The Resurrection and the Life | What's in a Name?

We continue our sermon series. What is in a name,

or what's in a name, where we're looking at the

names, titles, distinctives of Jesus in the book

of John, where there are a lot, and we're only

looking at about 12 of them for this sermon series.

And this one is going to be kind of a part one,

part two. So part one now, part two will be actually

during Holy Week, as we will be talking about

the resurrection and the life, obviously through

Easter, because that is when that is on display.

four, and it's one that you hear a lot about

in church. It's one that's preached a lot, and

that is kind of the resurrection of Lazarus and

the understanding of what actually is happening.

And there are some key cultural things that we

need to understand this morning, which makes

what is already an unbelievable miracle. One

that, I mean, if we were to rank them, you know,

give like the SportsCenter top ten of Jesus'

miracles, my guess is this one's number one always,

outside of himself resurrecting from the dead,

would be someone that was dead being not dead,

being alive, in more simplistic terms. So we're

going to be in John 11 today. So John chapter

John 11 · chapter mention

11, we're going to start with verse 17, and we

need to kind of understand this moment of despair

that is going on. Now, as we in the United States,

kind of the Western Hemisphere in context of

the United States, death for 90%, a statistic

I just made up right now, we kind of all walk

through death the same way when it comes to making

arrangements. And this is a weird thing to hear,

and I don't hope this for my congregation, but

it's an area that fascinated me in seminary was

this idea of the sacredness of someone's, which

we don't really do last rites, that's more of

a Catholic ideology, but what I call a bedside,

sitting with people, sometimes when they physically

breathe their last, sitting with someone as they

go from death, or from life, I've yet to have

someone go from death to life. That would probably

freak me out. But from life to death, I will

always remember Lillian Kevers. Died two, three

years ago, maybe even closer to four now. I remember

we did three bedsides because I got texts from

Kevin and the family going, we think Pastor Hospice

said this is it. And so if I can, I try to be

there with those of the church. To help shepherd

them into glory, though I'm not doing anything.

I'm just holding their hand or praying or singing

or crying or D all of the above. And we did that

three times because she just, just though they

thought that the body was starting to, all of

a sudden it wouldn't. And there's a journey there

when you get to kind of that palliative care

or that hospice understanding. And bodies go

through some, they go through some, let's just

be honest, they go through some weird stuff.

I still remember that just mere days before my

sister passed, she was up eating. And then when

that cancer hit her brain, it just kind of faded

out, and life just kind of faded. And the thing

I can say is, though it follows similar patterns,

nobody is the same when they go. And I remember

Lillian opening up her eyes and saying, I see,

I see the angels. Again, I'm never going to say

that she didn't see it or that she was crazy

or hallucinating. I truly believe, and I think

it's right too, that she was getting a glimpse

of glory. That the Lord was calling her home.

Her room was ready. The table was prepared for

her. As we look at John in the Psalms. My hope

and my prayer is that we can all peacefully go

into that. That we can enter glory. But here's

the thing. This isn't really hard to understand,

though it is. When that happens. There's no coming

back. And if we're being honest, we don't want

to come back. I've heard people say, like, man,

I really hope heaven's a lot like here. I don't

at all, right? I don't want heaven to be anything

like the earth. Though we are promised a new

heaven and a new earth, we can't wrap our minds

around what that is. As Paul says in Corinthians,

what we see lit dimly in a mirror. One day we'll

see face to face. One day we'll see in 4K. But

right now we don't. We don't get it. We don't

fully understand it. And for us to want heaven

to be what earth is, I think that's foolish.

I think that shows an immaturity. And that shows

that you're probably in love with something here

that you shouldn't be. But that's a whole other

sermon series. So we have the moment of despair

in John 11. And what we have to understand here,

it's purposeful. Jesus arrives. Day four. So

just hold on to that as we jump into verse 17

of John chapter 11. Now when Jesus came, he found

John 11 · chapter mention

that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four

days. Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles

off. And many of the Jews had come to Martha

and Mary to console them concerning their brother.

So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she

went and met him. But Mary remained seated in

the house. Martha said to Jesus, Lord, if you

had been here, my brother would not have died.

But even now I know that whatever you ask from

God, he will give you. So we hear that despair.

And we see the two different approaches to Jesus.

