Matthew 7:1-5 - Why Don't You Notice The Log In Your Eye?
Restorative Pain
It is so good to be here with you tonight. My name is Josh. I am one of the pastors here, and I have the privilege of opening God’s Word with you tonight. We are continuing in our series, “Questions That Jesus Asked.” Tonight, we are going to look at the question He asked in Matthew chapter 7: Why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye?
We will get into what that means in just a little bit. It is probably not a question you get asked most days.
By the way, yes, I am wearing a sling. Some of you might be thinking, Weren’t you wearing a sling six months ago? Did you reinjure yourself? The answer is no. That was my left shoulder about six months ago, and I had my right shoulder done about three weeks ago. These were both planned surgeries addressing injuries going back about fifteen years. Typical guy—I self-diagnosed myself and decided I didn’t need to take care of it. Finally, I got the MRIs done, and MRIs reveal more truth than the internet does! If you want to talk about shoulder rehab in detail later, I would be more than happy to do that.
Speaking of shoulders, I was working with my physical therapist, Jeff Mueller. His wife, Mallory, is our connections director here at Midweek. As Jeff and I were talking, he half-jokingly said, “People ask me if I get mental trauma because I am always having to put people through pain. When you put people through pain, it changes you.” As he was moving my arm, I said, “Yeah, you are definitely putting me in some pain right now! But the purpose of the pain you are putting me through is to help restore me. It is to help renew me, recover, and restrengthen. Your whole purpose is restorative and caring in nature.”
It is not the same as if someone were just beating me up out of spite or trying to cause pain for no good reason. The pain he brings is a restorative pain.
The Difference Between Criticism and Care
Think about that in the context of human relationships. Over the years, you have probably had people speak critical or corrective words to you. Perhaps someone spoke hard words who really did not know you that well, someone who did not have your best interests in mind. They just wanted to spew out critical words—whether online or right to your face. Think about how that made you feel.
Then think about a time when someone spoke corrective words to you—words that were difficult to hear, words that maybe even made you feel defensive—but it came from someone who loved you. It came from someone who had your best interests in mind, and you knew they cared for you. Even if you felt defensive initially, deep down you sensed, This is truth. I need to listen to this.
Consider the profound difference in how you receive those two situations: a hard word coming from someone who does not care versus a hard word coming from someone who loves you deeply.
That gets right to the heart of the question Jesus asks. This text is all about how we view God, how we view people, how we view ourselves, and how that plays out in our relationships. We need each other to speak truth into our lives because we all get off track. We mess up, we struggle with sin, and we wrestle with temptation. We need others to show us the blind spots we cannot see. Jesus never envisioned the Christian life outside of authentic community and the capacity to speak truth in love to one another—even when that truth is difficult.
In Matthew 5, Jesus begins the Sermon on the Mount by establishing the posture of the kingdom.
Matthew 5:3 (NASB)
’Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
In order for our hearts to be changed by Jesus, there must be a recognition that we are poor in spirit. We are broken, in sin, and in desperate need of God’s transformative, restorative power. When it comes to speaking into someone else’s struggles, nowhere is a humble heart more needed than when addressing sin.
Matthew 7:1-6 (NASB)
’Do not judge so that you will not be judged. ’For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you. ’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? ’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? ’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. ’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.
Understanding “Do Not Judge”
Matthew 7:1 is one of the most frequently quoted—and misquoted—verses in the entire Bible: “Do not judge, so that you will not be judged.” People love this verse. Even people who do not know Christ will say, “Hey, don’t judge me!” Christians quote it too: “Live and let live.”
Yet when we look at the full teaching of Jesus and the New Testament, this is not a call to absolute moral relativism where we never exercise discernment or speak into someone’s life. Jesus Himself gives commands on what to do and what not to do. Scripture regularly calls believers to correct and rebuke one another in love.
So what is Jesus addressing here? Context is vital. When Jesus preached the Sermon on the Mount, the crowd contained zealots, common working people, outcasts, tax collectors, and religious leaders like the Pharisees. In that culture, the self-righteousness of the Pharisees permeated Jewish life. Their traditions had begun to supersede the scriptures. They would add their own rules, set their own standard of holiness, and impose it on others.
