John 11:1-27
and then go to the Lord in prayer.
A couple of notes as we get started.
First, the clock up here has no battery in it. I just noticed
that. So fair warning. And secondly, thank you for getting
the sound figured out. I felt like the Wizard of Oz
there for a minute. So I appreciate you being diligent
in that. Pay no attention to the man behind
the curtain, right? Let’s take a look at John chapter
11. We’ll be in actually verses 1 through 16 this morning. This is from the English Standard
Version, the death of Lazarus, if you follow along with me.
Now, a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary
and her sister Martha. It was Mary who anointed the
Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose
brother Lazarus was ill. So the sisters sent to him saying,
Lord, he whom you love is ill. But when Jesus heard it, he said,
this illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of
God so that the son of God may be glorified through it. Now,
Jesus loved Martha and her sister Lazarus and Lazarus. So when
he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in
the place where he was. Then after this, he said to the
disciples, let us go to Judea again. The disciples said to
him, Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking to stone you and
you are going there again. And Jesus answered, Are there
not 12 hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he
does not stumble because he sees the light of this world. But
if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles because the light
is not in him. After saying these things, he
said to them, Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go to
awaken him. The disciples said to him, Lord,
if he has fallen asleep, he will recover. Now Jesus had spoken
of his death, but they thought that he meant taking rest in
sleep. Then Jesus told them plainly,
Lazarus has died. And for your sake, I’m glad that
I was not there so that you may believe, but let us go to him. So Thomas called the twins, said
to his fellow disciples, let us also go that we may die with
him. Let’s pray together. Our heavenly
Father, as we open your word of truth today, we pray for your
spirit of truth to come, to guide us into all truth, to bless us
in the reading and the study of God’s holy word. In the name
of Jesus, we pray this morning, amen. Well, scholars estimate that
throughout the course of human history, around 109 billion people
have lived and died. A little over 7% of everyone
who’s ever been alive is alive today. We represent about 7%
of history. There’s a book that came out
recently, Oliver Berkman called, 4,000 Weeks, Time Management
for Mortals. And he uses this metric of 4,000
weeks of life expectancy. Now, please don’t get your phones
out and estimate how many weeks you have left. It’s very discouraging,
I have to say. So we’ll make this day worth
living as part of this week that you have. Well, it’s easy for
us to talk about the end of life when it seems quite far over
the horizon. When it’s knocking at your door
though, the conversation changes very quickly, doesn’t it? And
within God’s word, there’s dozens of ways that we read about death,
that we talk about the afterlife, eternal life. Today, we’re looking
at this passage. This is just one way that scripture
talks about death. We look at how Jesus handled
the death of His good friend, Lazarus. So today I’m not considering
everything that the Bible has to say about death, just this
one passage and how it relates to illness and death. Because
most of us know the story of Lazarus, how it ends up with
a miraculous resurrection, it ends up with good news. But I
want you to see today that most of the chapter deals with how
Lazarus’ friends handle his illness and death. And that’s where we’re
going to focus today. We’re talking about two Bethany’s this morning.
