Sermon Notes
March 21, 2010
Come Out!
PASSING OF THE PEACE
Scripture: John 2 - Jesus first miracle: water into wine
Scripture: John 11 - Jesus brings back from the dead Lazarus
Question: Which would you have picked as Jesus’ first miracle
ISSUE: You can never have too much wine; or
You can never have too much time.
IMPORTANT: Answer is driven by: World View (presupposition) or
thinking outside the box (coffin)
Both address a problem (lack of wine, lack of time)
If Jesus could perform a miracle in your life,
What problem would you want to escape from/leave behind?
CALL TO WORSHIP (John 10:25)
Jesus said, “I am the Resurrection and the life”
Do you believe?
Yes Lord, we believe.
OPENING PRAYER (John 10:43)
Lord, when we are sick, come and heal us. When we lack faith, give us a new sign. When we die, come and say “Come out!” Amen.
INTRO TO JOHN 11
The Gospel of John now shifts from New Wine impacting religious institutions and festivals to impacting belief as Jesus makes his final move toward Jerusalem.
This chapter wrestles with the finality of death. Today death (human institution) has been sanitized. Even the prettiest funeral cannot disguise our fear of death.
Jesus is about to do a new thing (wine). Nobody has ever brought somebody back from the grave.
Sadducces did not believe in life after the grave
Pharisees believed in life after the grave
But no one believed in life back from the grave
SCRIPTURE: John 11
1Now a man named LAZARUS was sick.
LAZARUS - a very popular name in 1st century Jerusalem
He was from BETHANY,
BETHANY - 1 1/2 half miles east of Jerusalem
the village of Mary and her sister Martha.
2This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair.
Luke 7:36 and John 12:3 (foreshadowing anointing for burial)
3So the sisters sent word to Jesus, "Lord, the one you love is sick."
4When he heard this, Jesus said, "This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God's glory so that God's Son may be glorified through it." 5Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6Yet when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days.
7Then he said to his disciples, "Let us go back to Judea."
8"But Rabbi," they said, "a short while ago the Jews tried to stone you, and yet you are going back there?"
NOTICE: The disciples are frightened to return to Jerusalem
9Jesus answered, "Are there not twelve hours of daylight? A man who walks by day will not stumble, for he sees by this world's light. 10It is when he walks by night that he stumbles, for he has no light."
11After he had said this, he went on to tell them, "Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up."
12His disciples replied, "Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better." 13Jesus had been speaking of his death, but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep.
14So then he told them plainly, "Lazarus is dead, 15and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him."
16Then Thomas (called Didymus) said to the rest of the disciples, "Let us also go, that we may die with him."
Jesus Comforts the Sisters
17On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. 18Bethany was less than two miles[a] from Jerusalem, 19and MANY JEWS had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother.
MANY JEWS - Funerals were public events (community ties). Friends and family from far off come and support Mary and Martha during the mourning process.
Formal mourning last for seven days (shibah) and it commenced immediately on the day of burial, which took place on the same day as death. There would be great wailing and crying (raw - beating their chests in grief). flute players were common.
20When MARTHA heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home.
21"Lord," Martha said to Jesus, "if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask."
23Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again."
24Martha answered, "I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day."
NOTE: This was a common belief (old wineskins)
25Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life.
NOTE: Jesus is the resurrection (new wineskins)
LIFE - don’t have to wait to die to experience the gift of resurrection, they can have life now. The power of Jesus is not just beyond the grave, it is also prior to the grave (new wineskins).
He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; 26and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?"
27"Yes, Lord," she told him, "I believe that you are the Christ,[b] the Son of God, who was to come into the world."
28And after she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary aside. "The Teacher is here," she said, "and is asking for you." 29When Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him. 30Now Jesus had not yet entered the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. 31When the Jews who had been with Mary in the house, comforting her, noticed how quickly she got up and went out, they followed her, supposing she was going to the tomb to mourn there.
32When MARY reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died."
33When Jesus saw her WEEPING (loud), and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit (Greek: describes the snort of a horse (in war or in a race) and troubled. for humans it describes outrage, fury or anger)
Question: Why was Jesus angry (outraged in the deepest level of his being)?
Answer: not at Martha, Mary, or their mourners.
Some have suggested: He is overcome by the futility of this sorrowful scene in light of the reality of the resurrection.
POINT: They act defeated when they have the solution at their disposable.
34"Where have you laid him?" he asked.
"Come and see, Lord," they replied.
35Jesus wept.
Question: Why?
Not for Lazarus, he knows what he is about to do.
HUMAN CONDITION: the reality that we lack the ability to see the “new wine” because we keep drinking from the well of “old wine.”
36Then the Jews said, "See how he loved him!"
37But some of them said, "Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?"
Jesus Raises Lazarus From the Dead
38Jesus, once more deeply moved (v33), came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. 39"Take away the (rolling) stone," he said.
"But, Lord," said Martha, the sister of the dead man, "by this time there is a bad odor (decomposing), for he has been there FOUR DAYS"
FOUR DAYS - Jewish belief that the soul of a dead person remained in the vicinity of the body, hoping to reenter it for three days, but once decomposition set in , the soul departed. Thus the soul is gone
POINT - John wants us to know that Lazarus is truly dead, thus no resuscitation (ironically will be the response to Jesus and the resurrection).
40Then Jesus said, "Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?"
41So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, "Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 42I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me."
43When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice (6 times in John, 1 - Palm Sunday; and 4x “Crucify”), "Lazarus, come out!"
CAN YOU IMAGINE?
