Bring Glory to God

 Dr. Glen A. Thorp                                                    March 3, 2013
 (All Rights Reserved)                                              John 11:1-17, Psalm 116:1-9
 
                                "BRINGING GLORY to GOD"
                             (Seventh in a series: "Seven Signs in John")

If you received notice that a close friend or loved one was dying,
what would you do? John gives us another insight into Jesus’ life and
ministry as he retells what Jesus did when he received such a notice.

As we have been looking at the "signs," miracles Jesus performed,
we have seen how Jesus’ conversations are used to teach theological principles.
This story is no exception. Jesus statement: This sickness will not end in death.
is misunderstood. Jesus clarifies what he meant. We read how Jesus related
to his disciples, to his friends and what he did.
More importantly, we learn why he did what he did.

From the first miracle Jesus performed in the small village of Cana in
Galilee, where he turned water into wine, to this last sign Jesus did, it was
to bring glory to God and bring people to God that they would believe.

In studying the Signs Jesus did, we have seen that he acted with compassion,
whether through his healings or feeding 5,000, in order that people be drawn
closer to God. We are invited to respond even as those who witnessed or
heard of the signs and wonders Jesus executed.

One of John’s thesis is that Jesus, the Light of the World, came that people
need not live in darkness. He came that we might have life in fulness.
Those themes appear again in this passage.

It is my hope and prayer that we will respond as Jesus did
by living to bring glory to God.

Three statements from Jesus will give us a clearer insight into Jesus.

The sickness will not end in death.  (John 11:4)

This happened in order to bring glory to God, and it
will be a means of by which the Son of God will receive glory.
The story is very human. A close friend of Jesus, Lazarus was critical.
His sisters, Mary and Martha send urgent word to Jesus:
Lord, the one you love is sick ... They did not say: "Come!"

They knew he would come. The relationship between Lazarus and Jesus
was special.  They knew of the Government Official in Galilee who went
to Jesus asking Jesus to come:  My son is dying. 
Jesus told the father:  Go your son will live.

"If he did that for someone he didn’t know, surely he will come
because our home has been a place of refuge for Jesus."

Their home. in Bethany, was two miles east of Jerusalem and a perfect
place to get away from the crowds. Jesus did not have a permanent place
to live so he was reliant on the hospitality of others.

When the sisters said: The one whom you love:
The Greek word used was phileo - brotherly (Philadelphia) Love:
one for another.  John uses: agape-God’s love for us:
Jesus loved Martha, Mary, Lazarus.

Yet when he received the message, instead of immediately dropping
everything and returning to Bethany, Jesus said: 
This sickness will not end in death.
We may ask: "why didn’t Jesus immediately respond?"

Beginning with verse 18 we see two sisters grieving because Lazarus
did die. Martha, the first to greet Jesus, says: 
If you had been here, my brother would not have died. 
I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask. (John 11:21)
Later Mary says: Lord, if you had been here my bother would not have died.
(John 11:32)

The next two verses are some of the most precious in the New Testament: 
When Jesus saw Mary weeping, and the Jews who had come with her,
also weeping, Jesus was deeply moved and troubled.

The Greek word: embrimasthai = deepest emotions, anger, indignation
at the disease (Brokeness). Tarrassein= reflexive verb-"troubled himself"
In verse 35, the shortest verse in the Bible, Jesus wept.

The Jews said: See how much he loved him! Could not he who opened
the eyes of a blind man have kept this man from dying?

Why didn’t Jesus respond when told of Lazarus’ illness?

Jesus said: The sickness will not end in death.
We just read that Lazarus died.
Did Jesus not know what was going to happen?
Did Jesus choose not to act?

Those are questions we may ask ourselves when we believe
God does not respond to our prayers as quickly as we wished.

Jesus said: This sickness will not end in death. It is for God’s glory and
so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.
The implication is: because Jesus loved Lazarus, Martha and Mary
so much that he chose not to heal Lazarus.
That is difficult to comprehend. It was even more difficult for the sisters.
Jesus KNEW what he was doing!

Jesus acted solely on his own initiative rather than because he was
persuaded or compelled by others.

The First Statement was: The sickness will not lead to death.

