Mercy without Judgment is a Tree without Roots

Being a Christian means being merciful. But what does it mean to be merciful? It is now popular to regard mercy as not showing any judgment or disapproval of others’ behaviors. For instance, Pope Francis, the Times Man of the Year, imprecisely stated:

• “A person once asked me, in a provocative manner, if I approved of homosexuality. I replied with another question: "Tell me: when God looks at a gay person, does he endorse the existence of this person with love, or reject and condemn this person?" We must always consider the person.”

Most secular commentators embraced the Pope’s comments as an endorsement of homosexuality. They likewise embrace Jesus’ words:

• “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. Do not judge, and you will not be judged.” (Luke 6:36-37).

Well, what does it mean to “be merciful?” Jesus insisted that our mercy should look like the Father’s mercy. Well, what did His mercy look like? First, there has to be an acknowledgment of our need for mercy:

• Then the Lord said to me [the Prophet Jeremiah]… “Go and proclaim these words… ‘Return, backsliding Israel,’ says the Lord; ‘I will not cause My anger to fall on you. For I am merciful,’ says the Lord; ‘I will not remain angry forever. Only acknowledge your iniquity, that you have transgressed against the Lord your God, and have scattered your charms [devotion] to alien deities under every green tree, and you have not obeyed My voice,’ says the Lord.” (Jer. 3:11-13; NKJV)

God’s mercy towards Israel depended upon Israel’s “acknowledgment” of their sin – a small price to pay for the mercy and forgiveness of the Lord. However, Israel consistently refused:

• “Yet you [Israel] say, ‘Because I am innocent, surely His anger shall turn from me.’ Behold, I [God] will plead My case against you, because you say, ‘I have not sinned.’” (Jer. 2:35; NKJV)

Where there is a refusal to confess sin, there is no mercy. Jesus also reflected this truth in His teachings:

• And if he refuses to hear them [by confessing his sin], tell it to the church. But if he refuses even to hear the church, let him be to you like a heathen and a tax collector.” (Mat. 18:17; NKJV)

• If your brother sins against you, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. And if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times in a day returns to you, saying, ‘I repent,’ you shall forgive him.” (Luke 17:3-4; NKJV)

If we are going to be merciful as our Father is merciful, then we will forgive and restore the one who confesses their sin and repents. We will be merciful to those who confess their sin and need for mercy. And if they refuse to confess – what then? We must pray for them and receive them back into fellowship when they are ready. This is mercy! Receiving them back into fellowship without confession and repentance is to wink at sin – something that the Father does not do.

Well, what about Jesus’ teaching that we shouldn’t judge so that we wouldn’t be judged by God? This wasn’t Jesus’ final word. It wasn’t an absolute injunction against judging. Right after this, Jesus explained:

• “Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me remove the speck that is in your eye,’ when you yourself do not see the plank that is in your own eye? Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck that is in your brother’s eye.” (Luke 6:42; NKJV)

If we are blind, we cannot judge. Once we remove the “plank” or blindness from our own eyes, we “will see clearly” enough to perform some spiritual surgery – judging – on others.

“Sweet” Jesus clearly did His share of judging, calling others “hypocrites” and “swine.” What then does mercy look like? It is a matter of giving what people ultimately need. Some require tough love. We all require the exposure of our ugly sins and rationalizations – something that the false prophets neglected to do. God had explained this principle to Jeremiah:

•  Your prophets have seen for you false and deceptive visions; they have not uncovered your iniquity [exposing your sins], to bring back your captives [taken captive by sin], but have envisioned for you false prophecies and delusions. (Lament. 2:14; NKJV)

When our sins are exposed, there is hope for confession and mercy:

• “I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran. I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied. But if they had stood in My counsel, and had caused My people to hear My words, then they would have turned them from their evil way and from the evil of their doings. (Jer. 23:21-22; NKJV)

In order to be turned from our evil and to find mercy, we require the rebuke! Meanwhile, Pope Francis stated:

•  "If someone is gay and he searches for the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge?"

However, judge we must! Jesus had even warned:

•  “Do you suppose that these Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans, because they suffered such things? I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse sinners than all other men who dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish.” (Luke 11:2-5; NKJV)

It is mercy that requires us to likewise judge!

