THINK BEFORE YOU JUDGE SOMEONE

One of the greatest, if not THE greatest cause of suffering in the world is the pervasive tendency for one person to judge and condemn another or for a group to judge and condemn another group. One of the most ironic and instructive themes in the New Testament is how judgement and condemnation plays out.

Tax collectors, prostitutes, and various other "sinners" are judged and condemned by the religious elite in the New Testament. So Jesus makes friends with these losers and is judged and condemned as well. One such loser was the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4. Jesus honors this woman of questionable character by making her the first missionary to the non-Jewish world. Remember that she was an outcast within a despised minority. She was the portrait of the absolute loser.

Surprise! The Samaritans whom Jesus so honors judge and reject him in Luke 9:52-53. The disciples accepted Jesus as their Messiah and they are offended by the Samaritan's rejection of their Messiah. So they ask to call fire down from heaven to destroy them in John 9:54.

Despite all Jesus has said about forever, unconditional forgiveness and watching him befriend the worst people in the society, the disciple's tendency to judge was so powerful that they jump at the chance to do it. They are right and righteous in their own eyes because they believe in the true Messiah, therefore, they are in a position to judge and condemn those who don't.

Imagine their shock when Jesus pulls the rug out from under them by becoming the most rejected, despised, low class loser of all time by dying a criminal's death. He was rejected by all, judged by all, and executed in the way reserved for the worst of the worst criminals.

The irony is that after Jesus is vindicated by the Father when he rises from the dead, the disciples follow Jesus into the world where they are rejected as he was. The judgment they wanted for the Samaritans falls on them. They are judged by others, condemned, and destroyed. They suffer the same fate that they at one time wished on others.

When Jesus, the only person worthy to judge, let himself be judged by us, he put an end to the legitimacy of all judgment. The disciples got that and followed him, knowing that, like him, they too would be resurrected.

As I have said before, judging others is bad for us in so many ways. 

Jesus and his true followers show us that we don't have to do that anymore. 

Truth and health come with forgiveness and love.  

THE CROSS

The crucifixion of Jesus is finally a mystery. We are told that when Jesus died, all died. That when he was raised from the dead, so were we. We are to believe that in the death and resurrection of Christ, something historical and objective happened which saved us and the world.

But how exactly does that work? Ho do we make sense of that? Lots of theories, but no one really knows.

While the cross of Christ is historical and did something to us objective and concrete, it also offers us healing for our minds, emotions, and relationships. In other words, the cross did something to us and for us whether we feel it or not and can also change the way we think and feel about ourselves and others. Contemplating the Son of God dying a criminal's death for us because he loves us, frees us from a lot of guilt, judgment, and self-hatred.

We spend much of our time thinking about what we and others should be and are not. This leads to sadness and anger. But, contemplating the death of Jesus frees us from much of it. The cross gives us a radical reorientation regarding what we and others should be.

• On the cross God became limited and confined. Now I can more easily accept my own limitations and the limitations of others.

• On the cross God became inferior so I don't have to pretend I am superior.

• On the cross God became weak so I don't have to be strong or judge the weakness of others. 

• On the cross God became disapproved so now I don't need the approval of others.

• In the religious and civil courts God was proved wrong so I don't have to always demand justice for myself.

• In the world's eyes and in the minds of his friends God was a failure so now I don't be a success or demand it from others.

• On the cross God became poor in every way and he got over it. Now I don't have to be rich in any way.

We suffer far too much and too often because we don't measure up to what we think we ought to be. We judge others in the same way. Once we see that God became one of us and took on himself everything we don't like about ourselves, and got over it, so can we.

We are just human and Jesus showed us that that's good enough.

THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS A GLAD CELEBRATION

On June 29, 2004, twelve U.S. soldiers coming home from Iraq were flying American Airlines Flight 866 from Atlanta to their home in Chicago. 

While passengers were waiting to board, a business man approached one of the soldiers and asked, "What is your seat number, soldier?" 

The soldier replied, "23B, sir."

The business man said, "No, son. That's my seat. Here is yours in first class." He handed the soldier his first class ticket and pointed him to the first class boarding entrance.

Word quickly spread throughout the plane and other first class passengers exchanged their boarding passes with the other eleven soldiers. 

That flight turned into a celebration. Jaded business people, exhausted soldiers, and everyone else on the plane experienced the Kingdom of God.

