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WITNESSING AND EVANGELISM (How will people treat me? Part Two)
Last time we looked
at the first part of criticism. Now
we’ll look at the last part.
Our first character
is the blind man. Not only is he blind,
but he has been blind from birth. In the
first five verses, the question being posed is who has sinned, to have caused
such a disability. This brings us to the
second of the unnamed, that is, the Pharisees.
The inference of the question is that sickness or infirmity is necessarily
caused by sin. Of course, there is some
truth in this because we are all born with a sin nature because Adam and Eve
sinned. But that is not what the
Pharisees are asking. After all, the
Pharisees thought that they were without sin if they kept the law. So the premise is that when one has a
debilitating sickness or infirmity, it comes from sin. Hence the question, not only who sinned, but
was it the blind man himself or his parents.
My personal opinion
on this issue is that particular sin may be a cause or even the cause of a
particular illness. I believe that God
disciplines in a variety of ways. Not
that He would cause this infirmity, but that He may allow it. Not that He may
allow it in order to punish us or just to be mean, but that it may be allowed
in order to discipline us to righteousness and peace.
Heb
12:5-12
5 And you have forgotten that word of
encouragement that addresses you as sons:
"My
son, do not make light of the Lord's discipline, and do not lose heart when he
rebukes you, 6 because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes
everyone he accepts as a son."
7
Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not
disciplined by his father? 8 If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes
discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons. 9 Moreover,
we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it.
How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live! 10 Our
fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God
disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness. 11 No
discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it
produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained
by it.
12
Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees.
This is a classic passage on discipline,
hardship and endurance. It is quite often
difficult to accept hardship as loving discipline, but verse eleven says, “No discipline seems pleasant at the time,
but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and
peace for those who have been trained by it.” The message of this passage is that a father
who disciplines in love wants the endurance to produce both righteousness and
peace.
It seems clear to me that not all sickness or
infirmity can be traced to sin. It seems
further true to me that not all sickness or infirmity can be traced to
discipline. Illness might very well be
discipline, but it might also be just another part of God’s plan in which we
are an extremely small piece. We may never
know what piece we are playing or we may find out much later. Indeed, God’s plan has multiple
purposes. That is the beauty of our
relationship with God. Life’s great
adventure!
The John 9 passage looks first at this theme
of illness and sin and unequivocally say “no” by the words of Jesus. Verse three says, "but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in
his life.” Is this discipline? Is it another part of His great plan? We don’t know about the former, but the
latter is certainly true.
So Jesus heals the man and, then the
interesting thing happens. This unnamed
man has the opportunity to witness. Some
people don’t even recognize him. The
formerly blind man simply tells the truth.
Jesus has healed him. The
neighbors ask where is Jesus and he simply tells the truth. He doesn’t know. Now the trouble begins.
In verse 13, this man is brought before the
Pharisees to answer the pseudo-claim that Jesus had healed him on the
Sabbath. Watch now what happens. This is serious business at this particular
time in history. To violate the Sabbath
is a crime! Jesus is branded a sinner
because He healed on the Sabbath.
Then in verse 18, the Pharisees want to talk
to this man’s parents because they don’t believe that he was actually
blind. This is an interesting point
because if the man wasn’t blind, then Jesus would not have healed him and
therefore, no crime or sin of healing was committed on the Sabbath.
So now they ask the parents if this man is
their son and if he was born blind. The
parents, understanding the serious nature of the situation, answer that this is
their son and that he was born blind, but as to why he can now see, “we don't know. Ask him. He is of age; he
will speak for himself. (v. 22)"
They were afraid of being put out
of the synagogue.
So this man is called before the Pharisees a
second time to ask about the event and about Jesus. In one of the most profound statements in the
Bible about witnessing: 25 He replied, "Whether he is a sinner
or not, I don't know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!"
He is subject to insults and further
questioning, but he continues to respond with the truth. The bottom line is just as he has said, once
I was blind and now I see. Here is the
lesson of witnessing. No matter how
difficult it gets, first tell the truth about your life and your
conversion. Just like this man, once I
was blind and now I can see. For you and
me, it is probably not a physical blindness, but rather a spiritual blindness;
a spiritual blindness that will cause eternal death. But I can say to you, and you can say to
others, “Once I was blind, now I see.”
This is a wonderful example of witnessing.
The secret is what we see from Paul
throughout the book of Acts. What he did
was to tell about his life before conversion, his conversion and his life after
conversion. This is an excellent example
for us. Tell about your life before
conversion, tell about your conversion and tell about your life after
conversion.
I understand that all that has been said so
far can still be a bit intimidating.
Remember that we have already recognized the main key is to focus on
Jesus. There is simply no hope if we
focus on ourselves.
Next we’ll look at one method of witnessing.
Doug
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