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John, chapter number nine, verse number 24. We're in a series called Detox. We're arguing that spiritual development requires spiritual detox. If this is your first Sunday here, I want you to be aware of what's kind of about to happen. I believe that it's possible for many of us to do two things at the same time. One, we can honor the spiritual shaping that made us who we are. We can. We need to appreciate we shouldn't dis and we shouldn't disrespect what got us to where we are right now spiritually. Somebody say man of that. Yet we also have to recognize that sometimes there's some bad stuff that got in through the good stuff, and we need to be able to detox from that without throwing the whole faith away. And that's kind of our heart on today. And we've been arguing in this series that there are three primary areas we all need to consider allowing the Holy Spirit to help us detox. One is a detox from legalism. And we talked about that in week one, week two, actually, and that is what's called performative spirituality is when the rules replace the relationship. Instead of you keeping the rules because of your love for the relationship, It's. It gets us out of tap dance and spirituality, which wears you out. It's a heavy yoke where you're trying to earn something that you can only inherit because of your identity as a son of the Father. Does that make sense? And then last week, and we're going to continue this this week, we talked about narcissism, which replaces self as the sinner and not the Savior. And last week we talked about the implications of how that can impact you when you've dealt with spiritually narcissistic leadership. But today I want to show you something in the text that it doesn't just come to you from the pulpit. It also comes to you from the pew. And John chapter nine is going to help us kind of explore, navigate those dynamics. Am I making sense? John 9, verse 24 says a second time they summoned the man who had been blind. Give glory to God by telling the truth. They said, we know this man is a sinner. He replied, whether he's a sinner or not, I don't know one thing I know I was blind, but now I see. I want to talk. And we're going to have to talk through this today, okay? We're going to have to talk through this today, okay? All right. I want to talk from this subject, how to handle a spiritual Bully how to Handle a Spiritual Bully this particular passage in John 9 is an unfortunate example of a devastating reality of a military term called friendly fire. This is a term that's used to describe when soldiers are not attacked by enemies, but they're attacked by allies. It's when the people who are supposed to be fighting with you confuse you with an enemy and end up shooting the at you. It's when the danger doesn't come from across enemy lines. It's when the danger has set up camp in your own camp. And the majority of us who are listening to this lesson may not have experienced friendly fire literally, but I would venture to say most, if not many of us have experienced friendly fire. Metaphorically. It is what David, who defeated Goliath described in Psalms 55 when he says in verse 12 if an enemy were insulting me, I could endure it. If a foe were rising against me, I could hide. But it is you, a man like myself, my companion, my close friend, with whom watch this I once enjoyed sweet fellowship at the house of God as we walked among the worshipers. The testimony of David teaches us something here that friendly fire doesn't just happen in warfare. Look at verse 14. It happens in religion, he says, with whom I once enjoyed sweet fellowship at the house of God and family. I want to be honest yet charitable. The Christian faith has developed a well earned reputation and brand and become notorious for shooting their own soldiers. In military warfare, friendly fire can be a result of negligence. But in the Christian religion, friendly fire can be a result of narcissism. And it is spiritual narcissism that leads to what I am calling spiritual bullying. What's that, Darius? It is when someone uses spiritual language or biblical concepts to control, to shame, to belittle or intimidate another believer. It is not correction that's rooted in compassion. It is coercion rooted in ego. It is actually the spirit of Jezebel masquerading as the Spirit of Jesus. Spiritual bullies will question your calling, critique your character, challenge your motives and condemn your methods, all based on their preferences and not God, God's principles. And sometimes this comes at you from the pulpit, but it also comes at you from the pew. Sometimes it comes at you from your bishop, and sometimes it comes at you from your brother. And it produces spiritual and emotional damage that leads to spiritual and emotional deformation that if we don't experience a detox from, we will have stagnation and not experience the fullness of God's best form our life. But I believe I'm talking to Some people who now have stepped into a season where you unapologetically have adopted an attitude of defiance toward anything that's dysfunctional. I'm gonna see if New Jersey or Gwinnett. I said I believe I'm talking to a group of people that have unapologetically adopted an attitude. Attitude of defiance toward anything that's dysfunctional. I don't care what kind of religious language you sprinkle on it. I'm gonna call it what it is. He whom the Son has set free is free indeed. Am I talking to anybody at any location? Not gonna sprinkle Jesus on Jezebel and fool me. You're not. This text Here in John 9 