One summer evening in Broken Bow, Nebraska, a weary truck driver pulled his rig into an all-night truck stop. He was tired and hungry.
The waitress had just served three tough looking, leather jacketed motorcyclist - of the Hell’s Angel’s type - decided to give him a hard time.
Not only did they verbally abuse him, one grabbed the hamburger off his plate, another took a handful of his french fries and the third picked up his coffee and began to drink it.
How did this trucker respond?
How would you respond?
Well, this trucker did not respond as one might expect. Instead, he calmly rose, picked up his check, walked to the front of the room, put the check and his money on the register, and went out the door. The waitress followed him to put the money in the till and stood watching out the door as the big truck drove away into the night.
When she returned, one of the cyclists said to her, “Well, he’s not much of a man, is he?”
She replied, “I don’t know about that, but he sure isn’t much of a truck driver. He just ran over three motorcycles on his way out of the parking lot.”
Well we were ready to give this guy credit for being a wonderful person and then he acted just like people of this world would act.
We have been studying the Gospel of John of past three months and we are learning that Jesus has called us to a radical different type of living.
Why should we live this way?
Why should we be willing to give our lives for the cause of Christ?
We will explore another reason why today.
One major theme that has dominated human existence since the beginning has been DEATH.
There is something about the idea of death that seems so foreign to us today.
Francis Schaeffer once said that for a human to be surprised by growing old is like a fish being surprised by the wetness of water.
We see kids that we have not seen in a long time and we say things like look how much you have grown. We act like time and growing old is unnatural but actually is part of this life that we live.
Since the Garden of Eden and the Fall of man we are locked into this world where being cut off from the Tree of Life and the curse reigns in our bodies.
Today I want to talk to you about the ultimate hope in the Christian faith. I would tell you that it is the linchpin argument to our faith.
This morning we are going to see the 5th I AM saying of Jesus in this Gospel
So far we have seen the following:
I am the bread of life
I am the light of the world
I am the door
I am the Good Shepherd
This morning I am the Resurrection and the Life
This morning I want to share with you a story from John 11.
This is a rather lengthy reading but we must read the entire story to get the context and the lesson for today:
John 11: 1-46
1 Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 2 It was the Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped His feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick. 3 So the sisters sent word to Him, saying, "Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick." 4 But when Jesus heard this, He said, "This sickness is not to end in death, but for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified by it." 5 Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6 So when He heard that he was sick, He then stayed two days longer in the place where He was. 7 Then after this He said to the disciples, "Let us go to Judea again." 8 The disciples said to Him, "Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking to stone You, and are You going there again ?" 9 Jesus answered, "Are there not twelve hours in the day ? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. 10 "But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him." 11 This He said, and after that He said to them, "Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep ; but I go, so that I may awaken him out of sleep." 12 The disciples then said to Him, "Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover." 13 Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that He was speaking of literal sleep. 14 So Jesus then said to them plainly, "Lazarus is dead, 15 and I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, so that you may believe ; but let us go to him." 16 Therefore Thomas, who is called Didymus, said to his fellow disciples, "Let us also go, so that we may die with Him." 17 So when Jesus came, He found that he had already been in the tomb four days. 18 Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles off ; 19 and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary, to console them concerning their brother. 20 Martha therefore, when she heard that Jesus was coming, went to meet Him, but Mary stayed at the house. 21 Martha then said to Jesus, "Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 "Even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You." 23 Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again." 24 Martha said to Him, "I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day." 25 Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life ; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this ?" 27 She said to Him, "Yes, Lord ; I have believed that You are the Christ, the Son of God, even He who comes into the world." 28 When she had said this, she went away and called Mary her sister, saying secretly, "The Teacher is here and is calling for you." 29 And when she heard it, she got up quickly and was coming to Him. 30 Now Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was still in the place where Martha met Him. 31 Then the Jews who were with her in the house, and consoling her, when they saw that Mary got up quickly and went out, they followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb to weep there. 32 Therefore, when Mary came where Jesus was, she saw Him, and fell at His feet, saying to Him, "Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died." 33 When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, He was deeply moved in spirit and was troubled, 34 and said, "Where have you laid him?" They said to Him, "Lord, come and see." 35 Jesus wept. 36 So the Jews were saying, "See how He loved him!" 37 But some of them said, "Could not this man, who opened the eyes of the blind man, have kept this man also from dying ?" 38 So Jesus, again being deeply moved within , came to the tomb. Now it was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. 39 Jesus said, "Remove the stone." Martha, the sister of the deceased, said to Him, "Lord, by this time there will be a stench, for he has been dead four days." 40 Jesus said to her, "Did I not say to you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God ?" 41 So they removed the stone. Then Jesus raised His eyes, and said, "Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. 42 "I knew that You always hear Me; but because of the people standing around I said it, so that they may believe that You sent Me." 43 When He had said these things, He cried out with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come forth." 44 The man who had died came forth, bound hand and foot with wrappings, and his face was wrapped around with a cloth. Jesus said to them, "Unbind him, and let him go." 45 Therefore many of the Jews who came to Mary, and saw what He had done, believed in Him. 46 But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them the things which Jesus had done
This story takes us back to the prologue when we see that Jesus is the true light that comes into the world and the darkness did not Comprehend the light.
Jesus brings light to dark places, even tombs and even death no longer has a hold on man anymore.
Since the fall in the Garden Satan has had control over man because of death. Because we fear our physical death we have become selfish and try to live forever.
Jesus is this story is letting us know that Satan no longer has control over death.
Jesus will literally Conquer Death by Death
In other words Jesus will go into Death and go out the other side of death victorious.
Also notice that Jesus delays His trip to Bethany on purpose so that God’s glory will be revealed.
He waits two more days before leaving to see about Lazarus which is a puzzle.
It would seem odd that Jesus loved Lazarus so much that he would wait so long but it was so that God’s glory could be experienced.
Jesus’s hour has not yet come because He can safely go just 2 miles east of Jerusalem and He can do so with harm from the Jews.
I. Lazarus is caught in Death - Just as Lazarus was trapped in death we are trapped too.
Sin is something that so engrosses man that we are trapped by its enticement.
A story is told of Gulls that live the Niagara Falls Area. A particular phenomenon happens in the winter time. Fish will become frozen in blocks of ice as they travel down the Niagara river.
Gulls will get so engrossed by their prey that they will land on the blocks of ice and eat the fish entrapped.
The gulls will wait to the last second and then fly away when the block of ice gets to the brink of the falls.
Sometimes the gulls will wait too long their feet will freeze in the ice blocks. They will try to fly off at the brink of the falls but the weight is so great that they are trapped and go over the falls.
That is how sin operates in people’s lives. It is so enticing that people get entangled and then they can’t get away.
Just like Lazarus was trapped in death we are trapped in sin.
Our bondage is different – we are in the bondage of sin – this sin will lead to death:
Romans 3:23
For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God
John 8: 34
34 Jesus answered them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin.
Sin is such a deep trap, no one can ever get out.
This is the reason Christ had to die. Sin is that serious.
Our freedom as Americans comes with a heavy price. This summer we will celebrate 235 years of independence as a Country.
Of the 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence, five were captured and tortured by the British as traitors.
Nine others died in battle; 12 had their homes burned; 2 lost sons in battle, and 2 other signer’s sons were taken prisoner.
Our political freedom came at a heavy price.
But the price of our eternal liberty cost the only Son of the living God!
We were buried in sin, like Lazarus was buried in the grave -- and Jesus came to us like he went to Lazarus!
The death of Jesus will pay the price for us, we can look forward to our own Resurrection because Jesus purchased us from the slave market of sin.
Jesus death liberates us from Sin. Christ took on the penalty and died for our behalf.
The death of Christ does three things for us today:
When we consider the death of Christ and its liberating power there are three aspects of this work that we must understand.
To understand this multilayered approach let me share with you an illustration:
There are three kinds of London maps: the street map, the map depicting Highways, and the underground map of the subway.
"Each map is accurate and correct," he writes, "but each map does not give the complete picture.
To see the whole, the three maps must be printed one on top of each other.
However, that is often confusing, so I use only one 'layer' at a time.
The same is true about Jesus work on the Cross. There are three things that Jesus death on the cross did for us.
1) Redemption 2) reconciliation 3) justification
Redemption – that is the idea of being bought back or purchased by God. Redemption would be best understood as what God did to Israel in Egypt.
He went down basically into the slave market to redeem Israel. So in God we have the one that Created us but also Redeemed us.
Christ reconciled us to God by His death. Our sin had made us enemies of God and a dividing wall was set up where we did not have access to God. The Book of Hebrews tells us that the body of Christ bridged that gap and now we can have fellowship with God.
Christ’s work also Justified us before God. God is the ultimate Just God that deals justly with all. Christ’s work made it possible that the we could stand before God without guilt.
Before the great Judge of God we had no rights and stood condemned but now we can stand before God as innocent because Christ righteousness has been given to us.
As Galatians tells us we are clothed with Christ – God sees the work of Christ and not our sins.
2) Jesus Call’s Lazarus to Come out
In John 10 we read that the sheep will hear the voice of the Shepherd.
Jesus stood by the grave and called His friend, Lazarus. By the way -- those are the only ones (friends) He will call on resurrection day. Lazarus was a dear friend (John 11.11), and the tomb was no place for him.
In a very real sense, Jesus calls all of us as friends now:
Luke 7:34
The Son of man is come eating and drinking; and ye say, Behold a gluttonous man, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners!
That’s it!!! He is a friend of sinners like you and me. He beckons us:
Matthew 11:28
Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Revelation 3:20
Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.
Early in his ministry D.L. Moody was called upon to preach a funeral.
He hunted through the New Testament for some ideas how Jesus preached a funeral. But the search was in vain.
Every time Christ was confronted with a funeral he broke the thing up! That’s what the beckoning voice of Jesus does around death!
3) Lazarus was cinched up, he was clamped up in his grave cloths
In our lives, the parallel is that since Jesus has set us free from the death of sin, we also should take off the grave clothes so we can walk without stumbling. We need to wear some appropriate clothing for the Christian walk!
