Transcription

Connor
You’re listening to The Bible Guys, a podcast where a couple of friends talk about the Bible in fun and practical ways.

Chris
Hey. Welcome, everybody to the Bible guys. He’s Wesley, I’m Chris, and today we’re the Bible guys because Jeff is at home feeling under the weather. Yeah, yeah. So hopefully he’ll be back. You know what, Bonnie? His wife told me, she said because this we’re taping early from air time. So it’s actually Thanksgiving week. Thanksgiving’s tomorrow. Yeah. And she goes, she goes, this is a bogus Thanksgiving for us. Yeah. She goes, it might as well be canceled, right? Jeff’s probably not even going to eat. Yeah. And so I actually had a good friend of mine who said, you know what she does? And this is hilarious. She goes, believe it or not, she doesn’t have any kids or anything. She goes, you know what? Our Thanksgiving tradition is just me and my husband at home. She goes, we order Bob Evans Thanksgiving meal. Yeah. She goes, believe it or not, man, she goes. They have the best stuff that feels like it’s home cooked meal. Yeah, right. And she goes, the mashed potatoes, the.

Wesley
Turkey, the mashed potatoes and gravy and.

Chris
Yeah. So she goes, she goes. Believe it or not, they have an excellent Thanksgiving. Of course, this doesn’t help anybody who’s listening. Yeah. Because this is going to air after Thanksgiving. Right. But hey maybe for next year if you if you have a bogus Thanksgiving, you too can order Bob Evans. Yeah. That’s hilarious. So. All right, well, today we’re doing Christmas activities. Draft list. Yeah. And Desiree wants us to do rock, paper, scissors to find out who goes first. Yeah. And then to draft five of our favorite activities. And we can’t choose the same ones. Yeah, around Christmas time. Okay, this is a even though it’s Thanksgiving, this is a Christmas time draft. Yeah. You ready? Yeah.

Wesley
I’m ready.

Chris
One. Two. Three. Shoot. Ready. All right. 123. Shoot. Oh I win. Rock smashes scissors.

Wesley
Yeah.

Chris
So my first thing is I’m going to have to go with I’m going to do something non-spiritual here. I’m going to say one of our favorite Christmas traditions is to buy pajamas. And we all take that. We all take pictures in the same pajamas. And, and this year we were actually flying down to Florida to be with my daughter in Florida. Yeah. And on Christmas Day, we’re flying. And so we all bought pajamas to be together down there. Oh that’s.

Wesley
Awesome. Yeah. Really cool. That’s pretty good. All right. Okay. So you know do we. Yeah I’m just going to go okay.

Chris
It was just it was just to see who goes first.

Wesley
Okay. Um I would probably say the last few years we’ve had this tradition where we go ice skating at Campus Martius, nice.

Chris
In downtown Detroit.

Wesley
In downtown Detroit. So either like that, what is that, the 23rd or something like that. So, like, right before we’ll go down there. My daughter loves it. Last year I actually we didn’t go to Campus Martius, but I actually put skates on.

Chris
Wow. Good for.

Wesley
You. Yeah. I haven’t skated since I was like ten.

Chris
Wow. Well, you’re.

Wesley
A brave man. I did not fall. I want to say that because I held on to the rail. Okay. All right.

Chris
So I would say my second tradition would have to be I enjoy. So, you know, biblically, the wise men were not a part of the nativity scene. Yeah, right. Did you know that? I don’t know if anybody else knew that. Yeah.

Wesley
They showed up a little later. They showed up a.

Chris
Couple of years later. Yeah. So probably when Jesus was two. Yeah. Right. And by the way, there probably was not only three of them. Yeah. It was probably way more than that. Yeah. Right. But they say three because of the gift of the gift.

Wesley
So someone made an assumption. Right.

Chris
So anyway, so what we do is we take our nativity scene under the tree and we take our wise men, and we actually place them on the other end of the house. Okay. And as December counts down.

Wesley
Oh, you bring it.

Chris
Closer. We take turns to move them closer, like they’re journeying toward the.

