Three Blind Mice

See how they Run//They all ran after the farmer’s wife

She cut off their tails with a carving knife, // Did you ever see such a sight in your life...

Being blind, gets you into trouble…and it seems like everyone notices

We have 3 illustrations of blindness here

The perfect follow-up to the last 2 weeks…particularly last week

…asking ourselves how we measure up in the aspects of loving, not judging, not condemning, forgiving and giving—can we exhibit grace

Are we good ambassadors of God?

Being reconciled with our brothers and sisters?

Leading non-believers to reconciliation with God?

We are often blind to our own condition

We begin this text with a short parable, a physical truth that illustrates a spiritual truth

The Blind Guide

English Standard Version Chapter 6

Can a blind man lead a blind man?

This is constructed in a way to lead to a NO answer

Conversely

English Standard Version Chapter 6

Will they not both fall into a pit?

is constructed to lead to a positive response

Common sense in the physical realm

Equally true in the spiritual realm, and we’re talking about spiritual blindness

Jesus used the term “blind guide” often

Matthew 23:24 ESV

You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel!

Matthew 15:14 ESV

Let them alone; they are blind guides. And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.”

That one sounds familiar---If we look back to that, we find a bigger context, once again, lambasting the Pharisees

Matthew 15:10–11 ESV

And he called the people to him and said to them, “Hear and understand: it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person.”

We conclude that there is a concern over blindness among spiritual leadership

The Pharisees were blinded by their own self-righteousness; thus incapable of effectively leading the people

Plenty of proof in the Gospel accounts, when their status and position of authority was threatened by this upstart, Jesus, they plotted to kill Him

When Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead, the were plotting to kill him as well...

Yup! That’s leadership at its finest

The Blind Student

English Standard Version (Chapter 6)

A disciple is not above his teacher...

Sadly, many think they know more than the teacher

This is a reality of learning

Unconscious incompetence—the one who doesn’t know how much he doesn’t know

Often seen as the know-it-all who knows nothing

Conscious incompetence—the one who knows how much he doesn’t know

Conscious competence—the one who has to think through what he knows

Unconscious incompetence—the one who is at the peak performance; the equal of his teacher

This is what we should be striving for; but too many are not

In spiritual matters, we must be thoroughly versed in the Scripture

2 Timothy 3:16–17 ESV

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

That’s how we become perfect!

Coming into a learning environment with the attitude of

“I know more than the teacher”

“I defy you to teach me anything” …and we have such people in our churches

Exhibits blindness

They come every Sunday morning

Sometimes are among the most regular

But they’re not a frame of mind to be taught

They’re blind to their need to be taught

The Blind Counselor

This is the one that ties back to last week’s text and message

The one who is more than willing to correct everyone else; unwilling to deal with his own sin

The one who is so busy judging, criticizing, tearing down others that he/she cannot see the reality of the sin in his/her own life

He’s more than willing to fix you, unwilling to confront what may be a larger problem he may have

This one Jesus calls a hypocrite! One of the most harsh terms He uses in the Gospels.

Think of the dangers of having a blind surgeon…that’s the level of danger we have here—in the realm of spiritual issues

…and He gives the fix…deal with your own problem first!

We should expect non-believers to be blind; never enlightened by the Gospel of Jesus Christ

We need to bring them to a saving knowledge of Jesus

That should be our #1 desire

Confronting Blindness within the Church

…and linking all this to the last couple weeks’ lessons

As a leader, a teacher, a counselor

The three blind mice all did something stupid: running after the farmers wife

It didn’t end well for them—no tails

The became something of a spectacle: no tails

Our three types of blind folks all have their own set of problems,

All of them are poor examples of Christians, and blind to their own issues

We have blind guides

The blind guide falls into a pit, with the person he’s leading

We have churches/church leaders who are blinded by the god of this age

We have a recent example—hot off the press

New Heaven and New Earth Church of NY

It’s a cult that is drawing in poorly taught, undiscerning pastors and church members

It’s teaching heresy

It’s attractive, it will pull people from the truth

It is just one of many—we’ve had the Unification Church of the 70s and 80s—the Moonies;

Mormons, JWs, a host of smaller cults…all with sources of authority other than Scripture

All of them are diverting their followers from the truth

We have blind students

We’ve had a few incidents within churches locally

These people are blind to their own ignorance, and lead people away from the truth—often dividing, even destroying churches

They are not correctable, they are not welcome as they promote division

All who teach within this church are wary enough to sort them out, strong enough to dismiss them

We have blind counselors

Whether formally counselling on behalf of the church, or informally—or professionally

Counselors who use secular methods/concepts EVEN WHEN THEY ARE CONTRARY TO GOD’S WORD

These we warn against

We warn our people to seek counsel only from one who is solidly grounded in the Word…and has dealt with his/her own sin

That is the point of the text—before we offer to help or guide, we must deal with our own sins or we are more blind than the one we attempt to help

Escaping the Blindness

Dealing with the sin in our own lives allows us to see clearly; not dealing with it brings on blindness—and that gets worse with time

The longer we allow sin to have influence in our lives, the more blind we become

From the outside looking in, we become a spectacle: see how they run, see how they run