1. The manner in which we treat our enemies is not the point of this lesson.
2. Identifying our enemies shall be the real issue.
3. If we are to be "as wise as serpents, and harmless as doves" (Matt. 10:16,17), we must learn to tell the difference between friend and foe.
4. We cannot follow the Lord's instruction to "beware of men" if we are not able to distinguish between true men and false.
I. Is The Man Who Criticizes Me My Enemy?
A. Very few of us like to be criticized - in fact, we must discipline ourselves to
accept reproof gracefully.
B. The circumstances under which most folks will receive criticism might be
classified as follows:
1. We receive it according to rank.
a. If the person who points out our mistakes excels us in rank we can more
gracefully receive it.
b. It seems to take some of the sting out of our humility if our rebuker
speaks from a social station higher than our own.
c. It seems to be a matter of "who it is," or "how much authority does he
carry?" that determines the degree of profit we get out of being corrected.
2. We receive it according to manner.
a. If the one who crosses verbal swords with us is pleasant and considerate,
we find the ordeal much easier to bear.
b. If our critic is blunt and undiplomatic, most of us resent the chastisement.
c. But many people won't stand for criticism of any kind and they get on the
defensive no matter how the critic sounds.
Illustration:
Some people will argue with everyone about anything. Husband and wife were about to be eaten by canables.
They were about to take the man away when wife told them if they ate him they would get very sick. When asked
why, she said, "He never has agreed with anyone".
1) Jesus was the perfect example of humility yet he was often unable to
show men their error.
2) We should not accept or reject criticism based on what we believe to
be the motive of the critic.
3. We receive it according to prejudice.
C. To be prejudice is to have formed an opinion (on some particular thing) before
hearing all the evidence with no desire to hear the remaining evidence.
1. When someone starts a discussion on this thing, the prejudice person has a
closed mind in regard to it.
2. He may be as open minded as anyone else on other things but not this
particular thing.
3. He does not receive the teaching because his mind is already made up and
he will not consider that he could be wrong and therefore reasonably and
objectively weigh the evidence.
a. In short, we are inclined to accept or reject criticism on the basis of WHO
said it, and HOW he said it, rather than on the basis of WHAT he said.
b. The only perfect example from which we can learn how to profit by criticism
both just and unjust, regardless of the manner in which it is delivered, is in
the life of Jesus.
c. The one who takes issue with me is not necessarily my enemy.
1) He may be the best friend I have.
2) It is equally true that the one who commends me is not necessarily my friend.
3) Commendation is not necessarily the mark of a friend and adverse
criticism is not necessarily the mark of an enemy.
i. The identifying marks of a friend or foe go deeper than this.
4) The Bible teaches us how to distinguish between our allies and our enemies.
i. To warn a person of some fault that can destroy him is the act of a friend.
Prov. 27:17 - "Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the
countenance of his friend."
b) To refuse, or neglect to warn him is the act of an enemy.
Ezk. 33:7-9 – So thou, O son of man, I have set thee a watchman unto the
house of Israel; therefore thou shalt hear the word at my mouth, and warn
them from me. When I say unto the wicked, O wicked man, thou shalt surely
die; if thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man
shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand.Nevertheless,
if thou warn the wicked of his way to turn from it; if he do not turn from his way,
he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul.
5) The spiritual man who points our the fault of another is following the
instructions of the apostle Paul.
Gal. 6:1 - "Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are
spiritual restore such a one in the spirit of gentleness, considering yourself
lest you also be tempted."
i. Such a one saves himself and the sinner who turns from his way.
James 5:19-20 - Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one
convert him;Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the
error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude
of sins.
II. "Am I My Brother's Keeper?"
A. After rebellious Cain had slain his brother Able, he tried to disavow all responsibility
in the matter.
1. When the Lord inquired concerning his brother's absence, he replied: "Am I my
brothers's keeper?".
a. God still held him to account: "And He said, what have you done? The voice
of thy brother's blood cries unto me from the ground." (Gen. 4:8-10)
b. Even though very few individuals ever murder anyone, humans have the
tendency to shrug off all moral responsibility in regard to others.
1) It is so easy to hide behind this convenient evasion, "Am I my brother's
keeper?".
2) Let the other fellow go his way and I will go mine; let him believe the
way he likes and I'll believe the way I like; let him mind his business and
I'll mind mine.
2. The blood of murdered Able rose from the ground as witness against the
indifference of Cain.
a. In like manner, Jehovah says He will require the blood of a wicked man at
the hand of any person who saw him sin and who refused to warn him
of the consequences.
b. If the righteous man does warn him, and he persists in his iniquity and is
destroyed, the righteous person shall have delivered his own soul from
all moral responsibility.
B. We ARE our brother's keeper.
1. We are placed upon this earth to aid in helping each other to live the fullest
life possible, and in so doing fit ourselves for the better world that is to come.
a. To fail in this is to fail in the primary purpose of life.
b. To fail is to defeat the purpose of earthly existence.
2. When the apostle Paul gave his last report to the elders at Ephesus he
voiced this declaration of moral victory: "Wherefore I take you to record this day, that I am pure from the blood of all men.
