A Clearer Vision

Matthew 7:1-6

November 24, 2002

 

At this point in the Sermon on the Mount, it is quite typical to be licking our wounds over the piercing, probing message of Christ to kingdom citizens. Looking at ourselves in light of the explanations and commands of Christ will either heap condemnation or cause us to look to the grace of God. No wonder that Martyn Lloyd-Jones was amazed at those who denied the gospel, and the teaching of the epistles, but said that they believed the Sermon on the Mount. He wrote, "Indeed, I do not hesitate to say that, were it not that I knew of the doctrine of justification by faith only, I would never look at the Sermon on the Mount, because it is a Sermon before which we all stand completely naked and altogether without hope" [The Sermon on the Mount, II, 160]. Thus the power of the words of Christ concerning attitude, ambition, behavior, and devotion cut to the core of our lives.

 

But some begin to congratulate themselves - mistakenly for sure - thinking that they have achieved a superior level of Christian life above their brethren. And so the long journey down one's nose to the lower echelons of faultfinding and condemnation bring to light the need for Christ's word on judging. A clearer vision of our own sinfulness will act as a barrier to judgmentalism and give wisdom in helping others. But this is hard for us to see and accept because of the native tendency to applaud ourselves and condemn others. How does Christ set the record straight so that we might be faithful kingdom citizens?

 

I. Condemnation condemned

 

The opening words, "Do not judge" [literally, "judge not," with the "not" being set first in the Greek sentence with a present tense verb for emphasis on stopping an action that is in progress], set the tone for what Christ demands of kingdom citizens. We realize that judgmentalism is part of the whole fabric of our existence. We've just come through a several month period of public elections in which the character and abilities of every candidate from U. S. Senator to dogcatcher has been raked over the coals. It is certainly true that those running for public office open their lives for the public to see. But it is unfortunate that the level of harshness, hypercriticism, and exaggeration has escalated to the point that the public has difficulty distinguishing truth from lies. It is into this kind of setting that kingdom citizens are to make a mark for Christ - living distinctly different from the world by not embracing the same tone of hypercriticism that characterizes it.

 

It is one thing for this to exist in the world of politics - we've come to expect it nowadays - yet a totally different matter in the church. It seems that the arena Christ addresses is that of the community of faith. He explains the context of hypercriticism taking place by seeing the speck in "your brother's eye." It is possible that he is using the term "brother" in generic fashion. But I think it is more likely that he intends us to especially guard against hypercriticism with our fellow kingdom citizens.

 

We know that this command is brought up right and left, and most of the time used illegitimately. Jesus is not calling for us to become simpletons that gullibly believe everything and every lifestyle to be on equal levels. The egalitarians of our day have used this verse - even though they likely do not believe most of the balance of Scripture - so that they can legitimize their lifestyles and keep Christians from reproving them. Those rejecting church discipline also use this verse. They claim that we have no right to judge one another as Christians; thus condoning myriad sinful practices. But we must see that Jesus Christ is not calling upon kingdom citizens to be silent before sin or to neglect correcting sinful practices in our brothers or sealing our lips at the moral injustices of our day or not being involved in admonishing holiness in one another. We need only look at 7:6 and 7:15 to see that our Lord calls for us to be discerning, to make moral and doctrinal judgments as kingdom citizens. So what does it mean when the Lord tells us, "Do not judge so that you will not be judged"?

 

1. The principle

 

The word "judge" has multiple meanings so that going to a dictionary may not be of great help other than to give us plenty of selections. In this context the Lord is not at all referring to the legal judgment or discernment, but to the sharp, unjust criticism that comes from an attitude of superiority. Don Carson believes the chief focus is on "attitude." By that he means that what the person doing the judging says may indeed be true but his intention is not for good but to be malicious toward the one he is judging. "But it is always the case that he says it maliciously [i.e., the one doing the judging in this case]; that is, he speaks without any desire to build up, or any real concern to instill discernment. He only wants to puff himself up, or to be heard, or to enhance his own reputation, or to demean the person about whom he is speaking" [The Sermon on the Mount, 100, italics added]. One word that many writers used to describe this is censoriousness, that is, the spirit of blaming, finding fault, and condemning others. It is not an attempt at helping a situation but normally one of trying to put someone else down so that in a strange way the speaker might feel himself to be bigger.

