How We Should Be Viewing One Another

Mr. Keenan was revving up the piano on that last stanza. He really got it going there.

So thank you all for your singing and worship of God. That's something that we all can be excited about and thankful for. And I appreciate Mike mentioning Matthew 7. And if you'll recall, several weeks ago I gave a sermon that was connected to Matthew 7, Judge Not Lest You Also Be Judged. And I wanted to follow up on that particular sermon because in regard to that particular section, Matthew 7, 1 through 5, we find that that showed us that we do make judgments, we do make some decisions, we all have to make decisions at all times regarding our lives and regarding our relationship with others.

And we do that as we understand based on the Word of God, based on our understanding of the Word of God. And yet what Matthew 7 talks about is not being critical or not being condemning of others. It really has to do a good amount with what's in our heart. It has to do a lot about how we view other people, how we, again, Mike related this in just reading through a couple of those verses where they talk about really focusing on me instead of whatever difficulties I might have and not focusing on trying to correct or to in some way criticize or condemn someone else for whatever they're doing.

And I know, I gave that sermon and I know that it is something that all of us are aware of, but it really has been a difficulty for us. It's very easy to fall into that. It's very easy to be critical or to be condemning. And of course, we want to stay away from that about as far as we can.

But as I thought about that, I also thought of another aspect of that similar topic. And I wanted to focus on this in James 4. Because not only in Matthew, but in other places here in the Bible, we have information that tells us how to be toward one another. Tells us how we are to be toward each other. And here in James 4, we find a section, actually it's just a very short section here, James 4, verse 11 and 12.

It tells us directly, you know, this actually involves more so than just what might be in our heart, and the type of criticism or condemnation, judgment that we might make toward others and might not even speak about it. But here in verse 11 of James 4, he says, Do not speak evil. Do not speak evil against your brother or against one another, brothers and sisters.

Whoever speaks evil against another or judges another speaks evil against the law and judges the law. And it goes on to say, if you judge the law, then you're not a doer of the law, but you're a judge. And so here it actually adds a completely different element to the topic of judging or speaking evil of others. And so I want to focus on this today. It is something that I think is important. In verse 12, it adds to who the judge really is.

It says in verse 12, there is one lawgiver and there is one judge who is able to save and to destroy. And of course, that's not me. That's not me, and that's not you. That is Jesus Christ. He is the one who gave us the law. He's the one who spoke to Moses back in the Old Testament in giving him the Ten Commandments and writing with the finger of God on the tables of stone the Ten Commandments, the law that all of us certainly respect and appreciate. But it says there is one lawgiver and one judge, and he is the one who is able to save us.

And so we want to be thankful for that. But then the last part of verse 12 then, as it kind of sums up verse 11 and 12, it says, so who then are you? Who are you? Since Jesus is the one who is the lawgiver and since he is the one who is the judge, then who are you to judge your neighbor?

See, that's really, in a sense, I guess the title of what I want to speak about today, because there are several aspects of this. It says in verse 11, don't speak evil against another, because in a sense what we're doing is that we're judging other people. We're judging their decisions. We're judging their circumstances. We might even be judging their relationship with God.

If you're actually speaking evil against a brother or against a neighbor, we might be able to acknowledge or recognize that something is wrong or that something certainly doesn't seem to be in line with God's word or God's law. But do we need to speak that? You know, is that our place to do that, or is that the place of the real judge, the one who is the lawgiver? It says in verse 11 that when we do this, that we really become a judge of the law, and we really don't follow the law of love toward others.

See, that's why placing ourselves in a position of the judge doesn't allow us to follow the law, which is what we want to do. We want to follow the law of love and concern for others.

So who, then, are you to judge your brother? Now, there's actually four different aspects of this that I want to see if I can touch on here in the next half hour or so. I want to be able to point these out so that we can have more love, more love for one another, more love for each person that we come in contact with. Not only those of us seated here today, but those that we're going to reach out to, those that we want to be receiving toward, because that's certainly what we are planning for here as we go forward with the work that God has called us to do.

The first area that I want to focus on, and you can back up in James to chapter 2, the first area that involves this is just showing partiality.

