The Importance of Spiritual Sight
January 19, 2017
J.D. Greear, lead pastor of The Summit Church, in Raleigh-Durham, N.C. led the crowd to focus on worshipping God as he preached in chapel at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. Greer is a graduate and faculty member of Southeastern. He is the author of “Gospel: Recovering the Power that Made Christianity Revolutionary” and “Stop Asking Jesus into Your Heart.” Since Greear joined The Summit Church it has grown from 300 to 8,000 members.
Greear shared his excitement about what God is doing on the Southeastern campus. “If half of what Bruce Ashford, provost of Southeastern, tells me is true, this is an incredible student body,” said Greear.
The main text of his sermon came from 2 Kings 6:8-23 on the Old Testament story of the prophet Elisha trapping the blinded Arameans. His message focused on the need for spiritual sight and explained the blindness of the Christian believer and the non-Christian.
“Our spiritual sight is 10,000 times more important than our physical sight,” said Greear. “Sin leaves us spiritually blind and unaware that we are blind.”
He encouraged seminary students that knowledge is not the same thing as spiritual sight: spiritual sight is how we perceive God and is more important to have than physical sight.
Greear pointed out that the Arameans had a delusional type of blindness, not realizing that Elisha was leading them to Samaria. Instead of killing his enemies, Elisha prepared a feast for them and won them over.
“Seeing and being filled with the Spirit are the same thing,” said Greear. “The evidence that the Spirit has come into your life is that He opens your eyes.”
“The armies against us are great but the armies of God’s love around us are greater,” said Greear. “Even when you can’t hear the footprints of His angels or the rumble of His chariots, you can lift up your eyes … to the cross.”
Greear shared about the blindness of the unbeliever when one thinks that God and His people are his or her enemies. However, the Arameans found blessing when they were captured by God’s man, Elisha. This story points us to Jesus. As God’s children, we love God and others because He first loved us.
Chapel was held in Binkley Chapel on Aug. 29. The bi-weekly gathering at Southeastern encourages and challenges attendees to focus on their personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
“The goal of a sermon is that you leave worshipping. The way that you worship is you see a sight of God.
“Nothing replaces sight and God has to give it through the Gospel,” said Greear. “Both the believer and unbeliever alike need to see a fresh glimpse of God’s love because the sight of God is what creates faith.”
To view photos from the chapel service please click here.