The apostle Paul says it emphatically,
, Hebrews 12:1
Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us
Just as Lazarus threw aside his grave clothes and left the tomb we are called to live a new life in Christ.
The event in our lives that is connected to Lazarus’ raising is our baptism. We are raised to walk a new life.
When we become a new creature and are renewed in Christ we throw aside anything that would impede us from following Jesus.
Any sin that would cause us to stumble should be done away with because we are now alive in Christ.
When a Christian goes back the mire of sin or is entangled in sin it makes about as much since as Lazarus wanting to return to a rotting corpse.
Imagine if Lazarus stopped Jesus and said, wait a minute I want to go back to a stinking corpse wrapped up like a mummy!
That is ridiculous to consider but that is what many Christians do that return back to a life of sin after becoming a Christian.
4) Confidence in Christ : Sometimes things don’t work out the way we think they should but they are for God’s glory
This is the most puzzling point to this story today. Mary, Martha and Lazarus were Christ’s friends.
If anyone would have been protected from heartache it would have been them. But Jesus waited two days before He came to raise Lazarus.
Why would he allow His friends to go through so much heart ache and pain?
Why would he not just come and work this miracle and save his friends from pain?
The answer was to manifest God’s glory. Think about what this miracle did for the people of Christ’s Time but also even now. We can look forward to our own death with confidence because we know that Jesus has the power over death.
God’s ways are not our ways. Consider this point. Did God call us to ease or to a life of challenge?
When have you been shaped the most and made better? Usually through some hardship in which you came through a better person.
Tough times will make us better and many times these termporal sufferings that we go through will manifest God’s glory.
When hardship is overcome and we come out faithful to God it is to His glory that this happens.
Have you ever considered the hardships of Mary and Joseph in the Birth of Christ.
Don’t you think if God called you to give birth to the Son of God or bring him into your home everything would be easy. Imagine Mary’s surprise when she experiences all the hardship that comes with bearing Christ.
She is ridiculed by others because of the suspect nature of her pregnancy. They have to travel to Bethlehem while she is 9 months pregnant and then give birth in a stable with practically no help.
Talk about tough but think about glory that she gave God. She is talked about by every church in the world for her great faith and witness to God’s glory.
Now our challenge is this – do you have the faith of Martha in this story.
I believe her comment to Jesus is powerful
John 11
21"Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 "Even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You."
Whatever you ask God will Give you!
What a profound statement of faith by this woman.
As Vice President, George Bush represented the U.S. at the funeral of former Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev.
Bush was deeply moved by a silent protest carried out by Brezhnev's widow. She stood motionless by the coffin until seconds before it was closed.
Then, just as the soldiers touched the lid, Brezhnev's wife performed an act of great courage and hope, a gesture that must surely rank as one of the most profound acts of civil disobedience ever committed: She reached down and made the sign of the cross on her husband's chest.
There in the citadel of secular, atheistic power, the wife of the man who had run it all hoped that her husband was wrong.
She hoped that there was another life, and that that life was best represented by Jesus who died on the cross, and that the same Jesus might yet have mercy on her husband.
Jesus stands in this story and tells us that He has the power over our biggest fear.
Jesus is the resurrection and the life – do you believe that?
Do you know that you don’t have to fear death. You can rest in confidence that God will one day bring you back from the grave.
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Saturday, April 16, 2011
Triumphal Entry of Christ AM Sermon 4/17/11
There was a flagpole in the middle of a town square and they wanted to find out how high the flagpole was so they hired some experts to find out.
The hired a professor from Tennessee, Alabama, and Auburn.
All of these professors were doctors of Engineering and knew their stuff.
The professors from TN and Auburn were both trying to determine which equation they would use to find the height of the pole.
They were looking at the angle of the pole and trying to determine a frame of reference. With all of this going on the Alabama professor came upon them and just pulled the pole out of the ground and laid it on the ground. He took out his measuring tape and informed the professors from Auburn and Tennessee that the pole was 11 feet 6 inches.
He walked off and the professors from Auburn and TN remarked to one another – leave it to an Alabama boy to mess up a problem by turning height into length.
Some things just confuse people and seem upside down.
That is how Jesus operates and the Kingdom of God operates – it seems opposite to the values of the world and how the world thinks.
Today in our story we will see this counter cultural idea and how this leads to massive misunderstandings among the Jewish people.
Here are a list of things that we as Christians do and believe that seem confusing to the world:
We see unseen things (2 Cor. 4:18)
We conquer by yielding (Rom. 6:16-18)
We find rest under a yoke (Mt. 11:28-30)
We reign by serving (Mark 10:42-44)
We are made great by becoming little (Luke 9:48)
We are exalted by being humble (Mt. 23:12)
We become wise by being fools for Christ’s sake (1 Cor. 1:20, 21)
We are made free by becoming His bond servants (Rom. 6:10)
We wax strong by being weak (2 Cor. 12:10)
We triumph by defeat (2 Cor. 12:7-9)
We find victory by glorying in our infirmities (2 Cor. 12:5)
But perhaps most difficult of all for us:
We live by dying (John 12:24,25; 2 Cor. 4:10,11)
In this story today we will see a paradox just like the ones listed before. You will see Jesus come into Jerusalem in triumph and will eventually be put on a Roman cross.
The same people that will welcome Jesus into Jerusalem will be the same people that will cry out Crucify Him – this paradox will shape the rest of John’s Gospel.
This is Jesus Coronation as King of Israel – this His formal announcement, he will do certain actions that will say loud and clear that He is the anointed one of God.
His coronation would begin here and His enthronement will be on the cross. It will be on the cross when His ultimate identity as King of the Jews will be revealed.
This will be a different coronation than one has ever witnessed.
Today in the story Jesus makes His Triumphal entry into Jerusalem. This is what is called by many as Palm Sunday.
This was also the beginning of the Passover feast. This was the 10th day of the first month of the year.
This was lamb selection day in Jerusalem to celebrate the great feast of Passover.
It was believed by the Jews of Jesus time that the Messiah would be revealed at the Passover feast.
Jesus would enter Jerusalem on this Sunday and would be crucified on the Friday of that week.
Jesus will make His way from the East of the City from the Mount of Olives. In the Messianic expectation of Jesus time, the Mount of Olives was associated with King David.
Jesus would come in from this Mount riding a donkey.
Zechariah had prophesied many years before this that Israel’s Messiah or king would come into Jerusalem on a donkey.
Zechariah 9: 9
9 Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion ! Shout in triumph, O daughter of Jerusalem ! Behold, your king is coming to you; He is just and endowed with salvation, Humble, and mounted on a donkey, Even on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
What a contrast from the kings of this world because he would come in humility.
This was the same animal that Moses family rode out of Egypt on and the person riding on a donkey would be associated with this great prophet.
Now consider why the Jews were so excited about His coming. Imagine what it was like to live under the oppression of the Romans.
Imagine walking to the feasts and seeing roads lined with victims of crucifixion. Imagine seeing your countrymen oppressed, taxed to poverty, and sold into slavery.
You would want the Messiah to come and destroy the Romans, you would want a boot on the throat of the pagan Romans.
Now was the time they had waited for, they had waited for the King like David to lead this rebellion.
Word has spread as John’s gospel has told us of this great teacher, miracle worker, he just raised someone from the dead! The word is out about this possible Messiah. The people cant wait.
1) This will be a King of Peace
John 12: 12-19
12 On the next day the large crowd who had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, 13 took the branches of the palm trees and went out to meet Him, and began to shout, "Hosanna ! BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD, even the King of Israel." 14 Jesus, finding a young donkey, sat on it; as it is written, 15 "FEAR NOT, DAUGHTER OF ZION ; BEHOLD, YOUR KING IS COMING, SEATED ON A DONKEY'S COLT."
The palm branches were waived by the Jews when they offered up prayers for rain and were usually equated with great expectation for God’s actions.
Hosanna means literally SAVE US!! But in the mouths of these people it would mean more in the lines of Save us from the romans and the pagans and Herod!!!
We need to understand that they are not crying our for personal salvation from their sin. If we read it that way we are putting our 21st century view on this text.
Jews at this time equated God’s Messianic work with military victory.
Jesus doesn’t come for this type of Kingdom. He is different. The way of the Romans leads to death.
But equally the way of the Zealots and those that would take up arms against the Romans was going to lead them to destruction. Jesus came to bring peace and not war with the fleshly powers of this world.
This kingdom will be greater than any other because it is a spiritual kingdom that brings God’s rule to this world.
In Luke’s account of the triumphal entry we get Jesus attitude of this concept of armed rebellion.
Luke 19: 41-44
41 When He approached Jerusalem, He saw the city and wept over it, 42 saying, "If you had known in this day, even you, the things which make for peace! But now they have been hidden from your eyes. 43 "For the days will come upon you when your enemies will throw up a barricade against you, and surround you and hem you in on every side, 44 and they will level you to the ground and your children within you, and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation."
Israel had longed for their visitation from God, they wanted Yahweh to return to Zion
Because the Israelites did not recognize that God had come in flesh and because they keep this path of destruction it will lead to their ultimate demise.
Jesus is specifically talking about the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD when the Romans surrounded the city and laid siege to it.
In essence Jesus is telling them that He came to bring peace and if they chose the way of Rome and war they will get exactly what they want.
A few days after this Jesus will allow all the evil of Rome and the Jewish authorities to crash down on Him and take its best shot and He will be triumphant.
2) The Kingdom that Jesus establishes will be about self sacrifice.
John 12: 20-26
20 Now there were some Greeks among those who were going up to worship at the feast ; 21 these then came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida of Galilee, and began to ask him, saying, "Sir, we wish to see Jesus." 22 Philip came and told Andrew ; Andrew and Philip came and told Jesus. 23 And Jesus answered them, saying, "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24 "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone ; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. 25 "He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it to life eternal. 26 "If anyone serves Me, he must follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also ; if anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him.
The Greeks want to see Jesus – they have heard of his fame.
We know that the King of Edessa named Agdbar had heard of Jesus and wanted to provide protection for Him from the Jewish authorities.
His fame had started to spread outside of Judea.
These men go to Phillip which is interesting because Phillip is the only apostle with a Greek name.
