The Soul Healing Savior - John 9:35-41

This morning we find ourselves at the end of John chapter 9. The whole chapter centers around Jesus’ healing of the man born blind.

And if you remember, Jesus healed him in verses 1-12, which then kicked off a church discipline trial because the man gave Jesus credit for his miraculous healing which took place on the Sabbath.

And verses 35-41, are essentially the aftermath of the healed man’s church discipline trial. He’s been excommunicated from the synagogue. And now, Jesus is back on the scene.

The healed man and Jesus interact and he makes this dramatic profession of faith. For all intents and purposes, it appears very raw and emotional. It was probably quite the spectacle, but it wasn’t disingenuous.

I think that stands in stark contrast to the world we live in today.

We live in a world that craves authenticity, and yet we somehow lack it. Social media encourages you and me to only post the highlights of our lives. The best vacations, the big graduations, and big promotions only those sorts of things find their way onto social media. But that doesn’t reflect real life! No one’s life is one perpetual highlight reel. In many ways, it’s disingenuous.

We also live in a world that is very politically correct. And so, we restrain our speech. Which on the surface, doesn’t necessarily sound like a bad thing. But more often than not, we avoid hard truths. And we avoid these hard truths not because we’re trying to temper our speech but because we’re afraid of what will happen if we spoke the truth out loud. If you were to say exactly what you think, well there may be social consequences. We choose not to speak out. Similarly, if you never speak the truth then that’s not being honest.

And those are just the sorts of things I could think of off the top of my head. There are countless other contributing factors to why the world we live in lacks authenticity.

But God demands authenticity. In fact, he demands sincere authentic worship. And authentic worship is the result of a living and active faith in Christ.

But as always, it’s important for us to accurately frame our thinking when it comes to worship. Worship is a big biblical concept. No doubt, it’s more than the songs that we sing on Sunday.

And we’re often told in our Evangelical Christian world, that all of life is worship, which I think is true. Whether you eat or drink, do it all to the glory of God. Our lives are an act of worship. And yet, at the same time, it’s also true that the Lord in his providence, has prescribed a time for focused, concentrated worship.

Unfortunately, I don’t think any of us spend every waking moment reflecting on the glory of God. It’s for that reason God in his infinite wisdom established the Lord’s Day.

What we’re doing right now, this is the apex of Christian worship. Worship in its purest, most concentrated form, happens in the corporate gathering of God’s people for worship. It’s what we’re doing right now. Hopefully, this is why we’re all here! To worship the Triune God of the Bible!,

With that said, I’m sure most of us who profess faith in Christ have had an experience like this: you’re driving down the road, doing some mundane task when out of nowhere you're captivated by a sense of awe and wonder of the living God. Those moments are always a worshipful experience.

I think we see something similar in this passage. The healed man is captivated by a sense of awe and wonder of the living God. In response to meeting Jesus Christ, he has an authentic worshipful experience. And I think this passage should give each of us directives for what authentic worship should look like.

Here’s how I’ve broken things down: First, we see in verses 35-36 that authentic worship must be centered on Jesus Christ. Secondly, we see in verses 37-38 that authentic worship is a natural response to Jesus Christ. And lastly in verses 39-41 authentic worship is revealed in humility.

Authentic Worship is centered on Jesus Christ (vv. 35-36)

Remember what’s happened here. The healed man was put through a synagogue discipline trial or what we might think of as a church discipline trial. Remember the grievous crime he committed? He gave Jesus credit for his healing.

Wrap your head around that one.

So this healed man has had a roller coaster of a ride over the last 24-48 ish hours. He miraculously received his sight, only to be excommunicated from the synagogue that he was likely very familiar with.

That’s where our passage picks up - in the aftermath of the healed man’s excommunication. That’s essentially what is meant when we’re told that he was “cast out.” Over the course of John 9 the healed man reached the peak of Mt. Everest only to find himself at the bottom of the deepest valley.

And it’s while this man is wallowing at the bottom of the valley, Jesus returns to him. Jesus hunts him down because he had heard what had happened to him. And how does Jesus comfort him? By telling him where to put his faith and trust.

