SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/18/2021 9:59 AM
My Worship Time Focus: “An Erroneous View of Ourselves”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matt. 7:3-5a
Message of the verses: “3 “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? 4 “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? 5 “You hypocrite,”
It
is when we judge critically that we also manifest an erroneous view of
ourselves. As we look at all three false
views, an erroneous view of God, an erroneous view of others, and an erroneous
view of ourselves, we find that they are all connected. The reason is when we have a wrong view of God;
we cannot but then have a wrong view of others and of ourselves. As we put ourselves in God’s place as judge
this then prevents our perspective of others and ourselves.
John
MacArthur writes “A karphos (speck)
is not a tiny piece of dust or soot but a small stalk or twig, or possibly a
splinter. Though small in comparison to
a ‘log,’ it is not an insignificant object to have in the eye. Jesus’ comparison, therefore, is not between
insignificant object to have in the eye. Jesus’ comparison, therefore, is not
between a very small sin or fault and one that is large, but between one that is
large and one that is gigantic. The primary point, of course, is
that the sin of the critic is much greater than the sin of the person he is
criticizing.”
There
are some who interpreters who would suggest that the speck in a person’s eye is
something like a minor ceremonial infraction, and the log would represent an
extremely vulgar and a repulsive sin.
Most of the time people who have those vulgar and repulsive sin tend to
cover them up and would not try and justify their own great sin, not in
criticizing the small sins of others.
In
the ministry of Jesus while on earth the sin that He repeatedly condemns in the
scribes and the Pharisees is self-righteousness, and not only in the Sermon on
the Mount, but in other places as well we read of this. MacArthur writes “Almost by definition,
self-righteousness is a sin of blindness, or of grossly distorted vision,
because it looks directly at its own sin and still imagines it sees only
righteousness. The ‘log’ in this
illustration represents the same foundational sin of self-righteousness that Jesus
has been condemning throughout the sermon.
“The
very nature of self-righteousness is to justify self and condemn others. In so doing people play God, because they
judge themselves on the basis of their own standards and wisdom. Self-righteousness is the worst of sins
because it is unbelief. It trusts in
self rather than God. It trusts in self
to determine what is right and wrong and to determine who does what is right or
wrong. Self-righteousness claims to be
both lawgiver and judge, prerogatives that belong only to the Lord.”
What
do we also see from self-righteousness?
We see that it denies and opposes the gospel and the reason is because
the gospel proclaims man’s sinfulness and lostness even as it proclaims God’s
mercy and also His grace. It is because
the self-righteous person sees no sin in their lives that they have no need of
God’s grace in his behalf. At the end of
verse three we see the word “notice” and this word conveys the idea of serious,
continuous meditation, in other words someone must have been thinking about if
for a while. Jesus could be saying
something like “Will you not stop and think about your own sin? Until you have
done that, how can you confront another with his shorcominings?”
So
the person who is self-righteous can never be anything but a hypocrite. We see the word hypocrite in the beginning of
verse five. Here is the definition of
this word that comes from my Online Bible program “1) one who answers, an
interpreter 2) an actor,
stage player
3) a dissembler, pretender, hypocrite” I believe that the highlighted one is perhaps
what Jesus is describing here.
The
reason this self-righteous person is a hypocrite is because he continually puts
on a deceitful act of righteous superiority.
That is the reason that he feels qualified to say to his brother, “Let
me take the speck out of your eye” in other words let me tell you what is wrong
in your life and let me straighten you out.
James
describes a hypocrite in James 1:23-24 where he writes “23 For if anyone is a
hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural
face in a mirror; 24 for once he has looked at
himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was.” This person sees but he does not see is the
conclusion of these verses. He is like
the persons that Isaiah was sent to minister to. Isaiah was sent to the lost people of Israel,
but he was told by God that they would not listen, but God sent him any
way. We read the following in Isaiah
6:9-10 “9 He said, "Go, and tell this people: ’Keep on listening, but do
not perceive; Keep on looking, but do not understand.’ 10 “Render the hearts of
this people insensitive, Their ears dull, And their eyes dim, Otherwise they might
see with their eyes, Hear with their ears, Understand with their hearts, And
return and be healed.’”
Spiritual meaning for my life today: Sometimes, and perhaps far too many times I
need to have the Lord clean up my act for things that I do and don’t realize
that I am doing. “The Word of God is living
and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the
division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the
thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12).
My Steps of Faith for Today: I desire to continue to trust the Lord to
bring about revival beginning with myself, my family, and also our Sunday
school class to whom I spoke to last night.
Then from there I pray it moves through our entire church and even
further.
1/18/2021 10:44 AM
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