To Judge or Not to Judge

1 This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. 2 Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful.

3 But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court. In fact, I do not even judge myself.

4 For I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me.

5 Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive his commendation from God. 6 I have applied all these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, brothers, that you may learn by us not to go beyond what is written, that none of you may be puffed up in favor of one against another. 7 For who sees anything different in you? What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?

Introduction

We are all evaluators, and we are all evaluated.

We judge people, places, and cultural commodities

by a diverse web of standards that we have weaved together over the course of our lives.

Others evaluate us by the same or similar standards.

We relish evaluating others, but greatly fear being ranked by others.

We do this naturally, and the hardest thing to do is to undertake the risky task of stepping back to evaluate our own evaluation.

Paul wanted the Corinthians to evaluate their own evaluative frameworks to evaluate the way that they make judgments about others.

The Problem with a Judgment Methodology

The Corinthians are judging Paul according to criteria that falls right in line with the common cultural criteria.

· It was premature. They were making snap judgments before having all of the relevant information: “do not pronounce judgment before the time.”

When Paul wrote, “do not pronounce judgment before the time,”

he was referring to a debate among Corinthian Christians over whether Paul, Apollos, or Peter (Cephas) was the most authoritative apostle (1 Corinthians 1:11–12; 3:3–4).

Why were they quarrelling over such a thing?

We don’t know.

All we know is 1) the Corinthians had personal knowledge of and experience with these apostles, and 2) how we tend to judge leaders based on our observations and experiences.

Like different leaders we know, Paul, Apollos, and Peter had different personalities.

They likely had different rhetorical and pedagogical styles, theological emphases, and may have exercised or emphasized different spiritual gifts.

We know Paul was a “planter” and Apollos was a “waterer” (1 Corinthians 3:6–8).

Perhaps some simply much preferred Apollos or Peter to Paul.

Perhaps some misunderstood something Paul said or did and took offense.

Perhaps the “super-apostles” (2 Corinthians 11:5) had slandered Paul, but not Apollos or Peter.

Whatever the factors were, certain Corinthian Christians judged Paul uncharitably, calling his ministry and character (his “hidden . . . purposes of the heart”) into question (1 Corinthians 4:3).

1 Corinthians 4:3).

English Standard Version (Chapter 4)

3 But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court. In fact, I do not even judge myself

We can understand this because we’ve all done this.

We know how fast we can move

from misunderstanding or disagreement

to concern, suspicion, and judgment.

If we think we perceive smoke, we can too quickly assume there’s a fire.

John 7:24 “Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.””

Paul urges that they withhold judgment until the proper time has come.

We don’t want to be judged on snapshots and sound bites—we want to be evaluated on the sum total.

· They had a “know-it-all” posture: “… before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart” (v. 5).

There are things we cannot know or see, particularly as they relate to human heart motivations. [1]

· It was short-lived with limited praise.

They accepted temporary, performance-based commendation over something more lasting:

“Then each one will receive his commendation from God.” Again, recall verse 3: “It is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court.”

We Should Value an Ultimate Commendation over Short-Lived, Limited Praise

We desire an evaluation that takes our long-term trajectory into account rather than our ability to produce quick, shallow results.[2]

What We Must Not Judge

We must not judge “the hidden . . . purposes of the heart” of other Christians based on their decisions, actions, perspectives, words, or personality that concern us if those things themselves are not explicitly sinful. (1 Corinthians 4:5).

We must not assume sin if we suspect sin, given how biased our suspicions can be.

What We Must Judge

Christians must judge the explicitly sinful behavior of a professing Christian. Jesus said a “tree is known by its fruit” (Matthew 12:33).

When do the hidden sinful purposes of the heart reveal themselves?

In a person’s explicitly sinful behavior.

That’s why Paul didn’t even have to be present to pass judgment on a man who engaged in sexual immorality (1 Corinthians 5:3). And he explicitly instructed the Corinthian Christians to pass judgment on him too (1 Corinthians 5:12–13).

