First Corinthians 4 Part 2 Judge Not Because God Will Judge Us For It
A wise servant gives out the meat of God's Word.
Matthew 24:42-46 Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come. 43) But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up. 44) Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh. 45) Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season? 46) Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing.
The faithful servant of Jesus Christ is one who is eagerly anticipating Christ's return and joyfully pours himself into gospel ministry.
He watches over the things of God to make sure that no false teachers creep in, or that no doctrines of devils enter into Christ's church (See 1 Timothy 4:1).
Thus, Jesus instructs us to watch for His return because we do not know if it will be today, tomorrow or fifty years from now.
We do not know if Christ will come in the morning, afternoon, evening or while we are asleep.
But, we do know that He will return for He is faithful because He made this promise.
Every Christian is gifted by God and will be judged for how we use it.
Matthew 25:14-30 For the kingdom of heaven is as a man travelling into a far country, who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods. 15) And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several ability; and straightway took his journey. 16) Then he that had received the five talents went and traded with the same, and made them other five talents. 17) And likewise he that had received two, he also gained other two. 18) But he that had received one went and digged in the earth, and hid his lord's money. 19) After a long time the lord of those servants cometh, and reckoneth with them. 20) And so he that had received five talents came and brought other five talents, saying, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me five talents: behold, I have gained beside them five talents more. 21) His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord. 22) He also that had received two talents came and said, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me two talents: behold, I have gained two other talents beside them. 23) His lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord. 24) Then he which had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew thee that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strawed: 25) And I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, there thou hast that is thine. 26) His lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strawed: 27) Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury. 28) Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents. 29) For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath. 30) And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Jesus gave an example of a wealthy man who was going on a long trip. He put his servants in charge of his resources, with instruction to use them wisely.
The resources were doled out according to each man's ability to handle them rightly. One man received five talents, another received two and another received one.
{In like manner the Spirit of God dispenses gifts to each born again child of God, to be used for His kingdom purposes and for God's glory. See Romans 12:3-8; 1 Corinthians 12:1-11}.
When the wealthy man returned from his trip, he required each of his servants to give him an accounting of how they used the resources entrusted to them.
The idea is that of making financial investments in order to achieve a gain. This is very much like investing into a 401k or an IRA so that the funds grow through compound interest and market gains.
Those who used their talents rightly will be rewarded by the Lord and those who did not use them rightly will suffer a rebuke from the Lord.
This is connected with the judgment seat of Christ and our potential to receive or to lose a reward from serving Christ (1 Corinthians 3:9-16).
The Spirit of God guided Paul to remind the Corinthians (and us) how an apostle, pastor, teacher or evangelist should be judged.
Faithfulness is the criteria established by the Lord Jesus Christ as recorded in the gospels.
An apostle, pastor, evangelist or teacher is willing to work like an under rower, doing whatever it takes to move the gospel message forward into a sin darkened world.
All Christians have been gifted by receiving the indwelling Holy Spirit and by having ready access to a copy of the inspired scriptures from God.
All Christians are stewards of the gospel of Christ and His holy doctrines. As such, we are to prepare the food of the gospel and we are to serve it to other people.
Why does Paul put such an emphasis upon the Word of God? Because hearing and heeding it is the spiritual food for our new man in Christ.
Reading the Bible is more important that eating physical food.
Job 23:12 Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips; I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food.
Job was a wealthy, wise and widely respected man who was personally attacked by Satan. He lost his children, his wealth, his marriage and his health.
Yet, he remained faithful to Jehovah and said when his fiery trial was over, he would come out like purified gold (Job 23:10).
Thus, he fully trusted what he knew to be true of God from what God taught him.
This is why Job could say that God's Word is more important than feeding his boy with food.
Reading scripture is as vital for us as mother's milk is for an infant.
1 Peter 2:1-5 Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings, 2) As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby: 3) If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious. 4) To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious, 5) Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.
The Holy Spirit guided Peter to use the specific Greek word that refers to mother's milk.
Mother's milk has many wonderful nutritional benefits for a new born baby and each person who is converted to Christ and regenerated by God's Spirit, is a babe in Christ.
Therefore, the apostle makes sure we learn to drink in the milk of God's Word.
It will impart many spiritual benefits, including a growing faith, a resistance to temptations, a rejection of falsehood and a clear view of God
You can go to the following link to read about the benefits of mother's milk on Johns Hopkins Medicine's website.
Babes in Christ must make progress toward spiritual maturity.
Hebrews 5:13-14 For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. 14) But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.
However, just as a child must learn to eat food and be weaned off mother's milk, so a new believer in Christ must be weaned off the milk of the Word of God.
