9.4.2022 John 11 Getting Beyond Resentment (Dancing with Death)
Empire of Eternity • Sermon • Submitted
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Is there really anything more intense than discussions of life and death?
Is there really anything more intense than discussions of life and death?
Particularly when it’s right now. Someone we love is dying or has died.
Engage: How would you feel if your brother, Jesus' good friend had died? And, it seemed like Jesus dis not really do what was in His power to help? Any one of us would react like the mourning sisters we meet today.
Expand: This story eloquently lays out all of the drama and all of the trauma of what it means to be human, fallen, and all too mortal. We easily see ourselves in this plot-line...
Like the Characters in this passage we are Cynical
Like the Characters in this passage we are Cynical
• Thomas=Resignation (Let's go die with Him.)
• Sisters=Accusation (If you had been here..?)
• Crowd=Insinuation. (He loved him…he abandoned him)
Like the Characters in this passage we become Emotional
Like the Characters in this passage we become Emotional
• Mary & Martha are devastated and filled with questions.
• Jesus is provoked and perturbed. (angry enough to snort like a horse) Because the sisters were surrounded by insincere individuals who were looking to exploit the situation to get to Jesus.
Jesus un-tombs and un-binds us liberating us from our captivity to death.
Jesus un-tombs and un-binds us liberating us from our captivity to death.
Explain: Your eternal life hinges upon your responses to Jesus
He makes...
A definite declaration…
A definite declaration…
21 Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.
22 But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.”
23 Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”
24 Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.”
25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live,
I am
I am
the resurrection and the life.
the resurrection and the life.
Then He asks
A provocative question...
A provocative question...
26 and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”
27 She said to him, “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.”
Do you believe?
Do you believe?
He Makes
An empowering Promise
An empowering Promise
32 Now when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet, saying to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”
33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled.
34 And he said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.”
35 Jesus wept.
36 So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!”
37 But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man also have kept this man from dying?”
38 Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it.
39 Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days.”
40 Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?”
41 So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me.
42 I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me.”
Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?
Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?
Finally, He Issues
A bold command…
A bold command…
Like a mad man He stands on the precipice. He is finally able to control His indignation, He gathers His dignified strength and utters a command that for any other would be a mark of insanity.
43 When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.”
Lazarus come forth!!
Lazarus come forth!!
Lazarus hopping out of that tomb in his bound legs and blinded eyes is a reminder to all of us…At the word of Jesus we have life and liberation.
44 The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”
We are all, each one of us bound and tied until, at the word of I am, at the word of death’s Master, at the word of Resurrection! we are freed.
We can be resurrected…Because HE is resurrection!
We can be resurrected…Because HE is resurrection!
You are not going to heaven because you are immortal. You are not going to heaven because of your good looks, your fortune, your zip-code, your genetic finger-print. You will not live forever because God feels sorry for you or misses you or is curious about you.
You and I find our life in Jesus.
You and I find our life in Jesus.
God in flesh enfolds us in His own eternal life and carries us through the grave and death in His own victory.
So, have you thought through your responses? How will you respond to His declaration of His ability to give you life? How will you answer His question? Will you accept His promise? And most importantly
Can you hear Him calling your name?
Can you hear Him calling your name?