Iliff and Saltillo UM Churches
May 18, 2003
“Strengthening Your Faith in Troubled Times--Daily Faith”
John 11:17-27
INTRODUCTION: How easy is it for you to have faith for today? Sometimes we think of faith in terms of the future. Next year “my ship will come in.” Next month I will see things turn around for me. I will get well some time when the weather gets warmer. When I get to heaven someday life will be better for me. We say, “I’m just hoping and praying.” That is not faith. Hoping is future. Is faith just something for the future? Or is faith something we can have here and now on a DAILY BASIS?
The title of today’s message is “Strengthening your faith in troubled times--daily faith.” How does this apply to us today? Do you have plenty of faith, like Martha, for the future but struggle with your daily faith?
Today’s scripture pictures Martha in a grief- filled situation. Her brother Lazarus had died. It wasn’t that they hadn’t notified Jesus when Lazarus first got sick. Jesus just didn’t get around to getting there in time. Now after four days Jesus finally shows up. Martha was upset by his delay in getting there.
1. Martha Goes to Meet Jesus: When Martha hears that Jesus is on the way into town she ran out to meet him. She blurts out, “If you had BEEN HERE my brother wouldn’t have died.” It’s like us saying, “If you had answered my prayer earlier I wouldn’t have lost my job. If you had stepped in a little bit sooner, Lord, this storm wouldn’t have ripped the roof off of my house. If you had BEEN THERE, I wouldn’t have been in this accident. It never occurred to Martha that He could have sent his Word and healed Lazarus. He did it for other people. She was upset with Jesus and wondered why in the world He didn’t show up on time for her family. Now after four days it was too late.
STORY: The minister’s little six-year-old girl had been so naughty during the week, that her mother decided to give her the worst kind of punishment. She told her she couldn’t go to the Sunday School Picnic on Saturday.
When the day came, her mother felt she had been too harsh and changed her mind. When she told the little girl she could go to the picnic, the child’s
reaction was one of gloom and unhappiness.
"What’s the matter? I thought you’d be glad to go to the picnic." her mother said.
"It’s too late!" the little girl said. "I’ve already prayed for rain!"
You probably can remember times when you felt this way too. It’s too late now! You wonder why Jesus didn’t answer you in the way you expected. Things didn’t work out like you wanted them too. Too late now.
She said “if you had been here my brother wouldn’t have died.” This statement shows that Martha had some STRONG BASIC BELIEFS. She may have been frustrated over His delay in getting there, but she believed that He could have done something. She believed that he had the POWER to do it.
Jesus said, “Your brother will rise again.” Martha says quickly, “Oh, yes I have always known that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.” She had a strong confidence in the doctrine of the resurrection. Her faith was strong for that future event.” She interpreted what Jesus said in a future sense, however.
She WANTS something more, but she didn’t come right out and ASK Jesus to raise her brother NOW. What she does say is, “But I know that EVEN NOW God will give you whatever you ask. She had faith in the fact that Jesus had the POWER to do miracles. She believed that He was “the Christ, the Son of God who was come into the world.” A lot of people didn’t believe that. Martha was very confident in these basic beliefs.
2. Even Now: Scripture shows that in spite of the situation she is in that day, she is struggling to bring her faith into the realm of the present because she says “even now” you can do something. She said to Jesus, “I know that EVEN NOW God will give you whatever you ask.” Jesus did not rush to say, “Oh, yes, I will raise your brother.” He said simply, “Your brother will rise again.” Martha’s answer shows that her faith had not moved very far into the present but it was getting there.
STORY: A company offered tours through the historic district, led by guides dressed in Colonial clothing. While leading a group, one of the guides, tripped and fell, breaking his wrist.
He went to the hospital, and as he sat waiting in the emergency room, a policeman walked by.
Doing a double take at him in his 18th-century garb he asked, "Just how long have you been waiting?"
