A Study of the Book of John
Sermon # 30
“The Delays of Love”
John 11:1-16
This morning I am going to talk about “the” most difficult problem you have to face as a Christian. It might be interesting to conduct a poll this morning to find out what you think that might be. But I agree with Ray Stedman who says that the most difficult thing to handle as a Christian is “when God does not do what I have been taught to expect him to do; when God gets out of line and does not act the way he ought.”[Ray Stedman. God’s Strange Ways. www.pbc.org/library]
Sometimes you may think that God just doesn’t care about you. In fact sometimes it seems the circumstances of your life don’t seem to allow for any other explanation. When you are being ravaged by the events of your life, it is very difficult to believe that God’s silences and delays are really evidences of His love. And yet they often are.
Our story begins this morning with a problem. The problem is that Lazarus was dying. This is a problem we can all identify with, for death intrudes into all our lives and we find those closest to us snatched from our sides by accident, sickness or death.
In such moments, some question the presence or love of God. Others, even those who do not doubt the love of God and His faithfulness, find their faith tested.
What are we to think in such circum-stances? What should we do? There is probably no better example of what we are to do in the entire Bible than the example given to us by Martha and Mary in John 11.
Three principles to live by…
First, Even Those Jesus Loves Gets Sick. (vv. 1, 3)
“Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha.(3) Therefore, the sisters sent to Him, saying, Lord, behold he whom You love is sick.”
Because Jesus loved Lazarus one of the obvious things we should note here is that sickness comes into every home, even including those in which Jesus is loved. Although Jesus loved Lazarus, that did not prevent his sickness.
In verse four, we are told, “This sick-ness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” This verse would answer all those who would state that sickness is never the will of God for a believer, that it is wrong to be sick, that is due to a lack of faith, some hidden sin or the judgment of God. But the words of Jesus about Lazarus are unmistak-able, not all sickness is a sign of unbelief or lack of faith. Such a position is not only unscriptural, but hurtful and dangerous.
Not only Do those Even Those Jesus Loves Gets Sick but
Secondly, God’s Timing Is Frequently Different Than Ours! (vv. 5-7)
“Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. (6) So, when He heard that he was sick, He stayed two more days in the place where He was. (7) Then after this He said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.”
I am convinced at least in my own mind that the sisters assumed that Jesus will do one of two things; He will either come as quickly as he can or he will send word by a mess-enger that He is coming shortly, but this is not what happens. Verse five begins by telling us that Jesus loved Lazarus and his sisters. And then verse six begins with a connecting word “so” or in the King James Version it is “Therefore.” “So” or “because” Jesus “loved” this family he did not immed-iately make his way to Bethany. It is all the more incredible to us that although Jesus loved this family he did not hurry to Bethany but rather stayed two days were he was. Likewise, we sometimes have found our-selves in trouble and fired off a prayer but found that he does not seem to hear. At those times we are tempted to think that God just does not care about you. The circum-stances at such a time don’t seem to allow for any other explanation. When you are being ravaged by the events of your life, it is very difficult to believe that God’s silences and delays are really evidence of his love. Yet when we examine His decision in the text to wait is it a heartless response to the urgent cry of His beloved friends? No of course not!
Have you ever prayed or expected God to do something when you thought he would or should do it only to have him wait or delay in his response? What did it do to your faith? What is it doing right now? You may be waiting for your spouse to change or your kids to respond differently. Maybe you’re waiting for someone to forgive you or accept your forgiveness. What are you waiting for God to do? According to what timetable have you expected him to work? How has it, how is it affecting your faith? Has your faith been based on what you think God will do or should do?
As R. Kent Hughes says, “From ground level it sometimes appears to us that even though we are Christ’s children and we love him, he does not care about us any more. At times humanly speaking, our circumstances seem to admit no other interpretation than that. I think about Joseph being sold by his brothers into slavery. He ended up in Potiphar’s household, by hard work, integrity, and devotion he rose to the top - only to be toppled because he would not compromise himself with Mrs. Potiphar. As a result, he ended up in a foul Egyptian jail. From ground level it appeared that God had forsaken him. Joseph had honored God as a young man, but it seemed God did not care about him any longer. When a child dies in his mother’s arms as she cries to God for help and the ambulance lies stalled two blocks away, we wonder if God cares. When a Christian is false accused and pleads with God to bring the evidence to clear him and it is only after his reputation is ruined that the evidence comes, we wonder if God cares. When we plan some great event for God and the whole thing falls through, we wonder if God cares. We must be honest and admit that at ground level there are times when it is very difficult to keep believing in the goodness of God.” [R. Kent Hughes. John: That You Might Believe. (Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway Books, 1999) p.p. 281-282]
What we find in John 11 elevates our perspective. It explains to Christians that no matter how it may appear that these unexplained delays are delays of God’s love.
No set of circumstances, including God’s seemly silences and delays, are evidence that he has abandoned us. Paul reassures us in Romans 8:35, 37-39, “Who (or what) shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? ...(37) Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. (38) For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, (39) nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God.” Our death or of our loved ones, even if it should be sooner than expected, does not reflect unfavorably on Jesus’ care for us.
Why? That is the question that we all ask. Why? Well, we ought to believe because John tells, “Jesus loved Martha, and her sister and Lazarus.”
Not only is God’s Timing Is Frequently Different Than Ours but…
Third, Even When God Says No It Is For Our Good.
Have you ever prayed for something or someone expecting God would or should answer in a favorable way only to have him say no? Have you prayed that your marriage would be restored and have it end in divorce? Have you asked God to heal someone only to have them die? Have you asked God to change someone’s heart only to watch them fall deeper and deeper into rebellion? Have you asked for God to restore a friendship only to have the door slammed in your face? How has it, how is it affecting your faith?
Martha and Mary must have been clearly mystified as to why Jesus is taking so long in getting back to Bethany- if not to cure Lazarus, then at least to comfort them. They probably went outside each hour to see if their Lord was approaching, then back in to Lazarus whose life was ebbing away, then went out again to look for Jesus. Each day they watch the road, looking for Jesus. One day, comes and goes. No Jesus! A second day, comes and goes. No Jesus. Lazarus, dies and is buried and still no Jesus! These four days have been especially difficult for them. But then Jesus came!
In John 11 verse seventeen we read,
“So when Jesus came, He found that he had already been in the tomb four days. (18) Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles away. (19) And many of the Jews had joined the women around Martha and Mary, to comfort them concerning their brother. (20) Now Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met Him, but Mary was sitting in the house. (21) Now 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 of God, God will give You.” (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 at the last day.” (25) Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. (26) And whoever 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 to come into the world.”
Conclusion
Even Those Jesus Loves Gets Sick.
God’s Timing Is Frequently Different Than Ours.
Even When God Says No It Is For Our Good.
