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The Ideal Family ( Martha, Mary and Lazarus) Trinity Bible Church 3/26/06
Introduction: John 11:1-46 Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 2 And it was the Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped His feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick. 3 The sisters therefore sent to Him, saying, "Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick." 4 But when Jesus heard it, He said, "This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified by it." 5 Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus. 6 When therefore He heard that he was sick, He stayed then two days longer in the place where He was. 7 Then after this He said to the disciples, "Let us go to Judea again." 8 The disciples said to Him, "Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking to stone You, and are You going there again?" 9 Jesus answered, "Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. 10 "But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him." 11 This He said, and after that He said to them, "Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I go, that I may awaken him out of sleep." 12 The disciples therefore said to Him, "Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover." 13 Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that He was speaking of literal sleep. 14 Then Jesus therefore said to them plainly, "Lazarus is dead, 15 and I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, so that you may believe; but let us go to him. " 16 Thomas therefore, who is called Didymus, said to his fellow disciples, "Let us also go, that we may die with Him."
17 So when Jesus came, He found that he had already been in the tomb four days. 18 Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles off; 19 and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary, to console them concerning their brother. 20 Martha therefore, when she heard that Jesus was coming, went to meet Him; but Mary still sat in the house. 21 Martha therefore said to Jesus, "Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 "Even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You." 23 Jesus said to her, "Your brother shall rise again." 24 Martha said to Him, "I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day." 25 Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me shall live even if he dies, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this? " 27 She said to Him, "Yes, Lord; I have believed that You are the Christ, the Son of God, even He who comes into the world." 28 And when she had said this, she went away, and called Mary her sister, saying secretly, "The Teacher is here, and is calling for you." 29 And when she heard it, she arose quickly, and was coming to Him.
30 Now Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was still in the place where Martha met Him. 31 The Jews then who were with her in the house, and consoling her, when they saw that Mary rose up quickly and went out, followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb to weep there. 32 Therefore, when Mary came where Jesus was, she saw Him, and fell at His feet, saying to Him, "Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died." 33 When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her, also weeping, He was deeply moved in spirit, and was troubled, 34 and said, "Where have you laid him?" They said to Him, "Lord, come and see." 35 Jesus wept. 36 And so the Jews were saying, "Behold how He loved him!" 37 But some of them said, "Could not this man, who opened the eyes of him who was blind, have kept this man also from dying?"
38 Jesus therefore again being deeply moved within, came to the tomb. Now it was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. 39 Jesus said, "Remove the stone." Martha, the sister of the deceased, said to Him, "Lord, by this time there will be a stench, for he has been dead four days." 40 Jesus said to her, "Did I not say to you, if you believe, you will see the glory of God?" 41 And so they removed the stone. And Jesus raised His eyes, and said, "Father, I thank Thee that Thou heardest Me. 42 "And I knew that Thou hearest Me always; but because of the people standing around I said it, that they may believe that Thou didst send Me." 43 And when He had said these things, He cried out with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come forth." 44 He who had died came forth, bound hand and foot with wrappings; and his face was wrapped around with a cloth. Jesus said to them, "Unbind him, and let him go."
45 Many therefore of the Jews, who had come to Mary and beheld what He had done, believed in Him. NASB
Do you know someone that has been adopted? Did you ever wish you could have been adopted into a different family? Why would anyone want that? Other kids received a new car for graduation; you got a pair of suitcases. Other kids go to exotic places for vacation; your family goes to Iowa to see a new Cabela’s store grand opening.
* There were five children in our household and until I was in the 3rd grade, we were living in a two bedroom (if you could call it that, the boys room was a set of bunks in the hallway) trailer house. When I was a boy, my uncle and aunt were my god-parents and they lived in North Branch. Sometimes we would go to my uncle’s place and ride horses down to the Sunrise River and back. I am ashamed to admit it now, but I wished for some way to be in, what looked to me, the ideal family. I know now, God put me right where He had my best in mind, but then, the “good life” was living off Highway 95 and it seemed like heaven on earth.
Maybe we can’t change the home life we’ve been given by God, but we can sure make it better by inviting Jesus to be our honored guest each day! Martha, Mary and Lazarus had the privilege of His continual visits; let’s look at what they were like because of Christ.
I. Martha
A. Relational Vs 5 Now Jesus loved Martha
She was able to run out to meet Him, because of her confidence in His love for her and in her love for Him.
If someone has a need arise, a need like a sickness, finances, etc…, why on earth won’t they go to God to meet the need? Could it be they feel He won’t answer their prayer for to them seem like obvious reasons, “He is mad at me”; or “I did this or that wrong and He is judging me”.
