Dangerous Scripture: “Judge not, lest ye be judged”

In playing basketball, if someone is trying to shoot a three point shot, a defender may run at them to make them uncomfortable so they won’t shoot.  It’s called “running them off the three”.  That’s what the phrase “judge not” has become in our culture, meaning “you can’t tell me I’m wrong because you aren’t perfect”.  It seems ironclad because, who’s perfect, right?  It comes from a verse in Matthew 7, and to use it this way totally distorts what Matthew 7 says..  

 

First, the word “judge” in Matthew 7 means to proclaim as worthless, something beyond our “pay grade” to do.  Telling someone that they are wrong is not sending them to eternal doom.  On the contrary, it implies that you think there is hope for them.  Simply never noticing wrong and saying “they’ll never change”, could in a sense be committing the very sin you are trying to avoid.  Do you want someone to just write you off as hopeless?  Me neither.

Practical questions if this is how you use this Scripture:

• How would that work if no one could ever tell anyone else they are wrong without perfection?  
• What about, say, a murderer?  Do they get an out with the “don’t judge” defense?  Can no one look at their actions and determine them to be wrong until they themselves are perfect?  
• What if someone pointed out their bad direction and helped correct their behavior earlier, would they never have become a murderer to begin with?  In this culture's screwed up paradigm of "Don't judge", no one could confront the person earlier because they themselves aren't perfect.
• Do my actions make the act more or less wrong?  
• The rest of Matthew 7, where that Scripture comes from, gives you distinct ways to evaluate situations and people for sin in those areas, to determine if you should step in or if you should allow them to influence you..  Is that a joke?   

If you even use “judge not” on someone else, aren’t you a HYPOCRITE, since you are trying to correct someone, thereby "judging" them to be wrong and breaking your own advice?If you aren't a Christian, then shouldn't you just leave it alone, since you don't even believe the Bible to be true?  That’s nuts.

And so is this ridiculous way of using "Judge not, lest you be judged"...and TOTALLY not how it was ever intended to be used.  But, as gently as I can put it, this is what happens when the people who follow God and love Him rely on people who don't follow Him or are just surface readers of His Word to decide what a Scripture means...it's a gigantic mess, just like this phrase and how it's now used in our culture.

Matthew 7:5 presses the picture of removing the glaring sin (“plank”) from your own eye before you try to help remove the “speck” from your brother’s eye, because we are never to use someone else’s sin as a means to avoid our own.  We should always abandon our own sin.  Verse 5 gives us clarity on this point as to one reason for that goal.  “...Then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye.”  

One reason you are to keep your life as clean as you can is so that you can see clearly to help your brother/sister out of their damaging behavior.

The expected response after delivering the “judge not” phrase is to end the conversation, just giving each other “permission” to be wrong, but that’s not what the Bible instructs at all.  

The next time someone uses the phrase on you, be true to Matthew 7.  Ask them what is the sin they are referring to in your life.  If they pick their jaw off the floor and answer you, stop right there and confess that to God, apologize to them, if necessary and correct your direction.  Then, say, “Thank you, now let me help you with you sin as well.”  Speak the truth, but do it in love, not in arrogance or anger or revenge.  If you cannot act in humility and love, there is the first plank you should remove.  Trust the real Matthew 7, model humility and don’t let them run you off the three. 

Bay West Church teams up with Dove Bible Club at Christa McAuliffe Elementary!

Last Friday was ON FIRE!  Raul Torres, our children's leader at Bay West Church, and I went out to team up with Loretta Dozier and the folks at Dove Bible Club to host Dove at Christa McAuliffe Elementary School in Palm Bay!  Click here for location.

Bay West Church is sponsoring Dove Bible Club at Christa McAuliffe Elementary and feels honored to be a part of Loretta's team there.  We are going to be asking members of Bay West Church to come out and be a part of this awesome event once a month during the school year.

