Over the course of the last week it seems like there is a lot going on. There's a lot going on in the world, but I'm led to believe that there is a lot going on with each of you personally. When we take the time to hear the prayers that you submit on your green communication cards each week, we get an opportunity to look into your hearts and know the joys and trials that you are experiencing. And it seems like this week and weeks leading up to this week may have been particularly rough for some of you. But you're here, and that's a step in the right direction. I am a firm believer in the truth, that if we acknowledge God in everything we do, and everything we experience... that God will honestly come to our aid and give us true life.
We've been studying the life of Jesus for the last several weeks, and I believe we've come to a place where Jesus' full humanity is making more and more sense to us. And here's something worth noticing: Just as we can find ourselves between a rock and a hard place in life... Jesus encountered those hardships as well. But a lot like you today... Jesus showed up and acknowledged that His Father was there. And that led to life not just for Jesus, but for everyone who would believe in Him.
In John Chapter 11 Jesus found himself in a very tough circumstance. His dearly beloved friend Lazarus was sick and nearing death. Lazarus lived in the town of Bethany just a couple miles outside of Jerusalem.... But instead of running to Lazarus' aid... Jesus stayed where He was. John 11:6 says 6 So, when he heard that Lazarus[a]was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was. This becomes even more confusing when we consider the verse before... John 11:5 5 Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister (That's Mary) and Lazarus.
Who in their right mind fiddles around for two extra days when their beloved friend is dying?
What we may not realize is that Jesus was stuck between a rock and a hard place... In just the previous chapter... having been put to the test Jesus revealed his identity to the Jews of Jerusalem... He said in John 10:30... "I and the Father are one." And as a result we read in verse 31 ... 31 The Jews picked up stones again to stone him. Literally they were threatening to pelt Jesus to death with large stones, a cultural discipline for blasphemy. It turns out that claiming to be one with God is a big deal in the first century Jerusalem of Judea. It can get you killed. So Jesus had fled from Judea and Jerusalem, and had yet to return. But now his best friend is near to death, two miles outside of the most dangerous place for Jesus to be. What is he to do?
Here's what you need to know... When Jesus found himself between a rock and a hard place, his intentional response was to worship. Jesus acknowledged God in everything He did and everything he said... even when life got really hard. Today, we're going to find, that if we look to Jesus.... What we will find is the perfect picture of worship that we can model, and a savior worth worshipping.
But before we look to Jesus, let's ask God to make the picture clear... Let's pray
Maybe it's an encouragement on the front end to know that in His humanity, Jesus' life was hard. It helps us if we can find that the Jesus we worship, is a human we can relate to... We're going to pick up the story in John 11:7... Here's what it says 7 Then after this he said to the disciples, "Let us go to Judea again." 8 The disciples said to him, "Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking to stone you, and are you going there again?" Jumping down to verse 11 Jesus continues 11 After saying these things, he said to them, "Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go to awaken him." 12 The disciples said to him, "Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover."
So notice something on the front end... Jesus disciples know that going to Judea isn't that great of an idea... "Jesus, why would you return to Judea! Are you out of your mind! They want to kill you!" "And really Jesus, If Lazarus is just asleep, he'll wake up!"
Understand again, that when Jesus was caught between a rock and a hard place, his intentional response was to worship. To acknowledge God in everything He did and everything He said. This isn't just some isolated event either... in John 8:29 Jesus makes an incredible statement: "29 And he who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to him."
Even though Jesus' heart was aching for His friend Lazarus, and even though he was in grave danger returning to Judea... that wasn't the main reason why Jesus returned to Lazarus. Jesus returned to Lazarus because it was pleasing to the Father.
Also, the disciples don't get it. They are considering how to keep Jesus safe, and thus it makes sense for Jesus to stay put...And then don't even catch the fact that Lazarus is now dead... so Jesus makes it clear what's going on... In verse 14 we read... 14 Then Jesus told them plainly, "Lazarus has died, 15 and for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him."
If you're familiar with the OT, you know that there are these incredible moments where God calls His people to act, before He shows up in incredible ways. Imagine being the OT character Joshua... Joshua had inherited the role of leading millions of Jewish immigrants through the wilderness into a land that God has promised to His people the Israelites. The book of Joshua starts out on a daunting note... These are God's words to Joshua in Joshua 1:2 2 "Moses my servant is dead. Now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, into the land that I am giving to them, to the people of Israel.
Could you imagine... Your old boss is dead.... Now go finish the job that He couldn't complete. Oh and by the way... I'm going to need you to take all 2-Million of your employees through the river to their destination... Sounds super reasonable, right.
I've crossed the Mississippi dozens of times, but there is a well constructed bridge... the worst I have to worry about is some St. Louis traffic (On my way to see the 11-time champion St. Louis Cardinals). But could you imagine bringing 2 million or more folks through that river?
So Joshua receives a word from God that the Priests carrying Israel's ark of the covenant must go down into the water and stand there before all the people cross over... and THEN this is what happens from Joshua 3...
15 and as soon as those bearing the ark had come as far as the Jordan, and the feet of the priests bearing the ark were dipped in the brink of the water...16 the waters coming down from above stood and rose up in a heap very far away...17 Now the priests bearing the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firmly on dry ground in the midst of the Jordan, and all Israel was passing over on dry ground until all the nation finished passing over the Jordan.
Sometimes you have to jump into the water before God shows up... and that's exactly what He did for Joshua and the people of Israel.
Maybe you're stuck between a rock and a hard place... or maybe you're standing before a raging river with no bridge... The first thing you need to do is acknowledge God. To come to Him in worship... and let Him guide you forward.
