• Any Star Wars fans here today?
For me, one of the most iconic lines in the original Star Wars movie, A New Hope is when Princess Leia is brought on board a huge space ship and sees The Empires’ Governor Tarkin and says, “ I recognized your foul stench when I was brought on board.”
Today's message is titled "what's your stench?
This word came to me during Pastor Jeffs message on March 6th of this year.
• Have any of you noticed that several of my messages stem from a word from Pastor Jeff?
I’m either super tuned in, or drifting... I’d like to think it’s the former. I’m sure he would too!
• As I began preparing for this word a couple of weeks ago, I thought about the great flood.
We know:
• What Noah did to prepare
• How long it rained
• How long it took the water to recede
• How Noah checked the condition of the earth
• What Noah did when he disembarked the Ark
• But I couldn’t find anything about the stench (go back to this in the closing)
• There must have been an overwhelming stench of death!
-We’ll come back to that-
Todays’ word is taken from the 11th chapter of John.
• It’s the story of Lazarus
• A few notable mentions:
It was the last of seven “signs” revealed in John
It was the last time Jesus showed His glory in public
This story is told only in John
• We’ll pick the story up starting in verse 38:
• Let’s honor God by standing while we read His Word
Read 38-43 (v.44 …shed the dead threads-read that later)
You may be seated.
Let’s go back to verse 38:
“Then Jesus again groaning in Himself, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it”.
• A couple of thoughts on this verse:
• Jesus Himself would be in a tomb such as this in only a matter of days.
• The Greek translation for groaning in Himself, is a phrase used to express anger. There were some things that happened in the previous verses that lead up to this emotion welling up in Jesus.
• So today I ask you (and when I say you, I mean me) “What’s your stench?” Is it anger?
Let’s look at verse 39:
Jesus said “Take away the stone”. Martha, the sister of him who was dead said to Him, “Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days”.
• Here are some things to consider in this verse:
• Although this is not found in scripture, I did some research on Jewish tradition, and Jewish belief was that a body was not to be considered fully dead until after 4 days. After I read about this tradition, I thought about another movie line found in The Princess Bride. After one of the main characters had been tortured and presumed dead, he is brought back to life and when this happens, one of the other character says “you’ve been mostly dead all day!”.
• Next, Jesus tells them to roll away the stone. If He can raise the dead, surely He can roll a stone away. Why does He need them to do this? This shows us that Jesus never performs unnecessary miracles. By that I mean, if man can do it; Jesus doesn’t need to perform a miracle.
• Next we see that, understandably, Martha is fearful of the stench.
I can’t help but wonder: Is she fearful that she is about to see her brothers decaying body?
Maybe it’s because we sometimes think if we don’t uncover things, we can deny they exist.
But beyond that, in only a few verses earlier in verse 27 Martha says “Yes Lord I believe that You are the Christ, the son of God, who is come into the world”.
So when she says to Jesus, “oh Lord, but the stench”, she is not believing that Jesus will raise Lazarus from the dead. Martha has a confused faith! Fear and faith cannot co-exist.
So, what’s your stench?
Is it a stench of denial? Thinking that if you don’t uncover it or reveal it that it doesn’t exist? James 5:16 tells us “Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much”
Is your stench a stench of unbelief?
Or maybe your stench is a stench of confused faith?
Let’s jump to verse 41:
Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying. And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said
“Father, I thank You that You have heard me.
42: And I know that You always hear Me, but because of the people who are standing by I said this, that they may believe that You sent me”.
Now consider this:
• There were few times recorded in scripture that Jesus prayed in public. If fact He warned us not to be like the Pharisees and make a spectacle of ourselves in public prayer.
• But the beauty of this prayer is that He is explaining why He is doing this. For the benefit of those unbelievers.
I love it when He says “And I know that You always hear Me”.
He is so confident, there is no doubt whatsoever in His Spirit.
What’s your stench?
Do you put on a good show for all to see?
Is it a stench of pretense?
Or is your stench a stench of unworthiness? That you think you don’t matter to God, and you don’t think He hears you.
Verse 43:
Now when He had said these things, He cried with a loud voice “Lazarus, come forth”
Parents have you ever had a child mumble something at you under their breath as they walk away? Like their going to show you, but they REALLY don’t want you to hear what they said?
