September 23, 2007

What's In Your Eye?

Matthew 7:1-6

Years ago when I was a teenager, our family had traveled to central Florida for some reason, and on the way home, we stopped at one of those road side attractions that farmed and raised alligators. When you went into the place, you could buy a loaf of stale bead for ten cents, and toss bread at the gators to watch them eat it. Since I was about fifteen years old, I didn't toss slices of bread to the alligators, I rolled the bread up into bread balls and threw it, trying to hit the alligators on the nose, that's what fifteen year olds do.

Well, there was this one big gator, maybe the biggest one there, he was maybe twenty feet away, and when I hit him, he whipped around faster than I could have imagined, with his mouth wide open, and hissed at me. That was really scary. It really startled me, I jumped back, and hit my head on part of the awning covering the walkway, and liked to knocked myself silly. Which scared me even worse, because I knew if I passed out and fell over the wall, the alligator would eat me instead of the bread.

But there is a moral to this story. There is a right way and a wrong way to behave, there is a right way and a wrong way to feed dangerous critters, not all dangerous critters appreciate being fed, and you need to have the wisdom to know the difference.

If you have your Bibles with you today, and I hope you do, turn with me to Matthew chapter seven and verse 1, the Lord Jesus is speaking, part of His sermon on the mount. "Judge not, that you be not judged.
:2 For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.
:3 And why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye?
:4 Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me remove the speck from your eye'; and look, a plank is in your own eye?
:5 Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.
:6 "Do not give what is holy to the dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you in pieces."

Throughout this section of His sermon on the mount, the Lord gives us some very practical instructions on how to behave toward others. Judge not, that you be not judged. How many times have I heard this verse quoted over the years? Unbelievers seem to know this Bible verse when they don't know any of the others. Christians with a guilty conscience will pull this one out in a heartbeat when somebody says something to them that makes them squirm. You know the "get out of jail free" card in Monopoly games? Well, this verse is the spiritual equivalent, a "get out of guilt free" for people who want to do as they please, and who don't want to hear about it from anyone who seeks to help them or admonish them.

Especially if they combine this verse with the ones that come after it, verses three and four, which seems to enable them to say that if you exercise any sort of spiritual or moral judgment relative to someone else, it makes you a hypocrite. You hypocrite, you are telling someone else they have dust on the mantle, and meanwhile your house looks like you've been keeping cattle in it. So you better not say anything.

But is that what these verses really mean? That it is wrong to make value judgments, either spiritual, or ethical or moral? No, that's not what they mean. Not according to verse six. Do not give what is holy to the dogs, or cast your pearls before swine. Let's think about how this fits in. What is the Lord actually saying?

I think we can safely say that the Lord Jesus is not really interested in what we give to dogs, or pigs, instead He is giving us an illustration of values, the kind of values that some people have, and the kind of values that other people don't have. Some people appreciate what is holy and sacred, others do not. Some people appreciate thoughts and concepts that are valuable and worthwhile, things of God that are good and lovely, other people do not. This is one of those things that we all recognize, it is self evident. You put rednecks into a mansion, they'll turn it into a dump. Put high class people into a dump of a house, they'll turn it into something nice.

Notice something in this passage - within six verses of the Lord telling us not to judge, He then turns around and tells us that in some areas we are going to have to make some judgments. Some people behave like dogs toward the things of Christ, some people behave like pigs toward spiritual values and concepts. That doesn't sound very nice, or very gracious, but unfortunately it's true. So what does the Lord mean? What is He saying?

In that culture, referring to someone as a dog was a demeaning name for someone who was not a Jew. Someone who was outside the covenants of God, someone who was a heathen and worshiped false gods. Swine were unclean, Jews were not supposed to be around them at all, they were just the epitome of being unclean, low class, nasty, a creature that would have no appreciation for anything lovely or valuable.

So to refer to someone as a pig in that culture was about the same thing as to call someone a pig in our culture. I have known a few pigs in my life, I expect you have met a few yourself. That's what He's saying, but the context, the frame of reference is spiritual jewels. The things of God. And the Lord is telling us that we will need to be able to discern and recognize people who have no appreciation for the things of God, or the things of Christ, people to whom the Word of God means nothing. Or in terms of the rest of this passage, we are going to have to make some judgments. So how do we do this and still stay within the guidelines of what the Lord is telling us in this passage about not judging?

