Daily Devotional For Saturday, November 9, 2024

Well, you made it to the weekend. It is “Super Saturday.” We are making our way through Jesus’ sermon, The Sermon On The Mount.” It is found in Matthew chapters 5, 6, & 7. We are currently looking at Matthew 7:1-6:

“Do not judge so that you will not be judged. (2) For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you. (3) 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? (4) 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? (5) You 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 what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before swine, or they will trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces” (NASB).

As we have already seen this past week on this passage, we are not to judge or condemn anyone. New Testament British scholar William Barclay gives us some reasons why:

1. We do not always have ALL the facts or know the whole person. Long ago, Hillel, the famous Rabbi, said: ‘Do not judge a man until you yourself have come into his circumstances or situation.’
   • No one knows the strength of another person’s temptations. People who have a placid and equable temperament know nothing of the temptations of hot-blooded people whose emotions are quickly aroused. People brought up in good homes and in Christian surroundings know nothing of the temptation of those brought up in a slum, or in a place pervaded by evil.
   • Those who are blessed with fine parents know nothing of the temptations of people who bear the burden of a difficult upbringing. The fact is that if we realized what some people have to go through, so far from condemning them, we would be amazed that they have succeeded in being as good as they are.
2. It is almost impossible for any of us to be strictly impartial in our judgment. Again and again, we are swayed by instinctive and unreasoning reactions to people.

• • It is told that sometimes, when the Greeks held a particularly important and difficult trial, they held it in the dark so that judge and jury would not even see the man on trial, and so would be influenced by nothing but the facts of the case.
  • The sixteenth-century essayist Montaigne tells a grim tale. There was a Persian judge who had given a biased verdict, and he had given it under the influence of bribery. When Cambysses, the king, discovered what had happened, he ordered the judge to be executed. Then he had the skin flayed from the dead body and preserved; and with the skin he covered the seat of the chair on which judges sat in judgment, that it might be a grim reminder to them never to allow prejudice to affect their verdicts. Only a completely impartial person has alright to judge. It is not in human nature to be completely impartial. Only God can judge.

3.  No one is good enough to judge another person. Jesus drew a vivid picture showing the difficulty in trying to extract a    speck of dust from someone else’s eye when all the time there is a plank in our own eye. The humor of the picture would raise a laugh which would drive the lesson home.

• • Only the faultless have a right to look for faults in others. None of us has a right to criticize another person unless we are prepared at least to try to do the thing we criticize better. Think about sports for a moment. Every weekend, people sit in their homes watching their TVS, criticizing a player on their team or the coach, but they are not the ones on the field or the court. It is always easier to criticize, condemn and judge others when you are not in their shoes” (Source: William Barclay, The Daily Study Bible Series, “Matthew,” pp. 304-306).

In verse 4, Jesus uses some comparative humor. The word Jesus uses for “speck” is [κάρφος, karphos]. This is not a tiny piece of dust or soot but a small stalk or twig, or possibly a splinter. The word Jesus uses for “log” is [δοκός, dokos].  This word refers to a beam of timber and in comparison, a speck is tiny. Some have tried to suggest that Jesus uses “speck” to refer to some kind of tiny, significant sin and “log” as some major huge sin. You would be wrong to believe this. Pastor and author John MacArthur writes this:

“The wretched and gross sin that is always blind to its own sinfulness is self-righteousness, the sin that Jesus repeatedly condemns in the scribes and Pharisees, not only in the Sermon on the Mount but throughout His ministry. Almost by definition, self-righteousness is a sin of blindness, or of grossly distorted vision, because it looks directly at its own sin and still imagines it sees only righteousness. The log in this illustration represents the same foundational sin of self-righteousness that Jesus has been condemning throughout the sermon” (Source: John MacArthur, The MacArthur New Testament Commentary, “Matthew,” p. 434).

