Stuck in the Middle

INTRODUCTION Good morning again Back in January, I had to get my driver’s license renewed, and part of that process (when you go into the lovely DMV) is they have to check your vision. And I did awesome with the large letters on the test, but then, when they got to the last line, I read off something like, “P Q 4?!” The lady said, “Um, try again.” And I gave another pathetic attempt, and she said, “Um, close enough, and then renewed my driver’s license.” Which, gave me incredible confidence in our government. And so I need to go get contacts. But I still haven’t. Why? Well, that my friend, takes work. And I’m super busy. And that sounds uncomfortable. And I actually tried it a few years ago, and it didn’t seem to work that well…and…and…and. And so I hear I am…kind of blind, kind of not blind…stuck in the middle. And that’s what we’re going to talk about this morning. A TEACHING HEALING Mark 8:22 26 Page 688 We are continuing in our 7 week teaching series through Mark Chapter 8. And today we’ve come to a miracle of Jesus, which is unique for several reasons. Let’s take a look. (Mark 8:22 26) – NIV 22 They came to Bethsaida, and some people brought a blind man and begged Jesus to touch him. 23 He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village. When he had spit on the man’s eyes and put his hands on him, Jesus asked, “Do you see anything?” 24 He looked up and said, “I see people; they look like trees walking around.” 25 Once more Jesus put his hands on the man’s eyes. Then his eyes were opened, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly. 26 Jesus sent him home, saying, “Don’t even go into the village.” (Title Slide) There are a number of interesting parts to this passage. In House Groups this week, I’m going to talk about why Jesus took the blind man outside the village to heal him.. …and why Jesus told him, “Don’t even go back to the village” But perhaps the most interesting part of this little passage is that this is the only gradual or progressive healing by Jesus in the Bible. Because after Jesus first touches the man, He asks, “Do you see anything?” And the man says, “I see people, they look like trees walking around” So, the healing was kind of working, but not all the way. He wasn’t literally blind, but he was still basically legally blind. So what’s happening here? Because it’s not like Jesus doesn’t have the power to heal him. It’s not like Jesus is going, “Whoops. Didn’t sleep very well last night. My batteries are kind of low. Let’s try this again. ” So why is this happening like this? Well, let me start by saying that whenever Jesus varies his healing techniques (which He actually does often!), we should pay attention because often those healings are what you might call a “teaching healing” Jesus, the supreme teacher, is teaching his disciples about the spiritual life…even while healing. So what is He teaching the disciples about here? He’s teaching them about spiritual blindness. This actually becomes a lot more apparent when we look at our passage in context. This is one of the many reasons we teach through passages in order like this…rather than just pulling verses out. Context matters. So what is the rest of Mark 8 about? In our first week of this series, what did we see? Almost complete blindness from the disciples. Only months earlier, Jesus had fed the 5,000, and then when Jesus hints that He wants to feed the 4,000…the disciples say (in Mark 8:4) “But where in this remote place can anyone get enough bread to feed them?” And in their blindness, they look right past Him. And then, over the last few weeks, as we looked at the Yeast of the Pharisees and the Yeast of Herod, do you remember how the disciples were so blind that they thought Jesus was talking to them about literal bread? And Jesus can’t believe that they don’t understand. Look at verse 18. He says: “Do you have eyes but fail to see?” It’s like you ever have your kid say, “Have you seen my homework? Or your roommate says: “have you seen my keys?” And you’re like, “It’s right in front of you?” And they say, “I still don’t see it” That’s what’s happening in this chapter. And even if you keep reading past the healing miracle in today’s passage, we see that next week, Peter will kind of get it…and declare Jesus as the Messiah. But then the following section, he’s back to rebuking Jesus for saying that He had to die, and the disciples are practically blind again. The disciples are stuck in the middle. They’re like the blind man in between miracles. They’re seeing, but not seeing. And so what Jesus is brilliantly doing here is healing the blind man in such a way to show the disciples a real life picture of themselves. He’s showing them that He can heal their spiritual blindness. But, in reality, that healing will come in stages, not suddenly. What we need, is the continual touch of Jesus. And so I think this passage is an important lesson for us as disciples of Jesus even today. Because truthfully, a lot of us get stuck in the middle. We get a touch of Jesus, and we begin to see, and then for one reason or another, we get stuck there…seeing but not seeing. And some of us sit there, stuck in the middle, for years…or even decades. And so I want to talk today about why we get stuck in the middle…stuck seeing, but not seeing. And I’ll give you 3 reasons (I’m sure there are many more), but 3 that jump out in studying this passage. #1: WE KNOW A LITTLE ABOUT SIN, A LITTLE ABOUT JESUS, BUT ONLY ENOUGH TO MAKE US MISERABLE 3 REASONS WHY WE GET STUCK IN THE MIDDLE #1: We know a little about sin, a little about Jesus, but only enough to make us miserable Think about this. If you know nothing of Jesus, or morality, you’ll be out going hard after the pleasures of this world. Some of us used to be in that state of mind. And they call them pleasures for a reason. Sin wouldn’t be tempting if it weren’t fun. But sin always has a price. And often that price is incredibly high. But when you start to learn the ways of Jesus, and about sin, you learn