See, how partial are we? How partial or how easy is it to be partial toward other people?

Actually, in many ways, we make judgments about others because of showing favoritism.

Here in James chapter 2, actually the first section here, verse 1 down to verse 13, talks about this. And so I want to read through this. My brethren, do you with your acts of favoritism really believe in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ? And so here James was pointing out that, well, if you are a person who has a great deal of partiality in you, if you are showing favoritism one toward another because of physical circumstances, because of physical situations, it's going to point out, you know, how is that right? That's really wrong. It actually says, do you by your acts of favoritism really believe in the glorious Lord Jesus Christ? He says, if we, you know, are being partial toward one another, if we are showing favoritism one toward another and not viewing all people as the creation of God, as sons of God, as people who have the potential to be in the family of God, because every human being has that potential. We all, you know, we used to have a book called The Incredible Human Potential. That really was an incredible way to express that, because being a part of God's divine family is just an extraordinary thing that most people, you know, really don't think about very much. It goes on in verse 2. It says, if a person with gold rings and fine clothes come into your assembly. And so here, it'd be talking about, I guess, going to church.

Going to church, and someone would come into the church with gold rings and fine clothes.

But then also, if a poor person in dirty clothes would come in, and if you take notice of the one wearing the fine clothes, and you say, have a seat here, please. While to the one who was poor, you say, stand over there, or sit at my feet. Have you not made distinctions among yourselves?

And have you not become judges with evil thoughts? See, this again is very easy to do. It's often, you know, almost a human condition to favor those who appear to be favorable.

Favor those who have riches or wealth, or maybe have fine clothes. And yet, what this is pointing out is that God, he goes on in verse 5, listen, my brethren, has not God chosen the poor of the world?

Here he describes all of us, really. Has he not chosen the poor of the world, or in the world, to be rich in faith, and to be heirs of the kingdom? That he has promised to those who love him.

But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who oppress you? Is it not they who drag you into court? Is it not they who blaspheme the excellent name by which you are called? See, this is actually, you know, telling them that, you know, this is completely wrong. To have this type of favoritism, to have this type of a partiality, or showing partiality, you know, that that's wrong.

That's making a judgment. And as we mentioned in chapter 4, it talks about speaking evil of people.

And of course, you know, this is kind of even before speaking, the way we view things.

In verse 8, he says, you do well. And so he says, this is really what you should do. You do well if you really fulfill the royal law, according to the Scripture. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. See, which neighbor does God want me to love? Which one does He...maybe it should be stated differently. Which one does He not want me to love? Which one does He not want me to accept?

Which neighbor does He not want me to see as a potential Son of God? To see as someone who, you know, in spite of whatever difficulties, circumstances, situations they might be in, they have a potential. And they should fall into this category of us loving our neighbor as ourselves. He says, if you show partiality, in verse 8 or 9, I guess it is, if you show partiality, you commit sin. And you are convicted by the law as a transgressor. And so here he puts this pretty strongly, that if we make judgments in our mind about others regarding their physical circumstances, or show favoritism one over the other, if we do that, then we're not properly fulfilling the law of loving your neighbor as yourself. Where he says, whoever keeps the whole law in verse 10 but falls in one point or fails in one point, has become accountable for all.

For the one who said, you shall not commit adultery also said, you shall not murder. And if you commit adultery, or if you do not commit adultery but you murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. So here he points out how that it's important that we maintain or that we keep the entirety of the law. And of course, we've always understood and recognized, even though a couple of the commandments are mentioned here, we also respect the Sabbath as we do today.