Self-righteousness by its very nature justifies oneself while at the same time condemns others. As Pastor and author John MacArthur writes:

“In so doing people play God, because they judge themselves on the basis of their own standards and wisdom. Self-righteousness is the worst of sins because it is unbelief. It trusts in self rather than God. It trusts in self to determine what is right and wrong and to determine who does what is right or wrong. Self-righteousness claims to be both lawgiver and judge, prerogatives that belong only to the Lord. Consequently it denies and opposes the gospel, because the gospel proclaims man’s sinfulness and lostness even as it proclaims God’s mercy and grace. Because the self-righteous person sees no sin in his life, he sees no need for God’s grace on his behalf. The term `notice’ conveys the idea of serious, continuous meditation. Jesus is saying, in effect, “Will you not stop and think about your own sin? Until you have done that, how can you confront another with his shortcomings?” (Source: John MacArthur, The MacArthur New Testament Commentary, “Matthew,” p. 435).

This is why a self-righteous person can only be a hypocrite. This is why he or she feels justified in pointing out the log in your eye while they believe their sin in comparison is only the size of a twig. In fact, they do not even call it a sin. We are to first remove the log or timber in our eye – meaning – we are to confess our own sin to God before we start pointing fingers at others. Only then will we be able to see our brother’s sin clearly and be able to help him. Jesus uses the word “brother” to mean we will see him as a brother – meaning we will see that we are no different, not better but saved by the same grace as that brother. We will see ourselves as a sinner as God sees us. 

In verse 6, Jesus refers to pearls and dogs.  In Jesus’ day, dogs were not household pets as they are today. Some were used as working dogs to herd sheep. Most dogs were largely half-wild mongrels that acted as scavengers. They were dirty, greedy, snarling, and often vicious and diseased. They were dangerous and despised. “Pearls” refer to something that is holy. In this case, to not throw pearls to swine and not to give what is holy to dogs means you have to know who or what are dogs and swine. To give something holy, such as holy meat consecrated in the Temple as a sacrifice, to a pig was considered blasphemous in Jesus’ day. 

Swine were considered to be the most unclean animal to a Jew. A Jew would have never domesticated a pig and they were considered wild, foragers who ruined crops and caused one’s land to be ceremonially unclean. In Jesus’ day, if you came between a wild pig and their food, they would likely turn and tear you to pieces with their tusks and sharp hooves. Dogs and swine represent those who, because of their great perversity and ungodliness, refuse to have anything to do with the holy and precious things of God except to trample them under their feet, and turn and tear God’s people to pieces. 

When people not only reject the gospel, but insist on mocking and reviling it, we are not to waste God’s holy Word and the precious pearls of His truth in a futile and frustrating attempt to win them. We are to leave them to the Lord, trusting that somehow His Spirit can penetrate their hearts—as He apparently did with some of those who at first rejected the preaching of Paul and the other apostles—or leaving them to the just judgment of God. When we have a log or timber in our own eye, it actually blocks our view of another. We cannot see clearly on how to help them. New Testament Greek scholar, A. T. Robertson writes this in conclusion: “The word translated “log” refers to the rafters or joists that hold up the walls and roof of a building!” (Source: Archibald Thomas Robertson, Word Pictures, p. 60).

Questions To Consider

1. Have you ever got a speck of dust or sleep in your eye? If so, how difficult was it for you to see and do anything? How does this comparison by Jesus help you not judge?
2. Self-righteousness is so dangerous and sinful. It looks at its own sin and sees righteousness. When are you most prone to do this and why?
3. Read again William Barclay’s 3 reasons why we should not judge. Which one impacts you the most and why? How does it impact you?
4. What is holy in your life that you throw to “dogs” and “swine?” Why? 
5. Who in your life have you judged unfairly and through the eyes of self-righteousness? If you were to stand right now before Jesus, would you still try to justify it to Him? Why or why not?

Scripture To Meditate On: Matthew 23:13-15, “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you shut off the kingdom of heaven from people; for you do not enter in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in. (14) Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense you make long prayers; therefore you will receive greater condemnation. (15) “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you travel around on sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves” (NASB).

Prayer To Pray: “Dear Jesus, please forgive me when my sinful self-righteousness rises up as a cobra and spews its deadly venom. Help me to see my own sin and to focus on my own sin before I start pointing out the sins of others. Please help me not to throw what is holy to dogs and to swine. I love you Jesus. In Jesus’ name, Amen!”

I love you Southside!--Pastor Kelly