Preaching

‘For The Glory Of God’

Taken from John 11

A man named Lazarus was sick. So his sisters sent word to Jesus, “Lord, the one you love is sick.” 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 will be glorified through it;” and he stayed where he was two more days. Jesus said to his disciples, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up.” Jesus was speaking of his death, and for his disciples sake He said, “I am glad I wasn’t there, so that you would believe. But lets go to him.”

On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. Many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother. Mary came to the place where Jesus was and she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” When Jesus saw her and the Jews who had come along with her weeping, he was troubled in spirit. “Where have you laid him?” he asked. “Come and see, Lord,” they replied.

Jesus wept. Then the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” Jesus came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. “Take away the stone,” he said. “But, Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odour, for he has been there four days.” Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?” So they took away the stone.

Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 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.” When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” And Lazarus came out.

It was just an ordinary day for Jesus of preaching and teaching and throwing in an odd miracle or two when a messenger arrives and gives Him the news, that His friend Lazarus is ill. “Don’t worry” Jesus says, “it won’t kill him, in fact it’s all for God’s glory and on top of that I’ll also be glorified.” And so instead of dashing off, Jesus parks His bum and stays where He is for a couple of more days.

I believe that over the years the Holy Spirit had transformed Jesus’ mind so that His first thought, His default mode, was to always look for what God wanted Him to do. Knowing what God wanted Him to do resulted in the giving God the glory. So Jesus knew to stay where He was. On top of bringing glory to God and Himself, another purpose of the waiting was for a faith injection for His disciples. For His disciples sake Jesus said, “I am glad I was not there, so that you would believe.” The Lord God once said to His people, “be still and know that I am God.”

Jesus knew how to be still and wait for God to give him the guidance as what to do. Eventually 3 days later He turned up at the tomb where Lazarus had laid for 4 days. The four days is significant because the Jews believed at that time, that a dead person’s spirit left them on the third day. To them Lazarus was dead dead. Being led by the Spirit from the beginning, Jesus had purposely waited; so long even to the point that Lazarus’ body had begun to decay and smell. The Jews believed raising a dead person after this length of time was impossible and only the Messiah could do such a thing. Jesus was going to declare in a dramatic way, that He was indeed the promised Messiah.

Jesus then reminded His disciples, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?” Jesus then prays and begins by saying a rather strange thing, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me.” Jesus begins by saying thank you for something that on first appearances hasn’t happened? Jesus continues by saying He knows God always hears Him but He’s only saying it really for the benefit of those stood there, and also I add, gathered here this evening. By saying, Father thank you in advance of what is about to be said and happen, Jesus is emphasising the source of the miracle. He wants the witnesses to be in no doubt who the author and originator of the miracle is; so that the focus is not on Jesus Himself but upon God. God has to have the glory.

With the glory of God now to the fore, Jesus calls out to Lazarus to come out. We know one thing, the dead cannot hear, yet Lazarus hears and responds to what Jesus tells Him. Four days earlier Jesus knew Lazarus would come round. He said, “This sickness will not end in death.” To Jesus Lazarus never died. To Martha and Mary their brother died and everyone else and that includes even us, we all thought Lazarus was dead, but Jesus didn’t. Jesus said he was only asleep.

According to Jesus everything concerning Lazarus was, and I quote, “for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.” And another thing we presume that Jesus wept through grief, but, hang on, seeing Jesus didn’t reckon Lazarus was dead why would he grieve for someone who was only asleep? Those gathered assumed Jesus is weeping for Lazarus, and most of us have probably assumed the same. Question, why would Jesus weep for Lazarus who’s only asleep? The text tells us that Jesus was troubled in spirit it never tells us Jesus was grieving. Grieving is of the soul not the spirit. Why would he be troubled in spirit about Lazarus who He knew was only asleep. I reckon Jesus was troubled in spirit about something far more serious.

If we look at the only other instance of Jesus weeping it is in Lk 19 when Jesus is approaching Jerusalem for the last time riding on a donkey. Verse: 41 When Jesus got closer to Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it saying, “If only you knew what is needed for peace!” But now you cannot see it! Jesus wept over Jerusalem because he saw the people of Jerusalem dead both spiritually and physically as he foresees their future destruction by the Romans.

Gathered round the tomb of the sleeping Lazarus, were Martha, Mary, the Disciples and some Jews who believe in Jesus because of what takes place. Jesus wept for all those who are spiritually dead, not knowing the life of God, just as He wept for the spiritually and physically dead in Jerusalem. He wept for those who at this point rejected Him and who began plotting His murder; these same people, the text tells us later, who even plotted Lazarus’ murder. Did Lazarus physically die? Yes, and Jesus raised him from the dead. But to Jesus looking through the eyes of faith, He only ever saw His friend asleep.

There is no record in the New Testament of a believer dying. The scriptures always say, they fell asleep. For example Acts 7:59 tells us, when they stoned Stephen he fell on his knees and cried out, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” When he had said this, he fell asleep. From a human point of view they died but from God’s point of view the life of their spirit continued in eternity. At times things can look dead from a human point of view but God knows the life within, and also the life that he will create in each one.

When Nina and I began Liberty Church even before we opened the doors we heard horror stories and that’s not to strong a statement, of LGBT Christians at the hands of other Christians, even Churches and whole church movements abusing their brothers and sisters.
Abuse is not to strong a word, we called it spiritual abuse directed against the children of God who just happen to be LGBT. LGBT Christians being crushed mentally and spiritually even to the point of some like Lilly Lowe, a 14 year old girl who was Christian and gay, taking her own life.

We all started off disconnected from God, spiritually dead, but Jesus brought us into spiritual life by bringing us to know Him. When Jesus brought Lazarus to life He proved beyond a shadow of doubt that He was the Messiah but the religious powers refused to believe it. They plotted to kill Lazarus and so do away with the evidence that Jesus was indeed the Messiah. There are those Christians who deny our evidence that we know Jesus, they say you can’t be LGBT and Christian, and they want to get rid of any evidence that we have the life of Jesus in us, but they can’t. We are living proof that Jesus is our saviour, friend and brother to all including LGBT people. We are the evidence of a God who loves unconditionally, we are the living proof that God’s grace is for ALL who trust Jesus because He died for every believer WITHOUT exception.

We are LGBT and allies, we are Children of God, saints not sinners, and the brothers and sisters of Jesus. We have been brought into spiritual life by Jesus and nothing can take that from us, “nothing can separate us from the love of God” (Ro 8). To God be the glory and to His Son Jesus.