AGING AND RETIREMENT

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Here is a review I wrote of a book about aging and retirement for Christian Century.
BOOKS

The work that begins at retirement

Nov 01, 2016 by Bob Mink

Many readers who are past middle age will disagree with R. Paul Stevens’s opening assertion that “we should work until we die.” That is, until they read on. Stevens’s foundational premise is that God calls us into meaningful work at every stage of our life. “We do not retire from our calling even if we have retired from a career” because “while one chooses a career, one is chosen for a calling.” In this way, Stevens reframes the concept of retirement from a Christian perspective.

To continue reading go to their website:
 http://www.christiancentury.org/reviews/2016-10/work-begins-retirement
Feel free to share and let me know what you think by leaving a reply below.

FRIEND OF SINNERS

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Most people would agree that who you socialize with is important and says something about you. For instance, parents want their children to hang out with other kids who will have a good influence on them. But although we understand the potential pitfalls of being negatively influenced by others, as Christians we’re also taught to connect with others so we can make a positive impact on them by our words and actions.

During His ministry Jesus modeled the practice of interacting with others, primarily by eating with them. And because He regularly spent time with those who were not considered respectable by the Jewish religious establishment, He was criticized and questioned by the religious leaders. There were several groups of religious leaders, but those who criticized Jesus most often were the Pharisees.

The specific criticism and questioning of Jesus discussed in this chapter began with the calling of Matthew, a tax-collector, to be a follower of Jesus. In reading the account it is obvious that as a tax collector, Matthew (called Levi by Luke) would not be considered a good candidate to follow Jesus.

Tax collectors were looked down on and hated for a variety of reasons. They were considered traitors because they worked for the Romans who occupied the land. In addition, they were known to be dishonest and greedy, taking as much money as they could for themselves beyond what tax was required. A window into the system is opened in John the Baptist’s reply to tax collectors in response to their question about what they should do; he says,  “Don’t collect any more than you are required to” (Luke 3:13). Because of these first two factors, tax collectors did not pay much attention to the religious rules many of the Jewish people followed. We’ll say more about it later, but the pairing of “tax collectors and sinners” shows how despised they were.

For Jesus to call a man like Matthew to follow Him was totally out of the ordinary and a snub to conventional ideas of respectability. The fishermen He had called earlier (Peter, Andrew, James, and John) were not high on the social scale, but they were not as suspect and low-down as a tax collector.

Perhaps equally significant as the fact that Jesus called Matthew is that Matthew answered the call. We shouldn’t think of this as the first time Matthew had encountered Jesus. He undoubtedly knew who Jesus was and had heard Him teach before. When Jesus called he was ready. Luke tells us that Matthew “got up, left everything and followed him” (5:28). Matthew gave up a lot because tax collectors were in the upper class, but it was even more than that. One New Testament scholar notes, “We should not miss the quiet heroism involved in this. If following Jesus had not worked out for the fishermen, they could have returned to their trade without difficulty. But when Matthew walked out of his job he was through.”

After Matthew responded to Jesus’ call he hosted a dinner party for his friends, Jesus, and Jesus’ disciples. Luke’s Gospel reports, “Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them” (5:29). Matthew’s friends were tax collectors and sinners just like he was! Matthew’s Gospel phrases it, “many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him [Jesus] and his disciples” (9:10).

When Jesus ate with Matthew and his friends, it prompted the Pharisees to question Jesus about hanging out with the wrong kind of people. Matthew 9:11 tells us, “When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, ‘Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?'” Luke 5:30 says they “complained to his disciples” asking the same question. Note the Pharisees did not ask Jesus Himself, but His disciples. It makes me think the Pharisees were somewhat cowardly–a lot of critics are. To their credit, however, on other occasions the Pharisees did question Jesus directly.

However, note that the Pharisees’ question to Jesus’ disciples really wasn’t a question, but a judgement on Him. They didn’t want to know why Jesus ate with those kind of people, they wanted His disciples to know they thought it was wrong. Associating with those kind of people was bad enough, but it was altogether something else for Jesus to eat with them. Far more than today, eating with someone in the ancient world suggested tolerance and acceptance. We’ll say more about it in chapter five, but for the Pharisees eating with such people would result in ritual defilement.

