II. As we face tragic situations, Jesus renews
our strength when we choose life.
John
11:7-16
-
The men with Jesus show their love
for Him by warning Him about the dangers of Judea. Their foresight unfortunately showed the
indecision they wrestled with when being asked to follow Him.
-
They had already witnessed the anger
of the crowds of people who wanted to stone Jesus to death. When Jesus said they need to return to the
fire, they were a bit hesitant.
-
Following Jesus takes courage if we
are going to face the great trials in life because following Him means we have
to face fear, hurt, and even death. Our
natural tendency is to shrink back from each of these situations. What the people forgot is that Jesus was not
only walking with them, He was also leading the way.
-
That’s what He means by people
walking by night and walking by day.
With Jesus there to show us the way through the darkness of our turmoil,
our pain, or our fears, we become more aware of our surroundings, and He makes
the way passable. Without Jesus, we rely
on the darkness of our world but that darkness leads to stumbling and more hurt
and more fear.
-
Then Jesus tells the disciples the
reason they had to face their fears. By
knowing the reason we face fear or pain or hurt, we become stronger and more
prepared. Jesus does this for us.
o
He tells the disciples that Lazarus
was asleep and then has to explain that Lazarus was dead. Thomas decides to follow along with Jesus and
encourages the others to do likewise.
-
Satan would have us think that we
are all following Jesus blindly and without care. Satan wants the world to think that
Christianity exists for a weak minded people who cannot handle life without a
crutch. To the world we are a bunch of
Humpty Dumptys sitting on the wall awaiting our fall because when we do then we
will find out that our Savior can’t put us back together.
-
But I am here to tell you that Satan
is a liar and a thief who comes to steal, kill, and destroy. He wants to steal your hope, kill your faith,
and destroy your path to God by placing seeds of doubt in your mind.
-
I am also here to tell you that
following Jesus is not certain death but learning to live life. We stop living when we give in to our fears
and to our pains.
-
Jesus promises that those who follow
Him will have life and not any ole life but life more abundant. I want to challenge those who are not
following Jesus today, to ask yourself, how much of life are you missing
because Satan has stolen your hope? We
only have certain amount of daylight in a day, so do not miss out on the
daylight you have by spending your time waiting in the darkness. Live life!
III. When we face tragic situations, Jesus renews
our strength when we turn to Him.
John 11:17-20
-
Jesus does arrive. His timing is not our timing.
-
Notice that Martha runs to Jesus
while Mary stays home. Sometimes Christians
are the most hurt when we think that Jesus didn’t care enough to save us from
our situations.
-
Mary believed deeply in Jesus but
her hurt was about to test her belief.
-
Hurt will test your faith. Pain will test your faith. Death of loved ones will test your faith.
-
How will you react? Will you run to Jesus or not?
-
Let me reemphasize that Jesus
arrived and not only arrived but met with Martha and as we will see Jesus went
to Mary. You may not feel like running
to Jesus in your darkness but let me tell you He has arrived and is approaching
you regardless. How will you respond?
-
You may feel alone and lost in your
tragedy but Jesus is approaching you, and you just may be surprised to find out
He is already there.
John
11:21-32
-
Martha wasn’t afraid to address
Jesus. She did not blame Jesus but she
did let Jesus know her expectations. Yet
even in her hurt, she knew Jesus had a purpose.
-
God can deal with our hurts. The Bible is full of people who are hurt and
who question why God did not answer their prayer when they wanted and how they
wanted. Martha is not any different. We are not any different.
-
God wants that interaction because in this interaction, we
learn how to listen to His voice. Jesus in this situation tells Martha that
Lazarus will live again.
-
Martha confesses her faith. She understood that death was only a doorway
to life eternal and her brother was experiencing eternal life.
-
Jesus is the resurrection and the
life. He was already telling people
about resurrection but because they had not seen His power over death, their
understanding was limited to trusting His words. Not until the death of Jesus and His
resurrection do people begin to grasp the enormity of these words.
-
Notice that as Jesus drew closer to
Mary, Mary responded and ran to Him. Her
choice was not to sit and be miserable but to get up and go to Him.
-
I do not care how comforting your
friends and family can be, there is nothing like falling at the feet of Jesus
and pouring out your heart to Him. Mary
fell at His feet just like she used to sit at His feet and listen to Him
teach. She then poured out her heart.
-
Carrying your hurt, pain,
uncertainties, or burdens will weigh you down.
Only when you go to Jesus and begin to pour out your heart does the
weight get lifted and you begin to realize that Jesus doesn’t just approach you
but He also takes the weight off of you.
-
The Bible tells us that:
28 Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For My yoke is easy and My burden is light." Matt 11:28-30 (NKJV)
-
There are a lot of people who are
walking around and carry their hurts believing that these hurts are
strengthening them. Certainly our life
situations can make us stronger but will we ever find true rest trying to carry
them?
-
Jesus gives us rest from always
trying to be the strong one and always trying to be the one who can carry the
load. The problem with trying to be the
strong one is that eventually the weight wears us down. Jesus knows the weight of the world. He faced it in the garden the night before His
death. It was so heavy He began to sweat
blood. Then He bore that weight on the
cross and when He died the whole earth began to shake.
-
Jesus knows the weight you are
trying to carry alone and He wants to help.
He is walking closer to today.
How will you respond? Like Mary
who ran to Him or like the world who runs from Him?
-
Turn to Jesus and He will increase
your strength!
Conclusion:
John
11:33-37
-
Jesus was moved with emotion when He saw
her tears. The most powerful verses do
not have to be the longest verses. I
think verse 35 packs plenty of power for just being two words long. Jesus
wept.
-
Jesus has emotions. Jesus does cry.
-
But look at how the people around began
to react. Some thought that Jesus truly
loved Lazarus and was joining in the mourning ritual. But others questioned His ability to save a
dying man.
-
Satan works to make us doubt Christ’s
ability to be our strength. When Jesus
does not work in that one situation, Satan highlights that situation and
magnifies and intensifies its meaning to us.
Satan wants to convince us that the Jesus we know is powerless and if
Jesus is powerless then Jesus must not exist.
-
Satan wants us to believe that since
Jesus did not show up, Jesus will never show up, and we are on our own. Despite the crowds around us witnessing the approach
of Jesus, Satan wants us to focus on ourselves.
When we turn inward turning to Jesus becomes more difficult because we
stop looking for Him.
I think Jesus did more than just weep for the pain
Mary was facing. I think Jesus
experienced the pain of millions of people who would face death or tragedy or
hurt and would turn away from Him rather than to Him. This is why He had to raise Lazarus from the
dead and not just heal him. He had to
show people that death was more than just death. He had to show people that death was a
doorway to eternal life.
I think Jesus also wept for our families. He knows how much we miss our loved ones when
they die. But He also knows how much we
will be missed when we die. The turmoil
that most people face when they lose someone emerges when they try to figure what
happened to them. Did they make it to
heaven or did they miss out?
What are people going to think when you die? Are you going to let your family wonder? Or are you going to turn your life over to God
and help you loved one’s find rest in the hope that you are resting in the
Savior’s arms.
The only way for us to rest in His arms is to be
ready for death. When we are, we find
that we can live life to the full. Don’t
let Satan steal your hope and your trust in God. Trust in Jesus today and start living life
more abundantly.
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