats only vegetables. The person who will eat anything is not to despise the one who doesn’t; while the one who eats only vegetables is not to pass judgment on the one who will eat anything; for God has accepted him.” As for observance of the Sabbath, we are told in GN 2: 3, “He blessed the seventh day and set it apart as a special day, because by that day He had completed His creation and stopped working.” Nowhere in that statement did we find that Sabbath had to be sundown Friday to sundown Saturday, as the traditional Jews have chosen to observe it. Instead, we may assume it means the Sabbath is one out of every seven days. Does this make the traditional Jews wrong or right for their interpretation? There is no way to pin down an answer to that question. And what about the Gentile Christians? Do we see Sunday mentioned as the only day for the Sabbath? No, we do not-an indicator that as Paul eventually told the Gentile and Christian believers, in RO 14: 7-9, “None of us lives for himself only. If we live, it is for the Lord that we live, and if we die, it is for the Lord that we die. So whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. For Christ died and rose to life in order to be the Lord of the living and of the dead.”
RO 14: 4 gives us a more realistic perspective on this problem of judging others for cultural reasons. For the sake of context, we must be reminded that servants were considered their owner’s property in Paul’s time. “Who are you to judge the servant of someone else? It is his own master who will decide whether he succeeds or fails. And he will succeed because the Lord is able to make him succeed.” If we put this in spiritual terms, our Master is the Father Himself. Any question about whether or not we are His servants should be answered without quibbling by PS 24: 1, “The world and all that is in it belong to the Lord; the earth and all who live on it are His.” Therefore, in the spiritual realm, who are we to judge another of God’s servants? Or even God Himself?
We must remember that Jewish Christians brought their own carefully-taught legalism to the table with them. It would be necessary for them to shuck off this kind of thinking in order to fully understand that we are one in the Body of Christ. This wouldn’t happen in a day. Old well-worn habits are hard to put behind us, and we can only do this with the help of God. Gentile Christians brought their freedoms to the table, because they had never lived under the law, as their Jewish Christian brothers had. Neither type of Christian is evil; they just come from different conditioning. A very wise and God-directed man, Paul made it clear that the real issue was not what foods they ate or what day they observed the Sabbath. Instead, it is whether of not they became obedient servants of God. We deal with the same kinds of cultural issues today when a new person comes into our congregation. We no longer live for ourselves, but we now life for the Lord. It is the Lord’s teaching that we must obey, not the non-salvation based ones of the culture in which we were raised. We are all called to agree on issues like believing in the Gospel and that it is by His grace alone that we are saved. These are the ones involving our very salvation. Let me reiterate EPH 2: 8-10, a credo we should all remember. “For it is by God’s grace that you have been saved through faith. It is not the result of your own efforts, but God’s gift, so that no one can boast about it. God has made us what we are, and in our union with Christ Jesus He has created us for a life of good deeds, which He has already prepared for us to do.” The bottom line is that all of us will stand before the Lord to be judged by Him. Furthermore, we can know that His judgment will be just, fair, and compassionate. Praise be to Him!
PRAYER: O Lord, once again we approach Your mighty throne with our human failings and our need for Your direction. Many of us come from the bias of our cultural upbringing into Your fold. One of our human frailties is our habit of judging others due to these differences. You tell us to understand our need for unity in the Body of Christ, living in harmony with fellow believers. This, Dearest Abba, is nothing new. PS 133: 1-3, “How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity! It is like precious oil poured on the head, running down on the beard, running down on Aaron’s beard, down upon the collar of his robes. It is as if the dew of Hermon were falling on Mount Zion. For there the Lord bestows his blessing, even life forevermore.” When our judgments get in the way of coming to You for direction, leading to disharmony, we must reassess our thinking in the bright light of Your teaching. Yes, Father, You are asking us to adjust our attitudes to be in line with Your will, and that is not always easy for us to do. Being honest with ourselves and steeped in daily study of Your word coupled with an active prayer life, often uncovers our subtle persistent sins. This can be painful emotionally and spiritually, but making these corrections in our attitudes can speed us on our way toward spiritual maturity and eventual eternal life. We are blessed to understand IS 46: 9-10, “I am God, and there is no other. I am God, and there is none like Me. I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say, ‘My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.’” We remember that You are the same Father, Who gave us the chance for salvation by sacrificing His only begotten Son on the cross [JN 3: 16]. There is no need to be afraid of Your will, for it is always righteous and always in our best eternal interests. Only people who make a lifestyle of sinning need to live in fear of Your wrath. AC 4: 12, “Salvation is to be found through Christ alone; in all the world there is no one else whom God has given Who can save us!” It is through Your wisdom and willingness to teach our hearts to be righteous that we may make good judgments, ones that conform to Your will. We thank and praise You for Who You are and what You do. In Christ’s holy name, we pray. Amen.
Next week, we continue to examine the question: Are our hearts teachable? This is done in the light of Christ’s Sermon on the Mount and His teaching on judgment. Do our judgments align with God’s will? Many times we are exposed to signs as to whether or not our judgments are accurate, wise, and compassionate. Every child in the schoolyard can most probably remember being teased about something. Children can be quite cruel to one another on occasion. With me, it was about the braces on my teeth and corrective shoes I had to wear. With someone else it would be something else. As an eleven year old, I didn’t have the foresight to explain that my parents were making sacrifices so that we didn’t end up as my father did with upper and lower dental plates at the age of thirty. Nor was I given the adult understanding that I would probably have trouble with my gait and my feet for the rest of the life. Things like that are just not the topic of discussion in the school yard. Nor would I understand as a child that many children are raised to feel worthless by judgmental parents and grind down others to cover up for their own insecurities. I now know that God listens in to every one of these conversations, including the mean-spirited ones, that go one between children. My Lord loved me enough to wait until He thought I was ready and then to place me in a situation where I might gain faith in His Son and insight into the reasons for such behavior. At that point, I learned that God is interested in every detail of our lives, no matter how unimportant to Him we might think it is [PS 37: 23-24]. I’m compelled to end this week with PS 145: 17-18 for reasons which should now be obvious. “The Lord is righteous in all He does, merciful in all His acts. He is near to those who call to Him, who call to Him with sincerity.”
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn