No Grave
Notes
Transcript
We have made safety a God in our Christian culture. Most of us have resigned to play it safe. We are called to push back against the darkness and embrace our sufferings and struggles. All of the suffering and struggles are intended for our benefit and for the greater glory of God.
Shared Commonality: People today still do not like delayed results. We thrive on instant gratification and struggle when the answer to our cry for help is delayed.
We also like Mary and Martha recognize Jesus ability and power to reconcile our problem. (Many of us feel the weight of our problems as insurmountable, and unreachable by God.)
Difference Maker: Jesus shows his love in ways that do not make sense but if we are patient and wait on the Lord the result is far greater than anything we could ever hope or imagine.
This is a crucial chapter in John’s Gospel. This final sign will complete all that has gone before an point to the meaning of the resurrection itself. This miracle will prove to be the deciding factor in the resolve to have Jesus put to death.
“Does not lead to death” (the cultures idea or idea’s surrounding death)
“Fallen Asleep, I must go and wake him.”
“So that you may believe.” (What does it take for people to believe something in our culture? How has our social media driven society skewed the the lines of true belief?)
Jesus delayed results brings life out of death.
Big Idea: Everything Jesus does is for your benefit and His glory.
Big Idea: Everything Jesus does is for your benefit and His glory.
1. Jesus is our Hope of Glory
1. Jesus is our Hope of Glory
NOTE: Before God poured out his retribution and wrath for sin on Christ at the Cross he gave us one of the most glorious picture of His unmistakable Glory.
27 To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
Sleep, Fall asleep: Koimao This word has a double meaning in Greek; to sleep; or to be dead.
“Sleep” is a common New Testament euphemism for death. It translates the Greek word ekoimethe from which we get the English noun known for Cemetery. Christians who die are not gone; they sleep temporarily until Jesus wakes them up.
13 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. 14 For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep.
“His illness will not lead to death, it is for the glory of God, so that the son of God might be glorified through it.”
Note: The glory of God is interwoven into the very fabric of the whole biblical story and forms it’s goal out of the entire fabric of the cosmic narrative.
God communicates His glory through his creation, image-bearers, providence, and redemptive acts.
God communicates His glory through his creation, image-bearers, providence, and redemptive acts.
NOTE: Our response in return is to then glorify him
HEBREW TERM GLORY “KABAD”
This word stems from the root word “weight” or “Heaviness.” This is the term used for God’s manifested presence.
GREEK TERM FOR GLORY “DOXA”
In Greek this expresses his reputation, praise, or fame. This also takes on the same meaning as the Hebrew counterpart manifesting itself as his presence, or works, especially in relation to his judgment, and salvation.
Our hope of glory is seen when God reveals himself.
Our hope of glory is seen when God reveals himself.
The whole Gospel is built around God revealing himself to mankind in the person of His son Jesus Christ.
God’s great love is in giving Himself to us.
14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. 15 (John bore witness about him, and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.’ ”) 16 For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.
In the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit came upon certain people to empower them for service, but then He would leave again. New Testament believers have a different experience, as the Spirit indwells us permanently. The permanent indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit was a mystery to the Old Testament believers. The Hope of Glory is the fulfillment of God’s promise to restore us and all creation Romans 8:29.
The Hope of glory also includes the resurrection: “If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit that lives in you.
Christ’s presence in us is the hope of glory. All of those outside of the presence of God are still in darkness, and under the wrath or curse of God.
Note: Everywhere in scripture when we see or hear of someone experiencing the very presence of God revealing himself it brings even the most prideful man to his knees. (Isaiah 6)
Our Hope of Glory is seen in God’s Strange Love
Our Hope of Glory is seen in God’s Strange Love
The reason that Jesus did not heal Lazarus when he heard he was sick was because he loved him and his sisters Mary and Martha.
Note: So, Jesus loved Mary, Martha, and their brother Lazarus so he delayed two days in coming to see him. Does this sound like love to you. This is a strange way of showing love. Jesus answer for letting his good friend die is love.
Note: We do not measure God’s love by how much health, wealth, and comfort he brings into our lives. We measure God’s love by how MUCH he reveals himself to us.
REMEMBER THAT EVERYTHING THAT JESUS DOES IS FOR OUR BENEFIT
29 For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake, 30 engaged in the same conflict that you saw I had and now hear that I still have.
Note: When we look at John 14:21 we hear Jesus say, “Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.” Did you catch the end of that, “I will love you, and manifest myself to you.”
That is how I will love you. In our most desperate days of suffering and loss. In the darkest day’s of our lives when it seemed as though the walls of our lives are crashing around us, Jesus loved us - not first by taking away our suffering, or the loss, or the darkness, but first by giving us himself in ways that could not have been ours without this painful season in our lives.
If you demand that God love you according to the worlds standards and expectations you will never truly know what it means to be loved by God. The love of God is the gift of himself, the gift of his glorious presence.
Our hope of Glory is seen when we push back against the darkness and walk in the light.
Our hope of Glory is seen when we push back against the darkness and walk in the light.
NOTE: vs 7-8 Jesus tells the disciples to get up because it is time to go to Judea. The disciples warn him of the mob waiting for him there to stone him to death. Jesus makes a strange statement. Are there not twelve hours in a day? Jesus was basically reminding them that if anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of the world. But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.”
The disciples say, if we go to Judea we are going to run into a mob and get stoned. And Jesus says, “No i won’t there are twelve hours in the day, and I am going to walk in the light of that day. And so I won’t be in the dark, and so I won’t stumble into the stoning mob. I will arrive at my appointed time to take up my cross. Notice that Thomas is not completely sure but is resigned to die with Jesus.
TRANSITION QUESTIONS
Note: the question we must all ask in regards to the resurrection that Jesus is talking about is, “Do we believe this?”
“Do you believe this/” (Ripley’s Believe it or not, you are not going to believe this. The after life).
Read John 11:17-26
2. Jesus is our life.
2. Jesus is our life.
John B. Jesus Is Our Life (11:17–37)
SUPPORTING IDEA: With the Son of God, death never has the final word. Along with Lazarus’s family, the Twelve learned that Jesus was more than their friend; he was their life.
Former First Lady Says We Go ‘Somewhere’ When We Die
In an interview for the Howard Stern Show, former First Lady Hillary Clinton was asked about her faith.
“I have a deep faith,” she said before saying she believes there is a God and that when we die, we’re going to go “somewhere.” “We’re learning more and more about what holds the universe together. Dark matter makes up most of the universe. We really don’t quite know what it is. It’s energy. I think religious belief and science are compatible, unlike those who reject one or the other. I think that energy doesn’t die. Energy keeps going.”
Stern replied, “That’s comforting.”
Lazarus had been dead for four days. In the culture of the Jewish funeral, the mourners, the spices, and the procession most likely still lingered as Jesus entered Bethany. The smell and feel of death must have been overwhelming. This was a popular family in a small town, so Lazarus’s funeral was a major event.
Mary remained seated in the house… vs.20 The custom was for the bereaved to remain in the house and for the guests to come and sit in silence and periodically support the grieving with sympathetic tears and moans. Much like the wakes in the Middle East homes today where benches are filled in the heat of the day with mourning for the dead. We must also, not forget that it was the brother, the obvious wage earner for the home who had died. The loss was an intense one. Read the account of Ruth to get a better picture of the void that is left.
Mary, Martha, and all of the Jewish mourners responded in true human fashion to death and sorrow, the feeling of being defeated and abandonment. A sign that God had somehow deserted them.
Now we come to the text that follows this dreadful scene that in reality we have probably heard read and more funerals that we can count. It forms the whole key to the chapter, but what does it mean?
