PICKING SPECKS
& REMOVING LOGS
The Right and Wrong Way to Correct One Another
Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye.
Matthew 7:3-5 |
Message begins at approximately the 35 min mark.
The story is told of a man who was having difficulty communicating with is wife. He concluded that she was becoming hard of hearing. So he decided to conduct a test without her knowing about it.
One evening he sat in a chair on the far side of the room. Her back was to him and she could not see him. Very quietly he whispered, “Can you hear me?” There was no response. Moving a little closer, he asked again, “Can you hear me now?” Still no reply. Quietly he edged closer and whispered the same words, but still no answer.
Finally he moved right in behind her chair and said, “Can you hear me now?” To his surprise and chagrin she responded with irritation in her voice, “For the fourth time, yes!”
A story like that is one that is a good reminder about the whole notion of judging others. And it is a good thing for us to think about as we approach our text today. The problem, oftentimes, when it comes to judging others is not so much found in the other person. The problem often lies in us.
As we come to verses 3-5 today, that’s exactly what Jesus wants to impress upon us. We need to recognize that judging one another isn’t necessarily the problem. It’s typically the way we judge people that is the problem.
Well today Jesus wants us to think again about our judgments and probe our hearts as to our methodology. In these three verses Jesus lays out two different tactics. He shows us two ways that we can go about our judging. One is the wrong way and one is the right way. We can judge people in a hypocritical way (a way that is self righteous) or we can judge people in a godly way.
And we may begin by considering the hypocritical approach.
I. The Hypocritical Approach
The hypocritical approach is laid out in verses 3-4. It’s described in this somewhat ludicrous illustration of the speck of dust in the one fellow’s eye and the log that is in our own eye.
Now, let’s just relish the humor in this. There’s no doubt that there would have been chuckles throughout the crowd when Jesus gave this illustration. The image of it is simply absurd (and knowing that it applied to a lot of the people who might be sitting right there may have been cause for some chuckles too).
But imagine what Jesus says here. Here’s a guy who has a little speck in his eye. Maybe it is a little piece of sawdust or a piece of a leaf that was blowing in the wind. And he says, “Ooo! Agh!” And the guy next to him says, “What’s wrong?” and he says, “I just got something in my eye.”
And the other guy says, “Hey, let me help you out.” And he turns around and he has this giant tree branch sticking out of his eye. He turns to help the guy and the guy ducks as this branch comes whipping around; it almost cracks him in the head.
But the guy is insistent. “Hold still, will ya!?! I’m trying to help you out here. And he grabs the guy’s head and tries looking into his eye to see if he can spot this speck in his eye. But the whole time he’s bobbing his own head around trying to get a better angle because of this enormous log protruding from his face.
It’s an absurd picture. And it illustrates how absurd some attempts at correction can be.
But it illustrates two things: 1) On the one hand, it illustrates how some people can be excessively drawn towards other people’s sin. There are people who can be almost fanatical about other people’s stuff and they feel obligated to speak to the about it. They want to confront them about it when it pops up on their ever so sensitive radar.
For these people it typically doesn’t matter how small or few in number these infractions may be. Some people just love to scrutinize other people’s lives, and when they find and issue they feel that it must be addressed. And they of course feel that they are justified in doing so.
2)On the other hand, this illustrates how people are often quite negligent of their own sins. Sins which, you understand, may be similar or even more flagrant. There is a rather glaring blindness to their own failings. They maybe just ignore it or maybe they excuse it by providing some kind of sort of justification.
I like what Calvin says on this point. He says that many people “throw their own sins behind their back, or are so ingenious in finding apologies for them, that they wish to be held excusable even in very gross offenses.”
Of course, these are not necessarily two different people. Matthew Henry, the great puritan commentator said that you will often find that those who are the most severe with others regarding their sins are also people who are the most flagrant with sin themselves. They will excoriate you for your drunkenness, but they will not even bat an eye at how they indulge their porn addiction or they will come up with some creative excuse for their gluttony.
That of course is the supreme expression of this hypocrisy. That’s when you are trying to do microscopic eye surgery with beams in your eye. “Hey, what’s this doing in your eye? Let me help you with that. That’s got to be uncomfortable. We got to dislodge that little bugger!”
