WHO'S LENS ARE YOU LOOKING THROUGH?

Many times in my personal ministry I’ve used a picture story to try and bring clarity to the instruction I’m giving.  Jesus used pictures because pictures help a lot of us understand some pretty complicated truths.  In one case I describe how each of us has a unique set of lenses that we look through when we observe the world around us.  My lens has been ground by my life experience and so I see the world around me through a modified, even distorted view.  Each of you in the room is doing this same thing every day, of every week, of every year.

Often, using this imagery of the lens, helps couples that are in conflict, begin to understand why their spouse is perceived as unwilling to see, but actually is temporarily unable to see, because of the lens they look through.

Before I became a Christ follower, I saw the world through the lens of my mother and father, my Minnesotan/American viewpoint, my middle-income, country kid, frugal, hard working lens.  The whole world was viewed through that lens that was ground by life experience.  For me, unlike others close to me, I’ve never felt oppressed nor ever saw myself as a victim because my lens is not ground that way.  I seldom see the disastrous endings, because my lenses see past the challenge to a solution.  I’m a problem solver and a bridge builder.

Now before you think my life is easy let me show you a little of the rest of my lens.  I used to struggle with feeling like I was not accomplishing enough.  I’ve battled with the issue of acute obedience and can quickly condemn myself if I don’t succeed at something.  Before Christ set me free, I used to think I was smarter than others around me.  I used to fear failure and regarded a “B” in school as if it were a “D”.  In fact I got a “D” in a social science class in college and almost needed to be resuscitated.  The ultra liberal lens of my professor didn’t suit me so well.

My educational direction supported how I saw the world around me as I pursued a career as an engineer because it’s all about problem solving.  This may be a good place for you to assess how your lens is ground.  My next step was as a small business owner and entrepreneur, which let me design my own path.  The fact that I think in detail and love to start with small pieces to create a work of art doesn’t always please everybody, and I’m ok with that.  This set me up well for my ministry life but it was still a lens that needed to be reground.

When I first met Christ and connected with a fringe segment of His church I thought we were the most godly, accurate believers on the planet and many other Christians were seen as near or far sighted by comparison.  As I grew in my faith, the more I met other faithful followers the more I understood I wasn’t so smart.

(1 Corinthians 13:12) Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

 In the last twenty years of my faith journey, I’ve learned that only God has a perfect view of the world and the people in it.  Only God has 20/20 vision when it comes to circumstances and people.  You see my view of the world was still distorted by my life experience.  Every one of us is wearing a wrong set of lenses.  I finally came to grips with the truth that my way was not God’s way.

(Isaiah 55:8) “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

Are you smarter than God?  Are you asking for God’s view of life?  God’s ways and God’s thoughts are made clearer as I spend time with Him in His word.  If I use God’s word the Bible as my lens into the world around me I’m far more likely to get it right.

Let me show you my new lenses. Now when I look at the people next door I see them as God’s creation that He loves more than anything.  I see the poor around me as valuable to God and helping them is not an intrusion into my checkbook or my life, but rather the very heart of God working through me.  I see a fallen and broken world, not as a dark evil empire to be exploited or feared but rather the field that I am called to plant good seed in.

(1 Samuel 16:7) The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”

My new lenses afford me corrective perspective of government and society.  My paranoia dissolved because I’m now looking at the powerful plan of God to rescue as many people as possible before Satan can kill them.  My new viewpoint no longer trusts my old lenses and now I continually search for ways to always wear my new glasses.  If I forget to put them on then my view is distorted.

Some use the term Biblical worldview.  I say wear biblically corrective lenses.  Remember it’s not just seeing however it’s acting on what you see.

(James 1:22-25) …do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it-he will be blessed in what he does.

So let’s ask the question.  Who ground your lenses in your life?  Was it a liberal college that works night and day to extract God from public and private life?  Was it a media entity that wants you to feed the greed in your life or despise anything that comes from authentic mercy and grace?  Maybe your lens was ground by a family upbringing that was far from God’s best.  If you don’t look through these new lenses of mine then you will fail to see the true picture of the world around you.

Some of you have gone through the “Truth Project”; this whole DVD course is about a Biblical worldview.  My hope is that you didn’t just see the dark side, but rather that you see the need to put on your Bible lens so that you can see clearly how to speak with your coworkers and friends about a truly loving God whose trying to rescue them from disaster.

Open your Bibles at home and read about Jesus.  Turn to the pages of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John and get your lenses reground.  Caution yourself from allowing some agenda driven radio or TV personality, Christian or otherwise, from grinding your lens into a paranoid, fear focused view.  We Christians will win in the end only if we are connected to Christ while we live.

The above notes are from Pastor Pasch’s August 30, 2009 message.  To get a free CD of the complete message, contact Christ’s Family Church at 651.437.2340.