Do You Believe This?

Life of the Church

Good morning everyone, and welcome to our worship service. It’s good to see you all here today.

I have just a couple of announcements I’d like to mention before we begin.

The men’s group will be meeting tonight at 6:30. All men are invited to attend.

Our next business meeting is scheduled for this Wednesday, and our deacon election will be held on the 28th after the morning service. Please be praying for those you’d like to vote for that.

We’re adopting Stump Elementary’s WRE program again this year and collecting some small wrapped treats. If you’d like to contribute to that, please leave your items in Randal’s Sunday School class, or see Della.

And also, we’re updating our nursery. If you have any items that we could use, please see Jesyka for that.

Sue, do you have anything?

Opening Prayer

Father, We thank you for everyone gathered here today. Thank you that you know each of us by name and have invited us to walk with You and to grow in you. Thank you that we can depend on you and trust in You completely.

As we surrender ourselves in worship, we ask that You come by Your Holy Spirit and inspire our hearts today. Fill our lives with Your love, Fill our conversations with Your grace and truth, Fill this service with Your presence. We ask this for Your glory and praise. Amen.

Sermon

In 2002 a man named Rick Norsigian stopped by a yard sale near his home. He was rooting through some lamps that no longer worked, a few records from music groups no one had ever heard of, and boxes of clothes that wouldn’t fit him.

Shoved into the corner of one table was a set of large glass negatives, each about 8x10, of pictures of Yosemite National Park. Rick thought they actually looked pretty good, they would go well in his home, so he bought them all. The price was a little steep — $45 for the set — but you know, why not?

He took the photographs home and kept them in a box under his pool table for two years. Not long after that, though, he decided he was going to figure out where those plates came from.

After some research and a lot of study by experts, Rick discovered they were actually original pictures by Ansel Adams, one of the most famous photographers in history.

He paid $45 for that set of photographs. They’re worth 200 million.

We hear stories like that from time to time, don’t we? People finding absolute treasure that’s been left among ordinary things simply because nobody understood or appreciated the true value of what they have. So they lump it alongside trash and try to sell it for pennies, because otherwise they’ll just haul it all to the dump.

Last week we began a short series on the death of Lazarus, and how the way that Jesus used that death to teach his disciples, Mary, and Martha is also the way that he teaches us.

It was a lesson about value, and how sometimes the things we put value on runs up against what God puts value on, and the result is a lot of pain and grief. That’s what happened to Mary and Martha and the disciples.

Because they wanted God to provide healing and comfort and happiness. But what Christ wanted most to provide and strengthen was their faith.

But now the question is, Strengthen their faith in what?

For that, let’s turn back to the Gospel of John, chapter 11. We’re going to continue from verses 21 - 26:

Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.”

Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”

Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.”

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”

And this is God’s word.

Do you know what you have in Christ? What power, what peace, what security? We speak of the importance of faith, and to Christ its importance is second to none. Nothing’s more important than your faith.

But faith always has to have an object, doesn’t it? We can’t just have faith, we have to have faith in something. And so the strength of our faith is only as good as what or who we put that faith in.

That’s what the point of this scripture is saying, and it’s directed straight to Martha. Remember, Martha has heard the message that Jesus sent about Lazarus: “This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”

To Martha and Mary, the only way God could receive glory and the Son of God could be glorified was if Lazarus was healed.

They had faith enough to reach out to Christ when they were in trouble, but they didn’t have faith enough to understand that all things, all of them, are for God’s glory. That includes healing, absolutely. But it also includes sickness, and loss, and disappointment.

And the real faith that Jesus is trying to instill in his disciples and in the sisters is this: if God is glorified, then they should be satisfied.

That’s where Jesus is trying to steer Martha all throughout this exchange. Martha begins where we left off last Sunday, telling Jesus that if only he had been there, Lazarus would have lived.

She’s doubting, and we can absolutely understand that doubt. But then in verse 22, it seems as if Martha’s faith has at least partly returned.

