Monday, March 29, 2010

Sermon Notes: March 28 (John 12)

SERMON NOTES

PALM SUNDAY 2010

Throne vs Thorns


PASSING OF THE PEACE

SCRIPTURE: John 12:13

They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting,

"Hosanna!" "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!"

"Blessed is the King of Israel!"

QUESTION: Have you ever been excited about something (waving palm

branches); then less a week later, decided it was a bad idea (“Crucify Him”)?


INTRO TO SCRIPTURE:

Last Week: Jesus raised Lazarus from the grave

Remember: SHOUT (Greek word: war like; horse)

6x (COME OUT! HOSANNA! CRUCIFY HIM(4x)


Remember the Disneyland commercials Joe Montana

So, Lazarus, you’ve been raised from the dead.

What are you going to do now?

“I am going to Disneyland.”


QUESTION: What do you do when you’ve been dead and now you are alive!

A: You most likely want to honor the reason why you’ve been brought back to life

A: In Lazarus case, FOOD (12:1) a feast (celebrating Lazarus?)

This Week: The people celebrate the Triumphal Entry of Jesus


SET THE SCENE

Lazarus had been raised from the grave (town talk: Messiah?!?)

The Chosen People have been waiting 400 plus years for the Messiah.

They will see the parade as a victory parade of a temporal king


SCRIPTURE: John 12: 12 The Triumphal Entry

12The next day the great crowd that had come for the (Passover) Feast heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. 13They took palm branches (symbol of the Jewish State) and went out to meet him, shouting,

"Hosanna!" (Give salvation now!)(Psalm 118:25)

"Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!" (Ps 118:25 & 26 - Messiah)

"Blessed is the King of Israel!"


POINT: Nationalistic fervor(temporal King/Messianic Expectation-War Horse?)

They are pumped! “THRONE NOW!” Take the throne Jesus!

Preconceived Idea: US? What is our political hope today?

Their preconceived idea: restore Israel the kingdom (free at last)

IMPLICATION: He did not meet expectations, which lead to “CRUCIFY HIM!”

QUESTION: If you had been there, would you have been waving the palm branch?

we’re post resurrection people, they are pre resurrection people

does it make a difference?

would you wave the palm if you knew in five days you would be

SHOUTING: CRUCIFY, CRUFIY!”?

He was a failure as Messiah (like Judas Macabeaus)


CROSSROADS - Decision Making Time

To take the throne or not to take the throne, that is the question.

To take the thorns or not to take the thorns, that is the answer.

POINT: Jesus chose not (public peer pressure); but the right thing to do; because

Jesus was in harmony with his purpose/plan/vision

US: We choose correctly when we remain in harmony with our vision/purpose/


SCRIPTURE: JOHN 12:14

14Jesus found a young donkey (NOT like Judas Maccabaeus, on the war horse)

and sat upon it,


as it is written, (Zechariah 9:9)

15"Do not be afraid, O Daughter of Zion;

see, your king is coming,

seated on a donkey's colt."


EXPECTATION: As the people returned from exile in Babylonian,

So the people shall return from exile under Roman Rule

Hence: restoring Davidic Kingship, again

POINT: Jesus demilitarizes their Messianic Expectation


16At first his disciples did not understand all this. Only after Jesus was glorified did they realize that these things had been written about him and that they had done these things to him.

17Now the crowd that was with him when he called Lazarus from the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to spread the word. 18Many people, because they had heard that he had given this miraculous sign, went out to meet him. 19So the Pharisees said to one another, "See, this is getting us nowhere. Look how the whole world has gone after him!


POINT

Jesus rode through the streets of Jerusalem, as king and their is joy as he claimed to be king. As the people SHOUT out HOSANNA, the message is clear: WE WON!

It is the joy of V-day in europe and across our country during WWII, WE WON!


JOY TO THE WORLD, the Savior comes!


ISSUE

I can't imagine, what's going on in the mind of Jesus. He knows the parade leads to cross. He knows He is about to enter the Lions’ Den. He knows His fate.


He knows how quickly the crowd will turn. SHOUTS of HOSANNA will turn to SHOUTS of CRUCIFY HIM. WHY? Because he does not satisfy their expectation of their vision for him (Messianic Expectation).


HOW ABOUT US?

Have we ever followed the parade knowing that it is about to lead to no good? Have we ever followed the parade right into the lion den?


