August 10, 2008 – Do We Stink? The story of Lazarus. (Jesus is our Life)
Smell, just one of our five senses; but a very powerful one. Smells can remind us of many things. Think of these smells; fresh baked bread, barbecued beef, apple pie, cut flowers, cut grass, ocean breezes, just bathed babies, perfume, cologne. Or how about these; rotten fish, mould, sewage, sulphur, smoke, or really bad B.O.? Different feelings, different memories. Smells can conjure up all sorts of emotions; different places, different times, people we know, people who are no longer with us. Smells are powerful things. One smell that always gives me a powerful memory is the smell of Ivory shampoo. When I was down in central America on a missionary trip with YWAM, I packed Ivory shampoo with me. Whenever I smell that soap, I can close my eyes and feel like I’m in the river where we swam and bathed in what felt like the middle of the jungle. What about you, what smells are powerful in you mind? (answers?)
Tonight, we’re going to take a look into the Gospel of John, chapter 11, at the time where Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. This will be the theme story told on the 2nd day of vacation Bible school next weekend. The focus is Jesus is our Life. And through this story, we are going to show how Jesus could raise Lazarus to life from death, and how God can do the same for us. What does this have to do with smells? Let’s read the account, and find out. Turn in your Bible to John 11, and we’re going to go through the passage with some comments along the way…
John 11:1-44 (NIV)
The Death of Lazarus
1Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 2This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair. 3So the sisters sent word to Jesus, "Lord, the one you love is sick."
• Lazarus was Jesus’ friend, a very close friend. Mary and Martha were also very close to Christ. We read about these two women quite a bit throughout the gospels. Jesus must have known them quite well, probably spending time eating together at their home, perhaps spending the night at their place. These were people that Jesus liked to hang around with, and as we discussed last week, Jesus wants to be OUR friend too! Isn’t it great to have good friends? But Lazarus is not well, in fact he is very sick, perhaps near death.
4When 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." 5Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6Yet when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days.
• When you get a call or an email or someone comes to you directly with news that one of your closest friends is sick, very sick, what is your reaction? Don’t you want to get up and go to them and be with them as soon as possible? Doesn’t everything else suddenly get pushed aside for the sake of caring for your loved one? What if it’s even closer than a friend, say a parent or child or spouse, does the whole world not suddenly stop so you can focus on caring for that person? So why does Jesus not run to His friend’s side? Why does He stay away? Why doesn’t he heal Lazarus from where He was? After all, when the Centurion came to Jesus in Matt.8, Jesus didn’t have to GO to the servant to heal them. The man had faith that Christ could heal Him with just a word, and it happened, because of the faith of the Centurion. Jesus knew EXACTLY what was going to happen in the next few days; that Jesus himself would be glorified by a great miracle. But everyone, including Lazarus, would have to wait.
• We don’t like to wait do we? We want God to answer our prayers NOW. We want what we want when we want it. We can sound like a kindergarten class that resounds with sounds of, ‘Mine, mine, mine!’ ‘God, give me an answer NOW!’ Patience is what we need. God is patient with us, we need to be patient in waiting for His answers to our prayers.
7Then he said to his disciples, "Let us go back to Judea."
8"But Rabbi," they said, "a short while ago the Jews tried to stone you, and yet you are going back there?"
• In other words, ‘Jesus, are you nuts?’
9Jesus answered, "Are there not twelve hours of daylight? A man who walks by day will not stumble, for he sees by this world's light. 10It is when he walks by night that he stumbles, for he has no light."
11After he had said this, he went on to tell them, "Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up."
12His disciples replied, "Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better." 13Jesus had been speaking of his death, but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep.
• See, even back then they knew that we need to get good rest to get better when we’re sick. But Jesus was not speaking of a good sleep that He was going to rattle Lazarus out of. No, He make sit pretty clear in the next verse.
14So then he told them plainly, "Lazarus is dead, 15and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him."
16Then Thomas (called Didymus) said to the rest of the disciples, "Let us also go, that we may die with him."
• Ah, Thomas the doubter. Let’s just give up now. Let’s go back to that place they almost killed you, and let them kill all of us. What’s the use? Why keep going. I give up! This is Thomas’ human nature in full strength. This is Satan lying to him, trying to place doubt deep into Thomas’ heart so that he would turn away from Christ, and perhaps even give up on his own life because of a lack of hope. How sad! How terrible, but oh how true it is today! God won’t answer your prayers. God won’t heal your diseases. God doesn’t really care about you. God doesn’t even exist. These are the lies people hear today. These are the lies that keep people from putting their faith in Jesus. These are the lies that we have to overcome when sharing what God HAS done in our lives with folks who don’t believe in Him.
Jesus Comforts the Sisters
17On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. 18Bethany was less than two miles[a] from Jerusalem, 19and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother. 20When 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. 22But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask."
23Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again."
24Martha answered, "I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day."
25Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; 26and 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,[b] the Son of God, who was to come into the world."