“But even now,” she says, “I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.”

There’s a hope here for Martha, but it’s a hope that she can only hint at. What Martha wants to ask is, “Lord, can you raise my brother to life?” But she can’t bring herself to do that. Martha has the faith to think it, but not the faith to ask it.

And do you know why? Because of what Martha’s faith was in.

Pay attention to what she says: I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.

Now that’s true, isn’t it? Whatever Jesus asks for from God, God will give. Except for one time, right? In the Garden. Luke 22:42 — “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.”

But watch this closely — Martha’s faith isn’t in Christ’s power to restore her brother’s life. Martha’s faith is in Christ’s power to ask God to restore her brother’s life.

It’s a small point but an important one, because Martha’s treating Jesus like those Ansel Adams pictures that Rick Norsigian bought at a yard sale. She’s putting the treasure in front of her with the ordinary things around her.

Jesus answers this in the way that he always does with those who love him — he answers with compassion. “Your brother will rise again,” he says in verse 23.

Now what’s Jesus talking about here? The fact that he says this just before raising Lazarus back to life might suggest that’s exactly what he means. But the form of the words clearly points to the way that Martha understands them in verse 24, which is the resurrection on the last day.

Jesus never uses his words lightly. Everything he says is for a very specific reason. He knows he’s about to raise Lazarus from the dead, but he also points toward the resurrection and the reality of life after death.

He’s trying to gently lead Martha away from her desire to see her brother in this life again, and from this very human feeling of hopeful doubt that Jesus can do that, so that he can instead show Martha a greater and more important truth, which is this: for those who believe in him, there’s no such thing as death.

There’s no death for those who believe in him. For the Christian, there’s only life followed by greater life.

Jesus is reminding Martha and reminding us to always look forward, to always keep in mind the end of all things — eternal peace, eternal joy, and an eternal home on an eternal new earth.

That’s our comfort when our loved ones pass on. They now have much more than we have. Their souls aren’t gone, they’ve only gone ahead. Their bodies aren’t lost, they’re simply laid to rest for now. That should be our greatest comfort in life. We may be called to suffer and to endure, but at the end is heaven.

But sometimes, many times, the promise of what’s to come doesn’t offer us the comfort it should right now. That’s what Martha’s feeling in verse 24. “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day,” she says, and you can hear the disappointment in her voice, can’t you? “Yes, Lord,” she’s saying, “I know that. I believe that. But how can that help me now?”

Martha’s being reminded of something that probably offered her peace before — the promise of heaven. But that promise doesn’t offer much comfort for Martha now, because it goes against her expectations.

Remember, she had absolute faith that Jesus would heal Lazarus. Her whole heart had been fixed on that. But Jesus didn’t, so now Martha’s suffering even more. She’s suffering both the death of her brother and the death of her expectations, and those two things are at war with what hope she has left.

That’s why right here, Martha is every believer. We have faith enough to say that our loved ones are not lost forever, but we’re still crushed by the thought that they’re still lost for the present.

She says, “I know Lazarus will rise again. I know I’ll see Lazarus in heaven.” And that’s a statement of faith on her part. But Martha can’t bring herself to say what her heart truly wants: “Yes, Lord, I know you will raise him up on the last day. But I want you to raise him up on this day.”

Are you afraid to tell Jesus your whole heart? Are you afraid to share everything with him because you think your doubt will come through, or because you think what you’re feeling or thinking is wrong?

Tell him anyway. Just tell him anyway, because here’s a little secret — Jesus already knows it. He knows what you’re thinking and what you’re feeling. He knew what Martha truly wanted, and he was going to do it. Why? Again, we learned that next week. So Jesus could be glorified, and so that Martha’s faith, Mary’s faith, and his disciples’ faith would be increased.

So Jesus responds to Martha in verses 25 and 26:

“I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.”

