He Came To Open Our Eyes
The Coming Of Christ What Jesus Came To Do – week 4
FOR – the last several few weeks we’ve been talking about what Jesus came to do. FRIENDS – 2000 years ago, God the Son – left all the glories of heaven, put on human flesh – and walked this earth… I love how the Message Bible words John 1:14;
“The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood. We saw the glory with our own eyes, the one-of-a-kind glory, like Father, like Son, Generous inside and out, true from start to finish.” John 1:14 (Msg)
2,000 years ago Jesus Christ moved into the neighborhood and our neighborhood has never been the same since… BECAUSE - when Jesus moved in He came to do some really awesome things… THINGS – (like we have seen the last 2 weeks) that should fire us up… like that…
• Jesus came to give us the greatest gift of all time, the gift of himself. The gift of His life, death and resurrection.
• And He came to set us free… to set us free from the desert, and from the things that hold us back and cause us to live a life that is less than we are. AND – we receive this freedom by embracing 3 words; new, leave and trust.
AND – this morning I want us to talk about how Jesus came to open up our eyes… CHECKOUT – these words that the prophet Isaiah wrote concerning Jesus, words he wrote nearly 700 years before Jesus moved into the neighborhood…
“God, the LORD, created the heavens and stretched them out. He created the earth and everything in it. He gives breath and life to everyone in all the world. And it is he who says, "I, the LORD, have called you (He’s talking about Jesus and His ministry on earth) to demonstrate my righteousness. I will guard and support you, for I have given you to my people as the personal confirmation of my covenant with them. And you will be a light to guide all nations to me. You will open the eyes of the blind and free the captives from prison. You will release those who sit in dark dungeons.” - Isaiah 42:5-7
Isaiah spoke of the days when Jesus would walk this earth and God said to Jesus… AND – in John chapter 9, we see Jesus doing just this (turn there, we’ll read the whole chapter – I’m reading from the message Bible)
Walking down the street, Jesus saw a man blind from birth. 2His disciples asked, "Rabbi, who sinned: this man or his parents, causing him to be born blind?" 3Jesus said, "You're asking the wrong question. You're looking for someone to blame. There is no such cause-effect here. Look instead for what God can do. 4We need to be energetically at work for the One who sent me here, working while the sun shines. When night falls, the workday is over. 5For as long as I am in the world, there is plenty of light. I am the world's Light." 6He said this and then spit in the dust, made a clay paste with the saliva, rubbed the paste on the blind man's eyes, 7and said, "Go, wash at the Pool of Siloam" (Siloam means "Sent"). The man went and washed--and saw. 8Soon the town was buzzing. His relatives and those who year after year had seen him as a blind man begging were saying, "Why, isn't this the man we knew, who sat here and begged?" 9Others said, "It's him all right!" But others objected, "It's not the same man at all. It just looks like him." He said, "It's me, the very one." 10They said, "How did your eyes get opened?" 11"A man named Jesus made a paste and rubbed it on my eyes and told me, "Go to Siloam and wash.' I did what he said. When I washed, I saw."
THINK – about it…. ALL - of his life, since birth, this man couldn’t see. All of his life he lived in darkness. TRY – to imagine that. He had never seen a sunrise or a sunset… He had never seen blue sky or clear running waters… He had never seen leaves blowing in the wind, rain falling from the sky or the colors of a rainbow (in fact he had no concept of colors at all). He had never seen little children, laughing or playing… He had never seen people gathered to worship God… He had never seen the faces of those he loved… He had never even looked at his own fingers or hands… IMAGINE – a life of darkness… IMAGINE – never seeing anything…
AND THEN - Jesus Christ (who was generous inside and out – who was true from start to finish) – moves into his neighborhood – AND helps this man not only see physically but more importantly to see spiritually.
In the first few verses of John 9 Jesus healed his physical blindness. Just a few verses and his physical blindness is gone. But then Jesus takes the rest of the chapter (41 verses) to do something even more important – to heal his spiritual blindness, to help him to truly see God for the first time.
UNDERSTAND - the story of this man is really the story of how God can help you see something that you’ve never seen before. It’s the story of how God works the process of faith into our lives. It’s the story of how he opens our eyes to the awesome and endless possibilities that are in him.
AND LISTEN – to make this real, to make our time together today as beneficial for you as possible – (you’ll notice in the box, at the top of your outline the words…) “I’d love to be able to see...” NOW - that’s yours to fill in. What would you love to be able to see God do in your life? UNDERSTAND - to really benefit from this message - you have to put yourself in the place of this blind man.