Jesus makes it clear what He is all about. A seed has to be buried to bring fruit.
Jesus will be the first fruits of those that will be raised from the dead.
His Burial and raising will point forward to ours.
We hope for our resurrection because of Jesus’
This teaching of Jesus is counter what this world teaches:
When the Apollo project was beginning, there arose an argument between the engineers and scientist over how to make the best use of the space on board the rocket.
The scientists wanted as much space as possible for lab work, the engineers wanted it for back up systems in case something failed. They were at a stalemate until they asked the astronauts. What would you have decided for - lab space, or back up units? What do you think they opted for? That’s right - survival.
The astronaughts were about survival first, But Jesus is saying you have give up your life.
Jesus is calling is to the fullest type of life.
Possessions, status and the things of this world don’t concern us, we are so devoted that even our own life doesn’t really matter to us.
3) Jesus Kingdom comes to destroy sin and Satan
John 12: 27-33
27 "Now My soul has become troubled ; and what shall I say, 'Father, save Me from this hour '? But for this purpose I came to this hour. 28 "Father, glorify Your name." Then a voice came out of heaven : "I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again." 29 So the crowd of people who stood by and heard it were saying that it had thundered ; others were saying, "An angel has spoken to Him." 30 Jesus answered and said, "This voice has not come for My sake, but for your sakes. 31 "Now judgment is upon this world ; now the ruler of this world will be cast out. 32 "And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself." 33 But He was saying this to indicate the kind of death by which He was to die.
The purpose of Jesus’s coming was to bring Glory to the Father
Bringing Glory to the Father meant that He would be raised up on the Cross, this would show God’s love.
It also meant that God was faithful to the covenant that He had made with man because of Jesus sacrifice.
But even more than that, Christ came to wage war with the very source of evil – Satan.
The Jews had missed the point, they wanted to fight the Romans who were influenced by Satan.
Jesus wanted to go after the very source of evil, the Devil.
Tis battle is much more risky and would cost Jesus his earthly life and death on the cross.
Jesus allowed the best that Evil could do to Him and he won.
Now he has left us here to do battle with Satan.
Jesus told His followers that they would do greater things that He did and namely that is do battle with Satan and take back territory.
Each time someone is saved one more is reclaimed from the enemy. But if you look at Churches today you realize we are not on war footing.
Charles Swindoll told a great story in one of his books.
Let’s pretend that you work for me. In fact, you are my executive assistant in a company that is growing rapidly.
I’m the owner and I’m interested in expanding overseas.
To pull this off, I make plans to travel abroad and stay there until the new branch office gets established.
I make all the arrangements to take my family in the move to Europe for six to eight months, and I leave you in charge of the busy stateside organization.
I tell you that I will write you regularly and give you direction and instructions.
I leave and you stay.
Months pass. A flow of letters are mailed from Europe and received by you at the national headquarters. I spell out all my expectations.
Finally, I return. Soon after my arrival I drive down to the office. I am stunned! Grass and weeds have grown up high. A few windows along the street are broken. I walk into the receptionist’s room and she is doing her nails, chewing gun, and listening to her favorite disco station.
I look around and notice the wastebaskets are overflowing, the carpet has been vacuumed in weeks, and nobody seems concerned that the owner has returned.
I ask for you and someone in the crowded lounge area points down the hall and yells, “I think he’s down there.”
Disturbed, I move in that direction and bump into you as you are finishing a chess game with our sales manager.
I ask you to step into my office (which has been turned into a television room for watching afternoon soap operas).
“What in the world is going on, man?”
“What do ya’ mean?”
“Well, look at this place!
Didn’t you get any of my letters?”
“Letters? Oh, yeah – sure, got every one of them.
As a matter of fact … we have a letter study every Friday night since you left. We even divide all the personnel into small groups and discuss many of the things you wrote.
Some of those things were really interesting.
You’ll be pleased to know that a few of us have actually committed to memory some of your sentences and paragraphs. One or two memorized an entire letter or two! Great stuff in those letters!”
“Okay, okay – you got my letters, you studied them and meditated on them, discussed them and even memorized them. BUT WHAT DID YOU DO ABOUT THEM?”
“Do? Uh – we didn’t do anything about them.”
We do the same thing, we read this radical words from Jesus – like lay down your life and follow me, but nothing really changes in our lives.
Its like oh well, lets just keep doing things like we have always done and act like these are just timeless truths.
If we start to understand that these teachings are transforming and powerful then things are going to change.
Are we like that company that just reads the letters and pats each other on the back and just lives a normal life, or do we see them as correspondence from Headquarters telling us how to fight this battle.
Paul tells us to take out the offensive weapon of the sword of the Spirit in Ephesians 6 but we many times live Christianity as a defensive posture.
We are on the offensive, and not the enemy.
CONCLUSION:
It was one of the most inspiring sights of World War II. Four
chaplains were standing on the deck of the USS Dorchester, hand-in-hand, singing the old hymn "Nearer My God To Thee." But then, these were inspiring men. And this was a scene the men of the USS Dorchester would never forget.
George Fox was the oldest of the chaplains. A veteran of WW I and a recipient of the Silver Star for bravery. He had become a public accountant after the war and then a minister. When WW II began he told his wife he would have to go. "I know from experience what our boys are about to face," he said, "They need me."
Alexander D. Goode was the only Rabbi in the group. A father of four and a medical doctor, he was patriotic to the core.
Johnny P. Washington came from a poor Irish immigrant family. He grew up in the slums of Newark, New Jersey, but went on to become a Catholic priest. He was known for his laughter and his love of music.
Clark V. Poling, the youngest of the four chaplains, was a minister from the Dutch Reformed church. Clark was the seventh generation in an unbroken line of ministers. However, he wanted to be a fighting soldier instead of a chaplain. He didn’t want people to think he was "hiding behind the church." But when he found out that the mortality rate of the chaplains was the highest of all he felt he would be doing his full part as a chaplain.
It was a stirring sight to see these four men united, hand-in-hand, on the deck of that ship. But they weren’t conducting a service for the men as you might think -- they were preparing to die. It was in the early morning hours of February 3, 1943. The ship was bound for Greenland with 906 men on board. Suddenly a torpedo from a Nazi U-boat ripped through the hull and the ship began to sink in the icy waters of the North Atlantic.
Fear gave way to panic among the soldiers. Rushing to the deck, many left their lifejackets below. The chaplains helped calm the panic by helping the men escape the sinking ship. Then, with the lifeboats full, they gave their own lifejackets to soldiers who had none. The ship completely sank in only twenty-seven minutes.
As the men who had escaped looked back at their doomed ship they saw the four chaplains standing on board the sinking ship hand-in-hand and listened as the men lifted their voices to God. It was a sight that would forever be etched in their memories.
What is fascinating about this story is that these men knew that they were forfeiting their lives for the lives of others.
They had willfully given up their life jackets so others could survive.
The hired a professor from Tennessee, Alabama, and Auburn.
All of these professors were doctors of Engineering and knew their stuff.
The professors from TN and Auburn were both trying to determine which equation they would use to find the height of the pole.
They were looking at the angle of the pole and trying to determine a frame of reference. With all of this going on the Alabama professor came upon them and just pulled the pole out of the ground and laid it on the ground. He took out his measuring tape and informed the professors from Auburn and Tennessee that the pole was 11 feet 6 inches.
He walked off and the professors from Auburn and TN remarked to one another – leave it to an Alabama boy to mess up a problem by turning height into length.
Some things just confuse people and seem upside down.
That is how Jesus operates and the Kingdom of God operates – it seems opposite to the values of the world and how the world thinks.
Today in our story we will see this counter cultural idea and how this leads to massive misunderstandings among the Jewish people.
Here are a list of things that we as Christians do and believe that seem confusing to the world:
We see unseen things (2 Cor. 4:18)
We conquer by yielding (Rom. 6:16-18)
We find rest under a yoke (Mt. 11:28-30)
We reign by serving (Mark 10:42-44)
We are made great by becoming little (Luke 9:48)
We are exalted by being humble (Mt. 23:12)
We become wise by being fools for Christ’s sake (1 Cor. 1:20, 21)
We are made free by becoming His bond servants (Rom. 6:10)
We wax strong by being weak (2 Cor. 12:10)
We triumph by defeat (2 Cor. 12:7-9)
We find victory by glorying in our infirmities (2 Cor. 12:5)
But perhaps most difficult of all for us:
We live by dying (John 12:24,25; 2 Cor. 4:10,11)
In this story today we will see a paradox just like the ones listed before. You will see Jesus come into Jerusalem in triumph and will eventually be put on a Roman cross.
The same people that will welcome Jesus into Jerusalem will be the same people that will cry out Crucify Him – this paradox will shape the rest of John’s Gospel.
This is Jesus Coronation as King of Israel – this His formal announcement, he will do certain actions that will say loud and clear that He is the anointed one of God.
His coronation would begin here and His enthronement will be on the cross. It will be on the cross when His ultimate identity as King of the Jews will be revealed.
This will be a different coronation than one has ever witnessed.
Today in the story Jesus makes His Triumphal entry into Jerusalem. This is what is called by many as Palm Sunday.
This was also the beginning of the Passover feast. This was the 10th day of the first month of the year.
This was lamb selection day in Jerusalem to celebrate the great feast of Passover.
It was believed by the Jews of Jesus time that the Messiah would be revealed at the Passover feast.
Jesus would enter Jerusalem on this Sunday and would be crucified on the Friday of that week.
Jesus will make His way from the East of the City from the Mount of Olives. In the Messianic expectation of Jesus time, the Mount of Olives was associated with King David.
Jesus would come in from this Mount riding a donkey.
Zechariah had prophesied many years before this that Israel’s Messiah or king would come into Jerusalem on a donkey.
Zechariah 9: 9
9 Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion ! Shout in triumph, O daughter of Jerusalem ! Behold, your king is coming to you; He is just and endowed with salvation, Humble, and mounted on a donkey, Even on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
What a contrast from the kings of this world because he would come in humility.
This was the same animal that Moses family rode out of Egypt on and the person riding on a donkey would be associated with this great prophet.