JESUS SAID, “HE WHO BELIEVES IN ME WILL LIVE, EVEN THOUGH HE DIES!
Resurrection: anastasis; a standing up, or a rising up.
10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,
NOTE: We not only identify with Christ and his death we also identify with his resurrection. “That you may know him and or by the power of his resurrection.
Live: zao; to be alive, stay alive, and return to life.
Greek: we have zao meaning to live, which is in the future tense meaning to bring back to life in the future tense, and Zoe meaning current life, substance and property.
John 6:3 “And Jesus came down from heaven to give life to the world.” Life is a present existing state.
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God.
Life that existed in the pre-incarnate Christ has always existed from the beginning of creation and beyond.
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
The life that Jesus brought is the same life that his resurrection brought to mankind.
33 For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”
Believe: pisteuo “Double Greek meaning think to be true; trust; have Christian faith; entrust.”
pistis faith: confident assurance; what can be believed; trust; doctrine of promise.
In the Old Testament, God revealed His name to Moses: “I AM WHO I AM. This what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you’”. Therefore, “I AM” is unquestionably understood as a name for God. Whenever Jesus made an “I am” statement in which He claimed attributes of deity, He was identifying Himself as God.
Jesus uses many “I am” statements in scripture, “I am the good shepherd (John 10:11) , Jesus shows his great love and care and willingness to protect his flock to the point of death.” “I am the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6) ,” “I am the bread of life (John 6:35) ,” “I am the door (John 10:7), Jesus is the door of the sheepfold, He is the one way to enter the sheep fold.” “I am the light of the world”(John 8:12), at this point Jesus heals a man born blind. Jesus not only says He is the light; He proves it. Jesus’ words and actions echo Genesis 1:3, “ And God said there there be light. “ I am the true vine,” (John 15:1,5) here Jesus .
“I am the resurrection and the life (John 11:25 ) , meaning that He holds the keys to death and the grave.”
The second instance of Jesus applying to Himself the name I AM comes in the Garden of Gethsemane. When the mob came to arrest Jesus, He asked them whom they sought. They said, “Jesus of Nazareth,” and Jesus replied, “I am he” (John 18:4–5). Then something strange happened: “When Jesus said, ‘I am he,’ they drew back and fell to the ground” (verse 6). Perhaps explaining the mob’s reaction is the fact that the word he has been provided by our English translators. Jesus simply said, “I am.” Applying God’s covenant name to Himself, Jesus demonstrated His power over His foes and showed that His surrender to them was entirely voluntary
ILLUSTRATION
Hypothetical story of Suzy who walks in wearing an engagement ring. Suzy, I notice that you are wearing an engagement ring, whose the lucky guy, oh, its John, I am so beside myself that he asked me to marry him. I ask Suzy, tell me, what is it about John that is so special that makes you want to marry him. #1 He’s smart, #2 He’s athletic, #3 He has a good personality and sense of humor. Well he’s just John....... Exactly.
When Jesus say’s “I am” he has gone to the extreme to make himself known to us.
Our world is full of people who know just enough about God to know what to say and sing, who do just enough good to feel better about themselves, who have memorized just enough out-of-context verses to convince themselves that they are fine, and who would quickly check the box of “Christian,” but their eyes do not really see Jesus, their ears do not really hear His voice, and their life is not really in a relationship with Him.
Jesus as our life removes the fear of death
Jesus as our life removes the fear of death
Johnny Depp on Death and Meaning
In an interview with Rolling Stone Johnny Depp magazine said:
I went around for years thinking, "Well, what's it all for? All this stuff that I gotta do, interviews and movies and success or not success or this or that. [But when my daughter was born] it was if a veil was lifted, and things became clearer, and I went, "Oh, I get it now! That's what life is for … " I didn't have a real handle on what life is supposed to mean or be or anything like that. And I still don't. And I'm not sure life is supposed to mean anything at all. But as long as you have the opportunity to breathe, breathe. As long as you have the opportunity to make your kid smile and laugh move it forward … . I think we're here and that's kind of it. Then it's dirt and worms.
