Another Master

Who are you to judge the servant of another? To his own master he stands or falls; and he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand. (Romans 14:4)

I just noticed something very interesting in this verse that I don't yet know quite how to relate to or some of the possible implications. The way this is worded strongly implies the potential possibility to assume that the person I may be judging has a different Master than I do. That is denoted in the word another. But at the same time this conflicts with the belief that in the body we all serve the same Master. But in this verse Paul says that the other person I am tempted to judge as inferior to me has their own Master and that Master is the Lord Himself. So where does that leave the identity of the master that I claim to be serving?

Maybe this is a strong warning shot across the bow so to speak. Paul is not explicitly stating that I am serving the wrong master whenever I find myself criticizing others, but this certainly leaves the door wide open to that possibility. And that makes sense too, for Paul himself is not into judging the way he is warning us about so he will not engage in judging what master I am serving whenever I view others with contempt. He is letting me figure that out for myself.

Jesus stated unequivocally that He did not come into the world to condemn the world but to save us. (John 3:17) So if I engage in any kind of false judging which involves contempt or criticism of another person then I am not being motivated by the Spirit of Jesus. And if that is true, then what spirit is motivating me whenever I find myself finding fault in others?

What I am seeing in this chapter is addressing this problem that I struggle with in my relationship to the local church in particular as well as my generational issues that have affected very many of my relationships all of my life. Counterfeit judgment is a problem that suffocates the work of the Spirit of Jesus in the body of Christ and limits His ability to work in and through us efficiently to demonstrate the truth of God's glory through His body on earth. I want to become completely free from these contaminating influences that are rooted and thrive in my flesh. But this must involve much more than simple intellectual acknowledgment and understanding of what the problem or solution is but has to involve absorbing the essence of this truth at the heart level.

The good news is that God does not cease being my true Master whenever I slip into a spirit of fault-finding and negative thinking about others. While He is clearly not the one providing the motivation for the kinds of activities I am engaged in, He also does not abandon me but provides even more grace to give me opportunity to see His kindness and repent and be transformed. Even while I am in the midst of the very act of fault-finding in others the Holy Spirit is present to convict me of my complicity in damaging the work of God in their hearts.

Most of the time my flesh is very eager to construct justification for the criticism that I am eager to dish out. I can label it “calling sin by its right name” or “standing in defense of the truth” or any other number of very appealing justifications. But whenever I feel the need to justify myself it is very likely that there is something inside of me desiring to hide from the light of the Spirit. What I am saying about others may be ever so true and may even have the support of many around me, but if it is motivated by a self-justifying spirit within my own heart then no matter how “right” I may be, in the eyes of heaven I am not in harmony with God's work and God's ways.

This verse tells me very bluntly that those that I find myself judging and condemning are in fact people who can stand in spite of my withering effects because the Lord is able to make him stand. That is very good news if I am on the receiving end of contempt and criticism, but what does it say about me when I am on the giving end? I really do want to have this truth embedded firmly into my character, not just learned by my mind as something important to share with others. I want to reflect the true Spirit of Jesus in my life and that means that I need to stop all judgment that I do of others around me no matter how right I may be or faulty they may be. God is able to make them stand and that person is accountable to Him – totally – not to me.

As I meditate and ponder on this I start to perceive that whenever I view others with self-righteous contempt I am really secretly trying to become their master myself in place of God. I want to control them. Wow! What an indictment. Of course, I never admit that my spirit of criticism is self-righteous contempt because that would be too obvious for even my own mind to get away with in the presence of my conscience. So my wrong spirit has to be first dressed up in righteous self-justification and my image has to be polished to look like I am really working to promote God's cause in my efforts to clean up sin in the church or help others see their faults so they can improve their lives. But this is all self-deception which lies at the heart of all contempt and judging and pervades nearly every relationship that I can think of. It is simply inherent in the way the sinful flesh operates all the time.

The previous verse tells me something very important that I need to remember whenever I am tempted to view myself better than someone else. It says that God has accepted this person that I am criticizing. But inherent in the very spirit that I am engaging in I am not accepting them. That means that I am not in harmony with the Spirit of God so I must be synchronizing with a counterfeit spirit that is divisive. Again, no matter how “right” I may be or how much proof I can produce to justify my comments about them, I am out of sync with the Spirit of God and am thus working against what His Spirit is trying to accomplish in that other person's life.