Just file this away if you would please. One is Bethany beyond
the Jordan. One is a town of Bethany that’s
near Jerusalem. And so when we open chapter 11,
Jesus has fled the aggression and the constant scrutiny of
Jerusalem to go to Bethany beyond the Jordan. It’s a short season
of quiet ministry, effective ministry. He’s going there to,
as John 10, 42, it says, many believed in him. Bethany beyond
the Jordan is where John the Baptist first ministered. And
so Jesus is harvesting these seeds that John first planted. And this ministry at Bethany,
it could not have come at a better time. It’s been a hard season
of ministry for Jesus and His disciples. Time and again they’re
faced with arrest. They’re faced with execution,
the threat of execution as they minister in Jerusalem. And so
the disciples are just starting to feel the total weight of what
it means to follow Jesus, to be fully devoted to Jesus. And
so imagine, if you will, they are on there, the banks of the
Jordan River. They’re enjoying maybe some calm
ministry days for once, after all that they’ve been through
in Jerusalem. Jesus preaches, the people respond, and maybe
some of the disciples think, you know, I could get used to
this. This isn’t so bad. This is a lot better than when
we were in Jerusalem. But then, as so often happens,
life comes calling, right? ministry, obedience, purpose,
duty, it breaks the serenity. It says that Mary and Martha
sent to Jesus saying, Lord, he whom you love is ill. And with
this message, the quiet season of Bethany beyond the Jordan
comes to an end. Now, Lazarus, Mary and Martha
are living in the different village called Bethany, right? This is
what we were talking about just a few moments ago. They’re about
two miles from Jerusalem. They are not only disciples of
Jesus, but they are close friends. They’re like family. It’s explained
in John that Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. They
are far more than just a teacher and his disciples. They’re intimately
acquainted with one another. as brothers and sisters would
be. They love each other. And this love is very important
because it helps us to frame Jesus’s response. John’s gospel
makes it clear that Jesus loves Lazarus. And so rather than dropping
everything to go to Lazarus, he stays in Bethany an extra
two days. And so scriptures giving us a
foundation, a reminder. Jesus loved Lazarus now, and
then now look at what he did to help us understand it. By
the time he arrives to see Mary and Martha, Lazarus will have
already been in the tomb for four days. This is halfway through
their traditional week-long morning period. And plenty of people
have now come and gone to visit with Martha and Mary. They’ve
come to sit in silence with them. But Jesus, who loves them, has
intentionally delayed. And why is that? That’s the insight
that we find in part here in this chapter. So I want to circle
back to the start. And again, we’re not covering
everything that scripture says about illness and death, but
rather just a simple look at how Jesus explained the purpose
of Lazarus’s death. And I have three things I want
us to look at today. The first is this. We see illness and death
for God’s glory. We see illness and death here
for God’s glory. Look at verse four. When Jesus
heard about Lazarus, he said, this illness does not lead to
death. It is for the glory of God so that the son of God may
be glorified through it. Now we read this as Christians
and we think, well, of course, his illness does not lead to
death. We believe in eternal life. We understand that. We
understand the end of the story even. For Lazarus, it doesn’t
lead even to earthly death, at least here. Another sermon for
another day would be all the people that Jesus healed and
raised and how they all had to die again, right? Have you ever
thought of it that way? Poor Lazarus, right? But naturally,
we Christians, we skim over this part. Lazarus’s illness does
not lead to death. Okay, we get it. Let’s get to
the good part. Let’s fast forward to the resurrection
that he has. But Jesus’s emphasis is different
from what we might see at first glance. The Greek here makes
it a little clear. If you were just to parse this
out, this sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God. This is death as a stop along
the way, but not a destination. Here, the terminal illness that
Lazarus has in and of itself is for the glory of God. Let
that sink in for just a moment. The suffering that Lazarus experiences
is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified
through it, as scripture says. For Lazarus, that does not make
his suffering any less painful, but it does make it more meaningful. Lazarus’s experience will go
through illness. It will go through death, but
it will not stop at either one. Now, of course, yeah, we know
he’s resurrected four days later, but that’s not the hope that
Jesus speaks of here. He is saying that days before
the happy ending that we’re all familiar with. Even then, the
story of Lazarus’ illness and death has a purpose to God’s
glory. Now, let’s not overlook this.
When I, as a Christian, consider death, I can’t help but also
consider eternal life. I can’t really separate the two.
I don’t know if you can relate to that. I know one day the Lord
will either call me home to heaven or he will return and call us
all home to heaven. I anticipate my life in the presence
of our Lord. I know that’s coming. And so
I can’t really think about death without also thinking about life. Romans 8, 28, we have the hope
of a daily life now that means something because that wonderful
passage, for those who are called according to his purpose, all
things are working together for good. We have the promise of
a life to come. Revelation 21 four, where neither
shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore. So anytime
Christians talk about death, we are talking about life. We
just can’t help it. It’s all lumped in there together.