But this hypocritical approach is very common to us all. I’d like to say that it is quite invasive. It has expressions in every home and neighborhood. I’d almost like to say that it is probably found in every fight and argument. Because we are all quick to point fingers. We like to blame and poke and point, but very rarely do we take the same care and methodical approach with ourselves.
Let’s take a look at the most simple argument that we can. It’s the good old fashioned, “He started it” argument. Jimmy and Janey are caught bickering. Mom comes in and says, “whoa, whoa, whoa!” She calls for a ceasefire in the arguing and says, “what’s going on?” Jimmy comes out and says, “She started it.” To which Janey replies, “Nut uh! He started it.” And Jimmy says with some authority on the matter, “No I didn’t. You did.” And in just seconds the ceasefire has come to an end.
You know what that is? It’s a bunch of hypocritical baloney. Neither one of those kids is interested in saying, “You know what? It really doesn’t matter how it started. I was overreacting and letting myself show sinful anger by yelling and being upset. I should have been more respectful and handled the situation in a calmer way.”
What Jimmy is doing is trying to get the speck out of Janey’s eye. And Janey is just as guilty. She can’t handle the situation properly either because she’s got this giant piece of timber jutting out of her socket.
And what we see happening there between Jimmy and Janey is the exact kind of thing we see happening in almost every other disagreement. The finger is pointing, we’re digging through someone’s optics like a metal detector on the beach trying to find a couple nickels and dimes, but all the while we are oblivious to (or making excuses for) the evils that are emerging like monsters from our own hearts.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve sat before Jimmy and Janey in that counsel room over there. I’m not talking about the brother and sister. I’m talking about the husband and wife. People will come in because their marriage is on the rocks. And I’ll ask them to give me a little idea what’s going on. And the husband will launch into a laundry list of things her husband is or is not doing. And then then Janey will cut him off and say, “Well that’s because…” and she’ll begin to list all the grievances she has with him.
There are a few exceptions. But I can say this: I’ve never had a husband come in and say, “You know what, Matt? I’ve not been as sensitive to her needs as I should have. I’ve really been selfish. I really don’t think that have attempted to replicate the kind of self denying, self sacrificing love that Christ had for the church.”
I’ve yet to see a woman come in and say, “I think I’ve let my hurt get the best of me and I’ve not demonstrated that meek and quiet spirit that I read about in 1 Peter 3.”
Instead what I typically see is that finger pointing and a lot of speck grabbing. What I see is the hypocritical approach employed. Not that people don’t have legitimate problems. There’s no denying that. But the approach is all wrong. It’s jimmy and Janey all over again.
It’s the hypocritical approach, that is being employed.
Let me just say that this kind of tactic does not solve marital issues. It does not make harmony in the home between brothers and sisters. It does not cure anything. These unrighteous forms of judging only cause relationships to deteriorate.
It’s merely following the pattern of Adam and Eve, where Adam pointed the finger and said, “Look at her sin, God! She started it. She gave me this apple.” That translates easily into, “Look at the speck in her eye, Lord! We are not going to talk about this beam of mine. We’re not going to mention the fact that I was foolish to take it and eat it.”
Adam took the hypocritical approach. And thus ensued the relational carnage that we experience today.
Those are the essential properties of the hypocritical approach. That’s what the hypocritical approach to judging looks like. And that’s what it produces.
But there’s another way we can go about things. It is the approach that Jesus commends in verse 5. In verse 5 Jesus tells us of the kind of approach that people in his kingdom are supposed to take. And it’s a godly approach. Or you might call it a redemptive approach or maybe the biblical approach.
II. The Biblical approach
And the approach, you notice, is completely backwards from what we just saw. As a matter of fact, there are two things that are completely contrary from the hypocritical approach.
The first difference, regards the starting point. Instead of starting with the other person (which we are prone to do), you must start with yourself.
Notice what Jesus says, “You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye.”
Jesus puts the emphasis on a thorough, self examination. Our sinful instinct is to attack the other person first. But the biblical approach is to begin with an all out attack on your own heart and behavior.
