LOVE LIKET THAT: Be Mindful

We kicked off last week with a proposition that we all want our relationships to be healthy, not just in our family, but all of our relationships… work, school, even with strangers, maybe even with enemies?

You might be taken aback by that statement.

I mean, how is that possible?

If it were possible to love like Jesus did in all of our relationships, you have to admit your life would be different.

In fact, I submit that just about everything would be different.

This series has a theme verse from Ephesians.

Ephesians 5:1–2 The Message

Watch what God does, and then you do it, like children who learn proper behavior from their parents. Mostly what God does is love you. Keep company with him and learn a life of love. Observe how Christ loved us. His love was not cautious but extravagant. He didn’t love in order to get something from us but to give everything of himself to us. Love like that.

Today, we’re going to look at how observant Jesus was.

Jesus saw what others missed.

When we were kids, there was a book that took the world by storm.

It’s one that many of you read… actually… you didn’t read it because it was just pictures.

It was called Where’s Waldo? Remember?

This guy in a red and white shirt and cap was hidden somewhere on the pages.

I would stare for hours until at last, I SAW WALDO.

And if I was the first to find him… well, it was awesome.

I saw something nobody else saw!

Until that moment, I was effectively blind, wanting desperately to see.

1. EVERYONE WANTS TO SEE CLEARLY.

Looking in the Old Testament, the opening of blind eyes was one of many identifying characteristics of the Messiah.

Luke 4:16–22 ESV

16 And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read. 17 And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written, 18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” 20 And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. 21 And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” 22 And all spoke well of him and marveled at the gracious words that were coming from his mouth. And they said, “Is not this Joseph’s son?”

I mean, what a miracle!

Can you imagine being blind and having your vision restored?!

Someone who was totally blind now can see.

Doesn’t get much better than that. Right?

Well, we seem to get a pretty strong message that having spiritual eyesight restored may be an even bigger deal.

Consider the story of the Emmaus road disciples.

Luke 24:13–16 ESV

13 That very day two of them were going to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, 14 and they were talking with each other about all these things that had happened. 15 While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and went with them. 16 But their eyes were kept from recognizing him.

They didn’t recognize Jesus.

I don’t know how Jesus did it, but they were kept in the dark.

This conversation ensues about the events of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.

Jesus seemed to be delighted to hear these two share the story in their own words with such enthusiasm.

After spending a considerable amount of time with them, Jesus gives the big reveal.

Luke 24:30–32 CSB

30 It was as he reclined at the table with them that he took the bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. 31 Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him, but he disappeared from their sight. 32 They said to each other, “Weren’t our hearts burning within us while he was talking with us on the road and explaining the Scriptures to us?”

Come on, how in the world could you fail to see something that is right before your eyes?

I mean, it’s as clear as day. It’s Jesus.

How could they miss it?

Think about how fascinating it is that they didn’t recognize Jesus.

Why is it so easy to miss what is so obvious?

Police deal with this on a regular basis.

Witnesses of a crime often miss the obvious.

That makes for a great crime drama, but difficult detective work.

In Love Like That, Les Parrot makes an interesting observation.

“We humans are astonishingly prone to missing what should be abundantly obvious. The researchers call it ‘perceptual blindness.’ We look but fail to see. Or we see without observing. In other words, because of a lack of attention we become blind to what’s going on in plain sight. And make no mistake, we are all susceptible to this kind of ‘blindness.”

Eliminating our “blindness” is huge in our journey to LOVING LIKE JESUS.

2. JESUS SHOWS US HOW TO SEE.

The Bible uses the term mindful in its description of Jesus.

It’s more than just observant.

It has to do with giving focused attention to something.

As we begin to think about being mindful, of giving something focused attention, I want us to realize we are really good at that.

Don’t believe me?

Fellas, how many times has your mom or wife asked you why you didn’t pick of that thing you keep stepping over?

Ever asked a child, who left all this stuff out? “What stuff?”

All of us have the ability to focus on one thing and ignore others.

The goal we have today is to allow Jesus to change what we see.

As Webster makes clear, to be attentive or mindful means to “express affectionate interest through close observation and gallant gestures.”

That’s interesting.

It means that if you are to be mindful, you need to be brave.

The gallant person goes where others may fear to travel.

And that’s exactly what Jesus did.

When we are mindful, we explore uncharted territory.

It’s uncharted because we don’t know where it will lead.

Jesus often saw what others didn’t.

He would challenge his disciples and others several times with phrases like, “How long must I be with you?”

In other words, don’t you see what’s going on?

Matthew 17:15–17 NLT

15 “Lord, have mercy on my son. He has seizures and suffers terribly. He often falls into the fire or into the water. 16 So I brought him to your disciples, but they couldn’t heal him.” 17 Jesus said, “You faithless and corrupt people! How long must I be with you? How long must I put up with you? Bring the boy here to me.”

