When you're letting your kids do something really dangerous, it sounds like you don't
really care about them or you love them.
No, if you loved them, you'd rebuke them and say, get out of the street.
You'd spank them.
You'd discipline them.
You would try to correct them because you actually love them.
That's what real love is.
Real love is going to rebuke you when you need it.
Okay?
Now, let's see an example of this.
Galatians chapter 2, verse 11, But when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him
to the face, because he was to be blamed.
For before that certain came from James, he did eat with the Gentiles.
But when they were come, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing them which were
of the circumcision.
And the other Jews, notice this word, dissembled likewise with him, insomuch that Barnabas
also was carried away with their dissimulation.
When I saw that they walked not uprightly, according to the truth of the gospel, I said
unto Peter before them all, If thou, being a Jew, liveth after the manner of Gentiles,
and not as do the Jews, why compelest thou, the Gentiles, to live as do the Jews?
Now, this is such a perfect example because it not only contains the rebuke, but it
also contains that word, dissimulation, again, doesn't it?
So, what was the dissimulation?
Well, Peter is being fake.
Peter is using deceit and basically distancing himself from Gentiles, which is contrary
to the scriptures, which is not a genuine love that he has for the Gentiles.
Because if he genuinely loved the Gentiles, you know what he would have done?
He would have eaten with the Gentiles in the presence of the Jews to let the Jews
know, I love Gentiles.
I'm with the Gentiles.
Now here's the thing, because he didn't, the apostle Paul has to end up calling him
out publicly.
And a lot of people get mad about that.
A lot of people say, oh, why would you call someone out publicly?
But here's the thing, it was a public issue that he had to address.
You know, if Paul had just drug Peter out into a corner by himself and said, hey, Peter,
don't, you know, dissemble, don't, you know, stop eating with the Gentiles.
And Peter's like, you know what, I'm sorry, you're right.
And then we just go back and nothing changes.
Well, how does Barnabas get fixed?
How do the public get fixed?
How do the Gentiles get restitution that have now been publicly dissed by Peter and
all the other Jews?
No, if you're going to make a public, uh, you know, action like that, a public decision
to end up causing issue here, then you have to be publicly called out as to be publicly
fixed.
But you know, some people get really mad at this.
Go to Leviticus chapter 19.
I'll give you a proverb to think about though.
The Bible says open rebuke is better than secret love.
Now it literally says in that proverb love.
So that means that types of rebuke are more loving than some types of love because rebuke
can be loving.
In fact, it is a very loving attribute.
Let me prove to you from the word of God that rebuke is loving.
Okay.
Leviticus chapter 19 look at verse number 17 thou shalt not hate by brother in line
heart.
Thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbor and not suffer sin upon him.
I mean, how much clearer can the Bible get?
It's saying if you actually love someone, you would rebuke them to correct their sin,
to correct their issue, and if you don't correct their issue, it's because you actually
hate them.
Now, doesn't that fit perfectly again with what I illustrated kids just playing
out in the street, you're just letting them hurt and harm and damage themselves.
That means you don't really love that person.
And so a true brotherly love will rebuke the sin out of their brother's life.
Now, there's a lot of caveats to that, but in general principle, this is an important
concept.
Verse 18, it says thou shalt not avenge nor bear any grudge against the children
of thy people.
Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.
I am the Lord.
So notice again, the next breath is talking about you're supposed to love your neighbor
as yourself.
So loving someone is rebuking them.
Now I'll say this, the Bible also teaches that if you're going to judge your brother
or you're going to correct your brother, you need to first cast the beam out of thine
own eye before you try to remove the mote that's in your brother's eye.
But you know what it says?
It says go ahead and cast the beam out so that you can actually do it.
It doesn't say like never do it.
It just says don't be a hypocrite about it.
Obviously no one wants to be corrected by someone that's got the same issue or even
worse.
The guy that just stumbles out of the bar drunk doesn't really want to hear from you
about being sober.
The guy that's a thief, the guy that's a liar, the guy that's a drug addict, it's
hard to hear from that guy on the same issue.
The drug addict telling you not to take drugs, it's just kind of like, yeah, really?
Why don't you go ahead and look in the mirror first, right?
And so it's important not to be a hypocrite when you're judging, when you're rebuking.
But at the end of the day, it's still a loving attribute to want to rebuke someone.
You want to correct them and improve their behavior.
Today, rebuke has become a byword, has become something that's negative.
It's labeled as hate speech.
If you know what hate speech is, silence.