Light In Christ ~ John 9:1-41

0:00So, this week, I had the blessing of hanging out with KD in about 20 plus students at Youth Group on Wednesday. At the end, I did a short 10-minute talk, pulling from NT Wright's Lenton study. And I had the students look up the 10 Commandments. When asked what is the hardest part of living with the 10 Commandments, I expected them to follow up with a couple of side conversations I had had about the use of language. But the room got very quiet when one student calmly but directly said that the hardest commandment to live by was to not covet. Living as a child of God can get difficult at times. There are four scriptures for this morning. For Samuel 16, Psalm 23, all of John 9, and then the middle section out of Ephesians 5, 8 through 14.

1:02From 1 Samuel, we find that David, the 8th brother, one of no inheritance or consequence, still outshepherding, was actually who God was looking for. From Psalm 23, the Lord is my shepherd. He leads me through the dark valley. From John 9, Jesus shepherds a blind man from darkness into light, both physically and spiritually, and Paul tells us in Ephesians that we have been again moved, shepherded from darkness to light. I'll be honest, there's a lot of sheep references here. The Paul writes in Ephesians, for you were once darkness, but now you are light in the world. There is something more here than God turns on the light so we can find our way out of a barn. Peter Kreyf wrote, God's heart is his mind and his mind is his heart, his understanding is his love, and his love is his understanding.

2:02For the past few months, I've been reading Scripture through what Mark and I call the Christlands. What this means is no matter if it's in the New Testament or Old Testament Scripture, I am listening for Christ's voice coming from what is written. And once I started to hear Christ's voice, then I started to hear God the Father's voice as well. I listen to a Bible app as I walk my dog Chloe each morning, and currently I'm listening to Isaiah, sections of verse now bounce between the Father and the Son, speaking. God's love for his creation has been apparent since the beginning, searching for Adam and Eve in the garden. God and Abraham talking about future generations. Moses goes up the mountain for 40 days to be with God. Here we are in Lent, and we've delve back into Jesus' baptism and transfiguration. Both of those events have God speaking about His Son to anyone who will listen in that moment.

3:08We are a part of God's creation. We are made in His image, but there's something different about us and the rest of creation. It came across this, that something that is different is God and people make promises. What I'm about to tell you, I truly believe. My dog Chloe loves me. I truly believe that, and I love her. But she has not promised me anything. The promises in Scripture, let's be honest, they're from a long time ago now. We see Christ promise, I will send an advocate, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God, breath, wind of God, reminds us that God moves with and through us unseen. Christ, God, holds true to the promise made,

4:08to the point we don't know God is there many times until we stop and look back behind us. How's this tie in with our Scripture from John's Gospel and Ephesians? Chapter 9 of John has Jesus and the disciples walking, and they spot a man who's been blind since birth. The disciples, question of who sinned, the man before his birth or his parents, is a classic human question. It's the question we have all asked when we make assumptions. We look at them and go, what did you do? My students ask this question every time one of their friends gets a slip to go down to the office. Jesus responds, neither. As long as it's day, we, the church, must do the works of him who sent me, night is coming when no one can work.

5:10While I am in the world, I am the light of the world. From there Jesus goes, makes mud with his own spit, and goes and tells the guy to wash in the pool, and then Jesus leaves. It's not about who sinned, figuring out who and how they did wrong. Jesus is telling us our days are numbered. Our time on earth is a limited engagement. The light of the world is God in the world. We are to be the same with our time. Jesus did not tell people how to live. He showed them how to live. Back to the no longer blind man. As all good communities do, everyone around this man questions. At first they do the caring thing all good people do. Quietly speculate. Is this blind bob from down on the corner no longer blind? They speculate, again quietly I'm sure, to the point the person who has gained his sight finally has to speak up for himself.

6:15It's me, he says. This guy named Jesus came, put mud in my eyes, had me go wash in the pool, and now I can see. Not wanting to believe him, the people demand to know where is this man named Jesus. And much like my students, the man replies quite simply. I don't know. As with any good miracle, unbelief abounds. So time to call in the smart people, the Pharisees. And they bring around two of questioning. The leaders demand to know who's sinned. Are you sure you're the blind man? Are you sure you can now see? Are you a disciple of this man who healed you that you say you could not point out in a lineup? And the Pharisees conclusion?

7:15You've heard this one. They look at him and say a sinner at birth is a sinner in life, and they throw him out. How times have changed? At this point, if you were the man who saw the world for the first time and was surrounded by people who questioned the miracle that has happened, would you start to question? Would you wonder, did I really wake up blind today? No one around me believes me. No one around me is asking to celebrate. No one around me is saying, tell me about no longer being in the dark, tell me about the light. No one believed him. But Christ didn't just heal that day. Christ goes back and finds the man. Christ validates this person who has not changed his story, has not doubted the miracle in his life. He just didn't know who Jesus was or what he looked like.

8:15The man who had been questioned, doubted, thrown out, shut out, and Jesus finds him, and says, do you believe in the Son of Man? My man replies, who is he? Tell me, I'll believe it. Jesus looks him in the eye and says, right in front of you, I'm the one speaking to you. What a journey this man has gone on in one day, waking up blind in the dark, being healed but don't know by who. But as the day goes on, he comes to understand more and more. At first he knows it's a guy named Jesus and that he can now see. Then the man starts to realize that this guy named Jesus has performed a miracle that removes his separation from his community, let alone, let's him no longer be blind. And then Jesus comes and clears up any misunderstanding the man has.

