JR & KC Answer Questions

Introduction

Well, things look a little different this morning. Umer Bumbeyites will think it looks a little bit familiar. Uh newcomers and visitors might think, what are they doing? But in lieu of our normal sermon time this morning, uh we’re reprising our old question and answer session. And so from time to time, we’re not sure about the frequency yet. J.R. and I will sit before you like this and answer questions that you’ve submitted. And first thing we want to start is by thanking you for the good questions. We got a good number of questions submitted to us. We’re going to look at a few of those, time permitting. Just to know if you submitted a question and we don’t cover that question today, it’s because we didn’t like that question.

No, it’s just because we had so many. We’re just going through them in the order that we received them, that we remembered we received them. Uh, and we’ll do whatever time permits this morning. Uh, and then Lord willing, the next time we do this, we’ll start right where that list left off. So it might take us a while to get to your question, but we we will address those questions. Our endeavor in this period as well as in everything we do is just to simply get to God’s truth. We talked in our morning Bible class this morning about that incident, Acts chapter 15, where uh the apostles and the elders and others uh the church at Jerusalem got together to discuss the issue of circumcision. And we made the observation in the book of in our study of the book of Acts that what they did on that occasion, they didn’t come together to decide the truth, they came together to determine the truth.

And that’s what we’re trying to do in all of our endeavors, and certainly in this question and asking, we’re just simply want to say, what does God’s word say about that? Not that we want what we want it to say, what would be our opinion, but what does God say about those particular issues? And so we’re gonna start with those questions.

1. Being Judgmental Versus Righteous Judgment

And there we go. There we go. Question answer. Alright. So for full disclosure, I’ve made the PowerPoint and the orders of the questions, and so I gave all of JR the hard questions, and then I’m going to get the softball question. So all right, we’ll start. JR, this one’s pretty hard, so we’ll let you cover it. Someone has asked for us to explain the difference in being judgmental versus having righteous judgment. What’s the difference in judging in a judgmental way and exercising righteous judgment? J.R., what do you think about that? And Ken, that’s a good question. We often need to ask ourselves the question Am I being judgmental or am I using righteous judgment? And the easiest answer to just simplify this is being judgmental. When you have judgmental attitude, that’s a disparaging attitude.

If you’re just being judgmental. But righteous judgment is utilizing discernment. And there’s lots of scriptures in the Bible that teach us about utilizing discernment in the Bible. We could go to the Old Testament and we could look at passages of scripture about Solomon, who was called the wisest ever, and God was very well pleased that he asked for a discerning mind. When Solomon was asked of that, that was something he he was very, God was very well pleased that he wanted to have a discerning mind. But we also have a lot of scriptures in the New Testament that tell us the difference between being judgmental and using righteous judgment. One of the passages of scriptures that comes to mind is Matthew chapter 7, verses 15 through 23, where he says, Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves.

You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thorn bushes or figs from thistles? Even so every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear, uh, a good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree doesn’t bear good fruit. Every tree that doesn’t bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore, by their fruits you will know them. So in Matthew 7, 15 through 23, you could even look at the next section where he declares their doctrines. He says they’re fake doctrines, they’re false doctrines, and he says those people that are presenting that are ravenous, like a wolf that’s ravenous. That’s far from a sympathetic statement that says so often touted in the religious world, we’re all just on different roads leading to heaven.

Uh, not to mention the idea of you will know that they’re not a sheep but a wolf. Well, if he’s saying that, then you would know that implies their teaching is something that is a portion of truth. They’re making an appearance of that. They come to you, it says, in sheep’s clothing. So maybe we might say that could be even qualify as someone who says, we agree with the essentials of the death, burial, and resurrection, but doctrine doesn’t matter. Well, that’s obviously clearly a place where we can utilize righteous judgment. The fact is doctrine does matter. Things from the scriptures do matter, and in fact, God tells us to make a discernment. Uh now on the judgmental side, you could look at the same chapter in Matthew 7, 1 and 2, where he says, Judge not to be not judged.

