a good bit of what we sang in that hymn and some of what our brother Tim prayed as he led us in prayer this morning. And both our Old Testament reading and New Testament reading are all oriented around the theme of vision, of sight, the ability to see as over against blindness. I would have chosen Be Thou My Vision for one of our hymns this morning, but we just sung it a couple of weeks ago.
So would you please turn in your Bibles to our Old Testament reading, which is in 2 Kings 6. 2 Kings 6. And we will read verses 8 through 20. And as we read and hear the Word, let’s give attention to how the Lord is able both to bestow vision and also to take it away. And let’s give careful attention to the reading, because this is the very Word of God. 2 Kings 6, 8-20.
Once when the king of Syria was warring against Israel, he took counsel with his servants, saying, at such and such a place shall be my camp. But the man of God sent word to the king of Israel, beware that you do not pass this place, for the Syrians are going down there. And the king of Israel sent to the place about which the man of God told him. Thus he used to warn him, so that he saved himself there more than once or twice. And the mind of the king of Syria was greatly troubled because of this thing.
And he called his servants and said to them, will you not show me who of us is for the king of Israel? And one of his servants said, none, my lord, O king. But Elisha, the prophet who is in Israel, tells the king of Israel the words that you speak in your bedroom.
And he said, go and see where he is that I may send and seize him. It was told him, behold, he is in Dothan. So he sent there horses and chariots and a great army, and they came by night and surrounded the city. When the servant of the man of God rose early in the morning and went out, behold, an army with horses and chariots was all around the city. And the servant said, alas, my master, what shall we do? He said, Do not be afraid, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.
Then Elisha prayed and said, O Lord, please open his eyes that he may see. So the Lord opened the eyes of the young man and he saw and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. When the Syrians came down against him, Elisha prayed to the Lord and said, please strike this people with blindness. So he struck them with blindness in accordance with the prayer of Elisha. And Elisha said to them, this is not the way and this is not the city.
Follow me and I will bring you to the man whom you seek. And he led them to Samaria. As soon as they entered Samaria, Elisha said, oh Lord, open the eyes of these men so that they may see. So the Lord opened their eyes and they saw and behold, they were in the midst of Samaria. And now for our New Testament reading and the text for this morning’s sermon, please turn to Luke’s gospel chapter six. And our reading this morning will be verses 39 to 42. Jesus also told them a parable.
Can a blind man lead a blind man? Will they not both fall into a pit? A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone, when he is fully trained, will be like his teacher. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, brother, let me take the speck, take out the speck that is in your eye, when you yourself do not see the log that is in your own eye? You hypocrite. First, take the log out of your own eye. Then you will see clearly to take out the speck that is in your brother’s eye.
Thus far the reading of God’s word. Let’s pray that he would give us eyes to see and to behold wondrous things in his law. Father in heaven, as we come to the Holy Scriptures now and the preaching of the word, oh Lord, we pray that you would make it effectual and that the word of God, your very word would come to us, not in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction for we pray in Jesus name. Amen.
Since I was a little boy, I enjoyed, always been entertained by, and have been appreciative of the artistry of political cartoons. Or I guess more broadly, caricatures. I remember noticing in magazines and newspapers these cartoons, oftentimes political in nature, and they consist almost always of what we would call a caricature of certain political figures. These drawings of leading public figures, but drawings that distort certain aspects of their appearance or their physical traits, particularly if there’s some aspect of one of their physical, part of their physical appearance that’s already a little bit unusual, the artist will exaggerate that. And it’s not just politicians for that matter. I remember seeing a caricature of Jay Leno once. And you remember Jay Leno sort of had this prominent chin.
And so artists will take that and just blow it way out of proportion. And that’s what they do. But the thing that’s so amazing to me and has always amazed me and that I’ve always appreciated about the artistry of those kinds of drawings is that these artists will make representations of people that are comical, and yet they’re completely recognizable. They’re totally out of distortion, like almost something as bad as you’d see in a funhouse mirror, and yet you know exactly who it is.
Well, in verse 41 and 42 of our text this morning, There’s a caricature. There’s a caricature of us. And just like the caricatures we see in a magazine or a newspaper. It’s comical, to a certain extent. It’s, it’s very exaggerated. And yet, very recognizable all the same. We see ourselves. We recognize ourselves. in it.
