[This sermon is one of a series entitled "Sermon on the Mount, Concentrating on the Beatitudes," which is being preached on Sunday mornings by Pastor Tim Senter.]
"This speck may be all that remains from a beam that once was there."
In opening this section of scripture last week we found our Lord being very pointed and specific in His chastisement of Pharisees and their judgmentalism. We should never take this as a discussion focused upon church leadership though. The Lord is pointing His comments to anyone who compares themselves to others especially when the first words are, “Well at least I didn’t…” Another famous one is, “I don’t see why they had to…” Another one is “I would not do it that way…” These attitudes display an air of arrogance and superiority. It is another form of comparing yourself with the Joneses. Instead of material possessions, the comparison is intellect or aptitude.
Take a look at Matthew 7:3-6 please. Truly, we could discuss this subject for Sunday after Sunday listing the multitudes of personal, social, behavioral and familial problems we all have. Every one of them is attributable to a sinful heart. In this case, it is a sinful heart inappropriately concentrating upon others to give themselves validity or boost their own personally perceived credibility. This is as if to say, “I may have some problems, but look at you.”
Christ, first spoke of our judgmental hearts, and the challenge we would have, attempting to measure up to even our own standard – let alone God’s. We would do well to remember that self deception rarely if ever exists without hypocrisy.[i] Now Jesus begins giving us more illustrative material to work with as we make decisions about what we think about people. The Jews themselves are a proud race. They have reason to be, as they are the chosen of God. In the military, I have seen first hand some of what they are capable of. It was well known that they would buy our most advanced aircraft and enlist a fleet of engineers to improve them. The Jewish people operate the same way now as they did then. These people were a proud race that improved much of what they dealt with for their own benefit.
The Pharisees were well known for their demand for exactness and perfection in worship and living. Again, we find Christ addressing them specifically, but the Jew in general is included in this teaching. The challenge given by Jesus here was one of first addressing personal heart issues within before being qualified to deal with heart issues of others. We are considering these verses in context with verses one and two – not being judgmental. What we have to face, and what the Pharisees would not face, is that our judgmentalism is normally based in personal knowledge. We know we do these things. Therefore, we are overly sensitive about others committing these same sins or exhibiting these same character flaws.
There is an old saying: “a skunk smells his own hole first.” The reason this was coined is because skunks stink, and they know they stink. They stink so much that their bodies and their dwelling are laced with the odor. Their homes reek of their scent. They smell the scent of their own stinky home first and, quite frankly, they prefer it.
This same thought process applies to behavior. Liars hate to be lied to because they smell their own lies in it. They know that if they lie that they can be lied to. They want the truth from people and demand it because they know why they themselves lie. Liars lie because they think it benefits them somehow. Therefore, if someone seems more credible, they must be lying. Those who seem more sensitive to lying are more likely liars but they prefer their own types of lies.
The arrogant despise arrogance. Many are just blatantly egotistic and cannot tolerate anyone challenging their own bumptiousness. Others do not like their arrogance and know it gets them into trouble. In either case, the arrogant one is looking out for themselves in their response to arrogance in others. Either they will not submit to any other authority that does not directly benefit their ego, or they know they have made mistakes and cannot trust those who seem confident in their own abilities. The arrogant believe that those who seem haughty must be egotistic and cannot be simply confident in themselves. The arrogant prefer their own flavor of pride.
Our Lord saw judgmental people who hated and spoke against judgmentalism. He also saw a group of people who were so in-tune with their own flaws, but too prideful or ashamed to admit them, that they overtly projected their flaws upon others. People tend to see their own flaws in others and attempt to correct them. The reason they do this is they know they are wrong and think they need to fix others. The problem is that people cannot fix something from which they are presently struggling. To succeed you should study the successful. Pharisees preferred their own judgmentalism.
The Pharisees should have been the most humble and understanding people around. They knew how wicked man’s heart can be and they regularly studied how gracious and loving God is. Unfortunately, they thought themselves better than everyone else because they had the time to regularly practice their self-imposed righteousness. A healthy perspective involves first looking at one’s self. That is the first mistake the Pharisees made – not giving themselves a heart checkup before judging others. Our sinful heart naturally compares us to others to provide some credibility in life. This is one aspect of our sinfulness that the Pharisees lost track of and with which they failed to credit their own heart.