For with what judgment you judge will be judged, and with the measure you use, it’ll be measured back to you. This verse, by the way, is the world’s favorite verse. They know that verse.

But that’s not the case. I mean, God will often say there are things we shouldn’t do. Thou shalt not steal. Oh, that’s just taxes. People aren’t going to say that. Thou shalt not fornicate. You’re just being old fashioned. Different people will say things like this. Some people might even say that we should excuse homosexuality or lesbianism. But God says that’s sin in Romans chapter 1. Their response might be, Well, love is love is love. Well, that’s not the case from Scripture. In Matthew 7 1, it’s saying, we as mortals, although we don’t sit in the seat of divine judgment, we will be able in the next chapter, as through the chapter as it reads along, to exercise discernment. The standard we use will be what will be measured to us.

That’s what he’s saying in the second verse. Whatever the standard is, that’s what’s going to be measured back to us in the way we do that. There’s a lot of other scriptures that could talk about this.

He says, But you’re supposed to judge those in the church. You’re supposed to judge those inside. So some versions will even say, make decisions over certain things with those in the church. He says, What have I to do with judging those in the world? So he’s saying in that context, there would be a told to judge. And then we have other passages of scripture where Jesus, back in uh Isaiah eleven, says, There shall come forth from a r from uh the stem of Jesse, a branch shall grow out of his roots, and it says in the fourth verse, talking about Jesus, with righteousness, hear that, he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity the meek of the earth, he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and so Jesus is going to judge.

He’ll judge some a righteously in such a way that they’ll receive a reward. Some uh he says, the meek, they receive equity, verse four. Some will have verse four e like a striking rod, and then first Corinthians eleven one says, Imitate me as I imitate Christ, and so we use righteous judgment. I would summarize Ken and Congregation with this one statement. This one statement that really helps us understand this, i in the application of someone who would say, Well, you’re judging me when someone’s trying to do right, but they’re growing in the faith, versus someone who knows what they’re doing and is just using that verse to try to excuse sin. I like to go to Jude, I know it has one chapter, but for the sake of writing, Jude 1 20 through 23, it says, But you beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life, and on some have compassion, making a distinction, but on others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment defiled by the flesh.

So he’s saying here, you can have some people like me that you can tell me something very, very gently. I don’t need to be yelled at. You can tell me very, very gently, and I’ll understand. Other people they’re more gruff, they’re more uh uh, I don’t know how else to say this, they’re just more emboldened, Ken, and you’ve got to kind of be blunt with them and tell them this is what you’re doing that’s wrong. And so with different people, you have different ways of approaching them, but he says you save with fear of pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment defiled by the flesh. If I’m doing something wrong, by all means don’t ignore that. Tell me. But here he’s saying the style of how to tell them.

2. My Motivation Before and My Actions After

And on some you make a distinction as to how you tell them. So being judgmental, it’s having a disparaging attitude. Righteous judgment, we need that, is utilizing discernment. Ken, do you have any extra thoughts? Yeah, I I guess this puts us in treacherous, potentially treacherous territory, because one of those things we’re called on to do, and the other one puts us in danger of God’s judgment. And so my more personal question is, am I doing it right? Am I on the right side of that fence? And how can I determine whether I am exercising righteous judgment versus being judgmental? And and I say maybe two things. One is before and after. Uh, one is my motivation before. What’s my motivation in judging or making a discernment there?

That’s all that is very telling. And then on the back end of it, what’s my what are my actions after making that judgment? Let me illustrate and I’ll pick on J.R. here. Let’s say that J.R. and I meet back here at the building after uh after lunch, and and J.R. has some spinach in his teeth there. Uh and it’s pretty glaring. And and so I’m I’m gonna point that out. I’m gonna judge J.R. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. You won’t find spinach in my teeth. But anyway, uh I I’m gonna point that out to Jay. What’s my motivation in pointing out that Jared has that spinach in his teeth? Is my motivation to make fun of him and to ridicule him and belittle him in that? Or is it I want to be helpful because he may have another stop and he might be embarrassed if he found out he had that.

