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Eyes of the Heart by Dr. Abidan Shah

Abidan Paul Shah

EYES OF THE HEART by Dr. Shah, Clearview Church, Henderson, NC

Introduction: English is an interesting language, especially in how it uses body parts to express actions, emotions, and thoughts. Think about it – “Your nose runs” but “your feet smell.” Then, we can have a “knee-jerk reaction” or a “gut instinct.” I can be thinking “off the top of my head” or “be head over heels.” Some of you parents can “put your foot down” or a groom can “get cold feet.” We can “turn a blind eye” or “see eye to eye.” You can “give someone a hand” or “keep someone at arm’s length.” Ya’ll are “all ears” this morning or “playing it by ear.” We can go on and on. Today’s message is titled: “Eyes of the Heart.”That’s also strange since the eyes are a sensory organ that capture light and convert them to electrical signals that the brain then interprets as images. On the other hand, the heart is a muscular organ that pumps blood through the blood vessels. It takes Oxygen to the cells and removes metabolic waste. The eyes are in the orbital cavity, and the heart is in the thoracic cavity. How can the eyes and the heart be connected? That’s exactly what Paul is saying in this passage before us. Question: Are you still blind to the things of God? Is your heart still dead to sin?

Ephesians 1 (page #1795-96) 15 “Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, 16 do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers: 17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, 18 the eyes of your understanding/heart being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints.”

Context: The Apostle Paul bragged on the Church in Ephesus for their “faith in the Lord Jesus” and their “love for all the saints.” Their “faith in the Lord Jesus” represented “their solid assurance that they had a spiritual inheritance in the heavenly places in Christ, for which the Holy Spirit was the pledge and downpayment. They also knew that it would not come to fruition until the ultimate redemption, which is after death, at Jesus’ Second Coming. What an incredible faith! This was accompanied by their “love for all the saints.” In other words, there was no pride or hierarchical Christianity, but genuine humility and care for each other. My desire for Clearview is to be “Deep and yet Down-to-Earth.”

Application: Do you have that kind of faith? Do you have that kind of love?

Paul doesn’t stop there. He wants them to have more of the same. Listen again to verse 16 “do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers: 17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, 18 the eyes of your understanding (heart) being enlightened…” The Greek word for “enlightened” is “photizo” = “to light up,” “to illumine,” and “to make to see.” In other words, Paul is praying that “God the Father will, through God the Holy Spirit, open the eyes of their hearts even more to wisdom and revelation in God the Son, Jesus Christ.”

What does all this mean? Let’s back up to the images I shared with you last weekend regarding faith. There are 2 kinds of faiths:

1. Intellectual Assent – Proposition or statement (the Gospel)

2. Inward Assent – personal trust (Commitment to Jesus)

The first one is essential for salvation. It is the Gospel of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. The only response you can have is faith. Ephesians 2 (page #1796) 8 “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast.” Have you placed your faith in Christ? Are you saved?

Having said that, what Paul is referring to in Ephesians is the second kind of faith – “faith in the Lord Jesus.” There may be some of it at the moment of salvation, but much of it is a deeper work that comes with spiritual growth and sanctification. By the way, children can sometimes have this “Inward Assent” even if they don’t understand everything about the “Intellectual Assent.” Their hearts are still soft towards the things of God. That’s why Jesus said in Matthew 18      3 “…Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”

To back up, what is Paul’s prayer when he says in verse 18 the eyes of your understanding (heart) being enlightened…” To begin with, Paul is using terminology that was coming from the philosophical world of time. Although the Ancient Greeks did not use the expression “eyes of the heart,” they did believe that the heart is the seat of the psychic functions (See Teun Tieleman). Both Plato and the Stoics taught that. They also saw the eye as the most important part of the soul. It was considered to be the most god-like part that enabled one have to wisdom (Sophia) and understanding (phronesis). Even Jewish scholars like Philo of Alexandria talked in this language of the deeper knowledge. But this is not where Paul got his expression “eyes of the heart” because all of their discussions connected this deeper wisdom and knowledge to the intellect. The Greek philosophers understood the real world with what they saw with their real eyes, but they could not see God’s reality in creation or history. They couldn’t do that because of the hardening of their hearts Ephesians 4 (page #1799) 17 “This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind, “Mataiotes” – Greco-Roman philosophers came close, but they didn’t fully grasp it (Romans 8:20; 2 Peter 2:18). Back to Ephesians 4       18 “having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart. 19 who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.” The word for “past feeling” is apalgeō = “be callous.”

Where did Paul get his expression “eyes of the heart?”

Here’s the point: The difference between the Greek philosophers (or for that matter, all people) is not just that they didn’t think deep enough. They were blind and remained blind because they did not allow God to open their eyes.

What is needed is the Holy Spirit to open their eyes. This happens at the moment of salvation when the Holy Spirit seals us and becomes the pledge and deposit of our inheritance. Then, he begins to do what only he can do – Ephesians 3 (1797-98) 14 “For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15 from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, 16 that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, 17 that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height— 19 to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”

We have to cooperate with the Holy Spirit – Ephesians 4 (page #1799) 20 “But you have not so learned Christ, 21 if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus: 22 that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, 23 and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, 24 and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.”

Are you cooperating with him? Are you saved? Are the eyes of your heart become more and more opened to the things of God?

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