Adventures in Church Shopping

One size DOES NOT fit all

Notice: The church names have been changed to protect the innocent (with footnotes!)

When I moved to my current hometown my darling and I decided to get serious and find a church we could feel comfortable in and learn the word of God. My DW* was familiar with one of the local churches and she said she enjoyed the music there and she talked me into giving it a try. I'm going to call this one the Wikiwef Hills Church of Almighty Noise**

Wikiwef Hills is a big church nestled near a new planned community north of Denver, it wasn't the biggest church I've ever been in (not after touring some of the great cathedrals in Europe) but it is a pretty big building and draws a huge crowd. We entered the dark main sanctuary and I was amazed by the stage - I haven't seen that much sound equipment set up since I saw ZZ Top at Texas Tech  (3rd row center!). When the band began to play it was my first exposure to live "Contemporary Christian" music, and I was both delighted and disappointed. The tunes were catchy and we could actually sing along with one or two of them.

As for the disappointment side, these were performance pieces, their primary design is to glorify the band rather than God, and since all of these songs were all being played on contemporary Christian top 10 radio stations the band did all that they could to emulate the popular recording rather than dump the self glorifying riffs and play a key or two lower so the average person could sing along. However my biggest complaint with the music (bigger than the self glorification) is the content - it's bland nothing nonsense. IF (and only IF) Jesus or God is even mentioned in the lyrics, you could easily replace "God" with some girls name and still have a top 10 song, the lyrics are that secular. Otherwise it was 'trance music' where one short phrase is repeated over and over and over and over and over until you can feel it drilling into your head.

Soon one of the pastors took the stage and began to preach. His sermon was rapid fire, bullet driven, boilerplate love-thy-neighbor stuff liberally peppered with lots and lots of bible references. Being hungry for the word of God I whipped out my smart phone, fired up the You Version bible application and started looking up all the references and found that he was mostly using partial verses, and just the small bit of the verse that supported his proposition. When taken in context most of the verses that he was using had nothing to do with his point. It's like he Google searched the bible for key words, grabbed what ever popped up, and edited to meet his message's requirements. I did not like this church. I felt that if the congregation ever gets serious about scripture they should gather in the parking lot with pitchforks and torches and demand the pastor come outside for "a word". Seriously! This is our immortal souls he's playing with.

DW asked me to try it again, but try the Garage, a second massive sanctuary set up for the younger crowd. In the end it turned out that the Garage was the same as the main sanctuary with poorer acoustics. We haven't been back to Wikiwef Hills since, and once we've researched their theology we are positive we'll never be back.

Our next try was Wannabe Fellowship*** which is just up the road from Wikiwef Hills. Like Wikiwef Hills the sanctuary is dark, and when they turn up the lights it only accentuates the darkness. Wannabe had a smaller band which I liked a bit better, they weren't as blaring as the band at Wikiwef Hills, but they played the exact same tunes and like Wikiwef Hills, the music was geared to glorify the lead singer. I mostly enjoyed Wannabe Fellowship, in the year we went there we got to know some of the members, but not too many. Once the band played an "old-school" hymn done to a modern beat, it was well received and I loved it, and the band never did anything like that again. DW didn't like the pastor's sermons, and after a while I had to agree - they sounded like high level theology class lectures rather than sermons. And he asked permission to get a little stern during the sermon. Really? Seriously? He didn't do it a lot, mostly he was very tame.

When we elected to join the pastor mentioned in the class that he didn't believe baptism was necessary. I could almost hear DW completely shut down the moment he mentioned that. I glanced over and she was in complete suspended animation. He lost her. During the class he made introductions to the church staff - the introductions were pretty much the same, almost every church official was introduced as "My wife" or "my daughter" or "my brother-in-law" or "my son"... when the introductions were done DW pointed out to me that there were no deacons, no elders, no church board. Just committee chairs and ministers of this, that, and the other. My decision to acquiesce to DW's desire to keep church shopping came when I thought back over the year we attended service at Wannabe Fellowship only once do I remember receiving communion, but every week without fail we were reminded of how much money we should contribute to cover the building fund costs.