And so my motivation in making that judgment really matters. And then what were my actions after that? If it’s after that, I’m just mocking him, and you’re just a slob and a you know, a messy eater, and you don’t brush your teeth, and I’m just I’m and I just get on the phone or email all of y’all and say, You won’t believe this. Here I took a picture uh secretly with my phone. Here’s Jared, don’t he look silly? But that, you know, my actions afterward will help me to say what my motivations were. So I think a lot of times it’s my motivation before and my actions afterward are very telling in why I did that. Was I exercising righteous judgment and helping Jared out and trying to make him you know look better uh and and make a better appearance, or was my motivation and actions all about just belittling him and demeaning him and showing out how much I’m better than he is because I don’t eat spinach?

So I think that’s key. One other thing, one other thing is love. We judge because we love God, because he loves us, and we tell people we love them. We don’t say we love sin, we don’t love sin, but we love the person enough to hopefully get them out of sin. So that’s also another kind of layer to all this. Yes, we love him because he first loved us, and we don’t want someone in sin to uh be judged in a negative way by God, so we show our love to them by saying, Hey, this is what God says. And yeah, motivation is motive. I want to help that person. And so here’s a heart check moment. Before I exercise judgment of any kind, pause a little bit.

3. Why Don’t Christians Sue?

Why am I doing this? What’s my motivation and what are my actions going to be? Are they going to be the actions that God has shown toward me and the motivation and the attitude that God had toward me? So hopefully that’ll help uh in that regard. We read for number two. Let’s do the next question. We’ve kind of got a legal theme this morning. We talked about judging, and the second question is just simply why don’t Christians sue? Uh now I’m assuming from this question they mean why don’t we sue one another? And so you may be already turning in your New Testament to 1 Corinthians chapter 6. First Corinthians chapter 6 uh deals with this issue. One of the many problems uh that that the church at Corinth had was their attitudes and their actions toward one another.

Uh this kind of does segue to that first question about judging, is that they were, we find out in 1 Corinthians 6, they were taking one another to court uh over certain matters. I found this quote interesting, uh, and uh I’m gonna ask John DeBoes to cover his ears uh while I make this statement. But this uh uh Dio Christophum, who was alive at this time, uh, is quoted as saying that uh in Corinth they were lawyers innumerable, perverting justice in Corinth. And so if you can picture it in Corinth, there were billboards on every corner advertising, uh lawyers, and every ad on television was about a lawyer and how we can get you millions of dollars and all of that. And they were just perverting justice.

And it seems like some of the brethren fell into that trap of that litigious society, and it even crept over into the church. And so why don’t we do that? Why don’t again I’m going to pick on J.R. since he’s an easy target here? Let’s say that J.R. and I have a beef against one another, and I’m just going to take J.R. to court. He’s done me wrong, and I’m going to take him to court and sue him and get my pound of flesh, my justice from that. Why shouldn’t I do that? Why isn’t that approved? Well, uh, here’s here’s the answer. If you want the short answer, we’re told not to. And in some sense, that should settle it. Paul says, don’t do that. And Paul, inspired by the Holy Spirit, said, Don’t do that.

And so, for really for all of us, that should settle the issue, shouldn’t it? God said, Don’t do that. Don’t treat one another that way. But but God, most of the time doesn’t just tell us to do something or refrain from doing something. God’s a good father, a good and a good parent doesn’t just discipline his children. Explain why. Why you shouldn’t do that, and why I’m telling you this. And so let’s examine some of those. Uh one is he’s he tells those uh brethren at Corinth, you you can settle these matters. You don’t have to rise to that. Uh are you in there, 1 Corinthians chapter 6? Uh he says in verse 5 in regard to this issue, I say this to your shame. Is it not so that there is a wise man among you, not even one, who will be able to judge between his brethren.

