Judge Ourselves

(1Corinthians 11:29) “For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself.”

I am thrilled when brothers wrestle with scripture and look for answers to daily life in and through the bible. There is nothing I should get more excited about. But my very best is when God the Spirit reveals truth in and through the Word. When I have a question I need answered and I find the answer in the bible, I am then grateful and reassured that I am in God’s army and He cares for me. How often through life, have you wrestled with a particular issue and looked for answers, I know this has happen to me on a number of occasions. But whether it is through ministry, a prayer or even reading the bible, when the light switch comes on it is very refreshing. I love these moments in my life. I am sure you have also experienced times like these. This beautiful Sunday morning is a day like that...

Once I have dealt with all the common questions and have concluded in my spirit, and my mind is persuaded that I am a child of God. I am convinced that Jesus died in my stead; I am convinced that I have a black heart and nothing in me outside of Christ is worth even speaking about. Without Him, I deserve death and hell. Once all these truths have sunk into our hearts, then we, then I, contemplate this walk of mine on a regular basis. I do it even now! I look for answers to issues that affect me and those around me.

I see and understand that until a person looks in a mirror and concludes that they are wicked and that no good thing dwells in them, that they will struggle with the magnitude of what it meant for the Holy One to die and take away our sin. This is I believe where true God centred repentance and man centred repentance meet, this truth is what separates the sheep from the goats. When I believe I am not such a bad person, then I have not understood how wicked I actually am. God must reveal this truth to me in order for me to receive his spirit. If I am justified by my works then the death of Christ on the cross was not ever really needed. This may be a subtle distortion of the truth by your mind, but it could cost us true repentance. The Apostle Paul explains our state before God like this; (Romans 3:10) “As it is written: "None is righteous, no, not one;” If there is even a slight trace of self justification in my reasoning I am in trouble, “God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

We now get to our text; “For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself.” What I find intriguing is when the Lord had communion with His disciples, His last supper with them, the text tells us by highlighting that in the “same night as He was betrayed He took bread and broke it.” That means even the goats (professing believers who are not true believers) will gather around the table and eat bread that has been broken in remembrance of His death. They will give very little though to what it meant for Christ to have His blood spilt on our behalf. But the instruction to believers is the point I want us to embrace with open arms.

Last night I was amongst believers and the topic of God’s judgement was discussed, hence my blog and deliberation for this morning. The question posed was, “can we be under God’s judgement for long periods of time, like Israel found themselves under God’s judgement?” Yes we can, but we need not stay there, this text in particular teaches us that. I will remain in a place where I will be judge by God, or put it this way, disciplined by God if I hold to self justification not acknowledging that I am justified by Christ’s work on Calvary. When I try to excuse myself, when I think I am better than others, even if others say you are, is not the point. If I do not put my brothers and sisters before me esteeming them higher than myself as the word instructs me to do. When I reason like this I am proud and God will resist me, I will be under the judge as He judges me and that is a place no one will enjoy. But when I am broken and have a contrite heart then I am restored and find joy and peace in serving Him, I find that because God is merciful, I am no longer shackled by His judgement by free to find forgiveness and I can serve Him once again with a clear conscience. We must not overlook the most important point, it is the Lord Jesus’ once and for all time sacrifice, never to be repeated that justifies us before God as His children. When we forget to remember our first love (Jesus), then we are judged and life then becomes a drag and it is hard to understand at times. Repentance is where it is at, if we repent, we are forgiven immediately, and although my bad decisions have left a wake of destruction that I am still dealing with on a daily basis. I am able through it all to find joy and peace, with the hope that one day I will see my God and Father, my Saviour as they are and I will forever be with them, I will receive a body that is incorruptible and there will be no more pain there, tears will have dried up and nothing that is able to defile will ever enter that glorious place, the New Jerusalem. May our hope grip us so tightly that we have to remember, to breathe.

Signing off

Tyrone