I Am the Resurrection

Today's reading is from John chapter 11, starting at verse 1, and we read.

John 11 · chapter mention

Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha.

It was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was ill.

So the sister sent to him, saying, Lord, he whom you love is ill.

But when Jesus heard it, he said, this illness does not lead to death.

It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.

Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.

So when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.

Then after this, he said to his disciples, let us go to Judea again.

The disciples said to him, Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking to stone you, and are you going there again?

Jesus answered, are there not 12 hours in the day?

If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world.

But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.

After saying these things, he said to them, our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I will go to awaken them.

The disciples said to him, Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover.

Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought he meant taking rest and sleep.

Then Jesus told them plainly, Lazarus has died, and for your sake, I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe, but let us go to him.

So Thomas, called the twin, said to his fellow disciples, let us also go, that we may die with him.

Now when Jesus came, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for days.

Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles off, and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to consult 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, God will give you.

Jesus said 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.

Do you believe this?

She said to him, yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Christ, the son of God, who is coming into the world.

When she has said this, she went and called her sister Mary, saying in private, the teacher is here and is calling for you.

And when she heard it, she rose quickly and went to him.

Now, Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was still in the place where Martha had met him.

When the Jews who were with her in the house consoling her, saw Mary rise quickly and go out, they followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb to weep there.

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.

When Jesus saw her weeped.

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.

And he said, where have you laid him?

They said to him, Lord, come and see.

Jesus wept.

So the Jews said, see how he loved him.

But some of them said, could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man also have kept this man from dying?

Then Jesus deeply moved again, came to the tomb.

It was a cave and a stone laid against it.

Jesus said, take away the stone.

Master, the sister of the dead man said to him, Lord, by this time there will be an odour, for he has been dead four days.

Jesus said to her, did I not tell you that if you believe you would see the glory of God?

So they took away the stone.

And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, Father, I thank you that you have heard me.

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.

When he had said these things, he cried out in a loud voice, Lazarus, come out.

Come out.

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.

This is the word of God.

Amen.

Great.

Thank you, Bernard and Angie, for reading that for us.

Thank you, Christine, for sharing your story, a story which is full of tears, but also a story full of resurrection power.

And we are excited to continue to watch your story unfold and see how the life of God is working in your life.

So thank you for being vulnerable.

Thank you for being real with us and not just putting on a brave face.

Thank you for letting us into your life, Christine.

We really appreciate that.

Well, Watermark, it is really great to be with you again.

And it's great to be with you for the last time online.

Hopefully the last time in a very long time.

Hopefully the last time ever.

But at least the last time for a while.

We are so excited to see you next Sunday at Ebenezer in person so that we can sing and pray and worship and listen and take communion together as a church family.

Bring your vaccine pass.

Come early.

We're excited to see you next Sunday.

But today is Resurrection Sunday.

It is the heart of Christianity.

Today is the day that we celebrate not only that Jesus died on the cross to take upon himself the sins of all those who would trust in him and hope in him and come to saving faith in him.

In our place condemned he stood.

Today we celebrate not only the wonderful truth of our justification that our sins have been put in Christ.

But today we celebrate the fact that the tomb is empty.

That Jesus rose again to vindicate all his amazing claims.

To prove that he is the Christ.

To defeat the grave and put an end to death.

And so Christ is risen.

He is risen indeed.

Today we are going to look at this very fascinating passage in John 11.

It's a very famous passage.

And it's a passage which is full of intrigue and mystery.

If you're paying attention while Bernard and Angie were reading,

There's a whole lot of things in this passage that at first glance kind of make you think,

Hang on, what's going on here?

And so there's a couple of surprising and interesting things in this passage.

So let's dive in and then we're going to see how this applies to our lives today.

The first thing I think we should notice is the surprising ministry of Jesus.

The surprising tenderness and care of Jesus.

This passage is full of all the things that you and I experience in this world.

The brokenness and the pain of this world.

I don't know if you noticed in verse 8, Jesus says to his disciples,

Let's go to Judea.

And his disciples automatically say,

Jesus, don't you remember just recently the religious leaders here in Judea were trying to kill you,

trying to end your life.

Why would you go there?

And yet Jesus goes straight there.

He walks into, as dead trap as was, he walks into the brokenness of the world.

And of course, you notice the tears, right?

