The Church of Eleven22 - S02E13 - Stop Passing Judgment On One Another

Episode Date: July 5, 2021

Last week, Pastor Joby taught through exhorting one another, holding one another accountable and pointing back to the eternal well of living water only Christ can offer. There's a difference between exhorting and passing judgment. It's putting your own preferences and opinions aside and continuously pointing to the gospel. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. - Romans 8:1

Welcome to deepen with Pastor Joby Martin. The Church of 1122 is a movement for all people to discover and deepen a relationship with Jesus Christ. And we're praying this message helps you deepen your relationship with him. Now let's dive in. Hey, church family, welcome back to Deepening Devo. Today we're going to dive into another one another based off last weekend's message, a pretty famous event in the Bible, where the woman's called an adult. The religious leaders drag her before Jesus. By law, she should be stone. They're standing there

with rocks. They look at Jesus, what say you? And he very famously says, whoever's never sinned throw the first stone, and they all leave. And so I just know there's a bunch of people that have, um, who have been battered and bruised in churches because they feel like they have had stone strung at them. And so I don't ever want this, I don't ever want that to be this place. And so the Bible says, therefore now there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. So in Christ we leave behind our sin and we leave behind our condemnation. And so Romans 1413 says this, stop passing judgment on one another. So one of the ways we're supposed to one another, one another is this is don't throw stones at one another. Stop passing judgment.

on one or another. Now, here's the thing. If I just dive into what the Bible means when it says don't pass judgment on one another, it can almost sound like this week, I'm saying the exact opposite of what we said last week, because I don't know if you remember, but last week we said that we're supposed to exhort one another, that your business is my business. And if I see you sinning, if I see you drifting away, I'm supposed to come running to you and say, whoa, whoa, whoa, come back home, come back home, come back to the father, that kind of thing. So what's the difference between exhorting or what's the difference between accountability and judgment? Well, the good news is, is Paul talks about this in Romans 14.

And here's a couple of, here's a little bit of a filter as we're going to walk through a bunch of verses here. Here's a little filter as you begin to discern where am I being judgmental in a way that the Bible says, let us not stop passing judgment on one another one another and where am i um where do i need to throttle down and lean in and exhort one another so one of the ways to look at it is one are we talking about your opinion or are we talking about truth because those are not the same thing is is the person breaking a precept of god or is the person just doing something that it doesn't line up with your personal preference. Another filter to look through is this, is as I try to speak the truth and love to this person that I perceive is wandering away from God, how do I know if I'm not,

how do I know if I'm judging in a way that Roman says don't or exhorting in the way that the Bible says to? And one of the things to ask is this, am I saying this for me or am I saying these things for you? Who's the, who's the benefactor there? Okay, so with that in mind, in Romans chapter 14, what's going on here is Paul is writing to the church in Rome. And there's a bunch of different people with a bunch of different backgrounds, and they're bringing their backgrounds into one church, like cultural kind of backgrounds, traditional backgrounds. And there's Jews and there's Gentiles, and there's people from all over the region

that are coming into this one place. And one of the things that begins to happen that's a problem are things like dietary restrictions, because in the old covenant, there's a bunch of laws in the old covenant from Moses about what you can and cannot eat. And then Christ comes along and says, it is finished, that he is the fulfillment of the law. And so now the way that we are set apart to be holy is not what we put into our mouth, but what comes out of our heart. And so basically, we know because of the vision that Peter has in the book of Acts, that there is no unclean animal. So the gospel frees us to eat whatever you want to eat But then when you get into the Roman church

There are some people that are like, yeah, you say that But I can only eat these foods because I grew up Old Testament There was another thing going on too is that Because Rome was so pagan, a lot of times There was food sacrificed to idol So what it would mean is like you would cook a big feast You would literally set it before your idol Like it could be it could be Zeus or it could be a number of

Bail or whoever. You could set it before your idol and you made that offering to that idol. And whatever the idol did not eat, the idol was giving to you to eat. So now you've got food sacrificed to an idol. And the idea being that this God that you were, that you sacrificed food to, that your sustenance came from them. And so a bunch of Christians were like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, we don't eat food, sacrifice to idols. But then the apostles are like, well, listen, man, the idol is a fake piece of wood anyway. So I don't care if you said hocus pocus over it or not, man, but a filet is a filet so you can eat the filet. So here's the argument going on, all right? And so, Romans 141, as for the one who is weak in faith, welcome

him, but do not quarrel over opinions. So here's kind of step one. Am I supposed to say something to you because I think you're wandering away or wondering into sin? Well, are you going to quarrel over your own opinion, or are you talking about a precept of God? He says, one person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables, which makes me laugh, but it's not talking about vegans or weak. That's probably true, but that's not what the Bible says. What the Bible is saying is, the person weak in their faith does not understand the freedom the gospel brings, and so they feel like they can't eat meat because it was sacrificed to idols.

They can only eat vegetables. verse three, let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him. In other words, don't take your tradition and your personal preference and use it to divide the body. Don't look down your nose at any other believer because of their tradition. He says, who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another?