And that’s wonderful, right? That’s a good place to start
from. But I want us to take a moment
and consider that even our illness and even death itself can have
a purpose for God’s glory. I usually think of illness and
death as a necessary evil, something I must go through on my way to
God’s glory. But Jesus teaches us here that
no, even the illness, even the death in itself can be for the
glory of God so that the Son of God, that is Jesus, may be
glorified through it. Now we often speak of our purpose
in life, right? What is our chief end? To glorify
God and enjoy Him forever. And that is true. But remember
that we are doing this in a fallen world. And so that our life… To glorify God and enjoy him
forever in this life, that means that it also includes death. And so we rightly celebrate life
and birth and healing and miracles. But let us not forget that even
death itself can serve God’s glory. Even our death can serve
our life’s purpose. Romans 11, 36. from Him and through Him and
to Him are, does anybody know it? All things. And what does
all mean? It means all, right? To Him be
glory forever, amen. And so when we read this truth
of all things, do we really believe it? That’s what Jesus demonstrates
in today’s scripture. That even illness, even death
can be from Him and through Him and to him, even illness, even
death can bring him glory forever. Amen. My heart really wants to
resist that because it’s a lot easier for me to look on illness
and death as only the results of the fall, as only the wages
of sin, as only part of a broken world. And we we demonize it
and tarnish it, but we serve a creator and we we accept this
in other areas of life. He he takes those broken and
painful things. And even then, long before that
wonderful eternity in heaven, he is using it to his eternal
glory. This shows up very clearly when
we remember that Jesus, as He talks about death here, He knows
that His death is to come. Think about it this way. What
better person to know how the Lord redeems death than the Lord
who died for us? He understands it. Let me read
from verse 8 for a second, and then we’ll continue on in verse
9. Jesus said to the disciples, let us go to Judea again. The disciples said to him, Rabbi,
the Jews were just now seeking to stone you, and are you going
there again? And look at his response in verse
9. Jesus answered, Are there not
twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he
does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. But if anyone walks in the night,
he stumbles, because the light is not in him. We talked about illness and death
to God’s glory. This is illness and death in
God’s timing, illness and death in God’s timing. Jesus knows. that to return to Judea, and
more specifically, Jerusalem, it will mark this countdown before
his death. And here he offers the disciples
a double meaning. First, you’ve got the familiar
light of the world idea, the light of the world theme that
runs all throughout John’s gospel, to walk with Jesus is to have
the light of the world and not stumble. And that’s a broad,
long-lasting truth. You know, you see it all throughout
John’s gospel. We talk about it in our lives.
Jesus is the light of the world. But there’s a second meaning
here as well. The very practical matter that
Jesus’s earthly ministry is not done yet. It’s not finished yet.
While there is still light of the day, it must be done. While the father gives the son
light to work, he’s going to work. I think about my my wife
here. She’s with me today. I promised
I would not point them out, but they happen to be here on the
first row. She’s a schoolteacher and 15 minutes before class ends,
her kids, her students are packing up their book bags, closing their
books, getting ready to leave. And she says, no, no, no. We
have 15 minutes left. If we skip 15 minutes of learning
every five days, then you have lost an hour and 15 minutes every
week. You’ve lost 11 hours of learning
over the course of nine weeks. So you can bet that she makes
good use of 15 minutes at the end of the day. Now, bear in
mind, Jesus has been in and out of danger in Jerusalem for about
three years now. And yet he’s been sustained.
He’s been spared all the while, often in a miraculous way. And
that’s because he’s on a providential timeline, right? You know, we
understand that. We maybe don’t always think about
it that way, but the father has given the son the light to work. And so the son is going to get
to work. He knows darkness is coming,
but darkness is not there yet. The ironic thing is that his
miracle for Lazarus will play a part in his eventual arrest.
That’s one of the actions, the rising actions that gets to it
there. And so the work that he’s doing in the day is going to
lead to the nighttime that he must face. But Jesus knows this,
and he simply continues on. And we would do well to follow
his example. Jesus does not romanticize death. but nor does he fear it. And
it seems that we tend to do one or the other in our lives. There’s
even a sense of urgency here, if you think about this, that
wouldn’t be present if Jesus and his ministry, his earthly
ministry, was just to go on and on and on and on and on. Right.
