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Cravings: Self-centered or God-centered

"They tested God in their heart by demanding the food they craved." 

(Psalm 78:18)

Why do we do this? Why do we and our neighbors demand so much. Our country is so full of people demanding their rights that if you so much as accidentally bump into the wrong person, you may just end up with a lawsuit. And our kids scarcely breathe their first lungful before exhaling a loud "Mine!"

The Bible shows that this problem springs from within.

Jesus gets to the heart of the matter. When we demand our rights, when we babies of the family feel entitled to special treatment, when words like "Mine!" rip things from others' hands, or when we grumble against God, it's because of a serious problem with our hearts. Jesus says:

“Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad, for the tree is known by its fruit. You brood of vipers! How can you speak good, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks." (Matthew 12:33-34)

Demanding words on the tongue come from evil in the heart. But what is the nature of that indwelling evil that makes us demand our way?

Evil Cravings

The passage above singles out one heart motivation. The Psalmist, who wrote the passage above, recounts the fact that God's people demanded because they "craved" wrongly. We share the same nature with our first mother, Eve, who when she "saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate"—the very thing God told Adam not to do (Genesis 3:6). Her sinful behavior—like ours—sprang from her sinful lust.

It's worth pointing out here that when God forbade the consumption of that fruit, there was nothing evil in the fruit per se. After all, it was included with all of creation when God saw that "it was very good" (Genesis 1:31). But eating it was a sin because God had forbidden it. So even our cravings for good things can be sinful if our longings are contrary to God’s revealed will. Drink, entertainment, food, money, rest, sex, work—all these things and more are good things that can be craved in ways that are sinful.

The Cravings of Idolatry

There are plenty of other heart motivations that give birth to sinful behavior, but let's just focus on this one and drill down even deeper. We've seen that demanding words come from evil cravings, and that although the things we long for might be good, our longings become sinful when they're contrary to God's will. But what is the essence of the contrariness of our will when it goes against the grain of God's?

On the one hand, it's pretty simple. God--simply because he is God--has every right to direct our thoughts, affections, will, and behavior. So it's sinful when we rebel and want something that he doesn't want for us. It's sinful when we want something in a certain way, time, amount, or in a particular relationship or context, etc. that is contrary to the way he wants it for us. He's the Creator. We're his creation. He's the potter; we're the clay (cf. Romans 9:20-21). So he has every right to direct every aspect of our being. For example, work is good, but too much of it is bad, not primarily because too much is unhealthy for us (that's secondary), but primarily because God said so. So every week we should work six days and rest one day because he said so. He knows what's best. And he wants what's best for us.

On the other hand, the Bible lets us see why wanting what God doesn't is sinful with even more clarity. The essential contrariness of demanding the things we crave lies in what it means for our relationship with God. We can turn our backs on God and make false gods out of ourselves or anything else.

Self idolatry is the essence of sinful behavior. That's why when Jesus calls us to repent, he calls us to deny ourselves and to forsake our sinful self-salvation strategies. (For example, look at Matthew 16:24-25.) 

When we demand things of God and others, we effectively attempt to usurp God's throne, and make ourselves the King whose will should be immediately obeyed no matter the cost. 

This is where all self righteousness comes from. We want our idol of self to look good even if it means that we use God as a religious means to that end. And if we think we're doing God a favor by all our good works, then once trials and tribulations (or even difficulties and inconveniences) come--as they always will until Christ returns--then we sometimes feel like we have been treated unjustly. We actually think we deserve better! We might not actually say that we deserve a comfortable life, but that is a hidden assumption by which we tend to operate. So we don't just lament our suffering, we demand that it cease or raise a defiant fist heavenward.

But our problem is not simply that we idolize ourselves. We can idolize just about anything else too. Our sinful hearts can want something so much that we put the thing we desire in God's place, as if that thing or person will satisfy our souls' deepest everlasting longings in the way only the eternal God can.

But even in these cases, when we bow in the worship of the approval of others, control, financial security and prosperity, or whatever, it's all because we are in lockstep with the commands and demands of our false god of self.

The New Testament (the part of the Bible that shows and explains God's promises being fulfilled in Jesus Christ) calls these sinful cravings "overdesires," epithumeia in the original Greek. Here's an example of what it has to say about these desires in an excerpt of a letter from the apostle Paul...

He says the desires of God's Holy Spirit and our sinful desires (or "overdesires") are "opposed to each other." And this opposition, this contrariness, this war is ultimately about who, as it were, gets to sit on the throne over your heart: God or your sinful self. We long for that throne to be ours. And that longing is an overdesire--an excessive desire--because it's a craving that should truly be directed at God alone. It's wanting wrongly for a created thing and not the Creator to have divine rights that God alone deserves.

Longing for God

But God alone deserves our greatest longings. It's what brings him the most glory. And it is what's best for us because he made us to glory in him above all.