9:18Darkness and separation, they're gone. Replacing it is seeing Christ, seeing God both physically and in faith, this man sees the light of the world. And don't miss the fact that everyone questioned this guy, everyone. And Jesus is the light for this man, this one man who everyone else sees as a sinner in the dark. Professor Dale Bruner wrote, the healed man gradually comes towards the light. This shows us how we too can grow in faith and understanding of who Christ is over time. It's this moment that Paul writes about in any Ephesians. Once you were in darkness, but now, once you were darkness, but now you are light in the world. Notice Paul doesn't say, in darkness, in light. Paul tells us we are now light.

10:19In the Lord, we are now light. John Stott says, the light metaphor speaks vividly of Christian openness and transparency, of living joyfully in the presence of Christ with nothing to hide or fear. Let's be honest, this is not a new idea, we've heard it all of our lives. There's victory in the Lord, freedom from oppression, children living as light, a pathway that is lit by the light Christ so that we do not easily stumble. But here in Ephesians 5, Paul is speaking to the Christians in Ephesus about the contrast of now living in relationship with God, not without. Verse 8 says, for you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light and find out what pleases the Lord. Paul makes two separate points in the first sets up the second. In the Lord, we are now light. God is love and that love who God is is Christ.

11:23Our adoptions as siblings to Christ is what calls us to cry out, enjoy to God. Paul is reminding the Ephesians that they are changed having moved from darkness to light. Much like the once blind man from birth in John's Gospel who started the day in darkness in Christ we are now living, seeing, breathing light. The second point that Paul is making is addressing what it looks like now that we are light, meaning living as light in Christ. I get nervous at this point because this is where most preachers in blessed American Christianity start expounding on how the centers of the world need to start living differently. I made up some quotes here, play along with me. Strike this in from your life, be healed from your devilish ways, separate yourself from the horrors and drunkards.

12:28Anybody else want to send up a tent for next Friday? No, okay. We need to read Ephesians differently because Paul is addressing the difficulties of stepping into the light of Christ. Paul asks the believers in Ephesus, how do we view darkness as we move forward? Paul's answer is you no longer take part in the darkness, but shine light into darkness. Christ exposes darkness, shines light goodness into bad situations. Darkness hides the ugly realities of evil, light makes them visible. There's no doubt that light changes things. We turn on a light, light of candle or a lantern. A flashlight in a basement in a dark corner shows us what we think is hiding from us. This is where the tension of living in relationship with one another is found. Paul is telling us this is the hard part of living as Christians.

13:35Light is gracious, compassionate, patient, merciful, faithful. These are the things that we are to shine into each other and the world. It's hard to look at people who are doing bad things, destructive things to themselves or to those around them. Do you walk away? Ignore them. Or make an excuse as to why you're not good enough, strong enough to show grace, compassion, patience, mercy, faithfulness. That would be giving into darkness. As light in Christ, we are called to recognize people in moments of darkness. Take a deep breath, ask for guidance from the Holy Spirit, and then simply shine. This means compassion over condemnation. And people may argue with you when you try this. Point out where you're wrong. Make absurd accusations.

14:36How can you step into a situation you know nothing about? Or you're just as damaged and hurt as a person in front of you. What makes you an expert to speak up? The world loves to play the role of the accuser. The darkness we shine light into may just be the doubt a person has that we may have in ourselves. Each of us has had that moment the experience where in our minds or from the lips and actions of others that has caused us to stop and question. To be light means we are to live in relationship with people really not unlike ourselves. Meaning people struggling with addictions, physical and emotional pains, years of hurt that cause a person to spiral for the day or for months to come. This is all of us. Being people of light means we are aware of our adoption into the living relationship of father, son and spirit and are then called to live out this new life.

15:41By simply sharing with one another, walking with one another and praying with one another. The healed man gradually comes toward the light. Take us back to John and the man born blind at birth. The healed man gradually comes towards the light. The man who sees for the first time but by the end of the day sees the Lord and knows it's the Lord that he sees. The man knew darkness. He knew his world, his neighbors, his leaders, his community grew darker and darker with each moment of questioning. There's a contrasting battle between light and darkness that builds through the entire story of chapter 9 in John. At the end, all of us who think we know so much, intellectually, doctrinally and even biblically, are asked to confess our factual blindness so that we may experience the miracle of seeing the truth.

16:49Who is the Lord Jesus, the Son of Man? Our knowledge of our saving grace is a call to serve, not to sit back and live in blindness. At the end of John 9, Jesus states, for judgment I have come into the world so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind. But if you go back to John 317 for God did not send a son into the world to condemn the world but to save the world through him, is there a contrast between these two verses? How does for judgment I've come into the world and God didn't send a son to condemn? What are we to understand and see? Judgment, that thing we all do on a daily basis, separates one person from another. Judgment separates friends, families, co-workers, neighbors, communities, countries.

17:52Jesus in his teaching and his death and resurrection challenges judgment and condemnation. Jesus was sent to the world by being the light, shining into all the darkness, all the separation in creation. Those that see the Pharisees judge the blind. But Jesus makes the blind to see. Jesus is the light that goes deep into the darkness of the world and brings calm, comfort, love, hope, and peace. Light removes judgment, light removes separation. At the start a quoted Peter craft. Only God and people make promises. Jesus promised an advocate the spirit. Look back in your life and remember being spirit led. Spirit protected. Going from darkness to light in the Lord. Doesn't that steer us in how we're supposed to live?

18:54Doesn't that influence our choices to shine light into darkness for someone else? Judgment separates us and tells us you are not worthy. These actions of judgment, shame, and separation are the things darkness covers and tries to hide. This is not who you are anymore. You are now light in the Lord. God knows your heart much as He did knowing David's heart as just a young boy thousands of years ago. We do not fear the darkness of the valley, this life because the advocate, the spirit lives in and around us just as Jesus promised. So today, live as children of light and find out what pleases the Lord. In the name of the Father, Son, and Spirit, let us pray.