And we realize not everybody does that. And in some ways, that does stand out. It stands out for us to be here on Saturday afternoon or on Sabbath morning service, keeping that day, respecting that day because God guides us in remembering the Sabbath day to keep it holy. But he says, we should keep each part of the law. And so he says, speak and act as those who are to be judged by the law of liberty. For judgment will be without mercy to anyone who has shown no mercy. And mercy triumphs over judgment. So he kind of ends his section talking about how merciful that we need to be toward others. Understanding how much we need God's mercy, how much we need His forgiveness, how much we need to be honoring others, how much we need to be appreciating the qualities and the characteristics of others. See, this is a big part of what we can do in order to fulfill the law of loving your neighbor as yourself. But one way we can defile that or one way we can commit sin, as it says, is by showing partiality. And that's a specific part of the type of judgments that God is telling us here in chapter four to stay away from because, you know, we're not the judge. You know, we are the ones who want to respect the law, want to obey the law, and want to serve the law in that way. The second thing is on over here in chapter three of James, and it actually involves the tongue. Now, all of us, at least since I look around, all of us can speak. All of us have a tongue. All of us have a tongue that is potentially lethal, potentially damaging. It's also potentially helpful, potentially kind and loving. But there is a danger. There's a danger there because, as we all use our mouths, we can use those. And actually, sometimes it's amazing how that we can say one thing very good and positive, and then in the moment we're saying something not very positive, pretty negative. And I'm kind of putting my foot in my mouth many times that way, thinking that, well, I'm trying to do this. I'm trying to say this that's good and positive, and it turns out that that's not the case. It actually undermines what I'm trying to say. And this is what this section in James chapter 3 is about. James chapter 3 verse 1, Not many of you should become teachers, my brethren, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. And so, you know, we're told, you know, not everyone will be in a role of a teacher, but knowing that that teacher is going to be held accountable for how they teach. And verse 2, For all of us make many mistakes, and yet anyone who makes no mistakes in speaking, that person is perfect. And so, I'm not sure exactly who that would be talking about.

I don't know who that would be. I mean, nobody fits that category. Nobody, as to my knowledge, is always speaking correctly. Says, anyone who makes no mistakes in speaking is perfect, able to keep the whole body in check with a bridle. He says, If we put bits in the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we guide their whole body. Or look at ships. They're so large a ship, it takes strong winds to drive them, yet they're guided by a very small rudder, wherever the will of the pilot directs. So also, the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great exploits. This is something that, in many ways, describes human nature.

It describes the nature that we have all absorbed, and just being a part of this world, we're often saying or boasting of things that we shouldn't be boasting about.

And yet, the description here, as far as guiding a horse or guiding a boat, is that if we could guide our tongue, we could be perfect. We could have. We can be flawless.

And yet, of course, it points out that that really is not the case. It goes on in verse 5, How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire. And it's talking about the tongue.

It's talking about the way that we interact with others, the way we think toward others, the way we are thinking about what we say, because it says in verse 6, The tongue is a fire.

The tongue is placed among our members as a world of iniquity. It stains the whole body, set on fire the course of nature, and it set itself on fire by hell. For every species of beast and bird of reptile and sea creature can be tamed and has been tamed by the human species, but no one can tame the tongue. It's a restless evil full of deadly poison.

See, unfortunately, we can't avoid the use of our tongue. And we're going to have to use our tongue.

We're going to have to be able to guide our tongue. And as we guide the things we say, as we guide the words that come out of our mouth, as we guard those words, I guess would be the better way of thinking of that. Well, then we don't want to be speaking evil of others or judging others, and yet most of the time that's going to be revealed through what we say.

It's going to be revealed by the tongue. So it goes on in verse 9.

Unfortunately, with the tongue we bless the Lord, our Father, and with it we curse those who are made in the likeness of God. So that's an amazing concept, and yet it's very clear that that is the case. We pray to God. We honor God. We thank God. We try to focus our mind. We focus our attention. We focus our heart on what God is doing, and we can be very grateful to Him for His help and His blessing and His intervention. And then all of a sudden we turn around and we will say something perhaps about someone else. We're usually not saying so many bad things about God, although at times we might even do that. And yet it says, we bless the Lord and Father with our tongue, and yet we curse those who are made in the image of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. And of course, he ends verse 10 by a very simple statement. He says, My brethren, this naught ought to be so. This just shouldn't be so. We have other scriptures that tell us to guard our tongue, to guard our lips, to put a watch upon our tongue and lips.

And yet that's what we are encouraged to do. If we are learning to not judge others and to not criticize and condemn others, well then we're going to be guarding our lips. He says in verse 11, Does a spring pour forth from the same opening fresh and stale water? And a fig tree, my brothers, yield for olives or a grapevine figs. No more consult water, yield fresh.

