Welcome to a message that includes perhaps the most misquoted
and misunderstood verse in the Bible. Matthew 7:1 is the favorite
“Something in Your Eye?”
Matthew 7:1-5
May 11, 2008
Several weeks ago, we began looking at this critical question of
“how do we get along with other people in a way that honors
God? How do we “keep the peace”? We are told in Scripture to
be “eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace”
(Ephesians 4:3). We're instructed as followers of Christ that, as
much as it's within our control, we are to live at peace with all
people. These aren't optional things, and they aren't unimportant;
we saw some statistics last week that were sobering regarding
the cost of conflict in American churches. And so, we are
committed, at Red Oak, to taking the Bible seriously in these
areas, to living with each other in ways that guard and restore
relationships. We introduced what Peacemakers Ministries calls
the “4 Gs of Peacemaking”. They are
● Glorify God
● Get the log out of your own eye
● Gentle restore
● Go and be reconciled
Today, we focus on the second of those important admonitions:
“get the log out of your own eye”. Read with me Matthew 7:1-5:
Context here is the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus has organized
His message in such a way that He has spoken about man’s
relationship with God, and now in what we call chapter 7, he
moves on to talk about man’s relationship with his neighbor.
I. Context: A Warning
against Judgmentalism
:1-2
Bible verse of people who don't read the Bible; they'll often pull this
verse out of context and reinterpret it to mean something other
than what Jesus meant. Chiefly, they'll suggest that we need to
suspend judgment on any/all activities done by other people, that
“who are you to say that it's wrong to _________”, because Jesus
said, “judge not that you be not judged.” And because of their own
misunderstanding of Jesus' words and intent, they will scream
about Christians being “judgmental”. Sometimes, of course, Christi-
ans are judgmental...but that does not negate the absolutely critic-
al nature of judging, as I'll demonstrate.
See, the Pharisees had developed an intricate system of man-
made regulations meant to safeguard the Law of God; they added
all sorts of rules on top of God's basic commands for living life, and
then, as legalists always do, they began to judge people on the
basis of whether or not people kept their rules. Further, they did so
on the basis of appearances, rather than reality. They'd look at
what a person did on the outside, judge it to not measure up to
their standards, and then self-righteously denounce the person as
a “sinner”. Jesus told the parable of the Pharisee and the tax col-
lector (Luke 18) to illustrate just this truth. We all have to be very,
very careful about this very thing!
Would you look with me at verse 6? In the next breath, Jesus talks
about puppies and piggies, and we know that He's doing that
metaphorically, that he's not actually talking about going out into
the barnyard and throwing your jewelry to the pigs, as though this
was something people were actually doing! So...who are the “hogs”
and “dogs” He's referring to? Certain people—and though we won't
get into that part of the passage today, we raise this question: if
He's urging us to be careful not to give holy things to “dogs”, and
those “dogs” aren't Schnauzers and Pomeranians, but people, then
don't we have to “judge” in some way that those people belong to
the classification of “dogs” and “pigs”? The verse that encom-
passes Jesus' viewpoint on judging is John 7:24, where He says,
“don't just judge by the outward appearance, but judge right judg-
ment”.
So not only is the popular understanding of “judge not, that you be
not judged” wrong, it’s in fact not even a possible interpretation of
Jesus’ words. See, the truth is that we all judge, that we can't live
life without judging, that it's important to judge, that we're being
foolish and ungodly if we do not judge. Why are you here this
morning? Because you judged that to be a worthwhile investment
of your time. Why did you not stop at KrispyKreme and eat a
dozen doughnuts? Because you judge that to be a bad thing for
the waistline. Why do you not take out a payday loan? Because
you make the judgment that that place is a rip-off joint. And it gets
back to Jesus' words: “judge righteous judgment”.
What is Jesus talking about, then? To understand it, can we draw
a distinction between judgment and judgmentalism? Because
that's the distinction that makes the difference. Judgmentalism
is the persistent attitude of always being critical, always finding
fault, harping on the weaknesses of others (and often forgetting
our own—we'll get to that in a moment!). It's speaking the truth
(as one perceives it) without the love that has to balance it; it's
criticism for the purpose of tearing down rather than constructive
criticism for a positive purpose. And it's judgment that is personal
in nature, not merely the rendering of a judgment regarding
someone's ideas. I judge the Mormon church, for instance, to be
in significant and persistent doctrinal error; to judge otherwise
would be a terrible mistake. That doesn't mean that I think that
Mormon people are horrible people, only that the belief system to
which they've given their lives is in serious error.