But brother goes to law against brother, and that before unbelievers. And so he just seems that that’s unnecessary. There’s other ways to settle these matters. He’s not diminishing the dispute that J.R. have against one another and how J.R.’s wronged me and my need for uh some justice in this, but he’s just saying there’s there’s better ways to handle that. Uh that you can handle that. Well, we’d say maybe in house. Isn’t there somebody in that congregation that’s wise enough? Maybe two or three somebodies. It’s wise enough that you could say, hey, here’s what happened. Here’s what J.R. did to me. What do you think ought to be done? And just settle it that way, kind of in house. He says before unbelievers, and he’s going to kind of expand upon why that was the wrong thing to do.

And I think we can might summarize it as wrong in two senses. Number one is uh that’s not going to make the church at South Bumbi in a good positive light in the community. Uh, if the community finds out, you know, they’ve got two preachers at South Bumbie and one suing the other one. Uh, you know, good luck with evangelism uh after that. And so there’s what one concept. But also, you don’t want an unbeliever who’s not going to be using righteous judgment and exercising the wisdom that God gives them through his word. Wouldn’t it be better to find a seasoned Christian that can look at this from a Christian standpoint in that regard? So he just simply says, you you can, there’s other ways to handle uh this issue.

Um the second, the third reason really is that we shouldn’t do wrong. J.R. shouldn’t have done what he did to me uh in that regard, to make me feel like I needed to get that pound of flesh. Uh and so look again there in in 1 Corinthians uh chapter 6. Go down to verse 8. No, you yourselves do wrong and defraud, and you do these things to your brethren. Again, and let me emphasize what you already know. This is an imaginary scenario here with me and J.R., but J.R. shouldn’t have done what he did. That’s just not the way a Christian acts. He shouldn’t have wronged me. And so there’s step number one in this. You don’t do anything to your brother that’s going to make him want to take you to court.

4. We Should Accept Wrong

Or even take you to one of the wise brethren, brothers and sisters there that can help you settle this dispute. Just don’t do that. That’s step number one. If you’re the accused in this, we would say maybe if you’re the defendant in this lawsuit, step number one is don’t do that. Don’t do that. Don’t act in such a way. Don’t wrong somebody, period, uh in that regard. And so J.R., the first step of this, J.R. just shouldn’t have done me wrong in that regard. And if he did, he should just instantly want to make it right. Here, I’m sorry, Ken. Here’s here’s we’ll make this right. But then the second point is, is that we should accept wrong. Back up a little bit there in 1 Corinthians chapter 6, in verse 6 again, he says, but brother goes to law against brother, and that before unbelievers.

Now therefore, it’s already an utter failure for you to go to law against one another. Why do you not rather accept wrong? And why do you not rather let yourselves be defrauded? And so he speaks to both parties, to the defendant in this lawsuit. He says, You shouldn’t have done that. You shouldn’t have wronged him. And now to the what we’d say the plaintiff, the accuser, can’t you just let it go? That’s the way we would say it today. Can’t you just be wrong in this scenario? Um, I’ve told you before, that’s a hard, and I’m gonna be honest with you, I struggle with this. Uh, in in my personal life. I am a man of justice. Uh, that wrongs need to be righted and righted immediately.

It’s difficult for me to be driving and see someone run a traffic traffic light. I want to chase them down. And I want to make it right. Please pause here and say a little prayer for Deedra, who’s often in the passenger seat seat under these scenarios. I’m a man of justice, and I want justice swift and hard and and immediate in that regard. But God teaches us that, number one, he’s in control, he can handle this uh situation here, and that sometimes we have to just let things go, even if I’ve been wronged. And so JR did me wrong, and he addresses it there at verse 6. J.R., you shouldn’t have done that. You shouldn’t motivate somebody to to want to do that. But then to Ken, he says, Ken, can’t you just let that go?