Here's the skinny on commitment:
- 2.5 hours, once a month --that's ALL!  3rd Friday of every month from 2-4:30pm

- Minimal setup, light tasks, minimal takedown and LOADS of impact on kids for God's glory.

-  Small group leader - 15-30 minutes prep, leader - no prep, just show up and impact kids

Requirement:  All volunteers must be registered and fingerprinted in the Brevard School system.  We KEEP kids SAFE!  We will assist with that part of the process!

We'll be having a place to sign up and be a part month at Dove on Sundays, so look to Raul or I for info on how it goes!  This is our chance to help make an impact in Palm Bay with a small amount of time that brings HUGE dividends spiritually. 

Thoughts on Suffering from Life Action

I thought I'd share some thoughts from the Life Action teaching, mixed with some things that God added through thought and meditation on the subject of suffering.

Suffering is an avoided concept in Scripture.  It's not pretty.  No one wants to do it (certainly not me).  I really don't like that this is a part of Scripture, but it is and it is a part of being a Christian.

I think we think we can ignore it and it will got away, then life will be easier and everything will be fine, but that's not true.  Jesus said that if you are to follow Him, you'll have troubles, period...going to happen.  That signifies that "sin" is in the world...it's a given.  Things don't follow God, there are problems.

If you ignore it, it will do you know good, because you'll have troubles and life will be hard, but you still won't get the benefit of suffering.  1 Peter 2:20-21 says this

20 But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it?

 In other words, when you go against God or do something that is unwise that God has told you not to do or not told you to do and life is tough...that's not suffering...that is "conflict" and there is no good in you toughing out that.  That's foolish.  That's natural consequence of refusing to acknowledge and follow God.  If you don't follow Christ at all and your marriage is in a shambles, that's not suffering for Jesus.  That's trying to do something in a way and for a reason that it was never intended for, because marriage doesn't work without Christ in the center...because he's necessary for the reason it exists.  I've heard it said best that "Marriage doesn't exist to make us happy, but to make us holy."  Yep, not so we can have kids, grow old and die together and always have a date on New Year's Eve.

Also, it's not "chastisement"...you have participated in something so long that God is allowing extra consequences to come to you because He's trying to steer you away from damaging behavior, thoughts or directions that are hurting you and dishonoring Him...that's not "suffering" and it holds no benefit to keep doing the thing that causes the "chastisement".  Chastisement is meant to train us, but it's not punitive...we aren't "paying for our sins" in the global sense, THAT is more horrible and at a greater price than we can pay.  Jesus did that...He took the ultimate punishment, this is God trying to get us back on the right way by making the wrong way less attractive, but ultimately, we'll make that choice to keep enduring the harshness or turn from it and experience healing and peace.

Then Peter writes...

But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God.A)"> 

But suffering is different.  Suffering is when you do right for God and things aren't just rosy and wonderful and you trust God is right anyway...that's a good thing.  It's not just that God is proud of that, but also that it is beneficial for you.  1 Peter 1:7 says these type of trials worth "more than gold"...so basically, these type of sufferings are more valuable than any amount of money for you.  It's amazing that a lot of the time, we miss these trials for 15/hour or whatever the next promotion pays....or we actually PAY money not to have them.

It's like working out...working out is hard...it hurts and sometimes you get injured doing it and you need healing, but it's healthy for you.  You HAVE to carve time in your schedule for it, it's not just an easy thing always.  The same is true in our faith...suffering is God's workout for us.  It's difficult, it's a moment that our weaknesses are exposed, the places that we need help and we are to cry out to God, when we fail Him or when facing a struggle, that we need Him and to "lift our weight" to Him.  How?  By trusting that if we follow what He has said for our lives in His Word, that He will provide...

If you don't think suffering is for you as a Christian, then you might want to mark vs 21 out of your Bible.  It says this...

21 To thisB)"> you were called,C)"> 

Bad start...to "what", to this type of "suffering"...that's what Christ "called" you to do.  These are things like "pressure" or "tough schedules" or "struggles" with things that you don't want to believe or do or sickness or death or whatever...even against the desire to do the "easy" things that aren't of God.  These struggles change us.

