The blind receive sight (2)

Introduction

You have heard me say this before, but Emily and I enjoy listening to stories together. In fact, every night before bed we make a point to listen to one. One of which we are listening to now is JRR Tolkien's famous book that has since been made into several animated and live action movies, “The Hobbit.” There is a scene in that great work, where the hobbit, Bilbo Baggins is traveling with his dwarf friends from the house of a friend named Beorn (who was an ancient being and a shape shifter) who loved animals and everything in nature. They were traveling to an impossibly dangerous and thick old wood, but Beorn had given them provisions to get there and even horses to ride, that they were to let go of just before they got to the forest. Now, hobbits, compared to dwarves, have very keen and sharp eyes. All along the way under the cover of night, Bilbo thought he saw a great bear that was traveling a small ways off from them, but never coming up to them. Bilbo saw this, and brought attention to it to Gandalf, who told the hobbit to, “Pay it no mind, do not worry about it.” It is later revealed to them, as the dwarves were considering taking the horses for themselves, that Gandalf was aware and Biblo had observed with his keen sight that Beorn (the owner of the horses) was actually very nearby and had great concern and care for his animals, and he would consider an unforgivable treachery to steal the animals that the loved and cared for so much. Bilbo had a very keen sight for the things unseen, just as followers of Jesus are given to spiritual matters, Followers of Jesus receive spiritual sight. So then, you are both gifted with this sight accountable for what you see and do with it.

Prayer

Father God, we thank You for Who You are. A great Big God who sees each and every one of us here and cares deeply about us. We ask this day, as we are continuing in this time of worship to You, reading Your Word and hearing Your Word, that You refine us with it. Mold us, make us, shape us, rearrange us so that we can be more like You, and made more into the image of Christ. Help us be a people who love You and love others so much that we are moved into action by whatever it is You are going to show us about Yourself today and what that means in our lives. Help us do this, because all too often our selfish and sinless flesh war against our will to follow Yours. As we are doing this, and as we are coming into Your Word today, we ask that You take away any distraction that we may have, and make it go as far away as it possibly can, because we want to see and we want to know You better. I ask these things for your glory and in Jesus Christ’s Holy and precious name that I pray, Amen.

Context

In last week’s text, we see what is becoming a familiar scene for Jesus and His followers. That is, Jesus (God) spoke the truth, and mankind (in this case a crowd of Jews) didn’t like what He had to say and teach, so they grew angry and tried to kill Him. In this case, it was a group of people that were at least intrigued in what He had to say enough that they stayed to listen while many others walked away. They heard what He said, that He came from God (and is God) and that if they were truly followers of Abraham, then they would follow Him as well and see that Abraham was pointing towards Him. However, their people were rejecting Him, and were turning towards a God of their own creation that they tricked themselves into thinking was The God of their fathers. Now, they worshiped self seeking, self service, and power grabs over the True God, King, and creator of the universe. So, when they had it pointed out to them, they grew angry, and took up stones to throw at and kill Jesus. However, as it wasn’t His time to die just yet, He was hidden (it seems miraculously) and left the crowd before any harm was done to Him.

That was last week, and in today’s text, we will see how mankind is so adept at rejecting Jesus and choosing their own selves even in the face of clear and indisputable points. That is, we don’t want God’s truth to be true, because we prefer our own truth, so we reject the truth with all of our might and believe a lie we have made up in our head, no matter how clearly untrue it is. We as followers of Christ, have been something over this. Those that believe the lies, are blind and lost and will search in vain until great peril comes their way. However, those that the Holy Spirit has gifted receive perfect vision, perfect sight. Followers of Jesus receive spiritual sight. So then, let us see with true and clear eyes, let us not put on the blinders that our own sin gives us. Let us put our sins and vices aside and see clearly what God has willed and proved for us. So, let’s jump in and

From the text, I want you to see and understand that you are to do these actions as your spiritual sight increases .

