Rush to Judgment

I know that the last thing that you want to hear is another post, another blog, or another mention of the George Zimmerman trial.  After all, social media and news outlets still continue to put in their two cents of opinions.  I heard a statement from a news commentator that stuck with me: "There is a reason why Lady Justice is blindfolded".  As a minister, the heavy impact of those words made me step back and review who we are as Christians and church.  Although the trial, within itself, has nothing to do with Christianity and the church, there are some key elements surrounding the trial that I believe we can and should learn from it.  Long before the case made its way to the courtroom, people have been quick to rush to judgment.  Without the facts being fully presented, many have already made the guilty/not guilty verdict.  Many have been quick to judge the heart of a man that they do not know. 

But the LORD said to Samuel, "Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart. (I Samuel 16:7)

It is amazing to see how social media immediately makes us lawyers, Bible Scholars, or even political experts.  One thing that we can never do is to judge the heart of a man, whether he is 17 or 29.  As I watched the events unfold, I quickly realize that though we are quick to criticize those for rushing to judgment, we as Christians are quick to do the same.  Sometimes, we only invite certain types of people to church or talk to certain people about God.  Sometimes, we would only warmly welcome certain visitors while coldly acknowledging the presence of another.  Maybe it’s the clothes.  Maybe it’s the social status.  Maybe it’s the color of their skin.  Maybe they act different than us.  We have been quick to judgment.  I remember working as a car salesman in eastern NC, from my desk I watched an older African American gentleman step out of a cab carrying a book bag over his shoulder.  Some of the salesman closest to the door refused to move towards him as he approached the door.  A few of these salesmen were even of the same race.  One quickly picked up a phone call and pretended to be with another customer on a sales call.  I slowly rose to my feet and made my way to the door.  His ragged clothes reeked of cigar smoke and his unkempt hair looked as though it had not been washed in a while.  To make a long story short, he bought a new car from us with a certified check from the bank.  How quick we judged.  We do the same in church. 

For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.  There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. (Galatians 3:27,28)

Tonight at Vacation Bible School, I noticed a group of teenagers who wouldn’t sit with another teenager because he seemed “different”.  I sat with him during craft time.  I made sure he didn’t feel left out.  He needed a friend.  He needed someone to show that they cared.  How quick we judged.   You know that person you ignored?  You could have been the one person to make that difference.  How quick we judged.  Just remember, some people felt the same way about you.  You were a drug addict.  You were a criminal.  You came from a broken home.  You were divorced.  You were a school drop-out.  You were a democrat.  You were a Republican.  You came from another country.  You came from another state.  Your clothes are out of place for church.  How quick we judged.  God does not look at color.  God does not look at social status.  God does not look at financial status.  God does not look at clothes.  God looks at the heart.  He has to change the heart.  He needs to change the heart.  The very thing that you cannot see, that is what God is looking to change.  Yet, we often find that our heart needs more work because we are quick to judge.  Many people come through our churches, never to set foot into them again, because we are quick to judge.  My dad was my hero.  In the mid 1980’s, a group of African American kids came to our church to participate in our church basketball program.  There were a few within the church who were not happy with that.  Cries to shut down the basketball program resounded through the congregational body.  My father stood with those kids, he knew that they needed us and we needed them.  They were a little older than me and I watched my father show compassion to them just like he did with every teenager in the youth program.  Our family took them home or picked them up if they needed a ride, I watched them ask Jesus into their heart.  One of them is now a minister.  How quick we judged.  Maybe we need to take a lesson from Lady Justice and be blindfolded.

The Stranger in the Waiting Room

As a pastor, I get so involved with meeting the needs of the people in my church.  One Monday afternoon, that became apparent.  I had to travel almost 100 miles to St. Louis to be with a church member as he was having surgery.  As we gathered in the waiting room, we got to know each other better and then our conversations of acquaintance became a time of sharing stories.  There were 5 of us in that waiting room on that hot and muggy afternoon.  The large waiting room seemed empty during that late afternoon except for the five of us and an older African-American gentleman.  He sat just a short distance from us with his arms folded and his heads bowed.  Nodding along with our conversations and lifting his eyes to laugh along with us.  I got up to stretch and peered out of the large sheets of pane glass windows that lined the western side of the room.  I continued to listen to the conversations of those that I had met for the first time.  There was only one that I knew and that was the church member's wife.  I turned to look at the gentleman who had yet to budge from his seat and was in the same arms crossed position that he had now been in for 30 minutes.  As I returned to sit, I moved to a chair closer to him.  I introduced myself to him.

The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. (I John 4:8)

The Christian life is about showing the very character of God.  Most people will never pick up the Bible and learn who God is unless first seeing it in the life of God's redeemed.  In Matthew 22, a Jewish lawyer posed Jesus a question.  He asked, "What is the greatest commandment?"  Jesus responded to the question with this answer:

" 'YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.'  This is the great and foremost commandment.  The second is like it, 'YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.' On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets." (Matthew 22:37-40)

Everything we do comes down to one word.  Love.  If you look at the words of Jesus you will find that it is love for God and love for others, but never love for self.  This is our motivation.  The Apostle John quoted Jesus saying "Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends" (John 15:13).  Love is not something you say, love is something you show.  Love need not be explained, it is simply evidenced.

After 30 minutes, he became an integral part of our conversations.  We listened to his stories as he listened to ours.  I am sure he welcomed the company.  He no longer felt alone as he had been waiting on his wife for almost three hours.  A stranger became a friend.  Finally the church member that I had come to visit had finished his surgery and the doctor came in to tell us that all was well.  With grateful news, we circled in to pray.  Out of the corner of my eye I saw him.  His arm had returned to a crossed position and his head and head bowed slightly.  I walked over to him and asked him, "Would you like for me to pray with you and for your wife?"  He looked into my eyes as a tear streamed down his face.  With a quiver in his voice he asked "Would you?"  I reached for his hands and we joined a circle.  I prayed a prayer of thanks for the success of our church member's surgery,  I squeezed Joe's hand and prayed for his wife Belle.  I asked God's comforting presence to be felt in this hour of need.  As I closed the prayer, I shook Joe's hand and said, "It was great to meet you.  He responded "May the Lord bless you".  With a chuckle and a smile, I responded back "He did bless me when he crossed our paths".

The one who says, "I have come to know Him," and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him; but whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him: (I John 2:4,5)

What commandments must we keep?  The two great commandments.  Love God with all your heart, all your soul and all your mind and then also to love your neighbor as yourself.  Everything we do should be borne out of that love.  Even our love for our neighbor is borne out of our love for God.  Christianity is not about saying that one is a Christian, it is showing that one is a Christian.  Opportunities to show will always present themselves, it is what we do with them that defines where our priorities in life really lie.  There are many around us who are desperate to know the love of Christ and for them it is up to us to show them what the love of Christ is like.

I may never see Joe again, but I hope that by the end of the night, he learned what the love of Christ is like.  Are others around you knowing what the love of Christ is like?  Are they seeing it?