Wesley
It’s kind of cool.

Chris
Yeah, we do that. We don’t do it every year. But but we do when we do do it I love it.

Wesley
Yeah.

Chris
That’s awesome. Yeah yeah yeah.

Wesley
Yeah I would say my second one is we’ve got this cookie tradition we do on Christmas Eve where my daughter and I will make cookies in there. Like we’ve got all kinds of junk in there, like marshmallows on top and sprinkles and like, you name it, it tastes horrible. But it’s a tradition that we have.

Chris
But it looks.

Wesley
Good. Yeah.

Chris
Okay. My other tradition. So we’re on our third one. Yeah. Is so growing up we always did Italian traditions because my mom’s all Italian, my dad’s all German, and we don’t do any German traditions, but we do. There’s a pickle called the Gherkin or whatever it is called, and and actually Gherkin. It’s called the Gherkin. Yeah. And we actually, it’s supposed to be a German tradition where you hide the ornament on the tree. Okay? Because it’s green, it’s hard to see. Yeah. So we hide it, and then we after everybody opens their gifts, everybody leaves the room, I hide the gherkin, and then they all run in. And the first one to spot it gets an extra prize and extra gift. Yeah. Which is cool.

Wesley
That’s cool. Yeah, yeah. The maybe the third one for me would be the lights will like, take drives and go to different areas and look at the lights okay. We’ll like drive in gross point like along the river there the Lake Saint Clair. And they have like. Elaborate light shows and all kinds of stuff over there.

Chris
There’s a couple of houses that are killer. Killer? Yeah. Okay. All right, so we have that. We’re down to our. Is this our fifth one?

Wesley
This will be for.

Chris
This will be for. Okay. All right. Well, then my other favorite tradition is obviously I’m going to go for the spiritual one. We read the Christmas story on Christmas Day. Yeah. Yeah. So Luke chapter two, we do that before we open gifts.

Wesley
Yeah. That’s awesome I would say another one we have is probably breakfast on Christmas. Oh nice. And typically I’m the cook, even though my wife is a much better cook. But I’m typically the cook on Christmas.

Chris
That’s your that’s your moment to shine. Yeah that’s.

Wesley
Great. Well everyone else is kind of picking at it with a fork. Right? Right.

Chris
That’s funny okay. Last one okay. So I’m going to say the last Christmas tradition would be that my wife stuffs all the stockings okay. Yeah. And for some reason, you know like the, the the foot of the stocking is like round or whatever. Sometimes what she does is she likes to make the stocking look like it’s round on the foot. Yeah. And so she’ll put like an orange or an apple in there. Yeah. And I think that’s funny. Yeah. No, it’s pretty cool.

Wesley
Yeah. And then the last one for me, we haven’t done it as much in the last couple of years. But I just love the house hopping. So like on Christmas Day, like you’re hitting this cousin’s house that auntie this. Yeah. Yeah. So doing the house hopping. So we we would do a lot. I have a big family. Yeah. So we do a lot of that.

Chris
Well, that’s really cool. Well, look at us, man. We did it. Yeah. We got through ten draft list Christmas activities. Yeah. That’s awesome. Well hey we’re going to pick up on our series John chapter nine verses one through 12. It’s only found in the book of John. And it’s Jesus heals a man who was born blind. Okay, here we go. John nine one through 12.

Wesley
John nine one through 12. New Living Translation it says, As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man who had been blind from birth, Rabbi, his disciples asked him, was this man born blind? Why was this? Why was this man born blind? Was it because of his own sins or his parents sins? 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. We must quickly carry out 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. Then he spit on the ground, made mud with the saliva, and spread the mud over the blind man’s eyes. He told him, go wash yourself in the pool of Siloam, which means sent. So the man went and washed, and came back seeing. Verse eight, his neighbors and others who knew him as a blind beggar asked each other, isn’t this, isn’t this the man who used to sit and beg? Some said he is and others said no, he just looks like him. But the beggar kept saying, yes, I am the same one. They asked who healed you? What happened? He told them the man they call Jesus made mud and spread it over my eyes and told me, go to the pool of Siloam and wash yourselves. So I went and washed, and now I can see. Where is he now? They asked. I don’t know, he replied.