Message

The first action to see, understand and do is to: Do the work of God 1-12

9 As he was passing by, he saw a man blind from birth. 2 His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” 3 “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” Jesus answered. “This came about so that God’s works might be displayed in him. 4 We[a] must do the works of him who sent me[b] while it is day. Night is coming when no one can work. 5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” 6 After he said these things he spit on the ground, made some mud from the saliva, and spread the mud on his eyes. 7 “Go,” he told him, “wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means “Sent”). So he left, washed, and came back seeing. 8 His neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar said, “Isn’t this the one who used to sit begging?” 9 Some said, “He’s the one.” Others were saying, “No, but he looks like him.” He kept saying, “I’m the one.” 10 So they asked him, “Then how were your eyes opened?” 11 He answered, “The man called Jesus made mud, spread it on my eyes, and told me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ So when I went and washed I received my sight.” 12 “Where is he?” they asked. “I don’t know,” he said.

A short while after the events before, Jesus passes by a man who had been blind his entire life. Wondering about sin, as they had a misunderstanding about how sin worked, the disciples asked Jesus if this man or his parents' sin was being punished through his blindness. Jesus tells them, well, that’s not it. This one’s (and indeed all people’s sin) deserve punishment yet, but this person’s situation has come about so that God’s work would be displayed through Him, we can say the same about every other repented sin as well. So then, Jesus tells them, we must do God’s work here on earth while we can, because for each of us (He was alluding especially to His own end coming soon) only have so long to do it. So then, Jesus got to it, and healed the man’s blindness, charging him to go and wash in the pool Siloam. He went and did so (an act of faith) and came back cured of His blindness! As you would imagine, word would get around about this blind man being able to see pretty quickly. One minute he was beginning, the next he wasn't and was able to get around fine. He was asked by some people who did this for Him, He tod them, the man known as Jesus did this. Where is He now? I don’t know, I couldn’t tell you he replied.

Now we have a lot of farmers here, but most of us specialize in crops. We do however have some cow farmers, most of those cows are for meat. There of course is another way to farm cows, and that is from the milk that they give. We call these kinds of farms, dairy farms and there is an old saying about dairy farming. It goes something like this, “The hardest thing about milking cows is that they never stay milked.” You see, the normal dairy cow in her prime will need to be milked 2-3 times a day. And if you don’t do so, it won’t take long for her to give bad milk or get an infection that requires treatment. So, you have to always be milking the cows diligently, even missing a few days can be disastrous.

So then, what are the works of God that we need to be at? Well, it’s clear that Jesus has given us commands to follow, they all culminate in Spirit to these two, to love God and love people. In addition to this, He gave each of followers a commission to go and make disciples. So then, our mission and work is to love God, Love people, and make disciples. You see, Followers of Jesus receive spiritual sight. So then, we are not to look blindly or choose to keep blinders on that keep us from doing these 3 to the best of our ability. This applies both to us and individual believers, but also us as a collective church body. This means putting away our sins past and present, it means accepting what Jesus has given as a provision, it means prioritizing the works of God above all other things, and swiftly turning around and away from anything that is keeping us (me, you, us) from doing so. Do the works of God and believe me, the blind will receive sight.

The next action to see, understand, and do is to: Don’t turn away from Jesus 13-34

