The Mission of Jesus
Notes
Transcript
I accidentally took my cats meds last night…. dont ask meow…
I hate when Jenn gets mad at me for being lazy… its not like i did anything…
1 As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth.
And it is clear that these two issues are meant for us to compare, there is a reason that this instance of this blind man came up immediately after the situation with the religious leaders. Remember, Jesus had been teaching and trying to help these religious leaders, and they rejected him so he decided he needed to continue on from there, and here we find him coming into contact with a man that was blind from birth. And we know throughout scripture that it was these people who Jesus came for, the broken, weak, and lost, and those who think they are well, and have all of there stuff together, won’t have any need for Jesus, they will push him away, and this is what we have seen.
and this group of scripture this morning really is an interesting look at the thought of suffering and trials in life and their purpose and their meaning. And we all know that pain and suffering in life is a normal thing, it is something we all havae to deal with as we walk through this life, and the real questions are two fold, 1, why is there suffering, and 2, What should we do about suffering…
SO Jesus is leaving these religious leaders and as he is walking there is something that makes he and the disciples stop. The bible tells us Jesus SAW him, and that shows that there was something there that moved in his heart he didn’t just take him in and move on He saw him and it was a deeper interest that was being conveyed in these verses.
2 And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”
And its apparent it wasn’t only Jesus who was taken aback by this man, it was the disciples who had seen him and wanted to talk about it as well, And we are never told how they knew this man had been born blind, there is no indication that he ever told them but they know , and they start to ask questions…
Here are a couple things I find interesting…
John Beck… He said people had asked him who sinned to cause him to have MS…
We do not think this way in society today… it shows how far we have fallen from a society that knows God what we will see is this way of thinking is incorrect, but what we can take from this not being prevalent is there is no real concept of sin against God in our moral structure today. We don’t have a sense that there would be some retribution from a God that would cause us to get into such a dire situation.
But understand what they are thinking here… and let us learn from the errors of their thinking…
A. The first error here is the thought that we are suffering in this life because of the bad things we did in a previous life. This is in short a clear idea of Karma… And it has become prevalent in culture today, people say all the time, I believe in Karma, You will get what you deserve… and I always think this thought is weird, because most people that believe this way are picky about… they way they believe Karma pays out,,, mostly they believe it wont come back for the mistakes they make, just the things that people do to them… Isn’t it funny how we always, not matter what moral system we choose to use, look over our own wrongdoings so we can make ourselves feel better.
But the idea of Karma is spoken against clearly in the Bible, in fact the idea that we live multiple lives is spoken against in the bible, Heb 9:27
27 And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment,
B.The second error here is the idea that our sin results from the sins of our parents and grandparents or some more distant relative
This most likely comes from a misunderstanding of scripture in Ex 20:5
5 You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me,
And this can happen in a different sense, in a natural way, as the sins of anger, dishonesty, and substance abuse even are learned in a natural way from being around the parents and being raised by them. This is what we like to talk about when we talk about ending generational curses and getting out from under all the things we saw that our parents did and ending the cycle, however, this does not mean that we are doomed by generational judgments from God.
There is a supreme difference in learning an activity or behaviour and being cursed with it by God. and here we see the great deal in this error.
C. The third error is thinking that every type of suffering is caused by Gods immediate wrath.
This is when we think, “I wonder what he did to deserve that.” and this is exactly what we saw in the friends of Job as they talked to him about his life and what he had going on. As they called themselves friends, they would come to him and question what he had done against God and this almost made the situation that much worse for Job, not only was he dealing with the affliction that was bestowed upon him, but instead he was also dealing with his friends questioning all the decisions of his life and placing blame upon him. Just think about that for a second, you’re already miserable, and your well intentioned friends are coming and asking you what you did to make God mad, how you stepped out of line… thats some great friendship right there, and quite frankly I think its what we do sometimes…
But this idea puts God as the old man in the clouds waiting and watching everything we do waiting to dole out punishment in every situation and I love How Donald Barnhouse responded to this idea…
“God is not up in heaven trying to hit people…Anyone could testify to the fact that many timesh e has sinned and has not reaped the fruits of that sin. God has been gracious in a wonderful way. How tender and patient he is with us.” Donald Barnhouse.
When we assume that there must be some type of sin we are turning ourselves into self righteous judges to judge those around us for their afflictions and we are setting ourselves up to be better than they are.
So, we see the errors in their thinking but what does the Bible actually say about suffering?
Look at Jesus’ response to these guys
3 Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.
Wait, what. This wasnt about the man’s sin, it was about God having an opportunity to be glorified. Lets just pause and take that in for a minute, I think it needs some time to rudiment and digest in us. Man suffers so God can can be displayed, but it gives us a chance to show somethings to…
Look the BIble is clear that if we experience lots of trials in life, it might not be that we are going against God, but actually going with him…
22 strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.