Interestingly, in the very midst of writing this I was in the middle of a situation where this was being demonstrated. I was tempted very much to criticize the other person and find fault with what they were saying about others in a spirit of self-justification, but the Holy Spirit was prompting me to listen more to Him and to think clearly about what I am looking at here in relation to what was happening. It is a time of heart education as much as mind education which is the most important part of my mentoring process under God. So I chose to just listen and not comment on what was being said and asked God to give me the perception of heaven as to what was really going on.

Lord, I ask You to be my mentor and inspiration today. I know there is going to be many temptations to judge others and secretly view them with contempt from a self-righteous spirit. But You are the only example of real righteousness and I want to only be a reflector of Your love and grace. Please fill me with Your Spirit and keep me in Your will and ways today for Your name's sake. Thank-you for accepting me and for accepting those around me in Your embrace and affirmation. Give me the eyes and heart of heaven as I meet Your servants today and keep me from viewing them through my prejudices. You are the only One who can make us stand, and when we stand in You we also will find that we stand together with each other even though we perceive things differently. Glorify Your name in my life today and help me keep my focus on Your face.

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Acceptance

Now accept the one who is weak in faith, but not for the purpose of passing judgment on his opinions. (Romans 14:1)

I keep wondering what the implications are that might be embedded in this little word accept. I sense that this may mean different things to different people depending very much on the filters that we have in place and our willingness to think beyond our comfort zone. I may have examined this word previously but I am not stuck on being bound to a schedule in my study of the Word so I want to look at it again.

There are several means by which I try to expose the true meaning of words that I read from the Bible. One of the most important ones is to first of all give the Bible opportunity to define its own terms from the immediate context and then the larger context. That requires that I also have to be willing to lay aside my own preconceived ideas and prejudices as much as possible to make room for the Word of God to introduce different perspectives that may conflict with what I already suppose or assume. This has certainly happened quite a bit in the last few years for me and has led me to discover exciting new dimensions about reality and about God from the Word.

The second thing I like to do in looking for the true meaning is to sometimes check the Greek or Hebrew to see what light that may shed on the passage. This has usually also been very fruitful in exposing nuances and directions of meaning that are sometimes missing in the typical understanding associated with the English words. Since there is usually a number of different possibilities for definition I tend to gravitate toward definitions that agree most and are consistent with the positive things that I have been learning about God over the past few years from my own study and from the strong impressions of the Holy Spirit.

And that leads me to the third criteria that I use to unpack the word or phrase. While I do not want to force something to fit into a pre-hardened mold, I am very skeptical of accepting definitions that conflict with what I have been learning about God's character and glory and goodness. I have been seeing more and more clearly over the past few years the immense deception that permeates everything we believe and assume about God in religion, and the effects of this mass of deception is appalling. So I am divorcing my beliefs as much as possible from the typical dark views of God embraced by nearly all world religions as well as embedded in the thinking of those who claim to not follow any religion, in favor of viewing the Word of God from the perspective of a truly righteous God who does not harbor a dark side waiting to lash out at those who don't agree with Him or choose to love Him.

Well, that turned into another long explanation for how I approach my personal study, but I occasionally feel the need to reexamine it and to remind myself as well. I have found that using this criteria has been very useful for finding beauty, consistency and fresh new revelations of truth and in sometimes very unexpected places in the Word. But this is the context in which I operate as I work my way through any passage of Scripture.

In that vein, I looked up the Greek word for accept again this morning and found that it was very similar to what I thought it might mean but with interesting nuances. The word is made up of two other Greek words which is often the case. The first is a word denoting direction and movement as well as intent of destination. In this case it would imply that I should actively engage in drawing someone toward me in whatever ways may apply.

The second part of this word is also an action type of word but seems even stronger. It can mean to take hold of or even seize. In my opinion that would imply at times the act of embracing someone intentionally either physically or at the least emotionally and with my spirit. Implied in all of this is that my spirit is in harmony with the rest of my actions and I am not just pretending to embrace someone who is weak in faith but that I deliberately choose to make them a part of my life and draw them into community and real fellowship with me and those around me. I am willing to identify with them.

Then to employ another principle of discovery I took a little time this morning to look around the context to see what connections this may have with other instructions nearby. Sure enough, I noticed a number of words and phrases that likely have bearing on what this should mean.

