Mine Eye Affecteth My Heart
Missions Emphasis Series
Chuck Sligh
March 3, 2013
SCRIPTURE READING: Lamentations 3:48-56
TEXT: Lamentations 3:48-51 – “Mine eye runneth down with rivers of water for the destruction of the daughter of my people. 49 Mine eye trickleth down, and ceaseth not, without any intermission, 50 Till the LORD look down, and behold from heaven. 51 Mine eye affecteth mine heart because of all the daughters of my city.”
INTRODUCTION
Illus. – I don’t recall my son Chris having much natural empathy for the poor and needy. He and his wife Sarah attended a church with a strong outreach to such people, yet I think his ideas on it were merely intellectual. ACTUALLY helping people in need or sacrificing to help them were not serious concerns.
One day he was sitting at a stoplight and saw a man shuffle by and all of a sudden the contrast between his success as a Christian contemporary singer and this poor man on the street struck a chord of compassion in his heart. He immediately pulled off the side of the road and wrote the lyrics to the song that would be first single on his second album, many of the songs of which were devoted to songs calling believers to reach out to the poor and needy. The title of that song was Only You Can Save.
But it was more than just the inspiration for a Christian music hit. What he SAW with his eyes affected his heart, and Chris and Sarah began devoting a portion of their earnings to help those in need.
That impact—caused by what was SEEN—was what we see here in Lamentations. Jeremiah says in verse 51, “Mine eye affecteth mine heart because of all the daughters of my city.” As Jeremiah looked out and saw the destruction of Jerusalem and the results of the sin of the people of Judah—his eye saw the awful carnage and his HEART was touched—his HEART was affected. What affected his heart was what he saw with his eyes. His eye affected his heart.
Today is the first of two messages I plan to preach on missions in March, followed by our missions conference on March 14-17 as we focus on the Faith Promise Missions Giving plan. (GO OVER THE FAITH PROMISE POWERPOINT EXPLANATION SLIDES.)
The theme of our conference is “A Heart for the Harvest.” My goal is that our heart would be affected, for it’s only when what we see affects our hearts that we will willingly part with our hard-earned money for the cause of missions.
As we talk about missions and missions giving, I want us to realize that missions giving is not really a money matter. Missions is not ultimately and most importantly a matter of finances. When you get right down to it, missions is a matter of the HEART.
If we’re going to continue to maintain the level of missionary support for our current missionaries here at Grace as well as hope we can do more in the next year, then OUR HEART MUST BE AFFECTED!
And our heart will be affected if we see with our spiritual eyes what God wants us to see. I love that song “Looking Through His Eyes” that goes like this:
Let me see this world dear Lord,
As though I were looking though 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 mocked your holy name.
When they beat You and spat upon you, Lord,
Let me love them as 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.
As we think about missions this month in preparation for our missions conference, I’m praying that your heart and my heart will be affected; and that that effect will produce compassion that will compel you to be a part of God’s plan of evangelization. I know for myself that my heart has been affected in a profound way concerning missions. Let me share with you why:
I. FIRST, MY EYE AFFECTS MY HEART BECAUSE OF THE PEOPLE I SEE.
In Matthew 9:36, we read, “But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd.”
My heart is affected when I look out on the multitude of PEOPLE in this world. When Jesus looked out on that multitude that day as recorded in Matthew 9:36, His heart was affected by what He saw, and what He saw was a multitude of PEOPLE...without a shepherd, without a Savior, without direction and without purpose. And when He did, the Bible says He was moved with compassion on them His eye affected His heart.
When I look out on the multitudes of our day, I am astonished by the sheer number of people there are who need Christ! There are more people alive this very moment than all the people living up to 1900 added together. SEVEN BILLION PEOPLE—Think of it!
When we see the enormity of our responsibility to get the Gospel out in our generation and see the immense number of people who need the Gospel, it ought to challenge us and burden us. It ought to AFFECT OUR HEARTS. It ought to affect our hearts to PRAY more for missions; to consider more seriously than ever God’s call for FULL-TIME MISSIONARY SERVICE; and to GIVE more to missions than we ever gave before; and if you’ve never given to missions before, then to start now.
Illus. – Think about the country with the largest population in the world today—China, which currently has a population of about 1.3 billion people. If we could stop anyone else from being born or dying in China for an indefinite period of time, and if we could preach to every one of these 1.3 billion people in China and if we could have a new Pentecost every single day and have 3,000 people saved every day…do you know how long it would take to win 1.3 billion people to Christ? Answer: 1,187 YEARS!