Now consider why the Jews were so excited about His coming. Imagine what it was like to live under the oppression of the Romans.
Imagine walking to the feasts and seeing roads lined with victims of crucifixion. Imagine seeing your countrymen oppressed, taxed to poverty, and sold into slavery.
You would want the Messiah to come and destroy the Romans, you would want a boot on the throat of the pagan Romans.
Now was the time they had waited for, they had waited for the King like David to lead this rebellion.
Word has spread as John’s gospel has told us of this great teacher, miracle worker, he just raised someone from the dead! The word is out about this possible Messiah. The people cant wait.
1) This will be a King of Peace
John 12: 12-19
12 On the next day the large crowd who had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, 13 took the branches of the palm trees and went out to meet Him, and began to shout, "Hosanna ! BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD, even the King of Israel." 14 Jesus, finding a young donkey, sat on it; as it is written, 15 "FEAR NOT, DAUGHTER OF ZION ; BEHOLD, YOUR KING IS COMING, SEATED ON A DONKEY'S COLT."
The palm branches were waived by the Jews when they offered up prayers for rain and were usually equated with great expectation for God’s actions.
Hosanna means literally SAVE US!! But in the mouths of these people it would mean more in the lines of Save us from the romans and the pagans and Herod!!!
We need to understand that they are not crying our for personal salvation from their sin. If we read it that way we are putting our 21st century view on this text.
Jews at this time equated God’s Messianic work with military victory.
Jesus doesn’t come for this type of Kingdom. He is different. The way of the Romans leads to death.
But equally the way of the Zealots and those that would take up arms against the Romans was going to lead them to destruction. Jesus came to bring peace and not war with the fleshly powers of this world.
This kingdom will be greater than any other because it is a spiritual kingdom that brings God’s rule to this world.
In Luke’s account of the triumphal entry we get Jesus attitude of this concept of armed rebellion.
Luke 19: 41-44
41 When He approached Jerusalem, He saw the city and wept over it, 42 saying, "If you had known in this day, even you, the things which make for peace! But now they have been hidden from your eyes. 43 "For the days will come upon you when your enemies will throw up a barricade against you, and surround you and hem you in on every side, 44 and they will level you to the ground and your children within you, and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation."
Israel had longed for their visitation from God, they wanted Yahweh to return to Zion
Because the Israelites did not recognize that God had come in flesh and because they keep this path of destruction it will lead to their ultimate demise.
Jesus is specifically talking about the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD when the Romans surrounded the city and laid siege to it.
In essence Jesus is telling them that He came to bring peace and if they chose the way of Rome and war they will get exactly what they want.
A few days after this Jesus will allow all the evil of Rome and the Jewish authorities to crash down on Him and take its best shot and He will be triumphant.
2) The Kingdom that Jesus establishes will be about self sacrifice.
John 12: 20-26
20 Now there were some Greeks among those who were going up to worship at the feast ; 21 these then came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida of Galilee, and began to ask him, saying, "Sir, we wish to see Jesus." 22 Philip came and told Andrew ; Andrew and Philip came and told Jesus. 23 And Jesus answered them, saying, "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24 "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone ; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. 25 "He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it to life eternal. 26 "If anyone serves Me, he must follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also ; if anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him.
The Greeks want to see Jesus – they have heard of his fame.
We know that the King of Edessa named Agdbar had heard of Jesus and wanted to provide protection for Him from the Jewish authorities.
His fame had started to spread outside of Judea.
These men go to Phillip which is interesting because Phillip is the only apostle with a Greek name.
Jesus makes it clear what He is all about. A seed has to be buried to bring fruit.
Jesus will be the first fruits of those that will be raised from the dead.
His Burial and raising will point forward to ours.
We hope for our resurrection because of Jesus’
This teaching of Jesus is counter what this world teaches:
When the Apollo project was beginning, there arose an argument between the engineers and scientist over how to make the best use of the space on board the rocket.
The scientists wanted as much space as possible for lab work, the engineers wanted it for back up systems in case something failed. They were at a stalemate until they asked the astronauts. What would you have decided for - lab space, or back up units? What do you think they opted for? That’s right - survival.
The astronaughts were about survival first, But Jesus is saying you have give up your life.
Jesus is calling is to the fullest type of life.
Possessions, status and the things of this world don’t concern us, we are so devoted that even our own life doesn’t really matter to us.
3) Jesus Kingdom comes to destroy sin and Satan
John 12: 27-33
27 "Now My soul has become troubled ; and what shall I say, 'Father, save Me from this hour '? But for this purpose I came to this hour. 28 "Father, glorify Your name." Then a voice came out of heaven : "I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again." 29 So the crowd of people who stood by and heard it were saying that it had thundered ; others were saying, "An angel has spoken to Him." 30 Jesus answered and said, "This voice has not come for My sake, but for your sakes. 31 "Now judgment is upon this world ; now the ruler of this world will be cast out. 32 "And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself." 33 But He was saying this to indicate the kind of death by which He was to die.
The purpose of Jesus’s coming was to bring Glory to the Father
Bringing Glory to the Father meant that He would be raised up on the Cross, this would show God’s love.
It also meant that God was faithful to the covenant that He had made with man because of Jesus sacrifice.
But even more than that, Christ came to wage war with the very source of evil – Satan.
The Jews had missed the point, they wanted to fight the Romans who were influenced by Satan.
Jesus wanted to go after the very source of evil, the Devil.
Tis battle is much more risky and would cost Jesus his earthly life and death on the cross.
Jesus allowed the best that Evil could do to Him and he won.
Now he has left us here to do battle with Satan.
Jesus told His followers that they would do greater things that He did and namely that is do battle with Satan and take back territory.
Each time someone is saved one more is reclaimed from the enemy. But if you look at Churches today you realize we are not on war footing.
Charles Swindoll told a great story in one of his books.
Let’s pretend that you work for me. In fact, you are my executive assistant in a company that is growing rapidly.
I’m the owner and I’m interested in expanding overseas.
To pull this off, I make plans to travel abroad and stay there until the new branch office gets established.
I make all the arrangements to take my family in the move to Europe for six to eight months, and I leave you in charge of the busy stateside organization.
I tell you that I will write you regularly and give you direction and instructions.
I leave and you stay.
Months pass. A flow of letters are mailed from Europe and received by you at the national headquarters. I spell out all my expectations.
Finally, I return. Soon after my arrival I drive down to the office. I am stunned! Grass and weeds have grown up high. A few windows along the street are broken. I walk into the receptionist’s room and she is doing her nails, chewing gun, and listening to her favorite disco station.
I look around and notice the wastebaskets are overflowing, the carpet has been vacuumed in weeks, and nobody seems concerned that the owner has returned.
I ask for you and someone in the crowded lounge area points down the hall and yells, “I think he’s down there.”
Disturbed, I move in that direction and bump into you as you are finishing a chess game with our sales manager.
I ask you to step into my office (which has been turned into a television room for watching afternoon soap operas).
“What in the world is going on, man?”
“What do ya’ mean?”
“Well, look at this place!
Didn’t you get any of my letters?”
“Letters? Oh, yeah – sure, got every one of them.
As a matter of fact … we have a letter study every Friday night since you left. We even divide all the personnel into small groups and discuss many of the things you wrote.
Some of those things were really interesting.
You’ll be pleased to know that a few of us have actually committed to memory some of your sentences and paragraphs. One or two memorized an entire letter or two! Great stuff in those letters!”
“Okay, okay – you got my letters, you studied them and meditated on them, discussed them and even memorized them. BUT WHAT DID YOU DO ABOUT THEM?”
“Do? Uh – we didn’t do anything about them.”
We do the same thing, we read this radical words from Jesus – like lay down your life and follow me, but nothing really changes in our lives.
Its like oh well, lets just keep doing things like we have always done and act like these are just timeless truths.
If we start to understand that these teachings are transforming and powerful then things are going to change.
Are we like that company that just reads the letters and pats each other on the back and just lives a normal life, or do we see them as correspondence from Headquarters telling us how to fight this battle.
Paul tells us to take out the offensive weapon of the sword of the Spirit in Ephesians 6 but we many times live Christianity as a defensive posture.
We are on the offensive, and not the enemy.
CONCLUSION:
It was one of the most inspiring sights of World War II. Four
chaplains were standing on the deck of the USS Dorchester, hand-in-hand, singing the old hymn "Nearer My God To Thee." But then, these were inspiring men. And this was a scene the men of the USS Dorchester would never forget.
George Fox was the oldest of the chaplains. A veteran of WW I and a recipient of the Silver Star for bravery. He had become a public accountant after the war and then a minister. When WW II began he told his wife he would have to go. "I know from experience what our boys are about to face," he said, "They need me."
Alexander D. Goode was the only Rabbi in the group. A father of four and a medical doctor, he was patriotic to the core.
Johnny P. Washington came from a poor Irish immigrant family. He grew up in the slums of Newark, New Jersey, but went on to become a Catholic priest. He was known for his laughter and his love of music.
Clark V. Poling, the youngest of the four chaplains, was a minister from the Dutch Reformed church. Clark was the seventh generation in an unbroken line of ministers. However, he wanted to be a fighting soldier instead of a chaplain. He didn’t want people to think he was "hiding behind the church." But when he found out that the mortality rate of the chaplains was the highest of all he felt he would be doing his full part as a chaplain.
It was a stirring sight to see these four men united, hand-in-hand, on the deck of that ship. But they weren’t conducting a service for the men as you might think -- they were preparing to die. It was in the early morning hours of February 3, 1943. The ship was bound for Greenland with 906 men on board. Suddenly a torpedo from a Nazi U-boat ripped through the hull and the ship began to sink in the icy waters of the North Atlantic.
Fear gave way to panic among the soldiers. Rushing to the deck, many left their lifejackets below. The chaplains helped calm the panic by helping the men escape the sinking ship. Then, with the lifeboats full, they gave their own lifejackets to soldiers who had none. The ship completely sank in only twenty-seven minutes.
As the men who had escaped looked back at their doomed ship they saw the four chaplains standing on board the sinking ship hand-in-hand and listened as the men lifted their voices to God. It was a sight that would forever be etched in their memories.