We were made to see that in God's presence is "fullness of joy" and that at his right hand are "pleasures forevermore" (Psalm 16:11), to see him as "the perfection of beauty" (Psalm 50:2), and to have our souls crave and "thirst" for the living God like a deer panting for flowing streams (Psalm 42:1-2). And we were made to long for God's word like a newborn baby craves its mommy's milk (1 Peter 2:2), and to be hungry to do God's will as if doing so were to enjoy the food that we need to get through the day (John 4:34).

Turning to Jesus

So we've looked at our sinful cravings. And we've considered how diametrically opposed they are to the way God made us to desire him.

We've looked at what makes some cravings sinful, but we haven't paused together to consider specifics in our own lives. I encourage you to do so. For me, I think I am prone to addictions, so there are things that quickly come to mind when I pause a moment to consider my lusts. 

What do you struggle with?

Pause to consider your own sinful cravings. But don't stop there! Take them to God. Unburden your soul to God in confession and prayer. You could say something like, "God, I am a sinner. I do long excessively for all kinds of things, like _________ and ____________..." Fill in the blanks.

But don't stop there either! Look to Jesus Christ and him crucified and risen. He died for our sins and was raised for our justification (Romans 4:25). He is our righteousness, sanctification, and redemption (1 Corinthians 1:30). If you repent and believe the good news about Jesus, there is now no condemnation for you (Romans 8:1ff), because Jesus took that condemnation for you on the cross (2 Corinthians 5:21), if you trust in him as your own Lord and Savior and Treasure (Romans 10:9-10). Not only that, but also those who trust in Christ begin slowly to find their old idols losing power over their lives (2 Corinthians 3:18). Those who are in Christ by faith have already made a clean break with sin, because they are united to the one who has died to sin and lives to God (Romans 6).

If you are in Christ you now get to enjoy freedom from the punishment and power of sin. But the presence of sin will remain to some extent even in believers, until Christ returns. So we continue to need to fix our gaze on Christ and to crave him above all things (Hebrews 12:1-2). 

And we continue to need to gather with other people who are also repenting from sin and trusting in Christ (Hebrews 10:25). So don't try to do this on your own. Look for a good church. If you don't know where to start, check out the tab at the top of this blog entitled, Looking for a Good Church.

In Christ and together with his church, we can begin not only to find our desires purified, but also to help others find Jesus to be the living waters their hearts have always really been craving (John 4).

God the Father treasures Jesus above all things.

Full disclosure: I have been immensely helped by the ministry of John Piper. So lots of what I have to say here is thanks to him. If you haven't read The Pleasures of God, you really should. It, like his other books, is a veritable treasure trove of truth. But I single out that book here because of its singular contribution in showing how God the Father treasures God the Son above all.

The Bible records two times when God proclaims his great love for his Son, Jesus (Matthew 3:17 and Matthew 17:5; cf. 2 Pet. 1:17). Both times, he said this:

“This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”

Translators only put a measly little period the end of that sentence. That's probably for practical reasons, like the fact that they can't fit ten million exclamation points at the end of all the sentences like this that deserve them. Otherwise, no one would be able to carry his or her Bible. And even if it were possible, ten million exclamation points would be a pitiful human attempt to express the infinite, divine love that God has for Jesus.

It's not just that he's well pleased with him. He is so well pleased with Jesus, he treasures him so much, that he could not love him more. His love for him is unparalleled. That's not to say he doesn't also likewise cherish God the Holy Spirit. But when it comes to what the Bible says, as it has been inspired by the Holy Spirit, we see that the Holy Spirit has been absolutely effective in glorifying God the Father by putting God the Son on display. And the Bible shows that the love that the Father and Son share subsists as the eternal, divine person of the Holy Spirit.

God loves his neighbor as himself. The Bible shows us that he has always had this neighbor. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God" (John 1:1-2). He has always been "with God." But John 1:1 clarifies the identity of this person who has always been with God. It says he "was God."

God has always had a "Word" who "was God." If the Word was God, then he has certainly always had him, for God is the uncreated Creator. It was through this Word that God created the universe (cf. Genesis 1; John 1:3; Colossians 1:15).

But John 1:1-2 gets at something in God that is far deeper than simply the fact that he is Creator. For creation has not always existed. God has not always created. And creation is a free act for him, not a necessary one. John 1 shows us what is necessary, though, that he always has a neighbor to love as himself. Otherwise we could not say "God is love" and have that love be eternal and independent of his creatures.

But by saying that God has always had a Word with him who was also God is not to say that there is more than one God (cf. Deut. 6:4). It is rather to say that the one and only God exists as multiple persons. Three persons. God, the Word, and their shared Love they have enjoyed throughout eternity. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He is one in three and three in one. This is called Trinity.

The Westminster Confession of Faith, drawing from the creeds of the ancient church, which relied on the Bible's own testimony, has put the doctrine of the Trinity like this:

In the unity of the Godhead there be three persons, of one substance, power, and eternity: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost: the Father is of none, neither begotten, nor proceeding; the Son is eternally begotten of the Father; the Holy Ghost eternally proceeding from the Father and the Son.

If God were to cherish anything other than God more than God, he would be an idolater. But this is so far from ever possibly being the case that such a thought is ridiculous. (Which is why it's so mind-boggling when John 15:9 and John 17:23 say that believers are loved as God the Son is loved. But I'll have to say more about that in another post.)

