1 Corinthians 4:1-21
He always
brought us gifts. Money was extremely limited and barely sufficient to cover
bare necessities. But after times of travel, Dad always brought each of us a
small gift to let us know he thought of us and missed us while he was gone.
"Therefore
do not go on passing judgment (assessing each other) before the time, but wait
until the Lord comes who will both bring to light the things hidden in the
darkness and disclose the motives of men's hearts..." 1 Cor. 4:5
"Just
wait till Dad gets home…" Those were dreaded words! My father was an itinerate
preacher and Bible conference speaker. In the days of my childhood,
communication systems were nowhere near as sophisticated as they have become
today. We lived 13 miles south of town on a residential high school campus. The
'compound' had a phone in the administrative office. If, during his travels,
Dad desired to connect with Mom, he would call the school, someone would sprint
to our house and retrieve Mom who would rush to the office to take the call. But
because calls were billed by the minute, the conversations were, at best, very
brief. The other form of communication was "snail mail." However, on
more occasions than not, the letters would arrive after Dad had departed that
area and moved on to another. Many times, Dad's letters would arrive home after
he had already returned.
Mom was,
on many occasions for extended periods of time, both mom AND dad in our home. She
had three boys and one girl. My Sis was kind of like the Holy Spirit in the
family, omnipresent and "perfect." My brothers were mischievous troublemakers.
Well, I confess, I contributed more than my share to the chaos. Anyway, it
seemed that no matter what trouble we were creating, my Sis would know it
before WE knew it and then Mom was informed. (See what I mean by "Holy
Spirit?") In the early days Mom was quite well equipped to make necessary
behavioral corrections even in Dad's absence. However, as we grew, Mom's sense
of influence diminished and she would more regularly resort to these
frightening words, "Just wait till Dad gets home!"
As I am
repeatedly reading chapter four of Paul's correspondence to First Church of Corinth,
he calls on them to contemplate the three realms of judgment (or assessment) to
which each must maintain awareness:
1. We are examined by others. Whether
we like it or not, the observations and subsequent opinions of others DO
matter. They can see what we cannot. They can provide invaluable insight and
guidance. But they can never truly assess motivations of the heart. Only the
spirit of a man understands the thoughts of a man.
2. We are examined by self. There
must be a habit of self-reflection, a private pattern of "come to Jesus"
moments. Knowing our own thoughts and our own hidden secrets means that we must
take personal inventory if we are to be ultimately approved. That being said,
we are prejudiced. We are self-justifying. We are more in love with ourselves,
than we are loving toward others. We are self-protective and self-vindicating. We
MUST exercise self-assessment. But even WE can never truly discern, with
accuracy, our own dark recesses and our own flawed motives. "For I am conscious of nothing against
myself, yet I am not by this acquitted; but the one who examines me is the Lord."
1 Cor. 4:4
3.
Finally,
we are to be examined by God. He alone truly knows the darkness of our souls,
the hidden secrets of our humanness and the authenticity of our motives. His
evaluation of us is inevitable and unavoidable.
In our
family, we were skillful at observing the behaviors of each other. It was
called "tattling" and we were really experts at it! As already
stated, my Sis was very gifted at passing early judgment. Until the moment of
accountability before Mom arrived, we spent little energy in
self-assessment/judgment. She would draw us into that mode by simply asking, "What
were you thinking? Or WERE you thinking?!?" The thing that motivated
serious attitude adjustment and influence behavioral changes was the dreaded
line, "Just wait till your Dad gets home!"
"Therefore
do not go on passing judgment (assessing each other) before the time, but wait
until the Lord comes who will both bring to light the things hidden in the
darkness and disclose the motives of men's hearts; and then each man's praise
will come to him from God." 1 Cor. 4:5
If only I
would have spent more time behaving myself so that my Father's return could
have been anticipated with expectation rather than dread because of correction.
"Just wait till your Dad gets home!"
See you Sunday, Church!
Pastor
Tom
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