Most people who have
a negatively skewed sense of Christianity feel that way because of how they see
Christians live. There are generally two ways a Christian can enhance the
negative perception of others. The first way is to become legalistic and judge
people based on rules that the other person has not put themselves under. The
second way is by acting against the rules that the Christian has voluntarily
put themselves under (hypocrisy). Because of these inconsistencies there has to
be ways to help our brothers and sisters become better followers of Jesus and
better understand the scriptures. There are a few steps to judge our brothers
and sisters in a beneficial way, or better yet, steps to walk along side
Christians to help them grow up in the faith.
Embrace Humility
In order to
effectively and rightly judge others the first thing we have to do is heed the
words of Paul to the Church in Philippi, "Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind
regard one another as more important than yourselves; (Philippians 2:3 NASB)" This is vital to be faultless in
our critique of our brothers and sisters. Thinking of others as more important
than ourselves will allow us to put a wall of defense up against pride. Sure you
may have studied the bible longer than a certain person and maybe they are
completely out of line according to the bible but no one has ever become a
Christian from being attacked. I am not saying that we can’t defend our faith,
but what I am saying is that arguments don’t change people. If we are telling
people what they are doing wrong simply because we want to be right we are not
loving and we are not walking in humility. Humility requires us to listen
rather than speak, come to an understanding and then guide to the truth. This
mindset leads us into the first step of judging fellow Christians.
Find Out What They Know
Much of the New
Testament was written to churches that needed to be taught in the ways of
Scripture or had to be reminded of the truth they already knew. In knowing
the early churches, seeing and hearing the things they were doing gave the New
Testament writers the ability to write to the church in Corinth, Ephesus,
Galatia, Rome, etc, and tell them that they needed to change in certain areas.
Moreover the Apostles, John, Peter, and Paul planted and taught these churches.
So they already knew what the people in the church should have known and were
already taught. But for us in this time we have not taught our brothers and
sisters and do not know what they know so we can not easily point out where
they fall short because they may not know what they are doing wrong. This is
where humility comes in. We have to ‘be
quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger;’ (James
1:19 NASB) When we listen we may be convicted in our heart that we are in the
wrong, or we may be able to understand where they are coming from and where
they went wrong in accordance with Scripture.
Pray Over Our Convictions
Is this conviction
significant? – Am I being zealous for the wrong things (Pharisaical)? Am I
putting too much weight into this issue instead of looking at the bigger
picture? Will this issue take away from their relationship with God or with
others? What does the scripture say about this? Is this a bigger issue than
issues going on in my life?
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? (Matthew 7:3 NASB)
What is the best way
to bring up the issue? – What ways could I loving show them the issue? Does
this require confrontation because they have already been reminded of the
truth? Can I guide them in studying scripture for them to figure out for
themselves the dangers of their actions?
But speaking the truth in love, we
are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, (Ephesians 4:15)
“If your brother sins, go and show him
his fault in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother. But
if he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you, so that by
the mouth of two or three witnesses every fact may be confirmed. If he
refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to
listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a
tax collector.’ (Matthew
18:15-17)
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| http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/14/sports/baseball/ 10-years-later-a-cubs-fan-remains-invisible.html?_r=0 |
Our culture is a sort
of ‘vulture culture’. The culture determines the significance of mistakes. If
one person takes a jab at someone, the surrounding culture will quickly take
more jabs at that person’s mistake. For instance, if you are a Chicago Cubs fan
then Steve Bartman is a household name because of his ‘mistake’, and how that
mistake prolonged the Cubs World Series drought. But the culture ignores other
things that can affect more people’s lives beyond a baseball game, like
political scandals, drug use, and social injustice around the world. Christians
become vultures too on certain sins and certain people’s mistakes. Following
the example of Jesus, we need to step out of the shadow of our culture and
stick to the Bible when it comes to being graceful about people’s mistakes and
putting more emphasis on things that will take away from a personal
relationship with Christ. Even though people do not think certain things are
worth the effort, if we test the issues with Scripture and through prayer we
have to be obedient to what the Holy Spirit is leading us to say to our
brothers and sisters in Christ.
