Tag: Judgment

Mother playing peekaboo with smiling toddler in a playroom

Marching Confidently in the Wrong Direction

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“The house of the wicked will be destroyed, but the tent of the upright will flourish. There is a way that seems right to a person, but its end is the way to death. Even in laughter a heart may be sad, and joy may end in grief. The disloyal one will get what his conduct deserves, and a good one, what his deeds deserve. The inexperienced one believes anything, but the sensible one watches his steps.” (Proverbs‬ ‭14‬:‭11‬-‭15‬ ‭CSB‬‬ – Read the chapter)

Kids are easy to fool. They’ll believe just about anything. You can tell them something utterly silly, and they will take you entirely seriously. On the one hand, this can be fun if you are playing a harmless joke on them. On the other hand, you have to be very careful with it because you don’t want to accidentally damage their trust or push them toward cynicism. The better option if you are going to have some fun with it is to let them in on the joke quickly and use the playful moment to teach them a serious lesson. It’s unwise to rush into things. It’s always better to evaluate carefully and move forward with discernment. This is something Solomon points us to at the end of this next set of proverbs. Let’s take a look.

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Three adults discuss community matters beside a “Community Event” sign and “OUR VOICE” mug.

Getting Our Priorities Straight

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“Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘Whoever takes an oath by the temple, it means nothing. But whoever takes an oath by the gold of the temple is bound by his oath.’ Blind fools! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that sanctified the gold?” (Matthew 23:16-17 CSB – Read the chapter)

I have been working through the Gospel of Matthew with my church on Wednesday nights for nearly three years now. We’ve taken a break here or there along the way, but mostly it has just been Matthew for a while now. And I’ve got to say: it has been good. I know that I’ve never taken such a deep dive into a single book from the Scriptures, and I’m sure none of them have either. Taking time to meditate so long and so deeply on a single, Spirit-inspired author’s work has yielded much in terms of applicational rewards for us. We are currently in chapter 23 where Jesus blows up the scribes and Pharisees for their religious hypocrisy and bad spiritual leadership. It is one of those chapters that’s easy to ignore because at first glance Jesus is just berating His enemies for religious practices and traditions that are long gone. But a bit closer of a look uncovers volumes of uncomfortably relevant critiques for modern church members to consider. Let’s take a look at one of them together today.

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Get While the Getting Is Good

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“A worthless person, a wicked man goes around speaking dishonestly, winking his eyes, signaling with his feet, and gesturing with his fingers. He always plots evil with perversity in his heart; he stirs up trouble. Therefore calamity will strike him suddenly; he will be shattered instantly, beyond recovery.” (Proverbs‬ ‭6‬:‭12‬-‭15‬ ‭CSB‬‬ – Read the chapter)

There is a basic human intuition that we should reap what we sow. If someone does good things, they should expect to receive good things coming back their way. If a person does evil things, however, just the opposite expectation should frame their thinking. Given the world as it actually seems to exist, we don’t necessarily see this kind of thing playing out as often as we’d like. Yet this basic intuition is more right than perhaps we realize—something the collection of Proverbs helps us to see. Let’s take a look at another of the many examples of what Solomon had to say about this.

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Worry About Yourself First

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Last week, I was out of town, and Pastor Dave did a great job walking everyone through the second part of Matthew 6. This week we are getting into the final third of the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus opens this next section talking about judgment, and specifically not judging others. Or does He? What Jesus has to say about judgment here is more nuanced than it seems, often misunderstood, and absolutely vital for us to get right. Let’s dive in.

Worry About Yourself First

Have you ever been judged before? I don’t mean in a court of law. I mean you did something somebody else didn’t think you should have done and they made sure you knew it. Now, as for how they communicated this disapproval, the options are manifold. Maybe they just told you to your face that you were wrong. The direct approach usually does get the job done. Perhaps they didn’t use their words, but their face said plenty. I’ve been told I can sometimes use my outside voice without ever opening my mouth. Anybody else struggle with an overly expressive face? They could have been more indirect with their judgment as well, expressing their distaste for your chosen path in how they treated you thereafter. However they made their thoughts plain to you, if you were confident in your chosen course of action, you probably processed a single thought in your mind: I sure wish they would quit judging me. 

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Digging in Deeper: Romans 14:13-15

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“Therefore, let us no longer judge one another. Instead decide never to put a stumbling block or pitfall in the way of your brother or sister. I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself. Still, to someone who considers a thing to be unclean, to that one it is unclean. For if your brother or sister is hurt by what you eat, you are no longer walking according to love. Do not destroy, by what you eat, someone for whom Christ died.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

In the early 20th century, some philosophers and literary critics, tired of what they saw as the restrictiveness of modernity, began to explore beyond its limits. Starting from the jumping off point that the meaning of a particular text isn’t fixed, they gradually began to apply this relativistic thinking to all of life. Thus cultural relativism was born. While possessing perhaps a grain of truth, relativism’s impact on culture broadly has mostly been poisonous that at least many Christian philosophers have been working to counter ever since. So then, why does Paul seem to propose a kind of relativism here? Let’s explore what he is saying and how we can create peaceful, welcoming churches.

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