Correction and Criticism
Speaker
Pastor Tim Clowers. Juniper Church - Knoxville, TN.
Scripture References
John 1:1, John 1:5, Jeremiah 5:3, Proverbs 15:31, Proverbs 25:12, 2 nd Timothy 3:16.
Key Takeaways
Learn to tell the difference on what is constructive criticism and feedback that you should apply to you life vs. what was said by someone who was hurt themselves and is not an accurate reflection on you (hurt people, hurt people).
Do not let criticism allow you to quit or fail. You must learn from any and all mistakes, feedback, etc and keep going! See this as a learning and growth opportunity.
Only you can make the right choices for your life. You cannot shift the blame onto others.
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00:20 - So I wanted to, before I get into the teaching, we're gonna talk about correction and criticism a little bit. Doesn't that sound exciting? Come on, give somebody a high five, and I can't wait to hear about correction and criticism. Anybody? Okay, I know it's not a popular subject, but it'll make sense. So before I get into it, I just wanted to share from my heart a little bit about serving. You know, I found Christ in 1997, really for the very first time in my life.
00:57 - And I remember as soon as I, not as soon as, but several weeks after I found Christ, my dad was pastoring, or he's still pastoring a church in Texas. And he asked me, he goes, do you wanna go to work in the outreach department?
01:13 - You wanna help head that up and what we do? Cause we had a kind of like that. It was a big red trailer, but the side let down had a puppet stage and we would do sidewalk Sunday school and all kinds of stuff. And we would go into South Dallas, a challenging community where the crime rate was really high. And so I said, sure. And so I went knee deep into overseeing the outreach department with this couple I became really good friends with.
01:45 - They were the teachers of the biweekly event that we did down there. And I just remember after a couple of years, before I shipped off to the Philippines, it was an amazing experience. And I just remember, man, crime rate began to drop and we just went into the community.
02:10 - It was every other week we did this sidewalk Sunday school. And then the weeks that we weren't there, we were there walking around in the neighborhood and it was just a great experience. And that was the part that I remember that outreach and reaching into the city, it's kind of my DNA. It's there. And I remember when I got married to Jackie several years ago now that she told me about this woman, her name was Maxine Raines. And this lady named Maxine Raines impacted her enough to inspire her to go into the city of Knoxville to reach the people that are a little less fortunate that don't have a home.
02:54 - And I remember she was telling me some of the stories that were like, wow, Maxine did what? And really just the impact that she had on our city to really do a big part of what our vision said is to be able to make a difference. And there's a legacy that Maxine Raines is left behind. If you don't know her, Google her, or look at her daughter who stands here. Sherry, stand to your feet real quick. So that is Maxine Raines' daughter right here.
03:27 - And so I just wanted to honor her for a second and just let you guys know how thankful we are to have Sherry with us, to be a part of our outreach. And of course, Mickey. Mickey goes with her. He just hags along. He's along for the ride, I'm just kidding, but we love them both. So I just wanted to share that with you guys for a minute. And one of the things that is really most important to us here at Juniper Church is Jesus.
03:55 - It's even mentioned in growth track. Those of you that are gonna be sticking around for growth track this week, and then when we do it again in the month of April, it's always about Jesus. He's mentioned in growth tracks, and even the Bible says he is the beginning, the end, the alpha, the omegas.
04:11 - What Jesus, it's gotta be about Jesus, that it has to be about Jesus. And if we can get you guys to think more about Jesus on every aspect, then think about your actions, your attitudes, and you know, there's a song that came out several years ago. It's, when he walks into the room, everything changes. I won't sing, but you know what I mean? It's like, when he walks into the room, everything changes. And if you'll think about that, what if Jesus literally walked through those doors?
04:57 - I mean, it would be the coolest thing ever. Maybe you don't know Jesus, or maybe you don't have a personal relationship with him, and that's okay. We want you to. But if he walked into the room, that would be really, really amazing. And the Bible even tells us that he's still here. maybe not physically, but in Colossians 1 .15 it says, Jesus is the visible image of an invisible God. So therefore, if he's invisible and he is, meaning a reference to now and back then, is back then, both of those are comprised in that scripture.
05:38 - That means he's not physically present, but I see him sitting on the front row right here smiling at me with glasses wearing a Juniper shirt. I also see him right over here. He's carrying another human or she's carrying another human got on this cute little t -shirt with glasses and I also see Jesus all over the room.
