Responding to the Priorities of Jesus – Week 4
The Priority of Belonging!
Key Verses: John 9:1-12
One of our big 7 words at FBC is “Belong”. These 7 big words are what our church considers the priorities of Jesus and the essential marks of His Church—the people of God.
The kingdom of God is a relational kingdom. Because we are made in the Image of God, we need to belong—belong to God and belong to others. We are designed to be in union with God and one another!
Apart from belonging, we are incomplete and incapable of living God’s purposes for our lives, because we can only represent God from a relationship with God. We are designed to reflect Him, to become like Him, not become gods ourselves. Inherently, you can’t represent Him through human effort, only through divine union.
To explain this, I am going to utilize a story found in the Gospel of John 9:1-12.
As [Jesus] passed by, He saw a man blind from birth. And His disciples asked Him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he would be born blind?” Jesus answered, “It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents; but it was so that the works of God might be displayed in him. “We must work the works of Him who sent Me as long as it is day; night is coming when no one can work. “While I am in the world, I am the Light of the world.” When He had said this, He spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and applied the clay to his eyes, and said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which is translated, Sent). So he went away and washed, and came back seeing. Therefore the neighbors, and those who previously saw him as a beggar, were saying, “Is not this the one who used to sit and beg?” Others were saying, “This is he,” still others were saying, “No, but he is like him.” He kept saying, “I am the one.” So they were saying to him, “How then were your eyes opened?” He answered, “The man who is called Jesus made clay, and anointed my eyes, and said to me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash’; so I went away and washed, and I received sight.” They said to him, “Where is He?” He said, “I do not know.”
There are three questions I want to ask, based on this story:
- Who sinned?
In the earliest Genesis account, we learn that we were designed by God to perfectly belong to Him and to one another, but SIN deformed our relationship with God and with one another! Sin causes us to become totally depraved, separated from God, which means that there is not a part of us that can shine the light of God to the world on our own apart from God’s illuminating Spirit in us. We do nothing apart from Him (John 15:5)!
This is the effect of the Fall: apart from a relationship with God, we are in perpetual darkness. Because God is the Light of the World… Darkness does not have substance in and of itself; it has a lack of substance!
- Why did Jesus come?
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.
The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
Jesus came to rescue us from the perpetual darkness, which is sin and its effects, and restore us to God’s original design to belong to Him and to one another.
“I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.”
The story that illustrates this is found immediately before this proclamation. John 8:1-11 tells the story of the woman caught in the act of adultery and demonstrates how Jesus brings light to dark situations. When the Law demanded condemnation and death (darkness), Jesus brought conviction and life (Light).
Paul explained it this way in Romans 3:21-26. [Here is a tip to help you understand this: every time you hear the word “righteousness”, replace it with “Light “(4x in this passage).]
But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed; for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
Who is going to carry on the work of Jesus, of grace and righteousness, in our world today? Apart from God, all humanity, including religious people, return to the way of the darkness—to condemnation and death.
- How is Jesus made visible in the world today?
“He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”
Our story from John 9 ended with the question “Where is He?” speaking of Jesus.
The man who was healed said, “I don’t know.” But we know who is supposed to carry on the work of Jesus, it is the very people Jesus brings light to.
In belonging to Christ, we now belong to His mission: We are the Light of the World!
“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”
We are to live in the ways of Christ—the Light of the World—reflecting His very nature and intention; His righteousness!
Paul explains this in Ephesians 5:7-10,
“For you were formerly darkness, but now you are Light in the Lord; walk as children of Light (for the fruit of the Light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth), trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord.”
As Image Bearers of God, we bring glory to God by the way we love, care, and steward our relationship with Him, our relationships with one another, and our relationship with all of His creation. We have been charged with a significant work—to shine His Light to all people so that through our good works God may be glorified.
Where is He? There is a world out there asking the same question! Here is the answer: He is right there… [point to a person] [repeat]. He is right there… [point to the camera] Where is He going to show up this week?