Jump Start # 955

Matthew 13:16 “But blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear.”

One of the frustrating things about speaking publicly is when someone in the audience misses the point of what you are saying. Sometimes the speaker has to consider if he is clear and plain in his speaking. Other times, especially when it seems everyone else gets the point, there will be one who was in la-la land and he misses it. I like to use illustrations and stories in my lessons. I feel they help connect with what I am saying. Every once in a while someone will grab hold of the illustration and talk more about that than anything else. I’ve even had some who will write out detailed step by step notes about my illustration, which means that they were busy writing and missing what I was saying. That happened again recently. The illustration was picking apples. Someone gave me a detailed note about how to pick apples. He even explained to me every step that he had written out on the note. He was passionate about apple picking. That’s all he talked about. He didn’t say anything about the lesson, only the apple illustration. I’m glad he cared enough to enlighten me about apple picking but I’d much rather engage in a conversation about what I was talking about on the spiritual level.

I wonder if anyone ever did that to Jesus. I wonder if someone talked to the Lord about how to sow the seed? Did they hand Jesus a note about the best way to scatter seed? Jesus wasn’t really talking about farming. He used that to discuss a spiritual lesson. I have seen audiences laugh. I have seen them brought to tears. I have seen people smiling while the preacher was serious. I’m sure the preacher must have wondered what he was missing, what was going on, or what had just happened.

Our verse today is found in the Lord’s explanation about parables. We typically would not consider this one of the “Beatitudes” but it looks just like one of them. Blessed are your eyes and your ears. Blessed because they are doing what they should spiritually. Your eyes are seeing spiritually. Your ears are hearing spiritually. This isn’t easy for some folks. Thinking spiritually isn’t done very often. They don’t have their spiritual radar turned on. Ask a question of depth and insight and some give you that “deer in the headlights” look. Their world is simple, shallow and what is before them. They don’t think spiritually. Jesus wants us to. He wants our eyes seeing spiritually. He wants our ears listening spiritually.

How? How do some do that and others don’t? It comes down to a choice. It involves thinking. Outside of our jobs, there isn’t a lot of thinking that takes place. TV is very shallow. Turn the brain off when it is on. Most don’t read anymore. There isn’t a lot of brain cells being used. That’s where spiritual vision begins. Thinking. Thinking spiritually. When David saying, “When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have ordained” (Ps 8:3). David was “considering. Hebrews 11 says Moses was “considering the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt” (26). Moses was considering. They were thinking spiritually. They were looking within and connecting to the word of God.

Thinking spiritually is the key to success with God. We cannot always be spoon fed and told step by step this is what you do. We need to think for ourselves. We need to apply what God says inward.

Jesus understood the value of this. This is why He said, “blessed are your eyes because they see and your ears because they hear.” Many only heard stories that Jesus told. The disciples grasped life changing lessons in those stories. They became better people because of Jesus’ words.

So, it’s fair to ask, “Am I getting the point?” Listening to sermons, reading, even these Jump Starts, are mediums to connect us to the word of God. I must make that connection. If you miss your connection, you are stuck in the airport physically. If you miss the connection spiritually, you fail to get the point and nothing happens. Could that be why some complain, “I don’t get anything out of church?” Could it be that their eyes and ears are not working spiritually? Could it be that they are missing the point?

One of the greatest joys of preaching is when someone remembers a point you made years ago and it stuck with him. That happens. It’s wonderful. It makes you realize that yes you are doing something right.

Eyes and ears—are they working spiritually? Are they making connections? Are they making you think? Are they making you look within?

The best eyesight is the one that can look in spiritually.

Roger