When he dies, Depp said it would be cool to have his body "just tossed over a mountain so that people could watch [my body] bounce." "Might as well entertain people,' Depp said
The bibles answer to the fear of death unfolds in the Old Testament when we look at Psalm 23 which assures us that God sill be “with us” in the valley of death, “he will not abandon us to Sheol or (Hell)”.
For centuries the Prophets looked for the keystone event of Jesus bodily resurrection. Only by this do we have the answer for death, for what is on the other side of the veil of death.
Christ as the resurrection and the life provided a sustaining hope in the face of death. Many Christians have a “me-centered” approach to eternity. They ask, what will the place be like? What will I do all the time? Eternity exerts it’s magnetic pull on us when we study Christ Jesus Himself as our all-consuming final destination.
Paul wrote, “For to me, to life is Christ, and to die is gain” (Phil.1:21). If we say Christ is presently our “all in all” during this imperfect life we are living, then our minds wonder to consider what it will mean to be possessed by Him completely.
Death:
Genesis 3:19 "From the very beginning we work by the sweat of our brow and from the ground which we were taken we return. Our lives are following an inevitable conclusion of physical death.
Burial, Burial Customs. The Bible makes frequent reference to burial practices. A society’s burial customs are a reflection of its spiritual views about death and the afterlife. The ancient Egyptians, for example, thought of life after death as a continuation of physical activities in another realm, as their elaborately furnished tombs indicate. The ancient Hebrews emphasized a more spiritual concept of union or fellowship of the departed with generations gone on before.
BURIAL It seems that belief in an after-life is almost as old as man. For this there is ample evidence in the careful attention paid, from very early times, to the burial of a dead person, to the position in which he was placed in the grave, to the offerings with which he was supplied and to the marking of the site of the tomb.
2 Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.
Jesus as our life lifts the fog of sin revealing the face of Grace
Jesus as our life lifts the fog of sin revealing the face of Grace
“Though He die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.”
THE FOG OF SIN
Jesus said in Matthew 8:22 “Follow me; and leave the [spiritually] dead to bury their own [physically] dead”. John 5:24 - “He that hears my word, and believes the one who has sent me, has eternal life, and comes not into judgement, but has passed from death to life.”
The penalty of sin from the garden has fallen upon the whole human race and is primarily and mainly death of the soul which consists in its separation from God. Death was fully visited upon Adam and Eve on the day they ate of the forbidden fruit. In this sense only, death was fully visited upon Adam in the day on which he ate of the forbidden fruit. John 11:26 death is escaped for this reason the parallel between Adama and Christ given in Romans 5:12-21, the Apostle passes from the thought of mere physical death in the early part of the passage to that of both physical and spiritual death at it’s close.
21 so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
NOTE: Eternal death is regarded as the culmination of spiritual death, and also corresponds to the outward condition of the inward sate of the soul. This involves the retribution and wrath of God visited by a personal God on both the body and soul of the evil-doer.
Jesus continually points people back to himself. When Jesus makes the claim that he is the resurrection and the life he is pointing people to Himself as the answer for death. Death is swallowed up in victory because of Christ.
THE FACE OF GRACE
Every little girl who has ever played dress up dreams of the day she will obtain her bridal gown, the dress she will wear on one of the biggest days of her life. As a pastor, I have had the great honor and privilege of watching the bride emerge on her father’s arm.
Halfway down the aisle, she forgets the dress she is wearing, as her eyes lock on to her groom and her smile beams at him alone. Christians await just such a moment. A hymn based on Samuel Rutherford’s writing says, “The bride eyes not her garment, but her dear bridegroom’s face; I will not gaze at glory, but on my King of grace.”
In John 17:24, Jesus prayed, “Father, I desire they also whom you have given me, will be with me where I am, to see my glory”. We can gradually be weaned away from our natural fear of death as we dwell much upon the preeminent Lord who will greet us there.