Or, on the other hand, have you ever knew that what you are about to do is good? Have you ever known that this good is going to lead to pain?


BIBLICAL MODEL OF EVANGELISM - begin with the listener

Jesus will use the Passover and the triumphal entry into Jerusalem as a teaching platform to convey his message. Using the popular fanaticism and national fervor, as a way of teaching them the kingdom of God is not temporal; the Messiah is not temporal;

that the Kingdom of God is within and spiritual.


OLD WINESKINS: Kingdom (temporal) Messiah (temporal)

NEW WINESKINS: Kingdom (spiritual) Messiah (eternal)


CHALLENGE FOR JESUS (Garden of Gethsemane)

the Palm Sunday Parade was a crossroad for Jesus. He cold bow to public peer pressure and seize the old wineskins and accept a temporal kingship and the path to the throne..

Or, he could do what is right and his eternal purpose, the path to the cross


we ourselves are face with significant crossroads

choosing what is easy and receiving the accolades of peer pressure (temporal)

or we too can pick up our cross and do what is eternal


POINT: Jesus wears no temporal crown except the temporal crown of thorns




CHALLENGE

This Holy Week, let us all reflect on (John 15:13):


Greater love has no one than this, that they lay down their life for their friends.


SUNRISE SERVICE: 6 a.m.; Traditional Service: 9 a.m.; and Contemporary: 10 a.m.

Monday, March 22, 2010

Sermon Notes: March 21 (John 11)



Sermon Notes

March 21, 2010

Come Out!

PASSING OF THE PEACE

Scripture: John 2 - Jesus first miracle: water into wine

Scripture: John 11 - Jesus brings back from the dead Lazarus

Question: Which would you have picked as Jesus’ first miracle

ISSUE: You can never have too much wine; or

You can never have too much time.


IMPORTANT: Answer is driven by: World View (presupposition) or

thinking outside the box (coffin)


Both address a problem (lack of wine, lack of time)


If Jesus could perform a miracle in your life,

What problem would you want to escape from/leave behind?


CALL TO WORSHIP (John 10:25)

Jesus said, “I am the Resurrection and the life”

Do you believe?

Yes Lord, we believe.


OPENING PRAYER (John 10:43)

Lord, when we are sick, come and heal us. When we lack faith, give us a new sign. When we die, come and say “Come out!” Amen.


INTRO TO JOHN 11

The Gospel of John now shifts from New Wine impacting religious institutions and festivals to impacting belief as Jesus makes his final move toward Jerusalem.


This chapter wrestles with the finality of death. Today death (human institution) has been sanitized. Even the prettiest funeral cannot disguise our fear of death.


Jesus is about to do a new thing (wine). Nobody has ever brought somebody back from the grave.

Sadducces did not believe in life after the grave

Pharisees believed in life after the grave

But no one believed in life back from the grave


SCRIPTURE: John 11

1Now a man named LAZARUS was sick.


LAZARUS - a very popular name in 1st century Jerusalem


He was from BETHANY,


BETHANY - 1 1/2 half miles east of Jerusalem


the village of Mary and her sister Martha.


2This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair.


Luke 7:36 and John 12:3 (foreshadowing anointing for burial)


3So the sisters sent word to Jesus, "Lord, the one you love is sick."

4When he heard this, Jesus said, "This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God's glory so that God's Son may be glorified through it." 5Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6Yet when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days.


7Then he said to his disciples, "Let us go back to Judea."

8"But Rabbi," they said, "a short while ago the Jews tried to stone you, and yet you are going back there?"


NOTICE: The disciples are frightened to return to Jerusalem


9Jesus answered, "Are there not twelve hours of daylight? A man who walks by day will not stumble, for he sees by this world's light. 10It is when he walks by night that he stumbles, for he has no light."

11After he had said this, he went on to tell them, "Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up."

12His disciples replied, "Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better." 13Jesus had been speaking of his death, but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep.

14So then he told them plainly, "Lazarus is dead, 15and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him."

16Then Thomas (called Didymus) said to the rest of the disciples, "Let us also go, that we may die with him."

Jesus Comforts the Sisters

17On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. 18Bethany was less than two miles[a] from Jerusalem, 19and MANY JEWS had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother.


MANY JEWS - Funerals were public events (community ties). Friends and family from far off come and support Mary and Martha during the mourning process.

