This is an amazing passage of scripture… it is most often quoted by those who do not follow Christ and directed at those who do follow Christ. Hypocrisy is the number one sin Christians are accused of doing.
Title: Big Specks and Little Logs (The idea is that we tend to play up the sins of others while downplaying our own.)
Text: Matthew 7:1-6
Thesis: At the very heart of hypocrisy is the ability to spot a speck in another person’s eye while being blind to the log in one’s own eye.
Introduction
This morning I would like to begin with a short clip from Les Miserable’s. It is the scene where Fantine is fired from her menial job when her employer discovers she has had a child out of wedlock.
WingClip: Child out of wedlock (wingclips.com, Child out of wedlock)
Judgmental people are not pretty are they?
Jesus has something to say about the critical and judgmental eye.
I. The Critical Eye
Do not judge others… Matthew 7:1-2
When we speak of the word “judge” as a noun we think of a person who is in a position to render judgments. If Jesus was spoken the word “krites” he would have been speaking of a person who has the power to render judgments. But the word used in our text is the verb form for the word judge which is “krino.” In our text the word “judge” means to make a determination or pronounce judgment or assume the office of a judge in condemning someone. It can also simply mean to form an opinion.
Here in the Denver Metro area we are following the proceedings in two high profile trials. One is for Austin Sigg who has been charged with the murder in the Jessica Ridgeway and for the assault of a runner. James Holmes has been charged with 142 counts of various crimes including 24 first degree murder charges.
In these trials a jury will determine guilt and the judge will render a judgment. The judge will execute justice or mete out punishment for their crimes. When you krino / judge you become krites / a judge.
Meanwhile, many of us have also passed judgment. We may not be “krites” or judges but we have “krinos” or passed judgment. We pass judgment when we say things like, “He’s crazy.” Or “He’s a deviate.” Or “He must be the product of a poor home environment.” “What kind of people could raise a child like that?”
At one extreme Jesus is commanding those who are his follows to refrain from condemning others or passing judgment and at other, at the very least, do not be quick to form opinions about others. In other words be neither condemning nor critical of others.
Jesus is not talking about judging in a court room, he is talking about being unkind and unloving and hasty in making judgment about others. He is talking about being holier than thou. He is talking about feeding the rumor mill when we don’t know all the facts.
I read a story about a man who had a manufacturing business. One day as he walked through the plant he saw a young man leaning against a pallet of packing crates doing nothing. The business man approached him and angrily asked him how much money he made a week. The young man said, “I clear about $300 a week.” The business man then pulled out his wallet, pealed out three one hundred dollar bills, handed them to the young man and said, “Here’s a week’s pay. Now get out of here and never come back.” The young man skedaddled as the business owner asked the warehouse manager, “How long has that guy been working in our plant?” The manager replied, “He doesn’t work here. He was just delivering a package.” That kind of judging is called jumping to conclusions about the character of another person.
There is certain arrogance about a self-righteous person which makes him or her think they have a right to pass judgment about and censure others without any sense of restraint.
The prime biblical example is found in Luke 18:9-14. “Two men went to the Temple to pray. One was a Pharisee, and the other a despised tax-collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed this prayer. ‘I thank you God, that I am not a sinner like everyone else…’ While the tax-collector stood at a distance and dared not even lift his eyes to heaven as he prayed. Instead he beat his chest in sorrow saying, ‘O God, be merciful to me, for I am a sinner.’” Jesus went on to say, “I tell you this sinner, not the Pharisee returned home justified before God.”
On another occasion when he was addressing the picayune ways of some self-righteous Pharisees he said, “You hypocrites! You ignore the more important aspects of the law like, justice, mercy and faith. You carefully strain your food and water so you will not accidently swallow a gnat, but instead you swallow a camel.” Matthew 23:24 In their efforts to avoid sin and guilt they swallow the camel of judging others. The camel is being self-righteousness and having a critical spirit.
