For if once I could see this world the way you see, I just know I’d serve you more faithfully.

Love the sinner, hate the sin? How about: Love the sinner, hate your own sin! I don't have time to hate your sin. There are too many of you! Hating my sin is a full-time job. How about you hate your sin, I'll hate my sin and let's just love each other!

1. What would make the greatest difference in the world today, the church seeing the world in a different way or the world seeing the church in a different way?

Recently I found myself in a Facebook conversation. The essence of it was that someone felt that the church had gone soft on sin and should get back to a place where we weren’t afraid to call sin, sin. My response was that overall I didn’t feel that we had lost much ground in that department. Love the sinner, hate the sin? How about: Love the sinner, hate your own sin! I don't have time to hate your sin. There are too many of you! Hating my sin is a full-time job. How about you hate your sin, I'll hate my sin and let's just love each other!

We don’t have to search very hard or very far to find people who are happy to pronounce judgment in people. Christians don’t have a monopoly on that either. Judgmentalism is as rampant outside the church walls as it is inside. The shame is that if there is somewhere that it doesn’t belong, it’s inside the walls. It doesn’t belong in the lives of people who claim first allegiance to the most radical forgiver of all time. Jesus … Jesus … Jesus.

“Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council. He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him.” In reply Jesus declared, “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.” “How can a man be born when he is old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb to be born!” Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.” “How can this be?” Nicodemus asked. “You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things?I tell you the truth, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man. Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God.”” (John 3:1–21, NIV84)

You would think by now that we would understand that if condemnation was not a part of Jesus’ agenda, that we don’t need to make it a part of ours.

The seemingly disinterested world around us longingly languishes for the church to show the love it has been shown, the joy that truly good news sparks, the grace it has received with open arms. In that day no conniving will be necessary to coerce people to come to a Sunday gathering. And in that day the gathering will be every day not just 90 minutes on Sunday.

No … I am not at all concerned that we will suffer for our failure to judge people. We most certainly fail because we do that very thing.

2. The world looked different through Jesus’ eyes than it did through the eyes of the disciples and the religious people of the day. They saw something different than he did.

“Now one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, so he went to the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. When a woman who had lived a sinful life in that town learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house, she brought an alabaster jar of perfume, and as she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them. When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is—that she is a sinner.”Jesus answered him, “Simon, I have something to tell you.” “Tell me, teacher,” he said. “Two men owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he canceled the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?” Simon replied, “I suppose the one who had the bigger debt canceled.” “You have judged correctly,” Jesus said. Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—for she loved much.But he who has been forgiven little loves little.” Then Jesus said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.” The other guests began to say among themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?” Jesus said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”” (Luke 7:36–50, NIV84)

They missed the lavish gesture of love because of clouded eyes and self-deceit. They were good enough to hobnob with Jesus but this woman was a sinner. They even judged Jesus for failing to respond as they might have. They would have been happier with him if he had responded in self-righteous offense. They judged him not to be a prophet for his failure to see as they saw.

We don’t see the world as it is … we see it as we are.

Each of us has many, many maps in our head, which can be divided into two main categories: maps of the way things are, or realities, and maps of the way things should be, or values. We interpret everything we experience through these mental maps. We seldom question their accuracy; we’re usually even unaware that we have them. We simply assume that the way we see things is the way they really are or the way they should be. And our attitudes and behaviors grow out of those assumptions. The way we see things is the source of the way we think and the way we act. …

Each of us tends to think we see things as they are, that we are objective. But this is not the case. We see the world, not as it is, but as we are—or, as we are conditioned to see it. When we open our mouths to describe what we see, we in effect describe ourselves, our perceptions, our paradigms. When other people disagree with us, we immediately think something is wrong with them.

Covey, Stephen R.. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People . RosettaBooks - A. Kindle Edition.

Jesus saw something totally different …

He never saw a sinful woman touching him in inappropriate ways. He saw a woman who realized just how much she had been forgiven. When you think of people in our community who live in ways that are different from your values, do you label them? Do you thank God that you are somehow better, your sin more easily concealed and socially acceptable?

