Signs of Compassion

Message Transcription

Amen. Well, it is good to be with you if I sound a little more Berry White ish today. I've been struggling with allergies all week, so that may help or hinder my voice. I hope it's not too annoying to you if you have your Bible open over to John Chapter nine. We're going to be there together this week as we look at one of the most amazing stories, one of my favorites in all of scripture. We're in a series called Signs. We've been looking at the signs that John has put out, pointing us to Jesus and who Jesus really is. So if you've been coming with us and not really sure about who who Jesus is, what you should make of him this is a wonderful series for you to be a part of. John's a great gospel for you to spend some time in. I invite you to do so today. We're going to do a lot of reading. And so I invite you to to follow along as best you can. We'll have some on the slides, but you may want to underline and mark some things in your Bible as we think about these different signs that John has been showing us, pointing us to the reality of of who Jesus really is. Last week we looked at signs of trust and that feeding of the 5000. Can we really trust Jesus to take whatever it is that we have to give as small or as great as it may be, and offer it to him? Well, each week I've received a few different signs from some of you, and I sure appreciate that.

I appreciate you paying attention that way. In fact, I got a text from a buddy this week who just sent this one. If you've been at one of my earlier messages, you'll recognize that sign. And he just wrote simply at the bottom, You jinxed us. He got caught at one of those stoplights. But then I got another picture of another sign this week. It's a different kind of a sign. Remember we talked about taking up diapers to send over to the Ukraine to bless moms of little kiddos who are having to flee that war torn country who've left everything behind. This is just a small picture of some of the diapers that were brought in. I just want to say thank you for joining us and helping us and participating in this amazing opportunity to unleash compassion on those who are in war torn lands. This week, I want us to look at some different signs of compassion. You know, when we're driving, actually, there are signs that encourage us to be more compassionate drivers. Maybe you recognize this sign, yield to pedestrians now living in a college town like we do. We see this one, we engage with this one a little bit more than maybe others do. But it's still it's an important sign you want to be willing to yield to people who are crossing the street, otherwise there could be trouble.

Maybe you see have seen this one. Now, I think that the intent behind this sign is a little more than what the sign says. Right. It's not just that children are slow. Maybe they are. But you need to drive slow so that if children are playing, they'll be able to be do so safely. If you're driving on the highway, you've come across this sign, I'm sure pass with care. Right. How we drive. Sometimes we're a little slower than the people behind us. And so if they pass around us, we're just asking, just pass with care. Right. Because of this very next sign, you saw this one the first week of this series. Welcome to the Texas Drive friendly the Texas Way. That may be more of an aspirational sign for us. Drive Friendly that desire to show compassion on other drivers for the most part. I'm a pretty patient person until I get behind the wheel. My family can confirm this. You don't have to confirm with them that this is true. But I have a hard time being a compassionate driver. This week. I want us to look at John Chapter nine and notice how John is setting us up to see these signs of compassion of who Jesus really is, this compassionate Lord, but also how Jesus points us back to the Father of compassion, but how easily we can miss it.

Let's look back at some of the words that Ms.. Lynne read just a moment ago. The story starts this way As Jesus went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind. You see, that was a common belief in that day. What I'm learning about myself and and in 20 years of ministry, I found this is still a common belief in our day as well. Who sinned that this would happen. That ideology, that that belief. Now, there's some truth to it that that the decisions we make, we're living out today the consequences of those decisions. So there's this kernel of truth in that how we live. Actually, there are some responses, some some consequences that come to that. Now, if we look at the relationships that we're in right now, it's a consequence of some of the choices that we've made, the jobs, the careers that we pursue. It's a consequence of some of the decisions we make in our education. The relationships that we have, our spouses, all those kinds of things are built upon these decisions that we've made in the consequences that come from them. So there's this kernel of truth, Lord, who sinned that that this would happen, recognizing that that actions have consequences to them. Here. They're making this connection between his health circumstances. All right. Some of us know the burden of that, right? Some of us have not chosen to eat very well.

