The two sides of judgmentalism

Someone I met today said he was told by a church leader that any man who is going to teach in the church should wear a tie. While I may not agree with that requirement, I need to be on guard of being judgmental about such a requirement.

Andy Naselli, who quotes from Jerry Bridge's book Respectable Sins: Confronting the Sins We Tolerate, gets to the heart of the matter in a post about the two sides of the the judgmentalism coin.

He states that "the point of [his] post is not to debate disputed positions; it’s about our disposition. It’s not about who’s right and who’s wrong; it’s about applying the gospel to our sinfully critical spirits and condemning attitudes. We might think of judgmental people as those with 'stricter' standards, but people with 'looser' standards can be judgmental, too. Whatever our views may be on disputed issues like the ones below, we can be guilty of judgmentalism. Jesus died for that sin."

Quoting from chapter 17 of Bridge's book, Naselli lists three examples or areas in which Christians can be judgmental: 1) clothing, 2) music, and 3) alcohol.

Read his entire post here.

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(HT: Tim Challies)

They ... will put their trust in thee

Bagster's Daily Light - January 8 - Morning

They ... will put their trust in thee ...

And those who know your name put their trust in you, for you, O LORD, have not forsaken those who seek you. 1

The name of the LORD is a strong tower; the righteous man runs into it and is safe. 2

"Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid; for the LORD GOD is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation." 3

I have been young, and now am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his children begging for bread. 4

For the LORD loves justice; he will not forsake his saints. They are preserved forever, but the children of the wicked shall be cut off. 5

For the LORD will not forsake his people, for his great name's sake, because it has pleased the LORD to make you a people for himself. 6

He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again. 7

Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you." So we can confidently say, "The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?" 8
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1 Psa 9:10;
2 Prov 18:10;
3 Isa 12:2;
4 Psa 37:25;
5 Psa 37:28;
6 1 Sam 12:22;
7 2 Cor 1:10;
8 Heb 13:5,6

I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee

Bagster's Daily Light - January 7 - Evening

I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.

No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life. Just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you or forsake you. 1

Not one word of all the good promises that the LORD had made to the house of Israel had failed; all came to pass. 2

God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it? 3

Know therefore that the LORD your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations, 4

He provides food for those who fear him; he remembers his covenant forever. 5

"Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you. Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are continually before me. 6

The LORD your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing. 7
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1 Josh 1:5;
2 Josh 21:45;
3 Num 23:19;
4 Deut 7:9;
5 Psa 111:5;
6 Isa 49:15,16;
7 Zep 3:17

Think upon me, my God, for good

Bagster's Daily Light - January 7 - Morning

Think upon me, my God, for good.

Remember for my good, O my God, all that I have done for this people. 1

"Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem, Thus says the LORD, "I remember the devotion of your youth, your love as a bride, how you followed me in the wilderness, in a land not sown. 2

yet I will remember my covenant with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish for you an everlasting covenant. 3

"For thus says the LORD: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. 4

For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. 5

"As for me, I would seek God, and to God would I commit my cause, who does great things and unsearchable, marvelous things without number: 6

You have multiplied, O LORD my God, your wondrous deeds and your thoughts toward us; none can compare with you! I will proclaim and tell of them, yet they are more than can be told. 7
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1 Neh 5:19;
2 Jer 2:2;
3 Ezek 16:60;
4 Jer 29:10,11;
5 Isa 55:9;
6 Job 5:8,9;
7 Psa 40:5

The apostles assembled themselves to Jesus

Bagster's Daily Light - January 6 - Evening

The apostles assembled themselves to Jesus ...

The apostles returned to Jesus and told him all that they had done and taught. 1

A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother. 2

Thus the LORD used to speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. When Moses turned again into the camp, his assistant Joshua the son of Nun, a young man, would not depart from the tent. 3

You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. 4

So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, 'We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.'" 5

For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, "Abba! Father!" 6

do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7

The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD, but the prayer of the upright is acceptable to him. 8
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1 Mark 6:30;
2 Prov 18:24;
3 Ex 33:11;
4 John 15:14,15;
5 Luke 17:10;
6 Rom 8:15;
7 Phil 4:6;
8 Prov 15:8

Let the beauty of the LORD our God be upon us

Bagster's Daily Light - January 6 - Morning

Let the beauty of the LORD our God be upon us.

Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands upon us; yes, establish the work of our hands! 1

And your renown went forth among the nations because of your beauty, for it was perfect through the splendor that I had bestowed on you, declares the Lord GOD. 2

And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. 3

If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. 4

A Song of Ascents. Blessed is everyone who fears the LORD, who walks in his ways! You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands; you shall be blessed, and it shall be well with you. 5

Commit your work to the LORD, and your plans will be established. 6

Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. 7

Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word. 8
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1 Psa 90:17;
2 Ezek 16:14;
3 2 Cor 3:18;
4 1 Pe 4:14;
5 Psa 128:1,2;
6 Prov 16:3;
7 Phil 2:12,13;
8 2 Thess 2:16,17

Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth

Bagster's Daily Light - January 5 - Evening

Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth ...

Set a guard, O LORD, over my mouth; keep watch over the door of my lips! 1

If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? 2

for they made his spirit bitter, and he spoke rashly with his lips. 3

it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person." 4

A dishonest man spreads strife, and a whisperer separates close friends. 5

There is one whose rash words are like sword thrusts, but the tongue of the wise brings healing. Truthful lips endure forever, but a lying tongue is but for a moment. 6

but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so. 7

But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices 8

For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; 9

and in their mouth no lie was found, for they are blameless. 10
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1 Psa 141:3;
2 Psa 130:3;
3 Psa 106:33;
4 Matt 15:11;
5 Prov 16:28;
6 Prov 12:18,19;
7 James 3:8,10;
8 Col 3:8,9;
9 1Thess 4:3;
10 Rev 14:5

We who have believed do enter into rest

Bagster's Daily Light - January 5 - Morning

We who have believed do enter into rest.

For we who have believed enter that rest, as he has said, "As I swore in my wrath, 'They shall not enter my rest,'" although his works were finished from the foundation of the world. 1

Everyone deceives his neighbor, and no one speaks the truth; they have taught their tongue to speak lies; they weary themselves committing iniquity. 2

but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 3

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 4

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 5

for whoever has entered God's rest has also rested from his works as God did from his. 6

and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith-- 7

to whom he has said, "This is rest; give rest to the weary; and this is repose"; yet they would not hear. 8
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1 Heb 4:3;
2 Jer 9:5;
3 Rom 7:23,24;
4 Matt 11:28;
5 Rom 5:1,2;
6 Heb 4:10;
7 Phil 3:9;
8 Isa 28:12

O death, where is thy sting?

Bagster's Daily Light - January 4 - Evening

O death, where is thy sting?

"O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?" The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 1

for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him. 2

Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. 3

For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that Day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing. 4
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1 1Co 15:55,56;
2 Heb 9:26-28;
3 Heb 2:14,15;
4 2Ti 4:6-8

The rest ... which the LORD your God giveth

Bagster's Daily Light - January 4 - Morning

The rest ... which the LORD your God giveth.

for you have not as yet come to the rest and to the inheritance that the LORD your God is giving you. 1

Arise and go, for this is no place to rest, because of uncleanness that destroys with a grievous destruction. 2

So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, 3

We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. 4

In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. 5

I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. 6

He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away." 7

There the wicked cease from troubling, and there the weary are at rest. 8

but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. 9

Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. 10
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1 Deut 12:9;
2 Micah 2:10;
3 Heb 4:9;
4 Heb 6:19,20;
5 John 14:2,3;
6 Phil 1:23;
7 Rev 21:4;
8 Job 3:17;
9 Matt 6:20,21;
10 Col 3:2

Lord, that I may receive my sight

Bagster's Daily Light - January 3 - Evening

Lord, that I may receive my sight.

"What do you want me to do for you?" He said, "Lord, let me recover my sight." 1

Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law. 2

Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, 3

But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. 4

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. 5

that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might 6
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1 Luke 18:41;
2 Psa 119:18;
3 Luke 24:45;
4 John 14:26;
5 James 1:17;
6 Eph 1:17-19