In today’s message we want to challenge you to ask yourself this question “What is holding you back?” What’s holding you back from seeing the works of God in your life? So many times God wants to do things in our lives; however, there is someone or something holding us back from getting where God wants us to be.
In following Christ there are generally two deterrents that hold us back. Our text this morning points to those deterrents.
- We don’t believe
- We are afraid
The Jews had a problem with believing and the parents of the blind man had a problem with fear. If we are going to follow Christ, We must:
- Not be driven by unbelief (Matthew 13:58, Mark 9:24)
- Not be driven by our own fears or the fears of other people (Matthew 10:28).
We must pray:
- Lord increase our faith (Luke 17:5)
- Lord remove our spirit of fear (2 Timothy 1:7)
In this morning’s text two groups of people are held back and fail to see, accept or to acknowledge the work that Jesus had done in the life of the blind man. This same inability to see, accept or acknowledge the works of Jesus in others, also affects our ability to see the works of God in our own lives.
For the Jews, they could not believe in this man Jesus. They struggled because he was performing miracles on the Sabbath. Because of their perceived district for the Jewish law, this man had to be a sinner. If he was a sinner how could he be the savior? How could he perform such miracles? How could they dare be disciples of Him? For so many of us we see, acknowledge or appreciate the works of God but we simply don’t believe. Matthew 13:58 says, “And He did not do many miracles there because of their unbelief.” Unbelief or lack of faith keeps us from so many blessings and causes us not to please God. For Hebrews 11:6 says, “Without faith, it is impossible to please him…”
For others, the problem is not that they don’t believe. The problem is fear. For the blind man’s parents, they feared for their own lives more than their willingness to confess Jesus. Jesus says in Luke 9:23, if a man is to come after me he must deny himself, take up his cross and follow me. The parents of the blind man were unwilling to deny their selves. Ultimately, the presence of Jesus in their lives and our lives is limited. We must be bold for Christ even if it means putting ourselves in an uncomfortable position.
To summarize the text, there are two deterrents that hold us back.
- We must have faith to believe.
- We must not live in fear of anything or anyone.
This means:
- We must believe in the power of God working in our lives and the lives of others.
- We must not be afraid to confess Jesus to others.
Therefore, we must, we must:
- Not be driven by unbelief (Matthew 13:58, Mark 9:24)
- Not be driven by our fears or especially the fears of others. (Matthew 10:28).
We must pray:
- Lord increase our faith (Luke 17:5)
- Lord remove our spirit of fear (2 Timothy 1:7)
In closing, I leave you with this prayer. Lord, help our unbelief. Lord, give us boldness to confess our belief before others. Thank you, Lord for believing in us. Thank you, Lord for being bold for us. In Jesus name we pray. AMEN!
