Judging
Friday, October 17, 2014
Jeff Lampl
Jeff Lampl
“What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church?"
1 Corinthians 5:12
1 Corinthians 5:12
The
following is excerpted from a blog by Pastor Jonathan Storment
The
Barna Group is a famous research company that surveys American Christians, and
they basically ask us “What has following Jesus changed in your life?”
And every time the Barna group comes out with another survey, the answer
is always the same, “Not much.”
Jesus
people tend to buy into the same cultural idols and values, we divorce at the
same rates, we are more segregated than almost any other sector of society, we
use money the same way, we think of power, prestige, and status just like and
just as much as other people.
In
other words, the biggest problem is that Jesus followers don’t follow Jesus.
German Philosopher Friederich Nietzsche once said that the world has only seen
One Christian and they killed Him
So,
how do non-Christians look at Christians and how do Christians view
non-Christians?
There’s
an interesting passage in 1 Corinthians
“What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church?" 1 Corinthians 5:12
Did
you catch that? What business is it of mine to judge those on the outside?
If
Paul were here today, I bet plenty of people would have an answer for that
question.
I
grew up in the era of culture wars and battles for values; I have seen people
who believe in God scream some of the most vile, hate-filled things at people
who don’t.
I
have also grown up in a time where less people are in any church, and more
disturbingly where it seems like less Jesus is in His people. We aren’t
creating disciples as much as we create attenders.
Judgment
was always meant for those of us on the inside, not primarily for those on the
outside. And I would argue that the Western church has reversed this.
We
have churches filled with people who are Christians but don’t look much like
Jesus, yelling and screaming judgment at people who don’t even claim to want
to be like Jesus. On what basis? They don’t believe like we
believe; they don’t have the same story; they have no reason to try to live
like Jesus.
And
the great irony of this is that the very thing Christians want, we are
destroying. We want to create a better world; we should take a hint from
the story of God. He creates a people who are distinct and loving, who
submit to the Kingdom of God and the God of the Kingdom, to serve the world and
challenge each other.
That’s
a community the world needs to see. Yes, Jesus has something to say about
our sexuality, yes Jesus has something to say about life and the environment and
our finances, but He is saying those things to the people who are following him,
so that the world would see a community living into the dream God has for
everyone.
In
the Gospels, people who were nothing like Jesus, liked Jesus. He
was distinct, but he was with them, and they loved him. They also had this
funny idea that he just might love them too, but when people talked about
following Him, that is where Jesus turned up the heat; sell everything you have,
become like a child, pick up your cross.
It’s
important that we judge ourselves, those of us in the church, so that we are not
a group of people who seem to be more known for what we are against, and then
statistically participating in it at the exact same rate.
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