The passage is full of tears.

And Jesus joins Mary in her tears.

He even weeps with her.

And the surprising thing is that Jesus is going to raise Lazarus from the dead in a few minutes,

maybe half an hour's time.

And yet, despite that, he joins Mary in her tears.

You know, it's kind of like if you've got a young child or a child at home and something goes wrong.

Let's say they're building a Lego set and someone breaks down or they're making a drawing or craft and it gets crumbled,

damaged, or they spill their juice and there's tears, right?

Oh, no, the world has come to an end.

As a parent, what do you do?

And instinctively, I'll say, it's okay.

Don't worry.

Don't worry.

We're going to sort it out.

Look, I'll help you rebuild the Lego or I will help you with your craft or don't worry.

We'll wipe it up.

We'll get you some more juice.

We automatically run to the solution.

But Jesus doesn't do that.

Even though he's about to raise Lazarus from the dead, you might expect Jesus to say,

Mary, Mary, don't worry.

Just come with me to the tomb.

We'll raise him and it'll all be fine.

But Jesus doesn't do that.

He joins Mary in her tears.

He weeps with her.

He mourns with her.

Part of what the story wants to show us is that Jesus is not some pie-in-the-sky stoic,

a mighty ruler from another world who just finds our pain and our tears unbearable

and who wants to quickly solve our problems.

Do you remember Christine just shared that a few minutes ago?

She said, I was brought up and tempted to bury my pain just to cover over it,

to not expose it.

But Jesus is not like that.

Jesus' surprising tenderness in ministry as he moves towards the areas of our lives

where we are most burdened.

In fact, I don't know if you know, it's in verse 39.

There's this amazing little encounter where Martha, and Jesus says,

now open up the tomb.

And Martha says, Jesus, he's been in there for four days.

That tomb is not going to smell nice at all.

And friends, all of us have areas of our lives that stink as badly as that dead man's tomb.

All of us have areas in our life that we want to cover up, lock, and seal,

and don't want to let anybody or anything in.

But Jesus wants to move into those areas of our lives.

Jesus wants to bring his resurrection life and his redeeming power and his healing grace

to the areas that we find most burdensome, the areas that we find most troubling,

the areas that we find most disagreeable.

Christ wants to move in there.

One of the things that commentators quickly point out in this passage,

and you might have noticed it,

is the way that Jesus responds to Mary and Martha in the exact same way.

Look at verse 21.

Martha comes to Jesus and says, Lord, if you'd been here, my brother would not have died.

And Jesus says, your brother will rise again.

And Mary, a few verses later, comes to Jesus with the exact same words.

She says, Lord, if you'd been here, my brother would not have died.

And what does Jesus do?

He weeps with her.

To one, Jesus brings this theological truth.

He brings truth to Martha, and to Mary, he brings tears.

Tim Keller says, why does he do this?

Why does Jesus bring truth to one and tears to the other?

Why does he treat these two sisters differently?

Why does he respond to one sister in one way,

and another sister who brings the exact same problem in a completely different way?

And Tim Keller's answer is, because Jesus is perfect.

Jesus is perfect.

He knows each one of us.

He knows what we need.

See, some of us need truth.

We need the truth that will set us free.

Jesus, for some of us, will bring truth that confronts us,

that challenges us, that confronts the sin in our lives,

confronts the idols that we've been trusting in.

Jesus will sometimes bring a truth that will even confront the unbelief in our hearts.

He will bring his truth to set us free.

But for others of us, Jesus will just simply bring his tenderness,

the ministry of tears.

Jesus is perfect.

And for the areas of our lives where we are tempted to most cover up,

Jesus brings his surprising ministry of grace.

But notice, secondly, the surprising love of Jesus.

You probably would have picked this up in the very first verses.

When Bernard read it again, even though I've read this passage hundreds of times,

it always arrests me.

Look at verses 2 to 6 with me.

Verse 2 says,

Verse 5 says,

Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.

So, therefore, when he heard that Lazarus was ill,

he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.

In other words, he stayed where he was and let Lazarus die.

Now, that doesn't make sense to us, right?

Because if Jesus, as Rebecca McLaughlin recently pointed out,

if Jesus said, or if the passage said,

you know, Jesus didn't care about Mary and Martha and Lazarus.

They meant nothing to him.

