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What if the way we see people is the very thing limiting our ability to love?
In John 9, Jesus heals a man born blind, and then the Pharisees, the ones who were sure they saw, ask Him, “Are we also blind?” His answer is one of the most unsettling lines in the Gospels. In this coaching session, Rob walks through why Jesus came into the world for judgment, what it means that “your sin remains,” and how the habit of seeing other people as less than quietly shuts down our ability to love. Then he gives you a simple way to start weeding it out this week.
You’ll Hear
Why Jesus said He came so that “those who see may become blind”
What the word “remains” in John 9:41 really means, and why it’s the same word as “abide”
How judgment becomes the blind spot of people who are doing everything right
Why being right about someone’s sin doesn’t free you to condemn it
How hearing Jesus’ voice, like Mary at His feet, weeds judgment out of your heart
Why judgment will come to mind in the next few days, and what to do when it does
Scriptures: John 9:35-41, John 1:29, Luke 6:37, Luke 10:38-42
Journal Prompts
Ask Jesus: Where does my judgment remain on people? Show me. Journal His answer in first person.
Ask the Holy Spirit: Give me the power and show me how to remove this judgment. Journal His answer in first person.
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Rob Dayton (00:00)
Welcome to the 100X Life Podcast, where we activate people who desire to live the words of Jesus and experience the abundant life He promises. I'm your host, Rob Dayton, and I hope this podcast inspires you to put in the work of following Jesus.
Rob Dayton (00:36)
Hey 100xLifers welcome back to the podcast. Hey, I got a just quick little coaching session for you, but man, this one's hitting me really hard. And I want you to marinate, I want you to saturate yourself and the goodness of God and his purpose and Jesus' purposes. Remember, the 100x life is all about how we can hear the words of Jesus and put them into practice, how we can see ourselves as followers of Jesus.
That his voice that we would hear would become so predominant that other voices would be less familiar. Just think about all the different voices in your life, whether it's the radio or the podcast you're listening to right now, or how you spend time with friends, all the voices in your life, which one's predominant. We want Jesus' voice to be predominant. And I want to talk to you about how.
Jesus' purpose when he came, one thing was very clear about how he was going to turn things upside down, and that is concerning judgment. So I just want to get real right into it. If you have a journal, please grab a journal. I've got some journal prompts for you. I want you to really think about this. Remember, we are changing the way we think. And when we listen to Jesus, we have that opportunity.
That beautiful opportunity to change the way we think. So I'm reading in John 9. This is the story where the Jesus heals the blind man who was blind from birth. And this is really close to the final week of Jesus' mission on earth. And he heals a man, and then the Pharisees get very upset.
Because they can't figure out what was happening. They call his parents in. then they're like, no, go talk to the guy. He's of age. And then and then he says, I don't know what happened. I all I know is that I was blind and now I see. I was blind and now I see. And now you're familiar with many of the miracles that Jesus does, but this miracle in particular turns into a metaphor and an announcement. It's an announcement to
The Pharisees who are right with Jesus at the time as he's speaking to the blind man about the fact that he is the Christ, he is the Son of God. And then it is also a declaration of the new way that he's brought to planet Earth and the new way of being. And I want you to change, transform the way you think through the lens of this, because this message is for the church. This message is for those who say.
Yes to Jesus, those who want to believe. That's who I'm talking to. I am not talking to right now, anyone who is not a believer or who does not know Jesus. I'm talking about the one who said yes. So here's where we find in the story. So after the the the Pharisees throw him out of the council, this is the blind man, they throw him out of the council. Jesus actually searches for him.
To find him. And when he finds him, and now I'm reading in verse thirty-four, So this is this is the blind man. They threw him out, and Jesus heard that they had thrown him out. And finding him, so Jesus finds him, he says to him, Do you believe in the Son of God? And the blind man answers the guy.
The one who has just received his sight answers him, no, who who is he, Lord, that I may believe? And Jesus said to him, You have both seen him, and it is he who you speak with. So he said, Lord, I believe. and the previously blind man worships him. Now, Jesus then makes a statement, a declaration of
The reason he comes into the world. So whenever Jesus is saying, here's the reason I'm here, this is when we pay attention. The purposes of Jesus should be a guide for our life. What was Jesus' purpose in coming? Because we want to latch onto that because we are the body of Christ here. It needs to become our purpose.