A kindly old gentleman with a pleasant smile knocked on our door one day and invited us to attend service at the church he was starting up, so we found ourselves at Storefront Baptist Church****. Oh, that man could PREACH! Never having gone to a Baptist church before I never heard such love and passion in one sermon. And when he wanted us to know that God's Wrath was ready to be unleashed, there was no doubt in our minds that God's Wrath was ready to be unleashed. However his associate pastor who was in charge of the music was completely tone deaf. Senior Pastor played the electric piano beautifully while Associate Pastor sang the wonderful old Baptist hymns completely off key all the while 'directing' us with one hand moving mechanically up, down, left, right, up, down, left, right, up, down, left, right. I wonder what he would do if he had a hymn written in three quarter time. Halfway thru the music worship an elderly lady bustled in, obviously late, and sat down at the upright piano and played along in yet another key, I believe one of her own invention. I was hoping the airport would call and complain about the noise, it was that bad. But they were enthusiastic and did it all with love for the glory of God, and I got a taste of what I now know I need.

Next we had two choices, one was the Calvary Chapel which I think is cool because they teach the bible verse by verse, chapter by chapter, book by book and I like the founder Chuck Smith, but we tried another church first. We convinced a friend to come with us and we went to the church and sat off to the side. Before the service started the pastor came around and welcomed us and grinned and informed us that we were sitting in the troublemaker's section. We didn't realize it at the time but his wife, daughter, and the church pianist were sitting behind us. Service started and the music was standard old school hymns sang from a standard old school hymnal, I know DW prefers contemporary, but these old hymns... so timeless and beautiful, so many times I have to stifle tears as the meaning of those old lyrics written by saints from days gone by wash over me.

Then the preacher got up and began to speak, his sermon was on angels, both good and bad, and how they interacted with us. I have never heard anything like that before. As he spoke Pastor came out from behind his lectern and he continued his sermon and I noticed he was in his stocking feet, he had kicked his shoes off for comfort. I had never seen that before. The bulletin which unlike the other churches we visited was packed full of news of the happenings of the congregation, contained an outline of his sermon. I had never seen that before. When Pastor mentioned a bible verse I heard a fluttering of pages being turned and I looked around and saw nearly the entire congregation with bibles open, taking notes, highlighting verses. I had never seen that before.

Bereans! We found a church packed full of Bereans! I watched in awe as dozens of people flipped pages, took notes, highlighted passages, and learned the Word of God. I still remember watching an old gentleman (whom I eventually and quickly came to love) grasp a pencil in an arthritis twisted hand and deftly mark notes in his beloved King James. Since that time I've read over his shoulder and every page I've seen in that dear old tome has annotations and underlines. That book is a product of love.

At some point during the sermon Pastor flatly stated something to the effect of "I'm not here to attract people into this church, that's the church boards job. I'm here to teach you and lead you." I have never even heard Monsignor Vesuvius***** the perish pariah of my youth stand up and say something so full of stern conviction. Personally I knew right there and then I had found a home, a church full of Bereans! and a pastor who knows what a pastor's job truly is!

I'm not sure when DW and our friend thought we found a home too, I think it was not very long after I felt that  this place was for me. It most likely came to them as they scanned the bulletin and made plans to attend the classes listed therein. (And these are not 'fluffy nothing' classes, the women's bible study started out in The Book of Revelation) In such a short time so many wonderful things happened, so many laughs, some tears too, even some scary things have happened, but it is all for the better. Thanks to the First Congregational Church of the Bereans****** the center of our lives has shifted centered on God, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, and the wonderful gift they gave us: our new church home.

All of this flashed through my mind Sunday morning as I stood at the lectern and looked down at my notes. Everything, all of it, in a flash. I lifted my head and looked at their faces as they looked at me, waiting. There was Bob, and the Other Bob, Sandy, Rick, oh and Rick brought Deb! It's been a while since I've seen her. Where's Harold and Susy? don't look to the left, Eddy and Wes are going to make faces to make me laugh, don't look to the right, I'll lock on to DW and lose track of what I'm doing. Fighting back real tears of joy I took a deep breath, pulled the microphone closer and began to address the First Congregational Church of the Bereans, my family, for the very first time...

