Seeing Clearly Matt 7:1-5; Luke 17:1-4
Audio: https://www.daleappleby.net/
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?
Introduction
In one place Jesus said, “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.” (Matt 7:5), but in another, “Pay attention to yourselves (plural)! If your brother sins, rebuke him” (Luke 17:3). These exhortations are not contradictory but the contemporary Western church’s disposition to read the former as excluding the latter has been disastrous as far as discipling our communities is concerned. The purpose of removing the log from my own eye is so that I may “see clearly” to take the speck out of my brother’s eye. It is imperative that we graciously help fellow believers see their sin as God sees it, confess and repent. Such “right judgement” (John 7:23-24), to quote Jesus, is a marvellous share in the righteous judgement of God (Ps 7:11). Most of us are very cautious about such things because human judging is usually not righteous.
Damaged Judgement
The sex addict who condemns himself because a new creation in Christ should be beyond these sins, or the parent who is “hard on himself” because of his rebellious child are a few examples of “judgement without mercy” (James 2:13). Believers who judge themselves legalistically do so because they are deceived into thinking they know themselves better than God knows them. Self-critical believers are ruled by a harsh conscience out of unity with the Spirit of Christ (Rom 9:1). Such distorted judgements began in Eden when people were tempted into seeking to be “like God” beyond the likeness they were created in (Gen 1:28; 3:5). The conviction that without God we can judge what we and others should be like is to elevate ourselves into the place that belongs to God alone. Such self-idolatry lies behind all every form of self-righteousness, personal or political. Our only remedy/healing is the cross.
Love through Blood
Hebrews testifies that we have come “to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.” (Heb 12:24). Abel’s blood cried out for vengeance (Gen 4:10, 15) but the blood of God’s own Son (Acts 20:28) cries out for mercy. His forgiveness is boundless. John the Baptist prophesied about Jesus, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29 cf. 1 John 3:5). Paul declares, “in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them.” (2 Cor 5:19 cf. 1 John 2:1-2). Through the finished work of the cross (John 19:30) it is inconceivable that God could be vengeful or disappointed with his children. As the blood of the covenant caused the destroying angel to “pass over” Israel at the exodus, the blood of Christ covers us, completely (Luke 22:20 cf. Rom 3:25; Heb 2:17; 1 John 2:2; 4:10).
Bloodied Conscience
When the witness of the blood is applied by the Spirit to our consciences, we are thoroughly cleansed from any need to judge ourselves or others (Heb 10:22). We know God’s judgement is completely free from our sort of self-righteousness for the Lord never takes satisfaction in judging as we do. This is emphatically stated in the prophets, “I will not execute my burning anger; I will not again destroy Ephraim; for I am God and not a man, the Holy One in your midst, and I will not come in wrath.” (Hos 11:9), “For the Lord will not cast off forever…for he does not afflict from his heart or grieve the children of men.” (Lam 3:31-33). When Isaiah describes judgement as God’s “alien/strange work” (Isa 28:21) we gain an insight into what was really going on in the heart of the Father as his Son bore our sin on the cross (2 Cor 5:21;1 Pet 2:24). Jesus’ cry “My God, my God why have you forsaken me?” (Mark 15:34) is a heart cry (Luke 6:45) indicating an experience of final separation from the Father, a sort of “descent into hell”. But this isn’t the last word. Jesus’ last cry from the cross, “It is finished.” (John 19:30), means that the validity of any type of final judgement against us has been taken away. That there is “no condemnation” in Christ (Rom 8:1(cf. 8:3-4; 31-39; 1 Cor 15:56-57) is categorically true. Looking through the cross we can clearly see the final condition of our brothers and sisters, and the whole world, before the face of God.
Seeing Clearly
The greater the revelation of Christ crucified (1 Cor 2:2) the greater the ability to “see clearly” and take the “speck” out of our brother’s/sister’s eye (Matt 7:1-5). And a speck it is, because the sacrifice of Jesus has abolished sin’s power to alienate us from God. Seeing clearly in the Spirit into the heart condition of a brother/sister serves the purpose of their spiritual growth. The Spirit longs to cleanse the Church and make her the most beautiful of brides, “Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, 26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 so that he might present the church to himself in splendour, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.” (Eph 5:25-27 cf. Ezek 36:25-27).
Liberation
To be born into the kingdom of God is to be born into a blame-free zone. That’s why Paul testifies, “I do not even judge myself.” (1 Cor 4:3-5). Knowing that he will appear before the “judgement seat of Christ” (2 Cor 5:10 cf. Acts 10:42; 17:31) he is perfectly at peace; for at the final judgement all believers will be found blameless. “he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him” (Col 1:22; 1 Thess 5:23 cf. Eph 1:4; Phil 1:10; 1 Thess 3:13). The expectation of final judgement releases spiritual ecstasy, “Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy” (Jude 24-25 cf. Rev 14:5). If in Christ the Father does not find fault with us, why do we find fault with one another! (Rom 14:4)? Immersed in the glorious unity of the Father and the Son we share in the blamelessness of Jesus (John 17:20-26). We need no more fear final punishment than Christ now needs to fear it (1 John 4:17-18.)
Conclusion
The Church is called to become a blame-free zone as a foretaste of heaven. The Spirit never “convicts” those in Christ as guilty persons before the tribunal of God. When I judge another in a condemnatory way, I am blind both to the grace offered to the other person, and that which is offered to me. This is the action of a “hypocrite” (Matt 7:5). But those who in humility receive God’s grace to take the log out of their own eyes do have authority to correct a fellow disciple for a sin, so that the whole Body of Christ might grow in holiness (Luke 17:3; Gal 6:1; 1 Tim 5:20; 2 Tim 4:2; Tit 1:13; 2:15). To this task we must commit ourselves. “keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.” (1 Pet 4:8).