What is fascinating about this story is that these men knew that they were forfeiting their lives for the lives of others.
They had willfully given up their life jackets so others could survive.
Saturday, April 9, 2011
The Good Shepherd John 10 AM Sermon 4/10/11
Two men were called on, in a large classroom, to recite the Twenty-third Psalm.
One was an orator trained in speech technique and drama. He repeated the psalm in a powerful way.
When he finished, the audience cheered and asked for an encore that they might hear his wonderful voice again.
Then the other man repeated the same words--’The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want...’ but when he finished, no sound came from the class. Instead, people sat in a mood of deep devotion and prayer.
Then the first man stood to his feet. “I have a confession to make,” he said. “The difference between what you have just heard from my friend, and what you heard from me is this: I know the Psalm, but my friend knows the Shepherd.”
It is interesting that the image of Shepherd is used throughout the Old Testament and the New Testament.
As a matter of fact one of the main image that is used for Christ and the leadership of the early church is shepherd.
There was a time in the Old Testament that the shepherds of Israel and God’s people were derelict in their duty to Israel.
They had not done what God had called them to do.
The people are going into Babylonian exile and God is calling their spiritual leaders into account because they didn’t do their job.
Ezekiel 34: 1,2,5,6,10
1 Then the word of the LORD came to me saying, 2 "Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel. Prophesy and say to those shepherds, 'Thus says the Lord GOD, "Woe, shepherds of Israel who have been feeding themselves! Should not the shepherds feed the flock ?
5 "They were scattered for lack of a shepherd, and they became food for every beast of the field and were scattered. 6 "My flock wandered through all the mountains and on every high hill ; My flock was scattered over all the surface of the earth, and there was no one to search or seek for them.
10 'Thus says the Lord GOD, "Behold, I am against the shepherds, and I will demand My sheep from them and make them cease from feeding sheep. So the shepherds will not feed themselves anymore, but I will deliver My flock from their mouth, so that they will not be food for them."
This is a vivid image of the rage of God against the Shepherds of Israel that had not done their job.
The flock was in confusion because of the lack of leadership in Israel.
In the time of Jesus things were much worse. The leaders of the Jews were divided.
Those that sat in the seat of Moses as the teachers of the law were confused and were making the people of Israel twice the child of Hell as themselves.
The Priestly class of the Temple was compromised with the Romans and had become rich off of the money changers and the temple tax.
The shepherds were not doing their duty and because of this their hour of visitation had come. God had taken on flesh and came to see how the sheep were doing in person.
Jesus the true shepherd will come to show how it should be done.
There was a time of expectation that Ezekiel spoke of when God would set things right.
Imagine if you were a Jew in the time of Jesus and Messianic hopes are whipped to a frenzy and think of what Ezekiel tells us in Ezekiel 34
Ezekiel 34: 11-12
11 For thus says the Lord GOD, "Behold, I Myself will search for My sheep and seek them out. 12 "As a shepherd cares for his herd in the day when he is among his scattered sheep, so I will care for My sheep and will deliver them from all the places to which they were scattered on a cloudy and gloomy day.
The sovereign God will come and seek out the sheep. God will care for his flock. If the leaders that he left in place couldn’t do it, He would do it Himself.
Now turn to John 10 and imagine what would be in the background of the listeners of Jesus’s audience when he told this story.
In John’s gospel there are seven I AM statements.
We have read two so far in our study.
In John 6 I AM THE BREAD OF LIFE
JOHN 8 I AM THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD
IN TODAY’S READING WE WILL SEE TWO MORE NEW I AM STATEMENTS
Backgrounds:
To understand this story we need to understand shepherding in ancient Palestine.
A shepherd would live in the wilderness with his sheep. If he owned the sheep he would take great care of his sheep.
A shepherd would be the type to leave 99 sheep behind to go find the one lost lamb that needed to be saved.
His flock was usually anywhere from 10-20 sheep. Many ancient sources tell us that they named their sheep and knew each sheep by their name.
The sheep pen was usually a rock enclosure with one gate. There would be one person hired to open the gate only for the known shepherds.
When people in Palestine became rich they started hiring people to watch over their family flocks. These people were literally called hired hands.
These hired hands were not as good as the shepherd because they did not own the sheep.
The shepherds would sleep outside the sheep fold at night to protect the sheep from predators like wolves.
John 10: 1-16
1 "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter by the door into the fold of the sheep, but climbs up some other way, he is a thief and a robber. 2 "But he who enters by the door is a shepherd of the sheep. 3 "To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 "When he puts forth all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. 5 "A stranger they simply will not follow, but will flee from him, because they do not know the voice of strangers." 6 This figure of speech Jesus spoke to them, but they did not understand what those things were which He had been saying to them. 7 So Jesus said to them again, "Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. 8 "All who came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. 9 "I am the door ; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. 10 "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy ; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. 11 "I am the good shepherd ; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. 12 "He who is a hired hand, and not a shepherd, who is not the owner of the sheep, sees the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. 13 "He flees because he is a hired hand and is not concerned about the sheep. 14 "I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me, 15 even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father ; and I lay down My life for the sheep. 16 "I have other sheep, which are not of this fold ; I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice ; and they will become one flock with one shepherd.
I. The Shepherd has a relationship with His sheep
The doorkeeper knows the true Shepherd Jesus and lets him in.
Jesus is our shepherd – this is as close a relationship as you can imagine.
I find it fascinating that God chose the image of a Shepherd to show his care for us.
The shepherd called his sheep by name, spent a great deal of time with them and there was a total dependence on the sheep to the Shepherd.
The shepherd would carry a staff made of Achaia wood that would be used to fight off predators.
The staff was never used to hit the sheep or hurt them.
When the sheep would return to the sheep fold the shepherd would check the sheep for cuts. If they were cut or injured he would anoint them with oil so they would heal fasters.
The shepherd had a loving relationship with His sheep and never yelled at them or hit them. He gently lead them.
The shepherd would walk ahead of his sheep to lead them and would call out to them and they would follow.
It is said that the shepherd could go 50 yards from the sheep fold, call out to his sheep and they would come running.
How comforting to know that we have such a close relationship with Jesus – we need to foster that relationship with prayer and devotion.
II. The sheep only heed the voice of the Shepherd
In John 10: 4-5 Jesus makes it clear that the sheep only hear the voice of the Shepherd and nothing else. The sheep only have allegiance to that voice.
A man in Australia was arrested and charged with stealing a sheep.
But he vigorously protested that it was one of his own that had been missing for many days. When the case went to court, the judge didn’t know how to decide the matter.
Finally he asked that the sheep be brought into the courtroom. Then he ordered the plaintiff to step outside and call the animal. The sheep made no response except to raise its head and look frightened.
The judge then instructed the defendant to go to the courtyard and call the sheep. When the accused man began to make his distinctive call, the sheep ran toward the door and that voice. It was obvious that he recognized the familiar voice of his master. "His sheep knows him," said the judge. "Case dismissed!"
What we can learn from this is that only to Christ do we give our spiritual allegiance. If something violates the word the Christ gave us then that word trumps anything else.
But also life style goes with that hand in hand. WE have to look to Jesus as to how to live our lives.
What do we learn from this?
First of all, what is your number one source of information? Who do you listen to? Where do you get your information?
Is your life based on truth?
You have to wake up and get your information from the right source.
There are only three times that we hear God the Father speak in the New Testament.
The first is at Jesus’ baptism, when he declares that Jesus is his Son in whom he is well-pleased.
The last is during the Last Supper, when Jesus asks him to glorify his name and the Father responds “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.”
The only other time we hear him speak is during the account of the Transfiguration, which St. Mark gives us today.
God the Father first repeats what he had said about Jesus at his baptism, “This is my Son, my beloved.”
But then this eternal Father of so few words basically zeroes in on Peter, James and John and says something to them that is really quite remarkable when you consider its context: “Listen to him!”
This is interesting – we are to listen to Christ – He is our good Shepherd – he has the words of life
Only the sheep heed the words of the Shepherd.
Over all the competing voices in this world we need to hear the words of Jesus over the noise.
III. The shepherd comes to give us life more abundantly.
In John 10:10 Jesus makes it clear that He came to give life and not just life but abundant life.
How does this life look like and how does it work?
When I think of the life that Jesus had called to give us I think of the apostle Peter. I need to explain to clarify this point.
True life begins with Christ brining forgiveness of our sins.
In the story of Peter we see one of the most heinous denials of Jesus ever recorded in the Bible. In John chapter 18 we see that Peter denies Jesus three times.
John 18 18 gives us another detail that Peter was warming himself around a charcoal fire when this occurred.
So etched in Peter’s memory is this standing around a charcoal fire and denying Jesus.
Right after this Jesus is crucified and it would be later after Jesus resurrection that John records the use of another charcoal fire.
I believe this is intentional Jesus makes a charcoal fire for the disciples to cook their breakfast.
In John 21 we read this story of Jesus having this charcoal fire.
Imagine if you are Peter, with the risen Christ, smelling the charcoal fire, what would you be thinking? It had to be tough to face Jesus.
But what happens next is fascinating.
Jesus asks Peter three times if he loves him. Peter replies yes the first time and Jesus tells him to feed his sheep.
The second time Jesus asks Jesus tells him to Shepherd his sheep.
The third time he tells him toe tend the flock
What we see Jesus do is give Peter forgiveness and commission. That is the life that we have been called to – salvation and vocation.
Jesus saves us and then gives us our vocation. That calling could be Church leadership, a deaconate, or teaching a Bible class. All of us have a vocation and a calling in Christ’s Kingdom. We need to be open to what that might be.
That is life to the abundant – life forgiven in Christ and life with purpose or vocation.
IV. The sheep are united into one flock
In John 10:16 Jesus speaks of other sheep that will be added to the sheepfold. This is specifically speaking of the Gentiles.
Later in Romans Paul will explain that Israel is the root of the olive tree and the Gentiles are grafted in to that tree.
The true Israelites were the ones that recognized Jesus as the Messiah of Israel.
If you remember Peter was the apostle to the Jews and Paul was the apostle to the Gentiles. God would take these two groups that were separated and put them together in the Church.