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*Dear Wife
**Wikiwef = Wish I Knew It Was Emergent First
***Wannabe just like Wikiwef Hills
****In a real live storefront! It was so cool.
*****Not his real name, but a pretty apt description
******It's not meant to be funny, it's meant to be descriptive

O.T. Tuesday - What's a Melchizedek?

This is one of those things that pop up when I'm reading the bible that seems almost meaningless at first, then when I get to the New Testament I find that it wasn't so meaningless at all, but I have to really start digging to find out what it was that I just read. Melchizedek is one of those items. I even turned to a Jewish friend to insure that I got the pronunciation correct. 

Malchezedek is isn't a thing, it's a person, a relative of Abram (eventually Abraham) who ruled Salem which eventually became Jerusalem. We first meet Malchezedek in Genesis after Abram avenged the capture of his nephew Lot at the hands of Chedorlaomer, the king of Elam, who with a bunch of other kings sacked Sodom and took Lot prisoner. We pick up the story of the War Of The Kings after Abram and three hundred eighteen of his men rescued Lot:

17 Then after his return from the defeat of Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him, the king of Sodom went out to meet him at the valley of Shaveh (that is, the King's Valley). 18 And Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine; now he was a priest of God Most High.
19 He blessed him and said,
"Blessed be Abram of God Most High,
Possessor of heaven and earth;
20 And blessed be God Most High,
Who has delivered your enemies into your hand."
He gave him a tenth of all. (Genesis 14:17-20)

So in a nutshell, Abram took three hundred eighteen men and rescued his nephew. Then Melchizedek, the King of Salem and priest of God Most High, brought out bread and wine and blessed Abram, and Abram gave him a tithe. In more enlightening terms Melchizedek serves as high priest to his kinsman Abram. He comes to Abram after a huge battle where Abram incurred blood guilt. Melchizedek performed a purification ritual of some form to help the warriors deal with their guilt, most likely this ritual involved the bread and wine. In thanks Abraham offers Melchizedek the tithe. (source)

Melchizedek makes his next appearance in Psalms:

4 The Lord has sworn and will not change His mind,
“You are a priest forever According to the order of Melchizedek.”(Psalm 110:4)

Psalm 110 is talking about the messiah, and when the author of Psalm 110, King David, speaks of the order of Melchizedek he's not talking about a fraternal organization like the Knights of Pythias or the Order of the Moose, which was buzzing around in my brain. In modern English David would be saying something like "...just the same as Melchizedek."

Now here's where I start getting tangled up in the bible. Most pre-Exodus stuff is fairly easy: Cain and Able, Noah built an ark, the Tower of Babel never got finished, Jacob saw a ladder (I probably would too if I used a rock for a pillow, but I don't think I'll see the angels he saw), Joseph had an awesome coat, and Melchizedek was a priest. But how is that possible? In the Jewish tradition priests come from the tribe of Levi, but Melchizedek was a priest LONG before Jacob and Leah made Levi. So how can you have a priest before you have any Levites? (if any reader has a suggestion PLEASE comment... I'm confused)

So what Psalm 110:4 is saying about the Messiah is that the messiah is so awesome that he'll be a priest forever - until the end of time and beyond. More importantly the messiah is not going to be from the tribe of Levi, because if he was he'd be a normal priest (kohen), he'll be a priest just like Melchizedek not having connection to the tribe of Levi. 

Jesus, as we know, is of the tribe of Judah. In Hebrews he's called a high priest forever in the order of Melchizedek, and the implications of that go beyond prophesy, but that's a topic for another blog entry. Lets take joy in the fact that the bible defined the Melchizedek priesthood, and flatly stated that the messiah would be a high priest just like Melchizedek, and he is! Another prophesy dead on!

Emergent Monday - Do These Sheep Smell Like Dogs To You Too?