So, he stayed where he was and let them die.

Okay, that would make sense.

Callous, maybe, uncaring, but it would make logical sense.

If the passage said,

Jesus cared them and loved them deeply,

so he rushed to their side to come and help them in their time of need,

well, that would make sense to us as well.

Here the passage says,

Jesus loved them,

so he stayed where he was and let Lazarus die.

Why does he do that?

One of the things that Jesus wants us to see

is his surprising love for us

means that he orchestrates things

so that we will see our need for him.

Previously, the sisters call out to Jesus

because Lazarus, their brother, needs him.

They call on Jesus,

much like one of you or I

would call on a doctor or a nurse at the hospital

if we were at the bedside of someone we loved.

You call the doctor and say,

please, I need you here

because this person that I love is in need of you.

Mary and Martha call on Jesus

because Lazarus needs him.

They need him to do something for them.

But later on,

they run to Jesus

because they need him.

They don't just need Jesus to do something for them.

They don't just need his miraculous power

to solve their problems.

They call on Jesus

because they need his tender ministry.

Jesus' surprising love for us

means that because he loves us,

he won't always give us what we want,

but he will give us what we need.

What do Mary and Martha need?

Friends, what do you and I need?

We don't just need a miracle to solve our problems.

We need to encounter the sovereign,

all-pervasive love of Christ himself,

the risen Christ.

We need to encounter him in our lives.

We need to see his love for us

and run to him and encounter him.

In verse 4, we skip this,

it says this,

Jesus says,

this illness does not lead to death.

It is for the glory of God

so that the Son of God

may be glorified through it.

And at first you read that

and you think,

that sounds very egotistical.

Jesus is saying,

listen, I'm going to let Lazarus lie

so that when I rise and raise him from the dead,

all men will glorify me

and worship me

and tell me how wonderful I am.

I think that sounds very egotistical.

But if you've been reading

the book of John's Gospel

with us through the month of,

through Lent,

one of the things you'll see

is that Jesus is constantly avoiding the crowds.

Time and time again,

the crowds want to take Jesus

and make him king by force

and Jesus slips out of their way.

Jesus is constantly avoiding

the praise and the glory of man.

So what does Jesus mean here?

What he means is that

Jesus reveals himself,

not for the sake of his pride or his ego,

but so that people like Mary and Martha,

that people like you and I

can be drawn to him

and encounter him

in our place of need.

Jesus says the same thing,

actually, a couple of chapters later

in John chapter 14.

John 14 · chapter mention

He says this,

the person who loves me

will be loved by my father.

I will love him

and reveal myself to him

or make myself known to him.

One of the ways that Jesus loves us

is by revealing who he is

and drawing us into himself

so that we can encounter his grace.

Jesus doesn't love us primarily

by keeping us from suffering

or pain or death.

He loves us by drawing us into himself,

sometimes even allowing us

to go through suffering.

Because for those that have encountered

Jesus and his grace,

those who know how to find their rest

in Jesus,

suffering,

though it feels like death,

death always leads to life.

Because that is the cruciform life.

That is the pattern of Easter,

death,

and then resurrection.

And that leads us,

thirdly,

to the third thing,

the surprising promise of Jesus.

The surprising ministry of Jesus

is the fact that he moves

into the very brokenness of our lives.

The areas that we most want to keep hidden,

Jesus moves in.

The surprising love of Jesus

is that he doesn't always give us

exactly what we want,

but because he loves us,

he gives us what we need.

And sometimes that will feel like death,

but actually it leads to life.

But thirdly,

the surprising promise of Jesus.

And in this,

we come to the heart of the passage.

This passage reveals not only

the wonderful attributes of Jesus

and his amazing love for us,

but it also reveals

the heart of Christianity,

the promise of resurrection hope.

And so look with me

at verses 23 to 27.

Look at this conversation

Jesus has with Martha.

Martha says,

Lord,

if you'd been here,

my brother would not have died.

But even now,

I know whatever you ask,

God will give you.

Jesus says to her,

your brother will rise again.

Martha says,

I know he will rise again

at the resurrection on the last day,

and I look forward to that.

And Jesus says,

no,

Martha,

I am the resurrection

and the life.

Whoever believes in me,

though he die,

he shall live.

And whoever lives

and believes in me

shall never die.

Why is this good news?