So you should ask, “Have I done anything to provoke this situation? Is my anger justified? Is this something that really needs to be addressed? Or is it just me being overly sensitive or nit picky? Would it be better if I just walked away and let love cover this? Actually, it does need to be addressed, but I don’t see myself handling well now. I’m just going to give myself a minute and come at this again at a more strategic moment.”
A few moments ago I talked about the counsel room and the couple who has laid out a litany of grievances against the other person. I said that they are usually pretty quick to lay into their spouse. Well, one of my first assignments I almost always give couples is to create a nice long list of their own offenses. I tell them that they need to go home and make a list of all the ways you’ve personally sinned against your spouse. I want you to come back next week with at least 20 specific sins that you have committed. Your marriage has not been doing well for 8 years, you should be able to get plenty of material. List out what you’ve done wrong and what you haven’t done.
And if the list comes back with less than admirable attempt, we have the beginning of a good conversation. Either you are telling me that you are incredibly ignorant of your sin or you are the equivalent to 4th person of the trinity.
Sometimes people are so used to casting stones that they have not taken the time to do a little self probing.
But this is one of the things that Jesus requires. Before we judge, we must first judge ourselves.
The second thing that we must do is judge the sin we have to be utterly sinful. This is where the language that Jesus uses comes in to play. He says, “first take the LOG out of your own eye, then you will be able to see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.”
It is not without purpose that Jesus uses the metaphor of a log. The idea is that our sin should be viewed as the preeminent problem. Whatever we may think of the other person’s actions, it is our transgression that should be regarded as being particularly bad.
Typically, we have it the other way around. We see their sin and we think, “How abhorrent! How utterly wicked!” And we then let the wrath fly down upon it. But we don’t see our own actions in the same light. We take a speck approach to our beam and say, “It’s not that bad.”
Jesus is reminding us here that we often see the badness of someone else’s actions and judge it with a keen sense of severity. But what we should do is take that same level of severity and apply it to our own actions. Our sin is the log. Our Sin is the problem. Or, as Matthew Henry puts it, “Our own sins ought to appear greater to us than the same sins in others.” And we should judge their sin with a greater degree of charity.
Yes, I know that their sin is an issue. I’m not downplaying the sins of others. But when it comes to my relationship to God, I’ve offended him. So we should not justify our actions. We should not downplay our actions. We should own up to it and recognize that in God’s eyes what I have done is a great and odious thing.
David, when he had committed adultery, saw it in this light. In Psalm 51 he said, “Against thee and thee alone have I sinned.” What is he saying here? Doesn’t he know that his sin was against Bathsheba and Uriah, her husband? Of course he knows this. It’s just that he recognizes that the things that he did were ultimately against God, which gave them a heightened degree of wickedness.
That’s why Jesus says, “Look at yourself. Look at what you have done. Take a moment and realize the gravity of what you’ve done. Don’t try to justify it. Don’t sweep it under the rug or downplay it. Look at it in the same light that God himself sees it. When you do, you’ll understand that it is a log.”
“You know, I’ve seen him as a miserly money hoarder who won’t let me buy the things I’ve wanted. But I’ve had a pretty high opinion of myself. I haven’t really sought to live by the budget we’ve agreed upon. I am not being considerate of how diligently he’s working to make sure we are well provided for.”
Do you see how that kind of attitude is a bit more in keeping with what Jesus is saying? If you begin that way--if you judge yourself first and judge your sin to be the beam of utter sinfulness, you are then in a position where you can come and address the problem.
Again, we don’t want to say that you are never to correct or reprove someone. You are. But the biblical approach is the approach that Jesus outlines here. There must be some prerequisites that are filled. And once you’ve done this, once you’ve judged yourself and sought to initiate some reform, you are now biblically qualified to speak.
Conclusion:
So there you have the two different approaches. As we have clearly seen today, Jesus lays out a right and a wrong way to judge. There’s one that is in keeping with his kingdom and there is a way of hypocrisy.
And we know which is the one that we ought to take. And we know it not only because Jesus has spoken it, but it is the one which is in keeping with Christ himself. We remember that he is the judge. He is the one who will judge the earth in righteousness. There will come a day where everything in our lives is laid bear. He will open the books and expose every speck and ever log. And he will do so in all righteousness because he is righteous himself. Out of his spotless purity, he will call us to account.