And therefore, our health consequences, we're feeling them. They weigh on us literally. And so here the disciples say, who sinned, Jesus, this man or his parents, that that this kind of punishment would happen because it involves this idea of the way that I behave. I'm going to be paid a reward or I'm going to be paid a punishment. In fact, whole religious systems are built upon this very premise. How you live or how you are living today is a consequence, a punishment or a reward of how you lived before maybe even one another lifetime. This idea is very prevalent in our day. This man is disabled because of some sins. Somebody sinned. I just don't know whose it is. Now, before we start throwing rocks at this idea and kind of trying to dismiss it, it's still prevalent today, isn't it? When our son was born, he came a month early. And his lungs weren't developed. And so he had to stay in the Nike for 11 days. And though Kelly and I both knew intellectually this is not our fault or we we we couldn't do anything to get Gabe's lungs to develop faster. There's still this nagging feeling like, what? What do we do? How could this happen to us? If only we had just right. There's this sense that that we might could have done something or we didn't do something we should have. Take it out of that realm.

A year ago, almost a year ago, our dog passed away. And in the midst of that grief and the struggle that came with that, we were saying, well, could we have done something different even though we weren't the ones who made him sick? There's still this nagging thing in the back of my mind is, could we have just what if we just if only because there's this idea that somehow there's this connection between between an action and a consequence. And sometimes we come by this by way of trying to connect some different dots of things that we believe about God. He's always loving and he's always there to be with us. And and he's. He can do anything. And he's always fair. Right. He's always he's a just God. And then we meet these circumstances in our life that are not fair and are not just. And we've got to find a way to marry those two. And so maybe there's just some there's something we just don't understand it. There's just some hidden sins somewhere that would have caused something like this to happen. Right. Because we like to think good deeds, get good rewards and bad deeds get punishment. But you don't have to live very long to recognize that doesn't hold water. Right? Because sometimes we see bad people get really good things, really successful, really powerful. And sometimes we see good people get horrible, terrible consequences. How do we make sense of this? Here the disciples look at this situation and they say, we recognize in verse one, he's been born this way.

Something must have happened. Jesus, this guy sinned or his family. Who was it that something like this would happen? And Jesus is not willing to give that ideology even a moment's thought. Instead, he says this Neither this man nor his parents sinned. But this happens so that the works of God might be displayed in Him as long as this. Today, we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming when no one can work. And while I'm in the world. I'm the light of the world. You see, this isn't about someone's sin. Rather, it's about God's work in the world. In the midst of brokenness, you see, the world is much stranger. Jesus will say it's much darker. And God's light. His compassion. His love is more powerful than just simply trying to draw this cause and effect distinct distinction in our world. As Inti Wright puts it, he says, We have to stop thinking of the world in this as a moral slot machine. We insert a coin, a behavior, and we pull the lever and out to spit some type of reward or punishment. He says that's not the way things are. Actions have consequences, and many times they're tied together. But as I said before, we recognize they're not always the way we think they should be. You see, life doesn't work.

The way that we often understand. It's much more mysterious, it's much more complicated. And so Jesus answers saying It's not this man's sin or his parents sin. You see, Jesus is saying God is working in the midst of the chaos and the brokenness of the world, that that's the raw material from which he's actually going to bring forth this new creation. You see, God can take negative consequences and he can reshape and remold them into a new creation. Jesus is picking up, he says, where his father has left off, and notice who he invites to join in. He says, as long as it's day, we must do the works of the father, and he invites us to join in that same redemptive reconciling work. He says night is coming when no one can work. While I'm in the world, I'm the light of the world. And for those of us who've been listening since that first message on the prologue, right, that first description of this light that has come into the world in him was life. In that life was the light of all mankind. Like this story, John is pointing us once again to this light that will not be overcome with darkness. Right. The echoes of creation are all throughout John's Gospel. At Creation, God starts with chaos and darkness, and He doesn't stop and start to point fingers at This is your fault. You should have done things different. He doesn't try to to describe it.

Instead, out of that darkness and chaos, he brings order. He brings life. And so too is Jesus. Out of the chaos, he is bringing order. But have you ever noticed that sometimes when the world is so used to chaos, order seems really strange. Really weird. It certainly did here in John nine that when this man comes home seeing after washing the mud off of his eyes, people don't recognize him. They don't really believe it's him. How could this be you? Is this you? So much so that they're like, No, no, no. One guy says, I just looks like him. That's his doppelganger. We don't know where the real one is. And he's insisting, No, it's me. It's me. The same one. The same guy. It's me. Have you ever known someone whose life was so transformed after meeting Jesus that it was really hard to recognize him afterwards? How is this the same person? I think of one of Caylee's family when they get together and talk. It's so fun to hear the stories because they had cousins and and aunts and uncles who all lived within the same, I don't know, 30 or 50 mile radius. And so they spent lots of times in these big gatherings, and they would always tell stories about this one uncle slash cousin, slash second cousin. And I won't say his name, even though I don't know that he would ever listen to this sermon. But.