“Sinners” in the gospel accounts refer to common people who for a variety of reasons did not or could not follow the elaborate religious rituals the Pharisees followed. The Pharisees scorned those who did not follow their rules and wouldn’t have anything to do with them. In the eyes of the religious leaders of Jesus’ day they were disreputable people and undesirables; what we might call “the wrong kind of people.” The Pharisees were upset that Jesus would associate with people like Matthew and his friends. They viewed it as discrediting Him as a rabbi and making Him out to be a phony. In their view, really righteous people wouldn’t do such a thing.

Matthew 9:12 notes, “On hearing this, Jesus said” and Luke 5:31 says “Jesus answered them.” And what an answer it was! He said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” Luke 5:32 adds that Jesus told them He came to call sinners “to repentance.” And Matthew 9:13 adds a challenge from Jesus citing Hosea 6:6, “But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’” This Old Testament challenge was about going beyond ceremonial obedience.

Please realize that Jesus did not deny the charge–He was eating with tax collectors and sinners. As I heard a preacher say in a Bible study many years ago, “But when you think about it, who else was there to eat with? If He ate with the Pharisees He would still be eating with sinners!” Nor did Jesus apologize; no apology was necessary. In His response Jesus used physical illness as a metaphor for spiritual need. What would be our response to a health care system where doctors would only see people who were healthy? It would be a strange system, wouldn’t it? But that is the analogy Jesus used to describe the Pharisees’ outlook on Him. They did not understand the purpose of Jesus’ coming: apparently they thought the Messiah would condemn the sinful and praise the righteous. But that is not why Jesus came. One of the reasons Jesus was so popular with sinners was that, in the words of Arron Chambers, “the judged found the Judge to be surprisingly nonjudgmental.”

In eating with these “sinners” Jesus was not approving of their sin. By His response He indicated the people He was eating with were “sick”–they were indeed “sinners.” Remember Luke’s account reports Jesus saying, “I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance” (5:32). Matthew’s account doesn’t have the same words, but they are implied and understood. From the beginning of both John the Baptist’s and Jesus’ preaching there was a call to repentance, and the point of calling sinners is not that they should remain the same, but that they may find true righteousness through faith in Jesus. Jesus accepted and welcomed sinners as they were, but He also challenged, encouraged, and empowered them to change.

Even though Jesus’ metaphor confirmed those He ate with were sinners, I do not think He was suggesting the Pharisees were righteous people who were not sick. Do you? I think rather Jesus was emphasizing that they were unaware of their condition. The Pharisees thought they had it all together and were better than everyone else. But they were not as healthy as they thought or as righteous as they appeared. And Jesus certainly was not approving of their blind self-righteousness that resulted in the harsh judgment of others.

Don’t forget the part of Jesus’ response recorded only in Matthew where He told the Pharisees, “Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’” “Go and learn” was a phrase used by teachers to send students back to the Bible to study a passage further. Imagine how taken aback the Pharisees must have been to have Jesus imply they were like first year seminary students. The point of God’s Word through the prophet Hosea is that you cannot rely on ritual only and ignore God’s internal moral desire. The Pharisees were preoccupied with external ritual purity.

What does Jesus’ response to this questioning mean to us? For one thing, we are not to be like the Pharisees. In general we are not to focus on the external to the neglect of the internal heart attitude God wants. Specifically, we are not to stay away from or shun the very people Jesus came to heal and save. If just being around sinners was the way sin was transmitted, or it degraded one’s relationship with God, Jesus would have been one of the worst sinners of all and not very pleasing to God. The Pharisees could only see the failures of sinners, but Jesus saw their need and wanted to help them. We might ask ourselves if we have isolated ourselves from the people Jesus has called us to reach out to. Are we afraid of those who don’t believe as we do, or who hold a political opinion different from ours, or who don’t carry out their faith as we do? If we are, we have missed the point of Jesus’ coming.

