OVERLOOKING THE OBVIOUS

OVERLOOKING THE OBVIOUS February 12, 2006 Given by: Pastor Rich Bersett [Index of Past Messages] Introduction Sight is one of the most fascinating of God’s creations. Being able to visualize things around us is something we take for granted. By the magnificent design of our Creator God, light enters the eye and is bent (refracted) by the cornea (the eye’s window) with microscopic precision through the pupil (the opening in the iris. This light then passes through the lens, which process then perfects the refraction by fine-tuning even further the focused light onto the retina. In an indescribably complex maneuver the retina changes the energy of the received light into electrical impulses which are then carried via the optic nerve to the vision center of the brain (the occipital cortex) where the image is interpreted. Then the real work begins as the brain sends multiple thousands of messages through the nervous system to the parts of the body that will respond to the visual stimulus in appropriate ways. And that all happens in nano-seconds. Billions of such light-generated processes occur every hour your eyes are open, keeping you safe, informed and responsive to the world around you. But if there is no light entering the eye to begin this busy sequence of events, there may be much going on around you, but you will not be able to see it. Seeing in the dark can be very difficult Even in dim light the receptors in your eyes called rods are doing most of the work, but the message is not complete, because rods co not provide any information about color. The other photoreceptors in your eye called cones are used for seeing color. Cones do not work in dim light. That’s why you can’t see colors in very dim light. All in all, it is very hard to see without light. Metaphorically speaking, eyes are not the only things with which we “see”. Our hearts and minds can see as well. But as it is with physical sight, this spiritual sight requires a kind of light as well. In our text today, Jesus encounters some religious leaders who could see the natural realm very well—they could even predict the weather based on what they saw—but their hearts were robbed of spiritual light and they were rendered blind to the godly teaching of Jesus. Last week in our study we considered how spiritual blindness is the design and strategy of the devil who closes off people’s minds to the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God (2 Corinthians 4:4). Spiritual darkness is not always and completely the devil’s fault, though, and according to Jesus, men and women are held accountable before God for their spiritual blindness. Watch how Jesus rebukes the Pharisees and Sadducees when they foolishly try to satisfy their hunger for the spiritual by demanding signs they could see with their eyes. Matthew 16:1-4 – The Pharisees and the Sadducees came to Jesus and tested him by asking him to show them a sign from heaven. He replied, “When evening comes, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red and overcast,’ And in the morning, ‘Today it will be stormy, for the sky is red and overcast.’ You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times. A wicked and adulterous generation looks for a miraculous sign, But none will be given it except the sign of Jonah.” Jesus then left them and went away. The Blind Teachers The scene of this encounter is a place called Magadan, an obscure area geographically, but we do know that it was a Jewish vicinity. Jesus and His disciples had been ministering in Gentile territory, and have come across the Lake again into the area where the Jews were comfortably present. And along comes a band of Jewish leaders intending to “test” Jesus. You know they were disturbed by His ministry among the Gentiles they Who were these people, and why were they so committed to bring Jesus down? The text says the group was made up of Pharisees and Sadducees. Strange bedfellows! You don’t normally see these two hanging around with one another—there was a lot of difference between them and not a little animosity. The Sadducees were the aristocracy of the Jews, made up of priests who were, shall we say, politically savvy. A wealthy group they had friends in high places in Jerusalem, and among Roman authorities as well. To get anywhere in the higher echelons of Jerusalem, these were the ones you had to schmooze. One of the watchwords of the Sadducees group was wealth, They were the high society of the Jews where palms were greased and bribes were common. Remaining comfortable and not rocking the boat was their specialty, and they prized political expediency over conservative religion. Not particularly pious in their religious practice, the Sadducees were theologically liberal. ‘Didn’t have a lot of time for Torah or the traditions of the faith. They were the liberal branch. They didn’t believe in things supernatural, like angels; nor did they believe in resurrection or life after death (that’s why they were ‘sad, you see!’). The Pharisees, on the other hand, did hold strongly to the traditions of the elders, rigorously defending them against the onslaught of liberalism. They were more of the bourgeois caste, more “working class” people. Because of their ultra-conservative theology, they were seen as the politically radical bunch. The Pharisees were sticklers about keeping the rules, following the Law to the letter and maintaining strict observance of the traditions. Watchwords for this group might include observance of the laws of Torah, ritual religion and tradition. So we have a mixed group here in this scene: the Pharisees