Being a critical and judgmental person is to swallow a camel while fussing about every little thing. When we are critical and judgmental toward others we have set ourselves up to be judged by our own standards.
Two insights:
1. Jesus said, treat others the way you want to be treated.
“Do to others what you would like them to do to you.” Matthew 7:12
2. Jesus said, others will judge you by your own level of harshness.
“The standard you use to judge others will be the standard by which you will be judged.
Matthew 7:2
There is a certain arrogance or presumption that comes with a critical eye. I served a church once where there was a man who was ever so rigid about the Christian life. He was known for being censorious, i.e., critical. On one occasion he came to see me and carefully laid out my shortcomings and those of our church family. At one point a sudden discerning insight came over me and I stopped him and asked him if he had respect for the spirituality of any man in our church… and he said he did not. So I talked to him about the sins of spiritual pride and self-righteousness. He was not a happy man when he left my study. When you or I demand perfection of others we had better be certain that there is no imperfection in us.
In fact a critical eye is not only characterized by self-righteousness, it is also blind.
II. The Blind Eye
How can you think of saying to your friend, “let me help you get rid of the speck in your eye,” when you can’t see past the log in your own eye? Matthew 7:3-5
Once a man who had been married for nearly 50 years was concerned for his wife so he went to see the doctor. He told the doctor, “I think my wife is deaf. She never hears me when I speak to her… in fact sometimes I have to repeat myself several times before she hears me. What can I do?”
“Well,” the doctor said, “go home and stand about 15 feet behind her and ask her a question. If she doesn’t reply move 5 feet closer and say it again. Just keep doing this, moving closer and closer so we can determine the severity of her deafness.”
So he went home and when he walked into the kitchen his wife was chopping vegetables. So he asked, “What’s for dinner?” He got no response so he moved closer and ask, “What’s for dinner.” Still no response so he moved closer and closer until he was just behind her when he asked again, “Honey, what’s for dinner?”
[Exasperated] His wife turned around and said, ‘For the fourth time, it’s vegetable stew.” (PreachingToday.com)
This bit of humor is about being presumptuous about who has the problem. Actually Jesus is pretty witty with this example. He makes an absurd case by using hyperbole to illustrate how hypocrisy actually works.
The image is of two people. One person has a speck in his eye…maybe a little piece of sawdust. We know Jesus is really talking about a person who has some imperfection in his life – a speck. The other person has a log in his eye. But the man with the log in his eye presumes he can see well enough to remove the speck from the other person’s eye. He thinks he can see through his own self-righteousness and hypocrisy to delicately and gently and lovingly remove a tiny speck from another person’s eye.
Two insights from verses 3-5:
A. You may indeed discern a problem in the life of another person.
B. But before you try to give guidance to another person about their faults, you need to discern and
Deal with what is wrong in your own life.
This is not to say that there is no place for lovingly intervening in someone’s life when they are running off the rails. Paul wrote in Galatians, “Dear brothers and sisters, if another believer is overcome in some sin, you who are godly should gently and humbly help that person get back on the right path. And be careful not to fall into the same temptation yourself [become a hypocrite].” Galatians 6:1
Before we get judgmental about the life of another person and decide to help a person see the error of his ways, we need to be very, very certain that we don’t have some imperfections of our own. In his illustration Jesus was poking fun at the person who perceives of his own short-comings as tiny little logs while looking for giant specks in the character of other people.
Several years ago a lady attended our church. She was a very generous person. If there was an expressed need she was on it big-time. However, over time I began to feel very uneasy as she began to apply subtle and then not so subtle pressure on me and our church as she discerned problem areas that needed to be addressed. Then one day she showed me her cards… She said she was “God’s Red-Light Lady.” I wasn’t sure what that meant so I asked her to explain what that meant. And she said that God had given her the spiritual gift of discernment and her job was to act as God’s red light to warn people and stop people and churches from the error of their ways. Her place in the Kingdom of God was to be a speck seeker. It is interesting how we can be so focused on the tiny speck in another’s eye and fail to see the log in one’s own eye.
