Conviction and condemnation, while similar, are not the same thing. Conviction comes from God. Condemnation comes from man. Conviction should bring repentance for sin, while condemnation is the result of judgment on the sinner. One deals with the action, the other deals with the person.
Before we get saved, we are already “condemned” as sinners.
John 3:17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
After we get saved, we are no longer condemned. Jesus was judged in our place. He took on that condemnation and paid the price for us. God is just. He will not require payment for something that has already been paid for. Jesus paid for our sins, therefore there is no more payment to be made. We are declared righteous simply because Jesus made us righteous.
Romans 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.
3 For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:
4 That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
That is something we should praise God for! That is the reason we can sleep at night, that we don’t have to worry about tomorrow, or fear going to Hell. We are Heaven-bound, glory to God! Our imperfect selves are washed by the perfect blood of Jesus. That’s amazing.
We are all a work in progress, though. God loves us too much to let us remain in bondage to sin. If there is something we are doing that God doesn’t want us to do anymore, He will convict us of that. He will let us know what He wants to be changed in our lives, then He will either give us the ability to change it, or He will change it for us. We know when God is convicting us. We know it in our spirit and our gut.
If you’re being convicted by something, pray about it and ask God to help you with it. He is willing, faithful, and able! The key idea here is that God will let us know. It’s not my job to convict you of anything. That’s the work of the Holy Spirit.
If you come to me and ask me about something you’re being convicted about, I can talk to you about it, I can pray with you about it, or I can find scripture about it to share with you. I shouldn’t, however, get on my soap-box, beat you with my Bible, and point out everything in your life that I don’t agree with. That is judging.
Matthew 7:1 Judge not, that ye be not judged.
2 For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.
3 And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?
4 Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye?
5 Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.
I love the way Jesus put this. How am I going to come to you and tell you that you have a splinter in your eye when I have a fence post sticking out of mine?! That would be like me telling you, “you need to sweep the dirt from your porch” when my porch is covered in garbage, mud, and muck, paint peeling from the walls, door off the hinges, and my steps falling in.
It boils down to this. The dirt on your porch is none of my business. Not everyone wants to hear this truth, but that doesn’t make it any less true. I have my hands full with my porch. There’s more than enough garbage in my life to deal with, and there’s more than enough garbage in yours. The Bible does tell us we need to separate ourselves from certain things, and he doesn’t want us to associate with certain people that are still doing some of those things. This means your business and what you do is between you and God. Me deciding I can’t hang around you anymore is my business and between me and God. Make sense?
Romans 14:1 Him that is weak in the faith receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations.
2 For one believeth that he may eat all things: another, who is weak, eateth herbs.
3 Let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not; and let not him which eateth not judge him that eateth: for God hath received him.
4 Who art thou that judgest another man's servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be holden up: for God is able to make him stand.
5 One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.
6 He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord; and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard it. He that eateth, eateth to the Lord, for he giveth God thanks; and he that eateth not, to the Lord he eateth not, and giveth God thanks.
7 For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself.
8 For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord's.
9 For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living.
10 But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.
11 For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.
12 So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.
13 Let us not therefore judge one another any more: but judge this rather, that no man put a stumblingblock or an occasion to fall in his brother's way.
14 I know, and am persuaded by the Lord Jesus, that there is nothing unclean of itself: but to him that esteemeth any thing to be unclean, to him it is unclean.
15 But if thy brother be grieved with thy meat, now walkest thou not charitably. Destroy not him with thy meat, for whom Christ died.
16 Let not then your good be evil spoken of:
17 For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.
18 For he that in these things serveth Christ is acceptable to God, and approved of men.
19 Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another.
20 For meat destroy not the work of God. All things indeed are pure; but it is evil for that man who eateth with offence.
21 It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor any thing whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak.
22 Hast thou faith? have it to thyself before God. Happy is he that condemneth not himself in that thing which he alloweth.
23 And he that doubteth is damned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith: for whatsoever is not of faith is sin.
Paul breaks it down for us in Romans 14. A lot of the things we judge each other on don’t matter all that much. He’s saying if you eat meat then don’t judge the vegetarian. If you’re a vegetarian then don’t judge the one eating meat. To put it another way, if you like to go to the movies then don’t judge the one that doesn’t go to the movies. If you don’t feel right going to the movies then don’t judge the person who goes. If you wear blue jeans to church then don’t judge the one who wears a suit. If you wear a dress to church then don’t judge the one who wears pants. And vice versa. We will all stand before the Judgment Seat of Christ. I will stand and give an account of my life and deeds. You will stand and give an account of your life and deeds. Trust me, on that day I won’t be concerned about the dirt on your porch and you won’t even think about the splinter in my eye.
What about bigger issues? What about lying, cheating, or stealing? Those are excellent questions. I have a hard time believing that a true follower of Christ will live a life of lying, cheating, stealing, etc. Let me ask you this. Do you want to be around someone who habitually lies, whether they call themself a Christian or not? I don’t. What about someone who steals every chance they get? Are you going to invite them into your home? Not if you show wisdom. You don’t need to resort to telling someone they’re going to Hell because of these things, do you? Nope. You are naturally going to defend yourself from the things they are doing.
Shane and I don’t drink or hang around people who do. Do you want to know why? It’s not because we fear we’ll go to Hell if we drink. It’s not because we suddenly became Holier-Than-Thou and looked down on others who were still drinking. It’s because Shane was an alcoholic (and drug addict) for the first 12 years we were married, and I wasn’t far behind him. God delivered Shane from drugs and alcohol in 2006. God took the desire away completely. Shane, even though he had no desire for it whatsoever, chose to separate himself from any associations with alcohol and drugs. We don’t want to be around alcohol because we know where that road leads. We stay away from it for practical reasons. Hell has nothing to do with it. (Please don’t drink, by the way. If you’re struggling with that, reach out to Shane or me. I can give you a dozen reasons to quit without condemning you. You can listen to Shane’s testimony here. It’s amazing!)
The Bible gives us instructions on how to deal with a believer who isn’t behaving properly. The thing is, these instructions are given to the church as a whole. As individuals, we should separate ourselves if we feel led to. As a church, we should follow what the Bible tells us to do. This is not a study on that, however.
What if a brother/sister in Christ is doing something that is hurting another person? Ok, well how about this: what if someone you know is hurting another person? If you would step in to help someone who is being hurt by someone else, then it doesn’t matter if they are saved or not, does it? No, it doesn’t. We can intervene on behalf of someone else, without crossing into judgment. This is acting out of love and concern for the person being hurt. That is a very Christian thing to do.
A final thought about judging others, especially in light of Romans 14. We have freedom and liberty in Christ. Paul tells us, “don’t use this freedom as an opportunity to sin.” Remember, we will give an account of ourselves to Jesus for every word we speak, actions we take (or don’t take), and how we treat others. Just because I’m free to eat meat doesn’t mean I should do that in front of someone weak in the faith. My boldness could harm the weak believer. They may try to copy what I’m doing but without faith. Paul gives a stern warning about doing anything without faith in verse 23. We have to be motivated by love all the time. I should forego my freedom to do some things, out of love for my brother or sister.
Next week we’re going to take a look at different study tools available to us, and how to use them to get the most out of studying the Bible. It’s going to be fun! Keep on Keepin’ on For Jesus.
댓글