Blame - John 9

Let me tell you a little something about your arrogant pastor. I have been the lead pastor here at Center Church, we’re coming up on a year now in March, and I haven’t talked about this a ton - but a little bit, one of my greatest struggles has always been pride. Deep down, I think I am amazing. There are certain things I do well, and a little bit I am aware of that - and it makes me insufferable. Truly. Now I’ve worked very hard over the years - I have invited the Holy Spirit to transform my heart, put practices in place to humble myself and while I am still SO far away from the perfection we find in Jesus - I do praise God that I am not who I was. My life is like one big long, “I wish I could go back and just apologize to everyone I used to hang out with - I wasn’t as great as I thought.” John Newton says it like this, “I am not what I might be, I am not what I ought to be, I am not what I wish to be, I am not what I hope to be. But I thank God I am not what I once was”’ But even though I’ve been working on this area of my spiritual growth for years -  let me tell you where I still see pride and arrogance in my life. I am convinced, deep down, I am utterly convinced that I am a good enough person, so much so, that bad things should not happen to me. Have you ever had that? Where something bad happens in your life and you sort of look at the sky - like, woah - what was that? Don’t you know that I’m one of the good guys? Like you have marital trouble, or you get in an unexpected fender bender in the grocery parking lot, or you get in trouble at work or you get bad news from the doctor - and you just think, Stuff like this is not supposed to happen to me! There’s this part in the bible where this guy Paul lists off all the reasons he’s awesome. It’s in chapter three of Philippians (read v4-7). Every time I read that passage from Paul, I realize that I have a list just like that in my head. I was born into a church going family, son of a preacher. GRANDson of a preacher. Baptized, gave my life to Christ, dedicated my entire life to sharing his word, raising all my children in the church, faithful in marriage, generous in giving, always ready to serve - I am one of the good guys, and so bad things shouldn’t happen to me. Right?

Have you ever heard of the “prosperity gospel”? Maybe you’ve heard of it, but you didn’t know the word for it. Prosperity gospel is a fake religion pushed by con artists, and it’s incredibly popular. They often have ministries on TV, they’re televangelists or super mega church pastors or traveling ministries - they’ll come into town, do some vague healings - collect a bunch of money, promising people if you give, God will reward you. And these people - like Kennth Copeland, Paula White, Joel Osteen, Benny Hinn, Jim Baker, Creflo Dollar - they live incredibly extravagant lives. Their wealth and luxury is enormous, not to mention the scandals. And the basis for their belief is that good people have good things happen to them, and if something bad happens to you then you just don’t have enough faith. The reason I bring it up this morning is that there is this tension. There is a tension where we know that that’s nonsense. We know they are just con artists trying to get money out of people, we know that God is not a cosmic vending machine. You can’t trade money for blessing, you can’t trade good behavior for good results in your life, that’s not how it works - and yet at the same time, a little bit, if that’s not how it works, then how does it work? I think a lot of us, we know it’s wrong but we also, a little bit, totally believe it.

 A few years ago there was this guy, Costi Hinn, who wrote a book called God, Greed and the Prosperity Gospel - which is very good and I highly recommend it. Costi is Benny Hinn’s nephew. Benny Hinn is a very famous faith healer. He would do this thing called “slaying in the spirit.” If you don’t know - they’d have these huge worship services, and people would come forward for healing and he would get all wound up and smack ‘em on the forehead, and they’d fall back healed. Costi Hinn was one of the guys assigned to catch people when they fell over. He worked for his uncle and they travelled all over the world together. Three of his uncles and his dad were all prosperity gospel preachers. And he writes this book about all the stuff that was happening - but at one point he pointed out something I never thought about before. If you believe in the prosperity gospel, if you believe that good things only happen to good people and bad things only happen to bad people - you have nowhere to run when bad things happen in your family. Prosperity Gospel preachers are plagued with a fear that someone will find out when something bad happens. They would have to hide sickness, even just a common cold because blessed people don’t get sick. He tells a story of constantly pretending to be okay - because if you’re good then you’re good. But then his mom got cancer. And if you’re in that world, among the blessed and anointed, sitting surrounded by all the other “good guys” in your goodness - how can you have cancer? That was the beginning of Costi’s journey out of that world, but again I’m confronted by this tension - why do bad things happen to good people? Or maybe the more important question is - when bad things happen, who gets the blame? Is it our fault? Is it God’s fault?