Sometimes we feel we have been waiting on Jesus for a long time. Faith is something we have to bring into the NOW of our lives for it to do its work. When we pray we need to believe it right at the time we pray rather than someday maybe. Mark 11:22 pictures faith in the NOW--WHEN you pray. Not after the answer comes. You need the faith right at the time you pray. You need to believe that the Lord is working on the problem behind the scenes right then and there. That’s why it is good to thank the Lord for the answer in advance. In Mark 11:24 we are reminded “whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you HAVE received it, and it will be yours.”
Another scripture that shows bringing our faith into the present is Hebrews 11:1 “NOW faith is being SURE OF what we hope for and CERTAIN of what we do not see.” The Message Bible says, “The fundamental fact of existence is that this trust in God--this faith--in the firm foundation under everything that makes life worth living. It’s OUR HANDLE on what we can’t see.”
Martha was BEGINNING to draw on her faith savings account that day when she said, “But EVEN NOW.”
The scripture that brings Martha’s faith into the now is when Jesus told her, “I AM the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.” Do you believe this?” (vs. 25,26). Jesus is saying to her, “those who live and believe will never die but make an instant transition from the old life into the new life. This is a comfort to those who are experiencing grief today (I Thess. 4:16-17).
He is saying when you believe in me you HAVE the resurrection--for I AM the resurrection. You don’t have to wait until the end time. Jesus, the resurrection and life is already with you right in your daily struggles. He is there to bring new life to our daily situations. If we can grasp this, we should find that it helps to strengthen our faith tremendously.
3. Practice Bringing Your Faith into the NOW: Resurrection life applies to us in the now as well as in the future. Although it is appointed to people once to die and after that the judgment, Jesus chose in this instance to raise Lazarus from the dead that particular day and restore him back to his family for a specific purpose--that people would see “the glory of God.” (vs. 40).
Martha’s faith was mixed with a measure of unbelief just as ours sometimes is. But her unbelief was also mixed with faith. Hebrews 4:2 tells us that many times we fall short of what God wants to do for us because the Word is not “mixed with faith.” Martha practiced bringing her faith into the present that day. She stretched her faith. It probably was very difficult for her to believe that Lazarus would be restored to life right then; but in that instance, Jesus had a specific purpose for doing it and that is why he delayed coming to Lazarus earlier.
In Romans 4:17 Paul tells us that Abraham who was called the father of faith, “[called} things that are not [yet} as though they were.” Strengthening our faith to bring it into the realm of the present is possible for us as we learn how to exercise our faith and as we learn to talk differently once we pray. We need to begin to talk “as if God has heard our prayer--as if he has already started working on the problem.”
To often we are stuck on not knowing if God has EVEN HEARD the prayer. We get stuck on MAYBE IT IS NOT GOD’S WILL to ANSWER. MAYBE HE WON’T DO IT FOR ME. Our self talk is often the EXACT OPPOSITE of what we are praying for. OUR FAITH IS NOT IN AGREEMENT with God at all. Sometimes our faith is just too vague and generalized.
STORY: It is like the woman who said, “I have my own system for labeling homemade freezer meals. I don’t label them "Veal Parmigiana" or "Turkey Loaf" or "Beef Pot Pie anymore."
“If you look in my freezer you’ll see "Whatever," "Anything," "I Don’t Know," and, my favorite, "Food." That way when I ask my husband what he wants for dinner, I’m sure to have what he wants.”
Find out what God says about things through knowing what God’s word says and begin to align your faith with what God says. Don’t be vague in your prayers. Be specific when you pray about things.
What does Jesus’ words to Martha mean to you personally today--right now and for the future? Think of a current situation that challenges your faith. What was necessary to renew Martha’s faith when it began to waver? Think of a situation where your faith is stronger for tomorrow than it is for today.
Have you had a dream or desire die only to have the Lord appear on the scene to revive it? You say, “God I think you’re a little too late.” You might say, “but I know that tomorrow or next year or in heaven you will answer.” After all, you know that He is Christ the Lord and that nothing is too difficult for him. You just can’t quite see it happening in the now.
Faith has a lot to do with the pressing demands of the here and now. We can strengthen our daily faith. Believe that he has heard your prayer. Believe that he is already at work on the problem to bring it to pass. Believe that He is the resurrection and the life today as much as he ever will be in the future.
Let us pray:
