Eternity Daily Bible Study No. 200 True Wisdom - Part 10 (a series in 1 Corinthians chapters 1-4) JUDGE NOTHING BEFORE THE TIME 1 Corinthians 4:1-5 MKJV (1) So let a man think of us as ministers of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. (2) And the rest, it is sought among stewards that one be found faithful. (3) But to me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you, or by a man's day; but I do not judge my own self, (4) for I know nothing by myself. Yet I have not been justified by this, but He who judges me is the Lord. (5) Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord comes, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts. And then shall each one have praise of God. Have you ever been asked to referee a bitter and tangled dispute in which both sides seem right, then both wrong and things zig-zag back and forth? At such times the hidden counsels of men's hearts are invisible to us and we can only judge people by their words and actions. Our ability to discern others is limited and our ability to discern ourselves can be even worse. This lack of knowledge about the true state of things does not justify us or let us off the hook (by the fact that others cannot judge us correctly) - rather the one who justifies is the Lord. The spirit of competitiveness is always looking at the other runners in the race, always judging whether one is ahead or behind. However we have no true estimate of whether we are ahead or behind. By way of example - "Who is "more spiritual" - me or my wife? I don't care! I am not in competition with Minda! Rather I build her up and she builds me up in love and together we inherit the Kingdom. So it should be with all our brothers and sisters in the Lord! If I "judge myself" and say "John you are so much more spiritual than Minda" (permit this foolishness for a moment). Then what does that achieve? Maybe I have more bible knowledge, but she has more kindness, I may pray more, but she gives more, I may be a leader but she is a true servant. How can anyone but God make such a judgment and what is the use of even making it at all? Such judgments would only breed pride and contention and ruin the marriage! Now what I have applied to Minda and myself can be applied to all relationships between born-again believers. There is no use in my judging myself to be superior to Sam or inferior to Bill or equal to Fred and so forth. I don't have the right data, and the judging is destructive. Instead the question I should be asking is "How can I serve Sam or Bill or Fred, how can I build them up?" Instead of looking at the other runners in the race we should each be striving to do "personal bests". Champion swimmers do not think about the swimmer in the other lane, they focus on swimming the best time they possibly can, of doing a "personal best". Each of us should run our own race well. Instead of wasting energy criticizing others we should put it into constructive spiritual growth and godly ministry. How then should we think of ourselves? "(1) So let a man think of us as ministers of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. (2) And the rest, it is sought among stewards that one be found faithful. " We are stewards and we should seek to be faithful with holy things. A steward is judged by his own task, not by the work of others. The wine-steward is judged on how well he manages the cellar and the horse-steward by how he keeps the stable. They are not in competition. So let the wine-steward forget abut the horse-steward! Let him focus on the vintage he manages not on the dung on the stable floor of the other steward! Let the evangelist preach the gospel faithfully, and let the pastor care for the flock appointed to him by God, and let the bible-teacher open the Word in-season and out of season and let the administrator take great care of that which is under his or her charge. Let them each be faithful stewards of the area allotted to them by God. When the Lord returns each shall receive their own reward for doing faithfully the things that God has called them to do. Have you ever got frustrated with another stewards work? Have you perhaps thought "The Church should be more interested in missions" or "Where are the people sharing the gospel among the urban poor?" And in your frustration you have judged the ministries of others. You have perhaps thought they were lacking in vision or fervor or even in sanctification. This is a great temptation and it is wrong. Instead you should look to your own work. You will find that it is hard enough. Perhaps they are struggling also! Perhaps they need your encouragement, your enthusiasm, your vision. Come alongside them in love, not down upon them in wrath. If we put all the energy we put into irritation, condemnation, criticism, gossip and judging into encouraging the saints and perfecting the work of God, then the job would be done in half the time! If we are not to "judge anyone before the time" - then what about job interviews, selection processes, wisdom in forming partnerships and alliances, and the day to day discernment of others that is needed to function in life? Here we need to learn a little Greek. The words for "judge" in this passage are from the "krino" family and mean to judge as a whole, like a judge in a court. "X is bad" or "X is good" - as a whole entity. There is another Greek word that is sometimes translated "judge" and it is "dokimazo" and it means to critically evaluate, and it is a PARTIAL judgment. It is fair to say "Jane is good with computers and Bob is good at cooking". It may also be fair to say " Harry is average with computers and Bill is awful at cooking". In a job interview we should not be rating the person as a whole, just their suitability for a certain job. So if Bill foolishly applied for a job as a chef, you would be quite right to find someone else for the position! We are quite right to make partial judgments that are necessary for daily life e.g. "Joe is a capable exegete of Ecclesiastes." However we are quite wrong to make competitive judgments of other people as a whole e.g. "Fred is entirely unspiritual". Such judgments must be made by an unbiased an all-wise Judge and based on all the evidence - and only God is that judge! Each of us shall have our praise of God if we faithfully stick to our calling, and do high quality work in all godliness and truth. In the process let us not be judges but rather let us be encouraging friends and colleagues and let us help others along the way in a spirit of faith, working through love. Blessings, John Edmiston Were you blessed by Eternity Daily Bible Study? To subscribe just send a blank email to: eternity-dbs-subscribe@strategicnetwork.org Read and interesting article on Technology & Spirituality http://www.aibi.ph/missions/sociotech.htm Visit the Eternity Daily Bible Study Archives - http://www.aibi.ph/eternity/ Study at the Asian Internet Bible Institute- Free online non-formal, in-service, bible and ministry training: http://www.aibi.ph