Well, there are right ways to correct other believers and there are wrong ways to correct other believers. So, what's the difference? Romans 14, 13 says this, "Therefore, let us not pass judgment on one another any longer, but rather decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother." Here's John Piper explaining the meaning of this point from a 2005 sermon.

I take judgment, who are you to pass judgment on your brother, to mean two things. One, don't be critical of your fellow believer without manifesting strong affections of brotherly love. You can see how I'm saying it because I'm leaving room for all the texts that say correct one another, admonish one another, rebuke one another.

You've got to pass judgments if you're going to obey the Bible. But this text has got to mean something when it says don't judge. And the first thing, I'm picking it out from the word brother. See the highlight on the brother. Who are you to judge your brother? In other words, be careful here that when you undertake to do some correcting, some admonishing, some rebuking, let brotherhood be all over it.

Not a spirit of condemnation. We created a word for this bad thing. Judgmental. Where did that word come from? Why was that created in English? This verse, that's why. Or something like this verse. Everybody knows there's a right time to correct someone and tell them they're doing something a little stupid.

And there's a way to do it and a wrong time to do it and a way to do it. It puffs you up. Get the log out. First, then you will see clearly how to take the speck out of your brother's eye. Logs in eyes make poor eye surgeons.

You club people to death with the logs hanging out of your eyes. Can you get this picture? Excuse me, there's a speck in your eye. This is a, probably they were smiling as Jesus used this and then they just collapsed with self-condemnation. So the first meaning, I believe, don't judge the one who eats or why are you passing judgment on your brother is don't be critical of the fellow believer without manifest affirmation of brotherly affection.

If you don't have it, you've got a problem. A big problem. Here's the second meaning I think it has. I think it means in addition, don't treat them as unbelievers. Don't pass final judgment on them. Don't say to a brother because of some meat thing or vegetable thing or day thing or wine thing, you can't be a Christian.

You're not a Christian. Now here's what I think despising means. I take despising, who are you to despise your brother? Why do you despise your brother? To mean don't treat your brother scornfully without brotherly affection. You know, you roll your eyes and you cluck your tongue and you turn your head and everything about your body language is despise and scorn and belittle and disdain.

And there's nothing brotherly about it. And so I think the word brother in verse 10 repeated those two times is meant to awaken affection that mellows and softens and sweetens any correcting that we need to do of each other. So the command is clear. I said we start with the command, we move to an argument and then we go.

The command is clear. Don't judge, don't despise your fellow believers by treating them as unbelievers or being critical of them without brotherly affection. In other words, when judgment is needed, do it the way Paul said do it in Galatians 6, 1 and 2 and do it the way Jesus said do it in Matthew 7, 5.

Let me read those again. Here's Paul's way of interpreting Jesus' command. "Brothers," this is Galatians 6, 1, "Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression," so there's reason to correct here, "caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual," you might think spiritual will puff you up. That's not spiritual to be puffed up.

Watch the effect of it. "You who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness, keep watch over yourself lest you too be tempted." Log, log, log, log, log. And here's Jesus' words, "First take the log out of your own eye and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye." You want to invest some emotional energy in conflict?

Deal with yourself 99% of the time. Save a marriage that way. Let's go to the argument. The argument is in the second half of verse 10, down through verse 12. I'll read it with you. Why do you pass judgment, I'm starting at the beginning, why do you pass judgment on your brother, or why do you despise your brother, that is, don't do this, because, here's the argument, because, for, we will all stand before the judgment seat of God.

And then he grounds that in the Old Testament, Isaiah 45, 23, "For it is written, 'As I live,' says the Lord, 'every knee shall bow to me and every tongue shall confess.'" Now he comes back up to state again, verse 12, "So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God." So he says, two times, two times, he says we'll be judged.

Verse 10, second half of the verse, "We will all stand before the judgment seat of God." Then he says it again in verse 12, "So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God," and in between those two statements comes the basis of them in the Old Testament, Isaiah 45, 23, "For it is written, 'As I live,' says the Lord, 'every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess.'" He's picking up on the "every" here.

So what's he stressing in these three verses? I think he's stressing the words "every," "each," and "all." Verse 10, second half of the verse, "We shall all stand before the judgment seat of God, no exceptions." Verse 11, "Every knee shall bow to me and every tongue shall confess to God." And then verse 12, picks another word, says the same thing.

"So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God." So you've got the word "each," you've got the word "every," you've got the word "all." That's the stress in these three statements. It means that every single person in the sound of my voice will individually stand before the Creator of the universe and give an account of your life.

Think about that a lot. Think about it when you go to bed at night, and think about it when you get up in the morning. Sobering. This clip came in 8,000 miles away from Lawrence, a listener to the podcast in Nairobi, Kenya. Thank you, Lawrence. Appreciate it. This clip is on Romans 14, verses 10 to 13, a sermon titled, "We Will All Stand Before the Judgment of God," preached on October 30th, 2005.

The whole sermon is available online right now at DesiringGod.org. Thanks for listening to today's sermon clip. All our clips are crowdsourced wherever you live in the world. Tell us what bits of Piper's sermons have changed your life, and we will share that clip with the ABJ audience. If you've got one, email me.

Give me your name, hometown, the sermon title, and the timestamp of when the clip happened. It's in the audio. And tell me how it impacted you. Put the word "clip" in the subject line of an email and send it to me at AskPastorJohn@DesiringGod.org. That's an email address. AskPastorJohn@DesiringGod.org. We are back on Friday with a little update on the ministry.

Pastor John rejoins us to talk about what he's working on, to give a little state of APJ update, and to give you some updates about what's to come in the year ahead for DG, and to hear about the plans we have made. Our resolve for good, as Paul calls ministry planning in 2 Thessalonians 1.11, our resolve for good.

We have many resolutions for good in the year ahead, and we want to share those with you. We will next time. I'm your host, Mayor Anki. We'll see you back here on Friday. day.