Why ask Why?

As a father on this Father’s Day I will not be preaching a traditional father’s day sermon but instead sharing with you a burden that is on my heart to share.

One day at school, a student of mine was delivering an impassioned sermon

Preaching - Get right

Do what’s in this book (a telephone book)

My friend was experiencing his disability in all it’s rages. Autism and intellectual disability are more hidden than most intellectual differences He was sharing the best way he knew how his anger, his fear, and really no idea how to communicate with us what he really wanted.

There are many differences in the people of our world.

Other differences in the world paraplegic's or blindness for example are quite obvious. There are other illness such as bipolar, schizophrenia, depression, and other mental illness that don’t show at all until they do. They can be scary for those who see others with them but much more scary and hard on those whose lives are affected by it.

There are other differences that happen to us all injuries, old age, the breaking down

Disease is all around us and many see, rightly so, that the healthier you are, what a blessing that is.

The saying goes, if you don’t have your health than you don’t have anything.

So if your unhealthy does that in turn mean you are not blessed? That you obviously deserve it?

Before you say no, because no is the right answer, but before you say no, give an honest response, when bad things pile up like illness, flat tires, unexpected bills, and the anger of a family member do you say, “God what did I do to deserve this?” If you do this, it reveals your thinking. Blessings come to people doing good and hardships come to people doing bad. Yet God says something different,

Matthew 5:45 CSB

45 so that you may be children of your Father in heaven. For he causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.

As we thankfully put our masks away and gather with touch once again, all around us in public life there are people looking to blame, looking to justify there response to the pandemic. People who went without masks or social distancing who did economically very well, who never got sick, or who got a little sick and then better pointing to the travesty and hardship we all experienced in quarantine and social distancing as justification for their actions. While others now point out those who didn’t listen and got sick or died, those who promoted ideas fighting for liberty at the risk of people’s lives, in turn pointing to the over 600,000 Americans who died as proof of the rightness of their plan. I know because I have fallen for this sin so many times for both sides! How ridiculous I can be. How ridiculous an argument this is for a follower of Jesus to get into.

What is Jesus response? Isn’t there culpability, another word for fault, for the smoker who gets lung cancer, the insane driver who gets maimed in a car accident, the angry raging boss who drops dead of a heart attack? The sinner whose sin leads to loss of health?

Why ask such a question? Why search to condemn or to exonerate?

Today, let’s not look at this as the one who smokes, drives crazy, or is easily angered. Not even the person who did or did not get covid-19. Let’s look at this as the person who knows someone who does. Let’s be Jesus to the one who smokes, drives crazy, is easily angered, and got covid. Let’s be Jesus to the physically disabled, the mentally disabled, the autistic, the aged.

What does it look like to be Jesus to those who are not well or able?

First step back and remember what we talked about in the previous weeks. We who are followers of Jesus are called to Love God by being with God in prayer and by hanging out with God by living in the “Fruit of the Spirit”. These are the ways we are to live every minute of every day

Galatians 5:22–23 CSB

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. The law is not against such things.

We are to live as ones who love, ones who are in joy, peace, patient, kind, good, faithful, gentle, and self-control.

How did you do this week?

Therefore how we are to act to those who are sick, injured, disabled, ill, developmentally delayed, or aged is still the same as we treat anyone. We are to act with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and self-control to everyone in every place.

We have a good example of how Jesus did this from 2,000 years ago and it doesn’t sound that distant from today.

John 9:1–2 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?”

Remember at this time the amount of reasons you could be born blind that have disappeared today. He could have been born blind or with poor vision and gradually lost it because no access to glasses. Could have acquired any of a ton of diseases that take away a person’s eyesight if left untreated. Could have faced malnutrition as a child or before birth.

But let me ask you this - How loving and kind is to ask this question while being by the guy? How gentle is it to see a person in need and then talk amongst your able friends like they are not even there? Why is it important to find out the why when the answer of what to do with our friend was already shared with us by Jesus? Because sometimes we think we can join in judgement. Remember criticism is the easiest and fastest way to bond with another person. So we fall into this sin quite quickly.

The bad guys in the Bible where the Pharisees. They were religious people who thought they followed God. The number one problem with the Pharisees and any religious debate of it’s time that Jesus confronted often to it’s face was the lack of love, kindness, and gentleness to the sinner, to the one who is in the wrong. How much worse is it to the person who did no wrong. To the child, the aged, the disabled, the poor, whatever, Jesus valued all people but especially those on the edge of society. Therefore work to humanize those around you, not talk about a person as anything other than a child of God. Not talk about an enemy as someone worthy of judgement as if you yourself are not.

I shared with you about my student who was screaming a pretty bizarre sermon, mimicking others to express his anger, rage, and confusion, and hopefully get out of having to deal with the demands of the academic day. Even in the midst of this behavior, the loving thing is what we tried to do, to help him stay safe, find a way to be healed in the sense of being able to tell people what he wants or needs rather than misbehave. This would be a much longer goal than what we could achieve that day. The temptation thought would be to become impatient with his not doing what we wanted him to do, to disregard his needs and get him in back in class, ignore his needs and instead get him back on the plan and activities of the abled. Instead we could and we id act where God is and be patient to teach right and wrong ways of acting.

