Judge or Not to Judge or When to Judge

For I, on my part, though absent in body but present in spirit, have already judged him who has so committed this, as though I were present.  In the name of our Lord Jesus, when you are assembled, and I with you in spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus, I have decided to deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of his flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. (1 Corinthians 5:3-5 NASB)

So, in the previous chapter (1 Corinthians 4:3-5) Paul doesn't even 'judge' himself and tells the church not to pass judgement before Jesus comes again.  Yet here he is having already passed judgement on this one.  Are we missing something here?  I suspect we are missing something huge.

In my opinion, humans pass judgement very indiscriminately typically based on personal (as in self-centered) foundations for judging.  We do it daily, mostly to make decisions, but also with regard to value assessments of other humans.  We also can be, and often are, intentionally malicious in such activities.  Since we can't truly know someone else very well, or thoroughly enough to assess value, we are typically poor judges.

But there are times when this ability to judge between two things comes in handy and is in fact a responsibility.  The problem comes down to knowing when and among what we are supposed to judge.  So here is my basic, overly simplistic, rudimentary, rule-of-thumb to figure it out:

1. Use Scripture to judge behavior (what 1 Corinthians 5 is about)
2. Don't judge 'character' or personal value/worth (what 1 Corinthians 4 is about)

 This is really easy to say, but not so easy to accomplish when the two things blur.  For instance, is the guy referred to in 1 Corinthians 5 of good character?  Well, probably not, and you wouldn't want him running the youth program at church.  But what is addressed is the behavior, not the value or character.

Here's why I believe this simple assessment matches Scripture.  I believe the purpose behind Scripture is redemptive.  When a person's character is judged, there's not much room for redemption.  But someone can come back from behavior flaws, and their character can be redeemed. 

The way I define it, 'to judge' means to render a final assessment/decision.  So, when a person's character is judged, it has been stated what this person is at their core.  No one can really do that very well, even though some may be able to guess better than others, no one truly knows enough.  Behavior is much more clear.

So, to sum up, I can judge behavior but probably not motive.  Therefore, I judge behavior, and leave the judgement of motive to my Master. 

The way this works is that when I witness behavior in myself or in another that clearly violates my Master's mandates in Scripture, I address it with that person (or myself - I confess it to my Master).  If that doesn't work (if I persist in the sin), then I bring someone else in on it (for myself, I confess it to another).  If that fails (and it better NOT fail me) I bring such a thing to the church.  If the sin persists beyond such a public revelation, then offending person is treated as outside the fellowship of the church.  So, no need to buy a gavel just yet.

As an aside, this is one of the main reasons I encourage followers of Jesus to study the Hebrew Law.  The other reasons are are found in the next chapter.  So, I have another blog for which I seem to have no time called "Scriptural Laws for Christians".  In it I examine the practical application of Hebrew legal texts to modern Christian life.  I haven't made a new entry since March, 2012, and there's only 7 entries total.  Sorry to advertise something so limited, but the concept it presents would be helpful here.

Who's To Judge?

Therefore do not go on passing judgment before the time, but wait until the Lord comes who will both bring to light the things hidden in the darkness and disclose the motives of men's hearts; and then each man's praise will come to him from God. (1 Corinthians 4:5 NASB)

One area of confusion within church and living out faith in Jesus is the idea of judging other believers.  In my opinion from my observations, here's what I think is going on:

• Christians state to each other and to non-believers that we are not to judge each other at all.
• In general practice, believers compare themselves to others in matters of faith, practice, belief, intelligence, and acceptability before God.
• In general practice, believers only reveal their judgements to people they believe will agree with their 'judgment' or in anger with anyone.

This is a huge generalization, and my observations are limited to my own church experiences in the few churches with which I've been a part.  I have myself been guilty of these statements and behaviors, and I have witnessed people from old, young, ministers, professional clergy, the educated and uneducated alike behaving in this way.

Part of the problem is that there are contrary Scriptures which claim that we will know each other by our 'fruit', i.e. our Christ-like behavior.  In fact, in the very next chapter of 1 Corinthians, Paul states that he has, with the believers there in Corinth, already passed judgement on one of their own.  Other passages state that believes are to be wary of 'false teachers' and so on.  How can we do that if we don't judge others?  If we do these things, aren't we violating the clear admonitions above?

