Are You Blind to Your Own Blindness?

How is your eyesight? No I am not asking if you have 20-20 vision or if you can read the fine print on a contract. The real question we must ask ourselves is how is our spiritual eyesight? Do we see things as Jesus would want us to or are we viewing the world as our own fleshly desires would have us?

In Matthew chapter 18 we find the disciples, men who had actually walked with Jesus and witnessed miracles, healings, and the unselfishness of the Messiah Himself yet still having the audacity to ask the question, who amongst us is the greatest? Somehow after spending all this time with the most humble man ever they still wanted to know which one of them was going to be top dog.

Before we criticize the though maybe we should look inward at our own hearts. Maybe we should review the prayers we lift up and the things we ask God for. Personally I have been a Christian for a long time. I actually prefer the term disciple of Christ over Christian because the term Christian means “little Christ” and I am far from that. But to be a disciple is to be a student and that is more what I am. Jesus is the master; the supreme example of what we should be like as we traverse this life.

Though we aren’t literally blind it is possible to blind yourself. It is possible to see what you want to see rather than what really is. That is exactly what religion is. Religion is man’s way. Jesus did not come to set up a religion; He came to restore a relationship. In the Garden of Eden Man walked with God. Then sin came into the world when Adam and Eve chose to disobey God and ever since man lives in rebellion to God. Man is blind to the truth.

In Matthew chapter 19 starting at verse 16 Jesus uses a parable to teach us the truth of what He desires from those who want to be His. The rich young man asks, Matthew 19:16,“Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?”

Rather than answer the question Jesus first asks him a question.

Matthew 19:17
“And he said to him, “Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. If you would enter life, keep the commandments.”

Notice that Jesus doesn’t’ give this man the Gospel. Instead Jesus gives Him the law. This goes against much of what the modern church will teach you about witnessing. You see the problem with so many of us is that we do not really think we are that bad. We compare ourselves to others and say, “Oh I’m ok. Look at him. He’s a thief or a homosexual and I’m a pretty good guy. I follow the Ten Commandments. I have bad news for you if you think that way. You are blind.

The reason Jesus took the rich young man down the path of the law was to teach him (and us) that there is only one standard for entry into His Kingdom and that is perfection. If you do not understand the absolute holiness of God then you cannot understand the extreme value of what Christ did for you on the cross. This young man actually thought he kept every part of the law. Jesus probably snickered when the guy said, “All these I have kept” in verse 20 and could have challenged that claim easily but instead hit him with something else; his own obsession with possessions. This man who claimed to live a perfect life was unwilling to let go of his possessions to follow Jesus and chose them over heaven. This man was blind to his own greed and materialism.

Check out what happened next.

Matthew 19:21-25
Jesus said to him, “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”  When the young man heard this he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.  And Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly, I say to you, only with difficulty will a rich person enter the kingdom of heaven.  Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.”  When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished, saying, “Who then can be saved?”

The disciples, dumb as they sometimes can be, ask the right question, “Who CAN be saved” if perfection is the standard?

Matthew 19:26
But Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

In one word Jesus has essential given the Gospel. Only by the great gift of grace and mercy can man be saved. He has no hope in self.

Jesus was not condemning all rich people here nor was He declaring riches as evil in themselves. He was teaching us that our hearts are the problem and that our own blindness to our personal depravity will keep us out of heaven. The rich young ruler never heard the Gospel, Jesus didn’t give it to him. Why not? Because he was blind to the fact that he needed to be saved from his sins. The Gospel will not have a saving effect on those who do not know they need to be saved.

So as we come now to a new year I suggest each and every one of take a good hard look at ourselves. Do we recognize our own sinfulness or are we too busy seeing the sin in others? Jesus never abolished the law. Oh He did away with the rules on foods and stuff like that but the gist of the law, the Ten Commandments, are moral laws that will never pass away. In truth Jesus made the challenges of the law even more stringent because He changed them from physical rules into rules that reach into our hearts. Even thinking about another woman lustfully is adultery is the New Covenant. It’s about the heart and we all fail miserably.

But the good news is that we are not without hope. “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” Through complete surrender to Christ we can be saved and He sent His Holy Spirit to live in those who seek Him with all their heart. The Holy Spirit empowers us to change and to become more like Christ every day.

I want to share three things we should commit to in the New Year. Put these three things above all your other resolutions.

     

1.    Love Christ Supremely

2.    Obey Him at all Cost

1       3.   Glorify Him Completely

Friends are you spiritually blind? I leave you this morning with one last scripture reading. In it is the prayer we must pray.

Matthew 20:29-33
And as they went out of Jericho, a great crowd followed him.  And behold, there were two blind men sitting by the roadside, and when they heard that Jesus was passing by, they cried out, “Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!”  The crowd rebuked them, telling them to be silent, but they cried out all the more, “Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!”  And stopping, Jesus called them and said, “What do you want me to do for you?”  They said to him, “Lord, let our eyes be opened.”

Watch what Jesus did in response to their cry.

Matthew 20:34
And Jesus in pity touched their eyes, and immediately they recovered their sight and followed him.

Lord, let our eyes be opened.