Have You Experienced The Resurrection?

Text: John 11:1-45

v. 5 “Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.”

I’m thinking that Jesus had a lot of friends back in his day, I mean he had healed lots of people, complete strangers all over Judea and the surrounding area. Jesus, in just a couple of years time had become a lightning bolt, when you mentioned his name, electricity seemed to flow, either for him or against him, depending on who you were and what you wanted to believe. That hasn’t changed has it?

I bet if Jesus had a Facebook page, He would have the world record for friend requests, don’t you think?

Listen to how Jesus describes his relationship with his disciples in John 15:12-15 “My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.”

Jesus demonstrated his love for everyone that he was around, as we see in his discussion with his disciples, he loved them, he called them friends, and he let them in on what the “big picture” plan was that the Father had given to Him. One of the ways that we describe our relationship with Jesus is by using the term “Friend”.

Friendship is important to us, we need to be connected to other people in real and meaningful relationships. One of the main reasons calls us to Fellowship within the church is to help meet this important need in peoples lives, we need each other…amen?

How is your friendship going with Jesus today?

The truth is we need to spend time with our friends to keep those relationships growing and healthy. I know we get frustrated when we don’t get to spend time with each other, I know I do. But, our relationship with Jesus is so important, our Friendship with Him flows out of our time spent with Him, it flows out of our obedience to His Word. Our Friendship with Jesus is very important.

This morning I want to tell you something really important, something we all need to hear…something that I believe is at the heart of this story…it’s what God wants us to hear this morning.

1. Jesus is so much more than a Friend! V. 11 “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going there to wake him up.”

I want you to hear me correctly this morning…. Does Jesus count us as Friends, and want us to be intimate with Him, like best friends do? Yes. But what I want you to understand is this…. He is so much more than a Friend!

Let’s be honest. In our social networking society that we now live in, like it or not, becoming someone’s friend has been made as easy as a click of a button. If you send a friend request to someone, and they accept it, guess what? Your friends on FB. Let’s be honest, that’s not really friendship…. I have people on my friend list that I haven’t talked to in 20 years… I have one guy that I never talked to 20 years ago when we were in school, but now we do talk or debate on line, that’s really weird. What’s my point? Just because you say you are someone’s friend, doesn’t make it so.

Jesus didn’t come to be the Friend of all Friends. He came to be the King of Kings.

Jesus didn’t come to be the most popular person ever….He came to Lord and Savior.

Jesus didn’t come so people could feel warm and fuzzy on Sunday mornings….He came to set people free from sin so that they wouldn’t spend eternity in a real place called Hell.

Don’t think that being a good friend is enough, it’s not.

What do you mean Pastor? A little over 18 years ago God blessed Nola and I with twin baby girls, and they have been the best gift I have ever received outside of my salvation. One of my goals was to be their friend….no doubt being a friend to my girls is important, and there have been plenty of times I haven’t been very good at it. But listen carefully, me being their friend was not my only responsibility….. some of the other important characteristics of this relationship include: Teacher; disciplinarian; Husband to their mother; coach; cheerleader; protector; provider; tutor; hopefully a good example; mentor; and spider killer, (just to name a few)

My friendship with my girls is important, and I work on keeping it healthy…but there is so much more to our relationship. How much more is this true in our relationship with Jesus, our Savior?