Looking Into The Eyes of Jesus Part 4
1 Corinthians 13:4-8
Today we are going to finish up our series Looking into the Eyes of Jesus.
Why would you look into someone’s eyes?
Why do we make eye contact?
We start making purposeful eye contact by 48 hours old.
Babies make eye contact, often smile, they do so to establish a relationship.
A baby’s eye contact is its first efforts to communicate with you.
So ever since the “get go” we use eye contact to acquire relational information.
Eye contact is essential to building rapport with someone.
It signals intention;
the nature of the relationship;
and the degree of interest you have in the one you look
at.
You’re walking down the street and make eye contact with a perfect stranger,
You smile, they smile back.
You communicated that you are a friendly person,
And they acknowledged that.
You smile, and they quickly avoid eye contact,
They just communicated that they aren’t interested,
They are uncomfortable with your attempt to
communicate with them.
You make eye contact, smile and they roll their eyes,
You have just been dismissed.
You make eye contact, smile and they give you a sharp look back.
They are hostile at your attempt to communicate.
In a crisis, if we are the one needing to be rescued,
we make eye contact as a plea for help.
And the rescuer makes eye contact to let you know they are going to
help you.
If you distressed you make eye contact longing to see empathy and compassion
reflected back.
In a conversation eye contact means you are paying attention to what is being said,
Little or no eye connect accompanied by frequent looking away,
just the opposite.
We make eye contact for reassurance.
I believe that you can look into the eyes of Jesus.
I know that sounds a little crazy.
After all its not like Jesus is in the habit of physically manifesting his
presence to us.
Well at least not to me.
Nevertheless, I do believe that through your practice of the spiritual disciplines
that you can indeed look into the eyes of Jesus.
When we first started this series we did an exercise in meditative
Prayer.
I don’t fully understand the spiritual dimensions of reality,
but I do now that through that particular exercise I have had
encounters with God.
There’s only one problem, it takes diligence and persistence and time.
Unfortunately I do not know a single short cut.
You have to put in the work.
Ask God to help you to look into the eyes of Jesus.
Ask God to help you see God.
Practice the spiritual disciplines.
Bible ready, prayer, fellowship, service, worship, obedience
Contemplation—one day it will happen.
When you look into the eyes of Jesus it will change you.
That head stuff becomes, that know about, becomes your personal knowing.
And that makes all the difference in you spiritual life.
When you look into the eyes of Jesus you’ll see love:
1 Corinthians 13:4-7 (NLT)
Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.
When you look into the eyes of Jesus
they communicate patience.
they communicate kindness
they communicate trust.
they communicate care.
When you look into the eyes of Jesus they communicate humility.
they communicate that He is aware of your feelings.
they communicate respect.
When you look into the eyes of Jesus you see contentment.
you see forgiveness.
You see no tolerance for sin,
He hates the sin but woos the sinner.
And you see truth and the celebration of it.
We will focus our attention of verses 7 & 8.
1 Corinthians 13:7-8 (NIV)
It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.
1. When you look into the eyes of Jesus you see security
The scripture reads: protects στέγω stegō
The word conveys a meaning of covering.
To hid by covering.
And it makes me think of two things:
Safety
Matthew 23:37 (NIV)
“…how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings...”
When danger threatens a hen will spread her wings and her chicks will dash under.
A long time ago, I read that there was a fire and the mother hen gathered her
chicks, the fire killed the hen but the chicks survived.
Life throws the unexpected at us.
I want to be close to Jesus so I can hide under his wings.
To hide by covering makes me think of safety and
Confidentiality
Proverbs 17:9 (NIV)
He who covers over an offense promotes love, but whoever repeats the matter separates close friends.
In the counseling office, I will tell you that within certain specifically
defined limits, everything that you tell me is
strictly between you and me.
What is said in my office, stays in my office.
My conversations with Christ are sacred like that.
I can tell Jesus my secrets.
I can bring my sin, my faults, my fears, into the light,
I can put them on the table and know that He will
work with me to resolve my issues.
You’ve heard it said:
“Your only sick as your secrets”
What makes us keep our secrets, secret?
We are afraid we will be exposed and rejected.
But not with Jesus he is not going to expose
me, he covers me in order to work
with me.
Look into the eyes of Jesus and you see that He is a safe person.
2. When you look into the eyes of Jesus you see that He believes in you.
The Greek word translated as trust means to have faith in, to believe in.
Πιστεύω pisteuō
Its an incredible thing to believe in Jesus.
But when you look into His eyes and you see that He believes in you,
It is life changing.
He sees the best in me and celebrates it.
He calls it forth with a glance.
Ever been given a job that you knew was to big for you;
That maybe you were under-qualified for the job;
Not ready to handle the responsibility;
Doubted you had what it takes to succeed?
So you shy away,
You retreat from the challenge.
You back off
Afraid to fail.
I’ve drawn courage from the “Yes you can” in the eyes of Christ.
Joshua 1:9 (NIV)
Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go."
You will never be able to scale the wall, climb the mountain, end the journey, until
you make a commitment to do it.
So often we stop before we start with the idea that we can’t do it,
Or the lie—“I’ll try.”
But you can do all things through Christ who gives you the
strength. (Phil 4:13)
All you need is that look of reassurance from a glance into His eyes.