He was born blind. All of his life he had been unable to see. AND – on top of that he had been probably a beggar all of his life. That’s what happened in that culture… AND – I am certain that every day of his life, at least once, he must have thought,
• What would it be like if I could see?
• How would my life be different?
• How would things change for me if only I could see? But I can’t.”
QUESTION - What would you love to see? In a spiritual sense? In a personal sense? What would you love to see? WHAT – dark places do you long to have His light shine in… BUT - you just can’t see how they could possibly happen.
• I’d love to see my marriage getting better. I can’t see it – I admit it. But I’d love to be able to see it.”
• I’d love to see myself as a person of faith. Other people talk about it so easily. I just can’t see it in my life. I’d like to be able to see it but I can’t.”
• I’d love to see my life used by God...
• I’d love to see myself filled with joy...
• I’d love to be free from the guilt of my past”
• I’d love to overcome that habit, hurt or hang up
• I’d love to see all the obstacles for my ministry removed so I could serve my God in freedom.
• I’d love to finally get beyond those feelings of failure, of not being good enough and of not measuring up.
QUESTION - what would you love to be able to see? Write it down. Or at least think about it… It will make this real. It will put you into the sandals of this blind guy… (I’ll give you a moment to do that)
AND LISTEN – before this day when he encountered The Savior King, this guy thought that seeing again was an absolute impossibility… I MEAN – he had no doubt giving hope along time ago and had resigned himself to a life of darkness…
AND PERHAPS - you feel the same way today… PERHAPS – what you would like to see, seems like an impossibility. PERHAPS – you have resigned yourself to a life of darkness. BUT – don’t loose hope… BECAUSE – today (January 3, 2009)… Just might be the day that you day to encounter the one who; “opens the eyes of the blind; frees captives from prison and releases those who sit in darkness…”
Prayer…
OKAY - 4 things happened to this man. AND - the same 4 things need to happen in our lives as well. IF – our eyes are to be opened… AND – the first thing that needs to happen is we need to:
Break Through ‘Either Or Thinking’
QUESTION – what is either-or thinking? WELL – in John 9:2 Jesus’ disciples revealed this kind of thinking when they walked by this man that was born blind and they asked Jesus a question. A question that reveals their either or mindset… “Rabbi, who sinned? This man or his parents that he was born blind?”
YOU SEE – to them there was only one explanation for his blindness… Either this man sinned or his parents sinned – that’s the only option they had. NOW - this belief was wrong but that’s what they had grown up with.
AND UNDERSTAND – this kind of thinking trapped them in seeing this man’s situation as totally hopeless. AND LISTEN - that’s what either/or thinking does. It traps us. It puts us between a rock and hard place – and we see no way out… LET ME – give you a few examples of either or thinking…Either/or thinking is
EITHER – I have to take a job that I know I’m going to hate OR - I’m going to face bankruptcy or give up eating... I’m trapped.
EITHER I have to be lonely for the rest of my life OR I have to marry...” either/or thinking. You’re feeling trapped in this situation.
EITHER – I have to go somewhere else or stay where I am and be miserable.
EITHER - I’m going to keep feeling guilty about the wrong things I’ve done… OR - give up on this Christianity thing all together – I’ll never be perfect…
UNDERSTAND - If you are a victim of either/or thinking (and we all victimize ourselves with this from time to time), then the number one way you feel, is trapped. Trapped in a bad marriage, trapped with bad kids, trapped in a bad life, trapped in a painful situation... AND - when you feel trapped you start asking questions like, “Why me? What did I do to deserve this? Where is God when I need Him?”
BUT – checkout what Jesus had to say about either/or thinking. John 9:3
“Jesus said, ‘You’re asking the wrong question. You’re looking for someone to blame. There’s no such cause/effect here. Look instead for what God can do.”
Circle - Look instead for what God can do
Why? Because… THAT’S - how you break through either/or thinking. THAT’S - how you get out from in between the rock and the hard place. THAT’S - how you start to you’re your eyes to the awesome possibilities of the light… YOU - look instead to what God can do. You - look instead to what I like to call… GO3. (God’s option 3)
YOU - begin to see the job that you are struggling in as an opportunity for you to grow in you walk with the Lord…. It’s a different way of looking at life.
YOU - begin to see the marriage that is difficult right now, as something that God could really heal… AND - if He doesn’t heal it, as a place where God could strengthen you to make it through it. AND THEN – use you to show a different kind of love to this world.
