Intro
Good morning and Happy 43rd Anniversary to all of us. I hope many of us witnessed the glory of God in our church as we watched last Saturday, October 30, 2021 our virtual anniversary here in our GA church. With our anniversary theme “Triumphant Hope”, I know that everyone already had our own victory since then. And we all know what happened the last days only after that anniversary, COVID-19 here in Philippines is already defeated by our Great God! With the lower restriction at Alert Level 2, we are now allowed to have 50% capacity and that means more people could come here on our church, isn’t that amazing!
And coincidentally, today marks the 1st Sunday of November and our church has a new theme for this month “I am Alive, I am prepared for Eternity! And our theme verse is found in 2 Corinthians 5:17 NIV “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” Behold the old has gone and the new has come in our nation as we gladly welcome the new normal brought about by this pandemic. But this will only be an assurance for those who are with Christ! And that everything may become new as the old has already gone.
Sometimes we think and hope that the old situations before the pandemic would soon be back again to its normal. But God is telling us, it will never be the same again after this pandemic. Remembering the people who have been the casualty of this pandemic, the lost loved ones, the lost jobs, the lost business, the lost relationships etc., it seems that it will be never be the same again. But the good news is that before the pandemic, we have a God who never left us, and soon after this pandemic, we still have a God who are still with us and ready to shower us with new things in life!
If many of us felt that they were dead during this pandemic season, God wants us to know that we need to be alive again just like before. Let us declare this morning that…
I Am Alive for God! Ako ay Buhay para sa Diyos!
John 11:17-44
Can we shout this declaration? As I study our theme, God brought me to the story of 3 siblings in the Bible and all of them had a very special moment with our Lord Jesus Christ! I am talking about the lives of Lazarus, Martha and Mary. The first time we heard their story is found on Luke 10:38-42 where we can see that Jesus and His disciples visited their home. Martha chooses to do all the preparations so that Jesus and His disciples can be accommodated well. But her sister Mary chooses to sit down at Jesus’ feet and hear Him speak.
But the story of the 3 siblings became colorful and notable during the time of Lazarus illness and soon died. Let us read it from the time Jesus came to Bethany as soon as he heard that Lazarus died.
17 On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. 18 Now Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem, 19 and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother. 20 When 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. 22 But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.” 23 Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” 24 Martha answered, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.” 25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; 26 and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
27 “Yes, Lord,” she replied, “I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.” 28 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.” 29 When Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him. 30 Now Jesus had not yet entered the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. 31 When 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. 32 When 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.” 33 When 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. 35 Jesus wept. 36 Then the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” 37 But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?” 38 Jesus, 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.” 40 Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?” 41 So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 42 I 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.” 43 When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” 44 The 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.”
If we will read in the earlier verses of John chapter 11, we could see that Jesus knew about the illness of Lazarus and He could heal Him even if He was not there at the bedside of Lazarus for He is omnipresent God. And being an omniscient God, He knew that if he goes there by that time, the plan of God to show His glory will never be shown on them. And since He is also an omnipotent God, He can raise up Lazarus from dead and be alive again.
In this story, we can see the experiences of the 3 siblings how are they able to survive the challenges of their lives and that it’s because God is with them all along. Even the time Lazarus was sick, Jesus knew He was sick, but He takes time to delay His trip in order to make a point on them.
Similarly, on our recent situation, Jesus knew this pandemic will come to our world on this timeline, yet Jesus delayed His miracles, His healings in order to make a point on each of every one of us. He knew the outcome of the challenges of the 3 siblings, likewise He also knows what will be the outcome of our own challenges in life too! He is after the experiences that will be brought about by these situations in our lives. And that is not to lose our hope and faith to God. Instead, He wants us to keep up that faith alive despite of all the negative situations around us, God wants us to be alive for Him!
What kind of experiences God wants us to have in order to keep us alive for Him? He wants us to experience…
1. A life worth living isang buhay na karapat dapat isapamuhay – let us look at the life of Lazarus.
The Bible does not talk much about Lazarus except that he is the brother of both Mary and Martha, but there is a special bond of friendship between Jesus and the 3 siblings…look at verse 3 and 5 of John chapter 11:
3 So the sisters sent word to Jesus, “Lord, the one you love is sick.”
5 Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.