The best thing we can do for God, is to love and bless his children. In doing so, we make him happy and have a party in the process.

The Kingdom of God is a glad celebration.

We can throw one anytime we want.

CONTRACT vs GRACE

Religion is all about contract. The Holy Trinity is all about grace.

Biblical Christianity is not one of the great religions. It is utterly unique. One way to see this truth is to reflect on the difference between contract and grace.

We live in a contractual world. Study hard, earn A's, take out the trash, get your allowance. Be nice to me and I will be nice to you. Contract always has an If - Then clause. If the tree trimmers I contract with, do their job, then I will pay them.

Contract religion (which is redundant) is about you. It's about you saying your prayers, taking a pilgrimage to Mecca, paying your tithes, witnessing, or whatever. If you do those things, then God will like you.

Trinitarian grace is the very opposite. You can't do anything to earn God's favor. It's already yours. It's not if you repent, then you get forgiven - you already are.

"He chose you before he created the world to be holy and blameless. In love he predestined you to be adopted as his very own son or daughter."

 Ephesians 1:4-5

Your status was decided by the God of grace before you could do anything. No If - Then contract was ever imagined by God. Because of our guilty feelings, we imagined it. This is where religion comes from. We have invented ways to assuage our guilt and balance the books.

But, 

"Love keeps no record of wrong." 

I Corinthians 13:5 

There are no books to balance.

By nature God can keep no good thing to himself. All he knows how to do is give freely. The true If - Then clause goes like this.  

If we believe the good news that Jesus has included us inside his own fellowship with the Father and Spirit, then we can live free. 

And only then will we see what we are made of and made for.

Only then are we free to respond to God's love with our own love.

Only then will our obedience and devotion to him be what he is waiting for.

WHAT DO YOU WANT?

     At the end of Luke 18 and the beginning of Luke 19 we see Jesus walking through Jericho. On his way into the city, he heals a poor blind beggar. On his way out of the city he heals and transforms the big time rich sinner, Zacchaeus. One man was at the bottom of the socio-economic scale; the other was at the top. One was a victim of blindness; the other was a political and economic victimizer. Jesus cared the same for both of them and healed each according to their need.

     When Jesus and his entourage entered Jericho, crowds were on hand to greet him. His wonder-working fame had preceeded him. Above the crowd noise, a man could be heard yelling,

 "Son of David, have mercy on me!"

     The crowd told him to shut up, but he yelled all the louder. Jesus stopped and ordered the man to be brought to him. He then asked the blind beggar,

"What do you want me to do for you?"

     It might seem obvious what the man wanted since he was blind and Jesus was famous for healing. But Jesus' question, like all his questions, was serious and he wanted the man to respond with specifics. After all, he was a beggar too. Maybe he wanted a charitable gift. Jesus said, in effect, I am asking a serious question and I want you to give me a straight answer. So the blind beggar answers,

"Lord, I want to see."

     Then and only then Jesus restores his sight.

The lesson?

     When we pray, we are often too general and vague. Bless me and bless so and so, etc. This story encourages us to ask Jesus specifically for what we want, then believe and expect a specific response according to what we asked for. See: Luke 11:24.

     Jesus and his crew continue to walking through and out of Jericho. He spots Zacchaeus, the despised tax collector, up in a tree looking down at him. Jesus yells,

 "Zacchaeus! Come down right now. I must stay at your house today."

     When the people saw this, they began to mutter about Jesus going to be the guest of a sinner. Zach was a loathed collaborator with the Roman occupiers. He not only collected Roman taxes, but by his own admission, he also extorted and defrauded and grew rich on the backs of his religious community.

     At some point during dinner, Zach is healed and transformed. He blurts out,

"Lord! I give half of what I have to the poor and will give back four times what I have extorted."

     Coming into Jericho, Jesus heals a poor victim. Going out of Jericho, he heals a rich victimizer. Here is the sweep of the grace of God that comes to us in Jesus. Zach is the worst man in town. Everyone who heard Jesus say,

"I MUST stay with you today," 

knows that our relative morality or religious performance is irrelevant to him.

He loves all and wants to be gracious to all.

     Knowing this we can, with confidence, do what the blind beggar did.
     Ask Jesus for what you want and expect something good to result.

So WHAT DO YOU WANT?

~ I am off to Thailand for a few weeks. Will post again when I return.

