[b]Judging[/b]

Why do we condemn those with whom we disagree? Why is it so difficult to accept a brother or sister who seems different? Or believes differently? Why can't we love them?


[i]"Him that is weak in the faith receive ye, but not to doubtful, disputations." Romans 14:1[/i]


[i]Judge: Forming a negative mental opinion, about someone else who does something you would not do yourself[/i] - God commands us not to do this of our brethren!


[i]"But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God. So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God." Romans 14:1-12[/i]

We shall each stand before the Bema Seat of Christ and give account of ourselves. This judging spirit will probably be far more grievous in the eyes of Christ than that which we judged in our brother or sister.

[i]"Take this for a general rule: spend your zeal in those things wherein you and all the people of God are agreed and do not dispute matters that are doubtful." - Matthew Henry

"We make ourselves our brethren's Masters and do in effect usurp the throne of God, when we take upon us thus to judge them, especially to judge their thoughts and intentions, which are out of our view, to judge their persons and state, concerning which it is hard to conclude by those few indications which fall within our cognizance." - Matthew Henry

"In judging and censuring our brethren, we meddle with that which does not belong to us. We have work enough to do at home, and if we must needs be judging, let us exercise our faculty upon our own heart and ways." - Matthew Henry

"Christ is the gain we aim at, living and dying. We live to glorify Him in all the actions and affairs of life...Christ is the centre, in which all the lines of life and death do meet. This is true Christianity which makes Christ all in all." - Matthew Henry

"Now if Christ paid so dearly for His dominion over souls and consciences, and has such a just and undisputed right to exercise dominion, we must not so much as seem to invade it, or entrench upon it, by judging the conscience of our brethren, and arraigning them at our bar." Matthew Henry

"A believing regard to the judgment of the great day would silence all these rash judgments." Matthew Henry

"...He that is strict in judging himself and abasing himself will not be apt to judge and despise his brother." Matthew Henry

"Those are most pleasing to God that are best pleased with Him." Matthew Henry

"Acceptance of God is to be desired and aimed at in the first place, because, sooner or later, God will bring all the world to be of His mind." Matthew Henry[/i]

When you see a brother or sister failing in an area in which God has worked in your life, don't judge them as being failures but rather in humility thank God for what He has done in your life, express grateful praise to Him, then humbly ask Him to work in that brother or sister and lead them in the way of truth. Cause for humility: Why should God reveal a certain truth to you? For what reason are you worthy of all the mercies He has given you? Should it not put us in the dust that God has worked thus in our lives?!!

[i]"Lord, help us always to assume the good in a brother or sister." Prayer of a Christian

"Thou givest thy mouth to evil, and thy tongue frameth deceit. Thou sittest and speakest against thy brother; thou slanderest thine own mother's son. Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me: and to him that ordereth his conversation aright will I shew the salvation of God." Psalm 50:19, 20, 23[/i]

Instead of slandering a brother, offer praise to God for what He is doing in that brother or sister's life. Then God will be glorified. We must leave the perfecting process in God's Hands.

[i]"Thus let us endeavour to make the name of God glorious and renowned. If God seek our good, let us seek His glory. If He make all things tend to our edification, let us make all things tend to His exaltation." Thomas Watson

"Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ." Phil. 1:6

"The LORD will perfect that which concerneth me: thy mercy, O LORD, endureth for ever: forsake not the works of thine own hands." Psalm 138:8

"Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen." Jude 24-25[/i]

The above thoughts and quotes come from the Lord's working and revealing these things to me. The Matthew Henry quotes are from his commentary on Romans 14.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

A couple weeks ago the Lord was revealing to me a very critical and judgmental spirit in me toward my brothers and sisters in Christ. It just broke me to realize there was such pride in me, and that I would treat my fellow brothers and sisters with such unkindness; even if they do not know of my thoughts about them, it is a grief to the body of Christ that I would do this. And it is a reproach to my Father, because just as He is working in me, so He is working in His other children. And to criticize a brother or sister in Christ is criticizing God's very work in their lives! Oh! To be critical of the working of God, that is so serious. The Lord has been so gracious to me in revealing this to me. With His grace and help I am seeking to love my brothers and sisters and accept them where they're at. How needy I am! And, how I praise God for His perfecting process in not only me but also in my brothers and sisters in the Lord. Praise God for His faithfulness! I would ask my brothers and sisters to pray for me that God would work in me a spirit of love and humility toward the body of Christ. I can testify that He is already doing this, and in revealing these things to me He has been changing my heart.