Chris
There it is. So wow. This is this is a great story. Yeah. And I love how there’s a there’s a very large question about this man’s sins. Yeah. Tied to his handicap or his infirmity. Yeah. Right. Where?

Wesley
And I’m glad that was in this scripture.

Chris
Yes. Me too. Yeah. Me too.

Chris
So let’s start with that. Yeah. Right. So that’s I mean, it starts off with the question, the reason why I interjected when you, you missed the word why is big.

Chris
Excuse me. Big question.

Chris
That’s the big question. In fact it’s sort of the biggest it’s the biggest question isn’t it. Yeah. So excuse me. People keep on wanting to know why this side of eternity. In fact, I would say through the the bigger the hardship. Yeah. The more people want to know. Yeah. And I’ve heard people over the last three decades as a pastor come to me and say, if I just knew why, then, then maybe I’d have, you know, maybe I’d be okay. You know, maybe maybe I’d have at least some understanding. And in fact, let me just toss this in there. I remember one time my wife worked on the oncology floor for years. I might have mentioned this a couple years ago on this podcast, maybe, but she worked on the oncology floor for like 15 years. And, uh, one guy was there and his wife passed away. And then through that interaction, he had a conversation with a nurse, and the nurse actually expressed interest in faith. And this man actually was able to lead this nurse to Jesus. Yeah. Which was amazing. But then he made. This wild comment and he said, now I know my now I know why my wife had to die. She had to die so that I can lead this nurse to Christ. And I thought, wow, that is a radical stretch, right? Like, isn’t it, isn’t it safer and more consistent with God’s nature to say God does what he always does, which he will take something that’s absolutely tragic and he will always bring beauty from it. Yeah, he brings beauty from ashes. So he he was able to take something so tragic and use it for good, like he always does bring something good out of it. Chris
And but to say that, God, I don’t know about you, but I’m not sure I want to serve a God like that. Who makes a choice to strike somebody dead so that he wants to reach this one nurse. And so it’s that’s that’s not consistent with who God is at all. So so I just thought to myself, wow, we need to be careful with what we try to attach to the why? Because, as you know, we we inadvertently lay things at the feet of God which should never be laid at the feet of God. Yeah, right. Like God never said that. That’s you saying that? Yeah, but I understand why they do it. Because they want so desperately to find meaning and purpose. So? So that’s why. So he says, why was this man born blind? And then what is it that you like about his response? Jesus’s response?

Wesley
Well, I was going to just back up a moment, and I can think of so many situations where people are wrestling with their faith because of a condition that a family member is in. Maybe, oh yeah, you have a baby and the baby was born with some kind of deformity. I know my daughter, she wasn’t born with a deformity, but she was born premature, like super early. She was born in July and was due in September, so she was £2. So that was like week 28 or 9 when she was born. So super early. And even I found myself asking, why did this happen? Right? And I think this is where you have to be careful, because you have some super duper spiritual Christians that will try to tell you why something happened, and that’s what they were doing here. They’re essentially questioning Jesus. Did somebody sin? As did my wife and I sin to put my daughter in that position. Now, that’s not what we were thinking, but that’s like what they’re asking, right?

Chris
And I love.

Chris
How either option that they give Jesus is both are wrong.

Chris
Yeah. Hey.

Chris
Listen, we figured it out. We know it’s because of sin.

Wesley
It’s either this or this.