FEAR vs FAITH

     Fear is always unpleasant, but not always a bad thing. Fear may prevent us from strolling onto a busy freeway or making a bad investment or walking down the darkened street in a dangerous neighborhood. All to the good.

     But roughly 90% of our fear is totally unreal, pointless, and a waste of emotional energy. I didn't make up that 90% statistic. Numerous research studies have shown that somewhere between 85% - 95% of what people fear never happens or they fear something they can do nothing about ... like death or taxes.

     Since God is always looking out for us, always nudging towards abundant life, he tells us hundreds of times in the Bible to 

"be not afraid" 

"fear not"

and 

"be of good cheer."

From even a cursory reading of the gospels, we see that our salvation, our connection to the goodness and power of God eliminates fear.

Good News!

     When our faith in the goodness and power of God fills our imaginations, fear disappears. When we fear, it simply means our focus has shifted away from faith.

     When our imagination becomes undisciplined and we fall into fear, we are focused on something that is unreal. Unreal, yes, but powerful, none-the-less. Fear has the power to kill and often does.

      A number of soldiers in WWI who thought they had been mortally wounded in a battle died. When their dead bodies were examined, no wound was found. I have spoken to people in Africa who saw people drop dead when they heard a witch doctor had cursed them. In South East Asia, people have died when they heard that an epidemic was coming their way. Long before the contagion reached them, they died of the symptoms associated with the disease.

     Fear of some unreal danger can kill quickly, but more often it kills slowly. Fear is the anticipation of something bad happening. Or as John put it,

"Fear has to do with punishment." 

1 John 4:18

     Fear kills creativity, risk taking, and intimate connection with others. It gradually kills everything that gives life its texture, joy, and meaning. Fear is the root of most of the evil in the world.

     The mythical but effective power of fear is not lost on religion. The priesthood in the Middle Ages used the fear of hell to whip gullible multitudes into churches and was the means of extorting money from them. Ignorance of the goodness and power of God tempts some religious leaders to take advantage of it even today.

     Since fear is so prevelant, some conclude that it must be natural. But nothing natural destroys faith in God. Nothing natural kills creativity, strangles self-confidence, destroys happiness, and makes abundant life impossible.

     Fear is based upon the illusion that we are separated from the 

provision, goodness, and power 

of our loving Father.

     Here is fear killing truth from Jesus himself:

"I am in my Father, you are in me and I am in you."

John 14:20

"As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you." 

John 15:9

therefore,

"Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you ... Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid."

John 14:27

SECURE IDENTITY

     Last time I pointed to several instances where Jesus says the Father judges no one and neither does the Son. I then said since the only one capable of judging rightly does not judge us, we are now free to forego judging ourselves or others.

     This is very good news. Think about it. When we renounce judging, life becomes so much easier and lighter. Jesus says, 

"My yoke is easy and my burden is light."

Matthew 11:30

     We are not happy when we are judging. Judging is heavy, tiresome, and painful. It is pure drudgery. The abundant life Jesus promises becomes more abundant in our experience when we renounce our judgments.

     We cannot, however, stop others from judging us. They will. But we do not have to be significantly affected by their judgments. Paul knew this. This is how he responded to his critics in Corinth. 

"I care very little if I am judged by you or any human court; indeed, I do not even judge myself." 

1 Corinthians 4:5

     In the past, I have been judged negatively for what some call my "over emphasis on God's grace." One of my critics is a very senior Christian theologian. Most of you have his books in your library. He wrote in a magazine article, "Dr. Blue is an able expositor but his over emphasis on grace is dangerous to your spiritual health." Paraphrasing Paul, in 1 Corithians 4:5, I responded with, 

I have a low opinion of your opinion of me. 

 I have a low opinion of my opinion of me. 

God alone will assess you and me in the end.

     If we are secure in our identity as the much loved children of the non judgmental Father, we can learn from our critics, yet not be disheartened by them. 

     Unfortunately for my team, Tom Brady is one of the best quarterbacks to ever play the game of football. If someone told him he sucked as a quarterback, it would be water off a duck's back. He is secure in his football identity and for good reason. However, if someone told a 14 year old Q.B. that he sucked, that judgment could be devestating. The point is obvious. When we are secure in our identity, the criticism and judgment of others is of little effect.

     Our identity is, in fact, secure. 

We are OK because Jesus made us OK. 

We cannot be more secure. 

We can only awaken to that truth and speak and act as if it is true.