Let us look at the way the Lord brings these issues to light. This section of scripture is mostly a section that brings awareness. In the following weeks we will discover how our Savior advises we react to the judgmental attitude in the “I can fix it,” or “You just need to do it my way” crowds of the world. Many call them elitists. Where this week we see the clear problem with the sin filled heart that is untamed by the Holy Spirit, and how that heart is hindered from helping the soul; in the next few weeks, we will look at the Christian response to the worldly and arrogant. First, we have to look at ourselves. Christianity is very much about introspection; mirror time if you will.
I. Look at yourself first (Verse 3)
The main words that concern us in this passage are “karphos” and “katanoeō.” The first word is a noun and means a very small piece of wood. This is not sawdust, but an irritating piece of wood like a splinter. The word can also mean a speck but most of the uses are indicative of an irritant. I had a karphos the other day. When we were camping this last week and I was cutting up some firewood, I grabbed the end of a log that had been cut down. This end was the end that appeared to be directly connected to what was now the stump of the tree. It had been cut in a “V” to fall in a specific direction. When you cut a tree down that way there is always a small portion of the tree in the middle that breaks off. As I grabbed the end of the tree, I felt a little stab in my hand. I thought nothing of it at the time, but the next morning I found that I had ripped the skin and that it was irritated. When we got home and I dug out the splinter, I was amazed to find how tiny it really was. I had a splinter that was but a speck of wood in my hand. The speck was no larger than a single piece of sawdust. It was but a speck, but the wound had already grown to be aggravated even just over night. The “mote” that is being discussed here is extremely tiny and one would need to look very closely to find it. It is, however, an irritant to the individual who has it. It is only slightly noticeable to those around them. Just as the sliver in my hand was only an irritant to me, but others can see the red spot on my hand clearly. Others may have wanted to fix my problem, but it was my problem to fix. The only reason someone thinks they can fix it is because they see there is an irritation there. They do not know what it was from or the circumstances under which it was developed; but they think it is an easy thing to pluck out so, they dive in and push to correct the issue.
People do this all the time with personal issues. Overlooking the grossest faults in ourselves and identifying the slightest fault in others is a regular habit for people.[ii] Karphos takes on other forms such as disobedience, pride, not regularly worshiping, rude behavior, even financial mismanagement. One might argue that these things can affect others, but the true victim is the perpetrator. Disobedient children suffer in punishment. Disobedience at work can result in termination of employment. Not regularly worshiping brings God’s chastisement upon an individual. Rude behavior results in loneliness as people shun the perpetrator’s company. Financial mismanagement results in long-term emotional distress and a level of servitude. When a brother or sister jumps into the middle of something private in the life of another believer, they had better do so carefully and lovingly and first look to make sure their own karphos is removed or in the process of being removed.
Asking people if something is wrong or if you can help is one thing. That leads to a request for advice. That request can be met with careful experiential counsel based in how a brother or sister removed their own personal karphos, irritant, splinter or mote. Although there is a loving way to confront people with very visible irritants in their lives, if we presume to want to tell others how to fix their problems by pushing yourself upon others, we often do more damage than good.
Our second word is a verb. The word “katanoeō” we see as “considerest” and has four different flavors. First, it can mean we discover something while we think about and observe a series of events or things. This is easily illustrated in building a model train track. We can see where the two trains are going to collide and which one reaches there first by their speed and relative location. Second, katanoeō can mean contemplation. This is when someone gives careful thought or considers many angles to a specific matter. Third, it can mean that a decision is made about these considerations. One concludes then, when thinking about a certain subject, idea or theory. Finally, it can mean we come to a proper, accurate, clear and definite understanding of something. The “light bulb” comes on.
When we put these two things together (karphos and katanoeō), then we have a tiny speck that others can see, but only irritates the person with the speck. This speck is noticeable, but only understood when carefully considered. Also, removing the irritating speck is not a simple operation, but one that must be done carefully and thoughtfully.
The second part of our verse is focused upon the individual who sees another with this irritating speck. They seem to be moved to help remove the splinter somehow. Unfortunately, compared to the “beam” they have protruding from their eye, this tiny speck is nothing. Since the speck requires careful thought and observation to remove, the question is, how can one even entertain helping another when the magnitude of their own problems creates a hindrance to their view.
