Judging the Brethren

Here we are, Day 49 in our count to Pentecost. So, looking forward to the Holy Day coming up tomorrow. So, I want to bring a message about judging the brethren.

When we consider who we are, God called all of us. When God called us, we answered that call and we went into covenant with God and Jesus Christ and received the Holy Spirit through the laying on of hands after baptism. We all became brothers and sisters in Christ, didn't we?

We all look forward to that day where we're together in the Kingdom, living with God and Jesus Christ and each other forever. That really gives us something to look forward to and all that we all have in common. Tomorrow pictures the Day of Pentecost and the resurrection.

Let's look at a Scripture right now that helps us to consider what I've just mentioned here.

Paul writes Ephesians 4:1: "Therefore, I, the prisoner of the Lord, am exhorting you to walk worthily of the calling to which you were called with all humility and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; being diligent to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, even as you were also called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, Who is over all, and through all, and in you all. But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of the gift of Christ" (vs 1-7).

This is something given to all of us, something that we all need to consider: the grace given to us though all the things that we have being brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ.

What makes us one as the Body of Christ and considering what it took for us to be in this in this place? Jesus Christ and the offering of Himself for us!

Romans 14:7: "For no one among us lives to himself, and no one dies to himself. For if we live, we should live unto the Lord; and if we die, we should die unto the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's" (vs 7-8).

How true is that, that we all we all belong to Jesus Christ and to God the Father?

Verse 9: "It is for this very purpose that Christ both died and rose and is living again, so that He might be Lord over both the dead and the living. Now then, why do you judge your brother? Or why do you despise your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ" (vs 9-10).

That's something to consider, and we'll read about that again later. But all of us, individually, know we will stand before God and Jesus Christ.

Verse 11: "Because it is written, '"For as I live," says the Lord, "every knee shall bow to Me, and every tongue shall confess to God."' So then, each one of us shall give account of himself to God. Therefore, we should no longer judge one another, but judge this instead: Do not put an occasion of stumbling or a cause of offense before your brother" (vs 11-13).

That is really what we should be judging: that we don't cause offense or cause a stumbling to our brothers and sisters! That's  the most important thing we need to be considering when we consider the brethren.

Living in this life in the flesh; we know we live in the flesh right now. We have God's Spirit within us, but we find ourselves continually making judgments, don't we?

In this physical life with God's Spirit judging between right and wrong, between good and evil. But we make judgments all the time.

So also within the Church, the Body of Christ, our brothers and sisters, there are judgments that are made, as well. We have to consider that and be mindful of that. Paul talks about this makes it really plain.

1-Corinthians 6:1: "Does anyone among you who has a matter against another dare to go to a court of law before the unrighteous, and not before the saints? Don't you know that the saints shall judge the world? And if the world is to be judged by you, are you unworthy of the most trivial of judgments? Don't you know that we shall judge angels? How much more then the things of this life?" (vs 1-3).

So, yes, in this life we make judgments and we make judgments within the Church. This is our responsibility to do, not only in this life, but we know preparing for the next life, eternal life!

Paul is telling the brethren here in Corinthians: 'this is your this is your responsibility to judge.' Hopefully and truly with:

• God's Spirit
• Christ's mind
• knowing God's Law

we should be able to judge correctly!

What I'd like to do is just review a few qualities that we need to have to be able to judge correctly as we're speaking about in this message, the judging of the brethren!

• Always judge by the Word of God; by God's Law

Deuteronomy 17:18—it's written here of the kings of Israel: "And it shall be, when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself a copy of this Law in a book from that which is in the custody of the priests the Levites. And it shall be with him, and he shall read it all the days of his life, so that he may learn to fear the LORD his God, to keep all the words of this Law and these statutes, to do them" (vs 18-19).

We've got a couple of things going on here, the need:

• to know God's Law
• to read God's Law
• to study God's Law
• to understand it
• to live by it
• to do it

all responsibilities!

Verse 20: "So that his heart may not be lifted up above his brethren, and that he does not turn aside from the commandment, to the right or the left, to the end that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he and his children, in the midst of Israel."