Judge not, that you be not judged. What is the best way to understand this? Let me suggest an excellent example, and that is our current political scene. We have two political parties who each have a very judgmental attitude toward the other. Ask the Republicans about the Democrats, and you are guaranteed to hear that all the Democrats are a bunch of immoral thieves, drunks, and perverts. Ask the Democrats about the Republicans, and you are guaranteed to hear that all the republicans are a bunch of immoral thieves, drunks, and perverts. The virtues of either side are ignored to the point of invisibility, and the flaws on either side are made out to be as big as a truck. People from either side are as blind as a bat when the opposition does something right, but they all have the eyes of a hawk when the other side does the least little thing wrong. Sometimes it seems that they are able to see a mote in the other party's eye at a hundred yards, but they are unable to see the 2x4 in their own eye at two feet. Have I missed anything? Can I get a witness?

Now this is the secular world, Christianity is not a part of this, or at least I hope it isn't, because even worldly people are sick and tired of it. Unchristian secular people are disgusted with this state of affairs, they recognize it for what it is, a bickering that wastes the time and money of the rest of the nation, which it does, but if this is obnoxious in worldly matters, how much more obnoxious is it in the church? This sort of judgmental attitude of believers toward other believers is contrary to Christ, and it is inappropriate for followers of Christ.

See what the Scripture says in Colossians 3:12, "Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering;
:13 bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do.
:14 But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection.
:15 And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful." Sounds to me like that is pretty much the opposite of being judgmental toward each other, amen?

A simple principle for us to take away from this verse is that we do not look for evil in our brothers or sisters in Christ.

James 4:11 gives us some more insights on this, James says "Do not speak evil of one another, brethren. He who speaks evil of a brother and judges his brother, speaks evil of the law and judges the law. - Think about that - But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge.
:12 There is one Lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy. Who are you to judge another?"

This is an aspect of our Christian lives that we don't always think about, God is the One who judges, and His judgment is according to His Word, His law, so what happens when we set ourselves up as judges? Then we are the ones judging rather than the ones being judged, are we not? So if we are the ones judging, are we not usurping the place of God? Instead of His Word being what judges, are we not judging instead by our limited opinions and intellect? Putting ourselves in the place of God? In the place of God's Word? In place of Christ? That's not good. We don't need to be in that position.

Romans 14:10 asks us the very reasonable question, "But why do you judge your brother? Or why do you show contempt for your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ." As far as judging our brother or sister, looking down on our brother or sister because we think we are qualified to do such a thing, God does not need our opinion, God does not want our opinion, and He is advising us here to keep our opinions to ourselves. Or better yet, repent of them.

Christ then gives us another reason not to have a judgmental attitude towards others, because if we have a judgmental attitude toward others, then God will judge us by the same standards that we use to judge others, verse 2, "For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you." There are times when the old fleshly nature can be very cold and cruel, instead of having the mind of Christ, we have the mind of getting even, or of putting someone else down for whatever reason. What would become of us, if God should be as cold hearted and uncharitable in judging us, as we sometimes are in judging our brothers and sisters? If God weighs us in the same balance that we weigh others in? If we are precise and careful to notice every little thing that our brothers or sisters do wrong, and look at them with a narrow eye, then should we expect God to be gentle and gracious toward us?

Not according to what we read here or according to what the Lord said earlier in this sermon in Matthew 6:14 "For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.
:15 But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses."

God expects our Christianity to have a horizontal component as well as a vertical component. Our relationship with God ought to cause a difference in our relationship with others. If it doesn't, then there is something wrong. If we are followers of Jesus Christ, then we ought to have the same sort of gracious, forgiving attitude toward others that He had, and not a judgmental, severe attitude. If we have a judgmental, critical attitude toward our brothers and sisters in the church, then God will have to deal with us as disobedient children, instead of dealing with us graciously as He would like to.

As it says in Galatians 6:7, "Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap." If we sow a narrow, judgmental attitude toward others, it will come back to haunt us. That is not the way Christ did things, God does not want it to be the way we do things.

The Pharisees had a real problem with this, and Jesus rebuked them about looking for ways to be hard and exact in their dealings with people, because even in the writings of the Jews from Old Testament times, they had a similar teaching to what Christ tells us here. The rabbis said that if you see a man do a thing which may be interpreted either to a good or a bad sense, it always ought to be interpreted to the best. Amen, that is a gracious way of doing things. Now if that was the teaching of the rabbis during the Old Testament period, is it not much more appropriate for believers to treat others with this attitude since we have been saved by grace? Amen.

