“Being Blind to the World” || Perception Vs. Reality || Week 4

It’s that time again folks! It’s time for Week 3 of “Perception vs. Reality”. This series is about how we define our reality of the world from the perceptions we take from the news, social media, amongst other mediums. We defined reality as the world as it ACTUALLY exists and perception as being AWARE of the world as we can SENSE it. Two different words that can sometimes coexist into one meaning. Are you ready for today’s message? Let’s dive into it!

This week’s message is called: “Being Blind to the World” 

and finds us in Ecclesiastes 2 and Romans 1. As I did for the previous two messages, I will read the entire section of scripture to help us gain context to the author’s message and then unpack the key verse I chose for this sermon. Understood? Great.

Turn in your Bibles to Ecclesiastes 2 and we will read verses 12 to 16. Theologians have a good idea than Solomon, David’s son, who wrote this book of wisdom. Let’s see what it says in this section of scripture titled: Maybe Wisdom is the Answer

It says: “Then I decided to think about what it means to be wise or to be foolish or to do crazy things. And I thought about the one who will be the next kind. The new king will do the same as the kings before him. I saw that wisdom is better than foolishness in the same way that light is better than darkness. Wise people use their minds like eyes to see where they are going. But for fools, it is as if they are walking in the dark. I also saw that fools and wise people both end the same way. I thought to myself, “The same things that happen to a fool will also happen to me. So why have I tried so hard to become wise?” I said to myself, “Being wise is also useless.” When people are wise or foolish, they will still die, and no one will remember either one of them forever. In the future, people will forget everything both of them did. So the two are really the same.” Interesting thoughts. As you can see, verse 14 is the one we’re going to unpack. Solomon seems to be struggling with wisdom here too. Let’s talk some more.

This section talks about how human wisdom suffers another crucial shortcoming – it leaves both the wise and fool empty-handed at the threshold of death. So, why do we need to be wise if there’s no benefit in doing so? I feel that the modern-day translation of this. Why should I do this when, in the end, I’ll be dead and it will not have made a difference? This is why verse 14 plays such a key role in this discussion.

It talks about fools walking in darkness. The fool isn’t one who is mentally deficient but is morally bankrupt. Meaning that it’s that he can’t learn wisdom, but that he won’t. He refuses to know, fear, and obey God. That can sound like some people we know, right? Or does that sound more like us? How many of us don’t want to learn how to wise because it changes what we already know and we’re too stubborn to accept something new? This is a lot of questions right and I’m attacking you right now. This something that you should feel convicted by…in a good way that is.

Some of us are just too darn stubborn to learn the right way of doing things. We think that the way we’ve done that forever now is correct and that people are pointing out the proper correct way is wrong. It’s stubbornness. We don’t want to turn the light on to see the proper way but we’d rather stumble through the dark with the path we’ve been walking through. You know…that path that we’ve fallen off many times, tripped over a couple times, stumbled through a few times. We’d rather stick with that because it’s something we already know and we don’t have to learn something new because we’re scared. Bottom line: we are scared.

We’re scared to learn something new or to change an old habit because we’re familiar with it. It’s we’ve known for months or years and, regardless if it’s wrong, we don’t want to try a new path because this path got us through the tough times. This path has been there for us more than our friends, our family…even God. Why would you want me to try this new path when all I know is this dark and twisted path? I imagine this conversation has happened in your before. “I want to try this, but what if…” or “I should ask her out, but what if…” or even “I’m ready to make a change, but what if…”. Have you had these conversations? I have…

I live off of what-if statements. If I could make money off of them, I’d be a millionaire, but I’ve learned a lot during this pandemic. It’s okay to have those what-if statements. Crazy, right? My therapist taught me to take those what-ifs and actually evaluate them. Find out what would happen if the what-if came true and what would happen if the what-if doesn’t come true, and then go from it. With that mindset, you’re instituting wisdom. If this happens, and it’s positive. Cool! Embrace the new reality. If this happens, and it’s negative. That blows, but I can learn how to roll with the punches. If it’s irrational what the what-ifs result from it, then pitch it from your mind. All wise stuff to learn from one act. All right. There’s your lesson from this scripture. Let’s move on to the next.

Turn to the New Testament and the book of Romans, Paul’s first letter. We’re just taking apart verse 20. It says: “There are things about God that people cannot see – his eternal power and all that makes him God. But since the beginning of the world, those things have been easy for people to understand. They are made clear in what God has made. So people have no excuse for the evil they do. Let’s tear that apart!

Let’s talk about these things that we can’t see about God: his eternal power and his divine nature. His eternal power refers to God’s creation and how he sustains all of His creation constantly. His divine nature talks about his faithful, kindness, and gracious. We can’t see how God creates things nor sustains. We see the result of his actions taking place before us. We see how the animals are fed and sheltered, we see how the plants produce fruits, flowers, and more. We see all these results from God’s actions but never see him actually doing it. The same thing regarding his divine nature. We see God acting faithful, kind, and gracious, but we experience the results of his actions. We know God won’t leave us. We know God is kind to us always, even when we aren’t kind to ourselves. We know God provides so much grace for us. There’s one commonality so far: We can’t see God perform, but we rejoice in His results. Paul later mentions that these things are easy for us to understand because they’ve been around since the beginning of time. Psalms 94:9 says: “God made our ears, so surely he can hear what is happening! He made our eyes, so surely he can see you.”

People have no excuse to do evil stuff because it’s clear what God has made. God holds all of us responsible for refusing to acknowledge that He has shown Himself in His creation. Even those who have never had an opportunity to hear the gospel have received a clear witness about the existence and character of God – and have suppressed it. This is where I think the Parable of the Mustard Seed comes into play. Our job as believers is to share the gospel of Jesus Christ and plant the mustard seed in their minds to see if they want to nurture. We can’t see it grow, nor can we see it nurtured, but we keep faith that the more we speak life into that person that the seed will bud.

That’s it for this week. We’re wrapping up this series already. I can’t believe it. Join us next week for the finale of “Perception vs. Reality”. Stay blessed.