But then it seems Jesus throws us a curve or a caveat… it feels like we are not to go about being all critical and judgment toward others but then Jesus says there may be exceptions.
III. The Discerning Eye
Don’t waste what is holy on dogs [people] who are unholy. Don’t throw your pearls to pigs! They will trample your pearls, then turn to attack you. Matthew 7:6
I don’t much like Matthew 7:6 in the sense that it does not seem to go with 7:1-5. It is found in the context of verses 1-5 so it is hard to ignore the possibility that it is an expansion of the thoughts from the earlier verses. But it may stand alone. But I am going to attempt to consider it within the context and let you decide.
While it is imperative that we not be critical of others while blind to our own foibles, there is a time for discernment.
If you thought the imagery of picking out a speck of sawdust in someone else’s eye and while having a log in your own eye is vivid consider this. Jesus instructs us to not “throw what is holy to dogs” or in other words, “cast your pearls before swine.”
There are all kinds of idioms about pigs. “You can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear.” “You can put lipstick on a pig but it’s still a pig.” These days putting lipstick on a pig is usually in regard to political spin. Politicians try to make something sound and look good but beneath all the superficiality it is still a pig of an idea.
I think the point of our text is this.You have a perfect pearl as Jesus described as a “pearl of great price” in one of his parables or bag of natural pearls described by words like lustrous, reflective, refractive, translucent and iridescent.
So you are a person with a bag of beautiful translucent and iridescent pearls and you also happen to have a pen of pigs. You would not pour the pearls into your hand and show them to the pigs so the pigs could marvel at the beauty of the pearls. You wouldn’t toss your pearls as a gift into the pig pen because the pigs would have no idea what the pearls were. If it isn’t edible the pigs would place absolutely no value on your gift. The pig would trample them underfoot. And then they would begin to squeal and be upset because they wanted something tasty… not pearls.
Jesus does not say we are never to admonish another person. He just says that we are to make sure we have no hint of self-righteousness about us, no hypocrisy in our own lives before we do any admonishing. Some people, like the pig, will not appreciate your concern for them, your words of admonishment, you spiritual counsel, sharing of the Word of God or your desire to help them. Jesus says we would be wise to discern who will appreciate your concern and who will not. And if they will not… keep your mouth shut.
Two more insights before we move on:
1. Some people, like a pig with pearls, will not appreciate your concern for their faults.
2. Some people, like pigs who do not get what they want, will become angry and attack you.
In fact there is something of a principle found in Matthew 10 where Jesus instructs his disciples that if a household or a town refuses to listen to their message they are to shake the dust from their feet and move on because to persist would be antagonizing and a waste of time.
There is something to discerning if a person is receptive or unreceptive before expressing your concern for them.
Conclusion:
In the opening clip from Les Miserable’s, as Fantine acknowledged her own sinfulness and appealed to whatever goodness that may have lay hidden in the heart of the matron she found instead a critical, judgmental, condemnatory, self-righteous woman whose heart was filled with punitive bitterness.
As we go into this new week we will come face to face with people all too human. They will be slow. They will say irresponsible things. They will sit too long at the stoplight. They will wait until their groceries have been rung up and bagged before they think about digging out their wallet. They will cut you off. They will say hurtful things. They will forget to deliver your paper. They will not return your calls. They will foul up your order. They will forget an appointment. They may mess up in the parenting. They will gossip about you. They will break a confidence. They will take advantage of you. They may do things that give you cause to raise your eye-brows. They will persist in self-destructive habits. They may even send a condemning, self-righteous glance your way.
To all of that and more, Jesus says, “Don’t judge.”
So when you feel a good righteous indignation coming on, remember love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It doesn’t demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices when justice is done. Love never gives up, always [looks for] hopes for the best, never loses faith and endures through every circumstance. I Corinthians 13:4-7