And now we start to open up the truth in our situations of dealing with those in need. Impatience, focusing on selfish needs even if they are not bad needs, but good needs can lead to acting like the disciples did with Jesus, not caring about the needs of the blind man but caring more about God study, or the proper term- a theological question.

This dehumanizing impatience can come upon us when dealing with those who are of different abilities and frankly just dealing with people. This needs to change. Let us practice the fruits of the spirit with everyone.

I’m embarrassed to repent to you today and tell you that I did not act properly this week. You might have seen pictures on Facebook of my wife and I’s amazing trip to Wisconsin this past week. She did a great job planning it. One day, we went kayaking and you saw some cool photos. We were in a team kayak, with one person in front and one person in back. It worked for 75% of the trip. In the other 25% we learned why it was nicknamed the divorce kayak. . Lori and I began arguing because unlike the rest of the tour group we were with, who were rowing along the shore, we were rowing ourselves into the middle of Lake Michigan and on to Canada.

I’m exaggerating, we probably at most got about 30 yards from our group, but as I would do one thing, Lori would do something in front of me that counteracts that and then when I complained, made a snide comment, she would tell me she wasn’t doing it, even though I could see her doing it! Of course, I paused and lovingly with a calm voice told her what I thought we should do and asked what her opinion was.

Nope I would shout, she would shout, I would quit rowing, she would quit rowing, and then we would work a little bit together and then it would fall back a part, I think we went in the most bizarre diagonal lines back and forth doing 200 times more work than everyone else.

But I was right! I was right and I knew it because I was in the back seat and could see what Lori couldn’t see. I could see the rowing mistakes we were making and she wouldn’t listen to me. When we got back on the bus to go home, the single ladies and the older married couple were laughing about how funny it was to see us arguing. Lori laughed. That did bring a small smile to my face but what troubled me for a while after that is why did I lose it on the love of my life. Why did I almost ruin something that was meant to be fun? How could I have been wrong when I new exactly what Lori should have done but she just wouldn’t do it. I was right but I knew something was wrong.

You see Jesus tells us through a metaphor about helping someone to get a splinter out of their eye that we are actually supposed to examine our problems first.

Matthew 7:5 CSB

5 Hypocrite! First take the beam of wood out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to take the splinter out of your brother’s eye.

This is what I figured out. I might have been right. I might have been the best person in the world to help us get out of our situation at that exact moment. But I didn’t do it. I had a log in my eye because I let rage come to the surface not love. God showed me that my embarrassment over rowing wrong and Lori first not agreeing with me, didn’t lead me to love, patience, self-control or other Fruits of the Spirit but to anger, rage, and selfishness. The person responsible for acting with love, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, and self-control was me not Lori. Yes Lori had her own faults before God, but I can only control myself. My log is what I needed to figure. I should have acted with compassion, love and patience.

This is true when we encounter those wrapped up in sin. If a person is in the midst of addiction, they are person deserving of love, peace, patience, kindness and the other fruits of the spirit. We may not allow them into our homes because they are likely to steal to take care of their habit for example, but we could still perhaps treat them with respect and lovingly share a soda with them and conversation. We can give them friendship and talk about things in addition to their need for deliverance from addiction as this is only one part of who they are and not all of them. We can love first.

But what about the original person we talked about from the Bible, the blind man whom Jesus disciples treated so rudely. What did Jesus do. Jesus answered them.

John 9:3–4 CSB

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.

Jesus said, This came about so God’s works might be displayed in Him. Each and every person is made for the glory of God, you are made so God’s works might be displayed in you. and even though sin has entered our world and with disease, destruction, and death, even in the midst of that you are still made for the glory of God. Whether you can run a marathon or need a wheel chair. You can speak and sing with a heavenly voice or you can barely make a one word request by sign or picture. Each and every person is made for the glory of God.

instead of asking why, let us ask how, how can I treat this person with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control. If your aged or young, you can do that.

Yes Jesus healed the Blind man. Some may be able to bring healing through prayer and medicine. But not always.

Yes at times God gives healing to those who have been impacted by illness or disease but at other times God increases the awareness of how generous he is.

The Christian teacher, a first follower of Jesus, the apostle Paul, said he prayed for healing and it never came. God’s answer to him was this

2 Corinthians 12:8–10 CSB

8 Concerning this, I pleaded with the Lord three times that it would leave me. 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is perfected in weakness.” Therefore, I will most gladly boast all the more about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may reside in me. 10 So I take pleasure in weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and in difficulties, for the sake of Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

You see God will supply all your needs. Sometimes in ways you can’t explain and at other times in ways you can. Those times you can explain, like the time the pharmacist gives you the medicine that heals or the friend who gives you a ride when you had no ride, or the listening ear that changes your whole perspective. You see without your problem, that person who gave never gets the opportunity to be generous with the knowledge, their wealth, or their time.

God’s Grace is both upon the one who needs the help and the one who gives the help. Will we hang out with God and experience his presence by living in love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness and self-control to those of all abilities, ages, colors, and gender. This is what it looks like to be part of God’s work, before the Lord returns.

John 9:3–4 CSB

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.

Some will bring about the glory of God through generously sharing they are in need of help. Some will bring about the glory of God by being his hands and feet to those who need help. All will be able to see God work through them if they focus on following the ways of God: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control.