So it isn’t that suffering occurs without meaning. And the sticky part of this whole mess is that we can see that suffering does come from sin entering the world… but its not directly related to our sin all the time…
So then comes the question why does a loving god allow for people suffer?
And I think biblically we can see a couple reasons.
A. We suffer for corrective purposes.
Theologian James Montgomery Boice said, “Some suffering is given to teach CHristians that sin is wrong and to teach them obedience.”
And this isnt some idea he formulated on his own, it goes along well with
6 For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.”
11 For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.
And it is often our own error that causes us suffering in our lives, sometimes we do stupid stuff and we have to pay for it so we have to suffer and it causes us to learn. This is similar to when we punish our children, it isn;t that we get enjoyment out of it but we are hoping they can learn from it. Ken Andrea, Andrew
B. We often can suffer not just because it is corrective, but it is often constructive.
When we are suffering we are learning lessons about life, and we are learning often times to leave our love of the world behind and to depend more and draw closer to God.
As I have watched and see Jeff suffering through the end of his life there is one thing that is certain, he is realizing the things of this world are less important and he is drawing closer to God. I doubt outside of the suffering in his body that he would be learning these lessons, but he is learning to depend on God more and how much he wants and needs him. This type of suffering doesnt always have to be associated with death. Sometimes we have this type of suffering in our bodies for a short time and our minds and hearts turn to him and we come out healed on the other side.
Often times suffering can be constructive because it is preparing us for greater challenges in our lives. I think about some of the bad situations I found myself in in ministry and the suffering that it caused and realized it prepared me to do what needed to be done in ministry and get my heart in the right way. This is similar to karate…microfractures that make it stronger and prepare for the bigger battles… in theory this is the same thing that happens when we lift weights
But according to Jesus, the blind man suffered for something that wasn’t correction or constructive, but the reason I told us to pause,
C. so that the works of God might be displayed in him.
He was afflicted, simply so that Jesus would have the opportunity to display his power by doing the miraculous in his life. And that is an amazing thing. And what we can see is that there are times that God displays his power by immediately answering a prayer in our lives, but sometimes the way that God displays his power is by giving us the strength we need to endure our trials. This is those people who you look at and in the middle of the worst trials, think Job even, they are still believing and relying on God and you just know there has to be something different about them for them to be able to go through it. God has given them the strength they need.
And we see this in the words of Paul in 2 Co. 12:9
9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
So Jesus answers the question of why there is suffering in the world, and then he moves on to answer how we should respond in the face of suffering in the world.
4 We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work.
And so sometimes, The way god gets the glory through suffering it will be through OUR work in ministry to those people who are in need and suffering.
And so while the disciples were just going to walk by the blind man and do nothing Jesus stopped to help…and Jesus is telling the disciples much in the same manner he is telling us, we must work the works of him who sent me…we must do what God has called us to do.
Jesus told us that he was sent to do God’s works and he gives us 4 types of works he was sent to do that we must do.
1) There is the work of seeking man.
God sought man and Jesus took the initiative with reaching out to help him. The man didn’t ask for help, most likely the man didnt even know help was available as Jesus passed by because he couldnt see him unless he heard a crowd and what was said as Jesus passed. If Jesus hadn’t reached out the man would have remained blind, and it is up to us to be able to reach out to those who are hurting and lost and offer them hope and help in Jesus, most people will stay spiritually blind if someone isnt showing them exactly what they are missing.
2) There is the work of caring for man. God cares that man is blind.
28 even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
7 casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.
Jesus cares for the blind and hurting and lost and we should care in the same manner that Jesus did.
3) There is the work of loving and having compassion. God loves and has compassion for man in his blindness and darkness.
15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.
16 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
4) There is the work of delivering from darkness and giving sight.
13 He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son,
c. Note the urgency of the mission. This is stressed by two things.
1) The word must (dei) means compulsion and necessity. There are no questions, no suggestions, no urgings about the matter. The works of God must be done.
2) The time for work is limited. Christ and His followers do not have forever to do the work. It has to be done now or the opportunity will be lost. Only so much time has been given. Whatever is to be done must be done today, while there is still some daylight left. Night is coming, the time when no man can work. Time will end and the opportunity will be gone forever.
And our time for service is only as long as our life is, once it runs out we wont be able to serve any longer, and we have no idea how long we have, so we must get to do it today.
29 This is what I mean, brothers: the appointed time has grown very short. From now on, let those who have wives live as though they had none,
30 and those who mourn as though they were not mourning, and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing, and those who buy as though they had no goods,
6 Having said these things, he spit on the ground and made mud with the saliva. Then he anointed the man’s eyes with the mud
7 and said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). So he went and washed and came back seeing.
And this is right beside becuase its to tell us Jesus will open our eyes spiritually….
So we know why and what to do… if you are suffering know that God is with you… that there is meaning and he has something for you and it may be that this body be able to come around you… and we are to go to those and help those suffering and meet them where they are.