Broadway Christian Church ·Columbia, Missouri

Morning Worship ·March 13, 2005

The Fifth Sunday of Lent

Prayer of the Day

Lord Jesus, in the face of so many difficulties, you call us forth to new life.  In this hour of worship may we receive the courage and motivation we need to join in what you intend, to take our place in the great victory you offer, and to follow you forward into the future.  Amen.

Scripture
John 11:1-53 (Condensed)

A man by the name of Lazarus was sick…  He had two sisters, Mary and Martha… The sisters sent word to Jesus that his friend Lazarus was very, very sick.

When Jesus heard this, he told his disciples, “Lazarus’ sickness won’t end in death.  It will, however, bring glory to God and God’s Son.”

…So Jesus stayed where he was for two more days.  Then he said to his disciples, “Now we will go back to Judea.”

“Teacher,” they said, “the people there want to stone you to death!  Why would we want to go back there?”

…“Lazarus is dead,” he said.  “I am glad that I wasn’t there, because now you will have a chance to put your faith, your trust, in me.  So let’s go to him together.”

…When Jesus got to Bethany, he found Lazarus had been in the tomb for four days.

…When Martha heard that Jesus had arrived, she went out to meet him.  “Lord,” she said, “if only you had been here, my brother would not have died.  Yet I know that God will do anything that you ask.”

Jesus said, “Your brother will live again!”

“Oh, I know,” she replied, “he will be raised to life in the last day, when all the dead are raised.”

Jesus said, “I am the resurrection of the life.  Everyone who has faith in me, trusts in me, even though they die, will live.  And everyone who lives because of faith, trusts in me, will never die.  Do you believe this?”

“Yes, Lord!” she said.  “I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.  You are the one we hoped would come into this world.”

…At Lazarus’ grave, Jesus saw Mary and the people who had come to comfort her crying.  And Jesus, himself, was terribly upset and he began to weep…  Some of the people said, “See how much he loved his friends.”  But others said, “He gives sight to the blind.  Why couldn’t he keep Lazarus from dying?”

Jesus was still terribly upset.  He then approached the tomb, which had a stone rolled against its entrance.  And he told the people there to roll the stone back, and he said, “Didn’t I tell you that if you have faith, you will see the glory of God?”

…Then Jesus looked up to heaven and he prayed.  When he was finished, he shouted, “Lazarus, come out!”  The man who had been dead came out.  His hands and feet were wrapped with strips of burial cloth.  There was a cloth covering his face.

Jesus told the people, “Untie him and let him go.”

Many who were there saw the things that Jesus did, and they, that moment, put their faith, their trust, in him.  Others went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done.  They called the Council together and said, “What in the world are we going to do?  This man is working a lot of miracles.  If we don’t stop him now, everyone will put their faith, their trust, in him.  The Romans will come and destroy our temple and our nation.”

…And from that day on, the Council started making plans to put Jesus to death.

Message
 New Life Can Be a Pain in the Neck
Rick Frost

As always in John’s Gospel, there is so much going on in every story he tells.  Let me see if this might help us get into it as quickly as possible.

Some of you remember a few years ago I had a Dodge Caravan.  Anybody ever seen that?  A little white thing.  It was lovingly called “The Fishmobile.”  It was called that for a very important reason, actually two.  One, it is a perfect vehicle for overnight outings at Bennett Springs.  I could take those back seats out, and I could just lie down in the back and sleep at night.  It was fantastic.  Also, on several occasions I sometimes would get distracted about things.  I don’t know how that happens, but I leave a stringer or two of fish in it for a night or two.  It just has that feel, that smell of being “The Fishmobile.”  That’s how it got its name.

Long story… short.  The kid needed some cheap wheels.  So Jan and I magnanimously bequeathed her “The Fishmobile.”  Now turning over the keys was a grieving process.  I hope you understand that.  Watching her drive it out of the driveway with sounds cracking my speakers was hard to take.  It was very hard to take, but I had to let it go.  I just had to do it.

