Don't @ Me: Before You Hit Post

INTRODUCTION: BEFORE YOU HIT “POST”

We live in a world where people post first and reflect later. Someone says something we don’t like, somebody disappoints us, or somebody sins publicly, and almost immediately the fingers start typing. Comments, reactions, and exposés start flying before anybody slows down long enough to think.

Everybody has an opinion, and everybody feels the pressure to share it.

Honestly, if you’ve ever scrolled through the Fallon 411 page, you’ve seen this in real time.

“I hate to be that person, and I know it’s getting warmer outside and I don’t want to complain… but I’ve noticed with kids playing in the park they sure are leaving the place more trashed. I don’t ever remember being that way when I was their age. But I won’t bother complaining because it does no good. People just don’t listen these days.”

And everybody reading it knows exactly what’s happening.

It sounds petty and self-righteous.

And if we’re honest, sometimes that same spirit lives in us too.

Underneath it is a critical spirit.

And honestly, most of us have done the exact same thing.

Sometimes we don’t even realize how quickly criticism flows out of our hearts until it’s sitting publicly in front of everybody else.

But before social media ever existed, Jesus already understood the human heart.

Last week, Jesus warned us about the danger of living with a condemning spirit — constantly measuring, criticizing, and standing above others.

But now Jesus takes us even deeper, because the real issue is not merely what comes out of our mouths or onto our screens. The real issue is the condition of the heart producing it.

In Matthew 7, Jesus confronts something deeply rooted inside us: our tendency to zoom in on the failures of others while remaining blind to our own.

And what’s fascinating is that Jesus uses a picture that almost sounds ridiculous.

Matthew 7:3–5: “And why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank that is in your own eye? Or how will you say to your brother, ‘Let me pull the speck out of your eye,’ when a log is in your own eye? You hypocrite! First take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.”

Picture a man walking into the eye doctor’s office with a giant telephone post sticking out of his face. He’s knocking over lamps, bumping into walls, and hitting people every time he turns around — and yet he sits down beside another patient and says, “Wow… you’ve got a tiny eyelash in your eye. Want me to help you with that?”

That’s absurd — and that’s Jesus’ point. Before you focus on the speck in someone else’s eye, deal with the post in your own. Before you hit “post” and criticize somebody else, Jesus says to examine your own heart first.

And over the next few minutes, Jesus is going to show us three truths.

Jesus is going to show us why we need to check our feed, check our hearts before we post, and learn to post with care.

1. CHECK YOUR FEED

Matthew 7:3 — “And why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank that is in your own eye?”

Jesus confronts our natural tendency to focus outward instead of inward.

We scroll through life with magnifying glasses for everyone else’s sins while conveniently wearing blinders to our own.

That’s hypocrisy.

And hypocrisy always distorts vision.

A. Hypocrisy blinds us.

It convinces us that everybody else is the problem while we are the standard.

But the reality is, we cannot even fully judge our own hearts accurately.

Jeremiah 17:9: “The heart is more deceitful than all things and desperately wicked; who can understand it?”

Our hearts are capable of self-deception. We excuse the sin in our own lives while magnifying the exact same problems in others. It’s amazing how patient we want people to be with our weaknesses while demanding perfection from everyone else. We want grace for ourselves and judgment for others.

That’s the spirit Jesus is exposing.

B. Hypocrisy hurts others.

When we constantly nitpick, criticize, gossip, and expose, we crush people instead of helping them.

And the internet has only amplified that spirit.

Somebody fails publicly or says something foolish online, and suddenly thousands of people become self-appointed judges.

Critical hearts create fearful environments.

Some people walk into church, relationships, and conversations constantly afraid they’re about to be torn apart.

And when we stand over people like that, we damage others while assuming a place that belongs to God alone.

C. Hypocrisy insults God.

James 4:12 “There is one Lawgiver who is able to save and to destroy. Who are you to judge another?”

Imagine a child storming into a courtroom, climbing onto the judge’s bench, and slamming the gavel around pretending they are in charge.

That’s what hypocritical judgment looks like before God.

Jesus is not condemning righteous discernment; He is condemning self-righteous condemnation.

And that raises a deeper question:

If hypocrisy blinds us this deeply, then how do we ever begin to see clearly?

This is where the sermon becomes deeply personal.

Because Jesus is no longer just exposing hypocrisy in general — He is calling us to stop long enough to let God search our own hearts first.

2. CHECK BEFORE YOU POST

Matthew 7:5 — “You hypocrite! First take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly…”

Notice Jesus does not say, “Ignore the speck forever.” He says, “First deal with yourself.”

That word first changes everything. Jesus is teaching us that self-examination must come before correction. Before you confront someone else’s sin, let God confront yours. Before you post about somebody else’s failure, let God expose what is happening in your own heart.

A. We all have blind spots.

Sometimes the biggest issues in our lives are the ones we refuse to see.

Pride convinces us we are fine while everyone around us notices the damage.

Ignoring sin never removes it; it only deepens it. Proverbs 28:13 says, “He who covers his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy.”

The plank doesn’t stay hidden forever.

Eventually it affects every part of your life and spiritual clarity.

B. Clarity comes after confession.

Psalm 139:23–24: “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”

The Christian life requires regular self-examination — not self-hatred, shame, or obsession, but honesty before God.

Because confession clears vision.

When we allow God to expose our pride, fear, bitterness, and hypocrisy, we finally begin seeing people clearly again.