06:02 - So I'm going to do something a little bit different. Everybody stand to your feet. We are going to read scripture and I want everyone in the room before we, as we get into the text today, we're going to read this scripture. We're going to read it out loud. It's going to be John 1 all the way through verse 5. So there's just something about a vocal expression of God's word and so Judy, if you'll go ahead and put that up on the screen. So I'm just going to say go and I want you guys to read the scripture with us as we honor it and see just so you can hear yourself. All right ready go. “In the beginning the word already existed. The word was with God and the word was God. Verse 2. He existed in the beginning with God. Verse 3. God created everything through him and nothing was created except through him. Verse 4. The word gave life to everything that was created and his life brought light to everyone. Verse 5. The light shines in the darkness and the darkness can never extinguish it.” Give somebody a high five next to you. All right everybody take your seat. So in verse 1 it says in the beginning what that is is the reference to creation.
07:26 - Okay that is a reference to creation. And then in verse 2 it says he existed and the he in that prescription, that scripture is a reference to Jesus. And then in verse 3 when it says everything was created through him and nothing was created except through him.
07:48 - Well that is basically because of on the account of because of Christ. And then in verse 4 it says the word gave life. And that word life right there is defined of what we call the zoe life. And if you don't know what the zoe life is that is the very moment. That's the kind of life that the very moment that you accept Christ into your heart. That means your heavenly life begins here on earth. And if your heavenly life didn't begin here on earth that means you wouldn't serve a purpose.
08:21 - That means God will go ahead and take you to heaven. So in other words if God keeps you here the very moment you say yes to him that means every person in this room has a purpose. You have a fundamental skillful purpose to serve here on planet earth otherwise you wouldn't be with us anymore.
08:42 - You would already be with him. And then it also says in that same passage it says brought light. And his life brought light to everyone. And so I looked up that passage and I mean I've looked at it before and it that word is a heavenly. All right maybe Zach will geek out with me on this but a heavenly luminary. A heavenly luminary. So in other words whenever Brooke walks into the room and we see a visible image of Christ is that a heavenly luminary when she walks in?
09:27 - So think about that is about ourselves. Are we like do you guys know what the the northern lights are? Raise your hand if you know what the northern lights are. I want to go to Alaska and see it. Charles has seen the northern lights. They are something to behold. Is that correct? Quite a let's say a heavenly display because it's a creation from God, right? And then in verse 5 it talks about the light shines in the darkness and the darkness can never extinguish it.
10:02 - So the reference there is spiritual darkness of what's being talked about there. And in this particular scripture John the author is writing to Christians and he's writing to non -Christians. So he's not just talking to a Christian audience, he's giving education about Jesus, who he is, creation, the Word, why the Word, and what we mean in it, so to speak.
10:33 - And so, sorry you guys, y 'all forgive me, I'm not digging in my ears to get out the crustaceans, I'm getting used to my hearing aids. Okay, so I just figured I'd be a little bit real with y 'all. So sometimes the cares of life, what we go through, do you think it dims our light a little bit?
10:59 - If we go through a divorce, if we go through physical pain, if we're experiencing anxiety, if we're going through stress, we lost a job and we go through loss, do you think our light gets dimmed a little bit and we don't always have that big bright shining light to always represent Jesus the way that we should?
11:24 - It happens, right? And I'm going to tell you the word correction. The definition of the word correction, it says, the act of correcting, the act of bringing back from error, deviation to a just standard. Now, let me see a round of hands of who loves it when you get corrected. Taylor likes it. Anyone else who really like strives for it? It's a cool thing to happen when you get corrected. I didn't think so.
12:02 - Nobody in the room really enjoys that other than Taylor. Jeremiah chapter five, verse three, let's read this really quickly. Lord, you are searching for honesty. You struck your people, but they paid no attention. You crushed them, but they refuse to be corrected. They are determined with faces like stone they have refused to repent. So what's kind of taken place in this particular passage of scripture is Jerusalem, this city, the people were just, sin was running really rampant and Jeremiah and God were having a conversation and throughout this conversation, God was like, okay, so I'm thinking about just wiping them all out because sin is just so bad and I've got nobody here that's going to represent me.
