Sermon on the mount
Are you a meddler??
Matthew 7:1–6 (ESV)
1“Judge not, that you be not judged.
2For with the judgment you pronounce you will
be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you.
3Why do you see the speck that is in your
brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?
4Or 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?
5You 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.
6“Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not
throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to
attack you.
Man does this
sound familiar?
So, never has there been a human being born in the world that is not
described in these lines. We all do this. We all see the speck in our brother’s
eye and sister’s eye but remain unaware of the plank in our own eye. We are all
judgmental and self-righteous by nature and prone to point the finger yet never
see our own problem.
VS 3 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?
Why the eye??
·
The eye may
refer to one’s perception of things—his or her viewpoint.
·
How we see or
perceive things is, after all, at the heart of this discussion.
·
As the old
saying goes, “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.”
·
Or, to quote
Alexander Pope, “All is yellow to the jaundiced eye
·
The way we see
things the filters of our sins past and present make us see things a certain
way
Why is this Verse so important??
·
First,
it helps us see and understand ourselves by Jesus’ infallible understanding of
people.
o This way we need not feel embarrassed or singled
out.
o We are the way we are because (like it or not) we
are like everybody else: fallen men and women.
·
Second,
this verse helps us not to be surprised that most of our quarrels are within
the family of God.
o That is why Jesus said, “How can you say to your
brother?”
·
Third,
Jesus wants to help us avoid being judged.
o How so? For one thing, if we will spend time judging
ourselves, we won’t get around to pointing the finger at others!
o This verse can therefore help to keep us from
offending our brother or sister by uncalled-for
criticism.
·
Fourth,
this verse shows so candidly how we tend to let small things in the other
person upset us.
o It is that “speck of sawdust” that we build out of
proportion that gets us annoyed.
o At the same time, it is astonishing how we overlook
the big negative things in our own lives—which should upset us more!
·
Fifth, a
verse like Matthew 7:3 demonstrates so vividly how all of
us are filled with self-love.
o It is a perfect illustration of how sinful we all
are, with particular reference to self-righteousness.
Remember
this!
James 1:19–20
(NIV)
19My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this:
Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry,
20because human anger does not produce the
righteousness that God desires.
·
As we go
through this, keep this verse in mind!
Why do we always want to find faults in others??
It’s the plank in your eye!
·
The “plank”
Jesus is talking about is the Sin in your own life
·
The plank in
your eye “your Sin” is why you want to point the finger
·
To hide or
escape from your own sin!
What does the Plank in our eye do??
·
First, our
plank magnifies the specks of dust in others.
o It magnifies their fault or defect.
o And it has blinding power when it comes to having
objectivity about ourselves.
o It enables the eye to focus on what we think is wrong
in others.
o So the plank in our eye focuses on and magnifies the
faults in others, making the faults in others appear worse than they are.
o The plank in our own eye will pick up on what gets
our goat.
o We may also be reminded of some personal hurt, even
if this happens unconsciously.
o It is really our own weakness, but we think it is
theirs.
·
Second, the
plank in my eye is a defense mechanism.
o It is a way of protecting yourself from pain—what I
am really like.
o You ease the pain by showing you what is wrong with
you.
o Misery loves company. If I am in pain, I will ease
that pain by making you feel as miserable as I do. So I point the finger at
you.
o The plank in you results in your inability to think
clearly.
·
Third, the
plank in my own eye is my self-righteousness.
o It is self-elevating.
o It makes me feel qualified to judge you, to play God
for a moment.
o It keeps me from judging myself.
What
Jesus wants us to see is that we have a worse problem than they do when we
point the finger. Faultfinding is worse than the fault we think we see in the
other. That is why Jesus calls their problem a “speck of dust” and our problem
the “plank.
So how do we cure faultfinding?? Always looking at
the speck in everyone’s eye??
The first is agreement.
·
We must agree
with what Jesus is saying.
·
In a word: The
problem is not with you but with me.
·
The moment I
find fault, I become the guilty party.
Question: Do you agree
with Jesus? Our faultfinding is worse than their fault.
·
That is what we
are being taught here. How does this make you feel?
·
The truth is,
my own fault blinds me to what I am truly like.
Second, we must pay
attention to the plank. Jesus asks a question:
Question? Why is this so
painful?
·
Because we will
see ourselves as guilty
·
We are wickedly
self-righteous and we are blind to our fault.
·
We want the
other person to look worse than we do
·
So we want to
expose him or her.
·
We want to
punish him or her in order to keep our gaze away from our own sin.
Paying attention to the plank in our eye can result
in three things:
(1) We can begin to
judge ourselves—a full-time job that will keep us occupied and busy and
restrain us from trying to straighten others out.
(2) We should begin to
feel ashamed of ourselves. It makes us realize we have no right to meddle in
another’s affairs.
(3) We will be granted
repentance. Our being sorry for the way we have been results in change. We see
that faultfinding is wrong, so we agree to stop it. Then true repentance
happens—in our case, admitting we were wrong—and Jesus gives us grace to change
our ways.
Self-righteousness is a
horrendous sin.
·
If we become
conscious of the plank in our eye, it should keep us from gazing at the speck
of dust in theirs.
·
We should know
so much of what is wrong with us that we would be too embarrassed to judge
another!
·
The skeleton in
our closet should close down our gaze of another’s faults, not to mention shut
our mouths.
I don’t meant to be
unfair, but do you ever stop to think how much God knows about you—your past
sins and present weaknesses? Do you think about how much has been wrong with
you—and how this wrong is perpetuated by pointing the finger at another person?
What if—immediately after you pointed the finger—God let that other person see
what is absolutely true about you? What if God were suddenly to spill the beans
about you?
Consider what you have
been forgiven of. You know, too, don’t you, that the whole truth is worse than
what they know? But God knows.
