Kingdom Confirmations (Part 2): Clearly Blessed
Photo Courtesy of Pascal Debrunner
From Blind to blessed
Spiritual blindness isn’t a new phenomena. All throughout the Bible, you see this problem present itself in person after person. And in one form or another, you often see God confront the issue. Why?
“Because you cannot correct what you’re unwilling to confront.”
-Craig Groeschel
One of the more noteworthy confrontations took place in the book of Matthew. As Jesus was teaching in the Temple, some religious leaders attempted to challenge Jesus’ authority. And in response, Jesus shared the Parable of the Evil Farmers.
Excerpt of the parable:
“…A certain landowner [God] planted a vineyard, built a wall around it, dug a pit for pressing out the grape juice, and built a lookout tower.
Then he leased the vineyard [God’s Kingdom] to tenant farmers [Jewish religious leaders] and moved to another country.
At the time of the grape harvest, he sent his servants [Faithful prophet & priests to God] to collect his share of the crop. But the farmers grabbed his servants, beat one, killed one, and stoned another…
“Finally, the owner sent his son [Jesus], thinking, ‘Surely they will respect my son.’
“But when the tenant farmers saw his son coming, they said to one another, ‘Here comes the heir to this estate. Come on, let’s kill him and get the estate for ourselves!’ So they grabbed him, dragged him out of the vineyard, and murdered him.
“When the owner of the vineyard returns,” Jesus asked, “what do you think he will do to those farmers?”
The religious leaders replied, “He will put the wicked men to a horrible death and lease the vineyard to others who will give him his share of the crop after each harvest.”
”…[Jesus replied] I tell you, the Kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a nation [Gentiles] that will produce the proper fruit. Anyone who stumbles over that stone will be broken to pieces, and it will crush anyone it falls on.”
When the leading priests and Pharisees heard this parable, they realized he was telling the story against them—they were the wicked farmers…”
Matthew 21:33-45 (NLT Life Application Study Bible)
God has no desire for us to be like the religious leaders He confronted. No desire for us to be people who “see Him but learn nothing, who hear Him but fail to understand” (Mark 4:12). God confronts our blindness—
so we can be blessed.
3 spiritual blessings
1) Replaced Righteousness
In the movie, The Men in Black, they used a “neuralizer” device to flash a bright light to erase a person’s memory. For what purpose? So that person could live a normal life. God also illuminates things in our own mind, but for a different purpose.
So we can live an extraordinary life.
In many ways, that’s what the Apostle Paul experienced. Like many of us, he was “doing many things right” but on the wrong path. A Pharisee of the highest order, Paul was passionate, driven & giving his all.
But it was all for not.
In Acts Ch. 9, we find Paul on his way to Damascus to continue persecuting Christians. It’s at this point that Jesus supernaturally confronts Paul by “blinding Paul with a great light”. Though his blindness lasted 3 days, his outlook on life was changed forever.
Jesus had to wipe away Paul’s natural vision so he could see clearly the Kingdom of God.
Success in the “wrong direction” is really no success at all. “For though a righteous man may fall seven times, he still gets up…” (Proverbs 24:16, BSB). It’s better to be a righteous man who fails time & again, than to enjoy success on a sinking ship.
Isaiah 64:6 (NLT) delivers a sobering truth:
“We are all infected and impure with sin.
When we display our righteous deeds,
they are nothing but filthy rags.
Like autumn leaves, we wither and fall,
and our sins sweep us away like the wind.”
Paul thought he was a righteous man, but in reality, he was a “self-righteous” man. Before Jesus, Paul had nothing to show for his life but filthy rags. But Jesus replaced Paul’s rags with His riches.
God wants you to have a “rags to riches” story.
But that means you have to let go of “what was” to embrace what God is doing. When God highlights where you’ve gone astray, choose His Higher Way. When you do, Jesus replaces your tainted righteousness-
with True Righteousness.
2) Removed Shame
In Luke 7:42 (NLT), we come across another blind Pharisee in need of a “sermon illustration” from Jesus.