Formal mourning last for seven days (shibah) and it commenced immediately on the day of burial, which took place on the same day as death. There would be great wailing and crying (raw - beating their chests in grief). flute players were common.



20When MARTHA heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home.

21"Lord," Martha said to Jesus, "if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask."

23Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again."

24Martha answered, "I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day."


NOTE: This was a common belief (old wineskins)


25Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life.


NOTE: Jesus is the resurrection (new wineskins)

LIFE - don’t have to wait to die to experience the gift of resurrection, they can have life now. The power of Jesus is not just beyond the grave, it is also prior to the grave (new wineskins).


He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; 26and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?"

27"Yes, Lord," she told him, "I believe that you are the Christ,[b] the Son of God, who was to come into the world."

28And after she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary aside. "The Teacher is here," she said, "and is asking for you." 29When Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him. 30Now Jesus had not yet entered the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. 31When the Jews who had been with Mary in the house, comforting her, noticed how quickly she got up and went out, they followed her, supposing she was going to the tomb to mourn there.


32When MARY reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died."

33When Jesus saw her WEEPING (loud), and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit (Greek: describes the snort of a horse (in war or in a race) and troubled. for humans it describes outrage, fury or anger)


Question: Why was Jesus angry (outraged in the deepest level of his being)?

Answer: not at Martha, Mary, or their mourners.

Some have suggested: He is overcome by the futility of this sorrowful scene in light of the reality of the resurrection.

POINT: They act defeated when they have the solution at their disposable.


34"Where have you laid him?" he asked.
"Come and see, Lord," they replied.

35Jesus wept.


Question: Why?

Not for Lazarus, he knows what he is about to do.

HUMAN CONDITION: the reality that we lack the ability to see the “new wine” because we keep drinking from the well of “old wine.”


36Then the Jews said, "See how he loved him!"

37But some of them said, "Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?"

Jesus Raises Lazarus From the Dead

38Jesus, once more deeply moved (v33), came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. 39"Take away the (rolling) stone," he said.

"But, Lord," said Martha, the sister of the dead man, "by this time there is a bad odor (decomposing), for he has been there FOUR DAYS"


FOUR DAYS - Jewish belief that the soul of a dead person remained in the vicinity of the body, hoping to reenter it for three days, but once decomposition set in , the soul departed. Thus the soul is gone

POINT - John wants us to know that Lazarus is truly dead, thus no resuscitation (ironically will be the response to Jesus and the resurrection).


40Then Jesus said, "Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?"

41So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, "Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 42I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me."

43When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice (6 times in John, 1 - Palm Sunday; and 4x “Crucify”), "Lazarus, come out!"


CAN YOU IMAGINE?

DISCIPLES - following Jesus around because they saw the trick with fish and bread, and that’s pretty cool; And that water into wine, that’s pretty convenient. And the blind man and the paralyzed man given life back...but now....you gotta draw the line somewhere...the guy’s been dead four days....


44The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face.


CAN YOU IMAGINE THE RESPONSE OF

The DISCIPLES

Or, MARY and MARTHA

Or, those there to mourn Lazarus

Or, even the response of Lazarus


that’s a new line for Amazing Grace..I once was blind but now I see...how many can sing, I once was dead but now I live


i would have to say that’s the best OBJECT LESSON I have ever heard.


Not many teachers/pastors could do that one.


CAN YOU IMAGINE

your at a funeral, and the pastor says “come out!” and out comes the deceased.....What would you do? I’d believe whatever that pastor told me from then on....



QUESTION: What is the Object Lesson?

What is Jesus trying to teach us?

Did Jesus do it because he was weeping?

Did he do it because he loved mary and Martha?

Did he do it because he wanted to spend more time with Lazarus? Sit around eat fish and bread and drink new wine?

Why bring him back from the grave?

He only does it once. Not like 5,000 times (fish and bread)

Why bring Lazarus back from the tomb?


ANSWER: Remember the word miraculous sign (means a miracle that points beyond itself). Bringing Lazarus back from death, was not just an end in itself. It was a means of conveying a message. Jesus wanted to show the folks something about life and death; about himself.


In other words, every miracle/sign, the most dramatic, in the Gospel John is a message to the people about who Jesus is and what Jesus is about to do; it’s not just a cool magic trick.


Well the message is obvious for those of us on the other side of Easter. Lazrus being brought out of the tomb is Jesus’ way of conveying to the disciples, he’s going to do the same thing. Lazarus has an empty tomb; Jesus has an empty tomb.


