Even Now
Scripture: John 11:22; Luke 10:38-42; Psalm 23:4
Several weeks ago I was sitting on my father-in-law’s porch meditating and listening to music. At the time I was thinking all of the things those around us were dealing with and the fact that the stresses of life seemed to never end. People were dealing with financial issues, sickness and diseases and a host of other things we must deal with from time to time. All of us have experienced times when we have been praying for one thing or another and as soon as one prayer was answered another situation would arise that needed prayer. Have you ever had one of those days when it seemed like there was no light at the end of the tunnel and, if there was a light, it was flickering? Have you ever been in a place where you felt like you could not take on anything else and yet your phone kept ringing? Aren’t you glad we don’t have to live by our feelings? On that day when I was feeling low the Spirit told me “Even now I am working.” The title of my message this morning is “Even Now.”
There are times when it feels like the weight of the world is on our shoulders, especially when we do not know if a situation is going to work out. By all appearances it seems like a decision has been made and the results are in and they are not in our favor. These are the times when we can easily shift from faith to doubt, from hope to hopelessness. These are the times when we can feel like we have lost not only the battle, but the actual war. Maybe it’s a sickness or a job loss or trouble in the home. Maybe it’s because of the unexpected death of a loved one that has shaken us to our core. Whatever it is and whatever you are facing, I want to encourage you this morning that, even now, God is able to turn the situation around. Even now in the presence of the shadows of death He is not finished working!
Do you recall the story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead? Let me set the stage for you. The eleventh chapter of the Gospel of John opens with Lazarus of Bethany, being sick. His sisters, Mary and Martha, sent word to Jesus that he was sick and requested that He come and heal His friend. Jesus delayed His coming because He knew Lazarus’ situation would be used for the glory of God. When Jesus finally arrives in the city, Lazarus had been dead and buried for four days. When Martha heard that Jesus had arrived she immediately went to meet Him. Now I want you to hear what she says as recorded in John 11:21-22. “21. Martha then said to Jesus, ‘Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died. 22. Even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You.” Lazarus had been dead and buried for four days, but Martha confessed that “even now” Jesus could raise Him from the dead. She could have come to Jesus and confessed everything she had done to take care of her brother, but she said, “even now.” She could have told Him about his lingering suffering and his last days, but what she said was, “even now.” I want to pause right here and take a look at Martha for a moment.
There is a story in the Gospel of Luke where Jesus went to Bethany and Martha welcomed Him into “her” home. This is what is recorded from that story in Luke 10:38-42. “38. Now as they were traveling along, He entered a village; and a woman named Martha welcomed Him into her home. 39. She had a sister called Mary, who was seated at the Lord’s feet, listening to His word. 40. But Martha was distracted with all her preparations; and she came up to Him and said, ‘Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to do all the serving alone? Then tell her to help me.’ 41. But the Lord answered and said to her, ‘Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things; 42. but only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her.’” Because of this story Martha gets a bad reputation. Women today are compared to Martha if they spend a lot of time doing things like serving in Church versus just being a part of the worship experience. People complain that these women are always busy doing something but they forget that sometimes it’s because it’s work that needs to be done and no one else is willing to do it.
But let’s give Martha her due. First and foremost, Martha was the one who invited Jesus into her home. Because she had invited Him into her home, it was her responsibility to make sure He was fed so she set about doing her job to serve Jesus. If you are someone who is working in the kitchen because others won’t, you are doing your part in serving Jesus. As soon as Jesus entered her home with His disciples Martha got busy preparing the meal. Why? Because she understood that it was her job to feed them. Now Mary, the sister who gets the credit for choosing to sit at His feet and learn (which is a great thing in and of itself) is used as an example of women who “put Christ first” and are “Word” focused. Mary did choose to listen to Jesus’ teaching and Jesus would not deny her that opportunity. But back to Martha, when she complained Jesus told her that she was worried and troubled by many things. Now notice that he did not rebuke her for serving, but for her “over-care” in service. In her attempt to prepare an appropriate meal for all of her guests she had become anxious and agitated. In verse forty-two Jesus tells Martha that truly not one dish that she was preparing was more important that the Word He was teaching. I sometimes wonder what would have happened if Martha too had decided not cook and just sit at His feet and learn. Remember, Jesus could have taken anything in her house and fed them all with it – just a thought.
I wanted to share this story so that you understand what I am about to tell you. Like I said, many people read the story in Luke and condemn Martha because she asked Jesus to tell Mary to help her. Many people praise Mary because she chose to sit at His feet and learn. Two different responses to these two women based on this one story. Martha, the one criticized, while Mary receiving praise. From the story in Luke many would choose Mary’s response over Martha’s, but the story in John paint’s a different picture of the two sisters. When Martha ran to Jesus she told Him, “….Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died. 22. Even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You.” She confessed that even though her brother had been dead for four days she knew Jesus could raise him from the dead. Now let’s look at Mary’s response, the one who chose to sit at His feet and listen to Him teach. When Martha told Mary that Jesus requested her presence, she immediately got up to go to Him. John 11:32-33 records, “33. Therefore, when Mary came where Jesus was, she saw Him, and fell at His feet, saying to Him, ‘Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.’ 33. When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, He was deeply moved in spirit and was troubled.” Mary had been in the house crying with her comforters (those gathered there to weep and mourn with her as a means of comforting her.) When she got to Jesus she fell down at His feet, still crying, and says the same thing Martha had said, that if He had been there her brother would not have died. After making this statement she continued crying. Do you see the difference in their responses?
