Fruitful Living - the opposite of patience is judgment

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How's it going?  Are you cultivating the fruit - love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness & self-control?

We are going to investigate one of the issues I brought up while teaching on patience a couple of weeks ago.  To review: there are 2 types of patience

Greek word hupomone is endurance – putting up with things or circumstances & makrothumia which means long suffering; self-restraint before proceeding to action. It is the quality of a person who is able to avenge himself yet refrains from doing so. It is patience in respect to persons and hupomone is about situations. Both are crucial to living God’s way but both describe different qualities.

The opposite of patience toward others then would be ‘judgment’ - defined as ‘to condemn, take vengeance on, it means to try someone as if they stand accused before you in a court of law..  so.. patience is the delaying of judgment.

Eleven Reasons we must not judge others

(Ro 2:1-5)  ¹ You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge another, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things. ² Now we know that God’s judgment against those who do such things is based on truth. ³ So when you, a mere human being, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God’s judgment? ⁴ Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?

 ⁵ But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed.

 Reasons from these passages include:

1. When we judge others, we cause God to be harder on us.  Romans 2:1 We invite the discipline of God on our lives.

2. We do many of the same things we condemn in others. Vs 1 again.. “  For example .. we are all so quick to judge others for sexual transgressions and yet not one of us has not fallen in this area in some way… if not physically, we have done so mentally.

3. We do not know the whole truth.  V 2 – God’s judgment is always based upon truth – the whole truth. We may ‘think’ we have the whole truth but we are incapable of reading minds and judging hearts ---  discuss motives... I believe we point out behaviors that are based on fact & what we see/ know, but we cannot and should not judge or determine someone else's motives or the intention of their heart - that crosses the line.

4. We are mere humans.  Vs 3 'so when you a mear man, etc…'  Isaiah 29:16  expounds upon the temptation to switch roles with God: “you turn things upside down, as if the potter were thought to be life the clay!” We must not assume God’s position!!

5. When we judge others, we are judging God. Our judgment actually reveals contempt for God’s patience with people.  (vs 4)  God’s long suffering with us.. brought us our salvation.. who are we to say anything about others? God truly gives people every opportunity to say ‘yes’ to Him. Dr. Adrian Rogers says “time is not nearly as important to God as timing”.

6. God’s judgment is always righteous. Ours is tainted by the flesh.  Vs 5 Our attitudes, our pasts, our experiences, personalities and even our positions influence us. Only God is the perfectly righteous judge.

Additional reasons are found in:

Matt 7:1-5   ¹ “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. ² For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.

   ³ “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? ⁴ How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? ⁵ You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye. 

7. We risk application of the same type of judgment to ourselves (vs 1-2).

8. We cannot judge the speck of sawdust in another’s eye because of the planks in our own. (vs 3-4)  Our sight is hindered by our own sin (mirror).. have you ever taken the time to consider the things you dislike most in others could potentially be your own weaknesses/ sins?... I have found in my recovery journey, that the blind spots I/ we have are oftentimes the things we see in others.. take some time to reflect and pray on that... what are some examples you have?

James 4:11-12  ¹¹ Brothers and sisters, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against a brother or sister^[a] or judges them speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it. ¹² There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But you—who are you to judge your neighbor?

9. There is only one lawgiver and judge – vs 12.

10. Only God has noble purposes in His judgment.  It is never about His ego.. It is practical and with purpose. What could some of our purposes be? - we feel better about ourselves, feel superior, what else?

Add'l reasons found in:

John 8:14-18   ⁴ Jesus answered, “Even if I testify on my own behalf, my testimony is valid, for I know where I came from and where I am going. But you have no idea where I come from or where I am going. ¹⁵ You judge by human standards; I pass judgment on no one. ¹⁶ But if I do judge, my decisions are true, because I am not alone. I stand with the Father, who sent me. ¹⁷ In your own Law it is written that the testimony of two witnesses is true. ¹⁸ I am one who testifies for myself; my other witness is the Father, who sent me.”

11. Our judgment would have to be completely consistent with God’s. He must agree with us for our judgment to be valid.   Tough call but… when could this ever be possible?  Is it possible?

We need to make sure we understand judgment from practicing church discipline.. some situations demand discipline!  Any ideas?

Matthew 18:15-17  Dealing With Sin in the Church

    ¹⁵ “If your brother or sister^[b] sins,^[c] go and point out their fault, just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over. ¹⁶ But if they will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’^{[d] 17} If they still refuse to listen, tell it to the church; and if they refuse to listen even to the church, treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector.

Apostle Paul – expel the brother… don’t eat with them..  explain…

1 Corinthians 5

Dealing With a Case of Incest

 ¹ It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that even pagans do not tolerate: A man is sleeping with his father’s wife. ² And you are proud! Shouldn’t you rather have gone into mourning and have put out of your fellowship the man who has been doing this? ³ For my part, even though I am not physically present, I am with you in spirit. As one who is present with you in this way, I have already passed judgment in the name of our Lord Jesus on the one who has been doing this. ⁴ So when you are assembled and I am with you in spirit, and the power of our Lord Jesus is present, ⁵ hand this man over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh,^[a][b] so that his spirit may be saved on the day of the Lord.

 ⁶ Your boasting is not good. Don’t you know that a little yeast leavens the whole batch of dough? ⁷ Get rid of the old yeast, so that you may be a new unleavened batch—as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. ⁸ Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old bread leavened with malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
 ⁹ I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— ¹⁰ not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world. ¹¹ But now I am writing to you that you must not associate with anyone who claims to be a brother or sister^[c] but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or slanderer, a drunkard or swindler. Do not even eat with such people.
 ¹² What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? ¹³ God will judge those outside. “Expel the wicked person from among you.”^[d]

Bottom line on judgment… it is far better to be the clay than the potter…  Let’s let God – the potter – our creator, be the judge..  He is the only wise judge. And remember what the definition of judgment is vs. the act of loving confrontation of those who are in sin - hurting themselves and hurting others.

 Note:  portions of the above were taken from Beth Moore's study "Living Beyond Yourself"

GROUP WORK

How does God want you to respond to what you learned tonight?

Have any of you every served in a jury?  What was that experience like?   If not, how do you feel about serving in that capacity?

Discuss the differences between judgment and accountability/ church discipline to bring clarity. Have you even seen this done well?  What were the outcomes?  If not, what needs to change in the Body of Christ and how can we be instruments of change?

To review:  why is it important to delay judgment?  What is the opposite?