At first glance, these verses that we just read 39 through 42 may seem like an unconnected series of wisdom sayings, they, they, at first glance, they almost come across like a passage from the Proverbs, you know, where, where there’s a verse, and it makes a wisdom statement of some kind.
And then the next verse says something else, another wisdom statement that isn’t necessarily related in any way to the verse that preceded, but just sort of a series of seemingly disconnected observations about life from the perspective of God’s wisdom.
But actually, upon closer observation, all of these verses 39 through 42 relate to the theme of vision, specifically spiritual vision. They’re all about seeing things rightly. And even in verse 40, that doesn’t have any direct reference to or statement or comment upon eyesight or vision. It relates back to verse 39, where a blind man can’t lead a blind man. And in that same sense, a disciple can’t advance beyond his master, never will be above his teacher. he’ll end up going where his teacher leads. So, all these verses are about vision.
They’re about spiritual vision. They’re about seeing things rightly. And Christ’s teaching, not only here, but throughout his earthly ministry, you know, was frequently contrasted in a pretty stark way with the teaching of the scribes and of the Pharisees. You know what I’m talking about. We’ve seen it in Luke already.
But in Matthew’s Gospel, at the end of the Sermon on the Mount, as it comes to a close there, at the end of Matthew 7, the Scriptures tell us that the people were astonished at Jesus’ teaching. And why were they astonished at his teaching? They were astonished because when he taught, he taught them as one who had authority. Whereas, by contrast, the scribes were blind guides.
These verses teach us that spiritual vision is crucial for leadership, instruction, and correction in the Church of Christ. That’s the message of these four verses that we’re looking at this morning. Spiritual vision is crucial for leadership, instruction, and correction in the Church of Christ. We’ll look at three points this morning.
The first is going to be the problem of spiritual vision impairment. The problem of spiritual vision impairment. Secondly, the importance of following the right teacher. And thirdly, the need for self-examination and humility. So first of all, There’s this problem that’s being addressed in these verses, and the problem is spiritual vision impairment.
Verse 39 is stating the obvious, isn’t it? Can a blind man lead a blind man? And the obvious answer, the implicit answer is no, a blind man can’t lead a blind man. The second question, will they not both fall into a pit? And the answer is also implicit. Yes, they’ll both fall into the pit. The one in the lead is going to fall, and the one following him is gonna go right after him. I was thinking of, in Acts 13, on the first missionary journey that Paul took with Barnabas. Very early in that missionary journey, the first place they landed was on the island of Cyprus, which happened to be where Barnabas was from.
And towards the end of their time on Cyprus, they encountered a local magistrate who listened to the preaching and teaching of the Apostle, and he believed. false teacher in his midst, who was very angry that the magistrate had believed in this Jesus. And he starts to speak against Christ and against Paul, and against Barnabas, and to try to refute the things that they were saying. And so Paul pronounced a curse upon this false teacher.
He’s identified first as Bar-Jesus. And then later on, we’re told his name was Elemas. But Paul, in concluding his statement, his rebuke of that man, says this in Acts 13, 11, And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you will be blind and unable to see the sun for a time. Immediately mist and darkness fell upon him, and he went about seeking people to lead him by the hand. Formerly, he’d been able to see, no problem. But as part of this curse, he was temporarily robbed of his eyesight.
And so he’s trying to find someone to show him around. Elemus was his name. Can you imagine? Elemus said, please, somebody help me, somebody lead me. And along comes someone, so I’ve got you, man. And he starts to lead him. And Elemus doesn’t realize that the guy who’s trying to lead him is also blind. What if a blind man had walked up and offered to lead Elemas? Could he do it? They couldn’t. They’d both fall into a ditch or run into a wall or something. To lead someone else, it’s crucial that one can see.
And of course, Elemas, this false teacher, was stricken with a physical blindness. He was made unable physically with his two eyes to see. But verse 39 in Luke 6 is talking about spiritual blindness. It’s making a spiritual point. Those who are spiritually blind cannot give right spiritual guidance. But the illustration, which, which like the one couple verses later is, can be, I suppose, a little bit comical in nature, you can imagine one blind person trying to lead another blind person, and then they both fall into a ditch, you know, something like you’d see on the Three Stooges or some sort of slapstick routine might be a little bit funny. But the point that it’s making is not funny at all, is it? And what would happen in the physical realm happens all the time in the spiritual realm. A spiritually blind person can’t give right spiritual guidance.
