Do the Work
Notes
Transcript
Do the Work
John 9:4-5
April 21, 2024
READ Text John 9:1-7
Have a kid come up and spit into the dirt and make enough mud to cover two-quarters. Time it.
Last week we talked about what is about to happen in John 9. Jesus had just ended a volatile argument with the Jews. He ended it by saying, I AM, meaning claiming to be God in the flesh. The Jews picked up stones to kill Him for that claim. After disappearing, Jesus sees this blind man (on purpose) and what happens in our passage is the subject for the rest of the chapter. Everything is in response to what He did to this one blind man.
We spoke last week about the source and value of suffering, how to discern if it is God’s wrath, God’s correction, God’s guidance, or if the difficulty you are experiencing has a specific purpose. If you missed it, you can look up all of our messages on YouTube.
Today we are going to focus on what Jesus has for us in response to this divine appointment. I once read a book called “It’s called Work for a Reason” by Larry Winget. I would not recommend it if you are sensitive or don’t want your feelings hurt. What stuck with me was his take on the importance, value, and difficulty of work. In short, that’s why it’s called WORK.
Our passage and focus today is around the word “work”. Did you know that in the first 7 verses of chapter 9, there are 13 words associated to the question that the apostles asked (who sinned), 21 words of our Lord answering that question, but 72 words given to the application of the response? Is the theological question of the disciples valuable? Yes! Just listen to last week’s message. Is the answer important? Absolutely! But, the application is what we need to discuss today.
Jesus came for a specific and critical mission. Nothing was accidental and happen chance. He was sent with clear goals, and focus. Today we will see that purpose, see the example he provides in that purpose, and finally see that we must be willing to do the work He has left us with.
1. There is work to be done.
Vs 4“We must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; night is coming when no one can work.”
Who’s We? I was always that friend who encouraged my friends to do very risky things. When I said, “we should do…” I constantly heard, “WHOS WE??” They would usually allowed me to try it first and if I survived, they would follow. That is not the case here.
Jesus is very much talking to a specific crowd including Himself. This is unimaginably important! He is directing and leading us in the work He was sent to carry out. That work includes this Divine appointment with the blind man in our text along with the entire work performed up to the cross.
Who He is talking to are His personal followers. These are the believers. With only one exception for Judas, the “we” would follow Christ to the end. They would follow His perfect example in seeing the blind healed, the sick made well, and ultimately giving their lives for the sake of Christ. His believers in this passage and the believers today get a front-row seat to see Him do the work that He was sent to do.
When Jesus says “we”, I want to make sure we understand that the “we” is in some translations while it says “I” in others NKJV vs ESV. There is a good reason for this. The Greek uses ego for “we” and can be rendered “I, or We” in the English. The point is this, we need to make sure and use the rest of the passage to fully understand that Jesus is showing His disciples a valuable lesson and including them in the work of the Lord.
There are two types of people hearing Him. True followers of Christ vs impostors.
a. Followers do the work:
1 John 2:9-11
9 Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. 10 Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling. 11 But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes. [1]
The follower of Christ, the disciple is one who walks in His light, abides in the light, and loves his brother who is still in darkness. This is an act of work! Loving people who hate your true love is work! The follower of Christ is a living example of the Light (Christ). We are learning this in the Westminster Confession of faith. It states that to Glorify God means we are a reflection of His glory. Like a mirror reflects, we to are to reflect Him to the world.
The servant is a direct representation of the master! And, just as the master was hated for loving those who hate Him, so too the follower of Christ will be hated. That is John 15:18-27. Even though it is work, the true follower of Christ would not be able to imagine any other way. Those who are IN the light could not imagine going back to darkness. Pat one time told me something he said to someone who was struggling with assurance of His salvation.
“I was speaking with a brother once who was doubting his own salvation. After several minutes of him convincing himself that he was not truly saved I agreed with him. I asked what were the sins that you loved before your supposed conversion. He named 4 or 5 grievous ones which I told him to pick up where you left with those sins. He was incensed by the comment, but he realized that he had no desires and affection for his old ways. He slowly understood that he was saved but in a dark place.”
A true follower of Christ desires obedience repentance and Love for brothers. That means to share the LIGHT of the world with those in darkness and obey His commands. That makes us contributors to the work of Christ. It is the greatest joy of the believer to be included in this work.
Romans 5:1:
5 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.[2]
Notice this relationship! Notice how the believer has access to this grace! We stand rejoicing in the Light that shines in our lives. Because of this relationship, we should desire that the lost see this Light for what it is, peace with God!
Those in the light will also share with the Lord an urgent heart. We should all see that time is short, people must hear and be healed. We should never be idle, complacent, and blind to those who are blind! We should see the world around us as He did and act like He acted. What I mean my act is WORK.