YOU - begin to see sickness – (this man’s sickness, Jesus said) – not as a result of or punishment for sin – BUT as something that’s going to glorify God. SOMETHING – that God is going to use to display His glory…. AGAIN - it’s an entirely different way of thinking.
VISUALIZE – that ‘either-or’ trap that you are in today… NOW – look to what God CAN do!
UNDERSTAND - God's option 3, always includes the word “change”. Sometimes God changes our circumstances but even more often, He changes our heart, He changes us. THEREFORE - when you find yourselves in the jaws of an either/or trap begin to look for an option from God, an option that is so radically different that it can only be from Him.
In Exodus chapter 2 – 2 parents (who were slaves in EGYPT), were facing an either or trap… EITHER we put our baby into the Nile river in this basket and hope someone finds him and we never see him again OR he dies… AND – God says, “Jochebed and Amram how about option 3 – how about I bring your baby back to you…and have the Egyptian government foot the bill..”
Later that same baby, now a man, Moses – led the Israelites, out of Egypt… IT was a great day, BUT THEN – the Egyptian army chased after them… The people look over their shoulders and see dust kicking up… AND – then the either or thinking began. EITHER – we drown in the Red Sea OR the Egyptian kill us… AND – God says, “GO3 – and Moses the one drawn from the water, raises his staff and the waters of the Red Sea part…”
Jesus is preaching to a huge group of people. They had been there all day. It’s getting late, the people are getting hungry. The disciples begin to do some either or thinking; EITHER - we send this people away so they can get some food OR they will go hungry… AND – Jesus says GO3… and a boys sack lunch feeds 5,000 people..
Back in 1996 I was doing some either or thinking… EITHER God heals my wife of cancer or my life is over 30+ years of being alone…. AND – God says ‘don’t think so Steve – GO3” AS HE – gave me the gift of Laurie Dale to share my life with…
THIS - blind man in John chapter 9, heard what Jesus and His disciples were talking about… AGAIN – he was blind not deaf… “Rabbi, who sinned? This man or his parents that he was born blind?” AND THEN - King Jesus walks up to him and begins to talk to him, inviting him into a different way of thinking/of looking at life. And in so doing that this man thoughts became open to very real possibility of seeing…
QUESTION – what do you want God to do for you? What do you want to be able to see? What either or trap do you find yourself in today? UNDERSTAND – if you want to see, you first need to break through either/or thinking… YOU NEED – to look instead to what GOD can do.
AND NEXT…
Do What God Says…
NOW - this man’s struggle was with blindness. AND - in John 9:7 Jesus tells him to do something… “Go and wash in the pool of Siloam [Siloam means “sent]” So the man went and washed and he came back seeing.”
Jesus said, I want you to do something very ordinary. I want you to walk through streets you walked through before, wash your eyes like you’ve washed your eyes before. And then you’re going to see.
LOOK UP - that’s where God’s miracles always start. They always start when somebody does something very ordinary in obedience to God. God says, “Do this.” It seems like an ordinary thing. You do it and a miracle happens.
“…Siloam means sent. It was both by name and by methaphor the place of obedience. When Jesus commanded the man to go to the place called sent, to leave with his prayers unfulfilled, with his needs unmet, with his questions unanswered, in many ways he left in a worse condition than before. He was a blind man with mud caked on his face moving further away from the only one who could help him. He could have never fully grasped that his healing would only come in the place called sent. That if he had refused the journey, he would have lost the miracle.
He is a dramatic example of the interconnectedness of 1st dimension and 2nd dimension faith. 1st dimension faith is responding in obedience to what God ahs already spoken. Then you enter the context for the miraculous – welcome to the 2nd dimension faith. How many of us are sitting in front of God with mud on our faces waiting for God to heal us? How many of us have said to God, “Heal me and I’ll go..” Is possible that there is a place you must go to experience the fullness of God in your life?” Erwin McManus – ‘Seizing Your Divine Moment
Is that you this morning? Are you standing before the Lord with mud on your face, wondering why he has not healed you? Are you telling Jesus, “Lord, heal me, and then I’ll go. Heal me and then I will step out in obedience to what you have said.” QUESTION – is it possible that there is a place you have to go first. Is it possible that there is a step of obedience that you must take before your eyes will be open? BEFORE – God can bring a GO3 your way?
UNDERSTAND – miracles happen when somebody does something in ordinary obedience to what God has spoken… THEY – happen when somebody heads off on a journey with God even when they are uncertain how things will turn out…
God wanted to split the Red Sea in two so He said to Moses. “Hold up a stick.” A STICK – now that’s pretty ordinary, wouldn’t you agree? Moses holds up a stick and the sea splits in two. Pretty incredible.
