Can A Christian Be Liberal?

It is difficult to define the word liberal, just as it would be difficult to define conservative. I myself couldn't even tell you where I would stand, most would probably consider me "Very Conservative" on facebook (but I leave it up to opinion). The fact is there are the "very conservative" "somewhat conservative" "liberal conservative" "conservative liberal" "liberal" "very liberal" "moderate", and who really knows where the line is drawn, since there is a plethora of issues and diversity of opinion on all of them.

But lets just assume we all understand what is meant by "Liberal." That being (for the most part), pro-choice, anti-death penalty, removal of religion from all government and schools, gay rights, anti-war, anti-gun, pro-welfare, etc. etc. etc. You get the idea.

Of course most of those are what might be looked as secular liberals. But then there are the "Christian Liberals," which is mostly what this note is dealing with. Christian Liberals are not always to be associated with some of the above politically stances, but many times are.

Liberal Christianity or "Liberal Theology" is imposing freedom of thought on the Holy Bible. Some idea of what Liberal Theology states:

1) The Bible is not 100% inspired. The Bible is wrong in most of what it says about geography or science or even history. It was written by men, composed by men, and therefore is susceptible to error and unauthoritative. Jesus is how one might "feel" about Him, or how someone wants Him to be, thus creating a false god and setting up an idol in their mind.

2) An approach to the Bible and Christianity is completely individualistic. There are no written creeds or confessions, and all interpretive thoughts have credibility. Christian judgment is absent therefore all ideas are valid, and there is no judgment between right or wrong dogma, simply because there is no dogma.

3) Most of the stances in the political realm are introduced into the church. The acceptance of unrepentant homosexuals as congregants, ultra-feminism, pro-choice, and a wide array of ideas of who or what "god" is. Though this is more of a result of the first two.

The meaning behind liberalism has changed throughout history. But what I am talking about is basically human reason, rationale, and logic placed over the Bible, instead of the other way around.

Almost any error can be linked to one of these ideas above.
-Arminianism = The idea that man's will is free to choose.
-Unitarianism = Denial of Trinity.
-Pelagianism = That man is born good and needs no grace.
-Arianism = Denial of the eternality of Christ.
-Universalism = Belief that all religions are equal.
-Postmodernism = Denial of absolutes truths.

So on they go.
Not everyone that falls under these errors of doctrine would be considered a liberal in the Political realm of course, but their liberal thoughts imposed on the Bible has caused a large disruption within the Church of Christ. I am sure there are many who would consider themselves "Conservatives" that wouldn't even realize that they do this to the Bible as well, especially under the Arminian category.

So then I ask (I'll say what I think, and if anyone wants to agree or disagree let me know)...

1) Can a person who denies the authoritativeness of the Bible be considered a Christian?

I have a family member who does this. He says he believes in God, and Jesus, but not how the Bible explains them. In his mind, "God would never send someone to hell, because He is a God of love," or "I think that all people are good, and as long as they try their best they will make it to heaven" (In complete denial of Biblical truths). What most people try to do is say, "I think..." or "I bet..." or "I believe...", but they do not use Scripture, it is simply the god they have created in their mind. So then they may believe in a god, but not the Christian (Biblical) God. The definition of a Christian is one who believes in the Bible, there is no other book, manual, or magazine that defines one.

2) Are all thoughts, ideas, feelings, etc. of God equally valid? Should all judgment, creeds, and confessions be left out of the church?

A common cop out in an argument for most postmodern "Christians" (yes I group them in Liberal theology), is the statement "I think you are both right" or "Lets agree to disagree." Can one person say God is unitarian and another say God is trinitarian and both be right? Martin Luther once said, "Peace if Possible, truth at all Costs." This of course has been lost, and for the sake of what some call "Christian Unity" every wind of doctrine, every worldly idea has crept into the Church (Eph. 4:14). No creeds or confessions means no dogma, no dogma means no established truth, and no established truth means the complete denial of a Holy God who commands our obedience to His Word.

3) Can a Christian be liberal?

With doctrine. I say no. With politics. I say no. In both a Christian is to profess the Lordship of Jesus Christ in all realms. He does not just reside in the Church or at your Bible Study, but over all realms of life. Liberality implies that men can make the most rationale choice, and that God is no longer needed for the establishment of law or doctrine.

