How Not to Correct a Fellow Christian
00:00:00.000 | Well, there are right ways to correct other believers and there are wrong ways to correct
00:00:09.600 | other believers.
00:00:10.600 | So, what's the difference?
00:00:12.240 | Romans 14, 13 says this, "Therefore, let us not pass judgment on one another any longer,
00:00:18.880 | but rather decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother."
00:00:25.520 | Here's John Piper explaining the meaning of this point from a 2005 sermon.
00:00:31.040 | I take judgment, who are you to pass judgment on your brother, to mean two things.
00:00:36.560 | One, don't be critical of your fellow believer without manifesting strong affections of brotherly
00:00:45.160 | love.
00:00:46.160 | You can see how I'm saying it because I'm leaving room for all the texts that say correct
00:00:51.240 | one another, admonish one another, rebuke one another.
00:00:53.840 | You've got to pass judgments if you're going to obey the Bible.
00:00:58.480 | But this text has got to mean something when it says don't judge.
00:01:03.080 | And the first thing, I'm picking it out from the word brother.
00:01:06.680 | See the highlight on the brother.
00:01:08.920 | Who are you to judge your brother?
00:01:11.560 | In other words, be careful here that when you undertake to do some correcting, some
00:01:17.920 | admonishing, some rebuking, let brotherhood be all over it.
00:01:23.480 | Not a spirit of condemnation.
00:01:25.280 | We created a word for this bad thing.
00:01:28.240 | Judgmental.
00:01:29.240 | Where did that word come from?
00:01:31.440 | Why was that created in English?
00:01:33.480 | This verse, that's why.
00:01:35.560 | Or something like this verse.
00:01:37.280 | Everybody knows there's a right time to correct someone and tell them they're doing something
00:01:41.680 | a little stupid.
00:01:43.040 | And there's a way to do it and a wrong time to do it and a way to do it.
00:01:45.920 | It puffs you up.
00:01:47.440 | Get the log out.
00:01:50.040 | First, then you will see clearly how to take the speck out of your brother's eye.
00:02:00.360 | Logs in eyes make poor eye surgeons.
00:02:04.840 | You club people to death with the logs hanging out of your eyes.
00:02:09.120 | Can you get this picture?
00:02:11.280 | Excuse me, there's a speck in your eye.
00:02:15.800 | This is a, probably they were smiling as Jesus used this and then they just collapsed with
00:02:24.000 | self-condemnation.
00:02:26.480 | So the first meaning, I believe, don't judge the one who eats or why are you passing judgment
00:02:32.600 | on your brother is don't be critical of the fellow believer without manifest affirmation
00:02:40.860 | of brotherly affection.
00:02:41.860 | If you don't have it, you've got a problem.
00:02:45.360 | A big problem.
00:02:47.120 | Here's the second meaning I think it has.
00:02:49.200 | I think it means in addition, don't treat them as unbelievers.
00:02:56.640 | Don't pass final judgment on them.
00:02:59.520 | Don't say to a brother because of some meat thing or vegetable thing or day thing or wine
00:03:05.040 | thing, you can't be a Christian.
00:03:08.320 | You're not a Christian.
00:03:09.320 | Now here's what I think despising means.
00:03:12.520 | I take despising, who are you to despise your brother?
00:03:16.580 | Why do you despise your brother?
00:03:18.920 | To mean don't treat your brother scornfully without brotherly affection.
00:03:27.680 | You know, you roll your eyes and you cluck your tongue and you turn your head and everything
00:03:33.240 | about your body language is despise and scorn and belittle and disdain.
00:03:41.080 | And there's nothing brotherly about it.
00:03:44.880 | And so I think the word brother in verse 10 repeated those two times is meant to awaken
00:03:52.360 | affection that mellows and softens and sweetens any correcting that we need to do of each
00:04:01.360 | other.
00:04:03.040 | So the command is clear.
00:04:04.960 | I said we start with the command, we move to an argument and then we go.
00:04:08.400 | The command is clear.
00:04:11.400 | Don't judge, don't despise your fellow believers by treating them as unbelievers or being critical
00:04:18.040 | of them without brotherly affection.
00:04:22.080 | In other words, when judgment is needed, do it the way Paul said do it in Galatians 6,
00:04:27.320 | 1 and 2 and do it the way Jesus said do it in Matthew 7, 5.
00:04:32.200 | Let me read those again.
00:04:34.080 | Here's Paul's way of interpreting Jesus' command.
00:04:37.320 | "Brothers," this is Galatians 6, 1, "Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression,"
00:04:45.320 | so there's reason to correct here, "caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual,"
00:04:52.000 | you might think spiritual will puff you up.
00:04:55.080 | That's not spiritual to be puffed up.
00:04:57.680 | Watch the effect of it.