Thinking Rightly about God

What we think and believe are so central to our lives, affecting the way we feel, act, and how we relate to others. More than anything else, our beliefs about God are determinative. Just consider the words of God through the Prophet Jeremiah:

·         This is what the Lord says: “Let not the wise boast of their wisdom or the strong boast of their strength or the rich boast of their riches, but let the one who boasts boast about this: that they have the understanding to know me, that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,” declares the Lord. (Jer. 9:23-24).

For instance, if we do not know that God is kind to us, we might believe that every misfortune is for the delight of a sadistic god. Such a belief will transform our entire life and the way we treat others. If God is sadistic, then there is no reason why we shouldn’t be sadistic!

It is important to understand our hardships from the point view of a God who loves us so that He is working every painful circumstance for good (Rom. 8:28) to make us more like Jesus (2 Cor. 4:10-11).

Instead, we have a perverse tendency to think that God is trying to make us sin through the hardships. The Book of James tries to correct this tragic thinking:

·         When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death. (James 1:13-15)

For God to coerce us to sin is “evil,” according to James. He insists that God is above such a thing. There is no evil in Him! Yes, God brings hardships and hardships heighten temptations. However, God’s purposes aren’t evil, and He does not coerce us to sin. Instead, His purposes are loving and righteous. He wants us to see our sin and to humble us in the process.

God certainly allowed me to get stuck in the traffic-jam, and this tempted me to get angry. God even knew that I’d get angry and sin. However, he meant this for good to humble me and to make me more like Jesus. Nevertheless, despite God’s intentions and knowledge that I would sin, it was still I who sinned!

Moses had explained to Israel how this humbling process was necessary:

·         Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in order [for you] to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands.  He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. (Deut. 8:2-3)

God had humbled Israel for their own good so that they’d cling to His every word! However, He didn’t cause them to sin. Instead, Israel had to take responsibility their sins, confess them, to repent and return to their God. God intended that Israel would be so humbled that they would no longer trust in themselves and their own judgment but instead trust in God’s Word! There could be no humbling if Israel had been convinced that it was God who caused them to sin and rebel. Instead, this belief would just cause bitterness! I too am humbled by my failures, not by a failure imposed upon me!

Likewise, James counsels us to take full responsibility for our sins rather than to say, “God made me do it.” We do this in many ways. We might say, “The devil made me do it” or “The Fall deprived me of my freewill and moral responsibility. Therefore, I am not guilty.” Others justify themselves by claiming, “God made me this way. So it must be okay!” Others stake their defense on nurture or nature:

·         “This is just the way I am,” or “I was traumatized as a child.”

Although these excuses might contain some truth, they do not relieve us of the responsibility for our behavior. James places the onus entirely on us:

·         Each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. (James 1:14)

To believe otherwise usually means relying on a defective understanding of God – “God made me do it!” While blaming God for our misfortunes and failures might feel good temporarily, in the long run, it creates alienation from both God and society.

If we do not learn to accept full responsibility for our lives, we will not succeed anywhere – on the job, in the marriage, raising our children, or with God. The only way that my wife and I can be restored is through truth – the full acceptance of our responsibility for wrong-doing and confession.

This is just one illustration of how important it is to think correctly about God and also ourselves. However, this same principle can be applied to every doctrine of the Bible:

·         Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him... (2 Peter 1:2-3)

We need to pray that God will teach us to think correctly, especially about Him!

The Justice of God: Judging by Appearances

What happens when a theory is not supported by our observations? It looses credibility? What happens when our belief that the Bible is fully God-breathed is not supported by our modern values and observations? It becomes harder to maintain. This is what afflicts many Christians, especially today.

The challenges may take many forms and come from many directions – from the theory of evolution, multiculturalism, universalism… One theologian just wrote on his blog:

• While most of the Bible exhibits a “God-breathed” quality, reflecting a magnificently beautiful God that is consistent with God’s definitive revelation on the cross, we must honestly acknowledge that some depictions of God in Scripture are simply horrific.

God’s justice doesn’t always coincide with what appears to be just. Another Christian blogger wrote:

• It doesn’t seem fair that God would grant salvation to those who believe rather than those who are good. There are many good people who don’t believe in God. It just doesn’t seem right that God would condemn them to hell just because they don’t believe. 

