Wow this to me is encouraging especially since I had a huge fight with my
mom the other day concerning my niece and she made me feel so guilty I half
backed down knowing that I was right in what I said. Unfortunately for me I
know it will come up again so I wish I had not backed down I wish I had
stood my ground. Even so I hope and pray she was convicted by what I said.
This was basically concerning my niece sleeping with and living with a guy
already at the age of fifteen.
--
Lelia - I_love_my_husband
----- Original Message -----
From: "Phil Scovell" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Saturday, October 22, 2005 11:24 AM
Subject: Judge Not
> Just remember, I didn't write this. I already have enough people mad at
> me
> but this is preaching we rarely hear these days.
>
> Snip snip.
>
>> "Judge NOT!"
> by David Kirkwood.
>
> Anyone who holds to any standard of righteousness in our "culture
> of tolerance" is in trouble. If you say, for example, that
> homosexuality is a perversion, abortion is murder, sex outside of
> marriage is a sin, or that Jesus is the only way to heaven, get
> ready to be labeled. You will be categorized as "intolerant,"
> because intolerance is not tolerated in our culture. You may also
> be branded as close-minded, because our culture is not
> open-minded to anyone who is "close-minded." You may be
> criticized for being critical. And you will probably be branded as
> unloving, because our culture just hates people who aren't "loving."
> They really should start putting bumper stickers on their cars that
> say, "I Do Not Tolerate People Who Are Intolerant."
>
> Quite often, those who are are not tolerant of "intolerant" Christians
> even cite the Bible to prove how wrong intolerance is. "Judge not!"
> they quote Jesus as saying. They construe Christ's words to mean
> that no one has the right to make a moral appraisal of anyone else.
> In so doing, however, they make a moral appraisal of those whom
> they accuse of making moral appraisals. If you say,"Homosexuality
> is wrong," they say, "Don't judge!," and in the process they commit
> the very crime of which they find you guilty. This is not something
> that only those in the world do, but something that professing
> Christians sometimes do as well. If you hold to any standards of
> righteousness that exceed the low standards that many professing
> Christians hold, you set yourself up to be a target by some even
> within the church.... They too may judge you as being judgmental---
> even if you keep completely silent about your convictions and just
> live them. (I am doubtlessly being judged right now by some
> readers as being judgmental for writing this!)
>
> So exactly what did Jesus mean when He told His followers,
> "Judge not, that you be not judged"? If we understand what He
> meant, then we can strive to obey Him in this regard. Perhaps it
> will help if we first consider what Jesus obviously did not mean.
> Clearly, Jesus did not mean that His followers should never make
> moral appraisals of anyone, judging them in that sense. Just a few
> seconds after He said, "Judge not," Jesus instructed His followers,
> Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls
> before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and
> tear you to pieces (Matt. 7:6). Surely Jesus was not speaking of
> literal dogs and pigs, but of people who, like dogs and pigs, don't
> recognize what is truly valuable and holy. It seems that Jesus
> could have been speaking only of people who reject His holy word
> because they don't value it. If we are to obey this commandment
> and not cast our pearls before pigs, we must of necessity appraise
> people. We must judge if they are in the category of spiritual pigs
> and dogs. How can we judge such people? We certainly can't tell
> by looking at them. Sweet old ladies sometimes morph into
> monsters when we attempt to speak to them about the Lord, while
> tattooed tough guys, under conviction, may melt like margarine.
> We must, therefore, cast at least one "pearl" and watch what
> people do with it. If they trample it in the mud, we know they're
> spiritual pigs or dogs. We shouldn't waste more pearls on them, at
> least not until we allow some time for their hearts to soften. For
> now, we should "shake off the dust from our feet" (see Matt. 10:14)
> and look for those who value what we have to tell them. That is
> what Paul practiced, displaying a certain degree of intolerance in a
> manner prescribed by Jesus (see Acts. 13:51).
>
> This should not only be practiced in regard to unbelievers who
> reject God's Word, but in regard to so-called believers who just as
> much reject God's Word. Don't waste your valuable time on people
> who don't value God's Word. But back to my main point. We must
> judge people in at least one sense if we are going to obey Christ's
> command not to cast our pearls before pigs.
>
> Judging Spiritual Leaders
>
> Just a few more seconds after Jesus said, "Judge not," He also
> instructed His followers to appraise spiritual leaders by their fruit.