28And after she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary aside. "The Teacher is here," she said, "and is asking for you." 29When Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him. 30Now Jesus had not yet entered the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. 31When the Jews who had been with Mary in the house, comforting her, noticed how quickly she got up and went out, they followed her, supposing she was going to the tomb to mourn there.
32When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died."
• These women had great faith in Jesus. Both of them said, ‘If you had been here, our brother wouldn’t have died.’ And Jesus comforted them in their sorrow by reminding them that all those who believe in Him, who put their faith in Jesus, will live, not only in this life (for to know Christ is to live life to the fullest) but will live forever with Him in Heaven! That is the promise of our faith.
• But Lazarus DID die. Jesus didn’t save him from death. He was dead, he was wrapped up in burial clothes, and he was buried in a tomb. Is that our complaint sometimes? ‘If only God was here, if only He cared, then I wouldn’t be in this mess right now. My relationships wouldn’t be failing. My health wouldn’t be so bad. My finances wouldn’t be burying me. I wouldn’t be so wrapped up in my work and not my family. I wouldn’t feel so closed in, like I’m in a tomb!’ Well God DOES care, God IS here, and God WILL answer our prayers. But we must wait for HIS timing.
33When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. 34"Where have you laid him?" he asked.
"Come and see, Lord," they replied.
35Jesus wept.
36Then the Jews said, "See how he loved him!"
37But some of them said, "Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?"
• Verse 37 is the shortest in the Bible, two words. But they are powerful words. They show the compassion, the love and the humanity of Jesus Christ at the loss of a dear friend to an awful enemy, death. Death is awful, it was never intended for us, except that mankind sinned many years ago in the Garden of Eden, where everything was perfect, man sinned and brought death into this world so that we ALL must face it one day, either in the death of those around us and in our own death someday. And it moved the Creator of the Universe to tears.
Jesus Raises Lazarus From the Dead
38Jesus, 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."
• Back to smells. Have you ever smelled death? Have you walked past the carcass of a dead animal on the side of the road? Have you been on a beach where a large animal has begun to rot? These are NOT good smells. These things stink. In fact, the King James Version of the Bible translates this verse like this. ‘Lord, by this time he stinketh: (KJV)’ Yeah, I bet he stinketh. A body lying in a stone tomb in the desert sun would surely stinketh. And do you know what else stinkeths? Sin. Death is the result of sin. Sin stinks. Being around something that stinks is not pleasant nor something that anyone really wants to do. Do you like being around people who stink? Are you sitting by someone who stinks? It’s not pleasant is it? It’s uncomfortable, and our gut reaction is to get away from the smell. People who live lives of sin have their own kind of smell. I feel very uncomfortable being with people who live an open life of sin. It’s not that I’m judging them, for I am a sinner too. But it’s hard to be around people that have no regard for God and His love for them, and are clearly on a road that leads to death, eternal death. That’s difficult for me, and it’s probably difficult for all of us. It must have been so hard for Jesus to be with sinners, and the stink of their sin. But THAT’S JUST WHAT HE DID! He spent His time with sinners. He got right into our stinky lives and offered a way to get clean. And it’s not just non-believers who can have the stink of sin in their lives. Christians can stink it up just like anyone else. And being around a Christian who is full of pride, anger, and self-righteousness has a pretty bad stink to it. But there is a way to get rid of that smell. There’s a way out of the tomb. But we have to take away the stone first.
• Couldn’t Jesus have just told the stone to move too? ‘Stone, be gone!’ I think it was important for the people to move that stone. They had to get close to the smell. They had to get their hands dirty in doing some work and not expecting God to do everything. I believe it illustrates that we’ve got to make the first move toward God. If they didn’t believe Jesus would do something, why move the stone. Their faith had been stirred, they were ready for God to act. Are we ready? Have we got a stone in the way of God moving in our lives? Move it, whatever it is. If it’s a lack of faith, trust in the Lord. If it’s a habit you’re not able to control, get some professional help. If it’s stubborn pride, humble yourself a little. If it’s friends that are holding you back from the Lord, maybe you need to let go of them for a while. Whatever it is…move it aside, and get rid of the stink of sin in our lives.
40Then Jesus said, "Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?"
41So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, "Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 42I 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."
43When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out!" 44The 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."
• Come out! Get out of that grave! Imagine for a moment what it must have been like to see this man step out of that tomb. He’s wrapped in strips of linen, his face is covered in cloth, he looks like a mummy waling out of the grave. But HE IS ALIVE! This guy had been dead for four days, but Jesus restored him to full and complete health, and Lazarus was free. The same can be done for anyone who is dead in their sin, for no matter how long. The grave clothes, representing us being bound to sin, can be removed and we can be set free to live for God. The question Jesus asked them was, ‘do you believe this?’ And so I ask us the same thing, ‘do we believe?’ That is the basis of our faith, belief that God can take us from death to life. He can remove the stink of sin, and wash us white as snow.
