After being thrown out of the synagogue, the man that Jesus had healed was approached by Jesus.
click here for an online Bible John 9:35-41
Notice how Jesus approached the man. He didn’t say, “I’m sorry the Pharisees threw you out of the synagogue.” He said, “Do you believe?” Jesus was seeking believers. John explains why he wrote this gospel at the end of chapter 20, so that you can believe.
So what does it mean to believe? It means much more than just agreeing with a statement or a set of facts. Biblical belief is always associated with transformation. It means believing something to the extent that your life is changed. Jesus came with a life-changing message. When you say that you believe that message, then your life should be changed. If there is no life-change, then the belief doesn’t seem so believable. That is why belief is associated with terms like born again. Jesus also used phrases like, “follow me.” To believe in Jesus is to follow him – to be a disciple.
That is the reason for this blog and reading through the gospel of John, to grow as disciples. We are not just looking for information, we are seeking encounters with God in order to grow.
As I read today’s passage, I ask God to show me how this affects me. What transformation is he seeking in my life. I am struck by the difficulties faced by those who follow Jesus. The blind man was abused by the religious leaders. Following Jesus can be hazardous to your health. Expect problems. It is easy to fall into the expectation that God wants me to be healthy, wealthy, and successful. God wants me to be a believer, a follower of Christ, a disciple.
Friday, August 22, 2008
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Thursday John 9:13-34
Jesus healed a blind man and the Pharisees could not accept this miracle as a gift from God.
click here for an online Bible John 9:13-34
The crowd brought the formerly blind man to the religious leaders so that they could get to the bottom of this healing controversy. First they had to verify if the man really had been healed. He said that he had been healed. Then they brought in the man’s parents. They verified that the man had been born blind. First step accomplished – the man had been healed.
But, the religious leaders had a real dilemma. Common sense says that only a man of God could perform a miraculous healing like this, yet the healing had been performed on the Sabbath. Technically, from their point of view, this was work and therefore was a violation of the Sabbath. No real man of God would violate the Sabbath. The Pharisees were divided.
The parents would not say what they knew about Jesus because they knew they would be ejected from the synagogue. The man who was formerly known as the blind man was pretty blunt with the Pharisees. He pretty much said, “For religious leaders, you guys aren’t too bright. I may have been blind my whole life except for the last hour, but it’s pretty obvious to me that this healer-dude is a man of God.”
The Pharisees blew a gasket. The formerly blind man was certainly born in sin. Why else would he have been born blind? He didn’t get any religious training since he had been blind his whole life. Now he is lecturing the Pharisees about who is godly and who is a sinner. How dare he?
We look at the Pharisees and ridicule them. But they were serious about their religion. We often say that they had let rules replace God. This is true. But it wasn’t necessarily individual Pharisees. It was their religious system. I’m sure most of them were sincere people who wanted desperately to please God. The problem was that their religious system got in the way.
We have to be careful that we are relating to God and not just to church programs. We have to remember that God is not limited to our church tradition. We have to try to operate as a church to bring people to God not just to church. This means we have to always be looking at our Bibles and weighing everything by the word of God.
Sometimes people react in extremes. They say that they are just following Christ and don’t need organized church. That’s not biblical. The Bible provides an organizational model for church.
Others hide from the world in the church and never engage a lost culture. That’s also not biblical either.
Let’s be as biblical as we can and follow Christ. Let’s be the church and be the body of Christ.
click here for an online Bible John 9:13-34
The crowd brought the formerly blind man to the religious leaders so that they could get to the bottom of this healing controversy. First they had to verify if the man really had been healed. He said that he had been healed. Then they brought in the man’s parents. They verified that the man had been born blind. First step accomplished – the man had been healed.
But, the religious leaders had a real dilemma. Common sense says that only a man of God could perform a miraculous healing like this, yet the healing had been performed on the Sabbath. Technically, from their point of view, this was work and therefore was a violation of the Sabbath. No real man of God would violate the Sabbath. The Pharisees were divided.
