Author: Gary Witcher
Company: none

Blind Leaders of the Blind - Causes

	Blind leaders of the blind.  Being spiritually blind means walking in darkness.  This involves not loving one another and not loving God.  Loving one another does not mean that we are willing to stand by and watch others do whatever they want to.  It requires that we do whatever we can to make sure they spend eternity in heaven.  Loving God does not mean simply calling Him our Father.  It requires that we obey His commandments.
	What happens when we have blind leaders of the blind?  Both stumble.  And they eventually fall into a pit.
	What should we do to avoid being blind leaders or blind followers?  We must walk in the light.  To do this, we must first look to the light.  That light is Jesus, and He is revealed through God's word.
	"And {so} we have the prophetic word {made} more sure," we read last week from 2 Peter 1:19, "to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts."
	How does it happen?  What causes spiritual blindness?
	"Now for this very reason also," the Holy Spirit responds in 2 Peter 1:5-11, "applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in {your} moral excellence, knowledge; and in {your} knowledge, self-control, and in {your} self-control, perseverance, and in {your} perseverance, godliness; and in {your} godliness, brotherly kindness, and in {your} brotherly kindness, love.  For if these {qualities} are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.  For he who lacks these {qualities} is blind {or} short-sighted, having forgotten {his} purification from his former sins.  Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you; for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble; for in this way the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you."
	Peter lists seven qualities which, if they are lacking, cause spiritual blindness.  These are moral excellence, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly love and Christian love.  Let's consider each one separately.
	How much moral excellence is evident in our world today?  Is there any wonder, then, that there is an epidemic of spiritual blindness?
	"And do not be conformed to this world," Paul urges in Romans 12:2, "but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect."
	What about spiritual knowledge?  Do you see a lot of knowledge in religious matters, or do you see a lot of ignorance?  Are you able to tell the difference?  Are you satisfied with your own knowledge of God's Word?
	"For I want you to know how great a struggle I have on your behalf," Paul writes in Colossians 2:1-3, "and for those who are at Laodicea, and for all those who have not personally seen my face, that their hearts may be encouraged, having been knit together in love, and {attaining} to all the wealth that comes from the full assurance of understanding, {resulting} in a true knowledge of God's mystery, {that is,} Christ {Himself}, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge."
	We must practice self-control in order to avoid spiritual blindness.  That's a good one, isn't it?  When was the last time you heard self-control stressed in our society?  Have we been hearing just a little too much about "My rights" and not enough about "My responsibility"?
	"Do you not know that those who run in a race all run," 1 Corinthians 9:24-27 notes, "but {only} one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win.  And everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things. They then {do it} to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. Therefore I run in such a way, as not without aim; I box in such a way, as not beating the air; but I buffet my body and make it my slave, lest possibly, after I have preached to others, I myself should be disqualified."
	Perseverance will help ward off spiritual blindness.
	"By your endurance you will gain your lives," Jesus tells His followers in Luke 21:19.
	"Be patient, therefore, brethren, until the coming of the Lord," James 5:7-11 instructs. "Behold, the farmer waits for the precious produce of the soil, being patient about it, until it gets the early and late rains.  You too be patient; strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.  Do not complain, brethren, against one another, that you yourselves may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing right at the door.  As an example, brethren, of suffering and patience, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord.  Behold, we count those blessed who endured. You have heard of the endurance of Job and have seen the outcome of the Lord's dealings, that the Lord is full of compassion and {is} merciful."

	Moral excellence, knowledge, self-control and perseverance are required to avoid spiritual blindness.  We must also practice godliness if we don't want to be spiritually blind.
	"If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also;" Jesus points out in John 14:7, "from now on you know Him, and have seen Him."
	To be like God, we must be like Jesus.
	"Be imitators of me," Paul states in 1 Corinthians 11:1,2, "just as I also am of Christ.  Now I praise you because you remember me in everything, and hold firmly to the traditions, just as I delivered them to you."
	To be like Jesus, we must follow the example set by the New Testament writers.
	We must have brotherly love if we don't want to be spiritually blind.
	"Be devoted to one another in brotherly love;" Romans 12:10 instructs, "give preference to one another in honor."
	There is also another kind of love which is required of those who aren't spiritually blind.  This is "agape" love, the unselfish love which puts others first.  The thirteenth chapter of First Corinthians speaks of "agape" love.
	"If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels," this passage states, "but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.  And if I have {the gift of} prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.  And if I give all my possessions to feed {the poor,} and if I deliver my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.  Love is patient, love is kind, {and} is not jealous; love does not brag {and} is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong {suffered,} does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.  Love never fails; but if {there are gifts of} prophecy, they will be done away; if {there are} tongues, they will cease; if {there is} knowledge, it will be done away.  For we know in part, and we prophesy in part; but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away.  When I was a child, I used to speak as a child, think as a child, reason as a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things.  For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I shall know fully just as I also have been fully known.  But now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love."
	The list from Second Peter names seven things which keep us from being spiritually blind.  But other things are also involved.
	"Because you say, 'I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing,'" Jesus observes in Revelation 3:17, "and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked."
	If we rely upon ourselves, we will be spiritually blind.
	"'He has blinded their eyes," we read in John 12:40-43, "and He hardened their heart; lest they see with their eyes, and perceive with their heart, and be converted, and I heal them.' These things Isaiah said, because he saw His glory, and he spoke of Him.  Nevertheless many even of the rulers believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they were not confessing {Him,} lest they should be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the approval of men rather than the approval of God."
	We will be spiritually blind if we love the approval of men rather than the approval of God.
	"But their minds were hardened;" Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 3:14-4:4, "for until this very day at the reading of the old covenant the same veil remains unlifted, because it is removed in Christ.  But to this day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their heart; but whenever a man turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.  Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, {there} is liberty.  But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.  Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we received mercy, we do not lose heart, but we have renounced the things hidden because of shame, not walking in craftiness or adulterating the word of God, but by the manifestation of truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God.  And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving, that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God."
	The Gospel can be veiled through craftiness or adulterating the Word of God.  According to this passage, this includes those who attempt to continue to follow the Old Law.  A veiled Gospel leads to spiritual blindness.
	We will be blind if we lack moral excellence, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly love or Christian love.  We will be blind if we depend upon our own power.  We will be blind if we love the approval of men rather than the approval of God.  We will be blind if we adulterate the Word of God.
	How does Jesus feel about blind guides of the blind?
	"Woe to you, blind guides," He comments in Matthew 23:16,17, "who say, 'Whoever swears by the temple, that is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple, he is obligated.' You fools and blind men; which is more important, the gold, or the temple that sanctified the gold?"
	"You blind men," He continues in verse 19, "which is more important, the offering or the altar that sanctifies the offering?"
	"You blind guides," He adds in verse 24, "who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!"
	"You blind Pharisee," He concludes in verse 26, "first clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, so that the outside of it may become clean also." 
	Jesus doesn't seem to like blind spiritual leadership.  He seems to prefer the light of the truth...the truth which sets us free.

Unless otherwise noted, "Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE(R), (C) Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission." (www.lockman.org)