Comparing Christ to every earthly joy that is left behind Johnathan Edwards wrote:
“Beside [Jesus], father and mother, husbands, wives, or children are but shadows, while the enjoyment of God is substance. These are but scattered beams, but God is the sun. These are streams, but God is the fountain. There are but drops, but God is the ocean.”
“If you believed you would see the glory of God.”
What does it take for our eyes to be opened so we can truly see the Glory of God?
Why is our culture so obsessed with the unbelievable, Marvel movies, star wars, time travel? But we are not obsessed with the greatest wonder of them all, Jesus Christ!
Read John 11:33-44
3. Jesus is our Power
3. Jesus is our Power
Note: as Jesus now comes to the tomb he is deeply moved again reminiscent of verse 33.
“Did I not tell you that if you believed, that you would see the glory of God?”
Jesus powerfully reveals himself to a watching world
Jesus powerfully reveals himself to a watching world
From the dawn of creation God has been revealing himself to humanity
20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.
Paul goes on to give the indictment that even though His creation knew God but they failed to honor him as God therefore, they became futile in their way of thinking.
Futile: incapable of producing any useful result; pointless.
Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images that resembled mortal man and things of this earth.
1)Jesus Power begins with prayer
1)Jesus Power begins with prayer
The power of Jesus is seen in his prayer. These words must have been uttered audibly for those listening to hear.
The purpose of the prayer was to create faith in the hearts of those standing around the tomb of Lazarus wondering what would happen next. Here we get a skillful glimpse into the relationship of the trinity and particularly the Father-Son relationship withing the Godhead that John dealt with so frequently.
All three of Jesus prayers that are recorded in John call upon the Father to support the mission on which he had sent the son. Unlike other prayers however, this prayer focuses on thanksgiving and is similar to formula for prayer in Psalm 118:21
21 I thank you that you have answered me and have become my salvation.
Notice that the prayer presupposes that Jesus knew the Father’s will and the outcome concerning Lazarus and what was about to happen not primarily for the sake of Lazarus but for those who witness the incredible act that was to follow. The whole aim of Jesus prayer was to bring the observers into the group of believers.
(How often do you hear Christians praying in public spaces, if not why not?)
The onlookers also heard Jesus rhetorical question in verse 40, we learn later that many of the Jews that day put their faith in him.” (who wouldn’t put their faith in him?)
REMEMBER THAT EVERYTHING THAT JESUS DOES IS FOR YOUR BENEFIT AND HIS GLORY
Note: We have unbelieving crowds around us everyday. Everyone is going somewhere in life. Everyone is looking for something in life. Why not give them the answer to the deep longing of the human heart? Why not give them Jesus? Sounds simple does it not?
2)Jesus Power draws the outsider into the miracle.
2)Jesus Power draws the outsider into the miracle.
Note: notice how Jesus draws the by-standard who is looking into the miracle. First, they were told to remove the stone. Then, after the miracle, they were told to unbind Lazarus.
True, we cannot bring the dead to life. But we can:
Bring the word of Christ to bear on their lives.
We can do preparatory work, and we can do work afterward.
We can help to remove stones of ignorance, error, prejudice and despair.
After the miracle we can help the new Christian by unwinding the grave clothes of doubt, fear, and discouragement.
3)Jesus power calls the dead to life.
3)Jesus power calls the dead to life.
Note: notice that John tells us that Jesus calls in a loud voice, surely it was not necessary for him to call in a loud voice to reach the ears of Lazarus. Perhaps again it was for the crowds benefit. No one who was looking on that day could have possibly misunderstood what jesus was doing.
No doubt this is one of the most dramatic scenes in the New Testament. However, we must be careful in using the word “resurrection to describe it. In one sense, Lazarus did experience resurrection because he was brought back from the dead to life. However, in the New Testament “resurrection is used to refer to life in a state of immortality so that one may never die again. That was the pattern of the resurrection of Jesus, of course, but not that of Lazarus who would die again.