DISCIPLES - following Jesus around because they saw the trick with fish and bread, and that’s pretty cool; And that water into wine, that’s pretty convenient. And the blind man and the paralyzed man given life back...but now....you gotta draw the line somewhere...the guy’s been dead four days....
44The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face.
CAN YOU IMAGINE THE RESPONSE OF
The DISCIPLES
Or, MARY and MARTHA
Or, those there to mourn Lazarus
Or, even the response of Lazarus
that’s a new line for Amazing Grace..I once was blind but now I see...how many can sing, I once was dead but now I live
i would have to say that’s the best OBJECT LESSON I have ever heard.
Not many teachers/pastors could do that one.
CAN YOU IMAGINE
your at a funeral, and the pastor says “come out!” and out comes the deceased.....What would you do? I’d believe whatever that pastor told me from then on....
QUESTION: What is the Object Lesson?
What is Jesus trying to teach us?
Did Jesus do it because he was weeping?
Did he do it because he loved mary and Martha?
Did he do it because he wanted to spend more time with Lazarus? Sit around eat fish and bread and drink new wine?
Why bring him back from the grave?
He only does it once. Not like 5,000 times (fish and bread)
Why bring Lazarus back from the tomb?
ANSWER: Remember the word miraculous sign (means a miracle that points beyond itself). Bringing Lazarus back from death, was not just an end in itself. It was a means of conveying a message. Jesus wanted to show the folks something about life and death; about himself.
In other words, every miracle/sign, the most dramatic, in the Gospel John is a message to the people about who Jesus is and what Jesus is about to do; it’s not just a cool magic trick.
Well the message is obvious for those of us on the other side of Easter. Lazrus being brought out of the tomb is Jesus’ way of conveying to the disciples, he’s going to do the same thing. Lazarus has an empty tomb; Jesus has an empty tomb.
IN two weeks, we celebrate that empty tomb, that resurrected boy of Jesus.
But for Lazarus, Mary & Martha, those who came to morn the death of Lazarus , and the Disciples; the message is not clear yet...
This message will not be clear to them; until the empty tomb of Jesus.
We are fortunate, we know the message post empty tomb.
The real question for us now: have we applied that message to our lives today?
Have we lived under the resurrection lives
Do we live as though there is an empty tomb?
OR, DO WE LIVE AS THOUGH WE ARE HELD WITHIN THE CONFINEMENT OF THE TOMB.
DO WE NEED TO HEAR THE MESSAGE OF JESUS TO LAZARUS, COME OUT!”
TODAY, there are many TOMBS
Tomb of unemployment
Tomb of broken relationships
Tomb of loneliness
Tomb of despair
Tomb of disappointments
Tomb of meaningless
And like Lazarus, we need to hear the message of Jesus, COME OUT
But in some ways, we also have a message from Jesus that is pre empty tomb.
For us, the message that Jesus gives us each day, is not clear yet...
until we are risen from the grave...
Lazarus would have made an excellent evangelist
Imagine
“I was dead. My body decaying, my body stunk, I was in the grave
and Jesus said “Lazarus come out!”
God can do that for you today.
Are you dead?
COME OUT!
Of the tomb of holding you back
Of the tomb of bad relationships
of unemployment
SCRIPTURE: John 11:
Jesus said to them, "Take off the grave clothes and let him go."
The Plot to Kill Jesus
45Therefore many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what Jesus did, put their faith in him.
46But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. 47Then the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin.
"What are we accomplishing?" they asked. "Here is this man performing many miraculous signs. 48If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our place[c] and our nation."
IRONY: THE END OF CHAPTER 11 the enemies are now plotting the death of Jesus.
QUESTION: Why did they not get it?
ANSWER: Held captive within the tomb of old wineskins (previous world views, the institution)
not able to think outside of the box
SCRIPTURE: Luke 16
The Rich Man and Lazarus
19"There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. 20At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores 21and longing to eat what fell from the rich man's table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.
22"The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried. 23In hell,[c] where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. 24So he called to him, 'Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.'
25"But Abraham replied, 'Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. 26And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.'
27"He answered, 'Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my father's house, 28for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.'
29"Abraham replied, 'They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.'
30" 'No, father Abraham,' he said, 'but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.'
31"He said to him, 'If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.' "
POINT: According to Jesus, not even a resurrection miracle will not be sufficient to persuade some people of the power oand the reality of God; because they have Abraham, Moses and the Prophets, and they like the flavor the old wine. If it was good enough for Moses and the Prophets, it is good enough for them today.
49Then one of them, named Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, spoke up, "You know nothing at all! 50You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish."
51He did not say this on his own, but as high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the Jewish nation, 52and not only for that nation but also for the scattered children of God, to bring them together and make them one. 53So from that day on they plotted to take his life.
54Therefore Jesus no longer moved about publicly among the Jews. Instead he withdrew to a region near the desert, to a village called Ephraim, where he stayed with his disciples.
55When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, many went up from the country to Jerusalem for their ceremonial cleansing before the Passover. 56They kept looking for Jesus, and as they stood in the temple area they asked one another, "What do you think? Isn't he coming to the Feast at all?" 57But the chief priests and Pharisees had given orders that if anyone found out where Jesus was, he should report it so that they might arrest him.
POINT: These same people will continue to refuse to believe despite Jesus himself raising the from the grave.
CLOSING
Jesus is not just the light of the world, he brings sight to the blind
not just the bread of the world,
he feed 5,000
not just the resurrection and life,
he brought Lazarus back from the grave
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