or “Ritualists” and the Sadducees, or “Rationalists”. These two groups would not normally be seen dead in each other’s company. What were they doing hanging out together like this? It’s curious thing in sinful humanity, how we will scrap and fuss with those we disagree with, but as soon as we face a common threat or enemy, we have little trouble forming an expedient alliance. As long as I live, I will never forget the televised scenes of Democratic and Republican legislators singing and praying together on Capitol Hill after 9-11. So strong a threat was Jesus becoming to the establishment of Judea that even sworn enemies teamed up against Him. The miracle working rabbi has convinced enough people of His Messiahship that the religious and the political waters were getting choppy. So in an uneasy truce, but determined to discredit Jesus, they’ve come. Their strategy is to “test” Him. Not about to go into unclean Gentile territory, they’ve waited for Him to come back to safe ground. They tested Jesus by asking Him to show them a sign from heaven. What they were ostensibly looking for was some dynamic authentication “from heaven” that would prove that He was indeed a prophet from God. But the real motive, lurking below the surface, was to at least embarrass, if not totally disgrace, Him. They hoped to put Jesus on the spot so dramatically that He would become flustered and fail to produce this convincing “sign.” People always say that if they would just experience a sign from heaven, they would believe, or obey, or somehow respond to God in the way He wants them to. But the funny thing is, the signs of God are all around and they always overlook the obvious. We’re like these blind leaders, they just don’t “see” the things of God The Trouble with Signs The trouble with “signs”—or more accurately, the trouble with seeking after signs—is that we never seem to see what we’re supposed to see. We promise God that if He would just send a sudden windfall economic blessing to us, then we will learn to trust Him and become generous, forgetting to notice the countless blessings we already have from His hand. The skeptic, like the Pharisee, asks for one more proof of God’s existence, while all of creation screams in His ear of His eternal power and divine nature. Doubters cry out to God to give them more assurance concerning the coming reward and whether there is divine judgment coming. But they willfully ignore the inspired Word of God He has already sent, detailing all we need to know about the future. Elizabeth Barrett Browning wrote: Earth’s crammed with heaven, And every common bush afire with God; But only he who sees, takes off his shoes, The rest sit round it and pluck blackberries.” Another poet penned similar sentiment: One asked a sign from God; and day by day The Sun arose in pearl; in scarlet set; Each night the stars appeared in bright array; Each morn the thirsty grass with dew was wet; The corn failed not its harvest, nor the vine-- And yet he saw no sign! Another problem with signs: some people are always seeing signs. That is, some people think they see signs from God in things that were not intended to be signs. Deluded in darkness, people look for God’s leading in horoscopes, psychics, crystals and odd, twisted personal prophecies, and think God is speaking to them through their pets, tea leaves, clouds; they’ve seen Jesus’ image in a taco shell, and the Virgin Mary in the clouds. What we must do is turn in faith to the unfailing, revealed Word and will of God in the pages of scripture, so we will be equipped to recognize genuine manifestations of God. We neither want to miss God nor misrepresent God. But the wisdom to know the difference is in His Word. Some believers insist, I just rely on the Holy Spirit to show me things from God. All too often that comment is really saying, I don’t want to go to the trouble of reading the Bible, I’d rather just get it directly from God. Let me share with you a few of the things I’ve heard from Christian people in the past year or two—things they’ve heard from God through the Spirit: He told me to leave my wife, because our marriage was not His will from the very beginning. The Lord has released us from this church (the fifth church they were “released” from in two years) I felt God leading me to buy the lottery tickets ($400 worth of them, with the rent money) The Lord gave me this job – strip club dancer And we’ve all heard the horrible accounts of how some have been told to kill their children. And don’t tell me, Oh, they were crazy, though! Don’t you be crazy—get your truth from the true source of truth, the Word of God. Remember, if you’re out looking for a sign from God, you will soon be convinced you’ve found one, and it likely won’t be from Him. A man on a diet prayed on his way to work one morning, Lord, when I drive by the donut shop, if there is a parking space open right in front of the shop, I’ll know it’s a sign from you that I should stop and get some. And sure enough, the fourth time around the block, there was a parking spot. Here’s what Jesus said as He faced the Sadducees and Pharisees: An evil, adulterous generation looks for a miraculous sign. I don’t think they appreciated that one, do you? Another thing about signs—even when we encounter them they have surprisingly little effect on us. The children of Israel grumbled in the wilderness and God gave them signs: the parted sea, the pillar of fire and cloud, manna, quail, water from a rock, calamitous judgments, killer snakes and healing snakes . . . and what did they do right afterwards? Grumbled for more! The wicked rich man died