LCC Sermon on John 9

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Read: John 9:1-38, then pray

Show Image- Maury

In High School, I would come home from school and watch this show called Maury- talk show.

Show YouTube Clip- Maury Talk Show: Paternity Test “You are not the Father/ You are the Father
reactions”

- I always found people’s reactions to the truth very funny

- I also felt bad for the women- to go to great lengths and appear publically on tv for the truth

How much do you want the truth?

- Would you want it even if meant an inconvenience? Came at a great cost?

- What if it was something that you didn’t want to hear? What if it meant something great?
- Or maybe like the ones in Maury- they just didn’t want the truth?

I believe all of us are in a way similar to the people on the Maury Talk Show -- because the Christian
experience is that the truth will makes us uncomfortable.

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Today I want to focus on 2 points:

The truth will make us uncomfortable in our minds.

And the truth will make us uncomfortable in our relationships.

But in the end, the truth is ultimately worth it.

First point: the truth will make us uncomfortable in our minds.

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Calvin and Hobbes Dad

I get why Calvin’s dad would say that, because the truth is, he doesn’t know (what creates wind), and he
doesn’t want to look into it.

Story: Jalen asked why girls don’t have dinks

- They just don’t
- I didn’t want to explain
Because the truth normally has a cost to it, sometimes the cost is low, and you can just look it up on
Google. Other times, the truth will cost you your entire worldview and challenge to a new way to live

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Thomas Nagel, famous atheist philosopher admitted: “I want atheism to be true...It isn’t just that I don’t
believe in God, and naturally, hope that I’m right in my belief. It’s that I hope there is no God. I don’t
want there to be a God: I don’t want the universe to be like that...” 1

There would be a cost

In our Bible Story, the Jewish leaders didn’t want to find out that Jesus could do miracles, because if it
were true, then Jesus is more than a man, more than a prophet- it would mean that Jesus who he said
he was, God in the flesh.

They refused to believe it because would cost them their position, their entire religious system, and
everything they had dedicated their lives to. So when they looked into the evidence, they only looked to
try to prove themselves right. They only looked for the truth to confirm what they already believed.

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They didn’t believe that the man was born blind. So they interviewed the parents. And in verse 20 they
said, “We know he is our son,” the parents answered, “and we know he was born blind.

And then they tried to find something fishy with the blind man. He had already told them that Jesus put
mud in his eyes and told him to wash it off. And that was ridiculous to the religious leaders, so they asked
him again in verse 26.

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26 Then they asked him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?”
27 He 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?”

And that was the last straw! So they shouted him down, they dismissed everything he said and they
threw him out! In that moment, they felt secure- because the truth was threatening their entire way of
thinking about life. It was more comfortable to avoid the truth, than to face it.

And we have to pay attention to these religious leaders, because Christians avoid the truth all the time.

Story: My ride with my Pastor

- I went to Edmonton to see a Basketball game with my Pastor- I love the guy
- 3 hour drive home, so I thought I can pick this guys brain- share my questions, share my doubts
- So I asked him, so “why the Bible?” “Why is that the “word of God”? and not like other religions

1
Thomas Nagel, The Last Word, p.130
 - We have 3 hours- can’t wait for his answer
- He looked at me and said “it just is”- I was pretty jaded with that answer

We cannot become “Dogmatic” (it just is)- no questions asked. Take it or leave it. These kind of answers
are close-minded- it kills conversations and really it kills discipleship

Dogmatic answers -- even if right, it doesn’t help evangelism.

- It does not help the Christian who has questions or doubts
- Or the non-Christian that genuinely wants to know what we think

David Kinnaman wrote this great book called “You Lost Me” exploring reasons why young Christians
leave the faith. And one of the reasons was doubt.

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According to their research, 36% of young Christians felt like they can’t ask “my most pressing life
questions in Church. 10% put it more bluntly, “I am not allowed to talk about my doubts in Church” 2

Think about what’s happening to one-third of all Christians in churches like ours. The conversation is
being killed. That would mean that Discipleship and Evangelism is getting killed too. And you know what
maybe some of us won’t leave the faith if we hear our leaders say it just is.

But we will lose our ability to talk to people who aren’t Christians. Because when our non-Christian
friends ask us why do you believe Christianity is the right religion. You can’t just say, “It just is.” That’s
what I grew up on and it’s so frustrating! And if that’s all you’ve been taught, you will be unprepared for
the some of the most important conversations you’ll ever have in your life.

I have a hunch why my pastor killed the conversation all those years ago. I think it’s because he didn’t
want to say, “I don’t know.” It can be a scary thing to say “I don’t know.” Maybe he thought I would get
upset, “what kind of pastor are you?” That actually happened to me once- when I was a youth pastor, he
asked me what about the ones that don’t ever get the chance to hear the Gospel- where do they go? I
said honestly I don’t know and he got so upset. I was just being honest. So I get the fear.