Then the Lord gives us one of my favorite illustrations of how we often behave, and I like to apply this one to myself when I am driving, because I have a problem with being judgmental when I am driving. Verse 3, "And why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye?
:4 Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me remove the speck from your eye'; and look, a plank is in your own eye?
:5 Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye."

Yesterday Ed Martin & I went on a motorcycle rally up in Virginia, that was new thing for me. I did not handle it well. There were hundreds of motorcycles in a long string, and we were being led down all these scenic back roads. It was a lovely day, it should have been great fun. But on every segment, I would end up behind some Harley with straight pipes, and it was incredibly obnoxious, and I was having a real problem with being judgmental toward the person on that motorcycle.

"That person is an idiot." But that is what you did when you were sixteen years old, - be noisy. "That person is as old as I am, they ought to have some sense by now." You are being judgmental. "Yes, and if I was the county judge, I'd fine them for disturbing the peace and being obnoxious." Sounds like you have a spiritual problem. "Yes, and if I'm not careful, it will be a physical problem, because if I were to tell that idiot what I was thinking, there'd be a fight."

It was not a good day for me spiritually. I kept replaying these verses in my head, about being judgmental, and hypocrisy, and I kept failing miserably. Pray for your preacher, I am having trouble dealing with adults who act like I did when I was a kid. I want to take the beam out of my eye and hit them over the head with it. At least that would get rid of the beam...

Have you ever had something in your eye and you couldn't get it out? It was so bad that your eyes were watering, you were squinting, you couldn't see, so you had to rely on somebody else to get it out? What if the person that was going to get it out had greater problems than you? You had a tiny seed, but they had a splinter? You had an eyelash, but they had a leaf? You had a piece of dirt, but they had a piece of broom straw? Or in other words, they couldn't see anything?

It would be like you having something in your eye, so you went to the eye surgeon, and while you were waiting to see the doctor, you noticed a water bowl on the floor of the waiting room, and a German Shepherd lying next to it. You ask the receptionist about it, and she says, "Oh, that's the Dr.'s seeing eye dog." Time to go. I'm outta' here.
That would not be the person you want fooling around in your eye, right? Now apply that concept to helping each other out as fellow believers. You need some spiritual ministry, but you know for certain that the person who offers to help you is in much worse shape than you are. That's not good. But yet we all need help. So what do you do?

Christians need to be exhorting and admonishing each other, encouraging each other in the faith, and sometimes - if necessary - reminding each other that perhaps they are not doing things exactly as they should, and maybe they ought to change their ways. Scripture tells us to do that, the Bible teaches us that one of the things that believers do for each other is to guard their brothers and sisters, keep watch over each other, watch each other's back, we help keep each other out of trouble.

Romans 15:14 tells us "Now I myself am confident concerning you, my brethren, that you also are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able also to admonish one another." Admonishing one another. You would be surprised at the number of times I have emailed some article about some particular topic to Mark, because there was something in it that interested me, and he would send it back drawing my attention to some specific point and saying something like, "I hope you realize that this guy is all wet in this area. I hope you don't make the same mistakes about this that he has." Oh. And then I go back and reread whatever it was I sent, and discover, "Hmmph. Didn't see that the first time around. Good catch."

Paul told his young friend and student Timothy in 2nd Timothy 4:2, "preach the Word, be instant in season and out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine." Perhaps one of our brothers or sisters is getting into the habit of talking about things that don't need repeating, or going someplace they don't need to be going, perhaps being indiscreet in some area, whatever. And you are their friend, and you feel the need to say something to them, not to judge them, or bring them down, but it is becoming evident that there is a need to reprove, or exhort, or maybe even rebuke, not to be a judge over them, but to build them up and encourage them. How do you do that with the right spirit, and with the right attitude? I submit to you that before you can do that for someone else, you better take a close look at yourself. Because sometimes we are not in the right condition ourselves to be reproving someone else.

If you are guilty of the same fault as the person you plan to talk to, or maybe you have some worse fault than they do, how do you think your words are going to be received? How much credibility are you going to have? How much good do you think you will be able to do? You will probably be seen as somebody who can spot a gnat in some one else's eye at thirty feet, and meanwhile you have a leaf tucked up under your own eyelid and you don't even feel it, you can't see it in a mirror two feet in front of your face, you're unconscious. Consequently you are going to come across as a hypocrite and a pest.