Why do Christians

all around the world

celebrate the good news

of the resurrection?

Why is what Jesus is saying here

good news for people

like you and I?

Well,

there's a couple of things

that I think we ought to see

in this passage.

The first one is,

Jesus wants us to see

that the good news

of the resurrection

is not just a concept

or philosophy

or a way of life.

It's a person.

It's a person.

It's Jesus himself.

Now,

notice how,

when Jesus seeks

to help Martha,

if he doesn't help her

just by giving her

religious or trite

religious sympathies,

where,

you know,

when someone passes away,

what do we typically say?

We typically say

they've gone to a better place.

And we say this

in order to comfort ourselves,

in order to make ourselves

feel better.

But what does that actually mean?

I mean,

that is so general,

so vague,

so trite.

They've gone to a better place.

Well,

how do you know that?

And who's gone to a better place?

And how do you know

that that's actually

a better place after all?

And how do you know

that they themselves

have gone there?

Jesus,

when he promises us

resurrection hope,

Jesus doesn't just give us

vague,

religious,

trite answers.

Jesus doesn't give us

generalities like

you've gone to a better place

and don't worry,

everything's going to work out fine.

Jesus gives us

something concrete,

something solid,

something that we can

hold on to.

Jesus gives us

the rock solid assurance

that the promise

of the resurrection

is not found

in a vague concept

or Jesus,

let me put it this way,

Jesus doesn't just give us

a religious book.

He gives us himself,

the historic,

physical,

human being,

fully God,

fully man,

that walked on the earth,

Jesus gives us himself.

Jesus says,

I am the resurrection

and the life.

In,

you know,

in the first century,

there was this form

of kind of religion

called Gnosticism,

which,

which said that

everything material

is kind of bad,

it's all going to fade away

and die anyway.

And the really spiritual people

that don't really care

about the physical world,

spiritual people

are those that have

ascended to a higher

ethereal and philosophical

and spiritual realm.

And John,

who wrote the Gospel of John,

writes a bunch of letters

to the Christian church

to say,

no, no, no,

that's not true.

True spiritual maturity

isn't just measured

in the ethereal realm,

it's confidence

in the physical,

real person of Jesus.

Listen to how John

writes this in his letter.

He says,

that which was

from the beginning,

that which we've heard,

that which we've seen

with our eyes,

that which we've looked upon

and touched with our hands,

the word of life,

that which we've seen

and heard,

him we proclaim to you.

When John wants to write

to these Christians

that are suffering

and struggling

and encountering difficulty,

he doesn't just say,

oh, let's just philosophize,

let me give you some vague,

spiritual, trite answers.

He says,

there is a person

who walked on the earth

that we felt

and touched

and looked upon

and encountered.

He's risen,

he's alive,

trust and bank in him.

Jesus says,

I am the resurrection

and the life.

Do you remember

when Jesus rises

from the dead,

one of his disciples,

Thomas,

he wasn't there

when the disciples

first encountered Jesus

and the disciples

run to him and say,

Thomas, he's risen,

he's risen.

And Thomas says,

unless I touch

the scars in his hand

and the mark

and I put my hand

in his side,

I will not believe it.

We call Thomas

doubting Thomas

and we sometimes

use that word

disparaging me.

But Thomas is on to something.

Thomas is saying,

don't just give me

vague generalities.

I want something concrete.

I want something

to bank my life

and I want to know

that if Jesus is risen,

there's something real

and concrete to that.

Don't just give me

an ethereal philosophy.

And Jesus says,

I am the resurrection.

The resurrection of hope

is a person.

It's concrete.

It's real.

You can bank your life

for me.

Two years ago,

one of my heroes,

Tim Keller,

the pastor in New York,

he had just written

this book

around about Easter

and about hope in death.

And the book

had been published

for a month

and he goes to the doctor.

He said,

they have some scans.

He had some pain

in the stomach

and the doctor calls him up

and says,

I've got bad news.

You've got late stage

pancreatic cancer

and you're going

to die from this.

It may be a couple

of months,

maybe a year,

maybe two years

if you're lucky,

but you're going

to die from this.

And Tim Keller says

that after 40 years

of being a minister,

all the theology

and everything

he had shared

with others

suddenly had to

be real for him.

