The Power of Perspective

Introduction:

I read Dr. Charles Stanley’s book “How to Handle Adversity” a while back and found it to be very helpful, not only as a Christian who lives in a world of suffering but also as a minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

I have been able to see first hand the results of adversity in the lives of so many people and have struggled with why that happens. It happens to good people and it happens to bad people. It happens to people you might think deserve it but it also happens to people you might think don’t deserve what they have suffered.

Dr. Charles Stanley was a long time pastor of First Baptist in Atlanta and taught many people through his television ministry “In Touch.” Whatever you may think of Dr. Stanley, he has dealt with the issue of adversity and does a beautiful job of exposing readers to what God says about the subject.

When dealing with the topic of adversity we are faced with the big questions: Why did this happen? What was the point? What was accomplished? Why has grief hit a good, God-fearing family? I did all that I thought that I was supposed to do and yet I still suffered.

These are all good questions.

Let’s look at John 11 and as we do let’s try to see if we can feel what the characters must have felt.

John 11:1–3 NLT

A man named Lazarus was sick. He lived in Bethany with his sisters, Mary and Martha. This is the Mary who later poured the expensive perfume on the Lord’s feet and wiped them with her hair. Her brother, Lazarus, was sick. So the two sisters sent a message to Jesus telling him, “Lord, your dear friend is very sick.”

Lazarus, Mary and Martha would have been good friends and supporters of Jesus’ ministry

It is likely that Lazarus was wealthy and had given much financially

They had heard about all that Jesus, their friend was doing so it would make sense that if he would heal strangers, then he would “jump at the opportunity to heal one who has been a friend.”

This is not what happened

John 11:4–6 NLT

But when Jesus heard about it he said, “Lazarus’s sickness will not end in death. No, it happened for the glory of God so that the Son of God will receive glory from this.” So although Jesus loved Martha, Mary, and Lazarus, he stayed where he was for the next two days.

This doesn’t make sense (humanly speaking)

Most adversity makes as much sense as this story does, from our perspective.

Jesus loved this family but he doesn’t move on their behalf to remove the suffering. What gives?

When things happen in our lives, we may look to the Bible and look for passages to help us to remember that God loves us, but it seems like God is unwilling to fix the problem.

There is a time gap that we struggle with

There is a gap between when we ask for God’s help and the point in which He does something about it.

Jesus stayed 2 more days

To us reading the story it is just 2 days. It is the blink of an eye. It is from the time we read one sentence til we read the next one.

But to Mary and Martha it must have felt like an eternity.

Can you relate? You start to wait and go to the door or window.

Mary and Martha must have taken turns waiting with Lazarus and checking on the road for Jesus.

They sent the word, and they knew where Jesus was, and they knew how long it should be to get back.

Every time Inez goes to the Women’s Conference without me, It seems like I am waiting forever for her to get home. I know basically when it ends and I know how long it takes to get from Tifton, but as I wait it seems like longer that it really is.

Then the questions start to come into your mind:

Maybe He didn’t get the message

Maybe something happened

Maybe He isn't coming.

Then the other emotions come. After all we’ve done for Jesus, why can’t He be here when we need Him?

Lazarus died and Jesus had not come to the rescue.

Why did he not come?

The narrative here is very helpful!

“Jesus knew exactly what was going on.” “He knew what Mary and Martha were going through. He knew the moment his friend, Lazarus died.”

John 11:11 “Then he said, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but now I will go and wake him up.””

Not only did Jesus not show up when Mary and Martha, and Lazarus needed Him to, Jesus says something that may seem very insensitive to the average listener:

John 11:14–15 “So he told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead. And for your sakes, I’m glad I wasn’t there, for now you will really believe. Come, let’s go see him.””

Jesus said He was glad. “How could He say such a thing?”

What was going on in the mind of Jesus?

I love how Dr. Stanley addresses this. He states, “My friend, the answer to that question is the key to unlocking the mystery of tragedy in this life. To understand what was going on in the mind of Christ and in the economy of God in a situation like this one is to discover the universal principle that puts together and holds together all of life—both now and for eternity. Christ had a goal in all of this, a goal so important that it was worth the emotional agony Mary and Martha had to endure.”

When Jesus told his disciples that He was glad, He was basically saying that what they were about to see was going to be so fantastic that it would be worth the pain and death of his friends.

We along with them would probably ask, “What could possibly be worth all of this?”

John 11:33–36 “When Jesus saw her weeping and saw the other people wailing with her, a deep anger welled up within him, and he was deeply troubled. “Where have you put him?” he asked them. They told him, “Lord, come and see.” Then Jesus wept. The people who were standing nearby said, “See how much he loved him!””

This is very important.

The fact that Jesus wept is something that we need to get a hold of.

Jesus was not unmoved by the situation. He cared deeply for this family like He cares deeply for you and me.

Jesus knew all that was going on yet He did not come to Lazarus’s aid. He let him die.