Instead, what they’re going to do is they’re going to take people with them, take them right along with them on the path to spiritual destruction. And so Luke 1152, as Jesus pronouncing woes upon scribes, and upon the teachers of the law, he says, Woe to you lawyers, for you have taken away the key of knowledge, you did not enter yourselves, and you hindered those who were entering. How did they do it? Through false teaching, because they were blind, and in their blindness, they were making spiritually blind. those who listened to them. One who follows a misguided teacher will be led astray. And that’s how verse 40 relates to this whole overarching theme and topic of spiritual vision. Because if your teacher is blind, you’ll become like your teacher.
Several times in the Psalms, as the psalmists are exposing the vanity and the futility of idols. And in more than one place in the Psalms, Psalm 115 would be one example, where it talks about idols and how they have eyes, but they can’t see, ears and can’t hear. And it goes on through that list. And then at the end of that list of all these worthless features of these idols, they have mouths, but they can’t speak and so on. It says those who serve them will become like them. So if your teacher is blind, you’ll become blind too, you’ll become like your teacher.
And then you’ve got in verses 41 and 42, this man with a log in his eye. And the fact that he doesn’t consider the log in his eye indicates that either he’s unaware that it’s even there, or he ignores his own impediment. But because he’s got a log in his eye, he’s not capable of helping someone else to see clearly.
That’s the illustration, that’s the caricature, that’s the cartoon that Jesus paints for us. Keep your finger in Luke 6, though, and turn with me to the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 23. And in this long litany of rebukes against the religious leaders of his day, Jesus describes them as blind, time and time again. Matthew 23, in your ESV Bible, there’s a heading that says, seven woes to the scribes and the Pharisees. Glance with me at verse 16.
Jesus says, woe to you blind guides. A blind man can’t lead a blind man. Verse 17, you blind fools, he calls them. And remember, as we saw last week, scripturally speaking, foolishness is not primarily a cognitive or rational trait, it’s a moral one. You blind fools, he says. Verse 19, you blind man, Verse 24, you blind guides straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel. And then finally, verse 26, you blind Pharisee.
You see how many times he describes them as blind. And he’s not talking about physical blindness. He was proclaiming, and I say he’s proclaiming with sorrow, not gloating over them and mocking them, but grieving that they were blind to the truth. So he presents in these verses a critical problem, the problem of spiritual vision impairment. And the reason that relates to us is because in our natural state, all of us are spiritually blind. That’s just one aspect, one facet of the wretched fallen condition that we know as total depravity.
In our natural state, apart from the gospel, apart from the working and the awakening and the illumining of the Holy Spirit, all of us were spiritually bind, and we would have remained so had it not been for the grace of Christ. for the grace of His Holy Spirit that came and changed us, that made us new creatures in Christ. So if you’re a new creature, if you’ve been made new by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, you’re no longer spiritually blind. However, even after our conversion, our spiritual sight is imperfect, and it’s restored incrementally. When Jesus says that the path of the righteous is like the rising of the sun that shines brighter and brighter till the perfect day, that has application to our sanctification as we grow in holiness and as we shine more brightly before the world. But it also has application to our spiritual vision, how we come to see over time more and more clearly.
That’s one reason. Because of the spiritual blindness and the spiritual vision impairment that we still have, to an extent, as saved people, that’s one reason why it is so important that we follow the right teacher. That takes us to our second point, the importance, the importance of following the right teacher. There are certain traits or characteristics that we will find in the right teacher. One key trait of the right teacher or a wise teacher, as I think we’ve made obvious already, is the right teacher can see. And because the right teacher is able to see, he will go in the right direction. And he’ll lead others in the right direction as well.
This is a gospel theme and it comes out in Isaiah 30. Isaiah 30, 20 and 21. Listen to this. Your eyes shall see your teacher and your ears shall hear a word behind you saying, this is the way. Walk in it when you turn to the right or to the left. Isn’t that beautiful? You’ll see your teacher. your teachers can lead you in the right paths. That’s what the right teacher does, the right teacher can see, and he’ll lead you in the right direction and lead us in the right direction.
Secondly, the right teacher will be worthy of imitation. Learners, or disciples, or students inevitably take on the traits of their teachers. Anyone who studies for any significant length of time with another person, whether it’s trying to learn a skill or an art, or whatever it is that they’re studying, learners inevitably take on the traits of their teachers.
