I have this Sunday off, and so I'm trying to take advantage of it and get a week ahead on sermon writing. My week just feels strange, and so needless to say I'm having a bit of trouble staying focused and on task. This past Sunday I preached on John 9.1-12, and in two weeks the text is John 9.13-25. In this story Jesus gives sight to a man who was born blind.
He had never seen anything, not the faces of his parents, not the beauty of nature, not color, or even light. His world was blank until Jesus made mud with spit and told the man to wash his face in the pool of Siloam. When the man trusted and obeyed Jesus, he was given the gift of sight for the first time. I searched through pictures from my time in Israel and found the ones I had taken from the ruins of Siloam. It hit me as I was looking at it, that was the first thing this man had ever seen. Jesus did an incredible thing for this man, and of course the Pharisees have issue with it because it took place on the Sabbath.
I've been amazed as I'm studied the Gospels over the past few years how they continuously miss, or refuse to accept the truth about Jesus. I honestly don't get how they could continuously live hearing about all that Jesus did, and still refuse to believe His claims of divinity. Even after His resurrection, and they knew He was alive look at Matthew 28.11-15, they still deny His deity. I don't understand how they could continuously deny the truth when it is constantly in your face.
In the middle of John 9 the blind man's parents confirm that he is there son and that he was born blind. There are two credible witnesses and by Jewish law the testimony they give is valid. The man was blind, and proclaims that because of Jesus he can now see, and they still refuse to believe. I read in a commentary, "The Pharisees are typical of the people in every generation who condemn anyone whose idea of religion is not theirs. They thought that theirs was the only way of serving God." They had fallen so in love with their Law that they were blind to God even when He stood before them speaking directly to them. Even when the fruit of His work stood as evidence to His claims along with the Law and Scriptures they clung desperately to, they label Him as a sinner and a heretic.
My mind goes back to two things one of my college professors said, "All churches, all denominations, tend to fall in love with themselves, and that can become a substitute for God." and "Protestants should always protest against idolatry. The worship of religion is the most dangerous idol for Christians."
Religious people fall zealously in love with their belief es and traditions to the point of division with people who claim the same central belief. How many denominations of Christianity are there? The community I currently pastor in has seven different church denominations, and I've been told that this fall an eighth church is coming. Have our denominations become the thing we live for? If you ask someone what they believe they would probably tell you their denomination before they would tell you they are a Christ follower.
I think we have lost sight of the truth of Christianity, just as the first century Jews had lost sight of God. Christianity is not a religion based around traditions, creeds, hymns, and prayers. It is a living vibrant relationship with Jesus Christ. Jesus never intended for us to get caught up in the traditions and doctrinal beliefs and be divided. Christ came to show us what God is like, and how God would live life. Jesus came to unite those who claim to believe in God. He has set an example for all of us to follow, and by following His example we become Christlike and give glory to God.
That is what God desires, Romans 8 tells us that it is God's plan for us to become like Christ. 1 Corinthians 10 tells us to do all for the glory of God. Jesus told us in Matthew 22 to love God and others. Our purpose is simply, love God, love others, become like Christ, give glory to God. And really it all comes down to loving God. If I love God I will strive to do what pleases Him. It pleases Him for me to become like Christ because that is the plan He has for my life. As I become like Christ I will love others because the is what Jesus did. And as I live life that way, I give glory to God. Why have we complicated something so simple?
Have all of our different traditions and denominations brought unity? Have the divisions helped us become more like Christ? Or have they made us closed minded to everything but the sect we have been brought up in? Are we so in love with our denomination that it has become a substitute for God? Are we so in love with our doctrine that we worship it instead of the God that it was created to glorify? If Jesus walked the earth today, what would He say to the church? Would it be praise or correction? How would the church respond to Jesus? Would we welcome Him as God, or condemn Him as a demon possessed heretic?
My friend the local School Superintendent just got back from a mission's trip to Trinidad. While there he had the privilege to attend a local church service and sit in a Sunday school class. The teacher was a blind man in his eighties who just quoted scripture after scripture giving thoughts as he taught. He said that the man mad the statement, "We don't need more Christians, we need better Christians." In college I had to interview people for a paper, and one of the responses people gave me to the question, "The World would be a better place..." was "...if Christians would be more like Jesus."
Over the last few years I've thought a lot about my calling in life. My personal mission statement for life is "Live in the Spirit, Preach the Gospel of Jesus, Glorify God, Love God and others." God has called me to serve Him as the pastor of a church, and I've thought a lot about that recently. I want to be like Christ. I want everything I do to be done for the glory of God. I don't want to waste time with things that don't build the Kingdom. I want to be a leader who fulfills the Great Commission of making disciples of all the nations. When I'm gone I want people to remember me simply as a servant of God.
I want to be different than the Pharisees.
To God alone be the glory!
Peace be with you
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