I always love the excuse that "God made me this way, so He meant for me to be this way"...what a completely illogical argument in Scripture.  When we accept Christ, we are to become a "new creation", because what we were is in conflict with God...  I want to say "Who is this magical, mythical person who becomes a Christian and just does everything, thinks every way, follows every desire, that there were following before?  They don't exist"... and the ones that do AREN'T Christians, according to Scripture.

I think about a friend who met a very needy person at work one day...and as unattractive and hard (and honestly, repulsive) as this needy person's situation was, my friend saw this as God's call for him to change it.  He took her into his home and treated her as his child.  He clothed her, washed her, cleaned up after all the things that she couldn't do for herself because of her physical limitations...it changed him...no, God used it to change him.. 

When she died recently, he said afterwards to me "she was never a burden"...no way?  If I were to list the energy draining schedule,tasks and the sacrifices that he willingly made, when no one else would, not even her family would...you'd call him a liar, but he was "dead serious" and I believe him.  

Why?  

Because in embracing the hardship, God had strengthened him, given him purpose, taught him about loving people, added to him all along the way and made him into something that he was not...God upgraded him.  

I seriously doubt that he would call what he did "suffering", he'd laugh at me if I told him that, but it was, but he found it.  He's already considering the next person he should take in and how God has prepared him for that next experience through this one...when I would be taking a breath, he's raring to jump back into it, because he found the value of suffering.

We should all learn from his example with the sufferings we are to face in our lives...

Sufferings are also things like when God allows a hardship in our life as a test to see where we are, to give us hope in how we've grown while pointing out where we still need Him to function properly ("I need You."). 

Sometimes, these are attacks from Satan that God allows to reach us so that He can use the hardship to better us...and that absolutely must burn the enemy.  When we submit to these and see them as they are, it's like our opponent keeps shooting at his basket and the ball just curves in the air and goes to the other end of the court and goes in ours...that would be maddening for a basketball player if that ever happened.

Then the verse ends with this...

...because Christ suffered for you,D)"> leaving you an example,E)"> that you should follow in his steps.

So this is all because Christ suffered for you...He didn't ask you to do anything on the scale of what He had to do and He never will, but He made the biggest sacrifice first.

Peter points out that this was an EXAMPLE.  That's different.  An example is something that you are to look at to understand in a greater, more vivid way whatever you are given to do is supposed to be like.  It's a picture and suffering is a part of that.

It's an example and in that, we'll follow in His steps.  What we see from Jesus is just not a beaten man, but who at the pinnacle of His suffering, was strengthen and motivated through joy, while being on the cross (Hebrews 12:2)...  We'll never endure what He did, but He proved that joy is possible in the midst of suffering for Christ.

Suffering is necessary, but not wanted.  It's vital, but hated...but unless we embrace it and look at it purposefully, we will be the ones who are left without blessings that God intended for us.

Misquoted Scripture hurts

"God won't give you more than you can bear."  We've all heard this before and it sounds all spiritual, but it's not really...in the way that people usually use it in response to some physical, emotional or mental struggle.  I read a blog today that lamented this phrase because of a tough thing that the writer had gone through...they called it a "nice sentiment", it's not a sentiment...it's a misquoted Scripture and like all misunderstood/misquoted Scripture, it's dangerous if you act on it because you are acting on air.

The origin:  The idea seems to come from 1 Corinthians 10:13 "...And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear..."  (1 Cor 10:13) which means there's nothing that anyone ever faces in being tempted to sin that hasn't been seen before, and that every time you are tempted to sin, you have a choice not to...as a Christian.  It says nothing about physical, mental, or emotional struggle.  It means that when presented with a choice to do what God says or not do what God says, as a Christian, there's never a time where you can say "It was just out of my hands, I had no choice."  There is no urge, desire, or mitigating loophole that takes sin's choice out of your hands.  Every time you are tempted to do wrong, you can choose not to, as a follower of Christ.