is an incredible example of what I'm trying to articulate. Family. It gives us some insight on this subject of spiritual bullying. John 9 exposes us to an encounter that Jesus has with a blind man. Everybody say blind man. Come on, say it again. Say blind man. One more time. Say blind man. Okay, I'm not going to bother this. I'm going to throw it out. You think about it. We'll talk about it maybe later. I want you to show me one instance of a blind woman in the Bible. Of course there were blind women in biblical days. I just want you to show me one reference of them in the Bible. Every example is blind men. Because since the Garden of Eden, the devil's been using blind men. I got to go. I'm not talking about this. But, sisters, you need to ask yourself more than, is he fine? You need to ask, can you see? Let me go over here. Do you have vision? Hallelujah. Can you see without a. Because if there's no vision, there's no discipline. Where there is no vision, people cast off restraint. And so a man without vision is an undisciplined man. And an undisciplined man is an unpredictable man. And an unpredictable man is a unsafe man. That's why we make made men around here. There's a blind man in John 9. There's a blind man in John 9. One of my favorite Christian thought leaders and pastors was a man named Charles Spurgeon. And he says, whenever you are looking at the miracles in the New Testament, you shouldn't just look at them literally. You got to look at them metaphorically. So he says we should see them watch this as an example not just of what God did for somebody in the text. We should see them as a picture of possibility of what God can do for me. So he says we need to believe in the literal miracle, but expand the meaning of the miracle to beyond the literal. So if Jesus only heals literal blind people, then John 9 doesn't help me. But if blindness represents something more than literal blindness, then John 9 can help me. And blindness in scripture can represent three types of problems that Jesus is committed to and capable of solving. It can represent what's called a perception problem. Somebody say perception? Because blindness in Scripture is not just a metaphor, Josh, for the absence of sight. It's a metaphor for the absence of vision. And there's a difference between sight and vision. The eyes in your head give you sight. The eyes in your heart give you vision. Sight helps you see to the corner. Vision help you see around the corner. Sight help you see to the hill. Vision help you see over the hill. Sight help you see today. Vision help you see them all. Sight help you see the problem. Vision help you see the solution. Sight help you see what has happened. Vision helps you see what's getting ready to happen. And this is why some people are confused at your shout, because they only know how to shout. I feel it here. I feel it sick. They only know how to shout off a sight. But do I have anybody at any location that knows how to shout off a vision? What you're shouting over, what are you getting ready to do? What are you clapping over? What are you getting ready to do? Eyes haven't seen, ears haven't heard. What God has in store for those that love Him. He can heal perception problems. Blindness in the text also can represent Daeshun primary problems. Did you hear me, Pastor? What do you mean, primary problems? Well, when we keep reading John 9, you're going to see this man in the text had two problems. He was not only blind, he was a beggar. And it's logical to conclude that his begging was tied to his blindness, because as a blind man, he couldn't. And so blindness represents a primary problem. Begging represents a secondary problem. And very often me and you are confused at how God is working, because we see all the secondary problems that he isn't fixing, not realizing he doesn't specialize in secondary problems. He specializes in in primary problems. Did you hear what I just said? This isn't just in John 9. We see this in Luke chapter 5, when the text says some men come carrying a paralyzed man on a mat, and they tried to take him into the house and lay him before Jesus. When they could not find a way to do this because of the crowd, they went up on the roof, lowered him on his mat, threw the tiles in the Middle of the crowd, right in front of Jesus. And when Jesus saw their faith, he said, friend, your sins are forgiven. Don't sanitize the scripture. Keep it real. This has changed church. One of our core values is honesty. Let's keep it real. You got a friend they can't walk. You heard Jesus is healing people on the west side. You get a mat and three of your friends carry your friend to Jesus. I'm not gonna bother that because some of us are surrounded by people that will walk with you, but not for you. Lord, give me some people that'll pray when my heart's too broken to pray. Give me some people that'll believe you when my faith is on low. Give me some people that can carry me. They carry. You carry all the way to the house where Jesus is. It's a crowd. You can't even get to the door. And if you honest, you tired and you saying to yourself, I only got a one way anointing on me today. You gonna have to spend the night. I can't carry you back today, we got to carry you back tomorrow. This is a lot. Come on. So watch this. So they can't get to the house, so they through the door. So they go on top of the roof, remove some towels, and they lowered a man down. Now they can't drop him, so they strain it, sweating, trying to get Jesus attention. And the Bible says, when Jesus saw him, he said, your sins are forgiven. Some