Latest / Finding Jesus Again / Episode 18; I believe, even when it's hard.
Transcript
- Episode 18: Welcome everybody to episode 16 of Finding Jesus Again. I appreciate you guys being on this journey with us and hope that you are getting something out of it. Today we are going to begin in John chapter 11. So let's go ahead and start reading John chapter 11. Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. And it was the Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment. And wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick. We'll read about this in the next chapter about Mary anointing the Lord with ointment and wiping his feet. That actually takes place in John chapter 12. Let's read on verse 3. So the sisters sent word to him saying, Lord, behold, he whom you love is sick. But when Jesus heard this, he said, This sickness is not meant for death, but is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified by it. Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So when he heard that he was sick, he then stayed two days longer in the place where he was. Here we find out that Jesus had a relationship with Lazarus and Martha and Mary that was different than a lot of the other relationships that he had. It said that he loved them. I believe that Lazarus, Martha and Mary were like friends to Jesus, and he would go there. when he was going through Bethany and he would visit there and he would rest and he would relax. And it says that he got word that Lazarus was very sick, and his response was, This sickness is not meant for death, but is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified by it. So Jesus already knew what was going to happen. He already had an understanding of what was going to take place and he knew that Lazarus was going to die. But he also knew that he was going to raise him from the dead. But verse 5 says, Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus, so when he heard that he was sick, he then stayed two days longer in the place where he was. I find that interesting that it says that he loved them, but then when he heard they were sick, he decided to go ahead and stay two more days. that's interesting. It's interesting because sometimes God loves us enough to make us wait. He loves us enough to make us wait because he's trying to teach us something, or he's trying to glorify himself in our lives. And at the time it don't feel like he loves us. At the time it we don't understand why he's making us wait, but he always has a plan and he always has a reason. Because he loved him, he stayed two more days. Maybe in his heart he wanted to go to them because he was so close to Lazarus and Mary and Martha in his heart, he probably wanted to rush right then and go to them and help them and fix the situation. But the scripture says, because he loved them, he waited two more days. Let's read verse seven. Then after this he said to the disciples, Let's go to Judea again. The disciples said to him, Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking to stone you, and yet you are going there again? Jesus replied, Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks during the day, he does not stumble because he sees the light of this world. But if anyone walks during the night, he stumbles because the light is not in him. Basically what he is saying is he's using daylight as a picture of living and acting according to God's purpose. Think of it this way. There's a certain amount of daylight, and while the light is available, you can see where you're going. So I got something to do. It's daylight. I'm going to do it in the daytime. I'm not going to wait till nighttime to do it. So Jesus is saying, My time hasn't run out yet. I'm here and I'm going to do what God has called me to do. I know it's dangerous, but I'm walking in the Father's will, and my appointed time isn't finished yet. I'm going to keep doing what God has sent me to do while I have the opportunity. This passage isn't primarily saying if you follow God, nothing bad can happen to you. Jesus is eventually killed. But it's closer to Don't let fear of what might happen keep you from doing what God has put in front of you. And so that's what he's saying. He's saying, Look, I got a job to do, and I'm going to keep doing it. And this really fits in beautifully with with this whole chapter because the disciples, they see danger. They say, Jesus, you can't go back to Judea because they're going to try to kill you there. And Martha and Mary, they see death. Jesus, can you come here? Because our brother's dying, please come. And Jesus, he only sees What the Father is about to do through both these situations. He's focused on God's will and what God's going to do. So let's read on. This he said, and after this he said to them, Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I'm going so that I may awaken him from sleep. The disciples then said to him, Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he'll come out of it. Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought he was speaking about actual sleep. So Jesus then said to them plainly, Lazarus died. And I'm glad for your sakes that I wasn't there, so that you may believe. But let's go to him. Therefore, Thomas, who was called Didymus, said to his fellow disciples, Let's also go so that we may die with him. So again, back to this point where Jesus said, I'm glad I wasn't there. I'm glad I wasn't there to heal him. Back to what he said before, because he loved him, he didn't go. It's because there was a greater purpose that God was working through all of this. And I just want to encourage you today because you know you might be going through some things and you might be wondering, God, where are you? God, how come you're not showing up? God, how come you're not fixing it? don't you love us? Don't you love us enough to to to make this go away? But all in all, God has a plan. He has a plan for your life. And if you're obeying him and you're trying to live for him and you're trying your best to do what's right, he is going to work all that out. for your good and for his good. So he you might think he's being delayed because of something you've done wrong, or you might think that he's being delayed because he just don't want to help. But the truth very well could be that he's being delayed because he loves you and he has a reason and he has a purpose. He had a purpose for Lazarus. If it got there too early or if he would have healed him too early, then that purpose would not have been fulfilled that God wanted to do through Lazarus To glorify Christ and to glorify himself through generations and ages to come, even for us now, because we see what took place. So interestingly enough, Thomas kind of gets a bad rap because we call him the doubting Thomas. But he said to his fellow disciples, Let's also go so that we can die with him. So they were prepared to go to Judea. They were prepared to to die with him if necessary. And so that's just kind of an interesting side note. Let's start with verse 17. So when Jesus came he found that he had already been in the tomb four days. Now Bethany was near Jerusalem about fifteen stadia away, and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them about their brother. So then Martha, when she heard that Jesus was coming, went to meet him, but Mary stayed in the house. Martha said to Jesus, Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. And it seems like they might have been a little upset that Jesus didn't show up. Verse twenty two says, Even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you. Jesus said to her, Your brother will rise from the dead. Martha said to him, I know that he will rise in the resurrection on the last day. Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live even if he dies. And every one who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this? So again we we come to this kind of confusing passage where Jesus is saying that all who believe in him will never die. And we know that we're all going to die. We know that there is going to be a time in all of our lives when we're all going to pass from this life and we're all going to take that journey. But Jesus is saying, those who believe in me will never die. So Jesus is talking here about the second death. We're talking about a spiritual death. Because there's a time when our physical bodies will die. But then after that, there's a possibility that our spirits will die. But Jesus is saying that I am the resurrection and the life, and those who believe in me will live even if he dies. And everyone who lives and believes in me will never die, meaning that we will live in eternity forever, that our spirits that were created to live forever will live with Christ forever if we will believe in him. She said to him, Yes, Lord, I have come to believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, and He who comes into the world. So I'm gonna end here today with that confession that I believe that you are the Son of God. I believe that you are the Messiah. There's a lot of hard sayings that Jesus is saying, like difficult things that she's probably having a hard time understanding, but she confesses you are the Messiah. We're not gonna understand everything. I don't claim to have the answers. I don't claim to be able to explain everything in such a way that you can understand it clearly. I mean, Jesus is talking about never dying, but we know we're gonna die. It's talking about eternal life, and those are hard things to kind of understand. But I think we fall back on what Mary is saying here, and that is, I believe. I believe who you are, I believe what you say is true. I may have a hard time. grasping it or receiving it, but I believe that it is true. So I want to encourage you today to just believe. Believe that whatever you're going through, that that God has a reason for it. So even if it seems like God is being delayed or God's not showing up as quickly as he should, believe that he has a reason, that he has a plan and that he loves you and you can trust him and you can have faith in him. So thank you for joining us today for this episode of Finding Jesus again.