Execute Judgment part 1
I think there are a lot of misunderstandings about the Bible. I mean, you can pretty much make it say anything you want to by taking things out of context and that old twisted Scripture. But I can't fix all of that in one sitting. So the sacred cow I want to knock over in this Rant series is the idea that we are not supposed to judge. And I know where this idea comes from: "Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again" (Matthew 7:1,2). People take that and say, "Jesus said don't judge!" But think about it. That's crazy. We judge everything all the time. We make snap judgments. We make considered judgments. We put things in boxes and catagories every second of every day. And if you really read what that passage says, Jesus was telling us HOW to judge. If you don't want to be judged harshly... don't judge harshly. Because whatever you give... that's what you will receive. And, listen, I'm talking about your dealings with other people right now more than anything else. Because the way it works Spiritually is not "Give what you want to get." It is, "Know what you have so you can give what you've got." You're not trying to earn anything from God. You're simply receiving and releasing His gift. But look at what else Jesus said, "Judge not according to appearance, but judge righteous judgment" (John 7:24). Again, not telling us NOT to judge, but telling us HOW to judge. And this one, to me, is key. Because those snap judgments we make are almost always based on appearance. If someone lies to us, we judge them a liar. Done and done. But we oftentimes don't take the time or put in the effort to get the whole story. We just judge harshly and move on. We feel vindicated in our judgments. "He lied to me. Game over." Well, that's fine, I guess. I can understand where someone is coming from. But at the same time, you're cutting someone off or cutting them out of your life on what MIGHT BE a misunderstanding. Sometimes it's worth it to put a little effort into the relationship and find out what's really going on. Sometimes things below the surface are happening and we can't just ignore those things. And I haven't even touched on what I really want this Rant series to be about yet. Psalm 149:9 says, "To execute upon them the judgment written: this honour have all his saints. Praise ye the LORD." That's my key verse for this series. Executing the judgment that has been written. Which, of course, means we need to know what that judgment is. I can't tell you how many times I've heard preachers say something along the lines of, "Jesus had a death sentence." Talking about how God was angry and just absolutely, positively HAD to kill someone. And since Jesus didn't want God to kill US, He stepped in. But think about that. Jesus saved us... from God? Jesus saved us... from Himself? I don't think so. God didn't not kill Jesus. Man killed Jesus. Man chose to nail Him to a cross and pierce His side. And, really, NOBODY killed Jesus, if you want to get right down to it. Jesus gave up the ghost. He made the sacrifice willingly. But my point is: God's judgment--the judgment that was written, or handed down, 2000 years ago--was not a death sentence. It was a life sentence. An eternal life sentence. And that is what we can execute. That is what we can judge. That's the righteous judgment. That's what we have. So that's what we can give. That's our honor as saints. So WHEN you judge, simply judge righteous judgment. Simply execute the judgment that was handed down from Father to Son!