Part of our problem is that it is way too easy for us to ignore our own sins. Because we like them. If we didn't have some preference or liking for our own pet sins, we would probably start calling them what they are. Sin. Consequently, we see some one else's sin as a big deal, and meanwhile our pet sin is no big deal. We can overlook our own sin because we like it, and since we like it, it doesn't particularly bother us. It would be like me being worried that you have hairs in your sink, and meanwhile my house has been taken over by monkeys, and I didn't even really notice it because I like monkeys.

If we were really spiritual, and thereby competent to counsel and admonish our brothers or sisters, then our attitude ought to be the other way around. Our own sins ought to appear greater to us than the same sins in others. If our brother or sister is doing the same thing that we are, or if we and our fellow believer are both doing something wrong, we ought to feel like they are not so bad, but we are terrible. The Holy Spirit ought to have us thinking that what we see in their eye is just the tiniest of specks, but meanwhile we are terribly aware that we have our eyes full of gravel. We ought to be charitable toward them, and hard on ourselves, instead of hard on them, and unable to see our own sins.

Let me suggest to you that to the degree that this is true, to the extent that you are gracious toward others and stern on yourself, to that same degree you are listening to the Holy Spirit, consequently you are thus able to exhort, or reprove, or rebuke another. It is a great evil within the church when we get judgmental toward the sins of others, and yet we are unable to see that there are even greater sins within ourselves. It causes all sorts of problems and divisions within the body of Christ when someone attempts to be a reprover or a rebuker of someone else, and meanwhile they have equal or greater problems of their own, and are not even aware of it. And even worse, if someone attempts to make them aware of it, they justify themselves, they see themselves as fine just like they are, and there is no need for repentance or reformation.

It is as strange as a man having a beam in his eye, and not realizing it. That seems unlikely, but the god of this world blinds peoples minds so well that they not only fail to realize their situation, they actually think that they are a good candidate for being an eye surgeon, and well suited to help out those in need. It is common for those who are most sinful themselves, and least aware of it, to be the ones most likely to judge and rebuke others. The Pharisees who were the quickest to justify themselves, were also the quickest to condemn others. They were complaining about Christ's disciples eating with unwashed hands, which was scarcely a mote, while they encouraged men in despising their parents, which was a beam.

There is something about human nature to notice particular faults in other people that you are careful not to have yourself, but that you secretly think about. Or secretly feel guilty about. Perhaps the reason that what someone else is doing bothers you so badly is because you have a bad conscience in that area? That is why the Lord says, hypocrite! Because one thing is for sure, that hypocritical person is not an enemy of sin, because if he - or she is an enemy of sin, then they would be an enemy to their own sin.

When you are an enemy to your own sin, and you have to fight with it, and struggle with it, and you know how tough it is to get the victory, that makes you charitable towards others who are struggling with that same sin, because you know first hand how tough it is. You sympathize. When you see some sin in someone else, and it is quick and easy for you to get all fired up about them and how they are doing - or not doing - maybe you have a problem. Maybe the problem is that you have not gotten the victory in your own life, which is manifesting itself in how you judge them, in which case maybe you ought to go look in the mirror. To get that log out of your eye.

You have not arrived, and neither have I. The longer I go on with the Lord, the more it seems curious that He should choose me to stand here and preach His Word, and that you should want to listen to me. Often, I think I would do better if I were sitting there, and listening to you. I am only here because God wants me here, and enables me, because in my flesh, there dwells no good thing. Just like you. And if there is anything I can do to help you, it needs to be as one who has something in his eye also, and maybe we can both minister to each other, because we both need to see better.

Which is how you minister to your brother or your sister. If you want to help them, you can help them as one beggar offering bread to another beggar, you cannot help them as a rich man throwing the beggar a crust of bread. Within the church, none of us needs that, it doesn't work, and the Lord tells us not to do things that way.

Galatians 6:1 tells us, "Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted." Notice that it says, "you who are spiritual." If you have a beam in your eye, get rid of it. You can't use the excuse, "Well I am not spiritual, I have this sin in my life, so I am disqualified. God can't use me, because there is a beam in my eye." That's a cop out. Get rid of the beam. There is no excuse not to be spiritual. Get rid of the beam. Amen? Amen.

The last verse in today's passage tells us "Do not give what is holy to the dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you in pieces." Remember that Christ was speaking first to His disciples, and secondly to the crowd, so if we were to make application of His words to ourselves, as His disciples, as His followers, what would our context be? If we as believers were giving out holy things, what would we be giving, and who would qualify as dogs? Or if we were giving out pearls, what would the pearls be, and who would qualify as pigs?

