Jesus Does Good Things When He Uses Me
- Jun 7
- 14 min read
Pastor Stan Mons
Sermon Transcription:
At this time, all of our little ones, do not leave the service because we once again have Family Sunday today here at Safe House Church. And to do a little recap for those who of the kids was here last time for Family Sunday, would you raise your hand if you were here? You were a kiddo, or you feel like a kiddo, that's fine. I'm going to do a little test. Trust and obey, and it will all be..."okay", you remember. Good job. Last Family Sunday, we heard a story. And it was a story about the people of God coming to the city of Jericho. And Jericho had what around it? Tall walls. And the people of God didn't really know what to do. It didn't look like they could just take those walls down. It didn't look like they could climb those walls. It didn't look like they had the weapons to take on those walls.
They had to trust the Lord, and they had to obey the Lord, even when it didn't look good for them. And then, in the end, God did a miracle, and it all ended up being okay. Now, over the last months, sometimes when I get around some of the little ones, I do that. I say that sentence from that sermon to find out, hey, they remember. This is a good thing to remember. If I just trust and obey, then everything will be okay. And so, for this service, we have another one. So, we'll do the papas and the mamas first. We'll do the adults first. All the kiddos, or if you feel in your heart you are a kiddo, you stay quiet, okay? But for all of the adults, here's... I'll give you the sentence first. You don't have to guess. Jesus does good things when he uses me. Me is your word. Point at yourself, and you make sure the devil hears it when you say that. Jesus does good things when he uses..."me". I heard some kids. That must have been one of mine. He did too much practicing at home. Okay, now kids, why don't you help the adults and let them hear how it really works, okay? Are you guys ready? Full throttle. Here we go. Jesus does good things when he uses..."me". That's better. There we go. That's what we're going to learn today.
We're going to go into a story that's kind of a strange story. It's a little bit of a weird story. If you are a child, or you feel like a child, there are notes that you can get that will be handed out to you. If you didn't get them, just raise your hand. Somebody will make sure that they are brought to you, along with some pencils, and you can make a drawing, fill in a drawing, a coloring of this story. And as we go and learn about this story, you'll find out that it's quite a strange story when you first hear it. But I like strange stories because they stick with me. Like yelling in church—that sticks with me. And strange stories stick with me, and once I learn what they mean, I usually don't forget it. So, I'm excited to get into this one. We're going to read in John chapter nine. We're going to start with the first verse. As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man who had been blind from birth. He had never had his eyes working yet since the day he was born.
Rabbi, his disciples asked him, "Why was this man born blind? Was it because of his own sins or his parents' sins?" And right there, we see what sometimes happens in the hearts, especially of adults. When we see a real problem or a real, even defect, like blindness in a person's life that they struggle with, we can have a little thought. And when it is in our life, usually the thought is a lot bigger. What did I do? What sin is it that I'm dealing with this? I probably... I can think of some sins in my life that must be the cause as to why I'm still struggling. I can think of some sins as to why I'm probably not enough in the Word. I know I should be more reading the Bible, and I don't. And, but I have such a love for this one sin, or I get so angry, and then I raise my voice.
It can be all kinds of things. But so easily do we look at ourselves or at a broken situation like this man had right here, blind since the day he was born. And the disciples go to Jesus, and they don't say, "Why is he blind?" No, what they're really saying is, "We know why he's blind. It's because of sin. The question we have is whose sin was it? Who's really responsible? Should he be upset with himself or his parents?"
Why is this man born blind? Was it because of his own sins or his parents' sins? They give Jesus two options. I've learned in life, you give Jesus options, He goes with C. He doesn't work with the options that I give him. Amen. And here Jesus answers them, but he doesn't answer their question. He teaches them for a moment. Verse three: It was not because of his sins or his parents' sins, Jesus answered. "This happened so the power of God could be seen in him."
This is not a consequence. Jesus says, "This is an opportunity for you, my disciples, to begin to see something you cannot see. You have a spiritual blindness. And this natural blindness, so to speak, this struggle that this man has, this is going to open your spiritual eyes." And then Jesus sneaks in a tiny little sermon. It looks like verse four and five. He says, "We must carry out quickly the tasks assigned us by the one who sent us. The night is coming, and then no one can work. But while I am here in the world, I am the light of the world." See, Jesus says, "The night is coming, and then no one can work."
See, today we have electricity. We have lights alongside of our roads so we can drive at night. Our cars have headlights so that we can see where we drive. We have lights in the home so that we can turn them on and still do some things together at night more easily, even maybe get some work done. And there was no different back then, maybe at a smaller scale. But Jesus says a very particular thing. He says, "I am the light of the world." It doesn't really matter if it's dark. It doesn't really matter if it's night. As long as I am there, there's a light. But he is foretelling his disciples, "I'm not always going to be with you right here, right now. And right now, you have to learn certain things. You have to carry out certain things that the one who has sent us, God the Father, the one who has sent us, has sent us for a reason. And we got to make sure we do what we should be doing right now so that when it gets dark, we're not too late."