I responded in this manner:

Failure to believe in God is not a matter of the insufficiency of the evidence. Instead it is a rejection of the evidence and a rejection of the One who has provided the evidence and to whom the evidence points:

• The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities--his eternal power and divine nature--have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. (Romans 1:18-20) 

The evidence is so compelling that disbelief is inexcusable. Besides, we are inescapably wired for God’s truth:

• Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law, since they show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts now accusing, now even defending them. (Rom. 2:14-15)

All of this leaves us without any excuse for not believing in God and acting accordingly. Why then do we run from this light? Jesus explained that, normally, we hate this light:

• This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. (John 3:19-20)

Here’s the rub. From our perspective, people seem to be good – lovers of the truth. Yet the Bible consistently denounces of humankind:

• As it is written: "There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one." (Rom. 3:10-12)

However, our observations and experiences with our neighbors do not line up with the indictments of the Bible. Instead, our neighbors seem to be nice people, often better people than ourselves. Should we then doubt our perceptions in favor of the Bible’s harsh judgments? How can I have an honest and consistent faith when, honestly, I simply don’t see things that way? And how can I tell others to believe in a faith that I am struggling to believe?

Such perplexity is not uncommon among God’s people. In fact, it’s a regular part of our diet. Our father Abraham had been promised that though his son Isaac, Abraham’s descendents would become more numerous than the stars in the sky. However, God asked Abraham to offer his promised son as a burnt offering. How could he believe any longer in a God who made belief an impossibility!

However, Abraham knew his God and also knew that He would provide a way of escape out of this dilemma (Hebrews 11:19), and he was right. But can He provide a way of escape out of our dilemmas? Can He make right what is so obviously wrong, at least to us? Can He be just, when it appears that He is unjust and simply mistaken about humanity?

The answer is not an easy one. Instead, it is painful and requires time. A lot of our perplexity is resolved as we come to realize, not necessarily the wisdom of God’s judgments, but the fallibility of our own.

We need to begin to question how we see – our assessments of humanity. God had sent the Prophet Samuel to the little town of Bethlehem, to the household of Jesse, to anoint the next King of Israel. But He didn't tell him which son to anoint among Jesse's many sons. These were impressive young men, at least from Samuel’s perspective. Therefore, God had to deflate Samuel’s faith in his own perceptions:

• But the Lord said to Samuel, "Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart." (1 Samuel 16:7)

Finally, God had Samuel select Jesse's most unlikely son - David - to be Israel's next king. We are only capable of seeing “the outward appearance.” Consequently, we are taken in by the façade and the way humanity so carefully manages and manicures its image. We fail to see the real man and this skews our assessments.

Humanity lives, breaths, and feasts on denial. We deceive ourselves and we deceive others (Proverbs 21:2; 16:2). Perhaps all of Israel’s Prophets had a “seeing” problem. They thought that God’s judgments were too severe – too unreasonable - at least when they were directed against people like themselves. Jeremiah thought this way, but God would not allow his delusions to remain:

·             "Go up and down the streets of Jerusalem, look around and consider, search through her squares. If you can find but one person who deals honestly and seeks the truth, I will forgive this city” (Jeremiah 5:1-2).

Jeremiah was convinced that God’s assessment of Israel was way off:

·             I thought, "These are only the poor; they are foolish, for they do not know the way of the Lord, the requirements of their God. So I will go to the leaders and speak to them; surely they know the way of the Lord, the requirements of their God" (Jeremiah 5:4-5).

However, God soon disabused Jeremiah of his delusions. He provided some powerful object lessons and enabled Jeremiah to see what his own family had been plotting against him. As a result of this education, Jeremiah swung to the opposite extreme and prayed God’s judgment against them.

God has also provided for my education. I worked in a city bureaucracy for fifteen years. This was adequate to cure any residual idealism I might have had about humankind. However, He also revealed to me my own duplicity and denials through the process.

I thank Him for this precious education and can now pray with confidence, “Lord, your judgments and plans are entirely just…Come quickly Lord Jesus!” And I mean it!

As the Lord’s education has continued, the Bible appears more God-breathed than ever!