In the emerging culture, darkness represents spirituality. We see this in Buddhist temples, as well as Catholic and Orthodox churches. Darkness communicates that something serious is happening. - Dan Kimball The Emerging Church: Vintage Christianity for New Generations

4 But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that the day would overtake you like a thief; 5 for you are all sons of light and sons of day. We are not of night nor of darkness (1 Thes 5:4-5)

Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, “I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.” (John 8:12)

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Matthew 7:15

Is it just me or once upon a time could we actually walk into a Christian church and hear the word of God preached without apology? Having grown up in a liturgical church a lot of God's word was lost in pomp and ceremony, but I knew that his word was in there somewhere hidden among the candles and processions. As I matured I found that most of what I was raised on was exclusive to my Roman Catholicism, and imagine my surprise when I joined the USAF and found out a missal (missle) was more than just a book with Latin on the left page and English on the right. Back then it seemed like there was two kinds of Christian faith; Roman Catholic and everything else, but regardless of church, God's word reigned over all. As my horizons expanded I found this was an overly simplified view but I did expect that in each church, with a few exceptions, that Biblical scripture would be the predominant word du jour and that the End Times was a very far away. 

However several years ago things changed. Churches started getting bigger and bigger, Robert Schuller is one of the first Mega-Church ministers and built a crystal cathedral to glorify... something. Suddenly it's all about church growth. No longer is the little white neighborhood clapboard church the point to gather for worship and glorification of God, but the huge mega facility where thousands of tithe bearing worshipers can gather in multi-media splendor to be lulled into a stupor by contemplative prayer and have their eardrums assaulted by 10,000 watts of guitar driven rock anthems based on the heresy of The Message  paraphrase of the Bible.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not saying all large congregations are wrong and that all modern worship music is bad, I'm positive there's a lot of good out there. Some of these churches are actively teaching the Word of God and intentionally assaulting peoples high frequency hearing capabilities in order to attract young church goers. I'm sure some souls are being saved, some new relationships are being made with Jesus. What I am saying is that not all of those sheep you're seeing are eating grass, some have a zipper hidden in their fleece and a taste for red meat. 

I'm not talking just about Big churches, I'm talking about emergent churches. According to Matt Slick at CARM an Emergent church is a church that has many of the following traits:

1. An awareness of and attempt to reach those in the changing postmodern culture.
2. An attempt to use technology, i.e., video, slide shows, internet.
3. A broader approach to worship using candles, icons, images, sounds, smells, etc.
4. An inclusive approach to various, sometimes contradictory belief systems.1
5. An emphasis on experience and feelings over absolutes.
6. Concentration on relationship-building over proclamation of the gospel.
7. Shunning stale traditionalism in worship, church seating, music, etc.
8. A de-emphasis on absolutes and doctrinal creeds
9. A re-evaluation of the place of the Christian church in society.
10. A re-examination of the Bible and its teachings.
11. A re-evaluation of traditionally-held doctrines.
12. A re-evaluation of the place of Christianity in the world.

When he says "Re-evaluation" that's a polite way of saying "Change" and when he says "de-emphasis" what he means is "Ignore what's inconvenient" The emergent church puts more value on works than on faith, more emphasis on acts rather than salvation. And when it comes to Salvation they have their own version of salvation:

Salvation is the entire universe being brought back into harmony with its maker. This has huge implications for how people present the message of Jesus. Yes, Jesus can come into our hearts. But we can join a movement that is as wide and as big as the universe itself. Rocks and trees and birds and swamps and ecosystems. God’s desire is to restore all of it.

-Rob Bell,  Velvet Elvis

Whoo Hoo! Not only is everyone saved, everything is saved too! And I was so worried about by bottle cap collection! As completely whacked as this sounds Rob Bell was actually the pastor of an emergent Mega-Church when he wrote that: the Mars Hill church. If you look at their theology they speak of Jesus and the biblical narrative, but they don't say they believe that the Bible is the inspired word of God, they say that God inspired authors of scripture by his Spirit to speak to all generations of believers. Hey - Mark Twain inspired generations of believers, and nonbelievers also, Betcha it didn't do much for their eternal salvation however. They say that God created all things good, which very quietly states that God did not create all things. They say that God "was and always will be in a communal relationship with himself" but they never, ever say "Trinity"

They call Adam & Eve's fall from grace a "people's rebellion" but never once to they mention Satan's role in said rebellion (or Satan at all for that matter). They continually use the words narrative and story, both words have a connotation of something that not necessarily is true which gives their theology 'plausible deniability'. Their theology speaks about restoration of a broken world, and reconciliation with God but they never mention heaven, never mention Christ's sacrifice nor its meaning, and they never mention a need to repent, because:

Their theology never mentions salvation.

