A Time to Speak
Shhhhhh Silence… peaceful isn’t it? As a mother of 7 (3 still at home) I can absolutely appreciate those peaceful moments of silence .. as few and far between as they come lol. Silence can be tranquil, relaxing, and peaceful. It is not however, always appropriate.
Ecclesiastes 3:7
7 A time to tear,
And a time to sew;
A time to keep silence,
And a time to speak;
Wisdom tells us there is a time for everything. As much as I enjoy peace and quiet there are times when refusing to say something is utter rebellion!
There is a culture of silence invading the Church, a heart wrenching, deafening silence as we’ve bowed our knee to the god of tolerance and waved the banner of “diversity.”
“Judge not” is the battle cry of the compromising Church. “Sin not” is the cry of the Bride!
If I had a nickle for every time I heard a Christian quote that verse as reason to be inappropriately silent in the face of sin and heresy, I’d be a rich woman.
Truth is under heavy assault by those who name the name of Christ. We are not talking about those who claim to practice another “religion”, but those who claim to love and serve Jesus. They preach a different Jesus than the Jesus of the Bible, and a different Gospel than the one He gave us.
Biblical Judgment
There is a big need for an understanding and distinction between unrighteous judgment and righteous judgment. What is judgment anyway? Are we really supposed to refrain from making any “judgments” of anyone? Judgment is any conclusion we come to. If I judge that someone is godly man or woman, I have made just as much of a judgement as if judge that someone needs to be saved.
Many quote…
“Judge not, that you be not judged.” Matthew 7:1… for many is the only verse they know.
Let’s read it in context.
Matthew 7
Do Not Judge
1 “Judge not, that you be not judged. 2 For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. 3 And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? 4 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye’; and look, a plank is in your own eye? 5 Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.6 “Do not give what is holy to the dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you in pieces.
Jesus was not forbidding righteous judgment but wicked and hypocritical judgement. He said first remove the plank from your own eye that you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye. He is not saying leave the speck alone, but don’t be a hypocrite.
Later in the same chapter, Jesus tells us to beware of false prophets, and that we will know them by their fruit.
Matthew 7:15-17
You Will Know Them by Their Fruits
15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. 16 You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? 17 Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.
We are to know them by their fruit and therefore recognize them as false prophets, to do so requires that we make a righteous judgment based on the Word of God. We would have to make a judgment/determination regarding their fruit and therefore a judgment regarding whether or not they are a false prophet and ravenous wolf in sheep’s clothing.
Jesus also said..
John 7:24
“Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment.”
How can we judge with righteous judgment if we are not to judge at all? The distinction is between wrongly judging and judging righteously with discernment and according to the Word.
Error in the Church
Are we really supposed to turn a blind eye to error being taught? Are we supposed to ignore all the nonsense being preached as truth and leave it up to God to sort it all out in the end? Do we have any responsibility to say anything or do anything regarding these things?
The Word of God admonishes us to expose false doctrine and not tolerate it.
Paul said, “Who is made to stumble, and I do not burn with indignation?” (2 Cor.11:29) He clearly had no such passive attitude towards error being taught in the churches, because he loved the sheep!
He was concerned for the churches.
2 Corinthians 11:3-4
3 But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. 4 For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted—you may well put up with it!
He urged Timothy not to allow the teaching of false doctrine to continue…
1 Timothy 1:3-4
No Other Doctrine
3 As I urged you when I went into Macedonia—remain in Ephesus that you may charge some that they teach no other doctrine, 4 nor give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which cause disputes rather than godly edification which is in faith.
There was no free for all … or any of the “everyone believe what you want to believe and what’s true for you may not be true for me” kind of stuff! There was a unified message, and those who taught anything contrary were not tolerated.
Galatians 1:6-8
Only One Gospel
6 I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, 7 which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed.
Paul marveled that the Galatians turned away from Jesus so soon, to a different Gospel. Note that Paul said it was “Him” they were turning away from. Turning away from His gospel and turning away from Jesus is the same thing! You cannot preach another gospel and be in Christ, you can’t receive another gospel and be in Christ! It’s HIS gospel, we have no authority to change it! Therefore, anyone preaching another gospel is accursed.
We are instructed to mark and avoid those teaching error (Romans 16:17-18), we aren’t supposed to keep company with them (I Tim. 6:3-5, 2 Thess. 3:14-15), allow them in our home or greet them (2 John 1:10-11).
We are to…
Rebuke them:
Titus 1:13
This testimony is true. Therefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith,
Separate ourselves from them:
If they do not heed correction we are to separate ourselves from them..
Titus 3:10
A man that is an heretick after the first and second admonition reject.
Exposing False Teachers
Not only are we not to tolerate the teaching of these wolves in sheep clothing, but we are to warn the sheep! I am not talking about publicly renouncing everyone who teaches something we do not agree with, but those things pertaining to salvation are not up for debate. We have all heard the story of the boy who cried wolf; labeling everything “damnable heresy” is not what I’m suggesting. However, naming a false teacher or false prophet is godly. It is our responsibility to the sheep when they are teaching “destructive heresy” that is leading people away from the truth of the gospel and therefore away from Jesus and to hell.
Many claim doing so is “persecution.” Heretics are not being persecuted! If they preach another gospel and another Jesus, then they are not brothers and sisters in the Lord, they are not part of the Body of Christ, but apostates! Separating ourselves from them is therefore, not causing division in the Body but is making a distinction between the Bride and the counterfeits, and drawing a line in the sand.
Paul named those in error...
Hymenaeus and Alexander (1 Tim. 1: 18-20)
Hymenaeus and Philetus (2 Tim. 2:15-18)
Demas (2 Tim. 4:10)
Alexander the coppersmith (2 Tim. 4:14-15)
John named Diotrephes (3 John 9)
Contend for the Faith
Jude 1:3-4
Contend for the Faith
3 Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. 4 For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ.
I encourage lovers of Truth to cry aloud and spare not! Don’t be intimidated or silenced! Lives depend on it.
We are our brothers keeper! Love people enough to tell them the truth! I would rather risk offending their flesh and save their soul, than see their soul lost for the sake of sparing their feelings. Not everyone will receive the truth… speak it anyway! It sounds cliche but remains true that if you don’t stand for something you will fall for everything.
Don’t be tossed to and fro, but speak the truth in love!
Ephesians 4:13-15
13 till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; 14 that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, 15 but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ
Thank you for reading! I pray you found this helpful!
Loads of love and grace to you,