And the glowing terms he uses in Scripture to describe his great love for his Son makes one thing very clear. His most prized possession, his greatest treasure is his Son.

And the good news is that his Son came as our neighbor and loved us as himself, giving his life in our place for our sins, in his obedience unto death on a cross. He loved us, and he still loves his people, because God the Father raised him from the dead.

So why don't we follow the Father's lead and take Jesus as our own most valued possession? If here we see what Almighty God values most, then why would we ever choose anything else as our greatest treasure?

- - - - -

John Piper puts this all way better than I can, as he follows in Jonathan Edward's (and the apostle Paul's) footsteps. Here's a video of him giving a lecture about essentially this very thing, entitled, The Glory of God and the Gladness of Man.

Be Still My Soul

When my wife and I became parents, we looked for songs to sing to our children. Even while in the womb we started singing selections from hymnals. One of my pastors said he sang "Be Still My Soul" to his girls, and it seemed like a really great lullaby.

So we started singing it to them around the time that they were born, and they've been hearing it since then for about three years (with other songs of course).

I share it here not only because it's a beautiful hymn, but also as another kind of lullaby, for those children who have fallen asleep in death prematurely, at the hands of evil men. I'm thinking particularly of the demonic terrorists in Iraq who have murdered little ones and others. May our heavenly Father comfort their parents and loved ones, who should never have had to deal with something like this. May God still the shaking souls of these parents, and give them persevering faith to hold on to him, especially now that they cannot hold on to their children.

You can hear three verses of the hymn here:
https://soundcloud.com/singtojesus/be-still-my-soul 

You can read all four verses here:

"Be Still, My Soul"
by Catharina von Schlegel, 1697-?
Translated by Jane Borthwick, 1813-1897
1. Be still, my soul; the Lord is on thy side;
Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain;
Leave to thy God to order and provide;
In every change He faithful will remain.
Be still, my soul; thy best, thy heavenly, Friend
Through thorny ways leads to a joyful end.

2. Be still, my soul; thy God doth undertake
To guide the future as He has the past.
Thy hope, thy confidence, let nothing shake;
All now mysterious shall be bright at last.
Be still, my soul; the waves and winds still know
His voice who ruled them while He dwelt below.

3. Be still, my soul, though dearest friends depart
And all is darkened in the vale of tears;
Then shalt thou better know His love, His heart,
Who comes to soothe thy sorrows and thy fears.
Be still, my soul; thy Jesus can repay
From His own fulness all He takes away.

4. Be still, my soul; the hour is hastening on
When we shall be forever with the Lord,
When disappointment, grief, and fear are gone,
Sorrow forgot, love's purest joys restored.
Be still, my soul; when change and tears are past,
All safe and blessed we shall meet at last.

Hymn #651
The Lutheran Hymnal
Text: Psalm 46:10
Author: Catharine Amalia Dorothea von Schlegel, 1752, cento
Translated by: Jane Borthwick, 1855
Titled: "Stille, mein Wille"
Composer: Jean Sibelius, b. 1865, arr.
Tune: "Finlandia"

What's this blog all about?

If you're just getting acquainted with my blog, then this post is probably the best place to start.

Welcome! This blog is dedicated to the glory of God. He has made himself known by sharing his most prized possession with us, his one and only Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus himself said, "Whoever has seen me, has seen the Father" (John 14:9). So my goal with this blog is to show you God by showing you Jesus.

He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high  

(Hebrews 1:3)

If God really let's us see him, then our lives will be irrevocably transformed (cf. John 4:10; Romans 12:1ff).

We all are in desperate need of God, whether we realize it or not. "In him we live and move and have our being" (Acts 17:28). Your life, the fact that you lived through last night, your every breath and heartbeat, your ability to go to work, your very existence--it all depends on the One who created all things and keeps all things in existence (cf. Hebrews 1:3). It would behoove you then to get to know him and understand what he wants of you and the world. We all, whether we think we know him or don't--we all need to know him more and more. And so we all need to know Jesus, the radiance of his glory.

And think of how greatly our need for him is amplified when we consider our sin problem. The Bible says "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:21). And although it says that "the wages of sin is death," it also says that "the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 6:23). Jesus is the definitive answer to our sin problem. Since he willingly died on the bloody cross we can come to God as a welcoming, holy, good Father (1 Peter 1:17-21; 3:18).

So we must turn from our sins and trust in Christ as our Lord and Savior and Treasure. That's the aim of this blog. I want to help you know God in and through Christ, as he has made himself known infallibly in the Bible that has been breathed-out by God's Spirit (cf. 2 Timothy 3:15-17).

Find a Good Church

But before Christians tried making Christ-centered blogs, God made a Christ-centered community. God's word does God's work today best in the context of a local church. In our individualistic time after the enlightenment, and after the internet, where so much cheap info is available, some people might be tempted to think they can get all the truth their souls need by being consumers of blogs and listening to sermons online. But the Bible says we can only fully appreciate all that God is for us in Christ together with the church. For example, the apostle Paul prayed,

that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. 