And according to Jesus (:2), the habitual faultfinder, the harsh,
judgmental critic, can expect to be judged in the same way as he
metes out judgment. This can happen by men, and it will surely
happen by God.
Now with that as context, let's look at the main body of the text:
Poor Vision – The “Inner
Pharisee”
:3
The word translated “speck” is not insignificant; it's a splinter,
something painful and harmful. Question: if you can help me to
get a splinter out of my eye, is that a good, worthwhile thing to
do? Of course! A splinter left in the eye can do some real dam-
age!. There is nothing wrong with concerning myself with the
splinter in the eye of another person, and everything right!
What's the problem?
The problem is self-righteousness, the idea that I have no sin, or
lesser sin, than does another person. It's the self-justifying mindset
of pride and arrogance that concerns itself with the faults of others
and takes little thought for its own faults. This would-be eye doctor
is the hypocrite who, instead of concerning himself with his own re-
lationship to God—and the grace-begging shortcomings that are
uncovered in it—finds himself concerned primarily to correct oth-
ers. This is the “inner Pharisee” that lives within each of us, that
part of ourselves that has not yet been rooted out by God’s life-al-
tering grace, that seeks to justify our own actions. And that “inner
Pharisee” does not “notice” the fact that he's got a 2x4 in his own
eye. That word “notice” suggests a lingering consideration of his
own blindness—which he should do—but instead, he's determined
that he sees a little splinter in your eye, oblivious to the 2x4. But
that's not all; poor vision leads to
II. Ineffective Help – The
“Blind Eye Surgeon”
:4
He offers to be of help to you. Yes, big log protruding from his own
eye, rendering him unable to really accurately see that splinter in
yours, he generously offers his services. Be like a blind eye
surgeon, a man who would deal with one of the most delicate and
sensitive parts of our bodies, but himself be unable to see well
enough to do much of anything, let alone perform surgery on eyes.
But here he is, asking, “hey, let me get that little speck out of your
eye!” Again, is he wrong to have a concern about me? No...but
he's wrong to not have a concern about the more massive issue in
his own body, a big plank protruding from his eyeball. He can't
really be of much help to me so long as he's got this issue he's
unwilling to resolve or even see...but as soon as I say that,
recognize this: he could see the plank if he was interested in really
looking. 2x4s aren't that hard to see! In fact, about the only way
you miss a 2x4 is to somehow intentionally take a head-in-the-
sand, “I don't want to know” attitude, the Sargent Schultz “I know
nothing” attitude toward our own sins.
III. Proper Vision –
“Physician, Heal Thyself”
 :5a
Now, once we really see the situation this way, that we have sins
of our own to be concerned with, and the effect that these sins
have on us, we'll find it much more reasonable, and much
easier, to do what Christ calls us to: “first, take the log out of your
own eye.” Hey, man, maybe your concern for the other person is
real, and maybe it isn't, but the first thing to be concerned about
is that you've got a log in your own eye. Jesus sure knew what
makes people tick, didn't he? Because isn't this exactly what we
do, all the time? We want to talk about what the other person is
doing wrong, confront him about his problems/struggles/issues,
blame the problem on someone else, and not really face up to
our own contributions to the conflict. And as long as this is our
orientation; as long as we're more concerned with the wrong
done to us than the wrong we've done, we'll have a difficult time
resolving anything.
Taking the log out keeps us from being
• Judgmental
• Hypocritical
• Superior
But note further that taking the log out of our own eyes does en-
able us to be a real help to others.
IV. Effective Help – “Now,
about that splinter…”
:5b
Galatians 6:1 says, “Brothers, if anyone is caught in any trans-
gression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of
gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted.”
It’s a good thing for brothers and sisters to be able to gently en-
courage one another—maybe sometimes, not so gently!—by
helping us see faults that others don’t see in us. My term is “blind
spots”; I believe we all have them, things about ourselves that we
really don’t see, but that others see very clearly. If my attitude is
right, I want a person to help me see those things I might not in
order that I might see God change them in me. But I want that
person to be a fellow-struggler, not a high-and-mighty, got it all
figured out hypocrite of some kind. I want that person to have
taken that 2x4 out of his eye before he gets anywhere near the
splinter in mine.