General Robert E. Lee was a devout follower of Jesus Christ. Although he was raised in the south where prejudice was a daily way of life, Lee seldom practiced it or revealed it in his life.
Although his family owned slaves at one juncture, the slaves were always treated with respect and dignity.
It is said that soon after the end of the Civil War, he visited a church in Washington, D.C., a city that had often heaped scorn on Lee throughout the war for his loyalty to the slave-owning states of the Confederacy.
During the communion service Lee slowly made his way to the front of the church where he knelt beside a black man.
After the service had ended, an onlooker approached Lee and said to him, “How could you do that?” Lee replied, “My friend, all ground is level beneath the cross.”
Paul explains to us that in Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek, nor male and female, free or slave. We are all one in Christ.
Christ came to unify all mankind. The only place the true unity of mankind will ever happen is the church.
We sign peace, treaties, we can try to build democracies in the Middle East but true human unity will come when the world bends the knee to Jesus Christ.
There is no place for airs or division in the Church, when we have the one good Shepherd we are one in Him.
V. The Shepherd lays down his life for his sheep.
In the book Chicken Soup for the Soul, Eric Butterworth tells the story of a college professor who had his sociology class go into the Baltimore slums to get case histories of 200 young boys.
The students were asked to write an evaluation of each boy’s future. In every case the students wrote, "He hasn’t got a chance."
Twenty-five years later another sociology professor came across this earlier study.
He had his students do follow up on the same 200 boys who were now men.
With the exception of 20 boys who had moved away or died, the students learned that 176 of the remaining 180 had achieved more than ordinary success as lawyers, doctors, and businessmen.
The professor was astounded and decided to pursue the matter further. Fortunately, all the men were in the area and he was able to ask each one, "How do you account for your success?" In each case the reply came with feeling, "There was a teacher."
The teacher was still alive, so he sought her out and asked the old but still alert lady what magic formula she had used to pull these boys out of the slums into successful achievement.
The teacher’s eyes sparkled and her lips broke into a gentle smile. "It’s really very simple," she said. "I loved those boys."
In the same way that this lady love those boys enough to pull them up out of the slums, Jesus loved us enough to pull us up out of sin.
In the Old Testament time the sheep would always die for the Shepherd. The shepherd would raise them up and then have them slaughtered but our Shepherd is different. He has flipped the tables and now He lays his life down for us.
Our Shepherd dies for His sheep.
Saturday, April 2, 2011
The Man born Blind- An invitation to believe AM Sermon
This morning I want to give you an invitation.
This invitation is dangerous and subversive.
This invitation is the same that God gave the prophet Jeremiah when he called him to preach his word to Judah.
This word or utterance of God is subversive, it is dangerous, and it will challenge all that we know and think about this world.
We live in a world that is driven by technology, consumerism, and a world in denial that anything is wrong. Just in Jeremiah’s time Israel was in denial that there was a problem and Jeremiah was warning them of impending disaster.
This word of God challenges this dependence of technology, consumerism, and a world in denial that sin is here and is rampant in our community.
In a minute we will look at a passage in John 9. This passage like all of God’s word will challenge us to step out and look and see if we are really about God’s will or that of the world.
John’s gospel is really asking you this day to make a choice – Is it your will being done or is it God’s will being done in your life?
Max Lucado tells this story about a man that was blind:
For 51 years Bob Edens was blind. He couldn’t see a thing.
His world was a black hall of sounds and smells.
He felt his way through five decades of darkness. And then, he could see.
A skilled surgeon performed a complicated operation and, for the first time, Bob Edens had sight. He found it overwhelming.
“I never would have dreamed that yellow is so…yellow,” he exclaimed.
“I don’t have the words. I am amazed by yellow. But red is my favorite color.
I just can’t believe red. I can see the shape of the moon—and I like nothing better than seeing a jet plane flying across the sky leaving a vapor trail.
And of course, sunrises and sunsets. And at night I look at the stars in the sky and the flashing light. You could never know how wonderful everything is.”
Today we meet a man who was born blind in John 9.
We get to today’s passage via chapter 7and 8. In chapters 7 and 8 we see the controversy about Jesus is growing.
At the fest of Tabernacles Jesus stands up and uses the two main symbols of those feasts and claims that he is the Living water and the light of the world.
John in his gospel is putting the words of Jesus on par or even superseding the words of Moses the great prophet and leader.
Jesus is the one that can tell us how to live our lives. Jesus is the lamp for the pathway that the Jews had been waiting for.
In the story today we are going to be introduced to many human viewpoints that Jesus will take and transform for God’s glory.
Jesus who is the light of the world will bring light to this man – he will open his eyes but at the same time open the spiritual eyes of the reader.
I. Prejudice
John 9:1-5
1 As He passed by, He saw a man blind from birth. 2 And His disciples asked Him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he would be born blind ?" 3 Jesus answered, "It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents ; but it was so that the works of God might be displayed in him. 4 "We must work the works of Him who sent Me as long as it is day ; night is coming when no one can work. 5 "While I am in the world, I am the Light of the world."
In this passage we see a very common viewpoint of the Jewish people in the time of Jesus. It was commonly held in their rabbinic tradition that physical ailments were the direct result of a person’s sin.
The disciples see in this man a theological discussion.
It is easy for them to sit aloof looking down at this man and see him as just an object for their personal pleasure.
They project on to this man’s condition something that is not in accord with how Jesus thinks.
Contrast their view point with Jesus view point. Jesus sees this man as an opportunity for God’s glory to be displayed.
We can learn a lesson from Jesus viewpoint in this story. God can take the worst situations and turn them around for His glory.
If we have a heart for what God wants we will see people differently. We will see each and every opportunity as a chance to show God’s love and God’s plan for mankind.
Instead of sitting detached and aloof to a world that is hurting, we will wade into the fight. This way of living is subversive and it is countercultural.
You live when the opposite is true. You live when people want to live a life of isolation involved in life as normal but they are like the people in the time of the Bible they are in denial to the state of the world.
We must realize that if you are a Christian today you are one SENT. The essence of our faith is that it is a missional faith.
That does not mean that we all pack up and go to Africa or Asia but that means that you live intentionally every day for God.
You are sent by God through Jesus Christ in the power of the Spirit.
We have to transform how we look at ourselves, you are strangers in this land, don’t get too comfortable with these things of this world. We need to be more citizens of Heaven than citizens of this earth.
WE are called to live in this way – to live in the way of Jesus.
To live for the Glory of God
II) Pessimism
John 9: 6-12
." 6 When He had said this, He spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and applied the clay to his eyes, 7 and said to him, "Go, wash in the pool of Siloam " (which is translated, Sent ). So he went away and washed, and came back seeing. 8 Therefore the neighbors, and those who previously saw him as a beggar, were saying, "Is not this the one who used to sit and beg ?" 9 Others were saying, "This is he," still others were saying, "No, but he is like him." He kept saying, "I am the one." 10 So they were saying to him, "How then were your eyes opened ?" 11 He answered, "The man who is called Jesus made clay, and anointed my eyes, and said to me, 'Go to Siloam and wash '; so I went away and washed, and I received sight." 12 They said to him, "Where is He?" He said, "I do not know."
The reaction of the people to Jesus miracle is so human.
Nothing has changed in human nature, some people think that people of the ancient world were ignorant hayseeds that did not think scientifically.
They are wrong – people in the ancient were world were just as skeptical of the miraculous as we are today.
Later in John’s gospel we will see doubting Thomas demand evidence of Jesus resurrection. People in the ancient world knew the a man born blind didn’t just get well all the sudden. People of the ancient world were also skeptical of the resurrection from the dead. They knew that dead people stayed dead.
The people in this story show a high Pessimism. They don’t believe what they have seen.
The Jewish people have every right to be pessimistic. They have had it tough. They went into Exile for over 70 years and final returned home.
The Greeks and Romans have ruled over them for almost 200 years now and they have been deeply oppressed.
The Jewish people were more devout than they had ever been in their history but God had not acted to free them from oppression.
They were so pessimistic and so beat down that they were missing the very gift of God they had been waiting on.
John’s gospel has explained to us that not only did God send his anointed King the Messiah but also sent His SON.
No one in Judaism would have ever imagined that the Messiah that would deliver them would be God HIMSELF. This is explosive news.
IF Jesus really is God in the flesh then it is no big feat for the blind to be healed.
John has told us the unbelievable reality that God became flesh – God took on humanity- this is unbelievable.
Now we see Jesus take a basic element of this world and use it to heal this man. The very one that was there when the Creation was made – who was there helping the Father and Spirit form man from the dust of the ground now is taking that same mud and healing a man.
John in this story wants us to take notice. Are you going to be skeptical like the people?
Do you believe that Jesus will work Greater works through you? Jesus promises this later in the gospel that He will work greater works through His followers.
Are you skeptical of the Gospel.
Paul says in Romans 1: 16
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek
Do you believe that the gospel is powerful, that it can change people?
Do you believe these utterances of God, these very words of God can change people?
Here is a test to determine where you fall in this story-
If you are not pessimistic or skeptical of the power of God then you are motivated to share this truth with others. You will go and share the word with others – you can share this word in your actions and your very words.
If you think that Christianity is just something we do on Sunday and maybe Wednesday and really nothing else changes during the week we may fall on the side of the people in this story that are just a little skeptical.
It is easy to ride along with the currents of our culture and live like everyone else. The tough part is to be counter cultural. To live like Jesus – to be different.
To see every part of our day as an opportunity to bring glory to God.
John is inviting each of us to live in this way. To get off the bank and dive in – he is calling us to not be pessimistic about the claims of Jesus but realize that they are life giving and life transforming realities.
The world we live in is not the reality- the reality is Jesus Christ and His truth.
III. Principled
John 9 13-16
13 They brought to the Pharisees the man who was formerly blind. 14 Now it was a Sabbath on the day when Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes. 15 Then the Pharisees also were asking him again how he received his sight. And he said to them, "He applied clay to my eyes, and I washed, and I see." 16 Therefore some of the Pharisees were saying, "This man is not from God, because He does not keep the Sabbath." But others were saying, "How can a man who is a sinner perform such signs ?" And there was a division among them.