IN two weeks, we celebrate that empty tomb, that resurrected boy of Jesus.


But for Lazarus, Mary & Martha, those who came to morn the death of Lazarus , and the Disciples; the message is not clear yet...


This message will not be clear to them; until the empty tomb of Jesus.


We are fortunate, we know the message post empty tomb.


The real question for us now: have we applied that message to our lives today?


Have we lived under the resurrection lives


Do we live as though there is an empty tomb?

OR, DO WE LIVE AS THOUGH WE ARE HELD WITHIN THE CONFINEMENT OF THE TOMB.


DO WE NEED TO HEAR THE MESSAGE OF JESUS TO LAZARUS, COME OUT!”


TODAY, there are many TOMBS

Tomb of unemployment

Tomb of broken relationships

Tomb of loneliness

Tomb of despair

Tomb of disappointments

Tomb of meaningless


And like Lazarus, we need to hear the message of Jesus, COME OUT




But in some ways, we also have a message from Jesus that is pre empty tomb.


For us, the message that Jesus gives us each day, is not clear yet...


until we are risen from the grave...





Lazarus would have made an excellent evangelist


Imagine

“I was dead. My body decaying, my body stunk, I was in the grave

and Jesus said “Lazarus come out!”


God can do that for you today.

Are you dead?


COME OUT!

Of the tomb of holding you back

Of the tomb of bad relationships

of unemployment



SCRIPTURE: John 11:

Jesus said to them, "Take off the grave clothes and let him go."

The Plot to Kill Jesus

45Therefore many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what Jesus did, put their faith in him.



46But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. 47Then the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin.


"What are we accomplishing?" they asked. "Here is this man performing many miraculous signs. 48If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our place[c] and our nation."



IRONY: THE END OF CHAPTER 11 the enemies are now plotting the death of Jesus.


QUESTION: Why did they not get it?

ANSWER: Held captive within the tomb of old wineskins (previous world views, the institution)

not able to think outside of the box










SCRIPTURE: Luke 16

The Rich Man and Lazarus

19"There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. 20At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores 21and longing to eat what fell from the rich man's table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.

22"The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried. 23In hell,[c] where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. 24So he called to him, 'Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.'

25"But Abraham replied, 'Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. 26And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.'

27"He answered, 'Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my father's house, 28for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.'

29"Abraham replied, 'They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.'

30" 'No, father Abraham,' he said, 'but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.'

31"He said to him, 'If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.' "


POINT: According to Jesus, not even a resurrection miracle will not be sufficient to persuade some people of the power oand the reality of God; because they have Abraham, Moses and the Prophets, and they like the flavor the old wine. If it was good enough for Moses and the Prophets, it is good enough for them today.



49Then one of them, named Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, spoke up, "You know nothing at all! 50You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish."

51He did not say this on his own, but as high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the Jewish nation, 52and not only for that nation but also for the scattered children of God, to bring them together and make them one. 53So from that day on they plotted to take his life.

54Therefore Jesus no longer moved about publicly among the Jews. Instead he withdrew to a region near the desert, to a village called Ephraim, where he stayed with his disciples.

55When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, many went up from the country to Jerusalem for their ceremonial cleansing before the Passover. 56They kept looking for Jesus, and as they stood in the temple area they asked one another, "What do you think? Isn't he coming to the Feast at all?" 57But the chief priests and Pharisees had given orders that if anyone found out where Jesus was, he should report it so that they might arrest him.




POINT: These same people will continue to refuse to believe despite Jesus himself raising the from the grave.


CLOSING

Jesus is not just the light of the world, he brings sight to the blind


not just the bread of the world,

he feed 5,000


not just the resurrection and life,

he brought Lazarus back from the grave

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

March 7 - Third Sunday of Lent

Sermon Notes

John 9:39

The Blind will See and the See will Become Blind"


THEME VERSE: Matthew 9 :17

Neither do men pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved."


SYNOPSIS OF JOHN 1 - 8

John 1a - Prologue (The Word was with God, and was God..took on flesh)

John 1b - John the Baptist baptizing (OW) Jews (NW) to prepare for the WORD

John 2 - Wedding at Cana, water in purification vessels (old wine) was transformed into wine (new wine); and the Temple (institution) cleared out (new wine)

John 3 - A respected Pharisee named Nicodemus, representing tradition/law (old wine) dialogued with Jesus about New Birth (new wine)

John 4 - The antithesis of Nicodemus, a Samaritan woman of questionable character drawing water from Jacobs well (old wine) dialogued with Jesus about Living Water (new wine)

John 5 - A story about a disabled person wanting to be healed as he sat beside a pool

John 5 - Jesus broke the (Sabbath) law when he healed a paralytic on the Sabbath. The religious clergy wanted him arrested.

