Training in Discipleship

Since reading Dallas Willard's book The Great Omission: Reclaiming Jesus's Essential Teachings on Discipleship, I have sought to grow in my own walk with Christ.  My initial foray has taken me to the Sermon on the Mount found in Matthew 5-7.  For just over three weeks, I have made it a daily discipline to read, study, and internalize these three chapters.  It is my hope to internalize them to the point that Jesus' words become a part of me so that I do not hesitate to practice them as best as I can.  For I have come to realize that part of my integrity as a Christian and as a pastor relies upon it.  For the next several blog posts, I will share some of my own reflections on portions of the Sermon on the Mount and my own ability/inability to put them into practice.

“Do not judge, so that you may not be judged. ²For with the judgment you make you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get. ³Why do you see the speck in your neighbor’s eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye? ⁴Or how can you say to your neighbor, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ while the log is in your own eye? ⁵You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbor’s eye.  --Matthew 7:1-5

Perhaps this is one of the most quoted of Jesus' sayings, not only by Christians but especially by non-Christians.  Usually, it's made when a Christian speaks up about the actions of someone they see who is doing something sinful.

The person on the receiving end of the Christian's diatribe says, "Thou shalt not judge..."

But if we cannot judge, how can we say something is right or wrong?  How can we call out injustice or immorality?

It may sound extreme, but what if a Christian speaks out against a man who is abusing a woman, and the man turns to the Christian and says, "Thou shalt not judge..."  Does a Christian have the authority to judge such a thing?

As I have read these verses and let them sink in, I have become very aware that Jesus does say there is an appropriate time and place for judgment.  There is a time and a place where we can say that something is wrong, something is sinful, something must be stopped.

But to get to that time and place requires some pretty heavy work on our part.

"First take the log out of your own eye, and THEN you will see clearly to take out the speck in your neighbor's eye."

Jesus asks us to look deep into our own eyes.  To confront ourselves first.  To confront our sinfulness.  Our shortcomings.  Our hypocrisy.  Jesus asks, no commands, us to be honest about how we do not follow the will of God in our own lives.  And Jesus asks us to begin the process, sometimes a painful one, of removing the logs from our own eyes. 

This is not a fun process.  And it's hard.  It's easy to see where others fall down.  It's harder to point the finger at ourselves.  It's harder to see our own faults and failings.  Many times we miss what is right in front of us because we have spent quite a bit of time justifying our own behaviors so that we become blind to our sinfulness.  And because we have justified ourselves and our actions, we arrive at a point where we feel righteous in and of ourselves. 

But Jesus confronts us and judges us.  The one without sin says to us, "Whoa buddy!  Don't be so quick on the draw.  You've got a few flaws yourself.  Take a look in the mirror."

A humbling experience if you actually do so.

Very humbling.

So humbling, sometimes, that you realize there are some things you have no business confronting in others.  Because you know you have work to do on yourself.

So humbling, sometimes that when you see others doing wrong, you understand and have compassion upon them because you know they are justifying things for themselves just like you did.

So humbling, sometimes that when you know you must confront someone with the speck in their eye, you do so with a different tenor in your voice; a different manner in your approach--a tenor and a manner that does not speak of judgment or condemnation but instead speaks in terms of compassion and understanding.

There is no harm in judging, according to Jesus.  But one must do so with the utmost humility after truly  and thoroughly judging oneself first.