It needs to become our purpose. And if if this is going to become our purpose, we need to change the way we think. So here's what he said: I came into this world for judgment. Now we're going to talk about this. Let me read the whole thing. I came into this world for judgment that those who don't see may see, and those who see may become blind. So I came into the world for judgment.
And those that see become blind, and those that are blind now see. Interesting. Now it's really instructive that the Pharisees who are with Jesus at this moment, and they're listening to Jesus talk to this previously blind man who was healed. They say, So then the next verse 40 says, Those of the Pharisees who are with him heard these things and said to him,
Are we also blind? so they are picking up on what Jesus is laying down, and they're seeing that Jesus is calling them blind because they in that proclamation would be the ones who see. They have clarity about God. They have clarity about, I don't know, let's talk about the Christian today, salvation. They have clarity about.
You know what it takes to enter the kingdom. They have clarity, they have biblical truth. We have teaching, fifty-two life-changing messages a year. We have Bible studies, we have coaching programs, we have a hundred X life, we have all these things. And the Pharisees had all these things. They were the preeminent leaders of, you know, we wouldn't call it Christianity, but of Judaism.
And and they're picking up that Jesus is saying that you are now blind and and they and they say, Are we now blind? And Jesus said to them, if you were blind, you would have no sin. Interesting. If you were blind, you would have no sin. But now you say you see, therefore your sin remains.
And I want you to, I wanna, I wanna throw a curveball here. That word remains. Now your sin remains is the word abides. So the same word that you and I use to abiding in Jesus, Jesus is saying that now you say you see, therefore your sin now lives. It abides. Wow. This is pretty crazy.
So, what is this all about? And it goes back to in the trifecta of the words of Jesus: forgive, do not judge, do not condemn. If you're going to be a lover of people, if you are going to be a servant, a follower of Jesus, you have to get rid of any kind of inkling of unforgiveness, judgment, and condemnation. Now, forgiveness.
and walking in forgiveness, I think that that's the first step. I think the hardest step for us as Christians is the judgment aspect because now we claim to see. And when we see and we see ourselves as well, maybe I'm, you know, doing this 100x life thing, maybe I'm man, I'm I'm changing the way I think. I'm I'm doing all this stuff, I know this scripture.
I attend church religiously. I do this. I do this. I now see. And then the temptation or the distortion is to see everyone else as less than. In other words, the judgment puts us ahead of other people. This is what Jesus is saying. He said, I came into the world for judgment. Judgment exists in the world. And Jesus wants to destroy that judgment.
Now let's talk about the truth as to why that judgment needs to be destroyed. The truth is that anyone who claims to have what it takes, to have, their stuff together, anyone who's who claims to be better because, particularly because of the gospel, is now condemning themselves because they're not acknowledging that I myself,
Have been a failure. I myself have had sin. I myself have been a slave to sin. And so that judgment eliminates my compassion. And what it ultimately does is it eliminates, it lessens my ability to love. Because if I'm judging people, then I'm I'm starting to form an emotional construct that sees others as less than, that sees them as.
Instead of exactly where they are, they're reachable, exactly where they are, they're perfect, exactly where they are, they're image bearers, exactly where they are, they are people to be loved. They are loved by God, they are chased by God, they are doted on by God, by Papa. Jesus died for them, even if they're enemies, he he paid the price for their sin. He he he's John the Baptist says, Behold,
The Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, he takes away the sins. But as soon as you say you see their sin, now your sin remains with you or abides in you. Man, this is really, really crazy. So just this point where Jesus is saying, I have come into the world for judgment, that those who don't see may see, and those that say they see become blind.
And the only difference, it's not like Jesus wants people to be blind. that's not what he's saying. What he's saying is he's removing judgment as a practice. It's no, it's not a holy practice. He's removing judgment as an impediment to love. And and if you move in judgment, you become blind. And when you move away from judgment, why why would a a a newly a someone who
In in biblical times, we would call as a sinner is now professing Jesus in that moment. They're saying, My sin is washed away. Just like you, when you entered the kingdom and said yes to Jesus, you understood, okay, my sins are washed away. My sins are not the thing that matters in this moment. My eternity is not the consequences of my sin. My ability to love is not the consequences of my sin. My ability to be in relationship with God and have God.
Have the Trinity live on board and dwell in me has nothing to do with sin. My sins have been washed away. They are gone. So w when we, follower of Jesus or brother in Christ, Christian, whatever you call yourself, so when we make a judgment about those that are in the world, like how many know in this political season?
