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?