John 9

Good Morning Brothers,

I was able to enjoy the Wednesday night Bible study last night.  We have a great time, it certainly is great to study God's Word.  Something was brought up, it is still pricking at my heart today.  Have you ever seen Christians run stealth mode at work?  Perhaps you have, I know that I have in the past.  Why do we do that?  I know that some of us risk losing our jobs if we witness or demonstrate our Christian lives at work.  Others avoid harassment by running stealth.  Another question that runs in my mind is where is the fine line between living the life and abusing the privilege?  Pastor Phil made a comment to the effect that it is a shame that you have to seek out Christians to know who they are.  He was right,  (Thanks Phil for bringing it up, there is no excuse for working even one shift without someone being aware of who we are.   I'll bet I can identify every Mormon and Mason on the railroad just due to their reputation.  If people don't know that we are Christians, how do we expect them to find out?  Do they have to pry it out of us?  (How in the thunder are we going to witness and spread the faith to those in our circle of influence if they don't know we are Christians in the first place?) Here is the fine line that I was talking about.  I think that we should be known as Christians, however, I also realize that our jobs are for the sole purpose of enriching our employer.  If our employer does not feel that we are causing the company we work for to be profitable, it is in his best interest to let us go.  We need to work hard for our employer, be model employees, our work should exceed our peers.  Often this is a crisis in the life of a Christian, because we want to live in the flesh, be lazy and do the same work as the unsaved.  A sidenote here, if you are not glorifying God in your work, in other words if you believe in doing the bare minimum, and complaining about the rest, do all of us a favor and keep you mouth shut.  If you choose to open it, change your heart.  We have enough bad publicity from the moaners and groaners.

We can't expect others to know by osmosis that we are believers in Christ.  Somehow we need to let it be known that we are Christian, even if it means wearing a Christian hat or T-shirt.  Here is an act of boldness, why not open a Bible at lunch time, or just carry it with you at school? By demonstrating that we are Christians we will be obligated to live the life to the fullest.  How about this, this will force us to be accountable to our fellow workers.   I think that in doing this, we will draw out all the stealth-mode Christians.  We will be an influence in getting them to be recognized.  God did not give us a heart of timidity, but of boldness.  I wonder what the early Christians would think of us, they suffered every kind of persecution thinkable just because they were recognized as Christians.  Look at the former blind man in this chapter, he was kicked out of his church before he even accepted Christ as Lord, simply because he was associated with Jesus, he simply told what Jesus did for him.  Kind of makes me wonder if running stealth is a way of denying Jesus before other men.   Sorry, got a little wordy.  It was just a thought.  The best way is to own your own business, then you won't fire yourself for witnessing, but most of us are not in that position. 

What has all of this work stuff have to do with today's study?  The former blind man was a terrific witness, he told what had happened to him, several times.  We were formerly blind, we know that Jesus Christ healed our spiritual blindness, are we willing to tell our story as well?

vs. 1-12  Remember where we left off yesterday.  Jesus had just declared that He is the "I Am".  The Pharisee's have a real problem, this Jesus just won't conform to their standards.  Here again, Jesus throws a new wrench in the works.  This man was born blind.  The question regarding sin was from the Old Testament, Exodus 20:5.  I wish that we had this kind of question in place today from church-goers.  A simple belief that the Bible literally says what it means, what a refreshing thought!   It is obvious that Jesus used medicine to heal this man, (I wonder what the Jehovah's Witnesses do with this verse).  It was miraculous, sure, but it was also the use of medicine that cured the man.  God uses medicine to heal also, perhaps that is why we don't see as many healings today.    Also note that this man did not request to be healed.  He was the subject of conversation between Jesus and His Disciples, his healing was to show the power of God.  He did not even know who Jesus was.  I find it interesting that he was willing for Jesus to perform this medical task on his eyes, Jesus could have snapped his fingers and the man would have seen perfectly.  Notice also that Jesus performed this healing in front of the disciples, for the express purpose of them seeing "the works of God".  Therefore when he was sent away to wash, they were aware of what the outcome would be.  Also look at what the former blind man did, he had the whole community talking about his miracle.  He witnessed to what had happened to him.