When we sin, our Christian brothers and sisters have an obligation to judge us.

They must not condemn us, but they must, out of love, call us to repent.

Such judgment is a grace, an expression of God’s kindness (Romans 2:4), and we only compound our sin if we take offense.

If our sin is very serious and our church determines that we must be disciplined according to Matthew 18:15–17, we must keep in mind that the purpose is to pursue our redemption not damnation (1 Corinthians 5:4–5).

How do we evaluate others?

Does it have anything to do with pedigree, style, position, influence, power, production, output?

Often it does!

Even though we live within the evaluative cycle, we are tired of it, and we long to break out.

Deep inside we know there must be another way.

The cycle is good to us in those few moments that we are performing at a high level and we feel accepted, but it is impossible to maintain.

We end up being paralyzed by other people’s judgment of us. [4]

The Way We Should Self-Evaluate and Judge Ourselves

1 Corinthians 4:4 (ESV)

4 For I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me.

The Lord’s judgment trumps our judgment and self-evaluation.

Even if we can’t find fault within ourselves, that does not justify us!

When there is humility and deference—when there is praising of others rather than stripping down and attacking others

—then the upside-down nature of the gospel is trumping and moving the human heart.

"What Do You Have That You Did Not Receive?"

Let me show you a few verses to give some biblical basis to this claim.

In 1 Corinthians 4:7 Paul says,

And what do you have that you did not receive? But if you did receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?

The answer to the first question is "nothing." "What do you have that you have not received?" Answer: nothing.

But in spite of this there was boasting going on in the church at Corinth.

Which to Paul's mind was totally contradictory to reality.

If all you have is a free gift from God—that's what grace means—then you can't boast as if it were not a gift. Grace eliminates boasting.

You can't boast as though you create and sustain what grace creates and sustains.

Gospel Centered Judgment (vv. 8–13)

1 Corinthians 4:8–13 (ESV)

8 Already you have all you want! Already you have become rich! Without us you have become kings! And would that you did reign, so that we might share the rule with you!

9 For I think that God has exhibited us apostles as last of all, like men sentenced to death, because we have become a spectacle to the world, to angels, and to men.

10 We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are wise in Christ.

We are weak, but you are strong.

You are held in honor, but we in disrepute.

11 To the present hour we hunger and thirst, we are poorly dressed and buffeted and homeless,

12 and we labor, working with our own hands. When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure;

13 when slandered, we entreat.

We have become, and are still, like the scum of the world, the refuse of all things.

Why is Paul so convinced that this way of evaluation is superior to the common paradigm of evaluation and judgment?

How can Paul labor and strive, serve, and give to and for these people who are so trapped in the brutal cycle of evaluation?

· Paul has received a cosmic evaluation from the one who follows this alternative pattern, which has radically transformed his life.

The most important thing is that this paradigm is the fingerprint of a person.

The paradoxes of the gospel.

· The way down is the way up.

· The way of weakness is the way of strength.

· The way of poverty is the way of riches.

This is why an upside-down, paradoxical model feels right.

Everything that Paul says in this text can only be said because Christ said it first.

“God has exhibited us apostles as last of all, like men sentenced to death, because we have become a spectacle to the world, to angels, and to men” (4:9).

This is a picture of people who are being carted into the Colosseum to be devoured by wild animals. It is talking about what it means to be a gladiator, being ushered to one’s own demise.

God has exhibited all of these things that he wants us to understand in the person of Jesus Christ because it was a reality in the person of Jesus himself.

Jesus was the great apostle (Hebrews 3:1) who was sentenced to death and experienced it! He was exhibited as a spectacle to and for the world! [5]

“We are fools for Christ’s sake.”

but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are held in honor, but we in disrepute” (4:10).

Christ was the wisdom of God that was considered foolish by men.

Jesus had become weak and exhibited his greatest strength in that very weakness.

He was subject to the ultimate disrepute that sinners might receive the ultimate honor!