That when death comes, and this probably covers

all of us, you fall in one or two camps. Either

you accept it early on. And you walk through

the arrangements and find closure. That's why

I always encourage family to do something. You

know, we think of the Achterhoffs and the Princes

and bringing closure to Twyla's life, knowing

that was mere months after they did that with

Twyla's husband, Doug's brother, Jeff. But that

you talk to them, and it was a time of family

coming together. When families don't do that,

or they don't want anything, it's kind of like

a comma at the end of the sentence. It's not

a period. There's still feelings that have to

come to closure. And we see one going and meeting

Jesus and saying, we're going to walk through

this. Okay. Jesus is here. Great. Yet we see

one standoffish. We see one that is sitting there

and waiting for Jesus to come comfort them. Both

of them, I submit this morning, are okay positions

to be in. That for some of us, We engage death

in a way that can early on make sense, and later

we fall apart with doubt or anger or we just

miss them. But for some, it takes a while. And

for those of us that have lost people in our

lives that maybe weren't at the end of life,

weren't rounding third on life, where we can,

you know, you're in your 90s. Okay, it kind of

makes sense. I don't know anybody in their 90s

that wishes they lived until 120. Okay? Some

of our 90s club, when I've talked with them,

the most would have won was Archie Buzine. And

he said, Jim, I loved my life. And he died at

98, 97 years old. He goes, but I'm so excited

for what comes next. Now, this is a man that

preached that for years and years and years.

But nobody that I've met then talked with of

faith in their 90s go, Pastor, I wish I could

do it all over again. You don't get that. But

for those of us that have lost people when we

in our kind of fleshly way go, that should not

have happened. I think of my sister. I know for

some of you lost people in their 20s and 30s

when numerically we go, this should not happen.

God, why did you do this? Why in the world would

you call a 36 -year -old home to glory, mom of

three kids, all the things? And we can enter

with just sitting. and waiting for the Lord to

make sense of death for us. And guess what? He

will give us, I think, a glimpse of that. But

for some of us, we engage it. We get to the forefront

and we engage it. The four days is important

today, friends. That is four days after Lazarus

died. And in Jewish tradition, there was an understanding

that after the close of the third day, death

was irreversible. Now, we don't really have that,

right? All of our, you know, whether you were

a fan of ER or whether you were a fan of Grey's

Anatomy, which probably, this is going to be

a hot take, should have been done 10 years ago,

but it's still going on. Understand that when

all of a sudden you hear the err on the, what

is it that does that? Oh, the heart monitor.

That makes sense. Okay, thanks. Is when we know

that that person's dead. I will always remember

Danny Carter. He was part of, he was kind of

our adoptive grandparents in Crown Point, Marianna

Danny Carter. And within three weeks, he went

from getting his toe run over by a car to going

to glory in three weeks for a myriad of reasons

that I'm not going to get into. But I remember

we were all holding hands at community. We were

all singing Great is Thy Faithfulness. And almost

on cue, we were done. And all of a sudden, the

nurse came in and said he was gone. Now I can

say now it was the joke because he wanted us

to stop singing. But understanding. That was

a joke, you can laugh. But understanding that

when that comes, we engage that as death. The

Jewish culture kept hope for three days. Now,

do I believe in my research that they were keeping

on that hope because they thought that this person

would rebound? I don't think so. But I think

there was a hope of the relationship with the

creator because they knew what was written in

the Old Testament. They knew what was written

about hope, about Yahweh doing these miracles.

So they allowed themselves three days of hope

that they would see this individual again. For

those of you in the medical field, I think you

would know that doesn't exist in the hospital.

That almost, it seems like too quick because

they want to... get the room reset. They get

the body out, they do all the things, and they

have to do it all over again. But I found it

fascinating this week that the Jewish culture

wanted to hold on hope of some kind of resurrection

for those three days. Which then when you insert

Jesus on the fourth day, it really props up this

name and this claim, two of them actually, of

Jesus, the resurrection and the life. We see

Martha expressing faith mixed with sorrow. And

friends, that's okay. Lord, if you had been there,

my brother would not have died. What is she banking

on? She's banking on the three miracles prior

of those kind of being dead or being really sick

or close to death to being alive. Or Jesus going,

she's not dead, she's sleeping. They heard about

all of that. Yeah, feeding the 5 ,000 the water

into wine. Sure, I'm sure that made it into the

gossip mill. But things like thought was dead

is now alive. Notice how those were all pretty

much in the moment. This one is not. This one's

four days later. Friends, that is significant,

and that means something. She believes, Martha

believes, that Jesus is power, but struggles

because in... Her mind, he was not on time. Now,

we don't know if she expected this. Well, they're

really good friends, so Jesus should have known

her from across the town. He could have just

done that and saved them. So the timing here

is important. In the ancient world, mourning

was communal. It was a deep communal practice.

