2008 Easter Special Worship Service

I AM THE RESURRECTION

John 11:1-44

Key Verses 11:25, 26

“Jesus said to 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?’”

Happy Easter!

Today we are studying John 11 as our Easter passage. In this passage Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. By raising Lazarus from the dead, Jesus proved the Lord of resurrection. Apostle John records seven miraculous signs in his gospel in order to show that Jesus is the Son of God. Among them, Jesus’ raising Lazarus from the dead was the last and the greatest sign. May God help us to accept Jesus, the resurrection and the life from our hearts through the study of today’s passage.

I. “This sickness will not end in death” (1-16)

                  Look at verse 1. There was a man named Lazarus, who was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. Mary was the one who poured out the most expensive perfume on Jesus’ and wiped his feet with her hairs. She was a quiet, meditative, passionate and romantic woman while her sister Martha was an active and hard-working woman. And Lazarus was their brother and he was always weak and sickly. Even though Lazarus was sickly, he was a very important person to her two sisters as the pillar of their family whose parents had died earlier. This Lazarus’ family had a special love relationship with Jesus. According to gospel narratives, Jesus often visited their home and taught them the word of God and had fellowship with them. Jesus became a father to these fatherless siblings.

                  One day, while Lazarus was on the way to his school, he was wetted by the spring rain and as a result, became sick. At first they thought it was a usual cold, but it got worse and worse and he was on the brink of death. So his sisters sent word to Jesus. “Lord, the one you love is sick.” How did Jesus respond? Look at verse 4. It reads, “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 thought it.” Wow! To Mary and Martha, Lazarus’ sickness seemed to be urgent and fatal. But Jesus said, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s son may be glorified thought it.” Here from Jesus,  we learn that Jesus’ viewpoint and our human viewpoint are very different. From time to time, we see things only negatively and think things will surely end in death. But Jesus said to the sisters, “This sickness will not end in death.” Jesus also sees it as an opportunity to reveal God’s glory. Therefore, as God’s children, we must learn to live for the glory of God in any and every situation. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 10:31, “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.”

                  Jesus loved Martha, her sister Mary, and Lazarus. So they expected that as soon as he heard the news, Jesus would come to them immediately. But Jesus stayed where he was two more days. During this span of time, the sisters felt like dying and actually Lazarus completely died. Why then did Jesus stay two more days? It was because he wanted to plant resurrection faith in them. Resurrection faith is the best gift of God Jesus wants to give to his children. However, often, it is required faith to  God’s time schedule.

                  Look at verse 7. After staying two more days, Jesus said to his disciples, “Let us go back to Judea.” His disciples did not understand why he had stayed there two more days after receiving the news. They also did not understand why he urged them to go back to Judea when it was already late and where the Jews opposed him violently. So they said in verse 8. “But Rabbi, a short while ago the Jews tried to stone you, and yet you are going back there.”  How did Jesus answer? Look at verses 9,10. “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. It is when he walks by night that he stumbles, for he has no light." The implication of Jesus’ words is that just as there are 12 hours in day according to Jewish time, so each man has an appointed span of lifetime. No one will die before living out the lifetime assigned to him by God. In verse 9, “by day” refers to a person’s lifetime, “stumble,” refers to death, and “this world’s light,” to Jesus. Jesus’ disciples were with Jesus all the time, but they were full of fear that they would die by chance or by accident.

                  Look at verse 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.’”  Here Jesus regards Lazarus’ death as natural sleep. Many people in this world have fear of death. But Jesus sees it sleep, a kind of catnap. Sleep is so mysterious. Sometimes when we are tired, we have a catnap. Then no matter how we  had felt tired, after a sleep all the tiredness disappear and we feel refreshed. In the Bible, there many places where death is seen as sleep. In Matthew 9:24, Jesus says, “Go away. The girl is not dead but asleep.” Also in Acts 7:60 Stephen said, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep.

                  Someone said, “Death is a cruel tyrant. At the moment of death, everything is over.” But death is not the end of life as he thinks. Rather, it is the beginning of a new life and the beginning of eternal life. It we do not believe this, we suffer endlessly under the shadow of death all the time while living on this earth. But when we believe that death is the beginning of entering eternal life, we will never be afraid of death.

                  Look at verse 12. The disciples misunderstood Jesus’ word and said, “Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better. If possible, they did not want to go back to Judea because they were afraid of the Jews who tried to stone them a short while ago. Then Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead.” Jesus was glad that he was not there for their faith. Then Thomas said with a solemn pledge, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.” Thomas’ words sound so brave. But as a matter of fact, he was afraid of death. He worried that if he would go to Judea, he would be killed. And the rest of disciples had the same inner fear problem.

II. “I am the resurrection and the life” (17-44)

                  Look at verse 17. Now Jesus was in Bethany. This situation Jesus found there was very heavy and mournful. Lazarus had already been in tomb for four days. Due to hot weather in Middle East, the flesh already began to be dissolved that bad odor started to spread. At the moment of a bad odor, the two sisters’ human hope was utterly shattered. However, a time of despair to men is a time of new beginning to Jesus. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him and she said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” It was the most regretful words that a person could utter. Out of her despair, she might have said to herself, “When he visited my house for dinner, he came in time, but when Lazarus was sick, he was late.” Martha became very self-centered and complaining. From time to time we also feel in the same way. 