vs. 13-17 The Pharisees interrogate the man.  They try to discount what Jesus had done, they even ask the formerly blind man what he thinks of Jesus.  The former blind man's response "He is a prophet" is very good given the information that he had to work with.  Remember, he was present while the disciples were having the discussion about sin.  This man knew that the work performed in anointing his eyes was attributed to God.  To the Pharisees it was important that this man say that Jesus was a sinner, because then they had an outside witness stating that Jesus was a sinner outside of their sect.  The only 'sin' that Jesus committed was violating the rules set by the Scribes and Pharisees.

vs. 18-23  The Pharisees interrogate the parents of the man.  They did not believe that Jesus had healed the man, they tried to prove that the man could actually see all along.  These guys were getting desperate.  Notice how much effort was placed into undoing the effects of this miracle.  Apparently the word was already out, if you associated with Jesus you would be put out of the synagogue.  The Pharisees were concerned with people acknowledging that Jesus was the Messiah, or the Christ.  This stems directly from the Bible prophecy that they see being fulfilled in Jesus.  How can they miss it?  The answer of the parents sounds like a response you would receive today. 

vs. 24-34  Back to square one.  Since they couldn't get the right answer the first time, they call the formerly blind man back for a second try.  They try again to get the man to say that Jesus is a sinner.  Notice how volatile the situation is here.  v. 27 the man accuses the Pharisees of wanting to be one of His disciples.  v. 28  The formerly blind man is recognized as a disciple of Jesus, however, this is unfair since he still doesn't know Jesus.  The man is getting irritated at this point, he jumps into the argument and quits taking the fifth amendment.  v. 30  True sarcasm jumps out, also note the comment in v. 31.  NASB has a whole chain of references related to how God does not hear sinners prayers.  Job 27:8f; 35:13; Ps 34:15f, 66:18; 145:19; Prov 15:29; 28:9, Is 1:15; James 5:16FF.  See verse 34 the Pharisees put him out of the synagogue because he was telling the truth.  Not only that, but he was well versed in the knowledge of the Word.  Isn't it interesting that the Pharisees set themselves up on a higher level, as if they were exempt from sin?  They accuse the formerly blind man of being entirely born in sins, which is true, but not qualified to teach the Pharisees.  They set up their own standard, They were above sin.

vs. 35-38  Finally the man meets Jesus.  Notice the willing heart of the man as he stands before Jesus.  He has already recognized that Jesus was a prophet, and that Jesus must be led by God since He performed this miracle.  His heart is ready to receive the Gospel, and he does receive it. 

vs. 39-41  These verses sound a little like word games, but look at them, in reference to Proverbs  26:12 "Do you see a man ^wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him."  New American Standard Bible Also see Proverbs 3:7; 26:5; 29:20  By claiming that they knew it all, they claimed that they see and understand the truth, they also accepted the responsibility for that action.  We are also warned here, Jesus is our Lord, if we take over and flesh out our Christianity, are we any better than the Pharisees here?  Do we take a know-it-all attitude around other Christians, or is our hearts humble and willing to listen?  The trap of the Pharisees is easy to fall into.  We are not any better than they were, however, we are saved.  This brings me back to where we started.  When you witness to others in you life, be very careful not to come across as a know-it-all.   In the first place we aren't, once we think that we have a handle on it, God will show us otherwise.  God is in control of every aspect of your lives, let's seek to gain wisdom from God.  Then He will witness to those we influence every day through us.  This means we must be willing to live the life, in humility.  Let's keep the Pharisees in mind, we don't want to be like them.  We want to be like Jesus Christ.

I pray that each of us will be willing to listen to You Lord as you speak to each of our hearts and lead us in sharing with others.  Thank you for this powerful passage, that demonstrates to us the importance of witnessing regardless of the outcome.  I pray that each of us will develop a spirit of boldness, and cast off the cloaks of timidity.

In Him,

Joe Turner