Families would weep together for days. In this

culture, there were professional mourners. which

I've always thought, one of the weirdest things

that I learned in seminary was that there were

people who were hired to mourn with families.

I engage that and go, that's the coolest and

dumbest job I have ever heard in my life. That

you're paid to mourn. And it's probably a little

more drama and wailing the better. So we think

about that. I look out at you and go, some of

you would make fantastic mourners. I'm not going

to name any names. Some of you would make terrible

mourners. And that's okay. We don't do that now.

Smith's Funeral Home, Schroeder Lauer, they don't

hire professional mourners. So if your family

is close to doing that, don't worry about it.

They don't do that. But the weight of death was

visible. The weight of death was unavoidable.

That it was an understanding and a principle

in life, you will live and you will die. Many

Jews believed in the future resurrection because

of the prophet Daniel. In Daniel 12, he talks

about it, but did not expect that to be immediate,

hence the three days. So we have this understanding

that Martha assumes Jesus is speaking about the

distant future, not the present moment. Really

what we can take from this is which one do you

sit with? Mary or Martha? Are you engaging Jesus

regularly in life and talking about, you know,

Jesus, I know you have the power to heal. You

can ask all the questions and you take that prayer

time so seriously that you truly believe and

truly put in God's hands these things. Or are

you more standoffish? And your prayer life is

really signified by, Lord, your will be done

in my life. Both of those are okay places to

be with the Father. Okay understandings of how

he encourages us and engages us in our expectations.

But then leave it to Jesus to turn it completely

on its head. So we're going to continue in verse

23. Jesus says to her, your brother will rise

again. Martha said to him, I know that he will

rise again in the resurrection on the last day.

Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and

the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die,

yet shall he live. And everyone who lives and

believes in me shall never die. Let's stop there,

but keep it up, Nikki. You're Mary and Martha,

and what if he just stopped there? How are you

engaging that? Where it says, and everyone who

lives and believes in me shall never die. Here's

the curveball that came to me on Wednesday afternoon,

and I didn't want to preach this sermon. Anyone

guess what that curveball might have been? Again,

if we just stop there, not the do you believe

this part, we'll get that. The sermon has to

start sometime. If she's hearing this, and everyone

who lives and believes in me shall never die,

what would that curveball be? What? Exactly.

I knew someone would get it. That's why I didn't

put lunch on it. But understand, if anyone, Nikki,

you can be louder. My brother believed in you.

My brother was one of your best friends. We saw

you talking. We saw you joking around. We saw

you in community. He was your biggest cheerleader.

Now, that's me reading into the text, but they

were close. I'm sure he talked about all the

miracles. He talked about all the things. I'm

sure even in there, there was a profession. Again,

that's the gospel according to me, but that's

how I would read that. Then what in the world,

Jesus? I know he believed in you. Why did he

die? And for some of us, that's where we are

with death. For some of us, we don't fully understand

why we have to die. Believe it or not, in 20

years, I've had this conversation more than I

can count, even with my shoes off. That people

go, why do we have to go through death? in order

to have the relationship with Jesus. And I say

you have it turned on itself. You have life and

life to the fullest, and then it gets better

when we get with Jesus. It's better when we get

to glory. It's the wine skins all over again.

The best wine was at the end. If you're in love

with your life now, and you hold your life up

so high that you don't think heaven's going to

compare, then I really doubt your relationship

with Jesus. Because you're buying into here.

Take a look at our world today. Turn the news

on for five minutes. This is going to be better

than that? Friend, I think you're sorely mistaken.

The best is yet to come. So he doubles down and

he asks her the question, do you believe this?

Because he makes this claim. I am the resurrection

and the life. He who believes in me, though he

die, yet shall he live. Jesus is not just promising

future resurrection, but declaring his power

over life and death right now on day four. So

he is taking the Jewish ideology, blowing it

up, and saying, I am something better. The Heidelberg

Catechism question answer 45 asks, how does Christ's

resurrection benefit us? First, by his resurrection,

he has overcome death. Second, we are already

raised to new life with him. And third, his resurrection

is a guarantee of our glorious resurrection.

Friends, you know that when you die, you will

be resurrected. It's not going to be like Lazarus.

John Crist is one of my favorite comedians and

he does a whole bit about taking this story from

Lazarus' point of view. And I find it hilarious

that Lazarus is up there hanging out with all

the prophets, hanging out with Moses. He's hanging

out with Aaron and Joshua. And then like someone

comes up to his door. Excuse me, Mr. Lazarus.

