When Jesus Doesn't Make It (part 1)

Sermon Series: When Jesus Doesn’t Make It Right

Sermon Title: When Jesus Doesn’t Make It

Sermon Passage: John 11:1-37 (NIV)

INTRO:

Zach was quickly becoming a good friend.  He was the bass player in a band my best friend Jason played in and one of the nicest guys you could have ever met.  Zach and I liked staying up and playing Nintendo all night.  Being college students, we could handle such a strenuous task.  We talked about having the all night game nights once a month when Zach went home for the winter break.  We scheduled another evening of goofing off for the weekend he returned…only Zach did not return.

I received a call one day from Jason who simply said, “I don’t know how else to say it but Zach is dead.  I am sorry I didn’t get in touch sooner but we are on our way to VA for the funeral today.”

Talk about a blow to the head.  I could not wrap my head around this loss for a long time.  How could such a great guy die in such a senseless and tragic manner?  Zach was the passenger in a car that lost control on the ice and hit an embankment.  The sudden blow caused Zach to break his neck.  The lead singer of the band was waiting just a couple of miles away to pick up Zach to get ready to head to Athens, and he was trained in CPR but he could not revive Zach.  Zach died.

We probably can all relate to a tragic event that happened in our life.  Death, divorce, sickness, you name it.  Tragedy is no stranger to us.  This was one of many tragedies that I have faced in my brief lifetime.  And I can tell you I do not have the answer for many of them.

There are times my faith has been challenged and times when I have questioned my faith, but for me my faith always comes back to rest on what I would like to discuss with you today.  If you are not a Christian, please do not tune me out, there may just be something in what I say that might help you through tragedies that you will face in your life.  If you are a Christian, then lean in this morning, because you may be facing a tragedy or know someone who is. 

The question of whether we will or will not face tragedy is not if but when.  Everyone take your these two fingers and reach across to your other arm and take your pulse.  If you have a pulse you will face tragedy in life and some of you will face it more often than others.  Tragedy does not play favorites.

Why we face tragedy is not a mystery.  We live in an imperfect world that is filled with sin.  Sin is a black hole of death and destruction.  Sin authors tragedy’s sonnets. 

So if we are going to face, or are currently facing, tragedy, what do we do about it?

As Christians, when we face tragedy we can turn to Jesus who wants us to have His strength.  In fact Paul tells the Philippians in his letter to them that he can do all things through Jesus Christ who is his strength.  If there ever was someone who faced countless tragedies, it was Paul – shipwrecked, stoned, beaten, mugged, jailed…yet Paul wants us all to know that Jesus is the key to having strength in the midst of the storms we face in life.

As we face tragic situations, Jesus renews our strength.

• -         when we wait
• -         when we choose life
• -         when we turn to Him

Let’s look at a tragedy in the Bible to help us understand this better.

I.       As we face tragic situations, Jesus renews our strength when we wait.

John 11:1-6

-         Here we have Jesus being informed of the sickness that has overtaken Lazarus.  His sisters, whose family seemed to know Jesus well, send word to Him in hopes of a healing.  They knew Jesus had the power to heal. 

-         

     Jesus gives insight to what would happen.  He says that the sickness would not end in death.  For most who read this, we read the sickness will not end in death but hear the sickness will not cause death because for Christians we believe in the power of God to heal or as nonbelievers they refuse to accept anything but a full recovery.

-         There are some acts of life we do not understand: cancer, heart attacks, car accidents, murder, sickness, etc.  When these tragic events occur, our faith is challenged.  Jesus sees this event as a way God’s glory becomes more evident, and in this particular case, an opportunity for the God’s Son to be glorified. 

-         But Jesus stayed two more days.  I think this is where faith is most challenging to us - when Jesus does not react to our reaction or respond to our cry or move when we ask Him to move.  Jesus stayed and this causes many to question the love of Jesus and even the existence of Christ because Jesus was not there when they wanted Him to show up the most.

-         Jesus stayed two more days so we may ask, how much did He really love Martha, Mary, and Lazarus?

-         How much does He really love us when we are suffering?  This sounds like a terrible question to ask but when you are going through a tough situation in life, it is the only question that seems to matter.  Where is Jesus when I need Him?  What happens when Jesus doesn’t make it?

-         Is He going to wait two days in my situation and let the worst happen? 

-         Then we read a simple verse that says this:

29 He gives power to the weak, And to those who have no might He increases strength.  30 Even the youths shall faint and be weary, And the young men shall utterly fall, 31 But those who wait on the Lord Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint. Isaiah 40:29-31 (NKJV)

-         The key is not whether Jesus loves us.  Jesus already showed how much He loves us by dying for us in our place to pay for our sins.

-         The key is not in Jesus waiting two days.  The key is, are we going to be patient enough to wait for Him?  Are we going to turn and seek Him out when things get bad so He can become our strength in the midst of the storm?  Are we going to wait upon the Lord long enough for us to realize that all the time we waited He was becoming our strength, our willpower, our ability to keep fighting through that situation that is creating our darkest hour.

-         The Bible says that through Christ we can do all things.  I am here to say without Christ the fight leaves us, the willpower leaves us, the ability to keep holding on leaves us and we crash.

-         Don’t crash, wait on the Lord and He will increase your strength.