(Ephesians 3:16-19)

So don't avoid or postpone finding a gospel-proclaiming church to become a member of because you think it's sufficient just to roll out of bed on a Sunday, plop down in front of your laptop, and listen to sermons or read Christian blogs online. That's a dumb idea. If you can't get to a church, like if you're homebound, that's one thing. But if you're perfectly able to join a church, do so! Even if you are homebound, find a church that you can connect to, who will minister to you and whose ministers will come and visit you and remind you of the gospel--or even find a way to bring you into the fellowship on the weekend. 

The point is, it's not a good idea to use internet resources as an excuse for not connecting with the the community of Jesus. Proverbs 18:1 says the person who does stuff, who "isolates himself" like this, "breaks out against all sound judgment." So it would be a bad judgment call to isolate yourself from the church because you've figured out another way to get your spiritual fix (cf. Proverbs 14:12). Hebrews 10:25 warns us against "neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some," and says that instead we need to be "encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near."

Serving the Church

But of course I still think there's a legitimate place for reading gospel-proclaiming blogs. Hence, this one. They shouldn't take the place of the church; they should serve the church. For example, that's why I have listed a bunch of good churches and church networks on one of the pages of this blog. Check 'em out, especially if you are not yet a baptized member of a local fellowship. Get connected to the church, "the body of Christ" (1 Cor. 12:27)! And let me know if you need help finding one in your area.

The content on this blog is for you to ruminate on, discuss, and apply, to strengthen the church of the Living God. And I believe it will, because I intend on saturating it with Scripture. Scripture (synonymous with the Bible, God's word) feeds our souls. As God says through Moses and Jesus,

"It is written,
'Man shall not live by bread alone,
but by every word that comes from the
mouth of God.'" 

(Matthew 4:4; cf. Deut. 8:3)

And it feeds our souls because it showcases the Lord Jesus Christ, the bread from heaven, the treasure of God.

Another benefit of a Scripture-saturated blog is that it will help this not be just another place on the internet with someone airing out his opinions. The Bible says, "A fool takes no pleasure in understanding, but only in expressing his opinion." (Proverbs 18:2) So if there's anything I write here that seems weird to you, don't just take my word for it. Take God's. Use it as an opportunity to grab a Bible, ask God to help you understand it, and study how God has guided others to understand it in the church from history to the present.

"The unfolding of your words give light..." (Psalm 119:130)

Since this is my introductory post, one "housekeeping item" is necessary. As I mention above, I plan on quoting Scripture a lot. As my dad used to say, "When Scripture speaks, God speaks." God does his work through his word. If anything good is to come from this blog, God's got to do it. I have no power with my thoughts that I share. He alone has the ability to speak light into someone's heart, just as he spoke the entire universe into being. Unless otherwise noted, I plan on quoting God's word as it's been faithfully translated in the ESV (Holy Bible: English Standard Version. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2001.) or a newer update of that translation.

Now may the Lord Jesus lift up the light of his glorious countenance upon you through his word. And as the light of his face dawns upon your soul, may you prize and praise him as your greatest treasure.

Do you trust the Lord of life and death?

This is an adaptation of the last sermon I preached at Immanuel Baptist Church in Chicago, on November 3, 2013. It was based on John 11:1-46.

The apostle John selects 7 signs that Jesus performed and 7 corresponding “I AM” statements of Jesus to show his readers who Jesus really is and to elicit their faith in him.

We’ll be looking at the 7th sign, the resurrection of Lazarus. And since this is all about getting us to trust in Christ, and since Jesus calls for our faith in him with a pointed question in this passage, we’re going to go through it first by asking three questions:

1. Do you trust him when he says “wait”?
2. Do you trust him when he says “go”?
3. And, do you trust him when it seems hopeless?

Those are all real aspects of life in this world that Christ reigns over. We will also see in this passage that he reigns over death. So the basic question that I believe God is asking us this morning is just this:

Do you trust the Lord of life and death?

Will you please pray with me?
“Our Father,” be glorified in putting your Son on display for us, by the Spirit of Holiness that you raised him from the dead with, who fills your church and inspired the Scriptures. The unfolding of your Word gives light. Enlighten our hearts even now and thereby give us enduring faith through this difficult life until we see you. Speak, Lord, for your servants are listening. Speak, Lord, and raise the dead. Speak order into our chaos. Speak light into our darkness. And let us who have ears to hear, hear what the Spirit says to the churches. Amen.

Introduction

John 11:1...

Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 2 This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair. 3 So the sisters sent word to Jesus, "Lord, the one you love is sick." 4 When he heard this, Jesus said, "This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God's glory so that God's Son may be glorified through it." 5 Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6 Yet  ["So" (TNIV, NASB, ESV)] when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days.

So these two sisters send a note to Jesus that says, "Lord, the one you love is sick." Mary and Martha just assume that he loves Lazarus. They're just making a statement, that he's sick, because it's pretty obvious what they want him to do in light of it. Read between the lines. They're essentially saying: "Jesus, If you love Lazarus, then do something about this sickness! We know that you are able to do it. You are the Lord! We know you've healed others. So come heal Lazarus, Jesus. He's dying! Come quickly!!"