What does God actually say about salvation?

14 “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; 15 so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life. 16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. (John 3:14-16)

Unlike Mars Hill Church, God has a lot to say about eternal salvation. But to the emergent church, at least the Mars Hill church, heaven is earth, which probably explains why top-name emergent pastors don't want you to read the bible.Steven Furtick, pastor of Elevation Church in Charlotte NC calls parishioners who want to study the bible "potbellied Christians who want to shove more food of the bible down their throats."

Perry Noble, Pastor New Spring Church Anderson SC calls parishioners who want to learn more of the bible "jackasses", and says "You want to learn more about the bible let's see how you serve man, let's check your tithing records." Is Pastor Perry stating that only members of his church who are caught up on their tithes are allowed to study the bible, that the Word of God is dependent on the Cash In Perry's Pocket? He goes on to state that he believes most Christians are educated in the bible ‘way beyond their level of obedience anyway.

Mark Beeson, pastor of Granger Community Church in Granger IN makes fun of parishioners by sitting in a high chair on stage screaming and squalling "Feed me!" mocking members of his flock who are starving for God's word. My response would be a (loud) request to be taught at least 1 Timothy 1:8-10

And "America's Pastor" Rick Warren is also on the 'ignore the bible' bandwagon. He's stated that he  (and C. Peter Wagner) discourages the study of Bible prophesy because it's actually a diversion by the devil. Of course you realize that emergent Pastor Warren knows full well 1/3 of the Bible is prophesy. What does Jesus say about studying the bible?

 But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.’ ” (Matthew 4:4)

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Heavenly Father

Please find it in your divine mercy to change the minds of those that are polluting the hearts of your faithful with their heresy, please move those aside that dare stand between your word and the starving worshipers that long for your direct guidance. In places like North Korea and the middle east people are being killed for possessing mere scraps of copies of scriptures while here in the land of the free charlatans are telling us that study of your word is gluttony. Please bring these once good leaders back to your flock, touch their heart so they will repent and restore your word to the center of their world. In Jesus name we beseech you.

Interesting Facts About Jesus

We're busy day today preparing for the feast celebrating our Lord and Savior's birth, no time to get something original out so keeping our eye on the Lord in this joyful season here's 10 Interesting Facts About Jesus:

The Name Jesus
Jesus is the English transliteration of the Greek name Iesus. Joshua is the English transliteration of the Hebrew name Yeshuah. Both Jesus and Joshua mean Yahweh saves or Jehovah is salvation. The name Jesus appears in the Bible more than 900 times. [Transliteration means that the word is not translated from one language to another, but tries to represent the same letters/characters from one language to another. Pronunciation may or may not be preserved.]

The Word Christ
Christ is not actually a name, but a title. When the Bible talks about the Messiah in the Old Testament, it is referring to the same title as the New Testament calls Christ. Both Messiah and Christ mean anointed one. Jesus was anointed with the power of the Holy Spirit (Acts 10:38) and was the promised redeemer. The first promise of a redeemer in the Bible was in Genesis 3:15. The word Christ appears in the Bible more than 500 times.

Jesus’ Titles For Himself
Jesus said He was the bread of life and the living bread (6:35, 48, 51). He was the light of the world (John 8:12). Jesus was the good shepherd (John 10:11, 14). Jesus outright claimed to be the Son of God (John 10:36). He also liked to call himself the Son of man (Matthew 20:28). He said He was the way, the truth and the life (John 14:6).

Foods Jesus Ate
Jesus ate bread (Matthew 26:26), which has been a common food throughout history. He ate clean meats such as lamb (Luke 22:15) and fish (Matthew 14:19). He may have eaten eggs because of His statement that eggs is a good gift (Luke 11:12, 13). The Old Testament says that Jesus would eat butter and honey (Isaiah 7:15). Luke 24:42 and 43 says that Jesus ate broiled fish and honeycomb after His resurrection.