But his life was so transformed by the gospel when he was a kid, he was a terror. And its legend of the stories are legendary, of the chaos that he brought in the family. And now what does he do? He's a preacher. You're welcome world. Right. But this man that most people, they tell these stories over and over again because they cannot believe the same kid who did all of those things is the same kid proclaiming the gospel. How can it be the same person? Right. The people here in John nine are going. Is this the same I don't even recognize? We're just so used to him being blind and being in that spot that we can't even recognize him when he walks up seeing. Right. And now the the roles have been reversed. Now who's blind? All the people who thought they could see, which becomes this theme through the rest of the chapter that we'll see. So the question then becomes, how did this happen? And who did this and where is he? And so Jesus, we're told this John actually picks up in verse 15. Therefore, the Pharisees also asked him, the man who had been healed, how he'd received a sight. He put mud on my eyes, the man replied, and I washed. And now I see. And some of the Pharisees said, This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath. But others asked, How can a sinner perform such signs? Remember people who sin.

Good things don't happen to them. It's only the good people. Right? Remember, that's the that's the narrative that's running through this whole story. And they say, how can this man be a sinner if he just did this incredible thing? So they were divided. Then they turned again to the blind man. What have you to say about him? It was your eyes that he opened, and the man replied, He's a prophet. He's got to be a prophet. They still did not believe that he had been blind and received his sight until they sent for his parents. This. This cannot be the same guy. Call Mom and Dad in. Bring them in. Let's go. Is this your son? They asked. Is this the one you say? Allegedly was born blind. Allegedly. How is it that he can now see? Love the parents response. We know he's our kid. We raised them. We got the broken chairs, the broken cuffs to prove it. This is him. We know he was born blind. But how he can see now and who opened his eyes? We don't know. Ask him. He is of age. He will speak for himself. Not exactly the ringing endorsement this young man was hoping his parents would give him. Why did they say that? Well, his parents said this because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders who already had decided that anyone who acknowledged that Jesus was the messiah would be put out of the synagogue.

That was why his parents said he's of age. Ask him. Which brings us to a reason of one of the ways and one of the reasons why we have a hard time seeing the sign of compassion, the signs of compassion in others. It's what keeps us, keeps the people in this story from seeing it. And this man. And that's fear. Fear is a powerful force. The Pharisees are afraid that the new creation that Jesus is bringing about is threatening to them. It started back in chapter two when he cleanses the temple that they could see This guy is different, he's doing something new and we're not sure how we fit in and how he fits in and where this all is going. And so fear is motivating them. So much so that they would say anyone who acknowledges Jesus as Messiah, you're kicked out of the out of the synagogue. Now, in our day, we'd say, fine, I'll just go down the street to another church. And that day you didn't go down the street to another church because there wasn't another church. There wasn't another group. This was akin to saying you might as well just pick up and move and leave because you've lost your family, all of your community. Anyone that might ever consider you any type of ally or friend connection at all is now disappeared. You might as well literally pick up and move to another city, another town, another part of the country.

That's the fear. You see, that's the fear that's driving the parents. This is going to cost us too much. I'm not sure we're really ready ready to do this. Again, not the not the vote of confidence this young man was hoping for. And so the Pharisees ask him, they bring him in again, verse 24, Give glory to God by telling the truth. We know this man is a sinner. We know it. He replied. Whether he's a sinner or not, I don't know. One thing I do know, I was blind. And now I can see. Then they asked him, What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes? He answered. I've already told you and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples? To. Then they hurled insults at him and said, You are this fellow's disciple. We are disciples of Moses. We know that God spoke to Moses. But as for this fellow, we don't even know where he came from. Give glory to God. They said it is impossible to imagine a scenario where God is not responsible for this. So quit saying it was this man. Jesus. It's only God. But this man unwilling to give up the idea. His belief that it was actually Jesus. So for him holding on to what he knew was giving glory to God. You see, the Pharisees were holding on to their preconceived ideas about how God can and will work and upon whom He will or will not show compassion.