God wanted to feed 5000 people with a little bit of bread and a little bit of fish. So what does He do? He gets a little boy to give his lunch so that Jesus can multiply it. Something very ordinary becomes something very miraculous.
God wanted the walls of Jericho to fall down so what does He do. He says, Walk around the walls and blow a trumpet at it. QUESTION - do you think it was the trumpets that make the walls fall down? No. It was God. BUT – don’t miss, overlook or minimize their ordinary step of obedience that allowed God to work that incredible miracle.
QUESTION - are you willing to do something ordinary, are you willing to take a step of simple obedience - that says in a real way “I am depending on God for this one. Not on me but on God.”
NOW - an ordinary start for you:
• Might be making a phone call. That’s what you are feeling in your heart right now to do. I need to phone this person to restore this relationship.
• Trying again even though you feel like giving up. Even though you threw in the towel weeks go.
• Might be praying for something again for the first time in years. This time believing that God ill hear and answer in His perfect way.
• It might be going to see a doctor or counselor.
• It might be beginning to give even when you don’t have enough to give.
• Beginning to serve God when you see no empty slots in your day timer,
• Beginning to talk to someone about where they are with Jesus.
• Responding to that person in love even though your flesh cries out – choke them once, choke them twice – and choke them once again…
• Admitting that you were wrong, telling them that you are sorry and asking for forgiveness…
GUYS – we need to stop standing around with mud on our eyes waiting for Jesus to do something. Because more often then not he is waiting on us… AND LISTEN – the very moment that we take that ordinary first step we will unleash the power of the sea parting, food multiplying, wall knocking down God.
NOW - I want to warn up front – about something, about the first thing that you’re going to think as you take that first step… It’s the first thing all of us think. It’s most likely the first thing that this guy thought. Jesus sends him on this journey down to get healing at the pool and I’m pretty sure that the first thing he thought was “No way, this isn’t going to work. I’ve washed my eyes before. But I don’t have anything else to do. I have nowhere else to turn. So I guess I might as well give it a shot. So he walks down to the pool - and he washes his eyes and look at what God does.
LISTEN - when you make that phone call, when you write that letter, when you begin that prayer, don’t be surprised if the first thought in your mind is “It’s not going to work.” BUT – don’t listen to those doubts, instead go to Siloam and give God a chance to do His thing.
IT’S - amazing how God can take the smallest step of faith even with doubtful people like you and I and make incredible differences in our lives and through our lives in that.
Your first thought is going to be, “It isn’t going to work,” but when you take that first step of obedience and faith you give God a chance to work. And it’s incredible what He does.
• Break through ‘either-or’ thinking
• Do what God says
NEXT…
NOW – I need to give you two warnings about taking this step of faith and watching God work in our lives. Two simple warnings. FIRST;
Look past what others cannot see
OKAY – the guys is healed. AND - he goes back to those who for all of his life had watched him beg. He’d heard their voices and now for the first time he sees them. AND – do you know what he saw in all of their faces, doubt. They pointed at him and said, “That can’t be the guy. There’s never been a guy who’s been born blind and now he can see. It can’t be him. I looks like him but it can’t be him.”
QUESTION – how do you think that made him feel? I MEAN - he thought that everyone would be as excited as he was… “can’t be you… it’s me.. no way” TALK - about a bucket of cold water… POINT - there will always people… Who will tell you that you may as well stay in the dark because the light is impossible.
• Reconciliation in your marriage? Impossible.
• Faith in God? It’ll never happen for you.
• Real Joy in your pain- no way
• A turn around in your ministry – you know how people are…
• God who created everything personally loves and cares for you? That’s a fairy tail,
• Forgiveness, a fresh start - no, way that isn’t happening for you…
• Freedom from guilt and the feeing of never measuring up – not likely…
LISTEN – if you really want to see – if you really want God to do a new thing in your life – you may have to look past what other cannot see…
Get it?
BUT - let me make something perfectly clear… I’m not talking Godly counsel about something you want to do that is stupid) BUT – with that said… don’t let other people’s voices blind you to what God can do in through and for you.
