Work the Works While It Is Day

In one paragraph

This message, preached by Ray, centered on union with Christ as the foundation of the Christian life, drawing on Romans 7:1-4 and the full story of the man born blind in John 9. Ray held off on the heart of Romans 7 to spend time on what that union actually looks like when it is lived out in obedience, testimony, and worship. John 9 carried the weight of the sermon as a narrative illustration of...

Read together

1. Jeremiah 17 opening verse read before worship: 'blessed are those who trust in the Lord and have made the Lord their hope and confidence'
2. Proverbs 22:6 quoted during child dedication: 'train up a child in the way he should go and even when she is old she will not depart from it'
3. Romans 7:1-4 main passage read and exposited: the law has jurisdiction over a person as long as he lives, illustrated by the marriage analogy, leading to union with Christ through his death
4. John 9:1-38 narrative of the man born blind used throughout the sermon to illustrate simple obedience, simple testimony, and simple worship
5. John 9:4 we must work the works of him who sent me as long as it is day, night is coming when no one can work
6. Acts 1:8 you are called to be witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, to the uttermost parts of the world
7. 1 Corinthians 11 referenced during communion: Paul says when we do this we celebrate the death of Jesus until he comes again

Talk about it

1. Pastor Ray pointed out that the disciples assumed the blind man or his parents must have sinned to cause his blindness, and he said that kind of thinking is sticky even today. Where do you notice that assumption showing up in your own reactions to other people's suffering or your own?
2. The man born blind obeyed two simple commands, go and wash, before he had any idea what the result would be. What does that kind of immediate, low-information obedience look like in your own life, and what makes it hard?
3. When the healed man was pressed by the Pharisees, his testimony came down to one thing he knew for certain: 'Though I was blind, now I see.' Pastor Ray said there is no valid theological argument against a changed life. What would your equivalent statement be, the thing you know from your own firsthand experience with Christ?
4. Pastor Ray mentioned the news from Orlando that morning, fifty people killed, and said, 'Let God challenge your natural assumptions.' How does the idea of union with Christ shape the way we think about people we might be tempted to write off?
5. John 9:4 says we must work the works of God while it is day, because night is coming when no one can work. Pastor Ray said this means taking every opportune moment when it is presented. What opportunities have you let pass, and what is one specific thing in front of you right now that this passage might be calling you toward?