The Sign of His Light

Have you ever heard the expression "the hardest part about being deceived is that you don't KNOW you are being deceived.  Something similar can be said about our "sight", our ability to see the truth.  We can easily convince ourselves that we may clearly see reality, when in reality we are blind. But when we encounter Christ our perspective changes and we gain understanding of Spiritual truth and life.

Claude Monet, one of my favorite early 20th century painters, is considered the founder of the French impressionist art movement.  He had tremendous influence upon art, but what we rarely hear is how Monet had a vision impairment that would lead to his eventual blindness. 

In this study we look at John 9:1-11, and 30 to 33 at the sixth sign John reported of the miraculous acts of Jesus that reveal his glory as the Christ, the Son of God, and attest to his saving mission.  

The Sign of his Presence

Have you ever been lost and alone? Maybe the group you were with wandered off and you were in a strange place and didn't know where to turn. Or maybe you found yourself in a risky situation and experienced the proverbial deer in the headlights reaction? What is it that makes circumstances such as these worrisome? Fear is the common reaction. Fear is an unpleasant emotion caused by the belief that someone or something is dangerous, likely to cause pain, or is a threat in some other way.

One thing to notice about this definition is that fear is NOT the danger itself, fear is the unpleasant emotion. Yeah, so you might be saying, but in today's study we will see that In Jesus' presence, we have no need to fear. Even in the face of danger, pain, or some other threat, with Jesus we can rely upon the sign of his presence to calm our fears.

The Sign of His Provision

Hymn:  God will. Take Care of You

For many people, Jesus is relegated only to the realm of mythology, the religious realm, or the spiritual world.  It is as if the spiritual life of Jesus is separate from all of the other areas of life.  We often forget that Jesus WAS a human man, with human desires and needs.  By submitting himself WHOLLY to the guidance of his Spiritual nature, Jesus is the Christ that we venerate today. The point is that many people only perceive a part of Jesus, his spiritual part, and fail to perceive how ALL of the parts of Jesus fit together to provide the perfect exemplar for our physical and spiritual lives.

The salvation offered by Christ is for the WHOLE PERSON and not just our physical selves or spiritual selves.  He seeks to help and sustain us in every area of life, and we can trust him to do so.  Just as Jesus meets our every need, we can be a conduit of His care in the lives of others and that is the point of this study:  Jesus meets the needs in our lives.

We look at John 6:1 -15.  The last study looked at Jesus' healing of a disabled main at the pool of Bethesda and the religious leaders overlooking the miracle to instead focus on the violation of the law of which they saw themselves the enforcers.  They believed that Jesus' act of mercy at the pool of the House of Mercy (Bethesda) was a violation of the law, illegal to do on the Sabbath.  But they overlooked their act of vengeance against him on the Sabbath.  So we see Jesus chiding the leaders for their unbelief and he foretells of the resurrection of the dead at the end of the age.

Since Mike brought it up in the newsletter, let’s open with the question: What might motivate you to pull something out of the trash?  Someone tell us the story of what happened when a garbage truck driver pulled a soft drink cup out of a garbage container. [Page 49].

So sometime after the healing at Bethesda Jesus was returning to the region of the Galilee.  Let's see what he begins to do as he teaches and ministers.

The Sign of Authority

Some reasons that employees have given for missing work:

I ate cat food instead of tuna and am deathly ill. 

 
Someone glued my doors and windows shut so I can’t leave the house to come to work. 

My false teeth flew out the window while I was driving down the highway. 

I am experiencing traumatic stress from a large spider found in my home, and I have to stay home to deal with it. 

I have a headache after going to too many garage sales. 

I have to mow the lawn to avoid a lawsuit from the Homeowners’ Association. 

I woke up in a good mood and don’t want to ruin it. 

 

What are some reasons that you have heard of that people give for not choosing to get physically, emotionally, or spiritually well? 

When people assume Jesus’s compassion and power is limited the same as humanity’s, they give excuses for their conditions rather than trust His authority to accomplish the supernatural. Consequently, they might miss what Jesus is ready to do in their lives. We look at a sign of Jesus' authority that shows that Jesus works in a way that goes beyond our expectations.

We look at Jesus' visit to the pool of Bethesda and see an example that challenges us to evaluate whether we have legitimate reasons or excuses for our conditions. We all make assumptions every day...we assume that people will drive carefully; we assume that the food we are served was healthfully prepared. We also make assumptions about how God works. We assume we know how, but Jesus paints a far better and more accurate picture of how God works.