Learning To See On A Whole New Level

Learning to see is a lifelong journey and has little to do with eye exams or whether or vision is 20/20. 

Some things we see more clearly later in life.  Remember when you were a teenager and you thought that your parents knew nothing and then you turned 25 and realized they knew everything!

What are some things you see more clearly now than when you first became a believer in Jesus?

Some blind people have the ability to see far better than those who have sight and that is the point of John 9.   The message of this story is more than just about mud, spit and a miracle.  It truly is about seeing; however it is learning to see on different levels.  There is so much more going on here that what meets the eye and the writer of the gospel, John, wanted us to see that the ultimate healing needed in our lives is not a physical one, but a spiritual one.  We all suffer from spiritual blindness until we put our faith in Jesus.

Back to our survey -

Inviting someone to church - 99% see this as very important, but only 49% feel confident they will be welcomed. 

When I see someone I don’t recognize, I do my best to make them feel Included.  91% say its important and only 46% say they are doing it.

The responses to these questions were eye-opening for us as leaders.  In many ways both of these questions are raising the point as to whether people who come to Grace are being noticed and if they are, how are they being received.

I want us to look at a story that teaches us all about how we see people.

The main character in John 9 is a man born blind.

Who did the disciples see? V1-5

The disciples saw the blind man as a problem to be explained.  It was assumed in that day that if you had a sickness or disease, it was ultimately the result of a personal sin or generational sin.

They wanted a reason to satisfy their own understanding.  They saw his condition and they were students looking for answers.  They were looking for answers to alleviate their concerns because they believed in their hearts that bad things don’t happen to good people. 

However, they only needed to be reminded of the story of Job and this kind of thinking doesn’t hold water.

Jesus’ response to the disciples was  for them to realize that here is a man in need of the light of the world.  He saw a man whose need would reveal the glory and the power of God.

A work of God on display! V6,7

We have the authority in Jesus’ Name to pray for healing, for peace, for reconciliation, for strength, for joy, for endurance!  John 14:12.

One teenager came up to me after the first service and shared how God had impressed on her heart that she need to pray over her friend for her healing.  I love that kind of faith!

Who did his neighbours see?  V8-12

They saw a new man… changed so completely that they hardly recognized him for who he was.  He had to protest their disbelief. 

The community learned just to expect people to stay the way they are…once blind, always blind.  It was simple.

It also confirms the power of our stories.  It is the value of a testimony and why we need to continue to share what Jesus is doing in us and through us!   God did it!  We need to tell those stories for the glory of God!

You can pile up graduate degrees; you can quote all the right authorities; you can hold up a wet finger in the wind; you can follow the trends  and quote statistics; but you still have to sit up and take notice when someone says, “This is what I have experienced, and this I know.”    Thomas R. McKibben

Who did the religious leaders see?  V13-34

They saw a problem that they wanted to go away.  It was an inconvenient truth, the blind man was trouble, upsetting the norm, the traditions.  They just wanted to see the status quo!

WHY?

To do any work on the ‘Sabbath’ was to break religious law and in their minds that included healing.  So the religious leaders get all hot and bothered because it doesn’t fit into their understanding of God.  So, they work hard at trying to invalidate his story and also go after his parents to see if he was really blind.  They want him to admit that this Jesus is a felon because he broke the law.

So, they look to discredit him by seeking out his parents.  The parents are pretty straightforward in their response.v20,21   Then they say, ask him, he’s a grown man, he can speak for himself.  They aren’t looking to start a fight or controversy.

Here is a story of a man who has been blind from the time of his birth.  As soon as he is healed by Jesus, (albeit in a most unusual way) he goes under severe questioning by the religious leaders.  They are so intensely offended because

1       He healed on the Sabbath.  They couldn’t fit it into their own grid of understanding how God works.  God would never go against His own rules…right?

I’ll never forget being disciplined in Bible school for playing tennis on Sunday afternoons.  My school was pretty stringent on following the rules and the crazy thing was God gave us the opportunity to lead a few people to the LORD through those Sunday afternoon tennis matches!

2    

            They knew He was gaining fame and notoriety and he was stealing their sheep (pulling followers away from them).

They wanted to charge Jesus with a crime.  They wanted to silence him and/ or discredit him.

The blind man was a walking advertisement of the power and authenticity of Jesus.  It proved that He had the power and authority to heal

They don’t like his initial answer because He gives all the credit and glory to Jesus.

Sometimes we just choose to see what we want to see.

Here is the cool, amazing thing.  The former blind man operates under the gift of wisdom in his response to them. 

 v25He replied, “Whether he is a sinner or not, I don’t know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!”