You can be too late sometimes. Amen?
Some of you have had that happen to you coming to church. You come in late. But somehow that is not a problem because you can find your way. The lights are on. Everyone is ready for you to come in, to welcome you in. Someone is still at the door. But some of you, I'm not looking at anyone, some of you have had times where you were so late that the people holding the door thought, "Well, the last one must be in by now." And they left their post. And you stood at a door that is locked for safety reasons. You stood at a door you couldn't open, and now you had to wait to see if someone was going to come to open that door. And Jesus is trying to tell his disciples, there's things you have to do. And if you continue not doing them, then there's a moment where it's too late. And in the same way, he says, "I'm right now with you. I'm the light of the world. Right now, you can learn to see what you cannot see because the light of the world is with you. But you have to learn that right now so that when I go home to heaven, your eyes are open and you can then work."
But there's a time to just get your job done, to get your chores done, to get done what God wanted you to do. Now he says all of this, and then comes the story. Then he spit on the ground. He made mud with the saliva and spread the mud over the blind man's eyes. Now, you could get punched really bad in Portland if you do something like that. Amen. Jesus, what are you doing? One moment you're teaching us a lesson there. You spit on the ground, and now you're rubbing mud on the blind guy's eyes. Doesn't he have it hard enough? What is Jesus doing? Then he tells the man. Verse 7: He told him, "Go wash yourself in the pool of Siloam." (Siloam means "sent"). So the man went and washed and came back seeing. His neighbors and others who knew him as a blind beggar asked each other, "Isn't this the man who used to sit and beg?" Some said he was, and others said, "Nah, he just looks like him." But the bearer kept saying, "Yes, I am the one." And they asked, "Who healed you? What happened?" He told them the man they called
Jesus made mud and spread it over my eyes and told me, "Go to the pool of Siloam and wash yourself." So I went and washed, and now I can see. Where is he now? They asked. I don't know, he replied. Then they took the man who had been blind to the Pharisees because it was on the Sabbath that Jesus had made the mud and healed him. The Pharisees asked the man all about it. So he told them, "He put mud over my eyes, and when I washed it away, I could see."
Some of the Pharisees said, "This man Jesus is not from God, for he is working on the Sabbath."
Others said, "But how could an ordinary sinner do such miraculous signs?" So there was a deep division of opinion among them. Jesus healing this man in search what at first glance looks like a strange way. Jesus healed many, many people. He didn't always do it this way. Why did He do it? Why did He spit on the ground? Why did He take the dust and the dirt, and why did He put it on that man's eyes and heal Him that way? See, all the time when we have stories in the Bible that have Jesus in it, all the time we can learn usually at least two things: something about Jesus and something about us.
So first, let's look at what Jesus wanted the people that were all watching there, the disciples, the Pharisees who got to hear about it. Why did He do it this way? What did He want them to learn? Because the people that were around Jesus that heard this story, or that even saw it happen, they knew the Bible. They had the Old Testament and they knew it very well, and they knew what the book of Genesis said. We'll read verse one and chapter 2:7. "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth," and they believed it with all their heart. God created the heavens and the earth. And then in verse seven of chapter 2, "Then the Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground. He breathed the breath of life into the man's nostrils, and the man became a living person." And here Jesus comes into the world, and for everyone to see that is present right there that knows these scriptures, he begins to show them, "I am God. I am the one who has made everything." They always used to think that it was God the Father who made everything, and Jesus comes to show them, listen, all along I made everything.
That's why the Bible says he came to his own, and his own did not receive him. That's why John tells us that everything was made through Him, and nothing was made without Him.
Jesus begins to show the Jews right there, "I am the God who made you. I am the Creator. I am the only one that can work with the dust and the dirt." There's one other story where somebody tried. It was in Egypt. Moses came in with the staff that represents the cross of Jesus Christ, so to speak, ahead of its time. And with that staff, he did many miracles to bring the people of God into freedom. One of those miracles involved dust. The dust was turned into lice, and there came the magicians and the diviners of Egypt, and they could imitate all kinds of miracles that were done, but they couldn't work with dust. And here Jesus, they would have known this story. Jesus shows up and He bends down and He takes the dust, and He begins to use it and does a healing miracle in this man's life. He was showing the Jews, the Messiah has come. God, Emmanuel, God with us. God has now come down, the one who has made everything.
He's showing them, I am the Creator. I am here to heal, and I'm here to open the eyes of the blind. Something that had been prophesied, that he would open the eyes of the blind. Now, we know that he was trying to do that spiritually, and right here he is using a natural blindness to open spiritual eyes of people that were watching. Jesus has come into the world. Now, let's look together at what Jesus wants us to learn about ourselves. Isaiah 64:8, remember He takes that mud and He puts it on that mans eyes and he is healed. Here is what Isaiah 64 verse 8 says: "And yet, O Lord, you are our Father. We are the clay, and you are the potter. We are all formed by your hand." Remember how he took the dust of the earth and he made man in the beginning. And do you know that clay, the best clay, is made of the finest dust, the dust of the ground. And Jesus comes into the world and does this, at first glance, strange miracle. It looks so strange at first, but He was teaching the people, the Son of God has come into the world now. I'm the one who has made everything, so I can change everything. I can fix things that are broken. I can give sight to the blind. And what Jesus wants you and I to learn is that Jesus does good things when he uses..."me". Let's try that again. Jesus does good things when he uses..."me".