 

How does it happen that one begins to judge others? I suppose we could give many answers to this but I would begin by suggesting that judgmentalism or a hypercritical spirit results from an exaggerated view of one's own spiritual or moral life. It is spiritual and moral smugness - the kind of mind that finds approval by disapproving others. This sort of spirit develops over time, especially when the person has not come to terms with his own sinfulness. It is most prominent in those that are quite religious as the case of the Pharisees. Judging others is a self-made remedy to alleviate the pain of dealing with his own sin, so that in turning on others he convinces himself that his faults are small and unworthy of being exposed. "It is a disease which always brings in its train an element of unfairness," writes John Calvin, "so that we come to condemn a slight fault, as though it were a most heinous offence" [Calvin's New Testament Commentaries, I, 225].

 

"Don't judge" does not mean "don't think," explains Leon Morris [The Gospel of Matthew, 164]. One must think to decide who the "dogs" and "swine" might be or who are the false prophets. Nor does it mean that we are not to think critically if by that we mean to offer good, constructive comments that will help others. Frankly, we all need constructive criticism because we are all works in progress. But there is a difference between the gracious, kind constructive criticism of someone that loves you and looks out for your good, and the person that eyeballs you as though you were under his microscope so that he can find some fault to parade before the eyes of the world.

 

As a pastor, I have been on the receiving end of both types. I've been greatly helped by members of our congregation that have constructively pointed out something that I've said or something I've failed to do or something that I should not have done. They have quietly and humbly pointed out the fault (and I know that I have plenty), and made themselves available to help me and pray for me in the need uncovered. On the other hand, I've felt the blows of those that make a mountain out of a mole hill or who find genuine faults but use them as a club to destroy rather than to help. You've had both as well. It is no question on what we deem most valuable!

 

2. A measurement

 

Jesus explains that judgmentalism or hypercriticism brings on judgment for us: "Do not judge so that you will not be judged." The question is who will be doing the judging. The Greek is ambiguous, using a passive voice to describe someone else judging the one that judges. It can describe the reality that a harsh, critical person will find himself being criticized as well. Such a person quickly loses friends because his intention is not to build up but to destroy. So the judgment that takes place may be silent but it takes place through shunning the censorious person. This stands as a warning that hypercriticism brings its own judgment among one's peers. Alexander Maclaren describes such a critical spirit as fighting with a tomahawk. He warns, "If he chooses to fight with a tomahawk, he will be scalped some day, and the bystanders will not lament profusely" [Expositions of Holy Scripture, vol. 6, 328].

 

I think that the passive voice is probably referring to divine judgment rather than human judgment, though it is obvious that it will happen on the human level as well. The reason I believe this to be true is the context of chapter seven. Jesus is dealing with judgment in the overall theme of this section of the Sermon on the Mount. "A judgmental attitude excludes us from God's pardon, for it betrays an unbroken spirit" [Don Carson, 100]. Jesus has already explained that kingdom citizens are merciful and forgiving (5:7; 6:12). Having received the mercy of divine forgiveness, and realizing his own sinfulness, the kingdom citizen is free to be merciful to others rather than hypercritical.

 

The measure of judgment applied to us will be commensurate with the kind of judgment we have dished out. "For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you." Literally, "for with the judgment that you are judging you will be judged, and with the measure that you are measuring you will be measured," with the future passive verbs pointing to what lies ahead as we all stand before God. It is a small thing that we are judged by men, as Paul understood (I Cor 4:3), but the weighty issue is that we will all stand before the judgment seat of Christ, "who will both bring to light the things hidden in the darkness and disclose the motives of men's hearts" (I Cor 4:5; II Cor 5:10).

 

So the question that each of us has to face in light of this passage is this: am I willing to be judged by the same standard that I judge others? If I criticize someone else's discipline, am I disciplined? If I judge someone else's motives, are my motives truly pure? If I question another's behavior, is my behavior exemplary and approved by Christ?

 

II. Examination extolled

 

To see such passages as verses 1-2 make us want to shut our mouths and never speak again! Yet that is not the intention of this exhortation. We are to be involved in helping one another and even in correcting faults and behavior issues in one another. But we are never to do so without first examining our own lives.

