Leadership that Led to the Cross

He wrote to Jackie Fisher and asked, “My Lord, you were once a midshipman like ourselves; and now you are head of our profession. Can you tell us how you did it?”

Basically, we want to be like you.

Do you have any advice.

Fisher responded, “Get a vision of the great thing you want to accomplish. Get a plan of the way in which you hope to achieve it. Be prepared to battle for it. Pray earnestly to God to give you the victory.”

Fisher was a man with a plan.

Get a vision of the great thing you want to accomplish. Get a plan of the way in which you hope to achieve it. Be prepared to battle for it. Pray earnestly to God to give you the victory.”

He had a plan.

He had a destination.

He knew where He was going and how to get there.

John Stott, The Preacher’s Notebook: The Collected Quotes, Illustrations, and Prayers of John Stott, ed. Mark Meynell (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2018).

We are in a crisis now, and people want a plan.

I’m sure you read the headlines or see the reports, everyone is a critic of everyone.

It’s like the day after the Super Bowl, and we are all armchair quarterbacks.

We’ve all got an opinion.

We all think we know how President Trump should have handled things.

He could have done this differently, or that differently.

We look to governors, bosses, employers, even other nations’ leaders.

The world is looking to those in authority and they want a plan.

We want to know where we are going.

How long is this going to take?

When will things return to normal?

Near the end of Jesus’ life, there was a similar moment.

People looked to Jesus and they wanted to know where they were going.

Today, in our church calendar, it’s Palm Sunday; it’s also called His Triumphant Entry.

This is the day that Christ rode into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey.

The people laid out palm branches and cried out “Hosanna!”

Then only a few days after that glorious Sunday, everything would change.

Thursday night, Christ would celebrate Passover with His disciples, and then be arrested.

By Friday, He’d be hung on a cross, and laid in a borrowed tomb.

But just a few days prior to that Triumphant Entry, that Palm Sunday, just a few days before that, Jesus, His disciples, and His closest friends went through a crisis.

What they believed was put to the test.

A friend of Jesus, Lazarus had fallen ill.

We will look at how Jesus handled this crisis, not as a case study of leadership, or how to respond to illnesses or viruses, but to show you that Jesus is who you are to trust in during every crisis of life.

He’s who we trust in while sick.

While in quarantine.

While struggling.

While celebrating.

Jesus is who we trust in during every season of life.

We will be in .

This is a lengthy passage.

But it’s a good one.

And to be honest, we will only scratch the surface of it today.

But follow along with me, as I read this entire chapter.

First, we see that Jesus had A Plan -

Jesus was about a day away from a village called Bethany.

Bethany was just outside of Jerusalem.

Things were heating up for Jesus.

It was getting dangerous.

Lazarus, Mary and Martha lived in Bethany.

Lazarus had fallen ill.

And when he was about to die, a messenger was sent to Jesus.

In verse 3, the messenger said, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.”

By the time the messenger made it to Jesus, Lazarus was dead.

But Jesus didn’t move.

He stayed where he was for 2 more days.

After 2 days, Jesus told his disciples they were going to Bethany.

The disciples questioned his actions.

Verse 8 shows their wondering, “Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking to stone you, and are you going there again?”

It’s dangerous in Jerusalem.

It’s dangerous in that area.

Is this the best move?

They’re armchair quarterbacks.

They think they know better.

We do this with our leaders.

Leaders are in a position to make decisions.

They are the pointman.

And when they make the decision, often we think, “Well, I’d have done things differently.”

“If I was in charge this is how I would have done it.”

But Jesus had a plan.

And this plan would Lead to the Glory of God.

Back in verse 4, when the messenger came to Jesus, you see Jesus’ response.

“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.”

You see everything that happens in life really happens for the glory of God.

You and I waste time.

We can squander our time.

Time goes by and we wonder, “What have I been doing?”

And we have to make a concentrated effort to use our time well.

We saw that last week in , when Paul told us to “make the best use of the time.”

But God doesn’t squander time.

He doesn’t allow things to happen for no reason.

Everything that happens in life is for the glory of God.

Just let that sink in for a moment.

“Everything that happens in life is for the glory of God.”

It’s a simple statement, but a profound statement.

Jesus loves Lazarus.

He cared for this family.

Lazarus was dying.

What does Jesus do?

What does Jesus say?

How does He respond?

He doesn’t move.

He waits.

In fact, He allows Lazarus to die.

And then He says it’s for the glory of God, and also the glory of the Son of God.

That’s Jesus.

This is happening He would be glorified.

You can go through the Bible and see tragic events that happen for the glory of God.