And he wrote

an article

for the Atlantic Magazine

a few months later

and he says,

before the cancer,

the resurrection

of Jesus

had been mostly

theoretical for me,

but not now.

And he says,

he goes back

and he looks

at all his old sermons

and his theology

of the resurrection

of Jesus

and how that guarantees

his own resurrection

to glory.

And he says this,

he says,

Christ's resurrection

and therefore

my own resurrection

became even more formidable.

The theology

gave my place

a footing,

but still

I needed more.

He's saying,

the theology

was strong

in my head.

I believed it.

I understood it.

It was good.

It was real.

It gave me comfort,

but it wasn't enough.

I didn't just need theology.

And he goes on

the article

to write,

what he needed

was the heartwarming

encounter

with the living

Christ.

Because that's what

Jesus says to Martha.

Martha says,

I know in the last day

he will rise

and yes,

that'll be wonderful.

And Jesus says,

don't you see,

I am the resurrection.

Martha,

if you want hope

from your tragedy,

you've got to come to me.

You've got to come to me.

Friends,

don't you long

for something concrete

and real?

Friends,

don't you long

in all the tragedy

of this world

for something real?

You don't just need

theology.

You don't just need

a red book.

You don't just need

a philosophy.

You need to live in Christ.

Jesus says,

I am the resurrection life.

Come to me.

But notice,

secondly,

that Jesus says here

that the resurrection

of hope

is not only a person,

but the hope

of the resurrection

is the end of death.

Look what he says

to Martha.

He says,

whoever believes in me,

though he die,

yet shall he live.

And whoever lives

and believes in me

shall never die.

Jesus is saying here

that the great enemy

of humanity,

the one thing

that all human beings

have sought to evade,

the great enemy

of humanity

has been defeated,

has been destroyed.

Jesus says,

the one thing in the world

that we all seek

to avoid,

the things that we spend

our entire lives

trying to evade,

has been transformed

from a verdict,

a sentence,

into a servant.

What once was

our great enemy

now gets turned

into our servant

that actually helps us

and escorts us

into fullness of life.

What once brought

judgment

now takes us

by the hand

and walks us

from one form of life

into the fullness of life.

It's kind of like

death gets transformed

from a doorway

into judgment,

into an entrance hole,

into fullness of life.

I don't even remember

the great poem

by John Dunn

called Death,

Be Not Proud.

I remember reading this

in high school

and just being astounded

by this poem.

He writes this,

I'll just quote a short section.

He says,

Death,

be not proud.

Though some have called thee

mighty and dreadful,

thou art not so.

One short sleep past,

we wake eternally

and death will be no more.

Death,

thou shalt die.

Friends,

Jesus says that

for those who are in Christ,

those who have come

to save in faith in Him,

because He has died

and risen again,

because the tomb is empty

and the grave has opened,

death has been transformed

from a sentence,

a verdict,

into a servant

that brings you into life.

Paul says the same thing

in Corinthians.

He says,

Death,

where is your sting?

Death,

where is your victory?

Death has been swallowed up

by life.

I've got a friend of mine

who's British

and he says that

when he used to live in England,

he used to go and watch

football games

and you know,

in the Premier League,

the crowds can chant

the enemy,

the opposition side

and they sing these

rude songs,

mocking their enemy.

One no down,

one no down,

you're gonna lose,

you're gonna lose.

There was a story recently

of one team

that has gone bankrupt

and so at their next game,

the whole crowd,

50,000 people,

start singing,

you're going bankrupt,

you're going bankrupt.

They're mocking their enemy.

Paul's doing the same thing.

Yeah,

he's mocking death,

he's saying death.

So just point out to me,

sorry,

where is your sting again?

So death,

just remind me,

where is your victory?

You're going down,

you're going down.

Paul is mocking the fact

that death

has been destroyed.

Jesus says the same thing here.

He says,

whoever believes in me,

even though he walks

through the doorway

that was meant

to be a sentence,

is being converted

into a servant.

They will enter

into fullness of life.

But notice

thirdly here,

this is all

well and good,

it's,

but Jesus makes

these wonderful promises,

wonderful assurances,

but there's something else here.

If Jesus promises

that

those who die in Christ

will rise to life,

why does Jesus

raise Lazarus

from the dead?

I mean,

think about it,

if Jesus' words,

you know,

his message is simply

that those who believe in him

will not feel

the effects of death,

they will pass

from life to life.

