The Worthiness of Jesus Sight

Isaiah 6: 9 NIV

He said, "Go and tell this people: 'Be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving.'”

Have You Missed Something?

When I first went to New Orleans to attend graduate school, I was invited to the First Baptist Church by a friend.  The church had a large singles group and I joined it immediately.  After a couple months, the singles had their annual meeting to elect officers.  I sat far in the back of the room as a casual observer, curious about who would be chosen for the various offices but not having any real opinion about who should be elected.  The president was elected, vice president elected and several other positions filled when all of a sudden my name was presented for one of the offices.  You must realize that there were more than a hundred in the singles group and I had only been attending for a few months so I was not prepared for being nominated for any of the positions on the board.  In stunned disbelief, I did not say anything.  My mouth may have been agape for all I know.  But in the silence of the moment when my name still hung in the air, a young college student turned around and looked straight at me, mouthing the words, “accept the nomination.”  I could not remember meeting her; did not know why she thought I should run for the office and was not sure what to make of her encouragement to accept the nomination.  She had bright blue eyes, an effervescent smile and was beautiful.  She clearly had noticed me before and seemed to know me; I on the other had felt like this was the first time I ever laid eyes on her.

Seeing is an interesting matter to consider.  Everyone knows how three witnesses to the same accident can come away with three completely different accounts of what they saw.  Perhaps you have had a disagreement with someone over what the two of you each saw.  It is often said that “seeing is believing” but that is not always the case, especially if it is someone else doing the seeing.  You have not seen what others claim they saw and wondered if their report is true.  Perhaps someone has asked what you saw in a certain person as if you were missing critical details.  It is almost an accusation as if there is something wrong with you.  “What do you see in her?”  You probably must admit that there have been times when you saw but didn’t really see.  Seeing is one of the most important parts of our existence; critical to how we live our lives.  Today we are going to take a look at seeing and how you can make the most of your opportunity to see.

The Bible has much to say about seeing; it is in fact an important theme in Scripture.  In the very beginning of the Bible, we are told that after each day of creation, “…God saw that it was good.” (Genesis 1: 10 NIV)  The most common understanding of this comment is that as God looked at what He created, He noticed that it was all well done.  There is another way we often use the expression “saw that” which may be pertinent.  If I say that she “saw that the job was done right”, it can mean that this person “made sure” that the job was done right.  She saw to it that everything was well done.  Now is that the sense of what Genesis is indicating about God as each day of creation came to a close?  He made sure it was done well!  That could be there too.  It was after all the Lord who did all the creating and after He finished it, the work was perfectly accomplished.  God saw that it was good.

We find that in the Old Testament God sees but also in the New Testament God sees.  Of Jesus we find that, When evening came, many who were demon-possessed were brought to him, and he drove out the spirits with a word and healed all the sick…When Jesus saw the crowd around him, he gave orders to cross to the other side of the lake. (Matthew 8:16, 18 NIV)  In this case, God saw and what He saw resulted in Him acting.  Later, Jesus returned to His hometown and came across another man needing help.  Some men brought to him a paralytic, lying on a mat. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven." (Matthew 9:2 NIV)  What Jesus saw here was more than just a simple act of a collection of men carrying a paralytic to Him for healing!  He saw the faith in the men doing this.  More than just noticing the externals of the action, Jesus saw what was going on within these men when they brought their friend to Him.  Faith in God was working within them.  A third example of Jesus seeing is found in John 1.

Early in Jesus’ ministry as Savior, He began to gather disciples about Him and one of them was Nathanael.  When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said of him, "Here is a true Israelite, in whom there is nothing false."  "How do you know me?" Nathanael asked.  Jesus answered, "I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you."  Then Nathanael declared, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel." (John 1:47-49 NIV)  We have no idea what Nathanael meant by, “How do you know me?”  Any attempts to get at it are speculative.  What did Jesus “know”?  We can’t say.  Clearly however, when Jesus saw Nathanael, He knew something about the soon-to-be disciple that Nathanael was stunned Jesus knew.  There was in God’s seeing that extended to knowing, a knowing that was stunning to those who came across it.