For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God." (Acts 20:26-27)
a. In verse 20:21, he reminded them: "...I have kept back nothing that was profitable unto you, but have showed you,
and have taught you publicly, and from house to house ..."
b. In verse 31, he continued: "Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to
warn everyone night and day with tears."
c. The apostle Paul was free from the blood of all men because he had not
once "shunned to declare the whole counsel of God."
1) On every occasion he had not side-stepped any moral or doctrinal issue.
2) Whenever an error in teaching or practice had shown itself, this man of
God had faced the fault squarely and fairly by plainly stating what God
had said concerning that matter.
3) Had he gone about finding fault with others in matters of opinion, he
would have proven himself completely obnoxious.
4) When he "declared the whole counsel of God," without fear and favor,
he proved himself a friend of man and worthy of the high and honored
place he holds in history.
III. "Am I Become Your Enemy Because I Tell You The Truth?"
A. When this same teacher had first gone among the people of Galatia, those
who believed his teaching had received him with high favor.
1. He later replied to them: "Ye know how through infirmity of the flesh I preached
the gospel unto you at the first. And my temptation which was in my flesh ye
despised not, nor rejected; but received me as an angel of God, [even] as
Christ Jesus. Where is then the blessedness ye spake of? for I bear you record,
that, if [it had been] possible, ye would have plucked out your own eyes, and
have given them to me".
2. What happened to change their attitude?
a. False teachers had come among them and persuaded them to go back to
the old law of Moses.
b. He warned them saying (NKJV): "But now after you have known God, or rather are known by God, how is it that
you turn again to the weak and beggarly elements, to which you desire again to be
in bondage? You observe days, and months and seasons and years.I am afraid for
you, least I have labored for you in vain."
B. How did those brethren of Paul receive his warning of their digression?
1. Were they once again grateful that he had saved them from a tragic blunder?
a. They were not.
b. They became as zealously opposed to him as they had loved him in the past.
2. Out of his deep sorrow for their change of heart, he then could ask, "Am I
become your enemy, because I tell you the truth?".
C. This situation poses the most baffling riddle to be found in all the complex
puzzle of human behavior.
1. Why should one human hate another human just because he tells the truth?
2. We can usually receive truth, so long as it does not oppose the things we
subscribe to, but the moment that truth is arraigned against our personal
interest, or the sentimental loyalties to which we are attached, we have
consuming urge to fly at the man who speaks that truth, and beat him down.
a. What folly!
b. Do we not know that "Truth beaten to the earth will rise again"?
1) If it is truth, destroying the man who spoke it will not dispose of the principle;
it will rise again and again to confront us at every fork in the road.
2) The only way to successfully oppose a principle that is wrong is not to
oppose the man who said it but to openly speak the truth against his error.
3) Truth was never defended by spite, or hatred, or violence, or evasion
or quarantining.
a) To employ such tactics is to admit that one fears for his position.
b) Such methods always end in defeat for the one who uses them.
D. Jesus went to a violent death because He disturbed folks by teaching truth
that threatened their cherished belief and ambition.
1. The Lord would have been tolerated, even accepted, had he been content
to speak broad generalities that did no attack the selfish interest of his auditors.
2. Fifty million martyrs could have lived out a quiet and peaceful existence had
they been content to just avoid those particular truths that disturbed the
personal loyalties of their neighbors.
Conclusion
I. The man who criticizes me is not my enemy if his criticism is constructive - that is,
if he is seeking to "sharpen the countenance of his friend."
II. We are our brother's keeper.
A. We have the responsibility to warn those who transgress God's law.
B. If we choose to ignore one another's sin and transgressions and say nothing
we will go down with our brother or neighbor.
III. Sometimes we do become an enemy to those we tell the truth.
A. It hurts us but the real problem is theirs, we have delivered our soul.
B. But then, they may NOT become our enemy, but a friend for life, if they are wise.
Prov.9:8 - "Reprove not a scorner, lest he hate thee: rebuke a wise man, and
he will love thee."
IV. I really admire a man that can gracefully and tactfully point out a fault of mine to me.
A. I may get on the defensive at first, but later think about what he said and make
the correction.
B. In the parable of the two sons (Matt. 21:28-30) the father told the first son, "Go
work today in my vineyard. "But "He answered and said, I will not, but afterward
he regretted it and went." "The second son said, I go, sir, and he did not go."
1. So you see, one's immediate response to a confrontation can be deceiving.
2. One could say, "You are right, I'll straighten up", and then not do it.
a. Or, he could take the defensive and afterward straighten up.
3. When we do this, we rob the spiritual man of immediate satisfaction of success
but such a man is not greatly concerned with immediate visible results but in
doing what had to be done.
V. Chances are, you will have reproof, criticism, or whatever you want to call it,
directed toward you. How will you respond?
VI. You have friends who you can help by pointing out their transgressions…..Will
you do it?
Prov. 27:17 - "Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of
his friend."
Prov. 25:11-12 - "A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver.
As an earring of gold, and an ornament of fine gold, so is a wife reprover upon
an obedient ear."
VII. We shall close with a warning from the wise man to those who do not give thought
to their choice of words: Prov. 29:20 - "Seest thou a man that is hasty in his
words? there is more hope of a fool than of him."