The Parable about
the Speck and the Log
MATTHEW 7:1-5
Jesus said:
Jesus said:
1. "Don’t judge other people. If you judge, God will judge you.
2. God will judge you the same way that you judge other people. What you give to other people, God will give that to you.
3. Why do you notice the little-bit of DUST in your friend’s eye, but you don’t notice the big wood LOG in your own eye?
4. How can you say to your friend, 'Let me help you. I will remove that little-bit of DUST from your eye'? Look-at yourself! You still have that big wood LOG in your own eye.
5. You hypocrite! First, remove the wood LOG from your own eye. Then you will see clearly for removing the dust out of your friend’s eye."
The Log =
The Dust Speck = Application = |
What is the most important verse in the Bible?
In the past, people said:
In the past, people said:
"John 3:16 -- God love the world that He gave His only Son.
Everyone believing in Him will not become lost but will live forever."
But today people quote Matthew 7:1
"Don't judge other people."
If we name any action "Wrong", now we can't do that.
That's "judging."
If we name any behavior "Sin", that's bad,
because that's "judging."
Excuse me!
Is that really what Jesus means, when He said, "Don't judge"?
The Bible that says, "Don't judge,"
also gives us the Ten Commandments.
That clearly describes what is right and what is wrong.
And that is not only in the Bible.
Our government laws also name right and wrong behavior.
In lesson last week, we say Jesus say:
That's "judging."
If we name any behavior "Sin", that's bad,
because that's "judging."
Excuse me!
Is that really what Jesus means, when He said, "Don't judge"?
The Bible that says, "Don't judge,"
also gives us the Ten Commandments.
That clearly describes what is right and what is wrong.
And that is not only in the Bible.
Our government laws also name right and wrong behavior.
In lesson last week, we say Jesus say:
"Be careful -- watch for false prophets"
Then Jesus told us how we can evaluate people.
He said: "You will know false prophets by what they do."
Jesus compared false prophets with trees:
"Every tree that does not grow good fruit becomes cut down and thrown into the fire." Fire = hell!
Wow! That really is judging!
First He tells us that we should evaluate people,
then He says we should not judge.
How do those two fit together?
How can we correctly understand
what Jesus is teaching us here?
Three things...
[1]
If something looks bad, don't guess what happened.
You can either get facts, and learn the truth,
or pay-attention-to your own business.
DON'T BELIEVE GOSSIP!
Don't spread gossip.
This connects with the 8th Commandment:
First He tells us that we should evaluate people,
then He says we should not judge.
How do those two fit together?
How can we correctly understand
what Jesus is teaching us here?
Three things...
[1]
If something looks bad, don't guess what happened.
You can either get facts, and learn the truth,
or pay-attention-to your own business.
DON'T BELIEVE GOSSIP!
Don't spread gossip.
This connects with the 8th Commandment:
"You must not tell false stories about your neighbor."
Martin Luther wrote a good explanation about the meaning of the 8th Commandment:
"We should fear and love God.
Then we will not tell stories or lies about our neighbor.
But we will defend them.
We will say good things about them.
We will always think best about them."
[Hearing expression: "Don't jump to conclusions."]
[2]
When someone does wrong against us,
our natural reaction is feeling hurt, anger, and revenge.
In the book of Luke, Jesus says:
[2]
When someone does wrong against us,
our natural reaction is feeling hurt, anger, and revenge.
In the book of Luke, Jesus says:
Don’t judge other people. If you judge, God will judge you.
Don’t blame other people. If you blame, God will blame you.
Forgive, and God will forgive you. (Luke 6:37)
Forgive? How?
If people not sorry, can we really forgive them?
On that day that Jesus suffered and died on the cross,
were we sorry? No, we were not-yet born!
But Jesus still forgave us.
If a person is sorry,
forgiving means healing our relationship.
If a person is not sorry,
forgiving means releasing them, and giving them to God.
He is responsible, not us.
[3]
Look in the mirror.
Examine ourselves before we criticize other people.
Jesus said:
If people not sorry, can we really forgive them?
On that day that Jesus suffered and died on the cross,
were we sorry? No, we were not-yet born!
But Jesus still forgave us.
If a person is sorry,
forgiving means healing our relationship.
If a person is not sorry,
forgiving means releasing them, and giving them to God.
He is responsible, not us.
[3]
Look in the mirror.
Examine ourselves before we criticize other people.
Jesus said:
Why do you notice the little-bit of DUST in your friend’s eye, but you don’t notice the big wood LOG in your own eye?