Are there Christians who are liberal in thought, I am sure there are. But should they be is the question?

Come To Me

Come to Me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. -Matthew 11:28

Jesus stood up and cried out, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink." -John 7:37

Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; whoever comes to Me shall not hunger." -John 6:35

You refuse to come to Me that you may have life. -John 5:40

When He had said these things, He cried out with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out." The man who had died came out. -John 11:43-44

Demand #3. "Come to Me." Like repentance and rebirth this is an essential command, not just because it is necessary but because it is a wonderful promise. At this point, the awakened sinner discovers what is truly important, that being Jesus. At one point it was the pleasures of life, clothes, food, family, jobs, retirement, sex, and on and on. "But when God gives the radical change of new birth and repentance, Jesus Himself becomes our supreme treasure" (Piper, pg. 44).

John Piper begins by stating as the Bible does, that "His yoke is easy, and His burden is light" (Matthew 11:30). When we come to Jesus it is not burdensome,

"Jesus did not come into the world mainly to bring a new religion or a new law. He came to offer Himself for our eternal enjoyment and to do whatever He had to do-- including death-- to remove every obstacle to this everlasting joy in Him" (Piper, pg. 44,45).

Piper continues to make a very good point here, by contrasting what Christ brings to the world as opposed to every other world religion. This is in fact what separates Christianity from all other religions, and proves its validity, that this religion is one based on faith alone in Christ Jesus. We look all over the world and look at religions such as Hinduism, Islam and even Judaism, and see people laboring under "heavy loads" to earn favor with their god or gods. "[Jesus] did not come to replace that God-appeasing load with another one. He came to carry that load and call us to Himself for rest" (Piper, pg. 45). Amen and Amen. That is why Christianity offers hope to a world full of hopelessness.

"Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for you souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light" (Matthew 11:28-30).

The next thing point out is that there is a yoke and there is a burden, "there would be no demands if this were not true" (Piper, pg. 45), but it is a light one.

His next subtitle is "There is a Burden, but it's not Jesus." While Jesus offers a light load, He also says this, "The gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life" (Matthew 7:14). This is what Piper says to this,

"The reason it is hard is not because Jesus is a hard taskmaster. It's hard because the world is a hard place to enjoy Jesus above all...besides our sin, many people are angered that we do not love what they love" (Piper, pg. 45).

But Jesus is that load-lifter and an our help in these situations, He offers us food and drink (John 6:35, 7:37), and the promise that He will be our help, that He will satisfy us when we go through these times, if we will obey His demands to come to Him.

"You refuse to come to Me that you may have life" (John 5:40). The fact is many will not come, and while many say this is simply the man acting upon his free-will, it is a little more than just that. We cannot say that man has the free-will in the sense that he has the ability (apart from God) to actually come to Jesus, but must say that man's free-will is enslaved to his nature, which is one of sin. "Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin" (John 8:34). "The light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light...everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light" (John 3:19-20). "[You] were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind" (Ephesians 2:3). And so on the Bible proclaims that man is bent toward sin, and is not able apart from God's regenerating grace to actually come to Jesus.

"How then has anyone ever come, since we are all enslaved to sin and spiritually dead? Jesus' answer was that God, in His great mercy, overcomes our resistance and draws us: 'No one can come to me unless the Father who sent Me draws him' (John 6:44). 'No once can come to Me unless it is granted him by the Father' (John 6:65)" (Piper, pg. 47).

When we are freed from slavery we come to Christ, not by works but by Him who calls (Romans 9:11).

Citation:
Piper, John. "What Jesus Demands from the World" Crossway Books Copyright © 2006. DG. Used by permission of Crossway Books, a division of Good News Publishers, Wheaton, Il 60187, www.crossway.com.
ESV Bible

Repent

From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."
-Matt. 4:17

I have no come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance. -Luke 5:32

The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here. -Matt. 12:41

Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. -Luke 13:3,5

The Baptist preacher, Charles Spurgeon, called it Christ's first and last subject (referring to Matt 4:17 and Luke 24:47). Repentance. There are subjects in Christian doctrine which, I admit, can be disagreed upon (i.e. baptism, worship practices, eschatology), this is not one of them. To be unrepentant and consider yourself a Christian is contrary to scripture and logic, but more importantly scripture, and will lead to ruin.