Chris
But it’s either his sin or his parents sin. So which of the two is it? Jesus is like wrong answer entirely. Yeah. Which, by the way, let me let me speak into this too, because I find it interesting sometimes how people think that just because Jesus was answering the question about this blind man’s life. Yeah, they somehow think that maybe it’s also a blanket answer for their life. Yeah, right. And so they’re like, oh, it must be so that I’m born this way so that the power of God can be seen in me. Which, by the way, isn’t a bad answer at all, right? In fact, it’s actually the more I think about it, it’s actually a pretty good application. But just understand that Jesus was answering this question to this specific man, right? So so he’s saying, let me talk about this man right here. He was born blind so that the power of God could be seen in him. Jesus knew. I believe that Jesus knew that this man was going to get healed and that, you know, here we are thousands of years later talking about it, right, that God’s power would be seen even in this podcast, right? Yeah. And so and so the reason why that man was born specifically blind was because he was made this way. Because I believe because God knew that he was going to heal him. And this man was going to be a person who interacted with Jesus himself. Yeah. So I believe that’s why Jesus answered that way. But the principles are still true. Yeah, the principles can be applied to us. So I think that the thing that we can apply is this don’t ever assume the why. Yeah, right. Because Jesus is saying no, you know, don’t don’t try to label it as sin because that’s not the reason why. Chris
And I think that I think that.

Wesley
Chris, maybe somebody is struggling with that right now. Maybe they there’s a condition that they have a family member has, a child has and they’re trying to figure it out. What caused this? Why God. God, why did you let that happen? Why? And they’re stuck in that cycle of why trying to figure that out. Yeah.

Chris
Yeah. And I think that people will punish themselves sometimes for their whole lives. Yeah. And they’ll say this, this tragedy happened or this, this happened because of me and because of my sin. And which, by the way, there are some natural consequences to sin, you know. But but. This is obviously not a natural consequence. This is a the only thing that could have, you know, been placed on the Y was either something happened with the mother in the pregnancy. Right. Or there’s a supernatural, you know, God punishment kind of thing, right? And that’s what they were trying to ask. So. So yeah. And then he goes on after, let’s move into the next part of it. It says he said he spit on the ground, which, by the way, I always kind of freak out about that.

Wesley
Right.

Chris
So to all the germaphobes, you.

Chris
Know, I.

Chris
Guess if you’re going to have spit on.

Chris
You, you’d.

Wesley
Rather have the spit of Jesus.

Chris
Yeah, yeah. Spit the spit of.

Chris
God in mankind’s body. Yeah. Would be probably the best one.

Chris
Yeah, right.

Chris
But he says, go wash yourself in the pool. And. And I love how Jesus could have just spoken the words and said, you’re healed. He didn’t even have to touch him.

Wesley
Yeah, he didn’t have to do the mud in the eye, right? He had the capability and the anointing to just heal him, like so. I just find that fascinating in and of itself there.

Chris
Well, remember, there’s other parts in the Bible where he didn’t even show up. Yeah, he.

Chris
Said he just sent the word. Yeah.

Chris
He said to the Roman centurion, your faith is the most I’ve seen in Israel. Go. Your servant is healed, remember? Yeah. And then the man goes home and then finds out that his his servant was healed at the time that Jesus spoke.

Chris
Yeah.

Chris
Which means, you know, God just can speak. Yeah, he could probably just think, right? He didn’t probably even have to speak it. Yeah, right. And so and so the bottom line is, is Jesus interacts and there’s a tenderness. There’s an interaction here where Jesus wants to touch this man. Imagine how many people avoided this man thinking that he’s cursed by God. Yeah, right. He’s a beggar, which means he’s not showered, right? If he’s a beggar. And first of all, he’s a beggar in the first century, right? Where they probably only bathed once a month. Yeah, right. And he’s a beggar who, you know, probably doesn’t bathe at all. And so imagine just people not wanting to get near him, thinking he’s cursed because of sin. And, you know, this person who’s an outcast and Jesus interacts with him. Yeah. And I believe I have to believe that that’s one of the reasons why Jesus chose to interact with his hands. And then and then what he says is go wash. And I think, I think there’s a part of me this could be a stretch, but there’s a part of me that thinks this man has been on the receiving end of of begging his whole life. Yeah, right. So he just he just says, please give me something. And Jesus wants, uh, well, I mean, I can’t ever say wants because I don’t know, but Jesus makes him requires of him to do something in order to receive the miracle. Yeah. He’s like he’s like, you’re going to you’re going to have a part in this. Yeah. Right. So so your response I want a response from you.