You got to go back down. Clearly you don't find

it as funny as I do or as ironic, and that's

okay. But you think about that. If he is with

Jesus, and again, I'm not going to go super deep

theological with John Chris, but understanding

that this is a complete shift. This is a complete

different understanding of how life actually

works with Jesus. That our resurrection is guaranteed.

We have a glorious resurrection. Jesus' resurrection

is not just an event, but it's a foundation of

our life in him. Because I will rise, so you

will rise. That we will rise from the dead. And

then that question, do you believe this? Verse

27. She said to him, yes, Lord, I believe that

you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming

into the world. Jesus ends this statement with

a personal challenge, not only to her, but for

us today. Martha's response is a powerful confession

of faith. Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the

Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the

world. So we see her. We see this movement. We

see this closure. We see this, we kind of see

this mental gymnastics or emotional gymnastics

that she's going through with Jesus himself.

She moves beyond abstract theology to a personal

trust in Jesus as her savior. Because friends,

that's why you believe. If you profess that Jesus

is Lord and believe in your heart, That what?

God raised him from the dead. You shall be saved.

Why is it mouth and heart? Why is it not head

or mouth? Or mouth then head? Why is it not actions?

Why in the world would Paul write it that way?

Because there are too many people that just think

about it up here. That just cognitively think

Jesus is the Savior. We can say that. We have

kids right now that can say, yes, Jesus is the

Savior. Jesus rose from the dead. We celebrate

it on Easter. That's different than a profession.

The profession has to come. That true faith from

Lord's Day 7 is the knowledge and conviction

that Jesus is who he says he is. That Jesus in

bodily form rose from the dead. Belgian Confession

Article 22 helps us with this. We believe. That

for us to acquire the true knowledge of this

great mystery that Evan was talking about, the

Holy Spirit kindles in our heart a true faith.

Faith is not just an intellectual asset that

we have. And some of you are very wise when it

comes to theology. You know all the things. You

loved your time in catechism. You learned the

knowledgeable building blocks of faith. Awesome.

Praise the Lord. But it's a work of the Spirit,

regenerating the heart. And from there, the mind

is transformed. Set our mind on things above,

not on earthly things, as Paul says in Colossians.

Why? Because you died, and your life is hidden

with Christ. And when Christ appears, you will

appear with him in glory. So it's a mighty, mighty

teaching. And here's the thing. We haven't even

gotten to the miracle yet. Think about what's

going to happen. She makes this confession. She

makes this profession. Jesus does the teaching.

And guess what? We could have been done with

that account. We could have just moved on. Go

to the next thing. Get closer and closer to the

Last Supper. Good Friday and Easter. But we get

somewhere next week. Where the miracle actually

happens. That he actually is going to do something

huge. So Jesus' question for us before we get

to our application is, do you believe this? Is

our faith in Christ's resurrection power real

and personal for you today? Or is it something

just kind of far off? Something you're like,

I get all the Jesus stuff. death thing, I really

just need a lot more convincing, or I need a

lot more scientific understanding. Friend, at

some point, that falls off. And it takes faith

in Jesus' resurrection power. So as we lead into

the miracle for next week, where do we go from

here? Well, for our head, we need to know the

resurrection. Study the biblical teachings on

the resurrection. Go to 1 John 15, Philippians

3. And then reflect, how does Christ's resurrection

shape your understanding of eternal life? For

our heart, trust the resurrection. Rest in the

assurance that death has been defeated in Christ.

Let this truth bring you to comfort in times

of fear or grief. And then reflect, are you living

with resurrection hope? Or do you live with the

fear of death? or the fear of the unknown. And

then finally, the work to go out this week is

to proclaim the resurrection. We share the hope

of the resurrection with those who do not know

Christ. Funerals are one of the, should be for

pastors and preachers and officiants, should

be one of the greatest places to preach the gospel.

Because you're not preaching the deceased, you're

preaching... Christ, a resurrected Christ. So

share the hope of the resurrection with those

who don't know Jesus. So here's our challenge.

Who in your life needs to hear the message of

the resurrection? How can you share this hope

with him? And so next week, we're going to see

one truth. That Jesus does not merely offer resurrection,

but he is and will be the resurrection and the

life. We find out not just hope for the future,

but his power for today. His victory over death,

his victory of life, that he is our life. That

we can share that life with others. Let's pray.