Jesus Was a Carpenter
Jesus was known to be a carpenter (Mark 6:3). This indicates that He not only grew up in the house of a carpenter (Matthew 13:55), but He worked in the trade at least long enough that people knew Him to be a carpenter too. There is a question of exactly what the word translated as carpenter really means. The Greek word is tekton, which is a generic word for anyone who makes things. This was applied to craftsmen of various objects. Early writings, tradition and culture indicate that Jesus probably worked with wood in some form. Therefore carpenter is a fine translation of this word.

Jesus’ Birthday
Jesus’ birthday is generally celebrated on December 25 each year. However, the Bible does not tell us exactly when His birthday was. Various scholars have put the Birth of Christ sometime in winter or early spring. We celebrate His birth at Christmas, but there is no record in the Bible of the early Christians celebrating the birth of Jesus, it's thought that Christians of the 2nd century began the tradition of celebrating Christ's birth during the debauchery of the Roman Saturnalia festival.

Jesus and John the Baptist
John the Baptist was Jesus’ second cousin. Mary (the mother of Jesus) and Elisabeth (the mother of John) were cousins (Luke 1:36). John was about 6 months older than Jesus (Luke 1:36). In John chapter 1 when John the Baptist declares Jesus as the Lamb of God (v. 36) this is probably not the first time they met. They were likely together often as children and young men growing up.

Jesus’ Family
Jesus had several half-brothers and sisters ( Matthew 12:46-47; 13:55-56). At least some of his brothers were named James, Joses, Simon and Judas. His sisters are not named in the Bible. History says that James became the head of the church in Jerusalem.

Jesus Was Passionate
Some portrayals of Jesus in films and popular culture have Him walking around like a disconnected being who is hanging around to solve problems. However, the Bible shows some very passionate scenes from the life of Christ. He overthrew the tables of the money changers in the temple (Matthew 21:12-13). He was moved to tears at the news of Lazarus’ death (John 11:35). The Bible says many times that Jesus was moved with compassion (Matthew 9:36-38;  Mark 1:41 and others).

Jesus and Simon
There was a man conscripted to help Jesus carry the cross up to Golgotha. This man’s name was Simon (Matthew 27:32). This man was from Cyrene which was also called Niger in Acts 13:1. This is not in the country known as Niger today. Rather he was from the country of Libya. Simon had two sons who were apparently known to the early church. Mark 15:21 says that Simon was the father of Alexander and Rufus as if the readers of the Gospel would know those two men.

Don't Be Judging On Me Maaaaan!

How many times have you heard someone who has probably never cracked open a bible use Matthew 7:1, to defer judgement of what ever it is they're doing:

Judge not, that ye be not judged

I used the King James version because it sounds more ominous, but it reads the same in other versions: Do not judge so that you will not be judged. (NASB)  Generally this one line is used as a Logic Hammer to crush any conversation that would point out that whatever the person is doing is wrong. If that person actually stopped and looked at what he just said he may never use it in defense of anything ever again. Logically it's a double negative: Don't judge and you won't be judged = Judge and you will be judged. I suppose that's a good defense for someone who thinks that I'm afraid to be judged, however being a Christian I KNOW I'm going to be judged, we all will be judged:

12 And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books,  according to their deeds. (Rev 20:12)

So knowing that I'm going to be judged that gives me the right to judge those around me, right? Well, no. Just knowing that you're going to be judged doesn't give you the right to do anything but be judged. But can one actually judge the actions of others? In today's world of Political Correctness the answer is a resounding "No!" Unfortunately for the world of Political Correctness, I'm not Politically Correct, and I'm highly intolerant of people who demand tolerance for deviant activities. It's kind of like I'm not of this world.

