The Light of the World

We are currently collecting our offering to support SBC missionaries and church planters in the United States and Canada, called the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering. Our goal this year is $14,000, and we have given $5,170 over the last two weeks. We will be collecting this offering during March and April. Please pray and ask God how He would lead you to give to this important offering this year. We will watch a short video about the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering at the end of the service today.

Tonight we will have our bi-monthly business meeting for the church. Please plan to be here for that, as we have a few things to vote on, and there will be some very important discussion regarding our impending facelift, maintenance, and upgrade for our building.

I want to encourage everyone to check out a Bible Study class on Sunday mornings. Our Sunday morning Bible study time is our primary avenue for people to get to know one another and build relationships. While it’s great to be all together in here to worship God as a family, it’s not the most productive time for relationship building in the body. Smaller groups are where that happens best. We have a lot of different classes, and I would invite you to explore one class or several.

We have invite cards available for our services and activities during the week of Palm Sunday and Easter. They are available in the office, at the Welcome station, and on the Get Connected table.

Thanks to all for understanding in the canceling of Bible study this morning. We are still making plans for what the coming weeks will look like, and are taking each day as it comes. We are not operating from a place of fear, but from a deep respect for the stewardship that God has given us within this body of believers. We love you, and while God is in complete control, He has called us to act as responsible managers in this family, much like the good and faithful servants in the parable of the talents in . We have some contingencies in place for how to communicate the decisions that your staff and other church leaders make in the coming days and weeks. We’ve learned a lot over the last week. Continue to take care of yourself, wash your hands, make saying hi a non-contact sport for the next few weeks, and be a blessing to other people, such as your neighbors, as much as you can. And if you have needs that we can meet, please contact the church office.

Along with being a blessing, the SBC requested on Friday morning that all SBC churches set aside a special time during their services today as a Day of Prayer today. The POTUS then, following his declaration of a state of national emergency, also declared today to be a Day of Prayer for our nation and the world. The SBC call to prayer opened with, “In light of the coronavirus (COVID-19) global pandemic, we are asking all Southern Baptists and our 47,5000+ churches of the SBC to commit to a dedicated time of prayer this Sunday, March 15, 2020, to seek the Lord in unity about these matters:”

In light of the coronavirus (COVID-19) global pandemic, we are asking all Southern Baptists and our 47,5000+ churches of the SBC to commit to a dedicated time of prayer this Sunday, March 15, 2020, to seek the Lord in unity about these matters:

Next Sunday night, the 15th, we will have our bi-monthly business meeting for the church. Please plan to be here for that, as we have a few things to vote on, and there will be some very important discussion regarding our impending facelift, maintenance, and upgrade for our building.

Ask God, in His mercy, to stop this pandemic and save lives—not only in our communities but around the world, particularly in places that are unequipped medically to deal with the virus. ()

Isaiah 59:1–2 CSB

1 Indeed, the Lord’s arm is not too weak to save, and his ear is not too deaf to hear. 2 But your iniquities are separating you from your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not listen.

Pray for President Donald Trump and other government leaders—international, federal, state, and local—to have the wisdom to direct us in the best courses of action for prevention and care. ()

Scripture says—teach us to number our days carefully so that we may develop wisdom in our hearts. Pray that the Lord will give us wisdom in this moment of fear as the foundations of what we know are shaken, that others would realize how fragile life is and how real eternity is, and they would see their need to turn to God. ()

Ask God to protect our missionaries and their families around the globe, using this global crisis to advance His Good News to the whole world. ()

We have invite cards available for our services and activities during the week of Palm Sunday and Easter. They are available in the office, at the Welcome station, and on the Get Connected table.

It is good for us to pray together.

Opening

It is good for us to join with our believing brothers and sisters this morning and pray for our nation and for our world. But before we pray, let’s stand in honor of God’s Word as we read the beginning part of our focal passage this morning:

Let’s stand in honor of God’s Word as we read the beginning part of our focal passage this morning:

John 9:1–7 CSB

1 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 must do the works of him who sent me 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.

john 9:1-7

PRAY

As we continue our “I AM” series this morning, we’re looking series at eight statements that Jesus made in the Gospel of John where He identified Himself with the God of the Old Testament, and defined what His ministry would look like. We saw last week that Jesus said that He is the Bread of Life. Today, we see that Jesus said that He is the light of the world.

Now that I’m an adult, there’s a different kind of darkness, but one that is just a filled with imagination and fear.

I don’t know about you, but I can say that at the moment, the world feels pretty dark.

There’s something about darkness. We, generally, are not big fans of it. For most of us, we rely so much on our eyes that when we don’t get to use that ability, it’s a little disconcerting. We like being able to see. That’s what has been such a struggle with this whole COVID-19 situation. We’re in the dark. And sometimes the dark is a scary place.

