GCT “I am” Series Week 5/ I am the Resurrection

Intro

QOD:

What do you think happens to us when we die?

At your age, I hope you aren’t up all night pondering a question such as this. With your whole lives ahead of you, there is almost no reason to be thinking of life after death right? The tragic news is that death is inevitable.

In Marc’s sermon on Sunday, he spoke from the book of Ecclesiastes and challenged you, the youth, to take heed the words he has preached and will preach in this sermon series. The book of Ecclesiastes is gloom and can be a depressing read especially when you do have your whole life to look forward to.

Graduating high school, learning to drive, starting a job, maybe moving for college and then graduating, getting married, pursuing your career, all of this is out in front of you. Such things are good, it’s good to have plans and it’s good to look forward to them.

But… Because we live in a fallen world, none of the things we look forward to are guaranteed. You and I know that tomorrow is not guaranteed.

I get it, it’s a pessimistic way of looking at life, but that’s just the reality.

However, we do have something we can look forward to that is promised through the good news of the gospel. It’s the very reason why we are here, it’s the very reason why we meet. Through faith in Christ, by entering through the door (the only door) we have the promise of salvation and communion with God for all of eternity.

Because Jesus is as we will learn in His 5th “I am statement” in John, “the Resurrection and the Life”.

Before we catch ourselves up to where we are in John and dive into John 11, can anyone tell me what separates our faith from any other faith in regards to the gift of the resurrection/life everlasting?

What other Religions teach regarding faith, salvation, and eternity:

Atheism: Nothing. You live and then you die

Islam: More good deeds than bad = paradise (Allah is god)

Buddhism: Reincarnation (rebirth) until they reach Nirvana/”Holy state”.

Mormonism: Become a mormon (the right church), do all the mormon things, and based upon how good you are, you either go into 1/3 levels of heaven.

Jehovah Witness: Souls lose consciousness, the evil are judged and only 144,000 make it into heaven.

Catholicism: They are almost similar to Christianity, the major add-on is purgatory. Either you are a good Christian and make it into heaven or you are a Christian that needs to get purified in purgatory or you are just a bad person and deserve to go hell.

Aside from atheism, all of these religions teach of a different entry way into the family of God that seems unattainable. You must work your way up the ladder to obtain some higher glory. This is what I would explain as check-box theology. If I check all the boxes and meet a certain criteria, I can feel good about my life and feel secure about where I’m headed.

A major problem with check-box theology and these religions is there are so many rules or boxes to be check off that you could never truly know if you are ever good enough.

From everything we’ve read thus far from John, what do the teachings of Christ tell us about our problem of not feeling good enough?

Do we need to be worried about living rightly for God and have a check-box theology way of living?

We absolutely do not need to be worried. It is good for us to wonder how we could live better for the kingdom, but we don’t live for the kingdom because we aspire to be there someday. We live for the kingdom because by His love, He’s already given us the promise of citizenship through our faith.

It is not by works that we enter the family of God but by the work that Christ has already done that makes us members of the sheepfold described in John 10.

This is what we really have to look forward to. Not our future on earth, but our future with Christ!

Catch-Up

After the teaching of I am the door and I am the good shepherd in the first half of John 10, there is a division among the Jews about Christ’s teaching.

At a later time, Jesus is walking into the Temple again and is asked by the Jews to reveal himself plainly as the Christ! This is silly because He’s done that already numerous times. He reminds them of what He taught from before, if they were sheep, they would know His voice.

He also says something that is an important truth for all of us to be reminded of and that comes out of John 10:28-29. This He speaks to the Jews concerning His people,

John 10:28–29 ESV

I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.

What do these words of Christ teach us about our belonging to His family?

You can fall away and be lost like the lost sheep, or the lost coin and even to the extreme of the prodigal son (all parables from Luke 15) but no matter how far you run away from God, remind yourself that you are forever in His hands and be comforted in that.

After He says that no one able to snatch His people away from His hand, He makes Himself equal to the Father saying that He and His Father are one. The Jews hate that and stone Him for what they say is blasphemy.

He escapes and makes it out alive. Then we approach John 11 learning about Lazarus and his two sisters, Martha and Mary. There was a story in Luke 10 about Martha and Mary telling their personalities. In short from that story Martha is a servant and Mary is listener. If you want to read that story on your own time I recommend you do because both women have good heart postures but Mary is commended for choosing to listen to Jesus while Martha is too concerned about doing all the right things in her serving.

Anyways, Martha and Mary are the sisters of Lazarus and we learn in John 11 that Lazarus is ill. Knowing that Jesus has power to heal they report it to Him but He doesn’t do anything about it. He says in John 11:4

John 11:4 (ESV)

“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.”

This is sort of mysterious in a way, the text later says that Christ loved Martha, Mary, and Lazarus so we know that our Lord is up to something good. Christ and the disciples stay two days longer where they are, this is likely to give Lazarus time to die. Jesus tells the disciples after two days have passed that they are to return to Judea and the disciples out of fear for the Jews have an understandable response, of why and how? Because don’t want to die… Lazarus has already died by then and off they go and Thomas makes a joking remark saying in John 11:16

John 11:16 (ESV)

“Let us also go, that we may die with him.”

Finally, we come to our text!

John 11:17–27 ESV

Now when Jesus came, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles off, and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them concerning their brother. So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, but Mary remained seated in the house. 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?” She said to him, “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.”

What can we learn about the faith of Martha?

I want you to look at Martha’s example of faith. She knows that had he been around, Lazarus wouldn’t have died. But even yet, though Lazarus did die, she appears to be hopeful that Jesus could still do something miraculous.

There’s no clear indicator that she expects Jesus to raise Lazarus from the dead. We sort of pick that up later as she knows that he will rise again in the resurrection. By her saying that she is hopeful of a miracle of some kind but understands that in the last day the resurrection is a thing and that Lazarus will rise again then. We must assume that’s hopeful of something but not expectant of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead.

Another thing commendable of Martha is that she knows her Old Testament and what it says about the resurrection. She acknowledges it as a truth and thing that will take place. There was an argument amongst Jews at the time of whether or not the resurrection was a real thing, but that was only of Jews who were overly skeptical and misunderstood their old testament. Martha knew her Old Testament!

The last thing I want to point out to you is how she refers to Jesus as Lord multiple times. In her first words Jesus, she said Lord if you had been here… And at the end of our passage she said, Lord, I believe that you are the Christ!

Martha was a hopeful woman, she knew her Old Testament, and thirdly she knew who Jesus was. The Christ, the Son of God!

From the example of Martha, what is something from her that you can apply into your walk with the Lord?

Something unique, of all 7 I am statements this is the only one that Jesus speaks to a single person.

I am the bread is to the crowds

I am the light was to the Jews and pharisees

I am the door/good shepherd also

I am the way, truth, and the life/true vine was to the disciples.

I don’t think that we need to overanalyze how this was just spoken to Martha, but it might be worth saying that this was something spoken exclusively to His people. I am the resurrection is a promise and it is assurance to us that we have the abundant life in Christ through faith in Him.

Knowing what happens later with Lazarus (spoiler, he is raised from the dead) and everything about who Jesus is how can we be changed by knowing that Christ has power over death?