First of all I remember that this whole passage is not long after an extended description of the body of Christ in chapter twelve. Then the next section deals with authority and our relationship to it and then immediately reminds us that love is the most important element in that body to which we belong. Some of the key phrases that shed light on this word accept might be:

Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor; (Romans 12:10)

Be of the same mind toward one another; do not be haughty in mind, but associate with the lowly. Do not be wise in your own estimation. (Romans 12:16)

If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men. (Romans 12:18)

...let us lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. (Romans 13:12)

Let us behave properly as in the day... (Romans 13:13)

Put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts. (Romans 13:14)

One of the lusts of the flesh is to make myself look better by putting others down or comparing myself with them. This can be very subtle in the church and strangely, religious folk seem to sometimes have a harder time at spotting this sort of thing than unbelievers. We tend to play these political games within the church of maneuvering for position and power and influence while ignoring the damage being caused by our unwillingness to obey the teaching of this verse. But when we do this we are failing to truly accept each other and embrace them as of equal value before God with us. We end up engaging in all sorts of judging but in the wrong sense of judgment.

I want to make it a habit to act on this verse in my own life and in my relationships with others, particularly in the body of Christ. Though I am just as prone to judging others and comparing my level of faith against theirs, I want to be rid of that evil propensity and be free to really love others who have a different relationship with God than I do. I want to experience being devoted to them in brotherly love and even giving preference to them in honor. I want to see the results of such attitudes and the freedom that this could give for the Holy Spirit to begin working in ways that were inhibited before because of my disobedience to these words. I want to see revival and healing and joy begin to break out in my church and among my friends and family like a highly contagious infection. I choose to act and make choices that will release the Holy Spirit to do what God longs to do among us – to reveal His glory so that the world will know that we are actually children of our Father in heaven.

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Discernment

Now accept the one who is weak in faith...

One person has faith...

he who is weak...

God has accepted him...

To his own master he stands or falls;

and he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand...

Each person must be fully convinced in his own mind...

...observes it for the Lord,

...does so for the Lord,

for he gives thanks to God;

...for the Lord...,

and gives thanks to God

...if we live, we live for the Lord,

or if we die, we die for the Lord;

therefore whether we live or die, we are the Lord's. (Romans 14:1-8)

Now accept the one who is weak in faith, ...for the purpose of passing judgment on his opinions.

...regard with contempt the one who does not

...judge the one who eats...

Who are you to judge the servant of another?

...lives for himself...

...dies for himself... (Romans 14:1-8)

Is the point a little bit more clear? There are two ways to live in relationship to religion and to others in the body. One way is to compare ourselves and our beliefs with theirs in a critical spirit, to discredit their beliefs while thinking we are more valuable, more “saved”, more righteous than they. In some sort of subconscious, twisted way we somehow think that condemning what others believe in contrast to our own set of doctrines or practices will somehow cause them to want to switch over and believe like we do.

But condemnation is yet another counterfeit that simply does not accomplish what we think it might. Condemnation is the counterfeit for conviction which is only the job of the Holy Spirit. Jesus said very clearly that He was not sent into the world to condemn the world but that the world through Him might be saved. Only the Holy Spirit can perceive clearly and relate to the heart properly and we have absolutely no business attempting to “judge” others no matter how many proof texts or quotations we can compile in our defense. The kind of judgment referred to here in this passage is the counterfeit kind of judgment, not the true form of judgment that takes place naturally in the presence of the real Spirit of Truth.

This lesson is so tangled in our thinking – mine included – that it is difficult to unpack it without participating in the very activity warned against here. But it is also important that I must be insistent in understanding it thoroughly and absorbing its reality into the deepest part of my thinking and relating. Any discussion of this topic can quickly sink into practicing the very thing we are talking about in this case – passing judgment on each other's opinions. This is an important lesson that must be applied first and most intensely to myself before I can be useful in sharing with anyone else this most important truth about relational attitudes.

This is one of those passages where I feel it is helpful for me to literally separate the opposing descriptions so that it can become more clear what the unique elements are involved on each side as I have done at the beginning here. There is evidently a way to accept others without slipping into the trap of pride and comparing their faith and beliefs with mine. There is evidently also a way of “accepting” others in a body of believers while thinking that I need to point out their errors and make sure they know that their opinions and beliefs are inferior to mine.

