©1999 Larry Huntsperger
Peninsula Bible Fellowship
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3/28/99
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Judging Pt. 2
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3/28/99 Judging Pt. 2
Last week we started a study
on what Scripture has to say to us
about our judging one another.
In that study we saw three distinctly different types
of judging
being talked about in the Bible.
We gave them some labels
just to help us hang onto them a little more
easily.
The first one we looked at
we called Primary Judging.
This is taking upon ourselves
the right
or the authority to determine
what is morally right or wrong for
ourselves
or for another person.
We spent a big chunk of our time last week
looking at this type of judging,
and recognizing that God tells us
we never have either the right
or the ability to act as the Primary
Moral judge
for ourselves
or for anyone else.
All Primary Moral Judgements
are made for us by God Himself.
To condense 20 minutes of teaching
into 30 seconds,
we saw that anything that is consistent with
the Character of God
is moral,
and anything that is inconsistent with the Character
of God is immoral.
The character of God Himself is the moral measure
for all of creation.
Then we looked at a second type of judging
addressed in Scripture,
something we called Secondary Judging.
This type of judging
involves our taking the revealed moral
commands of God
and applying them to ourselves,
and in certain cases
to those around us.
We haven't talked much yet
about how we do that,
except to say that in Secondary Judging
the basis upon which we make those
judgements
is always the Word of God.
In secondary judging
we are not deciding
what's morally right or wrong,
we are simply taking
what God has already clearly
revealed
and applying it to our own lives
and, in some situation,
to the lives of others.
It is this area we are going to return to day
and attempt to clarify
why, and when, and how we do this.
Then, the third type of Judging
addressed in the Bible
is what we called Personal Judging.
Perhaps I could define this type of judging best
by saying that it is
that special work of the Holy Spirit
within the life of every Christian
in which God reveals to each believer
the personal, unique moral boundaries
He has for each individual,
places where He eliminates
or adds things to our lives
because they are essential
for our own unique growth program
with the King.
Paul talks about this kind of judging
a number of places in his writings.
One of them is found in the first few verses
of Romans 14.
Rom. 14:1 Now accept the one who is
weak in faith, but not for the purpose of
passing judgment on his opinions.
Rom. 14:2 One person has faith that he may
eat all things, but he who is weak eats
vegetables only.
Rom. 14:3 The one who eats is not to
regard with contempt the one who does not
eat, and the one who does not eat is not to
judge the one who eats, for God has
accepted him.
Rom. 14:4 Who are you to judge the
servant of another? To his own master he
stands or falls; and he will stand, for the
Lord is able to make him stand.
Obviously He is telling us
we have no right
and no business enforcing on other
Christians
moral boundaries
God has given to us personally.
And I want to emphasis here
that we should never be surprised
at the personal boundaries
God may establish in our lives at times.
These boundaries are as diverse
as human experience,
and often times they make no sense at all
to someone looking on from the outside.
I mentioned last week
there was a period in my life
when I felt God was telling me
I shouldn't wear a watch.
There was a time
when He asked me not to drink coffee.
I worked with a fellow years ago
that I believe God was telling not to go to
Rodeos.
Such boundaries make sense
only when we realize
that the specific things God has touched in
our life
are things that serve as doorways
to temptations we cannot handle.
For another Christian
who does not fight the same weaknesses we
fight,
the boundary would seem ridiculous.
In this passage I read a few minutes ago
Paul talks about Christians
who felt they should eat only vegetables.
The issue these Christians were wrestling with
concerned buying and eating meat
that had been previously offered to idols.
These Christians came out of a personal history of
idol-worship
and all that went with it,
and they wanted nothing in their life
that identified them with that past life,
or triggered the emotional memories that came
with it.
There were other Christians in the church
who brought with them no such heritage
and told their vegetable-eating friends
they were stupid to abide by such
silly rules.
In affect Paul says, "You have no idea
what these Christians are wrestling with.
This is an issue between them
and their God, any you stay out of it!"
We'll bump up against one another's personal rules
all over the place,
and Paul gives us two crucial guidelines
and an over-all attitude.
The two guidelines are these:
1. Don't try to enforce your personal rules on
others.
2. And don't criticize another Christian's personal
rules.
And then the over-all attitude:
Rom. 14:13 ¶ Therefore let us not judge
one another anymore, but rather determine
this not to put an obstacle or a stumbling
block in a brother's way.
Do whatever you can
to make it easiest for the Christians your are
with
to find solid footing
in their own growth with God.