Finally, followers of Christ are not consumers. Matthew 7:17 says “So, every healthy tree bears good fruit…” They are active participants in the body of Christ. Now I want to walk very softly here. I am not saying that you all have to turn into all yes people at every request. But a follower of Christ is actively producing fruit! They are gifted with unique gifts to contribute to the body of Christ. There are no such things as sideline Christians. That does not exist in the Word of God.
The true believer sees God’s timetable, feels a sense of urgency and see the lost and hurting for what they are, LOST! The true believer will hear in their head, “That person is hurting! I have to do something…” That is the HS in you telling you to do the WORK!
But there are those who do not listen to that Spirit and choose to not follow Christ’s example. Those are impostors.
b. Impostors of the work.
I feel like it is very important that we hit this very quickly. There are impostors of the light. For even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light 2 Cor 11:14. For example, Judas spent 3 years following the true light. Some people love to be around the light but are not true followers of the light. They like to be WITH the people of God but are absent of the key qualifiers of 1 John 2:9-11
1 John 2:9-11
9 Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness…. 11 But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes. [3]
Hate is a strong word. Impostors would say “I don’t hate my brother or sister. I don’t hate anyone.” Well, selfishness is a form of true idolatry. When people who are not truly saved are asked to work, they will burn out quick, self-preserve the quickest, and pass the most amount of judgment. To these people, many don’t even know that they are in this state until pretty soon they are no longer around.
Matthew 7:19
“Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.”
I know that these are difficult sayings. They are hard for a reason. The Bible is descriptive, it tells us what happened and tells us what should have happened. It tells us what we should do and what we should not do. If we are not actively walking in the light, reflecting the light, and working as the Lord worked out of love, then it’s a great time to look at your current position.
2. There is a time to work.
Vs 4 We must work the works of Him who sent me while it is day; night is coming when no one can work. 5 As long as I am in the world, I am the Light of the world.”
This is a constant and consistent theme of the Gospel of John. “I was sent by the Father.” “I must do the works of Him who sent me.” The repeated theme is not an accident and is critically important to understanding the work that must be done. As I said last week. Jesus would not be the Messiah unless He did perform ALL of the work that the Father sent Him to perform.
John 4:34:
“My food is to do the will of Him who sent me and to accomplish His work.”
My food: broma (vroma) any food that is used as a source of nourishment. The imagery is perfect. What fuels the Lord is to do the will of Him who sent Him. Think that through for a second. Jesus was 100% on a mission to accomplish the will of the Father and what fueled Him was that! A perfect Son, perfectly obeying, perfectly executing the perfect Will of the Father for imperfect people on time.
“MUST”: dei (THEE): to be required by obligation, compulsion, or conviction. It is 100% necessary! Now John 4:34 starts to look a little more important. It stands to reason if we re-look at that statement “My food is to do the will of Him”, we see this is exactly why He is here! To do this Will of the Father! It MUST happen and it must happen now, while we still can.
You know, I don’t think that we look at the blind man right. Every one of us that call ourselves believers should be reading this and cheering! We should be like crazy fans on the sideline screaming for joy that Jesus is doing this! He is getting the work done because if it isn’t done, we would be missing a major part of our salvation! We would be missing a key component! If we understood the value of what we were reading, we would either be cheering or crying for joy.
Right before going to the cross Jesus gave us the “Priestly Prayer.” While praying to the Father He says:
John 17:4
“I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do.” And that is why on the cross, in one of His last statements He says, “It is finished.” What is finished? His work. All of it. Every part of it! Not one bit of it was left undone, un performed, and or forgotten. Every healing, every touch, every sermon, done.
That is why we should be clapping in reverence that this one act that led to an entire chapter of discourse was complete. It was HIS work completed for us. His work completion gives us His righteous life. I need to be very clear. The cross takes the cost of sin away but that gets us to zero balance with God. It is Christ’s righteousness that we are blessed with through His work that we believers now live in. Romans 3:22 22 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe.[4] We absolutely need this righteousness that Christ secured through His work! That is why we should cheer!
Now, let’s finish verse 9:4.
Vs 4 “…while it is day; night is coming when no one can work.”
Sometimes when we read God’s Word, the simplest explanation is the best. Many commentators will try and make this passage do more than it should. The best explanation is simple, Jesus was referring to the time of His earthly ministry. He IS the light of the world (He already said that and re-says it in verse 5) and when He is crucified, the world goes dark, literally. But, He is also referring to His absence while in the grave when no one does any work. These verses should be read literally whereas John 8:12 should be read spiritually.
John 8:12 “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
This is our promise today. He conquered death and thus, we are no longer in the darkness.
Getting back to our passage though, we see that Jesus understood that there was going to be an end to His earthly mission. It was work time! In our passage, He was urgently getting the work accomplished and focused on every encounter. His work in this passage is key to understanding the rest of chapter 9.