There’s a sense of urgency that we wouldn’t have without that.
The disciples said, Rabbi, they tried to kill you. Are you going
to go there again? And Jesus counters with what
is essentially, well, if death is coming, then we best get to
living. If death is coming, we best get to work. When my dad
and I are working on a project, you know, we’re building a deck
or something like that. He says, let’s go. We’re burning
daylight. So intense, you know, like we’re
just going to Home Depot. Let’s just take it down a notch,
right? We’re burning daylight. But that comes to mind here.
And it’s uncomfortable to say it, but it is true that God has
a timeline in your illness, a timeline in your death. Each of us is
in this room today because we have been healed and sustained
up to this point. We are above ground and breathing
air up to this point. But there will come a day when
my healing is no longer here, but in heaven. There will come
a day when I shut my eyes and as I long to see the Savior,
I will open my eyes in heaven and get to see the one I have
longed to see for so long. The blessing I’ve anticipated.
But until that day comes, Jesus says, are there not 12 hours
in the day? Do we not have work to do? Aren’t
we burning daylight, right? Let’s get to it. I’m on God’s
timeline, and so I better make it count. Whether that’s 4,000
weeks or 4,001 weeks or 3,999, we get to work. And so here we do well to consider
some commonalities in our death and Jesus’s death. So we’ve had
God’s glory, God’s timing. Now we see illness and death
is for others believing. Illness and death in God’s glory,
for God’s glory. Illness and death in God’s timing
and illness and death for others believing. Look at verse 14. Lazarus has died. And for your
sake, I am glad that I was not there so that you may believe. But let us go to him. So Thomas
called the twin, said to his fellow disciples, let us also
go that we may die with him. Now, we talk about Jesus’s death
and our death, and most likely you think, well, hang on a second.
You know, Jesus’s death is for the sins of the world. My death
will not compare to that. That’s very true. Jesus and His
death were one of a kind, right? Hebrews 10, He is the once and
for all sacrifice. He is like no other. He is the
prophet and the priest and king, the way, the truth and the life.
We cannot compare to that. We cannot measure up to that.
But that doesn’t mean that our death is meaningless. That doesn’t
mean I’m just a nameless person among 109 or 107 billion people
throughout history. My death does have a thing in
common with Jesus. We’ve already seen it in verse
14. It is for the glory of God, is it not? So that the Son of
God may be glorified through it. My death has something else
in common with Jesus and also with Lazarus. In verse 15, Lazarus
has died, he said, and for your sake I am glad that I was not
there. Why? So that you may believe, he says,
to the disciples. How plainly Jesus speaks here,
right? There’s no fluffy poetry about
Lazarus passing on or having a homecoming or graduating to
heaven or anything like that. Last week, we had a young lady
who was moving to Georgia. And in my pastoral prayer, I
said, Oh, Lord, thank you for calling Christine home. Bless
her homecoming. Let your glory shine. I went
on and on and on. Right. And afterwards, she shook
my hand and she said it sounded like I was dying and true. Isn’t that true? We say, oh,
the homecoming, we get calls at the office at church. Can
you put this on the prayer list? Someone so and so has been called
home and we have to clarify. Which home, right? But we have
so many ways of talking about it, and Jesus just says, you
know what, guys? Lazarus has died. Dot, dot, dot,
so that you may believe. This is where we see a foreshadowing
of Lazarus’s resurrection to come. His death and His resurrection. They’re going to help the disciples
as they have a fledgling faith. It’s a growing faith and it needs
to blossom at this critical time. This is just a week or so before
Jesus’ crucifixion, His own death, His arrest. But Jesus is saying,
I’m glad. I’m glad I wasn’t there to heal
Lazarus. I’m glad I wasn’t there to intervene
as he breathed his last painful breaths. I’m glad I wasn’t there
because those things would not have been enough to grow your
faith, disciples. I’m glad I wasn’t there because
the resurrection that I have planned and the death that has
already occurred are necessary for your faith, disciples. What
a thing to consider. Take Jesus at His word. He says
He’s glad He was not there to comfort His friend. That’s something
to think about at lunchtime, isn’t it? That Lazarus died without
any extra encouragement. Jesus was not there holding his
hand saying, don’t worry, friend, your your death has a bigger
purpose. But once again, Jesus has this larger picture of God’s
glory in mind. Most of the men here. Will go
on to lay the first foundations of the Christian church. We stand
here today in this room, we sit here in this room because we
are the inheritors of the faith that these men kept kept going
there. And the source of their sustaining
faith came about in part, not all 100%, but in part because
they watched Lazarus. And they watched his resurrection.