An important quality for all of us when it comes to judging within the Church. I'll use the word transfer here, but this responsibility of the kings of Israel has been, you can say, transferred to us.

This same responsibility is we know for future kings and priests, and we have Christ as our example. We know Christ is our High Priest and soon coming King. We are building the very mind of Christ.

This transfers to us as God's children to be able to be studying and knowing God's Word and using it correctly. So, yes, so we don't put ourselves above the brethren in any way.

Let's look at something else in regard to judging by God's Law.

Romans 2:1: "Therefore, you are without excuse, O man, everyone who judges another; for in that in which you judge the other, you are condemning your own self; for you who judge another are doing the same things."

We just read back there in Deuteronomy that we as God's people are to live not only know God's Law and Commandments, but also to be doing them and living by them.

Verse 2: "But we know that the judgment of God is according to Truth upon those who commit such things. Now, do you think yourself, O man, whoever is judging those who commit such things, and you are practicing them yourself, that you shall escape the judgment of God?" (vs 2-3).

So, those things talked about there, we know all types of things that that men and women do according to the flesh. But we are to be living by the Spirit!

The point here in v 2 is God's judgment is according to Truth. We know God's way is perfect and His Law is perfect! We're sanctified in the Truth. So, our job to judge within the Church is by Truth!

• that is the only way
• that is the perfect way
• that's what God desires us to be doing continually is to judge as He does: by the Truth

Psalm 119:65: "You have dealt well with Your servant, O LORD, according to Your Word."

Isn't that true? When we think and consider ourselves, God deals with us, His servants, according to His Word. We are to know God's Word; we know how God:

• works with us
• corrects us
• encourages
• strengthens us through His Word

We can be thankful God does that!

Verse 66[transcriber's correction]: "Teach me good judgment and knowledge, for I have believed Your commandments."

• that's how God deals with us
• that's how we should deal with each other, the brethren

We should continually be looking to God and asking God, say:

• teach me
• give me knowledge
• give me understanding
• give me knowledge so that I can have good judgment

We all need good judgment, as we'll talk more about through the message here.

• We've got to examine ourselves continually

Matthew 7:1: "Do not condemn others, so that you yourself will not be condemned; for with what judgment you judge, you shall be judged; and with what measure you mete out, it shall be measured again to you. Now, why do you look at the sliver that is in your brother's eye, but you do not perceive the beam in your own eye?" (vs 1-3).

That's a that's a powerful principle to think about. Those who maybe are looking continually at the sliver in their brother's eye, and maybe they're not acknowledging they have a beam in their own eye.

Verse 4: "Or how will you say to your brother, "Allow me to remove the sliver from your eye"; and behold, the beam is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first cast out the beam from your own eye, and then you shall see clearly to remove the sliver from your brother's eye" (vs 4-5).

So, we need to look at ourselves first. Continually look at ourselves first and consider ourselves, and remove from ourselves what we need to remove the as it says here, the beam in our own eye.

Why? So we can see clearly! And if there is a way to be able to help the brother in any way, which involves a lot of times making judgments, if we're considering ourselves first, then we can see clearly. So a good principle of looking at ourselves first, the beams in our own eyes.

Galatians 6:1: "Brethren, even if a man be overtaken in some offense, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of meekness, considering yourself, lest you also be tempted."

We know at times there are some that are overtaken in offenses. But we need to be spiritually minded, as Paul writes here, "…you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of meekness…"

We need to be considering ourselves. Can we fall into this same state where we can be overtaken ourselves and some offense? some sin? some difficulty?

We need to think about that when we look to others or judge others, because we could fall into those same snares.

There is a tempter out there: Satan the devil. So, that's why we all need to be close to God at all times and be considering one another lest we also fall into a temptation ourselves.

Verse 2: "Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the Law of Christ. For if anyone thinks himself to be something,when he is nothing, he is deceiving himself" (vs 2-3).

WOW! That can happen at times. Or maybe we get puffed up and think a lot of ourselves, but we need to consider ourselves continually and who we are. If we if we think we're something, we need to remind ourselves without God and Jesus Christ, we're really nothing.