Dr. Stanley says it is another layer to the mystery. Why did He do that?

Jesus knew that Lazarus was going to die, He could have healed him, yet He let him die, and still He wept.

“His knowledge of the future did not keep Him from identifying with the sorrow of those around Him.” (KEY CONCEPT)

Asking the Right Questions

“Somethings are so important to God that they are worth interrupting the happiness and health of His children in order to accomplish them.” (POWERFUL STATEMENT)

We cannot think of ourselves as merely pawns.

This is not some game that God is playing with us.

He is not emotionally isolated.

When Martha hurt, He hurt.

Whey you hurt, He hurts

Hebrews 4:15 “This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin.”

“Through all the pain and adversity God may allow us to face, two things are always true:

God is sensitive to what we are feeling and

Whatever God is accomplishing through our suffering will always be for our best interest.

“The degree to which things actually work out for our best interest is determined by our response. As we trust God through our adversity, when all is said and done, we will sincerely believe it was worth it all.”

How can that be?

Retell the story of how Charles Stanley grew up without a dad.

He said, “I learned early in life about the daily sufficiency of Christ. I learned how to pray. I learned how to walk by faith. The untimely death of my father was actually the catalyst God used to teach me the most important lessons in life—the lessons that have allowed me to survive intense rejection as an adult on both a professional level and a personal level.”

Dr. Stanley noted that his son, Andy said that he and his sister reaped the real benefits of him not having a dad. He explained that he did not have any other example to follow and had to depend on God for everything.

So Why the Delay?

What did Jesus have in mind when He delayed his return by two days?

John 11:3–5 “So the two sisters sent a message to Jesus telling him, “Lord, your dear friend is very sick.” But when Jesus heard about it he said, “Lazarus’s sickness will not end in death. No, it happened for the glory of God so that the Son of God will receive glory from this.” So although Jesus loved Martha, Mary, and Lazarus,”

John 11:41–42 “So they rolled the stone aside. Then Jesus looked up to heaven and said, “Father, thank you for hearing me. You always hear me, but I said it out loud for the sake of all these people standing here, so that they will believe you sent me.””

Jesus did not set out to cause Lazarus to die

He also did not want to make his sisters be in such distress

The goal was two fold

First bring glory to God

Second to cause others to believe in Him

“The opportunity to accomplish these two things was worth the pain and suffering Mary, Martha, and Lazarus had to experience.”

It was worth rejection and even the death of a loved one

Jesus spent His whole life bringing glory to the Father - That was his main goal in life.

John 17:4 “I brought glory to you here on earth by completing the work you gave me to do.”

As a result of the miracle of Lazarus, many did believe.

Miracles are great, but “nothing gets the attention of an unbeliever like a saint who is suffering successfully.”

“It is easy to talk about Christ when everything is going fine. Our words take on a great deal more significance when they are spoken from a life filled with pain.”

If God would send His one and only Son to suffer unjustly and die on a cross so that mankind could be saved, “why should we think it below us to suffer so that others might believe?”

The Role of Pain

No pain, no gain (athletics)

spiritual as well

“Suffering is the means by which God brings glory to Himself and His Son.

It is God’s most useful tool

He also uses it to bring glory to His children

2 Corinthians 4:17–18 “For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever! So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.”

The believer has an eternal bank account

Pain and suffering is temporary

But rewards are accumulating

Demonstration with the coins in the bucket

As you suffer successfully, you are putting money in the account

Lazarus died again, so the miracle was temporary

“Any time God bails us our of adversity—as He often does—the glory connected with that is to some degree temporary.

But through suffering not only does God get glory but we put away a reward as well.

Roll The Stone Aside

John 11:39–40 ““Roll the stone aside,” Jesus told them. But Martha, the dead man’s sister, protested, “Lord, he has been dead for four days. The smell will be terrible.” Jesus responded, “Didn’t I tell you that you would see God’s glory if you believe?””

“Had they refused to remove the stone, they would have suffered for nothing. No good would have come from it. Mary and Martha would have missed the glory of God.”

People who are going through tragedy often don’t respond well and it may be the greatest tragedy of all.

They see no good from what is happening

They assume there could be no good from this

They feel as though God has abandoned them

Simply put, they refuse to roll the stone aside

They will not trust God with what they cannot see

Again, I must repeat this powerful statement:

“If God can gain glory for Himself from the unjustified murder of His Son, can we not trust Him to somehow glorify Himself in and through the things we struggle with on a daily basis? If God can find for Himself glory in the death of His Son’s close friend, should we not trust Him to do the same through even the major tragedies in our lives?”

God specializes in turning tragedy into triumph!

We have the opportunity to be tools for God. We can bring attention to God in the way we talk, and walk it out in front of others.

We can bring glory to God in everything!

At the end of the day, we really only have two options:

You can trust God to glorify Himself through your adversity.

Or you can focus on your loss and spend your time searching for answers.

Will you trust God and maybe one day look back and say, “It was all worth it?”