In life today we find the psychologist, sociologist or secular counselor who has been divorced any number of times giving advice on how to have and maintain a successful marriage. These same kind of trained professionals with no children or with completely rebellious children give child-rearing advice. Homosexual counselors advising heterosexual individuals on how they should live is another blatant illustration of those who have beams in their eyes. Spiritually speaking, families with children who have walked away from the faith pushing their “experienced advice” on those with children is a challenge. A great disparity exists when a Christian seeks counsel from a secular institution about spiritual issues. When it comes to requirements for services, that is one issue; but to think that a lost individual can advise the Christian about how to improve their life is altogether another issue. In this case we see the Pharisees. These individuals are not walking in faith themselves, yet they give advice to the masses about their relationship with God.
There are many news reports today about “mainstream churches” (that word is misunderstood because it is often associated with a level of legitimacy or acceptance when “mainstream churches” or “religion” is simply the wide gate and the broad way that leadeth to destruction) that are increasingly accepting liberal theologies and accepting, not just tolerating, abhorrent behaviors such as homosexuality. Mainstream religion in this case simply indicates that which is the dominant opinion in our society or that which is fashionable – a trend or in vogue. None of these attitudes actually implies a valid operation – only one which is accepted. For instance, it was “in vogue” or “mainstream” to have slaves before a brave conservative republican President fought to free them and paid for it with his life. Okay, enough of the rabbit trail.
The point here is that people today do not look at this scripture with any concern for the authority or truth therein. This passage is in no way comparing the severity of certain sins. Instead, it addresses people’s judgmental attitudes concerning fault comparison.[iii] Many see this as, “if you have problems, don’t be telling me of mine.” It actually teaches us that we should not push our personal agendas upon others to satisfy our need to fix what we perceive as their problems. We should first look at our own hearts because what we see in others is a reflection of what is in us.
Normally, that reflection is small in comparison to what is truly in our own sinful hearts. What we see as a small and almost insignificant irritant to others personally is more likely a huge problem with our own heart that actually protrudes from us to such a point that we cannot turn our head without hitting someone with our own “beam.”
For instance, if you happen to be a miser or unusually frugal and see others whom you do not consider prudent with their spending, you are tempted to be judgmental concerning their spending habits. It only bothers them, why should it bother you? Your own attitude on money may be a beam that beats others around you. You do not know other’s true financial situation in every instance, nor do you know the specifics of every given transaction they make. If you push your financial philosophy upon another, you are violating the scriptures from last week and ignoring the damage your own attitude has on others – which is the lesson this week.
What about relationships and children as we have mentioned just moments ago? If we presume to tell others how to raise children, run relationships or deal with the world when we have not done so successfully in the Lord, we again are looking at what we perceive are problems in others lives. They are purely irritants to them and we think we need to fix them. We tend to ignore our own family experiences or problems that compare and refuse to exercise prudence in assessing our own failures. If we begin to, even quietly, and surreptitiously, discuss other people’s suspected “issues,” this quickly becomes judgmental gossip. If we do not have the perfect family in which all are serving Christ in their lives, how can we expect to walk up to someone and say, “You need my remedy.” Worse yet, discuss these supposed problems with others and come to some sort of consensus concerning the problems of others. That is gossip coupled with “krima” (judgmentalism). Jesus later teaches the three levels of confrontation in scripture and none of them involve going behind the backs of others to discuss a supposed wrong. The closest you get to that in Matthew 18 is when you describe the sin before the body of Christ. In fact, at the point when you “take two or more with you” there is no indication that the problem is discussed with anyone until the personal confrontation.
This instruction says that we must first look at ourselves, our motivation, our own person and eliminate the influence of our sinful hearts in our decision to confront someone. Whether you have problems in your life or not, we are brothers and sisters in Christ. We are supposed to encourage and admonish one another. This instruction by our Lord does not eliminate what Peter teaches, it clarifies the attitude we should have in the teaching.[iv] Our attitude should be first introspective:
- What have I done?
- What am I doing?
- Who am I offending?
- Am I equally guilty of this irritating thing?
- Do I have a beam in my eye!?