There’s a lot to cover in this verse. Three points: first, Jesus is the resurrection and the life. Second, whoever believes in him, though they might die, will live. And third, whoever lives and believes in him will never die. Let’s take these one by one.

First, Martha’s just spoken about the resurrection on the last day. For her, and for us, that’s a wonderful thing, isn’t it? It’s the most wonderful thing. But it just feels so far off in the future that we can’t find real comfort in that right now.

But those first two words that Jesus says changes everything. “No, Martha,” Jesus is saying. “The resurrection isn’t a thing. It’s not an event. It’s a person. Martha, I am the resurrection.

“I’m the resurrection in the same way that I’m the Bread of Life and the Water of life, supplying you with every one of your hungers and thirsts. I’m your hope, Martha. And it’s not a hope that is waiting for you on some far-off day. It’s a hope that’s standing in front of you right now.”

And he is a hope that is standing in front of all of us right now, every day. We all have a hope for the future. Jesus says to you, “That hope isn’t in a place, or in a time. That hope is me. And I am with you right now.”

Jesus is the resurrection. But that’s not all he says, is it? He says he’s the resurrection and the life.

John 1:4: In him was life, and the life was the light of men.

Here’s what Martha missed, and what we often miss — the power of Christ isn’t just saved for when you die. That power’s here while you’re living too, right there for the asking.

Jesus gets this most important statement out of the way first, because he wants to gently correct something very fundamental that Martha has gotten wrong.

Look back up in verse 22. She says, “I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.”

Meaning what? Meaning that the power to raise the dead came from God through Christ. But Jesus says no, I myself am able to raise the dead to life. I don’t have to ask it from the Father. I am the resurrection. I am the life.

Let’s look at what he says next: “Whoever believes in me, though he die, shall he live.”

Here Jesus sets another thing right about what Martha is thinking wrongly about. She believes in the resurrection on the last day, right?

When Jesus says that anyone who believes in me lives even though he dies, he’s talking broadly in a sense — he’s saying that to you, to me, to every Christian everywhere who’s ever lived. There’s life, and then after comes more and better life.

But he’s also talking specifically. He’s talking about Lazarus himself, isn’t he? Lazarus loved Jesus. Lazarus believed in Jesus.

Martha believes in the resurrection of the dead on the last day, but she’s been thinking and talking about her brother as if he’s dead.

Jesus says no, you don’t understand. Lazarus might be in that tomb. His flesh might be rotting. But he’s more alive now than he’s ever been. Death doesn’t stop life when life is given to me.

He carries that forward to the final statement he makes in verse 26: “Everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.”

“Everyone,” Jesus says. And who is everyone? The dead, and the living. He finished verse 25 talking about how the dead don’t die. He begins verse 26 talking about how the living won’t die.

Just as the dead still live, the living have the very same promise. They will never come into eternal death.

Jesus is telling Martha, “Lazarus is enjoying eternal life right now, even though he’s dead. But you can enjoy eternal life right now, even though you’re yet alive.”

And now comes the big question. Now comes the climax of not just everything Jesus has just said, but everything Martha has experienced in the past four days.

Jesus looks at her, his eyes and face filled with love, and asks “Do you believe this?”

What a hard question. What a hard answer. There’s no doubt that Jesus asked this as a way to tell Martha that that yes, he is the resurrection. He is able to raise up Lazarus right now, this moment.

But he also asked this question because it was the perfect time to test Martha’s faith. Remember, that’s all Jesus wants here. This whole episode is about increasing the faith of the people who love him. That’s what he wants. And this is the perfect moment to do that with Martha.

Why? Because she’s broken. Because Martha is disappointed. Because she thinks that Christ has let her down. Because her expectations haven’t been met. And there is no better time for her to know how much faith she has than when that faith is tested.

The clearest way to know whether you love God or the comfort he provides is when those comforts are gone.