The Scriptures indicate that there are times when God deliberately makes it impossible for us to see and we want to explore this.  No matter how hard someone might stare at something, he or she cannot see what is there.  Color blind people would readily accept this premise but we are talking about something much more profound than that.  In Isaiah 6: 9 we find this statement by God.  "Go and tell this people: 'Be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving.'” (NIV)  God shut down the ability of the people to see and comprehend the critical work God was doing in their midst.  Our Lord is quoted repeating it and the Apostle Paul also echoed it.  He (Jesus) said, "The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of God has been given to you, but to others I speak in parables, so that 'though seeing, they may not see; though hearing, they may not understand.'” (Luke 8:10 NIV)   Some were convinced by what he said, but others would not believe.  They disagreed among themselves and began to leave after Paul had made this final statement: "The Holy Spirit spoke the truth to your forefathers when he said through Isaiah the prophet: "'Go to this people and say, "You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving." (Acts 28:24-26 NIV)  What is troubling about this work of God is that those who don’t see what is there, don’t realize they don’t see it but in their pride they assume we know all there is about the matter.

There are two very ordinary examples in the Old Testament that illustrate this perfectly.  Both are found in 1 Samuel 17.  A Philistine giant named Goliath famously challenged anyone among the soldiers of Israel to fight him.  Whoever’s champion won the battle would then without a fight enslave the loser’s people.  There is an almost comical description of what happened when Goliath issued his dare to the fighting men of Israel.  When the Israelites saw the man, they all ran from him in great fear. (1 Samuel 17:24 NIV)  What all these soldiers saw was the death of them.  They saw defeat, suffering and horror.  With their eyes they saw something that was quite different than what David saw when he looked at Goliath.  He saw a defeated foe, a broken warrior, and opportunity for God to be glorified.  Later when David came out to fight Goliath with just his normal clothes and a sling and some stones, Goliath looked at David and saw only a boy.  His reaction was recorded in the Bible.  He looked David over and saw that he was only a boy, ruddy and handsome, and he despised him.  He said to David, "Am I a dog, that you come at me with sticks?" And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. (1 Samuel 17:42-43 NIV)  What Goliath saw was a victim, but who David actually was he did not see.  David was a victor.  It is human to think we see someone and not see that person at all.  Consider the interesting case of Samuel and his mission to anoint the next king of Israel.

Before this, the prophet Samuel was sent to a particular family living in the small village of Bethlehem to anoint the new king of Israel.  The problem was that Samuel didn’t know who God had chosen of a family of eight boys.  He saw one that looked perfect for the job but he wasn’t God’s choice.  Samuel went through seven of the sons and none of them were who God chose but the eighth, David was who the Lord wanted as the next king of Israel.   The problem Samuel the prophet had in this selection process was that Samuel did not possess a crucial skill set that was needed.  God explained it to him.  …the Lord said to Samuel, "Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart." (1 Samuel 16:7 NIV) 

How many of us can do that?  We think we can see things clearly; that we get it and yet who is able to look at the heart?  Who can go beyond what is visible on the outside and see within a person?  It is of course impossible for us; just like it is impossible for someone colorblind to see blue.  It is not just that we aren’t trained to look into the heart; we are unable to do it.  It has been said that there is always, when we begin to judge someone’s character or motives, one more part of that person we don’t know.  There is one piece to the puzzle we don’t have that would if we had it explain a great deal.  We are incapable of judging a single soul, whether good or bad.  Our Savior does not ask us to figure out people, to get “a handle on them.”  We cannot really see them; see in the heart which is why that is not what He wants us to do.  The Lord has given us this one responsibility when it comes to others.  We are to love them.   We say we can’t do that either.  Yes we can if Christ has become a part of us.  His love, flowing out of the power of the Cross becomes the love we have at our disposal at any time.  You may not be able to figure out what is in the heart of that person next to you but you can love the person next to you.  What God wants you to see whenever you look at someone is that person must have my love and I will give it to her…just like Christ loves me.

Conversion of the Mind

Matthew 7:1 NIV

"Do not judge, or you too will be judged.

Are You Opinionated?

It is one of the most natural of all human behaviors, judging others.  We may not let people in on what we are thinking but we are constantly critiquing and evaluating.  We make determinations regarding the lectures of our professors, the performance of our servers at restaurants, the job done by our hair stylists and the conversational skills of those we meet at parties.  We judge the effort given by our co-workers, the intelligence of our doctors, the creativity of our friends on Facebook and the friendliness of the clerks at supermarkets.  We give everyone we meet a quick evaluation…how well they have dressed, how they smell and how they look.  Often we pride ourselves on how accurately we assess others…their honesty, skill levels and worthiness of our time and friendship.  Fans who have never played above fourth grade baseball somehow know more about baseball than major league managers and millions watching football on TV believe they would not have thrown the “stupid” interception or made the bad pass the point guard made because they are smarter than the players they are watching.

