Yesterday our prayer pastor, Geannine LeBude, was our speaker. Below is an introduction to her sermon…
John 11
I want to explore the way we look at Jesus and what conclusions we come to after we have gazed upon Him. The definition of gaze is to look steadily, intently, and with fixed attention. When you gaze upon Jesus what do you see? Often what we see is defined by what we believe, think, or feel about the person or thing we are gazing upon. I sometimes think we do not even need to actually gaze because we have already made up our minds and hearts about what the person looks like, stands for, and even thinks and feels. Do you do this when you gaze upon Jesus? Do you actually look at Him without any preconceived ideas, feelings and beliefs? Do you stop and slow down long enough to meet the definition- to look steadily, intently, and with fixed attention.
In Psalm 34:3 David declares: Oh, magnify (make great) the Lord with me, And let us exalt His name together.
Psalm 40:16 Let all those that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee: let such as love thy salvation say continually, The LORD be magnified.
David continuously reminded himself to magnify the Lord. He knew that God was already great, but he understood his own weakness and shortsightedness. He needed to make sure he was making God great in his own eyes. David needed to look past his struggle and persecution and look at his life from God’s perspective. He needed to make sure he was acknowledging that God was greater than any of his struggles. David magnified the Lord by believing, singing and declaring God’s love for him. We read in Psalm 139 how David was convinced that God knew him intimately and how God was always with him, guiding him, and leading him from a position of love and mercy.
David understood where we place our attention is very important, because it becomes what we worship, what transforms us and even affects whom we become. As Christians our goal is to become like Christ. Roman 8:29 states Those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. In order to be like Him we must first know who He is. Therein lies the problem because we must set aside what we think we know and allow the Holy Spirit to lead us into a place of truth and clarity.
Galatians 5:22 states But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. When we gaze upon Jesus all of these fruits should be evident and if we are having difficulty seeing their manifestation in His character and being displayed to us through the circumstances of our lives we must question our gaze. We must ask ourselves has our gazed been tainted with unbelief, bitterness, discouragement and pride?
I believe that Jesus is holy, perfect, gracious and beautiful. Why do I believe those things? First the Word of God describes Him that way and secondly I have experienced Him that way. However, my definition of holy, perfect, gracious and beautiful has not always aligned with the way the Word of God describes those characteristics. My view was changed as I gazed upon Jesus and as the Holy Spirit defined Him in situations where I would not have necessarily thought to describe Him in that manner. As I gazed with an open heart the Holy Spirit began to show me His beauty in His suffering and sorrow. I began to see His graciousness in His discipline and chastening. I began to see His perfection in places of destruction and loss. In other words my definition of Jesus’ character or His attributes needed to be adjusted and even reordered.
I needed to begin to see Him through the eyes of love. My gaze began to be transformed the more I became convinced that God loved me with a perfect, holy, and eternal love. As I gaze upon Him I magnify (make great) His love and remind myself all of His actions, motives and plans come from a position of love. This enables me to look at life and all of its up, downs, joys and sorrows knowing I am being loved by my perfect heavenly Father.
I want us to look at the story of Lazarus in John 11. As we look at this story I want us to gaze upon Jesus with new eyes. I want us to put ourselves in the story and test what we know and believe about the Jesus’ character. I want us to look at this through the eyes of love.