Matthew 7:1-6 is a famous passage. Let’s bookend the passage and then come back to the meat in the middle. Take a minute and read that passage.

Bookend Side 1 – Matthew 7:1. Jesus in the “sermon on the mount” says, “do not judge so that you won’t be judged”

People like this verse from their own perspective, and for their own benefit. The application is “leave me alone and I’ll leave you alone”

Bookend side 2 – v6 finishes, “don’t give what is holy to dogs or toss your pearls before pigs, or they will trample them under feet, turn, and tear you to pieces.”

“Dogs” and “Pigs” were slang terms used in pride to refer to “Gentiles” or those who were NOT the people of God. But here in Matthew 7, Jesus is talking to those who claim to follow God. Yet for those who don’t follow God, there are more important things to focus on. Let’s lead them toward a relationship with God first, and then course correction, clean up, comes later.

Proverbs 23:9 “Don’t speak to a fool, for he will despise the insight of your words

Proverbs 9:7-10 instructs similarly: “the one who corrects the mocker will bring abuse on himself… 8 Don’t rebuke a mocker, or he will hate you; rebuke the wise and he will love you. 9 Instruct the wise… be wiser still… teach the righteous… will learn more. 10 the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom… understanding

So, Jesus is NOT saying, “do not correct”. That Hebrew word in Proverbs 9, yasar = admonish, correct, train. But the Greek word here in Matthew 7 for “judge” is krino = pass judgment on, condemn, go to law

This passage is not saying do not correct in proper time and order, but Jesus is warning about Judgement. In Judgment, Jesus warns the standard you use, will be used on you

The reason people often don’t listen to church folks is they feel us passing judgment, condemning, not simply correcting.

They are also rightly saying that there is much wrong with us too.

I seem to remember that “ALL have sinned and come short of the glory of God” Splinters and Beams are BOTH Short of the Glory.

Interesting words used by Jesus, he asks, “why do you LOOK at the splinter?” that word is blepsis = see – We quickly see the splinter, the speck in our brother…

But you do not NOTICE (katanoeo = consider, contemplate) the beam of word in your own eye

Jesus is not saying do not correct, but he IS saying do not condemn, and be fully aware of the personal situation as well.

He is talking about ORDER

FIRST – take (ekbalein = expel, drive out) the beam from your own eye

THEN – you will see clearly – What will we see? that I’m a sinner too, but for God’s grace – I was condemned too. But Jesus has made me righteous, he has made me whole. He is going to present me blameless in Glory.

In order – THEN you will see, and I would add, gain permission to work with someone else to take the splinter out of your brother’s eye

If your friend then is an unbeliever and if they reject the need and offer of assistance, leave it alone. Continue to bring them to, point them toward, Jesus. Continue to love. Seek the more important stuff.

Often we are trying to deal with splinters when we need to be dealing with heart issues, eternal things, not the temporary.

Oswald Chambers, speaking on this passage said, “stop having a measuring rod… there is always one more fact in every case about which we know nothing.”

Then he went on to say, “I have never met the man I could despair of after discerning what lies in me apart from the grace of God”

Remember, Jesus said in John 3:17 – God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world but to save the world through him