So mind your own Business!!!
VS 4 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?
WE aren’t talking
about gossip here, we are talking about confrontation, unwanted advice!
So why is this
Verse so important anyway???
(1)To wake us up and
bring us to our senses.
·
It is as if
Jesus says, “How can you do this?”—meaning, “It’s not appropriate, surely, for
you to confront another. You haven’t thought things through, or you would not
speak like this!”
(2) To show we are
disqualified to judge when our own house isn’t in order.
·
Imagine Hitler
speaking against racism,
·
Or Playboy
magazine speaking against sexual promiscuity,
·
Or a corrupt TV
evangelist speaking against inappropriate behavior.
So why do folks meddle in others business?? (Not any
one in here)
·
Sometimes we
feel be cause God delivered us, we can deliver them
o That’s crazy, no one else did it for us but God
o But we some how now feel qualified to fix you
·
Maybe I did not
have their particular problem—never have, possibly never will
o But I tell myself that I am the one to help them.
o The truth is, I don’t have a clue what it is like to
be them or to have their particular weakness.
o Nothing could be more insensitive than my trying to
help them. But I carry on.
·
This is the problem with Christians today
o Gay we can fix it
o Drunk we got that
o Addictions we can help
o Without ever having experienced anything that has
happened in there lives!
Our blindness
·
My blindness to
my own plank, then, leads me to judge your lack of vision, spirituality,
involvement or sound theology.
·
My plank blinds
me also to the fact that you have graces I don’t have, gifts I don’t have and
virtues I don’t have. You actually excel in areas where I fail!
“Every person
is worth understanding.”
·
If only I knew
their background, their parents or childhood traumas. Almost certainly we would
be no different.
·
Therefore, when
you and I attempt to take the speck out of our brother’s eye, we show grossest
disrespect.
·
When I say to
you that I am qualified to take the speck out of your eye, I am saying you are
inferior to me in some way and that I am a cut above you.
Before you give your unwanted and unwelcome advice
remember what it was like when it happened to you!
·
Ever happened
to you?
·
Can you
remember the last time someone gave you unwanted advice
·
Intruded in
your life?
Can you say “if only”?
·
How many of us
could tell stories of “if only.”
·
If only we had
minded our own business!
·
A meddler is
uninvited, but also unwelcome.
·
Would you want
to go where you are not wanted?
·
Remember this
when you are tempted to say, “Let me take the speck out of your eye.” You are
an uninvited and unwelcome guest.
Meddlers are not only uninvited and unwelcome, but
also their opinion is unwarranted.
·
That is, the
meddler has no right to speak.
·
Jesus has a
right to judge. Why? He was sinless.
o There is no speck or plank in His eye.
o He died for us—His blood gives Him entry to do what
He pleases with us.
o We are bought with a price (1 Corinthians
6:20).
o Jesus sees clearly. His eyes are like “blazing fire”
and He “searches hearts and minds” (Revelation 2:18, 23).
o Jesus has a right to enter, to intrude, to confront.
He loves us totally. He has nothing to prove. All He does is for our good.
·
But you and I
do not have a authorization from the Holy Spirit to meddle in another’s
affairs. Why? There is a plank in my eye.
Meddling is unwholesome.
·
It is harmful
to your well-being.
·
It is not good
for you. It oppresses. It demoralizes. It gives so many of the negative effects
that Satan can put on a person.
·
Why is this? It
is because meddling almost always comes from a spirit of fear (which gives
Satan an entry point).
·
The person who
meddles is probably governed by fear and by a need that is rooted in unresolved
conflict.
·
The person who
meddles often is covering his or her own sense of guilt. Pointing the finger is
copping out.
So, what does meddling do to the person on the
receiving end?
·
It hurts,
possibly makes him or her feel guilty,
·
Probably lowers
his or her self-esteem and discourages.
·
In a word: It
is counterproductive.
·
It achieves the
opposite effect of what you intended.
·
Why? Because it
is not God’s way of for us to help one another.
So how do we respond to those who meddle in our
lives?
·
First, agree
with them.
o “Settle matters quickly with your adversary” (Matthew 5:25).
o We have already seen: Soft words—a “gentle
answer”—turns wrath away (Proverbs 15:1).
o After all, there is usually a bit of truth to what
they are saying. So a good reply is: “I see what you mean.”
o By agreeing with them you defuse them. You even
learn from them.
o Paul admitted he was a debtor both to the wise and
the foolish (Romans 14:1).
·
Second, You can
thank them for what they said to you.
o This will achieve one of two things.
o If it annoys them, it shows they were up to no good.
o If it pleases them, you have avoided an unhappy
confrontation—you even let them save face.
o You may ask: “Will I not be abetting them,
encouraging them to keep meddling?” I reply: You are not their judge. You are
not the one to straighten them out
·
Third, Always
maintain a sweet spirit.
o After all, you don’t want to grieve the Holy Spirit
by the way you react.
o Their meddling—almost certainly of the devil—is
aimed to throw you off.
o If you grieve the Spirit by the way you react, the
devil has achieved his aim.
o Remember: Soft words turn away wrath.
What you must not do is to defend yourself.
·
“If someone
strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also” (Matthew 5:39). Always maintain a sweet spirit.
·
Agree with
them. Thank them.
·
Don’t try to
impress them or show them how good or right you think you are.
·
Never, ever try
to make yourself look good.
·
Never punish
them.
·
Perfect love
casts out fear which has to do with punishment (1 John 4:18).
·
Never get
even—or try.
·
Never make them
look bad.
There are two more things you can do:
(1) Ask them to pray for
you. This is when you can voice something that is most valid. Say to them, “I
need all the help and prayer I can get.”
(2) Pray for them. But
don’t tell them you are doing that! But by all means, pray for them.”