Jesus was being honored by an “immoral woman” who was pouring her heart out to Him. The Pharisee, who invited Jesus to dinner, thought to himself:
“If this man were a prophet, he would know what kind of woman is touching him. She’s a sinner!”
Knowing his thoughts, Jesus tells a story, asks a question, and even gives the answer:
“A man loaned money to two people—500 pieces of silver to one and 50 pieces to the other. But neither of them could repay him, so he kindly forgave them both, canceling their debts.
Who do you suppose loved him more after that?”
Jesus answered, “I tell you, her sins—and they are many—have been forgiven, so she has shown me much love. But a person who is forgiven little shows only little love.”
Hebrews Ch. 10 gives us a frame for understanding the prominence of the story Jesus shared. It says:
“The old system under the law of Moses was only a shadow, a dim preview of the good things to come, not the good things themselves.”
This “dim preview” was referring to the sacrifice of animals which were required for the forgiveness of sins. It was a system incapable of “removing the guilt” of sin. That was the guilt-ridden world in which the Pharisee lived.
“But our High Priest [Jesus Christ] offered himself to God as a single sacrifice for sins, good for all time”
Hebrews 10:12 (NLT)
The blood of bulls & goats could clean you from a law perspective, but it couldn’t cleanse you of shame.
Only the blood of Jesus can do that.
Jesus’ sacrifice ushered in a new covenant & system. Our faith in Jesus removes our shame “as far as the east is from the west”.
God sees it no more & neither should you. Why live under the old system when Jesus brought something new?
When you allow His Love to be the ultimate object in which you contemplate—
Your shame will evaporate.
3) Redeemed Road
In our walk with Christ, there are going to be things God will reveal to you. Sometimes He shows you a path to take, other times, a path to forsake.
At one point in my Christian walk, I had a really bad problem with alcohol. I didn’t drink it all the time, which gave me a false sense of confidence. But when I did, I took it too far & the decisions that followed were awful.
Out of nowhere, God gave me a really strong “thought impression” about this problem I was blind to. I felt convicted about it (in a good way) and recognized that God was asking me to abstain from drinking for 1-year.
What felt like a relatively small step of obedience, was rewarded in more ways than I could begin to share. Literally & spiritually, God used this as a means to position me as a “designated driver”.
This was a call to spiritual sobriety, a call that He extends to each of us in one form or another. There’s something between you & God that deserves your attention. It may be something to abstain from or engage in. Either way—
god wants you to win.
It’s time to stop spoiling the victory, and instead, enjoy the spoils (gains) of victory. We need to know, the victory is won in Christ Jesus, there’s already a plan in place, but we have to move forward in faith to ultimately win our race.
God is calling you to be the designated driver.
It happens one small step of obedience at a time. Anytime you turn to God, He turns your life around. He ensures that you’re on the path to victory. You live life on a—
redeemed road.
Message received
Due to technology, there are many ways to send a message to people nowadays. When you do, there’s often some form of an indicator to show they received the message, like a “check mark”. But what’s the ultimate indication?
the response you receive.
“Wealth and honor come from You; You are the ruler of all things. In Your hands are strength and power to exalt and give strength to all. Now, our God, we give You thanks, and praise Your glorious name.”
How do we know the author of 1 Chronicles really understood the character of God? Because they not only acknowledged the Source of all “wealth, honor, strength & power”, but more importantly—
they responded with praise.
It’s time for us to stop believing that we’re spiritually broke. It’s time to stop trampling the treasure that God has richly entrusted to us. It’s time to remember the lesson of the first parable…
That God has leased the vineyard to those of us “who will give him his share of the crop”.
The “share of the crop” comes in realizing you’re rich. Realizing that, in Jesus, God has freely given you a relationship with the King of Kings & the Author of your Salvation.
An outpouring of praise is the evidence of a heart that’s received this message. It’s the only thing we can truly give back to our Gracious God. Praise is what you give—
when you see You’re clearly blessed.
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today’s Takeaways
God confronts blindness to give us a blessing.
Only the blood of Jesus removes our shame.
Praise is the evidence of a thankful heart.