We are not to be like the Pharisees; we are to be like Jesus. He did not look down on and separate Himself from those who weren’t religious. Just as Jesus came to call sinners, He sends Christians today to witness for Him. He gives us the same commission He gave His closest followers after His resurrection: “As the Father has sent me, I am sending you” (John 20:21). In terms of His teaching in the Sermon on the Mount Jesus calls us to be both salt and light (Mathew 5:13-16). And we can only do what He has asked us to do by being in contact with those we are commissioned to influence. We have to be in the world so we can connect and build bridges of friendship with those who need a “doctor.” We cannot look down on those who need the Lord and come across as though we have it all together and are better than they are. The reason people like Matthew and his friends were attracted to Jesus is because of the way He saw them and treated them. He saw their potential.

You and I are sinners called by Jesus to follow Him. He can only help us if we acknowledge our need and admit we are sick and need a doctor. And admitting our need is not something that happens only at the beginning of the Christian life. Nor is repenting of our sin something that happens only at the beginning of our walk with Jesus. Since we will never reach perfection, we will always need Jesus and need to regularly repent of our sins.

Of all the designations given to Jesus, none is more attractive than the label His enemies gave Him—that He was “a friend of tax collectors and sinners” (Matthew 11:19 and Luke 7:14). Aren’t you glad Jesus is a friend of sinners? Aren’t you glad He is your friend? Jesus is still calling people to follow Him today—unlikely candidates like Matthew and sinners like you and me. And people are still responding to follow Him. We call them Christians.

(This post is adapted from Chapter Three, How Can You Welcome those Kind of People?, of my book Questioning Jesus: Considering His Responses.)

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CONGRATULATIONS!

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Most people appreciate it when others congratulate them for something they have done. And some expressions of congratulations mean more to us than others, depending upon who offers it. If it’s a coach, teacher, or someone we look up to who congratulates us we are especially pleased.

How would you like to be congratulated by God? In the opening verses of what we call the Sermon on the Mount Jesus highlights eight character qualities that describe His followers. These are not eight types of His followers, but rather eight qualities that ideally characterize every Christian. They are called the beatitudes as Jesus begins each with the pronouncement that those who have the quality are blessed. One of the best ways to think of this idea of being blessed is as a congratulations from God.

We recently went over the Beatitudes in my classes “Jesus in the Gospels” and I gave the students an assignment to write about their favorite beatitude. I thought if I asked them to do it, I could do it as well. In this post I want to share my two favorite beatitudes. (And it’s okay for me to choose two because I told them if they couldn’t narrow it down to one it was okay to write about more than one.)

My two favorites are the first and sixth: “Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” and “Blessed are the pure in heart for they will see God.” Out of the eight, these are the two that are most easily and most often misunderstood; and they are my favorites.

To be poor in spirit doesn’t necessarily mean to be financially or materially poor. Nor does it mean to be poor spirited in terms of being no fun, sad, or lacking in energy. To be poor in spirit is to recognize your own spiritual poverty before God and your need for His mercy and grace. To be poor in spirit is to admit that we are not worthy and cannot save ourselves, so we accept God’s gracious offer in Jesus.

To be poor in spirit is to be congratulated by God. Each beatitude not only includes God’s congratulations at the beginning, but also a specific promise at the end. Those who are poor in spirit are not only to be congratulated, they also possess the kingdom of heaven. And the reason the poor in spirit are in the kingdom is because they know their spiritual need and have had it met in Jesus.

Jesus’ parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector in Luke 18:9-14 provides a great example of both one who was not poor in spirit and one who was. In the introduction to the parable Luke tells us Jesus directed it to “some who were confident in their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else.” Those two attitudes are certainly not characteristic of those who are poor in spirit. Take a moment and read the parable and the rich in spirit prayer of the Pharisee. And consider praying the poor in spirit prayer of the tax collector: “God, have mercy on me, a sinner.”

To be pure in heart is not primarily about having a pure mind or body. Nor is it about being totally free of all sin or externally following a set of rules. To be pure in heart is to be honest and sincere. (However, it does not mean you are brutally honest and uncaring.) The pure in heart are not manipulative and do not have hidden motives. There is no pretense and to be pure in heart is the opposite of being hypocritical.

To be pure in heart is to be congratulated by God. And not only that, the specific promise to the pure in heart is that they will see God. That is, of course, a promise to see God in the hereafter; but I think it also means our pure hearts will help see God and His working in this life.

From time to time I hear someone describe someone else with the description “With this person what you see is what you get.” That phrase suggests to me basically what this quality of being pure in heart is.