                  Look at verse 22. Martha continued. “But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.” Humanly speaking, it might be good for Jesus to say, “Sorry. Don’t cry.” to this Martha. But he did not do so. Instead, Jesus gave he the words of life. Look at verse 23. Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” What was Martha’s response to Jesus’ word? She said, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.” Then what was Martha’s problem? Her problem was that she had a head-knowledge about Jesus’ resurrection power. With her head knowledge, she believed in the resurrection of the future only, but not in the resurrection of the present. She said, “I know…” instead of saying, “I believe…” We must know that our head knowledge about Jesus’ resurrection power does not help us in solving our present problems. So we remain in fear and despair. In our country, there are so many despairing young people on campus. People despair and live under the power of sin and death without experiencing

                  Look at verses 25,26. Now Jesus says to Martha. "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?"  Here we see in Jesus’ words, all sentences are described as the present sentence. This one fact tells us that the resurrection of the past of the future but he is also the resurrection of the present. When Jesus said, "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.”, it means that we do not die but live forever when we believe in Jesus. We must know that resurrection faith is something that is connected to our present life. This means that if we can not believe Jesus’ resurrection of the present, we can not anything about Jesus’ resurrection power. Our resurrection faith must be able to influence our present life. This is the meaning of Jesus’ words when he said, “I am the resurrection and the life…” But when we believe that Jesus is the resurrection and the life, we can overcome our fear of death too. We can also overcome hardships and obstacles and live a victorious life every day. Our Lord Jesus our King and Savior.  John 1:4 says, “In him was life, and that life was the light of men.” Before meeting Jesus I was powerless and helpless living under the power of sin and death. Even though I was a hard-working student and had hope and aspiration to be a successful man, the thought of death always made me be  fatalistic. However, by God’s grace, I met Jesus as my Savior though Bible study. Then my life has been changed dramatically from a fatalistic young man into a powerful servant of God and Bible teacher who even serves many Canadian students with Jesus’ resurrection message.

                  Look at the last part of verse 25. Jesus said to Martha. “Do you believe this?” By saying this, Jesus planted resurrection faith in Martha’s heart. How did she respond to Jesus’ words? She said, Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world." Martha believed that Jesus is the Christ and the Savior of the world. But her faith was only superficial. Her sister Mary was the same. Like Martha she also uttered the most regretful words to Jesus when she met him and wept over her brother’s death.

                  What did Jesus do? The unbelieving atmosphere was overwhelming and Jesus’ heart was deeply troubled.  In this situation, some to the Jews stirred up people not to believe in Jesus by saying, “Could not  he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?” Look at verse 35. Jesus wept.  “Jesus wept.”, this is the shortest Bible verse. But it has a deep spiritual meaning. It means that Jesus weeps when we harden our hearts and remain unbelieving. Jesus also weeps when we are perishing under the power of death.

                  Look at verse 38. Now finally Jesus came to Lazarus’ tomb. When he got there, he asked Martha to taker away the stone. But she said, “But, Lord, by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.” Here once again we see that Martha’ problem was that she had only a head-knowledge about Jesus’ resurrection power even though she loved Jesus dearly. To her, it seemed impossible for Lazarus to be raised and all other people there also thought in the same way.

                  What did Jesus do? This time Jesus rebuked Martha’s unbelief by saying, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?” Then obeying Jesus’ command, Martha removed the stone from the tomb. It means that she took away the stone of unbelief from her heart. We also should removed the stone of unbelief, doubt and the stone of despair from our hearts to experience the power of Jesus’ resurrection. When they took away the stone, Jesus looked up and prayed to God Father. He said, "Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 42I 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." Look at verse 43. “When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, ‘Lazarus, come out!’” Jesus called in a loud voice. “Lazarus, come out!” Then what happened? A miracle happened. Look at 44. The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face and Jesus said to them, "Take off the grave clothes and let him go."

Today we learned that Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. Thank God for his Son Jesus, the  resurrection and the life. May God strengthen us with the power of resurrection every day and every moment.

2008 Easter Special Worship Service

I AM THE RESURRECTION

John 11:1-44

Key Verses 11:25,26

1. What problem arose in Bethany? What was Jesus' relationship to Lazarus' family?  (1-5; 12:3; Lk 10:39,40) What was the intent of their message to Jesus?

2. How did Jesus respond to the news? How are his love and his viewpoint different from others? What does it mean to live for the glory of God?  (See also Lk 2:14 and 1 Co 10:31)

3. Why didn't Jesus' disciples want to go to Judea? (7,8) What did Jesus teach his disciples about life and death? (9-10; 11-13) (1Co 15:44b; Mt 9:24) How did Jesus help his disciples? (14-15) What was the attitude underlying Thomas' decision? (16)

4. Read verses 17-22. What situation and general atmosphere did Jesus find in Bethany? What promise did Jesus give Martha? (23) What is the meaning of his teaching about himself? (25,26) (See 1 Pe 1:3-4) How did Martha respond? Mary?

5. Read verses 33-37. How did Jesus feel? Why was he so troubled in spirit? Why did he weep?

6. What happened at Lazarus' tomb? How and why did Jesus pray? How could they and how can we see the glory of God? (4,40)