Now, I know that may seem strange to us, right? We can't imagine a scenario in our own life where we could limit God's work in the world, his ability to have compassion on someone. It sounds strange and distant and ancient first century type behavior, but just try to put yourself there for a moment. Is there a person in your life that you just imagine? God would never have compassion on that person. There's no way you would forgive that. Gross No. There's no way that person would ever be allowed into the kingdom. Now. What they're living now is the result of what they've done. They're getting what they deserve. See, John wants us to see this man giving God the glory by sticking to his story. Insisting, No, it was Jesus. It was this man. He's not even sure who he was. All he knows is. Is he was blind. And now we can see. So Pharisees do what we often do when we don't understand the compassion of God in front of us. Right. We're afraid. And we start to threaten or we insult. There's no way. No way possible. We know who God talks to and we know who God doesn't talk to. This man's a sinner. We don't even know where he came from. But the man undeterred and now seemingly even more emboldened by the compassion that's been shown on him, he answers this way.

Now. That's remarkable. You don't know where he comes from yet. He opened my eyes. I remember that question from the very beginning. It brings us back full circle to that question. Jesus, who sent this man or his parents that this would happen and this man is going to start unpacking that logic. He's going to use their logic against them to show them how it really was Jesus. We know. You may not know a lot. Here's what we know, right? God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly person who does his will. That sounds like Bible 101 right there. God listens not to the center, but to the one who does his will. Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing. Right? Guys, what you've taught me since I was a kid. In fact, I wonder if this same logic was ever used on him when he stopped to say, I was born this way. How could God make me blind? Well. So our truth, son. We know God doesn't listen to sinners. And if you're blind. Well. You put it together. I imagine the same logic had been used on him at some point. Right. And some of us know the weight of this type of logic, right. It's been it's been used on us. And yet here he is.

He turns around and he gives it right back, says God doesn't listen to sinners and no one's ever heard of a man being born blind and being healed. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing. Now again, their response when I'm confronted with with compassion and I don't know what to do with it. I'm not sure how it fits. I'm not sure I can agree with it. It's outside of the preconceived ideas and norms in my own life, he says. You were steeped in sin at birth. Here we go again. How dare you lecture us? And they threw him out. They've come face to face with this compassion and they don't know how to explain it. And so they're unable or maybe better said, they're unwilling to see it. You were sinful at birth. That's why we're here in the first place. Get him out of here. But Jesus once again shows them compassion. Right. Verse 35. Jesus heard that they'd thrown him out. And when he found. It doesn't say. And so Jesus just stayed still and just waited for the guy to come find him. One day it says Jesus went and found him. And he said, Do you believe in the son of man? Who is he, sir? The man asked. Tell me so that I may believe in him. Jesus said you have now. Seen him. You've seen him. You've seen him physically, although you saw him a little while ago.

You just didn't realize that's who you saw. Now, you have seen him. In fact, he is the one speaking to you. And then the man said, Lord, I believe. And he worshipped him. Very response to when we encounter and we finally see Jesus. What can we help but do? There's worship. God, I believe. We worship. Will we see? That question that permeates Chapter nine of John's gospel, that sign of healing. Will we see it? Who is really blind? The Pharisees couldn't see it at their preconceived ideas and notions. Wouldn't allow any room for God to to show incredible compassion. What about us, church? What about you? I pray for us this week as we go throughout our days. As we encounter you at work in the world, often in ways we don't really understand and we're not sure how they make sense. God, would you give us eyes to see? Would you give us ears to hear? Lord me, when we encounter these types of situations in our life, at least in mind. A tendency is to respond with fear. I don't know what to do with this. I'm not sure how this adds up. This doesn't seem right. The temptation is to want to insult it, to belittle it, to demean it, to find a way to poke a hole in it, rather than to step back and say, Jesus, is is this you? God. Would you make her heart sensitive this week? It's opportunities to showing the same kind of compassion.

The kind of compassion that we were shown once when we encountered the gospel first. And it changed our lives. It changed the trajectory of our lives. The decisions we started making from that point forward were different. They look different. How we related to the people around us. It looked different, how we pursued our vocation and our studies. It looked different because we knew we were we were part of something so much bigger than just making money. So much bigger than just graduating with a degree. So much bigger than just getting married and having the 2.5 kids and the white picket fence and the 401. K. Now we were gripped by reality that you had purpose for us. That you were ready to heal us. Gao, would you reveal to us this week the areas in our life where we've been blind? Maybe a long time, maybe our whole life. And how would you open up our eyes? Would you give us the courage to keep seeking you? Knowing that you will. You will come find us. I thank you for your amazing compassion. Thank you for the ways that that you have overcome our fear, our insults, a willingness to give your own self that we might have life with you. Not just someday when we pass away, but right here and right now. Would you help us to live into this life? Help us God to see this sign. Thank you, Father. We pray in Jesus name. Amen.