> By so doing, they could determine if a leader is a wolf disguised as
> a sheep. This requires that Christ's followers judge spiritual leaders,
> and it seems that there isn't enough of that kind of judging going on
> because so many of us are being misled and devoured by wolves
> that appear to be sheep. Sincere believers are often afraid of
> judging spiritual leaders because they think that they shouldn't
> "pass judgment" on them or "touch God's anointed." They couldn't
> be more wrong. Jesus commands us to examine the fruit of
> spiritual leaders and make judgments about them! We should be
> looking at the fruit of every spiritual leader in the church. Don't
> make the foolish error of "judging their fruit" by counting how many
> miracles they perform or by how many thousands of people attend
> their meetings. That is not the kind of fruit Jesus was saying we
> should be examining. Speaking of spiritual leaders, Jesus warned
> that many would say to Him, "Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy,
> cast out demons and perform miracles in Your name?," and He
> will say, "I never knew you" (see Matt. 7:22-23). Miracles are not
> the proof of God's endorsement of a minister. (According to
> Scripture, God may actually test our love for Him by means of
> false prophets who work miracles; see Deut. 13:1-4.) A big crowd
> may only be a sign of a big deceiver. The fruit of which Jesus
> spoke is the fruit of holiness (see Matt. 7:21, 23). Are spiritual
> leaders obeying Christ's commandments? That is the test. We
> should also judge the teaching of spiritual leaders to make certain
> their teaching is the teaching of Christ (see 2 John 1:7-11). If it
> isn't,
> we are instructed by Scripture not to receive such people into our
> homes (which takes on additional meaning when you realize that
> the early church met primarily in homes), and not even to give
> such teachers a greeting (much less an offering). Otherwise, says
> John, we "participate in their evil deeds (see 2 John 1:11).
>
> It is sobering to realize that we bear part of the responsibility for
> the spiritual deception that is propagated by false teachers if we
> support them in any way. It is amazing to me how many Christians,
> whose hearts have been enlightened to fundamental and essential
> biblical truth, attend and support churches that promote a false
> gospel while leaving the "voices that are crying in the wilderness"
> to continue crying in the wilderness, unsupported. They are eating
> at Red Lobster and paying at Burger King. Some excuse
> themselves by saying, "I'm giving to the Lord and my heart is right,
> so it makes no difference where I give my money." The truth is,
> you are supporting the devil with God's money. And God is not
> likely to reward you for that! Like John, Paul also instructed us to
> "beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of the
> false circumcision" (Phil. 3:2), and he, too, warned of false
> apostles (see 2 Cor. 11:13-15). To obey these inspired instructions
> given by Paul and John requires that we make judgments about
> spiritual leaders and act on those judgments. Yet, again, it seems
> that too few in the church follow such biblical instructions
>
> According to the consistent teaching of the New Testament, the
> outstanding characteristic of a false teacher is that his teaching
> downplays the necessity of holiness (see Matt. 7:15-23;
> Rom. 16:17-18; 2 Pet. 2:1-22; Jude 1:3-4). By that criteria, the
> church today has been inundated with false teachers. In Scripture,
> some of the New Testament authors go so far as to name the very
> names of false spiritual leaders of whom the church should beware
> (see 1 Tim. 1:19-20; 2 Tim. 2:16-18; 4:10; 3 John 1:9). This
> required a judgment on the part of those authors. By exposing and
> warning the church of certain false teachers, something that is
> often today classed as "passing judgment" or as being "unloving,"
> these authors actually showed their genuine love for Christ's body.
> Jesus commended the church in Ephesus for judging correctly
> certain men as being false apostles (see Rev. 2:2).
>
> Judging Other Believers
>
> So far we've seen that we should judge, in some sense, unbelievers
> and spiritual leaders. But what about judging fellow believers?
> Believe it or not, Scripture teaches that we all have a responsibility
> to judge, at least in some sense, everyone within the church.
>
> Surprised about that? Read what Paul wrote to the Corinthian
> Christians who had failed to judge a man in their midst who was
> living in an immoral relationship with his stepmother: For what
> have I to do with judging outsiders? Do you not judge those who
> are within the church? But those who are outside, God judges.