The Second Statement found in John 11:9 is:

Lazarus has fallen asleep;

I Am going to there to wake him up.
It had been two days since he received the news of Lazarus’ illness.
The disciples were startled and responded:
Lord, if he sleeps he will get better.
John points out that the disciples misunderstood what Jesus said.
Jesus clarifies the statement and teaches a lesson.

The disciples thought: "If Lazarus is sleeping that means he is getting better."
There is no mention as what the illness was. If it resulted in a high fever,
restlessness of the body would deny sleep. Thus when sleep came,
it was a good sign.The disciples took Jesus at his word, Lazarus is asleep.
"Why wake him?" They also knew Jesus was a wanted man. 
But Rabbi, a short while ago the Jews tried to stone you and
you are going back there?

Jesus left Jerusalem after healing the blind man. (Last Week’s Blog)
His authority for healing the man had been challenged.
Jesus responded: My authority comes from God my Father.
Jesus was charged with demon possession. Jesus answered:
Before Abraham was I Am!
I Am is what God called Himself and the Jews never say out loud.
Jesus was accused of blasphemy and they tried stoning him,
but he disappeared. He went to East side of the Jordan River.

The disciples were afraid and didn’t want to return to the region
that might result in the arrest and death of their leader.
Jesus responded to their concern: 
Are there not twelve hours in daylight?
A man who walks by day will not stumble, for he sees by this world’s light. 
It is when he walks by night that he stumbles, for he has no light. (vs. 10) 
What did Jesus mean?

Jesus was teaching: a.) A day cannot finish until the 12 hours are up.
                                b.) There is enough time to accomplish the task.
                                c.) There are only 12 hours & cannot be extended.
Main lesson: While walking in the light there is no fear stumbling.

Jesus uses the analogy of the sun. John transfers the analogy to Jesus and
one of the themes running through his Gospel. 
Jesus is the light that came into the darkness and
the darkness could not overcome it.

The man blind from birth, when healed, saw the very source of light,
Jesus Himself. Essentially Jesus was telling the disciples
"We need not be afraid for my hour has not come.
When my task on earth is accomplished, then my life will end.
It will not end before I have finished all the work the
Father has given me to do."

Secondly: "Those who have the light of life, Jesus,
there is no need of being afraid of stumbling in the dark."

We have God’s very source of light available to us, through Jesus.
There is noone who can remove the light of guidance from us if
we are in a right relationship with God through Jesus Christ.

The First Statement: The illness will not lead to death.

The Second Statement: Lazarus has fallen asleep ...

The Third Statement:  That you may believe.

Jesus clarified that Lazarus was not just asleep but had died.
Then he startles his disciples saying: 
Yet for your sake, so that you may believe,
I am glad I was not there. But let us go to him.

What did Jesus mean by this statement? It is at the very heart
of the Gospel and is the main theme of this story.

We may cry out: "God why didn’t you act quickly enough to prevent
Lazarus from dying?" Jesus’ response: "Because I loved you,
I chose not to act.  What you are about to experience will be far
greater than anything I might have done in healing Lazarus."
The disciples and we have seen Jesus perform many
miracles (signs) and healing people of illness and disabilities.
Jesus deliberately waited until after Lazarus died to go to him,
in order to strengthen the disciples’ faith and prepare them for the
fact that Jesus would die but that he would be raised again.

As a writer, John tells the story. The evidence is presented.
It is up to you to decide whether you believe it is true or just fiction.
If you do not believe that Jesus had the power and authority to raise
Lazarus from the dead, it unlikely you will believe Jesus was raised
from the dead.

If you believe Jesus was raised from the dead, it is likely you believe
Lazarus was raised from the dead. If Lazarus was raised from death
you can be assured you too will be raised from death. The difference is
that Lazarus returned to this earthly existence. Whereas you will receive
your permanent reward in your heavenly existence.

One of themes of this story is two sisters who deeply loved their
brother, acted in faith that Jesus could heal their brother, but saw their
brother die.  When Jesus arrived four days later, the sisters were angry
that Jesus had not come when asked: may have thought, "why come now,
you are four days too late."  They knew that Jesus loved Lazarus and
must have an reason for not coming. Never in their wildest hope
did they think they would see their brother alive again.

John carefully points out that Lazarus had been in the grave four days.
The religious leaders taught that the first three days after death were critical.
It was during those days that soul left the body and went to God.
Once the soul left it could not return to the body. We read:
"Jesus waited four days" and yet raised Lazarus from death.
              