Don’t let fear, or risk hold you back,
Go ahead and do it,
you’ll be amazed at what Jesus can do through you.
What a blessing you can be to others.
There is a ministry for you to get busy at.
There is a calling for you to fulfill.
Jesus believes in you to get it accomplished.
3. When you look into the eyes of Jesus you see confident expectation.
That’s what the word “hopes” means: ἐλπίζω elpizō
Ever try to do something for someone who expects you to fail at doing it?
I’m going to ask you to do this but there really is no way you will be able to
get it done.
I don’t expect you to be able to do it, but give it a try.
Do you realize that we generally live up to people’s expectations of us?
Expectations have an incredible power to influence our lives.
Have you seen the movie: Stand and Deliver starring
Edward James Olmos—
His expectations turn a bunch of drop outs into Math
wizards.
Have you looked into eyes that just not only had high expectations for you
and also seen a confidence that you would meet those expectations?
Regardless of the challenges you always found encouragement.
That’s what you see in the eyes of Christ.
The standard is set way high,
Much higher than we can imagine,
Galatians 5:16 (MSG)
My counsel is this: Live freely, animated and motivated by God's Spirit. Then you won't feed the compulsions of selfishness.
Live by the Spirit,
Live a devout and holy life,
Live your life to the full
Live abiding in Christ,
Live a life of obedience.
Those are the expectations.
And Jesus’ eyes communicate don't be discouraged keep on working,
And trusting and believing, I expect great things from you.
4. When you look into the eyes of Jesus you see commitment
The scripture reads “perseveres” (ὑπομένω hupomenō)
It means to abide, endure to stay, even if it means suffering.
Hebrews 13:5 (NIV)
"Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you."
Jesus is reliable, faithful and unchanging,
that means you can depend on him.
He’s not going to desert you in the tough situations.
He’s not going to abandon you because things are hard.
If you have had people in your life dump you,
There is always that fear in the back of your mind that it will happen again.
And you’ll be hurt again, angry again, betrayed again, crying again.
But not so with Jesus.
His commitment is sealed not only with words but
With His blood.
Maybe you are one of those people who feel that Jesus has left you high and dry.
No pony for Christmas.
No healing for that ill loved one.
No breaks in the financial department.
No success in love.
I’ve been in that place where I felt God had turned his back on me.
But I learned that I was wrong.
My dreams were allowed to die,
that I might get new ones from Him.
My tears were not shed in isolation,
He was weeping with me.
The problems I endured,
He used to shape me and perfect me.
In the eyes of Jesus you see a commitment to help you become everything
that God has created you to be.
5. When you look into the eyes of Jesus you see confidence
The scripture read: “Love never fails.” (ἐκπίπτω ekpiptō)
Ever look into the eyes of someone who has a sure bet?
They know that they are right.
They have the facts, the inside edge, the sure thing
Or how about the eyes of the old expert,
Pick your field it doesn’t matter,
They know, been there and done that,
don’t bet against them.
Joe Grone, tells a story about some of his boys
fixing a sputtering engine on a C-117.
He told them what was wrong, and where to look
Their response was no way could it be that.
They could have gotten home a lot earlier that day
if they would have paid attention.
There’s that kind of confidence in Jesus eyes,
Revelation 22:13 (NIV)
I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.
He is not going to fail, cause he knows.
Simple enough, he knows and his eyes project that fact.
Jesus is not going to fail you.
And when you see that in His eyes you have that assurance,
That whatever befalls, Jesus will get you through.
He’s got the know how and the ability and the willingness to guide
you in doing this thing we call life.
When you look into the eyes of Jesus you see security
you see that He believes in you.
you see confident expectation.
you see commitment
you see confidence
There has been three goals for this series of messages.
One goal was to encourage you to look into the eyes of Jesus,
By purposely engaging in the spiritual disciplines.
The pay off is so huge for you spiritually if you can just get into the
habit of a spiritual work out through reading the scripture,
prayer, fellowship, service, worship, obedience and
contemplation.
I know you life is busy.
I know your spiritual life is easy to put on the back burner.
But I just don’t want you missing out on the best God has
for you.
The second goal was to come to a better understanding of how Jesus
sees you.
Sometimes all we need is a little reassurance.
There was a time in my life where I didn’t think God
Liked me, that I had messed things up so bad that I was beyond
Recovery, that if I looked into the eyes of God all I
would see is wrath and judgment.
I didn’t want to feel guilty.
So I shied away.
What I hope you have gotten from these messages is
That Jesus is into correction not condemnation.
That Jesus is for you not against you.
He will empower you to overcome the sin that so easily entangles so
that you can live a devout and holy life.
The final goal was for you to realize that as a disciple of Jesus,
You are the ambassador charged with a ministry of reconciliation.
You are the person God is using to advance the kingdom.
As a follower of Christ, you are called to be like him.
The mind of Christ.
His character becoming yours.
To have the Father’s eyes.
When people look into your eyes, they should see His.
That transformation only occurs as you live out the experience
of your encounters with Jesus.
That only happens by doing the first goal.
Practicing the spiritual disciplines.
Have you grabbed any of these goals for yourself?
Are any of these goals ones you would like to realize in your life this year?
Engage, Gaze, Go.
Engage in the spiritual discipline,
Gaze into the eyes of Jesus,
Go and be His representative to the people in your
world.