WARM AND SAFE: It’s a human instinct to want to feel safe.
- There is a part of all of us that wants to feel safe.
- We get anxious and concerned when we feel unsafe.
- In fact, for many of us, feeling safe becomes the goal. We take out all kinds of insurance to keep our financial status secure. (I’m not saying insurance is bad – I’m just noting what motivates it.) We pick neighborhoods to live in where we’ll be safe. (Again, not saying that a good neighborhood is bad – I’m just noting what motivates us to move there.)
- The problem becomes when this desire to feel safe takes too high a place in our lives and begins to crowd out more important goals. This is what we want to talk about this morning.
- This chapter is mostly about the resurrection of Lazarus. That story is central to the book of John. In fact, chapter 11 is the crucial turning point of John.
- But this chapter also has some other things going on. Here at the beginning we have this story about feeling safe. This story finds a bookend at the end of the chapter. We’ll talk about what exactly that looks like later in the sermon.
FEELING SAFE:
1. MARY AND MARTHA BELIEVED THEY WERE SAFE BECAUSE JESUS WOULD KEEP TROUBLE AWAY.
- John 11:1-3, 5.
- Let’s start with the first three verses. Lazarus is sick. That’s a problem. In fact, it’s a big problem because it’s apparently bad enough that they feel the need to send a message to Jesus.
- Even with the sickness, though, I think their message gives us the understanding that they believed they were safe. Jesus could handle this! And Jesus would handle this!
- Even though trouble had entered into their lives, Jesus would push it away before it became anything really bad.
- One of the reasons we believe that God will do such things for us is that He loves us.
- Look at the mutual love expressed in these verses.
- v. 2 – This is a woman who had displayed extraordinary love and devotion to Jesus.
- v. 5 – Even more significantly, the passage explicitly tells us that Jesus loves these three people. So it is not an issue of lack of love or care.
- Many of believe that’s God’s job. It’s His job to keep trouble away from us. It’s His job to keep us safe.
- We presume that’s what we signed up for. When we have a problem, we take it to God and He keeps the trouble away.
- And yet that’s not what happens. Lazarus dies. Jesus doesn’t keep the trouble away. And it’s not an incidental oversight. He intentionally does not show up in time or do the miracle of healing at a distance as soon as He hears. He has something else as His focus.
2. THE DISCIPLES BELIEVED THEY WERE SAFE IF THEY STAYED AWAY FROM TROUBLE.
- John 11:7-8, 16.
- Now we go a little later in the story to another group, but we again have the issue of being safe.
- In vv. 7-8, Jesus tells His disciples that He wants to go back to Judea. In reading casually through the story, you automatically connect the request from Mary and Martha with Jesus’ call to go back to Judea. (And that, in fact, was the right place to go to see Lazarus.)
- But apparently that wasn’t the first thought of the disciples. Note that v. 6 says this conversation with the disciples happens two days after the message from Mary and Martha. It makes sense to presume that the disciples saw Jesus continuing to hang around where they were despite the urgent message about Lazarus and thought, “He probably just spoke a word and Lazarus was healed.” Or that Jesus knew it wasn’t as bad as the report said and that He had time. It wouldn’t make any sense to them that Jesus would intentionally let His dear friend die.
- I say all of that to say that when Jesus says in v. 7 that He wants to go back to Judea, I don’t think the disciples immediately thought about the situation with Lazarus. No, I believe they initially thought about the violent opposition He had recently encountered there. That is borne out by their response in v. 8. They don’t want to go back there – they know the danger – and so they object.
- They believe they are safe if they stay away from trouble.
- This shows up also in the resigned statement by Thomas in v. 16 that they are going to go die with Him. I do not believe this is said enthusiastically or boldly – I think it’s said as a concession. “Well, we’re with Jesus and He’s going there. I guess we’re going to die. Let’s go get it over with.”
- The disciples want to be safe and they believe that the key to being safe is staying away from trouble.
- Again, we are often the same way.
- We see the potential for trouble up ahead and so we want to go in another direction. We presume we should stay away from trouble.
- In fact, many Christians presume that if there is trouble that God definitely wants them heading in a different direction. It’s not even worth debating or discussing.
- Again, though, we have to stop here and question our presumption. We cannot presume that God will never want us avoiding trouble in an effort to keep us safe at all costs. That sounds attractive to many of us, but that’s not anything that we have been promised.
- God is not really interested in keeping us safe, if safe is defined as “staying away from all struggle and difficulty.”
- This is what many of us want – to be kept from the problems of the world by virtue of our connection to God. We want God to make our lives easy and safe.
- Now, let’s shift to talking about what Jesus is focused on.
BEING SECURE:
1. JESUS BELIEVED HE WAS SECURE PURSUING GOD'S WILL.
- John 11:9-10.
- In response to His disciples’ concern about returning to Judea, Jesus starts talking about light and day and stumbling.
- Look with me at vv. 9-10. Now, this is a little challenging to interpret, so let’s see if we can make sense of it.
- v. 9. You can walk in the day or you can walk in the dark. If you walk in the day, you don’t need to worry about stumbling. The reference to the “world’s light” is not a negative note – it’s just acknowledging that we are dealing with physical (“world’s”) light.
- v. 10. By contrast, when you walk in the physical darkness, you are going to stumble.
- Understanding this requires that we recognize that it comes immediately after the disciples’ fearful statement in v. 8.
- Let me put it this way. They’re saying, “We want to play it safe and avoid trouble.” Jesus sees being in God’s will like walking in the light. As long as Jesus is in God’s will, He’s solid where He is at. He is, to use the word I want to use, “secure.” Jesus is secure when He’s pursuing God’s will.