Let me share two compelling stories about the MINDFULNESS of Jesus.

Both are familiar to those of us who live in the “church world.”

One is the story about a greedy guy, a tax collector named Zacchaeus.

The second is about a man that nobody particularly liked, in fact, they hated him.

We’ll call him Sam.

Zacchaeus is found in Luke 19:1-9.

Jesus is in Jericho and a man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy.

He wanted to see who Jesus was, but because he was short, he could not see over the crowd.

So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree to see Him since Jesus was coming that way.

When Jesus reached the spot, He looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.” Now you need to know that tax collectors in those days were a filthy lot.

In fact, bad people were put into two categories at the time of Jesus: sinners and tax-collectors.

The tax collectors were so bad, they were put in their own category of bad.

What do we know about Zacchaeus?

He was Jewish and his name means “righteous one.”

He was a chief tax collector responsible for other tax collectors.

Romans employed local men to collect taxes.

They often extorted lots of money from their countrymen, more than taxes required, and the people were forced to pay the extra making tax collectors rich and they were hated by everyone, both Jews and Romans.

When Jesus came to Jericho, He looked up into the tree and saw Zacchaeus.

This point sounds simplistic, but it is not.

Many times, when we are in a crowd, we see the crowd rather than the individuals in the crowd.

We are often treated as numbers or objects.

Jesus saw what others missed.

Check out how Zacchaeus acted… he ran to see Jesus.

In the East, it is unusual for a man to run at all… especially a wealthy government official.

Yet, Zacchaeus ran down the street like a boy following a parade.

He even climbed a tree!

This guy was motivated to see Jesus.

Zacchaeus thought he was seeking Jesus (v. 3), but Jesus was seeking him!

After responding to Christ's invitation, he then gave evidence of his faith by promising to make restitution to those he had wronged.

Here's what the law said:

Under the Law, if a thief voluntarily confessed his crime: He had to restore what he took, add one-fifth to it, and make an offering to God. (Lev. 6:1-7)

If he stole something he could not restore: He had to repay it 4 times (Ex. 22:1).

If he was caught with the goods: He had to repay double (Ex. 22:4).

Zacchaeus did not quibble over the terms of the Law; he offered to pay the highest price because his heart had truly been changed.

Jesus invited Himself to Zacchaeus' house, and Zacchaeus received Him joyfully.

Joy is one of the key themes of the book of Luke, and it is a mark of a relationship with Christ.

Jesus says to Zacchaeus, “I must stay at your house today”.

All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a 'sinner.'"

Jesus didn't even address them, he just did what was right.

He saw what others missed, and here’s the result:

Luke 19:8–9 CSB

But Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, “Look, I’ll give half of my possessions to the poor, Lord. And if I have extorted anything from anyone, I’ll pay back four times as much.” “Today salvation has come to this house,” Jesus told him, “because he too is a son of Abraham.

Jewish society excluded tax collectors; Jesus included them.

Zacchaeus’ is one of the most dramatic conversion stories in the Bible, and it was the result of Jesus seeing what others didn’t.

The life of Jesus is filled with these perceptive incidents.

Where others saw a paralyzed man, Jesus saw faith.

Where others saw a political traitor, Jesus saw a new disciple.

Where others saw crowds of harassing people, Jesus saw people being harassed.

Where others saw sinners, Jesus saw people in need of mercy.

How did Jesus see what others didn’t?

It comes down to being mindful.

Jesus was focused on what God was doing around Him.

3. WHAT KEEPS US FROM SEEING?

One word: agendas.

Everyone has an agenda.

Not all are bad, but some are.

If you were to google the word “agenda” it is defined as a list of things to be done.

I don’t know about each of you, but my life is dictated by my to-do list and calendar.

In other words, my life runs on an agenda.

Les Parrott says, “Your agenda is nothing more than your immediate goal.”

While agendas can be helpful and sometimes necessary, they can also be a hindrance.

If we are not careful, and often we are not, we let checking the box become more important than the thing that box represents.

Instead of letting our lives be organized by our agendas, we let our lives become controlled by our agendas.

When that happens, they keep us from seeing like Jesus saw.

We’re too interested in our goals, our agenda, that we don’t have time to look, to observe, to be mindful.

Which by the way, is the opposite of Paul’s words in…

Philippians 2:3–4 CSB

3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility consider others as more important than yourselves. 4 Everyone should look not to his own interests, but rather to the interests of others.

Did you know that some of the most significant things that we will ever do happen during times of inconvenience, not in the middle of pursuing our own agenda?

It’s never convenient to help change a flat tire.

It’s not part of our agenda to give someone a ride to the doctor’s office.

Consider how meaningful it is when someone goes out of their way to help you.

Some of the most loving things I have ever experienced cost the person that was intentionally being loving towards me.