 

1. Self-inspection

 

Jesus asks, "Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?" The use of hyperbole gets our attention. The speck might be sawdust or a small splinter that the wind blows into the eye. But the "log" conveys the idea of a floor joist or ceiling rafter stuck in one's own eye. The contrast could not be clearer. "So absorbed is he in his campaign" against someone else, Sinclair Ferguson explains, "that he is blind to the fact that he has sin in his own life that is far greater than anything he sees in the lives of others.... Sensitive to sin in others, he has been desensitized to the sin in his own heart" [The Sermon on the Mount: Kingdom Life in a Fallen World, 151-152]. Notice that Jesus explains the judgmental person looks at the tiny speck in someone else's eye. To notice it he must get close, and peer into the other person's eye. The intention is to show that judgmentalism begins by spending far too much time and attention looking at others, and far too little considering one's own life.

 

He does "not notice" that in his own eye is a two-by-twelve joist. The word "notice" implies that he has not set his mind upon his own life. He has avoided self-inspection lest he find something that is sinful, so he probes others' lives to find the "speck" of debris that has lodged in their eyes. He does not perceive or take notice of the sin in his own life. Leon Morris is right: "Jesus is drawing attention to a curious feature of the human race in which profound ignorance of oneself is so often combined with an arrogant presumption of knowledge about others, especially about their faults" [167].

 

So what must we do? We must "notice the log" that is in our own eyes. It is only when we prayerfully, and humbly open the Word of God and ask the Holy Spirit to search our hearts, to turn His divine gaze upon us and expose our own sin, that we will begin to "notice the log" that has blinded our own sight. Do you regularly ask the Lord to expose your sin so that you might confess and repent of it? Do you read the Word with a view to discovering the logs that have marred your vision? Do you keep a short account on your sins? By self-inspection I am not suggesting that you develop a morose, introspective kind of life that never climbs out of the sewer of the past for the light of liberty in Christ. But I am exhorting you to be sensitive each day to the sin that creeps into your life. It happens with all of us. Before long we can become desensitized to our own sinfulness simply because we either ignore our sins or rationalize around them. The result inevitably is a harsh spirit toward others. Much of what we judge in others is because we do not want to face the same sins in ourselves.

 

After David had sinned with Bathsheba, and even had her husband killed to cover his sin, he sat smugly in his palace as though he had gotten away with his sin. He lost his spiritual sensitivity until Nathan the prophet told him the story about a rich man taking the one ewe lamb of a poor man to feed his guests, even though he had ample flocks and herds to cover the meal. David was moved with compassion because of the suffering of this poor man. He thought the rich man deserved death! Then Nathan aimed his arrow at David, "You are the man!" Has the Holy Spirit aimed this same arrow at your heart lately, but you have sought to ignore or rationalize his penetrating blow?

 

To make matters worse, the one that ignores the log in his eye thinks that he can help others spiritually. "Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' and behold, the log is in your own eye?" There is a bit of humor in thinking that someone with a log stuck in his eye can see clearly enough to do the delicate work of helping remove a speck of debris from someone else's eye. Yet it is no funny thing when it happens - and it happens too often. A. B. Bruce calls this "a very cheap way of attaining moral superiority" [quoted by John Stott, Christian Counter-Culture, 178]. Ignoring one's own sin while trying to deal with someone else's sin is the height of hypocrisy. That is why Jesus declares, in light of this practice, "You hypocrite!" Such hypocrisy is a strong feeling about others' sins and faults, while not having the same rigorous application in dealing with one's own sins [Ferguson 153].

 

2. Brotherly correction

 

But you will notice that in the same breath our Lord tells us that we are to be a help to one another in dealing with sin. "First," in other words, set as your priority, "take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye." We are told in many places in Scripture that we are to deal with sin in each other's lives. The classic passage of Matthew 18:15-20 instructs us in the process of recognizing sin in a brother's life, and the diligent pursuit we are to have to restore him to fellowship with Christ. In such a process the Christian must call sin, sin in another's life. But he does so with a view to seeing this person restored to fellowship in Christ and the church. Paul tells us, "Brethren, even if anyone is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual [that is, you have examined your own life first], restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness [that excludes the kind of judgmental spirit Christ warns against]; each one looking to yourself, so that you too will not be tempted [you are just as liable to the same sin as that person so do not be haughty]" (Gal 6:1). Stott summarizes it best, "It is evident that Jesus is not condemning criticism as such, but rather the criticism of others when we exercise no comparable self-criticism; nor correction as such, but rather the correction of others when we have not first corrected ourselves" [179].

 

We need the help of the body of Christ so that each of us might walk in faithfulness before the Lord, and so that each of us will contribute to the good of the kingdom. Each of us needs correction from time to time. Each of us has his blind spots in which we get a speck in the eye, and must have help in getting it out. But the only way that this can be done is by each of us taking the forethought to examine our own lives, and in humility dealing with each other.

