Blind Guides, Rotten Fruit,

I - Love a good drawer. because I love a clean desk.

I hide it pretty well so you may never notice BUT is there.

For me it only really comes out when I am playing a game that I’m good at, but doing badly at the moment.

I feel that frustration welling up. I keep it under the surface.

But if you play a lot of games with me, and you get to know me REALLY well. You will be there when my competitive streak breaks the surface

I pretend like I am not but anyone who has played the right games with me for long enough knows,

I - Love a good drawer. because I love a clean desk.

I need to have my spaces at least APPEAR to be clean. But dont look in my drawers.

I need my house to look clean when you come over, but dont go in any of the other parts of the house, :)

I need to feel or at least APPEAR to be organized. Even If I know I fall short of that standard.

Y - We will do just about anything to Feel we are good.

We need to feel we are good.

This need is so strong, because there is a nagging feeling that we are not.

Because we know what goes on in our heads. We know what we think. We know what we do. And a part of us knows deep down just how selfish we can be. Even if we put up a pretty good front.

There are all kinds of ways we respond to this reality.

Denial,

Compensating by doing good things,

following the rules

helping ohters

trying to outweigh

Fighting the impluse

Trying to impress others

Putting on a good front

Distraction,

Feigned Ignorance

Repression,

Justification,

Blaming others,

Comparing ourselves to others,

Hiding the issue,

Despair,

Two big ways our culture deals with this problem are

1. excusing it. Because the pain of guilt is great we say, dont feel guilty, that impulse is not wrong, that is not a sin. As long as your actions dont SEEM to hurt anyone its fine.

our culture deals with these problem is excusing it. Because the pain of guilt is great we say, dont feel guilty, that impulse is not wrong, that is not a sin. As long as your actions dont SEEM to hurt anyone its fine

2. Working really hard to hide it. To follow the rule really well, to call out the sin or shortcomings of others.

Both amount to saying, “I really am a Good Person”

G

Trans: This problem is older than you and i and modern life. Its ancient. Through out human history we have wrestled with the obvious internal evidence that we are not nearly as Good as we want/need to believe we are. And since the very beginning we have dont all kinds of thing to cover that lack.

We have built empires, fought wars, enslaved nations, worshiped Gods, created laws, followed, and broken rules for millennia all to address, all to appear and feel that we are GOOD.

And the people in Jesus day were no different.

Background - Hearing what Jesus has to say. I am bringing something NEW

Poor - Rich

Haters Enemies, and Takers

Jesus concludes with 3 Images.

Images that reflect ways that people try and feel like or appear as Good People. And he cuts through the misdirection.

Blind Guides -

Explain the image

Blind Guides - try to “feel” like good people by pointing out and correcting the “sin” in the lives of others.

Blind Followers - try to “feel” like good people by sticking close to the authority of the blind guide. By picking a leader or a book or a way of life and devotedly trying to live up to the expectations.

Jesus says if this is you you will never make it.

“no matter how close you follow a blind guide you will always end up in a pit!”

Rotten Fruit -

Explain

Sometimes we think if perhaps we just do more good. try a little harder, put your back into it. Make a little more then perhaps we can be “good”

Jesus says no you will never make it. Its NOT a matter of effort.

“no matter how hard you work if you are a rotten tree, you will produce rotten fruit.”

“Red delicious trees dont grow honey crisp apples.”

Bad Foundations -

Explain

Sometimes we think if we just create a good enough appearance for your lives then we will be good. Keep the house clean, go to church, be seen helping others, and be known and respected as someone who does the right thing. If we build a nice strong and beautify house then we will feel good enough!

But Jesus says no, “ no matter how hard you work on your house, no matter how much money you spend, no matter what you even the BEST house without the right foundation is ONE STORM away from collapse.

Sum it up

Hearing Jesus I find myself getting frustrated along with Jesus hearers. Jesus is poking holes in every strategy they have for being good people. Everything they try will fail. Every effort to make the cut, to be GOOD ENOUGH, to get in the door leads to failure it seems.

And as I read this this week I got frustrated.

Because

the BLIND GUIDE is trying his best. its not his fault he or she is blind. The blind follower is trying her best. It’s not her fault she cant see. Just making the best out of a bad sitation.

the rotten tree, the red delicious tree is TRYING ITS BEST. Its not it’s fault its not a honey crisp.