NOW UNDERSTAND - there’s two kinds of people in the world when it comes to building real faith in our lives. YOU SEE - when the first flames of faith begin to flicker there are some who will gently fan those flames so that they will begin to ignite and grow larger and larger. BUT - there are also a lot of others out there who have a big bucket of cold water ready to douse those flames. These are the people who when you say, “I’m going to put some more; into my marriage/that relationship/that ministry – I’m going to have faith that it can get better,” they look at you and say, “Okay, if that is what you want to do. I guess no one can stop you but - don’t get your hopes up.”
NOW these aren’t evil people. In fact, I’ve done it to people and you’ve done it to people too. We’ve all doused the flames of faith and hope in other people – even ourselves. YOU SEE - it’s easy to doubt. IT’S – belief that takes work.
AGAIN - we’ve all doused the flames of faith and hope in other people – even ourselves. AND – why is that? I think for at least 2 reasons:
FIRST – because each of us has been disappointed by the struggles of life at one time or another. Times that makes us think that all that life ever has to offer is the rock and the hard place… AND – the second reason (we rain of the faith parade of other people) is because we are afraid to take that step of obedience, fully trusting God for the outcome – so we wonder how anyone else could do it.
AND – that is why we all need some people in our lives… who will fan the flames of faith. AND that’s what a church should be:
• a place of new beginnings and endless possibilities…
• a place where we encourage each other to outbursts of love and good deeds
• a place where we help each other have the faith to: do more – not less, to go higher and deeper.
• A place where seas part, walls come down, the hungry are fed, we have company in the fire and the blind can see…
BECAUSE we serve a God with whom all things are possible… If we believe and step out in obedience to what he has said…
The religious leaders and the people who knew the blind man said – can’t be him… AND - I love his answer it’s classic; “One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see.”
IN OTHER WORDS – “you can shout about it all you want, you can close your eyes real tight so you do not have to see what is really gong on here, you can use your superior intellect to try and explain it all away… BUT - here I am. I once was blind but now I see.
QUESTION – what is it for you? How would you complete that statement…
I once was… but now I… What is it for you? You probably have ten or twenty of them… write a few down in your notes…
• I once was bitter but now I’m joyful.
• I once was without hope but now I have hope.
• I once was hateful but now I’m full of love.
• I once was angry and now I have peace
• I once tried to earn acceptance and now I am accepted by the one who matters most
• I once chased after the things of this word – and now rejoice in the things of God
• I once was trapped in a relentless addiction, but now…
• I once was controlled by the opinions, judgments and praise of people
• I once was fearful but now…
QUESTION – what do you want Jesus to do for you? What do you ant to see in your life? UNDERSTAND – if you really want Jesus to open your eyes, you need to: break through either or thinking
Do what God says
Look past what others cannot see… AND – 4th you need to
Realize Where Jesus Wants To Take You
ONCE – your eyes are opened…
IMAGINE – all the things that this guy had seen for the very first time, after he washed the mud out of his eyes. The sky, clouds, the sun, stars, birds, people walking down the street, faces smiling, children laughing, colors, water flowing… WHAT – an incredible feast eyes must have dined on.
YES – his newly opened eyes had seen a lot. BUT - they had not seen the most important thing. THEY – had not yet taken him to the greatest place. THEY – had not yet, accomplished the purpose for which John guided by the Spirit of God devotes 41 verses of his gospel too.
When Jesus heard what had happened…
He found the man and asked, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” The man answered, “Who is he, sir? I want to believe in him.” “You have seen him,” Jesus said, “and he is speaking to you!” “Yes, Lord, I believe!” the man said. And he worshiped Jesus. – John 9:35-38 (NLT)
QUESTION – did you see it? DO YOU SEE – the ultimate destination God has for us once our eyes are opened? DO YOU SEE – the end point, the purpose, the goal, the reason behind the entire miracle?
Seeing King Jesus!
AND – having that sight bring about the 2 most important things in life…
Belief
And
Worship.
“Yes, Lord, I believe!” the man said. And he worshiped Jesus…
UNDERSTAND – God brought you here this morning… the very first Sunday of the new year… to empower and enable you to:
• break through ‘either-or’ thinking
• do what God says (maybe it’s time to go to the pool of Siloam – your won place of ‘sent’)
• look past what other cannot see
BUT LISTEN – Jesus has a much higher purpose then simply…
• fixing our marriage
• giving us the strength to endure
• freeing us from past guilt
• moving us beyond feelings of failure and never measuring up…
UNDERSTAND JESUS – opens our eyes ultimately for one purpose… SO THAT – we can see Him. Really see Him… AND THEN – have that sight bring about the 2 most important and fulfilling things we will ever experience….
Belief in
And
Worship of Jesus.