- So Jesus doesn’t look around and ask, “Does this seem safe?” No, He looks around and asks if this is God’s will. If it is God’s will, then He is on secure footing.
- I noted at the beginning of the sermon that this story finds a bookend at the close of the chapter. Look with me at vv. 45-54. We will delve more fully into this in a few weeks but for now just let me acknowledge this simple fact: the danger and opposition is increasing to Jesus and yet He is square in the center of God’s will.
- If He had pursued His own safety instead, He actually would have been out of God’s will. He was secure, but He was not safe in the sense of avoiding trouble and struggle.
- Now, let’s talk about us for a moment.
- Many of us are less interested in being in the center of God’s will than we are in being safe. We are perfectly content with a minimal impact for the Kingdom and a life of tiny fruitfulness as long as we get to stay safe. That’s not something we get from Jesus.
- Our desire should be to be in God’s will. Our desire should be to do God’s will. When we do that, we are not guaranteed that we will be kept away from all struggle and difficulty in order to keep our life as safe as possible. No, we may face some difficulties. We may face some sacrifices. Some may be minor; some may be big.
- What might this look like?
a. There is a struggling person at work and I really want to just ignore them. But Jesus calls me to step into their difficulties to support and pray for them.
b. There is addiction in our county and God calls a group of people to step out to start a Hero House. That means they’re going to be around those recovering from addiction. That’s going to be incredibly rewarding at times; that’s going to be dicey at times.
c. I want to spend my money on more cool stuff for me. But Jesus calls me to give into His Kingdom even though it means there will be some sacrifices for me.
d. Perhaps I just want to spend my evenings in my safe little house vegetating, but God opens up a door for me to lead a discipleship group. This group has struggles and difficulties aplenty, but it’s where God wants me to be.
- Those are just everyday examples. There are obviously bigger examples: missionaries going overseas, God asking believers for major financial sacrifices, etc.
- But the point I want to convey is that the place we want to be is in the center of God’s will. That is secure.
2. JESUS BELIEVED HE WAS SECURE PURSUING GOD'S GLORY.
- John 11:4b, 11-15.
- The passage continues and gives us one more idea.
- Jesus and the disciples converse as they continue to try to get up to speed on what Jesus is doing. They have trouble figured everything out. Their main confusion is that they don’t realize that Jesus is speaking of death instead of physical sleep.
- There are two sentences that give us the heart of what Jesus is going for here.
- v. 15. Jesus says He is glad He was not there when Lazarus died so that they will believe. Believe what? I think it’s that they will believe that He is the Christ who has the power to overcome death. He wants them to believe in His power.
- v. 4. Jesus’ overall desire is also told back in v. 4 when Jesus says the point of this whole thing is for God’s glory.
- What does that mean? It dovetails into what we just talked about with v. 15. Jesus allowing Lazarus to die creates a situation where the power of God flowing through Jesus will be evident to all and bring praise and honor to God. They will believe in His power. And God will get glory, honor, and praise for being able to do such an incredible miracle.
- Let’s again note how different this is from living for safety.
- Doing this miracle is going to create antagonism from the religious leaders. But it will also bring overflowing glory to God the Father and God the Son.
- Jesus’ goal is not safety, but the glory of God.
- Let’s go back to my examples from the last point and see how they bring God glory.
a. There is a struggling person at work and I really want to just ignore them. But Jesus calls me to step into their difficulties to support and pray for them.
- Loving the least of these brings glory to God by showing the kind of love He embodies.
b. There is addiction in our county and God calls a group of people to step out to start a Hero House. That means they’re going to be around those recovering from addiction. That’s going to be incredibly rewarding at times; that’s going to be dicey at times.
- Loving the addicted demonstrates that God’s grace is sufficient no matter your sins.
c. I want to spend my money on more cool stuff for me. But Jesus calls me to give into His Kingdom even though it means there will be some sacrifices for me.
- Giving to the Kingdom is investing my money in what is ultimately important. My funds give the Kingdom the chance to expand and God to be elevated.
d. Perhaps I just want to spend my evenings in my safe little house vegetating, but God opens up a door for me to lead a discipleship group. This group has struggles and difficulties aplenty, but it’s where God wants me to be.
- Helping people become like Christ brings great glory to God by showing His ability to change lives.
- One example of what we are talking about is in v. 4.
- Jesus says of Lazarus that his “sickness will not end in death.” This, of course, turns out not to mean that Lazarus will not die, but rather that death is not the final word.
- There is a larger sense in which that is true for all of us as Christians about any sickness we face. Through the power of the resurrection of Jesus, no sickness that we encounter will ultimately end in death. Even if the cancer kills us, that is not the end of the story. We will not end up silent and motionless in the grave. No, through Jesus our story will not end there. Through Jesus it does not end in death.
CONCLUSION:
- This chapter as a whole is about the resurrection of Lazarus. In the subject of resurrection, we find a terrific example of what I’ve been talking about this morning.
- Look with me at Acts 2:24.
- Jesus died on the cross for our sins. He underwent great suffering to purchase our opportunity for salvation. It was not a safe path, in the sense of “safe” meaning without struggle or problems. In fact, it was defined by the struggle.
- And yet, at the same time, He was secure throughout. Acts 2:24 has an incredible statement that death could not hold Jesus down. Note the definitive statement: it was impossible for death to hold Him. What does that mean? In the language we are using this morning, Jesus wasn’t safe from struggle, but He was secure throughout because of the Father’s power.