One of the problems involved with this issue is the language barrier between English and Greek.  Unfortunately this is exacerbated by cultural differences between modern American culture and first century Roman/Greek/Jewish culture.  But there is also the problem that Paul actually does mix his terminology with these statements, where in both prohibition and promotion he will use 'legal' terms for 'judgement'.

The answer to reconciling these separate concepts is to examine the context; literary and historical/cultural.  So, here's my interpretation, and probably a gross oversimplification of Paul's intent here:

• In chapter 4, Paul has church members and their 'assessment' of him in view.
• In chapter 5, Paul has church members and their 'acceptance' of sin in view.

The problems start when we find the terminology is pretty much the same.  I labeled what they do to him as 'assessment' but he uses the term 'judgment' as in the legal term as well.  I used the term 'acceptance' but he again uses 'judgment' there.  So, since the difference isn't the terminology, it must be found in the objects.

The 'assessment' of Paul in chapter 4 has to do with his 'fitness' to teach, how 'wise' he is, how well he led, and so on.  It wasn't dealing with a sin or some unscriptural teaching on his part.  The 'acceptance' of the church member in chapter 5 has to do with a clear violation of Scriptural teaching.

I'm going to revisit this again with chapter 5 and 6 later, but I wanted to first put forth the problematic seeming contradiction first.  Partly because it causes confusion, and mostly because I believe 'we're doing it wrong' when it comes to 'judgmentalism'.  I was the target of a religious groups judgmental attitude, and it had nothing to do with sin.  I'm no longer a vocational minister, and would no longer consider such a position because of their treatment.  So I have an emotional stake in this, I freely admit that.  Perhaps I still have some resentment that I need to surrender to my Master, even after all these years (it's only been 15 after all).

But I also believe the church does need to address sin within the body.  This usually falls on the pastor to preach at or address.  But while that may be necessary, it also falls to the responsibility of the believers at large to confront and address sin found among them.  This is dangerous ground because the point to the exercise, as Jesus describes it in Matthew 18, is the restoration of the 'offender', not their 'destruction'.  Like I said, we're not doing it right.  And we don't do it well.  But I also believe we can both do it, and do it well.  We just need to think through what we're doing and why.  So, who's to judge? I believe we are...sometimes.

The Judgement of The King

Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah; and they said to him, "Behold, you have grown old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now appoint a king for us to judge us like all the nations." (1 Samuel 8:4-5 NASB)

He said, "This will be the procedure of the king who will reign over you: 

• he will take your sons and place them for himself in his chariots and among his horsemen and they will run before his chariots.
• He will appoint for himself commanders of thousands and of fifties, 
• some to do his plowing and to reap his harvest 
• and to make his weapons of war and equipment for his chariots.
• He will also take your daughters for perfumers and cooks and bakers.
• He will take the best of your fields and your vineyards and your olive groves and give them to his servants.
• He will take a tenth of your seed and of your vineyards and give to his officers and to his servants.
• He will also take your male servants and your female servants and your best young men and your donkeys and use them for his work.
• He will take a tenth of your flocks, 
• and you yourselves will become his servants.

Then you will cry out in that day because of your king whom you have chosen for yourselves, but the LORD will not answer you in that day." (2 Samuel 8:11-18 NASB)

 When you hear the word, "judgement", you may think of a guy in a black robe up behind a tall desk with a wooden hammer.  You'd be right, at least for our culture.  In the culture of Israel in the period of the judges, this was not quite right.

The judges of the period of judges sat, and decided disputes between people and tribes that couldn't be decided internally by the elders.  The elders of cities and families sat in "gates" of cities and disputes were brought there.  The "judges" of Israel sometimes traveled in a circuit from city to city, and others stayed in one place.  The judges could be from any tribe and they typically didn't pass their responsibility down to their children.

Now for this passage, one of the difficulties faced by translators was to effectively convey the meaning of the passage when the word typically meaning "judgement" is being used with a much wider range of meaning than normal.  The word is used in verse 1 referring to the "office" of judge, in verse 2 referring to the activity of "judging", in verse 5 and 6 to refer to the activity of judging but as part of the office of "king", and in verse 9 and 11 to refer to the practice that would actually be followed by kings.  The last reference has little to do with deciding disputes in any way.  It more likely caused disputes than resolved any.