Not through superiority. Not through comparison. But through mercy.

And honestly, this stopped being theoretical for me when God forced me to confront it in my own heart.

During the pandemic, stress was everywhere. Navigating livestreams, mandates, and financial pressure put strain on my relationship with Pastor Huff, a man I had always worked closely with. My attitude became sharp, and even small disagreements created tension.

Instead of talking honestly, I pulled away.

Distance and resentment grew between us.

Eventually, after a long silence, Pastor Huff finally said to me, “Aaron, it’s clear something has come between us. Help me understand what part you think I’ve played in this tension.”

And I let it all out, listing all my frustrations and hurt.

And then I added, “I know my attitude hasn’t been the best either, so forgive me.”

And I’ll never forget his response.

He said, “So I’m the problem, huh? You really think this is all on me?”

Then later he told me something that broke me.

He said:

“What you said might have landed differently if you had started by taking the beam out of your own eye before pointing out the speck in mine.”

And in that moment, God exposed me.

The real issue wasn’t just him.

God was exposing fear, pride, frustration, and resistance inside my own heart.

That moment became a turning point, not because I finally fixed somebody else, but because God finally dealt with me.

C. Confession changes how we see others.

exaggerating everyone else’s failures, we stop acting shocked that sinners struggle, and we stop approaching people from a place of superiority.

Why?

Because people who remember how much grace they needed become slower to condemn others. Instead of standing above people, we begin approaching them as fellow sinners who need the mercy of God.

Grace changes not only how you see yourself — it changes how you handle people.

3. POST WITH CARE

Matthew 7:5 — “…to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.”

Notice something important: Jesus does not say to ignore the speck. He still calls us to help one another, but He tells us to help differently.

Not arrogantly. Not harshly. Not from a place of superiority.

The goal is restoration, because eye surgery requires careful hands.

A. Helping people is delicate work.

Think about how fragile the human eye is. You don’t walk into surgery carelessly swinging tools around. A surgeon prepares carefully because one careless move can cause permanent damage.

That’s Jesus’ point.

People are fragile.

Behind every person is a story, pain, and struggles you may never fully understand. And yet so often, we throw harsh words around carelessly. We react too quickly, speak too harshly, and then wonder why relationships shatter.

B. Humility must shape correction.

Galatians 6:1 “Brothers, if a man is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore such a one in the spirit of meekness, watching yourselves, lest you also be tempted.”

Notice the goal is restoration. Not humiliation, not proving yourself right, and not winning the argument.

Restoration.

Humility remembers, “I am just as dependent on grace as the person I am trying to help.” Without humility, truth becomes a weapon. But with humility, truth becomes healing.

C. People are priceless, not projects.

Every person you criticize carries the image of God.

Every person you’re tempted to tear apart online is an eternal soul.

“The person who loves their dream of community will destroy community, but the person who loves those around them will create community.” — Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together

When we value our ideal version of people more than the actual people themselves, we stop loving them and start treating them like projects instead of image-bearers.

Jesus calls us to something better.

THE GOSPEL CONNECTION

And this is exactly why we desperately need the gospel.

The truth is, the bigger issue has always been us.

Our pride, hypocrisy, and self-righteousness.

And the bad news is this:

No matter how many specks we point out in others, we still cannot remove the post buried inside our own hearts.

Sin has corrupted every one of us, and no matter how hard we try, we cannot remove the beam of sin buried inside our own hearts.

But the good news of the gospel is that Jesus Christ came to do what we could never do ourselves. He lived the perfect life we could never live, died on the cross for our sins, and rose again so sinners could be forgiven and made new.

Isaiah 53:4–5 says: “Surely he has borne our grief and carried our sorrows… But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and by his stripes we are healed.”

And here is the hope of the gospel: Jesus is the only One who can truly remove the beam of sin from our lives. Religion cannot do it. Self-improvement cannot do it. Trying harder cannot do it. Only Christ can.

2 Corinthians 5:21: “God made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

That means when we repent and place our faith in Jesus Christ, God no longer sees us through the lens of our hypocrisy and sin.

He sees us covered in the righteousness of His Son.

So the invitation today is not merely to “try harder not to judge people.” The invitation is to come to Christ.

Some of you have spent your whole lives comparing yourselves to others. You convince yourself you’re “good enough” because you can point out somebody else’s failures, but self-righteousness cannot save you. Only Jesus can.

And today you can repent, stop trusting in your own goodness, and put your faith completely in Jesus Christ.

Because the cross doesn’t just expose the post.

Christ removes it.

CONCLUSION: BEFORE YOU POST

And that is why Jesus’ words force us to slow down. Over these last few minutes, He has shown us something powerful: how easy it is to become blinded by hypocrisy, how necessary it is to let God search our own hearts first, and how grace should completely change the way we handle people.

Now Jesus calls us to live differently. Before you react, criticize somebody else online, type the comment, or try to fix someone else, slow down. Look inward first and ask God:

“What is happening inside me?”

Because the greatest danger is not merely the speck in someone else’s eye. The greatest danger is becoming so blinded by pride that we can no longer see the post in our own. And when God finally clears our vision, we begin seeing people differently — not as problems to destroy, but as people made in the image of God.

So this week, before you hit “post,” pause. Ask yourself:

Have I allowed God to search me first?

Because people who have truly experienced grace stop using truth as a weapon. Instead, they handle people with humility, mercy, and care.

And that is exactly how Jesus has handled us.