of us would have dropped the mat. He said, I did not walk all the way over here for you to start talking about myself. He can't walk, but God will use a problem you know, you have to drive you to him so he can show you a problem you don't know you have. And when he fixes the problem you didn't know you have, he automatically fixes the problem you did know you have. He says, I'm not worrying about those problems because they're secondary. What I'm going to deal with is the primary problem. And some of us need to adopt the language of antiquity and just say, lord, we'll have your way. You, you know what to fix. You know when to fix it. You know how to fix it. Healing of blindness can represent Jesus fixing a perception problem. It can represent Jesus fixing a primary problem. It can also represent Jesus fixing a purpose problem. Your assignment requires sight. I'm trying not to run around here. I said, your assignment requires more than skill. Your assignment requires sight. Because sight is what shows you how to use your skill. Did you hear what I Just said, yeah. See, purpose requires you being able to see who you are, who you. What you've been called to do, the way you've been called to do it, who you've been called to do it for, and who you're not. Here's one of the greatest statements in all of the Gospels is when John the Baptist looks at a group of people and says, I am not the Messiah. Did you hear what I. He's so clear on his calling, it's giving him a conviction that. Not just about who he is, it's giving him a conviction about who he's not. He looks people in the faith face and says, do not expect from me what you expecting from Jesus. I'm. I'm not the Messiah. And I'm not. I'm not about to be living my life tap dancing to your expectations. I'm not going to become a Christian chameleon in an attempt to be what you expect. Here's who I am. Here's who I'm for. Because the anointing only falls on the authentic self. And when you, not you, your oil can't find you. God will only help you be who he's called you to be. So the healing of blindness represents Jesus fixing a perception problem, a primary problem, and a purpose problem. So they bring this blind man to Jesus. And the text says in verse two, I want you to see this. Now, his disciples asked him, rabbi, who sinned this man or his parents, that he's born blind. I want you to see the arrogance in the question. They didn't look at me. Verse 2. Look at it. Y' all see it? Y' all see it? It's in your Bible, too. It's in there. They didn't say, did someone sin. They said, who sin? They have already made an assumption without an analysis. Do you see it? Who sinned? So here's what happened, because here's a trait of a spiritual bully. Their personal assumptions have become theological convictions. So watch this. They are making an automatic connection between suffering and sin. They have no theology of suffering that is not connected to a choice somebody made. Did you hear that? So their theology of suffering is off because they're assuming every time they're suffering. You're being punished. Y'. All. Come on, y'. All. Okay, I want you to stay with me now. I want you to stay with me now. There's gonna be. And I was gonna do this this year, but this detox series came to my heart, so I'm gonna have to do it next year. Next year. I'M gonna do a series called I'm Gifted. We're gonna talk about spiritual gifts in the Bible and we're gonna look at 1st Corinthians 14:12 and Romans 12. And I'm going to teach you on something called discerning of spirits. Because that's not what many people think it is. And they just think that means the ability to discern between a good and an evil spirit when it is much more comprehensive and robust than that. It also involves the ability to discern what kind of spirit. And there's this word in the Old Testament, this imagery in the Old Testament called Leviathan. And it refers to a twisting spirit and how the enemy uses disappointment, pain, trauma and unmet needs to influence people's comprehension filter so that when you are saying something, they don't hear what you say. Their filter twisted. So I'm not going to bother this, but it's really challenging when you're married to somebody like that. That. Cuz if you're married to. If you're married to somebody like that, whenever you articulate your need, they hear an attack. So to be somewhat happy, you got to be all the way frustrated because we never get to talk about the stuff I need to fix anyway. That happens in church too. That happens in church too. Right? That happens in church. And so sometimes a teacher can be teaching something and it's like, so I want you to. I want you to don't let Leviathan twist this, because what I'm about to say is about to challenge some of our thinking. But I don't want you to think I'm arguing for a lowing of scriptural standards. I'm saying what the disciples here were revealing. They're revealing what's called a theology of retribution, which means they believe that God is some cosmic enforcer who is actively punishing people in this life through suffering, sickness, tragedy and loss for their sin. Rather than a biblical view of God as a loving father who knows how he ordered the world and you and knows what is in your best interest for human flourishing, and then labels those things as sin that does not lead to human flourishing and then tells you to avoid those consequences at all costs because the punishment for sin is infinite. See, did you hear what I just said? It's not I do something and he zapped me for it. It's him saying, I told you not to do