How Not to Correct a Fellow Christian

[Music] 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 gotta mean something when it says don't judge and the first thing i'm picking it out from the word brother you 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 in a wrong time to do it in a way that does it puffs you up get the log out first then you will see clearly how to take the spec 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 there's a speck in your eye says this is a probably they were smiling has jesus used this and then they they just collapsed with self-condemnation so the first meaning i believe don't judge the one who eats or why 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 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 languages 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 what's the effect of it you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness keep watch over yourself lest you two 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 and 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 four we will all stand before the judgment seat of god and then he grounds that in the old testament isaiah 45 23 4 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 say it 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 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 only 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 say 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 the sermon was 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 sermons have changed your life and we will share that clip with the abj audience if you've got one email me and give me your name hometown the sermon title and the time stamp of when the clip happens 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 ask pastor john desiringgod.org that's an email address askpastorjohn desirenggod.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 2nd thessalonians 1 11 are resolved for good we have 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 me ranki we'll see you back here on friday you

Channel: Desiring God

Views: 102,752

Keywords: Desiring God, John Piper, God, Jesus Christ, Christianity, Christian Hedonism, Fellow Christian, Correct, Admonish, How To, How Not To, Life Together, Pride, Humility, Challenge, Honor, Romans 14:13

Id: eaGP3zgFr2s

Length: 9min 40sec (580 seconds)

Published: Wed Jun 16 2021