Hopefully you and I are growing in and exhibiting these two qualities of being poor in spirit and pure in heart. If we are it is not for me to congratulate any of us, but I think we can be encouraged to know that God congratulates us.

Feel free to reply below and/or share this post on social media.

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FRUSTRATION, UNCERTAINTY, AND TOMORROW

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I don’t know if you would group the three words above together, but I sure am these days. Who doesn’t experience frustration and uncertainty about tomorrow from time to time? I think we all do; and at times the frustration and uncertainty is greater than at others.

You may or may not be in one of those times right now, but I seem to be. And I wanted to share a prayer with you by John Ballie that I have been praying a lot these days. It means so much to me I thought others might appreciate it as well.

When much is obscure to me, let me be all the more faithful to the little I can clearly see; When the distant scene is clouded, let me rejoice that at least the next step is plain.

And to go with the prayer, here is a story by Nikos Kazantzakis that I think relates:

“I remember one morning when I discovered a cocoon in the bark of a tree, just as the butterfly was making a hole in its case and preparing to come out. I waited awhile, but it was too long appearing and I was impatient. I bent over it and breathed on it to warm it. I warmed it as quickly as I could and the miracle began to happen before my eyes, faster than life. The case opened, the butterfly started slowly crawling out and I shall never forget my horror when I saw how its wings were folded back and crumpled; the wretched butter fly tried with its whole trembling body to unfold them. Bending over it, I tried to help it with my breath. In vain. It needed to be hatched out patiently, and the unfolding of the wings should be a gradual process in the sun. Now, it was too late. My breath had forced the butterfly to appear all crumpled before its time. It struggled desperately and, a few seconds later, died in the palm of my hand.”

It’s a powerful story, isn’t it? It’s also somewhat sad. But it has a lot to say to us if we think about it and let it speak to us.

Some may ask, “Where is God in our times of frustration and uncertainty?” And the answer I think is, “He’s right there with us.”

I hope you enjoy Ballie’s prayer and Kazantzakis’s story. Feel free to leave a reply below and share these thoughts on Facebook and other social media.

WHO ARE YOU TRYING TO PLEASE?

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Most of us want to be liked, don’t we? I know I do. Some of us have a greater desire (need?) to be liked than others do. To be honest, I admire people who don’t seem to care that much whether people like them or not. I don’t like them, but I admire them.

I’ve thought about this on and off through the years. What got me thinking about it again lately was a message I prepared and preached in September and then an article I read entitled “The Haunted Hayride of Human Approval.” The article wasn’t that good, but the title was.

The message was from I Corinthians 4, but working on it reminded me of another of Paul’s letters and something he wrote that had a great impact on me 20 or more years ago in my devotional reading. I remember underlining I Thessalonians 2:4b, “We are not trying to please people but God.” I’ve tried to keep that in mind and emulate the Apostle Paul ever since.

Last month while working on that message from I Corinthians 4:1-5 on judging, I was struck by something he said I had never noted before. In verse 3 he declares “I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court.” In the message I acknowledged, “I don’t know about you, but I have to tell you that too often I do care how I am judged by others. I wish I was more like Paul.” In this post, as a professor, I also admit I care too much about what my students think of me at Hope International University.

I think a lot of people battle this desire to please others and be liked, but it can be especially an issue for pastors and preachers. The same week I was working on the I Corinthians 4 message I read an article for pastors entitled Four Things You Wish People Knew about You. One of those things was “Pastors tend to want to please people, especially those in their church.”

In his book A Little Guide to Christian Spirituality author Glen Scorgie suggests, “It is tempting to play to our audiences. We feed off the approval of others.” He is writing to all Christians, but you can see how this might be an even greater challenge to preachers.

John’s Gospel offers an assessment of believers I hope will never be said about any of us. Speaking about many even among the leaders who believed in Jesus, John 12:42 and 43 reports “they would not openly acknowledge their faith . . . for they love human praise more than praise from God.”

Before I point to a final example for us to follow, let’s remind ourselves of what Paul wrote. Writing to the Corinthians he continued in 4:4, “It is the Lord who judges me.” That is something to keep in mind, isn’t it? And remember what he said to the Thessalonians, “We are not trying to please people but God.”