Verse 4: "But let each one prove his own work, and then he will have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another."

So we need to look to ourselves and prove our own works and what we're doing right. That's important:

Verse 5: "For each one shall bear his own burden."

While we're here in Galatians, that's just to remind ourselves another strong principle here in

• Love one another

Galatians 5:13: "For you have been called unto freedom, brethren; only do not use this freedom for an occasion to the flesh; rather, serve one another with love. For the whole Law is fulfilled in this commandment: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' But if you bite and devour one another, watch out lest you be consumed by one another" (vs 13-15).

So, we have this freedom given to us by this calling and understanding we have. So, it's important we use that freedom in the right way; that:

• we love one another
• we care for one another
• we consider that in our judgments of one another

If we're not careful, we can find ourselves fighting, devouring one another. That's not the purpose of this calling.

1-Cor. 11—this is a Scripture we cover quite a bit leading up to the Passover and the days of Unleavened Bread, but again, looking at the important quality we need to have before we judge others:

• Continually examine ourselves

1-Corinthians 11:31: "Now, if we would examine ourselves, we would not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened by the Lord, so that we will not be condemned with the world" (vs 31-32).

So, yeah, the important part here is "…if we would examine ourselves…" then we need to continually. When we find things within ourselves, we need to repent of and change, we should before God. At times we are judged by God and corrected because He loves us.

We all need to be looking to ourselves and judging ourselves; this helps us to have better judgment.

Romans 8:33: "Who shall bring an accusation against the elect of God?…." We are the elect, the chosen] …God is the One Who justifies. Who is the one that condemns? It is Christ Who died, but rather, Who is raised again, Who is even now at the right hand of God, and Who is also making intercession for us" (vs 33-34). So, when we think about:

• how we perceive the brethren
• how we love one another
• how we judge one another at times

we need to remember that God and Jesus Christ are in charge! They make the final decision in judgment. We are all the elect.

God's the One Who justifies. Condemnation comes from Them and we'll be covering that more later. But it's important for us to remember Who God and Jesus Christ are and what's been done for all of us when it comes to judging.

One other principle to consider when it when it comes to judging within the Churches:

• Be careful about judging by appearance

Within the flesh it is easy to judge by appearance and we can look at this both ways. We can think about judging by the appearance for the good or for the bad, as well; both ways. But we have to be careful about how we do judge when it comes to how things appear.

2-Corinthians 10:7—Paul is writing here about himself and how he was being looked upon: "Are you looking at things according to their appearance?…. [good thing for us to question] …If anyone is persuaded in his own mind that he is Christ's, let him reconsider this concerning himself; for exactly as he is Christ's, so also are we Christ's."

We can apply this to us today and what we do, we're all Christ's.

• Do we consider that?
• Do we judge just by appearance and what we see when it comes to each other?

There's a different way we need to be thinking, and that's judging by the mind of Christ and how Christ views things and looks things.

John 7:23: "If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath, so that the Law of Moses may not be broken,whyare you angry with Me because I made a man entirely whole on the Sabbath? Judge not according to appearance, but judge righteous judgment" (vs 23-24).

So, here He was being condemned for what He did in the healing on the Sabbath, which was not against God's Law at all. But because they had things against Christ, they were judging Him for what He was doing.

Christ was doing something good. So, Christ's admonishment is we need to be judging righteously, not judging according to appearance. The principle here is judging according to God's Law and God's way and Truth and not to just the appearance of things.

James 2:1: "My brethren, do not have the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons."

So, we need to have the very faith of Jesus Christ in the mind of Jesus Christ. We need to be careful about that when it comes to being respecters of persons. When we think about God and His Law and His Word, is God a respecter of persons? No, He's not! But we do need to consider what God considers. What does God look to in all of us? That's what we need to be looking to as well and have this faith when it comes to the respecting of persons.

Verse 2: "Now then, if a man comes into your synagogue wearing gold rings and dressed in splendid apparel, and there comes in also a poor man in lowly apparel, and you give preference to the one who is wearing the splendid apparel…" (vs 2-3).

Is this not judging according to appearance? Yes, it is. That's exactly what's going on here.