00:04:58.840 | "You who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness, keep watch over
00:05:05.440 | yourself lest you too be tempted."
00:05:09.080 | Log, log, log, log, log.
00:05:13.040 | And here's Jesus' words, "First take the log out of your own eye and then you will see
00:05:17.200 | clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye."
00:05:21.920 | You want to invest some emotional energy in conflict?
00:05:26.160 | Deal with yourself 99% of the time.
00:05:30.440 | Save a marriage that way.
00:05:32.720 | Let's go to the argument.
00:05:34.540 | The argument is in the second half of verse 10, down through verse 12.
00:05:38.880 | I'll read it with you.
00:05:40.840 | Why do you pass judgment, I'm starting at the beginning, why do you pass judgment on
00:05:44.560 | your brother, or why do you despise your brother, that is, don't do this, because, here's the
00:05:51.520 | argument, because, for, we will all stand before the judgment seat of God.
00:05:57.400 | And then he grounds that in the Old Testament, Isaiah 45, 23, "For it is written, 'As I live,'
00:06:04.400 | says the Lord, 'every knee shall bow to me and every tongue shall confess.'"
00:06:10.240 | Now he comes back up to state again, verse 12, "So then, each of us will give an account
00:06:16.240 | of himself to God."
00:06:18.760 | So he says, two times, two times, he says we'll be judged.
00:06:23.520 | Verse 10, second half of the verse, "We will all stand before the judgment seat of God."
00:06:28.520 | Then he says it again in verse 12, "So then, each of us will give an account of himself
00:06:33.160 | to God," and in between those two statements comes the basis of them in the Old Testament,
00:06:39.640 | Isaiah 45, 23, "For it is written, 'As I live,' says the Lord, 'every knee shall bow and every
00:06:45.440 | tongue shall confess.'"
00:06:47.000 | He's picking up on the "every" here.
00:06:48.980 | So what's he stressing in these three verses?
00:06:52.240 | I think he's stressing the words "every," "each," and "all."
00:06:57.440 | Verse 10, second half of the verse, "We shall all stand before the judgment seat of God,
00:07:05.440 | no exceptions."
00:07:07.760 | Verse 11, "Every knee shall bow to me and every tongue shall confess to God."
00:07:20.080 | And then verse 12, picks another word, says the same thing.
00:07:24.400 | "So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God."
00:07:30.760 | So you've got the word "each," you've got the word "every," you've got the word "all."
00:07:35.680 | That's the stress in these three statements.
00:07:40.120 | It means that every single person in the sound of my voice will individually stand before
00:07:50.880 | the Creator of the universe and give an account of your life.
00:07:58.160 | Think about that a lot.
00:08:01.340 | Think about it when you go to bed at night, and think about it when you get up in the
00:08:06.360 | morning.
00:08:07.360 | Sobering.
00:08:08.360 | This clip came in 8,000 miles away from Lawrence, a listener to the podcast in Nairobi, Kenya.
00:08:15.160 | Thank you, Lawrence.
00:08:16.160 | Appreciate it.
00:08:17.160 | This clip is on Romans 14, verses 10 to 13, a sermon titled, "We Will All Stand Before
00:08:22.200 | the Judgment of God," preached on October 30th, 2005.
00:08:26.320 | The whole sermon is available online right now at DesiringGod.org.
00:08:31.160 | Thanks for listening to today's sermon clip.
00:08:32.840 | All our clips are crowdsourced wherever you live in the world.
00:08:36.080 | Tell us what bits of Piper's sermons have changed your life, and we will share that
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00:08:41.280 | If you've got one, email me.
00:08:42.840 | Give me your name, hometown, the sermon title, and the timestamp of when the clip happened.
00:08:47.120 | It's in the audio.
00:08:48.120 | And tell me how it impacted you.
00:08:49.800 | Put the word "clip" in the subject line of an email and send it to me at AskPastorJohn@DesiringGod.org.
00:08:55.320 | That's an email address.
00:08:56.320 | AskPastorJohn@DesiringGod.org.
00:08:57.320 | We are back on Friday with a little update on the ministry.
00:09:03.000 | Pastor John rejoins us to talk about what he's working on, to give a little state of
00:09:06.760 | APJ update, and to give you some updates about what's to come in the year ahead for DG, and
00:09:13.360 | to hear about the plans we have made.
00:09:15.120 | Our resolve for good, as Paul calls ministry planning in 2 Thessalonians 1.11, our resolve
00:09:20.920 | for good.
00:09:21.920 | We have many resolutions for good in the year ahead, and we want to share those with you.
00:09:27.120 | We will next time.
00:09:28.120 | I'm your host, Mayor Anki.
00:09:29.120 | We'll see you back here on Friday.
00:09:29.160 | [END]
00:09:29.660 | day.
00:09:31.860 | [BLANK_AUDIO]