13:00 - So he's like, I'll just wipe out the whole city, just get rid of it, okay? I can't really find anybody righteous, but then he has a quick conversation with Jeremiah and he says, okay, give me just one righteous person and I won't destroy it. Just give me one, one righteous person and I won't destroy it, okay? Now, I don't ever want to be in a place, at least in my life, that I'm above correction and especially as a pastor, I want to always make sure that I'm teachable and I think all of us could gain something from that. When the years continue to add up in our life, the more that we remain teachable, the more that we have the propensity to be able to continue growing. And I'll give you a great example. In August of 2001, Jackie and I were in California, we were attending a training with this organization called ARC, Association of Related Churches.
14:14 - It was a three -day intensive training. They teach you all the fundamentals about church planting. It's a great organization and in fact, we send them money back to that organization every month as a church. And on day three in this intensive training, we had an opportunity to share the vision of the church of what was in our hearts and where we are up to this point in our planning process. And we shared it along with three other couples and then there was another couple at our table. They were considered like coaches of the table. And then I guess about an hour and a half later, we had a little one -on -one time with this couple and also one of the overseers of the organization. And they got to coach us in that very moment. And they were like, well, we're just gonna give you our honest opinion. We don't think the vision is clear. And we don't think you're ready. And then in that moment, we were just kinda like a little disheartened.
15:26 - And then the coach said to us, she was like, you know, you just gotta go all in. You gotta quit your jobs and just sell everything you have and just give it all up and go for it. And then, you know, Jackie and I were like, you know, just had a little twitch in our neck and we're like, okay, all right.
15:48 - And this couple was at the age where they could be our kids. And so we just had to sit in that for a second and really try to mind the value out of the coaching that we received and our feedback or correction. And I'm gonna be honest with you, it was probably the best thing that could have ever happened to us because we weren't ready. And the vision wasn't clear. We didn't have some things mapped out that could have, or we were actually supposed to launch, I think it was in either late January, early February of 2022.
16:31 - And if we had done that, man, I think it would have been a big blunder. We wouldn't have been ready. And so as hard as it was to receive that in the moment, it was the best thing for the life of this church. And so let me read the definition of criticism. It is the act of criticizing usually, because we're gonna talk about correction and criticism and how they can be both helpful in our walk with God. It's the act of criticizing usually unfavorably a critical observation or remark.
17:06 - The word is derived from the word critic. In Proverbs chapter 15 and 31 it says, if you listen to constructive criticism, you will be at home among the wise. If you reject discipline, you only harm yourself. But if you listen to correction, you grow an understanding. A fear of the Lord teaches wisdom, humility precedes honor. Okay, so in this particular passage you see, it's good to listen to criticism, valid or not if people are giving it to you, because there's wisdom in it, because maybe there's something in there for us.
17:50 - And then he goes on to say, if you listen to correction, you grow in your understanding. Meaning there is knowledge that you wouldn't have had without the correction. So for example, we, there was just something we didn't see and had we not gone through that correction part, maybe we wouldn't have had the knowledge, we would just bulldogged our way through it to operate in the capacity that we thought we could. So Judy, if you will play that video for me really quickly.
18:26 - What is it, Amblister? Gusteau's. Finally closing, is it? No. More financial trouble? No, it's... Announced a new line of microwave egg rolls. What? What? Spit it out. It's... come back. It's... popular. I haven't reviewed Gusteau's in years. No, sir. My last review condemned it to the tourist trade. Yes, sir. I said Gusteau has finally found his rightful place in history right alongside another equally famous chef, Monsieur Boyardee.
19:03 - You say? How could it be popular? I will return tomorrow night with high expectations. Pray you don't disappoint me. Okay, so I know some of you may not have seen that movie. It's actually one of my favorite flicks. And Gusto, not, what is the guy's name? You go. You go. Yeah, so he's the critic, he's the food critic, and he was very critical of Gusto's.
19:44 - And obviously he said he was referencing the chef's ability to that of Chef Boyardee. And you just, and if you can sometimes mind the value of what a critic can provide, even though in the moment criticism doesn't sound good, and many times when you're being criticized, it's usually, as the definition says, unfavorable. So, but if criticism is done, and it's done in the right spirit, and we even receive it in the right spirit, then it's really meant for growth. You know, but if someone's just criticizing you just to be critical, then that's a whole different thing.
20:34 - It's done in the wrong spirit, the wrong attitude. And Proverbs chapter 25 and verse 12, it says, one who, to one who listens, valid criticism is like a gold earring or other jewelry. And, you know, Jesus himself, he never really defended himself. And even when he stood before Pontius Pilate, and they said to him, are these things true that they're saying about you, that these religious leaders, is it true? And Jesus responds by saying, it is as you say.