So, the judgement of the king, translated as "procedure of the king" in verses 9 and 11, involve conscription and taxation.  The king will take their children for service in his administration, and their flocks and harvest to support his administration.  It's not shocking to us reading this from a 21st Century perspective.  This sounds like every text-book king and tyrant we've ever read about.  But that hasn't been their life up to now.

Up to this time, the people brought such tithes and offerings to the temple or tabernacle, as part of their annual worship of God.  Even so, there was no taking of children for service, no taking of servants.  They brought a tithe and enjoyed it before God and with their family.  That was the extent of it unless they were oppressed by another country.  God's demands were pretty light considering, and if they didn't do it, the penalties were often slow in coming.  He was a much easier King to serve.  That was all about to change.

The judge they sought so they could be like other nations would treat them as the people of other nations were treated.  They were about to get the bad they didn't understand with the good they thought they did.  Now their children were no longer their own.  The offerings they brought to God were now on top of, and often from what was left by, the king's requirements.  Ironically, these are not the "procedures of the king" as God gave them to Moses.

What God tells Samuel is to tell the people the "judgement of the king", which is not the same term as what was given to Moses in Deuteronomy 17.  But the content of Deuteronomy 17 is what is expected here.  Instead of the rules the king must follow, what is given is the practice that kings will follow.  Why does God describe a practice instead of prescribing the practice?

I don't know.  I suspect that God wanted to warn the people so they couldn't say they didn't know what would happen.  But honestly, what purpose could He hope to accomplish with that?  I suspect the purpose of God was helping the people see that they had it much easier under His kingship.  It's possible that they thought they had it rough with judges.  But they may not have seen their relationship with God as Him as their king.  The requirements He made on them was much like tribute, taxation, even conscription to a degree in that He had a whole tribe to serve Him.  But they may not have seen it that way.

How many times in my life have I thought I had it rough with God?  When have I thought I had a much better idea than the requirements of my relationship with my Master?  There are requirements in this relationship, things I'm not supposed to do, things I am supposed to do.  When I lose sight of my Master as King, when I forget the cost He paid for this relationship, when I ignore the comfort of His Spirit, then it's very easy to wind up where the people were in this passage.

The reality is that my Master tries to remind me before punishing me.  His first response isn't crushing blows.  I do get His understanding, His compassion, and His mercy.  I miss that sometimes when I'm so caught up in...me.

Judgement also refers to "discernment"; the ability to differentiate between two things and choose the right one, to see the true character and meaning of events, things, and people.  It's not all about deciding disputes.  There is something else involved.  So the judgement of my King, Jesus, is not always harsh, sometimes it is very understanding.  My judgement is not always clear and correct because I rarely see the whole circumstance.  The key is to let my judgement fall to His.  The key is to let His judgement reign supreme in my life.  And the key to that is to stop staring at myself and look up toward Him.  A servant is available to their master; a good servant is available by choice, a bad one is available for punishment.  I want to be that good servant of my King, that is what He has called me to be. Today, I stand ready for the purposes of my King. 

The Love That Never Fails

I love Romans 8, so when Chambers goes there in MUFHH, I know it will be a good one.  Today, he uses the ending of the chapter.  It follows on the accusations I suffer from the Adversary who accuses me before my Master.  The problem with this effort is that the Judge's Son defends me, and He has already paid for the requirement of Justice Himself.  So, the effort to accuse me has no real effect on the outcome of my future, only the situation of my day today.  This is because, while my Master pays no attention to the accusations from His defeated foe, I listen, and often believe the Accuser rather than my Master.  The Accuser sounds more rational, and I suspect he's right.

Eventually I come around to the truth that nothing can separate me from the love of my Master, but it sometimes is a round about path to get there.  I sometimes need to fight silly battles with myself before I can see through the fog to the reality around me.  The truth that my Master has already paid whatever debt I owe to balance Justice means that nothing can separate me from Him, and that includes myself.  I forget that.  I come around to believing that I have done something that, now, makes me unacceptable.  That is not possible.  I love that my Master has taken care of all the details.  I love that I have nothing to worry about.  It seems completely unfair.  I love that too.  It is unfair.  It is the same unfair position enjoyed by every believer and available to every person.  But it is still radically unfair.