A part of being human is the capacity to judge the skill and effort of others as well as ourselves.  Adam, even before he sinned, was given the task of naming all the animals based on his evaluation of them.  We see in the Bible a number of examples of judging, evaluating and assessing the motives and decision making of friends and co-workers.  King Saul famously decided that young David, his general, was a risk to Saul’s throne and that David’s popularity among the people of Israel might go to David’s head.  Saul came to the conclusion that David was greedy for power and could not be trusted so he tried to kill him.  Was Saul right in his determination?  Did Saul see something in David that warranted his concern?  Perhaps there was a smirk on David’s face when the women of Jerusalem sang about his exploits in front of King Saul.  Maybe David was not as respectful in the way he addressed Saul as Saul thought he should have been.  Whatever evidence Saul had though for judging David disloyal and a traitor, the King later realized it was not sufficient to warrant his mistrust.  He later admitted to David, "You are more righteous than I," he said. "You have treated me well, but I have treated you badly.”(1 Samuel 24:17 NIV)

One of the problems with judging others is that we may be dead wrong in our evaluations and a friendship or alliance that could have been wonderful and beneficial might be lost.  Family relationships can be destroyed by our judging.  Absalom, one of David’s sons became enraged when his half-brother Amnon raped his full-sister Tamar.  Their father David didn’t do anything about the crime though despite being king and having the power to punish Amnon any way he wished.  After three years, Absalom gained his vengeance on Amnon and had him murdered.  This did not settle the account fully though in Absalom’s mind.  He decided that David was wrong in this for not taking up the cause of his sister and thus not competent enough to be king, that he was an unfair and unjust ruler.  He began to gather evidence that David was not just in his other dealings.  Absalom interviewed men and their families as they entered Jerusalem on visits and asked them what they thought about the justice in the land with David as king.  “Did he treat everyone fairly?”  “Did David play favorites, only advancing the careers of those from Judah but disregarding the needs of those from other parts of Israel?

For four years Absalom criticized his father’s fairness as king.  He would get up early and stand by the side of the road leading to the city gate. Whenever anyone came with a complaint to be placed before the king for a decision, Absalom would call out to him, "What town are you from?" He would answer, "Your servant is from one of the tribes of Israel."  Then Absalom would say to him, "Look, your claims are valid and proper, but there is no representative of the king to hear you." And Absalom would add, "If only I were appointed judge in the land! Then everyone who has a complaint or case could come to me and I would see that he gets justice." Also, whenever anyone approached him to bow down before him, Absalom would reach out his hand, take hold of him and kiss him.  Absalom behaved in this way toward all the Israelites who came to the king asking for justice, and so he stole the hearts of the men of Israel. (2 Samuel 15:2-6 NIV)  With Absalom, the judgmental attitude toward his father festered into hatred that careened out of control.  Not every critical thought morphs into disgust and loathing. Some just fade to ambivalence and disinterest.  However, never does a critical and judgmental thought disappear from the mind.  It always leaves its mark; always damages in some way our personality.

Two of the Disciples, James and John, responded with rage to the lack of interest in Jesus and His ministry shown by the leaders of a Samaritan village and they made a rather troubling request of Him.  When the disciples James and John saw this, they asked, "Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them?"  But Jesus turned and rebuked them, and they went to another village.  (Luke 9:54-56 NIV)  This was an extreme reaction to a mundane occurrence.  It is not like these people were ripping into Jesus or wanting to stone Him to death.  They just weren’t interested in hearing Him because He was going to Jerusalem.  Was this the only collection of people who had some sort of reason for turning aside from Christ?  Of course not!  But James and John for some reason believed they were far worse than all the other critics and skeptics of Jesus.  Our Lord rebuked them for their judgmental response to the Samaritans.  We can be certain that there was a much bigger concern of James and John than that these poor villagers didn’t want Jesus lecturing them about religion.  Perhaps racism was at the root of their criticism…perhaps it was their nationalism rearing its head in them…they were not happy that the Samaritans had a bad opinion of Jerusalem.  Whatever the case nearly every time we become judgmental, there is something behind our criticism that fuels it.  Something that runs much deeper than our sense of fashion, political beliefs or loyalty to God!