In the time of Jesus there were detailed instructions or traditions about the Sabbath.
Some were the following:
-no talking about business on the Sabbath
-only clean clothes on the Sabbath
-could not even carry water on the Sabbath
-Had to prepare all of your food the day before the Sabbath
There were details upon details about the Sabbath.
We could say that the Pharisees are very Principled people – they took the word of God very serious and we can applaud that. They believed in the Sabbath rules that the tradition formed a type of hedge around it.
The Pharisees believed that if you made things tougher than the very command of Scripture, no one would encroach upon the command of Scripture. Build up this legalistic wall around it and all would be good.
But their principles were misplaced. They had it all wrong. They misunderstood what the Sabbath was all about.
The Sabbath – was about relationship with God and each other.
The Sabbath was a time of renewing God’s covenant at Creation but also God’s provision of manna and God ‘s deliverance from Egypt. This was a time to build a relationship with God and your fellow man, specifically your family.
The Pharisees in their principles had totally missed the point. In their concern to make sure everyone else was doing it right they had forgotten the essence of what Sabbath really is about.
They were so worried that other people may violate the Sabbath that they had forgotten the very reason for the Sabbath.
Here is God in flesh standing before them and is healing on the Sabbath. Jesus has already explained to them that God is still working on the Sabbath.
Now the work is different. The original Sabbath was about resting from the work of Creation, but now it is about a New Creation – God is fixing what is broken.
This miracle is a sign that God is trying to fix what is broken about the original creation.
What can we learn from the Pharisees?
Could we say that Principles are not important – taking God’s word very serious is bad?
No, not at all, it is misplaced Zealotry. Paul talks about in the book of Romans how he was zealous for the Law but that zeal for the law was in ignorance.
We need to be principled about the right things. We must fight the urge to NOT MAJOR ON THE MINORS- Sometimes we impede the work of Christ because we are bickering.
Look across the religious landscape today and you will see Christians fighting over the craziest stuff. The world is dying without Christ – I have witnessed Church leaders in my own life go to Church and argue about a new song book or the color of the carpet, or what book we are going to use in Bible class and then go home and watch a rated R movie and have no problem with it.
That is being principled about the wrong things. We cant become like the Pharisees and make binding laws upon people and create a tradition of our own.
The Bible challenges all man made tradition and that tradition must come tumbling down if it is not part of God’s revealed plan.
IV. Phobia and Fear
The Pharisees are in deep debate about whether this man had been born blind and they call in this man’s parents – They want to get to the bottom of the story and want them to give testimony of this man’s plight.
John 9: 19-22
19 and questioned them, saying, "Is this your son, who you say was born blind ? Then how does he now see ?" 20 His parents answered them and said, "We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind ; 21 but how he now sees, we do not know ; or who opened his eyes, we do not know. Ask him; he is of age, he will speak for himself." 22 His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews ; for the Jews had already agreed that if anyone confessed Him to be Christ, he was to be put out of the synagogue.
The parents are clearly fearful.
Because of their fear of the Pharisees, they throw this young man under the bus.
They proclaim –let him speak for himself – he is old enough. They didn’t want to be thrown out of the synagogue, they had an unhealthy phobia of the Pharisees.
Do you think John may be telling us something?
Do you think John knew that when he wrote his Gospel that there would be people out there that if they really lived as God called them to, they would be shunned, ostracized and cast out.
Do you think some people might be fearful of cashing in. It may cost too much – it may be difficult to go this route.
If you follow Jesus you will loose some friends, you will not get invited to certain events, you will be talked about behind your back- people will think you are a religious whackie pack.
Are you fearful of the world around you, the culture, to become a radical follower of Jesus?
Are you afraid of what it might cost you?
V.) Put His Trust in Jesus
The man born blind didn’t care about anything but what Jesus had done for him.
The Pharisees turn to this man and start to interrogate him again as to what Jesus did for him. The man seems to be more astute about the Law of Moses than the Pharisees.
John 9: 27-34
27 He answered them, "I told you already and you did not listen ; why do you want to hear it again ? You do not want to become His disciples too, do you?" 28 They reviled him and said, "You are His disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. 29 "We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where He is from." 30 The man answered and said to them, "Well, here is an amazing thing, that you do not know where He is from, and yet He opened my eyes. 31 "We know that God does not hear sinners ; but if anyone is God-fearing and does His will, He hears him. 32 "Since the beginning of time it has never been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind. 33 "If this man were not from God, He could do nothing ." 34 They answered him, "You were born entirely in sins, and are you teaching us?" So they put him out.
This man gets it.
He has simple trusting faith in Jesus – Jesus is who He claims to be because he is able to open the eyes of a blind man.
No one has that type of authority to do that type of miracle unless he comes from God.
The irony of this story is not lost on us. Here is an outcast – a forgotten nobody – someone that was considered a fool by the Pharisees – lecturing them about what is from God and what is God’s will.
He knew that Jesus was from God and that Jesus was who he claimed to be.
That is what John is asking us to do today – this story is asking you where you stand in this story.
Which one of these people are you?
1) Are you Prejudiced to the world – so negative that you don’t think there is any hope.
When you see people that are dealing with misfortune as their just deserves or do you have the heart of Christ?
When you see someone that is an alcoholic and their life is falling apart, do you right them off as some one that is getting what they deserve or do you see someone that God’ glory could work through.
How do you see the people of the world wrapped up in sin? An opportunity for the gospel or outcasts?
2) Pessimistic
Are you calloused over and jaded about the church and the gospel. Do you believe that God’s Spirit can still convict people of sin.
Do you believe in the power of God’s divine utterances that can destroy Satan’s strongholds and even bring our thoughts into subjection to Christ.
3) Are you principled about the right things? Are you majoring on the minors?
Are you concerned about the things that God is concerned about?
Have you made your own man made traditions that get in the way of God’s work?
4) Do you have a phobia about what the world is going to think about you when you become a radical follower of Jesus.
Are you fearful of what it might cost you?
Are you ready to be a Disciple of Jesus
5) Do you put your faith in Jesus.
I started the lesson today by mentioning the power of God’s word. Have you allowed this word to come into your life and tear down what is not needed and build you into the image of His Son.
The word that was spoken that brought this universe from nothing wants to bring life to you.
What will you do with this Jesus that healed this blind man?
What will you decide to do today?
This invitation is dangerous and subversive.
This invitation is the same that God gave the prophet Jeremiah when he called him to preach his word to Judah.
This word or utterance of God is subversive, it is dangerous, and it will challenge all that we know and think about this world.
We live in a world that is driven by technology, consumerism, and a world in denial that anything is wrong. Just in Jeremiah’s time Israel was in denial that there was a problem and Jeremiah was warning them of impending disaster.
This word of God challenges this dependence of technology, consumerism, and a world in denial that sin is here and is rampant in our community.
In a minute we will look at a passage in John 9. This passage like all of God’s word will challenge us to step out and look and see if we are really about God’s will or that of the world.
John’s gospel is really asking you this day to make a choice – Is it your will being done or is it God’s will being done in your life?
Max Lucado tells this story about a man that was blind:
For 51 years Bob Edens was blind. He couldn’t see a thing.
His world was a black hall of sounds and smells.
He felt his way through five decades of darkness. And then, he could see.
A skilled surgeon performed a complicated operation and, for the first time, Bob Edens had sight. He found it overwhelming.
“I never would have dreamed that yellow is so…yellow,” he exclaimed.
“I don’t have the words. I am amazed by yellow. But red is my favorite color.
I just can’t believe red. I can see the shape of the moon—and I like nothing better than seeing a jet plane flying across the sky leaving a vapor trail.
And of course, sunrises and sunsets. And at night I look at the stars in the sky and the flashing light. You could never know how wonderful everything is.”
Today we meet a man who was born blind in John 9.
We get to today’s passage via chapter 7and 8. In chapters 7 and 8 we see the controversy about Jesus is growing.
At the fest of Tabernacles Jesus stands up and uses the two main symbols of those feasts and claims that he is the Living water and the light of the world.
John in his gospel is putting the words of Jesus on par or even superseding the words of Moses the great prophet and leader.
Jesus is the one that can tell us how to live our lives. Jesus is the lamp for the pathway that the Jews had been waiting for.
In the story today we are going to be introduced to many human viewpoints that Jesus will take and transform for God’s glory.
Jesus who is the light of the world will bring light to this man – he will open his eyes but at the same time open the spiritual eyes of the reader.
I. Prejudice
John 9:1-5
1 As He passed by, He saw a man blind from birth. 2 And His disciples asked Him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he would be born blind ?" 3 Jesus answered, "It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents ; but it was so that the works of God might be displayed in him. 4 "We must work the works of Him who sent Me as long as it is day ; night is coming when no one can work. 5 "While I am in the world, I am the Light of the world."
In this passage we see a very common viewpoint of the Jewish people in the time of Jesus. It was commonly held in their rabbinic tradition that physical ailments were the direct result of a person’s sin.
The disciples see in this man a theological discussion.
It is easy for them to sit aloof looking down at this man and see him as just an object for their personal pleasure.
They project on to this man’s condition something that is not in accord with how Jesus thinks.
Contrast their view point with Jesus view point. Jesus sees this man as an opportunity for God’s glory to be displayed.
We can learn a lesson from Jesus viewpoint in this story. God can take the worst situations and turn them around for His glory.
If we have a heart for what God wants we will see people differently. We will see each and every opportunity as a chance to show God’s love and God’s plan for mankind.
Instead of sitting detached and aloof to a world that is hurting, we will wade into the fight. This way of living is subversive and it is countercultural.
You live when the opposite is true. You live when people want to live a life of isolation involved in life as normal but they are like the people in the time of the Bible they are in denial to the state of the world.
We must realize that if you are a Christian today you are one SENT. The essence of our faith is that it is a missional faith.
That does not mean that we all pack up and go to Africa or Asia but that means that you live intentionally every day for God.
You are sent by God through Jesus Christ in the power of the Spirit.
We have to transform how we look at ourselves, you are strangers in this land, don’t get too comfortable with these things of this world. We need to be more citizens of Heaven than citizens of this earth.