See, this is an amazing thing when we think about how it is that God is asking us to live. He wants us to live our lives in conformity to His law. He wants us to serve Him with our heart and with our life. And yet He wants us to be guarding, guarding our tongue, because it is through the tongue, through the tongue that we often can offend. And in essence, we can be speaking blessing and cursing out of the same mouth. See, as it points out here, fig trees produce figs, vineyards produce grapes. You know, that should be the outcome. And yet for us, as a Christian, we want to get the things in our mind, get the things in our heart, allow the things to come out of our mouth that are going to be helpful in serving others. So we want to use our tongue to bless and to uplift and to encourage and not discredit or condemn or judge those made in the image of God.

See, if everything I said was always uplifting and positive and, you know, an encouragement to others, you know, that would be great. But that isn't what we run into sometimes. The third area that I want to mention here is one that we covered not too long ago. This is actually something we covered in the, I think it was when we were talking about Barnabas and the way that he was able to help Paul, the way that he was able to lift Paul up even when he was being castigated by others. He was not being accepted. But this is an area, this is back in the book of Galatians, but it's an area that I bring up just simply because it is a point of, it's a point of tension. It's a point of anger. It's a point of hatred for many people on this earth. And it's a point of racial prejudice. See, all of us are of a certain race. All of us have certain views. I mean, they talk about this on television.

You talk about it, or they talk about it when you have nation against nation. You talk about it in almost every context in the political scene. They have discussions about racial prejudice.

And again, I think sometimes we have to analyze, do I have a prejudice toward those who are of a different race? Clearly, whenever you go back and study things regarding, say, World War II, the United States and then other of the nation, the English people and the others who were allied together against the German and the Japanese axis, it was a great deal of racial prejudice at that time. Certainly a great deal of statements of anger and hatred toward, and certain slang terms used, toward the Japanese, toward the Germans. I'm not meaning to directly bring all of those up, but I recall hearing that as a young person and not thinking very much about it and not realizing that that's just completely wrong. That is an anger and a hatred, a tension that God clearly doesn't want. And yet, we can find that even subtly a part of our own thinking. Suddly a part. If we look at other races in a negative way, well, then we're missing the picture. We're missing the picture that God, that God has created all the races. And of course, as we know in many ways, we have people today who are a mixture of, and perhaps most of us, or some mixture of many different variations of races.

And yet here in Galatians 2, it talks about it's actually a conflict between Jew and Gentile, and so that is a little bit different differentiation between the races, because this is really Israel as opposed to non-Israelite. That would be the description that is given here. But in verse 11, it says, when Peter came to Antioch, Paul says, I opposed him to his face because he stood self-condemned. For until certain people came from James, certain who were of the Israelite, Jewish background, Peter used to eat with the non-Israelites. He used to eat with the Gentiles. But after they came, he drew back and he kept himself separate for fear of the circumcision. And the other Jews joined him in this hypocrisy so that even Barnabas was led astray by this hypocrisy. When I saw that they were not acting consistently with the truth of the Gospel, what Paul was saying was, what they were doing was, they were showing partiality, they were showing a disrespect, even as we read about not too long ago, so I guess we're reading about this in our study of John as far as the disciples as they came into contact with the Samaritan woman. They wouldn't even talk to her. The contrast between the Israelites and the Samaritans was so great that they had nothing to do with each other. They had nothing in common. They'd look down upon the Samaritans. In this case, it was simply a Jew and Gentile conflict, but in verse 14, when I saw he was not acting consistently with truth, consistently with the way of loving other people. See, this is what Paul was saying. What he was saying was he was dividing people. He was creating difficulty for people because of his own prejudice, because of his background, because of how it was he viewed things. He went on to say, I said to Peter before them all, if you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you compel the Gentiles to live like Jews? See, he pointed out that this was inconsistent with the love of God. And I think too often today, I think we have to think about this, you know, do we view and speak of those of other racial ethnicities than ourselves? Do we view them in a lesser light? Do we do that? I mean, it's very easy to do. It's very easy to categorize people. Do we desire to categorize others, to actually put them in a box of some type and label them in a negative way? Because that can very easily be done. It shouldn't be done, but it can easily be done. And I pointed out as a point of the type of thing that can be a contributing factor to our judging of other people. And I would hope that we could be open-minded, that we could be accepting, that we could be loving, that we could be kind, and actually, you know, this is what is described here in the latter part of Galatians 3 here, because as Paul continues to write about, in a sense, this view and gentile conflict, and as we apply it to our setting today, where we have, you know, major nations around the world who are different racial profiles, certainly you look at the Middle East and you find, you know, a Jewish or an Israelite state surrounded by, you know, many, many different, basically, Arabic countries.

