Introduction:
In Exodus 18, there’s an interesting incident where Moses was visited by his father-in-law, Jethro. During his visit, Jethro noticed that Moses was spending all day trying to settle the questions and disputes of the people of Israel. So he said to Moses, "I’ve got a better idea." Now, this wasn’t the first (or the last) time that an in-law has said, "You’re not doing that right. Let me tell you how you ought to do it." The difference is that, this time, the father-in-law really did have a good idea.
Jethro said, "Why don’t you appoint qualified men to handle the less difficult situations, and have them come to you only when the problem is one they can’t deal with?" So Moses did that. "And Moses chose able men out of Israel, and made them heads over the people: rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens. So they judged the people at all times; the hard cases they brought to Moses, but they judged every small case themselves." (Exodus 18:25-26). And that worked well.
In our judicial system in this country, we have essentially done the same thing. We have various levels of courts. In case you hadn’t noticed, we have had a most unusual presidential election this year. Here it is almost two weeks past the election, and we’re still not absolutely certain who our next president is going to be. The vote has been certified in Florida, but we still have some issues to be settled by our courts. Case after case has been presented to the court system on behalf of both sides in this election, some to the Florida lower courts, some to the Florida state supreme court, some to federal courts, and eventually the U.S. Supreme Court will probably have the opportunity to say something about this.
In determining what is legally right and wrong, all of our courts are important, but some of them have more authority than others. For example, small claims court is important, and it’s important that we take it seriously, but in comparison to the Supreme Court, it’s obvious which one carries with it the greater authority.
We find that the same thing holds true in the spiritual realm. Every day of our lives, as Christians, we have a lot of decisions to make. Many of those decisions involve matters of right and wrong. We ask ourselves, "Am I doing what’s right? Am I making the best choice?" And there are different standards by which we can judge our actions, different "courts", if you will.
And just as we have different levels of courts in our judicial system, so there are different levels within the spiritual judicial system. All of these "courts" are important, but some of them are more important than others. This morning I want us to think about three of those courts, two of them lower courts and one of them what we might call the "Supreme Court" of spiritual matters.
I. The Court of Self-Evaluation
It’s important for a Christian to evaluate his own life on a regular basis to see whether he’s doing what’s right or not. Let’s look at a couple of scriptures that teach that truth.
In Galatians 6:3-4, Paul writes, "For if anyone thinks himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself. But let each one examine his own work, and then he will have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another." Paul says here that we have the responsibility to examine our own work, to evaluate our own deeds and actions. The emphasis here is on looking at what you are doing individually.
Everyone enjoys being a member of an active, serving, working, growing congregation. But a lot of times, we find that Christians enjoy being around the activity without actually being a part of it. And then they talk to others about what "we’re" doing "down there at church". Their whole sense of fulfillment and achievement is derived from the work of other Christians. But Paul says that it’s important for each of us to examine and evaluate our own personal involvement and service.
What are you doing personally for the Lord? How much are you studying God’s Word? How much time do you spend in prayer? How are you helping those who are in need? Who are you sharing the gospel with?
II Corinthians 13:15 also emphasizes the responsibility of self-evaluation. Part of the congregation at Corinth had attacked Paul and his work by denying his apostleship, discrediting his work, and attacking him as a person. Paul responded by saying, "Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Prove yourselves."
As we try to understand and proclaim God’s truth, there is an enormous temptation to focus all of our attention on the sins and shortcomings of other people. It’s easy for a Christian to become the expert who knows everyone else’s sins and shortcomings but who never examines his own. But, we must evaluate ourselves. I’m not talking here about something you do once in a lifetime or even a once a year, as we’re prone to do around the first of every January. It’s a continual responsibility. "Examine yourselves."
One thing that plays a part in this process of self-evaluation is our conscience. One little boy defined conscience as "something that makes you tell your mother before your sister does." Put in its simplest terms, our conscience is a judge. It monitors our thoughts, our motives, our actions and our general manner of life. And then it reaches a verdict. It either congratulates us for doing what we believe to be right, or it condemns us for doing what we believe to be wrong.
Paul wrote to Timothy that deacons are to be men who are "holding the mystery of the faith with a pure conscience." (I Timothy 3:9). God has instilled within each of us this sense of right and wrong and we need to pay careful attention to it.
We sometimes overlook the fact that the Bible teaches that we are to follow the judgments of our conscience. In Romans 14:23, Paul said, "But he who doubts is condemned if he eats, because he does not eat from faith; for whatever is not from faith is sin." What’s he saying there? He’s saying if you believe that something is wrong and you believe that you shouldn’t do it, then don’t do it. Listen to your conscience.
It’s important that we live our lives by doing the things that we think are right. Paul himself is a good example of this. As he stood before the Jewish Sanhedrin, he said, "I have lived in all good conscience before God until this day." (Acts 23:1). And a little later he said to the governor Felix, "I myself always strive to have a conscience without offense toward God and men." (Acts 24:16).
So Paul always did what he believed was the right thing to do. And yet, he knew that listening to his conscience wasn’t enough. In I Corinthians 4:2, Paul said, "I know nothing against myself, yet I am not justified by this." Or, as the NIV translates it, "My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent."
