Love Reproving # 3

Love Reproving # 3

John, the apostle of love, began his third epistle with these words, "The elder unto the well-beloved Gaius, whom I love in the Truth." What a needed word is this for today, when so much that passes for love, even in avowedly Christian circles, is nothing but a sickly sentimentality at the expense of the Truth. One of the outstanding cries in the religious world, is to this effect - "though we have differed in our beliefs and practices, let us now sink our differences and come together in love." When I was the pastor of a church in Sydney, I was regarded as a narrow-minded bigot, because on what Rome calls "good Friday" I refused to take part in an "ecumenical Communion service," where Fundamentalists, Liberals, Unitarians, and Evolutionists were invited to gather together, and thereby express "brotherly love" for one another. What a travesty and mockery! The wisdom which is from above is "first pure, then peaceable" (James 3:17). The more I am walking in the Truth and the more my brother is doing the same - the more cause have we to love one another.

It may be helpful to answer the opening question by changing the form of it - "Is it possible to be too critical of myself? May I permit myself a certain amount of indulgence, exclude some part of my life from the control of God, be less strict about some matter than others? In the light of such verses as "Catch the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines" (Song 2:15), "grow up into Him in all things, who is the Head, even Christ" (Eph. 4:15), "whatever you do, do all to the glory of God" (1 Cor. 10:31) - is there any difficulty in countenancing a lower standard for others than I seek to apply to myself? Am I not required to love my neighbor as myself? And am I doing so - if I gloss over something in him which I know to be against his or her spiritual interests and can only work ill for him? If it is my plain duty to warn him against physical evils - then on what ground am I justified in being silent when I see spiritual danger menacing him?

But let it be pointed out, that I certainly am not warranted in being "critical" about the conduct of others, unless I am accustomed to unsparingly judge myself. It is the very worst species of hypocrisy to point the finger of condemnation at another, while I am guilty of something equally as bad. I must first cast the beam out of my own eye - before I am qualified to perform so delicate an operation as seeking to remove a mote from my brother's eye - that is cause for humility; and if the humility is real and deep - it will preserve me from acting proudly and haughtily when seeking not to criticize, but "help" my brother. Nothing is more unChristianlike than for me to berate an erring one in a spirit of self-righteousness and in tones of self-superiority, rather than in the spirit of "consider yourself, lest you also be tempted" (Gal. 6:1). If I am to wash my brother's feet from the defilements of the way - then I must needs take the place of lowliness in order to serve him.

On the other hand, we must guard against going to an opposite extreme. If pride and haughtiness are to be reprehended; than mock humility or even an undue occupation with our own frailty and faultiness, is not to be commended. If we must wait until we are blameless, then there are many precepts of Scripture we cannot act upon. If we must tarry until our own character and conduct be faultless  then we are disqualified from rebuking anybody. We greatly fear that many have created their own difficulty or deterrent through a wrongful appropriation of those words "he who is without sin - let him first cast a stone" (John 8:7). How often have we heard professing Christians say, when  it had become their manifest duty to admonish another, "Who am I - to cast stones at others?" It should be remembered, that John 9:7 was not spoken to conscientious saints, jealous of the honor of the Lord, anxious to promote the good of others - but to hypocritical pharisees, who were deliberately seeking to ensnare Christ.

~A. W. Pink~

(continued with # 4)