"An Identity Crisis"

John 9:1-41

“An Identity Crisis”

By Kenneth Sauer, Pastor of Parkview United Methodist Church, Newport News, VA

When Ross Perot was running for President against George Bush Senior and Bill

Clinton....Perot’s running mate in the Vice Presidential debate began his remarks with, “Who am

I? Where am I ? And What am I doing here?”

Many people thought this to be a very clever and funny way to begin.....but as the debate

went on...it became painfully clear that this poor guy was serious.

And I think that this is the question that many of us find ourselves asking.

“Who are we, where are we, and what are we doing here?”

Let’s face it, in this day and age, many of us are living with an identity crisis.

I was speaking with the mother of two teenagers this week, and she told me about how

different things are these days compared to when she was growing up.

“It was so much easier back then,” she said.

Today, children are confronted with so much evil...with so many things that are not just

bad....but are plain and simply evil and dangerous....

From the hate-filled, porno-graphic lyrics of the rap and and rock songs that many artists

are spewing out...

To the wickedly bloody and violent video games that kids seem to be drawn too...

To the prevalence of drug abuse and a general lack of personal ethics and self-control...

She said that it seems as if people are either committed to Jesus Christ...

Or they are committed to something else which is unsettlingly different.

With all the other activities that we have created to distract our attention and entertain us,

we have become a very busy people.

But are we a more happy people?

What we need to do is find our identity.

After Jesus healed the man who was born blind, there was a question as to whether this

sighted man was really the blind beggar.

He was known as the blind man. This was his identifying characteristic, and since

he was no longer blind, he must be someone else!

The Pharisees just didn’t want to believe that Jesus had healed him.

Because if Jesus had healed him...then Jesus must be who Jesus claims to be......and that

means that things are going to have to change.

So they went to great lengths to disprove the validity of Jesus’ miracle.

Instead of rejoicing with the man, over his new found sight....

Those who did not want to believe that Jesus is the Christ--threw the man out of the

Temple.

They made their decision....no matter how much evidence their was in favor of Christ’s

miracle.

So, Jesus told them, “For judgement I have come into the world, so that the blind will see

and those who see will be blind.”

To accept that Christ does change people, is to open our hearts to Christ.

But many of us do not want to do this.

Because this means that there are some changes that are going to have to take place in

our lives.

There are some decisions we are going to have to make.

We are going to have to admit that we have an identity crisis!

We are going to have to admit that our priorities are out of wack.....and that Christ must

become our number one--first priority!

And when Jesus calls us to follow Him, we must allow the Holy Spirit to take over our

lives as we take on a new identity!

The Rich Young Ruler wanted to follow Christ, but he was unwilling to make that

decision because his identity was in his riches.

The things of this world, the lusts of the flesh, the dreams of wealth and priviledge are

what many of us cling to as our identifying mark....

Therefore the decision to follow Christ is a big decision.

I think it’s George Thoroughgood who sings the song: “Who do You Love?”

Those words could be easily changed to “What Do You Love?”

What do you love the most?

What is most important to us?

“Whoever loves their life will lose it.....” Jesus said.... “And whoever loses their life for

my sake will find it.”

Notice that Jesus tells the Pharisees, “If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin;

but but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains.”

The Pharisees could have accepted Christ...but they would not.

They rejected Him, and they deliberately willed to turn from Him.

They could see the truth.

Deep down inside, they knew that Christ had healed this man, but they made the decision

not to believe it.

And many people can see the truth, but make the deliberate decision not to embrace

it.

We are very good at making excuses.

We are very good at lying to ourselves...