The danger:  If someone thinks that God won't give them what they can't bear, then people think, when they blow it, that God is against them or God isn't really in control or God lied or something's wrong with them or junk like that.  The reality is that people have died following Christ...they obviously couldn't "handle" that physically.

The action:  Please stop saying that phrase, if it's your "go-to" when things get bad for someone...in fact, God will sometimes, give you more than you can bear, so that you will turn to Him and follow Him, rather than just rely on yourself unsuccessfully...read the Psalms..no, turn off the "Chill Jazz" and the Lava Lamp and read them...David is not in a "I'm cool, I've got this" mode a lot of the time.  He's in places where he absolutely CAN'T handle LIFE well.  He's in the "God if you don't show up, I"m done for" mode...but he demonstrates that he knows who he needs to come to for strength, help and sustenance when he finds himself in that situation...to God.

Sometimes, you can't handle stuff and that's fine, because God can and He really does have it under control...that's the point.  For someone who places God first, God will help you, God will be there for you, God can heal you, God can sustain you through it, God honors those who honor Him...all these things are true for those who place God as the first priority in their life...

Ways to integrate the Bible & prayer into an "on-the-go" lifestyle

Are you an on-the-go person and looking for a way to integrate God's Word into your day?   I like to use little ways to augment my personal time with God that I have in the morning, as reminders for things.

While there are no substitutes for a time in my schedule daily to God's Word.  Here are some tricks for people on the go, feel free to respond and share your tips.  Most of the time, things like this I use while I'm waiting for files to render or copy or waiting for an appointment or when I'm filling the car with gas or whatever...in the cracks of the day.
***For the non tech person, I'll add some "Low tech solutions" for some of the ideas as well.

1)  If you have a smart phone, look into youversion's bible app from Life Church.  They have a daily verse of the day that can be delivered to your phone automatically...there are versions for Android and iPhone/iPad.
***Also, we put our sermon notes on this each week, so you can follow along with my sermons,  send in a prayer request, share a bible verse or a thought on social media, take notes on the sermon, and email the notes to yourself to keep or a friend who couldn't make it today.

2)  If you'd rather twitter than app, follow @daily_bible and the daily verse is posted there for you.

3)  If you drive a lot, the Youversion app has an option where the Bible can be read to you.  I have a blue tooth speaker that I hook up to my phone and listen to my Bible, while I'm in the shower, mowing the yard or while I play video games, instead of the radio.
Low (er) tech solution:  By a CD player and buy the Bible on CD.  There are all kinds, even ones for reading it through in a year.  Check your local Christian bookstore (or Barnes and Nobles even) or search it on Amazon...here's a link

4)  I use an Android app called "Remember Me" which helps me organize the verses that I'm memorizing each day.  It's quick and I can review a couple of verses in about 2 minutes waiting on something or before a meeting.
Low tech solution:  If you aren't a tech person, then carry an index card with a Scripture on it in your pocket (or two or three) and review them when you are are waiting

5)  We all have breaks that happen in our day (lunch or right after appointments or meetings or the drive home), I use my Google calendar to set up prayer reminders for certain things (and you can set up reminders to recur for several days...these work great to read right before you are driving somewhere...NOT during the drive.  ;)
Low tech solution:  Write a prayer request on a card and place it to the left of the speedometer on your car or a sticky note on your bathroom mirror or in the book you are reading or on your day planner (when you open it the each day, just move it to the next day).

What's your favorite way to integrate spiritual disciplines into your day?  Feel free to post below.

What really is thankful…

Every year, we approach this season of “Thanksgiving”.  We meet together with family, watch football, and avoid that relative that always has to bring up the controversial debate topic (or maybe that’s us).  For some it’s a “family” time, for others it’s a time of remembrance for what God has done for us, for some it’s both.  The theme of the season though is thankfulness.

