Glory First and Goodness Always

Well, like I said, my name is Jordan, and I am uh really excited to be able to open up God's word with you this morning as we look at the story of Lazarus.

If you've been around the church for any length of time, you may be familiar with this story of Lazarus.

And uh, there is so much richness and depth in this that we have kind of broken up uh this story into two sermons.

And so this morning's test text is kind of the backstory or the framework of Lazarus.

And so there's gonna be no resolve, kind of where we stopped was Lazarus has died, and they're gonna go back to see him.

So if you know the rest of the story, Lazarus doesn't stay dead.

I don't want to be the spoiler for Pastor Justin next week, but there's more coming to it.

But this morning there's something so amazing for us to take from the text.

Really, we get a behind-the-scenes look into the heart and ways of God, specifically what he is doing and what he's trying to accomplish when his loved ones experience pain and suffering and loss, maybe even unanswered prayers.

Because we've all been there, right?

I know the Boyd household has had like three straight weeks of some type of plague, and it's just like bouncing like kid to kid, right?

And I know many in this room have experienced that sickness.

I know many that there's some in this room that have recently lost the loved one, right?

Or maybe they have close friends to them that have been recently diagnosed with a terminal illness, and the situation, the outlook does not look bright.

So we can all relate to this.

As loved ones, the the effects of the fall of man are all around us.

And oftentimes it leads us to say, What is going on?

Where are you, God?

Do you even hear me?

I would submit this morning that the text that we're about to go through articulates maybe more clearly than any other throughout the scriptures, God's plan in allowing pain, in allowing suffering, even towards those whom he loves.

And so, really, my hope this morning is that we might be able to recalibrate our perspective, our outlook, our vantage point to maybe think more clearly the way that God thinks.

If you've been coming to Sacred Mission for any length of time, you've probably heard a slogan, His glory are good, right?

And while I love that and it's catchy, there's purposeful intentionality behind it.

It's more than just a cool branding thing or t-shirt or coffee mug or hat that you may own.

And the ordering of that phrase is super important.

His glory first and our good.

His glory first and our good.

Really, it's a theological framework of thought, maybe a worldview of sorts.

And so this morning, the title of the sermon is Glory First and Goodness Always.

I would submit this morning that this is God's motive in the world for his glory first and goodness towards those he loves always.

And so my hope this morning is that we might get a glimpse of God's heart more clearly, when his children cry out to him in prayer, when they beg on their knees for deliverance, when they are left speechless in the wake of life, when they're left angry and doubting and questioning his goodness, that we might see more clearly the divine perspective of our Lord in his pursuit for his glory and our good.

Let me pray.

God, this morning I ask that you would see fit to use me to herald the truth and goodness, not only of your glory, but God, of your gospel, the good news that has saved us, that has welcomed us into your grace and your family.

God, uh, I submit that if I am just up here preaching and and talking, that these words are empty, if your spirit is not with us.

And so, Holy Spirit, we invite you into this place.

Would you fill our hearts?

Would you speak to us?

Would you convict us of sin?

Would you encourage us in our faith?

Would you increase it where it is lacking?

God, that we would taste and see the risen Savior here and now in this moment.

And we pray that it is for your glory and our increasing joy.

And we pray.

Amen.

John 11.

So last week the kind of the text ended with uh Jesus and his disciples almost being stoned to death and escaping Jerusalem and heading out to a region called Batania.

So Jesus escapes, and this is where our text picks up in verse 1.

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

I want to pause for a moment because it was interesting to me that only John's Gospel has this story of Lazarus.

Yet Lazarus is a pretty well-known story if you've been around the church for any length of time.

And not only that, this is the only time that we ever hear about Lazarus at all in the Gospels.

We don't know much about him.

So we have this obscure man who experiences something that all of us experience sickness.

Right?

He's gravely ill, and God sees fit to use this man, Lazarus, from the town of Bethany, in this seventh and final miracle and the gospel of John.

J.C.

Rile, he is an English bishop.