WE are called to live in this way – to live in the way of Jesus.
To live for the Glory of God
II) Pessimism
John 9: 6-12
." 6 When He had said this, He spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and applied the clay to his eyes, 7 and said to him, "Go, wash in the pool of Siloam " (which is translated, Sent ). So he went away and washed, and came back seeing. 8 Therefore the neighbors, and those who previously saw him as a beggar, were saying, "Is not this the one who used to sit and beg ?" 9 Others were saying, "This is he," still others were saying, "No, but he is like him." He kept saying, "I am the one." 10 So they were saying to him, "How then were your eyes opened ?" 11 He answered, "The man who is called Jesus made clay, and anointed my eyes, and said to me, 'Go to Siloam and wash '; so I went away and washed, and I received sight." 12 They said to him, "Where is He?" He said, "I do not know."
The reaction of the people to Jesus miracle is so human.
Nothing has changed in human nature, some people think that people of the ancient world were ignorant hayseeds that did not think scientifically.
They are wrong – people in the ancient were world were just as skeptical of the miraculous as we are today.
Later in John’s gospel we will see doubting Thomas demand evidence of Jesus resurrection. People in the ancient world knew the a man born blind didn’t just get well all the sudden. People of the ancient world were also skeptical of the resurrection from the dead. They knew that dead people stayed dead.
The people in this story show a high Pessimism. They don’t believe what they have seen.
The Jewish people have every right to be pessimistic. They have had it tough. They went into Exile for over 70 years and final returned home.
The Greeks and Romans have ruled over them for almost 200 years now and they have been deeply oppressed.
The Jewish people were more devout than they had ever been in their history but God had not acted to free them from oppression.
They were so pessimistic and so beat down that they were missing the very gift of God they had been waiting on.
John’s gospel has explained to us that not only did God send his anointed King the Messiah but also sent His SON.
No one in Judaism would have ever imagined that the Messiah that would deliver them would be God HIMSELF. This is explosive news.
IF Jesus really is God in the flesh then it is no big feat for the blind to be healed.
John has told us the unbelievable reality that God became flesh – God took on humanity- this is unbelievable.
Now we see Jesus take a basic element of this world and use it to heal this man. The very one that was there when the Creation was made – who was there helping the Father and Spirit form man from the dust of the ground now is taking that same mud and healing a man.
John in this story wants us to take notice. Are you going to be skeptical like the people?
Do you believe that Jesus will work Greater works through you? Jesus promises this later in the gospel that He will work greater works through His followers.
Are you skeptical of the Gospel.
Paul says in Romans 1: 16
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek
Do you believe that the gospel is powerful, that it can change people?
Do you believe these utterances of God, these very words of God can change people?
Here is a test to determine where you fall in this story-
If you are not pessimistic or skeptical of the power of God then you are motivated to share this truth with others. You will go and share the word with others – you can share this word in your actions and your very words.
If you think that Christianity is just something we do on Sunday and maybe Wednesday and really nothing else changes during the week we may fall on the side of the people in this story that are just a little skeptical.
It is easy to ride along with the currents of our culture and live like everyone else. The tough part is to be counter cultural. To live like Jesus – to be different.
To see every part of our day as an opportunity to bring glory to God.
John is inviting each of us to live in this way. To get off the bank and dive in – he is calling us to not be pessimistic about the claims of Jesus but realize that they are life giving and life transforming realities.
The world we live in is not the reality- the reality is Jesus Christ and His truth.
III. Principled
John 9 13-16
13 They brought to the Pharisees the man who was formerly blind. 14 Now it was a Sabbath on the day when Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes. 15 Then the Pharisees also were asking him again how he received his sight. And he said to them, "He applied clay to my eyes, and I washed, and I see." 16 Therefore some of the Pharisees were saying, "This man is not from God, because He does not keep the Sabbath." But others were saying, "How can a man who is a sinner perform such signs ?" And there was a division among them.
In the time of Jesus there were detailed instructions or traditions about the Sabbath.
Some were the following:
-no talking about business on the Sabbath
-only clean clothes on the Sabbath
-could not even carry water on the Sabbath
-Had to prepare all of your food the day before the Sabbath
There were details upon details about the Sabbath.
We could say that the Pharisees are very Principled people – they took the word of God very serious and we can applaud that. They believed in the Sabbath rules that the tradition formed a type of hedge around it.
The Pharisees believed that if you made things tougher than the very command of Scripture, no one would encroach upon the command of Scripture. Build up this legalistic wall around it and all would be good.
But their principles were misplaced. They had it all wrong. They misunderstood what the Sabbath was all about.
The Sabbath – was about relationship with God and each other.
The Sabbath was a time of renewing God’s covenant at Creation but also God’s provision of manna and God ‘s deliverance from Egypt. This was a time to build a relationship with God and your fellow man, specifically your family.
The Pharisees in their principles had totally missed the point. In their concern to make sure everyone else was doing it right they had forgotten the essence of what Sabbath really is about.
They were so worried that other people may violate the Sabbath that they had forgotten the very reason for the Sabbath.
Here is God in flesh standing before them and is healing on the Sabbath. Jesus has already explained to them that God is still working on the Sabbath.
Now the work is different. The original Sabbath was about resting from the work of Creation, but now it is about a New Creation – God is fixing what is broken.
This miracle is a sign that God is trying to fix what is broken about the original creation.
What can we learn from the Pharisees?
Could we say that Principles are not important – taking God’s word very serious is bad?
No, not at all, it is misplaced Zealotry. Paul talks about in the book of Romans how he was zealous for the Law but that zeal for the law was in ignorance.
We need to be principled about the right things. We must fight the urge to NOT MAJOR ON THE MINORS- Sometimes we impede the work of Christ because we are bickering.
Look across the religious landscape today and you will see Christians fighting over the craziest stuff. The world is dying without Christ – I have witnessed Church leaders in my own life go to Church and argue about a new song book or the color of the carpet, or what book we are going to use in Bible class and then go home and watch a rated R movie and have no problem with it.
That is being principled about the wrong things. We cant become like the Pharisees and make binding laws upon people and create a tradition of our own.
The Bible challenges all man made tradition and that tradition must come tumbling down if it is not part of God’s revealed plan.
IV. Phobia and Fear
The Pharisees are in deep debate about whether this man had been born blind and they call in this man’s parents – They want to get to the bottom of the story and want them to give testimony of this man’s plight.
John 9: 19-22
19 and questioned them, saying, "Is this your son, who you say was born blind ? Then how does he now see ?" 20 His parents answered them and said, "We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind ; 21 but how he now sees, we do not know ; or who opened his eyes, we do not know. Ask him; he is of age, he will speak for himself." 22 His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews ; for the Jews had already agreed that if anyone confessed Him to be Christ, he was to be put out of the synagogue.
The parents are clearly fearful.
Because of their fear of the Pharisees, they throw this young man under the bus.
They proclaim –let him speak for himself – he is old enough. They didn’t want to be thrown out of the synagogue, they had an unhealthy phobia of the Pharisees.
Do you think John may be telling us something?
Do you think John knew that when he wrote his Gospel that there would be people out there that if they really lived as God called them to, they would be shunned, ostracized and cast out.
Do you think some people might be fearful of cashing in. It may cost too much – it may be difficult to go this route.
If you follow Jesus you will loose some friends, you will not get invited to certain events, you will be talked about behind your back- people will think you are a religious whackie pack.
Are you fearful of the world around you, the culture, to become a radical follower of Jesus?
Are you afraid of what it might cost you?
V.) Put His Trust in Jesus
The man born blind didn’t care about anything but what Jesus had done for him.
The Pharisees turn to this man and start to interrogate him again as to what Jesus did for him. The man seems to be more astute about the Law of Moses than the Pharisees.
John 9: 27-34
27 He answered them, "I told you already and you did not listen ; why do you want to hear it again ? You do not want to become His disciples too, do you?" 28 They reviled him and said, "You are His disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. 29 "We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where He is from." 30 The man answered and said to them, "Well, here is an amazing thing, that you do not know where He is from, and yet He opened my eyes. 31 "We know that God does not hear sinners ; but if anyone is God-fearing and does His will, He hears him. 32 "Since the beginning of time it has never been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind. 33 "If this man were not from God, He could do nothing ." 34 They answered him, "You were born entirely in sins, and are you teaching us?" So they put him out.
This man gets it.
He has simple trusting faith in Jesus – Jesus is who He claims to be because he is able to open the eyes of a blind man.
No one has that type of authority to do that type of miracle unless he comes from God.
The irony of this story is not lost on us. Here is an outcast – a forgotten nobody – someone that was considered a fool by the Pharisees – lecturing them about what is from God and what is God’s will.
He knew that Jesus was from God and that Jesus was who he claimed to be.
That is what John is asking us to do today – this story is asking you where you stand in this story.
Which one of these people are you?
1) Are you Prejudiced to the world – so negative that you don’t think there is any hope.
When you see people that are dealing with misfortune as their just deserves or do you have the heart of Christ?
When you see someone that is an alcoholic and their life is falling apart, do you right them off as some one that is getting what they deserve or do you see someone that God’ glory could work through.
How do you see the people of the world wrapped up in sin? An opportunity for the gospel or outcasts?
2) Pessimistic
Are you calloused over and jaded about the church and the gospel. Do you believe that God’s Spirit can still convict people of sin.
Do you believe in the power of God’s divine utterances that can destroy Satan’s strongholds and even bring our thoughts into subjection to Christ.
3) Are you principled about the right things? Are you majoring on the minors?
Are you concerned about the things that God is concerned about?
Have you made your own man made traditions that get in the way of God’s work?
4) Do you have a phobia about what the world is going to think about you when you become a radical follower of Jesus.
Are you fearful of what it might cost you?
Are you ready to be a Disciple of Jesus
5) Do you put your faith in Jesus.
I started the lesson today by mentioning the power of God’s word. Have you allowed this word to come into your life and tear down what is not needed and build you into the image of His Son.
The word that was spoken that brought this universe from nothing wants to bring life to you.
What will you do with this Jesus that healed this blind man?
What will you decide to do today?
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