For most of us, thankfulness is something that we do, which really fits in with the taking a day each year, but for the Christ follower, it should be a way of life.  All over God’s Word, he speaks of thankfulness.  Psalm 69:30 says that I will “glorify Him with thanksgiving”.  In other words, the way I glorify God is to point out the work He’s doing (His glory) here and to thank Him for it.  We sing to thank Him when we gather together (Psalm 147:7; Psalm 69:30)  In 2 Corinthians 9, the writer tells us that God gives us everything we have so we can, out of thankfulness for what we do have (not bitterness for what we don’t) be generous with those things to others, and THAT very generosity will result in thankfulness to God.  In every request of God, we should ask with thanksgiving (Philippians 4:6).  If “in everything” missed anything, there’s one of my favorite verses in the Bible, Colossians 3:17 “And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” (emphasis added).  The greatest thing to be thankful for is that Jesus who allows us to reconnect with God  and to know what life is meant to be.  The Bible, a collection of 66 books, written by 40 different writers over a period of 2000 years, without consultation between authors, simply inspired by God Himself, just drips with the message “Hey BE thankful.”

It’s amazing the pain that people can get used to, we adjust and adapt, as a God given ability to survive, but at the same time, we adjust the other way.  It’s amazing the blessings that we can get used to and overlook.  In fact, we don’t usually realize they are there until they are gone.

As you approach Thanksgiving, don’t just take a moment for thankfulness, but commit to live in thankfulness all throughout the next year.  Get a post it note and write something you can be thankful for each day and stick it on your desk.  I have a friend who starts each day posting on Facebook something he’s thankful for.  Get creative, but resign to live a life that is thankful...you will find that a thankful life is better than a demanding one, and everyone might enjoy you better this Thanksgiving as well.

My Dad is Better Than Your Dad

When I was young, we boys would periodically have a bout of “My Dad is better than your Dad”.  We’d throw out some awesome feat...NEVER embellished or exaggerated.. that our Dads had done, that was obviously an achievement that clearly made him the “Dad over all”.  While that was fun (even if it was more than a little bit of perjury if we’d have done it in a court of law), what is cute as kids, often becomes ugly as adults...especially with Christians.

More and more on social media, I see other Christians rolling out some blog or scathing video about “nationally-know pastor” or “those type of churches”.  It always makes me cringe, because rarely is anyone ever pointing at themselves and their church in repentance.  Mostly, it’s a finger pointing exercise at the “really bad” Christians over there...that aren’t me.

A defining statement like John 13:35 gets thrown away.  Matthew 18, Galatians 6 and Proverbs 16:18 are ignored.  It’s like trying to find the next “sinner” to expose has become the national distraction for what Christians should be doing.  If that’s you, let me share something with you...you don’t have to search for sinners, because we all are and if someone says they aren’t, then they are lying...which is a sin.  

As a fellow believer in Boston told me recently, “no one ever says that the problem with the church is that we’ve got TOO many people telling others about Jesus.”  Like anything else, purpose gets lost in the wake of distraction.  What’s sad is this rash of stuff rarely produces solution, only division.  It is really just an indirect method of pointing to how YOU have it all together...leaving Jesus out of the equation.  That type of stuff between Christians really just ends up looking like two second graders, fighting about whose Dad is better. and then you come to find out that they are siblings and the “Dads” they are comparing is the same guy.

Don’t seek out the “angry ones” who live to create conflict as your influences.  If you see someone caught in a sin, resist the urge to run to Facebook, Twitter or Sunday School to nail them with your cool insult, no matter how famous or wrong they appear to be.  I want to do that too, sometimes, but even though it’s hard, try praying for them instead.  I really fail more than I’d like to admit, but it’s always better when I succeed.  Spend 1000 times as many words as you ever say about someone in criticism, either in loving restorative (sometimes difficult) words to them directly or in talking to the only One who can ever make a real difference (See Gal 6, Matthew 18, etc..).  You might find yourself more compassionate than contrary, or maybe even becoming more “Christlike”...and if that happens, maybe your Dad will, with lack of comparison, brag on you.