The parents would not say what they knew about Jesus because they knew they would be ejected from the synagogue. The man who was formerly known as the blind man was pretty blunt with the Pharisees. He pretty much said, “For religious leaders, you guys aren’t too bright. I may have been blind my whole life except for the last hour, but it’s pretty obvious to me that this healer-dude is a man of God.”
The Pharisees blew a gasket. The formerly blind man was certainly born in sin. Why else would he have been born blind? He didn’t get any religious training since he had been blind his whole life. Now he is lecturing the Pharisees about who is godly and who is a sinner. How dare he?
We look at the Pharisees and ridicule them. But they were serious about their religion. We often say that they had let rules replace God. This is true. But it wasn’t necessarily individual Pharisees. It was their religious system. I’m sure most of them were sincere people who wanted desperately to please God. The problem was that their religious system got in the way.
We have to be careful that we are relating to God and not just to church programs. We have to remember that God is not limited to our church tradition. We have to try to operate as a church to bring people to God not just to church. This means we have to always be looking at our Bibles and weighing everything by the word of God.
Sometimes people react in extremes. They say that they are just following Christ and don’t need organized church. That’s not biblical. The Bible provides an organizational model for church.
Others hide from the world in the church and never engage a lost culture. That’s also not biblical either.
Let’s be as biblical as we can and follow Christ. Let’s be the church and be the body of Christ.
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Wednesday John 9:1-12
Jesus healed a blind man. Rather than rejoicing in the healing, the Pharisees were critical.
click here for an online Bible John 9:1-12
Jesus’ disciples grew up with the understanding that blindness was a result of sin. They were right in one sense. Blindness is a result of being fallen people in a fallen world. But their understanding was that the blindness of this particular man was the result of somebody’s particular sin. Either he was a sinner, or his parents were sinners.
So, their question to Jesus was a natural question in light of their understanding of how things work. Jesus tells them that their line of thinking is wrong. The man’s blindness is not the result of his sin or his parents’ sin. So, why is he blind? He is blind so that God can be glorified by his healing. We view things from our vantage point where we are the center of the universe. We exist to glorify God.
In this story, a man who had been blind since birth was healed by Jesus. A man who had never seen could now see. There was certainly a reason to give glory to God. We have reasons every day to give glory to God.
I need to see the world and my life with the perspective of seeing God. When I see him in my life and the lives of those around me, I give him the glory.
click here for an online Bible John 9:1-12
Jesus’ disciples grew up with the understanding that blindness was a result of sin. They were right in one sense. Blindness is a result of being fallen people in a fallen world. But their understanding was that the blindness of this particular man was the result of somebody’s particular sin. Either he was a sinner, or his parents were sinners.
So, their question to Jesus was a natural question in light of their understanding of how things work. Jesus tells them that their line of thinking is wrong. The man’s blindness is not the result of his sin or his parents’ sin. So, why is he blind? He is blind so that God can be glorified by his healing. We view things from our vantage point where we are the center of the universe. We exist to glorify God.
In this story, a man who had been blind since birth was healed by Jesus. A man who had never seen could now see. There was certainly a reason to give glory to God. We have reasons every day to give glory to God.
I need to see the world and my life with the perspective of seeing God. When I see him in my life and the lives of those around me, I give him the glory.
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Tuesday John 8:48-59
Things continue to heat up as Jesus confronts the religious leaders in the temple area.
click here for an online Bible John 8:48-59
Jesus has been telling everyone that he is the source of life. So, like any good debater, the religious leaders resort to name-calling. They said that he was a demon-possessed Samaritan. I don’t know where they got the Samaritan part. Maybe because he had traveled through Samaria. I think they probably figured that since he was so mixed up theologically, he must be a Samarian, because they were way off-center.