Paul realized that he had done things in his life that were wrong which were permitted by a mistaught conscience. He remembered those days when he had persecuted the church, putting godly men and women to their death. He had done it in "all good conscience", so while conscience is a good guideline, it’s obvious that it’s not an infallible guideline.
One of the problems with our conscience is that if we continually refuse to listen to it, it can become seared or calloused. Paul prophesied that some in the last times would come "speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron." (I Timothy 4:2).
You know how it is in the beginning of summer, the first time you take off your shoes and walk across the gravel; it hurts a great deal. But the more you do it, the harder your feet become and by end of the summer, you hardly notice sharp rocks at all.
Our conscience is like that. The first time we sin, it hurts. The first time we miss worship services. The first time we swear. The first time we’re involved in sexual immorality. But as we sin more and more, our conscience bothers us less and less. The Indians used to describe the conscience as a 3-cornered disk that spins when you do something wrong, but eventually the corners wear off and the conscience no longer hurts. I think that’s a good picture of it.
Another problem with the conscience is that its function is like that of a watch -- its accuracy depends upon being synchronized with something that is perfectly correct. If I set my watch in the morning with a radio station, that’s fine as long as the radio station is announcing the right time. Otherwise, we’re both going to be wrong. It doesn’t matter whether my watch is a $10 K-Mart special or a $2,000 Rolex.
Conscience can be like that. If it isn’t synchronized with truth it will give out false information. Remember the prophet who went to Bethel to rebuke Jereboam (I Kings 13). God told him not to stop or eat with anyone. But the prophet did because he believed the lies of another prophet. He did what he thought was right. If he had evaluated himself, he would have said, "Everything’s fine." The problem is that his conscience was improperly guided.
The court of self-evaluation, the court of conscience, is an important court. It’s a court that we all need to pay attention to. If your conscience is bothering you because you’re doing something that you recognize to be wrong, then you need to make some changes. But there is a higher court.
II. The Court of Public Opinion
The court of public opinion is always in session. Everywhere you go, to work or to play, even to worship services, people around you are making judgments about you. They are forming their opinions about you, whether you’re doing things right or wrong, whether you’re great in their eyes or a nobody. Sometimes they tell us what they think about us. Sometimes they keep it to themselves, or whisper it to a friend. But you can rest assured that others are making judgments about your life.
And we’re afraid of the judgment of this court. Before we do something or go somewhere, we want to know, "What are people going to think about me?" And more than once in your life I’m sure you’ve done things you really didn’t want to do just to gain the respect of your peers. That’s especially a problem among teenagers and young people.
On an arch at the University of Glasgow, these words were once inscribed: "What do they say? Who are they? Who cares?" The statement was intended to emphasize the fact that a scholar should follow the proper course of action despite the opinions of others. But it’s doubtful if that kind of detachment is either possible or desirable.
In fact, we read that the Christians in Corinth were told to have due regard for others’ opinions. What people thought about them was important. The church in Corinth had some problems -- disorderly conduct in their worship services for one thing. So Paul said, "Therefore if the whole church comes together in one place and all speak with tongues, and there come in those who are uninformed or unbelievers, will they not say that you are out of your mind?" (I Corinthians 14:23). Paul was concerned about what people might think and say -- and he said that to a certain extent we need to determine what we do by paying attention to what others might say.
In his I Corinthian letter, Paul also deals extensively with the subject of meat that had been offered to idols. The Christians wanted to know, "Is it all right to eat this meat?" And the answer to that question was, "Yes. Meat is meat." Therefore concerning the eating of things offered to idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is no other God but one." (I Corinthians 8:4).
Later, Paul said, "Eat whatever is sold in the meat market, asking no questions for conscience’ sake." (I Corinthians 10:25). That seems to settle the matter, but Paul goes on to make an exception.
"However there is not in everyone that knowledge; for some, with consciousness of the idol, until now eat it as a thing offered to an idol; and their conscience, being weak, is defiled....But beware lest somehow this liberty of yours become a stumbling block to those who are weak." (I Corinthians 8:7,9).
In chapter 10, Paul will say, "It’s OK to eat the meat, but if you’re eating with someone who believes that it’s wrong, then don’t eat it out of consideration for him." In other words, "You need to consider how it’s going to affect other people before you make your decision as to whether something is right or wrong for you to do."
I realize that there’s a part of us that doesn’t like to hear that. We want to say, "Paul, if there’s nothing wrong with doing something, then I’m going to go ahead and do it. If I want to eat meat, then I’m going to eat meat. And if somebody else has a problem with it, then that’s their problem and not mine."
But Paul was concerned about other people and what they thought, enough so that he said, "Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, I will never again eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble." (I Corinthians 8:13).
It’s important that we consider how our actions will affect other people. The court of public opinion is important, but it’s still a lower court -- it doesn’t have final jurisdiction. That’s why Paul said in I Corinthians 4:3, "But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by a human court."