3. The work is real.
The army taught me many things. One of them was that if you work really hard and progress in rank, you can get to the point when other people actually have to do the tangible work. I know officers don’t work. But, this officer did. I lived by the mantra that I would never expect my soldiers to do anything I would not. My peers would razz me because I was digging foxholes with my guys.
The thing is, our work is not conceptual. It’s not just mental. It is tangible and it is expected to be completed. It is even demonstrated to us in our passage. Now, we may not be able to physically heal men of blindness, but the work is demonstrated to us.
Vs 6 Having said these things, he spit on the ground and made mud with the saliva. Then he anointed the man’s eyes with the mud[5]”
Historically this action for “made mud” and instructing him to wash (four big Mishnah (Jewish law) violations. This is key for later in the chapter as the reason why the Pharisees were beside themselves over this healing. This was the act that fired up the Pharisees.
According to Jewish law, normal anointing such as one might do on weekdays was allowable on the sabbath, but anointing with special substances not normally used was forbidden because that constituted a healing activity that was not allowed.
Also, the “made mud” in Greek meant: the act of kneading (which involves in making mud from saliva and dirt) and was also regarded as one of the thirty-nine forms of work that violated the sabbath [6]
This was not the only time Jesus used spit as a tool for healing. The symbolism is interesting and exhausting to study. The point is that 1. He healed on the Sabbath, 2. He “made mud” 3. He anointed with non-approved material and finally, 4. He instructed the man to violate the sabbath as well.
How did He instruct the man to violate the sabbath? He told him to go and wash in the pool. On the Sabbath, no one could take a shower, bath, or wash themselves in the way Jesus instructed him to. So, you can see the train wreck that is coming in the rest of the chapter. Even though it was going to cost Him His life, Christ was still willing to do this work. Let’s follow His example!
3. We must be willing to do the work. (HP)
For His followers, we are fully equipped for the work He is expecting of us. He has placed His Spirit in all of those who call upon the name of the Lord Jesus as savior enabling us to see blind men, see those who cannot hear, and see the broken-hearted. In short, He has made each and every one of us ambassadors of Him.
2 Cor 5:17-21)
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.
Look at the action words placed on the believers! He reconciled us to Him and gave us the ministry of reconciliation. He gave us the message that we are to share, proclaim, and show the world that He is the way, truth and life. Look at that last line, “entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.” Look church, here it is, this is the work. There is not another message more valuable, more life-changing, more powerful than the message of salvation to a dying soul.
20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.
Ambassadors: presbeuo To act as an authorized representative of one sovereign ruler or country to another.
God is sending His ambassadors and making His appeal through us to the lost. Look what an obedient and working ambassador does: “We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.” There is the heart cry for salvation. But, an ambassador goes further and actually DOES the work. He or she is on the front line calling the lost to the foot of the cross and doing the work of the cross:
Matthew 25:34-36
34 Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36 I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.[1]
Not everyone should look to be a preacher behind a pulpit. It is a weight that I would not wish on very many men. BUT, you are called to be sent and DO what He did! You are to be those beautiful feet of those who carry the good news to the lost. To do the work of your master. Romans 12 speaks of being a living sacrifice, engaging with the gifts God has given you, not being a consumer in the body, but showing the same spirit that Christ did.
The saving faith offered by our Lord is faith in action. The most shocking joke and jarring mockery of Christians is the title “Frozen Chosen”. Frozen chosen means that the “believer” sits back, allowing everyone else to kneel in the dirt to help others while they keep their robes clean. These are intellectually narrow minded and focused on all doctrine, but lack love and action. You can change that dress from robes to jeans or dresses.
There are immediate needs right now inside and outside the body of Christ:
1. Kids department
2. Set up team (Wyatt, Caleb, Levi and Logan)
3. Cleaning team
4. Bible’s 2 School
5. Mission partners
6. Men’s ministry
7. Women’s ministry
8. Mentoring partners (grandparents)
THE UNBELIEVERS ASIDE:
This passage was spoken mainly to and with the believers. But, if you are unsaved, you have much in common with the blind man in this story. Christ is “passing” by you now. He is coming to this place and recognizes that you need to see the cost and weight of your sin. It’s not enough to be around the body of Christ. You must be OF the body of Christ. That sin you have committed has caused great separation between you and God. Matter of fact, that sin has caused you to not just be blind, but to be an adversary to God.
God recognized that you, being spiritually blind, can not fix the debt that your sin has caused. That is why, in His mercy and great Love, sent the only acceptable means for your healing, His perfect Son. Jesus has come to fix your spiritual blindness, heal your rebellious heart and draw you to the foot of the cross. This is where you can find healing, relief and reconciliation with the Father. Through the death of His Son, you may be healed.
CONCLUSION:
Church, we are expected to move past the theological questions and discussions and engage into our communities and the body of Christ. Knowledge without action just creates a “frozen chosen” mentality. There is work to be done, a limited time to do it. Finally, we must be willing to do it. Let’s go for it!
[1] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. 2016. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.