Why raise Lazarus

from the dead?

Why not just leave

Mary and Martha

with the comfort

and the hope

that Lazarus

will pass to glory

and all will be well again

and you'll soon

get to be with him?

Why does Jesus

raise Lazarus

from the dead?

I think there's

two reasons here.

The first is,

Jesus wants to show us

that his words

are not in vain.

Do you remember

in Matthew chapter 9,

Matthew 9 · chapter mention

there's an account

where some friends

bring a paralytic

to Jesus

and he cannot walk

and Jesus says,

son,

your sins are forgiven you.

What great news.

And some people

are around Jesus

and they're scoffing,

they're saying,

who does this man

think he is?

How can he say,

who gave him the authority

to say your sins

are forgiven?

And they are agitated

and they are frustrated

by Jesus' audacity

to claim

the forgiveness of sins.

And Jesus says,

which is easy to say,

your sins are forgiven

or pick up your mat

and walk?

But that you may know

that I have authority

to forgive sins.

He turns to the man

and he says,

pick up your mat

and walk.

And the man does.

Jesus is doing

the same thing here.

He says,

I am the resurrection

and the life.

Whoever believes in me

will never die

and those that do die

will pass straight to life.

And the people around

could say,

who's this man?

I mean,

I know Jesus says

some bold things,

but really,

Jesus claims

to be the resurrection

of the life.

Who,

what kind of audacity

does he have

to say that?

Jesus says,

what is easier to say?

To say,

I am the resurrection

of the life

or to say,

Lazarus,

come out of the grave.

But that you may know

that I have the authority

to raise the dead.

He looks at Lazarus

and he says,

Lazarus,

come forth.

Jesus is proving

that he's not just

some wild teacher

that says outrageous things.

He's not just coming

to stir the crowd.

He actually backs it up

with remarkable power

and authority.

But I think there's

a second reason

why Jesus raises Lazarus

from the dead.

And that's because

Jesus wants to demonstrate

that the resurrection life

and the hope

of his own resurrection

are not just something

that are kept in on ice,

kept in heaven for us

that we just got

to hold on to.

But that the great reversal

of the brokenness

of our world,

the reversal

of the entropy

of the world,

the reversal

of the effects

of sin

and the brokenness

in the world

has started

to take place

now in our lifetime.

Jesus is communicating

that not just

that one day

when you die

all will be better again.

He's saying,

even now

I'm starting

to bring the foretaste

of that brokenness

and hope

into our world today.

Jesus raises Lazarus

to give hope

to the people

of his day

that the resurrection

affects their lives

here and now.

Do you remember

Martha's words

to Jesus?

She says,

I know that he will

rise again

at the resurrection

on the last day.

And what does Jesus say?

Jesus says,

you're right,

Martha,

he will rise again.

I wish there was

something I could do

about that now,

but you know,

my resurrection power,

I only have jurisdiction

on the last day.

There's nothing

I can do about it.

I guess we better

just hold on

until we all die

and get to glory,

right?

No, no, no.

That's not what Jesus is.

Jesus says,

I am the resurrection.

I am the life.

And those who hope in me

will never die.

And you want to know

my resurrection power

now in your lifetime?

Lazarus,

come forth.

Jesus speaks

the hope of the resurrection

into their life

there and then.

And he does the same

for us.

One pastor says it like this,

Jesus' resurrection

means not merely

that Christians

have a hope

for the future

that they've just

got to hold on to,

but that they have a hope

that comes from the future

that begins now

in our lifetime.

Friends,

do you remember

what happened

in the Garden of Eden

way back in the beginning?

Genesis 3,

Genesis 2 in fact,

God says to Adam and Eve,

on the day

that you reject

my word

and reject me,

you will surely die.

And Adam and Eve

don't believe him.

And so they

reject God,

they reject his word.

And what happens?

They don't die.

Well,

not physically,

not initially,

not at first,

but if anybody

has eyes to see,

you'll know that

death enters

into our world

and it creeps

into every corner

and crevice

of our world.

I mean,

what is death?

Death is a loss

of life,

yeah,

sure,

but it's more

than just physical.

It's a loss

of hope.

It's a loss

of vitality.

It's a loss

of relationships.

It's a loss

of peace.