13 They brought the man who used to be blind to the Pharisees. 14 The day that Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes was a Sabbath. 15 Then the Pharisees asked him again how he received his sight.“He put mud on my eyes,” he told them. “I washed and I can see.”16 Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, because he doesn’t keep the Sabbath.” But others were saying, “How can a sinful man perform such signs?” And there was a division among them.17 Again they asked the blind man, “What do you say about him, since he opened your eyes?”“He’s a prophet,” he said.18 The Jews did not believe this about him—that he was blind and received sight—until they summoned the parents of the one who had received his sight.19 They asked them, “Is this your son, the one you say was born blind? How then does he now see?” 20 “We know this is our son and that he was born blind,” his parents answered. 21 “But we don’t know how he now sees, and we don’t know who opened his eyes. Ask him; he’s of age. He will speak for himself.” 22 His parents said these things because they were afraid of the Jews, since the Jews had already agreed that if anyone confessed him as the Messiah, he would be banned from the synagogue. 23 This is why his parents said, “He’s of age; ask him.” 24 So a second time they summoned the man who had been blind and told him, “Give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner.” 25 He answered, “Whether or not he’s a sinner, I don’t know. One thing I do know: I was blind, and now I can see!” 26 Then they asked him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” 27 “I already told you,” he said, “and you didn’t listen. Why do you want to hear it again? You don’t want to become his disciples too, do you?” 28 They ridiculed him: “You’re that man’s disciple, but we’re Moses’s disciples. 29 We know that God has spoken to Moses. But this man—we don’t know where he’s from.” 30 “This is an amazing thing!” the man told them. “You don’t know where he is from, and yet he opened my eyes. 31 We know that God doesn’t listen to sinners, but if anyone is God-fearing and does his will, he listens to him. 32 Throughout history[c] no one has ever heard of someone opening the eyes of a person born blind. 33 If this man were not from God, he wouldn’t be able to do anything.” 34 “You were born entirely in sin,” they replied, “and are you trying to teach us?” Then they threw him out.

So, the people took the healed man to the Pharisees (the group of ruling teachers who leaned towards what would be considered the conservative side of their sect in that day). They asked him how he received his sight again, and he told them his story. The Pharisees refused to believe that this person could be from God, as He was doing these healing works on the Sabbath day (the day of Holy Rest), as you will remember they had made many rules to go on top of God’s, and so this kind of work was forbidden to them. Wanting more proof of the story, the man’s family was sent to verify if was indeed blind or not, whether or not what was going on was a hoax. Fearing what would be done to them if they in any way associated with this Jesus character, they said yes He was our son and was born blind, but no we don’t know what happened, He is old enough to be asked for himself, so ask him and not us! We had nothing to do with it! So, once again, the man is sent for and is asked all the same question again. This time, He is charged to give glory to god (the god of their own making) and not to Jesus (who they supposed to be a sinner, unable to see the truth through their own sin). The man replies, I’ve already told you all of this, all I can tell you is this, I was blind and now because of this man (Jesus) I can see. You guys don’t want to become his disciples, he asked, tongue in cheek. This enraged the Pharisees and they ridiculed him and puffed themselves up. The healed man was amazed at this, “wow, here are the smartest and most revered men in all of our religion here in front of me, and yet they cannot see that this Jesus is from God. And I thought I was the blind one! Never before in our history has what you are accusing this righteous man of ever been done before!” They lashed out in anger, and threw him out of the synagogue, making him like an outcast for his life.

You know, we never really know how good we have it. Last year, the in the religious freedom in the world report, it outlined several telling truths about the sacrifice that Christians around the world make, some of whom lost their lives. This report found that 5.4 billion people in 62 different countries experience persecution and discrimination for their Christian Faith. These steps are often along the way to Killing people simply for being Christians, and the report found that from the years 2000-2025 that I “643 were killed in Sub-Saharan Africa, 357 in Asia and Oceania, 304 in the Americas, 277 in the Middle East and the Maghreb, and 43 in Europe.” were killed for their Faith in Christ. While there is great tragedy in this, another and unseen tragedy is how under much less duress, even at just the lack of comfort or getting what you want, many of us American Christians will turn our backs on Jesus either for a long time or a short time.

The healed blind man here, even though he new very very little logically about Jesus, even though his conversation with Him was short, because He had been given both physical and spiritual sight, he saw no way that he could turn his back on Jesus, even in the face of being alienated from people, even his own family. Followers of Jesus receive spiritual sight. So then, is their any part of your life where you have made and exception and an exclusion for following Jesus? Don’t be fooled, look at yourself, ask The Holy Spirit to make it clear to you, where are you holding out on Jesus? Where are you doing it out loud and in action, and where are you doing it in your own heart? Even though you may not be speaking bad about Jesus, rest assured that anytime you pick something about Him, above His wants, above His wills, you are turning your back on Jesus. Do not do this, and repent from that sin.

