2009-01-30
Good Morning Dear Treasures of God,
We continue looking at the question: Are we teachable with regard to judgment? As a comparison against 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,” we continue looking at key verses in RO 14. Remember we’ve already seen RO 14: 11, 13, 15-16, “For the Scripture [IS 45: 23] says, ‘As surely as I am the living God,’ says the Lord, ‘everyone will kneel before Me, and every will confess that I am God’…so then, let us stop judging one another. Instead, you should decide never to do anything that would make your brother stumble of fall into sin…If you hurt your brother because of something you eat, then you are no longer acting from love. Do not let the food that you eat ruin the person for whom Christ died! Do not let what you regard as good get a bad name.” You’ll remember that formerly pagan Christians were arguing in Paul’s time with formerly traditionally Jewish Christians about what is fit to eat and what day of the week is the Sabbath. Now let’s continue with looking at RO 14: 17, “For God’s Kingdom is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of the righteousness, peace, and joy which the Holy Spirit gives.”
With the view of things that Paul is giving here, he is placing all these non-salvation issues in godly perspective. Later Paul will quell this consternation when he tells the formerly traditional Jews to continue eating only Kosher foods and celebrating the Sabbath from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday, while at the same time telling the former pagans to eat whatever they want and choose one day [Sunday] to celebrate the Sabbath. God doesn’t care, as long as one day out of each seven is set aside for Him [GN 2: 2]. Where we and they must agree is on the simple rule FAITH + NOTHING = SALVATION. Another way of saying this teaching about judgment succinctly is that God’s will is supreme and that must stand for all eternity. Our human differences should not supersede our need to be caring, respectful Christian brothers and sisters toward each other. We must remember JN 13: 34,-25, “And now, I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. If you have love for one another, then everyone will know that you are My disciples.” Preserving and even encouraging the faith of another is definitely in keeping with God’s will. Both in our minds and out our mouths should be thoughts and words that will serve this purpose. In our human fleshly way, we all too often hastily speak words not well thought out first, thus damaging the faith or wellbeing of another. Christ’s half-brother, James, speaks of the human tongue with such wisdom. JAS 3: 5b-6, 9-10, “Just think how large a forest can be set on fire by a tiny flame! And the tongue is like a fire. Its is a world of wrong, occupying its place in our bodies and spreading evil through our whole being…We use it to give thanks to our Lord and Father and also to curse our fellow-man, who is created in the likeness of God. Words of thanksgiving and cursing pour out from the same mouth. My brothers, this should not happen!” The bottom line is that if we make a habit of rushing to judgment, being overly critical, and not caring about the feelings and needs of another. That behavior will come back to haunt us at the time of Christ’s last judgment.
RO 14: 18 lets us know that when we take care not to damage the faith of another, we are serving God in a way which pleases Him and is approved by others. When Christ was serving His ministry on earth, healing people, and in general, doing good wherever He went, He was stopped by some Pharisees that asked Him a very important question. LK 17: 20-21, “Some Pharisees asked Jesus when the Kingdom of God would come. His answer was, ‘The Kingdom of God does not come in such a ways as to be seen. No one will say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or, ‘There it is!’; because the Kingdom of God is within you.” This statement has far-reaching implications for us, in determining our behavior as individuals and in our congregations as groups with a wider spread impact. Those of you who have read my writing for awhile know how deeply I believe that God never intended us to be divided into denominations, groups formed over squabbling about points of theology or church polity. The statement: we are one in the Body of Christ is of importance in better understanding God’s will. If the Kingdom of God is in us, then such unity will help spread the Kingdom of God to those who don’t now believe in the Lord Jesus and haven’t yet repented of their sins. In looking at both Christ’s mission statement, in JN 6: 39-40, and God’s, in EPH 1: 4-5, we can see the important convergence of bringing people back to God’s side in heaven as a main divine priority. RO 14: 23 gives us further clarity on God’s will. “But if he has doubts about what he eats, God condemns him when he eats it, because his action is not based on faith. And
PRAYER: O Lord, the weight of each word that our Lord Jesus said in His Sermon on the Mount is enormous. Over 2000 years later, we still have much to see in our examination of Your will on judgment against all the other Scriptures to which You take us. We begin to only have a glimmer of the extent of Your wisdom and must pray, PS 51: 6, “Sincerity and truth are what You require; fill my mind with wisdom.” We thank and praise You for sharing that wisdom with us, all the while knowing that our capacity for good is infinitesimal in comparison to Your own. Your patience with us is nothing short of amazing. And yet, the Psalmist said in PS 27: 13-14, “I believe that I shall see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord; be strong and let your heart take courage; yes, wait for the Lord.” That gives us hope. The question was asked long ago: “Am I my brother’s keeper?” [GN 4: 9]. Repeatedly as we study Your word, we come to the conclusion that the answer is, “yes!” Your desire is to bring as many people back to you as will listen to the truth and believe in Your Son. Our judgments are to be carefully considered, kind, and conform to Your will. We are to act in a way that will not destroy the faith of another [RO 14: 13]. You have given us the fruits of the Spirit, including love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, humility, and self control [GA 5: 22-23]. In one way or another, each of these is contained in the words Your Holy Spirit has given me to write today. These are guidelines for our behavior and choices, our thoughts and decisions. We bow our heads in reverential thanks and praise for the wisdom You have. We are grateful that You share it with us concerning judgments today and many other subjects over the course of our lives in Your Son, Jesus Christ. We pray these words to You in His holy and mighty name. Amen.
Next week, we find that judgment, as raised in MT 7: 2, is so compelling that we must also look at other places in the Scriptures to see it discussed in still further contexts. We will pick up with 1 COR 4; 5 and then go on to see what we must do. Hopefully, out that discussion, we will see practical applications in our own lives when these situations needing judgment come up. In asking the Lord why we should spend so much time in this segment on judgment, the answer is clearly given that this is an area where humans often have failures, ones that cause a lot of damage to others. God surely wants us to set an example of godliness that will cause others to want the joy we have in our hearts. That joy only comes to us from placing You and Your will first in our lives. PS 111: 10, “The way to become wise is to have reverence for the Lord; He gives sound judgment to all who obey His commands. He is to be praised forever.” PS 119: 2-3, “Happy are those who follow His commands, who obey Him with all their hearts. They never do wrong; they walk in the Lord’s ways.” It is only fitting that this devotion should be ended in praise and thanks to the Lord who loves each of us so very much. IS 12: 4-6, “ A day is coming when the people will sing, ‘Give thanks to the Lord! Call of Him to help you! Tell all the nations what He has done! Let the whole world hear the news. Let everyone who lives in Zion shout and sing! Israel’s Holy God is great and He lives among His people!” Yes, Dear Ones, our God lives in the hearts of all who believe, right here among His people! Praise be to Him!
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn