Certain Salvation in Uncertain Times
Notes
Transcript
Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations 4372 He Was Thankful for Blindness
4372 He Was Thankful For Blindness
A well-known English minister preached one Sunday for Dr. Phillips Brooks in Boston. After the service he started to walk to his hotel. He needed direction so he asked a man behind him the way. “Why you’re the minister I just heard. I know your voice. I am blind, but I can show you the way. I can take you to the door.”
The minister protested, but the blind man insisted, saying, “You will not refuse me the pleasure of helping you? I so seldom have the opportunity to render service. Everyone is so kind to me.” The two men walked arm-in-arm for ten minutes. “Here’s your hotel,” said the blind man.
Before parting, the blind man said, “I live alone. I can go about the streets without a guide. I am thankful for my blindness, because I have so much time for quiet meditation. There will be time enough in heaven for me to see everything!”
Blessed Lord, You have caused all Holy Scriptures to be written for our learning. Grant that we may so hear them, read, mark, learn, and take them to heart that, by the patience and comfort of Your holy Word, we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life. … through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
“There will be time enough in heaven for me to see everything.” There is an old witticism that goes something like this: “Never pray for patience; you might not like the road you have to take to get it.” We are never told that any spiritual fruit springs forth spontaneously. Patience, in particular, requires a process that many of us would like to avoid.
Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope,
And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end, so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.
English Standard Version Chapter 6
11 And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end, 12 so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.
Sometimes we know that we have to wait, and we know why, and what, we are waiting for. Other times, God is working on things that we don’t even suspect He is even thinking about in our lives.
Jesus’ ministry was at a “Crisis Point,” as He declared in as clear a form as could be, His equality with the Father. Let’s begin with the end of John Chapter 8:
But you have not known him. I know him. If I were to say that I do not know him, I would be a liar like you, but I do know him and I keep his word. Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad.” So the Jews said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?” Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple. As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”
Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad.” So the Jews said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?” Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple. As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”
Having just come from a theologically rich and intense disputation with the Jewish leaders, Jesus walks out of the temple and runs right into His mission activity of the day: a blind man sitting within the temple precincts seeking alms. His disciples wanted to explore his situation from a theological perspective.
“Who sinned,” they ask, “him or his parents, that caused him to be born like this - a blind man?”
Page Brooks and D. A. Neal, “Theodicy,” ed. John D. Barry et al., The Lexham Bible Dictionary (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2016).
We look at the world through eyes that look for order and consistency. We expect to see balance, even justice, while at the same time our five senses reveal no reason to expect anything like that.
For some, the current Corona Virus situation is proof positive that there is no Divine Good Parent or Superintendent who “sits on high and looks down low.” For others, this is just another effort by God Almighty to bring us to our knees in repentance and and humility, and recognize both the reality and sovereignty of a God who is not only jealous, but is vindictive.
“We can ignore even pleasure. But pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world.” - C.S. Lewis, The Problem with Pain.
As poetry, it’s beautiful. As theology, not so good. God speaks through the Word. Not apart from the Word.
Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.
Does God work through events that cause us to see our insufficiency? Yes. In such times, God’s Word declares our need for Him and His love for us. God’s Commandments expose our idolatry and failure to love, trust, and fear Him above all things. His Gospel declares His will to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
The existence of trials is not an indication of Divine displeasure, it is simply the impact of sin in the world. We are called, not to a life free from trials, but a life that overcomes them.
I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”
We know, from Christ’s promise, what the end shall be. We just have to go through the process of getting there.
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 and said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). So he went and washed and came back seeing.
I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.
God works through His Word which transforms us by the renewing of our minds. Having been transformed, we return to the world, not to continue to stumble in darkness, but to walk in the light:
If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.
We don’t have to look for evidence that these things are so; the world has shown its hatred of Christ and of His Church from the moment He came into the world, and from the time that His church burst forth on the Day of Pentecost. We have survived threat, persecution, peril, the sword. We have stood against threats from within and without, from heresies and hostilities. Pestilence has not removed the church, government programs have not replaced the Church.
The Word of God is a transforming Word, a life-giving Word, a liberating Word for those who receive it by faith.
The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar were saying, “Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?” Some said, “It is he.” Others said, “No, but he is like him.” He kept saying, “I am the man.” So they said to him, “Then how were your eyes opened?” He answered, “The man called Jesus made mud and anointed my eyes and said to me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ So I went and washed and received my sight.”
Jesus spoke, the blind man listened. He washed, and returned seeing. The man did not know why Jesus was putting mud on his eyes, but he trusted in what Jesus told him to do next. No one who has ever followed the Word of the Lord came back without the will of the Lord being done. We may not know why He caused a particular message to come to us, or why we have been placed in the particular set of circumstances where we are, but we know that God has placed us there, in the Body of Christ with our brothers and sisters. We know that He has called us to be His witnesses, both to encourage the faith of fellow-believers, and to expose the darkness that binds others in sin:
So for the second time they called the man who had been blind and said to him, “Give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner.” He answered, “Whether he is a sinner I do not know. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.” They said to him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” He answered them, “I have told you already, and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become his disciples?” And they reviled him, saying, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from.” The man answered, “Why, this is an amazing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him. Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” They answered him, “You were born in utter sin, and would you teach us?” And they cast him out.
The results of our ministry are up to God, but we know that through the Gospel He calls all people to receive the blessings of eternal life through Christ Jesus, just as we confess: (Formula of Concord: Ep XI:8, 12)
The Book of Concord Article XI: Concerning the Eternal Predestination and Election of God
[8] 7. This Christ calls all sinners to himself and promises them refreshment. He is utterly serious in his desire that all people should come to him and seek help for themselves [cf. Matt. 11:28*]. He offers himself to them in the Word. He desires them to hear the Word and not to plug their ears or despise his Word. To this end he promises the power and activity of the Holy Spirit, divine assistance in remaining faithful and attaining eternal salvation.
The Book of Concord Article XI: Concerning the Eternal Predestination and Election of God
[12] 11. That “many are called and few are chosen” [Matt. 20:16*] does not mean that God does not want to save everyone. Instead, the reason for condemnation lies in their not hearing God’s Word at all or arrogantly despising it, plugging their ears and their hearts, and thus blocking the Holy Spirit’s ordinary path, so that he cannot carry out his work in them; or if they have given it a hearing, they cast it to the wind and pay no attention to it. Then the fault lies not with God and his election but with their own wickedness
Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and having found him he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” He answered, “And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?” Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and it is he who is speaking to you.” He said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him. Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.” Some of the Pharisees near him heard these things, and said to him, “Are we also blind?” Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, ‘We see,’ your guilt remains.
The Book of Concord Article XI: Concerning the Eternal Predestination and Election of God
[12] 11. That “many are called and few are chosen” [Matt. 20:16*] does not mean that God does not want to save everyone. Instead, the reason for condemnation lies in their not hearing God’s Word at all or arrogantly despising it, plugging their ears and their hearts, and thus blocking the Holy Spirit’s ordinary path, so that he cannot carry out his work in them; or if they have given it a hearing, they cast it to the wind and pay no attention to it. Then the fault lies not with God and his election but with their own wickedness
Our eternal security in Christ, purchased by His obedience unto death, guaranteed by His resurrection, and sealed to us when He baptized us into His Body and gave to us His Holy Spirit, is not limited by anything in God. He offers His Word and Promises freely to all who will hear, and, through the Church, offers Good News to all, the forgiveness of sins. As we further confess (Formula: Ep XI:12)
The Book of Concord Article XI: Concerning the Eternal Predestination and Election of God
[12] 11. That “many are called and few are chosen” [Matt. 20:16*] does not mean that God does not want to save everyone. Instead, the reason for condemnation lies in their not hearing God’s Word at all or arrogantly despising it, plugging their ears and their hearts, and thus blocking the Holy Spirit’s ordinary path, so that he cannot carry out his work in them; or if they have given it a hearing, they cast it to the wind and pay no attention to it. Then the fault lies not with God and his election but with their own wickedness
God is merciful, in that he gives men and women opportunity after opportunity through the Gospel. He preserves His Church that the lost might hear His Word.
Even in these trying times, God gives us opportunities to be His witnesses. He did not say that the World, the flesh or the devil would make it easy, in fact, He told us that, more often than not, it would be the opposite. He did promise that no matter how much we poured out, that He would resupply us with fresh oil, with renewed strength, with an inexhaustible supply of living water.
This current situation will not defeat us, for we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. Nothing shall separate us from the love of Christ, not quarantines, masks, or travel restrictions. He will continue to sustain us through His precious Gospel, preached and distributed in Word and Sacrament, and we will continue to bear much fruit.
You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. These things I command you, so that you will love one another.
So let the peace of God, that passes all understanding, guard your hearts and minds, through Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
1 Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.
1 Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.