Text: John 11:21-27 Title: When Life Stinks Jesus is Speaking Have you ever had a conversation that literally changed the course of your life? One of the most important conversations of my life came one day when I was in college when a friend who had been discipling me stopped me in the parking lot and asked me a question that caught me off guard. He asked, Mike, have you considered that God may be calling you into the ministry? The strange thing is that little did my friend know that I had actually been wrestling with God about that. God was beginning to stir my heart in that direction and that conversation that day in the parking lot changed the course of my life. Turn to John 11:21 where we have the privilege of listening in on a conversation between Jesus and one of His closest friends, a woman named Martha. And as you re turning I ll just review where we ve been in this short series from John 11. Martha, her sister Mary and her brother Lazarus are some of Jesus closest friends. One day Lazarus became dreadfully sick; so sick that the sisters knew that Jesus was their only hope. So they sent a messenger to Jesus who was a two-day journey away: Lord, the one you love is sick. And the Lord s response seems a bit confusing to. Rather than going immediately to heal Lazarus Jesus stayed where He was two more days. But He told the disciples who were with him, This sickness will not end in death. This situation will turn into a platform from which God will display His glory and the glory of His Son Jesus. Finally Jesus sets out for Bethany where his friends live, but during that time Lazarus died. So when Jesus arrived on the outskirts of the village He came upon a scene where there was tremendous sadness and grief. Martha and Mary had been sitting quietly in the house while friends came by to pay their respects. Meanwhile Lazarus has now been in the tomb for four days and his body is beginning to decompose. We have here a situation that stinks. When Martha learned that Jesus had arrived she got up and ran to meet Him. And here is where we join this memorable conversation from which we have some of the most comforting words that Jesus ever spoke. You see, when your life stinks, listen. Jesus is speaking. Here s the point of this whole situation: OUTLINE - Spiritual growth isn t automatic. God deliberately takes us through circumstances in life where He can teach us and where our faith can grow. Let s pick up reading in
John 11:21 - Lord, Martha said to Jesus, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. Martha s disappointed. She doesn t understand why Jesus didn t come immediately to heal Lazarus. Now it s too late. John 11:22 - But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask. Martha s confused, but she still has faith. She knows enough about Jesus to know that the Father will give Him whatever He asks for. John 11:23-24 - Jesus said to her, Your brother will rise again. Martha answered, I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day. Now I m not sure, but this may be what we sometimes call a Sunday School answer. You know, when we re faced with a question in life we fall back on something we know in our head, but we re not sure we really believe it in our heart. Students, you've learned a lot of Sunday School answers and you're entering a season when those answers will be tested. You ll have to come to own them for yourself, because when life stinks we better know what we believe and we better really believe what we know. Now most Jews in Martha s day believed in the resurrection. It s taught in the Old Testament and followers of Jesus knew it from His teachings. There will be the last day the day when God closes the curtain on history. In the last day Christ will return and then there will be the resurrection of the dead of all the dead. The righteous who have trusted in Christ will be raised to eternal life, and the unrighteous who have rejected Christ will be raised to eternal torment, separated from God in a place called Hell. And Martha knows this doctrine. But I get the impression that between the lines Martha is saying, I know he will rise again in the last day, but what about now? Is there any hope and help for us now? Martha doesn t know it yet but Jesus plans to do something, not just in the sweet by-and-by but in the rotten here-and-now. And what Jesus does in the next two verses is to drag that truth of a future hope right into the present where it becomes an anchor here and now.
John 11:25-26 - Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this? You see, Jesus allowed the situation to go from bad to worse so that He could position Martha and Mary to teach them the most important truth of their life. When life stinks Jesus is teaching us. He will use this tragedy as a platform to display His glory and to show things about Himself that will sustain us in life. Through rotten circumstances our Lord teaches 1. THE REALITY OF WHO JESUS IS When Martha says in v.24, I know that my brother will rise again at the resurrection at the last day, the word she uses for know means to possess information. So she knows something. The Christian life is not just about knowing something; it is knowing Someone. It s one thing to know the doctrine. It s another thing to know the Person. It s one thing to have a religious belief; it s another thing to have a personal trust in Jesus. When you re sick you don t need a medical journal; you need a doctor applying the medical journal. When you re being sued you don t need a law book; you need a lawyer who can apply the law book. When you face death, you don t need a doctrine; you need a Savior who will make the doctrine true in your life. Martha knows a doctrine, but she needs more than that. She needs a Person. And that s why Jesus said John 11:25a - I am the resurrection and the life. This is one of seven I AM statements that are found in John s Gospel. Jesus said, I am the bread of life; I am the light of the world; I am the door; I am the Good Shepherd; I am the way, the truth and the life; I am the true vine; and, here, I am the resurrection and the life. This would link Jesus with how God revealed Himself to Moses when Moses was given the assignment of delivering the Israelites from their bondage in Egypt. Moses asked the Lord, When I go to Pharaoh and to the Israelites and they ask me who has sent me, what should I say? And the Lord said, I AM WHO I AM. Tell them, I AM has sent me to you. What a name! He is and He always will be everything we need. Jesus said, I am the resurrection Resurrection means to return to life; to live again. Jesus knows that in a few short months He will go to the Cross and die for our sins. He will be buried and on the third day raised from the dead. He will conquer death once and for all. New life is found in Him.
