I woke up early this morning and this was on my heart to share!
One of the things I think I hear most from many non-believers as well as immature believers, is "You can't judge me," or "You shouldn't question my Christian beliefs" even better here lately I heard the best on of all... "Calling into question my Christian integrity makes you look bad".
I would argue these are either non believers or immature believers. Here's why...
This year as a group my Faith Family is walking through the Bible. Currently we are transitioning out of Numbers and into Deuteronomy, and there is a particularly interesting twist in that transition.
At the end of Numbers or as it is in the Hebrew text Bemidbar which means "in the Wilderness" from the opening line of the scroll, we see an enemy of Yisrael (Israel) give blessings. Bilaam was paid to cures the nation of Yisrael (Israel) but instead when he opened his mouth out poured blessings.
And then ...
At the beginning of Deuteronomy, or in Hebrew: Debarim, Mosheh (Moses) begins his long sermon (clearly he has worked through his aversion of public speaking) of Rebuke on the nation of Yisrael (Israel). How can one Rebuke an individual or group, if they do not judge the actions of a group or individual?
I found this very interesting; because our modern day believers, think we should have no rebuke or judgement at all and it seems time and time again from the very beginning that's not the case.
Here, lets See from Yeshua (Jesus) himself...
Let's start in Mattithyahu (Matthew) 7 since everyone likes to quote that and Luqas (Luke)....
Mattithyahu (Matthew) 7:1 "Do not judge, (tons of people put a period or an exlamation point here, but there is a comma. They mostly stop here and use half a verse for justification.) lest you be judged." (Some people will stop there.)
V. 2 "For with what judgement you judge, you shall be judged. And with the same measure you use, it shall be measured to you. (Some make it this far)
Messiah goes on for a few verses, (this is good stuff you should take time to read 3-14 it gives invaluable advice on how to live and know, i.e. judge how one is to live either good or bad. How will you know if something or someone is good or bad without passing a form of judgement, but I digress), and then drops this little gem in verses 15-16 let's look.
V. 15 "But, beware of the false prophets, who came to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are savage wolves. v. 16 By their fruits you shall know them. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes or figs from thistles? v. 17 So every good tree yield good fruit and rotten tree yields wicked fruit."
Fruit here is referring to actions of others, judge their actions to determine their Christ like character and integrity. What? Can it be... But just at the start Messiah said don't judge...
Is Yeshua (Jesus) conflicted? No, certainly not.
He is not contradicting himself at all in fact he is being very clear. We also have to remember we are talking about an Aramaic and Greek language in the New Testament, that has been translated into english from Latin which came from Greek and Aramaic. We also must understand that just like Love in english can have many different implications in Greek they had different words for them. The same is applied here. We can love love coffee and love our kids. Not the same kind of love though, I would not die for coffee but I would die for my kids, you follow. The same can be said for the concept of judgment. I can not condemn another soul to eternal damnation or salvation, but I can judge whether someone's actions are in alignment with what Yah says. We can also say for example a Judge can listen to both sides of a case and then hold the facts up to the law established by the U.S. and judge where the fault lies and what needs to happen.
I don't believe I have ever heard of someone standing up in a court and yell at the Judge, "You can't judge me, only God can!" because that would be foolish and possibly land you in jail for sure. The same can be said for police, they have a right to look at your actions, lets say speeding, and determine you were breaking the law and thus give you a ticket for the infraction. Can you throw the ticket back at them and tell them they have no right to judge you for driving to fast? No, well I mean you could then they could take you to jail but I hope you are picking up what I am saying...
Let's take a deeper look at judge...
The Greek word here is krinete: condemn, punish -- avenge, conclude, condemn, damn, decree,whos root word is krinó: that has a very broad meaning...
This root word leads to words that can be defined as...
To separate, or choose
To approve, esteem
To be of opinion, to deem to think
To determine, to resolve, to decree
To pronounce an opinion concerning right and wrong
To condemn*** This is the one from Mattithyahu 7:1 We can NOT condemn people to eternal punishment
To pronounce judgement, to be subject to censure
To rule
To govern
To preside over with power of judicial decision
To dispute, to contend
To distinguish, to decide
To damn
To question
In fact we are called to give righteous judgment.