"…and say to him, 'Seat yourself here in the best place'; and yousay to the poor man, 'Stand over there,' or, 'Sit here under my footstool'; then have you not passed judgment among yourselves, and have made yourselves judges with evil opinions? My beloved brethren, listen. Did not God Himself choose the poor of this world, rich in faith, and heirs of the Kingdom, which He has promised to those who love Him?" (vs 3-5)

That's why we need to be careful about judging according to appearance. Hopefully we judge the way God judges, based upon fruits.

Hopefully, God looks upon our heart and our mind and how we consider Him and His ways. We also have to think when it comes to who's being spoken about here, who God chooses; God chose us! Who are we?

Things we need to consider when it comes to judging by appearance. It is really easy to judge by appearance whether it's for the good or for the bad!

Matthew 7:15: "But beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, for within they are ravening wolves."

If we judge just by appearance, it looks like they're sheep, but there's something else inside. That's what Christ is saying, 'Beware of that!' The important point here is:

Verse 16: "You shall know them by their fruits. They do not gather grapes from thorns, or figs from thistles, do they? In the same way, every good tree produces good fruit, but a corrupt tree produces evil fruit. A good tree cannot produce evil fruit, nor can a corrupt tree produce good fruit. Every tree that is not producing good fruit is cut down and is cast into the fire. Therefore, you shall assuredly know them by their fruits" (vs 16-20).

That's what we look for: fruits! And for us, fruits of the Spirit. Now, there are fruits of the flesh that come out, but there are also fruits of the Spirit. That's what we're to be producing—fruits of the Spirit—and hopefully it's seen and all of us.

An important principle is we have to not be judging just by appearance only, because if we do, we can make wrong judgments.

I want to cover a couple of examples we have in the Bible where judgments are made or judgments are required. How those things turned out and how we need to consider ourselves in these judgments and these examples that we are given.

Example#1:

1-Cor. 5—we're going to be talking about the man there that we know that was involved in a relationship with his stepmother that was inappropriate, and judgment had to be made there.

1-Corinthians 5:1: "It is commonly reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and such immorality as is not even named among the Gentiles—allowing one to have his own father's wife."

We know this shouldn't be! But here it's occurring within the Church of God, the Body of Christ.

Verse 2: "You are puffed up… [because this was being allowed in the Church] …and did not grieve instead, so that he who did this deed might be taken out of your midst. For I indeed, being absent in body but present in spirit, have already judged concerning him who has so shamelessly committed this evil deed as if I were present: In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when you are gathered together, and my spirit, together with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ to deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus" (vs 2-5).

So, this person needed to be put out of the Church because of their conduct, and the Church there hadn't done that. They were puffed up and allowing those things to go on. A judgment should have been made here.

That's why within the Church of Christ, all of us at times, we have to make judgments about things like this. This is love. Do we consider that by putting this one out of the Church? Hopefully, there's an attitude here by this person of repentance! That they consider what they've done and how they've sinned against God and Jesus Christ and set a terrible example within the Body of Christ by doing this, by putting this person out of the Church and turning them over to Satan. Hopefully, they have a chance to examine the situation again and repent and come back.

So, the Church there should have judged this and put this person out. Paul shouldn't have had to be the one to tell him do this.

Verse 9: "I [Paul] wrote to you in an epistle not to associate with the sexually immoral."

We should not be associating with a lot of different people because of their conduct in their ways that are against God and are perverse and wicked.

Verse 10: "And yet, you can not altogether avoid contact with the sexually immoral of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or idolaters, since you would then have to go out of the world."

We're in situations continually where maybe we can't get away from some of the ones that are that have this type of conduct. It may be those we work with, or they're in families and we just can't avoid them completely.

Or as Paul said, 'If we did, we'd have to come out of this world.' But there is a difference for this within the Church, so let's read on here.

Verse 11: "But now, I have written to you not to associate with anyone who is called a brother, if he be either sexually immoral, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler… [someone that speaks abusively continually] …or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such a person you are not even to eat." That's making a judgment!