Another action to see, understand, and do is to: Keep your eyes wide open 35-51

35 Jesus heard that they had thrown the man out, and when he found him, he asked, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”[d]36 “Who is he, Sir, that I may believe in him?” he asked.37 Jesus answered, “You have seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you.” 38 “I believe, Lord!” he said, and he worshiped him.39 Jesus said, “I came into this world for judgment, in order that those who do not see will see and those who do see will become blind.”40 Some of the Pharisees who were with him heard these things and asked him, “We aren’t blind too, are we?” 41 “If you were blind,” Jesus told them, “you wouldn’t have sin. But now that you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains.

Jesus catches word of the man getting thrown out of the synagogue and finds him. He asks him an important question, do you believe in the son of man? That is, the messiah, the savior. The healed man asks, who is he, where is he so that I can believe in Him. You have seen him, He is Me. In joy he cries out, yes, I believe and worships the Lord God, Jesus. Jesus addresses Him, I cam into this world so that the spiritually blind may see and behold their salvation and the goodness of God. Some of the Pharisees who were there, overheard and were unhappy. So, are we then, the Pharisees, blind? Well, do you hear what you say about yourself, you are so hard at seeing that you don’t even understand and see your own sin, yet you are leading many people into it. Your eyes are not open, they are shut.

There is a very famous hymn, and we sing it sometimes, called “At the cross.” This hymn was first written by the famous hymn writer Isaac Watts in 1707 and then was updated to closer to what we would be used to singing it today in 1885 (right arond the time LaFayette Baptist Church started). It’s choras goes something like this: At the cross, at the cross, where I first saw the light, And the burden of my heart roll’d away, It was there by faith I receiv’d my sight, And now I am happy night and day. Yes, indeed happy is the person who has received spiritual sight, just as this man did.

Followers of Jesus receive spiritual sight as well. So then, since each and every one of us are given this sight, isn’t right, isn’t proper, isn’t for the good that we keep our eyes wide open to God? It’s so easy to either close your eyes or have tunnel vision or blinders on, all of which is self made and self inflicted. So then, will you allow yourself to stay this way for the rest of your life? Even another second? Why? Why would you do that? You have been given clear vision as a follower of Jesus, and guess what, as you grow, your vision only gets better; much the opposite of own eyes in our head. Do you turn a blind eye to God’s will out of your own selfishness and rebellion, do your eyes turn darker to it as your eyes in your head do? Why do you allow yourself, a follower of Christ to remain this way? Repent from that sin that is keeping you doing so, and remember followers of Jesus receive spiritual sight, so then keep your eyes wide open for what God is trying to show you.

Conclusion

Beloved, do you understand this. That yes, the blind (the unsaved) cannot yet see. But, in turn, that means that once you are saved and your eyes are opened, that means that you no longer have an excuse to act like or remain as one who cannot see? So then, try all the more to improve your sight, eat your carrots as it were, Do the work of God 1-12, Don’t turn away from Jesus 13-34, and Keep your eyes wide open 35-51. Have your sight and keep it, and be a part of the blind receiving their sight as well.

Father God, we thank You for Who You are. A great Big God who sees each and every one of us here and cares deeply about us. We ask this day, as we are continuing in this time of worship to You, reading Your Word and hearing Your Word, that You refine us with it. Mold us, make us, shape us, rearrange us so that we can be more like You, and made more into the image of Christ. Help us be a people who love You and love others so much that we are moved into action by whatever it is You are going to show us about Yourself today and what that means in our lives. Help us do this, because all too often our selfish and sinless flesh war against our will to follow Yours. As we are doing this, and as we are coming into Your Word today, we ask that You take away any distraction that we may have, and make it go as far away as it possibly can, because we want to see and we want to know You better. It’s in these things that I ask and in Jesus Christ’s Holy and precious name that I pray, Amen.