John Piper - Disability and the Sovereign Goodness of God

This sermon was originally preached on May 21, 2011. Listen to or download the audio online: http://www.desiringgod.org/resource-library/sermons/why-was-this-child-born-blind

This sermon was originally preached on June 4, 2011. Listen to or download the audio online: http://www.desiringgod.org/resource-library/sermons/the-works-of-god-and-the-worship-of-jesus

This sermon was originally preached on January 24, 2010 (Sanctity of Life Sunday). Listen to or download the audio online: http://www.desiringgod.org/resource-library/sermons/born-blind-for-the-glory-of-god

This sermon was originally preached on August 23, 2009. Listen to or download the audio online: http://www.desiringgod.org/resource-library/sermons/healed-for-the-sake-of-holiness

1As he [Jesus] passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. 2 And his disciples asked him, Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind? 3 Jesus answered, It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. 4 We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work. 5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world. 6 Having said these things, he spit on the ground and made mud with the saliva. Then he anointed the mans eyes with the mud 7 and said to him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam (which means Sent). So he went and washed and came back seeing.

8 The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar were saying, Is this not the man who used to sit and beg? 9 Some said, It is he. Others said, No, but he is like him. He kept saying, I am the man. 10 So they said to him, Then how were your eyes opened? 11 He answered, The man called Jesus made mud and anointed my eyes and said to me, Go to Siloam and wash. So I went and washed and received my sight. 12 They said to him, Where is he? He said, I do not know.

13 They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind. 14 Now it was a Sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. 15 So the Pharisees again asked him how he had received his sight. And he said to them, He put mud on my eyes, and I washed, and I see. 16 Some of the Pharisees said, This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath. But others said, How can a man who is a sinner do such signs? And there was a division among them. 17 So they said again to the blind man, What do you say about him, since he has opened your eyes? He said, He is a prophet.

18 The Jews did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight, until they called the parents of the man who had received his sight 19 and asked them, Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see? 20 His parents answered, We know that this is our son and that he was born blind. 21 But how he now sees we do not know, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him; he is of age. He will speak for himself. 22 (His parents said these things because they feared the Jews, for the Jews had already agreed that if anyone should confess Jesus to be Christ, he was to be put out of the synagogue.) 23 Therefore his parents said, He is of age; ask him.

24 So for the second time they called the man who had been blind and said to him, Give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner. 25 He answered, Whether he is a sinner I do not know. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see. 26 They said to him, What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes? 27 He answered them, I have told you already, and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become his disciples? 28 And they reviled him, saying, You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. 29 We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from. 30 The man answered, Why, this is an amazing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. 31 We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him. 32 Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind. 33 If this man were not from God, he could do nothing. 34 They answered him, You were born in utter sin, and would you teach us? And they cast him out.

35 Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and having found him he said, Do you believe in the Son of Man? 36 He answered, And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him? 37 Jesus said to him, You have seen him, and it is he who is speaking to you. 38 He said, Lord, I believe, and he worshiped him.

One of the reasons I believe the Bible and love the Bible is because it deals with the hardest issues in life. It doesnt sweep painful things under the rugor complex things or confusing things or provoking things or shocking things or controversial things. In fact, Jesus sometimes went out of his way to create controversy with the Pharisees so that more truth about himself and about unbelief would come out, so that we could be warned by examples of hardness and wooed by images of his glory.

One of the hardest things in life is the suffering of children, and the suffering of those who love themespecially when that early suffering turns into a lifetime of living with profound loss. Few things in my ministry have given me a deeper sense of satisfaction than seeing God raise up at Bethlehem a heart and mind and vision and a ministry for people with disabilities, especially children. I thank God for the coordinator of our Disability Ministry, Brenda Fischer. And I thank God for the parents who have put their minds and hearts together to trumpet a vision for such a ministry.

You can go to our website (www.hopeingod.org) and read the vision statement that Bob Horning and John Knight put togetherdads who know what they are talking about close up. Here is the core of what they have to say:

Our vision is that Bethlehem would display the supremacy of God in disability and suffering. We want our lives to reflect an unshakable joy in the Lord that allows us to embrace a life of suffering in disability for His purpose and glory. We want to shout that life with a disability and with Jesus is infinitely better than a healthy body without Him. We say, with Paul, that this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison (2 Corinthians 4:17). We want this to be true as individuals and in the church as a body.

Is disability hard? As fathers of children with rare disabling conditions, we can attest to the struggles men in particular face when their child has a disability. Disability is expensivefinancially, emotionally, and relationally. It seems neither light nor momentary. The male myth of self-determination, control, and independence is exploded in the face of needing to turn to medical professionals, social workers and educators on issues we never dreamed of facing. To this we say, thank you, God, for not allowing us to live the lie that there is anything good or worthwhile apart from you. Thank you for showing us how much we need you! The struggles our wives endure is perhaps even deeper.

The issue may be autism or Down syndrome or FASD or spina bifida or blindness or any number of rare and unpronounceable conditionseach has its own peculiar sorrows, its own peculiar way of turning decades into what you never dreamed or planned they would be. Married life isnt what you thought it would be. Everything is irrevocably changed, and life will never be the same again. And you were not asked.

What would I do as a pastor if I had to face these thingsthese children, these parentswith a Bible that said nothing about it? What if all I could do is think up ideas on my own about suffering and disability? What if all I had was human opinions? I thank God that this is not our condition. The Bible is permeated with suffering and sorrow. This is one of the things that make it so believable. It is filled with things that God has said and done to shed light on these sufferings and sorrows.