KEEP ON SERVING SHOULDER TO SHOULDER - No Place for Partiality

Conclusion of  No Place for Partiality

Murmuring about men whose duty it is to shepherd the flock of God may lead to reviling.  Such murmuring or slanderously calling down evil upon them can detrimentally affect our relationship with Jehovah.  (Exodus 22:28) Unrepentant revilers will not inherit God's Kingdom.  (1 Corinthians 5:11; 6:10)  The disciple Jude wrote about murmurers who were "disregarding lordship and speaking abusively of glorious ones," or responsible men in the congregation.  (Jude 8) Those murmurers did not have divine approval, and we wisely shun their wicked course.

Granted, not all complaints are displeasing to God.  He did not ignore "the cry of complaint" about Sodom and Gomorrah but destroyed those wicked cities.  (Genesis 18:20, 21; 19:24, 25)  In Jerusalem, shortly after the Pentecost of 33 C.E., "a murmuring arose on the part of the Greek-speaking Jews against the Hebrew-speaking Jews, because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution." Consequently, "the twelve" corrected the situation by appointing "seven certified men" over the "necessary business" of food distribution.  (Acts 6:1-6) Present-day elders must not 'stop up their ears' to legitimate complaints.  (Proverbs 21:13) And rather then criticizing fellow worshipers, the elders ought to be encouraging and upbuilding. -1 Corinthians 8:1.

All of us need to keep free from murmuring, for the spirit of complaint is spiritually unwholesome.  Such an attitude would disrupt our unity. Instead, let us always allow the holy spirit to produce love in us.  (Galatians 5:22) Complying with 'the kingly law of love' will help us to keep on serving Jehovah shoulder to shoulder. -James2:8; 1 Corinthians 13:4-8.

Next time: KEEP ON SERVING SHOULDER TO SHOULDER  - Guard Against Slander

The Watchtower, 2002