Now I Can See
With Christ In
The
John 9
The disciples must have been
feeling overly spiritual that day, for as they passed the blind beggar they
offered Jesus an observation framed in the form of a question: “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents that he should be
born blind?” (2).
It must be wonderful to have
everything in life figured out.
The disciples are sure that they
have assessed the root issue accurately.
It is sin. What they want Jesus
to do is help them understand the actual source—is it…
These guys must have gone to school with Job’s friends.
When Eliphaz saw Job, he
concluded, “…Have you ever known a truly good and
innocent person who was punished?
Experience teaches that it is those who sow sin and trouble who harvest
the same” (Job 4:7-8, TLB). Job,
you’re getting what you deserve. You
reap what you sow!
To be sure, some physical maladies are directly related to
personal sin, but to say that all blindness, lameness, and deafness is the result of personal sin is incorrect.
The disciples are not concerned
about the blind man; what they are focused on is their theological view of blindness.
What they are unaware of is that their statement reveals their own blindness,
or at best, it revealed their inability to see the more important issues.
An attractive young woman on the fast track toward a
lucrative career felt compelled to step out of the corporate world and pursue
her desire to work with inner-city youth. She was hired by a church where the ethnic
mix was changing, and within weeks she found herself working with gang
members. She successfully convinced a
few of them to attend a Bible study at the church. One night, as she was
teaching, one of the gang members was so into what she was saying that, after
hearing those words, he reacted violently by throwing his arms back and accidentally
broke a window. When the church found
out, they were very upset at having to pay $26 to fix the window, and they
restricted the gang members from using the room.
A few weeks later, the pastor accidentally interrupted one
of the Bible studies. He spent a few
minutes talking and joking with gang members and left. One of the gang members said, “Hey, I like that
guy. Let’s go hear him preach this
Sunday.” So, the next Sunday the youth
worker decided it might be best to seat the gang members in the balcony rather
than with the congregation downstairs. When
the minister stepped to the pulpit, one of the gang members jumped up and
yelled, “Hey, dude, you’re cool!” The
congregation responded in shock and after the service, she was reprimanded
and fired.
The Church should have invited
the gang members downstairs. They should
have applauded this young woman who was doing an amazing job of reaching out to
young people. Instead, they were focused
on the wrong issues and missed a great opportunity.
TRANS: When Jesus opens class in
Chapter Nine, it is not to discuss His theology
of blindness, but to demonstrate the
power of God; to do something about the blind man’s problem.
First,
Jesus must deal with religious blindness.
Like the disciples, many in
today’s Church are great at discussing problems, but short on meeting needs. In Acts 4, the lame man that Peter ministered
to was seated at the Gate Beautiful, in the shadow of the
The dilemma has always been one
of perception. Religion tends to assess
blame, while Holy Ghost ministry focuses on God’s grace provision in Christ. Peter’s statement had nothing to do with the
man’s lameness. As seen in Peter’s
statement to the man, it had everything to do with God’s provision: “Such as I
have give I thee.
In the name of Jesus, rise up and walk.”
Assessing blame and giving a
theological reason for someone’s blindness does nothing to eliminate the
problem.
The disciples probably expect a
pat on the back for their appraisal of the blind man’s situation, but instead
Jesus gives them a failing grade. He
says…
·
This
man’s blindness is not the result of personal sin: “It was neither that
this man sinned, nor his parents” (9:3).
·
This
man’s blindness is about God’s purpose: “…it was in
order that the works of God might be displayed in this man” (9:3).
If this man’s blindness is a
punishment from God, then any attempt to restore his sight would be an act against
the will of God. Such reasoning gets me off the hook, as I don’t want to be
found opposing God’s will. But if this
man’s blindness is God’s way of presenting us with an opportunity to display
His power, then we cannot pass him by.
We must do more than talk about his problem or give a lecture on the Theology of blindness, we are now duty bound to minister
God’s provision to him.
Amazing! Religiously
blind people seek to justify this man’s blindness, while spiritually sighted
people seek a way to display the works of God.
TRANS: Okay Jesus, I get it. Instead of being a problem expert, you want me to major on God’s grace provision. Okay,
what next?
Second, Jesus must deal with religious methods.
...He
spit on the ground and made a mud ball from the clay and saliva, and applied it
to the blind man’s eyes, and said to him, “Go, wash in
the pool of Siloam” (9:6).
First, Jesus messes with my
theology and now with my methodology. “I
thought you might wave your hand over his eyes and pronounce the name of your
God over him, but instead you put mud in his eyes and tell him to go and dip in
a pool. Come on Jesus, he’s a blind
man. He can’t see. Jesus, you’ve got to be kidding me?”
Before we start giving Jesus
lessons on how to do ministry, maybe we need to acknowledge His level of
success is better than ours.
My carpentry skills leave a lot to be desired, but sometimes
I amaze myself. I remember trying to
unsuccessfully drive a nail into a board.