But actually, it’s okay if you don’t know. There are lots of things you don’t have to know.

We don’t need to know the intricacies of how Noah brought animals 2x2 onto the Ark, did that include
Dinosaurs- while it could make for an interesting conversation, it’s not central to our faith- our faith does
not hinge on whether or not Noah brought a Triceratops onto the Ark.

You don’t need to know all about other religions (it would be good), but what we absolutely need to
know is the central things of our faith

Did Jesus rise from the dead?

Is Jesus is historical?
Can I trust my Bible? Are the eye witnesses reliable?

2
David Kinnaman, You Lost Me, p. 192
Start there- that is what is central to our faith (the foundation)- then you can move outwards. But I see
people start at Noah’s ark and I want to faint

So when someone asks you a hard question, you could say, “I don’t know but I’d love to find out.”
Because that’s the attitude and posture we need to keep the conversations alive!

The truth can be uncomfortable because sometimes we have to say we don’t know, and if we find out
the truth, there’s a good chance it’s going to ask us to change the way we live and how we view the
world. That can be scary, but it can also be worth it too

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My second point today, is that the truth will make you uncomfortable in your relationships.

In our Bible story, the characters in the story had a choice -- they could keep the status quo with their
relationships and not rock the boat. Or they could choose the truth -- that something amazing had
happened. The blind man’s parents chose the easy way out.

Listen to the conversation they had with the religious leaders starting at verse 20

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20 “We know he is our son,” the parents answered, “and we know he was born blind. 21 But 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.” 22 His
parents said this because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders, who already had decided that anyone
who acknowledged that Jesus was the Messiah would be put out of the synagogue. 23 That was why his
parents said, “He is of age; ask him.”

The blind man’s parents weren’t ready to lose their community. The synagogue was their church. It was
their support network, their place of worship, the place that gave them their worldview. It was the
community that would take care of them, if they got sick. So even though they saw with their own eyes
that their son had been healed, they were too scared to tell the truth. Because, the truth would cause
tension in their relationship

And even nowadays people have to make a hard choice sometimes between the truth and their
relationships.

I’ve met some people who had Muslim background but then they became a Christian. Their conversion
comes at a great cost. It can literally tear families apart. Sometimes the family will stop talking to the
person who became Christian. Sometimes the family will disown them. Sometimes even the family will
threaten the safety of the Christian.

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But even if you didn’t come from a Muslim background, you will still feel tension in your relationships.
According to a poll by Barna Research, 83% of atheists, agnostics, non religious think it’s extreme to
attempt to convert others3.

A lot of people are more comfortable if you keep your religious beliefs to yourself. But if the gospel is
true, how can you keep it to yourself. The more we understand the Gospel- the more we will feel this
tension

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Paul says in Romans 9:2-3

2 I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. 3 For I could wish that I myself were cursed and
cut off from Christ for the sake of my people, those of my own race,

Paul is saying his heart is burning with a constant pain for the people he grew up with. God has put so
much love in his heart for his people that Paul says he would even be willing to go to hell for them if that
would help them. That’s love right there. You would do anything. You would give every ounce of
strength, and every bit of freedom to help them. To the point that your dedicate your life to try to make
a difference in their eternity.

But let me tell you, it’s worth it.

Analogy: It’s like parenthood

- You don’t sleep (Jalen would play with my eyes when I slept- hoping that I would wake up)
- You sacrifice so much (literally everything) to take care of your kids
- But it’s worth it because now I can sleep

With the Blind Man, he stuck to the truth. And the religious leaders threw him out of the community.
And his parents didn’t really have his back. But it was worth it.

Because Jesus gave him a new community, which was the church. A church full of people like him, who
loved him just as he was, and who shared the same purpose and vision in life.

And if he felt like his parents left him hanging, the man had God as his Father. A God who meet every
need, and be with him forever

That’s how works for everyone who follows Jesus. Whatever we give up for the truth, God will give it
back to us, the promise of Mark 10-it will be a hundred times better than when we gave it up. The
hardest part is the wait, but it will be worth the wait. And while we wait, the Bible tells us to encourage
each other. And we will need it.

Conclusion

The truth will make us really uncomfortable.

The truth will make us uncomfortable in our minds, when we have to follow the evidence and find the
truth it may require a life change

3
Gabe Lyons & David Kinnaman, Good Faith (2016), p.42
And lastly, the truth will make us uncomfortable in our relationships because our hearts will be burning
for other people to know Jesus. That tension will be there.

So the truth is uncomfortable. But it’s worth it. Because whatever we give up for Jesus, he’ll give it back
to us, and it will be worth it. So we encourage each other.