No Hollywood production could ever capture what actually happened that day as Lazarus stumbled and staggered out into the sun while wearing only his grave clothes.
JESUS STILL CALLS PEOPLE TO LIFE TODAY
The resurrection is the hinge on which all of Christianity turns. It’s the foundation on which everything else rests, the capstone that holds everything else about Christianity together. The greatest day in all of creation was the day that Jesus walked out of the tomb as our resurrected Savior.
CONCLUSION
I leave the house every morning before the sun comes up to head to the gym to get my swim in before the day begins. I see people out jogging, walking, through the oversized windows I catch a glimpse of people running on treadmills and using exercise equipment. Perhaps they were exercising before work, lif
ting weights before lifting their pens. Whatever motivated them to be at the gym so early in the morning.
My mind then wonders to the cemetery occupied by row upon row of granite tombstones stretched as far as the eye can see. Many deteriorated condition of time and the elements that have taken their toll on the headstones. As I considered both scenes the irony hit me like a freight train: I was seeing a snapshot of our existence. This paradox of spending our lives trying to preserve these bodies that are passing away with every breath we breath.
1) Life and Death are closer than we think
1) Life and Death are closer than we think
There is a thin line between life and death. People daily sculpting their bodies into works of art that will only one day return to the dust from which they came. Physical journey from birth to death all passes like a blink of an eye. Our lives are but blips on the screen of eternity
James 4:14 warns us of the illusion of permanence: “Yet you do not know that your life will be like tomorrow. You are a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes.”
No matter how long you live on this earth, it’s a brief time. An in most cases that time empties when we least expect it. Satan is very skilled in making us think that we have more time to “get it right” with God.
2) Death is our default position until our new life begins.
2) Death is our default position until our new life begins.
We are all born dead. We grow up as children, teenagers, and eventually adults living as dead people. In fact, many remain dead from the cradle to the grave. They live never experiencing true life. As Paul tells the Church at Ephesus in Ephesians 2 “As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins. Following the course of this world, following the prince of this world.
This means without encountering Christ and his resurrection power all of us are spiritually dead, enslaved to our sin nature. Without Him we follow sins desires, cravings as sons of disobedience.
Some here this morning as still dead people walking, no spiritual pulse resides in your dead corps. This morning you are in that cemetery, void of the breath of life until, “God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ when we were dead in our transgressions and sins. He does this because of His great love for you. Remember everything he does is for your good and His glory.
Just as God breathed life into Adam, he breaths spiritual life into all who will believe upon the resurrecting power of the name of Jesus alone for Salvation. Eternal life is not just a future address in heaven - it belongs to us now, to those who know God and the one he sent in Jesus.
3) Training for Life is Better than training for Death
3) Training for Life is Better than training for Death
As I consider the scene morning, after morning, in the windows of the gyms across Killeen, Harker Heights, Ft. Hood, I see myself. How many times have I spent more time focusing on the present reality of life instead of the eternal glory of the resurrection power that brings life. The resurrection power that breaths life into the dead rotting corps of this world.
Life passes us by so quickly, before we know it we turn around and we have allowed this life to pass us by.
Cemeteries are really terminals for departing to our final destinations: one for those made alive in Christ and another for those who stayed dead in their sin. Even as we live our lives now, there are those in earthen plots more alive than us, for they are celebrating and enjoying the presence of the Almighty God.
We must go back to Jesus words in John 11 “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live.”
The question is, do you believe this? Jesus is standing outside the tombstone of our life today calling us, come forth into everlasting life. When we realize we are dead and desperately need him, Jesus’s works give us hope:
24 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.
What is you greatest Hope in Life and Death?
Are you training more for this life and what it has to offer or are you living for the Glory of God and the power of His resurrection?