You see as we get into this brand new series called “The Forces That Control Us” - we want to recognize that we are not as free as we think we are. The truth is there are a lot of unseen wires pulling us this way and that, sort of a like a puppet. Maybe Pinocchio can claim “got no strings on me” - but in my life? In our lives… we got some strings. And if we’re going to be people who follow Jesus - that means we need to identify the forces that are pulling on us, and bring them to Jesus so he can break every chain, cut every wire - give us actual freedom. And so to get into this, this morning, we’re going to talk about one of the most powerful, one of the most pervasive wires that pulls on us - blame, and to get into that topic, we’re going to look at a story where they were asking this exact question - when bad things happen, who’s fault is it? 

If you’d like to open up your bibles, I’m going to be in John chapter 9, and I’ll be using the NIV translation, which is the same as the one on the bookshelves on the back wall - if you wanted to grab one of those. You can also look it up on one of those bible apps - just make sure the translation is set to “New International Version - NIV” and then the words will match perfectly. And this is a story of Jesus, and starts right there in chapter 9, verse 1 where it says, [read v.1-2]. Hmmm, okay - I guess we’re going to jump right into it. There’s a blind man and the disciples say, “Who’s fault is it? His? Or His parents?” Now remember what it said, this man was blind “from birth” - he was born this way. That’s why they want to know. There was this tradition with the religious leaders at the time, and it’s the same thing as the prosperity gospel. If a bad thing happened, then you must be bad. The phrase they used to use is “there is no death without sin, and there is no suffering without iniquity.” Now I’ll be honest, I’m just a simple preacher boy - I don’t know what “iniquity” means. So I looked it up and it means, “immoral or unfair behavior.” Basically, they’re saying “no suffering without doing something wrong” - if something bad happens to you, like being blind, then he must have done something wrong. But the problem is - he was born like this! So what did HE do? Maybe it was his parent’s fault. And there were actually Rabbi’s, teachers at the time, who thought that maybe a child could sin in the womb. I don’t know how - maybe he kicked mom in her belly, made her have to pee too many times when she was pregnant - boom, bad kid, born blind. [laugh]. That’s where the question comes from.

Thankfully Jesus clears it up quick, [read v.3]. I say he clears it up, but the truth is - he blows up the categories! The disciples are determined to find someone to blame - and Jesus says, “this isn’t about blame at all - it’s about God’s work.” And then, this is pretty famous - maybe you’ve heard of this before, he spits on the ground, makes some mud and puts it on the guys eyes. Which, gross, but then he says in verse 7, [read v.7]. Mud in the eyeballs, washed off - and now he can see. And you would think this is good news, right? Blind guy, now he can see - that’s amazing. But this sends the whole community into a spiral - because it defies the categories. We’ve got these clear lines - bad things happen to bad people, good things happen to good people… what are you doing man? You can’t have a good thing happen after a bad thing - what’re you trying to do, switch sides? It says in verse 8, [read 8-11]. They’re like, “That can’t be the same guy who was begging in the streets yesterday - it just looks like him,” and he’s like, “no really - it’s me guys.’ Jesus, mud, washed - all that jazz. And here’s what I want you to catch from God’s word this morning. Sometimes in our lives when we are focusing on who to blame, we miss the point of what God is doing. The freedom that comes from Jesus when we cut that wire of blame is that we are able to focus on the work that needs to be done. Jesus is standing there saying in verse 5, “I am the light of the world. I have come to give sight to the blind” and they are missing it, they are missing out on the fact that they just witnessed the miraculous power of God because they are so focused on who to blame. You know what we never do in the Hand 2 Hand ministry - we never ask “which child deserves to miss a meal?” We spend exactly zero hours playing the blame game. We spend a lot of time gathering up groceries. We spent a lot of time organizing and scheduling deliveries and packing dates. Zero hours on blame. Even if it was their fault, or their parents fault or not - the work of God in that moment is to feed the hungry, and that’s what we do. Now, don’t misunderstand me - if there are questions of injustice or food security or something - those are good questions to ask, good problems to work towards solving. But my point is that we can’t let the pursuit of blame distract us from the actual work God is doing in our world. Are you missing miracles in your life because you can’t resist the bitterness of playing the blame game?

The blind man’s neighbors couldn’t figure it out, and then the Rabbi’s get all huffy about it as well. Jesus healed on the sabbath, and so these Rabbi’s are figuring - can’t be from God, must be something else. They ask him how he was healed. The blind man tells them the whole thing about the mud AGAIN, but in Verse 18, [read v.18-21]. The neighbors get involved, his parents get involved, the Rabbi’s get involved. I’ve never seen so much bad press for good news. But that leads us to the second major thing I want you to see - when we can’t find someone to blame, we will usually try to blame God. If it’s not his fault, and it’s not his parents fault - it must be Jesus’ fault. And isn’t this just exactly what we do in our lives? When something bad happens to us - our first question is, “wait a minute, what did I do? What did I do wrong to get God mad at me?” And when we can’t figure it out - the second question we always ask is, “wait a minute, if it ain’t my fault - is this YOUR fault, God?” And again the enemy uses the blame game to control us, to distract us. Because when something bad happens in the past, whether we decide to blame ourselves or blame God (wrong on both accounts, by the way), but either way we have missed the fact that there is a miracle happening right in front of us. Jesus said, “it’s not his fault. It’s not his parent’s fault. This was done so that the work of God might be displayed.” Blame is one of those forces in our world that helps us forget that God is good. I once was blind, but now I see - why would I waste one more second on blame?

