The Need to Exercise Judgment

Philippians 1:9-11

…And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all judgment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.

Hebrews 5:12-14

…For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.

I Corinthians 5:12

…For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? God judges  those outside….

I Corinthians 6:2,3

…Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is to be judged by you, are you incompetent to try trivial cases? Do you not know that we are to judge angels? How much more, then, matters pertaining to this life!

I Corinthians 6:4-11

…So if you have such cases, why do you lay them before those who have no standing in the church? I say this to your shame. Can it be that there is no one among you wise enough to settle a dispute between the brothers, but brother goes to law against brother, and that before unbelievers? To have lawsuits at all with one another is already a defeat for you. Why not rather suffer wrong? Why not rather be defrauded? But you yourselves wrong and defraud—even your own brothers!

Do you not know that the unrighteous  will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

This is a subject which I admittedly write about with much ‘fear and trembling’.

Why?

Primarily because I honestly feel as if I know so very little about it. Beyond that, (but still, mostly because of that), I don’t want anyone to misunderstand what it is that I’m trying to communicate here.

Hopefully I will be able to clearly articulate what it is that has been weighing heavily in the back of my mind for the last couple of years…, and hopefully I can do it with sufficient grace and tact.

Help me Lord.

In the Christian world there are universal catch phrases that have been derived from  sayings which can, in fact, be traced back to the four gospels. Some of these sayings are attributed to Jesus Himself. Others are attributed to Paul, Peter, James, etc… or other writers of what we currently refer to as the bible.

Again, these sayings are widely recognized among  the whole of the “Christian community”, — but, some ‘circles’ emphasize them more so than others. And to be fair, I suppose that there are some who do not emphasise them at all!!

This selection of preferred sayings  could be referred to as “The Higher Way” teachings…or something to that effect.

I’m not going to quote, word for word, the scriptures from which these ‘higher way principles’ spring forth, but instead I’ll paraphrase and leave the bible study up to you.

“Turn the other cheek.”

“Suffer the wrong.”

“Take it to the cross.”

“Submit.”

“Take the higher road.”

You get the idea?

I want you, dear reader, to know that I do understand and agree with the gist of what these statements imply. Especially when they are understood in their proper context. After all, they are truly inspired.

To me they say, essentially, “Don’t stoop to the level of the wicked, and in maintaining your faith, dignity, grace and character in the midst of hard times or mistreatment, you might reveal the heart of God to your fellow man, and potentially even change their heart”.

However, what troubles me is the fact that there is another side to spiritual law, one which is equally as valid but recieves much less airplay.

While The Higher Way obviously leans towards the Way of Mercy, the other way, which I am referring to now, leans more towards…

The Way of Judgment.

Of course I recognize and accept the reality of these two maxims, mercy and judgment(and everything in between), being fully manifest, exercised and reconciled (or fulfilled if you prefer) in the Person and work of Jesus the Messiah, and so it is therefore, for that very same reason, that I believe that this should also be the case in and through His people in this present time.

Not only do I believe that both facets should be realized and expressed but they should also both be expressed and realized in their proper time….

His time.

You see, there is a place for judgment among those who are called out.

Judging from what I read in the New Testament,  (no pun intended) there is a much higher standard of life for those within the church than those without. From what I can tell, at the present time, we should leave judgment of those who do not profess Christ to the Lord Himself, and thank God for that.

In spite of what you may be thinking right now, I have no desire to become a “sin sniffer”.

However…

Ironically, I do believe that we are called to use careful discernment when it comes to those of us who do profess to be ‘brethren’ (or  ’sisteren’) in Christ.

I know that statement will not settle well with everyone. Perhaps that has something to do with the fact that the word judgement has been both mishandled and misunderstood.

“Don’t Judge Me, Man!”

See, I think ‘Judgment’ has gotten a bad rap.

But c’mon, it’s necessary for the spiritual health of the individual believer as well as for the corporate church. In fact, I believe that it is necessary for the overall welfare of the world.

Look again at Paul’s prayer for the church in Philipi:

And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment,
that ye may approve things that are excellent, and that ye may be sincere and without offense until the Day of Christ,
being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God.

You see how judgment is directly linked to fruitfulness?

Okay, now take a closer look at the “J” word.

See?

Now that wasn’t so bad,… was it?

It’s not all about condemning people for being ‘wrong’! It’s about seeing things for what they truly are!!!

For good measure, let’s take another look at a portion from the letter written to the “Hebrews”…. I want to be sure that I’m not misunderstood in the direction that I’m going with this post.

Hebrews 5:8-14

Although (Jesus) was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him, being designated by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek.

About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child.

But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.

