Understanding People

We are, once again, looking at the man born blind. Jesus makes the mud and applies it. The man goes and washes as he was commanded and he returns seeing. And then, the fun begins. Some of the people notice that he can see. And how do they respond?

Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?

They're surprised, and you can understand that. But it's what follows that I find so striking.

Some said, “It is he.” Others said, “No, but he is like him.”

And thus begins the debate. Is this the guy, or not? What makes it almost funny is that our friend, the fellow who was blessed with the miracle, is right there, jumping up and down, as it were, saying,

I am the man.

So, picture the situation, some are saying, 'Yes, this is the man' and others, 'No, it isn't', while the man is there saying over and over 'Yes, it's me!' This would be hilarious - except for this. What is there to debate? Isn't it obvious that a miracle has occurred? And that leads to this: Even when confronted with facts that are obvious, there will be those who will not accept them. These people clearly saw the results of a powerful miracle. The man could now see and says so. But some cannot - will not - believe it. Why?

One of my goals for this sermon is to give you the beginnings of a biblical answer to that question. And my desire in this is to help you to understand people. And the particular person that I want you to understand is yourself. Jesus calls us to follow Him, to enjoy Him, more and more and more. For that to happen we will need to be changed. But if there is to be change in your life, deep and lasting change, you will need to understand yourself, at least a bit. It is my hope that the Spirit will give you a little more of that understanding this morning.

Let's start with this. Why do you do the things that you do? Behind all of your doing is a good, old-fashioned Bible concept: the heart. The heart is the combination of the mind, the affections and the will. The mind contains information. The affections are about what you desire. And the will takes what the mind and the affections offer, and it decides. The will chooses. These three - the mind, the affections, the will - work together and the result is seen in what you do.

So, consider some of the people you've heard about in the Gospels. There are the chief priests who plotted to get Jesus killed. What was going on in their hearts? They were envious of Jesus. It was so obvious that even Pilate could tell that this was their motivation. Their affections were set on one particular desire: to be top dog in the eyes of the people. But there were some things that they knew. Jesus was popular, very popular, too popular. He was becoming top dog. So, because of what their minds knew and what their affections were focused on, they chose to act. They decided to kill Jesus. We will to do what we do because of what our minds know and what our affections are set on. We do what we do because of what is going on in our hearts.

The problem in all of this is not that we have hearts that function in this way. That's how we were created. The problem is that sin has affected our hearts. So, our minds can ignore important information or distort it. The affections can desire the wrong things, or the right things but in the wrong way. And since the will depends on the mind and the affections, when they are twisted up the will does not choose wisely, according to the way reality actually works. Sin gets in the way and messes things up.

So, consider those friends of the formerly blind man. What was going on in their hearts? Why did they not accept the obvious reality of the miracle? One source of the problem could have been their minds. They just knew that guys born blind cannot suddenly see. Cannot! Their minds misled them. Later in the chapter John writes about the response of the Pharisees. They also rejected what Jesus had done. But in their case the problem was their affections. They were set on the wrong desires. The will chooses based on what the mind and the affections tell it, but sin can get in the way and mess things up.

Let me give two personal examples. The first is about the role of the mind.

When I married Linda I was totally unprepared to be a husband. I did not know that, as husband, God held me responsible for whatever was going on in my family. I was to be aware of what was happening and to do whatever necessary to make sure the family was doing well. I did not know that. I had adopted the fifty-fifty model. I'm responsible for my half of the marriage and Linda is responsible for her half. And because of that way of thinking I made some very foolish choices that damaged my marriage and my family.

Then, there was the time that I heard about a car that was for sale. It was an old Toyota Land Cruiser, which means that it was a little jeep. I wanted it. I figured that driving it would be so cool. The fact that it obviously burned oil, a lot of oil, was not allowed to be a factor in my decision. I wanted it. So, my affections told my mind that it would be okay to ignore that little fact about the oil. Linda had tried to dissuade me but to no avail. You see, her affections were not set on this neat little jeep, but mine were. I wanted it. So, I bought it. And within a year or two I had to get rid of it. My will chose foolishly because of what was going on in my affections.

Behind our actions are these three: the mind, the affections, the will. It is the interaction of these three that determine how we live.