Ever since Martha had met Jesus, she’d been known as his friend. She showed she was friends with Jesus when she tended to him. She displayed it when she spent time with him. But she proves it only in this moment, when she speaks in verse 27:

“Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.”

But do you think it was easy for Martha to say that, even with everything Christ had just told her? Do you think those words alone were enough to just whisk away all of her sadness and grief and doubt?

She may have faith enough to say “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.” But can Martha truly understand it?

I don’t think she can. She can’t understand it. But Jesus says that understanding isn’t the point at all. Jesus says that in the end, understanding isn’t what he wants.

There are certain truths of the Christian religion that are hard for us to grasp. There are points that will even threaten our faith unless snd until our faith grows beyond what our minds can comprehend.

It’s not easy for us to understand how Jesus could be the resurrection and the life while our loved ones are dead.

It’s not easy to see how Christ, who died on the cross, could be life.

It’s not easy to understand how the Son of God can have so much power that both the resurrection and the life is entirely dependent on him.

How often in our lives are we struggling with grief and sadness and worry and fear, and we turn to the Bible to read about life and resurrection and giving our burdens to God, and we ask, “How can this be?”

And every time — every single time — Jesus will look at you with love filling his eyes and face and ask you — “Do you believe this?”

In Martha’s case, and so often in our own, it was hard to believe that her Lord was her life. It just went against her experience.

“He who believes in me will live even if he dies”? She might hope that was possible with Lazarus. But then Jesus said, “Everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.” But how could that be? Her brother lived and believed in Jesus, but he’d died.

Martha’s entire experience through this terrible time seemed to be the opposite of everything Jesus had just said, and that make it terribly hard for her to believe.

That’s exactly why Christ asks Martha, “Do you believe this?”

And that’s exactly why he asks us the same question.

Do you believe what Jesus says? It’s the most fundamental thing you have to answer. Do you believe the words of scripture?

Do you believe that God was in Christ? That the one who made the heavens and the earth came down to us and took on human form? That he was born a baby in Bethlehem? Do you believe that all the bad you do was taken upon him, leaving you forgiven when you should be condemned and loved when you should be cast off?

If you believe that, you’re a Christian. And if you believe that, there’s no difficulty you can go through that can stagger your faith. Martha’s discovering that right here in verse 27, in spite of everything she’s been through and everything she feels.

Her saying, “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world” is proving that she’s finally ready to believe everything else that Jesus teaches no matter how hard it might be.

“Do you believe this?” Jesus asks. And the answer is yes. Always yes. Whatever it is, yes. If it’s spoken by Christ in the Bible, then you believe it. That’s the faith he wants. And if you doubt those words, your faith is going to suffer.

I’ll give you an example. In John chapter 6, Jesus is teaching in the synagogue. Here’s what he says:

“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.

“For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me.”

And what happens next?

“When many of his disciples heard it, they said, ‘This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?’ After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him.”

They asked, How can this man give us his flesh to eat?, and they decided that even though Jesus said it, they couldn’t accept it, couldn’t understand it, and so it couldn’t be true. So they turned their backs on Christ and abandoned him.

These were disciples of Jesus. They followed him, loved him. They could believe some of his words but not all of his words, and you cannot be Christ’s disciple without believing all of his words, no matter how hard they are.

So he asks, “Do you believe this?”

For Martha, Jesus says, “Even now, I am the resurrection and the life.” That’s the challenge, because Martha knows that her brother is dead. That’s the whole point with Martha. She’s torn between what Jesus says and what’s happened to her.

What does she want? She wants her brother brought back. How does she think that happens? If Jesus goes to God and asks God to do it. But Jesus says no, “I am the resurrection and the life. And if that’s true, then I’m able to raise your brother to life right now. Do you believe this?”

And Martha has to pause. She believed Jesus would heal Lazarus. He didn’t. Now Jesus says he can raise him. But how can he raise Lazarus if he didn’t even bother to heal him?