As I keep all this in mind my goal and desire is to someday hear something along the lines of what Jesus heard following His baptism: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” How about you?

Please feel free to leave a reply below and/or share this post on social media.

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LOOKING BACK – TWO YEARS LATER

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This week marks the second anniversary of my stepping down after 30 years as the founding and senior pastor of Discovery Christian Church. The last two years have been interesting and challenging; and I thought it would be good for me, and hopefully interesting to you, to share some of the things I have learned.

It’s not the same for everyone, but change is hard for me.

Being the pastor of a local church has been one of the greatest blessings of my life.

I love to preach and teach the Bible.

There is a lot about being a pastor that I miss; and also a few things I don’t miss. In some respects guest preaching is the best of both.

When you have been preaching for 40 years at first it is hard to sit and listen; but with time it gets easier and becomes to you what you hope your preaching was and is to others.

Churches, pastors, and people are different—and that’s a good thing. No one should insist that people, pastors, or churches all be the same.

Teaching at the university level is not as easy as it may appear; teaching is great privilege, but grading papers and tests is tedious.

Some university students don’t really care to learn, some want to learn, and some care too much about their grades.

Some friendships endure, some fade over time.

Even after all these years I am not finished learning the Bible or growing as a Christian.

Some sins are really persistent.

The respect that comes to a pastor/professor from so many is gratifying but also humbling—and I’m not saying that just to sound good.

Getting older is not as bad as some people suggest; but neither is it a piece of cake.

I love to play golf (even though I’m not very good).

Writing books is difficult but fulfilling; selling them is not one of my favorite things to do.

Posting a weekly blog is a good discipline that does a lot more for the writer than the readers.

Speaking of discipline, healthy eating and regularly exercising—as a diabetic—is a real challenge.

It’s a lot better for others and yourself to be patient, kind, pleasant, and understanding. Why be a complainer, a grouch, or a critic?

Being easily angered is nothing to be proud of—look it up in the book of Proverbs.

I am pleased with and proud of my two children—Audrey and Rob.

I love being a father; but being a grandfather is also wonderful.

I have made many mistakes as a pastor, husband, and father; unfortunately, I can’t do any of it over.

My wife Jan is the most generous, selfless, and loving person I know or have ever known.

Looking back, I’m confident the timing as well as the process we followed in my stepping down after 30 years as pastor of Discovery Christian Church was right.

To conclude on a seasonal note, 15 m & m’s are not even half of what ought to be in any packets we pass out for Halloween!

Feel free to leave a reply below and/or share this post on social media

Photo courtesy of Jan.

IS OLD BAD?

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That’s a good question, isn’t it? Is old bad? The answers depends on what you are referring to as old and what you mean by old.

I’m thinking about the question because age wise I am right now halfway between 65 and 66. Is that old? It all depends. Some people in their mid-sixties are a lot older than others in the same age range. From my perspective I don’t really feel or act old—very often.

My reading the past few weeks has provoked my thinking about wondering if old is bad. As regular readers of my blog posts know, I have been doing a lot of reading lately about getting older, retirement, old age, and dying. I have listed and commented on a variety of books about these subjects in two posts: https://bobmmink.com/2016/07/13/getting-older-retirement-and-aging/ and https://bobmmink.com/2016/08/09/more-on-getting-older-and-aging/

Every book I read refers to other books about the subjects by either quoting them in the text or listing them in a bibliography. I then order one or two recommended books, read them, and go through the process again. What got my attention the last couple of weeks is that in some ways the older books have been better than the newer ones.

Here’s what I’m thinking about the question “Is old bad?” Not necessarily. Just because something is old doesn’t mean it is no longer useful. That’s certainly true of books; and it’s true of a lot of other things as well—including people.

It is certainly true that some things get old, worn out, and outdated. I’m going to have to replace my cell phone pretty soon because of that. I’m sure we all can think of similar examples. I just think we need to be cautious about concluding something is bad just because it is old.

Here’s a corollary: just because something is new does not mean it is good. Going back to the subject of books, I buy and read a lot of new books only to realize that some of them are not nearly as good as some of my old ones. Again, I’m sure we all can think of similar examples.

Just because something is old does not make it either bad or good; and just because something is new does not make it either good or bad. The challenge for us is to be discerning as we consider both things that are old as well as things that are new.

