Every time I look at the news (which is not that often) I am amazed that people can’t see the obvious. Over fifty years ago our country started moving away from the values that made it great and accepted the unproven, ungodly philosophies of the world with no proof they would ever work. Now, as our country goes from bad to worse, they should be able to look back and see the more we tried what the government said, the more we applied what the psychiatrists said, the more we listened to the “professionals,” the worse it has gotten. Why would we keep trying what has not worked for our entire generation? It’s hard to believe people would rather continue in what is destroying them than surrender to God!
It really doesn’t shock me that the world is this way. What shocks me is this: Most Christians are the same. That’s right! Most people who have been “saved” will not mold their life after the teaching of God’s Word. They are not disciples of Jesus and have no intention of becoming disciples of Jesus, yet are completely surprised when their life doesn’t work as it should. Then, just as Proverbs says, through their foolishness their life is destroyed and they blame God (Prov.19:3)!
In daily practice we best understand judgment as assuming to know “why” a person does what they do. But you must understand at the root of that are the first issues that brought sin into the world. Man didn’t believe he was who God said he was. He believed if he partook of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil he would then be like God determining good and evil for himself (Gen. 3:5).
Judging good and evil has many implications in daily life. When it comes to judging why a person does something we may never use the words “good” and “evil,” but the fact that we are attempting to identify their intentions is an evaluation of good and evil. No matter what words we use when applying judgment we are always determining good or evil. We may say. “You’re doing that to hurt me.” But that still means we are saying their action is evil. And in the end of the process the motive of good or evil which we attach to what they do determines if the effect on us is good or evil.
But good or evil has a much broader application to our walk with God. Today there are those who seek to diminish the value of all of God’s Word taught in the Old Testament. They somehow think that being under grace means that Word has no value in our life. Those who hold such a view do not understand God, grace, or the Lordship of Jesus. Paul called them “workers of lawlessness” or as the KJV says: “workers of iniquity.” Every time the message of grace has emerged there have been those who, in their ignorance, have declared this to be God’s rejection of everything He taught mankind through His commandments. Peter even warned that many people twisted Paul’s teaching to their own destruction (2 Peter 3:15-16).
The law cannot make us righteous. It cannot make God love us more. But the law is the standard for understanding what a righteous person walking in love will do. It is the law that God wrote on our hearts when we were born again. It is the law that grace makes us able to live. But more than that, in the New Covenant we don’t do these things to please God; we do these things because it is the ultimate expression of God’s love. The law shows us how to treat one another. 1 Corinthians 13 shows us the attitudes that should under-gird those actions.
The person who says, “I don’t need God’s law to determine good and evil” is not only a worker of lawlessness, they are rejecting the Lordship of Jesus. If Jesus is Lord I am choosing to follow His life, example, and teachings. He warned that He had not come to nullify the law (Matt. 5:17-20), He came to fulfill it. Fulfill doesn’t mean do away with. He just said He was not going to do away with it. Fulfill means to bring it to pass. Grace gives us the power to live as God has always said we should live. But this should never be seen as our righteousness. If I do not have God’s Word to tell me what is good and evil all I am left with is my opinion. This means I am declaring myself as god of my own world.
We are not wise enough to sort out these issues. We should always live a life surrendered to the Lordship of Jesus. Therefore, we must live free of judgment on every level. Follow Jesus, trust His Word, and depend on the grace of God!
Blessings to You!
Jim