A clear sign that Jesus is addressing this mindset is His use of the word hypocrite. In the Greek, the word literally refers to an actor, a stage player, someone wearing a mask or presenting a “second face.” The Pharisees played the role of spiritual know-it-alls. They looked down on others, yet they lacked genuine love for people and love for God. They would take a command like “do not get drunk” and turn it into “you can never take a single drop of alcohol if you want to be right with God.” They imposed burdens on others while assuming they were exempt from judgment.
When Jesus says do not judge, the word implies making a final condemnation—taking the place of judge and jury to pronounce not only on someone’s actions, but on the hidden motives of their heart. It is saying, “I know what you did, I know exactly why you did it, and I condemn you for it.”
We do not have the authority to condemn. Only God does. For example, we might see someone who has been out of work for six months and instantly decide, “They’re just lazy.” We have never spoken with them, never asked a question, and never entered their world, yet we pass sentence.
Jesus illustrated this attitude in Luke 18.
Luke 18:9-14 (NASB)
And He also told this parable to some people who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and viewed others with contempt: ’Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. ’The Pharisee stood and was praying this to himself: ’God, I thank You that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. ‘I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get.’ ’But the tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, the sinner!’ ‘I tell you, this man went to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.’
Notice that the Pharisee was “praying to himself.” He was not even talking to God; he was performing. He stood there listing his spiritual resume and pointing at the tax collector. Meanwhile, the tax collector would not even look up. He beat his chest in repentance and cried out, “God, be merciful to me, the sinner!”
Self-righteousness is an offense to Christ. It makes us feel superior, blinds us to our own sin, and directly opposes the gospel. The gospel tells us that none of us are good enough on our own. We are all broken and in desperate need of the righteousness of Christ.
The Speck and the Log
In verse 3, Jesus illustrates the absurdity of self-righteous correction:
“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?”
The Greek word for speck is karphos, which refers to a splinter, twig, or small chip of wood. This is not just a tiny fleck of dust; it is a noticeable obstruction. If I had a twig sticking out of my eye right now, you would rightly say, “Josh needs some help getting that out.” It is a real issue, and Jesus does not say to ignore it.
However, the word for log is dokos, meaning a large timber beam or plank—like a telephone pole! Picture that spiritual metaphor played out physically. Imagine taking a loved one to the emergency room because they have a splinter in their eye. The doctor comes out with a huge wooden beam sticking out of his own face and says, “Hold still, let me help you!” Bonk! He knocks her in the head, causing far more damage than the splinter ever did. Then he turns around to another patient: “Let me help with that broken arm!” Bam! Now they have a concussion too.
Spiritually, that is what happens when we attempt to correct others without dealing with our own sin. We walk around saying, “You gossip too much! You need to read your Bible more!” Even if the observation is true, when we come with unaddressed sin in our own lives, we crush people with self-righteous pontification.
How does this pattern take root in our lives today?
- We jump to conclusions. As the old preacher J. Vernon McGee once said, “The only exercise that some Christians get is jumping to conclusions and running down others.” We make sweeping judgments about people’s hearts without knowing their story.
- We speak unfiltered in moments of anger. I rarely feel more self-righteous than when I am angry. I feel so justified in my contempt. Yet Scripture reminds us that while anger is a real emotion, in our anger we must not sin. We must pause, quiet our hearts, and ask the Holy Spirit to filter our words.
- Our desire to expose sin is greater than our desire to see restoration. We just want to win the argument, shame the person, or gossip under the guise of a “prayer request.”
How to Speak Truth in Love
Jesus does not tell us to leave the speck alone forever. In verse 5, He says:
“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.”
So how do we humbly, gently, and firmly speak truth into one another’s lives?
1. Invite God and Others to Search Your Heart
Before we speak into anyone else’s life, we must allow God to examine us. We can pray the words of David:
Psalms 139:23-24 (NASB)
Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me and know my anxious thoughts; And see if there be any hurtful way in me, And lead me in the everlasting way.
Essentially, we are asking: God, show me my logs.
A few years ago, my wife, Chris, and I went through Re|Engage, our marriage ministry here at The Well. During the first few weeks, they give you a hula hoop and tell you to stand inside it. If you have any corrective feedback, you are only allowed to talk about the person inside the hoop—yourself. It is remarkably hard to do because our natural default is to point across the room at our spouse. True self-examination takes humility.
