I want you to consider this question as we begin.
Why is it that some people can go to a church service and leave super excited about what God has done in their life? They are ready to charge towards hell with a water pistol, they have a hallelujah in their mouth and a praise in their heart. Then there are other people can be at the exact same service and leave just as empty and spiritually uninspired as when they arrived? They walk away saying the service wasn’t very good. How does that happen? Did God move through the audience and play favorites? Did He bless some people and bypass others? Is it the preacher’s fault? It’s happened to me and Laura. We went to a service that was packed in a 3,000 seat auditorium. There was an excitement in the room that you could sense. We were given special seating on the front row. We were in a perfect position to receive an amazing word from God that could turn our lives around. When the music started, the people all around us were excited, lifting their hands and shouting praise to God. I thought to myself, these folks may get a little out of hand. They didn’t care who was looking at them or what anyone else thought. But we just stood quietly wondering why they felt the need to be so “expressive”. The preacher must have done a great job, because everyone certainly seemed to be into the message. But we left thinking that it was OK, but it’s not for us. I wasn’t changed like the other people around me. I didn’t feel or receive anything. Why was that?
Let me explain it like this. Have you ever seen a shooting star? The event normally goes something like this. You are outside on a clear night with other people and one person says, “Did you see that!?”. You respond, “no, what was it?”. It was a shooting star and it was awesome to see...but you didn’t see it. Because you weren’t looking up. Shooting stars only happen in the sky, so if you’re not looking up in expectation, you won’t see it. The experience of the person looking up in expectation was very different from the person looking down, not actually interested in being outside. If you ask the two people to describe their outside experience, they would have very different feelings about it. The sky wasn’t different, the star wasn’t different...the view was different. Perhaps we don’t see a move of God...because we are not looking for a move of God. A church service is different for people who are looking, expecting and seeking from God. Those who are not interested in looking, seeking and expecting to receive from God will not be disappointed...because God will not force Himself on you. I’ve wondered why people would even go to church if they aren’t there to seek after God. Then I remembered why I used to go. Getting together with your friends at a church is fun. Listening to great music is fun. And if the preacher is engaging, even listening to a sermon can be fun. You see, a lot of people enjoy the experience of church, but they didn’t show up to have an encounter with God.
You cannot have an encounter with The Living God and leave the same way you showed up. You will be changed. If you leave and the only thing that has changed is your opinion of the preacher or singers, then your spiritual eyes were closed and you were looking only through your natural eyes. Having your spiritual eyes closed will prevent you from receiving the encounter with God that He has available for you. People who have their spiritual eyes open will come to church expecting something from God, but people who are spiritually blind will come to church expecting something from the pastor and singers. After Jesus told the parable of the sower in Matthew 13, His disciples asked Him why He spoke to the crowds in parables. Jesus replied with something that was shocking. He said that He spoke in parables so they wouldn’t understand, because the secrets of the kingdom had not been given to them. The crowds were following Jesus because of what they could get, not because He was the Messiah. That is why their eyes were not opened to understand the mysteries of the kingdom. Let’s look at what Paul says when he is writing to the church in Ephesus. He mentions praying for their spiritual eyes to be opened and what they would see or understand when they are no longer blind. Ephesians 1:15-19 “15 Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, 16 do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers: 17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of
glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, 18 the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe” To help us understand the basic idea Paul was communicating, I’m going to read it again using only the base phrases and not all the modifiers. This is Pastor Randall’s paraphrase, starting half way into verse 16. “I always mention you in my prayers, that God may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation. WHY? So that the eyes of your understanding will be enlightened. WHY? So that you may know the hope of His calling, the glory of His inheritance and the exceeding greatness of His power.” When your eyes are opened by the spirit of wisdom and revelation, it will allow you to see or understand 3 things about God: The hope of His calling The glory of His inheritance The greatness of His power. Did you notice that nothing in that list has anything to do with the preacher or singers. When your spiritual eyes are opened God will begin to reveal Himself...not other people. Here’s a kingdom key: God has to give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in order for your eyes to be opened. Notice that Paul is talking to people who already have “faith in Jesus and love for all the saints”. He’s not talking about having