I am painfully aware of far too many people who fit this last category all too well. In fact, they build much of their theology around honing this practice to an art form almost. They compile texts to reinforce their feelings of guilt, their fear that they will be condemned themselves if they do not pass judgment on anyone in the church whom they believe is harboring heresy or sin in their lives. I have seen this practiced much and for many years in the example of people very close to me, and the results are sickening to my heart. Even in the past couple days I heard about one of my classmates from many years ago who is right now very offended because someone in the local church passed judgment on them in an attempt to intimidate them into coming to a series of “evangelistic” meetings designed to increase the membership of the church.

When are we going to listen to these warnings from the Word of God that expose our own pernicious practices that tear down so much of what the Holy Spirit works to build up? He is constantly working in the hearts of hurting people who have left the church because of our false representations of God, but our callous words and thoughtless comments can cause immense damage that we never even realize while we glibly go on in our self-righteous arrogant thinking that we are the chosen people of God with all the truth and that others must conform or be lost.

It makes me start feeling very angry whenever I think about these kinds of situations. But then the Spirit gently moves in to remind me that what irritates me most is very likely because it resonates with some deep flaw in my own life and I know that I also am very capable of doing the very same things to others. In the past few days I have felt the need to practice full identification with these sins of the church, take ownership of them for myself and confess them before God with intense emotion, pleading with Him for healing, for forgiveness, for the light of truth to bring conviction to our own hearts and to shine much more light into our own thinking. I pray intensely that we will see the ugliness of our own supposed righteousness and judgmental spirit and that the kindness of God will be seen clearly enough to induce repentance in our own hearts.

I plead with God to not only show me my own habits of judging others much more clearly but that I may also begin to see others, in and out of the church, through the eyes of heaven, to hear their words through the ears of heaven, to feel their pain and longings and dysfunctions through the heart of heaven instead of my own judgment, condemning-prone heart of flesh.

For whenever I sense the slightest spirit of contempt for anyone at all, then I have spotted the infection that has deep roots that cannot be seen in the open but that thrive in the selfish soil of my soul. Whenever I am tempted to evaluate whether someone else is saved or lost based on my opinion of their apparent beliefs and practices, I am being tempted to usurp the job of the Holy Spirit and am in reality acting as an anti-Christ.

I have felt convicted repeatedly lately by these words, Who are you to judge the servant of another? I have felt the Spirit impress these words on me as I am tempted to analyze someone else in the church with a critical spirit. And I will say that I am glad for these warnings so that I can be reminded that I can choose not to go there. I am finding that the more I fill my mind and heart with these warnings and instructions from the Word of God that it is easier for the Holy Spirit to remind me of them and utilize them internally to warn me when I am in danger of hurting yet another person.

I pray for God to transform me into the kind of person described in this passage who will accept others – with my heart and with sincerity and genuine love – without the urge to compare them to myself spiritually. Yes, I may be able to clearly see that they are weak in faith, but that is not the problem pointed out here. There are certainly differences between the levels of faith between people in the same body of Christ and there is nothing bad about that. We are all growing in grace and the body is supposed to a safe place where we can assist and encourage and nurture each other. But it is far too easy to move past the observation of differences in the amount of faith we think someone has to forming value-based opinions about their relationship with God.

If we are not heedful of the way the Spirit of God works in us, we shall become spiritual hypocrites. We see where other folks are failing, and we turn our discernment into the gibe of criticism instead of into intercession on their behalf. The revelation is made to us not through the acuteness of our minds, but by the direct penetration of the Spirit of God, and if we are not heedful of the source of the revelation, we shall become criticizing centres and forget that God says—“. . . he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death.” Take care lest you play the hypocrite by spending all your time trying to get others right before you worship God yourself.

One of the subtlest burdens God ever puts on us as saints is this burden of discernment concerning other souls. He reveals things in order that we may take the burden of these souls before Him and form the mind of Christ about them, and as we intercede on His line, God says He will give us “life for them that sin not unto death.” It is not that we bring God into touch with our minds, but that we rouse ourselves until God is able to convey His mind to us about the one for whom we intercede.

Is Jesus Christ seeing of the travail of His soul in us? He cannot unless we are so identified with Himself that we are roused up to get His view about the people for whom we pray. May we learn to intercede so whole-heartedly that Jesus Christ will be abundantly satisfied with us as intercessors.

Chambers, Oswald: My Utmost for His Highest : Selections for the Year. Grand Rapids, MI : Discovery House Publishers, 1993, c1935, S. March 31

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