Great deal of conflict, great deal of tension, great deal of hatred, great deal of anger. And, of course, then you go into the other races. And even here in the United States, you know, we've got, we have multiple different sections of the country where, you know, there are a great deal, there is a great deal of strife because of racial intolerance, because of racial disrespect.

But this is what was being mentioned. But the solution that Paul is mentioning here is in Galatians 3 verse 27. As many of you, as were baptized into Jesus Christ, have clothed yourself with Christ. So there is no longer Jew or Gentile. There is no longer slave or free. There is no longer male or female. For all are to be one in Jesus Christ. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's offspring and you are heirs according to the promise.

Now clearly, he was talking about as members of the Church of God, as members who were recipients of the Holy Spirit and who looked to Jesus Christ as the head of the Church, as we had been pointed out earlier. You know, he was talking about that particular setting. But I think that the love for others, you know, is going to have to reach out from us, you know, to everyone else. And if we have that kind of a prejudice toward others, if we have that type of a racial prejudice, you know, we should ask God to remove it. We should ask Him to change that. Because in every one of us, you know, we might be able to see that. We might see, you know, that there is prejudice in that way.

And yet I think that God shows that He simply does not want that to be the case. The last thing that I want to point out regarding, you know, this topic of judging one another is that it's it's very easy, and it can certainly even be among us here in the congregation, it's very easy for us to criticize or judge one another regarding our health. You know, all of us have a certain level of health problems. Some of you are quite healthy. Some of us aren't. You know, we have members of our congregation, you know, who suffer a great deal. And of course, all of us, I think, are familiar with the lists of people that, you know, we get every week or every, you know, we have an update.

We've got multiple people who are a part of the Church of God who are suffering, who are suffering in some ways just indescribable things. I think of this last, you know, this last update that we got. You talk, I think you recall, and I don't recall all of the names, but you recall people suffering from cancer. You recall people having, you know, different life-threatening situations, either with heart or either with, you know, their entire system. And see, how do we view that? How do we view that? You know, we're asked to pray for brethren in the Church, and of course, we're asked to pray about people who, in most cases, we do not know them. You know, we're not directly familiar with them. We see their name. We see that written down. We see, perhaps, even a description of what someone is going through, and in many ways, our heart should go out. Our heart should go out because we desire to help them, but in many ways, how can we? And see, I don't know.

I don't know the type of suffering that other people go through. I don't know that. I know what I go through if I suffer something, and that, in many ways, is very limited or minimal compared to what I see. You know, many others suffering in multiple ways, and it doesn't really matter what the ways are. I'm just pointing out that we can be critical, and actually, I'll show you from the Bible that there are, and there is a proclivity to criticize someone for an ailment or for an illness, because we often think, well, they probably did something wrong. And, you know, I'll say, I'll say about me. I won't say about you. I know, whenever I'm sick, I surely may have done something wrong.

I may have not followed a certain health law that would have been as positive for me as otherwise.

But, that is an outlook that we see biblically. You have kind of a cause-and-effect type of an example. And so, many times we do have something that may have contributed to some of our health.

But, in other times, in other cases, and certainly when we look into not only our physical, but our emotional health, there are things in many ways that are pretty much out of our control.

Most all of us go through changes in our lives. Certainly, women go through major changes in their lives that affect their makeup, affect their hormones, affect their entire life to a point that they certainly may not feel like they wish that they felt. And that might be hard for me to understand. And I know I learned a little bit from some things that my wife has gone through.

I say a little bit. I hope I've learned a lot. But, I find more and more, the more I learn about it, the less I really knew. And so, it's important for me to learn to be compassionate. It's important for me to be non-judgmental and non-critical of others in regard to any health problem that they may be suffering. And certainly, whenever we have a prayer request, we want to pray for God's mercy.