He's famous for saying this quote here.

It says, Sickness is one of God's most useful instruments for sanctifying his saints.

Sickness is one of God's most useful instruments for sanctifying his saints.

So God has painfully yet graciously used sickness as a sacred thing in the life of Lazarus, not only for him and for Mary and for Martha and the disciples and the people around him, but even for us today.

And I know that firsthand God has used sickness and pain and loss in my life to sanctify me.

And sometimes that's a hard pill to swallow, but we can trust that God often allows pain for our good and his glory.

So we have this seemingly obscure disciple, a friend of Jesus, namely Lazarus, and he's ill.

We pick up in verse 3.

So the sisters sent to him, being Jesus, saying, Lord, he whom you love is ill.

It's interesting that Mary and Martha don't ask Jesus to come and heal Lazarus.

They don't say, Lord, please come, please come and heal him.

Take away this pain, take away this affliction.

No, they simply call out to the love that Jesus has for Lazarus.

There was a deep knowledge and awareness of how much Lazarus and this family was loved by their Lord.

They say, He whom you love is ill.

And we read in verse 4.

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.

Glory first and goodness always.

What's God saying here?

That Lazarus wouldn't die?

No, we learned that Lazarus does die.

Jesus is saying that this death, this illness doesn't ultimately end in death, but rather for the glory of God.

Not that it wouldn't be fatal, but it ultimately would not end in death.

So this is a pretty gutsy statement.

Jesus is 20 miles away at this time, on a good day's journey, two days' worth to come back to where they're at.

And he receives this message from Mary and Martha.

And from two days' travel and 20 miles away, he kind of banks his power and might against even the power of death in that moment.

Lazarus was ill.

He wasn't just, you know, just, you know, he's got a little bug.

No, like he's he's ill and he is gravely, he is circling the drain, right?

And Jesus says this this illness doesn't lead to death, but for the glory of God.

God's glory would be seen and experienced through this ailment.

So to summarize verse 1 through 4, God's glory has no restrictions.

God's glory has no restrictions.

Not even death can thwart God's glory.

We continue reading on in verse 5 through 6.

And this is really the heart of our text this morning.

It reads, Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.

Now Jesus loved Martha.

See, this word for love is different than the one that the sisters appealed to Jesus in verse 3.

This word is the agape love, the unstoppable love, the deep affection and intimacy that Jesus had for this family.

And this love is the foundation for what happens next.

We read in verse 6.

Now Jesus loved so.

Now Jesus loved, therefore, when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he did what?

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

So when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed for two more days.

This two-day delay was motivated by love.

This two-day delay was motivated by love.

How could God's not coming to the rescue of this family be motivated by love?

How could it be a good thing?

Well, what is love?

What is love?

Love is ultimately not getting what we want, but what we need.

Not what we want, but what we need.

And like a loving parent, Jesus is withholding what they want and exchanging it, gifting them actually what they need.

Ultimately, for his glory to be revealed, for his goodness to be tasted and seen, which we'll see next week.

Let's think for a moment from the perspective of Mary and Martha.

And so Mary and Martha, they love Jesus.

They know that they are loved by Jesus, and they cry out to him, they send a messenger.

We know that Mary and Martha, this family has wealth, right?

We read later on in John's Gospel that Mary's the one that wiped Jesus' feet with the expensive perfumes in her hair.

They had a lot of wealth, and even their wealth couldn't save their brother at this time.

And so they cry out and they ask for Jesus.

They call to his loving relationship.

The pain and grief that Mary and Martha must have felt when Jesus never came.

He didn't come back.

And all of the grieving processes of their brother finally dying set in over a period of days.

Lazarus must have felt this as well, right?

He knows how much he was loved by Jesus, and he's, I'm sure, hopeful.

And that hope began to fade and fade and fade when Jesus does not come.

We can imagine for a moment how much immense pain and mental suffering that family had gone through.

We can see the perplexity in that household when Jesus did not show up, knowing that the Lord could heal, but choosing to not do so.