the eyes of sinners opened to the message of salvation...he’s talking about our eyes as believers opened for revelation about God. We must ask God for the spirit of wisdom and revelation, so we will have spiritual vision. This is how we are able to seek the kingdom. In Luke 24 we read about a couple of guys who were disciples of Jesus that were spiritually blind and feeling down about what had happened to Him when He was crucified. Luke 24 “13 Now behold, two of them were traveling that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was seven miles from Jerusalem. 14 And they talked together of all these things which had happened. 15 So it was, while they conversed and reasoned, that Jesus Himself drew near and went with them. 16 But their eyes were restrained, so that they did not know Him.” These guys were walking around rehashing their defeat, trying to make sense of it and feeling sorry for themselves. They didn’t see or understand spiritually what had happened, so they could only view the situation from an earthly perspective. That’s a danger for us also. We have to be seeking God and asking for our eyes to be opened to understand His word. Otherwise we will always be seeing our situations from an earthly perspective instead of a Kingdom perspective. We have to have a new perspective. We can’t live in the memory of our past. We have a memory file of our past, that includes all the good times and the bad. It’s fun to remember the good times, but the enemy wants to remind us of our failures, but we have to
understand that we ARE NOT defined by what we went through. We must see ourself the way God sees us. God sees you, as who He created you to be. For 30 years I saw a TV Producer but God saw a Pastor! When I started seeking and asking for my eyes to be opened, that is what He did. And here we are today. Luke 24:17-19 “And He said to them, “What kind of conversation is this that you have with one another as you walk and are sad?” 18 Then the one whose name was Cleopas answered and said to Him, “Are You the only stranger in Jerusalem, and have You not known the things which happened there in these days?” 19 And He said to them, “What things?” Jesus wanted to see if they believed in Him and if they had any faith. It didn’t take long for them to reveal what was in their heart...because they started talking. Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. Luke 24:19-20 “So they said to Him, “The things concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a Prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, 20 and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered Him to be condemned to death, and crucified Him. Sounds good so far, but here is where they shift from what “happened” to what they “expected.” The conflict in their mind was the result of unmet expectations. Conflict is always a result of unmet expectations. Things didn’t go the way they wanted so they were disappointed.
Luke 24:21-24 “But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel. Indeed, besides all this, today is the third day since these things happened. 22 (other guy) Yes, and certain women of our company, who arrived at the tomb early, astonished us. 23 When they did not find His body, they came saying that they had also seen a vision of angels who said He was alive. 24 And certain of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said; but Him they did not see.” God is Ok with us speaking our mind, but we should expect that He will correct our thinking if we are telling Him things didn’t go right and how we think He should have dealt with a situation. Luke 24:25-27 “Then He said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! 26 Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?” 27 And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.” Oh snap! He spent the next couple hours showing them just how wrong they were. He went all the way back to Moses and the prophets to make His point. Their Eyes Were Opened Luke 24:28-31 “Then they drew near to the village where they were going, and He indicated that He would have gone farther. 29 But they constrained Him, saying, “Abide with us, for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent.” And He went in to stay with them. 30 Now it came to pass, as He sat at the table with them, that He took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. 31 Then their eyes were opened and they knew Him; and He vanished from their sight.”
He goes to stay with them for the evening and as they were about to eat, He breaks bread, blesses it and when He handed it to them...their eyes were opened and they realized it was Jesus that had been with them the entire time. They had been blind because they weren’t seeking Jesus the Messiah, they were seeking for Israel to be redeemed. They were too focused on the well being of their country. Thats a word for us as we can get consumed with politics. Let’s not be so focused on America being redeemed that we lose sight of the one thing we are called to focus on...seeking the kingdom. Focusing on anything other the kingdom can blind us to the truth of God’s purpose for us. Luke 24:32-35 “And they said to one another, “Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?” 33 So they rose up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together, 34 saying, “The Lord is risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!” 35 And they told about the things that had happened on the road, and how He was known to them in the breaking of bread.” As soon as their eyes were opened and they could understand, they realized why their hearts had burned with excitement while He spoke on the trip to Emmaus. They were so excited about what they now understood that they left right then and traveled back to Jerusalem to tell the other disciples. Remember it was already evening and Jerusalem was 7 miles away, which means they walked for about 2.5 hours listening to Jesus while headed to Emmaus. And then turned around and went right back to tell the other disciples.
Have you ever been that excited to tell someone what God revealed to you? That’s the way we can know that we have had our eyes opened to understand the Kingdom message. Our hearts will burn to go tell others so they can share in the excitement. You can’t have your eyes truly opened and then be able to keep it to yourself. The message of the Kingdom is like a fire that has to expand and consume those it touches.
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