John 6 - Passover (John 7, six months later) into Holy Communion (NW)

John 7 - Tabernacles (living water) into Jesus the Living Water (NW)

John 8 - Tabernacles (I am the Light of the World) (NW)


INTRO TO JOHN 9

Keep our eyes open for old wineskins (institution/tradition) being transformed/fulfilled into new wineskins (movement)


PASSING OF THE PEACE

SCRIPTURE: John 9:39b, “I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind."

QUESTION: Have you ever been blind?


Intro to Scripture

It is still the feast of Tabernacles (tents). It is the Sabbath. Light is one of the important imageries of the Feast of Tabernacles. The temple light ceremony consists of four large stands each held four golden bowls, these were placed in the heavily-used Court of the Women. These sixteen golden bowls (reached by ladders) were filled with oil and used the worn undergarments of the priests for wicks. When they were lit at night, all Jerusalem was illuminated. In a world that did not have public lighting after dusk, this light shined.


SCRIPTURE: John 9: 1 - 12 (Jesus Heals a Man Born Blind)

1As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth.


Note: this person lives in “darkness”

What would it be like to be blind 2000 years ago? (hopeless)


How do you know if you live in darkness? (or need New Wine)?

Remember: “sign” is a miracle that points beyond itself


2His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?"


Common belief: sin leads to suffering (Job, etc.)


3"Neither this man nor his parents sinned," said Jesus, "but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life. 4As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work.


Jesus is using this natural ailment to provide a spiritual cure.



5While I am in the world, I am the light of the world."


I AM THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD

Another example of Exodus 3:14


6Having said this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man's eyes. 7"Go," he told him, "wash in the Pool of Siloam" (this word means Sent). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing.


POOL OF SILOAM

The only living water in Jerusalem and the source of the water for the water ceremonies for the Feast of Tabernacles

SILOAM means “sent.” Jesus is the one who was “sent.”

Thus, it is Jesus who is the source of healing and not the pool.


8His neighbors and those who had formerly seen him begging asked, "Isn't this the same man who used to sit and beg?" 9Some claimed that he was.
Others said, "No, he only looks like him."
But he himself insisted, "I am the man."

10"How then were your eyes opened?" they demanded.

11He replied, "The man they call Jesus made some mud and put it on my eyes. He told me to go to Siloam and wash. So I went and washed, and then I could see."

12"Where is this man?" they asked him.
"I don't know," he said.


SCRIPTURE: John 9:8 - 34 (Interrogation)

The healing of the blind person took place on the Sabbath. The religious leaders (who could not see) now interrogate the blind man who can now see.


SCRIPTURE: John 9:28b

You are this fellow's disciple! We are disciples of Moses!


(Fiddler on the Roof, TRADITION!)


in other words, you must choose whom you shall follow:

Jesus or Moses? (Old Wine or New Wine)

As a result, the blind man who now sees is expelled

from the synagogue by those who cannot see.




SCRIPTURE: John 9 The Pharisees Investigate the Healing

13They brought to the Pharisees the man who had been blind. 14Now the day on which Jesus had made the mud and opened the man's eyes was a Sabbath. 15Therefore the Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight. "He put mud on my eyes," the man replied, "and I washed, and now I see."

16Some of the Pharisees said, "This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath."


LITMUS TEST of SPIRITUALITY: Keeping the Sabbath (Exile)

each of us have our own litmus test of spirituality:

1. eating and drinking (Jesus was tested under this one)

2. play cards (100 years ago)

3. dance

4. etc.


But others asked, "How can a sinner do such miraculous signs?" So they were divided.

17Finally they turned again to the blind man, "What have you to say about him? It was your eyes he opened."
The man replied, "He is a prophet."

18The Jews still did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they sent for the man's parents. 19"Is this your son?" they asked. "Is this the one you say was born blind? How is it that now he can see?"