The court of public opinion should not be the final guideline for our lives. In fact, even if we wanted to please everyone, we couldn’t do it. The story is told of a man and his grandson traveling down the road, walking and leading a donkey. They met a man who said, "How foolish for you to be walking. One of you should be riding the donkey." So the man put his grandson on the animal.
The next traveler they met frowned and said, "How dreadful for a strong boy to be riding while an old man walks." So the boy climbed off the donkey and his grandfather climbed on.
The next person they met said, "I just can’t believe a grown man would ride and make a little boy walk." So the man pulled the boy up and they rode the donkey together. That is, until they met another man who said, "I never saw anything so cruel in all my life -- two human beings riding on one poor defenseless donkey!"
Down the road a ways, they met a couple of men. After they passed, one of the men turned to the other and said, "Did you ever before see two fools carrying a donkey?"
The point is: We can’t please everyone we meet. It’s impossible. Paul made the statement, "For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a servant of Christ." (Galatians 1:10).
Living our lives so as to receive the praise of people around us will get us into trouble. I think of the parents of the blind man who was healed by Jesus in John 9. They wouldn’t acknowledge Jesus for fear of what their fellow Jews might say. I think of the chief rulers who did the same thing -- they "believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they did not confess Him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God." (John 12:42-43). When we become so attached to public opinion that we’re willing to deny God to keep its favor, then we’ve put too much emphasis on it.
There’s an old Latin motto that says, "Vox populi, vox Dei" -- the voice of the people is the voice of God. That’s basically the motto of politicians and businessmen -- give the people what they want. And that’s basically the motto of teen-agers -- "Everybody’s doing it!" But it’s not an adequate motto for the Christian. There may be many times when the voice of the people is not the voice of God -- it may even be the voice of Satan.
I will say again that the court of public opinion is important. We need to give consideration to how our actions will affect other people. But to live our lives by the guideline, "Will this be popular?" is unthinkable for a Christian! There is a court that is higher than that of public opinion.
III. The Court of God’s Word
"But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by a human court. In fact, I do not even judge myself. For I know nothing against myself, yet I am not justified by this. But he who judges me is the Lord." (I Corinthians 4:3-4).
Here’s the Supreme Court -- a court that’s higher than public opinion and higher than conscience. It will be a great and solemn moment when Jesus takes his place on the judgment seat and states the verdict for all who have lived on this earth. For those who are God’s people, it will be a time of joy. But, it will be a time for terror for many.
At that time the Supreme Court will be in session -- presided over by Jesus Christ himself. Peter said, "It is he who was ordained by God to be judge of the living and the dead." (Acts 10:42). And Paul said, God "has appointed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by the man whom he has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all men by raising him from the dead." (Acts 17:31).
Every one on this earth will be there. "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad." (II Corinthians 5:10). This is the inescapable court.
We can ignore, if we wish, the court of public opinion. And we can stifle the judgment of conscience. But every one of us will be present when Jesus announces that it’s time for final judgment. As one preacher used to say, "No matter how busy we are, one of these days Jesus is going to come with his big ring of keys and say, ’Gentlemen, it’s closing time.’ And then we’ll all face judgment."
For some, the verdict will be, "Guilty of sin, rebellion against the Father." and the sentence will be eternal separation from God. For others, the verdict will be, "Not guilty, as the blood of Christ has washed away all your sins and you stand before the judgment seat pure." And the reward will be an entrance into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord.
But what will be the basis of that judgment? After all, a fundamental concept of justice requires that the standard of judgment be known in advance. Stated simply, we are going to be judged according to the gospel: "In the day when God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, according to my gospel." (Romans 2:16). In view of this, our response to that gospel becomes extremely important, doesn’t it?
Jesus said, "He who rejects me, and does not receive my words, has that which judges him -- the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day." (John 12:48). The New Testament is the only book which can lay claim to the words of Jesus. By that book we shall be judged. So it’s very important to consult the New Testament on every question. It’s more important than public opinion, more important than conscience, because God’s Word will be our final judge.
Each court gives its judgment. But the court of God’s Word has final authority. That’s why Paul said, "But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by a human court. In fact, I do not even judge myself. For I know nothing against myself, yet I am not justified by this; but he who judges me is the Lord."
Conclusion:
May God help us to be sensitive -- but not over-sensitive -- to the court of public opinion. May He help us live true to our conscience -- but not to blindly rely upon it. And above all, may He help guide each of us into a life of total reliance upon His holy Word -- and of faithful obedience to that Word.
The story is told of a young boy who was playing around a lake one day when he fell into water over his head. He couldn’t swim and was struggling for his life. Fortunately, there was a man nearby who heard his cries for help and came to rescue him. As the years passed by, that young boy grew up to become a hoodlum and got into all kinds of trouble with the law. When he got to the courtroom and approached the judge’s seat, he recognized the man sitting there. He said, "Your honor, don’t you remember me? Years ago, you saved me from drowning in the lake." The judge looked down at him and said, "Then I was your savior, but today I am your judge."
Jesus came to this earth to be our Savior. When he comes again, he will come as our Judge. If the Lord were to call you into his courtroom today for that final verdict, what would the verdict be? When all courts are done and over, the verdict from that court will be all that matters eternally.
