Logectomy - Matthew 7:3-5 Series

Matthew 7:1 "Do not judge so that you will not be judged. 2 For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. 3 "Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 4 How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye. 6 "Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and then turn and tear you to pieces.

Introduction: Judging hypocritically

Jesus’ words here sound like something out of a comic book.

Matthew 7:3 Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the log in your own eye?

The word log refers specifically to a load-bearing timber in a building. It is a truss beam. So the picture is you have a guy that gets a little speck in his eye and you come along, “Oh, you’ve got a little something in your eye. Let me help you with that” and you walk up with a ten-foot beam sticking out of your eye. That is a figure of speech that is not very hard to interpret. The speck in your neighbor’s eye refers to some flaw in his character – some sin or some problem that needs to be corrected. And of course, the log in your own eye refers to a flaw in your own character. So the point is very simple – do not try to fix someone else’s problem without first dealing with your own.

But that brings up some questions. Why is the other guy’s sin a speck and yours is a beam? That makes it sound like your sin is always way bigger than their sin. But isn’t it possible theirs is bigger? How can Jesus say the same thing to everyone? If Matthew is standing there and he has a huge sin (a log) and Peter has a tiny sin (a speck), then Jesus would tell Matthew, “First get the log out of your eye, then help Peter with his speck.” But what would Jesus say to Peter? Would Jesus tell Peter, “First get the little speck out of your eye, then help Matthew with his log”? No. Jesus says exactly the same thing to everyone. This verse is not like an IRS form where He says, “If you have a log, proceed through verses 3-5. If you have a speck, skip those verses and fill out the speck/log differentiation worksheet on page 99 to see if you are exempt.” No matter what sin Matthew has and what sin Peter has, Jesus tells both of them, “Yours is a log and his is a speck.” How can that be? Are you supposed to just pretend yours is worse even if it’s not?

We have been studying verse by verse through the Sermon on the Mount and we began this section on judging last week. And we found that when Jesus says, “Do not judge” He is not forbidding all discernment and distinctions. He is talking about sinful kinds of judging. We talked last time about six of them: judging legalistically, superficially, self-righteously, unmercifully, ignorantly, or prematurely. All that is forbidden. But now in verse 3 Jesus is going to direct our attention to one more: judging hypocritically.

Get the log out

Hypocrisy: Do you really care about holiness?

I will get to the question of why your sin is always the log in a little bit, but for now let’s make sure we understand the basic principle of hypocritical judging. Even if my brother does indeed have a speck in his eye, if I point my finger at that flaw in my brother without first dealing with the log in my own eye, Jesus calls me a hypocrite in verse 5.

I was reading a book the other day by an author I respect and he defined hypocrisy as “practicing something you tell others not to do.” That is a common misconception. That is not really what the word means. The word hypocrite means actor. This is what Jesus said:

Matthew 7:4 How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a log in your own eye? 5 You actor! First take the log out of your own eye…