In calling him demon-possessed, they at least recognize that there are spiritual issues involved. Jesus comes back with the bottom line. “If anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.” He makes sure that we don’t miss that this is the bottom line. He began his remark (verse 51) with, “Amen, amen, I tell you …” English translations use a variety of ways to translate this phrase.
King James verily verily I say unto you
New King James most assuredly I say to you
New American Standard truly truly I say to you
New International Version I tell you the truth
Holman Christian Standard I assure you
New Living Translation I tell you the truth
English Standard Version truly truly I say to you
When Jesus says, “Amen amen, I tell you…” then you had better pay attention. He is saying something important. Anyone who follows Jesus will not die. He literally says, “he will not see death into the age.”
The religious leaders come back with the fact that even their patriarch Abraham died. Certainly Jesus did not consider himself superior to Abraham. Just to make sure they didn’t miss the point, Jesus said, “Before Abraham was born, I am.” The leaders freaked out. They were ready to kill Jesus on the spot.
It wasn’t improper grammar that got them upset. When Jesus said, “I AM,” he was using the name of God, YAHWEH. He began his statement with another “amen amen.” He was essentially saying to the leaders, “Read my lips, I am the God of Abraham.”
We like to make the gospel the story of how we can have eternal life. The gospel is about Jesus. It is his story. We have to come face-to-face with who Jesus is. He is God.
click here for an online Bible John 8:48-59
Jesus has been telling everyone that he is the source of life. So, like any good debater, the religious leaders resort to name-calling. They said that he was a demon-possessed Samaritan. I don’t know where they got the Samaritan part. Maybe because he had traveled through Samaria. I think they probably figured that since he was so mixed up theologically, he must be a Samarian, because they were way off-center.
In calling him demon-possessed, they at least recognize that there are spiritual issues involved. Jesus comes back with the bottom line. “If anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.” He makes sure that we don’t miss that this is the bottom line. He began his remark (verse 51) with, “Amen, amen, I tell you …” English translations use a variety of ways to translate this phrase.
King James verily verily I say unto you
New King James most assuredly I say to you
New American Standard truly truly I say to you
New International Version I tell you the truth
Holman Christian Standard I assure you
New Living Translation I tell you the truth
English Standard Version truly truly I say to you
When Jesus says, “Amen amen, I tell you…” then you had better pay attention. He is saying something important. Anyone who follows Jesus will not die. He literally says, “he will not see death into the age.”
The religious leaders come back with the fact that even their patriarch Abraham died. Certainly Jesus did not consider himself superior to Abraham. Just to make sure they didn’t miss the point, Jesus said, “Before Abraham was born, I am.” The leaders freaked out. They were ready to kill Jesus on the spot.
It wasn’t improper grammar that got them upset. When Jesus said, “I AM,” he was using the name of God, YAHWEH. He began his statement with another “amen amen.” He was essentially saying to the leaders, “Read my lips, I am the God of Abraham.”
We like to make the gospel the story of how we can have eternal life. The gospel is about Jesus. It is his story. We have to come face-to-face with who Jesus is. He is God.
Monday, August 18, 2008
Monday John 8:21-47
Jesus continues to preach to the people in the temple area. Some of the crowd believed in him while others questioned who he was.
click here for an online Bible John 8:21-47
Jesus makes some challenging statements. In verse 24, he says that if people do not believe in him, they will die in their sins. Then he said that his disciples would know the truth and the truth would set them free. He was talking about freedom from sin.
Even those of us who know Christ sometimes forget the spiritual nature of things. We are so used to the idea of people “making decisions for Christ” that we miss the big picture. Jesus said that people are the children of Satan who is the father of lies. Jesus offers the truth but people are blinded to the truth.
When we share the gospel with people it is more than just giving information for somebody to make a decision. It is a spiritual battle. We are presenting the truth to someone who is blinded to truth by the father of lies. So, is it a useless attempt? No, because God is greater than Satan.