Both Mary and Martha knew and confessed to Jesus that had He been there Lazarus would not have died. They both believed in Him and had faith in His relationship with God the Father that He could heal the sick. But, according to this story, and I want you to listen closely to me on this point, it was only Martha who confessed that even now, with her brother being dead four days, that Jesus could raise him from the dead. One sister was crying in mourning while the other was not. One sister went to Jesus trying to figure out how He could let her brother die while the other went to Him with expectations of a miracle – Jesus raising her brother from the dead. Do you see how the two responses are different? Do you see how even though Mary was the one recognized for spending time learning at Jesus’s feet it was Martha who actually believed that Jesus could raise their brother from the dead? Why were their responses so different? I believe it comes down to their personal belief in Christ. Remember the parable of the seeds that I talked about in my message a couple of weeks ago? Matthew 13:23 says “But he that received seed in the good ground is he that hears the word, and understands it; who also bears fruit, and brings forth, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.” The seeds (the Word of God) that fell on good soil did not produce the same harvest. Some produced harvests that were greater than others (hundredfold, sixty, and thirty.) Both Mary and Martha heard the Word and understood it. They both heard the same teaching, Mary might have had even more teaching than Martha, but how they understood and believed His teaching impacted what they believed He could do in that specific situation. Mary believed it was too late. Martha believed “even now.” Martha had “even now” faith in Jesus. Her brother was dead and had been buried but her faith lived on. Even death could not stop Jesus for receiving what He asks of His Father in heaven. Martha knew this! Despite everything that seemed to go against her, she believed in Christ and looked to Him for help in that situation. But the story does not end here.
There are times when we say the right things and in that moment we truly believe what we are saying. I believed that when Martha spoke those words “Even now…” that she believed what she was saying. But look at what happened when Jesus took her up on her faith. When they get to the tomb and Jesus commands that they open it Martha says, “…..Lord, by this time there will be a stench, for he has been dead four days.” (John 11:39) As Martha stood at her brother’s grave it appears that in that moment she doubted. She went from “even now faith” to “but doubt”. She objected to the stone being removed because she believed that her brother would be stinking as his body decayed. This is understandable under normal circumstances, but with Jesus, these were not normal circumstances. Her “even now” faith changed those normal circumstances even though she doubted for a minute. I want you to see something. We often feel our confidence in Christ is much stronger that it really is. You see, when things are going great and we are in a good place and we are not being called upon to bear anyone’s trouble, we feel powerfully strong. However, when trials and tribulations comes our much boasted about faith goes up in smoke. Why is this? It is because sometimes that which we are believing for seems much too strong for our faith. But when we look at Martha at her best that is the place where we want to exist.
New Light, I want to encourage you. Regardless of what you are dealing with this morning, even now God is working on your behalf. I know that it might seem like it is dark and the Son is not shining, I want you to know that even now He is working. David said in Psalm 23:4, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.” Your Bible might read “Yea though I walk…” but the meaning is the same. Even now as we walk through valleys where the shadows of death loom over us, we will fear no evil. Even now as we will go through dark days we know God is working and our faith is in Him. Even now, in what we believe is our worst circumstance to date, whatever that is, you can know that God has an answer – even now!
Before I close I want you to see one final point from Martha’s interaction with Jesus. When she confessed that “even now” she believed that Jesus could raise Lazarus from the dead, she told Him why she believed this. She said, “I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You.” Martha confessed that she believed in the power of Christ in His intercession with His Father. She understood that God was all powerful and nothing was impossible with Him. She also believed that Jesus was His Son and that whatever He asked of the Father would be granted to Him. This is the same foundation that we should be standing on as Romans 8:34 says, “Who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather Who was raised, Who is at the right hand of God, Who also intercedes for us.” Just as Martha believed that whatever Jesus asked His Father to do, He would do because His Son asked Him to, we too should carry that belief. Even now, Jesus is interceding on our behalf.
New Light, and everyone hearing or reading this message, I want to encourage you. I want you to be like Martha. You have some situations that you have been dealing with, situations that you have been praying about for a long time. You believed that your prayers were heard and you were starting to see some change for the better, but it came to nothing. If this is you, you are just like Martha. She kept saying to herself “the Master will come.” Day after day she went and looked expecting Him to arrive at any moment because she believed in Him. But He did not come. Imagine how terrible she felt after the much praying for her brother, sending for Jesus, Jesus not arriving in time and her brother dying. At the point of his death to everyone else the situation was loss. But no, not for Martha, for when Jesus finally arrived, Martha said, “Even now.”
Maybe you’re dealing with a situation where you feel helpless as you’re trying to help someone else. Maybe you have done all that you can do and it has amounted to nothing. You have been faithful, prayerful, careful with your speech so as not to offend but the situation has not resolved itself. You have reached the point where you are tired, physically, mentally and possibly spiritually. If this is you, you too can be like Martha. Martha probably got to this same point after trying her best to get her brother healed. She had done everything she knew to do and nothing seemed to work. She visited the villages for medicines to apply to hopefully sooth his aches for a little while but they did not cure him. Lazarus grew worse and worse. She was at her wits end with worry, fear, hopelessness. But then Jesus arrived and she said, “Even now!”
Do you believe this? Do you believe that God is active in your situation? Are you at the point where you can say and believe “Even now Lord!” I do not know what you are dealing with but, what I do know is that “even now” in that situation God is moving.
Until next time, “The Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you. May the Lord lift up His countenance on you and give you peace.” (Numbers 6:24-26)
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