Then we can approach others and talk things over with them in a loving, caring, careful and thoughtful fashion. We should not be quick to judge.
This brings us to our next point. We need first to look at and correct our hearts. This is not done in a vacuum, but is done with the Lord. Husbands, seek your wives for assistance. Wives, seek your husbands. Friends seek one another for the proper course correction in life that brings everyone closer to the Lord.
II. Fix first yourself (Verse 4)
Let us look at some more words from the original texts. The Greek words used here “ekballō“ and “aphiēmi” are strong words that indicate a very aggressive action. “Ekballō”or “pull” is actually better translated “take.” It is a subjunctive or provides for a probability (might, should, could, would). This is tied to the word that indicates an aggressive action is being taken which causes a significant and decisive change. This word is used to communicate the use of force for change. This forced change is perpetrated for some presumed reason or has a perceived purpose.
Aphiēmi that we see translated “let” is an imperative meaning “permit” or “allow.” This is a command. When we put these two words together they form a phrase that has a subjunctive and an imperative connected to give the connotation that you are being nice, but you are still directing. We might word it, “Might I pull that speck out of your eye” while implying that it is a necessity and the tone of voice indicates you certainly are not requesting. You make the request while moving to take the specific action you propose.
In the meantime, this person is looking at you and thinking, are you nuts! Look at what is in your eye! How can you possibly see that tiny speck in my eye! The word “behold” we see here is the most common translation of the word. However it can also be translated “pay attention” or simply as an exclamation point.
Putting all this together we discover that we have a situation where one individual is, quite frankly, practicing a level of judgmentalism and presuming that another person’s incorrect behavior needs to be “fixed.” Equally, the person who supposedly needs fixing sees a very clear and injurious attitude or behavior of the same type in the fixer. The one who supposedly needs fixing is only currently irritating themselves while the one proposing the fixing is the one who really needs help because they are unable to even see their own fault and failure – and this fault hurts others. Our government does this all the time with our tax dollars. President Bill Clinton said one time, “Sure, we could give you a tax cut, but how would we know you’d spend it properly?”[v]
This is tied to the previous scripture in that we should certainly be first introspective and attempt to inspect ourselves to discover first if we have a problem. From this standpoint, we can move forward to a more productive end. Examine yourselves first, and then seek to help others. One of the most disarming things we can do as brothers and sisters in Christ is to ask another, “Have I wronged you or offended you in some way?” In this initial statement, when truthful, honestly seeking reparation and given to repentance where required, a believer first recognizes their own sinful heart. Christian, you must know the complete truth in Jeremiah 17:9 where scripture says “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” There is nothing in that verse that says we even know the wickedness of which we are personally capable. You do not know the extent of wickedness in your own heart. If you approach things first with your own propensity for wickedness in mind, you begin any discussion in a far better position. The haughty who sees the speck you have compared to the beam they own never considers their heart first.
Because of Jeremiah 17:9, and our propensity to bolster our own personal position, we must first look at ourselves and be critical, but let God do the healing, changing, molding and shaping. If He uses us as a tool for that purpose, we must face this humbly. Nothing places you in a position worthy of God’s glory or blessing except God’s grace. We must be interested in our own Christlikeness first, which is always lacking, even in the most humble Christian.
III. Criticize yourself first (Verse 5)
The first word in this sentence is “hupokrita” or “hypocrite” in the vocative case which is a direct address. It is almost as though Jesus spits the word out at these false, pompous, self-legitimizing pseudo-spiritualists. Jesus steps out of the illustration and simply calls the ophthalmologically challenged or beam wielding individual a hypocrite. He is no longer being soft spoken or easy going in His rhetoric.
We then find our word, “ekballō” in the imperative here. A clear command of God to first get rid of the sin in our lives. It does not say first deal with it, but rather to cast it out, to throw it away. This is a forceful and deliberate act. This does not mean be cured of it, but it does mean, “but if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged” (1 Cor 11:31). It also means,
“Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates” (2 Cor 13:5)?
