I know, I know, I know. I was to stop writing and I really will. I just wanted to share something that was on my heart. I received a beautiful admonishment/exhortation yesterday and today and it was the same story by two different people on two different issues but it was the same end.
It really has to do with what Jesus spoke here:
2 For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you
I really want to focus on the second half of the clause “and with the measure you use it will be measured to you”. Often I spend time judging others. I really do. I mean salvifically and even there maturity. I sometimes turn my nose up at those who are weaker in the scripture and because of this weakness have some issues that they need to work on. I really want to come from this two fold. I honestly want to openly repent just due to the fact that I measure with a measure that I myself would not like to be held to. Secondly I believe if I am to measure anything it should start with Christ and the cross and work my way from there.
In my practice I rarely give people the benefit of the doubt and for the most part that is because I love truth. I am thankful that Jesus is gracious because if truth is the standard and Christ is the truth I am a million miles away chained to a submarine. Jesus seems to be much more gracious than I am and He doesn’t just know the truth He is the truth. I look at people who don’t know what I know and I treat them as a bunch of static facts not like human beings, not to mention for the most part I don’t have the time (and sometime the desire) to really seek them out. I speak about something they have said that was wrong and instead of immediately praying I assess their theological astuteness. That is wrong. I am starting to be convicted and the Lord is moving my heart more towards loving people and not so much what they believe and don’t believe. Much of that has to do with a few people like Alan Knox, Lawrence D (it is funny that he says I helped him, if he only knew), and now Jeoffery Thompson, not to mention just the growth of grace in Tyris’ life has been unmeasurable. I am not abstaning from truth or the convictions I have, nor will I shrink away from the whole counsel of God but that whole counsel also consists of unmeasurable grace, love and patience, not just theological facts.
I think theological truth is way too important today. Truth is critical but so are people, I actually believe the two our married. It is funny that I would rather spend time (would, in the fact that God is moving me towards Grace and patience at a rapid rate) talking about a theological truth versus praying and finding ways to meet the needs of individuals. Jesus just seems to be a real relational God, and again He is the truth. My heart breaks for my own ignorance and blindness that I would search the scriptures and read them and in them find exactly what I was looking for not what was there. People are so important in God’s economy that He sent His Son to redeem and God the Son agreed to lay down His life and become a convicted criminal and sinner (though only vicariously) for this redemption.
Jesus spends a great deal of time with the broken, the mistaken, the hurting, the marginalized, and the ostracized. He spends a great deal eating, touching and talking, and very little time judging. He understood the world already stood condemned due to their ignorance and their slavery to sin and came to do something about it.
My other issue is those who are practically immature. I again say “there is no way this person can be a Christian” when I should be saying “there is no way I should be found righteous”. It is funny that I extend myself the very grace that I withhold from others. I know I am sinner but instead of staying in my lane and pressing toward Christ, and taking hold of Christ, I take my eyes off the prize in order to condemn others by the very truth I seek solace and peace with God in. When someone was speaking to me yesterday it hit me and the Holy Spirit applied this verse to my heart in a way that stripped me bear I was naked and instead of the Holy Spirit condemening He does like does in the life of all believers He covers me with grace everlasting. I am very glad of this, because at least I know that He works in my life and really does convict of sin and and really is a guide for those who are called by God. Truth be told the measuring stick that I measure myself with is sawed in half compared to ones I measure others with.
So I came to God sorry that I have been so critical of others and so patient, kind and gentle, and forgiving of myself. I fall far short of what God calls me to do and the problem is the things I should be doing I find myself pawning off in the name of “fruit inspection”. I must confess like in AA “Hello my name is Lionel and I am sinner”. The whole counsel of God bob their head in agreement and that is the beginning of recovery of one who has enlisted himself into Critical Anonymous a place where those who measure others with an unjust measure can get help.
Very powerful blog entry. I am not a theologian at all… and just a baby in my journey… but I can still relate to this entry…
Thanks so much for being so authentic. We started a class entitled Foundations Sunday….. and we learned:
Knowledge must be balanced with discernment. (check out Phillipians 1:9-10)
Knowledge must be balanced with grace (see 2 Peter 3:18)
Knowledge must be balanced with love. (see I Corinthians 13:2 & I Corinthians 8:1)
and then warning signs:
warning signs of knowledge without discernment: knowledge remains theoretical; one person or group becomes a person’s exclusive source of knowledge (like a certain author, certain friend, certain blog you always read…. I fall victim to this sometimes!…. the only source that is always the exclusive source of knowledge is the Word)
warning signs of knowledge without grace: learning more about God without growing closer to God; legalism
warning signs of knowledge without love: knowledge leads to intolerance of others; growth in knowledge leads to a growth in pride
so this post was right along those same lines.
Thanks
Lionel
This reminds me of a person I had judged not to be a Christian one time. They claimed they were, but everytime I would interact with them, they acted like the world. They seemed to struggle in areas of theology that I figured every Christian should know. Then one day, someone asked about homosexuality being biblical, and I heard this persons love for Christ come out. Thanks for sharing this. Let me ask you, do you think that some of your judgment stemmed from the theological knowledge you have acquired as well? I ask because I fear sometimes the more I learn, the more I may be judgmental. My weakness comes in allowing Christ Jesus to apply that theology for the edifying of the brethren. Keep loving the truth and gaining strength from Christ grace.