How can you say to your friend, ‘Let me help you. I will remove that little-bit of DUST from your eye’?
Look-at yourself! You still have that big wood LOG in your own eye.
You hypocrite!
First, remove the wood LOG from your own eye.
Then you will see clearly for removing the dust out of your friend’s eye.
LOG = our big faults
DUST SPECK = other peoples' little faults
DUST SPECK = other peoples' little faults
If we can see our own mistakes, they look small.
But the mistakes that other people have look large.
Why does that happen?
Our eyes can play funny tricks....
But the mistakes that other people have look large.
Why does that happen?
Our eyes can play funny tricks....
The Eiffel Tower in France is 1050-feet tall.
But this man seems taller than the tower
because he is standing near the camera.
It is the same way with mistakes that people do.
Mistakes in other people seem big
and our mistakes look small,
because we look very closely at their mistakes,
and we hold our mistakes far from our eyes.
And the people that we blame,
they do the same thing.
For them our mistakes seem big,
and their mistakes seem small.
We are not responsible for the wrong things other people do.
We are responsible for our own mistakes,
our own sins, our own failures.
And we must remember that is what other people see clearly.
If we want to improve our relationship with them,
we must look at our problems, not theirs.
We must ask for forgiveness for the wrong things we do,
not fix the wrong things they do.
When we ask for forgiveness,
we can do it the right way, or the wrong way.
The wrong way explains that it wasn't really my fault.
"I said that because what you did really made me mad."
That's not confession. That's blame!
"I did that because I was tired and upset."
That's not confession, that making excuses for myself.
"We were both wrong."
No! Confess your own sins. Period.
The right way:
"What I said was wrong. Can you forgive me?"
"What I did was selfish. I am sorry. Can you forgive me?"
We ask for forgiveness. Don't command them to forgive you:
"Please forgive me."
And if the other person suffered loss because of my action,
I must show that I am truly sorry by giving back to that person what he lost (plus more See Exodus 22:1-15).
What blocks our confession? and what blocks our forgiving?
Anger. Bitterness. Pride.
Feeling that the other person violated "my rights!"
Three important words in our relationship with God are:
(1) LOVE... God loves us so much.
(2) REPENT... God already knows that we sin much,
but He wants us to see that and confess that to Him.
(3) FORGIVE... God wants to forgive us,
and He can forgive us because Jesus paid our debt,
Jesus already suffer the punishment that we deserve.
Those same three words are important in our relationship with one-another.
LOVE as Christ loves us.
REPENT... confess our offenses against one-another.
FORGIVE... as Christ forgave us.
Amen.
But this man seems taller than the tower
because he is standing near the camera.
It is the same way with mistakes that people do.
Mistakes in other people seem big
and our mistakes look small,
because we look very closely at their mistakes,
and we hold our mistakes far from our eyes.
And the people that we blame,
they do the same thing.
For them our mistakes seem big,
and their mistakes seem small.
We are not responsible for the wrong things other people do.
We are responsible for our own mistakes,
our own sins, our own failures.
And we must remember that is what other people see clearly.
If we want to improve our relationship with them,
we must look at our problems, not theirs.
We must ask for forgiveness for the wrong things we do,
not fix the wrong things they do.
When we ask for forgiveness,
we can do it the right way, or the wrong way.
The wrong way explains that it wasn't really my fault.
"I said that because what you did really made me mad."
That's not confession. That's blame!
"I did that because I was tired and upset."
That's not confession, that making excuses for myself.
"We were both wrong."
No! Confess your own sins. Period.
The right way:
"What I said was wrong. Can you forgive me?"
"What I did was selfish. I am sorry. Can you forgive me?"
We ask for forgiveness. Don't command them to forgive you:
"Please forgive me."
And if the other person suffered loss because of my action,
I must show that I am truly sorry by giving back to that person what he lost (plus more See Exodus 22:1-15).
What blocks our confession? and what blocks our forgiving?
Anger. Bitterness. Pride.
Feeling that the other person violated "my rights!"
Three important words in our relationship with God are:
(1) LOVE... God loves us so much.
(2) REPENT... God already knows that we sin much,
but He wants us to see that and confess that to Him.
(3) FORGIVE... God wants to forgive us,
and He can forgive us because Jesus paid our debt,
Jesus already suffer the punishment that we deserve.
Those same three words are important in our relationship with one-another.
LOVE as Christ loves us.
REPENT... confess our offenses against one-another.
FORGIVE... as Christ forgave us.
Amen.