First, we are talking about seeing the light of Jesus Christ. Isaiah 60:1-6 is a story about a city coming out of the darkness. It starts “Arise, shine for your light has come!” Jesus is the light of this world. It talks about darkness covering the earth and its people. There’s such a huge contrast between darkness and the light of Jesus Christ. The darkness overwhelms with fear, lies, and despair. The darkness is so thick that we can’t see anything. The darkness is so complete that you can’t comprehend anything else. Just when hope is gone, Isaiah says to lift up your eyes and see. The advice to lift up your eyes and see is still good advice today. Isaiah was talking about Jerusalem, but he also meant it for us. We just need to lift up our eyes to see Jesus Christ right in front of us. The prophet Isaiah promises us that we shall see and become radiant. Our hearts shall swell with joy. If all this will happen if we turn toward the light of Jesus Christ, then why don’t do it? Why don’t we see? The scripture implies that we are blind to the power of God. We are blind to God’s light. God’s light is there. We just need to open our eyes.
I’ve seen people receive their sight when they looked in faith after we’ve prayed. It was at the moment that they looked with the eyes of faith that they were able to see with their eyes. The blind had to believe that God could heal their blindness. They had to look with their eyes of faith before they could actually see. Some of the blind people received their sight at the moment that they thanked Jesus for their sight BEFORE the blindness was healed by God.
I believe that we must use our eyes of faith to be able to see God’s light. Are we blind to God or do we just not lift up our eyes around us and see God? The result of being able to see with the eyes of faith is for our heart to swell with joy. It doesn’t say that we will have joy. Isaiah says our hearts will SWELL with joy. Have we ever experienced a time in our lives when our hearts swell with joy? I can imagine times in my life that were close to having my heart swell with joy. A few of those times were when Susan agreed to marry me and when our children were born. I’ve had joy when God has used me in a powerful way. I’ve had joy when I’ve felt God’s presence. I’ve felt joy when I felt God’s protection and blessings.
Take a moment and try to imagine what it would feel like to have so much joy that our hearts swell. Our hearts would swell so big that we wouldn’t have room for pain and grief.
Can you imagine being able to have so much joy on this side of heaven? That is what Isaiah is trying to describe. Lift up your eyes and see the promise of our hearts bursting with joy.
Second, we have to open our ears to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Mark 1:14-15 says: “Now after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.” The first point is to open our eyes to see the light of Jesus Christ. The second point is to open our ears to hear the gospel preached by Jesus Christ. We have to look up. Repent means to turn. Repent means we have to stop what we’ve been doing and completely change our ways. We have to turn toward God, look for God, hear God’s message, and finally believe in the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Third, we have to answer God’s call. Mark 1:16-20 says: “And as He walked by the Sea of Galilee, He saw Simon and Andrew his brother casting a net in the sea; for they were fishermen. Then Jesus said to them, Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men. They immediately left their nets and followed Him. When He had gone a little farther from there, He saw James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, who also were in the boat mending their nets.
And immediately He called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants, and went after Him.
At this point, we’ve looked toward the light of Jesus Christ. Our eyes are opened to the glory of God. We’ve turned toward God. Our heads are looking up. Our eyes are opening. Our hearts are filling with the joy of God. Our minds are opening to hear the gospel. We are becoming faithful and we believing in God. We are ready to hear the gospel message of Jesus Christ.
The message is very simple that Jesus said to Simon and Andrew. It was “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” This is the opposite of a lot of sermons today. His message was short and sweet.
Fourth, we have to imagine the expanse of God’s love. We can start imagining with Ephesians 3:1-20. “We pray that, according to the riches of his glory, he may grant that we may be strengthened in our inner being with power through his Spirit, and that Christ may dwell in our hearts through faith, as we are being rooted and grounded in love. We pray that we have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that we may be filled with the fullness of God.
Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, to him be the glory and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.”
Rex Brown read this scripture from Ephesians. He used it to describe his experience on a mission trip to Ghana in 2006. The scripture touched me then and it still moves me now. It asks us to pray for the power to comprehend the breadth and length and height and depth of the love of Jesus Christ. We’ve experienced love in our lives, but this scripture indicates that God’s love is so much bigger than what we can imagine. The fullness of God is powerful. We can accomplish far more than we can ask or imagine with the Holy Spirit working within us. This scripture also indicates that God will gives us more than we can even ask for ourselves.
Ephesians describes what will happen to us if we open our eyes and follow God’s call. We will experience joy, God’s fullness, God’s grace, and blessings by turning our hearts toward and serving Him.
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