On judging your leaders. (As we should!)

1 Corinthians 4.1-5.

Paul and Sosthenes end chapter 3 of 1 Corinthians thisaway:

1 Corinthians 3.22-23 KWL

22Whether it’s Paul, Apollos, Kifa,

the world, life, death, the present, the future—

everything belongs to all of you.

23And you belong to Christ,

and Christ belongs to God.

I bring this up ’cause the next passage starts with οὕτως/útos, “therefore,” and a previous pastor of mine was extremely fond of saying, “Whenever you see a ‘therefore’ in the bible, read the verses before it so you’ll know what it’s there for.” The apostles wrote about how there shouldn’t be factions in Christ’s body period, much less fighting over one apostle or another, since all the apostles work for Christ anyway.

Likewise there’s nothing wrong with listening to multiple apostles! You can listen to Paul and Apollos; you don’t have to choose one or the other. You can listen to Kifa (which is Simon Peter’s Aramaic nickname Jn 1.42) too. And the other guys who wrote the New Testament. And the great saints who followed Jesus after them, if they have anything which still encourages us to follow Jesus. And your pastor. And your favorite Christian authors, Christian preachers, Christian podcasters, Christian bloggers. We all work for Jesus.

Well… assuming we do work for Jesus. For that, you gotta use your noggin and first make make sure we do. Make sure we’re producing good fruit. Double-check everything we say against God’s character and the bible. And if we’re making honest mistakes, be gracious… and if we’re not being so honest, or hard-headedly demand you’re the problem, and how dare you critique the Lord’s anointed: Yeah, you need to keep far, far away from such people. Not every self-proclaimed Christian is all that Christian.

Wait, is it okay for us to judge Christian leaders? Well of course it is. I bring it up ’cause it’s right there in today’s passage.

1 Corinthians 4.1-5 KWL

1For this reason, people* should consider us

like Christ’s subordinates,

and managers of God’s revealed mysteries.

2Here in addition, it’s a requirement for managers

that one should find they have faith.

3To me, this is the smallest thing,

that I should be judged by all of you,

or by a day in a human court.

But I don’t judge myself either,

4for I didn’t know anything on my own.

But I was justified out of this:

The Master is the one judging me.

5Therefore judge nothing before the right time—

which is whenever the Master might come.

He will give light to what’s hidden in the dark,

and will reveal the plans of people’s hearts,

and then a commendation will come to each person from God.

The apostles didn’t care if you judged them.

As the KJV puts it, “But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man’s judgment.” 1Co 4.3 KJV Wasn’t an issue for him. Paul didn’t claim infallibility for himself; he was humble. So he wasn’t offended if you second-guessed him. In fact go ahead and double-check him against Jesus, against the scriptures, against other apostles. If he stands, great; if he fails, move along.

Of course, considering that this letter is now part of the New Testament, general Christian consensus is he stands, and if you disagree with him, you fail. But that consensus took a few centuries to solidify. No, it wasn’t decided by the Council of Nicea, like conspiracy theorists claim; it was decided during the Protestant Reformation, when Martin Luther decided to rearrange the New Testament book order because he wasn’t so sure about Hebrews, James, Jude, and Revelation; and the Catholics countered by insisting they are canon. The church had 14 centuries to make up their minds about Paul, and it’s very safe to say they did.

But in the first century, you still had churches who weren’t sure about Paul. Who, if you read Galatians, still weren’t sure he counted as an apostle! Who liked Apollos better, or Peter, or other guys. Who figure Jesus supersedes them all—and he does, but that doesn’t mean we dismiss the apostles; they work for Jesus! But Paul, like any legitimate prophet, was fine with being tested. Go ahead and judge him! He doesn’t mind. Really, he figures the Master is judging him, 1Co 4.4 and if he can stand before Jesus, he’s entirely sure his teachings can stand up to anyone. Jesus is the only one he cares about.