The gospel must be shared prayerfully. Pray for people to see the truth. Some believed Jesus then, and some will believe him now.
click here for an online Bible John 8:21-47
Jesus makes some challenging statements. In verse 24, he says that if people do not believe in him, they will die in their sins. Then he said that his disciples would know the truth and the truth would set them free. He was talking about freedom from sin.
Even those of us who know Christ sometimes forget the spiritual nature of things. We are so used to the idea of people “making decisions for Christ” that we miss the big picture. Jesus said that people are the children of Satan who is the father of lies. Jesus offers the truth but people are blinded to the truth.
When we share the gospel with people it is more than just giving information for somebody to make a decision. It is a spiritual battle. We are presenting the truth to someone who is blinded to truth by the father of lies. So, is it a useless attempt? No, because God is greater than Satan.
The gospel must be shared prayerfully. Pray for people to see the truth. Some believed Jesus then, and some will believe him now.
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Sunday John 8:2-20
While still in the temple area, the religious leaders brought a woman caught in adultery to Jesus. The law demanded death, what would Jesus say?
click here for an online Bible John 8:2-20
John points out that the religious leaders were trying to trap Jesus. If he said “let her go,” then he would be saying that law of Moses did not matter. If he said, “stone her,” then he would be saying to disobey the Roman law. If he said, “Let’s go ask a Roman governor,” he would be a wimp.
Instead, he drew or wrote on the ground. What did he write? We don’t know and if we said we did, then we would be lying. He did write or draw and he did it for a purpose. We just don’t know.
The Jewish tradition said that the witnesses of a capital offense should be the first to cast stones in an execution. Jesus said that those without sin should be the first. The people left, beginning with the oldest. Jesus said, “Where are those who condemn you?” She said that they had left. Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you, go and sin no more.”
Some say that this shows that Jesus would not condemn anyone and that we should not confront anyone with sin either. Jesus did confront people with their sin. He showed all of the accusing crowd that they were all sinners. Jesus confronted the woman with her sin when he told her to quit sinning.
Remember your memorization verses (John 3:16-21). Jesus said that he did not come to condemn the world but to save it. The saving or condemning is based on how you deal with sin. Those who do not repent of their sin and turn to Christ are condemned already. Those who repent and accept Christ are saved. Then turn to the end of Revelation and see what happens to those who remain condemned. Jesus is not soft on sin; he is seeking believers.
We are often caught up in how sinful lost people are. What do you expect sinners to do? They sin. Rather than condemn them, we need to reach out with the message of the gospel.
click here for an online Bible John 8:2-20
John points out that the religious leaders were trying to trap Jesus. If he said “let her go,” then he would be saying that law of Moses did not matter. If he said, “stone her,” then he would be saying to disobey the Roman law. If he said, “Let’s go ask a Roman governor,” he would be a wimp.
Instead, he drew or wrote on the ground. What did he write? We don’t know and if we said we did, then we would be lying. He did write or draw and he did it for a purpose. We just don’t know.
The Jewish tradition said that the witnesses of a capital offense should be the first to cast stones in an execution. Jesus said that those without sin should be the first. The people left, beginning with the oldest. Jesus said, “Where are those who condemn you?” She said that they had left. Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you, go and sin no more.”
Some say that this shows that Jesus would not condemn anyone and that we should not confront anyone with sin either. Jesus did confront people with their sin. He showed all of the accusing crowd that they were all sinners. Jesus confronted the woman with her sin when he told her to quit sinning.
Remember your memorization verses (John 3:16-21). Jesus said that he did not come to condemn the world but to save it. The saving or condemning is based on how you deal with sin. Those who do not repent of their sin and turn to Christ are condemned already. Those who repent and accept Christ are saved. Then turn to the end of Revelation and see what happens to those who remain condemned. Jesus is not soft on sin; he is seeking believers.
We are often caught up in how sinful lost people are. What do you expect sinners to do? They sin. Rather than condemn them, we need to reach out with the message of the gospel.
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