So in our focal passage this morning, Jesus crosses paths with a man who had been blind from the day he was born. He had always and only lived in darkness. A common way of looking at things then was the idea of retribution theology. Retribution theology goes like this: If you’re good, God will like you, and He will make good things happen for you in this life. Therefore, people who have good things happen to them must have done something so that God was obligated to bless them. If you’re not good, God needs to teach you a lesson so that you will be good, and bad things will happen to you in this life. Therefore, people who have bad things happen to them must have done something so that God was obligated to correct them in some way.

The disciples, instead of seeing the blind man, they see his existence as a means for manufacturing a theological discussion with Jesus. It even sounds very deep, doesn’t it?

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john

John 9:2 CSB

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

They decide that either his parents did something bad, because something bad happened to their son, or he himself (before leaving the womb, mind you) did something bad, because he was born blind.

We struggle with this same kind of thinking. We often look at situations in kind of a retribution light. While the Bible does teach that we reap what we sow (), and that there will be a day of reckoning and final judgment (), the focus of retribution theology is right now, the good and bad things that happen in the day-to-day.

When we think this way, we face a trial or a struggle, and we might ask, “God, how could you let this happen to me? Haven’t you seen how I serve You?” We work to make the trial stop, but we miss out on what God might be doing to display how great He is through the trial—that His purposes are bigger than ours.

The problem with this retribution theology perspective is that it assumes that we can always know exactly what God’s intention is based on the situation. And it assumes that we can “act the part” and get God to owe us something. This is the definition of legalism.

Jesus responded to his disciples by saying, “Neither:”

John 9:3 CSB

3 “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” Jesus answered. “This came about so that God’s works might be displayed in him.

This blind man is here at this very moment so that Jesus can show us something:

1) The world is in darkness apart from Jesus.

The blind man goes from being a blind beggar to a living picture of the truth of spiritual blindness as Jesus displays His power and reveals Himself as the light of the world. He tells His disciples that they need to be at work while they can, because a time is coming when they won’t be able to work anymore (Jesus’ crucifixion). Then Jesus makes His “I AM” statement in this passage:

John 9:5 CSB

5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”

The man is in complete darkness. He has never seen light. He has never seen color or beauty. He doesn’t even know what he looks like. But Jesus declares that He is the light of the world, and then He does something miraculous. He heals the man’s blindness.

John 9:6–7 CSB

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.

It’s interesting that Jesus sends the man to the pool of Siloam. Most commentators see a double-meaning here. Jesus is obviously “sending” the blind man to the pool called “Sent.” But also, Jesus, the light of the world, has been “Sent” into the world, and now reaches out to a man in total darkness, and through His power, this blind man receives his sight. It’s not the spit. It’s not the mud. It’s not the pool. It’s not even the man’s washing that matters. It’s Jesus.

From here, there are several responses to what Jesus had done. First, those who see him don’t know what to think. This man couldn’t see, and now he can. Some don’t believe it’s the same guy.

Earlier in the book of John, Jesus had made a similar statement:

John 9:9 CSB

9 Some said, “He’s the one.” Others were saying, “No, but he looks like him.” He kept saying, “I’m the one.”

So they ask him how he got his sight back, and he tells them. They ask to see Jesus, and the formerly blind man says that he doesn’t know. He still hasn’t actually seen Jesus.

So an investigation begins. The Pharisees, the really religious guys, don’t like Jesus because Jesus calls them out on their sin, and doesn’t play by their rules. So they ask the man how he had been healed. He tells them, but most of them have already made up their minds about Jesus:

John 9:16 CSB

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.

The blind man explains that he believes that Jesus is at the very least a great prophet of God. They don’t like his answer, so they call in his parents to testify, trying to disprove that a miracle had taken place at Jesus’ hand. They declare that he is their son, and that he was born blind, but that’s as far as they are willing to say.

His folks are afraid of the Jews, because they didn’t want to get kicked out of the synagogue, so they tell them to ask their son directly.

So they do. They again state right up front what they think about Jesus:

John 9:24 CSB

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.”

john 9:

But the blind man doesn’t care what they say. He only knows what happened:

John 9:25 CSB

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!”

john 9:25

The Pharisees refuse to see the plain truth. The illustration has shifted. Now who are the blind?

Sadly, most people in the world are separated from God, blind because of our sin. God made us and loves us and wants a relationship with us, but we have rebelled against Him and have gone our own way. And nothing that we can do will light up the darkness that we find ourselves in.

Earlier in the book of John, Jesus had made a similar statement:

John 3:19 CSB

19 This is the judgment: The light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil.

We would rather stay in the dark than come to our God who loves us

But Jesus came as the light of the world so that people could be set free from the chains of darkness.

John 8:12 CSB

12 Jesus spoke to them again: “I am the light of the world. Anyone who follows me will never walk in the darkness but will have the light of life.”

The one who follows Him will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. This is because:

The blind man in is a reflection of our own spiritual condition apart from Jesus, and this makes up our first point:

I suppose that there is no more timely illustration of how dark we can be than the current state of things. I’m not talking about the fear of the coronavirus. God programmed into us a healthy fear response in order to keep us alive.

I’m talking about the things that we look to to provide for our safety, our hope, and our peace. Things like toilet paper. I read a news report this week that in at least two places in our nation, people got into physical altercations over hoarding toilet paper. Things like face masks. I saw another article where a woman in Australia stole surgical face masks and a bottle of hospital-grade anti-microbial hand wash from a hospital.

We have genu

This blind man had always been in the dark. Verse 1 said that he had been blind from birth. He couldn’t see two inches in front of his face. He needed the light to shine into his life. Apart from Jesus, he wasn’t going to see. But with Jesus, he no longer walked in darkness.

We are

I’m not judging these people. When we walk around in the darkness, we stumble. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to be prepared. But when our desire for taking care of ourselves leads us to completely disregard the needs of others to the point that we would go to fisticuffs over toilet paper or steal medical equipment from a hospital, the darkness is on display for all to see.

The problem is that there’s nothing we can do about it. The blind man’s physical darkness is a metaphor for the spiritual darkness all around us in the world. We don’t see life correctly. We don’t see others correctly. We don’t see ourselves correctly. We need light.

The Pharisees start looking into his healing (which had happened on the Sabbath day, against their man-made Sabbath rules). They have a total of three interrogations about the blind man’s healing, and it’s clear that they’ve made up their minds about Jesus at the very beginning.

John 9:16 CSB

They open with the idea that Jesus is guilty. He can’t have done this. So they go from assuming Jesus is guilty to trying to disprove the miracle.

john 9:

John 9:16 CSB

John 3:19 CSB

19 This is the judgment: The light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil.

The blind man in this passage truly had gone from blind to seeing. He could see as he never had in his life. But

2) Jesus gives sight to those who recognize that they are in darkness.

2) Jesus is the light for those who recognize that they are in darkness.

Imagine if this had gone a different way. Jesus and His disciples meet a man born blind. Jesus promises to heal that man’s eyes, and He makes a little bit of spittle mud and puts it on the man’s eyes and tells him to go wash in the pool of Siloam. A couple of hours later, a friend of the blind man walks by and sees him begging in his normal spot, but with a bunch of mud caked on his eyes.

“What’s going on?” his friend asks. “Not much! What’s up with you?” “Nothing. What’s all over your eyes?” “It’s mud. Some guy came by and put this mud on my eyes and said it would help me see. I let him do it, but it didn’t really make sense. I’m fine. There’s nothing wrong with me.”

Could it be possible for a man who was born blind to assume he was fine? Only someone who realized he was blind would long for sight. Only the one who understands his condition will allow Jesus to fill his eyes with mud and then go through town looking ridiculous in the hopes of healing. Only when a person understands his spiritual blindness will he turn to Jesus for healing. We are blind, and once we realize that, then we believe Jesus and receive sight. (From Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary, John, by Matt Carter and Josh Wredberg)

John 9:39-

john

Carter, Matt. Exalting Jesus in John (Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary) . B&H Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

John 9:39 CSB

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.”

Salvation here.

The blind man had nothing within him to give himself sight. Jesus came and gave of Himself, His very spit and work. The man then was given a choice: believe or don’t. Follow Jesus, or not. This morning, we’re given the same choice. Jesus said this in :

John 12:44–46 CSB

44 Jesus cried out, “The one who believes in me believes not in me, but in him who sent me. 45 And the one who sees me sees him who sent me. 46 I have come as light into the world, so that everyone who believes in me would not remain in darkness.

John 12:44-46

Jesus lived a perfect life, and then died in our place on the cross so that our sins would be charged to His account, and His perfection would be charged to ours if we trust in Him and Him alone for our salvation. He is the light of the world, and we don’t need to remain in darkness. Trust in Jesus alone for your salvation.

The sad thing is that those who don’t recognize their darkness won’t come to the light. This is what happened with the Pharisees. (Repeating verse 39)

John 9:39–41 CSB

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.

john 9:

They actually think they can see. They are “blind to their own blindness.” The Pharisees rejected the light of the world because they lived in and loved their darkness. Jesus had said this in :

John 9:40–41 CSB

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.

