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09.03.17 - Hope for the Hopeless -
Source: Notes are adapted from YOU Sunday School Material Teacher Notes by LifeWay
Source: Notes are adapted from YOU Sunday School Material Teacher Notes by LifeWay
Opening: As we begin our lesson this week, you will remember that we have been on the theme of HOPE over the past few weeks.
We are primarily in the Gospel of John for this study of hope.
And I think it’s a fitting study in a world where we see so little hope.
So what is going to set us apart?
In many ways, it is our display of hope.
So this week we are resuming this study…and we’ll be in .
To get us started, consider this illustration...
Lesson Kickoff Illustration: How many of you are guilty of wanting to add a bit too much salt to things.
This may seem strange, but growing up in our home, to add salt was taken as a slight against the food…as if it didn’t taste good and needed something else.
So with that mistaken idea, we actually didn’t add salt much at all.
In fact, I rarely reach for the salt when I’m eating food.
But, it DOES make things so much better.
Try cooking your fries at home and not adding salt…it tastes like a plain baked potato.
But what I have rarely seen anyone do is just grab the salt shaker and turn it up - getting a dose of salt as the appetizer for the meal.
We don’t do that!
Salt adds flavor, but by itself…it’s rather unpleasant.
Point of Illustration: That’s what each of the situations that we have been looking at in this unit are like - by themselves…they were unpleasant and painful.
But when Jesus brought hope into the situation, the event became a way for Him to receive glory.
So he took something bad (salt by itself) and made it good (adding it to the full picture of the meal).
Review: This is our third lesson in the “Hope” series.
Review: This is our third lesson in the “Hope” series.
We began in week 1 with the story of Jesus turning water into wine.
Last week we looked at those needing healing in .
They were waiting by the water for it to be stirred, hoping that this would be their source of healing.
But Jesus commanded the man to “take up his bed and walk”.
So he was HOPE for a man who had been hopeless for 38 years!
And this week, we are returning to this theme of HOPE as we look at the story of the raising of Lazarus.
So we have certainly ramped up the hopelessness in these stories.
We began with a cultural hopelessness (shame for not preparing adequately for the feast) to now talking about someone who had died.
And in each example, we are seeing Jesus as the source of hope.
Well let’s a bit of set up for the passage that we’ll be studying...
Setup Passages: We need to look at some of the setup verses before we get into the points from the lesson.
Our lesson is going to pick up at vs. 37, but we need to go back to the beginning of the chapter to understand what’s happening here.
Two dimensions of Jesus waiting: So why did Jesus say that this sickness would not lead to death?
He was pointing to what was about to happen…in the healing of Lazarus.
The Resurrection: He was ALSO foreshadowing what would happen in His own death, burial, and resurrection!
So Jesus was about to address the immediate need (the resurrection of Lazarus), but He was also pointing forward to what the disciples were still not getting.
He used this as one more teaching time regarding His purpose.
But in the midst of this story is an interesting pair of verses...
Pre-Lesson Point: One of the most difficult things for us to do is to WAIT.
That is exactly what vs. 5-6 reveal about the story - Mary and Martha were going to have to wait.
And this was NOT the best time to be waiting…Lazarus was at the point of death.
And as we consider their “waiting”…what are some things we do as we wait???
Most people stare at their phones while they are waiting.
I will read on my Kindle app sometimes while I am waiting.
I will scroll social media or I will text back and forth with someone.
Why do we do all of those things?
We do it because we despise waiting!
We will do anything to distract our minds from the wait.
God does allow us to wait: And yet, there will be many times in our lives when God will have us to WAIT on the full picture of how He is going to work.
We may be praying for God to intervene in a situation.
We may be praying that He will reveal Himself with a need.
We are asking Him to work.
And yet…in His great plan…He leads us to wait.
Application Question: So why do you believe God leads us to wait?
Source: Pete Wilson, “What Keeps You Up at Night?” wrote about this very story of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus.
He addressed it from this perspective of WAITING…and the benefits of waiting on the Lord.
Listen to these 3 benefits...
3 Benefits of God's Waiting Room
An understanding of God's grace helps us make sense of struggles and times of long waiting.
God is working during those times.
1.
We see God at His most powerful during the wait.
We don't get to see God at His most powerful unless we spend time in the waiting room.
When we're highly aware of our own inadequacy, that's when we need to be most aware of God's unlimited ability.
2. God's waiting room refines our character.
If we embrace our weakness and place our trust in God and His timing, He can use the waiting room to refine our character, bring about spiritual transformation in our lives and teach us to hope and persevere patiently.
3. We grow spiritually during the wait.
It's usually on the other side of the waiting room that we see the most spiritual growth and fruit in our lives.
When our trust is in the Maker of heaven and earth, we realize that what matters most isn't what's happening to us but what's happening in us.
Back to the Story: So Mary and Martha found themselves in God’s waiting room.
And oh how frustrating that must have been.
He could have dropped everything and come.
He could have turned away from what He was doing…and yet He didn’t.
And we know the result.
Lazarus died.
This was no small issue.
They had watched Jesus do the unthinkable (miracles) and He could have done that with this individual He was very close to.
And yet, for whatever reason, He didn’t come and now Lazarus is dead.
Discussion Question: What do you think were some of the emotions that Mary and Martha were experiencing at this point?
They were likely confused and frustrated.
Maybe they felt like they had been abandoned.
In vs. 32, we are going to see her throwing herself at the feet of Jesus.
So this shows her level of desperation!
Application: So how do we keep on TRUSTING the Lord even when His timing is not our timing?
That is a great FAITH question…and not easy to answer…because we realize that this is one of those “rubber meets the road” faith questions.
It’s where we move from talking about faith to actually living it out in the tough roads of life.
Back to the Story: Well that’s where we find Mary and Martha.
They have brought their request to Jesus and now they are hoping for an answer.
But as they hope…they must wait.
The Story In Between: Well…in the time of waiting…Lazarus does die.
And that’s where we pick up in the story this morning.
Their hope has now been lost.
I. Hope Lost
So let’s see that scene that I was pointing to a few minutes ago...
The Characters in the Scene: In this scene, we have Mary, Martha, Jesus…and then we also have this group of mourners who ran along with Mary.
While it was common in the time period to have professional mourners who would accompany the funeral procession (to magnify the importance of the person lost)…this was not likely that practice.
Why?
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