after a life of selfishness and stinginess and in the afterworld of suffering he begged Abraham to send someone to warn his living brothers against, and what was the wise response of Abraham? If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead. (Luke 16:31) The point is that, even if Jesus had shown these blind leaders the sign they were looking for, they would not have believed in Him. They had already missed the point. Jesus was God’s ultimate sign. And He tells them for the second time (Matthew 12:39) that the most convincing sign of all was coming soon—the sign of Jonah. On the third day the grave would release Him just as the great fish had released Jonah the prophet. Meanwhile, Jesus was God’s prophet to the Gentiles as well as the Jews, just like Jonah. He chided these leaders concerning their alleged wisdom. You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot [even] interpret the signs of the times. They knew petty earthly things like Red sky at night, sailors delight. Red sky in the morning, sailor’s warning, but they missed the heavenly important arrival of God’s Messiah. Brothers and sisters, let’s forego worldly wisdom and focus on the truth in God’s Word. Another thing about signs: for every believer who understands the things of God, there will be a thousand unbelievers who will misconstrue what He does. Jesus’ miracles were an inducement to faith among those who already trusted in God, but those in the blindness of disbelief called them the work of the devil. There’s no convincing the willfully defiant. It’s hard to see in the dark! Doubters will always overlook the obvious work of God. The bottom line is this: it is best to leave the whole business of signs in the Lord’s hands. We’d love to arrange the when and how and where of miraculous signs, but we are not working with the wisdom of God—only He knows when to send a convincing sign. Part of our problem is we want signs for our convenience—to help us avoid the hard work of faith. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed. (John 20:29) There always comes a time when God is finished making His case. He gives human beings enough evidence through creation, conscience and most excellently through Christ. I find the end of verse 4 interesting and instructive: Jesus then left them and went away. He left them with their fake and faithless search for a sign and said, That’s enough! God does not cater to our whims and our whining for more and more testimony. He graciously makes His case, giving us more evidence than we either deserve or need; then He leaves us to decide in faith or deny in doubt. When we go seeking after signs, begging God to provide just a little more so we can believe, it is idolatry and disbelief. When God decides to send signs, it is always effective in bringing those who will believe to a deeper faith. The next two verses in John 20 say, Jesus did many other signs… But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. (John 20:30-31) Concluding Exhortations I’d like to bring a couple quick exhortations before us as we close. First, let’s learn to grow in our trust of God. Our life in Him is not about how many of our prayers He answers just the way we want Him to. It is more in receiving His answers—yes, no, and wait—and trusting that He knows best. If we want to really grow deeper in our relationship with Him we must become less and less like little children who keep pestering their doting parents for what they want without ever listening to what the parents tell them is best for them. Secondly, I believe we are to deepen our understanding of His revealed Word. If we will diligently seek to know the Lord in the way He told us to know Him, we can be assured we’ll never overlook the obvious works of God. The religious leaders missed the important thing God was doing while grasping for more un-necessary evidence. Let’s learn from this teaching to trade in our avaricious appetite for more “fun stuff” from God, and ask Him to help us be satisfied with what He has already provided us. Then we’ll never overlook the obvious. Related to that is our third and final exhortation: We must become more thankful. We are instructed, even commanded, to give thanks to God for everything—in all circumstances to give thanks. A thankful people will never be a greedy, overreaching people. That dear, wise woman, Erma Bombeck once wrote: An estimated 1.5 million people are living today after bouts with breast cancer. Every time I forget to feel grateful to be among them, I hear the voice of an eight-year-old named Christina, who had cancer of the nervous system. When asked what she wanted for her birthday, she thought long and hard and finally said, "I don't know. I have two sticker books and a Cabbage Patch doll. I have everything!" The kid is right. Vance Havner had this to say: The whole Christian life is one big "Thank You," the living expression of our gratitude to God for His goodness. But we take Him for granted and what we take for granted we never take seriously. And one more quote from one more truly great author, William Temple: It is probable that in most of us the spiritual life is impoverished and stunted because we give so little place to gratitude. It is more important to thank God for blessings received than to pray for them beforehand. For that forward-looking prayer, though right as an expression of dependence upon God, is still self-centered in part, at least, of its interest; there is something we hope to gain by our prayer. But the backward-looking act of thanksgiving is quite free from this. In itself it is quite selfless.   [Back to Top]