3) Believers should reflect the light to the darkness.

John 3:19 CSB

19 This is the judgment: The light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil.

John 3:19 CSB

19 This is the judgment: The light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil.

They didn’t get it. They thought that because they had dealt with the external evidence of their darkness that they had earned receiving the light. They were the legalists that we talked about earlier. They were certain that they could see, when the truth is that they were blind. The church at Laodicea was similar:

Revelation 3:17–18 CSB

17 For you say, ‘I’m rich; I have become wealthy and need nothing,’ and you don’t realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked. 18 I advise you to buy from me gold refined in the fire so that you may be rich, white clothes so that you may be dressed and your shameful nakedness not be exposed, and ointment to spread on your eyes so that you may see.

rev 3:17-

The solution to our darkness is to come to the light, and let Him rework us. Then we can do the things that we are called to do as His followers… we will reflect the light of life.

3) Believers should reflect the light into the darkness.

The blind man testifies to those in darkness. They’ve shown that they have already decided what they think about Jesus. The blind man’s parents knew that it would cost them to say that Jesus is the Messiah (verse 22).

John 9:25 CSB

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!”

The blind man in this passage truly had gone from blind to seeing. He could see as he never had in his life. The light had shone into his life, and he was radically changed. He declares the truth, shining the light of the glory of Jesus to those in the darkness, even though it costs him fellowship with the synagogue.

John 9:25–27 CSB

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?”

john 9:

John 9:33 CSB

33 If this man were not from God, he wouldn’t be able to do anything.”

john 9:33

This is what we’re called to. We’re called to a risky shining of the light.

John 9:27 CSB

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?”

This is what we’re called to.

When we testify to who Jesus is, we reflect His light to those in darkness. In a way, we act as a mirror.

When we shine the light, we reflect the light

, even though it costs him fellowship with the synagogue.

This is what we’re called to. We’re called to a risky shining of the light. And in this day of fear and tension, we are exactly what the world needs. We can help, and as we do, we carry the light into the darkness. We show other people where true hope is found. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said this about us:

Matthew 5:14–16 CSB

14 “You are the light of the world. A city situated on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 No one lights a lamp and puts it under a basket, but rather on a lampstand, and it gives light for all who are in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.

Let them see our good works, and give God glory, because it’s all about Him, not us. I’m not saying that we be reckless or irresponsible. We can take reasonable precautions and still shine the light. If you can, help take care of your neighbors if they need it. Be a blessing to them. We aren’t saved for ourselves alone, but into a family of faith, and we together are the body of Christ—His hands and His feet. And as we live out our salvation, we bring the light of Christ into the world. We shine like stars.

Philippians 2:12–16 CSB

12 Therefore, my dear friends, just as you have always obeyed, so now, not only in my presence but even more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. 13 For it is God who is working in you both to will and to work according to his good purpose. 14 Do everything without grumbling and arguing, 15 so that you may be blameless and pure, children of God who are faultless in a crooked and perverted generation, among whom you shine like stars in the world, 16 by holding firm to the word of life. Then I can boast in the day of Christ that I didn’t run or labor for nothing.

Shine like stars.

Closing

Charles Spurgeon, in a message entitled, Sight for Those Who See Not, wrote this about Jesus as the light back in 1844:

The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit Sermons, Vol. XXX Sight for Those Who See Not (No. 1,798)

It is not our littleness that hinders Christ; but our bigness. It is not our weakness that hinders Christ; it is our strength. It is not our darkness that hinders Christ; it is our supposed light that holds back his hand. It is easier to save us from our sins than from our righteousnesses. Our self-righteousness is that hideous boa-constrictor which seems to coil itself round and round our spirit, and to crush out of us all the life that would receive the gospel of the grace of God. He that thinks that he knows will never learn. He that is blind and thinks that he sees will remain contented in the darkness all his life long. Now, dear friends, if you are in that state that you know that you are in the dark—a darkness that may be felt—if it seems horribly to cling to you, so that you cannot get rid of it, if you seem unable even to obtain a ray of light, then you are just in the right state to receive the eternal light from the Lord Jesus Christ.

If you’re at this point where you know you need Jesus, then surrender this morning. Quit insisting that your blindness is better than seeing. Stop trusting in your way to save you, and give up in faith, and trust in Christ’s work on the cross.

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The Light of the World

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Opening

1) The world is in darkness apart from Jesus.

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2) Jesus gives sight to those who recognize that they are in darkness.

2) Jesus is the light for those who recognize that they are in darkness.

3) Believers should reflect the light to the darkness.

3) Believers should reflect the light into the darkness.

Closing