So, what are some practical Scriptural insights that will help me to
be the kind of person who concerns himself first with his eyes?
Some Practical Thoughts from Scripture:
• Confess your own sins
first – Proverbs 28:13
Here's the step Jesus is talking about: taking care of the sin in
one's own life prior to dealing with the sin in the life of another.
Whoever confesses and forsakes his sin will find mercy.
• Overlook minor offenses
– Proverbs 19:11
It's to a person's credit to simply overlook minor offenses. We all
do and say dumb things, things that may or may not be meant to
offend, but which have that effect. At this point, the person
offended has a choice: do I have an issue that needs to be dealt
with, or can I simply overlook it? Now...what this does not mean is
that I decide to not say anything, but stew privately, or develop a
“root of bitterness”, which Hebrews warns against. See, if you're
stewing on something, you're not overlooking it; rather, you're
allowing the potential for a lot more damage to occur. Overlooking
it doesn't equal “stuffing” it!
• Adjust your attitude –
Philippians 4:2-9
How'd you like to have your name forever enshrined in the Bible?
Well...don't jump to the conclusion that that's necessarily a good
thing. Turn to Philippians 4: here are two women, Euodia and
Syntyche, who have their names forever in Scripture for one
reason: they couldn't get along with each other! In fact, it's gotten
so bad that Paul calls upon someone whom he calls “true
companion”, to help them; many folks believe that this person
refers to Lydia, about whom we learned several months ago in our
Acts study, though we can't be certain. By the way, as you may
have noted last week from the spectrum of conflict responses,
getting others to help mediate a dispute is a good and God-
honoring way of doing things. But regardless, Paul is mightily
concerned about the inability of these two ladies to get along!
What is his prescription for them? Paul gives to the Philippian
believers some basic “attitude adjustment” words that we'll get to
in a moment, but first:
“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing; the last of the
human freedoms-to choose one’s attitude in any given set of
circumstances, to choose one’s own way” - Victor Frankl. Frankl
observed life as a prisoner in the Nazi concentration camp of
Dachau, and determined that this was the final human freedom,
the freedom to choose one's response to whatever circumstances
life threw one's way—and he saw plenty such circumstances!
We are able, as Christ-followers and in the power of the Holy
Spirit, to choose the attitudes we will take in times of conflict, and
so Paul here suggests some “trades”, if you will, that we ought to
make to honor God and resolve conflicts:
 Trade complaining for rejoicing in the
Lord
In the middle of a conflict with another person, our first response
as natural-born sinners is to complain, to focus on the wrongs
that we imagine the other person has done to us; there's
generally little “rejoicing” in such situations. But what does Paul
say? “Rejoice in the Lord always!” And then he repeats himself
for good measure. Remember point one from last week? Our
first focus in conflict needs to be the glory of God, that whatever
we do, our concern to glorify God trumps everything else. I didn't
get that right this week in a conflict situation; I had to write a note
of apology to a person who was on the receiving end of a
frustration I had, and in which I stepped over that line. Bugged
me the rest of the day 'til I wrote the note! But I wrote it—
because my concern is God's glory. Now, if that's our first
concern, then this counsel seems appropriate: rejoice in the Lord
first, doing that instead of continuing in the funk of complaining
about the other person in the conflict situation. That's trade one.
Next,
 Trade aggressiveness for gentleness
“Let your reasonableness be known to everyone” (your translation
may say “gentleness”; catch how the two are linked). When my
emotions run high and I get aggressive (be it physically or
verbally), the first casualty is usually reason. Therefore, if I choose
gentleness instead of aggression; if I submit myself to the Spirit of
Christ Who lives in me, then instead of escalating a situation by
aggressiveness, I'll handle it with reason, and the outcome will
likely be a lot better.
 Trade anxiety for prayer
“Why pray when you can worry”, seems to be the attitude of a lot of
folks, when in fact the opposite ought to be our guiding star: prayer
will do much to fend off worry. The Bible tells us that the effective
prayer of a righteous person accomplishes much, whereas worry
accomplishes...nothing? Nothing! And look what the promise of
God is for those who take this seriously: “the peace of God.” Think
about it: worry and anxiety, or God's peace? Pretty easy call when
you think about it!