Now that’s a disheartening statistic, but let me share with you another one. In their book 2020 Vision, Bill and Amy Sterns have documented that about 28,000 people become believers every day in China—the equivalent of almost ten Pentecosts. I’m sure this statistic covers every kind of Christianity, including many in name only, but if accept those figures, that cuts the rate of reaching 1.3 billion people down to 127 years, and the fact is that no country will ever be 100% converted, even to nominal Christianity. What I’m saying is that the task of reaching the world in our generation is achievable for the first time in history…IF we recognize our responsibility to try to do this and IF we sacrifice to do our part to do it.
When I look at this world, yes, I see the magnitude of the task before us but then I see the great ingathering of souls that’s going on in the world today, and it affects my heart! It makes me want to do everything in my power to reach the vast hosts of people around the world who need to hear about the Savior and His power to save them from their sins and give them eternal life.
My eye affects my heart because of the WORLD I see—a world in need of the Gospel, yet reachable, if we will do our part!
II. SECOND, MY EYE AFFECTS MY HEART BECAUSE OF THE PROSPERITY I SEE.
We’re living in a time and in a part of the world that has unparalleled wealth!
Illus. – I remember in our church in Wiesbaden, we had a postal worker who would give us mail-order catalogs and magazines that could not be forwarded to people who had PCSed. As Susan and I looked through these publications, we were struck by the prosperity of people in the West, even to the point of extravagance. It’s really amazing all the GADGETS and TOYS (and I’m talking about for grown-ups), and all the FANCY, FLASHY CLOTHING and CARS and FURNISHINGS that we in the West spend our money on!
When I see such wealth and affluence, I cannot be help but be struck by what all that money COULD be used for.
Illus. – This makes me think about the missionary in the early 20th century who was home on furlough from India and was invited to a dinner at a great summer resort where he met many women of prominence and position.
After dinner he went to his room and wrote a letter to his wife. He said, “My Dearest Sweetheart: I’ve had dinner at the hotel. The company was wonderful. I saw strange things today. Many women were present. There were some who, to my certain knowledge, wore one church, forty cottage organs and twenty libraries.”
In his great longing for money to provide the gospel for spiritually hungering millions, he could not refrain from estimating the SILKS, SATINS, and DIAMONDS of the guests at the dinner in terms of his people’s needs.
When I see our wealth and profligacy in spending our money to fulfill our lust for pleasure and entertainment, my heart is affected! But you might be saying, “Well Pastor Sligh, all that wealth might well be out there, but none of it has trickled my way!” But I’ll tell you what: you’ve got more to give to missions than you think you have.
Go with me to 2 Corinthians 8 where Paul talks about Faith Promise giving:
• In verse 5, Paul tells us that the churches in Macedonia first GAVE THEMSELVES to the Lord – “And this they did, not as we hoped, but first GAVE THEIR OWN SELVES to the Lord, and unto us by the will of God.”
Perhaps you don’t have great riches to offer to Christ. But you do have YOU. You can give yourself to the Lord, and when people given themselves 100% unreservedly to God, they have no problem tithing to their local church and giving to missions and saying to God, “Here am I Lord, send me.”
• Second, Paul says they GAVE TO THEIR POWER – Verse 3a – “For to their power, I bear record,…”
Some of you will give to your power to missions. That is, you’ll sit down with your checkbook and your bank statement and you’ll figure out how much you can give to missions through our church. That’s good and that’s wonderful. And every one of us should give what WE CAN. But there’s a third level of giving. And this goes beyond the level of giving what we think we CAN give and elevates us into the realms of faith and causes us to give what we can see only with the eyes of faith.
• That’s the third type of giving Paul talks about: GIVING BEYOND OUR POWER – verse 3b – “For to their power, I bear record, YEA, AND BEYOND THEIR POWER they were willing of themselves.”
This is giving by faith. This is faith promise giving. This is saying, “Lord, I don’t know where it is going to come from, but I’m committing myself to giving X amount of dollars for the cause of world-wide missions. If I’m going to give it, You’ll have to supply it, because I can ONLY see it through the eyes of faith.” That’s where God wants us to live—He wants us to live above see-level (spelled S-E-E) (SPELL IT OUT). He wants us to give on the faith-level (EXPAND).
How can we do that?
First, we must let our eyes affect our hearts—we must get a burden for a lost and dying world.
Then we must look to God – Note Lamentations 3:41 – “Let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the heavens.”