It is before his own master that he stands or false. And he will be upheld for the Lord is able. to make him stand. One person esteems, okay, now he's going to switch gears here. So that was about food sacrifice to idols, okay? And he's saying, all right, no matter, no matter which side of the fence you fall on that, we need to agree in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Let me tell you, the modern day equivalent of this would be like alcohol. Maybe not so much in the church of 1122, but like a Southern Baptist church kind of thing, if that's your background, all right? And it's clear, the Bible says very clearly, you don't get drunk. If you get drunk, that's a sin.

All right. And so there are some people that say, I'm staying away from it, don't want to be near it ever, ever, ever. And you do that just because of wisdom, maybe because of family experience, maybe because of personal experience. And then there's other people that are like, no, man, we are free in Christ as long as you don't break any commandments. Same kind of talk here. And what Paul is saying is, let not the, the, I drink a glass of wine with dinner, look down on the teetotelers who never drink, and let not the people that abstain always look down on the people that drink.

That's kind of what he's saying. Don't pass judgment on one another. Now he's going to switch. Now he's going to talk about another Old Testament tradition, which was the Sabbath. Now we know that the commandment to keep the Sabbath holy is a commandment from God, but then when Jesus comes and fulfills the law,

now the day on which you Sabbath is not as important as the fact that you Sabbath. And here's how we know. Paul says this, one person esteems one day is better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord. The one who eats eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God,

while the one who abstains abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God. for none of us lives to himself and none of us dies to himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's. For to this end, Christ died and lived again that he might be Lord, both of the living and the dead. In other words, what he's saying is, quit getting so focused on the smallest details of like what service you go to,

what day you go to church, when you worship. how hot do you lift your hands? What kind of instruments do you use? Those kind of backbiting will devour one another. He said, so how about let's stay focused on the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus? Verse 10, he goes, why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God. In other words, do you feel like you need to judge somebody or can you trust God with the judgment? for it is written as I live says the Lord every knee shall bow to me and every tongue shall confess so then each of us will give an account of himself to God and then here's our one another

ready therefore let us not pass judgment on one another any longer but rather decide never to put a stumbling block or a hindrance in the way of a brother he says I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in and of itself so Paul is saying saying, I know. I mean, he is an apostle. He's writing the Bible. He's saying, I know one day is not more important than another day. I know that this piece of steak and that piece of steak are fine. I know that even though the Old Testament says that for the Jewish people, they, up until Christ came and fulfilled the law, you couldn't eat pork. But Paul is saying, God bless bacon. I know I can eat bacon to the glory of God. He says, I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean.

in itself, but it is unclean for anyone who thinks it's unclean. Let me give you a for instance. My grandmother, both of my grandmothers, I grew up in Marion, South Carolina, and they would probably think that if they did not wear a dress or a skirt to church, that that was a sin. Now, is it actually a sin? No. If that was the case, then every girl at 1122 would be a sinner, right?

because you wear pants all the time. No problem, no problem. I know that there's no dress code for church. But in their own conscience, the way they grew up is they just felt like this is what you wear to church. What Paul is saying is this. Those of us that are free to wear jeans to church should not look at my grandma, who feels like she has to wear a Sunday dress to church, and we should not look down our nose and judge those kind of things.

And neither should she judge me because I wear jeans. therefore let us not pass judgment on one another any longer but rather decide to never put a stumbling block or a hindrance in the way of the brother for if your brother is grieved by what you eat you are no longer walking in love by what you eat do not destroy the one for whom christ died so do not let what what you regard as good be spoken of as evil for the kingdom of god is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Whoever thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men. So then, let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding.

Here's what he's saying. Here's the difference between exhort one another. If you see someone falling away from Christ or his bride, you go and you strongly urge them to say no to sin and come back to Jesus. And the difference between that and not passing judgment on one another. It's this. Am I lifting up this person to Christ or am I lifting up my own personal preference to Christ? Am I at great sacrifice to me loving this person?

Or am I sitting on my ecclesiological soapbox so that I can speak down to someone? Listen, the church, honestly, has a serious public relations problem that we earned. That we earned. Jesus says that he did not come to condemn this world, but to save it through him. And so if Jesus did not come to condemn, then who are we to think that we should be condemning? Let us not pass judgment on one another, but let us love one another enough to tell the truth in love, always pointing people back to reconciling first and foremost with the Lord and also with one another. Let us put our own preferences, our own traditions, our own opinions at the appropriate low level,

and let us continuously lift up Christ, crucified, and resurrected. And that, that will unify the body. Let's pray. Dear Father in heaven, Lord, I thank you. you and I praise you that you and you alone are the judge. Thank God you really don't need our help in judging other people. Lord, I thank you that you love us enough that you would call us into your family and as brothers and sisters in Christ we are called to love each other enough to point out blind

spots. We are to love each other enough to have difficult conversations if we think people are drifting away. but God forgive us when our egos get so big when we get so self-righteous that we think that you need our help in judging the world God I thank you that

for all who are in Christ Jesus the judgment has already been made that we are forgiven in Him Lord I pray that the grace that we've experienced through Christ on the cross would just flow through us to our brothers and sisters in Christ and it would flow through us to this world.

God, I pray that we would love this world enough, knowing that the judgment day is coming, that we would share the good news of the gospel. We pray it in Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you for joining us for Deepen with Pastor Jobi Martin. If you're looking for additional resources to help you further deepen your relationship with Jesus Christ,

visit C-O-E-22.com slash resources. We're praying this message you heard today helps you experience God in a unique and fresh way. And as always, be free.