What you see is not what God sees.
That look that Jesus gave people … what might it have been like? If you ever got the look you’d likely never forget it.

The rich young ruler never forgot it …

“As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. “Good teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” “Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone. You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, do not defraud, honor your father and mother.’” “Teacher,” he declared, “all these I have kept since I was a boy.” . “One thing you lack,” he said. “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” At this the man’s face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth. Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!” The disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said again, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” The disciples were even more amazed, and said to each other, “Who then can be saved?” Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.” Peter said to him, “We have left everything to follow you!” “I tell you the truth,” Jesus replied, “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age (homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—and with them, persecutions) and in the age to come, eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last first.”” (Mark 10:17–31, NIV84)

Peter never forgot that look …

“Then seizing him, they led him away and took him into the house of the high priest. Peter followed at a distance. But when they had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and had sat down together, Peter sat down with them. A servant girl saw him seated there in the firelight. She looked closely at him and said, “This man was with him.” But he denied it. “Woman, I don’t know him,” he said. A little later someone else saw him and said, “You also are one of them.” “Man, I am not!” Peter replied. About an hour later another asserted, “Certainly this fellow was with him, for he is a Galilean.” Peter replied, “Man, I don’t know what you’re talking about”(Luke 22:54–62, NIV84)

That look reminded Peter that he was not as strong and self-sufficient as he imagined.

3. What difference would it make if we could see this world as Jesus did?

Let me see this world, dear Lord,
as though I were looking through Your eyes.
A world of men who don't want You Lord,
but a world for which You died.
Let me kneel with You in the garden,
Blur my eyes with tears of agony;
For if once I could see this world the way You see,
I just know I'd serve You more faithfully.

Let me see this world, dear Lord,
through Your eyes when men mock Your holy name.
When they beat You and spat upon You, Lord,
let me love themas You loved them just the same.
Let me stand high above my petty problems,
and grieve for men, hell bound eternally;
For if once I could see this world the way You see,
I just know I'd serve You more faithfully.

"Looking Through His Eyes" - Words and music by Mike Otto

For if once I could see this world the way you see, I just know I’d serve you more faithfully.

I think the greatest difference would be made in the world if we could see as Jesus did.

If we saw Grand Manan through Jesus eyes, what would we see?

Really, what the song is speaking of is a paradigm shift.

I remember a mini-paradigm shift I experienced one Sunday morning on a subway in New York. People were sitting quietly—some reading newspapers, some lost in thought, some resting with their eyes closed. It was a calm, peaceful scene.

Then suddenly, a man and his children entered the subway car. The children were so loud and rambunctious that instantly the whole climate changed. The man sat down next to me and closed his eyes, apparently oblivious to the situation. The children were yelling back and forth, throwing things, even grabbing people’s papers. It was very disturbing. And yet, the man sitting next to me did nothing. It was difficult not to feel irritated.

I could not believe that he could be so insensitive as to let his children run wild like that and do nothing about it, taking no responsibility at all. It was easy to see that everyone else on the subway felt irritated, too. So finally, with what I felt was unusual patience and restraint, I turned to him and said, “Sir, your children are really disturbing a lot of people. I wonder if you couldn’t control them a little more?”

The man lifted his gaze as if to come to a consciousness of the situation for the first time and said softly, “Oh, you’re right. I guess I should do something about it. We just came from the hospital where their mother died about an hour ago. I don’t know what to think, and I guess they don’t know how to handle it either.” Can you imagine what I felt at that moment? My paradigm shifted. Suddenly I saw things differently, and because I saw differently, I thought differently, I felt differently, I behaved differently.

My irritation vanished.

I didn’t have to worry about controlling my attitude or my behavior; my heart was filled with the man’s pain. Feelings of sympathy and compassion flowed freely. “Your wife just died? Oh, I’m so sorry! Can you tell me about it? What can I do to help?” Everything changed in an instant.

Covey, Stephen R.. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People . RosettaBooks - A. Kindle Edition.

For if once I could see this world the way you see, I just know I’d serve you more faithfully.