 

There may be someone that you know that needs help with pesky sins. Help them, please! But first examine your own life, and then correct our brother.

 

III. Discernment demanded

 

From this point the Lord moves to discerning a situation and making right decisions regarding your gospel speech. Jesus tells us that we must determine who are the "dogs" and "swine" that we must limit dispensing our gospel pearls.

 

1. Limitation

 

"Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before swine." What are the "holy" and the "pearls" that Jesus calls upon for our limitation? The picture might be that of taking sacrificial food and giving it to the dogs. A Jew would never do that because it was "holy," belonging to sacred use. In humor Jesus talks about throwing out "pearls" before swine. They would not hold the same value with swine as they did with you! What he is talking about is the gospel of the kingdom, and particularly the truths that the unregenerate man cannot understand without the regenerating work of the Spirit. The "dogs" referred to a band of marauding, wild-dogs that roamed Palestine destroying whatever it found. The "swine" refer more to the wild boar than a domesticated pig. He uses this to refer to those that reject the gospel of the kingdom, and that  are actually repulsed by the gospel.

 

But does Jesus mean that we are not to witness to anyone except the elect? John Calvin states it clearly, "Since the servants of the Gospel, and all who are called to teach the Gospel, are unable to discern between the sons of God and the swine, it is their role to set the doctrine of salvation indiscriminately before all" [227]. Of course we are to preach the gospel to all without discrimination. But the time may come with some that we realize they will not even listen to what we have to say, so we do not cast our pearls before swine. Paul did this in his missionary journeys as he preached to the Jews in their synagogues, but many of them reacted with blasphemy toward the gospel. So Paul in Antioch shook the dust off of his feet and left them for the Gentiles; in Corinth he shook out his garments and declared, "Your blood be on your own heads! I am clean. From now on I will go to the Gentiles" (Acts 13:44-51; 18:5-6; 28:17-28).

 

Maclaren's comments help us understand what our Lord intended. "We can only tell most men's disposition towards it [the gospel] by offering it to them, and we are not to be in a hurry to conclude that men are dogs and swine" [329]. But those who viciously reject the gospel, those that respond with blasphemy do not value the gospel, so our Lord tells us not to cast our gospel pearls to them. They have heard, and we have seen their scorn of our Lord, so we stop, knowing that until the heart is softened they will only heap more condemnation upon their heads for their abuse of the gospel.

 

2. Loss

 

There are certain truths that many cannot handle, so they react with blasphemy: "they will trample them under their feet [hence the holy truths have been given to them], and turn and tear you to pieces." So we must learn to discern how far to go in gospel conversations. Jesus would not entertain the questions of the Samaritan woman but stuck with the main issue: her sin and need of salvation. He talked with Pilate and even confessed his deity to him, but with Herod - whose only interest was to be entertained by Christ and his gospel - our Lord kept silent. He offered gospel pearls to Pilate even though to our knowledge he never believed, but not to Herod for he knew that Herod would have trampled the holy underfoot.

 

Nothing is grander than the gospel. It is not something to be used for entertainment or to be carelessly tossed about. It is a divine treasure entrusted to us, and a message we must be faithful to proclaim. However, the time may come - rarely, I hope - in which you will need to refrain from dispensing gospel pearls due to the "vicious scorn and hardened contempt" of those whom Christ calls "dogs" and "swine" [Carson, Expositor's Bible Commentary, 185] Face such times with broken hearts, knowing that such individuals may very well face eternal loss. Yes, pray for them. Pray for God's mercy. But hold the precious gospel pearls until you discern that God's timing is at hand for you to dispense them in all of their power and beauty.

 

Conclusion

 

This passage is really about each of us as individual believers living in relationship to our brethren and to the world. With the brethren, we are to guard our attitudes lest we use a fault or perceived fault in their lives to pounce on them so that we can hide our own sins. Instead, let us be faithful and regular in examining ourselves in light of the standard that Christ has set before us. We must help one another in dealing with sin, but only after self-examination and only in humility and gentleness.

 

Let us dispense the gospel truth freely and only hold on to our "pearls" when we recognize that the hearer will scornfully trample upon the gospel and blaspheme our Lord. Step back in such cases, and pray, and be amazed that God has shown mercy to you - a sinner.

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