We must begin eating the strong meat of scripture,
The strong meat includes learning the high and holy doctrines of Christianity of atonement, justification by faith and of the gift of the Holy Ghost.
Learning about the fullness of Christ dwelling in the souls of men, His triumph over death, the future resurrection and glorification of our body and soul in the realms of blessedness.
Strong meat teaches us about our endless union with Christ in the throne of his glory. This is the strong food which the genuine Christian understands, receives, digests, and by which he or she grows.
Our judgment is from the Lord and according to His standard.
1 Corinthians 4:3 But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man's judgment: yea, I judge not mine own self.
Those who preferred Apollos or Peter over Paul, promoted their preferences but their reasons impugned Paul's character as a man, a Christian, and an apostle.
Paul was less worried about being personally disrespected because he sought the glory of God in the salvation of their souls.
However, he was concerned that the truth communicated to the church from God through His apostles would not be respected in any way.
The apostle Paul was guided to address those who showed disrespect toward the sent ones of God.
Paul was not concerned that they would judge him, for he knew that The Lord Himself is his judge.
As far as his own conscience was concerned, Paul did not know of any sin in his life that needed to be confessed and forsaken.
The apostle was perfectly content to be judged by his Lord, for after his conversion to Christ, Paul fully leaned on Christ and faithfully served him until death.
Instead Paul wants to show us that we must not be running around trying to judge others.
We must examine our own hearts to make sure there is no sin in our lives that needs to be confessed and forsaken.
Jehovah looks on our hearts and will judge us by what He sees.
1 Samuel 16:7 But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.
We must remember that we will also be judged by our Lord, and this should be enough to motivate our service and love for Christ.
Jehovah looks on our heart which is why Jesus regularly condemned the Pharisees for maintaining an outward religion while having evil hearts (See Matthew 5:20; 6:1-18; Matthew 7; Matthew 23).
Each Christian appearing at the judgment seat of Christ will be judged on the criteria of faithfulness to the Great Commission and if our motivation for serving God was out of love for Him.
Let us make sure that our sins are confessed and forsaken.
1 Corinthians 4:4 For I know nothing by myself; yet am I not hereby justified: but he that judgeth me is the Lord.
By these words the apostle, in a very gentle yet effective manner, censures those who cast rash judgments upon Paul or other Christians.
Being quick to judge others was something which the Corinthians habitually engaged in. We too, must guard against this evil practice.
Do not rush to judgment because God will judge us as we judge others.
Matthew 7:1-5 Judge not, that ye be not judged. 2) For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. 3) And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? 4) Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? 5) Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.
Jesus is our Master and Lord. He teaches us that we must resist the tendency to rush to pass judgment on someone else.
Jesus tells us that if we judge others harshly, then we shall be judged harshly by Him. Jesus Christ forgives us fully and tells us we must forgive others as He forgave us.
Beware of corrupt communication like passing judgment on others.
Ephesians 4:29 Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.
When we think about passing judgment on others, which is endemic in our culture, we must turn to the Word for guidance.
We must not allow corrupt communication to come out of us, whether by spoken words or social media posts.
What ought to be coming out of our mouths are words that edify others about the things of God. Our words should be seasoned with gospel grace.
Jesus Christ spoke with grace and truth and so must we.
Christ's people should accurately reflect our Lord.
Ephesians 4:32 And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.
Instead of rushing to judgment as so many do today, we must seek to be kind and tenderhearted toward others, even toward our enemies.
Jesus Christ was compassionate for the lost souls around Him and communicated forgiveness to them through repentant faith in the Son of God.
We must readily forgive others as Christ forgives us.
This is what it looks like when God's Spirit is having His way in us.
Galatians 5:22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23) Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
God guided Paul to describe what the beautiful fruit of the Holy Spirit looks like in our hearts when we yield to Him.
The love of God will flow into our heart and it will shape how we see other people.
God's Spirit will impart joy into us as we learn about the privilege and benefit of being a redeemed child of God.
We will enjoy peace with God that replaces the restless stirrings of a self centered soul.
We will be patient in our dealings with other people, even with those who rub us the wrong way.
Our lives will reflect the meek, humble spirit of our Lord.
1 Corinthians 4:5 Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God.
Paul concludes this section by telling us not to be ready to pass judgment on others. Every one of us will stand before Christ and give an account.
Let us obey God's commands through His apostles.
Let us ask the Holy Spirit to produce His fruit in us so that we might be more like Christ.
May we love our Lord enough to serve Him all the days of our lives, so that we might hear Him say "Well done!"
Bob
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