Because I am unacceptable, yet accepted; because I am a failure yet succeed; because I have missed the mark, and still am awarded the medal; my situation is completely unfair.  I am permitted to enter the dwelling of my Master not because I earned it, or achieved it, or even somehow out smarted the system.  I am permitted because of the love of my Master.  The love of Jesus, the love of God in Christ, the power of the Holy Spirit, the working out of His plan and desire in this world all conspired to bring me into a relationship with Him, and keep me there.  That is why I cannot be separated from His love.  That is the reality I live out today, the reality I enjoy everyday.  It is where my peace comes from, where my serenity is housed and flows from.  That truth guides my life, not just my day.  It is why this blog is written every day.  Not out of compulsion, but out of gratitude, out of worship and praise.  I am a saved person because my Master saved me.  What else matters.

Belief Clubbing: A Bad Habit Gone?

One of my struggles while in vocational ministry was heeding the line between what was my opinion and what was my Master’s perspective.  I would have very high regard for my own positions and opinions, and those who did not agree with me just didn’t understand.  So I had to explain it again, change up my word-pictures, work through my limitations as a communicator, and so on.  I had two theological positions which were not in line with “everyone else” but were also not difficult to support.  I had a host of others that were not in line with everyone else, and not so easy to support.  Like positions on women in ministry, the use of dramatic spiritual gifts, post-tribulation return of my Master, just to name a few.  I had my explanations, but these were not easy to support because so much depended on minutia and prejudice.

In Galatians 5:1 Paul is wrapping up his letter moving the church back into right response to Jesus and away from legalism.  At this point he has supported the position that to relate to the Master through legalism was to be again in slavery to a master exterior to God.  Now he admonishes them to remain in freedom, and not return to that yoke of slavery.  Since the context is about legalistic practice and using that practice to justify spiritual claims, it really does apply beautifully to the problem I suffered in ministry.  I wanted my church to follow my beliefs about our Master.  That was fine.  But I also judged them by whether they did or not.  That was not fine.

I was used to being judged regarding beliefs, and still am.  In fact, I rather get too much perverse joy out of messing with the belief structures of other believers.  Go ahead, bring it on, let’s talk about it!  But when I realized I had flipped the table around and was feeling spiritually superior and that others were less because of differences in belief structures I saw that I had crossed a dangerous line.  I had moved over into the judgment seat reserved for my Master; a seat I had stood before while others tried to occupy it.  I should have known better, but acted as if I did not.  It was a poor example of leadership to tell my people to stop judging me and judging them for judging me and for not subscribing to my fringe theological beliefs.

Now, there is a remote possibility that my fringe positions may be right.  But the only way to really know is for my Master to return physically to this world.  At that point, it really won’t matter much if I was right or not.  This story will be over at that point, and a new one begun.  So, why would I think it made sense to focus and judge according to such beliefs?  If the only “proof” is in how the story ends, why would that be such a sticking point.  That may seem like I’m throwing out way too much, but consider this detail I have omitted.  The people with whom I disagreed also believed that Jesus was the Son of God, that He entered this world (which He created) through a virgin-birth, that He lived a perfect sinless in this world, allowed His creatures to take His life to pay a death penalty for their sin, that He was raised on the third day, that He ascended back into heaven, and that He will return one day.  On that we agreed.  It becomes obvious when that detail is added, that we had more in agreement than in dispute.  So why focus on the silly, unimportant details?

My hope is that I now do not hold the fee of others to fire in order to convince them that I am right, and they are wrong.  I hope I now admit more often that I am wrong when I’m wrong, which is more often than I like to admit, but I should (yes, that was an intentional verbal loop).  I am not convinced that I admit that nearly enough, that I have not idolized my ideas to some degree, that I do not judge others by my standards.  But I am more aware of it when I fail in this area.  I am more accepting of others (while not necessarily of their views).  I jump into these discussions less than I used to and with less intensity.  I am more aware of my Master now than I have been.  And I am aware that He is changing me in spite of my fighting Him on that change.