See, we might have well assumed that this text would read that Mary and Martha send a messenger, that he whom you love is ill, and Jesus mounts a horse and he comes riding back in, right?

And he heals them and takes away the pain, takes away the suffering, doesn't allow them to go through all of these hard things, but he doesn't do that.

Our text tells us that God, in his infinite glory, in his infinite wisdom, loved Lazarus so much that he stayed away.

What does this text teach us about God's perspective towards pain and suffering?

That he's indifferent or callous or he doesn't care?

No, I think it's far from that.

See, John 11 reworks our vantage point, our perspective.

We see that no matter how things may appear, whenever we are seemingly being ravaged by the pangs of life, God not only loves us, but hears us, and he gives us exactly what we need.

We learn that God's love often allows pain.

God's love often allows pain.

See, pain ultimately reveals mankind's helplessness, our fragility, our depravity, our utter need for a savior, someone outside of us.

And God in his infinite wisdom allows pain as an instrument of grace and sanctification in the life of those he loves.

We continue on in verse 7 through 16.

We see what seems to be a difficult and by man's reason foolish decision by Jesus that the disciples begin to question.

Right?

And so Lazarus is ill, they receive word of this, and Lazarus dies, and Jesus says, We're gonna go back to him, right?

Like, I love Thomas's comment at the in verse 16 where he's like, So we're gonna go back to the hornet's nest for a guy that's dead.

Let's go join him, let's go die with him, right?

Like he's like probably saying what all the other disciples are feeling, right?

We're gonna go back to where we just about got stoned for a dead man for his memorial service?

What is what is going on, right?

Jesus says to his disciples, we're headed back.

Such is the life as a Christ follower.

Oftentimes, Christ leads his people into circumstances and situations that are at best puzzling, much like the one that he presents to his disciples.

And so Christ, after hearing their pushback, uses this circumstance as a teaching moment for his followers, much like he does with us today.

And so he goes into this discourse about day and night, light and darkness.

And so, really, in that at this point in time, there was no clocks, there was no uh system of telling that it's 7 o'clock or 8 o'clock at night, right?

They used light.

So, from a general view of this, Jesus is talking about how during the day work would be done, and at night the work ceased.

But at a deeper level, Jesus is referring to the fact that the Father had given him work to be done, and it was not fully accomplished.

And so, however difficult it might be, there's still work to be done, namely what we'll learn about next week in raising of Lazarus.

And so Jesus uses this instructive moment to his disciples.

We're going back to Judea, and we read in verse 14 through 15.

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.

God's timing is so often different than ours.

See, I wonder how many of us in this room have ever questioned God's timing.

Oftentimes, there are things in life where, man, why did you do it that way?

Why why did why did you not just allow me to know this now?

Why did it take so much pain and years and suffering, not only at towards me, but the suffering I caused to someone else until I learned this lesson.

Verse 14 struck me personally very powerfully this week in light of some of the most painful times in my life.

Jesus says, And for your sake, I am glad that I was not there so that you might believe.

Jesus loves Lazarus, and he tells his disciples, for their sake, I'm glad that we weren't there so that you might believe.

And here we are being tied into this story thousands of years later, our faith being encouraged by this story of this obscure man going through an ailment.

Man, that gives a completely different vantage point of one person who got sick and died, right?

God's glory first and goodness always.

To the disciples' vantage point, Lazarus was already dead.

And they begin to question why we would go back?

Mary and Martha had waited, they'd already started the procedure of wrapping him and putting perfumes and incense on him to be buried.

They've already gone through the mourning stages and grief and loss of their brother.

And yet they follow their master back to Jerusalem.

And so to summarize verses 8 through 16, I would say that God's plan transcends man's reason.

God's plans transcend man's reason.

And this brings us to our main idea this morning that God's glory is always for our good.

God's glory is always for our good.

See, God is most passionate for his own glory.

And if you are in Christ this morning, this is great news.

Because his glory will not be thwarted.

There's no power of hell, there's no scheme of man, not even death can get in the way from God receiving his glory.