Just a few chapters earlier in John, in , there was a blind man.

The disciples came to Jesus and pointed out this blind man.

They asked, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”

I read that and it makes me chuckle.

He’s not deaf.

Because the man’s blind, he’s not deaf.

He can hear everything they’re saying.

They are asking, “Who did something wrong to punish this man with blindness?”

“This is awful.”

“Why’d it happen?”

Jesus told His disciples, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.”

This happened so that God would be glorified.

So people would see God.

Why did Lazarus die?

So that God would be glorified.

So that the Son would be glorified.

And I have this same expectation in our time right now.

Why is the world experiencing this virus and all its affects?

So that the works of God would be known.

So that God would be glorified.

He will be glorified

So that the Son of God would be glorified.

And that’s why we are here.

We exist to bring God glory.

We may not know the specifics, but we can know that God will be glorified.

When Jesus said that it would lead to His glory, He wasn’t just talking about Lazarus.

Lazarus would be brought to life.

But that’s not the glory He was talking about.

The end of the chapter ends with the Jews plotting Jesus’ death.

This glory that we are talking about, the glory of God is Christ crucified, and then as we will celebrate next week, His resurrection.

The thought of Lazarus’ death bringing glory to God is a strange thought, and probably not what anyone was expecting.

And dear Christian, the thought that the covid19 virus will bring God glory is probably equally strange.

And yet, this is our hope.

And here’s a sobering thought, we may never wrap our minds around it in this life.

We may never see this glory.

In this life we may never see how God uses this for His glory.

It might this virus might even take your life.

But our confidence, our hope, our faith, is that all things happen to the glory of God.

The plan of Jesus was that the death of Lazarus would lead to people believing.

The disciples were confused as to why Jesus would want to go so near to Jerusalem.

It sounded to them like a death sentence.

That’s what Thomas says in verse 16, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”

But Jesus clearly explained why He allowed Lazarus to die, you see it in verses 14 and 15, “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.”

Why did this event happen?

So that the disciples would believe.

Because Lazarus died, Jesus was going to bring him to life.

The disciples would get to see the power of Christ on display.

They would believe.

The sovereignty and power of Christ would be put on display, and people would believe.

When we understand the sovereignty of God.

When we understand the Lordship of Christ.

When we understand that He is in fact, in control, then we have a confidence.

What we have read, and are about to read again, happens so that you would believe.

The point of this isn’t that we would escape the coronavirus.

It’s that we would believe in the one who is sovereign over the coronavirus.

The third part of Jesus’ plan is that it would lead to life.

Jesus arrives in Bethany.

And Martha runs out to Jesus.

Jesus is the man with the plan.

Jesus is Lord.

Jesus is the leader.

And what does Martha do?

She questions him.

She plays armchair quarterback.

Verse 21, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”

You could have done things differently.

You should have done things differently.

But she’s careful not to be too critical.

She continues in verse 24, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.”

Don’t we talk that way.

But I know he’s in a better place.

Thank heaven for heaven.

We celebrate an afterlife.

Everyone wants to go to heaven.

Even nonChristians want to go to heaven.

But that’s not the comfort that Jesus brings, nor is that the message that He brings.

Look at verse 25, “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?”

This is one of the big “I Am” statements of John.

Jesus doesn’t say:

“Lazarus is dead, but at least he’s in a better place now.”

“Good thing there is a heaven.”

Jesus says, “I am the resurrection.”

Jesus is the resurrection.

I hope you catch the nuance here.

There is no heaven without Jesus.

What good is a resurrection if you aren’t with Jesus?

Many people think they are going to heaven, but not a heaven with Jesus.

You know what a heaven without Jesus is called?

Hell.

Even better than knowing someone is in a better place, is knowing Christ.

So Jesus says, “I am the resurrection.”

“Know me.”

Jesus didn’t come to stop Lazarus from dying.

He came to bring life.

And that is life everlasting through Him.

We see that Christ had a purpose in the death of Lazarus.

Jesus was sovereign over His death.

That’s something that is repeated throughout the text.

Lazarus died so that Christ would be glorified.

Lazarus died so that people would believe.

Lazarus died so people would know Christ and have everlasting life.

Folks don’t be scared about our situation.

It’s real.

But don’t let it cripple you.

Life is dangerous.

And it’s always been dangerous.

But know that whatever danger comes your way is for the glory of God, meant to encourage your belief, and bring you to a knowledge of Christ.

A good leader has a plan. But a good leader also has an expectation.

Jesus had an expectation as well -

Jesus arrives on the scene and goes to the grave of Lazarus.