What is it in the life of Lazarus that Jesus needs to raise Him from the dead? It is not just because Jesus loved Lazarus, but He saw that there is a life worthy of living after this death. He knew that if Lazarus will be dead, his 2 sisters will be in total wreck and so is He! So, Jesus took this opportunity to assure the sisters of Lazarus that He will be alive again and that life is worthy of living!
What is a life worth living? Ano ang buhay na karapatdapat isapamuhay?
• It is a life full of hope – our life becomes worthy of living when we know that all our troubles are temporary and not permanent, but instead we fix our hope to God! This is what we call the “triumphant hope” from God! That we can be victorious because we know that our sufferings have a purpose and that is for us to be hopeful and that someday we will be in our eternity with God!
2 Corinthians 2:17-18 “For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
• It is a life under His great plan – when we learn to live according to His perfect plan, God will surely guide us to His perfect will. It may not be a perfect life here on earth, but our hope and our future are secured.
Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
When we know that we are living according God’s calling and purpose, this is a life worth living.
• It is a life that is full and abundant – not only it is a life full of hope and be useful according to His plan, but as a result of it, we live in abundance with Him. God has rewards for us for those who will remain faithful till the end.
John 10:10 “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”
This was the reason why Jesus wept in v35. He wept not because of the lost life of Lazarus, but Jesus wept over the people around Him who don’t believe and refuse to believe Him. If they only knew that it is the same God who was with them and promised them a prosperous life should they only believed Him.
It is not pleasure that makes life worth living. It is life that makes pleasure worth having. That’s why we need life, a life worth living because of God who made us alive.
What about us today? Is our life still worth living? Are we being dead because we don’t have a reason to live because of our recent situation? Don’t lose hope! God is here and just like Lazarus; He will surely call out our names from the grave of our comfort zones and our weaknesses and He will make us alive once more for Him.
Another experience God wants us to have is to enjoy…
2. A Lord worth loving isang Diyos na karapat dapat mahalin – look at the life of Martha
We can see that Martha among all the siblings, she is the most active, most accommodating and the most verbal among the 2. Look how she conversed with Jesus in Luke 10:40-41 “But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!” “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things…”
This is the scenario of our world today, especially when this pandemic struck us last year, we were all busy in preparing how to defeat this COVID-19 virus and yet we forgot one thing – and that is to see God and never stop loving Him by trusting Him.
When the moment Martha knew that Jesus would come to their house, she never stopped preparing in order to give a good impression to Jesus. But what Jesus is expecting from her is her expression of love towards Him. Jesus did not rebuke her about being busy, but look at what he said to her in v42…
42 “but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”
For Jesus, there is only one thing that is needed in order to be alive, and that is to have an experience of loving God more than anything. And this experience of Mary will never be taken away from her. There is no wrong by being a worker like Martha in our service to God, but we should not take away the attitude of Mary being a worshipper and never stop loving and learning God’s words. For Mary, Matthew 4:4 is very true “man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out from the mouth of God.”
To experience being alive in God is to be both worker and worshipper at the same time. When we feel that we have exerted all our human efforts and feel tired and fatigue, then why not just stop and be at the feet of Jesus and start looking at our Lord worthy of our love.
How about us? Are we complaining about the workload that was entrusted to us? Do we feel alone carrying all the burden? Sometimes we feel that we have these messianic tendencies to do all the works within our family, within the ministry and even in our community. And we look for other people to blame because of our current situations in life. We live to impress others including God but what God wants from us is to express our love towards Him.
How do we express our love to God?
John 14:21 “Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.”
Martha learned her lesson well that in John chapter 12:1-2, we can read these passages:
1 Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus lived, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. 2 Here a dinner was given in Jesus’ honor. Martha served, while Lazarus was among those reclining at the table with him.
Here we can see that Martha still served but without any complains because she knew how to balance both work and worship to God and that it should come together. Then we can see Lazarus as well are worshipping together with all listening to Jesus.
Is God still worth loving despite our attitudes and weaknesses? Can we have the next experience God wants from us which is…
3. A legacy worth leaving isang alaala na karapat dapat iwanan – let us look at the life of Mary
Among the 3 siblings, Mary is the notable character of all. We can read her story as…
• The one at the feet of Jesus listening to Him.
