Who is your brother’s judge? Jesus or you?

Romans 14:10-11 But you, why do you judge your brother? Or you again, why do you regard your brother with contempt? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God. For it is written, “As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to Me, and every tongue shall give praise to God.” Paul helped the brother or sister who was judging, despising, or viewing with contempt a member of the body of Christ who wasn’t in agreement with his view of what days to celebrate or what food to eat. He helped them by showing them that in judging a brother or sister, they were exalting themselves as Lord. If Jesus is every believer’s Lord and master, then He is their judge. And if you are judging one of His servants, then you have supplanted Him. Are they going to stand before you to give an account when Jesus returns? Absolutely not! It has been revealed that we will all stand before the judgment seat of God upon which Jesus sits. Paul quoted from Isaiah 45:23. “I have sworn by Myself, the word has gone forth from My mouth in righteousness and will not turn back, that to Me every knee will bow, every tongue will swear allegiance.” This encourages us not, I repeat, not to put ourselves in the seat of judgment on our brothers or sisters in Christ. Our time for participating in Jesus’ judgment will come later. Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 6:2-3, “Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? Do you not know that we will judge angels?” But that’s once we have been revealed with Him in glory and have become like Him. Until He returns, we do not have jurisdiction to judge the fellow members of the body of Christ where God hasn’t clearly revealed His will. Quite the contrary, our sin and our brother’s and sister’s sin has been judged at the cross (8:3) and the Spirit of life in Christ is working in us so that Jesus may receive glory in us on that great day of judgment. What is sin? Sin defined in His Word is not debatable. God has judged and condemned certain specific deeds in His Word. If God’s Word is silent on a deed, then what makes it a sin is that the act wasn’t an expression of the faith of Christ which works in love. To put it another way, if we don’t live to love with Jesus, and we try to live or love in our own strength, it is sin, for apart from Jesus, we can do nothing that bears fruit for God or is righteous in His sight. Therefore, dear friends, let’s be on the alert not to judge or look down on anyone who is in Christ who has a different opinion from us on matters that are disputable. As we live to love with Jesus, we exalt Him and honor Him as our Lord and theirs. Let us encourage them to walk by faith, to follow the Holy Spirit, and do the will of God which is revealed in His word. Acknowledgment: Music from “Carried by the Father” by Eric Terlizzi. www.ericterlizzi.com