 Trade ill will for appreciation and good
thoughts of the other person
In my mind, I assassinate the character of the other people
involved in the dispute. In my mind, I build them up as the enemy,
act as judge, jury, and executioner, and build up resentments that
can fester and ruin relationships long after the original problem is
forgotten. Paul says that the things we ought to focus on are all of
those good things that he lists here. Take a little test here: please
don't shout out your answer here, but who comes to mind first
when I ask the question, “who is your enemy?” Maybe a person or
a group of people leap to mind; maybe it takes awhile longer.
Maybe you think of someone who has wronged you in some
egregious way. Regardless, what difference would it make if you
made a conscious effort to think these things about that person?
That great theologian, the Eagles' Don Henley, was onto
something when he wrote,
“There are people in your life who've come and gone.
They let you down, they hurt your pride.
You better put it all behind you baby; life goes on.
You keep carryin' that anger; it'll eat you up inside.”
Spoken like a man who knows whereof he speaks. Paul says,
“don't linger on those those that will eat you up inside; think on
these things!” See, while it's true that you've got your own faults,
so it's also true that the other person has his own strengths. That
ex that's giving you all kinds of trouble? What difference would it
make if your focus wasn't always on the faults, but on the strengths
as well? That nemesis at work: is there nothing praiseworthy
there? That neighbor that won't cut his grass—and we've got one
—is his grass more my focus than his soul? Paul says, “think on So I'll conclude with these questions, all regarding that plank that
these things”. might be in your eye:
● Are there sins of your own that need confessing?
 Trade theory for practice ● Have you held onto little minor things, keeping score of
Paul says, “remember the things you saw me do? Imitate me.” every little offense, tallying up everything so that you can
Now, that's bold, but this isn't the only place Paul said this; in justify yourself?
another place, he said, “imitate me as I imitate Christ”. You're the ● Does your attitude need adjusting? Are you
only Jesus some people see, and remember, these folks had no Complaining instead of rejoicing in the Lord?
written New Testament such as we do; how were they to live out
Aggressive instead of gentle and reasonable?
the Christian life? Paul sets himself up, not as perfect, but as an
Worried instead of prayerful?
example to which he points the Philippians and these two ladies
as well. But note: he uses the verb “practice”, and this is key: we Thinking the worst of the other person?
are saved by faith! Yes! But faith is always linked inextricably to Talking about Jesus rather than obeying Jesus?
obedience in the Christian life. There are so many ways to say it: ● Finally, is that plank in your eye your own determination to
● God's grace saves us, but God's grace also changes us. get everything coming to you? If so, remember that in
● We learn the Word so we can live the Word. Jesus, by God's grace, you aren't getting everything you've
● “Trust and obey”, the hymnwriter wrote. got coming to you, but rather forgiveness!
● “Show me your faith without your works”, James wrote,
“and I'll show you my faith by my works.” Table Talk
It's easier to talk about loving Jesus than to live that out, • Why do you think it's so easy to see the
particularly in the midst of a conflict such as these two ladies faults of others (in contrast to seeing our
were having, but to conquer conflict, let's trade theory for
practice!
own)?
• All four “practical thoughts” can be
• Be willing to give up difficult to put into practice. Which do
you find the most difficult? How can you
your rights – see these truths take root in your life and
practice?
I Corinthians 6:7
Did you just hear me? See, this is America, and we've got certain
inalienable rights! And we fought for them, and we don't want to
give up anything we're entitled to! And yet when Paul is dealing
with the fact that people in the Corinthian church are going to
court against one another, he offers these astonishing questions:
“Why not rather suffer wrong? Why not rather be defrauded?”
Isn't it better, in other words, to allow someone to take advantage
of you, than for the glory of God and the name of Jesus to be
defaced? And this is what it all comes down to, isn't it? Is my
first orientation my own rights, or the glory of God? If it's the
latter, then I won't always be concerned first that I get everything
I've got coming to me; rather, if I'm offended by another, I'll give
up my “rights” to get even, to take revenge, to settle the score.