But what does it say in verse 6?
He "stayed" when he heard he was sick?! "[W]hen he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was." "[T]wo more days"?!! Does he not really love them?! When you love someone, you go care for them when you hear they're in trouble. Don't you? You don't just sit idly doing nothing. (Well, he wasn't idle. Verse 41 makes it look like he spent this time praying.) But he is not making it easy for Mary and Martha to trust in him, is he? Especially since the messenger who brought him word from the sisters probably also went back reporting Jesus' words, "This sickness will not end in death." How do you think the sisters coped when they heard those words from the messenger, and they waited hopefully, and waited, and waited, and their brother died, and days pass, and they still don't see Jesus!?

Did Jesus not realize that he would get their hopes up by saying that the sickness wouldn't end in death? Did he forget that verse that says "hope deferred makes the heart sick"? (Prov. 13:12, ESV) Why didn't he come?! Why did he let him die?! Did Jesus not really love him? Was Jesus not able to heal him? Was this just too much for Jesus?

I'm sure many of you have had struggles like these two sisters. Our faith is tested by times of suffering, grief, disaster, illness, death, confusion, when our circumstances seem to be totally contradicting the promises of God's word. And there doesn’t seem to be any end in sight. No light at the end of this tunnel. Walking by faith is not easy! Like Martha and Mary, we live in that tension between promise and fulfillment. We often feel like Abraham after God promised to bless all nations through his offspring, but then many years pass and he still doesn't have a son as he becomes old and decrepit and the Scriptures say he was "as good as dead" he was so old. He could have easily lost all hope that it was even possible for God to do what he said he'd do. Maybe you're in a similar place now, or maybe you will be very soon. Your circumstances make it seem like God is either a liar or impotent or not good or he doesn't care or he doesn't exist. Maybe you're growing weary or even bitter crying out "How long, O Lord?!"

But you have found yourself surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses--even Jesus himself--whose circumstances have made them also cry out, "My God! My God! Why have you forsaken me?!" But hear the word of the Lord that can give strength even to those who "face death all day long" and "are considered as sheep to be slaughtered." Times of suffering don't mean that God doesn't love us, because he has said that "neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Rom. 8:38-39). Jesus himself has said in John 15:9, "As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you."

Okay, so he loves you. He loves us, which means that he does care enough to do something about our suffering. Believe this as well: It is not that he's unable to do for us what needs to be done. He is omnipotent - all powerful! Jesus himself has said in Matthew 28:18, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me." And we know that he "is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy" (Jude 24, NASB).

So if he loves us enough to end our suffering, and if he is able to do so, then why doesn't he?! I don't know the specific answer to your specific situation, but he does. He knows you. He knows what's best. He is never in a fog. He’s infinitely wise. Wisdom incarnate. And he is that for you, and for me. He is able to love you wisely. He knows what you really need when you don’t. And his wisdom is just one aspect of his greatness. He is infinitely great. He is the great I AM, the great Lord of lords. Now, granted, his greatness is revealed to us in his humbling himself in our place for us. He came to serve and not to be served. BUT! He is not at our beck and call, as if we were the Lord. HE ALONE IS THE LORD! Which is really good news, actually. He is not a slot machine that you manipulate through prayer to get whatever you want. He is not subject to our demands. "Our God is in the heavens. He does whatever he pleases" (cf. Ps. 115). And if he really is that great, then he is not beholden to do for us whatever our puny, clouded, sinful perspective thinks is best. Now, that doesn't mean we stop asking him for what we think is best. But the point is that when he answers our prayers, he can actually give us what he knows is best for us--even if it hurts and is confusing for a few days or decades.

Jesus could have healed Lazarus and kept him from death. He is Lord over sickness. The gospels record him healing people simply with a word or with a touch. When the sisters, in verses 21 and 32 say, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died," they might be right. He could have prevented Lazarus from dying. When the crowd, in verse 37 said, "Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?" The answer is, Yes! He could have! God gave Jesus authority over sickness, but he is more than a healer! He is the Lord of life and death! "Do you believe this?" He wanted his followers to know who he really was. He wanted them to see his glory. That's why Jesus said that this sickness was "for God's glory so that God's Son may be glorified through it." It’s really something that can be said over any sort of suffering. God allowed the suffering of this family because it provided an opportunity for Jesus to be glorified, to be seen and cherished for who he really is. And this was the most loving thing Jesus could have done for them, to give them a glimpse not of a mere healer but of the glory of God. To show them the reality that their hearts really longed for, a reality that would sustain them when Jesus himself would die and be laid in a tomb not many days after this miracle.

So do you trust him when life gets confusing, when your circumstainces make him seem untrustworthy, or when he says 'wait'?

And do you trust him when he says, 'Let's go'?

John 11:7...