Many of Messiahs teachings tell us to pass judgement on people actions, how they treat the poor, the widows and the orphans. How we say one thing but do others. We are to use discernment and wisdom to not fall for wrong teachings.
Here are a few more that tell us to judge wisely by their fruit, or actions...
Mattithyahu (Matthew) 7:20 Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.
Mattithyahu (Matthew) 12:33 Either make the tree good, and his fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt for the tree is known by his fruit.
Luqas (Luke) 6:43-45 For a good tree bringeth not forth corrupt fruit; neither doth a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit....
Ya' aqob (James) 3:12 Can the fig tree, my brethren, bear olivie berries? either a vine or figs? so can no fountain both yield salt water and fresh.
1 Shemu' el (Samuel) 21:13 As the old proverb says, Wickedness proceeds from the wicked.....
Mishle (Proverbs) 20:11 Even a young man is known by his actions-- whether his conduct is pure and upright
In Marqos (Mark) 11 Yeshua curses the fig tree because it looked like it had good fruit but then proved it didn't. It looked like it should have good fruit but when he looked closer it didn't. It was deceiving. Much like peoples words and actions don't match. Judge them by their fruit, their actions not what they say.
So that brings us back to Mosheh (Moses) and his Rebuke... and Balaam and his blessings. Why is this significant...
For one: You can not rebuke someone who you have not judged rightly their actions. In his Epistle to the church in Galatia, in chapter 2 Sha'ul (Paul) tells of his Rebuke of Kepha (Peter) because of Kepha's actions. He was not displaying Christ like integrity, and Sha'ul was not having it. Kepha was to represent the ideals and values that of Christ and he was not. This kind of behavior can lead people away from Messiah.
Mosheh was Rebuking the nation of Yisrael because they were not acting or had not acted as the Holy Nation they had been called to be.
Sha'ul (Paul) and Mosheh (Moses) both used wisdom, and discernment to call out fellow believer or believers to act in accordance with Yah had established.
Can we condemn anyone to eternal damnation? No that is far above our pay grade and we place ourselves equal to YHVH. Are we called to judge other believer and call out sin? YES definitely. We must uses heaps of grace and season it with salt but absolutely we are allowed to call out a fellow Christ follower for acting out of accordance with the will of Yah.
Balaam blesses Yisrael's because Yah can use anyone, and as Rabbi Aha explains; Yisrael would have dismissed the enemy's curse, because our enemies will curse us, and would have dismissed Mosheh's blessing because those that love us should bless us. However, a blessing from the enemy would be worth paying attention to and would be unexpected. Rebuke should come from those with in the faith, because they want to help you grow and be more Christ like.
How we receive both can say a lot about us. If we swoon over a blessing from an enemy and reject a rebuke from a brother or sister in the faith it may be time to reflect on our priorities and begin to draw deeper in to relationship with Messiah.
Ultimately the goal is to be growing in our faith and relationship, sometimes Rebuke is part of that. Sometimes, we need to be called on the carpet about our actions so we can grow and not do the same things over and over again. Sometimes, we also need to realize we aren't the smartest one in the room and that's okay too. If we remain teachable our lives can be changed and we can then impact others with the wisdom we have learned over time. Isn't that the point, is to make disciples, and how can we make disciples if we aren't disciples ourselves?
I just want to leave you with this, I am not saying that people pleasing is good and that everyone should have access to speak into your life. What I am saying is that you might not always be right, consider the words presented, examine yourself, and if you think maybe you need to re-adjust your actions, great! If you determine your actions could have been perceived by the other person from an issue they have, great don't adjust, (here is the kicker) recommend they might be looking at it through a perspective that could be skewed by their own experience, or something to that nature. It could open a whole new conversation of love and growth for all. But, if we snap back with "Only God can judge me," maybe they touched a nerve and the Holy Spirit is trying to work out something in your life.
Anyway, I just wanted to share what's on my heart! Happy Saturday Y'all! I think this is something everyone needs to work on in their lives.
Let our words be full of Grace and seasoned with salt, always!
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