We are the this is the election, right? The political season. We say we judge other people. We stereotype them. We do not see them as image bearers. We say that they're wrong. And that and when we do that, it's not that you're your judgments are not true. Hear me on this. It's not that your judgments may not be true. Yeah, that could that person could be evil. Yes, they did that evil thing.
But as soon as you condemn them and not free them from the sin with the same power that freed you, then you make yourself out to God. Then you are judging yourself because you're judge not, lest you be judged. If you want to not be judged, if you want to be in a position of not being judged of your sin, in other words, your sin being seen, then you won't point out the sins of others. What you will do.
Is you'll get rid of the judgment impediment, and that frees you to love that person. It frees you to love your enemy because you no longer are seeing the chasm between you and them. You're seeing the unity of them being a brother in Christ, of them being a child of God, one who who actually has the image of God on them, who was chastened by God, whose sins were paid for completely.
By God. Doesn't matter who you're talking with on the planet, the sins of that person have been paid for. So as soon as you call those out and those sins become the thing that you predominantly see, you sit in judgment and you become blind. And I hope this is helpful. This judgment thing, we have to weed this out. How do we do that? How do we weed judgment out of the church?
We do that starting with us. we practice repentance. We change the way we think. We regulate how we see other people. And the dominant voice in your head has to be Jesus. we we have to be thinking about what he's saying. We have to pay attention. You know, like Martha and Mary, you know, Martha came to Jesus because.
Mary wasn't serving. Mary was sitting at the feet of Jesus, listening, and she was busy serving, and she was anxious because Mary was not helping. And what did Jesus? He said, Mary, you are anxious about many things, but only one thing is required. And that one thing is to hear his voice, to hear him. Because when we hear his voice, it changes us. So if the dominant voice in your life is not Jesus, is not Holy Spirit, is not Papa God.
It's gonna be very easy for you to fall into judgment because when we hear his voice, we hear kindness for others, we hear freedom from sin. Sin, sin does not become the issue, it becomes a love issue. And if we're gonna free our capacity to love, we have to remove judgments of others. We it that this is this is the main point Jesus is calling into us. He wants us to increase our ability to love. How does Jesus treat all those people who are sins?
Who are we would maybe label sinners were doing wrong or doing evil. Yeah, he just dies for them and takes away their sins. So it's no longer a problem. So that the blind may see that's what he's doing. May it be for you that you would not be blind. May it be for you that you would see clearly and that the sins of the people around you, that in that business, in whatever it is, in the ministry that you're serving, the people are the most important thing.
A business that makes money is fine. It's great, but that's not the point. Any Christian who's in business, any Christian who's in ministry, the point is about the people. So if you have an organization of people, that's the most frustrating thing about the organization or the business. It's the people, isn't it? But it also is the richest thing because that it's that interaction with people that gives you the training to increase your ability to love. Go forth without judgment.
Have compassion and kindness for others. See them as image bearers and hear the voice of God for that person because he loves them dearly and has paid a heavy price for their sins. I hope this has been helpful. If you want a general prompt, here it is. Jesus, where does my judgment remain? Where does my judgment remain on people? Show me. Holy Spirit, reveal it. And then reveal.
As always, we're writing in the first person from that member of the Trinity, Jesus or Holy Spirit, whichever one you chose. And then ask Holy Spirit, give me the power, show me how to remove this judgment. And then it's gonna become for you a practice of repentance. Change the way you think. Remember, anyone can be proficient and brilliant at repentance.
But you've got to focus on that's what's happening. And it is a gym experience. It is a mind gym experience, brain gym, whatever you want to call it. Because as soon as you hear this word and start to practice, the enemy, on account of the word that was sown, will come and try to steal it. That is the process Jesus laid out. That's the 100xLife process. So after you've heard this word, be sure to celebrate when the enemy shows up and gives you the opportunity to lessen your judgment.
As soon as I say don't judge, Jesus says don't judge, a judgment will come to mind. I guarantee it within the next three to five days, if not today, and you will have the opportunity to exercise. So get in the gym, change the way you think. Let's leave judgment behind. Let's be a body of Christ who does not judge, but rather has compassion on and pays for, along with Jesus, the sins of the world, and loves them, love the hell out of people.
Make people the biggest thing because that's what Jesus has done. This entire creation is about them. Okay, guys. Been great to be with you. I love you much. I'll be praying for you and we will see you next week.