After the first lick or two the nail wouldn’t go any further and would
bend. I’d extract it, straighten it out
and try again. After three or four
failed attempts I went looking for the problem. Duh! Someone had driven a large
nail into the board from another direction.
My nail was being blocked by this intruder. I removed the culprit and BINGO, success.
Perhaps our failures, if listened
to can become the beginning of a successful future.
John was 25 years old, a husband, a father of two, and a
When the Board asked for his resignation, it was a
relief. Maybe God hadn’t called him to
the ministry. One thing was sure, he wasn’t going any further in life until he got some
answers.
John moved his family to another city, got a job paying
enough to make ends meet and spent lots of time with his wife and kids. He didn’t quit studying his Bible and
praying, but he did stop going to Church.
It was during a conversation with a coworker that the idea
was planted in his heart.
“I don’t like going to Church,” said Mike.
“Why,” asked John.
“Well, for starters,
Church is a spectators sport. Everyone
sits and listens, they don’t get to participate. Besides that the sermons
aren’t relevant to my life, I don’t like wearing a suit, and it’s just plain
boring,” was Mike’s reply.
John had been reading some of his old sermons the night
before, and they confirmed Mike’s viewpoint.
“Well, what would make Church more appealing for you,” asked John.
“It might help if they would realize we’re living in the 21st
century and not the 14th century.
They could quit playing old geezer music and do something more in
keeping with the times. It would be nice
if they would give me something to help me live life during the week. You know, deal with issues that are relevant
to life today and communicate in ways that would involve the congregation
more. I don’t know,” Mike responded.
It was then that the idea for The Fellowship was seeded in John’s heart. John began to meet with
people who didn’t like to go to Church.
Instead of preaching, he let them talk and ask questions. It wasn’t long before his front room was too
small, so they rented an abandoned shoe store. His growing group of disciples met on Sunday
evenings and continued to try innovative methods to share the message of
Christ.
·
Panel discussions.
·
Dramas
·
Videos
·
Small groups
·
Sunday gatherings in
the park
Sometimes on Sunday evening he would deal with issues like
Getting Out of Debt, How To Divorce Proof Your
Marriage and so on.
Not everyone is called to the mud-in-the-eye ministry, but
if you are then you’ll be a miserable failure trying to do anything else.
Unfortunately, the Church has bought into the idea that
there’s only one way to do things—the way it’s always been done. John found God’s way for his life and
enjoying life more than ever. Where he use to dread Sunday’s, now he
TRANS: Okay Jesus, I’m getting the
idea. Instead of being a problem expert, you want me to major on
God’s grace provision. Instead of allowing tradition to determine the method, you want me to rely on Your leadership. In other words the message remains the same,
but the method may vary from week to week.
Is there anything else?
Third,
Jesus must deal with religious people.
The blind man’s troubles didn’t begin until the religious
leaders learned that Jesus had healed him. Instead of sharing the healed man’s
joy, the religious leaders used their superior education, flawless theology and
the power of their position to minimize Jesus’ involvement in this undeniable
miracle.
The blind man doesn’t know anything about Jesus. He’s no
theologian. All he knows is, “whereas I
was blind, now I see” (25).
After being constantly pressed he says: “What’s the matter
with you guys? You don’t know who this
man is, yet He opened my eyes. You say
God doesn’t listen to sinners, yet He listened to this man. Hmmm. Makes me think he must be from God, because
if He weren’t, how could he have done this miracle?”
Instead of saying, “You’re right,” they get mad and
physically throw him out of the synagogue.
Do you remember John, the pastor of people who don’t like to
go to church? Well, his greatest critics
weren’t the sinners, but other pastors and churches. John would be the first to tell you he’s made
some mistakes, but not one of the 150 people attending The Fellowship came from
other churches in the area. Some were
delivered from drugs, alcohol and other bondages. John’s comfort, God constantly reminds him
that religion’s power is to be found in assessing blame and maintaining
traditional methods. Religion has never
been interested in setting the captive free, for when that happens
religion’s power over the blind is also broken.
CONSOLATION: “When
Jesus heard what had happened, He found the man…” (35) “…And the man worshipped
Jesus” (38).
Then Jesus told him, “I have come into the world to give
sight to those who are blind and to show those who think they see that they are
blind” (39).
The Pharisees who were standing there asked, “Are you saying
we are blind?” (40)
“If you were blind, you wouldn’t be guilty,” Jesus replied,
“But your guilt remains because you claim to know what you are doing.”
CONCLUSION
TRANS: Okay Jesus, I’m gotcha.
·
Instead of being a problem expert, you want me to major on God’s grace provision.
·
You want me to maintain the integrity of the message, but to be open to new methods.
·
I shouldn’t be surprised with religious people
take issue with effective ministry they can’t control.
·
When religious people come against us, instead
of fighting with them we should
Next Sunday evening I want the following people to be ready
to share the following information with us.