The bottom line, examine yourself before (prōton) you make a determination about another. Look first at yourself to “diablepō,” see clearly or “through seeing” (a literal rendition of the compound word). By clearly seeing oneself first, you can then help others. We must first see ourselves clearly, honestly, circumspectly and truthfully. In this way we take actions upon ourselves or in our best interests to cast our burdens upon the Lord (Ps 55:22). Take your petitions to Him and lay them at His feet. Cast all our worries and concerns on the one who has already taken them upon Himself (Is 53:4-5). Once we do this, our testimony helps others.
Look first at yourself, fix first yourself and criticize first yourself. Those are the three things we should do regularly before we attempt to remove a speck from someone else’s eye. That speck you see is indicative, normally, of a beam protruding from your person. The fixer is not you. The fixer is the Lord God and His righteousness. The indication here is that the speck is known by the Lord and the person who has it. This speck may be all that remains from a beam that once was there. Equally, the beam is representative of what the Lord knows is in that person and, as huge as it is, the individual in possession of the beam has no idea it even exists, or worse yet refuses to acknowledge the existence of the plank. Unfortunately, everyone else around them knows it is there.
There is a movie called “The Rookie.”[vi] It is a good story, and based on a true story. A man wanted to be a professional baseball pitcher from a very young age. He played ball all his life. However, he suffered many injuries to his pitching arm and finally had to give up that desire. After being out of baseball for nearly 15 years, he was challenged by his young high school baseball team – that if they won a district championship, he had to find a major league baseball tryout and pitch for them. He did, and found an amazing thing: he threw 12 straight 98 mile per hour fastballs to qualify for the team. The challenge by the youngsters is important. In the movie, the team had just been summarily trounced by the best team in their league. During the game, the coach saw the dejection setting in. The team had quit. The lines go something like:
Coach: “You quit. You quit out there. You quit on me and you quit on yourself…the sad part is that I see it and you don’t. Most of you will finish school and stay right here…raise families…nothing wrong with that…I’m doing that. But if you are looking for something more you better consider how you will play the rest of this season.”
One of the boys: “We’re not getting scholarships.”
Coach: “I’m not talking about college, I’m talking about wanting things in life. I’m talking about dreams…”
Another boy: “What about you coach…everytime you throw, I gotta ice my hand – every time.”
Coach: “This is not about me…”
Same boy: “You’re the one who should be wanting something.”
Another boy: “Yea, and the sad part is that we see it and you don’t.”
The coach had a heart problem. His problem was that he could not see the potential in himself to perform. He closed off opportunities because he refused to believe in his abilities. Though this is not the same thing we are discussing, the observation has a parallel. The young boys saw potential, saw something, saw a capability. The coach was right. The boys had a problem with their attitude. However, the boys had a valid point too. They saw great potential in their coach for greater things. His giving up made them think they could just give up and move on too. The coach’s concentration on the speck in the eye of the boys limited his ability to see the beam in his own eye and how that beam was affecting the boys. The beam in the coach’s eye limited his ability to see and remove the speck from the boys’.
Do not be the hypocrite and attempt to fix others with problems that you yourself are unwilling to address within your own heart. Have a more healthy perspective, which first considers your own heart before the Lord and turns that heart over to Him. Then consider others in the love of Christ, not the contempt of the Pharisee.
[i] John A. Broadus, Commentary on Matthew, (Kregel: Grand Rapids, 1990), 157.
[ii] Stewart Custer, The Gospel of the King: A Commentary on Matthew (Greenville: BJU Press, 2005), 108.
[iii] Leon Morris, The Gospel According to Matthew, (Eerdmans: Grand Rapids, 1992), 166.
[iv] 1 Peter 2:5 and 2:9 clearly indicate we are part of a priesthood one to another that is sanctified. We minister to one another from this position but we should do so in love and with an eye always considering our own heart first – what is our personal motive? Once we determine this, and it is honestly determined to be godly, we can go forward carefully and lovingly dealing with our brothers and sisters in Christ.
[v] Montgomery Brothers, Inc. Fourth Quarter 1999 Investment Handbook, (1730 Rhode Island Ave. NW Suite 206, Washington, DC 20036, p3. Quote from a speech in January 1999 made in Buffalo New York where, sadly enough he received a standing ovation.
[vi] John Lee Hancock, “The Rookie.” Mike Rich (writer), (Walt Disney Pictures, 2002). Starring Dennis Quaid, Rachel Griffiths, Jay Hernandez, Brian Cox.
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