Eyes That See

Romans 1:28-32 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting; being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful; who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them.

Secularity (adjective form secular) is the state of being separate from religion. Of or pertaining to worldly things or to things that are not regarded as religious, spiritual, or sacred; temporal Not bound by biblical restrictions, especially not belonging to a religious order. Worldly rather than spiritual. From Latin, “of an age” (existential – living for today). The belief that there is no God, Creator of Heaven and earth, who sets the standards of what is “right” and “wrong”, has given us the law of nature and the law of the Holy Scripture to live by, and that we are accountable to. Secularism is an assertion or belief that religious issues should not be the basis of politics, and it is a movement that promotes those ideas (or an ideology) which hold that religion has no place in public life. As Judges 21:25 says, In those days Israel had no king; all the people did whatever seemed right in their own eyes.

John 3:1-7 There was a man named Nicodemus, a Jewish religious leader who was a Pharisee. After dark one evening, he came to speak with Jesus. “Rabbi,” he said, “we all know that God has sent you to teach us. Your miraculous signs are evidence that God is with you.” Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.” “What do you mean?” exclaimed Nicodemus. “How can an old man go back into his mother’s womb and be born again?” Jesus replied, “I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life. So don’t be surprised when I say, ‘You must be born again.’

But that is not the end of the message, just the identification of the problem. There are two world views and drive two world beliefs. The unbeliever is spiritually blind of the things of heaven. 2 Corinthians 5:7 says that we walk by faith, not by sight. And Hebrews 11:1 tells us that faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Just because we don’t see something, doesn’t mean that it doesn’t exist, physically and spiritually. God made us to live in a physical world in relationship we our Creator. Sin broke that connection, so our Heavenly Father sent Jesus (from unseen heaven to physical earth), “God amongst us” & “God incarnate”, to pay and restore that spiritual sight, relationship and life. Jesus came to open the eyes of the spiritually blind and spoke it.

Jesus goes on to develop the next point in John 3:8-15 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.” Nicodemus answered and said to Him, “How can these things be?” I don’t physically see the wind, but I believe that wind exists, because I see the affects of the wind blowing things. I don’t physically see gravity, but I believe that gravity exists, because I see the affects of gravity. I believe in God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit, though I can not see them physically, but I see the affects of God and heaven in my life and the lives of others. It’s called faith and an assured hope only because this is a life of justification that begins when we are “born again” in belief in God’s plan of salvation and restoration in Christ that regenerates our spirit and opens our spiritual eyes, is lived out for God’s purposes in a life of sanctification that walks in the Spirit and grows into the likeness of our Lord & Savior, then finally steps through the doorway to eternal life in the life of glorification in the kingdom of God that we finally see face to face.

This secular world system (though it is not pleasant with its egocentric drama and dreaded rejection of God) is not doom and gloom for the Christian because we know that (1) God is totally in control and (2) Jesus opens our eyes to full life and (3) this world is a not the end – Heaven is just ahead. So secularism is just a ministry opportunity for us followers and students of Jesus to reach the unsaved with the TRUTH. Jesus gets to the conclusion of his teaching message to Nick in John 3:14-16 saying “as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

Let’s lift up the name of Jesus Christ in this secular world that they may come to the foot of the Cross, to come to a “saving” knowledge of the Savior of the world, to be “born again of water and the Spirit, have their hearts regenerated and their eyes opened to both physical and spiritual reality of the infinite, eternal Creator and His love.

In Christ, Brian