III. LASTLY, MY EYE AFFECTS MY HEART BECAUSE OF THE PASSIVITY I SEE.
Never in history has the responsibility been greater and the task more compelling, yet the chances of success greater in reaching the whole world with the Gospel! And yet it seems that never before has the church been so passive and lackadaisical about doing it!
One of the saddest verses in the whole Bible is Psalm 142:4 where the Psalmist says, “I looked on my right hand, and beheld, but there was no man that would know me: refuge failed me; no man cared for my soul.”
He wasn’t talking about his eternal soul in this passage, but I think we could apply that thought to missions today.
People all over the world are missing out on knowing Jesus and experiencing a personal relationship with God, and all too many of God’s people are focused on sports, fun, entertainment and pastimes—and the lost look to their right hand and there was no one to go and love the lost…¿and will they say on the day of judgment, “refuge failed me: no one cared for my soul”?
Missions experts tell us that over 2 BILLION people have never ONCE heard a clear presentation of the Gospel to afford them an opportunity to be saved, and what are the things most Christians are most concerned about?: Who’s going to win The Voice this season; who’s going to get a Grammy for top female vocalist; which film will win an Oscar for Best Picture of the year; and who’s going to win the next Super Bowl or the NCAA National Basketball Tournament—and the lost are saying “Who will come and win my soul to Christ.”
People are rushing headlong into an eternity without Christ in a real place called hell, and the most pressing concern most believers have with what to do with their disposable income is what gaming system they’re going to buy next; which kind of car they’re going to upgrade to next; and whether to buy the 60 inch TV or the huge entertainment system— and the lost look to their right hand and there was no one to go and love the lost…¿and will they say on the day of judgment, “refuge failed me: no one cared for my soul”?
I’m not saying that any of these things are in and of themselves wrong, but how can we be so focused on this world and the things of this world and not care about those who are lost and dying without Christ. How can any person who names the name of Christ in this room today NOT participate in giving SOMETHING on a systematic basis to missions to help reach the lost through Grace Baptist Church?
Let me tell you something: not one gaming system you buy will ever go with you into eternity; not one car will make it there either; and not one TV or entertainment system will go with you into heaven. I’m a gadget nut just like many of you, but I’ve got bad news for you…you can’t take your iPad with you when you die!
Paul said in 1 Timothy 6:7 “For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.” Everything on this earth will burn up some day. Someone has said, “You can’t take it with you when you go.”
That’s true of everything in this life except for ONE THING. There is one exception clause to your moving orders when you PCS to heaven. The Bible says there IS one way we can take something from this life to the other side. We can’t take up the earthly treasures we have, but we can lay up heavenly treasures.
Jesus said in Matthew 6:19 – “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal.” Jesus wasn’t saying we shouldn’t be wise and save for the future, but He meant not to pour all your resources into things that will not last for eternity.
And then He says something intriguing. In verse 20 He continues – “But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal.”
How can we lay up treasures in heaven where they cannot be corrupted; where they can have eternal value. There’s only one way I can see to do that: that is to invest in winning souls who will go on to heaven with us. [Cover Philippians 4:10, 14-19 and “Papa-sahn story” if time permits.]
When I see the condition the world; when I see the magnitude of our task; when I see the passivity of God’s people; and when I see the wonderful opportunity I have to lay up eternal treasures in heaven—my heart is AFFECTED; my heart is STIRRED; my heart is IMPACTED; my heart is BURDENED.
CONCLUSION
How about you? Can you see what God sees?—A world of eternal souls desperate and needy and without God; a monumental calling to reach the whole world with the Gospel; a prosperity that leaves us accountable to God for how we’ve invested what God has blessed us with; a passivity and lethargy in our churches and among God’s people that is nothing short of scandalous.
My heart’s desire is that you will ask God to do a work in your heart and help you to see this world the way the Lord sees it, for if once we could see this world the way He sees, I just know we’d serve Him more faithfully; I just know we’d change our priorities in life from focusing on the things of this earth and the pleasures of this world, and we’d focus more on advancing the kingdom of God and winning the lost and laying up treasures in heaven.
CHALLENGE CONGREGATION TO…
• Attend EVERY SERVICE of the Missions Conference. (Ask to get off early from work Thursday and Friday. Plan to not miss a single service.)
• Pray for God to help you see the world the way He sees it and to help your heart to be stirred and burdened for the lost in this world.
• Start praying now about how much God would have you give for one year to the cause of missions through GBC.