And that's good for us.

Verse 4, this illness does not lead to death.

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

Verse 15, Lazarus has died, and for your sake I am glad that was not there.

Why?

So that the disciples and those around them might be able to see firsthand the miraculous glory of God.

God's plan is glory first and goodness always.

But in the midst of pain, in the midst of loss and hardship, often it's hard to trust that God is for us, isn't it?

It's hard when we don't get to see full circle what he's doing.

It's hard not to question what he's doing, if he's for us, if he hears us.

And so our story this morning is that changing circumstances distort our view of a never-changing God.

Changing circumstances distort our view of a never-changing God.

Scriptures tell us God is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

And though things change around us, we begin to question as if God Himself was changing.

And ultimately, we begin to run from God's pain, run from affliction, and we miss this instrument of grace when we don't ask the Lord, what are you trying to do in this moment?

What are you trying to accomplish?

Ultimately, we run from God Himself.

I know for me, something that I do when I'm in the midst of this, I go into this hyper control world and I try to block out all the pain.

I try to stop the pain right away, stop the bleed, like just make it in, right?

I I can say firsthand that I've yelled at doctors and ICU to do something different, and they had no control.

Right?

We do this, and these circumstances start making us change our view of actual.

Who God is.

Others of us, the amount of God's love is proportionate to our station.

We believe that where we are at in life and the things that are happening to us and around us somehow changes based on God's love towards us.

And this could be further, this couldn't be further from the truth.

I've heard it said and preached that the situation is that you are in is because the amount of love that you have for God and the amount of love that God has for you, and that's garbage.

That's garbage.

God's love is not proportionate to what you have or what you don't have in life.

God's love is often painful.

And the problem is that we miss out on what God is trying to accomplish.

We miss out on this sanctifying instrument of grace when we simply try to medicate and reduce the pain and we don't stop and think, God, how is this for your glory first?

And let me trust that it is for my good.

Our gospel conviction this morning is that Christ died for the glory of God.

Christ died for the glory of God.

What did we say?

That God's love often allows pain.

See, we see this in Jesus as he took the full weight of sin on his shoulder.

See, it was love.

It was love that drove Jesus to the cross.

But not primarily a love for man, but a love for his own glory.

Does he love us absolutely?

But God is most passionate for his glory, and we this morning can know that that is for our good.

Psalm 115, 1 reads this way: Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory for the sake of your steadfast love and faithfulness.

See, salvation is not merely about us.

Firstly, it's about the glory of God.

And so how does Christ's death glorify God?

Romans 3 23.

It says, For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood to be received by faith.

And this was to show God's righteousness.

This was to show God's righteousness.

See, Christ's death glorifies God by declaring his own righteousness.

See, the entire gospel narrative that we are created in a relationship with God, and sin crept in, and God's holiness can have nothing to do with sin.

Sin outraged God so much that when it marred his image-bearers, he determined that his righteousness would not be changed, would not be affected.

And he determined the penalty for that would be his son.

There was no blood of bull or goat, there was no sacrifice that a priest could offer that would fully appease the righteousness of God.

And so he sent forth his son as a propitiation.

In other words, that through the death of Jesus, the righteous requirement that his holiness determined was fully and completely satisfied.

The penalty of sin had finally been paid in full.

See, Christ is the full satisfaction for the sin of today and the sin of tomorrow.

Christ died for the glory of God.

And because the tomb is empty, this is incredible news for us this morning.

See, we are the beneficiaries of his triumph.

We are justified by faith.

Christ's righteousness, if we have placed our faith in him, is accredited to us as if we are righteous.

God no longer looks at us as broken and sinful, but he sees Christ.

And we are fully justified.

We are fully righteous because of the work of the Spirit applying Christ on our behalf.

And we have been saved by grace, but nothing that we have done, simply a gift.

And this is to the praise of his glory and for our goodness.

Glory first and goodness always.

So what's the application of this?

What do we do in the meanwhile?

