Being A Good Friend – To Yourself
Judge Yourself (Timeout)
Study Text – 1 Corinthians 11:28 -31
28 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of
that bread, and drink of that cup. 29 For he that eateth and
drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning
the Lord’s body. 30 For this cause many are weak and sickly
among you, and many sleep. 31 For if we would judge
ourselves, we should not be judged.
Last week I heard a story from a proud grandmother about her grandson. His
name is Devon, and he is wise beyond his years — he’s two years old. The
reason I feel he is wise is because of his ability to judge himself. From what
the grandmother tells me, whenever he gets mad, Devon will put himself in
"timeout." She then said, "After he’s in timeout, he will fold
his arms and say, ‘Devon mad; Devon in timeout.’"
In our text, Paul is addressing the Church at Corinth regarding the way they
had been handling the Lord’s supper and the Agape or Love Feasts. They no
longer treated these as holy events; instead, they thought of them as Denny’s grand-slams.
As they hoarded all the food or left the service drunk, others actually left
hungry (21st). Speaking to this behavior, Paul wanted them to know that before
they ate each sacred meal they should examine (judge) themselves.
In other words he was telling them, "make sure that your motives are
right because if not, you will eat and drink damnation unto yourselves, for
many have already done so"(29th). Some of these people had become weak,
sick and dead because they chose to consume the Lord’s supper in an ungodly
manner (30th). In an effort to keep the rest from falling into the judgment of
the Lord (as those mentioned in the 30th verse), Paul tells them to judge
themselves (31st).
Now let’s get back to Devon. If the Corinthians would have judged themselves
(put themselves in timeout) and said, "Yeah… This isn’t Denny’s… This
is Holy and I need to revere it," they wouldn’t have fallen into judgement
and would not have received those punishments of sickness and death. One thing
I like about Devon is that he realizes, even at two years of age, that his
self-judgement will enable him to avoid serious punishment. However, here’s
something that is even more amazing: he determines when he comes out of his
punishment as well. Does he wind up with a "lighter" sentence? You’d
better believe he does, and this is what Paul is telling us — Take the Lighter
Sentence!!!
We want to be perfectly clear. When we say judge, that’s what we mean —
Judge, not condemn. Don’t beat yourself up for making a mistake; we all make
mistakes. Be quick to forgive yourselves. Paul didn’t tell the Corinthians what
they did was unforgivable; he told them to judge themselves so that this type
of behavior would not occur over and over. The same should apply to us. To get
the change you’ve been wanting, judge yourself. Start off by knowing that God
loves you and you are special. You were placed here to be His glory in the
earth, so get rid of those habits that don’t please Him. Also know this: God
can use one of two ways to get rid of your bad habits: 1. Your self-judgment
(or timeout) in which you use prayer through Christ to lose the bad habits OR
2. His judgment (or time-in) in which He takes you through the fire to burn the
impurities off of you. Timeout or Time-In? It’s up to you.