Jesus’ death and resurrection gave birth to a new kingdom. Previously, only a few were privy to
that kingdom, and even they did not know the fullness of it. But Jesus opened the door for every
human being to have the opportunity to enter the kingdom of God. Every club and every
kingdom claims benefits for its members. So how many benefits of God’s kingdom are you
walking in today?
John chapter 9 tells the story of a man born blind. Jesus miraculously healed him—something
that had never occurred in Israel. And the man became a believer and began walking in the
kingdom of God.
Voicelessness and invisibility. At that time no one would educate, hire, or marry the blind.
They could only beg for a living. No one spoke with them (other than other blind men), and no
one respected them. Even when Jesus and the disciples first saw him, they spoke about him, not
to him. “His disciples asked him, ‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was
born blind?” (John 9:2). Jesus responded that no one had sinned and caused the blindness. The
man most likely heard them talking about him, but he was accustomed to being considered
subhuman. Yet Jesus saw the man’s humanity and healed him.
Then he went from being invisible to being the talk of the town. Suddenly, he was the one that
everyone wanted to see and hear. God put a new spirit in him, gave him a new upright walk, and
made him someone that people had to recognize. He had a voice, a story like no one else: “I
was blind but now I see” (John 9:25). God changed him—and people were dumbfounded. The
same thing happens to us when we enter God’s kingdom. Salvation ends invisibility and
voicelessness. We confound the wise. Membership has benefits.
A mission. The ex-blind man had no idea that he automatically stepped into a calling on his life.
He never knew that he could proclaim the power and miracles of God. Once a man who was a
believer boarded a subway train at 3 AM in order to arrive at work by 5 AM. There were only
three people in the subway car: the believer, another man, and a woman sitting further away.
The believer kept sensing that God wanted him to tell the man across the aisle about Jesus, so he
began doing so. The other man jumped up, called the believer crazy and a lunatic, and got off
the train. The believer felt badly and wondered if maybe he hadn’t heard from God because the
other fellow got so angry. Just then, the woman got up and sat next to the believer and asked
him to tell her about Jesus. That woman gave her life to Jesus on the subway at 3 AM in the
morning. We never know whose lives we touch just by being ourselves.
The ex-blind man in John chapter 9 did not question whether it was the right place or time; he
just told his story. He did not search for a voice to thunder from heaven some great position or
title. Christians can spend a lifetime looking for a great mission and calling, when God is
waiting for us to use what we already have, where we already are. Everyone in God’s kingdom
has a mission and purpose to work on—right now, right here. Membership in God’s kingdom
has benefits.
Alone. Chapter 9 concludes with the ex-blind man having been rejected by the Pharisees and
thrown out of the synagogue (excommunicated). He went and sat alone—but Jesus went and
found him. Jesus also revealed his mission to the man: Son of Man, the Messiah. Once we step
into the kingdom of God, we will never be alone. It may look like it sometimes, it may feel like
it sometimes, but God is always with us and hears us and cares about everything that concerns
us. Just as with the ex-blind man, Jesus will find us wherever we are and minister to us in ways
that only Jesus knows how to do. Jesus promised us that he would never leave or forsake us—
and Jesus cannot lie. You are found. Membership in God’s kingdom has benefits.
There are many benefits in the kingdom of God that do not exist anywhere else. It is up to us to
keep discovering them in God’s Word, in creation, in prayer, in fellowship. And then claim
those benefits and walk in them with authority. Membership has (many) benefits.
God bless you.
Pastor Janice Fareed Hardy
