Skip Moen’s entry this morning was about the use (or maybe rather translation) of the word “judge” in a psalm of David. He said that this word actually means “to govern” and not “to judge” as we usually translate it. The difference here is huge, as he points out, because judgement has to do with our past and punishment and failure, but governing has to do with the future and what I am yet able to do. He believes that often we, as Christ followers, get stuck in a kind of doom-and-gloom mentality, focusing more on our failures and sins than on the sacrifice and victory of Christ. I can see how this is often the case. And, when I read the psalm with the use of “to govern” in the place of “to judge” it gives the verse quite a different meaning. Check out the post. I think it’s really cool.
1 Corinthians 4:3 What about me? Have I been faithful? Well, it matters very little what you or anyone else thinks. I don’t even trust my own judgment on this point. This certainly speaks to my heart! I find myself frustrated by what others think of me or craving the approval of others for what I do. Here Paul makes it pretty clear that it doesn’t matter what other people think. It matters what God thinks. And God sees everything, down to our motivation, so the truth will come out. I may get frustrated because I get an unfair review at work or because something didn’t turn out the way I wanted to (or got twisted after the fact), but even though we should be doing our best, it’s really only God’s opinion that counts. That’s kind of comforting because it’s frustrating when you get knocked down for something that you didn’t do or that wasn’t your fault. God’s got your back. His review, His judgement is all that matters. And I love Paul’s last statement. “I don’t even trust my own judgement on this point!” That’s great! I can totally see Paul throwing his hands up in the air as he says this. And it’s true. It’s certainly easy to lose perspective and a sense of what really happens in our defensiveness. Then everything is distorted. Hence the reason that I’m not God, neither are you, and neither are they. And, He’s really all that matters in this case. David asked God to be his defense and defend him against people who spoke out unfairly and with lies against him. And here, Paul does the same thing, reminding the Corinthians that God will judge based on the heart and the true motivation and story behind it all. That’ll be interesting!
Romans 14 talks about not letting the small differences of opinion about the right and wrong way to do things separate us as believers. Paul gives many examples – what day of the week is the holiest day, wether or not to eat meat, and so forth. The crazy thing is that we still get stuck here today. We have all these denominations that split the christ following church because one group believes it should worship on Saturday and another says they’re wrong, they should worship on Sunday. Others say drinking wine is a horrible sin, while others don’t see the problem as long as it’s in moderation. Some churches believe any music with a drum set is from Satan, and others use a rock bank to lead worship. We divide ourselves with petty differences, and I believe this weakens us. Paul urges the church to put aside these small squabbles and love each other so that the church doesn’t become and obstacle to others coming to know Jesus. Sadly, in many ways, we, the church of Jesus, His followers, are that obstacle because we don’t love those who think differently. We look down our noses at the unmarried couple with their children. We avoid even looking at that guy with all the tattoos and piercings. We raise our eyebrows at kid who dresses all in black and sits quietly in the back row. And we yell angry, unkind words at people leaving bars at night telling them that God doesn’t love them and they’re going to hell. We wonder why the world hates Christians. But, in our zeal to do what we think is right, we alienate those hurting people around us because it’s what WE think is right – not what GOD thinks is right. And sometimes what we think is right is the very thing that keeps us from making the impact that God would like us to have. All in all, LOVE. Jesus didn’t care if that person was pierced, tattooed, dressed all in black, screamer-band listening, motorcycle driving, smoking, or drinking. He LOVED them anyway. By letting our opinions about what is right and wrong split us as believers, we give the enemy small victories, weakening our effectiveness, and shoving people who could have believed back into the darkness with our judgment. And I’m guilty of this sometimes, too. But I’d like to think that I’m becoming more open about remembering that the only thing that matters is JESUS. Do you love Jesus? Then that’s all that I should worry about. God will sort out the rest. LOVE one another – no matter what seemingly strange or weird things seem to separate you. Jesus loves you (and them), no matter what. If we are to be Christ-like, we must love no matter what, too.