Being Governed by the Way God Sees His People and No Longer Judging or Condemning

It makes a tremendous difference to the way we live our Christian life and church life if we see the way God sees His people, that is, as sheaves full of life and as heavenly bodies full of light.

When he was young, Joseph saw these two dreams and they governed his entire life. He realized that, in God’s eyes, he is at best like his brothers – sheaves of wheat full of life and heavenly bodies full of light.

These dreams controlled his life and directed his behaviour. When temptation came, he conquered his lust, and when anger was rising up, he subdued his anger; the dreams he saw governed him and caused him to behave as a sheaf full of life and to conduct himself like a heavenly star shining in the darkness.

We may think that Joseph’s dreams were not as important or grandiose as Jacob’s dream at Bethel, but unless we see Joseph’s dreams, we cannot have Bethel. Our daily church life and Christian life need to be governed by the dreams of Joseph; we need to see the saints how God sees them – full of life and full of light.

If we have such a view, we will appreciate the Christ in the saints and we will seek to be built up with them and not judge them or criticize them.

The more mature in life we become, the less we will speak negatively concerning the saints or concerning the church, because we realize that we are NOT the ones to judge (Matt. 7:1-5). We ourselves are not the judge; God is the only One who can judge, and we cannot judge others.

We are not the saints’ master – we are merely fellow slaves with them; we’re fellow members of the Body of Christ, and we are imperfect and full of shortcomings just like them.

May the Lord bring us on to maturity so that we may be like Jacob toward the end of his life when he heard of Joseph being alive – he didn’t have any hard feelings, questions, or accusations toward his sons; rather, his heart was numb, but his spirit was revived.

As we grow in life unto maturity, we will reach the stage where we will no longer pass on criticism, ask questions, inquire about others’ situations or faults, etc but we simply are numb to these things and exercised to be living in our spirit.

Although Jacob’s Sons were Sinful, Christ Still Came in Through Them

Joseph was governed by the dreams he saw when he was young and he kept himself pure and sanctified to God throughout his life.

His brothers, however, were full of sins, lusts, and anger. Judah committed incest with his daughter-in-law, giving in to his fleshly lust (Gen. 38:27-30), and the other brothers gave in to their anger and conspired to kill their own brother, Joseph.

However, even though Judah failed in being lustful, through his union with Tamar – his daughter-in-law – Christ was eventually brought forth. If you read the genealogy of Christ in Matt. 1:3, His ancestors were the descendants of Judah and Tamar. This is similar to David and Bath-Sheba, the wife of Uriah, bringing forth Solomon, one of the ancestors of the Lord Jesus.

To us, this was such a big mistake and a huge failure, but to God there is no such thing. This doesn’t mean that we should do evil so that good may come about; we are evil enough already, we don’t need to do any more evil. Rather, this means that God is able to use our mistakes and our huge failures to bring forth Christ and for His glory.

We need to be what we are, go on in the Lord being conscious of God’s sovereignty and grace, and He will be sovereign to use even our shortcomings to bring forth Christ and produce Christ.

The issue is not how good we are, how perfect our conduct is, or how orderly we do things in the church life; what is at stake is the bringing forth of Christ.

Being Governed by the Way God Sees His People and No Longer Judging or Condemning the Saints

Matthew 7:1 Do not judge, that you be not judged.

The more immature a person is in the Lord, the more he is likely to speak negatively concerning the saints.

When we come into the church, we enter into the church-life honeymoon and we love the Lord and the saints to the uttermost. However, after a short while we start to see that, according to our human point of view and based on our background, the brothers and the sisters in the church life are not really “saints” (according to our natural concept), that is, they are not that perfect, humble, sweet, etc.

However, the more we grow in the divine life, the more we realize that we cannot speak anything evil of the saints or the church, because God Himself is the Only One who can judge, and He Himself doesn’t judge them (see Matt. 7:1-5). Since God doesn’t judge or criticize the saints or the church, why should we?

As we grow in life we receive the divine and heavenly dreams that Joseph saw, and we realize that in God’s eyes and under the divine telescope, the saints are full of life and shining with God as light, and there’s nothing negative to be said about them.

Even though we may want to say something negative about the saints based on their “real situation”, the more we grow in life the more we realize that God, the Judge of all, doesn’t condemn the saints but is rather working on them to transform them into sheaves full of life and stars full of light.

Eventually, under God’s transforming work, all the brothers and the sisters will be sheaves and stars, and we all will be a part of the New Jerusalem, the city of life and of light.

As we grow in life unto maturity, we will realize like the Apostle Paul that we need to be general and accept all the saints not according to our narrow mind, preference, or background, but according to God, the One who receives all men through Christ.

