Lifting Our Eyes
Sermon Summary: This sermon, part of a series titled "A Long Obedience in the Same Direction," continues through the Psalms of Ascent, focusing on Psalm 123. The pastor explores the critical question every pilgrim must answer on the journey of faith: who or what is guiding them? In a world saturated with competing voices, influences, and would-be masters, the Christian must make a deliberate choice to lift their eyes toward God rather than be passively shaped by the world's messaging. Drawing on the image of a servant watching the hand of a master, the sermon calls believers to adopt a posture of humility and dependence on God, recognizing that everyone serves something. The path of humble servanthood to God leads to mercy, holiness, and eternal life, while the path of self-mastery and worldly influence leads to destruction. Ultimately, Jesus is not only the destination of the pilgrim journey but the way itself, and keeping eyes fixed on him is the defining discipline of faithful discipleship.
Key Points:
- The Christian life is a long journey of obedience that gradually transforms believers into the image of Jesus Christ
- The world constantly competes for our attention and discipleship through loud, confident, and popular voices, but confidence is not the same as wisdom, volume is not the same as truth, and popularity is not the same as goodness
- The essential things of God rarely force themselves on us, while the world aggressively demands our attention and shapes our desires without our conscious awareness
- Jesus warns in Luke 6:39-40 that everyone who is fully trained will become like their teacher, making the identity of our teacher one of the most consequential questions we face
- Everyone serves a master, whether they realize it or not; the question is not whether we will be shaped by something but what or who that something is
- The posture of the servant, watching and waiting on the master, is the posture of humility required for the pilgrim journey
- Control is an illusion; the original temptation was to be like God without God, to be one's own master, and this remains the core struggle of human sinfulness
- Mercy is only received by those who know they need it, and humility is the prerequisite for receiving God's grace
- God does not remain distant; in Jesus Christ he stooped down, entered human experience, and showed us the way to life
- Those who humble themselves before God are raised up as sons and daughters; servanthood to God leads to sonship, not diminishment
- Keeping eyes fixed on Jesus is the response to every circumstance on the journey, whether suffering, temptation, fear, or confusion
Scripture Reference:
- Psalm 123 (primary text): The psalmist lifts his eyes to God enthroned in heaven, comparing the believer's dependence on God to a servant watching the hand of a master, and crying out for mercy
- Luke 6:39-40: Jesus asks whether the blind can lead the blind, and teaches that everyone who is fully trained will be like their teacher
- Romans 6:20-22: Paul contrasts slavery to sin, which leads to death, with slavery to God, which leads to holiness and eternal life
- John 10 (referenced): Jesus declares that he came so that his followers may have life and have it to the full
- Luke 18 (referenced): Contains the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector, and the healing of blind Bartimaeus
Stories:
- The Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector (Luke 18): A self-righteous Pharisee prays boastfully while a tax collector humbly beats his chest and asks God for mercy; Jesus declares the tax collector justified, teaching that those who exalt themselves will be humbled and those who humble themselves will be exalted
- The Healing of Blind Bartimaeus (Luke 18, Matthew 20): A blind man cries out to Jesus for mercy despite being told to be quiet; Jesus stops, asks what he wants, and heals him when he expresses his desire to see, after which the man immediately follows Jesus
- The Parable of the Prodigal Son (referenced): A son who squanders his inheritance returns home intending to ask only to be a servant, but his father runs to meet him, clothes him, and restores him fully as a son, illustrating how God receives those who humbly return to him