Verse 12: "For what responsibility do I have to judge those who are outside the Church? Are not you yourselves to judge those who are within?"

Are we to do that? Well, yes, there are opportunities come up where we have to judge things that are going on within the Church. All of us!

Verse 13: "But God judges those who are outside. So then, put the wicked person out from among yourselves."

I just want to mention that putting this person out, which they did—because we're going to continue reading about what happened here—this is an act of love. We don't hate this person, but we use this freedom we have to love one another.

Let's continue the story here and consider judging and how we are to judge. This had a good result with this man.

2-Corinthians 2:4: "For out of much distress and anguish of heart I wrote to you with many tears—not that you might be sorrowful, but that you might know the overflowing love which I have for you. But if anyone has caused sorrow, he has not grieved me, but you all, at least in part (in order that I may not overcharge him). To such a one this punishment, which was inflicted by the majority of you, is sufficient; so that on the contrary, you should rather forgive and encourage him, lest such a one be swallowed up with overwhelming sorrow" (vs 4-7)

Verse 8: "For this reason, I exhort you to confirm your love toward him. Now, for this cause I wrote to you, that I might know by testing you whether you are obedient in everything. But to whom you forgive anything, I also forgive; and if I also have forgiven anything, to whomever I have forgiven it, for your sakes I forgave it in the person of Christ" (vs 8-10).

Here again is the brethren making a judgment. Hopefully this person, it looks like, repented and turned away from what they were doing.

The brethren at that point needed to have an attitude and or they're forgiving. they don't want to hold this person down or make this person overly sorrowful, but they're forgiving and they're encouraging him. Hopefully, it looks like this person could come back and be a part of the brethren again and with the brethren.

I'm putting an important thing we need to consider when judging, because a lot of times within the Body of Christ, there are those who fall into sin, and have difficulties and problems. Sometimes we may have a point where we judge and we can't associate with certain people. But repentance can come, and then we have to be ready to show love and forgiveness!

But I'm going to read one more verse here. It's really important for us to consider and judging:

Verse 11: "So that we may not be outwitted by Satan, for we are not ignorant of his schemes."

• Are we the same way?
• Are we not ignorant of Satan's schemes?

Within the Body of Christ, Satan would love us to judge unrighteously! He would like for us to devour one another and consume one another. So, we have to be mindful of Satan and how he works and not be outwitted by him in these things.

How we judge one another, if we don't do this the right way, by God's Word and His Law, we can have a lot of problems within the Body of Christ, and Satan would love to see this, divisions and problems.

Example #2:

I want to go to another example in Num. 12. This is the example of Moses and what happened here with his brother and sister.

Numbers 12:1: "And Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman whom he had taken, for he had taken a Cushite woman."

So let's stop right there and just make the comment here. I don't know why Moses did that; it's not recorded for us. I don't know the outcome of how that worked out, because that's not recorded for us. But it is recorded that he took a Cushite woman.

We know later reading within the Law, Israel was given instructions about who they should marry into and take into them. Especially special instruction was given for the Levite. So, we don't know why Moses did this.

However, what we do know here is what's given for us is that his sister Miriam and his brother Aaron spoke against him.

Verse 2: "And they said, 'Has the LORD indeed spoken only by Moses? Has He not also spoken by us?' And the LORD heard it."

That's something for us to keep in mind; the LORD God and Jesus Christ hear everything and witness everything. We need to be continually mindful of that. We're not hiding anything from Them, especially what's in our heart and mind.

That's being brought out here in what was going on with Miriam and Aaron, what was going on within their hearts and minds.

Verse 3: "(Now the man Moses was very meek, more than all the men on the face of the earth.) And the LORD spoke suddenly to Moses and to Aaron and to Miriam, 'You three come out to the tabernacle of the congregation.' And the three came out. And the LORD came down in the pillar of the cloud and stood in the door of the tabernacle, and called Aaron and Miriam. And they both came forward. And He said, 'Hear now My words. If there is a prophet among you, I the LORD will make Myself known to him in a vision, and will speak to him in a dream'" (vs 3-6).

If there is a prophet among you, that's how God will work. We've seen examples of that throughout the Bible. That's how God worked in a vision or in a dream.