that because I'm trying to protect you from the consequences of you going against the grain. When you go against the grain, you can get splinters. I didn't stick a splinter in you. I told come on church. So what happens is when you have a theology of retribution, you call consequence punishment. So God is looking for an opportunity in 2025 to punish me for what happened in 95. See, here's where the theology of retribution got holes in it. Daeshuna doesn't reconcile itself with the go. How effective is Calvary? See, don't. Don't twist it now. Don't twist it. I'm not saying God doesn't care about sin. That's not what I'm saying. Am I making sense? How satisfied is God with the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross? The wrath of God was poured out on Calvary. The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life. So. So God wants me to avoid sin just like you want to your child to avoid putting their hand on the soul. Did you punish them or did the fire? See, when this isn't right, when you don't get the gospel right, you live in a constant state of spiritual anxiety. You attach it every bad and so so. And what we're about to see is Jesus so debunks this when they ask who sin? Just like nobody. He's like, so Jesus clearly says this suffering is not connected to any choice that this man made. He says neither. Come on. Are y' all okay? Sometimes you happen, sometimes other people happen, sometimes the devil happen, and sometimes life happen. There is suffering for which we don't get explanations. This is why you need trust. You waiting on it to make sense. And some of it doesn't make sense even when you look at the text. Jesus doesn't give what the reason is, but he gives what the reason isn't. Which means you're not always going to get an explanation. You're not old one. His track record is good enough to be trusted. Hallelujah. I said his track record is too good to not be trusted. I got it, y'. All. Okay. What I'm challenging us on in this series is not the standard. I'm challenging us on the motivation. How real can I be? One of my greatest leadership challenges. My greatest leadership challenge. Pastor Darren. By far one of my greatest leadership challenges. And it's cost us. It's cost a lot. It's cost some time. It's cost some some headache. It's cost some frustrations. My greatest leadership challenge is my refusal to use fear to get a team to keep a stand. Cuz some of us are so theologically conditioned to be motivated not by a healthy fear. And so what we Calling commitment is trauma. Let me stay. Right. So God doesn't. So now when you miss that prayer time, instead of you being grieved because you need it, you grieve because you think God mad. Tario, just play at this point. So they got a theology of retribution. That's wrong. Then watch this. They said, who did send this man or his parents? Are you ready for this? They got a bad theology of generational, what they would call generational curses because they're interpreting Deuteronomy 5, 9. You shall not bow down to them or worship them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me. So here's what they've done. I don't love the way the NIV translates this word. Some other translations don't say the word punish. They say the word visit. Because here's the Hebrew word. The Hebrew word here means to attend to, to visit, or to deal with. The emphasis is not on an arbitrary retribution, but on divine engagement with the consequences of sin. God visits or allows the natural and social fallout of one generation's rebellion to impact subsequent ones. It's consequential. It's not retribution. I am impacted by what a generation did before me. Not punished for. See, come. Why y' all giving me these looks? This I'm impacted by. So. Because here's the thing. Here's the thing. And I didn't want to deal with this because it can be a leaders. Part of the disciples issue here. Part of what the disciples show us is that you need to be anointed first, which they were, but they weren't trained. They were being trained, so they were anointed. But there was some stuff in their theology that went unchallenged until Jesus, like, you're wrong. You literally think he did something or his parents did something. And you've been carrying your. You've been carrying that belief your whole religious life. And Jesus has to tell them you're wrong. See, Scripture has to be interpreted with Scripture. So if I read something and then I read something else and it seems to contradict what I read, I'm not interpreting something right. Because In Ezekiel, chapter 18, verse 20, it says the one who sins is the one who will die. The child will not share the guilt of the parent, nor the parent the guilt of the child. The righteousness of the righteous will be credited to them, and the wickedness of the wicked will be. Will be charged to them. So I'm Impacted by. I'm not punished for. He's not going to punish you for what they did. Will you be impacted by it? Yes, but you're not punished for. So a lot of what we call in generational curses. I think we confuse curses with strongholds, and that's something we need to discuss. But a lot of what we calling a lot of what we call in generational curses aren't generational curses. They're generational consequence. It's not your destiny. You may be prone to that doesn't mean you have to do good. God Almighty. I need somebody in the room to say it. Break with me. Say it. Yeah, it breaks with me. I don't know what trend has been in your family, but just because it's been in your family in the past doesn't mean it has to be in your family in