Are we the critic or the caretaker?(John 9:1-12)

In Annie Dillard’s book, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, she mentions the work of someone who became curious about the effect it had on people who had been born blind who receive their sight later in life.

These were usually people who had been born with blinding cataracts. When cataract surgery came along, the surgery gave them sight for the first time.

Contrary to what you might expect, for many, the experience was terrifying. Nothing made sense.

Their entire visual field was filled with what they described as random floating patches of color that made no sense.

Many of them reported returning home to put on blindfolds. The world of blindness made more sense to them than the world of sight.

In the Gospel of John, we are told a story of a man who is born blind.

Who Jesus healed and restored his sight. I am sure it was terrifying for him too.

His whole world changed. For the first time in his life he could see.

He could see the changes of seasons.

He could see the beautiful changing of colors from the leaves in the fall, to the glistening whiteness of the snow in the winter, to the radiant rays of sunshine in the summer.

There were some who celebrated his sight but then there were others who questioned his blindness.

We need to always be weary of those who only question us in our victories but never care for us in our losses.

Are we the critic or the caretaker?

Let’s read about the man born blind who Jesus heals.

John 9:1–12 (NIV)

1As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth.

2His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”

3“Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him.

4As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work.

5While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”

6After saying this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man’s eyes.

7“Go,” he told him, “wash in the Pool of Siloam” (this word means “Sent”). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing.

8His neighbors and those who had formerly seen him begging asked, “Isn’t this the same man who used to sit and beg?”

9Some claimed that he was. Others said, “No, he only looks like him.” But he himself insisted, “I am the man.”

10“How then were your eyes opened?” they asked.

11He replied, “The man they call Jesus made some mud and put it on my eyes. He told me to go to Siloam and wash. So I went and washed, and then I could see.”

12“Where is this man?” they asked him. “I don’t know,” he said.

Today’s sermon title is “Are we the critic or the caretaker?

I. IN LIFE WE OFTEN SEE THE DIFFICULTIES AND CASUALTIES OF LIVING IN A SINFUL WORLD.

A. There are those who begin to ask questions seeking to find out where you went wrong; what law you violated; why you are suffering; why this tragedy has come upon you.

1. They want to give you the reasons why your life is such a mess.

2. They are quick to point out your problems and tell you what you should do.

B. Then there are others who are more like the caretakers, who are not so much interested in why you are hurting, but how they can help and alleviate the pain.

II. THE STORY OF THE MAN BORN BLIND.

A. The disciples asked Jesus the question, "Who did sin; this man or his parents, that he was born blind?"

1. Whose fault is it?

2. Is this some kind of cruel punishment that God is putting on his parents for their sin? Is he suffering for the sins of his father? is this a generational curse?

3. The Jews at that time believed that a person could sin in the womb. Did he commit some sin while in the womb for which God is punishing him?

4. The disciples were much like the critic who had come to complain, their main focus was to know who is to blame.

B. Jesus answered them, "Neither has this man sinned nor his parents."

1. The answer is that this blindness is not punishment for sin.

2. Why is it that when things go sideways, and we are facing some tragedy or crisis that we blame God? We look at it as punishment from God. We think so often of God as judging, punishing and an angry father.

a. In the story of the woman taken in adultery who the Jews, according to their law were ready to stone, what were the words of Jesus to her? "Woman, where are your accusers? Has no man condemned you? Neither do I condemn you, go your way and sin no more."

3. We remember so well the story of Job.

a. Here was a man who was stripped of everything; wealth, health, family and friends.

b. Those friends who came to comfort him were certain that Job was hiding some horrible sin, and they could not be changed from this position.

c. Job ended up calling them miserable counselors, and they ended up calling him a liar for denying his sin.

4. What about the Apostle Paul

a. who had a thorn in his flesh.

b. Who many believed to be a physical condition or ailment.

c. He asked God three times to take it away.

d. God replied, My grace is enough for you. For my strength is made perfect in weakness.

5. Why do we look at human suffering as punishment from God?

C. Now, there are certain activities that carry their natural consequences from living in a sinful world.

1. God in His love has warned us against doing these things, for He knows the pain that they can bring.

2. He warns us to take care of our bodies because it’s God’s temple.

3. It's a matter of cause and effect, certain causes will produce certain effects.

4. God does not always tell us just what the consequences of certain actions will be. He just warns us not to do it.

5. With Adam and Eve, He did tell them that the fruit of that certain tree would bring death.

III. WHY WAS THE MAN BORN BLIND? ACCORDING TO JESUS, SO THE WORKS OF GOD MIGHT BE MADE MANIFEST IN HIM.

A. God had an eternal purpose in allowing this man to be born blind.

1. His blindness will allow Jesus to reveal who He is to people

2. If God removed suffering everytime we asked, we would follow him for comfort and convenience, not out of love and devotion.

3. Often what seems to be a tragedy is intended by God to be an opportunity for his purpose to be worked out and for us to be used by God.

God may use our experience to help advise and encourage others who pass through the same trials.

God may use our suffering to break through the hardness of another person and bring about change in them.

God may use our unresolved need to motivate others to keep searching for a solution from which others will benefit.

God may use our endurance in suffering rather than the suffering itself to be an encouraging example to other believers.

B. Jesus then declared, "I must do the work of Him who sent Me."

1. What did He then do?

2. What was the work of Him who sent Him?

3. He healed the man from his blindness.

4. The work of God is that of healing, making the wrongs right, removing the pain and suffering of this world cursed by sin.

C. What a different picture of God, Jesus gave to us than those that were passed down to man by tradition.

1. In the previous chapter, Jesus had said to the Jews, "You neither know Me or My Father. If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also."

2. They did not know God, the loving heart of God. They were ready and eager to stone the woman. God was eager to forgive her sins.

D. Again, how do you respond to the tragic consequences of human failure? Like a critic or a caretaker?

E. In a spiritual sense, God has called us to be caretakers rather than critics.

1. Ours is not to find the cause of the suffering, but to minister to the one that is suffering.

2. The work of our Father is to heal the hurts of a broken world.

IV. HE THEN DECLARED HIS MISSION. "AS LONG AS I AM IN THE WORLD, I AM THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD."

A. If you are looking for causes for the breakdown in our society and the reason for all of the suffering, it is the natural consequence of living in a sinful and fallen world.

1. Jesus said that as long as He was in the world, He was the light of the world. Jesus earlier said that men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil.

4. Mankind refuses to come to the light because we love the darkness

B. Now that Jesus is no longer in the world, He said to His disciples, "You are the light of the world."

1. Even as He declared that He must do the works of the Father, so as the light of the world, reflecting His light to the world, we also must do the works of the Father.

2. The work of the Father is seeking to heal the effects of all who live and walk in darkness.

3. To open the eyes of men who are blind to the truth, that they may see the Glory of God and know Christ

V. ARE WE A CRITIC OR A CARETAKER?

A. A man born blind can now see. For the first time he sees colors and shapes.

B. He’s heard people describe a flower. Now he sees one.

C. He’s heard men talk of physical beauty, and now he understands.

D. Jesus’s amazing power makes this man see.

E. It’s not the combination of clay and saliva,

F. the chemicals in the pool of Siloam, or the man’s obedience.

G. It’s the power of Jesus.

H. This man could do nothing to make himself see. The only thing he could do was do what Jesus said.

APPLICATIONS

That’s leave us with the question. Are we like the pharisees and religious leaders who are critics of the work of God or are we the caretakers of the people of God

Are we shinning the light of the world or are we making it darker?