These last couple weeks as I have prepared and prayed for the upcoming conferences I will be attending God has really been working on me and peeling back the layers and showing me the need in my own life. It is good to set aside times of prayer and self-examination of our own lives as we prepare for the upcoming revival conference. It’s amazing what God reveals to us if we will only humbly come before Him and make ourselves available for the searching light of His Holy Spirit.

I do realize that there is to be a proper spirit of judging in the body of Christ toward sin that is manifested by professing Christians. [url=https://www.sermonindex.net/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=19141&forum=34]This article[/url] is an excellent example on that type of judging. But how often do we overlook these big sins because we fear to offend someone, yet have no difficulty whatsoever nitpicking, slandering, and tearing down the character of a brother or sister who is seeking God? I confess, my natural, fleshly tendency has been to do the latter…but with God’s grace and help I am determined not to do this.

[i]I didn’t undertake this study for the sake of SI, it was for me, and to retain this lesson that God is teaching me that I might review it and not forget His gracious workings. But I wanted to share it here for others who are earnestly seeking God to go deeper with Him and live lives that are pleasing and glorifying to Him.[/i]

Blessings,

~Joy

Sister I wanted to say thank you for posting this..
may God you deeper sister.. May teach go deeper..

Holy King come and speak to my sister.. Let her hear your voice as bow down to worship you

Amen sister.. thank you so much for posting..
What wonderful thing to see, a heart that is real and open.. I am really so blessed you are my sister. What a wonderful Work God is doing.
Glory Glory to his wonderful name.

I love you sister... and you are in my prayers :)
Charlene

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charlene

Sister, thank you for sharing this. I've been reading some Amy Charmichael recently and your post reminded me of the following from the her book [i]IF[/i]...
IF, I have not the patience of my Savior with soul who grows slowly; if I know little of travail (a sharp and painful thing) till Christ be fully formed in them,
then I know nothing of Calvary love.

IF, I sympathize weakly with weakness, and say to the one who is turning back from the cross, "pity thyself"; if I refuse such a one the sympathy that braces and the brave and heartening word of comradeship,
I know nothing of Calvary love.

IF, I cannot keep silence over a disappointing soul (unless for the sake of that soul's good or for the good of others it be necessary to speak),
then I know nothing of Calvary love.

In Christ,

Ron

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Ron Halverson

Dear sister,

There are many tremendous things that are contained here and that compulsion to quantify them by importance has me struggling for proper words ...

What an incredible expression this is. All that you have pulled together and shared of your own life, the similar convictions, even to draw out this much;

[i]"We make ourselves our brethren's Masters and do in effect usurp the throne of God, when we take upon us thus to judge them, especially to judge their thoughts and intentions, which are out of our view, to judge their persons and state, concerning which it is hard to conclude by those few indications which fall within our cognizance."[/i] - Matthew Henry

This, being one of the most difficult to observe as it happens here sadly too often, and worse to practice, the constant diligence of not allowing it to take space in the thoughts ...

There is so much here. I pray it finds the widest audience and true inward participation.

My prayers, my thanks ... my God

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Mike Balog

Thank you for this sister. Thank you very much.

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TJ

None of us need judge the brother/sister personally.
[u] condemn or judge [/u].
John 8:11
11 She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I [u]condemn[/u] thee: go, and sin no more.
KJV

condemn: katakrino (kat-ak-ree'-no); from NT:2596 and NT:2919; to judge against, i.e. sentence:
KJV - condemn, damn.
(Biblesoft's New Exhaustive Strong's Numbers and Concordance with Expanded Greek-Hebrew Dictionary. Copyright (c) 1994, Biblesoft and International Bible Translators, Inc.)




"But why dost thou[u] judge[/u] thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God. So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God."
Romans 14:1-12


to Judge NT:2919
krino (kree'-no); properly, to distinguish, i.e. decide (mentally or judicially); by implication, to try, condemn, punish:
KJV - avenge, conclude, condemn, damn, decree, determine, esteem, judge, go to (sue at the) law, ordain, call in question, sentence to, think.
(Biblesoft's New Exhaustive Strong's Numbers and Concordance with Expanded Greek-Hebrew Dictionary. Copyright (c) 1994, Biblesoft and International Bible Translators, Inc.)