The builder of the unfounded house is TRYING HER BEST. building something impressive and beautiful! Working VERY HARD.

But Jesus deflates all of those ballons. And if we are HEARING him, I found myself left with this.

if those are all bad plans, if none of those will work. Then what am I supposed to DO JESUS?

I imagine his hearers might have felt the same way. I have done it all, what AM I SUPPOSED to do.

“v.47-48”

He says build your life on ME.

Stop trying to make up for your lack, and build on me.

Because,

“as long as we are busy compensating for our guilt, we can never be freed from it.”

Our temptation is always to DENY or to DO MORE for God and others. To try harder and pretend we have it together. To pretend we have it figured out.

To be a better Father or Mother

a better teacher

a better family member

a better friend

a better christian

a better boss

a better human

through more effort, through more denial, through more hard WORK.

But Jesus says no matter how hard the Blind Guide tries, no matter how hard the Rotten Tree tries, no Matter how hard the builder builds on SAND. You only get more evil.

the harder you try to dig yourself out of the pit, the deeper you get.

Instead Admit your lack, build your life on me and be transformed.

because

“as long as you are busy compensating for your guilt, you can never be freed from it.”

Jesus came and lived and died so we can...

Give up the game

Admit your lack

and receive grace and offer it.

And when we do we start to see ourselves like God sees us, and others like god sees them.

Y

Y - A tool for planting in the right place - prayer of Examine

Trans: Every impulse of our sinful nature, ego, the forces of evil, a combination of all thsoe things. They are all directed at DENIEL, at concealing our shortcomings, at pushing things under the rug. We can work really hard to conceal that lack.

W

That impulse is so strong we can admit our sin to ourselves and others one Sunday and by Wednesday be pretending we are perfect again.

So I have been asking myself this week waht is one tool, one practical thing we can try together. Especially during this season of lent to make sure we rest our foundation on Jesus, and his teaching about grace. Rather than our own good efforts.

One tool that christians have used for 400 years is called a prayer of Examen.

Just a tool, could easily become a “spiritual work” so be careful to remember it is not anything but a tool.

Pray like this at the end of your day

1.Give thanks

to god for everything he did that day. Big and small.

2. Ask for the spirit

to help you evaluate honestly the day gone by. Because we are really good at self deception

3. Admit fault.

look back at your day and ask God to point out the ways you have failed. NOT to make yourself feel bad, but to refuse to pretend they didn't happen. To remember the grace of Jesus as your foundation.

4. Ask for forgiveness and healing.

If I have sinned, I ask God to forgive me and set me straight again. If I have not sinned but simply made a mistake, I ask for healing of any harm that might have been done. I ask for help to get over it and move on. I also ask for wisdom to discern how l might better handle such tricky moments in the future.

5. Pray about tomorrow

I ask God to show me how tomorrow might go. I imagine the things I’ll be doing, the people I’ll see, and the decisions I’ll be mulling over. I ask for help with any moments I foresee that might be difficult. I especially ask for help in moments when I might be tempted to fail in the way I did today

W - When we give up misdirection, admit fault, and throw ourselves on the mercy of the court.

You will see yourself as God sees you. Broken, imperfect, but worth redeeming.

LOVED

We will notice just how much effort we were devoting to convincing ourselves, others, and God that we are “GOOD”

We will notice those that we used to judge are far more like us than we would have ever admitted.

We will see them as God sees them, broken, imperfect BUT worth dying for, Utterly LOVED

When we hear God's voice he is often inviting us to stop pretending we know the way. To stop covering our shortcomings, to stop looking for other worse sinners and instead acknowledge our lack and turn to the grace of the one who gives sight to the blind.

We are invited to found our lives not on what others think about us but instead by clinging as close to Jesus as possible, in the way we think and in the way we live. We will not always get it right, but if we keep acknowledging our sin and blindness, keep coming to him (instead of trying to appear like we have it figured out), and keep returning to his teachings over the course of our lives we will find good fruit hanging on our branches. We may even find others drawing near to God not because of our teaching, our criticism, or our leading but because of the fruit God has produced when we planed ourselves as close to him as possible.