For those who are interested, my most recent older book is The Reality of Retirement: The Inner Experience of Becoming a Retired Person by Jules Z. Willing and published in 1981. It’s not written from a Christian viewpoint, and has no footnotes or bibliography, but for me it was a great read.

For example, the author suggests we are all familiar with the dictum: No one is indispensable. “But what is incredible, unthinkable, is the realization at retirement that we are actually being dispensed with” (p. 29).

Dispensed with or not, old or not, I don’t think being old is bad. What do you think?

Feel free to leave a comment below and/or share this post on social media.

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SURELY BEEN GOOD TO ME!

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When I went to bed earlier tonight I took a moment to thank God for the opportunity, privilege, and challenge to preach this morning at Westwood Hills Christian Church. I hope it is obvious why I call it an opportunity and privilege, but the challenge aspect was that it was a totally new message/sermon from an assigned chapter in the New Testament: I Corinthians 6.

As I lay in bed thinking about God’s blessings I began to reflect on my life going back to my childhood, years in high school, time in college, and beyond. I thought of friends with whom I had so many experiences and so much fun, of adults (parents, teachers, elders, preachers, youth ministers, and professors) who had such an impact upon me, and the wonderful people in the four churches I served over the course of 44 years God brought into my life who loved me and whom I loved.

There is also the blessing of my wife, Jan, to whom I have been married 42 years; our daughter, Audrey, and son Rob; and our two grandsons, Bobby and Ryan.

For some reason a song we sang in my youth group when I was in high school came to mind that I could not get out of my head. I got up and went to my computer to see if I could find the lyrics and had no trouble at all finding the song. Here are words of the chorus with the words as I remember how we sang it:

Singing Lord, Lord, Lord; surely been good to me,

Singing Lord, Lord, Lord; surely been good to me,

Singing Lord, Lord, Lord; surely been good to me,

That is something the world couldn’t do!

Do you ever have times like this? If you do I’d love to hear your thoughts. Leave a reply below or send me an email at bobmmink.com. Feel free also to share this post on social media. Now I’m going back to bed.

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WHAT’S GOOD ABOUT THE PHARISEES?

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We have a critical view of the Pharisees because pretty much everything we hear and read about them is negative. Nobody likes to be called a Pharisee as it is a label that suggests unbecoming actions and attitudes. Calling someone a Pharisee is a judgement on and put down of him or her.

Those familiar with the New Testament Gospels know Jesus was often in conflict with the Pharisees. They frequently criticized Him and tried to trap Him. Jesus, however, never fell for their traps, but took them to task as well. Clearly there is much to criticize about the Pharisees.

While there is a great deal of legitimate criticism of the Pharisees, there are also some things for which they should be commended. That may surprise you, but it is true. As one observer notes, “The Pharisees were not wrong in everything they did.” Without giving them a pass on their shortcomings, in what follows allow me to suggest some positives about the Pharisees.

For one thing the Pharisees took their relationship with God seriously. They were deeply earnest about their religion. This reminds me of the emphasis in the book of Proverbs: “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge” (1:7a) and “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom” (9:10a). The fear of the LORD is not shrinking from Him in terror, but acknowledging and honoring Him. Chuck Swindoll says to fear the LORD is to “take God seriously.”

The Pharisees are to be commended for several theological beliefs they held and taught that paved the way for Christianity. One is they made monotheism (belief in one God) the heart of Judaism. They also maintained the Old Testament expectation of God’s promised Messiah. A third point of theology, unlike the Sadducees, is the Pharisees made belief in the resurrection and afterlife a crucial part of Judaism.

Ultimately, the most important point of commendation for the Pharisees is they loved the Word of God. As a matter of fact, it was their extreme resolve to fully and meticulously carry out every rule and regulation the Scribes came up with that resulted in the criticisms they receive. It resulted in their legalism, self-righteousness, and critical spirit.

A variety of New Testament scholars have pointed out that Jesus probably was closer to the Pharisees in terms of belief and practice than any other group during that time. Like the Pharisees, Jesus taught in the synagogue and had a high view of God’s Law. He was also similar in many ways to the leading Rabbis. He often interacted with Pharisees and in the end had at least two followers from the group: Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea. It seems obvious some of the Pharisees were truly virtuous and good with great devotion for God.