This brings us to our second compelling story about mindfulness.

The story of Sam.

We don’t actually know his name.

He’s just identified from his country.

He’s called the “Good Samaritan.”

This is a great story, but it’s different than that of Zacchaeus.

Zacchaeus was a real person, a real story.

This is a parable, a made-up story by Jesus to illustrate and teach a point.

Luke 10:29–35 CSB

29 But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” 30 Jesus took up the question and said, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him, beat him up, and fled, leaving him half dead. 31 A priest happened to be going down that road. When he saw him, he passed by on the other side. 32 In the same way, a Levite, when he arrived at the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan on his journey came up to him, and when he saw the man, he had compassion. 34 He went over to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on olive oil and wine. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. 35 The next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, ‘Take care of him. When I come back I’ll reimburse you for whatever extra you spend.’

A priest, someone respected by others, should have been more mindful of the man’s helpless state on the other side of the road.

But he doesn’t help.

A Levite, who by the way, was not a priest, but still an important person, also avoids the beat-up man.

But a Samaritan, WHEN HE SAW HIM, put aside his personal agenda and helped him.

Back in those days, a Samaritan was considered a “half-breed,” partly Jewish and partly other stuff.

The Assyrians in 722 BC defeated the 10 tribes of Israel to the north.

Those people adopted the Assyrians’ religion and people.

The Jews hated them for it.

They were offensive to them.

They wouldn’t even travel through Samaria, they went around it.

So, Sam was the least likely hero of this story.

But it was Sam who saw what others didn’t.

Jesus was saying, even if your personal agenda seems holy and righteous, you may need to set it aside if you are to be loving.

NOW WHAT?

So, what about you?

Do you ever feel that you’re sometimes missing out on God’s voice, on opportunities to love like Jesus, because you aren’t attuned to the holy ground you’re walking on?

Oblivious to what God is doing, we miss the spectacular signs of His promptings because we’re overly focused on the details of our own agenda.

Key #1: ASK GOD FOR WISDOM

Sounds too simple, I know.

But I urge you to ask.

In fact, ask boldly without a second thought, and make it a habit.

The invitation is as clear as day:

James 1:5 CSB

5 Now if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God—who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly—and it will be given to him.

When you still your mind enough to sense God, you begin to see what others don’t.

You become wise to God’s promptings.

Did you know the English word wisdom is derived from an old Anglo-Saxon word meaning “to see?”

Not just to see, but to see and understand.

Having the power of discerning and judging rightly.

By asking for wisdom, we are asking God to change the way we see the people in our lives.

We are asking to see their lives and situations and to understand what they really need.

Wisdom is what enables us to see the big picture, clearly.

It enables us to become proficient at hearing God’s whispers.

Wisdom enables us to take off our proverbial shoes as we cross Holy ground and learn to love like Jesus.

Key #2: HELP PEOPLE LEARN TO GO BEYOND THE SURFACE

Most churches have some kind of greeting time during worship time.

These are good as far as they go, but have inherent limitations.

It tends to be loud.

People are moving around.

There is an expectation of a handshake, a “good to see you,” and not much else.

It’s like speed dating for visitors.

Rather than the greeting being the end, make it a means.

Learn to identify people that you can pour into or to catch up with at the end of the service to engage more fully.

Make a point to put that person on your agenda, in other words, make them a priority.

Key #3: ENCOURAGE ONE ANOTHER TO TELL SPECIFIC STORIES OF SEEING WITH JESUS’ EYES

This is a goal for every member of our church.

When you meet on Sundays, in Life Groups, or in random conversations throughout the week, share with one another the specific things that God has shown you.

As you learn to be mindful, share those experiences.

Key #4: PRAY FOR CHRIST-LIKE COMPASSION FOR YOURSELF AND THE CHURCH

Often in the gospels, we are told that Jesus had compassion for a certain group of people.

This usually led to an action on His part, like healing the sick or feeding the crowd.

Seeing with Jesus’ eyes is directly tied to compassion.

As we see with Jesus’ eyes, we will experience compassion as He did and be moved to reach out to others both inside and outside the family of faith.

There is much we can learn about others, Jesus, and even ourselves if we will take the time to really see people.

Start your week today, by asking God for wisdom.

Ask for the ability to see clearly what is happening right in front of your eyes AND for God to show you how to respond.

If we really take the time to pay attention to the world around us, to see beyond our own agendas, our eyes will be opened like they never have been before.

When we begin to see what God is doing around us, we will have more opportunities to join God in what He is doing and people will begin to see Jesus the way Zacchaeus did.

Those people will respond the way Zacchaeus did and you will experience the joy of walking with that person as they come to know Him.

This is A Gathering Place.

A place for notorious sinners and tax collectors to gather around Jesus.

We were all like Zacchaeus until we SAW Jesus.

Let God use you and your life to help others see Him too.

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