Do you have an insurmountable pile of work to accomplish... acknowledge God first.
Do you have a relationship that is falling apart... acknowledge God first.
Do you have a child that you are rightfully worried about ... Acknowledge God first.
Do you have health issues that are brining you to the brink of what you can handle... Acknowledge God first.
To acknowledge God first will not solve your problems on the front end as you see it... but it will lead you to where you need to Go... even it that is the hard way.
Jesus lived by taking the first step... by returning to Judea, and that's when things really begin to get going in our story... We're picking things up in John 11:20 So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, but Mary remained seated in the house.21 Martha said to Jesus, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.22 But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you."
Can you imagine the pain... Jesus' beloved friend has died and here is Lazarus' sister coming to Jesus in agony saying "If you were here none of this would have happened!" Yet in Martha's voice there is a bit of a different ring... she has this assurance that Jesus Himself can ask God for help, and God will respond. So Jesus presses in. (John 11:23-27)23 Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again." 24 Martha said to him, "I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day." 25 Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life.[d] Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?" 27 She said to him, "Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world."
It would have been normal for any Jewish person in the time of Jesus to have expected resurrection. The standard Jewish hope was for a renewed world where God had made all things right and had risen His people back to life... But in Jesus there is an even greater hope. Jesus' statement is direct and confronts everything that Martha and anyone else of the time would have believed...
He says "I AM the resurrection and the life." "Believe in me... and even if you die... you will live. Don't just have some vague hope... Believe in me!"
Earlier in the book of John Jesus alludes to this belief by saying (John 6:29) 29 Jesus answered them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent."
The point of life isn't simply to do good things and to hope that it works out on the back end. When bad things occur and we get stuck in a tough spot... because we can trick ourselves into thinking that doing good stuff is what approves us before God... But Jesus flips that entire idea upside down.
For us... worship is all about who Jesus is. We come to Jesus and worship Him and Lord, believe in Him... knowing that Jesus is life.
This summer was a bit of a whirlwind for me. Starting in the last weekend of May my Father was married to my stepmother Nancy. They were entering a new season of Joy and celebration and were genuinely just loving life.
Only 9 days later Nancy was out on a group bicycle ride when the most unexpected thing happened. Her heart simply stopped. She fell to the ground unable to breathe on her own, without a sustained heart rate for almost a full half hour. However, in what we believe to be God's divine hand, there were multiple medical professionals riding with Nancy who were able to perform CPR until an ambulance could make it to the remote location where she was on the bike trail.
After a series of events at Memorial Medical Center we found ourselves in the ICU as a family watching over our mother, stepmother, and the wife of my Father... She lay intubated in a medically induced coma.
These moments are raw. You know what you want to pray for... you want God to wake her up! You want things to be right... but I can remember the unity of our prayers that night in the ICU... "God we trust you... this is your child... please help her wake up... but we trust you."
The next morning when the Doctor on call came into the room we received the potential for good news and bad news... but as soon as he left, while the nurse was cleaning out her mouth... Nancy's eyes pooped open and looked right at my Dad. Several months later she has completely cleared her cardiac rehab, and is slowly regaining her full health.
Please hear me... I'm not saying that God will solve all your problems in the snap of your fingers if you trust Him. And I cannot guarantee that God will intervene in the way that you want Him to... However, I believe that when we worship God for who He is... we can know we have life, even if we die. Because Jesus is life. (Pause)
I think it's important for us to know that Jesus in His humanity experienced the full gamut of emotional toil when he came to see Lazarus Just like Martha, Mary exclaims that if Jesus would have been there Lazarus would not have died. The whole troop of Jewish people "mourning alongside the sisters" even questioned Jesus' motives by saying "Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man also have kept this man from dying?"
Two times in John 11 it says Jesus was deeply moved, at the events he witnessed surrounding those mourning over Lazarus. Still another time in John 11:35 we catch the honest truth that "Jesus wept" alongside those who were mourning. So if ever Jesus was in an emotionally vulnerable place, this was the time. But in the midst of perhaps the greatest emotional stress of His life, yet again we see Jesus acknowledging God in what He says and what he does.
We're picking things up in verse 41 41 So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, "Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 42 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." 43 When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out." 44 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."
Jesus' very actions of returning to Judea was an act of acknowledging God's will above all else. In Jesus we find both a model of worship, and a savior to be worshipped... but even further... in the very act of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead... we see Jesus humbling Himself before the Father and thanking Him for hearing Him. Jesus acknowledged the Father in everything.
What in your life needs to be raised from the dead?
Has it been a season of undue stress at home or at work?
Are you quite literally standing in the valley of the shadow of death?
Have you found yourself devoid of meaning and wondering what the point of all the ins and out of life is?
When we take a look at Jesus we move far beyond words and deeds to copy, and come face to face with a Savior who raises what is dead back to life. And Jesus did this by acknowledging God in everything He did.
Now before this song hit Christian radio I was listening to it on Spotify... but there are some pretty incredible words from the song "Touch the Sky" by Hillsong that I want to share with you.
"My heart beating, my soul breathing
I found my life when I laid it down
Upward falling, spirit soaring
I touch the sky when my knees hit the ground"
You will truly come alive when you acknowledge God for who He is.
When you place your faith in Jesus he wont just show you a better way to live... He'll literally save your life.
So here is what I want you to do. What is it that is eating you alive right now? What is your circumstance that has your caught between a rock and a hard place. I want you to write it down. Just write it down what it is... take a couple of moments...
Now I want you to echo these words of Jesus. Write this down next to the situation that you wrote down a second. "Thank you God for hearing me."
That is worship.