Tag: judging

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Mark Devotionals

Father, am I brittle?

Wine

And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost as well as the skins. No, new wine is put into fresh wineskins. (Mark 2:22–23)

Father, is it possible that I could be as brittle as that old wineskin? So brittle that I would burst should you try to pour the wine of your Spirit into me in order to touch others?

Brittle because I lack your compassion and mercy for the hurting? (5, 17)

Brittle because I’m too busy judging those around me? (15-16)

Brittle because I’m too often comparing my “spirituality” to that of others? (18)

Father, change me into a new wineskin that you can freely pour your wine into. I don’t want anything you pour to be wasted.

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1 Corinthians

Elevating people over Christ

1 Corinthians

I suppose it’s natural for people in the church to look up to Christian leaders as their example, and as the ones they admire.

After all, these leaders have been following Christ longer, and presumably have more wisdom and knowledge than we do. More, we can actually see them, and have face to face conversations with them.

By no means am I saying that it’s bad to look up to people within the church as role models. But the danger comes when we elevate them over Christ.

Instead of following Christ, we follow these leaders. Instead of making Christ our example, we look solely at our leaders.

One problem that can come from this is divisions within the church, as the Corinthians had. Some people were saying, “I follow Paul.” Others said, “I follow Apollos.” Others said, “I follow Cephas (Peter).”

And Paul gets very sarcastic saying,

Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized into the name of Paul? (1 Corinthians 1:13)

In other words, “Who are you following anyway?”

Later, he would tell them in chapter 3,

What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe–as the Lord has assigned to each his task.

I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow.

So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. (1 Corinthians 3:5-7)

In short, “Stop elevating people over God. The people are merely servants of God.

No one seeks to elevate the servant in the household, but the master. So why do we elevate the leaders in the church when they are merely servants?”

But so many people do. And we have seen it lead to divisions within the church today.

The other problem with elevating people above God is that they are merely human, and because of that, they will inevitably let us down.

And if our faith is based on the lives of these people rather than God, then when they fall or disappoint us, our faith will fall as well.

So let us not elevate people, no matter how godly they are, above him who died for us and rose again. Let us not get into fights over this pastor being better than that pastor.

Each has their own work as God has assigned it to them. It’s not our place to judge them, and we especially have no right to judge them compared to other pastors.

Leave the judgments to God who alone knows what he has required of them.

And let us not rest our faith on the faith of others. Rather let us rest our faith and hope in God alone.

If we rest our faith on others, we will inevitably be disappointed. But if we put our trust in Christ, we never will be put to shame. (Romans 10:11)

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Romans

Judging your brothers and sisters

Romans

If there is one problem within the church, it’s brothers and sisters judging each other.

Now I want to be clear, this has nothing to do with black or white issues.

Paul had no problems with judging others when it came to issues that were clear cut right or wrong. You only have to look at I Corinthians 5 to see that.

But we’re talking about issues that the Bible either says nothing about or says is up to each individual Christian. And here we see two of the latter.

Among the Christians in Paul’s day, there were arguments about eating meat and vegetables.

People who ate vegetables were condemning those who ate meat, perhaps because the meat had been offered to idols before being served as food at the dinner table.

Others argued about religious holidays, most probably the Jewish ones and whether Christians should continue to observe them or not. The Sabbath was probably a particular issue they faced.

The key thing here is that Paul did not consider them black and white issues. And Paul says here not to get into arguments over “disputable matters.” (Romans 14:1)

These were issues that were purely matters of conscience.

Some Jews felt that they should continue to observe the Sabbath and other Jewish holidays. And for them, to suddenly stop observing these special days seemed dishonoring to God.

The Gentiles, on the other hand, probably felt that it was a purely a Jewish tradition and had nothing to do with them.

Paul condemns neither. He said,

One person considers one day more sacred than another; another considers every day alike.

Each of them should be fully convinced in their own mind.

Whoever regards one day as special does so to the Lord. (Romans 14:5-6)

In other words, if you consider a day special because of your faith, then celebrate it. God will honor that. But if every day is alike to you, that’s fine too.

