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THE LAWS OF THE KINGDOM                         Lecture 14.

                     THE LAW OF TOLERANCE
INTRODUCTION.

Scripture setting Matthew 7.1-5.
Note the key verse. "Judge not, that ye be not judged". v.1.

This law of Tolerance (learning to tolerate people). God has a
lot of Kids who live or do things different to you. We have to
learn to be tolerant, not to criticise, so - THIS LAW IS
CONCERNING CRITICISING OUR BROTHER - You see God didn't call you
to straighten everyone out. He called you to straighten you out!

The word translated "judge" occurs 113 times in the New Testament;
5 times it is translated "condemn"; Yet it means much more than
just to condemn - it also means to criticise.

So to obey this command we must never criticise our brother.
Romans 14:13 "So let us stop criticising one another" Moffat.

IN the fact all of Romans 14:1-13 confirms this: "Him  that is
weak in the Faith receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations (or
as the margin has it `NOT for decisions of doubts') ... 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... 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 .. let  us not therefore judge one another
any more.

How many of you can see that a beam in your eye will affect your
vision?

CALLED TO JUDGE

There is a time when we will judge. but that is when we are called
upon by God to do so. 1 Cor.6:1-7.

In the book of Revelation it says it is the work of Satan to
accuse the brethren and we certainly should not be taking sides
with him when it comes to speaking of our brothers in Christ. Rev.12:10

Five Reasons why we shouldn't judge:

1.   Because we may be easily mistaken.  We often judge by appear-
     ance and our deduction may be entirely wrong.
      The Kingdom of God is made up of people.  And most of them
     are imperfects. In fact, In our private estimation, some of
     them may be rejects! But, once the Law of Tolerance is put
     into operation in our lives, there will be less hasty
     judgement - putting on others our convictions - speaking our
     minds as to their ways of doing and not doing things.

     Take notice, God didn't call you to straighten people out, He
     called, You to Straighten you out.

2.   Then we must not judge because although he may be  doing
     wrong according to our light, he may be acting in the light
     he has.

     Why do we so quickly forget the months, or perhaps years, of
     struggle we had while seeking to come into new light? The
     minute we learn to "do it right," we feel duty bound to press
     upon all who will listen (and many who won't listen come in
     to even worse criticism) our own criteria.

     The Old Testament writers referred to this tendency in people
     as "pointing the finger." Hear how Isaiah states the
     evaluation of God on the so-called religious people of that
     day: Which say, Stand by thyself, come not near me; for I am
     holier than thou.  These are smoke in my nose, a fire that
     burneth all the day. Isaiah 65:5

     Those people who were saying,"Stand by thyself..." were
     polarising themselves from others whom they judged to be
     inferior in religious matters.  They were hypocrites of their
     day.  God said He considered this attitude as smoke in His
     nose - irritating.  Upon another occasion, He spoke of their
     offerings as being  "a  stench  in  his  nostrils."  Jesus
     had  equally  vehement  words "YOU HYPOCRITE."

     Listen Church, Have Patience, Give people time to grow up, it
     took all these years for you to mature, let them take their
     time. It would seam the more of the Bible we know the more we
     are inclined to become like the Pharisee.

3.   We must not judge another because of the consequences to
     ourselves.
     "For with what judgement ye judge, ye shall be judged; and
     with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again."

     Be sure you are willing to be measured by the same standards
     you apply to those whom you question. How about looking at
     some standards from God's Word? They are the only certain
     basis for a opinion.

4    Judging our brother is also a transgression of the New
     Commandment to love one another.
     1 Peter 4:8 RV "Above all things be fervent in your love
     amongst yourselves; for love covereth a multitude of sins.''
     If-we really love others, we shall have no desire to crit-
     icise them unrighteously.  "Love suffereth long and is kind."

5.   Also to judge our brother grieves the Holy Spirit.
     Nothing hinders the work of God so much as when Christians
     begin to find fault with and judge one another.  When the
     spirit of criticism comes in the Holy Spirit goes out, and
     then we wonder why there is so little blessing and result
     from our labour.

SCRIPTURE OUTLINE.

     1.    BOLD COMMAND.
          "Judge not."v.1.
     2.   CONSEQUENCE OF DISOBEYING THE COMMAND.
          "With what judgement ye judge,ye shall be judged."v.2.
     3.   QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER.
          "What about the beam in your own eye?" vs.3,4.
     4.   RECOMMENDATION FOR A SOLUTION.
          "Cast out the beam then you shall see clearly... v.5.

PITFALLS IN JUDGING

Let me give you five pitfalls to be aware of in making you
judgements.  Care Is needed; so is love.  It is not easy to do and
there are times when we make mistakes.  God will guide and direct
if our motives are right.

(1)   Our knowledge is incomplete.  In other words, when we judge
     we do not have all the facts.  Acknowledge that only God
     knows all.  Only he knows the condition of a man's heart and
     his progress in Kingdom living.  We may see a person who
     seems so right in every way.  Another person seems to
     continually make mistakes, causing difficulties for himself
     and others.  Yet the former seems "cut off"as far as
     spiritual advance goes, and the latter muddles along.  We
     tend to say, "God, why do we deal this way with the one and
     in such a different way with the- second'?" God may reply,"I
     know all the facts.  Don't touch that person.  I know his
     heart.  I deal differently with you."

CAUTION: Seek to obtain as many facts as possible if you are
required to make judgement.

(2)  Remember you judge others from your own heart.  This is a
     most serious consideration.  It needs to be accepted as a
     fact before we can move further into is matter of judging -
     both as to value judgements and as Jesus was condemning
     (critically) most of the time, we judge people by the way we
     would act if we were in that particular situation.