Do you have to feel like you have to one up JR and get it even? If he punched you, do you have to punch him back? Uh, you know, if he wronged you, do you have to kind of almost wrong him back to make it equal? That no, we can accept that wrong. And again, I think that’s a difficult concept, not just for me, but many Americans. We we champion our bill of rights, we have certain rights. And part of that right is justice. And it’s hard for us to humble ourselves and just accept the fact that that was wrong, what was done to me. And he or she shouldn’t have done it. And they’re wrong for doing that. But there’s a greater cause here. There’s the cause of Christ in his kingdom.

There’s the cause of our relationship and our ability to be able to love and work and worship together. And so sometimes I just have to be the wrong party. And I don’t have to make it right. And I don’t have to slap J.R. because he slapped me. Sometimes I have to, as hard as it is, to turn that other cheek and to accept that wrong. And accepting that wrong feels like that second slap, doesn’t it? He got away with it. And he shouldn’t get away with that. But Paul is concerned here, not just about our own personal justice. But Paul’s concerned about their love for one another and the way they treat one another and how this in a bigger scheme of things, how this affects the cause of Christ in Corinth or in Orlando.

And so we need to think as God thinks, as God wants us to think and to love one another. And love, as God has taught us, we talked about in our Lord’s Supper session. Love means that we have to sacrifice. And we have to be wrong in that regard. So any thoughts on that, Sudden? Yes, Ken is one of justice. He wants justice. I’ll try not to run those red lights, Ken. All right. But uh at the same but at the same time, I’m kind of a guy of practicality, Ken. I look at this and I think, why would I want to get tied up in that type of process of going to law, going tied up, getting all this stuff, having people in the world uh go through that with me when God says as a Christian I should accept what the situation is, and like you said, turn the other cheek.

Um there’s no sense to get involved in all that as a as a Christian. Um I’m not saying there aren’t certain times where those things are certain things in the world, uh the world recognizes the need for lawyers and that type of thing. That’s not what I’m talking about. I’m just saying rather than get tied up in that. Uh, I mean, we get things in the mail. Do you want to be part of this clash action suit? You bought this, you bought that, you bought that. That’s like twenty dollars or ten dollars. I really don’t want to get the paperwork to even do that. I’m the type of person that would rather not complain about life. And so that’s kind of the practicality side of it, rather getting tied up in all that.

Conclusion

Yeah. And another practical side again is the the practical application of kingdom principles. And so uh let’s just strive. Both of these questions have helped us, let’s strive toward our attitude and our actions toward one another. That that we are doing nothing to hinder the cause of Christ uh and to hinder our relationship and our ability to be able to love and work and worship together. Well, J.R., the clock on the wall tells me that we didn’t get too far. Okay, you you talk too much. Yes. Uh and so no. Uh we appreciate those questions. We just got through two of them, uh, but we’ve got your we’ve got your questions. We had some queued up on the PowerPoint, but uh we’ll get to those uh later.

But we appreciate those questions. Keep them coming, keep them coming. It may be that JR and I, one may want to take one of those questions, just preach a whole sermon about it. We don’t have time with that. But we’ll we’ll, whatever it is, in some way, uh, we’ll address all of those questions, uh, and we appreciate that. Appreciate your attitude in asking those questions, because I know your motivation is you want to do what’s right. You want to do what God wants you to do, and that should be our motivation in asking and answering those questions. So thanks so much for your time and attention. I’m gonna turn it over to J.R. I’m gonna watch where I step. We’re very grateful and thankful for you all’s presence this morning, and we do not want to end or conclude a service on the day that we are here to gather to remember Jesus Christ without offering the invitation.

There may be someone in our uh assembly this morning who is not a Christian, and we want you to know you can become one, a New Testament Christian in the way in which is told by hearing and believing, repenting and confessing, and being baptized for the forgiveness of sins. Acts 22 16 says, and now why are you waiting? Arise and be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord. If we can help you do that, please come sit on the front row as we stand and sing our invitation song.