Yes, of course, to be sure, no doubt about that. But here they
are watching and learning about his death. That even his death
has a purpose. We see this practically, don’t
we? Who knows what ripples and roots our own death will bring. Most of us will die. There’ll
be a funeral, perhaps in this very room for some of you. And
a pastor, maybe Reverend Crotts, another will stand up and he
will share the gospel to everyone gathered there. The gospel to
that listless family member that needs encouragement. the gospel
to that one person who has not darkened the doors of a church
except for weddings and funerals, right? That is the hope that
we see. And so, yes, very literally,
your illness and your death can help bring a joy to others. I
was touched years ago when John Piper, you know, Desiring God
Ministries, was suffering with cancer. He wrote a whole paper,
a whole essay called Don’t Waste Your Cancer. about his insights
of using his illness to bring glory to God as he’s suffering
there in a hospital bed. It was remarkable. You can find
it online. It’s a wonderful reading. So
can the Lord use your illness and your death to help others
believe? Yes, to grow others in their believing. Yes, we know
it because he did it with Lazarus and he can and we hope he will
do it with you and with me. We see a very small evidence
of it here. The disciples, are still calling Jesus rabbi in
verse eight. That’s the title for teacher. But after their experience with
Lazarus, they quit calling him rabbi. And from here on out,
it’s Lord and master. Just a small little change there.
This is the last time they call him just teacher, just rabbi. Second, we even note poor doubting
Thomas, right? But who’s the one who speaks
up in boldness here and says, oh, if Jesus has to go to Jerusalem
and die, then we are ready to die with him. It’s Thomas. The
very fact that they accompany Jesus at all back to Jerusalem
is is an example of their growing acceptance of their own potential
death. They’re willing to go. And they
recognize that that fateful death plays a role in fateful life. It gives meaning. There’s meaning
to both infused and fueled by one and the other. And so before
Lazarus is ever resurrected, even his illness and death have
served a greater purpose. And that’s what I wanted us to
focus on this morning. I mentioned at the start, this
is not everything that scripture has to say about death. And I
know as Christians, we can hardly talk about death without also
thinking about eternal life and all the wonders that are to come.
But I hope you’ll begin to see in your own heart and to recognize
some of you may be dealing with illness even this very day pain. Some of you may be recovering
from the death of a loved one that you cared about. But I want
you to see that the Lord can use both of those and he will
use both of those to his glory. This comes when we give not just
our life to our savior, but our our death as well. We say, Lord,
forgive me of my sins, Lord, redeem my life. And Lord, when
the time comes, bring purpose to my death. Use those last breaths. Use that service of people gathered
in my honor to bring honor to your name. We need not be eager
for death or longing for death, but neither should we fear it.
If you allow me to paraphrase Romans 11, 36, for from him and
through him and to him are all things, yes, even illness and
death. And to him be glory forever.
Amen. Let’s pray together. Heavenly
Father, as we have our souls pierced by the Word of God today. Would you speak to us? Give us
encouragement, that wonderful encouragement, as Paul says,
how we don’t mourn as others do. We don’t mourn without hope. We have hope. We don’t anticipate
death without hope. We have that hope. We don’t live
our lives meaningless. We understand that you’ve given
us Daylight. We know that darkness will come
for all of us. But it is only temporary in the name of Jesus
as we awaken in your light. Encourage us today through the
reading of your word to the study of your word. Bless this congregation
as they gather this evening to worship once more. Bless the
Crotts family and their travels for refreshment. Father, we give
these things to you in the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen. Our
Hymn of Commitment is number 266. If you’d stand with us,
please.