In hindsight we are able to understand what Jesus meant:
This ailment is not to death but for the Glory of God.

God had a deeper purpose than just healing a person.
God, the Father wanted to demonstrate to His Son’s disciples,
to those who heard of Jesus’ power, and to assure Jesus that he
would be raised from the dead. The reason Jesus waited was so that
his disciples would believe in him as the Resurrection and Life. (vs. 25).

I AM the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, e
ven tho she or he dies and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.
This is affirmed on Easter, commemorating Jesus’ resurrection from the dead.
It is used at most funerals and memorial services offering hope that our
existence does not end at death.

Another theme is that Jesus’ life could not be taken from him before
God’s time. Jesus encouraged his disciples to not be afraid and realize
there was only a limited time in which the work given to him could be
accomplished.  The implication for us is that we too have been given
a task with a limited amount of time to accomplish it.
We may not know the length of our life, as Jesus did, but we can be
assured that the task given to us will be completed.
We need not fear for we have the light of life in our bodies.
That light will guide us as we follow where God leads us.
In contrast, the religious leaders were in darkness.
They did not believe Jesus and tried stopping him from teaching and
performing miraculous signs demonstrating God’s power.

Jesus’ victory over death forms the supreme crisis in Jesus’ life.
It resulted in the Jewish leaders intensifying their attempts to take Jesus’ life.
Unbelievers tried, in every possible, to put Jesus to death.
While believers found that Jesus is the ultimate triumph over death.

As we go through these "Happy/Sad" days of Lent with Jesus the Master,
I encourage you to read the remainder of John 11 and see Jesus’ human side.
He must have struggled as hard and you or would if we knew a close friend
was dying.  We would want to be present with Lazarus as he went through
his last moments on earth.  Jesus must have been tempted to use his
supernatural power to heal Lazarus. Even as he did not, in his temptation,
chose not to heal Lazarus...Better way!

Jesus’ obedience to God the Father ultimately lead him to the cross.
There on the cross Jesus was glorified, because he took upon himself
all of the world’s sin.  On the cross Jesus gave his life,
that we might have life eternal.

At the end of Lent we will celebrate the day Jesus triumphantly
entered Jerusalem.  It is likely, many of those praising Jesus were present
when Jesus raised Lazarus.  They quickly spread the good news and that
drew the crowd. During Holy Week, we will read how one by one those
same people deserted Jesus and ultimately,
He faced the cross alone.

John’s theme throughout this series is that what leads us to believe in Jesus is
not just the miraculous signs he performed. rather faith that what we read is true.
Do you believe Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead? If so by what power
did he do it?  The religious leaders said it was satanic.
Jesus’ followers believed it was God’s Power!

Throughout this series, you have read about who Jesus is based on the
"signs/miracles" he did. Has it given you a clearer picture of who Jesus is?
Has your insight lead you to, by faith, following Jesus?

John ends his book:  Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the
presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. 
But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ,
the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. 
                                                                                          (John 20:21)
 This is what the seventh, yes all the signs in John illustrate.
Next week I will begin a series of Devotionals about what Jesus
told and illustrated to his disciples and us about why he was going
to Jerusalem even knowing it would lead to his death.
Lazarus’ death and being raised to life was a "foretaste" of what
Jesus would experience for us, ultimately destroying the power
of physical death and promise of life eternal:
 for those who believe and are called by his name.

Do you have that assurance? It not, I encourage you to ask Jesus to
come into and take control of your life. If you do this or want to learn
more about what to do, leave a note on "comments" and I will write you.

("The Bible," a new television series starting on the History Channel,
this Sunday, 3.1.13. Produced by Mark Burnett (Survivor, The Voice)
and his wife Roma Downey (Touched by an Angel) the ten-hour
presentation is a dramatic and ambitious project. It’s also a labor of love
for the Burnetts, who began this endeavor with a noble and classical goal:
to encourage people to read the Bible.)

It will also give a visual presentation to some of the stories covered in
this series. There are five segments from the Old Testament and five
from the New Testament.  The "signs/miracles" will be in second part.     

TO GOD BE THE GLORY!

BRINGING GLORY TO GOD!