I know that my Master loves me, that He has my back, and that I am supposed to be at His service.  I know that He has called me to wait, worship, and walk before Him.  I have confessed Him as my Master, and believe in my heart that He has risen from death.  I live out, day to day, that belief to varying degrees of success.  I am a common, typical believer in many respects.  I hope that one day I will be able to relax into my various fringe beliefs, and let others wrestle with their own without feeling I need to bludgeon them with mine.  Perhaps when I am confined to a comfy rocking chair, blanket over my knees, spectacles on my nose, and a sleepy hound at my feet (oh, and a porch, the scene definitely requires a porch).

Oswald Chambers' "My Utmost For His Highest": May 6th.

The Coming Court Appearance

I have had some well-meaning believers tell me about the "7 Thrones of Judgement" or some other theological perspective, and typically in it, we bypass judgement or it is somehow different for us.  Frankly I doubt it.  I see different descriptions of judgement, but I suppose them to be different descriptions of the same thing.  I do believe that once judgement has been completed, that the irony of existence will be this book in which are the names of those who have had faith in Jesus.  The deeds will be weighed, but only those whose names are in the book will be found in heaven.  I call this an irony because the first part is very much like what other religious views hold.  Be good and God will pay attention to your deeds.  But the result is extremely different.  There will be no "scale" to weigh the heart, no balance to determine if good outweighed bad in my life, and no accountant to inventory my store of actions to find a final value of goods.  Instead, it will be like court today.  We will be either guilty of breaking God's law or not (I'm guessing guilty), and then, when the punishment is meted out, suddenly this separation between sheep and goats takes place, the wheat from weeds, or whatever.  It will be the roll call from the book which sets apart those who will be getting into Heaven, not their guilt or innocence before God (since we are all guilty).  One court appearance.

I believe that I mentioned before that in that court appearance it is rigged my way.  My defense attorney is the Son of the Judge, and my Counsel has already taken the punishment I have worked so hard to obtain on Himself.  So, yes, I'm guilty, but, no, I don't receive punishment, I receive admittance to Heaven.  I win, and that feels so great.  But there is still the court appearance.  My failure and guilt will still be reviewed in court, and the accuser of humanity will still have his go at me.  I will have my day in court, and it will end well, but be gruelling to endure while to goes on.

The reality I must face each day is that what everyone I work around, live around, sit around, and breathe around will some day get a front-row seat to see exactly what I was thinking while around them.  That day in court will be the end of secrets, of lies, of pretense, of every prop, rotten or whole, I have used to appear other than I am.  The magic show of slight-of-hand, mirrors, misdirection, and illusion will be over.  I will finally appear just as I am to the world in which I lived.  I guess, but do not know, that this audience will also include those around this globe who never knew me, but were somehow affected by what I did or failed to do on their behalf, whether pray, or contribute cash, or go to them as I was sent by my Master.  Yes, I fully expect to be ashamed on that day of what will finally be known about me.  My hope is that, after the first couple of hours of reviewing my failures, the audience will loose interest and break out their ethereal smart phones, hand-held games, or whatever and stop listening to my shameful list of deeds.  Not much chance of that, but still, I can hope. 

So, how about today?  Sure, I have years of failures to fill the pages of court documents for hours, days, probably weeks on end.  But will I continue to fill those sheets today?  Oh, probably.  But perhaps I can slow down the writers cramp of whichever angel was tasked with recording todays rebellious acts.  Perhaps, today, this servant of the Most High God will have less to record than yesterday.  What if I were more obedient, less rebellious, and listened to my Master throughout the day?  There would be one happier recorder of deeds (what a job, how depressing).  Today, I will again seek that respite in the afternoon to appear before the throne of my Master, and worship Him, to reset my attitude, and continue through the remainder of my day with Him in the front of my mind, not the back part.  Today I will try and make less work for the heavenly court reporter tasked with my day.  But I will also keep in mind the gratitude for the assurrance that all my failures cannot keep me from what my Master has prepared for me in Heaven.  That's a huge relief.  It takes a lot of the pressure off trying to be perfect.  But I will still make the attempt.  Someone will be pleased by that I'm sure.