Ah, but there’s one more thing Jesus has to teach us. These Rabbi’s, they can’t let it go - they really have a bone to pick with Jesus. And they get sick of the blind man who’s just excited that he can see and so they throw him out. But Jesus, he comes back to the blind man. This is in verse 35, at the end of the chapter. [read v.35-37]. For you Star Wars nerds out there, Jesus is having a little Obi-Wan Kenobi moment. Do you know this Obi Wan? Of course I know him, he’s me. Do you know this son of man, guy? And Jesus says, “of course I know him - he’s me!” And what I want you to realize is that THIS is the greatest gift Jesus could give the man. To know Jesus is even better than giving sight to a blind man. See, here’s the thing. The blame game encourages you to look at your own life - and to run away from any responsibility, to run away from all pain or hard things. But when you know Jesus, and you get to join him in his work. When you become a part of the kingdom of God, a lot of time it actually brings you into pain - but you don’t care because you are a part of something that is worth everything. We have this connection with God, and our eyes are opened to see what he is doing in this world, we don’t get distracted by blame. Then we get to watch as he breaks chains and we get to watch as he takes the suffering of this world and he uses it, transforms it, redeems it in incredible ways. Sometimes we don’t see how the pieces come together for years, decades - sometimes we never see how it comes together - that’s part of our faith journey. Hebrews 11 tells about all these stories in the old testament - people like Abraham and Moses, Jacob and Joseph and David - people who suffered and did not get to see how their struggle would be redeemed. But in every single one of their stories, in every single story in the bible - whether they had to wait 40 years or 400, in every single one - redemption has come. For those who call on God - they hold onto hope and blame has no power over them.

Prosperity Gospel - those are people of incredibly weak faith. The slightest hiccup in their life and their whole relationship with God unravels. If God is only good if things in your life are good, then a good God is not going to last in your life very long. And even less extreme examples - there was a story of this guy Pete Holmes. He’s a brilliant comedian, really goofy, funny guy. He was a die hard evangelical Christian. And he got married and he was getting good at comedy - he used to run in the same circles as Nate Bargatze. And after years of being a good guy, doing the right thing, telling people about Jesus - his wife cheated on him. And heartbroken he turned away from God. He said, Look - i thought this was the deal. I’m a good person, God you give me good things, and if that’s not the deal - well then forget it. He thought - it wasn’t my fault, so it must be God’s fault and so I’m done with this. And on the one hand - haven’t we all been there on some level? Like, maybe it’s not adultery - but we all have something that sucks in our life, right? We’re getting to a point as pastor and people - that I know some of the crap you have been through. Are GOING through right now. And because I love you all, it breaks my heart to hear what has happened to you and your loved ones, just like Pete Holmes story breaks my heart. OR Costi Hinn and his mom. But what the blind man at siloam shows us is that maybe the almighty creator God who knits together the fabric of the universe before breakfast, who put the stars in the sky and causes the very earth to turn, who counts every hair on our heads and is known as the king of kings and lord of lords on his day off - maybe he knows more than us. Maybe God is doing something, even now, with your crappy situation - but we can’t see it because we’re too busy letting blame control us.

Verse 39, [read v.39-41]. Now that’s a little confusing, but basically it goes like this. When we claim we know how it all fits together, when we think we know how all the dominoes fall, how all the dots connect - that is when we are the most blind. Beyond physical blindness, Jesus is trying to teach them about spiritual blindness. These Rabbis, the Pharisees - they are clinging to their system of blame - but if they could let go of these categories, cut the ties that blame has on their lives, they could open their eyes to see what Jesus is actually doing. “Spiritual blindness” is sort of a churchy term - isn’t it? Sounds a bit vague, so let me try and bring it in. Spiritual Blindness is when we are blind to our need for Jesus. The reality of grace, as a free gift given from Jesus - sort of blows up the whole system of blame and shame. These Rabbi’s they don’t think they need Jesus because inside the system they have made up - inside this sort of “prosperity gospel” thinking, they think they are good enough. I don’t need you Jesus, I’ve got this - good things happen to good people. Think about this - being physically blind would make this man an outcast. There were no social safety nets, no disability, no braille on the signs. If you can’t see, you can’t work, if you can’t work you can’t live - and so the only thing a man could do is beg in the streets. Literally, that’s how his neighbors identified him - wasn’t this guy begging for money just yesterday? This was a world where blindness is a life long sentence of poverty and being cast out of polite society. And here Jesus is saying “spiritual blindness is worse.” You guys think you are good enough, you think you don’t need forgiveness - and so you are worse off.