(3)  You may be going behind the blood of atonement.  God has made
     provision for taking, the mistakes of His children.  If he
     had not, what chance would any of us have?

     There is the initial repentance of sin and acceptance of
     Jesus as Saviour the new birth - which makes one a member of
     His family.  At this time, past sins are placed behind the
     blood line drawn by the death of Jesus upon the cross.

     Then follows water baptism, at which time there is a burial
     between the old life and the new life.  There is also the
     provision for forgiveness of sins and cleansing for the
     believer.  Thank God for 1 John 1:9: " If we confess our
     sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins, and
     to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

     The actions we are judging, or questioning, in another may
     have been confessed, forgiven, and are now in the process of
     realignment.  Let's give our brothers and sisters breathing
     room.  Remember, even Satan is not permitted to go behind the
     blood line.

(4)  Judgement which is influenced by personal feelings a
     self-righteous attitude, Family pride -  makes you cover up
     or excuse your own or your children's sins (my kids can do
     nothing wrong attitude)

(5)  There is a kind of judgement which comes from an attitude
     (Nobody else can do anything right). This the attitude will
     evidence itself In your speech.  All expressions will take on
     derogatory film.  "Out of the heart, the mouth speaketh" is
     not idle philosophy but fact.  The words come out and you
     cannot stop them; that is, until you recognise the source and
     go to God for cleansing.

     A still further development is the one quoted from Isaiah
     65:5 "Stand by thyself, come not near me; for I am holier
     than thou..." This attitude of contempt brings for you some
     of the most severe dealings of God that can fall the lot of
     any man.

     Take my advice: Start With the first signal of trouble - if
     at all possible and spare yourself the mounting steps
     downward.  Does this sound like double-talk (mounting -
     downward)? It Isn't.  We can build to our downfall just as
     surely as we build for advance.

Five Guidelines (check before you judge)

Here are five guidelines for investigating the possibility of a
critical censorious attitude in our judging of others.  Be careful
you are looking at you.

(1)   The tendency to jump to conclusions.  Do you have a tendency
     to interpret all matters and persons with questioning,
     critical censorious attitude?

     "Why I always did think there was something fishy there ... I
     never really did trust that person ... Who does he think he
     is?" Wait a minute...if you have a tendency, recognise it
     right now and ask God to help you get rid of it.  There is
     nothing ahead for you but More trouble.

     We must have all possible facts.  Go to the person involved,
     if necessary.  But, please, heed these words of Proverbs
     18:13: ... he that answereth a matter before he heareth it,
     it is folly and shame unto him."

(2)  Possession of a generally critical attitude.  Think carefully
     before you rate yourself on this one.  If your conversations
     are splattered with: "The government is no good ... the
     church is going to the dogs ...my neighbours are unfriendly
     ... the quality of workmanship today just isn't what it used
     to be... children are getting worse every day ... the coffee
     isn't any good this morning... what is the world coming to?"
     Do you see general attitude here? Let me point out some steps
     downward into this abyss of continual criticism.

          First, it begins in self-righteousness.  It stems out of
          a self-righteous attitude.
          Second, this attitude deduces others are wrong and I am
          right, you start despising others.
          Third, this attitude will evidence itself in your
          speech, "out of the heart the mouth speaketh".

     If you are like that, I pray you will have the courage to
     say, "God, smash that."
     I admit it isn't easy to do, but if you acknowledge it and
     ask God for help, He will respond.

(3)  Refusing room to breathe.  You can tell if you need to go to
     God  for help on this one.  If you find it next to impossible
     to give other people room in which to differ from you - you
     need help!
     Look at this from Romans: " As for the man who is a weak
     believer, welcome him (into your fellowship), but not to
     criticise his opinions or pass judgement on his scruples or
     perplex him with discussions."  Romans 14:1      AMPLIFIED.

     I would like to word the last phrase,"...but not to
     straighten him out." Grant that weaker brother growing room
     before you lower the boom!

     In verses 2-6 of Romans 14, Paul lists some of the points of
     difference) as well as the futility of trying to make others
     conform to our understandings.  Matters of proper eating
     habits and certain days on which to worship are mentioned.
     There are so many others - the Rapture - Millennium - Lord's
     Supper.  Paul later adds:- in Romans 14:20 "Do not tare down
     the work of God for the sake of food". N.A.S.B. also R.S.V.

(4)  Most judgement comes from the area of my strength.  Analyse
     this in your judgement of others.  Do you use the areas of
     strength in your life (your strong points) to compare the
     weakness of others in this area? Did you ever stop to think
     you may have some points of weakness, and others may be
     strong in those same areas? In our walk with God, each of us
     develops certain strengths.

     These are permitted us so that we can help those who need
     help in that realm not so we can, from our vantage point,
     disparage others who have not realised the same strength.

     The person who has faith for healing has a tendency to judge
     others who are sick.  One who has faith in the field of
     finances may be particularly judgemental of others who
     flounder here.  The object of the body of Christ is to bring
     our strengths into our fellowships to advantage - to help
     that weaker brother.  Help must come out of a heart of
     concern - not from feeling of superiority for our own
     attainment.  The weaker brother senses the difference.  He is
     probably well aware of his weakness - and, perhaps, even of
     our strength.

(5)  Express ourselves in areas that are none of our concern eg:-
     Brother so and so should never have brought that new car,
     doesn't he know we are having a special missionary emphasis
     this month.
     Sister, I shouldn't be telling you this, but I'll tell you
     anyway, "your dresses are too old fashioned, you should
     brighten up".