And that’s an attitude every Christian leader should be able to adopt. Go ahead and judge us! Judge your Sunday school teachers and small group leaders. Judge your pastors, elders, deacons, bishops, board members, denomination presidents, and popes. Judge the authors of Christian books, articles, and blogs. Judge us all! Ignore the misinterpretations of “Judge not, that ye be not judged” Mt 7.1 —that verse is about double standards, and if you’re not practicing a double standard, go right ahead and judge your leaders. Are we following Jesus? Are we leading you aright instead of astray? Or are we insisting we’re infallible, and exposing a dangerous lack of humility which ought never be seen in Christian leadership?

We should also adopt Paul’s attitude of “The Master is the one judging me.” We answer to Jesus. If the people of our churches disapprove of our behavior or teaching, we shouldn’t ignore that; they might be right! But if we’re convinced in our minds, and convicted in our consciences, that we’re doing as the Holy Spirit leads, we’re doing as Jesus wants: That’s the most important thing. We follow Jesus, not the crowds. God’s kingdom is not a democracy.

Sometimes it’s best to leave the judging to Jesus.

The bible tells us everything we need to know about how to encounter Jesus and be saved. But it’s not comprehensive. It doesn’t tell us everything. Doesn’t really need to—we have the Holy Spirit, and he can fill in the blanks just fine!

Problem is, too many Christians don’t listen to the Spirit. They listen to each other. They listen to what’s popular. They bend the bible to suit their politics or personal desires, so they’ve got a warped idea of what Jesus wants. So they’re in no position whatsoever to judge Christian leaders, or any Christian teaching: They don’t know what they’re talking about. Too fleshly.

And some of these people take it upon themselves to judge everything. Not just issues we find in the bible: Everything. And find a “biblical principle” to judge it by.

I’m particularly reminded of when I first heard Bill Gothard’s teachings on rock ’n roll. He didn’t object—as he should have—to the motives and message of the music. Properly, it should be judged on that! There’s a great big difference between Phil Keaggy singing about Jesus, and Prince singing about nooky. But Gothard’s view is the backbeat itself is evil, and therefore all rock ’n roll is evil.

How’d he come to this conclusion? Well, missionaries said the natives to whom they were sharing the gospel, said so. So, y’know, the testimonies of pagans. But since when do we trust pagans to speak authoritatively on spiritual things? Really, Gothard reached this conclusion because he personally doesn’t like rock ’n roll, and parents in the 1960s (like my own grandparents) didn’t like it either, and Gothard was catering to them and himself. It has nothing to do with Jesus.

Gothard’s hardly the only one. I’ve heard dozens of preachers condemn all sorts of things, entirely for esthetic reasons. Not moral ones! I can get onboard with moral reasons, assuming they jibe with Jesus’s morals. But sometimes they’re not even trying. It’s just, “That’s wrong,” and they expect their followers to follow, and get piqued when they don’t.

And individual Christians are the same way with their preachers. “I don’t like his voice,” or “I don’t like her hair.” Okay, but what about the content? What about their fruit? Do they interpet bible properly? Are they trying to follow Jesus? Are you listening to rumors, or old stories about stuff they’ve since repented of? Are you presuming their motives, or do you know that’s what they’re about? Are you bearing false witness, but never checked to make sure you’re not?

Like the title of this section has it: Sometimes it’s best to just not judge. Even Jesus refused to judge things at the time. Lk 12.14 Wasn’t his role yet! Still isn’t his role yet: He judges at the End. And if we have only partial information, or are judging on personal preferences instead of legitimate data, let’s also let Jesus handle it. We don’t have to have a formal “biblical” opinion about everything!

And really, those who try to have a “biblical” view on every single thing are either foolishly trying to tackle the impossible… or they’re narcissists who think they know God so well, they’re qualified to speak out about things Jesus has chosen to stay silent on. That ain’t wise. Don’t do that.