'He whom you love is ill... It is for the glory of God'

Welcome

Welcome back!

Holidays

New friends

Birthdays

Prayer - Cambodia Mission (유진, 하진, 윤찬, 예린, 수린)

Prayer roster

New song - Great Are You Lord

Introduction

So we’ve come a long way in the book of John so far.

We began in chapter 1 with this amazing introduction, with Jesus being introduced as the cosmic Word, through whom the entire world was created.

And Jesus who is God, became flesh, and entered into humanity.

And Jesus as God in the flesh, in the first 11 chapters of John performs all these miracles, which John calls signs.

[Water into wine (John 2:1-11)

Cleansing the temple (John 2:12-17)

Healing the Nobleman’s son (John 4:46-54)

Healing the lame man (John 5:1-15)

Feeding the 5000 (John 6:1-15)

Healing of the blind man (John 9)

Raising of Lazarus (John 11).]

But then we come to the final and probably the most important miracle/sign today: the raising of Lazarus from the dead. So let’s read the passage together.

Many of you have probably heard this passage before. And the reason this sign is so important, is because if the previous signs showed that Jesus is the bread of life, the water of life that gives the Holy Spirit, and the light of life, this sign shows that Jesus is life itself and gives true resurrection eternal life.

But if Jesus is the source of all life, why does Lazarus die? If Jesus is God and He came into the world to save us, why is there death and suffering in this world? That is what this passage grapples with today, because Lazarus dies.

I want everyone to pay really close attention to today’s sermon, because everyone here, without exception, will face suffering in this life. There will be days in your life where you may not even want to be alive. Everyone - just like Lazarus - will at some point have hardships, difficulties, suffering in life. Maybe for some of you, you’ve already gone through those experiences, or you are going through that now. And in those moments, it is so easy to be angry at God saying ‘how can God do this to me/let this happen to me?’, or to forget God becaues all you can focus on is how difficult life is, or you may say ‘I can’t believe in a God that will let me suffer like this’ and you may walk away from God and Christianity.

So that’s why as Christians, it’s so important to know, that being Christian doesn’t make us immune to suffering. If anything, Jesus promises us that we will suffer more.

But this passage today, shows us that suffering doesn’t mean that God doesn’t love you, or that God doesn’t exist, or that God is not in control. In fact, it shows the precise opposite: today’s passage shows no matter what the difficulty or hardship you face in life, even if it is something like death that Lazarus experienced, God is in complete control, even when things don’t seem like it.

God is control in our suffering

So that’s the first point I want to make. God is in control of our suffering.

An important word I want to introduce is this idea of ‘sovereignty’. Who knows what ‘sovereignty’ means? Sovereignty means that God can do whatever he likes, whenevers he likes, to whoever he likes. God is king, LORD, ruler of all, creator of the universe, so he can do as he likes! He is in control of everything, and he is free to, and can do, whatever he wants to do without being affected or interfered by others. That means, if God wills or allows it, he can allow suffering to enter our lives, it’s his right as the sovereign God.

But when we think about God’s control and his sovereignty, we can get confused, especially when we suffer. In the deepest moments of our suffering, it doesn’t seem like God is in control. Because if God is a good God, a loving and gracious Father, who is in complete control how can he let us suffer? How can he let us get injured? How can he let us have terrible diseases? How can he let us or our close family/friends die?

And this is a really important question to ask. Because if you don’t have a correct understanding of suffering as a Christian, then when you go through trials and difficult times in life, that is when you question whether God exists at all. This is one of the reasons why people leave the church, because they can’t understand how God can exist if all these bad things are happening to me? If God is a good God and is in control, how can bad things happen to me?

But if you have a solid, good understanding, that God is in control, and is sovereign, even in my sufferings, then sufferings and trials can actually strengthen your faith and belief in God.

So it is crucial, that from today’s passage, that you understand that in all things in life, even in our sufferings, God is sovereign and in control.

So how is this idea of God’s sovereignty, God’s control, shown to us in today’s passage? It is told to us through the story of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus.

This was a family that Jesus had a special heart for. Read John 11:5 “5 Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.” Jesus deeply cared for this family.

And despite this family holding a special place in Jesus’ heart and being deeply loved by Jesus, what happens to them? Read John 11:1–2 “1 Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 2 It was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was ill.”

Lazarus becomes sick, and he is at the point of death. Despite being loved and special to Jesus, Lazarus is dying.

But God is not someone who did not expect this. It’s not as if what happened was out of God’s scope of control, and he now makes a last minute plan to fix things. Remember, God is sovereign - he freely chose and allowed this to happen to Lazarus - and all things are under his control, even in terrible situations like this.

How do we know this? Well all we need to do is see how Jesus responds. He doesn’t rush over to try and help Lazarus, panicking, trying to fix things. In fact, he does something that we don’t quite expect: he initially does nothing. Read John 11:6–7 “6 So, when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was. 7 Then after this he said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.””

I’m sure what Martha and Mary wanted was for Jesus to rush over and miraculously heal their brother. But Jesus doesn’t do that. Jesus instead waits for 2 days - he waits for Lazarus to die. And only after Lazarus had already died, that Jesus begins to make his journey towards the family. And the distance between where Jesus was to where Lazarus was, was about 150km, which would take around 4 days. That’s why we read in verse 17 that by the time Jesus arrives, Lazarus had already been dead for 4 days. So this shows that Jesus isn’t make up a last minute plan to rescue Lazarus, but everything is very intentional, everything was according to his expectations, and he has a precise plan that he is carrying out. God is sovereign and in control.