Then he said to his disciples, "Let us go back to Judea." 8 "But Rabbi," they said, "a short while ago the Jews tried to stone you, and yet you are going back there?" 9 Jesus answered, "Are there not twelve hours of daylight? A man who walks by day will not stumble, for he sees by this world's light. 10 It is when he walks by night that he stumbles, for he has no light." 11 After he had said this, he went on to tell them, "Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up." 12 His disciples replied, "Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better." 13 Jesus had been speaking of his death, but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep. 14 So then he told them plainly, "Lazarus is dead, 15 and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him." 16 Then Thomas (called Didymus) said to the rest of the disciples, "Let us also go, that we may die with him."

In this section, Jesus' says, let's go back to Judea, and he's immediately met with resistance on the part of his followers. They resist because they, like us, are trying to save themselves. One commentator observes, "The Lord did not say, 'Let us go back to Bethany,' where he had friends, but to Judea, where he had enemies" (John Phillips, "Exploring the Gospel of John," 210).

So the disciples are like, "Wait a minute, Jesus. Just hold your horses there, partner. I don't think your thinking quite clearly. Let me talk some sense into you, buddy. Uh, you do remember that you almost got us all stoned to death there, don't you?" And Jesus doesn't play the, "I'm God. You're not. We're going." trump card. He actually pauses to show them what walking by faith looks like. He begins to get them thinking by asking, "Are there not twelve hours of daylight? A man who walks by day will not stumble, for he sees by this world's light. It is when he walks by night that he stumbles, for he has no light." Jesus is speaking to them with a parable. It's in the context of another parable, in verses 11-14, where sleep represents death. His response to their fear of death here is a word that assures them that they don't have to be afraid of the darkness of death. Jesus is walking in the light of life. He is the light of the world. He is (and by extension they are) completely secure because he knows that he's in complete obedience to God the Father's will and he knows that the Father's will for him to die hasn't come yet. His hour was close, but it had not yet come.

It's pretty easy to glean the application right off the top of Jesus' words here, because he speaks in the third person. Generally speaking, "A man who walks by day will not stumble." A person who walks in glad submission to God's will does not need to fear death. Sure, you might die by obeying God. But that death does not need to be frightening, especially if it just escorts you into the exceeding joy of God's presence. Now, none of us obeys God’s will perfectly yet. But Jesus did.

And do you see the irony here? It’s God's will that made the disciples fear death, but the only time we really need fear it is when we are walking in disobedience to God's will.

So what has God called you to do that you're afraid of doing? Get some perspective here. It's a much scarier thing not to obey him. To follow your own whims and not his will is to walk in the night with no light. Who knows what you might run into or stumble over. Where has God called you to go? Whom is he calling you to go to? Don't be afraid to go. He’s promised never to leave you, and he’ll give you enough light for every step.

So do you trust him when he says, "Wait"? Do you trust him when he says, "Let's go"? 

And the question that arises from verses 17-37 is:

Do you trust him when it seems hopeless?

John 11:17...

On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. 18 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."

We rely so much on what we can understand. As long as there’s a heartbeat—we think—there’s still hope. But Lazarus’s heart stopped. On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. Nevertheless, Martha seems to be holding on to some faint hope the Jesus can still do something. And Jesus blows on that ember and fans the flame of her faith. Look at the clarity of response that Jesus gives her compared to the opaque parables he spoke to the twelve disciples:

John 11:23...

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. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; 26 and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?"

Do you believe this? Do you believe that the Lord who spoke with Martha in the past and who will come "at the last day" is the risen and ascended Lord of life for you today, and for all that seems hopeless to you today? Jesus redirects our gaze from the future hope to himself, as a very personal, "very present help in trouble" (Ps. 46:1, ESV). He is our hope even now, when everything seems hopeless. Do you believe this?

John 11:27...

"Yes, Lord," she told him, "I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world." 28 And 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?"

Jesus does not resort to cookie cutter Standard Operating Procedures when he deals with grieving people. He deals with each different person in the way that is appropriate for their particular personality and experience. This is a wise love he has for us. With his frightened disciples he patiently got their attention with a parable and assured them of the true security of walking in the light of God's will. With Martha's active faith, he uses her confession of faith in a future resurrection to direct her faith to his personal presence in the present. And now we see how he relates to Mary.

Do you see how long it took her to go to him? And do you see how little she says? All she can eek out are the same words Martha said. And Jesus doesn't say much to her either. He knows she doesn't need a lecture. She just needs him, and he knows it. So he just calls for her, and he asks where the tomb is. He enters into her grief and weeps with those who weep, and then he goes to do something about it.

But before we look to see what he did, I want you to hear again the same words Mary did. "The Teacher is here and is calling for you." (11:28, ESV) He knows that sometimes you don't know what to think let alone what to say, but he's calling for you. You might feel paralyzed by something weighing heavily upon you. But listen. "The Teacher is here and is calling for you."

He calls out,

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light" 

(Mt. 11:28-30).

When Jesus calls for you, you don't have to know the right words to answer in reply. Just come to him. The wonderful thing about his all-powerful voice, as we see in the next passage, is that his words can create the response that he calls for! And in that, we see him for who he really is, not only the Lord of life, but also the Lord of death.

John 11:38, "Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance."