Of course, you can imagine what happened next.  For the first time since 1976, I was in the market for a new car – for me.  Just for me.  How many of you have been in the market just for you?  You’re not old enough yet, are you?  OK.  I talked to friends, and I searched the “Net,” and I set a budget, and I did my homework.  But the day it clicked was the day that Joe walked me out onto the lot, and showed me “the demonstrator.”  A sleek, silver, WRX Impreza.  Black interior, five-on-the-floor.  He handed me the keys and said, “Take it for a spin.”  It ran like a dream.  It was a sign, folks.  It was a sign.  It was a sign of future things to come.

Hang on to that thought for just a minute.

Today’s text, the scholars say, is a sign story.  It’s a sign.  It’s a demonstration story.  It’s a story that lets us know something is ahead.  It’s a story that lets us know about something that is waiting for us, something that is available to us if we are willing to take it.  Did you know that?

On the surface it seems like a story about the death and rising of one of Jesus’ friends.  His name is Lazarus.  But beneath the surface of this incredible story there is a much deeper subject on the table, and that is the death and the resurrection of Jesus.  Jesus is going to do something for Lazarus, and his friends, and his family, and he’s going to do it for a very, very interesting reason.  Most of us miss it the first time around.  Jesus is going to give Lazarus new life right there in front of God and all of these people for one primary purpose.  Do you know what that is?  He wants to demonstrate something.  He wants to create faith and trust in these people in very big things.  He wants to create faith and trust in God, faith and trust in himself as Christ.  He wants to create faith and trust in our living and our dying.  He wants to create faith and trust in today and in tomorrow.  And as such, this is a story, not so much about a family crisis there in Bethany, as it is about the crisis that goes on in your world and mine.  It is a world, as we know, caught up in a web of sin and death.  It’s about giving new life to the world.  This is a big, big story.

This is not just a story about the rising and resuscitation of Lazarus.  It’s a sign.  It’s a demonstration.  People, you know, traveling down the road of life – you, me, everybody – we all know that apart from our trust in God, the world is a cemetery.  The cemetery is where it all ends for most of the world.  But the sign along the road – a sign that is there for your world, and my world, and everybody’s world, who is willing to see it – is that God sent God’s own Son to this place with an offer.  Do you know what the offer is?  The offer is this: “I am the resurrection and the life.  Everyone who has faith, who trusts in me, will live even though they die.  And everyone who lives because of their faith, their trust in me, will never die.”  Do you believe that?  That is the offer.

Nobody has to take it.  It’s not going to be forced on you, or me, or anybody else.  You and I, or anybody else, can just go right on down that road of life and do whatever we darn well please.  We don’t have to see the sign.  I can’t begin to tell you how many people I have known, members of my own family, who have not taken this offer.  At least not yet. 

Folks, today’s story in the Bible is big.  It is huge.  It is important.  It is a sign story.  Jesus, in order to create faith and trust in front of all of these people, walks up to a tomb of a dead person and cries out, “Lazarus, come out!”  And according to John, he does.  And Jesus tells the people, which I think is interesting, “Unbind him.  Let him go.” 

We all know about Lazarus.  Don’t we?  There is a little bit of Lazarus in every single one of us.  I hear it all the time.  “Hey, you only go around once.”  “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks.”  “We don’t need any of that here.  Do we?”  “Let’s just leave well enough alone.  Shouldn’t we?”  “People don’t change.  Do they?”  “I didn’t have any other choice.  I had to do what I did.”  Hooked, addicted, invested, bound, hung-up, tied-up.

 A friend who has spent most of his adult life in A.A. was talking to me the other day.  Now everybody in this room knows it is common knowledge that A.A. is the most effective way to deal with alcohol addiction.  Still, even with that wonderful resource available, they tell me there is a huge, high percentage of people who simply are not able to conquer that disease.  It is a tough, tough thing to beat.  “We teach people,” he said, “that they have one problem, and one problem only.  And that problem is alcohol.  It is not their marriage.  It’s not their past.  It’s not their job.  It’s not what their parents did or didn’t do.  Their problem is they cannot stop drinking.  Of course,” he said, “sometimes they get sober.  Sometimes they break free.  Sometimes they take the cure.  And then you find out that, oh-my-goodness, there’s another problem.  Do you know what the second problem is?  The second problem is: What am I going to do now that I’m free with this new life I’ve been given?  And that, for some people, just scares the dickens out of them.”

