Jesus 2023 Eyes

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.

So how do we worship Jesus in 2023 knowing that He is the same yesterday today and forever?

We worship Jesus by what we see, hear, and say.

Pray

Philippians 2:9–11 ESV

Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Genesis 3:5–7 ESV

For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.

Tonight we will be talking about how we honor God and worship Him with our sight.

We use our eyes for everything but especially for making decisions.

When you go to a new restaurant you ask what looks good.

When you decide what movie to watch you say that looks good.

The only time you don’t use your sight when making a decision is when you hear the sizzle and crackle of fajitas coming out at the Mexican restaurant.

We use our eyes for most decisions we make.

In fact the first sin commited in the Bible was in part commited because Eve saw that the fruit was good for food.

It wasn’t a sin to look at the fruit but Eve used her eyes to decide to eat the fruit.

Then Gen. goes further in telling us that once her and Adam ate of the fruit their eyes were opened and they knew that they were naked and they were ashamed.

Before sin entered the world Adam and Eve only saw good, they saw the beauty that God had created, they saw the majesty of God on display, even though they were walking around naked they weren’t ashamed because their was no evil which meant there was no perversion of what God had made.

After sin entered the world they are immediately ashamed of what their eyes see.

Sin has perverted our eyes.

So instead of seeing the beauty in the world that God has created we see look at and lust over the perversion of sin.

Many of you know this very well.

Adam and Eve were not ashamed to be naked

Now a days so many people struggle with what they look at with their eyes.

Sin is constantly trying to distract you and pull your attention away from Jesus by what we look at.

Just take one scroll through instagram or Tiktok and you will find people and companies promoting lifestyles that are ungodly.

The question is how do we avoid being distracted, how do we as Christians ensure that we worship and honor God when sin is constantly distracting us and trying to pull our attention away from him.

Testimony

When I was around 10 I was sexually abused.

This began a long journey of addiction for me in what I looked at and in particular with what I looked at online.

I was raised in a christian home and I knew what I was doing was wrong but I kept going back over and over again because

I desired the sin more than Jesus and the purity that He called me too.

And I tried to stop!

I put blocks on my devices

I told mom and dad

I tried leaving my devices out of my room

I cut out all technology out of my life

It wasn’t until I realized I needed a heart change that I really began walking in victory.

I needed to change my inward heart before my outward actions would change.

Luke 11:33–36 ESV

“No one after lighting a lamp puts it in a cellar or under a basket, but on a stand, so that those who enter may see the light. Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eye is healthy, your whole body is full of light, but when it is bad, your body is full of darkness. Therefore be careful lest the light in you be darkness. If then your whole body is full of light, having no part dark, it will be wholly bright, as when a lamp with its rays gives you light.”

So let’s break this down.

Jesus is using a parable here or a metaphor to explain a larger concept to His disciples.

The lamp He talks about is referring to a relationship with Christ.

Christ is known as the light of the world and in Him there is no darkness.

Through a relationship with Jesus you begin to change and transform your mind like we read about in Romans 12:2 and the things that we see with our eyes we begin to see through the lens of Christ.

What does this mean? I know that is a little confusing to understand.

What does it mean to see things through the lens of Christ.

Let’s pretend for a minute that I’m sin.

Stand behind the screen

When we look at sin through our eyes or through our lens it is distorted because we are prone to sin or we desire sin.

It looks good, like the fruit in the garden but it isn’t good for us and in fact the bible tells us it leads to death.

But when we see sin through Christ’s lens we see sin for what it truly is, a road to death.

You will always be tempted by sin but as we develop our relationship with Christ we begin to desire our sin less and less and desire to grow our relationship with Christ more.

As I struggled and failed to control what my eyes looked at online I came to a realization that no amount of walls or blocks or restrictions that I use will ever change my heart.

There’s a passage in the Bible that Jesus tells us if your right eye causes you to stumble pluck it out.

One time there was a monk who took this passage literally

He struggled with lust and one day plucked out his eye with a spoon

Later on he realized that he was still struggling with lust so he plucked out his other eye.

After gouging out both eyes he realized he still struggled with lust because sin is in our hearts and not in our eyes.

It wasn’t until he realized that it was his heart that was sinful could he begin having victory over his sin.

My dad always said you can lock all the doors in your house but if you really want to get in you will break a window.

What we see, how we use our eyes are not the cause of our sins its rooted in our hearts.

If you desire to change what your seeing you have to build your relationship with Christ first and foremost.

When you grow in a deeper relationship with Christ you begin to desire the things of God more than you desire sin.

Close your eyes

Picture the best burger you have ever had in your entire life.

The cheese is melty and warm

The bun is toasted and buttery

The sauce and the pickles are tangy

Now picture a mcdonalds burger

If I gave you the choice right now to have the best burger in your life or a mcdonalds burger which would you choose?

And all the boys that want to be funny say McDonalds!

No if you were serious with yourself you would choose the gourmet burger!

As you begin to experience more and more of Jesus presence in your life through a relationship with Him the deeper your desire will be to glorify Him with what you look at.

You begin to desire that nasty greasy mcdonalds burger known as sin less and less and desire to build your relationship with Christ more and more.

You will continue to struggle with and be tempted by sin.

There is a difference between temptation and desire

Jesus was tempted to sin but didn’t sin

When you desire sin you look for it.

You will be tempted to sin your entire life.

We look forward to the day when our eyes see Jesus coming back for us.

Revelation 1:7 ESV

Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen.

For us as believers we will struggle with what we see and how we respond to sin.

We are prone to sin and so the struggle with sin will be there as long as we are alive on this earth.

Building your relationship with Christ helps us change our hearts to desire Christ instead of our sin but sin will always be there to tempt us.

But we look forward to the day when Jesus returns

Because we recognize that when He returns He will destroy sin once and for all and we will no longer have to live in a world filled with sin.

We will go back to the relationship we had with Him in the garden of Eden.

We will be able to look around and only see the beauty and majesty of God on display all around us.

For those that don’t believe it says that they will wail on account of Him.

They will encounter the holy and living God and realize that all the desire and sin that they loved so much doesn’t even compare with the Awesome presence of Jesus Christ.

And they will realize by then it is too late to change their minds.

That’s the joy that we have today.

You no longer need to live in bondage to your sin

You can have a relationship with the Holy and Living God,

A relationship that far surpasses anything we could ever look at.

Romans 3:23 ESV

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

Romans 6:23 ESV

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 10:9 ESV

because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

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