Jesus has displayed some complex and strong emotions in this chapter. Prior to his arrival, he told his disciples that he was glad (in verse 15). But as he joins the mourners and nears the tomb, you get a sense that he really feels the weight of the reality of death. When he sees everyone crying he also, it says, "was deeply moved in spirit and troubled" and he cries with them. He does not make light of death. He does not say that death is just a part of life. He's troubled by it. It's not right. It's unnatural. It's the result of our sins. And it’s at the heart of our deepest fears and anxieties.

But as raindrops join thunder, his tears are mingled not just with sadness, but with deep anger. Righteous anger. When John says that Jesus was "deeply moved," those two English words render one Greek word that elsewhere describes a horse snorting angrily. Maybe Christ was exhaling loudly. The depths of his soul burned. And, you might say, he was venting his great controlled fury at sin, at unbelief, at death. John Calvin says, "Christ does not come to the tomb as an idle spectator, but like a wrestler preparing for the contest. So it is no wonder that he groans again, for the violent tyranny of death which he had to overcome stands in front of his eyes" (Commentary on John, 281). But Jesus doesn't come just come to wrestle death to the ground. His ultimate aim is to kill it and usher in eternal life for God's people.

So Jesus said,

39 "Take away the stone,"... "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 believed, you would 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 9 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."

Look at the vivid way that God portrays this event through the pen of his apostle. In verse 39 He has us imagining the smell of a body that's been decaying for four days. In verse 40 He has us wondering what it would be like to see God's glory. In verse 41 we feel the cold, rough, heavy stone; and we see Jesus unashamedly lifting his face to heaven giving thanks. And in verse 43 we hear a loud voice. It’s the same big voice that spoke the universe into existence, and that will one day ring through it again and make all things new.

The resurrection of Lazarus would be an amazing scene to behold. In this chapter, God has shown our hearts the gravity of the situation, and he's filled our senses with this miracle. But it's not just a spectacle for us to gawk at. It is dripping with meaning about Jesus. In the center of it all is Jesus. The whole situation has served to show who he really is. Yes, he could have prevented Lazarus from dying. But he is more than a healer. He is the Lord of all! The Lord of life and death.

He knows our pain and weeps with those who weep, but he does not stop there. He came to do something about it! He came to kill what kills us, and he did that by laying down his own life and being raised to new life, never to die again.

That’s really what this chapter foreshadows. Jesus died…
for sins because the wages of sin is death. But he didn’t die for his own sins. He was sinless. He died for ours. And when he was raised again, since he is perfectly sinless, death cannot lay a claim on him. He is the Lord of death and, as John Owen said, he is the death of death. Lazarus’s resurrection was temporary. But it served to show Christ’s power. But his power would not mean anything if he was himself still stuck in the grave. We would, in that case, be of all people most to be pitied, because we have testified that God raised him from the dead. Not only would we be liars, but we would still be in our sins.

But the truth is…
the good news is that he has in fact—historical fact—been raised from the dead!
Even as the resurrection of Lazarus was a historical fact people saw and heard—people touched him with their own hands afterwards, just like you can reach over and touch the person sitting next to you—even so (and infinitely more important is the truth that) the resurrection of Christ is a historical fact. People saw and heard and touched him afterwards. He has been raised victorious over the grave.

Application: “Do you believe this?”
So do you trust in the Lord of life and death? That’s the goal of this book, “that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name” (20:31, ESV). And surely it’s not just for Martha’s sake that John records Jesus’ pointed question, but for ours as well. “Do you believe this?” This chapter in John was preceded by a statement that I hope will describe the outcome of this blog post. If you look at John 10:42, it says, “...many believed in him there.”

Sadly, however, the two verses that follow Lazarus’s resurrection show two possible responses to Jesus. Look at verse 45…

Therefore many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what Jesus did, put their faith in him. 46 But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done.

The Abyss of Christlessness
Many put their faith in him, but some did not. They betrayed him. How could they do that after what he just did?! How blind must they be to have the Son of God right in front of them doing his greatest miracle yet, and still to leave him and betray him?! And because they went and tattled onhim, the authorities became resolute in their commitment to put an end to him. Their rejection of him was very serious.

But is our rejection of him any less serious? And how much easier, actually, is it for us after reading this story to just shrug it off and go on our merry way. But the way without Christ although it may seem merry and easy and wide is a dark and treacherous path. A Christless life is not life at all. It is a life of sin, under the curse of almighty God.

Since the first humans turned their backs on God, this is the state all mankind is in outside of Christ. A state that brings the tomb, where the Bible pronounces us DOA, dead on arrival, dead in our trespasses and sins even before we breathe our last breath. There is nothing we can do to help ourselves. It’s a state of selfish implosion, a downward, self-centered spiral, a movement away from God and others, where little-by-little we just cave in on ourselves, a vortex, an abyss, and a bottomless pit.

You see this in all sorts of ways, don’t you? We’re just needy. Thirsty. Groping for almost anything to try to scratch our itches. We’re addicts. Users. We even use God to try to save or shine our idol of self. It’s evident even in the simple fact that we tend to focus more on the issues of others than on our own.