It's a loss

of joy.

It's a loss

of meaning.

Death creeps

into our world

as a result

of sin

and the fallenness

and the brokenness

of our world.

And you know

what Jesus is doing?

Jesus is saying

that because

the tomb

is empty,

because of my

resurrection,

I am reversing

the effects

of sin

and death

into this world

even now.

Do you remember

the Christmas carol

Joy to the World?

It says this,

no more let sin

and sorrows grow,

nor death

infect the earth.

He comes

to make

his blessings

flow far

as the curse

is found.

Far as the curse

is found.

Jesus came

not just

to give us

hope for the world

to come

as glorious

and as amazing

as that's going

to be.

Jesus came

for those of us

that are pilgrims

and sojourners

in this world

to peel back

to reverse

the curse

that entered

into our lives.

When Jesus says

I am the resurrection

and the life

and then raises

Lazarus from the dead

there and then,

Jesus is demonstrating

to Mary and Martha,

to the whole world,

to you and I,

that he hasn't just

come to pay the penalty

for our sin.

He hasn't just been

a benevolent benefactor

that pays up

our penalty

and our price.

Jesus has come

to push back darkness,

to make his blessings

flow as far

as the curse

is found

in your life,

in your family,

in your heart

today,

to bring light

and light

to bear in the

brokenness of this

world.

On Friday,

in our Good Friday

service,

we started watching

the story of Dan

and the brokenness

of sin in his life

and how darkness

had crept into his life.

We're going to watch

the rest of the story.

We're going to watch

the full thing

from beginning to end

and let's see

how Jesus

brought his resurrection,

hope and life

into Dan's life

and correspondingly

into all of ours.

Let's watch the story

together.

You know,

I used to think

people of religion

and faith

were very uncool,

boring,

progressive,

just completely

out of touch

with reality.

I guess in hindsight,

some people still are.

So I grew up

in a great home

with loving parents

who worked hard

to give me

every opportunity.

I was encouraged

to focus on

getting a good education,

going to a good university,

getting a good job,

getting ahead in life,

etc, etc.

And I think I was

definitely going

down that path

and it wasn't until

probably a couple

of years later

that I was still

at university

and I met a couple

of my mates

who are still

my best friends now

and they were

very similar to myself.

We enjoyed playing rugby,

drinking beer,

all those kind of things.

But they just happened

to be Christian as well.

And so they invited me

along to church

and there was no

kind of Hollywood moment,

I guess,

of a bolt of lightning

coming down from the sky

or beams of sunlight

shooting down

from between the clouds.

It was nothing like that.

It was a pretty slow

transition actually

over many months

from Jesus being,

to me,

a nice guy

but most definitely

a fictional character

to the real Lord

and my personal Savior.

And my definition

of success

was really turned

on its head

when I came

to that realization.

It went from

those things

that I had mentioned

before,

which are not necessarily

bad in and of themselves,

but the focus became

my relationships

and love

and how I was

displaying the love

that God had

showered on me

through Jesus

to those around me

through my relationships

with my family,

my friends,

my colleagues

and especially

back to God

himself.

So,

yeah,

that's it.

End of story.

We all live happily

ever after,

right?

If only that were so.

So,

fast forward

a few years later,

I was transferred

to Hong Kong

on a work secondment.

I had a really solid

community structure

around me.

I thought I was

at a point

in my life

where I could

move to a new

city

by myself

and I had it

all covered.

But,

in hindsight,

there was definitely

one major thing

missing there.

That was my

heart.

I think in my

heart I was

still really

restless.

Although I had

all those things

that I'd mentioned

earlier

and it probably

looked like success,

I think in my

heart I was

still

not at peace

and I was

still really afraid

of missing out

on what was

going on around me.

As a result,

I just completely

went off the rails.

It all came

to a head

one morning

after a few

weeks of

pretty consistent

partying,

I had woke up

and was

covered in

my own

vomit.

There was

so much

mess everywhere

that I tried

to salvage

my mattress

and my

pillows,

but I couldn't.

I had to

throw them

all out.

I guess it

was quite

symbolic in

hindsight.

God had

literally

brought me

to my knees

in that

moment.

Around that

time there

was also

another guy

who was

associated

with our

rugby club

who had

died after

choking

after he

passed out

one night

and that

was a huge

tragedy for

us and a

huge wake

up call for

myself as

well.