And even now, through the grace of his spirit he is seeking to remove logs and specks. He is seeking to make you more like himself; make you more pure. That way, you might better serve as his agent in this world, ministering to souls.
One evening he sat in a chair on the far side of the room. Her back was to him and she could not see him. Very quietly he whispered, “Can you hear me?” There was no response. Moving a little closer, he asked again, “Can you hear me now?” Still no reply. Quietly he edged closer and whispered the same words, but still no answer.
Finally he moved right in behind her chair and said, “Can you hear me now?” To his surprise and chagrin she responded with irritation in her voice, “For the fourth time, yes!”
A story like that is one that is a good reminder about the whole notion of judging others. And it is a good thing for us to think about as we approach our text today. The problem, oftentimes, when it comes to judging others is not so much found in the other person. The problem often lies in us.
As we come to verses 3-5 today, that’s exactly what Jesus wants to impress upon us. We need to recognize that judging one another isn’t necessarily the problem. It’s typically the way we judge people that is the problem.
Well today Jesus wants us to think again about our judgments and probe our hearts as to our methodology. In these three verses Jesus lays out two different tactics. He shows us two ways that we can go about our judging. One is the wrong way and one is the right way. We can judge people in a hypocritical way (a way that is self righteous) or we can judge people in a godly way.
And we may begin by considering the hypocritical approach.
I. The Hypocritical Approach
The hypocritical approach is laid out in verses 3-4. It’s described in this somewhat ludicrous illustration of the speck of dust in the one fellow’s eye and the log that is in our own eye.
Now, let’s just relish the humor in this. There’s no doubt that there would have been chuckles throughout the crowd when Jesus gave this illustration. The image of it is simply absurd (and knowing that it applied to a lot of the people who might be sitting right there may have been cause for some chuckles too).
But imagine what Jesus says here. Here’s a guy who has a little speck in his eye. Maybe it is a little piece of sawdust or a piece of a leaf that was blowing in the wind. And he says, “Ooo! Agh!” And the guy next to him says, “What’s wrong?” and he says, “I just got something in my eye.”
And the other guy says, “Hey, let me help you out.” And he turns around and he has this giant tree branch sticking out of his eye. He turns to help the guy and the guy ducks as this branch comes whipping around; it almost cracks him in the head.
But the guy is insistent. “Hold still, will ya!?! I’m trying to help you out here. And he grabs the guy’s head and tries looking into his eye to see if he can spot this speck in his eye. But the whole time he’s bobbing his own head around trying to get a better angle because of this enormous log protruding from his face.
It’s an absurd picture. And it illustrates how absurd some attempts at correction can be.
But it illustrates two things: 1) On the one hand, it illustrates how some people can be excessively drawn towards other people’s sin. There are people who can be almost fanatical about other people’s stuff and they feel obligated to speak to the about it. They want to confront them about it when it pops up on their ever so sensitive radar.
For these people it typically doesn’t matter how small or few in number these infractions may be. Some people just love to scrutinize other people’s lives, and when they find and issue they feel that it must be addressed. And they of course feel that they are justified in doing so.
2)On the other hand, this illustrates how people are often quite negligent of their own sins. Sins which, you understand, may be similar or even more flagrant. There is a rather glaring blindness to their own failings. They maybe just ignore it or maybe they excuse it by providing some kind of sort of justification.
I like what Calvin says on this point. He says that many people “throw their own sins behind their back, or are so ingenious in finding apologies for them, that they wish to be held excusable even in very gross offenses.”
Of course, these are not necessarily two different people. Matthew Henry, the great puritan commentator said that you will often find that those who are the most severe with others regarding their sins are also people who are the most flagrant with sin themselves. They will excoriate you for your drunkenness, but they will not even bat an eye at how they indulge their porn addiction or they will come up with some creative excuse for their gluttony.
That of course is the supreme expression of this hypocrisy. That’s when you are trying to do microscopic eye surgery with beams in your eye. “Hey, what’s this doing in your eye? Let me help you with that. That’s got to be uncomfortable. We got to dislodge that little bugger!”
But this hypocritical approach is very common to us all. I’d like to say that it is quite invasive. It has expressions in every home and neighborhood. I’d almost like to say that it is probably found in every fight and argument. Because we are all quick to point fingers. We like to blame and poke and point, but very rarely do we take the same care and methodical approach with ourselves.