Wesley
So I can’t just lay on the couch and want blessings to fall out of the sky.

Chris
Well, I mean, I.

Chris
Mean, you can, but whether they come or not is a different question. Right. So so it’s like what he’s really doing is he’s saying, like, I want a faith response from you, right? Do you believe that? Then go wash yourself in the pool. Right. And so there’s, there’s a, there’s a response of faith that he gives to this man. And if you think about it, this man has done probably mostly nothing for everything he’s ever received. Yeah. And so there’s a, there’s a, there’s an amount of dignity that probably Jesus gives this man by asking him to do something. Yeah. For this miracle that he’s receiving. But also there’s a faith response attached to that as well. So I think that that’s important not to overlook.

Chris
Yeah.

Wesley
And then in the next section I absolutely love this where there’s lots of conversation going on. Isn’t this the man who used to sit and beg? Some said he was and others said no, he just looks like him. When God transforms your life, there it is and draws you closer to him. That will leave people saying, is that the same Chris? Yeah. Is that the Chris that I used to know back when I was a kid? Is that the Wesley that I used to know back from the 1980s? And that will happen when God transforms your life. I don’t know if that’s ever happened to you where someone’s like, oh, I can’t believe you’re a pastor now.

Chris
Yeah, but when God, my.

Chris
High school reunion. Yeah, yeah, people are like, what?

Chris
Yeah, yeah.

Chris
Yeah, yeah, yeah. They couldn’t.

Chris
Believe it.

Chris
Yeah, yeah. One one person at my high school reunion said, well, I don’t understand. Let me get this straight. So. So when somebody stands up and talks at your church, this is after I said I was a pastor. They said, who speaks?

Chris
Yeah. And I said, it’s me. I said, I do.

Chris
And then the next question was, and people come.

Chris
Yeah.

Chris
And I wanted to say, yeah, sometimes by the tens of thousands.

Chris
Right. You know.

Chris
Like, you know, we had one Christmas where it was 13,000 people. I wanted to say that. Right. Yeah. But of course, I’m not going to say that. Right. I’m just going to say. Yes. People come right. And so, you know, know something in me wanted to say, you know.

Chris
Well, yeah, a.

Chris
Lot of people come, you.

Chris
Jerk. Yeah, but but you know, but.

Chris
But it’s not, you know, but.

Chris
But to.

Chris
Your point, right. You know, the fact that people even come says a lot less about me and more about God, right? You know, so. So God, God uses us. It’s always tempting to say, you know, hey, look, I have this gift, but but it’s not a gift. It is. Well, it is a gift, but it’s given by God. And God doesn’t have to bless anybody, right? Yeah. God chooses to bless. The fact that we have thousands of people coming to Heritage Church. Is is something that God doesn’t have to do. But but he chooses to do. And so I just want to make sure that I have a dose of humility there. Yeah. And a proper perspective to communicate. I was sort of making a joke in my own heart there.

Chris
Yeah, well, Jeff.

Wesley
Always says that, you know, God blesses us despite us, not because of us. That’s right. He says it all the time.

Chris
I pray that way all the time. Yeah. I say, God just bless us in spite of ourselves, right? Yeah. Yeah, that’s that’s awesome. So, so yeah, I would say if we have a last thought here for people, you know, to, to let’s just say maybe what they’re going through today. Yeah. What would be an encouraging thought that people could take home from today?

Wesley
I would say the encouraging word is no matter how long you’ve been in that condition, whatever that condition is, it could be a a heart condition that you have where you’re angry at a family member in it’s being aggravated by the holiday season. Yeah. Because that can do that. It doesn’t matter how long you’ve had, whatever it is, you can still be transformed by Jesus. It doesn’t matter who you are or where you come from. Jesus can break through that stubborn thing that has stuck with you for years.

Chris
That’s awesome. Well, that’s a great place to end and we will see you next time on The Bible Guys.