(Matthew 7:1-5). Many like to make use of this scripture passage without applying the last verse (Vs 5).
Matthew 7:5 “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. (NASB1995)
To be interpreting this as never being possible to accomplish; would be to say that what Jesus instructs is not doable. Can we remove our own log or our sin, so that we can actually see to minister to others? Certainly we can, but the surgical procedure is God’s. Our part is the recognition of the sin that hinders us from performing ministry. Without sins recognition and removal we would have no ministers.
Without this recognition it would result in a complete misunderstanding of Jesus exhortation to us and His call to minister to one another.
I guess that I need to also say: it’s hard to not judge isn’t it. If you interpret what Jesus says here as an admonition to never judge then you miss the whole point, and you haven’t considered His teaching both here and elsewhere.
Take a look at John 7-24. Here we will see the same Greek Words for Judge and Judgment being used as used in Matthew 7, and Jesus is again speaking.
John 7:24 “Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment.” (NASB1995)
So what is righteous Judgment that He is asking these men to judge by? It is most assuredly God’s judgment, and it must be based upon the discernment from Scripture that the Holy Spirit is teaching us from those scriptures. So I take it, that we are to judge what is truth, and what sin can do in our own lives, and the lives of others. We need wisdom from God‘s laws as to what is sin. When we have gained victory over our own sin we are able to minister to others.
I believe that Jesus was dealing with heart motives in the beatitudes. “If you look at a women with lust in your heart”: heart motive. The sin we commit is an action that begins in the heart. Only the blood of Christ applied to our heart can remove the origin of our sin.
Pointing out societal sins is the job of the church. When we are told that we should not point out a societal sin such as sexual sin; then likely we are over the target as they say.
To a wrong actor who is part of a wrong acting group, any criticism of their actions will come across as being judgmental to them or to any blind support having attached itself to them. Wrong actions can be either the breaking of Government laws or God’s laws. The two do not always have to agree. Therefore we must judge Government laws by God’s laws.
Today the criticisms of our “new sexual freedom laws”would have been understood as pure science and they would have made total sense 20 years ago. For then, our simply conveying that God created us male and female, was an acceptable condition easily determined at that time scientifically. Yet, today this position is taken as judgmental. This lets us see how easy it has been to totally brainwash an entire generation in just two decades.
“Christians” today are feeling “white guilt”, “black guilt” and homophobic guilt. Those not feeling this are labeled to be judgmental when we bring up real science about male and female. We are living in a world which has gone mad. Sin has a blinding effect, and without a respect for God and His word there is a lifting of restraint on society making it over into the likeness of Sodom. Without God’s restraint men become reprobate. Satan’s plan is to deceive us to self destruct.
Proverbs 1:23 “Turn to my reproof, Behold, I will pour out my spirit on you; I will make my words known to you.
24 “Because I called and you refused, I stretched out my hand and no one paid attention; 25 And you neglected all my counsel And did not want my reproof; 26 I will also laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your dread comes, 27 When your dread comes like a storm And your calamity comes like a whirlwind, When distress and anguish come upon you. 28 “Then they will call on me, but I will not answer; They will seek me diligently but they will not find me, 29 Because they hated knowledge And did not choose the fear of the LORD. (NASB1995)
Jesus is knocking on the hearts door of this country. There seems no fear of God in todays uni-party government. It seems that we are too close to a time when God fearing believers well be in the Catacombs or underground churches in this land of the free. But it is not yet Great Tribulation, for we have not yet seen the fulfillment of 2 Thessalonians 2. While Jesus still knocks let us answer.