Let’s take a look at the most simple argument that we can. It’s the good old fashioned, “He started it” argument. Jimmy and Janey are caught bickering. Mom comes in and says, “whoa, whoa, whoa!” She calls for a ceasefire in the arguing and says, “what’s going on?” Jimmy comes out and says, “She started it.” To which Janey replies, “Nut uh! He started it.” And Jimmy says with some authority on the matter, “No I didn’t. You did.” And in just seconds the ceasefire has come to an end.
You know what that is? It’s a bunch of hypocritical baloney. Neither one of those kids is interested in saying, “You know what? It really doesn’t matter how it started. I was overreacting and letting myself show sinful anger by yelling and being upset. I should have been more respectful and handled the situation in a calmer way.”
What Jimmy is doing is trying to get the speck out of Janey’s eye. And Janey is just as guilty. She can’t handle the situation properly either because she’s got this giant piece of timber jutting out of her socket.
And what we see happening there between Jimmy and Janey is the exact kind of thing we see happening in almost every other disagreement. The finger is pointing, we’re digging through someone’s optics like a metal detector on the beach trying to find a couple nickels and dimes, but all the while we are oblivious to (or making excuses for) the evils that are emerging like monsters from our own hearts.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve sat before Jimmy and Janey in that counsel room over there. I’m not talking about the brother and sister. I’m talking about the husband and wife. People will come in because their marriage is on the rocks. And I’ll ask them to give me a little idea what’s going on. And the husband will launch into a laundry list of things her husband is or is not doing. And then then Janey will cut him off and say, “Well that’s because…” and she’ll begin to list all the grievances she has with him.
There are a few exceptions. But I can say this: I’ve never had a husband come in and say, “You know what, Matt? I’ve not been as sensitive to her needs as I should have. I’ve really been selfish. I really don’t think that have attempted to replicate the kind of self denying, self sacrificing love that Christ had for the church.”
I’ve yet to see a woman come in and say, “I think I’ve let my hurt get the best of me and I’ve not demonstrated that meek and quiet spirit that I read about in 1 Peter 3.”
Instead what I typically see is that finger pointing and a lot of speck grabbing. What I see is the hypocritical approach employed. Not that people don’t have legitimate problems. There’s no denying that. But the approach is all wrong. It’s jimmy and Janey all over again.
It’s the hypocritical approach, that is being employed.
Let me just say that this kind of tactic does not solve marital issues. It does not make harmony in the home between brothers and sisters. It does not cure anything. These unrighteous forms of judging only cause relationships to deteriorate.
It’s merely following the pattern of Adam and Eve, where Adam pointed the finger and said, “Look at her sin, God! She started it. She gave me this apple.” That translates easily into, “Look at the speck in her eye, Lord! We are not going to talk about this beam of mine. We’re not going to mention the fact that I was foolish to take it and eat it.”
Adam took the hypocritical approach. And thus ensued the relational carnage that we experience today.
Those are the essential properties of the hypocritical approach. That’s what the hypocritical approach to judging looks like. And that’s what it produces.
But there’s another way we can go about things. It is the approach that Jesus commends in verse 5. In verse 5 Jesus tells us of the kind of approach that people in his kingdom are supposed to take. And it’s a godly approach. Or you might call it a redemptive approach or maybe the biblical approach.
II. The Biblical approach
And the approach, you notice, is completely backwards from what we just saw. As a matter of fact, there are two things that are completely contrary from the hypocritical approach.
The first difference, regards the starting point. Instead of starting with the other person (which we are prone to do), you must start with yourself.
Notice what Jesus says, “You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye.”
Jesus puts the emphasis on a thorough, self examination. Our sinful instinct is to attack the other person first. But the biblical approach is to begin with an all out attack on your own heart and behavior.
So you should ask, “Have I done anything to provoke this situation? Is my anger justified? Is this something that really needs to be addressed? Or is it just me being overly sensitive or nit picky? Would it be better if I just walked away and let love cover this? Actually, it does need to be addressed, but I don’t see myself handling well now. I’m just going to give myself a minute and come at this again at a more strategic moment.”
