Dear Friend,
To abide by the word of God, the testimony of the Scriptures, the teachings of the prophets, the apostles, and the Saints—we have a biblical mandate:
One Cannot just Say
What One Wants to Say
Only those without the fear of the Lord can do so. This is a universal mandate.
There are no exemptions, no excuses, no self righteous justifications for overriding our biblical mandate.
No one can just say, whatever comes to their mind, whatever they feel, whatever they think, especially every condemning word that pops into their brain. We must filter every thought, every feeling, every word of accusation, through this biblical filter:
“Let no corrupt communication *
proceed out of your mouth, but [only]
that which is good to the use of edifying,
that it may minister grace unto the hearers.”
[“edify” means to ‘build up” ]
Without this protection and direction guiding our lips, a man could just say anything that he wanted to say without any accountability. But because of our heavenly holy Spirit counsel, we must submit our thoughts to higher thoughts, our feelings to higher feelings, and when we fail to do so, we must choose to repent, and change our course of action in the future.
- * Note: No corrupt communication doesn’t mean to just say nice things all the time. If that is the case, Jesus spoke wrongly virtually 50% of the time.
Oftentimes, the Truth when spoken will hurt. It often hurts most, just before it heals.
One cannot just speak what is on their mind at any moment.
One should not just share their feelings, no matter how strongly they feel about them, especially about another person: Without providing substance in the form clear communication and identification of any specific wrong being down, or any confirmed example of what needs to be changed using verified facts: What kind of edifying communication can be experienced?
Before anyone brings a condemning accusation against another brother or sister there is a high bar we need to pass over: Every eyewitness testimony must be based on credible character witnesses, truthful and biblical facts, that are not prejudiced, and that have not been groomed to speak with bias.
Now, even after gathering all the essential facts, and testimonies of individuals, one still must use the spirit of discernment to cut through personal bias (also known commonly as “confirmation bias”). We must voluntarily choose to eliminate our own prejudicial weaknesses, and the herd instinct, and factor in the peer pressure, and tribal loyalties, that are often involved and motivated in the midst of public testimony.
Only after due diligence of the above, can one pass righteous judgment upon another.
And as we should know, it is a serious thing to pass judgment on another.
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.
Jesus obviously understood the human heart, and therefore put specific imitations and serious cautions about how we are to use our words, and how we are allow our feelings to guide our judgments.
Now, with that being said: an immature believer will read “judge not less you be judged,” and walk away, saying that it’s wrong to judge. But Jesus never said that. Jesus never said that it is wrong to judge both yourself and others. In fact, Jesus said just the opposite. We need to have judgment, and we need to have the fear of the Lord in the midst of our judgment, knowing that as we judge others, so we will too be judged. That is the main point of his teaching.
That is why, in the fellowship of God it is basically illegal to receive the testimony of one man against another without the confirmed substance of the verified facts and evidence of two or three, just, righteous and mature witnesses of the truth. Men who can lend honest discernment, and true justice to the matter under dispute.
The main reason we have today 12 jury witnesses to hear testimony, I believe, is due to the lack of true righteous men and women of discernment that can be trustworthy witnesses that will give unbiased testimony. This is a fact, based on the problem due to the lack of fear of the Lord in our modern society.
Thankfully, we all have one perfect and impartial judge, that will one day sort out every false witness, and exaggerated testimony that has been perpetrated against us. That’s the good news. The bad news is, we will have to give an account of every “careless word,” or as the king James version says “idle Word”. We have spoken on the day of judgment just as Jesus Christ has testified.
36 But I say unto you, That every idle word [or careless word] that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. 37 For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.
Now, how does this apply to common Fellowship?
Personally, I believe, that in the midst of regular fellowship, we have some leeway to share our own opinions, our own thoughts, and our own beliefs with the purpose of sharing information—the purpose of this fellowship and dialogue should always be for the growth and maturity and discipleship of one with another. Confirming the scripture “iron sharpens iron, as one man sharpens another.”
With the purpose of speaking life, offering solutions, and building one another up in the midst of righteous Fellowship, there is room for sharing ideas, principles, biblical values, and applying them to personal perceptions and social concerns. We can do this in such a way, so as to not speak with judgment, or condemnation, but with the intent of problem-solving difficult situations, especially applied to social and relational relationship problems. Sharing opinions in trusted, confidential, and trustworthy fellowship, can be beneficial if it is not designed for the purpose of attacking condemning, or harming another person.Another person can be benefited by such a discussion. But as soon as the tone, the mindset, the emotions, or the discussion goes into the territory of accusation, based on feelings, and not substance— the entire discussion is then entering into the territory of the evil one.
If and when a person does not have the spirit of discernment, nor the fear of the Lord, one will not protect every other person in the discussion from entering into this evil position and direction of what may have started out to be a righteous desire for honest, truthful and open communication.
The biblical text is very good at pointing out, when, where, how, who, and what determines evil communication.
Jesus said,
But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.
Paul said,
29 Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but [only] that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. 30 And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. 31 Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice:
32 And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.
Now to get the full Bible study on the subject of what I expect from my communication with you, and with all other brothers in Christ, I am grateful to share with you, the biblical teaching on godly, righteous, truthful, convicting, and just communication in the body of Christ.
And David,
I submit to you that I am willing to be judged at every level and in every way, the biblical standard that I am presenting to you and the Bible study on being a true witness.
Therefore: David, let us commit to one another to:
31 Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice:
32 And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.
David,
I request, that if you have a specific sin, with a specific example, and a righteous testimony that is exposing something that needs correction, I welcome the opportunity to be called into authenticity in relationship with Christ through faith and righteous fellowship.
But I humbly request that if you have some spurious, emotional reaction, or knee jerk offense, while we are discussing sound biblical doctrine and righteous biblical behavior, or any biblical subject regarding the use of the tongue, and application of scripture to our daily live–I request that you would not express it in writing, nor speak it from your tongue. Without the fear of the Lord.