about sin’s cost. And so you say to yourself, “Yeah, I better avoid some of that.” And so many Americans convince themselves that it’s time to grow up, stop partying every weekend, get a job, get married, have a couple of kids, and buy a nice suburban house.” And then you come to church, and you get a little of Jesus too. You learn that He loves you and He can forgive you And you like that part, so you accept it. And then you feel indebted… Like, “He gave me eternal life, I should at least go to church…and maybe a house group. Maybe.” And right there, stuck in the middle, is where most Americans in church sit. We know a little about sin. We know a little about Jesus. But not enough about either to do anything but make us, well, kind of miserable Bible Scholar D.A. Carson puts it this way: “No one is more miserable than the Christian who for a time hedges in his obedience. He does not love sin enough to enjoy its pleasures, and does not love Christ enough to relish His holiness.” – D.A. Carson To really go deep with Christ and understand his love. And so we sit, stuck, in the miserable middle. But my friend, that is not the life that Jesus offers you in this Book. It’s not how He tells you to follow Him. We’re going to see later this month, at the close of the series that Jesus will say: (Mark 8:34b 35) – NIV “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 35 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. The way to life is death. It’s deny yourself. It’s to stop putting your toe in the water of the Christian faith and actually dive in. It’s to surrender your old life, and fully trust in Jesus Christ. Look at the hard word Jesus gives the church of Laodicea in the Book of Revelation (Revelation 3:15 16) – NIV 15 I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! 16 So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.  (Title Slide) And if you really want to fix the lukewarmness you feel in your heart…or the misery of being stuck in the middle. …you’ve got to go deeper in your surrender with Jesus. Too many of us are like the blind man stuck between the stages of healing We just see an outline of trees walking around… …our spiritual lives are there, but they are heavily pixelated. And thus, the image we have for faith isn’t compelling enough to draw us further in. But I yearn for you to see it in HD…and see how beautiful it truly is. And so for many of you, it starts today with you saying to Jesus, “Touch my eyes again. Show me more. Let’s go further.” Tell Him, “Give me the truth…give me yourself…whatever it costs me.” #2: WE ARE IMPATIENT WITH SLOW GROWTH, SO WE SETTLE FOR NO GROWTH Okay, 2nd reason: 3 REASONS WHY WE GET STUCK IN THE MIDDLE #1: We know a little about sin, a little about Jesus, but only enough to make us miserable #2: We are impatient with slow growth, so we settle for no growth What we want is the full instantaneous miracle. Not the one that comes in stages in Mark 8. We want fast, noticeable progress! And unlike say our great grandparents, we’re at much more serious risk to fall for this one because of the instantaneous world we live in. Do you think your great grandma could imagine a world of Amazon Prime? Stuff delivered to your door, now sometimes the same day? Or streaming services? Or Door Dash? And living in a “Things delivered in an instant World” has significantly reduced our ability to wait for things. I was talking with someone this week who said they can’t even wait for the microwave to get to zero anymore, they just stop it at 3 seconds. And I think because people don’t see change fast enough, they get discouraged in their Christian walk. And then they end up settling for something even worse: Getting stuck in the miserable middle. But change is rarely fast my friend. Let me give you an example. I’m very proud of this…I’ve actually never deleted an email. Okay, maybe like 1 or 2 super mean ones, but otherwise, I have every email since I started this church 14 years ago. And the other day I was looking for an old email, and I randomly came across an email I had written in 2012. I was trying to host an event at my house for a bunch of friends, and almost none of them even got back to me… …and so I wrote this email to my friends, that was like one part petty, another part scorched earth, and told them that I was not only cancelling it, but because of their lack of response, I would be cancelling it indefinitely. And I’m reading this email the other day, and I can not tell you how embarrassed I felt reading the email. I’m looking over my shoulder to make sure no one else is reading the words of this terrible person. And THEN I thought, “Wait a second. I could never see myself writing an email like that today.” But then I thought: “Praise God. That’s God working in my life… “That’s God growing me in patience, in grace, in gentleness.” But I can’t say that I “see it happening” in real time. He’s working, but it’s slow. And my friend, if you just keep pressing in to God every day, trust that He is working in you too! But you can’t rush it. A woman from our church told me a story the other day about when she was a young girl and found a butterfly chrysalis (Chrysallis) She could see the butterfly in there because she could see its wings, and so she decided she would help it break free. So she tore part of the chrysalis so it could get out. But when it came out, it couldn’t fly. See because she rushed the process, the butterfly never actually did the hard part of struggling… …and its in the struggle where the wings get strengthened, and that gives them the ability to fly. Just like Romans says, “It’s suffering, that produces perseverance, that produces character.” So trust in the pace of God’s process. Trust Him even when He leads you into the struggle. 