Jesus boldly proclaims “Lazarus, come forth”. He has no doubts about what is about to happen!
What’s your stench?
Is it a stench of timidity? One of my “cling to” verses is Ephesians 6:19 “and for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel”
Verse 44:
And he who had died came out bound hand and foot with graveclothes, and his face was wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them “shed his dead threads”.
What does your bible say?
• He indeed did raise Lazarus from the dead
• And again, He called on the community to do something that didn’t require a miracle. “Loose him and let him go”.
• The people witnessing this could remove the graveclothes from Lazarus, Jesus didn’t need to perform an unnecessary miracle.
• Have you ever heard the term “rarefied air”? Scientifically it describes a condition where oxygen is “thin”, very little of it.
Metaphorically, it’s a condition that very few people get to witness. This was a crowd of rarefied air. Can you imagine witnessing that!
• Last week we had a baptism here at Cross Pointe Church, as I suppose happened all around the world.
• I think what happens all too often, after someone is baptized, it is left up to them to figure out what to do next. Jesus said “unwrap him and set him free”. I believe Jesus is telling us “unwrap them from their bondage, and help set them free by guiding and supporting them in their walk with Me”.
What’s your stench?
Is it a stench of bondage? Are there strongholds that need to be loosed?
Here are some interesting points about this passage:
• No one disputes that Lazarus was raised from the dead
• No one disputes that it was Lazarus that was raised from the dead
• No one challenges that he was fully dead-no one said “you were mostly dead all day”
• No one challenges that it was Jesus who raised him from the dead
Yet there were still unbelievers!
And soon afterwards the plot to kill Jesus is devised.
I grew up around horses. From about 5-6 years old until I left home for college, there were 1-5 horses on our property ``at any given time.
From about 5-6 years old, I was taught that horses can “smell fear”. Any of you ever heard that? So anytime I was around a horse, I respected that animal, but I removed fear before I ever got in the presence of a horse.
What’s your stench?
The Pharisees stench was fear. Check out v. 48: If we let Him alone like this, everyone will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and nation.
Out of fear, they plotted to kill Jesus.
Scene from Chisholm:
Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid are riding horses and having a conversation, and it goes something like this:
Billy says “Pat you ever think of getting married?”
Pat replies “I was three years a buffalo hunter”
Billy says “What’s that got to do with it”?
Pat replies “Death, buffalo hunters smell like death”
Billy says “Well I’m down wind of you, and I don’t smell it”
Pat replies “I’m upwind of you Billy and I smell it”
Billy says “I see what you mean”
Can it ever go away, that smell
Pat replies “Sure it will Billy, with time, good company and patience”.
The bible tells us a different way to get rid of that stench. We’ll get to that in just a minute.
But first, back to the flood:
• Maybe there wasn’t the stench of death after the water from the flood receded.
• Maybe God removed the stench before it ever became stench to shield the survivors from the nauseating smell!
The bible teaches us that we can remove that stench with a sweet aroma to our Lord:
• One way is to walk in love: Ephesians 5:2
And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God
• Another is through our prayers: Revelations 5:8
And when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the twenty four elders fell down before the Lamb, each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of Gods people.
• We rid ourselves of the stench through repentance:
Psalm 51:17 The sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit. You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God.
• Through the aroma of our witness: 2 Corinthians 2:14-16
Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place. For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. To the one we are the aroma of death leading to death, and to the other the aroma of life leading to life. That’s a biggie!
As we close, I’m going to ask the worship team to come up.
Church, I want you to take comfort in knowing that you can never be so dead that the Lord can’t raise you up!
To answer my question: What’s my stench?
My stench is the fear of witnessing. Scripture tells me that this fear is a sin:
Listen to James 4:17
Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin!
Interesting that James basically begins the verse “to him” and ends the verse “to him”. This makes it down right personal!
Every eye closed and every head bowed:
What’s your stench?
Is it pride?
Maybe it’s anger
Or shame, or guilt
Mine is fear of witnessing
Maybe yours is a confused faith
Or believing that you aren’t worthy, and God doesn’t see you.
Come on up and let God smell the sweet aroma of prayer, of repentance, of love.
Church let’s just fill the room with a sweet aroma that ascends to heaven.
If you are ready to replace the stench with a sweet aroma to the Lord, just lift your hands to heaven right now.