The Upward Spiral: The Upward Call of God in Christ Jesus
I know a guy who, before Christ saved him, was plagued by recurring nightmares. There were many nights when he would dream that the devil was pulling him underground, pulling him down so that he would just be falling, falling, in an apparently bottomless pit. And he would hear demonic voices as he fell, “We have you now. There’s no hope. No one can save you. There’s no hope for you.”

But it turned out that there was hope. Jesus called him. God came to him and said, “Awake, O sleeper. Rise from the dead, and Christ will give you light!” He was pulled from that abyss and the night terrors stopped. Maybe you sense yourself falling in one way or another. You’ve tried to find help, but all your resources are spent and you are hopeless.

But listen, no matter how much you are spiraling out of control, there is still hope because there is still Christ. He is Lord! Repent and believe the gospel. He has been raised from the dead! There is still hope for all of you under his Lordship.

He says to us even now, "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?"

As he told Martha, if you believe, you will see the glory of God! The funny thing is that the Bible says almost the opposite of that in John 2. After Jesus turned water into wine at a wedding, it says, “This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him” (v. 11). So did something change between that wedding and this funeral? He told Martha that if you believe you will see God’s glory; but here he’s saying that seeing his glory results in belief. Which is true?

Both! His glory is revealed in his words and deeds, which elicits faith in his people, a faith that results in seeing more of his glory. He puts himself on display for us and we trust in him as he is revealed, which somehow allows us to see even more of his glory... It’s a reciprocal covenantal relationship that gets better and better throughout eternity. It’s the opposite of falling in a Christless vortex. It’s the upward call of God in Christ Jesus, an upward spiral so to speak. It’s the "further up and further in," like the adventure portrayed at the end of C. S. Lewis’s “Chronicles of Narnia.”

But it’s not make believe. It’s reality to believe. We will be like the kid I once saw during the fireworks at the Venetian Boat show in Chicago. As the show neared the finish, he would say with almost every explosion, “This has got to be the grand finale!” And I don’t think he could believe his eyes when the grand finale really did erupt in front of him, because all he could say was, “Oh, ho ho… Oh, ho ho… Oh, ho ho…” But for us, there is no finale--no end--there is only the Grand to admire and enter more and more throughout eternity! “When we’ve been there 10,000 years bright shining as the sun, we’ve no less days to sing God’s praise than when we’d first begun!” And we won’t run out of energy in our new bodies, and we won’t run out of things to praise him for. We’ll keep discovering more and more in God.

Now someone may object that this is a “pie in the sky” fantasy. Or that it’s just a bunch of concepts that sound nice but it’s really just abstract triumphalistic optimism. It’s out-of-touch with concrete reality. “I’m a Christian. And it has not gotten better and better for me,” someone might say. “It seems to be only getting worse and harder!” If that’s the kind of response you find welling up as I describe this, I want to thank you for your patience as you’ve been reading this message. It could be that, like Mary, you don’t need a lecture. I can’t change your situation. And I do feel for you, but not well enough. And I don’t know what it’s like to be in your shoes. You don’t need a lecture. You don’t need advice. But let me tell you what you have. You do have a Lordand Savior. Go to him. Call on him. He is trustworthy for even you. You have him. But much more than that, he has you.

And what I mean by this spiraling upward relationship that keeps getting better is not that our circumstances get easier and easier. That was certainly not the case for Jesus, so why should we think it should be any different for us, his disciples. This world is cursed. We are still in sinful and diseased flesh. And evil will not be fully dealt with until Christ returns. But he will return. He is coming. We do have a sure hope.

These slight momentary afflictions are attaining for us an eternal weight of glory. And, like the Psalmist who spoke of the Lord as his Shepherd (Psalm 23), we find ourselves speaking not just of him, but to him when we walk through the valley of the shadow of death. He is close to the brokenhearted. Draw near to him, and he will draw near to you. Through it all, though it may not always feel like it, we have him and he has us. And when he comes, we believers will know a happiness that only always exponentially increases, as we are welcomed into the joy of our Lord and Master.

Conclusion
If we turn to the next chapter in John’s gospel we see the appropriate response to what Jesus has done. Fellowship and Worship. We find Christ eating a meal with this family, and see Mary anointing the Lord in worship. It seems appropriate then for us also to respond in the same way, eating at his table and worshiping him. So join a church this Sunday. And enjoy the Lord serving you, as you speak with him and eat at his table if you believe that God raised him from the dead.

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This sermon was addressed originally to the people at Immanuel Baptist Church, Chicago, Illinois, by Adam Smith on Sunday morning, November 3, 2013. It is not meant to be a polished essay, but was written to be delivered orally.

The mission of Immanuel is to be a multiplying community
that enjoys and proclaims the Good News of Christ in the great city of Chicago.

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations in this post are from: The Holy Bible: New International Version. 1996, c1984 (electronic ed.). Grand Rapids: Zondervan. I usually use the ESV, but I primarily used the NIV here because that's the translation that was distributed under the chairs where the people gather to hear God's word.

This sermon is printed and distributed as part of the ongoing ministry of Immanuel Baptist Church
© 2013 Adam L. Smith