Without adopting their negatives (and there are many), I would like to be more like the Pharisees in terms of what was good about them. I want to take my relationship with the Lord seriously; I want to love, read, understand, and obey His Word; I want to be pure in heart and mind; and I want to attend, participate, and learn in corporate worship as often as possible.

What about you?

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photo credit: <a href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/42744434@N02/27131576373″>Holy and Great Council: Divine Liturgy in Kissamos, Crete</a> via <a href=”http://photopin.com”>photopin</a&gt; <a href=”https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/”>(license)</a&gt;

(The picture is not of Pharisees and is intended only to create interest.)

DO YOU DO THIS?

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(Last week I posted on Facebook I was wrapping up preparation on my message/sermon “The Habit of Judging” for Sunday. Several asked about it being recorded on video, which it wasn’t. Here is an edited version of my notes in a post much longer than usual.)

We are going to talk this morning about a habit that is universally recognized as wrong, but is nevertheless widely practiced. It’s a habit that most people have when they first become Christians. And what is especially concerning to me is that for too many it’s a habit that becomes even worse after they become followers of Jesus.

This habit that we’re going to consider this morning is a sin. And like all sin it is serious and destructive. It’s a sin that needs to be named and eliminated from our lives. Let’s think together about “The Habit of Judging.”

Text – I Corinthians 4:1-5

This, then, is how you ought to regard us: as servants of Christ and as those entrusted with the mysteries God has revealed. 2 Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful. 3 I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court; indeed, I do not even judge myself. 4 My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me. 5 Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait until the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of the heart. At that time each will receive their praise from God.

Let’s set the stage by reviewing the circumstances of this passage.

These verses are part of a letter from the Apostle Paul to the church he had established in the city of Corinth. He had been gone for some time, but had heard from members about divisions in the church.

Earlier in I Corinthians 1:11 and 12 he had written, My brothers and sisters, some from Chloe’s household have informed me that there are quarrels among you. What I mean is this: One of you says, “I follow Paul”; another, “I follow Apollos”; another, “I follow Cephas”; still another, “I follow Christ.”

People in the church were rallying around different leaders–apparently mostly Paul and Apollos–as the better preacher or leader. From what Paul writes it looks like they were not just rallying around one leader, but at the same time criticizing and judging the one or ones they did not rally around. And Paul is telling them that is not how it works.

The first two verses of chapter four give Paul’s take on Apollos and himself. The NLT renders Paul’s words “So look at Apollos and me as mere servants of Christ.” It’s as though he was saying he and Apollos weren’t really that important; they weren’t the big wigs some thought they were; they were merely servants—servants of Christ. The church in general, specific congregations, and individual Christians always make a mistake when they make celebrities out of this or that church leader and follow him or her.

Paul wanted his readers to know he and Apollos were stewards. A steward is someone who is put in charge and assigned to oversee and manage what belongs to someone else. Paul, Apollos, and other church leaders are entrusted with the message of God they preach about Jesus. They are not to be concerned about their own interests, but giving themselves to their master’s interest. And note the primary qualification of a steward—faithfulness. The criterion the Lord is looking for from His leaders, and all of His people, is not popularity or success, but faithfulness.

I am struck by what Paul tells his readers in I Corinthians 4:3, “I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court.” I don’t know about you, but in all honesty I have to tell you that too often I do care how I am judged by others.

I read an article this past week for pastors entitled Four things you wish people knew about you. One of those things is “Pastors tend to want to please people, especially people in their church.” I confess I am among those as most pastors are. Every week after I preach, and I’ll probably do it on the way home today, I ask Jan, “How was my preaching today?” How about you? Do you care if others judge you? I think most of us do. But not Paul; what mattered to Paul was what the Lord thought. I wish I was more like Paul. Of course I care what the Lord thinks; I just wish I cared less about what people think. But like Paul, you and I are not ultimately responsible to any human being or group of human beings, but to God Himself.

With those circumstances before us, let’s next look at Paul’s instruction in verse 5: “Judge nothing before the appointed time.”