the future. In every bloodline, God raises up one person to disrupt it. Am I talking to the one today? All right, I'm about at my time. Let me start wrapping up before the saints start walking. Here it is. Neither this man or his parents sin. Jesus said in verse three, this happened so that the works of God could be displayed. So Jesus spits on the dirt, makes the dirt mud, puts the mud on the guy's eyes, tells them to go wash in a pool, call salon so that he can be healed. The man leaves, goes walks in the pool called Siloam. And I want you to think about something. Now, this man, his whole life has been blind. And in verse eight, it says his neighbors and those who had formerly seen him beg and asked, isn't it the same man who used to sit in bed? Some claimed he was. Others said, no, he only looks like him. But he insisted, I'm the man. Let me ask you something. If you blind and then all of a sudden you can see, you don't look different. Does that make sense? Like you don't lose weight. I mean, you don't. So if I'm blind and then all of a sudden I can see, why could they not recognize him? The only thing he did different, Eli, was move different. Because when you get healed, you move different. And when you start moving different, you look like you, but you don't look like you. People don't recognize you with boundaries. People don't recognize you with standards. People don't recognize you locked in with the Father. When you heal, you move different. So here's what happens. Let's look at verse 13. They brought to the Pharisees the man who had been blind. Now on the day which Jesus made mud and opened his eyes, it was the Sabbath. Therefore, the Pharisees asked him, how had he received his sight? He said, he put mud on my eyes and I washed. So some of the Pharisees said, this man is not from God, for he doesn't keep the Sabbath. And others asked, how can a sinner perform such signs? Now, instead of celebrating with a man who had just got a miracle, instead of experiencing celebration, he experiences integration. I just got baptized. Well, who name did they dip you in? I'm going to church. What church you going to? I want you to think about emotionally, how deflating that was for a man who's just trying to be better. And then they interrogate him. They know they got more church experience than him. So they talking about stuff like the Sabbath. He like, I don't know the answer to. Come on, come on, come on. That's how you know it's Jezebel. It's intimidation. What did they tell you about this? Did they tell you about that? Do you know that I just picked up the Bible yesterday? I don't know whether he's a sinner or not. I don't know. But this one thing I know. I was blind, but now I see. I was broken, but now I'm whole. I was confused, but now I'm clear. I was full of despair, but now I'm full of joy. And the devil will use bullies to cause you to doubt the validity of your miracle or to take the joy out of your miracle. Four things this man did in the text that we need to do. Number one, refuse to let their rejection become your infection. How you handle a bully, what people do to you is beyond your control. But what you allow, what you what but what you allow to live in you is your responsibility. You have to decide not to let rejection metastasize into resentment. Number two, resist the urge to prove yourself to people who are committed to misunderstanding you. Some people aren't confused. They're committed to misunderstanding you. Number three, recognize where their dysfunction has caused damage that you need to detox from. Sometimes. The hurt you carry and didn't come from the world. It came from a wounded person in church. And they're operating out of their own unhealed places, and their dysfunction becomes your damage. Detoxing doesn't mean denying what happened. It means deciding to let what happened keep happening in you. And number four, release yourself from the expectation that you must continually expose yourself to their aggression. In this season of my life, I got a master's degree in that mute button, I will mute the heaven. I'm Bruce Lee with this block game. I'm not about to expose myself to that. Seeing all this craziness in my algorithm, I'm like, I was in a good mood, and then this foolishness just came up. Not interested. I don't have an obligation to you. See, let me say this. Grace does not mean gullible, and forgiveness does not require access. Spiritual bullies will pressure you to stay engaged, to keep explaining, to keep defending, to keep proving. But at some point, peace becomes more important than your participation. I just refuse to participate. And so many of you have had John nine experiences only to question the validity of your miracle because of what you heard in the Christian ecosystem. But what Jesus did for this man in John 9 is what he can do for you and I. Deliver us not just from problems, but deliver us from the people who are more happy with us. When we stayed in them, they were not bothering this man as long as he was blind. Now I'm healed. You got a lot to say, Father. I pray for any person under the sound of my voice that's been the victim of friendly fire. Their wounds didn't just come from the world. Their wounds came from wounded people who claimed Christ. Spiritual bullies who were trying to be spiritually deep. I pray that you'd heal the broken places in their heart. And may that not be named among one of us that are part of this spirit spiritual family called Change Church. May we be those that engage in celebration, not interrogation, in Jesus name today, if you're here.