21:18 - And then another time, or before that, when he knew his betrayer was amongst him and the other 11 disciples, and he was washing all of their feet, and yet his betrayer, he chose to wash his betrayer's feet, and he also ate a meal with him. So it's like, he remained humble. So I just want to think about that word humility for just a moment. And, you know, and even for me last year, I guess it was the better part of about six months ago, there was a conversation that I had with someone that gave me some really harsh criticism.
22:07 - It wasn't necessarily done in the right spirit. It was done in a manner that was really unprofessional and really, I won't say ungodly, it was just done wrong in many sorts of the, I guess you could say attitude of how it was done and what was said and what all was said.
22:31 - And I remember it hurt, it hurt inside. It hurt so bad that I isolated Jackie from my pain, which was wrong on my part. And I shut her out for about 36 hours, and I found myself the next day in my office and just crying, and I was worshiping God, and it's like, how could this couple say that, these harsh, horrible things about me?
22:58 - And what I'm not, and what I shouldn't be doing, and I just shut down, or I shut her out, which was completely wrong. And then finally, you know, and I remember, I just needed to get away from what I was thinking, and I went and played golf with Mickey, and we just talked, we didn't talk about that experience that I had, and I just, I just played golf. And then after, you know, about 36 hours or so, she, Jackie, came up to me and said like, why did you shut me out? I was just feeling the pain of what was said to me and how it was done and with the wrong spirit.
23:42 - And then finally, after about 48 hours, after prayer, talking to my wife, I just began to think about everything that was said. Even though it was done with the wrong spirit, the criticism that came toward me, and I was like, you know, there's some valid things that they said.
24:01 - Even though most of it really didn't apply, but is there anything that I could capture out of the criticism they gave me? And there was a couple little things that I took to heart that they made me better. It didn't make me bitter, it made me better. And in the moment when someone is criticizing you and maybe it's done in the wrong spirit, it's hard to receive, right? When someone's criticizing you or even when it's done in the right spirit, sometimes it's hard to receive, right?
24:36 - I know it's not a fun, exciting message, yeah pastor, criticism's awesome. It's not. So something I said a few weeks ago, hurting people hurt people. And that's a big term that people use in relation to church hurt.
24:59 - They say, I've got church hurt really. And it comes down to something, the same word that I said a few weeks ago, it's really that people that are hurting hurt other people. And it's hard. And what the devil does is he uses the pain of rejection to keep us from moving forward.
25:16 - And it's kind of like when you get criticized or when correction's coming sometimes and you don't feel like it's valid, well then think about a, I don't know, a chicken wing. You chew the meat, you spit out the bone, right? Judy, go ahead and put up that picture of the voices. So if we think about our life on a daily basis, weekly basis, or a year, if we learn to listen to the right voices in our life, we can learn to make the right choices in our life.
25:52 - You know, second Timothy chapter three, verse 16 says, all scripture is inspired by God and it's useful to teach us what is true to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right.
26:12 - God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work. Okay. So it's like the word, as scripture says here, the word is what teaches us and helps us to realize maybe where we are going wrong in our life. And it also corrects us. Okay. So let's go back to the scripture. It says, Judy, if you could in the beginning, the word already existed. The word was with God and the word was God. And it says he existed in the beginning with God.
26:57 - All right. So in the beginning, the word was. So Jesus was there. He was a part of creation. So in other words, if we define the word, what is the word of God as it says the word, it is the, is defined as the sayings of God. And it is also Jesus Christ manifesting himself in the flesh. So whatever we look at the word, we read the word. It is also meant to provide us with correction in our life. So if you don't, whenever you're reading the Bible and there is no conviction inside of things that maybe aren't right in our lives, then maybe we need to go back to it and ask God, okay, what is this saying about me?
27:52 - What do I need to do different so that I can be of a more visible image of Jesus Christ? Because the word itself is what's going to bring correction in our life. That is necessary so that we can live more like Jesus. Okay. So the, like, if we, if we constantly read the word or we come to church, but there's never an outlet, we can eventually, we can get spiritual indigestion. So in other words, to be able to make a difference, we have to take what we read, take what we hear and put it into action.
28:37 - So if we read and we listen and it fills up the cup and all it does is there's no room for anything else, right? But if we empty out what we've been given by reading the word and applying the word, doing it and helping people and doing things and serving on a dream team or even working in our city to make a difference, there's room to fill up.