That's what I want whenever I'm sick. And I think that's what everyone who is ailing, that's what they want. They want God's mercy. They want God's intervention. They want his help.

And I think we have to ask ourselves, do we do that? Do we pray for God's mercy for his intervention? Or do we maybe evaluate whether or not or whatever they might have done that contributed to the illness? That is totally not helpful. That doesn't help them. It doesn't help us. It really shows a lack of understanding on our part, a lack of perception. And so, I thought I would go to this example here in John chapter 9, because it's an example that Jesus uses in a very, I think, poignant way here. In John chapter 9, you have an example of a man who was blind.

And, of course, this whole chapter in chapter 9, it points out a need for all of us to have spiritual vision, for us not to be spiritually blinded. And, ultimately, we are called to have spiritual vision. And that's primarily what this chapter is talking about. But it's amazing to see the interaction with this blind man, because apparently he'd been blind from birth.

He'd been blind his whole life. His parents. Whenever their child was born, he was blind.

He couldn't see. He had lived, and I don't see exactly his age here. It appears he was in 25, 30. He says he was of age, so whatever age he was, it's interesting to see the reaction of the disciples. But it's also interesting to see the reaction of the Pharisees, and then the reaction of Jesus, because there were some totally different perceptions here.

And yet, I'd like for us to begin here. John 9, verse 24, says the second time, and this was the Pharisees, they called the man to him who had been blind, and they said to him, well, give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner. See, they were not wanting to give Jesus any credit. They didn't want him to be viewed with any authority that he might otherwise certainly have.

And the man said, well, I don't know. This is after he'd been healed by Jesus. He says, I don't know whether he's a sinner or not, but one thing I know that I used to be blind, and now I can see.

Now, that's the one thing I know that I didn't used to be able to see, and now I can.

And so, they asked him in verse 26, what did he do to you? How did he open your eyes? And he answered them. He says, I've already told you, and you don't listen. Why do you want to hear it again?

Do you also want to become his disciples? And so, they reviled him and said, you're his disciple, but we're the disciples of Moses. You know, they were kind of indicting themselves for bad judgment here, because even though being a disciple of Moses was not unfavorable, that was certainly a starting point. Becoming a disciple of Jesus Christ was going to be far better. It was going to be what they needed to learn, and they didn't want to learn. But he said in verse 29, we know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we don't know where he came from. And the man answered and said, here is an astonishing thing. You don't know where he comes from, and yet he opens my eyes. And we know that God does not listen to sinners, but he does listen to one who worships him and obeys his will. And so this man, who had been given spiritual, or not spiritual, but at least physical sight, he had at least certain spiritual insight it looked like as well, he says if this man were from God, or if he is from God, or if he were not from God, excuse me, then he could do nothing. And see, they answered him and said, you were born entirely in sin, and you're trying to teach us. And so they drove him away. You know, he pointed out something very correct. He pointed out something as though I don't know all of the factors involved here, but one thing I do know is that through Jesus Christ, through Him giving me sight, I'm able to see. And we would believe that He is following the will of God, and that God is listening to Him because how else could we describe this? And yet what the Pharisees said were that, well, you're a sinner. You're entirely in sin, and how can you teach us?

They weren't open to receiving any understanding, and they categorized Him. They quickly categorized Him. Here is the blind man who's been blind since birth, who's been a common fixture in our community, and we know he's a sinner. Now, how did they know that? Well, they concluded that. He's blind.

Some sin had to have caused that blindness. That was their reference or inference. Somehow, that had to be caused, and that's what we find here in the first few verses of chapter 9, because the disciples thought the same thing. See, it says in verse 1, as they walked along, Jesus saw a man who was blind from birth, and His disciples asked Him and said, Rabbi, who sinned? Rabbi, whose fault is this? See, that was their perception. They thought that someone had a physical ailment. Someone had any kind of an ailment, physical or otherwise, had to be something that caused that. Had to be some sin that brought that about.

They said, Rabbi, who sinned? See, this was their common perception.