My sister, is an alumna of Covenant College. And I remember while she was studying at Covenant College, she wasn’t a music major, but she did some things and had some involvement in the music department. And they were at that time, two piano teachers, two piano instructors on the faculty of Covenant College. And she said that when their students performed in recital, you could tell which teacher the students studied with. because they had mannerisms and they had just affectations in the way they play, but even the way they sat at the keyboard that showed the traits of the person with whom they were studying. And I was a music major. And it was always very gratifying to me, but playing, playing on a job somewhere, and some musician who’d been in in town for a long time and played a lot of gigs and played with my teacher before commented that you sound a lot like your teacher.
And sometimes that likeness of a student or a disciple to their master or their teacher, sometimes it’s deliberate. You know, sometimes just out of affection for the teacher, they’ll start to do things the way their teacher does them. And it’s intentional. But other times, it’s almost subconscious.
It’s vitally important that our teachers in the faith are of sound doctrine. And ultimately, our teacher must be the Lord Jesus, we must be disciples of Him. And it’s that ultimate line that we want to pursue. Yes, we We want to place ourselves under biblically, doctrinally sound instruction, but ultimately it’s because we want to be instructed by Christ.
And so that’s why the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 11 could say to his writers, the first phrase sounds a little bit self-aggrandizing. He says, be imitators of me. But that’s not the end of the sentence. He says, be imitators of me as I am of Christ. So if we were to unpack that a little bit and expand upon it, he’s saying, to the extent that I follow Christ, follow me. To the extent that I don’t, don’t follow me. And so verses 39 and 40 are cautioning us. Choose carefully whom you will follow. They teach us the importance of following the right teacher.
But then finally, this passage teaches us the need for self-examination, self-examination and humility. Among Christians, when we use the term self-examination, when that concept comes up, we tend, I think, most frequently to associate that with the Lord’s Supper. we’re supposed to examine ourselves. That’s what I was encouraging you to do over the course of the week. That’s what First Corinthians 11 requires us to do. But that process, that work of self-examination should actually be an ongoing practice, a continuous practice. Not that we should ever go overboard and get wrapped up in some kind of morbid, introspective posture or self-focused way of thinking, but we should actively monitor ourselves. Really, that’s a form of self-discipline. It’s a spiritual discipline to guard our hearts, to monitor ourselves, monitor our minds. Am I loving the Lord my God with all my mind? Am I loving the Lord God with all my heart? How can I better love him with all my heart, with all my mind?” We need self-examination.
And verses 41 and 42 of our text drive that lesson home by way, again, of this sort of farcical illustration. You got a man with a log in his eye. It’s almost too much to imagine. The word in in the Greek means a beam of timber, something like that. Imagine it in your eye.
It’s supposed to be a little bit funny. I mean, it’s the kind of thing you’d see on a Saturday Night Live skit or something right? Imagine such a person coming along with one of those in their eyes and saying, Hey, you got something in your eye, let me help you get it out. So the contrast being drawn here is someone with some major issues, presuming to correct another person whose flaws are comparatively unnoticeable.
When was the last time you had something in your eye? You knew something was in there. You can’t get around it. Your eye is so sensitive. When there’s something in it, you just know. There’s no question. But oftentimes you can’t find it. You can’t get to it. You might try to get it out. You can’t.
You look in the mirror and you can’t even see it. And other people can’t see it. Someone might come along and say, well, let me take a look. And they look in your eye, they get up close. They can’t see whatever’s in your eye. It’s causing you a tremendous amount of discomfort, whatever that thing is, but it’s small. You can’t see it.
And what if somebody who had a rolling pin jammed in one of their eyes comes along and says, oh, I’ll find it for you. Wants to remove your speck. So Jesus here, is painting a scene that’s intended to come across as a little bit humorous, I think. He does that. He’s got a sense of humor. He uses some laugh-evoking illustrations in his teaching, but he uses them to address serious matters.
You remember when the people came and asked Jesus about John the Baptist? Or Jesus asked them about John the Baptist. And he says, what did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? I imagine that may have made a few people laugh. Was John the baptizer a man who was just tossed about by every wind of doctrine? Not in the least. Ah, what did you go out in the wilderness to see then? A man dressed in fine clothing? Was John the Baptist a clothes horse? That would have made people laugh. Or this camel fur leather belt. But what did you go out to see?