But now lets go back to this middle area,
this thing we're calling "Secondary Judging",
this process of taking the revealed moral
commandments of God
and applying them to the lives of others.
And I want to start by stating
the two crucial ground-rules
that form the basis for everything we're
going to see in this whole section.
One of them I mentioned last week,
the other I did not.
#1. With a few special exceptions,
which we will look at later,
the instructions we are given
about judging one another
are applicable only in our
relationships with other Christians.
They are closed-circuit communications
from God
for Christians dealing with a troubled
relationship
between themselves and another
Christian.
In I Corinthians 5:9-13 Paul says this:
1 Cor. 5:9 ¶ I wrote you in my letter not to
associate with immoral people;
1 Cor. 5:10 I did not at all mean with the
immoral people of this world, or with the
covetous and swindlers, or with idolaters,
for then you would have to go out of the
world.
1 Cor. 5:11 But actually, I wrote to you not
to associate with any so-called brother if he
is an immoral person, or covetous, or an
idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or a
swindler not even to eat with such a one.
1 Cor. 5:12 For what have I to do with
judging outsiders? Do you not judge those
who are within the church?
1 Cor. 5:13 But those who are outside, God
judges. Remove the wicked man from
among yourselves.
In that passage
Paul makes it clear that
even though our own moral living
will always act as a sort of conscience for
society,
that does not mean
that we should assume the role
of moral judge for non-Christians.
Simply put,
Paul is saying that we should not be surprised
when non-Christians attempt to meet their
needs outside of God's moral framework,
nor should we waste our efforts
trying to make them behave better.
It is usually wasted effort.
Until there is a change in heart
there will be no enduring change in action,
and the only One who can change the heart is
God Himself.
Paul says simply,
"But those who are outside, God judges."
So, principle #1, the instructions we are
given about judging one another
are applicable only in our relationships
with other Christians.
#2. And then, the second basic principle is the one
we looked at last week,
the only Biblical reason for exercising
Judgement over another person
is to seek the restoration of them
to a right relationship with us
and with God,
and once those goals have been achieved
the purpose of the judgement has been
accomplished,
and the actions of judgment should
cease.
We are going to see that principle
being illustrated through
everything the New Testament says
about this Secondary Judging,
but I want the principle firmly planted in our
thinking
before we move into specific passages.
You see,
perhaps the greatest single problem we face
with this whole business of judging
is the problem of being honest with
ourselves about our own motives.
Whenever we find ourselves in a situation
in which we are considering
confronting someone else with their sin,
the first question we need to ask ourselves is,
"Why is this so important to me?"
What is it we hope to accomplish
through the act of judging?
Do we want the satisfaction
of forcing them to admit they were wrong?
Do we want to make them pay
for what they have done
or are doing?
Do we want to make sure
everyone else knows how bad they are?
Do we want to get even in some way?
If any of those motives surface in our thinking
then we have no business getting involved.
If our goal is to justify ourselves
or to condemn the other person
then we have no basis for Biblical
Judgement.
Maybe I could illustrate this best
by reading the Lord's instructions
in Matthew 18:15.
Matt. 18:15 ¶ "And if your brother sins, go
and reprove him in private; if he listens to
you, you have won your brother.
Did you notice the reward Christ promises us for
following His instructions?
What is it we win
if all goes as it should?
We win our brother!
Our reward is the restoration
of a damaged relationship.
If we find ourselves thinking,
"I don't want to win my brother,
I just want to WIN!
I want to put the screws on this guy
and make him shape up!"
then we very likely
have no business involved in it at all.
And there is one other related issue
I want us to spend a few minutes on
because it came up in our discussion time
last week,
and because it is central
to this whole business of judging.
It is obvious from the Biblical record
that there have been times in history
when God has exercised judgement
in a way that was clearly intended
not to restore the relationship,
but rather to eliminate the sinner.
The two biggies that come to mind
are the global flood at the time of Noah
and the destruction of Sodom and
Gomorrah at the time of Abraham,
though other incidents are evident
throughout certain portions of Scripture.
There was that little incident in Numbers 16
where God caused the earth to open up
and swallow several entire families
who opposed Moses' leadership,
and followed it immediately
with fire coming down from heaven
and killing 250 other men
who supported the rebellion.
There wasn't much opportunity
for restoration of relationships
in that.
And just to complicate things more,
this incident in Numbers
was triggered by Moses executing a man
who was caught
gathering firewood on the Sabbath.
So what's the difference between
those situations
and what we see going on
in the instructions we are given in the
New Testament?
Why doesn't God munch us when we step out of
line
the way He munched the Israelites in the Old
Testament?