We must first understand what repentance is, and I think Piper gives a few good points on this subject. Firstly he looks at the Greek word that we get repent from (μετανοέω, metanoeō), and separates them into their two parts: meta and noeō, noeō referring to the mind, its thoughts, perceptions, etc. and meta referring to change or movement. The first point he is attempting to prove is that repentance is more than just "mere sorrow for sin or mere improvement of behavior" (Piper, pg. 40), but a change of mind and heart.

The problem with most professing Christians, is they believe repentance to be simply changing your outward lifestyle such as not drinking, not cussing, not having sex until marriage, and so on. But this is not the meaning, though external changes will certainly result from internal changes, the focus is on the internal. So then, "we may infer that the basic meaning of repent is to experience a change of mind's perceptions and dispositions and purposes" (Piper, pg. 41), namely, to see God as good and holy and worthy of obedience, and seeing the things we once loved (sin) as evil and corrupt and contrary to the law of God.

Next, Piper gives a passage which points to the meaning just given in Luke 3:8, "Bear fruits in keeping with repentance." There are those who believe that with faith comes no new obedience to the Lord, yet this passage shows that where an inward change occurs outward fruit is brought forth.

"This change leads to the fruits of new behavior. Repentance is not the new deeds, but the inward change that bear the fruit of new deeds. Jesus is demanding that we experience this inward change" (Piper, pg. 41).

But why must we repent? Because we are all sinners, "I have no come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance" (Luke 5:32), in other words he doesn't come to call those who think they are already righteous but those who see their own sin and are in need of repentance. One of the things we must know is that sin is an offense to man in most cases, but that is not our biggest problem, sin is an offense and assault on a holy and righteous God. As the prodigal son says when he returns, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you" (Luke 15:13), it is an offense against heaven.

Pastor Piper points to the Lord's prayer where it is said, "Forgive us our debts, for we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us" (Luke 11:4).

"Therefore, Jesus' view of sin is that it dishonors God and puts us in debt to restore the divine honor we had defamed by our God-belittling behavior or attitudes" (Piper, pg. 42).

Jesus has paid this debt yet in order to benefit from that we are commanded to repent, it is an essential part of belief itself.

"Repenting means experiencing a change of mind so that we can see God as true and beautiful and worthy of all our praise and all our obedience. This change of mind also embraces Jesus in the same way" (Piper, pg. 42).

Next Piper proves the universal needs for repentance. But as with most of these commands it is enough to say that they are required of all men as much as belief in Christ is required for salvation.

Piper, then goes into why there is such an urgency for this message of repentance, because of the judgment that is surely coming. "Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish" (Luke 13:3,5). They will perish if they do not repent, "The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here" (Matt. 12:41).

"Jesus, the Son of God, is warning people of the judgment to come and is offering escape if we will repent. If we will not repent, Jesus has one message for us: 'Woe to you' (Matt. 11:21)" (Piper, pg. 43).

This is why Spurgeon called it His first and last message, because it was, and the reason it was, was because of its importance. Anyone who dupes you into thinking there is not much importance in it, that it is not necessary is telling a lie.

I have a few personal caveats for this subject:

1) There are those that you repent once and it is a done deal, as though repentance were not a continual process. They believe that that one repentance covers all sins past, present and future. But just as the Greek word for believe implies a continuance of belief, so repent has the implication of continued repentance. Just as you cannot believe that Christ is savior of your soul one day, and not believe it the next, so you cannot be penitent one day and not be the next.

2) This subject is confused, and there are those who will criticize those who believe in repentance before justification, and consider them legalist and preaching a works salvation (as though repentance were a work). If this is something that might bother you, consider the fact that before God caused your rebirth (regeneration) you were dead in trespasses and sin (Eph. 2:1), and unable to submit to the will of God, nor could you (Rom. 8:7). But when God, by His grace, give you life and a new heart, he also grants you faith (Eph. 2:8) and repentance (Ezekiel 36:27). In other words what God commands of you, He also grants you. Thus, salvation by Grace ALONE, apart from works.