> [The clear implication is that they should judge those within the
> church.] Remove the wicked man [this requires a judgment] from
> among yourselves (1 Cor. 5:12-13)
>
> And it is not only people within the church who are living in immoral
> relationships whom God expects us to judge. In the same passage,
> Paul declared, I wrote you in my [previous] letter not to associate
> with immoral people; I did not at all mean with the immoral people
> of this world, or with the covetous and swindlers, or with idolaters;
> for then you would have to go out of the world. But actually, I wrote
> to you not to associate with any so-called brother if he should be
> an immoral person, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a
> drunkard, or a swindler---not even to eat with such a one
> (1 Cor. 5:9-11). To obey this instruction, we must make judgments
> about people within the church and act on those judgments. If we
> discover a professing Christian who is an immoral person, greedy,
> an idolater, a reviler, a drunkard or a swindler, we are not to
> associate with him or her at all. The reason is because such
> people bring a stain and reproach on what the church is supposed
> to be---the holy followers of Christ. Such people are not true
> followers of Christ, regardless of what they claim, and they are on
> the broad road that leads to hell, as Paul wrote in the same
> passage, Do you not know that the unrighteous shall not inherit
> the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor
> idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals,nor
> thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers,
> shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you; but
> you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified
> in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the Spirit of our God
> (1 Cor. 6:9-11). Paul warns us not to be deceived about this, but
> again, so many are. When entire denominations agree that
> homosexuals are fit to be ordained for ministry, they've abandoned
> the Bible and bought into the world's "tolerance message." They
> are deceived in their tolerance. But this is not the only way we are
> told in Scripture to judge those within the church. We are also
> instructed by Jesus to confront those within the church who sin
> against us (see Matt. 18:15-17), and this, of course, requires that
> we make a judgment about offenders. If they don't receive us, we
> are to take one or two others, who must also make a judgment
> about the offender and confront him a second time. If an offender
> doesn't receive the testimony of those two or three, he should be
> taken before the entire church, who must also then make a
> judgment about him. (Keep in mind that Jesus was thinking of
> small churches that met in homes---as all churches were until
> A.D. 300 when Constantine married the world with the church---
> churches that were like families, in which everyone knew and loved
> the offender and the offended person. This third part of His
> instruction could never be followed in large, modern churches
> without it resulting in a church split. In such cases, the third step
> should be administrated in a small group of believers who all know
> and love both parties.) If the offender doesn't receive the church's
> call to repentance, he should, according to Jesus, be "treated like
> a Gentile or tax-gatherer" (Matt. 18:17). That sounds quite
> "intolerant," doesn't it? Some professing Christians might accuse
> a church that followed this practice of being intolerant" and
> "unloving." But the truth is, those churches who are tolerant in this
> respect are the ones that are not loving. They help deceive
> unrepentant sinners within their ranks to think they are on the road
> to eternal life.
>
> In any case, we see that when Jesus said, "Judge not," He could
> not have meant that we are not to judge in any sense those within
> the church, otherwise He contradicted Himself in other places,
> and Paul contradicted Him as well. The truth, as we have seen, is
> that Christians are to judge, in some sense, unbelievers, spiritual
> leaders and believers. Thus it seems that we don't need less
> judgment by Christ's followers these days; we need more judgment.
> We've been entrusted, by God Himself, with the very important
> responsibility to judge---and primarily to keep the church pure.
> What could be more important than that?
>
> If we ever hope, however, to judge the world and angels in the future,
> we must properly judge now. Judging Righteously In all of these
> cases when Scripture instructs us make judgments about people,
> we must be cautious that we don't make assumptions and wrongly
> judge anyone. In regard to Himself, Jesus once said to some of
> His detractors, "Do not judge according to appearance, but judge
> with righteous judgment" (John 7:24). Similarly, God commanded
> every Israelite in the Law of Moses: You shall do no injustice in
> judgment; you shall not be partial to the poor nor defer to the great,
> but you are to judge your neighbor fairly. You shall not go about as
> a slanderer among your people.... You shall not hate your fellow
> countryman in your heart; you may surely reprove your neighbor,
> but shall not incur sin because of him (Lev. 19:15-17). If you've
> ever been a victim of people's wrong judgments or been slandered,
> you know how much it hurts. We should therefore take every
> precaution that we don't make wrong judgments about others,
> much less spread our wrong judgments to others, which amounts
> to slander. Our judgments should be based on facts, and we
> should always strive to believe the best until we know the worst.
> And if we love fellow believers whom we judge, we will speak to
> them first, and not others, about their sin as the scripture we just
> read says. In the case of false believers and false teachers (who
> are of course unbelievers), a different rule applies, as is clear from
> Paul's instructions and dealings with the immoral man in Corinth.
> False teachers, especially, should be publicly exposed. Not only
> should our judgments be based on truthful facts, they should be
> based on scriptural truth as well. For example, Scripture does not
> give us the right to determine that someone is not saved because
> he drank a glass of wine or because she doesn't wear her hair in
> a bun. We must also be cautious that we don't judge what is
> impossible to judge. For example, we don't know the motives of
> people's hearts (see 1 Cor. 4:5). On the other hand, according to
> Jesus, there are times when we do know something about what is
> in people's hearts, and we can judge righteously in this regard to
> some degree. Jesus told us, For from within, out of the heart of
> men, proceed the evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders,
> adulteries, deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit,
> sensuality, envy, slander, pride and foolishness. All these evil
> things proceed from within and defile the man" (Mark. 7:21-23).
>
> I remember once being rebuked by a parishioner because I said
> that a certain political leader who claimed to be a Christian was
> certainly not a Christian because of his immoralities and lies.
