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Does Anyone Else See This?

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Joey Porter:
Okay, I'm just starting to type and I already have a feeling this may end up being a lengthy post.  This has to deal with the Kingdom, and judgment, etc.  I have really been meditating on this in recent times, and I believe I may be putting some things together.  Of course, much of this is discussed on Ray's site also.

I have been wondering about exactly how the judgment and the kingdom is going to take place, and just what our roles will be, and how it all correlates to our lives now.

As many of us have learned, the scriptures tell us that we are to judge ourselves now (by accepting and learning from the Lord's discipline) so that we will not be condemned with the world.

1 Corinthians 11
31But if we judged ourselves, we would not come under judgment. 32When we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned with the world.

But what about judging others?  Should we be gaining better discernment when judging others in order to be fit for our part in the Kingdom?  I'm not talking about going around condemning everyone, but just having the God given discernment to see what's in men's hearts. There are a couple of scriptures that come to mind when thinking about this:

1 Corinthians 6
2Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if you are to judge the world, are you not competent to judge trivial cases? 3Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more the things of this life!

This passage reminds a lot of Christ's words:

Luke 16
10"Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. 11So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? 12And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else's property, who will give you property of your own?

Now, when  I was thinking earthly instead of heavenly, I used to think this pertained to how we manage our money.  But, is it possible that Paul and Jesus are telling us the same thing here?  If we can't learn to discern how to justly judge others now, we will not be prepared to do so when the time comes for us to take our parts in the kingdom.

I believe that Paul and Jesus also give us another "parallel teaching" in a couple other areas. 

Here are the familiar words of Christ:

Luke 6
42How can you say to your brother, 'Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,' when you yourself fail to see the plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.

(As a side note, I remember hearing Ray teach that he believes our brother really does have a plank in his eye too, but since we've got a plank in our eye, we can't see that it actually is a plank in our brother's eye.  I think he's right.)

But let's see how those words line up with Paul:

2 Timothy 2
 20In a large house there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay; some are for noble purposes and some for ignoble. 21If a man cleanses himself from the latter, he will be an instrument for noble purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work.

Perhaps "cleansing ourselves of the latter" is equivalent to "taking the plank out of our own eye."  Perhaps being "useful to the master and prepared to do any good work" is equivalent to "seeing clearly to remove the speck from our brother's eye."

And yet another parallel that I can't help but notice between Paul's and Christ's teachings:

Luke 12
42The Lord answered, "Who then is the faithful and wise manager, whom the master puts in charge of his servants to give them their food allowance at the proper time? 43It will be good for that servant whom the master finds doing so when he returns. 44I tell you the truth, he will put him in charge of all his possessions.

What does Christ mean by "give their food allowance at the proper time?"  I believe Paul may give us the answer in his writings:

1 Corinthians 3
1Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly—mere infants in Christ. 2I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it.

Does anyone else see that?  Paul had the discernment to give the Corinthians their food allowance at the proper time!  He understood that trying to shove solid food down their throats would be destructive.  Is it possible that we also need to be asking God for the discernment to minister to our brethren, feeding milk to those who can only handle milk, and feeding solid food to those who are further along? 

I think it's interesting that in Luke chapter 12, Christ contrasts the faithful and wise manager with those who beat their fellow servants.  Could this be, beating them with the Word, looking down on them and condemning them, while we ourselves are full of hypocrisy?  Could He be referring to trying to take a speck out of our brother's eye while we yet have a plank in our own eye? Perhaps He is referring to force feeding people meat when they're only able to handle milk.

So, what about the way we use the Word when dealing with others?  Do we twist it so that we can control people and scare them?  Do we "cut off their ears" so that they can't hear the Truth of God's word?

Matthew 26
 51With that, one of Jesus' companions reached for his sword, drew it out and struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his ear.

What will happen if we cut off the ears of our fellow servants, if we become hasty and carnal and try to forcefeed meat to them when they can only handle milk?

52"Put your sword back in its place," Jesus said to him, "for all who draw the sword will die by the sword.

And of course, this is parallel to the parable of the 3 servants:

Luke 19
22"His master replied, 'I will judge you by your own words, you wicked servant!

If we take up the sword (the Word of God) in a way that we misuse it, we will be cut asunder by the very sword that we wielded!

Luke 12
46The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the unbelievers.

Does anyone else have any insight into this?
 

MG:
Thank you Joey.

I was just thinking about all of this today and what you wrote really helped me understand more.

Joey Porter:

--- Quote from: MG on July 27, 2006, 02:42:07 AM ---Thank you Joey.

I was just thinking about all of this today and what you wrote really helped me understand more.

--- End quote ---

Thank you for the encouraging words.

jenny06:
Good to know that I am not alone. 

hillsbororiver:
Joey,

I found this to be a very thought provoking post, I see many of the things you wrote.

Thank you,

Joe 

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