Kingdom Truth - What is the Kingdom of Heaven in the Bible?
Chapter 6, Part 2
Viewing the Basic Nature of Sin from
New Testament Theology
Those familiar with New Testament theology know that what God hates the most beside Satan is our "own self'-the "old man"! For this reason. He has asked us through Christ to crucify our "self' with Christ on the cross. Then we would no longer be slaves of sin. Once the activator of our sinning (our "self') is dead and we can apply the reality of being crucified with Christ, our flesh which falls prey to sinning so easily will have nothing to do. In other words, our flesh would be out of a job (Rom. 6:6). This is exactly what the Scriptures say: "If therefore the Son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed." Praise the Lord! Since this section began with analysis, let us also analyze some sins and truths in the New Testament, including judging one another, idol worship, love and self-control. Let us examine how they are related with the "self".
A. "Do not Judge Others" (Matt. 7:1)
The constitution of the Kingdom is recorded in Matthew chapters 5,6 and 7. It begins with the character of the children of the Kingdom the Beatitudes (5:1-12). Then the function (5:13-16), warnings (5:14-18a) and promises (5:18b-20) of the various character traits are mentioned. This is then followed by the orders of the King in three groups.
Group 1:
- Towards oneself-- How to tackle sin (5:21-37)
- Towards others-- Passive side (5:38-42)
Active side (5:43-48)
Passive side (6:1-4)
- Towards the
Heavenly Father-- Asking His Kingdom to Come (6:5-15)
Group 2:
- Towards oneself-- How to deal with fasting, (6:16-34)
money and worries
- Towards others-- Do not be deceived (7:1-6)
- Towards the
Heavenly Father-- Need to ask (7:7-12)
Group 3:
- Towards oneself-- Need to enter the narrow gate (7:13-14)
- Towards others-- Beware (7:15-20)
- Towards the
Heavenly Father-- Need to do the Father's will (7:21-23)
- Finally, it brings up the importance of realizing the constitution (7:24-27)
In Group 2 on dealing with others, the gracious Lord commanded us: "Do not judge!" Why was the gracious Lord so serious about judging others? It turned out that this is the "expertise" of the self! It is also the booster shot most appreciated by the old man! As long as a person maintains such a judging attitude and is unwilling to repent, it can be guaranteed that this person will be deluded by the self and have a hardened heart! It is also a smoke screen for hypocrisy. By ridiculing another's thorn, one's own beam is forgiven. Consequently, the self matures and grows, and the person lives in sin daily without even realizing it!
This does not mean, however, that we should not distinguish between good and evil, between right and wrong. On the contrary, God told us: "Do not be foolish but understand what the will of the Lord is." Unfortunately.some think that this is a command for us to appease and that we should not rebuke evil! Therefore, the church in the last days has become a haven for all sorts and shapes of despicable shamelessness. One finds people in churches ganging up together for personal gain and using deception for personal fame. They exploit the public to fatten the personal, and are jealous of the gifted and able. They cohort as thieves to hinder any good work. Being hardened and unwilling to repent, they depart from the Scriptures and the Way! Their dirt and filth becomes a constant part of the evening news! All this can be attributed to a lack of souls who dare to be prophets in the twentieth century to raise the clarion call to admonish good and to punish evil. There is a lack of daring souls to correct mistakes! Everybody regards status quo as wisdom. Under the guise of the slogan "loving one another", the ''self" is allowed to be lazy and irresponsible! They comfort themselves with the statement "Am I my brother's keeper?" They substitute appeasement for loving one another! They do not know that the difference between loving one another and appeasement is like night and day! As Christians, we must love one another but we cannot appease! Concerning things that should be rebuked, one cannot avoid one's responsibility and not rebuke. We should "bear all things'' but we cannot bear without cause. Furthermore, we cannot bear by going along and join in the sin. If not, the "self" will be like a fish in water and become more outrageous every day!
The word "judge" as a verb appears in the New Testament 114 times. Approximately one third of them are translated as "judge". Two such examples are "Do you not judge those who are within the church" and "Do you not know that we shall judge angels " (l Cor. 5:12, 6:3) Believers should and must train their judgment. They are to love righteousness and hate evil, just as Paul prayed for the Philippians "...so that you may approve the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ" (Phil. 1:10). If not, how are they able to judge angels in the future? However, the judgment prohibited by this Constitution of the Kingdom must be discarded because it is the outburst of low self-esteem and the short cut for the self to mature. Realizing that one is inferior to others but unwilling to admit it, the best way to look good and boost one's standing is to criticize (judge) others. No wonder the Lord regards this as evil! For those who desire to be members of the Kingdom personnel, pay extra care to prevent the outburst of self and the deceitfulness of one's low self-esteem!
Chapter 6, Part 2
Shepherd His Sheep