I'm glad you asked,
because that question goes to the heart
of the basic message God is offering us
through Christ.
And to explain what's happening here
I want to read one of the New Testament
examples
of how judging should be handled within the
Church.
It's a great example for us
because we are allowed to see this fellow's life
both before and after the judging takes place.
The "before" picture is presented for us
in I Corinthians 5:1-5.
Paul writes,
1 Cor. 5:1 It is actually reported that there
is immorality among you, and immorality of
such a kind as does not exist even among
the Gentiles, that someone has his father's
wife.
1 Cor. 5:2 You have become arrogant and
have not mourned instead, so that the one
who had done this deed would be removed
from your midst.
1 Cor. 5:3 ¶ 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.
1 Cor. 5:4 In the name of our Lord Jesus,
when you are assembled, and I with you in
spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus,
1 Cor. 5:5 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.
Now, remember the ground-rules for Secondary
Judging-
1. It always requires a specific,
clearly stated moral command from Scripture.
We are not the authority,
God is.
So where do we find Paul's authority?
Lev. 20:11 ' If there is a man who lies with
his father's wife, he has uncovered his
father's nakedness; ...
God addressed this very type of relationship
in His moral commandments
to the nation of Israel.
Paul was not saying, "You know, I just don't feel
good about this kind of relationship,
so I want you to tell this man to stop it."
He was simply taking
what God had already clearly revealed
and applied it to this fellow Christian.
But there is one dramatic difference
between what Paul said to the Corinthians
and what Moses said to the Israelites.
The whole verse in Leviticus 20:11 reads:
Lev. 20:11 ' If there is a man who lies
with his father's wife, he has uncovered
his father's nakedness; both of them shall
surely be put to death, their
bloodguiltiness is upon them.
Prior to Christ,
within the nation of Israel,
those involved in this sin
were to be put to death.
Paul, on the other hand,
does not tell the Corinthian Christians
to take the man out and stone him,
he simply tells them
to withdraw the churches support of his
actions,
to stop acting as though it didn't matter.
He uses a rather unusual phrase
when he says he has 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.
I understand that to mean that
Paul wanted them to put this fellow in a
position in which
he reaped the full consequences of his sin.
The message Paul wanted this man to hear was
clear: "Sure, you can continue to live in your
immorality if you choose to,
but it will cost you every relationship in you life
that really matters."
Simply put, Paul is saying pull away from him and
let Satan have his way with him."
So why the difference between before and after
Christ?
Because outside of Christ
people don't change,
and once a person had given himself over to
an addictive pattern of immorality
there was no way of reversing that
pattern.
Those executions in the Old Testament
were designed to accomplish 2 things:
1. They served as powerful warnings
to the society as a whole
to avoid these behaviors at all costs.
2. And they removed from the society
a person who had given himself over
to a sin pattern that could not be reversed
once it had taken root in the person.
But in Christ,
two dramatic changes
now take place in the lives
of all those who come to Him.
1. For the first time in history
God is able to place within each of His people
a new heart,
a new inner control center
that loves righteousness
and longs to please God.
2. And He places His Holy Spirit
within each Christian,
and by His Spirit
leads us through the daily process
of rebuilding the moral foundation of
our lives.
In other words,
in Christ, for the first time in history,
we really can change.
Before Christ came we see a pattern in which sin
infiltrated more and more of human society
until God found it necessary to cut out the moral
cancer and rebuild.
But now, through Christ,
God is able to transform lives from the inside
out,
one life, one day at a time.
And then He spreads those changing lives
throughout the world
and through them,
through His Church,
He resists the forces of evil
and offers the world His
alternative.
And all of that is to say
that the instructions in the New Testament
concerning Secondary Judging
are given with the intent of supporting that
internal changing process
within the lives of God's people.
And that's exactly what we see happening in the life
of the fellow at Corinth.
The isolation strategy jolted this man
back into his senses,
and he became deeply repentant of his sin.
But the Corinthian Church
refused to restore their relationship with him,
and so, in his second letter to the
Corinthians Paul wrote,
2 Cor. 2:6 Sufficient for such a one is this
punishment which was inflicted by the
majority,
2 Cor. 2:7 so that on the contrary you
should rather forgive and comfort him,
otherwise such a one might be
overwhelmed by excessive sorrow.
2 Cor. 2:8 Wherefore I urge you to
reaffirm your love for him.
Because of the work of Christ within him
true heart change had taken place.
The purpose of the judgement had been fulfilled,
and the actions of judgment were to be ended.
After Easter we'll pick up our study again here.