3 REASONS WHY WE GET STUCK IN THE MIDDLE #1: We know a little about sin, a little about Jesus, but only enough to make us miserable #2: We are impatient with slow growth, so we settle for no growth I mean sure, there are some people who experience some sort of dramatic change, but I think a more common pattern for the “process of removing spiritual blindness” is the disciple Peter Peter goes through this continual cycle where he doesn’t get it, then he gets it, then he doesn’t get it. Peter has these high moments (like we’ll see next week), and then not much later he’s denying Christ. Then Jesus restores him, and after the resurrection, Peter is preaching boldly leading thousands to Christ! Then, later in the NT letters, Peter gets kind of confused again, and Paul has to correct him in front of everybody. You know who Peter sounds like? He sounds like me. He sounds like you. He sounds like regular disciples of Jesus. And this is what Jesus is teaching the disciples through this unique healing miracle. He wants them to know that our spiritual blindness takes time to go away. And so to some of you this morning, I want to say, “Stop chasing the instantaneous.” Stop looking for YouTube videos and blogs that tell you “The 5 promises that lead to the victorious life in Christ…that all start with Q!” That’s not what walking with Jesus generally looks like. And to others of you I want to say, “Don’t let your impatience with slow growth, convince you to throw up your hands, and thus settle for no growth” I think way too many American Christians have settled for half blindness. They had that first healing, that first miracle…a moment with Jesus… Maybe at camp as a kid …or they got saved at an outreach service …or Jesus met them powerfully at their lowest low… …or used them tremendously on a Missions Trip And it’s like the blind man in Mark 8 first getting healed. And we see people now…but like trees walking around. And then, rather than coming back to Jesus for more…we end up just settling for trees walking around. We adjust to half blindness. We get used to it, and we settle. Don’t settle. The miserable middle is not worth settling for. God wants to do more in you my friend. #3: OUR PRIDE KEEPS US FROM ADMITTING WE ONLY SEE TREES WALKING AROUND And let leads me right into my 3rd reason 3 REASONS WHY WE GET STUCK IN THE MIDDLE #1: We know a little about sin, a little about Jesus, but only enough to make us miserable #2: We are impatient with slow growth, so we settle for no growth #3: Our pride keeps us from admitting we only see trees walking around I think this is so important to understand. The reason why so many of us are stuck in our faith… …stuck between one touch of Jesus, and another one that will really move us forward in spiritual maturity… …the reason is because we can’t get ourselves to admit we’re stuck. It’s like me not wanting to admit that I just need to suck it up and go into the eye doctor. And so I just stay stuck…in half blindness. That’s why I’m starting with admitting to you that I have a problem. Now I gotta move. Look at the passage…end of verse 23. Jesus asks the blind man, “Do you see anything?” Now, the man could’ve said, “Uh yeah, uh, this is great! Thanks Jesus!” But he tells the truth to Jesus! He says, “Um, the people still kind of look like trees walking around. That’s not right is it?” 😊 And Jesus basically says, “no it’s not. I want you to see more clearly. Let me touch you again.” And Jesus removes more of his blindness. And so let’s do a spiritual self assessment: Are you on fire for Christ? Excited and passionate for Jesus? Or are you kind of lukewarm? Kind of stuck in the middle. If you are, the way that we get out of spiritual blindness is not to just adjust to it…or pretend like it’s not there. The way we get out of it, is to be honest about it. And so I ask you: “Where do you, like the blind man, need to tell the truth to Jesus? To say, “Jesus, I’m stuck. I’m not seeing clearly. Help me. I need you to touch me again. Come in move in my life again!!” The blind man did not object to further treatment. He rejoiced in it. GOSPEL And for some of you, what you actually need to admit, is perhaps the hardest thing of all. It’s that you need God in the first place. (Show CrossBridge Illustration) What God’s Word tells us that is every one of us is chained in our our sin, unable to please God, unable to save ourselves. And the only way to God, to forgiveness, to heaven, to that other side….is life is through Jesus. Otherwise there is a huge chasm separating us from God…and it’s our sin. And so we need Jesus to pay for our sins, we need the cross. We need to believe Jesus died for us, and give our lives over to Him in faith. But do that is to lower your pride, and admit you need God. But my friend, there is no better choice you can make. This is how you find forgiveness and eternal life. And if you’ve never repented of your sins before… That is to say, God, I want to walk away from that, I want to start living for you, I want your forgiveness…your eternal life. Do so today. And God can forgive you of anything. That’s why Jesus came! And if you need to that today, I urge you to give your life to Him now. In fact, let’s just have everyone, just for a minute, close your eyes and bow your head. If you need to make this decision for the first time today…to tell Jesus that you need His forgiveness for your sins…to make Him the Lord of your life…to accept His gift of Eternal life… In just a minute, I’m going to ask you to raise your hand. No one’s going to be looking at you at all, that’s why we had everyone close their eyes. But sometimes in life, we just need that moment…that line in the sand moment. To say, “God I’m taking that leap of faith to you today” If you need to tell God for the first time today that you do believe, and you want to follow Him and be forgiven, raise your hand. The Bible tells us that in this moment we believe in our hearts and confess with our mouths. Repeat after me Dear God I confess to you, that I have sinned against you. But God I believe, that you sent your Son Jesus, to take my place And God I thank you, for forgiving my sins. And now I commit, to following you, with my life. After the service I will give you some information on what to do next, okay?