This helps us to understand the people around us. There are times when their minds and their affections serve them well so that they choose wisely. And then, there are times when they choose foolishly. There's this one show that I'm working through, an episode at a time. What I like about it is that it's about people. As each episode unfolds you get to see the good, the bad and the ugly. And as I watch, the people find themselves in such difficult situations. And the reason for that is clear. They choose foolishly. Their minds and their affections do not serve their wills at all well. And there never is any real change. And what makes this really sad is that this sort of thing is not limited to fictional characters on some show. We all know people just like this. The particular problems change, but the foolish choosing does not. But they are content with living like this because they tell themselves, 'Well, what are you going to do? Life's like that.' So, instead of living well, they just get by, and sometimes not even that.

But Jesus has come so that people can choose wisely and live well. That doesn't mean that once someone becomes a Christian all the bad goes away. No. But once someone becomes a Christian all the bad can begin to get changed. But it will take some effort. It's like weeding your garden. It does no good just to lop off the top of a weed. In due time it will just pop up again. You need to kill the root. The change that Jesus is about is not just a matter of lopping off some bad habits. Like that weed, they'll just pop up again. Oh, they will look different, but the root is the same. Some young men lust after women. As they get older and life changes a bit they may not do that anymore. But the root is still there and so they lust for something else, maybe power or a sense of control or some different form of pleasure. The root of lust in the heart was not killed so it just popped up in another form. Real change, the change that Jesus brings, is a matter of killing roots and replanting with good seed. Real change is about changing the heart.

Thinking in this way gives a helpful perspective on educating children. The way that that phrase - educating children - is commonly understood the focus is almost exclusively on the mind. The child needs to accumulate lots of information. But that can produce adults who know much but choose foolishly. The education of a child is certainly about molding and guiding the mind. But it is also about molding and guiding the affections so that what they focus on is the good and the true and the beautiful. And that means focusing most of all on Jesus. It is as a child's mind and affections are carefully trained that he becomes an adult who follows Jesus well because he chooses wisely. 

So, what are you to do? What are some practical steps to making these things a part of your life? Well, here are a few thoughts that you might want to consider.

For one thing, be more aware of yourself. Consider the things that you say and the things that you do. You will find that you are doing some things that are quite good and some things that aren't. So, acknowledge the good. Don’t opt for some false humility. But then, consider what isn't good. You might do well to trace it back. What's going on in your heart that results in your choosing to do those things? Could it be because of some faulty information in your mind? Or maybe there are some desires that are off. Remember that the problem with the affections doesn't have to be wrong desires. It can also be right desires pursued in the wrong way. What are you desiring that shows as those bad choices? Once you identify what the problem is, then kill it. Root it out. Don't settle for just lopping off the top of the weed. Dig out the root and replant with good seed.

This won't work apart from Jesus and His Gospel. And He has made provision for pursuing this sort of change. So, for one thing, there is the ministry of the Church. Jesus didn't have to establish a Church, but He did. And He did that, among other reasons, to help you pursue change. There are two aspects of the Church that I want to point out here. The first is the teaching ministry of the Church. Some goals of that ministry are to identify what is false and to point to the truth that should replace it. That's about the mind. But that ministry is also about distinguishing between proper desires pursued in the right way and desires that are not at all about that. Jesus has provided the teaching ministry of the Church to do that. But then there is the second aspect of the Church: the fellowship of the saints. There are problems in your heart that you don't see. What you need is for someone else to see those problems and then to tell you about them. That's what the fellowship of the saints is about: being close enough to some other people so that you can be honest with them and they can be honest with you. We all need that. Beyond providing the Church, Jesus has also provided the Spirit. Killing sin, rooting it out and replacing it with the good seed of the Gospel is, ultimately, something that only the Spirit can do. He will use your efforts toward that goal, but it is only His power that will make it happen. Jesus provides the Spirit, and we need Him.

But then there is this: pray. Prayer is always part of the mix. You need to ask the Father to tell you what to do next. Is there something that the Spirit has already pointed out to you but you don't know how to deal with it? Or maybe you have no clue about what to do with any of this. That's fine. Pray. Be honest with the Father and then listen for what He tells you. Remember, He wants to see the beauty of change in your life more than you do. That's why He sent Jesus.