Jesus said, I am the resurrection and the life. Resurrection has to happen; then comes life. And this life that Jesus is and that Jesus gives is super-life. Everybody on this planet has life in the sense that they have a heartbeat and brain waves. They have the common grace of life as creatures of God. They enjoy their families and good food and the beauty of the mountains. Every human has that life. But the life Jesus speaks of here is super-life. We enjoy all those things breath and water and food and family and beauty and pleasure but we enjoy them in a relationship to the God who has given all those things to us. We re talking here about the difference between natural life and supernatural life; the difference between earthly life and eternal life; the difference between an empty life and an abundant life; and the difference between mere human life and divine life. Jesus said, I have come that you might have this life and have it abundantly. When your life is united with Christ, He becomes resurrection and life for you. PHOTO ILLUSTRATION Any of you old Star Trek fans? If so, you remember the transporter beam that the Starship Enterprise had. So if Captain Kirk was down on a planet somewhere in a dangerous situation about to be attacked by some alien lifeform he would send a message, Beam me up Scotty. Remember that? And Scotty could lock on to the signal of Captain Kirk s receiver (that looked to me like a garage door opener) and with that connection the captain would dematerialize and then rematerialize safe and sound back up on the Enterprise. Now sometimes Captain Kirk might be rescuing someone who didn t have a receiver like he did. So in those instances the person would grab hold of Captain Kirk, and then the captain would say, Beam us up Scotty. And the other person was transported to the Enterprise because He was connected to Captain Kirk. That s a silly illustration of the fact that Jesus Christ is the resurrection and the life. Resurrection and life are found only in connection with Him. If you cling by faith to Jesus you will be resurrected just like He was resurrected to eternal life with the Father in heaven. But this is not just about what will happen in the future when Christ comes again. This is about something we get to experience now when we trust in Christ. He becomes for us resurrection and life now! That s why Paul could say in Ephesians 2:4-5 - But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions it is by grace you have been saved.
So Christ took the resurrection out of the last days and pulled it into the present for Martha. In Christ we know the power of His resurrection today surging through our lives, lifting us out of the power of sin and death every day. Jesus uses a rotten situation to teach us about the reality of who He is, but also He teaches us about 2. THE CERTAINTY OF ETERNAL LIFE John 11:25b - He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; This is for Lazarus. Lazarus was a believer in Christ, and the sisters needed to know that while Lazarus body is already decaying in the grave, that part of Lazarus that is eternal, his soul, lives in the presence of the Lord even though his body has died. QUOTE: The great evangelist D. L. Moody, who lived in the late 1800s once said: Someday you will read in the papers, D. L. Moody of East Northfield is dead. Don't you believe a word of it! At that moment I shall be more alive than I am now. John 11:26 - and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this? Literally, they will never, never die. This is for Martha and Mary. They are believers in Christ and they need to know that they will never die. Yes, unless Christ came again beforehand, their bodies would die just like Lazarus did. But their soul, that part of them that last forever, will make an instant transition from the old earthly life to a new heavenly life. So as believers we are not on our way to death; we are on their way to life. So Jesus uses this tragedy to teach us the identity of who He is, the certainty of what will happen to us and 3. THE NECESSITY OF BELIEVING This is what Jesus has in mind all along. Before Jesus left to return to Bethany He told the disciples that Lazarus was dead
John 11:15a - and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. This is all about believing. In v.25 Jesus said, He who believes in me will live, even though he dies. And in v.26 He said, Whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Then He asked Martha the question, Do you believe this? When Christ speaks it creates a crisis of belief. Am I going to go on living life in my own strength and wisdom or am I going to take Jesus at His word and obey him? OUTLINE - DEFINITION: Faith is choosing to live in the assurance that God s word is true regardless of circumstances, emotions or cultural trends. Everything around Martha that day told her that this situation was impossible it stinks. When Jesus told them to remove the stone covering the opening of Lazarus tomb Martha protests, Lord, by now there is a bad odor. And Jesus admonished her: John 11:40 - Then Jesus said, Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God? ILLUSTRATION A year and a half ago when we started the process of refocusing and re-envisioning the future God has for our church one the Strategic Leadership Team members Missy Watts got a word from God. The Lord gave here Psalm 118:17 which says, I will not die but live, and will proclaim what the LORD has done. As our Prayer Team leader she has been faithful to remind us of that promise that God has a future for our church to live and to proclaim what the Lord has done. That s what it means to get a word from God had cling to it by faith. Jesus asked Martha, Do you believe this? Are you counting on this to be absolutely true? Are you putting your weight on this truth so that you are sustained by it? And Martha s answer: John 11:27 - Yes, Lord, she told him, I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world. What a great confession of faith! Yes Lord, I believe. It s settled! She believes Jesus. She confesses He is Lord, the Christ and the Son of God. This is where the Christian life starts Yes, Lord, I believe. Romans 10:9 says that if you confess
with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead you will be saved. So Jesus brings you to the crisis of discovering you are lost and He gives you a promise to believe that if you call on Him you will be saved. And when you believe God comes through. This is what starts your life in Christ and this is what sustains your life in Christ Yes, Lord, I believe. All through your life God will bring you to crisis after crisis to teach you to trust Him and take hold of the promises of His Word. Yes Lord, I believe. And you know you re living by faith when you re free from worry. You know you re living by faith when you are obeying God in what He tells you to do. And you know you re living by faith when you can worship Him even when things are going like you hoped they would. ILLUSTRATION One of the greatest illustrations of faith in the Bible comes from the life of Abraham. God came to Abraham one day and promised him that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the sky and the sands on the beach. And from his descendants all the nations of the earth would be blessed. But there s just one problem. Both Abraham and his wife Sarah are well beyond the years of being able to have children. But the Bible tells us that against all human hope Abraham simply said, Yes Lord, I believe. Romans 4:19 - Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead since he was about a hundred years old and that Sarah s womb was also dead. Faith isn t living in a fantasy land. It s facing the facts, but not accepting them as the last word. Like Lazarus their situation is dead, humanly speaking. Romans 4:20 - Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, You know you re living by faith when you can give glory to God even when you haven t seen the answer to your prayer. Romans 4:21 - being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. Yes, Lord, I believe