Reducing FRICTION with my brothers and sister in Christ

Matthew 7:3-5 Jesus warns us here about judging others instead of dealing with our own sins and our own faults. One reason is that we can never know all of the facts or the whole person. Humanly, our experience, oversight, and understanding are limited.

It’s not your call! A fan may be a hundred yards from the playing field, but he will make a judgment as if he were in a perfect position to see every detail of a given play. He feels perfectly justified to criticize the umpire, referee, or player who was right on the spot and involved in the heat of the action.

Proverbs 16:2 All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes, but the LORD weighs the spirit. ESV All a person’s ways seem pure to them, but motives are weighed by the Lord. NIV People may be pure in their own eyes, but the LORD examines their motives. NLT

Clothe yourselves: Do you have to choose to put them on? List the opposites of the words listed here.

What does this mean for your everyday actions at CDS?

How would doing this reduce friction in the body of Christ? “Believers should treat one another with kindness and grace. This includes: being forgiving, being tolerant, and being willing to put up with others' quirks and oddities. And, when they fail, we need to be ready to forgive and help our brothers and sisters in Christ.” How would doing this reduce friction in the body of Christ? What could you do this week to follow Colossians 3:12-13

REDUCING FRICTION WITHIN OUR FELLOWSHIP BIC In Jesus' comments about judgment in His Sermon on the Mount, He warned us about being too critical (Matthew 7:3). Therefore, if we have to make a judgment call, it is far better to lean toward patience, forbearance, and mercy. So, when we find ourselves offended by anyone, rather than responding in kind, we should apply the principle of giving a soft answer (Proverbs 15:1), turning the other cheek (Matthew 5:39), and extending tender mercies (Colossians 3:12). Satan would like us to hang on to evil thoughts about another, to hold a grudge against a brother, or to arrive at church with a resentful attitude toward a fellow Christian, but Jesus Christ wants us to remember Matthew 18:35: "So My heavenly Father will [pass judgment against] you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses." Just as He forgave each of us from the heart, He wants us to learn to forgive others in the same generous, merciful way. Adapted from Judgment, Tolerance, and Correction ,Ritenbaugh, John W., https://www.bibletools.org/index.cfm/fuseaction/bible.show/sVerseID/23320/eVerseID/23320