A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. Jesus is doing something similar here. He’s painting a humorous picture. But after we’ve chuckled, he brings to our attention the serious spiritual matter that’s at hand. We could summarize it or one aspect of it like this.
The words of Jesus here are impressing upon us the fact that other people’s imperfections are more obvious to us than our own major flaws. It’s illustrating for us that people are naturally keen to judge others, but blind to their own flaws. And beyond that, you and I, as disciples of Jesus Christ, will be ineffectual at assisting our neighbor until we’ve rightly confronted our own shortcomings. That’s not to say we have to have all of our ducks in a row and everything in our life has to be straightened and dressed right dress and all the way it should be before we should even presume to try to help anyone else. That’s not the point at all. But unless we recognize our own shortcomings and are seeking by God’s grace to address them, we’re not effectively going to be able to help others.
In his commentary on this passage, Philip Riken said, when we examine our hearts, we always need to remember that our depravity is like something in the rearview mirror of a car. Objects are larger than they may appear. Many of the sins we think are splinters are really more like two by fours, if not pillars.
So that’s something to keep in mind in our self-examination. in 1 Corinthians 11, 28, made reference earlier to how we think of self-examination in connection with the Lord’s Supper, and we’ll be coming to the Lord’s Supper next Lord’s Day, Lord willing.
In that passage, it says that as you come to the table, examine yourselves, and so eat and drink. Not examine yourselves in despair and go home, examine yourselves and then eat and drink. But there’s the examination that needs to take place And in his second letter to the Corinthians, chapter 13, verse 5, Paul also there says, not in connection with the Lord’s Supper, but in connection with daily life, in connection with your daily walk. He says, examine yourselves, test yourselves, he says.
Or we could paraphrase it this way. Give yourself a routine spiritual checkup. And you don’t have to do it without assistance. You don’t have to do it all on your own. You have recourse to ask for help from God Himself. Ask Christ to help you examine yourself.
That’s what the psalmist was doing when he said, Search me, O God, and know my heart. Try me and know my thoughts and see if there be any grievous way in me. Lead me in the way everlasting. He’s asking God to give him a spiritual checkup. He’s asking God to test him and help him to test himself. So this passage here in Luke calls us to self-examination.
It shows us the need of self-examination, but it’s also a call to humility. just the thought that, you know, if I’m really inclined to try to help that other person with the speck in their eye, I ought to think twice and check to make sure there’s not a log in my own eye first.
And our brother Joe posted this quote from John Flavel on his blog this week, and it plays right into this whole This whole theme, the theme of humility, how this passage calls us to humility. Humility is not an easy thing. But this is what John Flavel said about it. He said, those who know God will be humble. Those who know themselves cannot be proud. See, the more truly we know ourselves, the less we’ll be able to be proud, and the more humble we’ll be.
So these verses strongly caution all people across the board to take care of whom they follow. And that’s for us, too, as Christians, but for us specifically, and particularly as Christians, these verses also caution us to take care how we lead. Because remember, Jesus is speaking these words to whom? To his disciples. He directed these words to his disciples, and therefore he spoke them, at least to some extent, in reference to his disciples’ duty to make disciples. He’s telling us that to be able to lead, we have to be able to see.
And it’s God’s own word that serves as a lamp for our feet. It’s God’s own word that serves as true light to our spiritual paths. Spiritual vision is crucial for leadership, instruction, and correction in the Church of Christ. And our source of spiritual vision is none other than Christ himself speaking through the Holy Spirit in the written word of the Holy Scriptures. because every bit of the Holy Scripture is breathed out by God, and it’s profitable. In other words, it’s useful. It’s helpful for us. It’s profitable for teaching. It’s profitable for reproof, and for correction, and for training in righteousness.
How will we ever see things rightly? Only in the light of God’s Word. Our hearts must say, in your light do we see light. And by that light, together, we’ll travel the way home to eternal glory. Let’s pray together. Father in heaven, with the psalmist, we continue to pray. Open our eyes that we may behold wondrous things in your law. Lord, it is true in your light we see light. Convince us of this. Convince us of this. Again, repeatedly, day after day, may we follow Jesus Christ because he’s the right teacher.
Help us, Lord, and improve our spiritual vision impairment. May we be faithful and dutiful and diligent to examine ourselves. And we pray to be working in us a true and Christ-like humility. Give each one of us that precious gift of a broken and contrite heart. And may you receive all the glory for it. May we see things rightly through you and through your word. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.