She believed that the dead would rise at the resurrection on the last day. All the dead, all the people of history, every person who has ever lived, no matter how long they have been in the grave. But when it came time for Martha to show her faith about Jesus able to raise only one person who’s been dead for only four days, she couldn’t believe it enough to actually ask it.

She could accept the great truth that all will rise on the last day, but she couldn’t accept the smaller truth that her brother could rise on that day.

We do that too, don’t we? The big things? Sure, we believe those. No problem. But the little things? Sometimes we doubt those all day long, because the big promises of Christ don’t really have any bearing on us right now.

That huge miracle of giving everyone life on the last day? Sure. That small miracle of giving us life today? Sometimes we don’t know if Christ can do that. We claim the promises that come later but doubt the promises that will comfort us right now.

Martha believed there would be a general resurrection of all kinds of people. But if she believed that, then it should have been a lot easier for her to believe that Christ could raise Lazarus, because he loved Lazarus.

Instead it was the opposite, because it was a promise that she had to depend upon to get through this. And that’s where faith comes in. That’s exactly why strong faith is so important. It’s why Jesus is doing all of this.

Because it might take faith for Martha to believe everything she’s been told, but it takes strong faith to still believe it when the world is crashing down on top of her.

“Do you believe this?” Jesus asks. Not just the big promises, but the small ones.

Do you believe Jesus can wash away all sin, no matter how terrible? Yes, you say. But do you believe he can wash away yours? Because all the sins of billions of people are a lot greater than whatever yours are, and if Jesus can take away the sin of so many, he can certainly take away yours. But do you believe this?

Do you believe that all things work together for good to those who love God? That all of history, even the terrible parts, are following a divine plan that ends in a new heaven and a new earth? Yes, you say.

But do you believe that all of your troubles are working good for you? “Do you believe this?” Jesus asks.

Martha answers, “I believe you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.”

That’s the big miracle for everyone. But does she believe the Christ, the Son of God, has come for her as much as for everyone else? Because that’s the smaller miracle just for her.

Martha said she believed it, but her actions didn’t really prove it. She wants Christ to raise up her brother just as he’s raised up others. He’s raised up others, so Martha knows he can.

But will he? That’s the question. Will Christ do for her what he has done for others? Will Christ do for you what he’s done for others? Jesus says, “Oh, Martha, where is your faith?” And he says to us, “Where is your faith?”

Jesus says God will hear our prayers. “Do you believe this?” he asks.

We answer yes. But if God really wants to surprise us, he only has to answer those prayers. There are whole books devoted to prayers that have been answered. Why? Why is it amazing that God would do the thing he said he would do?

It should be the most natural thing in the world to believe that our Heavenly Father will fulfill his promises to his children. All of this children.

If someone asks us, “Will God hear my prayer?” we answer absolutely. But if we ask if God will hear our own prayers, sometimes we wonder.

“Do you believe this?” Jesus asks.

Do we?

We can’t call ourselves believers if we doubt God’s promises when we need them most.

We can’t call ourselves believers if we think the promises Jesus makes to everyone don’t apply to us.

We can’t call ourselves believers unless we take every promise, every assurance, and say, “Lord, I believe this, and I believe this, and I believe this, and I believe it because you said it, and I know it will be done because you said it.”

That is the faith that Christ wants in us. That is the faith that moves mountains. That’s the faith of a believer. That’s the faith available to you. So don’t treat it like a treasure you put in a yard sale. Value it for what Christ intends it to be.

Let’s pray:

Father we’re so thankful for this story of Martha’s pain and her faith. We’re heartbroken that she and Mary had to endure this, but also inspired by the fact that you did not turn them away, that in fact you shared in their grief and you lifted them up, just as you lift up all of your children. Be with us now as we go into the coming week. Help us in all of our efforts, and remind us that in Christ we have the promise of both resurrection and life. For we ask this in his precious name, Amen.