JUDGE NOT...?

As noted by all major news services, another Protestant denomination (in this case the Presbyterian Church. U.S.A., otherwise known as PCUSA) has now officially endorsed the ordination of non-celibate gay and lesbian clergy (the other three being the United Church of Christ; Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, and the Episcopal Church). While there are other liberally oriented bodies in which homosexual and lesbian clergy function freely and openly, official sanction now exists in these four mainline organizations.

That this, as well as other liberal pursuits, serves to underscore the growing division between a biblically oriented Christianity and that sphere of religious identity increasingly committed to the conceptual drift of politically liberal interests requires little comment. Given the realities of past experience, it is almost certain that those within the denomination having opposed the present development are well acquainted with the charge of having ignored Christ's admonition to "judge not lest you be judged" (Matt. 7:1; Luke 7:37).

To those who, in the interests of moral revision, choose to remove biblical pronouncement from both context and contextual intent - we have little to say. To those confused by the liberal establishment's obfuscation of our Lord's exhortation at this point, the following will prove useful.

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The essential thrust of Christ's words here is that the quality of spirit one manifests in relation to others will be that which they, in return, manifest toward him. It is in no way a proscription of meaningful assessment in relation to biblical mandate or its observance. Indeed, our Lord elsewhere exhorts those adherent his cause to "be just in your judgments" (John 7:24 NEB).

Luke, interestingly, notes that at this point of discourse Jesus continued: "Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that you measure it whall be measured to you again" (Luke 7:37-38). Simply stated, it is a matter of reciprocal interchange; one's actions and attitudes inciting the same quality of response in others. "Therefore, all things whatsoever you would that men should do to you, do you even so to them" (Matt. 7:12).

Far from prohibiting the exercise of discerning assessment in relation to the observance of biblical mandate, Jesus also enjoins: "Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast your pearls before swine..." (Matt. 7:6) - an injunction impossible to observe apart from the insightful appraisal of another's actions and quality of character.

Are we then to be hateful toward those thus involved? No. As to their persons, Christ died for them the same as he died for us. At the same time, Scripture does not lack for warning as to the ultimate consequence of morally aberrant philosophies and pursuits (Rom. 1:18-21, for example).

Finally, it should be noted that, as in most instances wherein biblical directives are wilfully renounced, there are yet those unequivocally opposed. God is never without his seven thousand who refuse to bow to Baal (I Kings 19:18). At this juncture a growing number of churches are severing ties with the PCUSA and, in the interests of scriptural integrity, affiliating with the more conservative Evangelical Presbyterian Church.

We need to pray for those thus willing to uphold the cause of Christ and biblical mandate. They are our brothers and sisters in the Lord. Indeed, the day is coming in which all persons of valid Christian commitment - whatever their denominational identity - are going to need one another.

God grant that we not fail at that point.

Burl Ratzsch

WHAT REALLY COUNTS?

"He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?" (Micah 6:8).

Human nature characteristically inclines to a loss of objectivity. Cause and effect are frequently confused; matters of consequence become lost in pursuits of the peripheral; and the ephemeral often takes on qualities of the substantive and significant.

Jesus repeatedly addressed concerns of this nature by emphasizing that: (1) divine requirements exist for meaningful purposes as opposed to the imposition of rules for mere rule's sake (Mark 2:27); (2) that fundamental principles take precedence over tangential interests (Matt. 23:23); and (3) that differentiation between greater and lesser concerns is essential to faith's interests (Luke 13:15-16).

To many of Christ's day such distinctions had become largely obscured. Convinced that God was vitally interested in their hand and dish washing routines and tithing of mint leaves, their abandonment of "the weightier matters of justice, mercy and good faith" had led to a legalistic self-focused "spirituality" that Jesus compared to "straining out gnats while swallowing camels" (Matt. 23:23-24; Mark 7:4f).

Nor are we immune to predispositions of this nature. While presently not the issue of days past, the following will nonetheless suffice in demonstrating the point. We well recall the time wherein a primary concern of "holiness" emphasis centered on the wearing of jewelry. (Indeed, my own mother would not wear a wedding ring.) Prohibition purportedly existed in I Peter 3:3 despite the fact that such interpretation necessarily proscribed one's wearing of clothes as well - the "putting on of apparel." That the apostle's intent was clearly defined by the verse's context (i.e., beauty in its greater sense derives, not from pretentious show and extravagance, but rather quality of spirit) seemed to little bear upon the matter. (Then, of course, there were those who permitted the wearing of jewelry - of any kind and in any amount - so long as it was not worn on the ear. God only knows where that came from.)

What really counts in the life of faith? Throughout his ministry Jesus emphasized, above all, quality of spirit and relationship in terms of both God and man. Herein, indeed, lay the consistent thrust of his expositions upon the "weightier matters of justice, mercy and good faith."

In terms of source and outworking, the issue finds essential definition in the "fruit of the Spirit," i.e., outliving of the indwelling Christ by agency of the Holy Spirit (Gal. 5:22-25) - so serving the interests of an increasing "conformity to the image of [God's] Son" (Rom. 8:29).

Are there prohibitions in "walking humbly with one's God?" Of course. In contrast to the "fruit of the Spirit" ("love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control"), the "works of the flesh" include "immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outburts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envyings, drunkenness, carousings, and things like these" (Gal. 5:19-21).

Again, "neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, shall inherit the kingdom of God (I Cor. 6:9-10.)

Simply stated, biblical spirituality involves an inward reality from which then emanates godly demeanor, attitudes, behavior and quality of character - as opposed to an inner state created by external observance. In the reversal of this order, one soon becomes vulnerable to legalism, spiritual pride and self-initiated externalism as substitute for that "true holiness" to which the apostle makes reference in Ephesians 4:24. It was here that the Pharisees failed.

Once understood, the foregoing will clarify many things.

Burl Ratzsch