Sermon John 11:1-45 The Resurrection and the Life

Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard

Pitts Creek Church

Sermon John 11:1-45 The Resurrection and the Life

April 6, 2014

For the last three weeks we have watching people come to faith. Nicodemus, a Samaritan woman, and a man blind from birth. And we have discerned a pattern that occurs whenever someone experiences conversion. First, they see a sign, something God does in their lives. Then they have a conversation with Jesus who explains the sign and reveals who he is. Finally people come to faith. This process has occurred countless times since Jesus walked on earth. Our role as Christians is to help people recognize what God is doing in their lives. Then we help people engage Jesus in conversation thought worship, prayer and Bible study. Through this people come to faith. And the benefit of coming to faith is that the promise of eternal life comes with it.

All of the conversions we have seen so far have been of individuals. But this process works with groups of people as well. We will see this, but first let's pray.

“O God, I know that you are the Lord, for you gave me my life, and caused me to rise this day. Put your Spirit within me, and let my words and actions help others to know that you are my Lord and my God. Amen”.¹

Let's start with a contemporary story of conversion. Nabeel Qureshi is an author who converted from Islam to Christianity. His parents immigrated from Pakistan to America, and Nabeel grew up in a Muslim home. In college he began to consider Christianity through his Christian roommate. But he wasn't sure if he should follow Jesus or Mohamed. After college he continue to pray to God asking for discernment. In Islam, Allah is thought to communicate to his people through dreams. So Nabeel prayed for a dream to help him know who he should follow. Here is what happened, in his own words.

“In it I was standing at the threshold of a strikingly narrow door, watching people take their seats at a wedding feast. I desperately wanted to get in, but I was not able to enter, because I had yet to accept my friend David’s invitation to the wedding ... When I awoke, I knew what God was telling me, but I sought further verification. It was then that I found the parable of the narrow door, in Luke 13:22–30. God was showing me where I stood.”²

Nabeel then made the difficult decision to leave the faith of his family and embrace faith in Jesus Christ. Notice what happen. People engaged in conversations with Nabeel about their faith. They invited him to examine his faith with prayer, worship and Bible study. And Jesus came to Nabeel in a dream. All of this combined to bring Nabeel into faith. You can read more about his conversion in his book, Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus.³

Let's turn now to how Jesus converted a large group of people.

^NIV John 11:1 Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. ² This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair. ³ So the sisters sent word to Jesus, "Lord, the one you love is sick." ⁴ When 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." ⁵ Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. ⁶ Yet when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days.

Our story today begins with a message from a couple of Jesus' dearest friends. Their brother is sick, near death, and they want Jesus to come at once. Can Jesus heal their brother? Of course. Does Jesus heal people who are near death? All the time. Does Jesus keep everyone from dying? No. We all die, even those who are close to Jesus. In Christ we are not promised immortality. We will not live forever. Jesus has something better for us. Let's continue.

¹⁷ On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. ¹⁸ Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem, ¹⁹ and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother. ²⁰ When 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.

We have all been there. We have prayed, and prayed, and prayed over and over again for a loved one. We have asked Jesus for healing. But we find ourselves instead sitting in church in front of a casket, grieving. At times like these Jesus wants us to know something. Listen to his explanation to Martha.

²² But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask." ²³ Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again." ²⁴ Martha answered, "I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day." ²⁵ Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; ²⁶ and 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, the Son of God, who was to come into the world."

Jesus' promise is not that we will live forever. We are not immortal. Rather, he promises us resurrection and eternal life. We will die, but we will rise again. Resurrection is our Christian hope. God preserves our souls, memories, and personalities in heaven until the glorious day when our bodies are recreated and then we will live together with Jesus on earth in the Kingdom of God. But how can we believe this? Jesus has to give us some proof, some sign, that gives us confidence to believe in the resurrection from the dead. Let's see what Jesus did.

³⁴ "Where have you laid him?" he asked. "Come and see, Lord," they replied. ³⁵ Jesus wept. ³⁶ Then the Jews said, "See how he loved him!" ³⁷ But some of them said, "Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?" ³⁸ Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. ³⁹ "Take away the stone," he said. "But, Lord," said Martha, the sister of the dead man, "by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days." ⁴⁰ Then Jesus said, "Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?" ⁴¹ So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, "Father, I thank you that you have heard me. ⁴² I 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." ⁴³ When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out!" ⁴⁴ The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, "Take off the grave clothes and let him go." ⁴⁵ Therefore many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what Jesus did, put their faith in him.

We have the sign. Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead in front of numerous witnesses. What's our reaction? Do we believe in the resurrection from the dead? The evidence is right there. Many of the witnesses who saw it came to belief. What about us? If we have engaged in a conversation with Jesus through worship, prayer and Bible study this sign will bring us to belief. And promise for all who believe is resurrection to eternal life. Let's pray.

Lord Jesus, we thank you for being the resurrection and the life. We thank you for the promise that we and our loved ones will one day be resurrected from the dead to live eternally with you in the Kingdom of God. Help us to believe that this is true. In your name we pray. Amen.

1Kimberly Long, Feasting On the Word Worship Companion (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2013), 119.

2http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2014/04/01/the-supernatural-thing-an-ex-muslim-claims-guided-him-to-christianity/

3http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0310515025/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0310515025&linkCode=as2&tag=theboo09-20