Citation:
Piper, John. "What Jesus Demands from the World" Crossway Books Copyright © 2006. DG. Used by permission of Crossway Books, a division of Good News Publishers, Wheaton, Il 60187, www.crossway.com.
ESV Bible
ESV Bible

You Must Be Born Again

Jesus answered..."Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again.'" -John 3:5,7

Jesus answered him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless on is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." -John 3:3 (esv)

Piper begins with the first demand of Jesus, and certainly the most important one in relation to the state of our soul. It is Piper's first focus, and it is the first teaching of Jesus found in the Gospel of John, when speaking with the Pharisee Nicodemus. Obviously, if this is an important one it would be prudent of us to fully understand it. Note: Most do not. Often Regeneration (as it is also referred to ) is just blurred into the word salvation, and most confuse regeneration with justification, they are connected but separate.

Jesus gives this demand to Nicodemus and his response is, "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?" (John 3:4) Which Jesus then asks, "Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things?" (John 3:10) Why?

Piper's first subheading in the chapter is "A New Spirit I Will Put Within You", wherein he describes why it is that Nicodemus should know its meaning. Being a Jewish leader he was well versed in the Hebrew scriptures (OT), and knew well that God had referred to this process before. Piper references Ezekiel 36:25-27:

"Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them." (kjv, I have highlighted some actions of God, because I will make a point about that later. Just know God causes these actions and responses)

Which Piper compares to John 3:5, which states, "Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God."

"God promises cleansing from sin and the gift of a new human spirit by the presence of His own divine Spirit" (Piper, pg. 38). Jesus thinks the link should be clear, but it isn't for Nicodemus, so Jesus describes further, "That which is born of flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit" (John 3:6).

To understand the new birth rightly we must first understand our condition before God worked His spirit within us. Piper titles the subtitle, "The Dead Cannot See." We are by nature flesh, born of flesh, and by nature children of wrath (Eph. 2:3). "We are not born spiritually alive with a heart that loves God. We are born spiritually dead" (Piper, pg. 38). We must understand that we are indeed spiritually dead (Eph. 2:1), I think this John Calvin quote makes a good case for depravity:

"By the phrase born again is expressed not the correction of one part, but the renovation of the whole nature. Hence it follows, that there is nothing in us that is not sinful; for if reformation is necessary in the whole and in each part, corruption must have been spread throughout" (Calvin Commentaries on John 1-11).

Lastly to be understood is who it is that works this new birth within us. Above I highlighted the actions that God takes in the Spirit being placed in us. Jesus says it like this in John 3:8, "The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not now where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit" (The wind is the same as the Spirit).

"We do not cause ourselves to be born again. The Spirit does that. And the Spirit is free and blows in ways we do not comprehend. We must be born again. But this is a gift of God" (Piper, pg. 39).

I think Piper closes out the subject better than I ever could:

"Look away from yourself. Seek from God what He alone can do for you. Moral improvement of the old you is not what you need. New life is what the whole world needs. It is radical and supernatural. It is outside our control. The dead do not give themselves new life. We must be born again--'not...of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God' (John 1:13). That is what Jesus demands from the world" (Piper, pg. 39).

Citation:
Piper, John. "What Jesus Demands from the World" Crossway Books Copyright © 2006. DG. Used by permission of Crossway Books, a division of Good News Publishers, Wheaton, Il 60187, www.crossway.com.
ESV Bible
Calvin, John. "Calvin Commentaries on the Whole Bible," Baker Books. 2002.

What Jesus Demands from the World

Well, I have not written in a while (I'm sure most people who see my messages popping up on their mini-feed on Facebook were happy about that.) ROTC and 18 hours of class have been keeping me busy, and I think I needed a break from keeping up on this blog for a little. But, yesterday, I began reading a new book by Pastor John Piper, entitled "What Jesus Demands from the World" (Crossway Books 2006, DG), and thought I might share what I've been reading.

The book is broken down into 50 chapters, which are in fact 50 commandments or "demands" of Jesus from the four Gospel books (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John). By way of introductory, I thought I would take a few excerpts from the book which help explain what the book is about and its method.

Firstly, Piper begins by making a few qualifying statements, which I believe are important to understand when approaching this book, or my comments about the book. For example:

"Since the focus is on the commands of Jesus in this book, much about his life and death is not here" (Piper, pg. 15). This is important because there is much about the life and death of Jesus which will be assumed, since this book is dealing mainly with what it is He commands of the world.