When we feel the devastating effects of sin and pain and suffering.

See, to say his glory, our good, or glory first and goodness always is pretty easy to preach, right?

We can say that.

But it's easier said than done sometimes, isn't it?

There will be a day, church, that there will be no more pain and suffering.

But until then, we must trust that God loves us.

He's not abandoning us, that he is for us.

And he has given us his word and his people.

As what I would submit to us are weapons for waiting.

So what do we do in the meanwhile?

I have three things that hopefully will encourage you as application points to be taken from here as we wait for that day when we are with him in glory.

Number one is the word.

Our first weapon for waiting is the word.

We must meditate on God's word.

The perspective battle begins in the mind.

Our vantage point of what we're going through begins in the mind.

Romans 12, 2 says, Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, so that by testing you may be discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

We must meditate on truth in difficult stations.

What is our true north?

What is our compass?

It's the word.

Romans 8.18 says, For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed.

What a truth.

God's glory first, his goodness always.

Romans 8.28 says, and we know that for those who love God, all things work together for the good for those who are called according to his promise.

What truth for us this morning.

Memorize God's word.

Hide it in your heart.

One thing that I do that's been super helpful for me when I'm anxious or stressed or in the moment of dealing with sickness is I simply recite the beginning of Psalm 23.

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.

See, the perception battle begins in the mind.

So we must have God's word deeply embedded that we can discern what is the will of God.

Our second weapon is prayer.

And how do we pray?

Not simply to reduce pain, not simply to get out of the moment, not that those are bad things, but that God's glory would be experienced.

We see this most modeled in Jesus, right?

He's in his darkest hour, he's in the Garden of Gethsemane before he is about to be crucified.

And what does he say?

Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me.

Nevertheless, not my will be done, but thine.

See, Jesus' prayer reveals his complete trust in the goodness of the Father.

The goodness of the Father.

Philippians 4, 6 through 7 says, Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving.

Let your request be known to God, and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your heart and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Church, we must continue to pray as we wait.

And this is not simply prayer and un by yourself, but what what a gift it is to have brothers and sisters that we can call upon to pray on our behalf.

This is the beauty of the church.

This is the beauty of being in gospel-centered community.

Not only can we study the word together, not only can we remind each other of the truth when we are struggling, but we can pray together and they can pray on our behalf when we don't have the words to say.

Our third weapon, if you've been around here for any length of time, you're not going to be surprised.

It's singing.

Singing.

Not simply on Sundays when we love that banger song at the end and it's just rocking, right?

No.

Singing in the darkest of nights.

Singing in the darkest of nights.

The story of Paul and Silas, they're imprisoned in a Roman prison.

They're being beaten.

They are shackled together.

In Acts 16, we read that about midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and what?

Singing hymns to God.

And the prisoners were listening to them, and suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken, and immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone's bonds were unfast.

See, singing not only expresses the glory of God, but is oftentimes gives us the greatest opportunity to be reminded of the truth.

To be reminded of God's word.

All my life you've been so, so good.

See, singing has this miraculous power to unite our heart with God's word.

And so I would encourage you this morning to maybe learn a song or two, a hymn or two.

Great is thy faithfulness.

It is well.

If you're not into hymns, Austin Stone has a great song called Singing in the Victory.

I love that song.

During the Reformation, as the church was being persecuted greatly, there was a song called A Mighty Fortress, and it was later to be kind of dubbed the battle hymn of the Reformation.

And there is countless stories of martyrs as they were getting marched out of the city to be tarred and feathered and beheaded and murdered, singing this song, reminding them of the truth in their darkest hour.

See, these three ordinances, prayer and word and singing, are ordinances of grace in the life of the believer.

And particularly when they are done in community, this will not only sustain you through life's deepest trials, but allow the Spirit to minister to you in the midst of the battle.

Church, as we wait, along with all of creation, for the glory to be revealed in that final day, God is calling us to trust that come what may, we have tasted and seen his goodness.

His plan is always glory first, and goodness always.