> "You don't know what is in his heart," I was told. However, not only
> did I make my statement based upon the fact that Scripture tells
> us not to be deceived in this matter (that no adulterers will inherit
> God's kingdom and that all liars will be cast into the lake of fire),
> but actually, in this case, I knew what everyone else could and
> should have known about what was in that particular adulterer's
> heart---adultery. We know and can thus judge what is in the heart
> of every adulterer when he or she committed his or her sin---
> adultery. Likewise, theft was in the heart of the thief, murder was
> in the heart of the murderer, and deceit is in the heart of the
> deceiver. In all of these cases and others like them, we can judge
> what is in people's hearts. Of course, if people repent, their hearts
> change, but repentance of the heart is also something that shows
> up on the outside and can thus be righteously judged. As hard as
> it is for us to accept this in an age when "toleration" is the word,
> that is precisely why John wrote, By this the children of God and
> the children of the devil are obvious [that is, it is easy to judge who
> is saved and who is not]: anyone who does not practice
> righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his
> brother (1 John 3:10). Do you believe this? By this criteria, there
> are multitudes of people who consider themselves born again
> within the church who are actually children of the devil, and we
> have the clear biblical right to make such a judgment.
>
> So What Did Jesus Mean?
>
> "Do not judge lest you be judged. For in the way you judge, you
> will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be
> measured to you. And why do you look at the speck that is in
> your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own
> eye? Or how can you say to your brother, "Let me take the speck
> out of your eye," and behold, the log is in your own eye? You
> hypocrite, 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"
> (Matt. 7:1-5). Clearly, in light of the greater and lesser context of
> Jesus' command not to judge, He was speaking about the sin of
> searching for small flaws in fellow believers (thrice He speaks of
> "brothers" in this passage) by those who have bigger faults. As
> Jesus warned, God will hold us to the same standard to which we
> hold others. He doesn't appreciate those who don't practice what
> they preach. Those who do are in danger of being judged by God,
> and He often does so by exposing their hypocrisy. So if we point
> out the faults of others when we are guilty of the same or greater
> faults, we are guilty of the kind of judgment that Jesus here forbids.
> But don't read more into what Jesus said in Matthew 7:1-5 than
> what is there. Read exactly what He said. Jesus did not
> completely forbid finding fault (or "judging" in that sense), and if He
> did, it would contradict much of what He said elsewhere. Note that
> Jesus said, "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"
> (Matt. 7:5). That is, first repent yourself, then help others to repent.
> Too many of us are stagnant in this regard, examining neither
> ourselves nor helping anyone else after our repentance. We have a
> superficial relationship with God and a superficial relationship with
> each other. We've nurtured a complacent attitude that either says,
> "Hey...I m OK, you're OK...we're all OK," or worse than that: "Look,
> we're all just a bunch of sinners here, so let's have another round of
> grace."
>
> If we are to help others enjoy all the blessings of holiness (a true
> act of love on our part), we must first be holy ourselves. Nobody
> receives correction from those whom they don't respect and those
> whose own faults are glaring. And God becomes angry with those
> who hold others to a standard by which they themselves don't live.
> Such people are hypocrites, as Jesus said, pretending to be what
> they are not. How many preachers (like myself) have heard the
> stinging yet loving words of their spouses on a Sunday afternoon,
> "Great sermon today, honey. You really ought to consider living it
> yourself!"? Ouch!
>
> One Final Thought...
>
> Please note that every scripture we've considered in this teaching
> is addressed, not to pastors, but to every follower of Christ. This
> leaves us with one overriding thought: Every believer is expected
> by God to be passionate and active in the pursuit of personal and
> corporate holiness. Paul didn't tell the pastors in Corinth to judge
> and remove the wicked man from among them. (In fact, Paul gave
> no specific instructions to pastors, elders, or overseers in either of
> his letters to the Corinthians or in the majority of his other letters,
> a significant fact.) Removing the wicked man was something every
> member of the body was to be involved in. Similarly, Jesus made
> it clear that every believer has responsibility to judge spiritual
> leaders by their fruit so that no wolves in sheep's clothing will lead
> the church away from holiness. Every believer, according to what
> we read, should judge and not associate with those who claim to
> be Christ's yet who practice unrighteousness, lest the church be
> stained before the world. Every Christian should judge himself and
> remove the logs from his own eyes so he can be personally pure
> and can then see clearly to remove the specks from his brothers'
> eyes. How many of us have a relationship with God and other
> believers like that? May God have mercy on us and help us to
> grow up! And may judgment, biblical judgment, increase within
> Christ's church.
>
> For more online teachings by David Kirkwood, please visit his
> website- http://www.shepherdserve.org/
>
>
>
> Victory isn't something you have, it is something you are.
> www.SafePlaceFellowship.com
>
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