Piper begins his introduction with his purpose in writing this book, namely, Jesus command, "Make disciples of all nations...teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you" (Matt. 28:19-20). He calls this the "Impossible final command." Because Jesus does not say, "teach them all my commandments," but rather, "teach them to observe all my commandments." Here is what Piper says:

"You can teach a parrot all of Jesus' commandments. But you cannot teach a parrot to observe them. Parrots will not repent, and worship Jesus, and lay up treasures in heaven, and love their enemies, and go out like sheep in the midst of wolves to herald the kingdom of God.
Teaching people to parrot all that Jesus commanded is easy. Teaching them to observe all that Jesus commanded is impossible" (Piper, pg. 17).

Piper considers Mark 10:25-27, where Jesus is approached by a rich man who could not let go of his possessions to follow Him, and Jesus says that "with man it is impossible" to enter the kingdom of God, "but all things are possible with God."

"Therefore, the person who sets himself to obey Jesus' final commission...attempts the impossible. But Jesus said it was not impossible. 'All things are possible with God.' So the greatest challenge in writing this book has been to discern God's way of making impossible obedience possible" (Piper, pg. 18).

Further in the introduction after giving a brief overlay of the life and work of Christ, he explains why obedience to Christ's demands is important. He says this:

"On the basis of who He was and what He accomplished, Jesus made his demands. The demands cannot be separated from His person and work. The obedience He demands is the fruit of His redeeming work and the display of His personal glory. That is why He came--to create a people who glorify His gracious reign by bearing fruit of His kingdom (Matt. 21:43)...In other words, the Son of Man came to save people from their suicidal love affair with possessions (and every other kind of idol) and to lead them into a kind of impossible obedience that displays the infinite worth of Jesus" (Pipe, pg, 23).

While Piper makes many more good points in his introductory and the following chapter, I only really want to point out one more big issue. The subheading in the chapter is "Why this Title for the Book?"

"I am aware that the word demands is jarring to many modern ears. It feels harsh, severe, strict, stark, austere, abrasive...My conviction is that if we rightly understand Jesus' demands, and if we are willing to find in Him our supreme joy, His demands will not feel severe but sweet" (Piper, pg. 24).

And then further, in the subtitle "Dare He make Demands of the Whole World,"

"Two objections arise. One is: Did He make demands on the whole world? The other is: Dare He make demands on the whole world?
One may ask, did Jesus give all these demands to the world, or did He give them only to His disciples? The answer is: The demands He gave only to His disciples are also meant for the world because He demands all people everywhere to become His disciples" (Piper, pg. 26)."

He makes many other good points in the intro, but I recommend reading the book yourself.

I will be praying through this book, and hoping to do a commandment every other day (Lord willing), Piper is an exceptional pastor and I know this book will be very encouraging and helpful, so I hope someone else might read these posts.

Judge Not? The Truth of Christian Judgment

"Judge not, that you be not judged." -Matthew 7:1 (ESV)

The all-encompassing, all-inclusive, favorite line of many professing Christians and even unbelievers, in an attempt to dodge the sin they are being confronted with. Good passage no doubt, yet just like all verses in the Bible it is followed by other passages, and in this particular case it says do not judge in a hypocritical manner, such as the Pharisees did (Romans 2:1).

But what is it to Judge? As one who is accused of passing judgment often, I always wish to have this question answered...It never is. Tell someone they are in sin, you are passing judgment. Say that God will send unbelievers to hell, you pass judgment. And if you argue that a belief of another is wrong, you pass judgment, and are causing strife in the church of Christ.

Lets go back to the question though, what is it to judge?

Greek:
κρίνω (krinō)
Properly to distinguish, that is, decide (mentally or judicially); by implication to try, condemn, punish: - avenge, conclude, condemn, damn, decree, determine, esteem, judge, go to (sue at the) law, ordain, call in question, sentence to, think.

Well there is the definition, but what are the implications?
I'll start by asking 3 questions, you determine whether it is right or wrong in that situation to judge:

1. I believe the Word of God is the true, living, breathing and inerrant Word of God. The person I am speaking with does not. Do I tell him he is wrong, or am I being judgmental?

2. I believe Christ is the Son of God, perfect, sinless, and savior of the world. The person I am speaking with does not. Do I tell him what he believes in wrong, or am I being judgmental?

3. I believe murdering a man is wrong. The person I am speaking to does not, would I be judging him to say otherwise?

Answer to all three: Yes it is judging. Furthermore it is correct to judge them in that situation. Obviously Jesus judged when someone was in error (Point and Case Matthew 23:13-29, in His "woe to you, scribes and pharisees" discourse), He did not walk the world teaching people "You have your belief, and I have mine" or "we'll agree to disagree." No, it was an on the spot correction, what most today would deem an un-Christian practice.