Lazarus would have been buried similar to the tomb that Jesus would later be placed in.

It was a cave with beds, or shelves for people to be placed on.

A rock would have been rolled over the front of it to seal its entrance.

And what does he see?

Weeping.

A lot of weeping.

The text says friends of the family were weeping.

The tradition of the day was that not only would the family mourn, but people would hire professional wailers.

These were people who would cry loudly.

They wailed and they mourned, as people who have no hope.

Jesus shows ups on the scene, and He sees all of this.

And He hears all this crying.

And how does Jesus respond?

In verse 33 it says that Jesus was “deeply moved” and “greatly troubled.”

Very famously, in verse 35, the shortest verse in the Bible, what did Jesus do?

Jesus wept.

Those are accurate words, except that they don’t describe the event well.

In fact, even the people that were present didn’t really understand Jesus’ response.

John points this out in verse 36, “So the Jews said, ‘See how he loved him!’”

Jesus was:

Deeply moved.

He was troubled.

He wept.

But not for the reasons that you think.

Not because He was so sad that Lazarus had died.

At any point along the way do we see Jesus sad about Lazarus’ death?

Do we ever see Jesus surprised by Lazarus’ death?

Remember, this is the man with the plan.

He said this would lead to His glory.

That people would believe.

That there would be life.

He knew about the death of Lazarus.

When it says He was deeply moved, this is also translated to scold or be deeply irritated.

The King James and the New King James say that Jesus groaned.

All these people present mourning, and Jesus groans at what He sees.

When it says he was greatly troubled, it means disturbed.

It’s to have pent up emotions.

To be frustrated.

And then his frustrations were known when He burst into tears.

Jesus wasn’t moved, troubled and weeping because He was so sad that Lazarus died.

And He wasn’t being sympathetic to the people.

He was frustrated, because here were His people, and they were responding like those who have no hope.

They weren’t responding like Job who said, “My Redeemer lives, and at the last, I shall see Him with my own eyes.”

They were behaving more like the pagans who have no hope in God.

They were more like the nihilists or the naturalist who believes that you die and that’s it.

Their mourning was as people who had no hope.

We grieve when someone dies, but Christians are not to grieve, like the hopeless people of John 11.

says, “But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep.”

Jesus has just said that He is the resurrection.

So what is it He expects?

He expects people to have faith in Him.

He expects people to know that He is the resurrection.

He expects to be glorified.

And He demonstrates that hope.

In verse 38 it says that Jesus was deeply moved and went to the tomb.

I don’t think he took a somber, leisurely stroll.

I think it was a purposeful, quick, almost angry strides to the tomb.

Lazarus would have been buried in a similar tomb that Jesus would later be placed in.

It was a cave with beds, or shelves for people to be placed on.

A rock would have been rolled over the front of it to seal its entrance.

He then told them to move the stone away.

The Jews didn’t mummify dead bodies.

They put lots of fragrances on the body, but nothing to prevent decomposition.

In verse 39, Martha says, “Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days.”

I love how the King James says it, “Lord, by this time he stinketh ...”

4 days of rotting.

4 days of stink.

And Jesus says, “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?”

That doesn’t sound like a man who is sad or mourning the loss of His friend.

He’s teaching them something.

He’s teaching us something.

What does Jesus expect of us in hard times?

It’s to believe in Him.

To trust in Him.

To know something about Him.

Then in verses 41-42 Jesus prays.

He’s about to call Lazarus to life.

So He says a prayer.

But do you know what’s missing in this prayer?

A request.

He’s not asking for anything.

He’s not bargaining with God.

He’s not saying, “If you do this, then I’ll do that.”

He states a fact.

This is actually a prayer of thanksgiving.

His plan is that He and the Father would be glorified.

His plan is for people to believe.

And so He prays, thankful, that God is going to be glorified and people will believe.

Then in verse 43, Jesus calls out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.”

Verse 44, “The man who had died came out ...”

Life enters into Lazarus.

He doesn’t stop to change his clothes.

He comes out in his loosely hanging garments.

Cooly and calmly, Jesus gives 2 more commands in this section.

Unbind him.

And let him go.

These people were acting like there was no hope.

They acted as if a person who was dead was completely gone.

Jesus corrected them.

Church we have nothing to fear right now.

There is a major virus facing the world right now.

Some people are really scared.

And people are acting very similar to the professional weepers at Lazarus’ tomb.

Many are acting hopeless.

But what does Christ expect.

To believe in Him.

To trust in Him.

To hope in Him.

To know that He is glorified.

God has not promised to spare us this virus.

Death is going to come.

It might be this virus.

