Week 5: The Rule of Love
Recommended Reading:
Chapter 6 (20 pages)
Key Quotes:
Key Quotes:
Chapter 6
"…it's the daily life of the average Christian that ultimately forms the world's perception of Christ and his gospel." (115)
"All of God's judgments are good and right. Our fallen selves don't recognize the good because our fallen loves demand different judgments." (123)
"We all make judgments all day. It's called decision making. We tell ourselves we don’t like the idea of judgment, of course, because judgment always involves excluding something, and someday that something just might be us. Therefore…we tear down whatever walls we can…We dispense with moral boundaries, blur gender, topple every authority we can find. What's left? Our tribes, our idols, and our appetites." (133)
Engagement Questions:
"…it's the daily life of the average Christian that ultimately forms the world's perception of Christ and his gospel." (115)
"All of God's judgments are good and right. Our fallen selves don't recognize the good because our fallen loves demand different judgments." (123)
"We all make judgments all day. It's called decision making. We tell ourselves we don’t like the idea of judgment, of course, because judgment always involves excluding something, and someday that something just might be us. Therefore…we tear down whatever walls we can…We dispense with moral boundaries, blur gender, topple every authority we can find. What's left? Our tribes, our idols, and our appetites." (133)
Engagement Questions:
Chapter 6
Chapter 6
If you have ever been involved in evangelism, you probably have heard the all too familiar phrase, "no one can judge me except God." Usually this phrase is associated with Matthew 7:1, which starts off by saying "Judge not". However, this grossly misunderstood and misapplied verse has less to do with preventing anyone from judging and more to do with the holiness of God. And believe it or not, Jesus said more on how to judge. For example, he called us to not judge by mere appearances, but to judge correctly (John 7:24). As you have read, and can tell, this chapter has to do with love and judgment. To think of it in terms of the boomerang analogy that we looked at in the previous chapters, this chapter is focusing on how when you trace the path of the boomerang its return will exclude some area, namely all of the areas outside of boomerangs path. To explain it another way, we should not understand Godly love in a universalist sense; because God loves everyone he will never judge anyone and the result will be that everyone will be saved.
The proper understanding of Godly love is that it makes distinctions, it judges. And while it may seem odd to some, it is 100% Biblical. For example, Godly love reminds us of the importance of church discipline. True love in this sense desires to present to the Son a pure and holy bride, even if it means that we exercise church discipline. Another example is in our obedience. We obey God, because we love God in a Godly way. We see this exhibited by the Son, who loved the Father and willingly gave of himself on the cross to do the Father's will. We too obey God out of our love for Him. One final way to think about this is to see how we place or attribute greater value to the things that we love. The method by which we evaluate everything and categorize what we love and what we do not is judgment. I write all of this to basically say, you cannot love, if you do not judge. Given that, we must understand that if we were to remove God's judgment, we would be reduced to a world without love and a life without purpose. For example, without God's judgment there is no reason for any purpose to live like a saint or a sinner because there is no punishment. And so the very good news of God's judgment is that it perfectly aligns with God's love and it assures us that everything that is wrong in the world will eventually be set right.
One of the main problems is that we do not always agree with God's judgment. I like the analogy that is made of a shop full of items for sale. God has determined the correct prices and tagged every item in the shop with the right price. However, we go into the store with our price gun and start to change the prices on things because we do not agree with them. Because of our sin, we disagree with God's measuring rod and want to change the standard, mainly in order to make us meet up to the standard. But God's judgments are good and right and we are the ones who need to change our beliefs. In summary, Love and judgment go hand in hand and the church exists, not exclusively, to establish itself as an authority of truth for the world so that others may escape the coming final judgment. If the church decides to just accept everyone, it then deceives the people of the truth and they will never be able to properly exercise membership, discipline, evangelism, or fellowship.
Grace and Peace,
Alex Galvez
To never miss an article, click on the "Subscribe" button at the top of the blog page (https://aogalvez.blogspot.com/)
****************************************************
These articles usually follow the current Bible Reading plan for Overflow Ministries. If you would like to join the reading plan, simply download the plan here: Overflow Reading Plan
- Explain how, if true, God's judgment can be good news?
- Jonathan Leeman describes how when others' judgment matches our own, we call it wise and righteous while when they oppose us, we call it unwise or unloving. (119) How can we be more consistent with God's judgment? In what areas do we need to reform our thinking and living?
Chapter 6
If you have ever been involved in evangelism, you probably have heard the all too familiar phrase, "no one can judge me except God." Usually this phrase is associated with Matthew 7:1, which starts off by saying "Judge not". However, this grossly misunderstood and misapplied verse has less to do with preventing anyone from judging and more to do with the holiness of God. And believe it or not, Jesus said more on how to judge. For example, he called us to not judge by mere appearances, but to judge correctly (John 7:24). As you have read, and can tell, this chapter has to do with love and judgment. To think of it in terms of the boomerang analogy that we looked at in the previous chapters, this chapter is focusing on how when you trace the path of the boomerang its return will exclude some area, namely all of the areas outside of boomerangs path. To explain it another way, we should not understand Godly love in a universalist sense; because God loves everyone he will never judge anyone and the result will be that everyone will be saved.
The proper understanding of Godly love is that it makes distinctions, it judges. And while it may seem odd to some, it is 100% Biblical. For example, Godly love reminds us of the importance of church discipline. True love in this sense desires to present to the Son a pure and holy bride, even if it means that we exercise church discipline. Another example is in our obedience. We obey God, because we love God in a Godly way. We see this exhibited by the Son, who loved the Father and willingly gave of himself on the cross to do the Father's will. We too obey God out of our love for Him. One final way to think about this is to see how we place or attribute greater value to the things that we love. The method by which we evaluate everything and categorize what we love and what we do not is judgment. I write all of this to basically say, you cannot love, if you do not judge. Given that, we must understand that if we were to remove God's judgment, we would be reduced to a world without love and a life without purpose. For example, without God's judgment there is no reason for any purpose to live like a saint or a sinner because there is no punishment. And so the very good news of God's judgment is that it perfectly aligns with God's love and it assures us that everything that is wrong in the world will eventually be set right.
One of the main problems is that we do not always agree with God's judgment. I like the analogy that is made of a shop full of items for sale. God has determined the correct prices and tagged every item in the shop with the right price. However, we go into the store with our price gun and start to change the prices on things because we do not agree with them. Because of our sin, we disagree with God's measuring rod and want to change the standard, mainly in order to make us meet up to the standard. But God's judgments are good and right and we are the ones who need to change our beliefs. In summary, Love and judgment go hand in hand and the church exists, not exclusively, to establish itself as an authority of truth for the world so that others may escape the coming final judgment. If the church decides to just accept everyone, it then deceives the people of the truth and they will never be able to properly exercise membership, discipline, evangelism, or fellowship.
Grace and Peace,
Alex Galvez
To never miss an article, click on the "Subscribe" button at the top of the blog page (https://aogalvez.blogspot.com/)
****************************************************
These articles usually follow the current Bible Reading plan for Overflow Ministries. If you would like to join the reading plan, simply download the plan here: Overflow Reading Plan
You may follow Overflow Ministries @ https://faithlife.com/overflowtx/activity
or on Facebook @ https://www.facebook.com/OverflowChurchTX/
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