SERMON:

More Powerful Than Death

John 11:32-41

Pastor Robyn Hogue November 1, 2015 Skyline Presbyterian Church

What I hope you’ll get out of the sermon this morning is a promise: If Jesus can raise Lazarus from the dead, He can bring you to new life. The story of Lazarus being raised from the dead is a story of hope in the midst of despair.

It is like the woman in the following story: The narrator in the story is an anonymous blogger whose blog is called The Daily Encourager. On his site, this anonymous Christian brother, tells about growing up with his parents in the country. When he was 15 years old, the house caught on fire. They escaped with only the clothes on their backs. There were no close neighbors to help so he and his father walked to a distant village to get supplies. As they returned they saw something that stayed with him all those years after. Beside the charred remains of what had been their house, his mother had laid out lunch on a log. She had placed a tin can filled with wildflowers on the log. It was a symbol of hope in the midst of tragedy.

This is the Christian faith, isn’t it? She didn’t try to cover up the disaster with flowers, but in the midst of that gloomy scene she had placed a symbol of hope. Hope does not cover up what has occurred, but it gives a promise of something better to come. The house was gone, but there was the hope of rebuilding, or getting the supplies to carry on.

That was Martha. She, the sister of Lazarus, did not cover up the fact that her brother had died, but she had hope that in her grief, Jesus would act. Hope does not cover up what has occurred, but it gives a promise of something better to come. She had the hope that something would happen when Jesus came. She says: “And even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.” Martha had hope. She did not know exactly what Jesus would do, but she had hope that something would happen. Then Jesus gives a glimpse of what’s going to happen as the text says: Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” Martha said to Him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.” Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me, though he die, yet shall he live, and whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?” She said to Him, “Yes, Lord; I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, He who is coming into the world.”

Martha was thinking about the resurrection at the end of time and Jesus was talking about the resurrection now through Him and for all those who believe in Him. Jesus then asks where they had laid the body. Martha’s not at all sure about what Jesus was planning to do. She warns there will be an odor when the stone is removed as Lazarus had been dead for four days. But Jesus asked for the stone to be removed and then He cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.”

To the surprise of all who had gathered, Lazarus stumbled out of the tomb. They removed the grave clothes around him and then the text says many believed in Jesus.

This story is a glimpse of what is to come. The story of Lazarus is a story of hope, a story of resurrection, a story in which Jesus demonstrates He is more powerful than death.

We are living in a world in which God has the last word. On Good Friday it appeared as if evil was the master of life. The holiest and most lovable One who had ever lived was dead and in His tomb, crucified by the order of a tyrant without either scruples or regrets. He who had raised the highest hopes among humanity had died by humanity’s most shameful means. Those hours when His voice was stilled and His hands were quiet were the blackest through which the human race has ever lived. If Caesar could put an end to Jesus, then no one could ever dare aspire or hope again. Hope, in such a world, could be nothing more than a mockery.

Then came Easter morning and the glorious word: “He is risen!” Evil’s triumph was at an end. Since that hour when Mary in the garden first discovered the staggering fact of victory, no one has ever had reason to fear or despair if he or she believed in the Resurrection.

And to us, as we live with our discouragement, our despair, our hurt, our pain, Jesus says to us, “Be still and know that I am God.” God said to the psalmist long ago in Psalm 46, “Be still’ and know that I am God. I am exalted among the nations. I am exalted in the earth. The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge.” This story of Lazarus is a story which says out of despair comes hope for those who believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of their lives.

All of us face discouragement and it is at those times we need to turn to the Lord while holding onto hope that He will act.

When Pastor Tim Zinale had to leave parish ministry because of a post-polio syndrome, he felt discouraged. When it became apparent that he could not even supply preach any longer, he felt even more discouraged. When he had to have three surgeries on his vocal chords just so he could speak, he was really discouraged!

But then, his small town received access to the Internet. Tim learned how to do HTML, and then he began to write sermons for anyone who would visit his site. And now, he has around 600 to 800 visitors each week reading his sermons and other helps. Out of that despair, came a new ministry, a ministry of “fingers” and now he has found a “new life” and some real purpose. He enjoys the challenge of writing a sermon each week, for those many people whom he doesn’t even know by name.

Pastor Tim has received many e-mail messages of encouragement which for him is another sign that out of his despair, God, through Christ, brought hope and a renewed purpose to his life again.

This story of the raising of Lazarus gives us hope for the future. Jesus weeps for Lazarus as He shows us that He understand the human condition of sorrow and grief. And along with the sorrow and grief comes hope for a new life, hope for the courage to go on in the midst of our grief.

The German theologian Jurgen Moltmann expressed in a single sentence the great span from Good Friday to Easter. It is, in fact, a summary of human history, past, present, and future: “God weeps with us so that we may someday laugh with Him.” God weeps with us as we face all those things that separate us from the love of God. And then offers us His presence so that we might also find joy.

At the outset, I said the raising of Lazarus contains a promise, and it does: If Jesus can raise Lazarus from the dead Jesus can bring us to new life, as well. In the mystery of God partnering with us, some of it depends on us. If you’ve never given yourself entirely to the Lord, why not do so today? If you’re someone who has already made a profession of faith, are you willing to reaffirm it? Either way, I don’t know of a better way than to profess faith in Jesus Christ than to offer the prayer of John Wesley. 

Here’s what I suggest: I’ll give us the words. If you’re willing, repeat them after me. Let them speak of your faith and of your commitment to Jesus Christ. Let’s pray:

I am no longer my own, but Thine.
Put me to what Thou wilt, rank me with whom Thou wilt.
Put me to doing, put me to suffering.
Let me be employed for Thee or laid aside for Thee,
exalted for Thee or brought low for Thee.
Let me be full, let me be empty.
Let me have all things, let me have nothing.
I freely and heartily yield all things to Thy pleasure and to Thy disposal. Amen.

Live each day in the spirit of this prayer. Surrender each day to the hope found in Jesus Christ. In time, you’ll experience a dimension of life you could’ve never, ever imagined.