It might be something else.

But you are going to die unless Christ returns first.

How are you going to respond?

By trusting Him.

says, “And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment,”

In 1415, John Huss was sentenced to death by the Roman Catholic Church.

Nothing could change the death.

You know what he said, as his hands were bound, and his neck was chained to a wooden stake?

“Christ has borne a crown much harder and heavier; I, a miserable creature do not fear to bear this one in thy name.”

He wasn’t crippled by fear.

He saw his death as what would bring him to Christ.

And so, we can even rejoice in death.

says, “And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment,”

We can even rejoice, because we know death, even our own death, is what will bring us to Christ, because He is the resurrection.

Jesus had a plan. He had expectations. And He had a Purpose - .

On June 6, 1944, the Allied forces invaded the northern beaches of France, Normandy.

That assault had a purpose.

The goal was to get the Allied troops into Europe, to get into the heart of Germany.

There was a huge cost that day.

Over 10,000 allied casualties.

Almost 4,500 deaths.

But why?

For a purpose.

To begin the march into Germany.

There was a purpose for those deaths on that day.

Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead.

But there was a bigger goal.

There was a purpose.

He was going to be glorified.

Verses 45 tells us that many Jews believed, then verse 46 says “but”.

This is in contrast.

This is in contrast to those who did believe.

But, some went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus did.

They didn’t come as reporters, or telling the good news.

They came complaining.

They came trying to cause trouble.

They came trying to get Jesus in trouble.

We see the hardness of man’s heart here.

Many people want to see a miracle.

They read of Christ’s work in the Bible -

They read of the miracles.

They read of His actions.

And they think, if only we had more of those today, then people would believe.

But you see, it’s not miracles that people are lacking.

Jesus did miracles.

People saw Lazarus come out of that tomb.

They smelled the smell.

They knew he was dead.

They saw him come out.

And they disbelieved.

Verse 47, “So the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the council and said, “What are we to do? For this man performs many signs.”

It’s not a question of whether he does miracles or not.

They had the evidence.

They rejected Who Jesus was.

This makes you wonder, why would Jesus do these miracles if they weren’t enough?

Why would Jesus heal the lame, give sight to the blind, or in this case, raise Lazarus from the dead if not everyone would believe?

Because He had a larger purpose.

And the purpose wasn’t to only raise a man from the dead.

That purpose is seen in verse 49.

Caiaphas was the high priest that year.

Shouldn’t have been the high priest.

But he was.

And look what happens.

Verse 49-50 says “But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all. Nor do you understand that it is better for you that one man should die for the people, not that the whole nation should perish.”

He thought he was talking about Jesus dying as a scapegoat to protect Jerusalem from the Romans.

But through the work of God, there was a greater purpose here.

And it’s really found in verse 50, “… it is better for you that one man should die for the nation ...”

And just in case you missed it, John explains it to us in verses 51 and 52, “He did not say this of his own accord, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, and not for the nation only, but also to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad.”

From that day on the plan was to put Jesus to death.

He would die for the people of God.

He would die for all the people of God scattered across the globe.

He would die for all the people of God scattered across the globe for all time.

This was the purpose of Lazarus’ death.

This was the purpose of Jesus bringing Lazarus back to life.

The ultimate goal of this day wasn’t just that Mary and Martha could have their brother back, because he would end up dying again.

The ultimate purpose was to get Jesus on the Cross.

And there He would receive the sins of all God’s people.

He would suffer the wrath of God.

He would die.

Then He would be raised from the grave.

Why did Lazarus die?

To get Jesus to the Cross.

I know that it is a scary time.

The economy is scary.

Health is scary.

Culture is scary.

Don’t play armchair quarterback with God.

says, “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.”

We don’t know all of God’s plans.

But we know that there is a plan.

We know that all things happen according to His purpose.

And we rest in that.

That’s hard for us.

We like God to explain Himself.

But in this, we can’t.

We have to rest that He is Lord, and you are not.

Jesus is the leader you can trust.

Mary, Martha, and Lazarus all experienced something.

They all had their own thoughts and opinions.

They even thought they knew what Jesus was supposed to do.

Yet, no one understood what Jesus’ real goal was.

His goal, His mission was the cross.

His goal was to die for you.

His goal was to pay for your sins.

It’s strange, because that day, Mary and Martha, only had their immediate concerns in front of them.

Jesus had their eternal concerns in front of Him.

There’s things worse than the Corona virus.

That’s an eternity without Christ.

The reason why Christ came was so you wouldn’t need to experience that.

He is the resurrection.

If you want eternal life, you need Christ.

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