Matthew 7:3–5
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.
Focused Thinking:
Why is it so easy to be critical?
It is so easy to see the speck in others.
It is so easy to see the problem in others.
It is so easy to see the weakness in others.
Why are we so reluctant to look at ourselves?
We see the SPECK in others but don’t see the LOG in us.
As much as we hate to admit it, in an incredibly ugly way it makes us feel better about ourselves to see other people’s faults.
- Somehow our faults are understandable but their faults aren’t understandable.
- Somehow our faults are reasonable but their faults aren’t reasonable.
- Somehow our faults are excusable but their faults aren’t excusable.
How ungodly/unChrist-like is it to see others faults as their defining characteristics?
How does God see us?
- He doesn’t define us by our sin.
- He pays for our sin.
- He forgives us for our sin.
- He saves us from our sin.
- He sanctifies us from our sin.
- He gives us grace upon grace.
- He allows mercy to triumph over judgment.
WOW!—What do we do for others in their sin?
- People are so wounded and we criticize their wounds.
- People are so hurt and we hurt them more.
Everybody needs mercy and grace from God and from one another.
What would happen if we interacted with everybody from the command, “Love one another”?
What would happen if we interacted with everybody from the Golden Rule, “Treat others as you want to be treated”?
This shouldn’t be that difficult; but the difficulty reveals our sinfulness, not theirs.
“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?
We must quit be critical.
We must quit be prideful.
Insecurity is a primary source of our critical spirit.
Fear is a primary source of our critical spirit.
Pride is a primary source of our critical spirit.
Think of it this way, a critical judgmental spirit is the exact opposite of the new commandment of “love one another.” How detrimental is that to the kingdom of God?
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.
Does anything damage the kingdom of God more than hypocrisy?
Hypocrisy is spiritual dishonesty.
- It is the inability to be honest in our innermost being.
- It is the unwillingness to be spiritually honest.
Hypocrisy and being judgmental are two of the ugliest qualities one can possess.
Nothing about those qualities reflects Christ.
In fact, being hypocritical and judgmental do just the opposite.
What should we do?
First, take the speck out of your own eye.
Second, if necessary, speak the truth in love to your brother.
Personal Application:
Make a commitment to God, to myself, to my family, to my friends and to my staff that I will not be critical about people.
Make a commitment to go beyond “not being critical” to actually being positive.
Create some type of accountability group, really more of a 360 Holiness and Health group.
Assemble four or five men to help me be committed to Holiness and Health.
Help me see my blind spots.
Help me see manage my schedule.
Help me honor my priorities of God, marriage, family and ministry.
Help me strengthen my strengths and manage my weaknesses.
Interactive Prayer:
Father, forgive me for using my competitive spirit to be critical of others. Help me to be blessing to others. Help me to be a cheerleader for the gospel. Help me to do a better job of building friendships in the ministry and investing my time in important networks. I don’t need more busyness, but I do need to be networked for the good of the gospel. Father, help me to see everyone from Your perspective. Give me Your eyes and Your heart toward people. Give me the ability to love beyond my ability and according to Your ability. Give me the ability to make it simple and doable, “love one another” and “treat others as I want to be treated.”
Father, help me to be a better man and a better leader. Help me to perform to the best of my abilities, but to trust You with the results. God, free me from the pressure. Father, I want to be the best I can be, but more than that, I want to be best thing about me to be You. I want Your Spirit and Your Anointing to be the most visible part of me. Father, give me the ability to abide in Your Spirit and to walk by Your Spirit. Give me the ability to bear the fruits of the Spirit. Father, help me to learn how to remove the pressure, the stress, and the anxiety. Help me not to feel those things and to have confidence in the seeds that we are planting as a church.
Father, I pray that we as a church will plant the right seeds of “Make God Priority,” “Make Discipleship Priority,” and “Make Mission Priority.” Father, give us the ability to cast the vision and to build the systems for people to Worship, Connect, and Serve. Father, give us the ability to truly build a church that is a Acts 2 church as well as an Acts 29 church for today. Give us the ability to truly be followers of Christ who love You, love people, and make disciples. Father, do a mighty work in our souls of killing our idols and giving us the heart to follow You and You along. Father, show me how to simplify the gospel for our church and maintain the focus. Help us make it clear and concise so that we can be competent. Father, give us the ability to love you supremely and then to love others with Your love. Make us a church that is awesome at love people. Make us a church that loves people to salvation and sanctification. Make us a church that reaches people who are far from Christ. Make us a church for the prodigals. Make us a church that reaches all of Memphis, not just white Memphis. Father, grow us in prayer. Grow us in our expectations. Grow us in our faith. Give us the ability to believe Your dreams for this church. Give us the ability to see You do exceedingly abundantly beyond all that we ask or think according to Your mighty power working in and through us.
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