Verse 7: "Not so with My servant Moses. He is faithful in all My house." That's how God looked at Moses being faithful in all His house!

Verse 8: "'I will speak with him mouth to mouth, even clearly, and not in dark speeches. And he shall behold the likeness of the LORD. Why then were you not afraid to speak against My servant Moses?' And the anger of the LORD was kindled against them, and He departed" (vs 8-9).

We know Miriam there became leprous and Moses prayed for her and that was taken back from her. But the point here, we want to make here is: What's in our heart as we judge and look to one another? We're all God's children!

As we spoke about earlier, sometimes we do things within the Church we shouldn't do and we fall on things we shouldn't fall into. But we need to look at the motives of when we do judge one another:

• What's our motive?
• What's our intention?
• What was the intention and the motives here of Miriam and Aaron?

Well, it wasn't good! God brings that out.

So, these things we know are written for examples, things to be considered. God works with all of us as His children. We need to be considering each other in love and having genuine concern for one another. James does a good job at kind of talking about what happened here.

James 4:11: "Brethren, do not talk against one another…."

That's kind of what Miriam and Aaron were doing in regards to Moses, weren't they?

"…The one who talks against a brother, and judges his brother, is speaking against the Law, and is judging the Law. But if you judge the Law, you are not a doer of the Law; rather, you are a judge. But there is only one Lawgiver, Who has power to save and to destroy. Who are you that you presume to judge another?" (vs 11-12).

We want to love one another; that's part of the Law, that we love each other as we love ourselves. We love one another. We don't judge the Law. There is a Lawgiver and a Judge of the Law, and that's God and Jesus Christ. So we need to be considerate of that and not speak against one another.

We always need to be looking to God; God is our Judge! We need to keep that in mind. We need to keep that in mind continually.

1-Corinthians 4:1: "So then, let every man regard us as ministers of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. Beyond that, it is required of stewards that one be found faithful. But to me it is an insignificant matter that I am judged by you, or by man's standard; and neither do I judge myself. Now, I am not conscious of anything against myself, yet, I am not justified by this; for the One Who is judging me is the Lord" (vs 1-4).

It's something for us to consider. We don't judge by again, man's standards. we judge by God's standards. Maybe we don't see anything within ourselves, but does that justify us? NO! It's God Who's judging us!

Verse 5: "Therefore, do not judge anything before the time; wait until the Lord comes, Who will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the motives of all hearts; and then shall each one receive praise from God."

All these things are going to come to light at some point and we'll be judged. When it comes to the Church and what's gone on in the Church, there are a lot of things that have gone on that weren't good. That we know were against God and His Law. In some cases were very evil and wicked.

Those things occurred in the past. And things probably are occurring presently, too; things that are going on that we know that aren't good and aren't correct.  I think something we need to be mindful of is just being careful not to overly judge, especially condemn, because God is the One Who will bring all these things to light and all the motives of the heart!

Someday we'll know the outcomes of a lot of the things that we've been a part of and have seen in the Church in the past and are presently seeing. God will make those things known and we'll know then, too.

But the final judgment is left up to God and the condemnation of all different people that we've seen involved in things that shouldn't have taken place in the Church. Those things will come to light at that final judgment.

At times we may hear from some that past judgment and maybe condemn some. I've heard people mention where they feel like the certain ones will be burned up or thrown into the Lake of Fire. Well, we know that there is a Lake of Fire that the beast and the false prophet will be thrown into, and Satan and the demons. But when it comes to people, that judgment again will be left up to God!

So, we're never to speak of somebody, and refer to them having eternal death and condemnation, because again, that's in God's power!

These things brought out here will be made known, the motives and the intents of the heart and where everyone stands with God. We'll know someday. The important thing for us is that we stay in good standing with God! So we'll be standing in that day as spirit beings eternally.

Where do we want our minds to be? Considering the brethren, and how we think about each other. This message has been about judging and how we judge each other. Where do we want our minds to continually stand?

I just have a few principles here for us to be considering our thoughts towards the brethren and where our minds should be.