For those who felt bad about eating meat offered to idols, Paul said,

I am convinced, being fully persuaded in the Lord Jesus, that nothing is unclean in itself.

But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for that person it is unclean. (Romans 14:14)

Paul was telling the Romans, “I personally feel that even if food has been offered to idols, it’s okay to eat it. But if you feel bad about doing that, then by all means, don’t eat it.”

But then he said,

The one who eats everything must not treat with contempt the one who does not, and the one who does not eat everything must not judge the one who does, for God has accepted them.

Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To their own master, servants stand or fall.

And they will stand, for the Lord is able to make them stand. (Romans 14:3-4)

And again,

You, then, why do you judge your brother or sister? Or why do you treat them with contempt?

For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat. It is written: “‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord, ‘every knee will bow before me; every tongue will acknowledge God.’”

So then, each of us will give an account of ourselves to God.

Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. (Romans 14:10-13)

I really don’t think there’s much that needs to be added to this. It’s about as clear as you can make it.

The main point is that God is our master. He is the one we have to answer to. So we have no business judging one another on things that are a matter of conscience. Instead, we are to leave judgment to God.

When I was a teenager, I was working with other teens teaching Bible clubs to kids. For the first two weeks, we went through a training camp. But in between our classes, sometimes people played cards.

Now we weren’t gambling or anything, but there was one person there that was bothered by it. She had always been taught it was wrong.

Now when one of the other teens heard this, he said, “That’s so stupid!”

He didn’t say it, but if he had been an adult, he probably would have said, “That’s so legalistic.”

But another guy said, “Hey, it’s how she feels. Respect that.”

So we never touched cards again for the rest of camp.

We refused to judge her for her beliefs. And she, though she did say our playing bothered her, didn’t condemn us for thinking it was okay to play cards.

The end result was that we kept harmony, and we were able to do great things for God that summer.

That’s what Paul is saying here. We will not always agree.

But on issues where God says it’s up to us, or on issues where God says nothing at all, let us accept one another.

And if we do, we will make a difference in this world for Christ.

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Romans

No room for boasting

Romans

One of the big conclusions that Paul comes down to in this passage is found in verses 27-30.

Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. On what principle? On that of observing the law? No, but on that of faith.

For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law.

Is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles too?

Yes, of Gentiles too, since there is only one God, who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith. (Romans 3:27-30)

In short, when it comes to grace, there is no room for boasting.

God does not accept us because we keep the law perfectly. Nor does he accept us because of our racial background, as the Jews thought.

He accepts us solely because we have put our faith in Christ’s work on the cross.

I think because people don’t understand this, two problems often creep up among Christians.

One is the Christian who says, “How can God accept me when I mess up so much?”

Their problem is that deep down, they still think they have to earn God’s acceptance, and because of that, they feel inadequate. They feel undeserving of God’s love.

But that’s the whole point. Grace is all about the undeserving receiving God’s love and acceptance.

Nobody can stand before God and say, “God, you’re so lucky to have me as your child. Look at how good I am. Look at all the things I can do for your kingdom.”

Instead, all of us stand before God, spiritually poor and needy, with nothing in our hands to offer him. As the old hymn puts it,

Nothing in my hand I bring,
Simply to the cross I cling;

Naked, come to thee for dress;
Helpless, look to thee for grace.

The other problem is the Christian who, because they think they’re good, look down on others who are “not so good.”

They become like the Pharisees, judging all those around them, without seeing their own failures and need for grace.

And instead of extending grace to those who need it, they instead bash them further down.

How about you? Do you truly understand God’s grace in your life? Or are you depressed because you think God can’t accept you?

Worse, are you judging others you consider lesser than you and withholding God’s grace from them?

Here’s a good test for you. When you hear the words “amazing grace,” do they touch your soul? Or are they just words to you?

May “Amazing Grace,” not just be a song, but words that penetrate your very soul.

For when they do, you will never be the same, in how you see yourself, and how you see others.