Luke 10:39 “She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said.”
• The one running at His feet and shared her woes.
John 11:32 “When 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.”
• The one who came again to His feet and poured out perfume.
John 12:3 “Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus’ feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.”
Some scholars believed that it is the same Mary, who poured out perfume to Jesus on these 2 identical verses in the Bible. Though some says it is different, but most of them believed they were the same. Why? Because both of these women believed they came to Bethany. The only difference is that Mary in John 11 poured perfume on Jesus’ feet and wipe it with her hair while the woman with the alabaster jar in Matthew 26:6-13 poured the perfume on the head of Jesus.
Matthew 26:6-13
6 While Jesus was in Bethany in the home of Simon the Leper, 7 a woman came to him with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, which she poured on his head as he was reclining at the table.
8 When the disciples saw this, they were indignant. “Why this waste?” they asked. 9 “This perfume could have been sold at a high price and the money given to the poor.” 10 Aware of this, Jesus said to them, “Why are you bothering this woman? She has done a beautiful thing to me. 11 The poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have me. 12 When she poured this perfume on my body, she did it to prepare me for burial. 13 Truly I tell you, wherever this gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.”
It seems that Mary could only be found in one place – and that is at the feet of Jesus, ready to worship Him. This what makes us alive to God, when we live a life of worship that will leave a legacy that will be remembered forever by God.
Jesus said in Luke 9:26 “Whoever is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.”
Our legacy of worship will not stop on here earth but will be continued in heaven when we get there. Just like Mary or the woman with the alabaster jar, do we want to be remembered just like her? Then start being alive for Jesus.
Proverbs 8:34-35
34 Blessed are those who listen to Me, watching daily at My doors, waiting at My doorway. 35 For those who find Me find life and receive favor from the Lord.
What kind of legacy do we want to leave here on earth? We may never have riches, fame, or even notable works for people to remember us. We may never have a monument that our statue can be seen. But hopefully we can be like Mary who are willing to worship God as her legacy, that God will remember forever.
Conclusion:
Our life here on earth is not for long. With this pandemic, life can be much shorter or even more unpredictable. This scares most of us, but if we look at a different view, our physical death here on earth is the start of our spiritual life in heaven. And so, our life here on earth is a preparation of our life in eternity. As Bro Eddie’s principle said “the quality of our life in eternity depends on the quality of our obedience and faithfulness in serving God here on earth.”
If we were once dead, Jesus said in John 11:25 “I am the Resurrection and Life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die.” Meaning before we can be resurrected, then we must die first like Lazarus, not on physical death but on a spiritual death. And this death was brought about by our sinful nature. However, Apostle Paul said in Colossians 2:13-14…
13 When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, 14 having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross.
Illustration:
In Mel Gibson’s Movie, “The Passion of Christ” there is an obscure detail in the crucifixion scene that probably goes unnoticed by most people, but it is a detail that says so much.
When Jesus is being placed on the cross, the camera comes close to watch as a large spike is positioned in the middle of Jesus’ hand. Then, a mallet comes into focus, and a rugged hand swings it to drive the spike. Those are all things you expect to see.
But there is something you don’t see. You never see the face of the one who drives that nail. You never get a glimpse into the eyes, or heart of the one who so assuredly pounds away until the spike has passed through Jesus’ flesh and comes to rest in the wood of the cross.
You might be interested to know that the person who plays that role in the movie is the director himself, Mel Gibson. But why does he never show the face of the one who put Jesus on the cross? Why does he not give us the identity of the one who had the gall to put the Son of God to death?
He didn’t show us that face because that face was his. It was ours. We are the ones who put Jesus to death. It wasn’t the Romans. It wasn’t the Jews. It was our sin that nailed Jesus to the cross.
Today is the day that we become Lazarus ready to be raised from the dead in order to experience a life worth living. Let us be like Martha so we can balance both working and worshipping for the Lord in order to experience the Lord worth loving. And lastly, today let us be Mary who will leave a legacy of worship to the living God.
Are we ready to be alive again from now on? Do we have the reason to live and be alive again? Hopefully, the reason we live is to give glory to God in our lives.
Let us sing…When I look into Your holiness shift to I want to sing…