A few moments ago I talked about the counsel room and the couple who has laid out a litany of grievances against the other person. I said that they are usually pretty quick to lay into their spouse. Well, one of my first assignments I almost always give couples is to create a nice long list of their own offenses. I tell them that they need to go home and make a list of all the ways you’ve personally sinned against your spouse. I want you to come back next week with at least 20 specific sins that you have committed. Your marriage has not been doing well for 8 years, you should be able to get plenty of material. List out what you’ve done wrong and what you haven’t done.
And if the list comes back with less than admirable attempt, we have the beginning of a good conversation. Either you are telling me that you are incredibly ignorant of your sin or you are the equivalent to 4th person of the trinity.
Sometimes people are so used to casting stones that they have not taken the time to do a little self probing.
But this is one of the things that Jesus requires. Before we judge, we must first judge ourselves.
The second thing that we must do is judge the sin we have to be utterly sinful. This is where the language that Jesus uses comes in to play. He says, “first take the LOG out of your own eye, then you will be able to see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.”
It is not without purpose that Jesus uses the metaphor of a log. The idea is that our sin should be viewed as the preeminent problem. Whatever we may think of the other person’s actions, it is our transgression that should be regarded as being particularly bad.
Typically, we have it the other way around. We see their sin and we think, “How abhorrent! How utterly wicked!” And we then let the wrath fly down upon it. But we don’t see our own actions in the same light. We take a speck approach to our beam and say, “It’s not that bad.”
Jesus is reminding us here that we often see the badness of someone else’s actions and judge it with a keen sense of severity. But what we should do is take that same level of severity and apply it to our own actions. Our sin is the log. Our Sin is the problem. Or, as Matthew Henry puts it, “Our own sins ought to appear greater to us than the same sins in others.” And we should judge their sin with a greater degree of charity.
Yes, I know that their sin is an issue. I’m not downplaying the sins of others. But when it comes to my relationship to God, I’ve offended him. So we should not justify our actions. We should not downplay our actions. We should own up to it and recognize that in God’s eyes what I have done is a great and odious thing.
David, when he had committed adultery, saw it in this light. In Psalm 51 he said, “Against thee and thee alone have I sinned.” What is he saying here? Doesn’t he know that his sin was against Bathsheba and Uriah, her husband? Of course he knows this. It’s just that he recognizes that the things that he did were ultimately against God, which gave them a heightened degree of wickedness.
That’s why Jesus says, “Look at yourself. Look at what you have done. Take a moment and realize the gravity of what you’ve done. Don’t try to justify it. Don’t sweep it under the rug or downplay it. Look at it in the same light that God himself sees it. When you do, you’ll understand that it is a log.”
“You know, I’ve seen him as a miserly money hoarder who won’t let me buy the things I’ve wanted. But I’ve had a pretty high opinion of myself. I haven’t really sought to live by the budget we’ve agreed upon. I am not being considerate of how diligently he’s working to make sure we are well provided for.”
Do you see how that kind of attitude is a bit more in keeping with what Jesus is saying? If you begin that way--if you judge yourself first and judge your sin to be the beam of utter sinfulness, you are then in a position where you can come and address the problem.
Again, we don’t want to say that you are never to correct or reprove someone. You are. But the biblical approach is the approach that Jesus outlines here. There must be some prerequisites that are filled. And once you’ve done this, once you’ve judged yourself and sought to initiate some reform, you are now biblically qualified to speak.
Conclusion:
So there you have the two different approaches. As we have clearly seen today, Jesus lays out a right and a wrong way to judge. There’s one that is in keeping with his kingdom and there is a way of hypocrisy.
And we know which is the one that we ought to take. And we know it not only because Jesus has spoken it, but it is the one which is in keeping with Christ himself. We remember that he is the judge. He is the one who will judge the earth in righteousness. There will come a day where everything in our lives is laid bear. He will open the books and expose every speck and ever log. And he will do so in all righteousness because he is righteous himself. Out of his spotless purity, he will call us to account.
And even now, through the grace of his spirit he is seeking to remove logs and specks. He is seeking to make you more like himself; make you more pure. That way, you might better serve as his agent in this world, ministering to souls.