That’s certainly what he’s getting at in 35 when he asks, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”

Of all the names and titles that Jesus could employ, why does he refer to himself as the Son of Man? Isn’t that one of Jesus’ less clear titles? Why not the Son of God? Or Messiah? Why not something more explicit? Something that clearly pointed to his authority, mission, and work?

You see, that’s the precise reason he refers to himself as the ‘Son of Man.’ That title conveys power and authority with reference to his Messianic mission. I’ve mentioned this before, but the ‘Son of Man’ language comes from Daniel chapter 7. In Daniel 7, the prophet Daniel received this incredible vision where he sees God coming down from heaven to earth.

And he describes his vision in this way in Daniel 7:13-14:

“...and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. 14 And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.”

This incredible vision describes the power, glory, and kingdom that is given to the Son of Man. Really, it’s describing the ‘Son of Man’ as a Messianic King. After all, in Daniel 7 he’s receiving dominion, glory, a kingdom, peoples, nations and languages should serve him. The vision describes Jesus as a conquering King.

It’s also worth noting that ‘Son of Man’ was Jesus’ favorite way to refer to himself. He refers to himself as the Son of Man more often than he refers to himself as the Son of God.

That’s the Jesus we come together to worship every week. The Jesus that has been given all authority and power.

Notice that Jesus doesn’t depict himself in ways that are so often used today. He’s not the weak, effeminate man that’s so often depicted in our culture. Do any of us want to worship that guy? He’s a king!

The healed man understood the reference. Notice, he doesn’t ask what does the ‘Son of Man’ mean? Rather he asks who is the Son of Man in verse 35? “And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?”

It seems that the healed man has some religious knowledge. Apparently, all those years of begging outside of the synagogue had paid off.

He knew the ‘Son of Man’ was where his faith and trust should be placed. He understood that salvation would come in and through the ‘Son of Man.’ He just didn’t know who the ‘Son of Man’ was.

Jesus answers his question: “You have seen him, and it is he who is speaking to you.”

Notice that Jesus says, “You have seen him…” This is important, because the healed man had never seen Jesus! He received his sight after he washed in the pool of Siloam. So imagine the scene: you have this formerly blind man looking into the face of the Son of Man. The one that Daniel prophesied of so many years ago.

But what is Jesus doing on a fundamental level? He’s pointing the healed man to himself. Jesus is telling him that salvation comes in and through his name and he is therefore worthy of his worship. He’s telling him where to direct his worship because worship.

Jesus doesn’t say, “well, the Son of Man is a generic reference to being a good moral person.” He doesn’t point the blind man to some other religion. He claims exclusive rights to the healed man’s worship. And he claims exclusive rights to your worship, and my worship. “You have seen him, and it is he who is speaking to you.”

Worship should always be centered on Jesus Christ!

I’ve heard countless churches refer to their corporate worship gathering as a “worship experience.” Perhaps you’ve heard that too.

And I’m always troubled by that language, because I think it very subtly turns the spotlight of worship away from exalting, glorifying, and praising Jesus Christ and puts it on you.

It goes from Christ-centered, God-exalting, experience and makes it about you and me. It makes worship man-centered. That language seems to indicate the goal of worship is to manufacture some sort of experience.

But worship by definition is not about you! Worship is about offering the Triune God of the Bible praise, honor, and glory through our magnificent Savior Jesus Christ! Amen?

After all, don’t we spend basically every waking second thinking about ourselves?

So much of our time is spent focused on solving the various problems that afflict us. Doesn’t that pretty much sum up every day? We’re constantly thinking about our vacations, finances, career, and future just to name a few. But to be fair, so much of it is simply the consequence of living life.

But even when it’s not life in general that demands our attention, we’re still encouraged by our culture and the world to think about ourselves. The world is obsessed with you expressing your sexual preferences, your pronouns, your history, your experiences, your opinions, and the list goes on! Everywhere you turn is about self-exaltation and self-worship.

Lord’s Day worship is a weekly opportunity to turn your attention away from yourself so that you can reflect upon the goodness and beauty of the Lord Jesus Christ! I mean, Jesus healed the man on the Sabbath!

When you pull back, you begin to realize that we only have one hour a week to forget about ourselves and devote our attention to Jesus Christ and what he has done for us. I hope we’re doing that right now.