And they said, did this man sin? Or did his parents sin? And he was born blind.

See, now that was very revealing statement. A statement that was going to show that they thought that any kind of ailment, any kind of illness, any kind of health difficulty, whatever it might be, in this case pretty major obvious deficiency as far as his sight, that that had to come from some sin. And actually, brethren, in our culture, we have kind of thought that. And in some ways, we realize, well, we could contribute to some things. But actually, there are many things and many things that are very, very complicated in our physical life, very complicated in our physical being that we'd never be able to pinpoint something that we did or didn't do that actually caused. Whenever I stupidly jumped off a chair and tried to dunk a basketball and broke my arm, I knew exactly who sinned. I knew exactly what had gone wrong.

But for most cases, for many illnesses that we all suffer, we can't really isolate it. We can't really determine exactly what the contributing factor was. And too many times, we might make that quick judgment about somebody else. And I encourage us not to do that. It is not showing the love of God to immediately do, even as the disciples did, where they said, Who sinned? This man or his parents that he was born blind. And of course, Jesus' answer is important. He said, Neither this man nor his parents have sinned. He said, This particular ailment, this particular issue, had nothing to do with sin. It had nothing to do with sin by this man, nothing by his parents.

They may have blamed themselves. They may have wondered, if we contributed to this in some way.

We often could blame ourselves whenever something might occur that is completely out of our control.

And yet, what we see in Jesus' explanation, neither this man nor his parents have sinned, but he was born blind so that God's work might be revealed in him. So that the glory of God might be revealed in him. He said, He is here, and He is now a recipient of His sight. And He is an example of receiving spiritual sight coming out of spiritual blindness. And He said, This is what I want you to understand. I want you to recognize. And He goes ahead and talks about working the works of Him who sent me while it's day. He talks about doing the work of God. He talks about achieving the work that He knows He was called to do. And a part of that was interacting with this man.

Now, I'd like for us to think about how it is that God is working with us today.

Some of the things we may go through, some of the things that we endure, some of the things, the ailments that we might suffer, may well be nothing that we directly cause, but just something that God is going to use to show the works of God, to show us and to show others what God's power is like. And so I'd like for us to at least think about that because it's clearly a possibility that God would be able to work in that way. And that we can't always just put everything in a box. We can't always just come up with a solution and an answer and know, okay, well that's what is happening. There may be a lot of variables and a lot of circumstances that we just simply do not understand. And so we should refrain from making judgments about health of others since there really is no way to determine cause or purpose of an ailment that it might affect people. There's no real way to do that. And so every individual, and even at that, many of us usually come at different types of health concerns only from the knowledge that we happen to have, which may be about this much, in a great big huge amount of the knowledge that's available or the knowledge that we may not even be able to access. Each individual is different, so even if one thing worked for someone, that doesn't mean that it would work for someone else. I know I've heard many stories of something that somebody says, you know, this worked for me and that's fine.

But not to think that, well, that because it worked for me, that works for everybody, because that's not a right concept. It is something that we can easily, you know, fall into by criticizing or judging others, just regarding health situations. And we really want to show them mercy. We really want to show them appreciation. We want to show them respect.

And that's the type of love that I think God wishes for us to show each other. So to go back to James 4 as we conclude here. Verse 11, James 4, Do not speak evil against one another, brethren.

Whoever speaks evil against another and judges another speaks evil against the law and judges the law. And if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law, but a judge. And so we are not in the role or the position of Jesus Christ. And so it tells us, who then are you to judge your neighbor? See, that's a reminder that James gives. James actually puts a lot of different things in the short little book that he has written. And of course, we've read a couple of them, partiality and the use of the tongue. And yet, many of them tie together in the way in which we're to love one another. That's really what he was focusing on. The way in which we should respect one another. And the way that we should ask God, and perhaps this is what we should ask God, as we see any of these things in ourselves, that we ask God to guard our heart from unholy judgments about the conditions and circumstances of others, and that He simply guide us daily into the acts of mercy or compassion that He allows us to do for one another. That would seem to be a lot better position for us to be in. And not judging one another, but actually accepting and loving one another because, thankfully, God loves all of us.

Thank you, Mr. Dobson.