Jesus’ command during His Sermon on the Mount is unequivocal.  We must not judge others!  "Do not judge, or you too will be judged.” (Matthew 7: 1 NIV)  Luke quotes Jesus almost exactly the same way.  "Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned.” (Luke 6:37 NIV) This is an astounding demand of God.  We all are so good at judging others.  Not only that, our criticism is always warranted or so we think.  Yet it seems that our Lord does not care how smart we believe we are or how wise we decide our evaluations, we are not to judge others critically.  Of course this is not saying judgments are never to be made.  Those in places of authority are directed by God to make judgments when the law is broken.  Murder, vandalism, theft; God puts it in the hands of those in authority to judge crimes and determine guilt or innocence.  God has established Law as a protection for us from the evil in people’s hearts.  Jesus is not dealing with authority judgement in these passages.  He is commanding against personal judgment.

Let us be clear about this.  There is never a time when a Christian, who is not in a position of authority under the law or as a part of his or her occupation, is given permission to judge the character, motives or actions of another person, whether that person is Christian or non-Christian, in this life.  To do so puts us in direct opposition to God and His mercy.  If you or I judge someone, the Lord will judge us and we would be hard-pressed to find an instance where God’s judgment was pleasant.  Yet our Lord has made us judging people, with critical minds and discerning hearts.  Why is it that, if we are not to use those skills unless we are circuit judges, we have the instantaneous judging mechanism up and running all the time?

Our mind is wired this way by God that we might be skillful at prayer, quickly seeing what we need to bring to God and able to join with the Lord in what He shows us.  If you see an area of weakness in someone or a moral flaw, you take that to God as soon as you become aware of it.  Your professor is giving a boring lecture, pray for God to help her.  A friend has been gossiping about you, bring it to the Lord for Him to fix.  Your parent prepared something for dinner that is not very good, pray for God to help your parent do better.  A hotel clerk is snappy with you and it is irritating, rather than snap back at her or talk about her rude behavior with your wife or co-worker, bring her to the Lord for healing.  One of your relatives clearly doesn’t like you and treats you disrespectfully and you want to “tell her off.”  You cannot.  You must talk only with God about her and ask the Lord to change her ways.  The person of any use to God is the one who prays.  God’s way for us to help people is by letting Christ work through us and He will never do so if we judge them or criticize them.  Have we ever helped anyone with our criticism?  We probably have often hurt them with our criticism, but helped them…most likely not!   We can be certain we have never hurt anyone with our prayers, but we have most assuredly helped every one of those we have prayed for God to come alongside and build into perfection!  Greatness in our Lord’s Kingdom is never determined by our ability to see the faults in others but by our faithfulness to pray for each person God brings our way.

The Evil Eye

Have you come to the spot where you notice something wrong with another person?  Do you see clearly that person’s flaws, moral inadequacies or bad behavior?  Do you recognize what that person must do to get things straight so he or she can be a better person?  Well great!  Pray about it.  Pray with humility and great respect for the work of God already accomplished in that one person.  Pray, recognizing God’s sovereignty in that life as the creator and sustainer and the finisher of the work He has already begun.  Bite your lip and slap your face though as you start to be God and point out what you have seen wrong with the person.  Cut out your tongue before you try to get out a word of criticism.  Be as harsh with your soul as Pontius Pilate was with Jesus if you think you should begin to give way to your urge to judge one of the Lord’s own.  You open yourself up to all the flaming darts of the evil one if you begin to take your place as corrector and faultfinder because, as well-intended as you mean to be, you have stood in the place of Satan and usurped him in his obscene work.  Satan is the accuser and if you wish to join him in his rebellion against the Lord, then at least be prepared for the consequences.  Nothing shuts down the work of God in us quicker than our sharp tongue and critical evaluations.  We cannot advance at all with God if we take this stance abrogating God’s authority.  Of course we mean well when we point out flaws and correct personality deficiencies…just like Eve meant well when she offered Adam the fruit.  Given how high the stakes, would it not be better just to swallow our criticisms like a deadly poison pill than let them get out into the open and make ourselves enemies of God?  If you see something wrong with another person, pray about it and let the matter rest with Jesus Christ who knows what to do with such things.

Do not judge or you too will be judged.  Matthew 7: 1 NIV