Gen. 4—this is the situation here with Cain and Abel:

Genesis 4:9: "And the LORD said unto Cain, 'Where is your brother Abel?' And he said, 'I do not know. Am I my brother's keeper?'"

So within our minds, we have to ask ourselves:

• Are we our brother's keeper?

or

• Do we want to be our brother's judge?

I hope all of our minds is we want to be our brother's keeper. We want to hedge about and be concerned about our brothers and sisters in Christ and their well-being, and not be their judge.

Cain became a judge, and we know the judgment he passed upon his brother was that he killed him. So, considering ourselves, those of us who are spiritual, spiritually concerning: Do we kill our brothers and sisters in Christ in how we judge within the mind, in our heart?

Something for us to consider; our jobs are to be keepers, not judges! Let's look at another principle; where we want our minds to be continually when it comes to the brethren.

Jude 20: "But you, beloved, be building up yourselves on your most Holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, so that you keep yourselves in the love of God… [that's where we want to stay] … while you are personally awaiting the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. Now on the one hand, show mercy to those individuals who are doubting; but on the other hand, save others with fear, snatching them out of the fire, hating even the garment that has been defiled by the flesh" (vs 20-23).

The important part is here is that we keep ourselves continually in the love of God. If we do that, we'll find ourselves making better judgments.

Hebrews 10:24: "And let us be concerned about one another, and be stirring up one another unto love and good works." That's our job also!

To continually be concerned about one another. Not to be continually wanting to judge each other or speak evil of each other. But be concerned and stirring up one another. That's how we want to be with each other.

Let's bring out something out about King David. We know King David's going to be over Israel in the Kingdom. As a king, King David, a man that God chose and anointed someone that was after His own heart! Let's see what some of the final words here were of David:

2-Samuel 23:1: "And these are the last words of David. David the son of Jesse, and the man who was raised up on high, the anointed of the God of Jacob, and the sweet psalmist of Israel, said: 'The Spirit of the LORD spoke by me, and His Word was on my tongue. The God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel spoke to me, "He who rules over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God"'" (vs 1-3).

That's how David strived to rule! That's how he will rule in the Kingdom! What is the fruit of this, those who rule over men and women justly and in the fear of God?

Verse 4: "And he shall be as the light of the morning as the sunrises, a morning without clouds. The tender grass springs out of the earth through the sun's clear shining after a rain."

What beautiful words written there and what power there is by judging righteously, by judging by God's Law.

So, brethren, as we consider this, what we've read here,  how we judge today, our judgments we make of one another. We are continually judging within the Church. We're practicing what it's going to be like to judge in the future, in God's Kingdom. Thinking about the Millennium and all the people God will allow us as He desires.

We'll find out more about that in the thousand year period working with people. But as we learn the things of this life, we'll be able to transfer those into the next life.

As we think about judging one another, let's strive to judge one another:

• by God's Word
• by God's Law
• in love

A continued love, the love of God, having concern always for one another, always hoping the best for one each other and all that we do.

Let's also judge one another using the very mind of Christ!

Scriptural References:

• Ephesians 4:1-7
• Romans 14:7-13
• 1-Corinthians 6:1-3
• Deuteronomy 17:18-20
• Romans 2:1-3
• Psalm 119:65-66
• Matthew 7:1-5
• Galatians 6:1-5
• Galatians 5:13-15
• 1-Corinthians 11:31-32
• Romans 8:33-34
• 2-Corinthians 10:7
• John 7:23-24
• James 2:1-5
• Matthew 7:15-20
• 1-Corinthians 5:1-5, 9-13
• 2-Corinthians 2:4-11
• Numbers 12:1-9
• James 4:11-12
• 1-Corinthians 4:1-5
• Genesis 4:9
• Jude 20-23
• Hebrews 10:24
• 2-Samuel 23:1-4

TF:bo/po
Transcribed: 10/28/24

Copyright 2024—All rights reserved. Except for brief excerpts for review purposes, no part of this publication may be reproduced or used in any form or by any means without the written permission of the copyright owner. This includes electronic and mechanical photocopying or recording, as well as the use of information storage and retrieval systems.