And Then Messiah Shall Come 
“But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat. For what have I to do to judge them also that are without? do not ye judge them that are within? But them that are without God judgeth. Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person” 1 Corinthians 5:11-13
If the church would concern itself with the faith and the integrity of its own – the world would have a light by which to gauge its own conduct. As Paul declares…
“Thou therefore which teachest another, teachest thou not thyself? thou that preachest a man should not steal, dost thou steal? Thou that sayest a man should not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery? thou that abhorrest idols, dost thou commit sacrilege? Thou that makest thy boast of the law, through breaking the law dishonourest thou God? For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you, as it is written” Romans 2:21-24
“But let a man examine himself…”
BT
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Amen
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During his time on earth, Jesus demonstrated that the Christian life is simple. Throughout the last two millenia. Christians have proven just as surely that living the Christian life is not easy.
Jesus did not say in Matthew 7:5 that God would remove the log in our eye. He said “take the log out of your own eye.” That work is our responsibility and is accomplished through introspection and wisdom.
James 3:17-18: “Real wisdom, God’s wisdom, begins with a holy life and is characterized by getting along with others. It is gentle and reasonable, overflowing with mercy and blessings, not hot one day and cold the next, not two-faced. You can develop a healthy, robust community that lives right with God and enjoy its results only if you do the hard work of getting along with each other, treating each other with dignity and honor.” (MSG)
I agree that it is hard not to judge. Comparing ourselves to our contemporaries is ingrained in us by the culture we live in. We want to keep score—to “win” whatever competition we’re engaged in.
Throughout his ministry, Jesus insisted that we examine our hearts and root out wrong motives. His Great Commandment is pretty clear about what should be in our heart: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend the whole law and the prophets.” Matthew 22: 37-40 (NASB)
My prayer: God, help me love others as you do . . . and avoid judging them because they sin differently than I do. Help me do the hard work of achieving your wisdom, that I may live my life as close to the example Jesus gave us as possible. Amen
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Bob, We seem to approach God’s wisdom involving holy living and avoiding a two faced or hypocritical approach to the salvation offered to all mankind differently in so far as sin and the gospel is concerned.
Since our discussions thus far both here on WordPress and on private e-mail have been over the LBGTQ+ Community and our treatment of them, we will need to once again consider them in this discussion.
So, If I were to be a practicing Homosexual now taking on the Female Gender, or a practicing Adulterer who is applying to be a Sunday School department head in you church; then would I not be a hypocrite who is living an unholy rather than a holy life. I would in fact be entirely missing God’s wisdom. And I would be missing out on accomplishing everything that James points out in the (MSG) interpretation of this passage that you quote from in your comment.
But what I understand you to be saying to me is that you will accept me for this position, in order to fulfill the command to love your neighbor as yourself. This might be considered an impertinent question by some, but because the following is your prayer it must be addressed: “My prayer: God, help me love others as you do . . . and avoid judging them because they sin differently than I do.”
The crux of our disagreement is over the fact that the practicing LGBTQ individual never has admitted his/her sin or asked forgiveness for it from God. Nor have they asked for our forgiveness for pushing their Trans agenda on our young people. But they want our apology to them over calling out their sin. You in fact must agree with them in what could be considered a somewhat hypocritical response, by stating the following to me while requiring no log removal on their part in order to gain your acceptance of them as you say:
“Jesus did not say in Matthew 7:5 that God would remove the log in our eye. He said ‘take the log out of your own eye.’ That work is our responsibility and is accomplished through introspection and wisdom.”
The fact that I point your use of this methodology out, does not mean that I agree with it. In fact Jesus stated in the upper room that: this cup is the new covenant in My blood. He shed His blood for our sin offering us a new covenant which had been promised to come, and which would bring for us a new heart upon which He would write His law. In that sense He changes our motivation removing the log for anyone who asks; but can one ask for healing from sins in which they do not believe? And can one believe if there is no preacher or teacher to instruct or inform them? Yet these you call judgmental.
God is the only Judge and He proclaims what it will be that He will judge in His word (a word that preachers and teachers must proclaim in order that man might be saved).
Psalm 145:20 The LORD preserveth all them that love him: but all the wicked will he destroy. (KJV)
If you love me you will tell me how to keep from being destroyed.