The fact that they were judging him prompted the Apostle to tell them not to judge. The Contemporary English Versions translates, “So don’t judge anyone.” It reminds me of one of Jesus’ best known teachings in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 7:1 and 2, “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.” What do Jesus and Paul mean when they tell us not to judge?

I think it would be appropriate first to mention a couple of things the Bible is not forbidding. For one thing, the instruction not to judge has nothing to do with the legal system and courts of law. Years ago I was summoned for jury duty and when the prosecutor learned I was a pastor, asked me if Jesus’ teaching “Do not judge” would prevent me from finding the accused guilty. I said no because that is not what Jesus meant. Nor in this teaching are Jesus and Paul suggesting we suspend our capacity to discern right and wrong—good and evil. For the most part we know the difference between right and wrong and that is not judging.

What Jesus forbids and what Paul forbid is a negative and critical spirit that results in the condemnation of others. It’s an attitude of always critically and harshly assessing other people’s motives and actions. It’s the practice of constant faultfinding. Max Lucado writes, “The key word here is judges. It’s one thing to have an opinion. It’s quite another to pass a verdict. It’s one thing to have a conviction; it’s another to convict the person. It’s one thing to be repulsed by the acts. It’s another entirely to claim I am superior or that another is beyond the grace of God.” There is no place for a judgmental outlook in the life of a Christian.

Finally, let’s wrap up our study by considering why both Jesus and Paul give us the instruction not to judge others.

The Bible teaches that we are not to judge others because Jesus will do the judging. Remember what Paul wrote at the end of verse 5, “Wait until the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of the heart. At that time each will receive their praise from God.” In verse three Paul has indicated he didn’t even judge himself. He knew he was not perfect, but he was willing to wait and let the Lord judge him.

We are not to judge others because when we judge we are not impartial. The reality is that we often judge others simply because they are not like us. As a rule we are generally comfortable with what is familiar, and uncomfortable with what is unfamiliar. So out of our discomfort we have a tendency to judge the unfamiliar. Just because someone doesn’t agree with us, or just because someone doesn’t like something we like, is no reason to judge them. And that is especially true with fellow believers in the body of Christ.

One of my favorite challenges for us as Christians is in Romans 12:16 where the Apostle Paul challenges us, “Live in harmony with one another.” I’m sure musicians reading this know what harmony is. It is not the same as unison. When we all sing the same notes we are singing in unison. But when we sing different notes that blend we are singing in harmony. And in the body of Christ we are to live in harmony—not the same, but blending together.

Not only are we not impartial, we shouldn’t judge others because we never know all the facts or someone else’ motive. In order to rightly judge someone we would have to know all there is to know about that person and the situation; and that just isn’t possible for us. Thinking we know more than we do often leads to judging others.

The last reason I want to suggest as to why we shouldn’t judge is because it so often makes us hypocritical. That is Jesus’ point in the Sermon on the Mount. In Matthew 7:3-5 He continues, 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.”

We usually aren’t aware of it, but often we criticize others to make ourselves look better. Most of the time we exaggerate the faults of others and minimize our own—and that smells like hypocrisy. We all are sinners, we all mess us, and we all fall short. We must guard ourselves from ignoring that in order to judge someone else.

As we conclude let’s remind ourselves that there will be a judgement. At the judgement everything will be exposed; what was hidden in the darkness including our motives. But note also what else Paul says about the Lord’s judgement, “At that time each will receive his praise from God.” Those of us who are in Christ, who have chosen to follow Him, will not be judged for our sins, but rather will receive praise. And remember the criterion will be our faithfulness—what we have done with what the Lord has given to us in terms of ability and opportunity. We can look forward to the affirmation from Jesus, “Well done, good and faithful servant!”

I love the anonymous poem The Choice –

I saw them tearing a building down,

A gang of men in a busy town,

With a yo heave ho and a lusty yell,

They swung a beam and the sidewall fell.

 

I asked the foreman if these men were skilled

as those he would hire if he were to build.

He laughed and said, “Oh, no indeed,

Common labor is all I need,

 

For they can wreck in a day or two,

what builders have taken years to do.”

So I asked myself, as I went my way,

which of these roles am I to play?

 

Am I a builder, who works with care,

measuring life by the rule and square;

or am I the wrecker who walks the town,

Content in the role of tearing down?

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