26Then they asked him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?”

27He answered, “I have told you already and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples too?”

28Then they hurled insults at him and said, “You are this fellow’s disciple! We are disciples of Moses! 29We know that God spoke to Moses, but as for this fellow, we don’t even know where he comes from.”

30The man answered, “Now that is remarkable! You don’t know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. 31We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly person who does his will. 32Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. 33If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.”

34To this they replied, “You were steeped in sin at birth; how dare you lecture us!” And they threw him out.

So, here is the reality.  We were all steeped in sin at birth, but they were blinded by their own sense of self-righteousness

We have to move from the achieving system to the receiving system!

A former beggar, who had spent a brief time with Jesus, outwitted a whole panel of professional debaters.  That’s the Spirit’s gift of the word of wisdom!  Robert  Morris

We often can learn so much from a new believer or a non-Christian for that matter.  I’ll never forget listening to a new Christian pray for the faith of his family members.  He would pray that they are not believers YET…To him it was just a matter of time before they did!

Who  did Jesus see? v35-41

He saw a man kicked out of church as we would know it!

He sought out a man who was courageous.

Jesus saw a man who truly was seeking

He saw a man who had faith

There were two kinds of blindness and Jesus saw one as more worse than the other…

Physical blindness – no problem

Spiritual blindness when recognized… no problem

Claiming to see without Jesus – a major problem!

Jesus saw his progression of faith!

He see a blind man go from a place where he stated a simple statement to his neighbours …the man named Jesus did it to the belief that he may be a prophet, to a belief that “the man must be from God” to a place where he says Yes, I believe in the Son of Man and worships Him.

The Takeaway

What  do we need to see?

·         We need to see outside the box 

Sometimes faith is muddy and messy.  It doesn’t happen exactly as we think it should but that shouldn’t stop us from believing that God works in mysterious and amazing, wonderful ways.  We look at something and say, “well that can’t be God” because where in Scripture can you point to something like that? 

I believe we sometimes use Scripture “proof texting” to believe what we can wrap our minds around.

However, they were looking at their Scripture…and their  traditions and a healing with spit, mud, washing your eyes in a pool, where is that in the OT and on the holy Sabbath day

Who do we need to see?

·         We need to see ourselves as people who were once blind

The blind according to Jesus are those who know that there is no light in them.  They are wandering, stumbling in their own sin.  They are lost and in need of a guide. They are in spiritual darkness.  They need a Saviour, Jesus.  Don’t forget where you came from.

The religious leaders were steeped in their own pride, in their own sense of what God required of them.  It was their own pursuit of religion that had made them fall miserably short.  They weren’t ready to humble themselves

·         We need to see  PEOPLE!  …through the eyes of Jesus

Jesus didn’t see problems, He didn’t see projects, He didn’t see numbers.

As a pastor, I had to confess and repent that I would look at the attendance records every Sunday after church in my previous ministry.  I looked at them with a sense of self-worth as to how well I was doing and for that reason it was wrong.

I used to be addicted to numbers and now Jesus has shown me to see people, see their stories.

When someone comes in what do we see?  Do we see the excluded, the marginalized, the one who is difficult to love?

Is this person being loved?

Is this person being cared for?

Be Inclusive!  How?

Jesus took the two most demeaning things that the blind man would have experienced....sitting in the dirt and most like being spat upon and he turned them around to create the most amazing miracle in this man's life!

Take the time to notice where others are at.  How do we do that?

1.       Seek to understand people’s needs and listen as to how the Spirit is leading you to pray

2.       Seek to understand people’s background. 

3.       Seek to understand people’s religious hang ups….what do they believe about Jesus?

4.       Seek to determine their spiritual need.  Is God calling you to ask for a response?

There was a single mom who shared her story with me.  It was a man here at church who saw her need and just showed up later in the week with two brand new bicycles for her children.  She didn’t ask for bikes, but the Holy Spirit impressed it on his heart to act.  She now tells me how God has blessed her so much, she wants to be a blessing to others.  She shared how she now is sponsoring children for our soccer camp.

So, not matter where you are at or what is going on in your life, see people as Jesus saw them.  Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal things to you.  He may show you things and tell you simply to pray or He may tell you to buy bikes!  So, listen, discern and obey His voice.

Affirm one another’s equal importance in Christ. 

Romans 15:7: “Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you” James 2:1: “Don’t show favoritism”

Show concern for others.   1 Corinthians 12:25: “Have equal concern for each other”;1 Peter 5:5: “Clothe yourselves with humility toward one another”