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I don’t know about your you but as I’ve grown in my understanding of scripture and how God expects us to live out our faith, I’ve identified additional sin in my life that I never acknowledged. In fact, I didn’t even think it was sin before. I believe I still have additional sin that I haven’t recognized and which I haven’t admitted or asked God to forgive. Without judging you, I suspect that your experience is much like mine.
You specifically mentioned LGBTQ+ individuals. I’ve known enough gay and trans people and have heard enough stories from/about them, including medical doctors and therapists who treat them that I engage with them using special care and tenderness. Their challenges are enormous and change is difficult or impossible to achieve. Their levels of depression and attempted suicide are many times higher than their peers. I have not known any of them who, as you say, “push their Trans agenda.” They simply want to be the person they believe they were created to be and wish the same for everyone else. They have no desire to convert straight people (including children) to their lifestyle. They do want to be accepted for who they are.
There are no doubt many Christians who are racist and don’t believe their racism is a sin. They may be leaders in their church. If we are going to exclude everyone who has unacknowledged sin from leadership positions in the church—we will have no church leaders. We obviously have criminal laws to protect children from pedophiles. We should likewise keep sexual predators from any roles that would allow them to solicit victims. Virtually every denomination has found this out the hard way. What we’re talking about in those cases are criminal statutes. It is not illegal in this country to be a homosexual.
So what standard should we apply? I’ll return to the book of James:
“For whoever keeps the whole Law, yet stumbles in one point, has become guilty of all. For he who said, ‘Do not commit adultery’ also said ‘Do not murder.’ Now if you do not commit adultery, but do murder, you have become a violator of the Law. So speak, and so act, as those who are to be judged by the law of freedom. For the law will be merciless to one who has shown no mercy: mercy triumphs over judgment.” James 2:10-13 (NASB)
I’ve talked to many men in prison who have committed every crime imaginable. I have never seen any of them respond positively to someone who starts the conversation by calling out their sin, telling them about the judgment from God they will face after they die, and challenging them to repent. What I have seen, in a high percentage of these men, is the approach used by Kairos bring hardened criminals to tears, confession, and acceptance of God’s forgiveness. The follow up Kairos does with these men demonstrates that they almost always continue in the faith, seeking out Bible studies and finding ways to redeem themselves. What is that approach? “Listen, Listen, Love, Love.” We find that most people in prison have never in their lives experienced unconditIonal love. When it is offered to them, it is incredibly powerful.
I don’t know about you but I want to be on the side of mercy instead of judgment. I would be hard pressed to find a better depiction of the virtue of love than I Corinthians 13.
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There is no question Bob that we all need grace and mercy. And there is no question that Jesus came for the sinners, but only in Christ can we walk in the light which is in Him.
1 John 1:6 If we say that we have fellowship with Him and [yet] walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; 7 but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. (NASB1995)
You are concerned about winning people to Christ, with love being the necessary ingredient. I have in a prior interchange agreed that love is the last link in that chain of events with most of us will come to understand to bring us to Christ. But that new birth brings us into the light.
I’m sorry but if the Lord considered the sin of Sodom to be so dark that He had to destroy it; then you are going to have (in my opinion) a hard time convincing God that He was wrong.
I can sympathize with all sinners. The pain that we are caused by yielding to sin and being blinded by it is something that we have all experienced, but the freedom that comes from Christ’s deliverance when we are given His forgiveness is what grace mercy and His salvation is all about.
1 John 1:8 If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us. (NASB1995)
Unfortunately we can’t say that God made me this way for we are all sinners, and as you have already said their sin is no different than ours. They need Jesus just as we do. But unfortunately most LGBTQ will not confess that they have sin, but rather that they were born this way.
