Judging versus Judging

"Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. " Matt. 7:1-2

"Do not put out the Spirit's fire; do not treat prophecies with contempt. Test everything. Hold on to the good. Avoid every kind of evil. " 1 Thess. 5:19-22

"The spiritual man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man's judgment." 1 Cor. 2:15

"For it is time for judgment to begin with the family of God." 1 Pet. 4:17

I've been thinking a lot lately about how we must learn to walk in greater discernment these days without stepping into condemnation. Discernment and condemnation are really two types of judging; one is commanded, one is forbidden. Personally, I always tend to come back to "the measure with which you judge will be used on you." I know I want to be loved with tender mercy and a good dose of truth.

More specifically, I think this is what I want for myself and for the ministries where I serve:

1. Personally, I want those who love me (a good prerequisite for judging) to be very very tender, kind, loving, merciful, long-suffering and even careful with my heart. And I want them to be ruthlessly truthful with my ego and its selfish, self-seeking, self-centered, self-aggrandizing, self-debasing, self-sabotaging ways.

2. Corporately, I want those who love us to be equally tender, kind, loving, merciful and long-suffering with the people involved in our ministry and with the authentic revelation that we carry. But I want them to be ruthlessly truthful in sifting through the wood, hay and stubble of any part of our fellowship that represents a system built on sand, engages in spiritual abuse, or binds and blinds us from God's kingdom in any way.

With this in mind, these are the days to examine ourselves and the whole realm of Christendom, resisting the powerful urge to quench the Holy Spirit by condemning the fallen, by being cynical rather than open, or by rejecting the authentic ministries that always come via vessels of clay.

At the same time, we say an emphatic NO to any aspects of our Christian cultural systems that measure a movement's 'anointing' according to the drawing power of the masses, or to the charisma of its leaders, or to the glam of sensational ministries. We ought to resist every measure of spiritual success through typical capitalist criteria: e.g. size of crowds, increase in growth, structural power, dollar figures, etc.

There is a new openness to correction across the whole prophetic movement right now. We dare not squander it by scapegoating individual leaders who are struggling as if the system that built their pedestals were just fine.

This begs a broader and important question: what are the marks of a revival? What is revival? What are the fruits of a revival? Are revivals something Jesus taught us to pursue?

I've been really pondering Jesus' vision of the kingdom and his response to questions about that in Luke 17: "The kingdom will not come with signs you can observe. You will not be able to say 'here it is' or 'there it is'. The kingdom is within/among you." It is as if Christ foresaw revival theology as a poor alternative to his kingdom theology and was trying to warn us, right?

Jesus' mustard seed parables make the kingdom out to come as grassroots movements that emerge from below like seeds spread in fields of humble hearts. By contrast, even the healthiest looking revivals are more like centers where you go to get a bite of magic bread that someone brings back from heaven, hoping you can bypass character growth and the riggers of a discipleship journey in favor of a fix. We call this shortcut an 'impartation.'

Now large meetings where Christ is preached, the sick are healed and the oppressed are set free are not necessarily the problem. Jesus had such meetings. And often a pilgrimage does the heart good. But the issue is the mindset of the crowds who come seeking ... what? A miracle drug to fast-track discipleship or provide a periodic liver-shiver ... unto what? Or conversely, there are the promises of the marketeers. "Fly here and get the power; receive the experience and take it home." I.e. the kingdom is over there and is observable with signs (the very opposite of Jesus' own words).

This needs more thought.