Judging (3-27-13)

1 Corinthians 4:5 - "Therefore do not go on passing judgment before the time, but wait until the Lord comes who will both bring to light the things hidden in the darkness and disclose the motives of men’s hearts; and then each man’s praise will come to him from God."

There are several passages of Scripture that tells us how we are to live since Christ could come back at any moment. We've already seen from 1 John chapter 3 that those who look for Christ purify themselves just as He is pure, and this culminates when we see Him, because when we see Him we will be like Him for we shall see Him as He is. We also saw from 1 Corinthians chapter 11 that as often as we partake of the Lord supper we "proclaim the Lords death until He comes." And from James chapter 5 that our lives should be characterized by patience because the coming of the Lord is at hand. In 1 Corinthians 15 we saw that in light of the fact that the coming of Christ is imminent we need to be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that our toil is not in vain in the Lord. And in Hebrews chapter 10 we saw that we need to be considering how to stimulate one another to love and good works, not forsaking our own assembling together but encouraging one another and all the more as we see the day approaching. But there are a few more passages of Scripture that I want to look at in reference to the Lords coming in the clouds that give us very specific application.

In 1 Corinthians chapter 4 the apostle Paul refers to us as the "servants of Christ." And since this is the case, we don't need to be condemning other Christians because of what they are or are not doing. Christ is their Master just as He is our Master. For some reason we feel that it's our responsibility to determine the motives behind everything another Christian does. But that's not our responsibility. I can't see another persons thoughts or motives so I have no right to judge them. Christ sees every thought and every motive of every heart and we would do well to leave the judgment up to Him. We read in Romans 14:10-13 - "But you, why do you judge your brother? Or you again, why do you regard your brother with contempt? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. For it is written, “As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to Me, And every tongue shall give praise to God.” So then each one of us will give an account of himself to God. Therefore let us not judge one another anymore, but rather determine this—not to put an obstacle or a stumbling block in a brother’s way." We will each give account of ourselves to God. This doesn't say "for we will all stand before the judgment seat of Jesse." It says that "we will all stand before the judgment seat of Christ." He is the Judge, not us. We are all fellow servants under one Master and He is the one to whom we are going to have to give account. We shouldn't be holding one another to our standards. Christs standard is the only perfect standard and His judgment is the only judgment that matters. When the Lord comes he will both bring to light the things hidden in the darkness and disclose the motives of men’s hearts; and then each man’s praise will come to him from God. Therefore, in light of His return we should keep from judging one another in comparison to ourselves. Whenever we judge another we are putting ourselves in the place of God. Only He knows the heart, only He knows the motives. 
Of course this doesn't mean that as Christians we walk around with our eyes closed oblivious to what everyone else is doing because, well, it's not my place to judge. The Lord Jesus said in John chapter 7 - "Do not judge according to immediate appearance but judge with righteous judgment." The Corinthian church neglected to judge sin in the church and ended up with a church that was infiltrated by sin. The apostle actually says to them in chapter 5 that they need to judge those who are inside the church. This is not a contradiction. We need to hold one another accountable in the body of Christ. We need to point out the sin in a brothers life if they are continuing in it. What we cannot do is judge the motives of other people or compare to ourselves. It's too easy to sit in judgment and speculate about why someone did something, but we don't know so we shouldn't be judging their motives. It's too easy to look at other believers and make up a hierarchy of spirituality in our own minds, comparing one another with one another, but that is wrong. The only standard is Christ Himself. We need to stop comparing ourselves with ourselves and stop judging one anothers motives. The Lord is the only one who is qualified to do these things and He will do it at the proper time.

1 Corinthians 4:5 - "Therefore do not go on passing judgment before the time, but wait until the Lord comes who will both bring to light the things hidden in the darkness and disclose the motives of men’s hearts; and then each man’s praise will come to him from God."