It is good and necessary to give the gospel to sinners and unbelievers, that is how they get saved. It is how I got saved, I was a sinner and an unbeliever, I was given the gospel, and the Holy Spirit used the Word of God to convict me of sin and bring me to Christ. What if you give the gospel to someone and they hear it and reject it? They make themselves obstinate against it? Blaspheme it and persecute you for taking it to them? Try and hurt you or your family, or cause you some sort of injury? Then you need to leave them alone, quit wasting your time. You have done all you can, now it is between them and God the Holy Spirit. Quit giving what is holy to the dogs.

Perhaps there is some person who has been regular at the church, perhaps they were even a member, but they have turned from Christ, they have rejected the faith, they have gone off into sin, and you can't get through to them? They won't listen, they get mad. Let them go. If they want to act like dogs, like heathens, give them to God and get on with life.

There other application to this verse, which ties in with the verses just before it, is what can happen when you are trying to do something good for someone and they just can't seem to see it. It does no good to give exhortations, reproofs or rebukes to people who are so hardened by their sin that they won't receive it. There may come a time when a person is so hardened to sin that the more you try and tell them of the things of God and the will of God, the more exasperated and upset they are going to get.
Eventually they will turn on your and try to run you off. Pigs can't tell the difference between a pearl and a rock. If you throw a pearl to a pig, he will think you are throwing rocks at him, - right? Pigs can't recognize pearls, and all they will do is get mad and attack you.It doesn't matter that the reproofs and exhortations of God to them are for their good, all you will get for your trouble is contempt and mischief. They will turn on you and try and stomp you into the mud.

John the Baptist went to reprove Herod for taking his brother Philip's wife for himself, and all he got for his trouble was his head cut off. Christ says there are some dogs and pigs that are better left alone. Which takes us back to the first verse of this passage, and that is the requirement to make value judgments without being judgmental. To exercise discernment without being a hypocrite. How do we do that?

Paul gives us a good example in 1st Corinthians chapter 5 and verse 1. "It is commonly reported - note that - commonly reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and such sexual immorality as is not even named among the Gentiles—that a man has his father's wife!" Earlier we said that if there is some question about what someone is doing, we give them the benefit of the doubt. Other times, there is no question, no gray area, something is what it is. It is commonly reported. It is open. It is notorious. There are no questions or doubts.

And then starting in verse 9, he tells us what to do about it, "I wrote to you in my epistle not to keep company with sexually immoral people.
:10 Yet I certainly did not mean with the sexually immoral people of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or idolaters, - referring to unsaved people - since then you would need to go out of the world."

He is saying that if a person makes no pretense of being a Christian, if a person is unconverted, then you make no judgments, heathens act like heathens, - OK - you deal with them as necessary and don't worry about it. Judgment by Christians is reserved for those who claim the name of Christ, for those who profess to be Christians, and then act like heathens, verse 11. "But now I have written to you not to keep company with anyone named a brother, who is sexually immoral, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner—not even to eat with such a person.
:12 For what have I to do with judging those also who are outside? - He says unbelievers are none of his business - Do you not judge those who are inside?
:13 But those who are outside God judges. Therefore "Put away from yourselves the evil person." And here he is speaking of a church discipline situation that doesn't concern us with our present topic, but it is obvious here that there is a requirement for the church to make a judgment call.

If there is someone in the church who is obviously involved in some sort of sinful or spiritually unhealthy situation, and it is not a case of you or I having a judgmental attitude, but simply an obvious problem, then to ignore it is sin. If I see a baby crawling toward the freeway, and I don't do anything to try and stop it, that's a sin. If you see me walking toward a disaster waiting to happen, and you don't say anything to me, that's a sin. If I see you walking toward a disaster waiting to happen and I don't say anything to you, then not only am I sinning against you, I am not a very good brother, am I?

Will you be more likely to listen to me if I am not practicing some sinful disaster of my own? Sure you will. Will I be more likely to listen to you if you are not practicing some sinful disaster of your own? Sure I will.

The Lord Jesus gives us some really practical advice here for how to live our Christian lives, and I'll leave it with you this way: we all need to get the junk out of our eyes, and out of our attitudes, so that we can better see how to minister to each other. The more junk we get out of our eyes, the better we can see Jesus and walk with Him, and the better we see Him and walk close to Him, the better we can help each other. Amen? Amen.

Let's pray.