Don’t we all need to be regularly asked by Jesus, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” Don’t you need the weekly reminder of what’s really important? That the gospel of grace that’s found in the person and work of Jesus Christ gives meaning to life itself? He has given us his righteousness so that we may stand before a holy, and perfect God as His sons and daughters.

We must turn our attention away from ourselves and to Jesus Christ.

Worship isn’t about creating an atmosphere in order to manufacture a response out of you. Because worship isn’t about you. Worship isn’t about me. True, authentic worship is centered on Jesus Christ. If it’s not about Jesus Christ, then it’s not worship.

Authentic Worship is the response to Jesus Christ (vv. 35-37)

So true worship is centered on Jesus Christ and the sincere worship experience that so many chase only comes in response to Christ.

In other words, Jesus Christ and his gospel should stir your very soul. It should move you. And that’s precisely what we see in our text.

Jesus said in verse 37, “You have seen him, and it is he who is speaking to you.” Then the healed man responded, “Lord, I believe.”

Sometimes when we see the word, ‘Lord’ in Scripture it can be used to refer to a ‘master’ or someone of a higher authority. But you don’t have to be a New Testament scholar to be able to figure out what he means when he calls Jesus - ‘Lord.’ But here, it means God.

He recognized Jesus as God, the Messiah, the Holy One of Israel. He makes an incredible public profession of faith! The healed man knew that salvation would come through Jesus. He may not have known exactly what he was going to do at this point in redemptive history, but he believed that he would accomplish it.

The healed man makes a profession of faith in Christ, and then Apostle John tells us “and he worshiped him.” The word “worship” literally means “to lay prostrate, bow, or kneel.” Once he realized who Jesus was - he was on the ground. And no doubt, he struck a worshipful posture because of what was happening in his heart!

Presbyterians are notorious for arguing about theology. There have been many good and important debates, but along the way, there have been some not so good and less important ones. There’s a temptation to shrug your shoulders and ask what’s all the fuss about? Who cares? Can’t we all just get along? We should always avoid petty debates, but the truth is your theology impacts your worship.

Everyone worships something! The question is who or what do you worship? Getting that part right, will help you get the sincerity part right as well. What you fundamentally believe drives who or what you worship. Your understanding of who Christ is and what he’s done for you should drive the attitude of your heart!

But notice the ordering of things in the passage. First, the healed man needed to get his theology right. He needed to know where to direct his worship. He needed to know who the object of his worship was, and once he had that right - he had an authentic worship experience in the presence of Christ.

Put another way, your theology impacts your doxology. Understanding what you believe about Christ has a direct impact on your ability to worship him with deep sincerity.

I do fear that we may be on the verge of losing this in our modern evangelical world. It seems to me that many evangelical Christians want to create a worship experience that is divorced from the person and work of Jesus Christ.

Too many professing Christians want a worship experience more than the object of their worship. And what I want to remind each of you this morning is that you can have an incredible worship experience! But that authentic worship experience comes through the person and work of Jesus Christ. Don’t settle for a cheap substitute!

Don’t order McDonalds when you can eat a three course meal from a five star Michelin chef!

Isn’t that precisely what happened in our text? The healed man recognized that he was in the presence of the Lord and it was in response to that, he humbled himself into the dirty, dusty, ground.

Authentic worship isn’t an end in and of itself, authentic worship comes only in response to seeing the majesty and beauty of the gospel of Jesus Christ!

Authentic Worship is revealed in humility (vv. 39-41)

So authentic worship is centered on Christ and comes in response to Christ, and lastly, we see that true authentic worship is revealed in humility. There are tons of definitions of humility. My favorite one is what C.S. Lewis said: “humility is not thinking less of yourself but thinking about yourself less.” And I think that’s a great definition.

And here’s what I mean by humility: the fundamental belief that you don’t have it all figured out. You’re willing to admit that you don’t know everything. And there’s a spiritual humility as well, which is the recognition that you’re a sinner and you need to be saved.

Because if you have everything figured out, would you need a Savior? The healed man demonstrated this sort of humility didn’t he? After all, he made a profession of faith and publicly worshiped Jesus.

No doubt it was a spectacle.

Let’s turn our attention back to the passage here.

Keep in mind what’s going on in this passage. This man is with Jesus, they’re probably outside the synagogue, he makes a dramatic public profession of faith in Christ, and drops to the ground and worships him.