See, he wants to use the dust of the earth, which you and I have been made out of. He wants to use the dust of the earth. He wants to use you and I to bring the good of heaven, to bring miracles, to bring healing from heaven, bring healing of God's kingdom. He wants to use you and I to bring good into the lives of others. He wants to use you to open the eyes of the blind.
And he says to you and I, "Go and tell the world. Go and tell the world that the Messiah has come. Go and tell the world that now sins are paid for." And He sends the dust of the earth. He made you out of the earth. The same earth he spit on. He made you out of the earth. And He sends the dust of the earth to open the eyes of people in this world. People that cannot see God. They cannot see what God has done. They cannot see that God has paid for any healing that is needed to come upon the heart and for eyes to be opened. People that try to read the Bible and it makes no sense. They need their eyes opened. He has sent you and I to do a miracle that only God can do. Jesus is saying, "I'm sending the dust of the earth upon the eyes of the world, that they may begin to see."
Jeremiah 29:11 reads this incredible scripture for young and old, and it says this: "For I know the plans I have for you," says the Lord. "They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope." See, He's not just talking about disaster, difficult, challenging things in my life. Sometimes, just like the disciples were wondering, "Jesus, why is that man blind? Why is that man struggling? Why is he hurting all the time? Is it because of his sin or his parents?"
Sometimes we wonder and say, "Is it my sin, Jesus, that is causing such disaster? Is it the things I've been through with my parents that just cause all this disaster on my life and I'll never get away from it?" Incredible thing God tells us right here: "I know the plans I have for you," says the Lord. "They're plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope." In other words, I'm not letting sin define who you are. I'm not letting your sins nor your parents' sins be paid. I'm not having you pay for them. I'm not having you pay that off one way or another. I have a plan. It's going to be for good. I have a purpose for you. I made you out of the dust of the earth, and I'm sending you to open the eyes of the world in my hands I'm going to use you for good.
I have a future and a hope for you. I have a purpose for your life. There's a reason you are alive this year on this earth. I'm going to use you with my own hands, and when you are in my hands, the eyes of the blind are going to be opened miraculously because I have a plan for your life. It's for good, not for disaster. Jesus does good things when he uses "me". I want to invite you to stand with me for a moment as we say that again: Jesus does good things when he uses "me". I want you to think about that for a moment, young and old. Do you believe that? Do you believe that Jesus does good things when he uses you? Or do you feel like you may just bring disaster on people's lives? You may bring only pain on people's lives. You will forever be the difficult case, or you will hurt people, and you don't know how to be in love with Jesus.
You don't know how to love other people. You feel selfish. You don't listen to your parents. It may be all kinds of things. And today we realize this strange story about mud is Jesus saying, "If you would allow me to hold you in my hands again, I will use someone like you to do miracles and to open people's eyes so they can see "me", so they can see that there's forgiveness for them and there's healing for them and restoration in My holy name, the name of Jesus." And maybe you feel dirty as dirt. Maybe you feel not good enough. Maybe you feel so much stuff has to be cleaned out of your life. And today Jesus is inviting you to believe the story and say you don't have to clean up. There'll be nothing left to put in My hands. All I need is the dirt.
You put yourself, no matter how dirty you feel or no matter how much you feel you miss, you put yourself into My hands. I'm the one that made you from the beginning. I'm the one that can use you. I'm the one that can change you. I'm the one that has a purpose for you. And I will have you carry it out as you rest in My hands.
All the kiddos, I want you to hear this. You're very important to what God wants to do in the lives of people. And I want to invite you to say this in your heart with me: God, I believe you can use me. God, I believe you will use me. And God, I'm going to let you use me. And that's the altar call today for young and old. If you are ready to say, "God, I believe it. I believe that Jesus, You will do good things through somebody like me. Lord, I'm going to let You use me. I've had my doubts. I felt dirty. I felt like I was not good enough. Or I felt like it's other kinds of people that You end up using. Lord, today I'm going to say to You, God, I'm going to let You use me." If you want to say that from your heart to the Lord, I want to invite you to come forward so we can pray together. And especially if you have never given your life into the hands of Jesus and you want Him to wash away everything that makes you feel dirty, I want to invite you to come forward and join this group as we pray. And you will see that Jesus can make something out of the dirtiest parts of our life. He can change it. He is the one that made you in the womb. He can change things you cannot change. He can clean things no man can clean. And He can bring you to your purpose like nothing and no one else can. Amen.
-Pastor Stan Mons
