1. Death is Unstoppable
Back in March of 2008, the mayor of a city in SW France had a problem. It seems his village was running out of space. Not in housing, nor in the retail district, nor even at City Hall. It seems they were running out of space… in the cemetery. There was no room for any more graves. It was full. And apparently (wait for it) people were just dying to get in. ?
Now the mayor tried to purchase land that was next to the cemetery, but an administrative court ruled that his village couldn’t do that.
And so the mayor - having no space in the cemetery, and unable to purchase more land to bury people - did what any politician would have done… he passed a law. And he had this law posted in the city building informing the 260 residents of the town that they are no longer allowed to die.
The ordinance read, in part, "[A]ll persons not having a plot in the cemetery and wishing to be buried in Sapourenx are forbidden from dying in the parish…. Offenders will be severely punished" (From an article by Patrick D. Odum)
Of course, everybody knew that was a silly law. You can’t stop people from dying. All you can do is to determine what to do with them when they do die.
2. [Embalming stone in Jerusalem In ancient Israel, the bodies of the dead were washed and wrapped in winding cloths. The Jewish historian Josephus tells us that corpses were usually perfumed with various spices. The perfume was partly to honor the dead, but mostly it was used to disguise the smell of decay that set in after a few days. They had none of the advance embalming techniques that we have to stop the body from decaying, so bodies were generally buried a day or so.
Poor families would take the deceased out into a “Potter’s Field” and buried in the ground. But richer families could afford to use tombs - caves that had been hollowed out and blocked by a stone rolled in front of the entrance.
3. John 11:38 basically informs us that Lazarus and his family were relatively wealthy people. “Jesus… came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance.”
4. We know that this is a powerful story…Lazarus dies, he’s buried, and 4 days later, Jesus raises him from the dead. John 11.1-44 Some key texts:
• 11.1-4 Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 2 It was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was ill. 3 So the sisters sent to him, saying, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.” 4 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.”
• 11.17 17 Now when Jesus came, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days.
• 11.21, 32 “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”
• 11.35 35 Jesus wept. [Softly crying because of the effect of sin on us; contrast with loud crying of others – paid mourners; sensitive family
• 11.33 33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled. [Anger/Emotion
• 11.38 38 Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it.
• 11.43-44 43 When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.” 44 The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”
5. Jesus called Lazarus back to life and He calls you and me to be the people He intended for us to be – Jeremiah 29.11-12 – 11 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. 12 Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. [Regarding the return from Babylon; John 10.10 Abundant Life
Two Key Insights from this account:
I. Identify the Hindrances to Real Life (What Holds Us Back?)
Scholars have concluded that ancient Bethany was the site of an almshouse for the poor and a place of care for the sick. There is a hint of association between Bethany and care for the unwell in the Gospels: Mark tells of Simon the Leper's house there ( John 12.1-8 + Mary’s anointing; Mark 14:3-10); Jesus receives urgent word of Lazarus' illness from Bethany (John 11:1-12:11).
A. Death – the first level of this account is the facts of the event and the reality of physical resurrection; but there is more.
1. While Lazarus was literally dead, we can be dead to new possibilities of God at work
a. Mary and Martha could not see the new opportunity with Jesus
b. They were confined to an old way of thinking – Jesus could have healed Lazarus; Jesus could have raised Lazarus if he had come quickly (as Elijah; Elisha; and He had done – Jairus’ daughter/Nain widow’s son) but not after 4 days – they limited Jesus
c. They could not see what Jesus could do.
2. What New Opportunities is God placing before you?
a. Family; Work; Ministry
b. Will you embrace the new challenge or will you stay with the old expectations and limit Him?
B. Decay (Odor of 4 Days)
• [Live in a decaying Universe that groans for redemption (Romans 8.22)
• [Jewish thought that a person was not completely dead until day 4 when decay set in; that the spirit could return up to 3 days – Psalm 16.10
1. We can fail to become who God wants us to be with the Odor of Doubt in Our Lives
“If you had been here. . . .” “I know he will live – in the resurrection.” Missing the point – Jesus is the resurrection and life! //Why do you doubt?
2. We can fail to become who God wants us to be with the Odor of Despair in Our Lives
3. We can fail to become who God wants us to be with the Odor of Fear in Our Lives
4. We can fail to become who God wants us to be with the Odor of Unworthiness in Our Lives
Centurion in Matthew 12
5. Jesus is unafraid of our “Stinking Thinking” – He commands to “Roll away the stone.” He calls the real you to come out, whole and complete.
C. Detainment (Bound in Grave Clothes)
1. We can be bound by the cares of the world – Doubts; Despair; Fear; Our experiences; pleasures; power; honor; knowledge; clothing ourselves in our own glory [Parable of the Sower/Soils/Hearts
2. Jesus: “Unbind and let go” – Let the real person God intended you to be come out – unbound by these things; free in Christ to pursue righteousness, peace, joy in the Holy Spirit (Romans 14.17)
II. Remove the Hindrances to New Life
There is a sense in which we are dead; decaying; and bound. God offers us new life in Jesus. So, what do we do to experience the life God has in mind for us?
It’s like the “Rocky” Movie where Rocky was fighting the giant Russian, and the Russian was just beating the tar out him, and Rocky came back over to the trainer. The trainer was distressed and asked, “What are you doing?” And Rocky says, “Yo! I got a strategy!” And, what he was doing was, he was taking some blows, and then toward the end, when no one expected, he was going to take down the enemy.
Right now, you may feel like you are taking some blows from the enemy, and when you as God for help you are getting nothing but maybe, maybe God is saying, “Hold on, I’ve got a divine strategy. This sickness, this situation, this challenge, this struggle you are engaged in is not going to end in death. In fact, when I am through, it is going to be undeniable that the hand of God has been involved, and everyone’s going to have to worship. This sickness will not end in death.”
A. Hear the Call to New Life
1. One day all in the grave will hear his voice and rise (John 5.28)
2. In the meantime Hear God’s Call, Just Like:
Lazarus; Abraham; Moses; the Disciples; Mary (Rabboni); YOU
3. It is a call to LIFE – NOW – John 11.25 I am the resurrection and the life.
B. Embrace the New Life – Now
1. There is a contemporary resurrection – Romans 6.4b . . . just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
2. Confusing to Nicodemus with the means of Gentile Conversion – Born Anew (John 3)
3. How does this New Life look? [Tozer Quote “.Worship God 7 Days a week – become strange!”
1 Peter 4.1-6 Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, 2 so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God. 3 For the time that is past suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry. 4 With respect to this they are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery, and they malign you; 5 but they will give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. 6 For this is why the gospel was preached even to those who are dead, that though judged in the flesh the way people are, they might live in the spirit the way God does.
7 The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers. 8 Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. 9 Show hospitality to one another without grumbling. 10 As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace: 11 whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
C. Enhance the New Life
1. Be people of prayer – John 11.41-42
2. Ask God to unbind you from the things holding you back from who He intended for you to be
3. It becomes a testimony that Jesus is in your life; that you have been sent by God for an important mission; which results in the glory of God; and the benefit of people – John 11.45 Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what he did, believed in him,
1. We may feel powerless – and we are – until we embrace the power of Jesus to new, resurrected life/born anew
2. Lazarus is a picture of the gospel for us:
Living and Dying in a sick world (Bethany)
Buried in a tomb
Raised to New Life
Romans 6.1-4 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? 3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
3. You are called by the gospel to unleash the person you were made to be – walk close to Jesus and don’t hold back!