Some people eat vegetables while others eat also meat, some keep certain days as holy while others don’t, some are slow while others are quick, etc – who are we to judge? We leave the judgement to the Lord since we all live to the Lord and not to ourselves.

When Jacob heard that Joseph was alive he didn’t question, condemn or inquire with his sons what did they do to Joseph; his heart was numb and his spirit was revived.

In the church life the Lord needs to gain many saints who are mature in life, those who don’t inquire to find out what happened and why, but are “numb” to certain things yet exercised to be alive in spirit. When we see negative things in the saints, we pray for the them, and we pray not in a condemning or criticizing way but so that we may minister life.

May we be no longer judging others but be praying for the saints and ministering life to them!

In the church life our attitude toward one another means a lot – are we in a criticizing, condemning, or despising mode, or are we in God’s view seeing what God’s people really are in their nature, function, position, and goal?

God’s people, the brothers and the sisters in the church life, are here for the bringing forth of Christ, and so why should we pass on judgement and criticism since we are all “a work in progress” to bring forth Christ for God’s glory?

Lord Jesus, cause us to grow in life unto maturity until we no longer condemn or criticize others but rather pray for them to minister life by exercising to be living in our spirit. Make us those who live to the Lord and are numb to the negative things, those who exercise to pray rather than condemn, gossip, or criticize. Lord Jesus, may we forget about our shortsighted and microscopic view of the saints, and may we use the divine telescope to look at them. Hallelujah, the church is excellent, the saints are wonderful, and the Lord is so real in all the saints!

Joseph’s Dreams Controlled his Life and Directed his Behavior

Joseph lived a life that corresponded to the vision he saw in his two dreams; his brothers vented their anger (Gen. 37:18-31) and indulged in their lust (38:15-18), but Joseph subdued his anger and conquered his lust (39:7-23), behaving as a sheaf full of life and conducting himself like a heavenly star shining in the darkness. (Witness Lee, Life-Study of Genesis)

If you read Joseph’s story you will be amazed of how well-behaved, chaste, pure, and true to God he was in all his living, even though he was hated by his brothers and many negative and unfair things happened to him.

He got in trouble because of telling his family the dreams that God told him; his brothers hated him because his father loved him above them all, and they sold him into slavery in Egypt. In Egypt, Joseph was righteous and pure, and God graced him; he became the right-hand man of Potifar.

However, his wife tried to seduce him, and because he rejected her, he got into prison. God was with him in prison and he was taking care of all prisoners, and eventually, God raised him up.

In all his life as recorded in Genesis Joseph behaved so excellently and marvellously because he was directed by the vision that he saw in his dreams when he was young. He lived a life that corresponded with the vision he saw in his two dreams.

While his brothers vented their anger (Gen. 37:18-31) and indulged in their lust (Gen. 38:15-18), Joseph subdued his anger and conquered his lust (Gen. 39:7-23).

Joseph truly behaved and lived under the clear vision that he is a sheaf full of life and a heavenly star shining in the darkness. In his behavior, Joseph was a sheaf full of life, and in his conduct, he shined like a heavenly star in the darkness.

Lord Jesus, grant us to have the heavenly dreams that Joseph had so that we may realize that we and the saints are sheaves full of life and heavenly stars full of light. Lord, may our living and behavior in the Christian life and church life be influenced and governed by these dreams. May we have an excellent behavior as a sheaf full of life and may we shine out in our conduct as a heavenly star in the darkness today. Grow in us unto maturity until we are Your duplication as the One who is full of life and light in all our living!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration: the Word of God, my Christian experience, bro. James Lee’s sharing in the message for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Genesis (pp. 1419-1425), as quoted in, the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of Genesis (3), week 7 / msg 7, The Life of Joseph as a Copy of the life of Christ and Living as a Sheaf of Life and as a Star of Light.
• Similar sharing with portions in the ministry: see Matt. 7:1 Christian Pictures Blog.
• Hymns on this topic:
  # Lord grant me today, a new start in this way. / A person of life I would be— / Just expressing You in all that I do. / Oh may this life flow out of me! / Am I a person of life? / Do I experience life? / Does my living bear the issues of life? / Good trees bear good fruit; / Healthy plant, healthy root; / Oh Lord! The ground in my heart! (Song on being a Person of Life)
  # In daily walk and in our meetings too, / Christ is the center, Christ is everything; / ’Tis not for form nor doctrine good and true, / But ‘tis for Christ alone we’re gathering. (Hymns #863)
  # Built up in love together, / Not one would criticize; / To perfect one another, / We all would exercise. / Each one from self delivered, / The natural life forsakes; / In grace each trained in spirit / The Body-life partakes. (Hymns #867)