Fourth Sunday after Trinity (2024)

Luke 6:36-42

My Brothers and Sisters in Christ, we have before us today in our Gospel Lesson a text that is often misquoted and misused so often it desires a top spot in a list of misused Scripture passages. People will take this and say Judge not, Lest ye be judged. They believe that they have thoroughly refuted whatever you had said and that you can never confront them on sin, but rather embrace their live and let live attitude. For isn’t that what Jesus said?

The Oft-Quoted Passage

Without context, the phrase is nonsense.

For the very phrase itself is a judgment. If someone ever says to you, Judge not, Lest ye be judged? They are judging you. So by itself or alone the phrase is a strange thing to say to person. So you really need to look at the context.

This becomes a teaching opportunity.

You can confess that you are a bit confused because by itself the phrase doesn’t make sense so where is it in the Bible? Now in my years, I have caught folks off guard with this question and they don’t readily have an answer, so that is why it is also important for you to

Learn the location: Matthew 7:1-6; Luke 6:37-42 --

It’s in Jesus’ sermon on the mount where he explains the nature of the law and contrasts it with what the people understand at this point. Jesus is magnifying it to help us understand what is all going on. So to understand Judge not let us see what else Jesus says.

The Parable Enlightens Us

The blind cannot lead.

They don’t know where they are going and so if they are going to try and guide a person to the way that is true. They shouldn’t be out front for they will lead a person into a pit. So you want to be sure that they can see clearly to lead. Then Jesus speaks abo

The speck in your brother’s eye.

If there is something that is preventing them from seeing clearly and they are blind to the truth, you want to help them. So you speak to them and say you have something that is blinding you and it needs to be removed it cannot remain. However, who are you to speak to with them log that’s in your eye!

This deals with hypocrisy.

Who are you to notice the speck in your brother’s eye when you are walking around with log sticking out of your own head. Now you might be thinking a bit of firewood. That is not what the word means in the greek. dokos means a piece of heavy timber such as a beam used in roof construction. It’s a ridiculous image, but thats how hypocrites look to those they try to help.

Help Your Brother

First, address your own sins.

We are not to just focus on the sins in our neighbor’s life, but first we are to examine our own sins and deal with them. It doesn’t matter what that sin is, is it lying, is it pride, do you curse or swear, is it lust, or drunkenness, or perhaps lovelessness. They are all evil and they can lodge themselves firmly in our eyes.

That log will do serious damage.

Think of how others have harmed you through their sins, the feelings of betrayal, shame, abandonment, and worthlessness. If people have hurt you with the logs in their eyes, do you think you should take the log out of your eye, so that you don’t do the same. Certainly! For instead of causing harm we wish to help our neighbor.

We are to help in a spirit of gentleness.

This is very important, for if we want to deal with someone in a loving, but firm manner, and we are seeking to do it not for our own satisfaction, or revenge, but because we honestly desire that they can see clearly and avoid the pit.

Be Merciful and Abound in Steadfast Love

Love isn’t indifferent.

Love cares about what is good and wants it for your neighbor. So we want to encourage them and want them to walk the path of righteousness and not to their destruction. Love

It doesn’t rejoice in what’s wrong.

We don’t rejoice when the blind fall into pit, right? That would be a mark that there is something off with ya. The pit that Jesus refers to here is hell. The parable is against hypocrisy, Jesus isn’t saying leave the specks in your neighbor’s eyes. As context is important the

The verse before this says, “Love your enemies.”

But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for He is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. That’s why the Father sent Jesus into the world. It was love for us while we were yet still sinners.

Jesus was Judged for Us

Jesus won for you forgiveness.

He who saw clearly went ahead of the blind and down into that pit, that he might lift us up out of it and enter into the kingdom of God. How many times have we fallen, yet Christ reached down to us to lift us up and give to us the hope of everlasting life.

Jesus was kind to you.

We confess it that there is nothing in us that is worthy of the forgiveness that Christ won on calvary, nothing that meant he should go down into that pit, which is hell itself, but He sought us while we were yet still sinners, and Jesus gave His life and suffered for our salvation.

This love, and hope is what fills our hearts.

It is what should motivate us as we speak with our neighbors. For we desire that everyone might see Jesus not our own great and wonderful works, that’s another log which you will just knock them around with. No rather we seek their benefit. We want to deal with these logs that we might point others to christ clearly.

Dealing with the Logs

It is a challenging part of sanctification.

Many are comfortable and easy with the first part, but sanctification comes back to us, and involves our activity. It is where we work with the Holy Spirit that we might flee from the sins that ensnared us, and in the context of this parable remove the logs in our own eyes. We cannot do it on our own, but Jesus sent the helper, the encourager, and the comforter to us.

Removing a log hurts.

especially if it is the size of a piece of heavy timber, it may look like a sliver to us from the outside, but it goes deep, and it won’t be done all at once. There is no pill that will cure all that ails ya, it’s going to take a bit of time.

Why does it hurt to remove it? Well it is usually a sin that infested and infected our body and taken root deep. When people are asked to deal with them, it is something we have grown used to and often attached too. It may even manifest as part of our personality or joke about it. It needs to be dealt with. They can also be called pet sins, and that should give you an idea of hard it is to let go. But Christ does not call us to lay aside that which brings life, forgiveness, and salvation, He is calling us to lay aside that which is poisonous, brings death, shame, guilt, and will bring us down into hell itself.

So what might it be? Are you always talking about the lives of people who aren’t there? Then it might be gossip. Are you often complaining or regretting what you have, and imagine how life would be better if you had more? Then you are looking at coveting. Are you always right, and find that everyone else is foolish or stupid? Pride. Do you guard your eyes or find yourself pulled back to things that destroy the soul? Then Lust should be guarded against.

You will be able to help others.

For we aren’t to leave the speck that is in our brothers eye, but to help them remove this. If you have dealt with the log in your own eye, you will understand not only the urgent need for it to be removed, but also the care that must be taken. You will understand when people say no, it’s better for it to be there, you will understand when they are scared to let it go, you will understand when they become angry because why should they be concerned about it, everyone has that speck.

If you have walked through it before, if you have dealt with those sins, you will understand where they are coming from, but you will also understand why it must come out. How it is a poison not just to their body, but to their soul and threatens their existence with hell.

My Brothers and Sisters in Christ, when Jesus spoke words of condemnation, and words of Judgment it was not because he hated us, but it was done out of love. Now Christ himself is sinless, but we are sinners, and so when we go about this godly task, we must first examine our own lives, lest we become too puffed up, and go around knocking our neighbors in the head with 4x4’s. We do not wish for anyone to remain in their sins but be freed from them for their benefit and that can only happen if we been first forgiven by Christ, and Strengthened by the Spirit to know what these battles and struggle entail, then we too can encourage one another, as we work to remove the specks. In Jesus’ name. Amen.