Two great sermons that I want to go back and recap make up a two-parter on dealing with criticism. The first of these sermons is the one I clipped a bit of video out of with Joel doing his self-parody.

Sermon #336: How to Handle Criticism
Ref: Matthew 10:14

Unfortunately, not everybody will celebrate your victories with you. All your singles friends may not jump up and down when you marry the man of your dreams. Your coworkers may not sing your praises when you get that promotion. Very often, it stirs up that jealous, critical spirit.

Here's the key, you shouldn't take it personally. Most of the time, it's not even about you. If it wasn't you, it'd be somebody else. It's something on the inside of them. Unless they deal with it, it's going to keep them from rising higher.

One of the most important things I've ever learned is to celebrate other people's victories. If my coworker gets the promotion I wanted, yes, there's a tendency to be jealous. Yes, there's a tendency to say: "Man why didn't that happen for me. I work hard, that's not fair."

But no, if we'll keep a right attitude and be happy for them, at the right time, God will open up something even better for us. I've found if I can't rejoice with them, I'll never get to where I want to be. How many times does God have a promotion in store for us, but first He sends a test along? He wants to see if we're ready. So our best friend gets married and we're still single. Can we be happy for them? Or our relative moves into their dream home. We've been praying for years and were still in a little apartment. That's a test. If we get jealous, start picking them apart and being critical. It's going to keep us right where we are.

Let's learn to celebrate other people's successes. Let it inspire you. Know that if God did it for them, He can certainly do it for you.

What strikes me as notable from this excerpt is that it's one of the very same lessons that John Maxwell offers in "Winning With People." I remember when this topic came up in our group discussion. It was one of those rare moments when the entire group goes off on it's own course of discussion and in a very good way. I asked everyone to share one of their most memorable successes for the past year and decided we were just going to celebrate each other's success right then and there.

Another time, this topic came up and someone brought up the point that we have a great example in celebrating the success of others in the example of sports. That may not mean much for those who aren't big sports fans, but it's certainly a great example for those who are. Recall those days when the Rockets won the NBA championship, or when whatever other team you follow accomplished something great. It's not enough to say "they" won something ... it becomes a "we." And we're suddenly a lot more celebratory of the success that some great quarterback, or shooting guard, or whatever has on the field. Nevermind that some of us might have envisioned themselves on the playing field based on their own past experience in the sport.

That's an example that, you'd think would carry over more into life. But it doesn't seem to come very easily. And the Bible is littered with examples of people criticized for the success God gave them (Jesus key among them, as Joel points out).

Joel wraps up with a note on Isaiah 54:17. We often get the first part of that repeated what seems like a few dozen times a service: "No weapon that is formed against you will prosper." But the remainder of that Scripture is also worth noting here: "And every tongue that accuses you in judgment you will condemn."