Let's go back to Matthew 7:1 - Jesus did not say "Don't judge people". Here's one of the major issues with quoting the Bible without fully understanding what you are quoting. When reading the Bible you can't take a single verse out of the book without looking around, look before it and after it and study the context:

1 "Do not judge so that you will not be judged. 2 For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you. 3 Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? 4 Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' and behold, the log is in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye. (Matthew 7:1-5)

Jesus gives us several lessons in five short lines, First he says don't judge so you won't be judged. But we know we're going to be judged, and more importantly in verse 2 we're going to get an added judgement for we will be judged according to the way we judge here behind enemy lines on Earth, what we hand out in judgement will be handed back to us. So for example if you're going to judge someone for swearing with the words: "Hey watch your language! It sounds like #@&*$!!!" * you're going to be judged, really judged. 

And that example leads us to the rest of the quote which quite often is conveniently ignored when using Matthew 7:1 as a defense - Matthew 7:3-5. These verses are not first aid instructions, they're an admonition against hypocrisy. As you read through the Gospels you'll see that Jesus really, really hates hypocrisy. He's constantly hounding the Pharisees about their hypocrisy. The root of hypocrisy is pride, and if you read my blog entry God Hates... ME?!? you'll see that the sin God hates the most is pride. The root of all sin is pride because sin is a form of putting ourselves in the place of God. But in the case of hypocrisy pride is based on one's position or status. There is no virtue in position or status but it goes to our head and we feel that we are better than other people and make judgments based solely on this false notion.

What Jesus is saying is first clean yourself of that pride and false arrogance, get rid of your hypocrisy so you can clearly and cleanly judge the situation. Make sure you have your act together before correcting someone else. And Jesus doesn't just say "Point out the speck in your brother's eye" he says to "take the speck out of your brothers eye" He's now admonishing us that if we're going to judge someone we also need to also help them out.

What else does the bible say about judging? A bit:

Open your mouth, judge righteously,And defend the rights of the afflicted and needy. (Pro 31:9)

"And you, son of man, will you judge, will you judge the bloody city? Then cause her to know all her abominations. (Ezek 22:2)

Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? If the world is judged by you, are you not competent to constitute the smallest law courts? (1Cor 6:2)

Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more matters of this life?(1Cor 6:3)

I've skipped a lot of verses that use the word discern or distinguish rather than judge in the NASB bible such as Malachi 3:18 because I want to use the word judge to keep the issue clear. The bible is full of directives to judge.We must be able to distinguish between good and evil, between right and wrong, between the path to salvation and the road to hell if we are to be accepted into Christ's home. However we need to judge with discernment (or we need to judge our judging) at Christ's command:

Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment. (John 7:24)

I know some people that really enjoy judging and being judgmental, and they really shouldn't be. We can get so blinded to our causes and passion for Christ that we lose sight of what we really are - Christians. I knew one fellow that was so blinded by rage with homosexuality and abortion he wanted to take matters in his own hands in a very unchristian like manner. These are the people we need to take under our wing and correct them. "Come on dude, those are sins, and so is what you're planning to do to those sinners." He didn't get it. Unfortunately he moved on to a different church to spread discord (see my list of what God hates in my previous post) before we could take the speck out of his eye.

Here's God's Seven Rules of Judging:

1. Judge Righteously. We can only do this by following the standards God set for us in the Bible.

2. Judge Scripturally. Our standard is God's words, not our feelings, not our opinions, not any outward appearance of what we are judging. The final word of what is right and wrong is the Bible

3. Don't judge when God's word is silent. If God doesn't think something is a big deal, it's not a big deal. Don't miss out on a wonderful part of life because you're worried it's a sin. If God says something's wrong, it's wrong, otherwise it's ok.

4. Pray for good judgement ability. We should always ask God for His help when making tough decisions.

5. Don't respect persons. Too many times people get away with some form of sin by using their position of power or popularity. We are living in a weird cult of personality where a person's popularity seems to mean more to people that what they say and do.

6. Judge in truth. If you must judge make sure you have all the facts, a true judge is one who seeks the truth.

7. Judge mercifully. Don't forget the lessons of Matthew 7:2 For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you.

Most importantly Judge Yourself. If you are a true Christian you belong to Jesus, you are God's child. If you refuse to judge and improve yourself as a child of God then God will take it upon himself to do it for you. 

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* I've actually heard people say this