29:07 - Well, it's all gone. Here. We can fill it back up. Then we can do it again. So yesterday, I was sitting at a traffic light, waiting to go get Clifford, which is what we call the big red trailer. There was a car in front of me. I was sitting at a red light and pulled up, sat there. Light'll change in just a second. And I look up to my left and I see this car swerving out of control in the rain and boom, T -bones me. I had 1 .5 seconds to look up and make a decision, which was, can you get out of your seat, back up in 1 .5 seconds?
29:51 - No. It was a very scary moment. And I just remembered that I was a little dizzy, loopy. That was a hard hit. And I rolled down the window and I was just kind of dizzy. And I looked at the lady, I said, are you okay? And eventually after three or four minutes, I got my wife on the phone. I got out of my truck. I walked up to her again and I said, are you okay? She goes, yeah, she's crying. You're like, I'm so sorry, yeah.
30:23 - And I just walk up to her and I hug her and I said, it's okay, it's just a truck. I mean, I liked my truck, but it's just a truck. And she just was apologizing and she felt so bad. And so I said, it's okay, really, it's okay. I was like, do you live close? And she was like, looking at me like, why is he being so nosy all of a sudden, you know? And Brady, will you go ahead and get the thing and come on up stage? And so I just was kind and asking her nice questions.
31:00 - And I told her, I'm a pastor and there's no need to be upset. And I hugged her and then after, I guess, about 10, 15 minutes, Jesus showed up at the scene. And I'm just gonna brag for a hot minute on my wife because this woman was, I mean, she was really, she was really tore up.
31:26 - And if y 'all could just see Jackie, she was, man, I tell you what, she was a visible representation of Jesus Christ. I was a little lopious when that was going on, but I tell you what, as a husband, I was like, wow. I was really proud of my wife. And she was literally the visible representation of Jesus Christ and her actions, her attitude and her giving heart. You guys would be proud of your pastor, you really would.
31:54 - So thank you, Brady. So if you'll stand right here and hold that up. I wanna finish this by saying, what I love about scripture is if we read it, we ask God to help us understand it, it'll correct us. And I just was praying, I'm like, how do I finish the sermon? Where's the joy in teaching on correction and criticism? But I felt like the Holy Spirit wanted me to teach on it. I was praying about it in early January.
32:28 - I felt like it was a subject I was supposed to teach on. And then next week, we're gonna talk about malfunction. I'm just kidding. And so I was just like, God, how do I bring this all together? I mean, what do you leave with? I love being criticized, it helps me. Right, you're walking out of the door? So this is what came to me is, Jackie taught a few weeks ago about our walk with God. And she even made the statement about, if you don't read the Bible, if you didn't pray this week, it's okay.
33:08 - Just try again. This walk and trying to be like God, it doesn't happen overnight. All you have to do is forgive yourself if you didn't and just try again. And I'm gonna be honest with you, some of you are probably afraid to read the Bible because you're afraid of what you might discover.
33:29 - I want you to don't fear that because there's so beautiful things that await for you. And so as I'm talking to God, the word trust came to my spirit. And so I'm gonna write this as an acrostic. Let's do it this way, Brady. Trust, if you have a paper or your phone, write this acrostic with me. So this came to me in my spirit and it said, try again. Okay, hopefully you're writing this down or you're taking a picture of it.
34:11 - And then the second thing I heard in my spirit was, read scripture. Like what's this got to do with correction and criticism? Well, bear with me. And R or sorry, did I get this out of order? No, sorry. You, uh, understand it. Thank you. Okay, and then the last thing was, Ben, you guys go ahead and come on up. And then the last thing that I heard was, say it. So if you fail this week in reading the Bible and praying and being like Jesus, well, it's okay.
34:57 - John will tell you, it's okay. Try again. And then the second thing is, if you didn't read Scripture, read it this week. And then if you don't understand it, ask God to help you understand it. What did we do at the very beginning? What Scripture did we read? John 1, 1 through 5. I wanted to illustrate, say it. And if you'll just say it, it'll help you. And what's the T for? Thank you, Brady. You can take your seat. Thank you. What's the T for?
35:37 - That's for you, actually, to come up with your own. I did the four. That's your job to come up with the last one. And literally, that's what the Holy Spirit told me to do, was you come up with the last one. Seriously, that's your job this week. All right, let's worship God for a minute, and then me and Jackie will be right back with you guys.