There is a lot being said there, folks.

There is certainly a place for ‘milk’, and to be honest, I think that historically speaking, the church at large has not done a very good job in nourishing the Lords people in the milk of the Word the way that they should. The (over)reaction to this, of course, is the super milky theology which is so prevelant today.

You see, there are many “out there” (and yes, I have been caught up in it myself) who speak of the sinfulness of ”partaking of the ‘wrong tree’”, the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

And in a sense, this caution against our partaking of that particular tree of knowledge is valid,  as it was also for Adam and Eve.

However….

There is a difference between what Adam and Eve did in the garden and what those who are growing up in the Lord are called to do by their Heavenly Master.

Adam and Eve suffered from a classic (or the most classic) case of disobedience to God. They could have eaten from any tree in the garden, including the tree of life, and yet they chose to do the one single thing that God warned them not to do.

That sneaky snake told Eve that she if she would just go ahead and eat it, then she would become wise like God.

You see, Adam and Eve did partake of that forbidden tree, and they did become like God…..

…and they did die.

(hmmmmm….)

And you know what? There are a million and one things that we could say about all of that…., what all of it means or doesn’t mean, how it plays out, etc… (and I hope to explore that train of thought here more sometime….) But let’s be honest for a moment here…

Us human beings get more than just a bit defensive when our erroneous behavior is called into question. Heck sometimes even when the word sin is mentioned!

Go on.

Just admit it.

Were all the same.

We sometimes find ourselves doing the very things that we ought not, but it is because of the error within that we find ourselves doing them!

Something in us simply loves to make us do those things!!

In this present age of such heavy ‘Grace’ theology, there are many groups and individuals who would go so far as to say that ’sin’ (or ‘error’) does not even exist for those who believe in Christ.

If you are one such person…..

you need your bubble popped.

You see, to ’sin’ or to ‘err’ means simply to do that thing which you should not do. Generally speaking, it is to do something which is un-loving. More specifically, it is what happens when we assume self reign rather than submitting to the government of God.

It is to walk in darkness.

It is to walk in a false identity.

But here is my point:

There are offences and sometimes those offences  come about when we operate according to our old nature. The result?

DEATH.

“But all things are lawful!!”

Yes, but not all things are good.

This is something that we need to be mindful of….but it’s difficult when even the word ‘good’ is seen as a curse!! You see, there are some Christian circles that, in over-reaction to legalism, have deemed the words “good’ and “evil” as being, ironically enough…… evil.

Paul, however, makes no such assumptions:

…Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good….

…Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good…

…So do not let what you regard as good be spoken of as evil….

You see, Paul knew the difference between good and evil and he wanted the same discernment for all of Gods people.

Some will say, “No, no, Paul want’s us to know the difference between life and death…”.

Well, that’s true also. But life and/or death are merely the outworking, the fruit, of good and evil.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m a champion for freedom and liberty! If you have read my thoughts here for any length of time, you might even think that I lean too far ‘left’ for your tastes.

I don’t want anyone telling me what to eat, drink, watch, read, say, or anything else….

However…

Neither do I want to lay any stumbling blocks before the feet of my brothers and sisters.

Which is more important; Me having my way in destroying your conscience, or me, if I truly posess any authentic Spiritual maturity, exercising God given self control?

I guess this is the issue.

Stumbling blocks.

I suppose  if we could write up a formula for ‘getting along’ among ourselves, it would read something like this:

1. Love others the way you would want to be loved….

2. And if (when) others don’t do that for you,  you can let it go (take it to the cross) or you can let them know and still offer forgiveness….

3. And if (when) you fail in  loving them,  repent and hope that they will let it go, or let you know and  they may offer forgiveness to you.

After all, have we not all received such great forgiveness in the Lord Jesus Christ?

Now that I’ve shared all of this, I want you, Dear Reader, to know that ultimately,  I do confess that I fully realize that mercy triumphs over judgement, and I thank the Good Lord for that. However, this mercy can sometimes take the shape of a brother or sister who, in the spirit of Meekness, is able to restore one who has gone out of the Way and fallen into darkness.

The Lord doesn’t give us more than we can bear. Sometimes you have to speak up….

Sometimes you have to call somebody out on an issue….

Sometimes you have to be the unpopular prophet.

And let me give you some advice on the matter:

Bear what you can bear…

But do not wait too long to address a matter that needs addressing.

It can fester and swell and get real ugly when it finally does pop.

I’ll be posting again soon on how higher way teachings can be used inappropriately resulting in harm to the spiritual condition of the Lords people.

In the meantime, I pray the Lord search our hearts….

and I pray we seek His ways above our own.

Peace.