20"We know he is our son," the parents answered, "and we know he was born blind. 21But how he can see now, or who opened his eyes, we don't know. Ask him. He is of age; he will speak for himself." 22His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews, for already the Jews had decided that anyone who acknowledged that Jesus was the Christ[a] would be put out of the synagogue. 23That was why his parents said, "He is of age; ask him."

24A second time they summoned the man who had been blind. "Give glory to God,[b]" they said. "We know this man is a sinner."


JESUS is outside of their box (he broke the sabbath - healing)

They can’t think outside of the box (tradition/institution/old wineskins)

sinner (broke law) the reason for BABYLONIAN EXILE

BUT the message of the PROPHETS

was more important than the mere breaking of the law

they broke the RELATIONSHIP (Rules of)

EVERY Saturday night, chocolate and roses (the LAW)

but if your heart isn’t there - relationship dies

They were UNFAITHFUL in their relationship to God



25He replied, "Whether he is a sinner or not, I don't know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!"

26Then they asked him, "What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?"

27He answered, "I have told you already and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples, too?"

28Then they hurled insults at him and said, "You are this fellow's disciple! We are disciples of Moses! 29We know that God spoke to Moses, but as for this fellow, we don't even know where he comes from."

30The man answered, "Now that is remarkable! You don't know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. 31We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly man who does his will. 32Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. 33If this man were not from God, he could do nothing."

34To this they replied, "You were steeped in sin at birth; how dare you lecture us!" And they threw him out.





POINT - Sometimes in our lives, we have to be ready to receive the New Wine

PROBLEM: There are some Old Wineskins in our lives that need to be discarded. But we don’t SEE it, because it is an INSTITUTION.

if we don’t, it hinders our future.

QUESTION: Because of our availability to retrieve data instantly (i-phone or google) are there some things that we are trained as a kid that may now be considered not necessary?







SCRIPTURE: John 9:35 - 41 Spiritual Blindness

35Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and when he found him, he said, "Do you believe in the Son of Man?"

36"Who is he, sir?" the man asked. "Tell me so that I may believe in him."

37Jesus said, "You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you."

38Then the man said, "Lord, I believe," and he worshiped him.


the blind man now sees Jesus. Jesus gave him more than sight, he gave him life.


POINT: The blind man becomes a metaphor for our spiritual transformation


39Jesus said, "For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind."




NOTE:

IRONY: one who is blind, now sees, and those who see are blind spiritually

POINT: JESUS is the fulfillment of Tabernacle light has come to Jerusalem


90 DAY BIBLE

Ezekiel 12: 1 - 2

1 The word of the LORD came to me: 2 "Son of man, you are living among a rebellious people. They have eyes to see but do not see and ears to hear but do not hear, for they are a rebellious people.


POINT: The People of God, the Chosen People, we’re being sent into Exile, because they no longer saw spiritually. They were blind spiritually.


JOHN WESLEY

Those who spiritually see also spiritually hear (John Wesley) and those who spiritually hear, can hear the voice of God



POINT: The Spiritual Leaders were Spiritually blind

Question: if they did not know they were spiritually blind,

then how are we to know if we are spiritually blind?


The Answer: Next week



40Some Pharisees who were with him heard him say this and asked, "What? Are we blind too?"

41Jesus said, "If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains.




SCRIPTURE: John 9:39

The old wineskins can’t see the movement of the New Wine and New wineskins. they are blind to it.

POINT: Jesus is the fulfillment of the Feast of Tabernacles

New Wineskins & Old Wineskins

The Old Wineskins, institution of the Feast of Tabernacles was always pointing to the fulfillment of the Feast, which is Jesus.


But who can’t SEE it, the ones that we think can see.

who SEEs it, the ones that we think should not be able to see it.



EXAMPLES: the Slide Rule (VHS/Mimeographs/stenographs/rotary phones)land lines)

No longer learn Slide Rule in math classes

Why?

With the advent of the Hand Calculator, no longer needed

The Slide Rule has out lived its purpose (festivals)


With the advent of Jesus, no longer needed are the festivals

The Festivals have out lived their purpose

Jesus fulfills what the festivals ultimately point to


A good example of that is PASSOVER and HOLY COMMUNION


CLOSING

At AGO concert on Monday, Michael sang a piece, “Tantum Ergo, Op. 55,

Gabriel Faure, text, Thomas Aquinas


With bowed heads let us celebrate this great sacrament, let the old practice yield to the new sacred rite.


Old wineskins: Passover New Wineskins: Holy Communion