Let me set before you a few considerations, and think of the benefits and command to judge with righteous judgment, as a Christian judges:

I. To not present the truth to a person is to have no love for them. Think about it, and bear with me as I use an old example. If a house were full of invisible poisonous gas, and your friend were about to walk into that house, would you tell them? Or would you fear that they would think you judgmental. Say you did tell them and they still walked in there, pronouncing you judgmental, and they see no harm in walking in because they see no gas. The consequence is now on them, you warned and you cared enough to tell them. But say you didn't tell them, you just talked about meaningless things, such as the football game, or the new celebrity news as they walk in, all the time knowing whats inside that house. Is this not unloving? Think on these words here below, and meditate upon their meaning:

"Open rebuke is better than love carefully concealed. Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful." -Proverbs 27:5,6

II. Christian judgment, judges nothing that hasn't already been judged by the Great Judge. Do you believe the Bible to be the Word of God? Then if someone judges you, and they have reason to do so by the word of God, then you are wrong to despise that correction. What is the word good for? "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work" (2 Tim 3:16). Listen, if you go up to a man and say "murder is wrong!" and he says to you "no it isn't," but you persist in saying otherwise, why do you do so (or what is the Christian reason for doing so)? Because God has judged it wrong already. Same goes for premarital sex, homosexuality, thievery, blasphemy, heresy, drunkenness, etc. (1 Cor 6:9,10). If a Christian goes up to another Christian and confronts him on his drunkenness and sexual immorality, he is not "judging" him in the negative connotation, but in love for that person's soul! Think on these words:

"Whoever loves instruction loves knowledge, but he who hates correction is stupid." -Proverbs 12:1

"Behold, happy is the man whom God corrects;Therefore do not despise the chastening of the Almighty." -Job 5:17

III. An example, of a man of God correcting one who professes to be a child of God:
(After David kills Uriah and he takes Uriah's wife to be his own, Nathan comes to David and tells a parable in 2 Samuel 12. He tells of a poor man's sheep being taken by a rich man, and in anger David says, "as the LORD lives, the man who has done this shall surely die!" This is what Nathan says):

Then Nathan said to David, “You are the man! Thus says the LORD God of Israel: ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. I gave you your master’s house and your master’s wives into your keeping, and gave you the house of Israel and Judah. And if that had been too little, I also would have given you much more! Why have you despised the commandment of the LORD, to do evil in His sight? You have killed Uriah the Hittite...you have taken his wife to be your wife...Now therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised Me, and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife...Behold, I will raise up adversity against you from your own house; and I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this sun. For you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel, before the sun.’” So David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the LORD.” -2 Samuel 12:7-13

Notice here two things. 1) Nathan rebuked the King of Israel, he judged him...why? Because God did. 2) David immediately saw his sin for what it was, he did not say "you're judging me Nathan, and you're wrong" because David knew the commandments of the LORD.

IV. One more example of the Apostle Paul in his first letter to the Corinthians, chapter 5. He writes to them about an immoral person in their congregation having relations with his mother and says, "For I indeed, as absent in body but present in spirit, have already judged (as though I were present) him who has so done this deed"(v.3). He goes on to tell them that when they are gathered together they must "deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus"(v.5). To let the person continue in the congregation would give him the false impression that he does nothing wrong, and would lead him to hell. He tells them that this will ruin their church if he is not cast out. I recommend the whole chapter, because it deals with righteous judgment, and proper church discipline that has seemingly been forgotten.

Caveat: As I say all this, we should all know, there is a right judgment and there is most certainly a wrong judgment. As Jesus commanded the crowds, so we must know the meaning of this: "Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment" (John 7:24).

There is the judgment of a hypocrite, one who judges and yet practices the very same. There is the judgment of the prideful, one who judges to exalt himself. There are those who judge out of hate, and to humiliate and shame others for their satisfaction. All three are the same. But then there are those who judge with Godly judgment, between what is right and wrong in the eyes of God. May we seek to understand that judgment, to love our neighbor as ourselves, and to show them their fault so that they may trust in Christ and if they are believers that they would repent and return to the ways of Christ Jesus.