Work For God Series

Work – for - God) | John 9:1-9

[Introduction]

(1) We have been discussing sanctification (God’s continued work in our lives), Christ’s imperatives/commandments and his call to discipleship.

(2) Discipleship is an identity. It is who we are as followers of Christ and it is our mission (to make disciples) wherever we are, where ever we go.

(3) Ephesians 6 Review:

a. We are to put on the whole armor of God. (Jesus)

b. We are not one another’s enemies.

(4) Jesus calls us to himself and gives us a new identity; next, Jesus calls us to join his mission. We began looking at what the mission looks like – how we make disciples (baptizing them, teaching them to demonstrate the Word of God as we ourselves live out the Word of God).

(5) Today’s focus is Christ giving us his philosophy of ministry.

JOHN 9:1-9

[The Disciples Focus]

• Disabilities.

• Generational curse or personal (due to sin).

• Some Rabbis even taught that physical defects were a direct result of either personal sin or generational curses. (Exodus 34:7)

• I have to wrestle with this reality: that are my actions are seen, studied and carried out by my children. One of my fears is that my children grow up to be like me cause I’m a mess. I’ve seen this reality play out in how my daughter responds when she is upset.

• We ask questions: why is there suffering in this world? Why should a child have cancer?

[The Way of Jesus]

Jesus’ Response:

It is not this man’s sins nor his parents:

• Jesus is indicating that sometimes, things happen as a result of sin in a broken world.

But that God’s glory might be revealed:

• Don’t focus on the negative (sin); focus on the positive (power of God).

• Why is there suffering in the world? Why is this person going through such and such.

• A better question to ask is this: how is God going to work through this? How can I respond to the suffering in the world?

• How do you view your problems and the problems with the world? Negative or positive?

Miracles of Jesus

(1) The miracles of Jesus validate his identity and his ministry (Luke 14:8)

(2) The man recovered his sight: : “The word rendered received sight is literally, recovered sight. Sight being natural to men, the depravation of it is regarded as a loss, and the reception of it, though never enjoyed before, as a recovery.” (Alford)

a. If he received his sight then he was given something he never had.

b. If he recovered his sight, it was about him recovering his full humanity.

c. This is the 1st recorded miracle of a prophet restoring/giving sight to a blind man (Psalm 146:8 and Isaiah 35:5)

(3) The Miracles of Jesus are always to restore. (John 5:1-8)

a. Jesus was about restoring the full humanity of people.

i. Physically, Mentally, spiritually and communally.)

Know the Time

• Jesus lived in absolute surrender to the will of his Father. (John 5:19) He expects the same of his followers (deny yourself).

• Jesus lived under the limitations of mortality and recognized the brevity/shortness of life. (Psalm 90:12) Teach us Lord to have the wisdom to work HERE and NOW.

• Opportunities to serve don’t last forever – I helped a women with her garage last week. Most often, when you help someone, the person will say “Thank you.” And your response is, “You’re welcome.” I thanked her for the opportunity to serve her.

John 9:5 & Matthew 5:14-16

• I Am the Light / You Are the Light

• From Me to We – my wife and I are on the same team.

John 15:1-15

Bearing Fruit(s)

• To abide is to remain close/to stay connected.

• To abide is to DIE to self and LIVE for Christ.

• Bearing fruit is impossible, apart from Christ.

• To not bear fruit is to not live out the opportunities that God has given us.

• Our lives will be marked as unproductive and wasteful, without purpose. They will be thrown into the fire because they were pointless.

Hebrews 11

• Do works of faith that last for eternity.

• Works of man/me will burn up.

• It is God working in and through us.