EPISODE FIFTEEN: JUDGMENT CALL

…you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, to proclaim the virtues of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.

I was introduced to a horrific book this past week. Sarah Stankorb is a journalist and author who at one point in her life professed to be a believer. Her own life experiences drove her away from faith and the church, though at the end of her book Disobedient Women she seems to long for a renewal of that faith, envying other women whose life experiences strengthened their faith rather than destroying it. Disobedient Women chronicles the treatment women have suffered at the hands of the church and its leaders, or of their husbands or fathers, who, under the pretext of spiritual authority over them, abused them. These women had been taught that they must obey and that they must submit to the demands of the men “over” them. So they did.

Believe me, it is horrific! Stankorb has recently released a second book, Damned If She Does: Why Women Quit Church and What It Means for the Future of Religion. To be truthful, I can’t read it. If the first one was so depressing, I don’t even want to tackle the second one.

Many of those whose stories are told in the first book (and likely in the second) not only distanced themselves from the church but, sadly, from biblical truth as well—a little like the “throwing the baby out with the bathwater” syndrome. Still, their stories reveal how damaging poor hermeneutics, power politics, unChristlike behaviour, and corruption in the church can be. I don’t want to believe that things are as bad as they seem, and part of me doesn’t want to know. But the prophet wasn’t kidding when he wrote, “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9)

All this leads me back to 1 Peter. I am currently working my way through the book of Jeremiah in my personal meditations, and I am sure that has influenced the pause I have taken at 1 Peter 4:17.

For it is time for judgment to begin with the family of God; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who disobey the gospel of God.

Of course, the context here gives us the sense behind what Peter writes in this one verse. This section in my Bible is titled Suffering as Christians. We know who Peter is writing to. If these believers stand up for truth and righteousness, for the way of the cross, for Jesus, and for the gospel, they will suffer. Peter tells them to rejoice when that happens (and not be surprised when it does), because they are sharing “in the sufferings of Christ” (vs 13). A little later, in verse 16, he writes that they shouldn’t be ashamed of suffering when they are insulted and persecuted because of their faith, but should glorify God because they are bearing the name of Jesus.

But there is another message here that delivers a warning. It is one thing for a believer to suffer because they are living out Christ in their lives; it is another for believers to suffer because they are NOT! The word of encouragement in verse 16 interrupts the warning that connects verses 15 and 17.

Indeed, none of you should suffer as a murderer or thief or wrongdoer, or even as a meddler…For it is time for judgment to begin with the family of God…

Let me go back to Jeremiah. Judah was told by God that she was to submit to the judgment that was going to come upon her by way of the Babylonians. They were not to resist, try to escape, or seek help from their pagan neighbours. God was going to judge them, and THEN He would judge those whom He had chosen to use to punish Judah (i.e., Jeremiah 27:5-8). This seems similar to what Peter writes. God’s people should not expect to escape judgment for wrongdoing, but how much greater will the judgment be on those who are not His people.

But Peter’s main point here is that these people to whom he is writing make sure they don’t equate suffering for the Lord with suffering brought on by their own sins. Judgment does fall on the house of the Lord, on His people.

Paul writes to the Corinthian church about this subject. We know that the Corinthians had all kinds of issues that were displeasing to God, and Paul warns them to judge themselves before God has to do it for them!

Now if we judged ourselves properly, we would not come under judgment. But when we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned with the world (1 Corinthians 11:31).

This highlights the interesting distinction between the judgment of believers and the judgment of the world. The former is for discipline, and the latter is for punishment.

When I look back on the book I just finished reading, I am reminded that if the people who committed these horrific wrongs against women and girls had 1. allowed God to examine their hearts before they even began their abusive behaviour, 2. been stopped by those who were aware of the abuse and covered it up, and 3. been brought to justice, many of their victims might still be following Jesus, might not have gone to extremes in distancing themselves from the truth, and perhaps the world would not have quite so much reason to look at the church and its leaders and scoff at them and at the Jesus they profess to follow.

But even more sobering is the thought that God Himself is offended by abuses perpetrated by His image-bearers on others who are also His image-bearers. And, even scarier, what will He do in response?

I have to pray for the church and its leaders. I have to hope that it is not too late to pray, as it was in Jeremiah’s case—judgment was certain for Judah (i.e. Jeremiah 7:15, 16). My second takeaway after all this has to Peter’s takeaway. He writes: Keep doing good, and trust yourself to your “faithful Creator” (vs 19).