The good news we find today in the word of God is that grace opens our eyes, while shame closes them. What I hope you’ve seen is that the blame game has no point or purpose other than to create blindness in your life. For so many of us blame leads to shame and shame leads to paralysis. Imagine there was a giant pit. Just a big muddy hole, as big as this room - 8 feet deep. And there’s two men inside. And for some reason they’re racing. They’re just running around in circles in the hole. And one of them - he’s such a good runner. Nice clean form, and he’s just jogging in a healthy circle at a good pace. The other guy is a terrible runner. He’s stumbling and falling, getting mud on all his clothes. He can’t barely make it a lap around the mud pit without falling. Now imagine Jesus is crouched down on the edge of the pit, holding his arm out, ready to grab either one. Now the man who is a terrible runner, he’s sore and bruised from the life he’s lived. He’s tired of falling and his clothes are a mess. He looks up in desperate gratitude at the hand Jesus is offering. He gets pulled out of the pit, singing, “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound - that saved a wretch like me.”  But the other guy keeps running. I’m fine - I’m not going to get messy. I’m so good at this running thing. But some day he will stumble and fall - and then his heart will be full of nothing but blame. That’s the pharisees. And that’s why Jesus says they’re worse off. It doesn’t matter if you’re good or bad at running around in circles - what matters is that you realize, you weren’t meant to stay in the pit. They’re running around in circles, deep in a muddy pit wondering “Who’s fault is it that we get muddy?” And grace is that moment when Jesus says, “who cares? I’m not interested in how the mud got there, I’m looking to wash you clean. Do you want to stand in the pit of your life arguing? Or do you want to see what life could be outside of the pit? Letting blame or shame control you, push and pull you like strings on a puppet - that’s a lot like getting really good at running in circles in a muddy pit. It’s just stupid. And pointless. But while blame and spiritual blindness will close our eyes and leave us in the pit - grace opens our eyes. 

This is the gospel truth - Jesus walks straight up to us in the midst of our blame, right in the middle of our shame, and says, “you know you’re blind, would you like to see.” That’s what his entire life was when he was on this earth. Just walking up to people and giving them exactly what they needed. And he’s doing the same thing in this room, two thousand years later. If you know you are blind, he has come to give you sight. To give you healing. To give you forgiveness. Christians are the people who admit they are blind. We call it confession. When we stop playing the blame game, when we stop living in our shame - we confess our sins. We admit, “God, I’m sick and tired of running in circles. I got mud on my soul, and I want to be washed clean, I’m walking blind, but I want to see.” And this is the best good news I can ever give you. If you confess, admit your blindness - tell Jesus that you need him to see - he will open your eyes. He will forgive you, wash away all that mud and give you a new life. Otherwise, if you think you’re good, go ahead - take another lap in the muddy pit.

[laugh] Alright, let me finish out with something practical. This week I have a challenge for you. It’s two parts - I want you to confess your sins to God. Admit your blindness. Let me show you what this looks like - okay, so a couple weeks ago, in my personal devotion time I read this part in 1 John, where it was like, “make sure you confess your sins before God.” And I literally sat there - this is my arrogance - and I shrugged. Sitting on my couch with my morning coffee and I went, “huh, I don’t really have any sins to confess, I’m doing pretty good this week.” And so I asked God, I literally wrote this prayer out in my journal, because I am a moron. I wrote, God, show me my sins so that I can confess them. Now, I’ll just give you a little piece of advice - Don’t pray that prayer! (Unless you really want to know). Cuz he did it! All week God was talking to me, suddenly I was remembering things I’d done, and it happened again and again - I couldn’t get the Holy Spirit to shut up! First part of the challenge - confess your sins.

Then, and this is the important part. My second challenge to you - Don’t waste time pointing fingers, just accept the gift of grace. When we are confronted with sin, when we see our blindness - our instinct is to blame. (point fingers away from you) It’s your fault! It’s your fault! It’s your fault! We blame, OR we sink into shame (point fingers at yourself). It’s my fault. I deserve it. And the whole time we’re standing there pointing fingers at everyone, even ourselves - Jesus is just standing there, loving us, ready to wash us clean asking, “So, do you want out of the pit or not?” 1.) Confess your sin and 2.) Accept the forgiveness given and you will be free. Let’s pray.