Karsten Miller
Lionel,
I commend you for your transparency. I believe this is something many of us have gone through. I know I have and still deal with it. As mentioned abobe sometimes we get so much knowledge we just think everyone should be at the same level we are forgetting that once we were a place where our theological knowledge was not all that expansive ( and to be honest mine still is not.) As a matter of fact I think I will join you.
“Hello, My name is Carey, and I am a sinner”
KM,
I am acutally going to post something shortly let me know if this explains it.
Carey,
Man I thought I was doing pretty good and bam! The Holy Spirit slaps me on the back of the head! Ugghhhh!
The last sentence of 1 Corinthians 8:1 states; Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifies!
We live in an electronic society where we have access to an astounding amount of biblical and extra biblical information. That can be a good thing or bad depending upon its usage.
People are products of their environments or “religious systems” so to speak, and we tend to give voice to the environment or “religious system” we are a part of or were raised in. I’ve found that what typically happened was what I called “Scripture sparring”, where individuals use Scripture to supersede Scripture in order to validate or justify their viewpoints and positions.
I used to participate in discussion forums, but found that little was being achieved. People tend to entrench themselves in a position to be right, rather than what is truth. In that type of environment, all you get is… “If you can only “hear” what I’m saying!!!” or “You’re not “hearing” me!!!”. No one wants to be wrong and that is the danger of knowledge. It puffeth up… “I’ve studied the Hebrew and the Greek, I have a vast understanding of biblical history. I have countless Theological degrees and deep revelation of the scriptures! Therefore, what I speak is MY knowledge of the truth because of what I put in to ascertain it… it’s unquestionable!”
That’s what a lot of discussions sounded like to me! I took 2 years off from posting and even reading information in biblical forums and blogs. What I’ve come to realize is that the number one protection against puffed up knowledge is humility! I try to always hold a position or viewpoint that I can be wrong in my theology, my eschatology and my biblical “knowledge” in general. (Which is light weight at best!!!) I am not infallible!
1 Corinthians 8:2 – And if anyone thinks that he knows anything, he knows nothing yet as he ought to know.
Knowledge is not a bad thing if correctly understood and applied. One thing I’ve tried to do with any post is speak as plainly as I can 1. Because I’m a simple guy and 2. Because you never know who will be reading.
When you read Jesus’ dialog through scripture, though it may have been kinda cryptic in nature to the crowds of people, it was still in a voice and with reference to things they could understand, at least to a degree.
The other interesting thing is that Jesus didn’t choose His Disciples from the “best of the best”! They were for the most part “unlearned” men with regard to the Torah. That’s why the Pharisee’s had a problem with these “unlearned” men.
I think we do well to remember that it’s not about us and that common people don’t care that we have this vast knowledge, especially if it’s used as a tool to create distance or to elevate us above another. We always seem to be trying to create distance between one another… I’m right, you’re wrong!!!
Sometimes… when we feel like ripping a theological hole in someone… the humility of silence can be a good thing!
I Ain’t Nobody!
Hello my name is Lawrence Dacus and I’m a sinner. I am not God the Father. I am not Jesus Christ the Righteous. I am not the Holy Spirit. I have not been Divinely inspired to write one line of scripture. I have not been commissioned to convert anyone to me or to my way of thinking. I have not earned the “grace wherein” I stand. I did not sit myself in heavenly places with Christ Jesus. I did not establish the peace that I now have with God. I DID NOT PROVIDE SALVATION FOR MYSELF NOR CAN I FOR OTHERS!
I can’t quite remember how I happen to come across the following scripture. What I do know is that the words just “jumped off the page” at me and I was struck to the heart.
Titus 3:1-7 (emphasis mine) Remind them to be subject to rulers, to authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good. TO MALIGN NO ONE, to be peaceable, gentle, showing EVERY consideration for ALL MEN. (here all means all) For WE also once were FOOLISH OURSELVES, disobedient, DECEIVED, enslaved to VARIOUS lust and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, HATEFUL, HATING ONE ANOTHER. BUT when the kindness of GOD OUR SAVIOR and His love for mankind appeared, HE SAVED US, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but ACCORDING TO HIS MERCY, by the washing of REGENERATION and renewing by the HOLY SPIRIT, whom He poured out upon us RICHLY through JESUS CHRIST OUR SAVIOR, so the being JUSTIFIED BY HIS GRACE we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
May God continue to apply the truth of this and all scripture to my heart.
BTW L, God used you to help me so that later on I could help you. He made His children, in part, for one another. That’s why the best description of us is as a Body.
How true that is LD!
djdesignz,
Well stated!
Hey Lionel,
Heather and I read this post yesterday, and were both very moved, seeing how God has been at work in your heart lately. It’s so cool when you see real growth in someone. God’s been at work in us too, convicting us of many things similar to what you shared about. In the end, we are all naked and ashamed as we approach the cross, what could we possibly have to boast about….. Thanks for your honesty, and for your passion for the truth. It’s been so cool to get to know you over the past few months.
In Christ, Daniel
Randi,
I was particularly blessed by your post.May God grant us all the discernment,grace and love to fully grow into His plans and purposes for us.Amen.