Not only do we need God to search us, but we also need trusted brothers and sisters in Christ who have permission to speak into our lives.
Proverbs 27:6 (NASB)
Faithful are the wounds of a friend, But deceitful are the kisses of an enemy.
A few years back, my wife told me, “Josh, you’ve been constantly cutting me off when I talk. It’s really rude.” My defensive response was, “I’m just being more assertive; you’ll get used to it.” Not long after, I was talking with Pastor Chris Schultz, who was my supervisor and a longtime friend. He mentioned how his wife had pointed out that he cuts people off, and then he looked at me and said, “Josh, you’ve been doing that to me a lot lately.”
It stung. But when my wife and my close friend both saw the same blind spot, I realized God was speaking to me. I had to lower my defenses and listen.
Who are the top three to five people in your life whose spiritual perspective you deeply trust? Have you given them explicit permission to tell you the hard truth? When they do speak, take a breath, drop your defenses, and listen.
2. Aim for Restoration, Not Humiliation
When we do need to address sin in someone’s life, our motive must always be restoration.
Galatians 6:1-2 (NASB)
Brethren, even if anyone is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; [each one] looking to yourself, so that you too will not be tempted. Bear one another’s burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ.
The Greek word for restore in this passage was used medically to describe setting a broken bone back into place. When I had surgery on my shoulder, Dr. Eric Hansen took great care—testing, taking X-rays, performing the delicate repair, and giving me a clear plan for recovery. If you looked at my shoulder right after surgery, you saw stitches and bruising; it looked painful. But every cut was made with the goal of healing, not harm.
This is how Jesus treated the woman caught in adultery in John 8.
John 8:10-11 (NASB)
Straightening up, Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, where are they? Did no one condemn you?’ She said, ‘No one, Lord.’ And Jesus said, ‘I do not condemn you, either. Go. From now on sin no more.]’
He did not condemn her, nor did He leave her in her sin. He called her to a new life and lifted her head.
I remember hearing a story about Pastor Chuck Smith. A leader in his church had abandoned his wife and children to live in adultery. Pastor Chuck was furious and drove to the house ready to unleash his anger. But when he walked in and saw the squalor, thought of the man’s broken family, and realized the tragic loss of this man’s spiritual walk, his anger turned to deep grief. He began to weep. The man, who had braced himself for a verbal thrashing, had his heart melted by that tears-filled compassion. He repented and was restored to God and his family.
When we must enter difficult conversations, we should ask God to give us His heart of compassion.
3. Exercise Discernment
Finally, Jesus gives us a word of caution regarding discernment in Matthew 7:6: “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.”
In the ancient world, dogs and pigs were regarded as wild, unclean, and dangerous. Jesus’ point is that there are some people who have hardened their hearts and simply do not want God’s truth. We do not force holy things on those who will only mock and attack them.
Proverbs 9:8 (NASB)
Do not reprove a scoffer, or he will hate you, Reprove a wise man and he will love you.
Correction is primarily family business within the body of Christ. We are not called to police the behavior of those outside the church who do not know Jesus. And even within the church, if someone is utterly unwilling to hear truth, we must use wisdom and know when to step back and pray.
Walking in Truth and Love
Ephesians 4:15 (NASB)
but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all [aspects] into Him who is the head, [even] Christ,
Let us not condemn one another, but let us also not shrink back from speaking truth in love. The foundation for all of this is the gospel. In our brokenness and sin, Jesus took the condemnation we deserved. He bore the wrath of God on the cross, was buried, and rose again so that we could be forgiven and clothed in His righteousness. Because we have received such great mercy, we can now extend that same restorative love to one another.
Let’s pray.
Father, thank You for Your Word. If there is anyone here tonight who does not yet know Christ as Lord and Savior, I pray that right now they would trust in Him. May they recognize their need for Your grace, believe that Jesus died and rose for them, and surrender their life to You.
For those of us who have walked with You for years, show us the logs in our own eyes. Give us the humility to receive correction from the brothers and sisters You have placed around us. And when You call us to speak truth into someone else’s life, fill our hearts with Your supernatural love and compassion, that they might be restored for Your glory and their good. We pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.