Untitled Sermon

Questioning God

Tonight we’re going to try something that you may have seen done at our church, or at other churches, it’s a little call and response. So let’s try this:

God is good! (all the time)

And all the time (God is good)

You may have heard that done in a church on a Sunday morning before the sermon, or during announcements. And I 100% believe that this saying is true and a valuable thing for us as believers to keep in mind, and remind one another of.

But I’ve always had a little trouble with that saying--not because of what we’re saying when we do this, but because of when we’re saying it.

It is always a good time to remember God’s goodness, but I always seen it done in a beautiful auditorium, by someone in their nicest clothing, with a huge smile on their face, when things are ostensibly going well for everyone involved. And the people who shout it the loudest are the people for whom everything is going well at the moment.

There’s nothing wrong with doing it there. But I’ve never seen it done as part of a funeral service.

Here’s why I bring this up: I have spent a lot of time with people who believe in God, and who have a relationship with Jesus. And here’s what I’ve noticed: The times where our faith is tested, and grown, and where we ask the big questions like “Is God really good?” and “Is he really in control” are NEVER in the good times.

We don’t ask “Is God good and really in control?” when we win the raffle for the new car, or get that promotion or job we wanted, or get that awesome piece of technology we’ve wanted. It’s not hard to believe that God is good and powerful when things are working out for us.

We ask those questions when life is hard. When a loved one is diagnosed with a terrible, incurable disease. When we aren’t sure if our parent’s marriage is going to make it. When a friend betrays us. When we aren’t sure how we’re going to make that school or car payment, or if we’re unsure whether we’re ever going to be able to pay off those student loans.

The difficult times are when our relationship with God feels closest to the surface. Even people who don’t believe in God pray when they’re in a bad spot! It’s a part of our makeup! Our struggle and need naturally drive us back to the God who created us. We either cry out in need and vulnerability, or shake our fist at him because we feel like he’s letting us down.

God is good, all the time. And all the time, God is good.

See if you know God, you know these things to be true. But in the tough times, our conviction is tested. It’s when we find out if that’s just something we say on a bright, sunny Sunday morning, or if it’s something we hold onto in the midst of our darkest night.

Today we’re going to be studying through , and we’re going to read the first 3/4s of our story right now, and as we do, I want you to notice all the time these people--who have Jesus walking alongside them--question him, question the God of the universe, incarnate--having taken on human flesh.

God is right there with them, and yet they continually question him.

Let’s read, starting in 11:1

Slide

Read

Whew. Ok, that’s a lot of text. But let’s look through here now and see all the times people question him.

Slide (v. 3 underlined)

Right from the beginning of our story, we find out that these sisters, Mary and Martha, have sent messages to Jesus, telling him that Lazarus is sick.

Quick question for you: When you have a cold, do you write to random people to give them an update? Ok, maybe on social media. But you don’t call people just to say “Hey Great-Aunt-Sue, just wanted to let you know I have a cold. K--Bye!”

These sisters are writing to Jesus, because Lazarus is very ill, and they want him to do something about it.

But Jesus, understanding this, has something else in mind. He tells the disciples around him, “this illness doesn’t lead to death.” Which would make you think, “hey, Lazarus is sick, but he won’t die.”

This leads to some confusion, when a couple of days later, Jesus says “Hey guys, let’s go to Judea”

Slide (underline v. 8)

Surprise surprise, the disciples aren’t down with this plan. “Um, hey Jesus?... remember how we just left Judea, because the authorities were looking around for you, repeatedly trying to stone you?”

“Yeah?”

“Soooooo, shouldn’t we stay away from there?”

Look at Jesus’s response, verse 9-10

Slide (v. 9-10 underlined)

The disciples are essentially worried that Jesus is about to make a big mistake--to stumble over an obstacle--or stone… that He didn’t account for.

Jesus’s response? “People don’t usually trip over stuff they can’t see in the dark during the day. You have the sun--the light of the world. At night is when you have to worry about this stuff.”

Jesus is pointing back to when he declared himself the light of the world. He’s saying--look, you don’t need to worry about hitting an unexpected obstacle when you have the Light of the World--me--with you. Lazarus has “fallen asleep,” and I go to awaken him.

The disciples, still nervous, say, “hey Jesus, if he’s just asleep, anybody can wake him. It doesn’t need to be you! Let’s stay safe over here.”

Jesus finally clearly tells them what’s going on: He’s dead guys. And I for one am glad about it!

---WHAT?!?!?!---

That sounds pretty callous. Thankfully for us, Jesus goes on to explain: If I had been there to stop him from dying, you wouldn’t get to see him raised from the dead.

More on that later, let’s keep moving along.

So against the disciples’ better judgment, they all go to Bethany, only two miles away from Jerusalem.

When they get there. Jesus speaks to each of the sisters, one at a time, but both of them have the same first reaction:

Slide (21, 32)

verse 21 and 32, exact same wording “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”

These words are almost an accusation: Lord, if you had come when we sent to you, He wouldn’t be dead right now. You could have stopped this!”

They make their way to the tomb, with the whole host of people who were mourning with Mary and Martha following along afterwards. They’re all making a lot of noise, carrying on as was the tradition in their culture.

And now comes the shortest verse in all of the bible: “Jesus wept.” More on that later, but the Jews see Jesus visibly moved, and some of them still have something critical to say,

Slide

verse 37, “Couldn’t he who opened the eyes of the blind man also have kept this man from dying?”

Everybody’s got something to say.

It’s funny, because LITERALLY every character in this whole story has some sort of criticism for Jesus. Mary and Martha, the disciples, and then this crowd of friends and hangers-on who were mourning with them.

This is what I love about the bible. You get to see real humanity in here. We have the God of the universe, who has taken on human flesh. He’s been walking around healing people, and feeding thousands with just a couple of loaves of bread and a few fish, and everyone is acting like everything has gone off the rails. “Cool magic tricks Jesus, but now our buddy is dead. You could have stopped it, but you didn’t. And now he’s dead!

Isn’t that how we are sometimes?

Here we all are, all of us having lived for at least nearly 20 years. There have been lean years, but God has kept us from starving or freezing to death. He’s blessed us and provided for us in so many ways. But then a storm comes up and we start questioning if He’s good, or if he’s even there.

The good news is, God understands this. And he is incredibly patient with us. Even though he has shown up time and time again, constantly providing for us, protecting us from things we didn’t even know were a threat, He is still patient with us when we respond in fear, when we question him