It is almost as if Paul is giving a description of Christ that we might hear in the Gospels: “To the present hour we hunger and thirst, we are poorly dressed and buffeted and homeless, and we labor, working with our own hands” (4:11, 12)

And in perhaps the most amazing, jarring statement of the paradox of the gospel anywhere in Paul’s letters, our minds are drawn again to Jesus:

“When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; when slandered, we entreat.

We have become, and are still, like the scum of the world, the refuse of all things” (4:12, 13).

Paul sinks to the bottom of the metaphorical barrel to press his point home. He picks words that have been variously translated as “trash,” “mud,” “garbage,” and “excrement.” [6]

The Treasures of the Kingdom are the Trash of the World.

· Paul says that the treasures of the kingdom are the trash of the world, which offers great hope to anyone who does not measure up.

The trash of the world is made into the treasure of the kingdom because Jesus, the ultimate treasure, became “like the scum of the world, the refuse of all things.”[7]

· The gospel says that our evaluation is not ultimately based on what we think of ourselves or what others think of us but on what God thinks of us.

· And God ultimately evaluates sinners on the basis of what they think of Jesus. This changes the way individuals think about themselves—it turns failures upside-down.[8]

Takeaways

1. There is a longing deep inside of us as we see through the finished work of Jesus who laid down his life for us—and this is what life truly is about.

2. The Gospel life is about deferring, elevating others, pursuing someone else’s interests, being humble and not being arrogant,

giving and not always receiving, wealth distribution and not wealth accumulation, and leveraging one’s power and influence for those who are powerless.

3. Only the inverted, upside-down, ironic paradigm of the kingdom of God through the person of Jesus Christ will help us to be noble and heroic in the true sense of the term.[9]

Where Does Jesus Fit into Your Narrative?

He is one of the most revolutionary figures in history.

He comes from the humblest of beginnings.

He never held elected office.

He never had an army at his disposal.

He never got rich.

He had nothing that would be associated with power and advantage.

Nonetheless, what did he accomplish?

An unfathomable amount.

He is almost a perfect illustration of this idea that you have to look in the heart to know what someone’s capable of.14

This is the paradigm of grace:

the way up is down;

to be first one must be last;

to be a leader, one must follow;

to gain glory, one must know suffering;

to be elevated, one must be humble.

If we were to embrace this paradox, we would be completely fine without getting all the credit.

We would be fine lifting up other people as long as the team wins.

We could make a meaningful contribution without necessarily having to be noticed along the way.

[1]Um, S. T. (2015). 1 Corinthians: The Word of the Cross (R. K. Hughes, Ed.; p. 70). Crossway. [2]Um, S. T. (2015). 1 Corinthians: The Word of the Cross (R. K. Hughes, Ed.; p. 72). Crossway. [3]Um, S. T. (2015). 1 Corinthians: The Word of the Cross (R. K. Hughes, Ed.; p. 71). Crossway. [4]Um, S. T. (2015). 1 Corinthians: The Word of the Cross (R. K. Hughes, Ed.; p. 71). Crossway. [5]Um, S. T. (2015). 1 Corinthians: The Word of the Cross (R. K. Hughes, Ed.; pp. 75–76). Crossway. [6]Um, S. T. (2015). 1 Corinthians: The Word of the Cross (R. K. Hughes, Ed.; p. 76). Crossway. [7]Um, S. T. (2015). 1 Corinthians: The Word of the Cross (R. K. Hughes, Ed.; p. 76). Crossway. [8]Um, S. T. (2015). 1 Corinthians: The Word of the Cross (R. K. Hughes, Ed.; p. 76). Crossway. [9]Um, S. T. (2015). 1 Corinthians: The Word of the Cross (R. K. Hughes, Ed.; p. 77). Crossway. 14 Sarah Pulliam, “Interview: Malcolm Gladwell on His Return to Faith While Writing ‘David and Goliath,’ ” October 9, 2013; http://www.religionnews.com/2013/10/09/interview-malcolm-gladwell-return-faith-writing-david-goliath/.

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