It’s amazing.  You see, when you are drinking, you don’t have to worry or think about your life.  The bottle thinks for you.  It tells you what to do.  But if you get free, if you get back your life, all of a sudden you see the ball is in your court.  You really find out you have to make some big decisions about the new life you have been given.

Another friend, very successful in business, said, “You know, my biggest challenge in my business is to get people to want to be successful.”  Have you ever heard that?  Can you imagine people in the business world trying to get people to be successful?

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Well, new customers,” she said, “require more work.  It is so much easier just to keep things as they are.  Hunker down with the folks you have.  Keep the old customers happy rather than trying to figure out and meet the needs of those people who are new.  You would be surprised,” she said, “how many businesses in this country develop a prejudice against new customers.  Success in business can be a pain in the neck.”

And I thought, you know, we know about that right here at Broadway Christian Church.  Like with Lazarus, Jesus gives people like you and me and others new life, frees us, unties us, unbinds us.  Good things and new things start to happen in people’s lives.  Very soon they start sharing it with others, some of the things they have found, some of the things they’ve been given.  People start coming.  They taste.  They receive.  They start to grow.  You can just imagine.  Just look around you. You can see the picture.  People encounter the Spirit of the Living God, and all of sudden their lives start to get better.  They change.  They are transformed.  You know what those people do?  They become church members.  And new members require more ministry.  And more ministry that is really making a difference occurs, and more people start to multiply.  That is what we are supposed to be about.  Isn’t it?  But that requires new staff, and more space.  This new life thing can really be a pain in the neck.

Many who were there saw the things that Jesus did.  They put their faith and their trust in him.  Others got together and said, “What in the world are we going to do?  This man is working lots of miracles.  If we don’t stop him now, everyone will put their faith, their trust, in him.”  And from that day on they started making plans to put Jesus to death.

Isn’t that strange?  The one who offers new life is the one some folks want to get rid of. 

Lazarus left the tomb.  Of course, you know, the price for that to take place was that Jesus had to enter the tomb.  Jesus, himself, said, “Unless a kernel of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed.  The person who loves his or her life will lose it, but the person who offers his or her life will keep it for eternity.  Whoever serves me must follow me,” says Jesus.  “And where I am, my servant, my disciple, will also be.  And my Father will also honor the one who serves me.”

Have you heard about Dorothy Stang?  If you’ve been reading the news, or been on the “Net” at all, you’ve heard of Dorothy.  Dorothy was a 73-year-old Christian from Dayton, Ohio.  She was called to be a follower of Christ, a disciple as a Roman Catholic nun.  She spent the last 23 years in Brazil working to protect peasants and the rain forest there from loggers and ranchers who were vying for that area’s very, very rich natural resources.  All she wanted was a little stretch of the forest declared to be part of a sustainable development project for the poor.  The local ranchers, however, wanted that area to be developed and logged.  This past Tuesday one of those ranchers was charged with Dorothy Stang’s murder.  Her body was found several weeks ago in a muddy stretch of road deep in the rain forest.  “Glory to God.”  “Glory, glory to God.”  Can you say that with me?  “Glory to God.  Glory to God!” 

“Where I am, my servant, my disciple, will also be.  And my Father will honor the one who serves me…  And what shall I say?  Father, save me from this hour?  No!  It was for this very reason that I came to this hour.  Father, glorify your name.  Glorify your name.”

I don’t care what system you are in, or where you are.  New life, folks, always, always threatens the old order.  It happens everywhere.  My question for you today is: Are you a person who embraces new life, or are you a person who essentially resists it?

For 32 days now, we’ve been on a journey towards Easter.  As you know, there is no way to get to Easter without going to Golgotha first.  Some people who started out with us have already turned back.  Maybe some day they’ll catch up with us.  For the rest of us, may we pray for the help, for the strength, for the vision, for the desire, and most of all for the commitment to do whatever it takes to keep the dream alive – that dream of one whole world someday sitting and breaking bread at the Lord’s Table with Christ Jesus.

And we all say together… “Amen.”

Benediction

Reviving Lord, you offer us a hiding place and a safe refuge.  Heal us and give us courage to step out of those safe places, to spring into new life with all the powers of your resurrecting possibilities.  Amen.