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A big difference between us is that you see love being the LAST link in the chain in evangelism and I believe that love is the essential FIRST link in the chain. I say that from personal experience in my efforts to bring people to accept Christ as their Savior and Lord. I have found that God is much better than I am at convicting people of their sin. As you suggest, it often happens when they experience a crisis in their life, born out of the consequences of their sin. If I can be there for them, meet them at the point of their crisis, share my own experience of God carrying me through my personal challenges, and “put their hand in the hand of Jesus,” they are often very receptive to accepting Christ.
My experience has demonstrated repeatedly that no one cares how much you know until they know how much you care. That was the approach Jesus used in every encounter he had with unbelievers. Why would you not follow his example? Is it because your approach works so much better than his? I’m still waiting for you to share even one example of where you have converted someone by FIRST confronting them with their sin and telling them that they are condemned to hell unless they acknowledge their sin and ask for God’s forgiveness. You have yet to share a single case where that strategy worked for you.
God is not the only one who knows what’s in our hearts. No one needs to read your blog to know your motivation. People know whether you love them or judge them, care more about them and their needs or presenting your “truth” and condemning their lifestyle. They know if you are motivated by anger or empathy. I prefer to be an agent of healing, not vengeance.
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Bob, I’m not putting down your method of evangelism. I’ve stated that God’s love was his revelation in my life that brought me to surrender my sinful life to Him. But that realization was that I cannot possibly live a life pleasing to Him without His first cleansing and changing me and then keeping me. As the Apostle Paul says in Ephesians 2. Before we were on the outside looking in on His promises; we were at that time children of wrath, but now in Christ we are recipients of His promises; His kingdom. I’m am not an evangelist, maybe you are, but every evangelism program that I have ever taken. Bill Brights 4 Spiritual laws, Kennedy’s Evangelism explosion. The Roman road: they all explain that we are sinners and Children of wrath because of that bent to sin, and that God’s plan to save us was wrapped up in the sending of His only begotten Son, who because He loved us so much came to save us from our own bent to destruct ourselves with our sin. His answer for that was to set us free from our slavery to sin, and to make us servants of His King on our way to becoming disciples. He paid a tremendous price in His own blood. We cannot continue to knowingly walk in our sin. To do so is to trample His blood under foot, you can read about that in Hebrews.
I have been touched on that walk with Him by many men, many of whom I’ve never met. But God saved me in the living room of my home while reading a book by David Wilkerson. He had placed many links in the chain of my salvation, and that influence from others continues as He grows me toward His revealing one day of the sons of God; for which the whole creation groans, as it waits for that day of His coming to Judge every man for what they have done with the yielding of their life to Him, that He might cleanse us from our sin and make us into a new creation to walk in His Holy Spirit.
We do not save anyone that is God’s work, all that we can do is yield ourselves over to Him, becoming His disciples, who in turn are pointing others to Him, so that they too will become His disciples.
We are all in Christ different parts of that body. 1 Corinthians 12:16 And if the ear says, “Because I am not an eye, I am not [a part] of the body,” it is not for this reason any the less [a part] of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? (NASB1995)
I am not trying to make every man into what I am, but we all are to speak the truth in love. Jesus loved every man enough to die for their sins, but He will return to judge them/us for what we have done in Him; and if we are not in Him then men will be judged outside of Him. As you have said it is not my place to judge, but if I love my fellow man as a whole as Jesus as a whole died for mankind as a whole so that we as individuals might love Him and become lovers as He is.
– [ ] He did not come to this world first as its loving savior, but He came first as the Word of God laying down His laws that as Paul’s states reveals our sin. For without the law we did not know that we were sinners (Romans 6 and 7)
If we put this in perspective; then the LBGTQ community does not think that they sin, so they need to know the law so that they can accept the gospel and thus die in Christ to their sin and escape the wrath to which they are now destined. To not tell them is to not love them. God will see to it that they meet the links of the chain that they need in order to be saved.
Love you brother. I pray that iron is sharpening iron with us both. For you do challenge me to think.
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