No doubt, there were onlookers. And Jesus said in verse 39: “For judgment I came into this world that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.”

Again, notice Jesus’ play on words here. He refers to sight and blindness, but he’s clearly not talking about physical sight and blindness. Jesus is using sight and blindness as a metaphor for humanity’s spiritual condition.

Think about what he’s saying in verse 39. Those that “cannot see” are people who do not claim to know or have total spiritual understanding. The spiritually blind if you will. But what does Jesus say next? It’s for those people he came into the world, so that they “may see.”

On the other hand, there are those who are confident in their spiritual understanding. They think they have everything figured out. Those are the people that, according to Jesus, can “see.” And what does Jesus say about them? He came into the world so that they “may become blind.”

And all of this, is an act of judgment. Because granting salvation to some inevitably entails condemning others.

Of course, this is all a work of God. It is the Lord who ultimately softens the hearts of men. But how can you and I see the work of God in someone? You see it most clearly in a humble and contrite spirit. James 4 talks about this.

He said, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” Then later in the same chapter he said, “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.” Obviously, it’s not the appearance of humility that saves someone, but humility is a key marker of the work of the Spirit.

Is this not exactly what we see in our passage? The healed man says, “Lord I believe!” And dropped to the ground and worshiped Christ.

But notice the contrast John sets up between the healed man and the Pharisees.

Have you ever overheard a conversation that didn’t really include you - only to be scolded with, “this is an A/B conversation and you’re C.”

The Pharisees are C in this conversation, but it doesn’t stop them from piping up, does it? They’re listening in on Jesus’ conversation with the healed man and say, “Are we also blind?”

It’s with tremendous irony that they speak up, because they thought there was no way they could be spiritually blind because after all, they’re educated. They’re the elites! Surely, Jesus didn’t mean they were blind like all the poor peasant people around them.

Matthew Henry said it well, “They gloried that they were not blind, as the common people…”

Look at Jesus’ response: “If you were blind you would have no guilt; but now that you say, ‘We see,’ your guilt remains.”

In other words, if they claimed to be spiritual blind they’d be guiltless. But it’s because they confidently assert they have spiritual sight, that they’re guilt remains.

And the big issue with the Pharisees is that they claim to be spiritually enlightened apart from Jesus Christ.

And all of this is really setting up an incredible contrast which has been developing throughout chapter 9. On one hand you have an unlearned, poor beggar, recently healed, humble, worshiper of Jesus Christ.

And on the other hand, you have educated, smart, arrogant, condescending, rejecters of Jesus Christ.

The Pharisees thought they had it all figured out. They knew everything.

While the healed man didn’t claim to know everything, and instead, humbly put his hope in Jesus Christ!

To authentically worship, you must humble yourself.

Unfortunately, ‘worship’ has become a sort of catch all word, that’s been emptied of meaning.

Worship is not music, or a particular style of music. It’s not a motivational speech or a ted talk. It’s not dimmed lights or a particular type of atmosphere. And worship isn’t found in good social causes like volunteering at the local food pantry.

Worship isn’t aided by specific demographic or sociological data. Neither does a church’s ethnic makeup improve or weaken their worship.

Because true authentic worship is rooted in the sufficiency of the person and work of Jesus Christ!

Authentic worship comes through reflecting on the guilt of your sin, and the immeasurable riches of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The fact that your sin nailed him to the cross, but out of his abundant grace and mercy has cast it as far as the east is from the west. When your heart is full of humility, gratitude, and thanksgiving, in response to the gospel, that’s worship. When you see the gospel with great clarity - that’s what will bring you to your knees.

It’s the gospel that will put you prostrate before the Lord and cause you to echo the words of Isaiah, “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”

Our worship is directed to and through him! It’s what we saw from the healed man! His response to Christ was authentic worship!

Our worship should be centered and focused on Christ. It’s so simple and yet, so quickly forgotten.

Volunteering at the food pantry is a good thing. Demographics and sociology are not evil areas of study.

But we have a serious problem when we believe Christian worship is inadequate, insufficient, or not good enough without them! The Lord alone is worthy of all our praise, honor, and glory.

May we all say this day, “Lord I believe!” And humble ourselves in authentic worship before him. Let’s pray.