I remember

just helplessly

crying out to

God that

morning and

man is he

gracious.

He ever so

slowly brought

me out of

that pit.

He showered

me with

grace upon

grace.

He ever

increasingly

brought joy

back into my

life through

his word,

through prayer

and through the

Christian community

around me.

I realise

that so many

of the things

in our life

that we hope

or we trust

in may not

actually come

to fruition.

They may

prove themselves

even to be

less reliable

or trustworthy

than we had

first thought.

But God

has really

taught me a

deeper truth

in all of

this.

That he is

trustworthy,

he alone,

and that the

way up is

down.

by surrendering

your dreams

and your

ambition and

your goals

and your

life to

God and

allowing him

to shape

that.

It may

look like

it's not

success to

the world,

but truly

there is not

a wiser thing

that you can

do that will

bring you a

greater return

on investment

in your life.

Trust in

Jesus.

He will

not let

you down.

Hey Dan,

I love

that story

and I love

seeing God

at work in

your life.

Thank you

for sharing

that story.

As we come

to close our

service today,

I want us

to notice

just one other

thing in this

passage,

and this will

be quick.

At the

very end

of John's

gospel,

the second

last chapter,

chapter 20,

John actually

tells us the

reason why

he writes

his gospel.

He says

these things

are written

so that you

may believe

that Jesus

is the

Christ,

the Son

of God,

and that by

believing you

may have

life in

his name.

That's the

reason why

I've written

this.

As you read

John's gospel,

you'll see he's

constantly pushing

us to say,

will you believe?

Will you believe

that Jesus

is the Christ,

the Son of God?

In verse 28

of our

passage,

Martha has

this conversation

with Jesus.

Jesus says,

I am the

resurrection

and the

life.

Whoever

believes

in me,

though he

die,

will live,

etc.

And he

says,

do you

believe this?

She says,

yes,

Lord,

I believe

that you

are the

Christ,

the Son

of the

living God.

Do you

see what

John is

saying here?

John is

telling us,

he's showing

us that

Martha,

like Dan,

like the

disciples,

like millions

of others

around the

world,

have come

to experience

life in

his name.

I've written

these things

that you

may see

that Jesus

is the

Christ,

the Son

of God,

and by

believing,

have life

in his

name.

Friends,

what about

you?

Have you

come to

believe in

Jesus?

Not just

in theory,

not just

historically.

Have you

come to

believe that

he is the

Christ,

the Son

of the

living God,

who died

but rose

again,

and doing

so has

brought

light and

life to

bear?

The one

who is

raised in

glory and

offering life

to you

today?

Have you

come to

believe in

him?

Maybe

Jesus,

for the

very first

time today,

is calling

you to

surrender

your life.

As Dan

said,

often the

way up is

actually the

way down.

The way

to life is

to die

to ourselves

and to

surrender

to him,

and that

by believing

in him,

we may

have life

in his

name.

Friends,

maybe you

are a

Christian this

morning.

You did

that many,

many years

ago,

but if you're

honest,

the last

few years

have been

pretty dry.

You've

kind of

looked for

yourself.

You've

been seduced

by the

things of

this world.

Will you

freshly come

and believe

that life,

life to

the full,

is found

in him,

the one

who died

and rose

again?

This

morning,

Jesus

invites all

of us,

those for

the very

first time

and those

for the

100th time,

to come

and freshly

surrender

and to

declare that

we believe

that he

is Christ,

the son

of the

living God

and by

doing so,

experience life

in his

name.

Let's pray

together.

Lord Jesus,

thank you that we

get to pray to

you today.

We know that

you hear our

prayers because

you are alive

and you're

real,

seated in

glory.

God,

you are not

just a man

of history,

a figment

of our

imagination

or a

principle of

philosophy

from the

history books.

Christ,

you,

Christ,

are the

living God,

the real

one that

is alive

and glory

and the

one bringing

hope to

our lives

today.

Lord,

I pray for

all of my

brothers and

sisters.

I pray for

us as a

church that

we,

God,

as a

church,

will believe

evermore,

that more

and more,

God,

we will

believe in

you,

trust in

you,

hope in

you,

and experience

resurrection

life in

your name.

Christ,

come and do

that today

we pray.

Amen.