Webster definitions:
noun: public officer authorized to hear and decide cases in a court of law; a magistrate charged with the administration of justice.

noun:an administrative head of Israel in the period between the death of Joshua and the accession to the throne by Saul.

noun:to hear evidence or legal arguments in (a case) in order to pass judgment; adjudicate; try: The Supreme Court is judging that case.

[b]verb:[/b]to form a judgment or opinion of; decide upon critically: You can't judge a book by its cover.

Even though I believe condemning and judging is the definitions given above in the Greek-Hebrew Defintions and not used in the websters verb usage, I am not to condemn or judge anyone who defines it differently, by the defintions above. According to the Hebrew and Greek defintions I have no desire to. The one and only true Judge will do that. But I only have a desire to love them and try to give truth the best I can.
In His Love
moe_mac

edit: Each thing that we believe or speak or post to be God's truth, also applies to ourselves as well. If we read a post or hear a WORD spoken and we believe that person is judging by what they write, say or post in reply.(Are we ourselves judging that brother/sister)? We would be if we used the verb webster dictionary definition. Judging is much more than giving what we believe to be truth. We will be judged by God on whether we are correct or not in what we speak or post.
Let God judge right!

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Danielle

[i]"Now if Christ paid so dearly for His dominion over souls and consciences, and has such a just and undisputed right to exercise dominion, we must not so much as seem to invade it, or entrench upon it, by judging the conscience of our brethren, and arraigning them at our bar."[/i] Matthew Henry

[i]"A believing regard to the judgment of the great day would silence all these rash judgments."[/i] Matthew Henry

[i]"...He that is strict in judging himself and abasing himself will not be apt to judge and despise his brother."[/i] Matthew Henry

Have found myself again reading through much of Matthew Henry's commentary this morning, primarily towards another matter, another posting ... There is such a weight and richness, a penetration into the marrow of the scriptures, something that just demands the attention and contemplation.

This is such a tremendous post ...

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Mike Balog

Thank you to each of one of you who have responded. How grateful I am for the love and patience of the saints!

Brother Ron, thank you for sharing those tidbits from 'If'. Oh that book, I find myself responding in two ways to it (and really to all truth that is shared), one I will read briefly over it and go on because I don't want to stop and admit how short I am of really knowing Calvary Love, or number two, I will really stop and let the words soak in, I will ask myself, even as the disciples asked themselves when Jesus said one of them would betray them, those haunting sorrowful words of [i]"Is it I?"[/i] (Mark 14:18-19), "Could these words be true in my life?"

As I was reading through Joshua I came upon the passage about the eastern tribes and the little misunderstanding which occurred when they errected an altar as a memorial to the Lord. It's a very insightful passage on misjudging others when all we see are their actions and not their inward motives. Oh, the passage is in Joshua 22. :)

Matthew Henry had some good things on it. I'm only pulling out a few quotes from his wonderful notes.

[i]First, In every thing we do in religion, it highly concerns us to approve ourselves to God in our integrity therein, remembering that he knows the heart. Secondly, When we fall under the censures of men, it is very comfortable to be able with a humble confidence to appeal to God concerning our sincerity.

"But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man’s judgment: yea, I judge not mine own self.
4 For I know nothing by myself; yet am I not hereby justified: but he that judgeth me is the Lord.
5 Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God." 1 Cor. 4:3-5

...Though the record on high, and the witness in our bosoms, are principally to be made sure for us, yet there is a satisfaction besides which we owe to our brethren who doubt concerning our integrity, and which we should be ready to give with meekness and fear. If our sincerity be known to God, we should study likewise to let others know it by its fruits, especially those who, though they mistake us, yet show a zeal for the glory of God, as the ten tribes here did.
....

We have here the good issue of this controversy, which, if there had not been on both sides a disposition to peace, as there was on both sides a zeal for God, might have been of ill consequence; for quarrels about religion, for want of wisdom and love, often prove the most fierce and most difficult to be accommodated. But these contending parties, when the matter was fairly stated and argued, were so happy as to understand one another very well, and so the difference was presently compromised.

...But a little want of consideration and good manners should be excused and overlooked in those who, we have reason to think, mean honestly.

...Much less did they go about to fish for evidence to make out their charge, because they had once exhibited it, but were glad to have their mistake rectified, and were not at all ashamed to own it. Proud and peevish spirits, when they have passed an unjust censure upon their brethren, though ever so much convincing evidence be brought of the injustice of it, will stand to it, and can by no means be persuaded to retract it.

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