So this passage shows that even in the darkest moments of our lives, even in death like Lazarus, God is in control. Nothing in our lives is out of God’s hand. But God is not only in control, but He is sovereign - God can do as He pleases. And this means that God can act in ways in our lives that we don’t expect, or in ways that don’t make sense to us. And this is what Jesus does here. He delays his journey to Mary, Martha, and Lazarus.

But does that mean that although God is in control, when God does as he pleases, when God does he what he wants, that He is a random God, that does as He pleases like a child, doing everything on a whim? Completely uncaring or unconcerned about us?

God’s heart in our suffering

Well this passage tells us that not only is God in control, and not only is He sovereign and does as he pleases, but it tells us about God’s heart and attitude towards us. It shows us that he is not a random God, acting like a child, not caring about anything else making all these random decisions.

Firstly, this passage shows that when God acts in his sovereignty, and in his control, God is first and foremost interested in himself. Read John 11:4 “4 But when Jesus heard it he said, “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.””

God is supremely interested in his own glory. We and all creation were made to praise and glorify God’s name. That is why we were created. And here, God uses even suffering to glorify himself, and glorify His son Jesus Christ. We read here that Jesus says ‘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.’ God is using the death of Lazarus, and his resurrection to bring praise and glory to his name.

And sometimes this kind of idea can be uncomfortable for us. It almost makes God seem like a selfish being, and some people would call him a cosmic partypooper! If God is loving, how can he only care about his own glory and his own name? If he is truly loving, wouldn’t he care about us? Why would he let any of his creation suffer?

But we have to look at how God brings glory to himself. This passage shows us that God is first and foremost interested in his own name and bring glory to himself, but he does that by showing love to his children. We’ve already seen that it’s clearly stated that Jesus really loved this family and they were really special to him. And what does Jesus say in verses 14-15? Read John 11:14–15 “14 Then Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus has died, and for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.””

Jesus tells us he deliberately delayed and waited for 2 days to go to Lazarus, to make sure that Lazarus was dead before Jesus arrived. And on the surface that seems ridiculous, unloving, selfish, and it doesn’t make sense to us.

But what does Jesus say next? ‘And for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe.’ God was sovereign, he freely allowed, all the things in this horrible, because he was in control and had a greater plan and purpose: which was to use of death and resurrection of Lazarus to give faith to all those who witnessed this miracle. Although there was suffering and death, through God brought his love, to give us Lazarus and his family faith and life. And it is through the showing of His love and the giving of faith, that God brings glory to himself.

So suffering doesn’t mean God doesn’t care about you, and it doesn’t mean that God doesn’t exist. And when God uses suffering for his own glory, that doesn’t make God selfish, because He is glorified when He shows His love and care for you, in your suffering. In the midst of our suffering, God’s heart towards us, is one of love and care, even though sometimes we don’t feel it or it doesn’t seem to be the case. And the ultimate expression of God’s heart towards you, in your suffering, is the death of Jesus Christ on the cross, who underwent the ultimate suffering, to save us from our sins and give us eternal life. And it is through this suffering on the cross, through which we are saved, that Jesus receives the ultimate glory.

So our lives are to glorify God, even in our suffering, and we know that God’s heart is first and foremost interested in praising and glorifying His own name. And that is not a ‘selfishness’ of God, and it’s not the opposite or incompatible with God’s love for us, but rather, we want God to be interested in glorifying himself, because he glorifies himself by showing his love and care for us. So understand that God allows suffering in your life, we will suffer. But in those moments of suffering, remember God’s heart towards you - which is one of deep unimaginable love. The difficult moments in our lives do not mean that God has abandoned you, or God is distant, or God is not real, but rather God allows those moments of weakness and suffering, and even those moments of suffering are for the glory of God, when we remember how great and loving He is, and praise and glorify Him with our lips and our heart, even though our situations are difficult.

Conclusion

Let me finish by reminding you of the story of Job. In the OT, Job was a very rich, successful man, who was blameless and righteous, and a faithful believer in God. But a terrible thing happened to him: God allowed suffering in his life. All property, his house, all his farm animals were destroyed. All his children were killed because a great wind caused hs house to collapse. His health was destroyed as sores broke out all over his body. He was left alone, lonely, homeless, and poor. Even his wife said thim, ‘Why don’t you just curse God and die?’. But what does Job say?

‘Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I shall return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.’ (Job 1:21)

Job knew that God was sovereign. Job knew that his suffering didn’t mean that God doesn’t exist, but it was something that God allowed. But Job also knew God’s heart and trusted in him, so rather than blaming God or cursing God for allowing this suffering in his life, Job says ‘blessed be the name of the LORD.’ Job had the faith to know that God is a trustworthy and loving God, even though his circumstances didn’t seem like it.

So remember, no matter what suffering you face in life, God is in absolute perfect control. When bad things happen in your life, it is not a mistake that God made. And He is sovereign and He does as he pleases, so that means, what God does in our lives sometimes doesn’t make sense to us, because he doesn’t have to listen to what we think is right.

But that doesn’t mean God acts randomly, on a whim. It doesn’t mean that God doesn’t care about us and makes random decisions. God’s heart towards you, is love. And that love is ultimately for his own glory, as he brings glory to himself by showing us his love in our suffering.

Our lives, even our sufferings, is not about ‘me, me, me’, ‘why is my life like this, how can God do this to me, life is so unfair to me’. Our lives, even our sufferings, is first and foremost for God and His glory, by showing us his love in our suffering. So when you suffer, remember that God hasn’t abandoned you, but He still loves you deeply in those moments. It is that love that gives us hope, and becomes the light in the dark tunnels of our lives.

Ending song: Still