Martha threw all that talk to the wind and ran out to meet her Lord whom she loved.
B. Responsible (See Luke 10:38-42) If you want to scold someone working in a church function, just say Martha’s name twice and they will cringe under the shame of that double indictment. But if you think about it, we need the “Martha’s” in the church. We need workers that are responsible to get things done, caring that physical needs are met! If you wrestle with being a “Martha”, one thing you need to hear from this pastor, if your heart is right with God, your being a servant, a responsible one, is a good thing!
C. Revelational Vs 23-27 23 Jesus said to her, "Your brother shall rise again." 24 Martha said to Him, "I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day." 25 Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me shall live even if he dies, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this? " 27 She said to Him, "Yes, Lord; I have believed that You are the Christ, the Son of God, even He who comes into the world."
She wasn’t just a face in the crowd; she wasn’t just good for housework and leave the spiritual to others, she was right in the thick of it with an understanding of Christ’s message too! Look what she understood, this was more that even His closest disciples had a grasp of. 1. The resurrection of all people 2. Jesus was the Christ 3. He was the Son of God 4. And the Messiah, promised to come
I want to be like Martha, not because I think she was perfect, but because she understood the Person and work of Jesus Christ and openly confessed it!
II. Mary
A. Worshipful Vs. 2, 32; Luke 10:38-39 As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. 39 She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet listening to what he said NIV
In most situation where Jesus is teaching, where do we find Mary, the sister of Martha? At His feet, listening, receiving, worshipping. For some, being on your knees is humiliating. What if someone would come into my room and see me? Why is that? Could it be that it is such a vulnerable position? Could it be, that it speaks of dependence on another to protect you?
Christ, whose adoration is commanded in scripture, is honored by Mary and will never let her be humiliated without some defense from Him.
B. Humble Vs. 28-31 She was able to wait until called, how could she do it? She was humble. Maybe she thought, “Jesus hasn’t come to see me, but to mourn the death of Lazarus, I will wait till I am called before coming to Him.”
Not so in haste, my heart; have faith in God and wait; Although He linger long, He never comes too late. He never comes too late; He knoweth what is best; Vex not thyself in vain; Until He cometh, rest. Until He cometh rest; Nor grudge the hours that roll; The feet that wait for God – are soonest at the goal. Knights, p. 458
C. Emotional Vs. 32-33 Consider the events; 1. Lazarus was near death and the girls sent the message to Jesus. 2. The messenger returns with comforting words. Vs 5 "This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified by it." 3. But he does die and they are confused for two reasons. a. If He had come, He would have healed Lazarus. b. It seemed that He prophesied that Lazarus wouldn’t die, but he did! 4. Way after the funeral and the burial, their good friend, Jesus shows up – way too late to do any good. All hope of him recovering is lost, Vs. 39 Martha, the sister of the deceased, said to Him, "Lord, by this time there will be a stench, for he has been dead four days."
We’ve seen Mary’s ability to wait, but she is full of grief, confusion, actually bubbling with emotions! She was emotional w/o giving into emotionalism. She wasn’t an exhibitionist with her emotions.
What about your worship? If there’s one gripe I’ve heard, it’s that God doesn’t want emotionalism in the church. The folks who talk this way, usually have a sincere desire to honor God in a worship service. They are serious about reverence and awe before God. But they usually mark any hand clapping, shouting, singing loudly, drums, dancing…as purely emotionalism without realizing they are Biblical methods God approves of for worship of Him. Are emotions involved? I hope so! Have there been excesses? If you are asking, have some been ridged and unemotional to excess and others have been expressive to excess? Yes, there have been excesses both directions.
God wants us to be solid in our understanding of the Gospel and devoted to a sincere faith in Jesus Christ. He also wants us to experience His presence and power in real and meaningful ways on a daily basis. That may requires some emotions, but it is not emotionalism!
III. Lazarus
A. Object of love. Vs 5, 36 The Jewish mindset was like a lot of people today; “If sick, must be God is judging”. Remember John 9:2-3? And His disciples asked Him, saying, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" 3 Jesus answered, "Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him. NKJV
Here Lazarus was sick, then he died, it looked like God was mad at Him, but the scriptures tell us that Jesus loved him.
What about your situation? You may be in financial trouble, or have some serious physical malady, or in a stressed out relationship. What would be natural is to feel God is mad at you, and He may be and you may be being judged. In a minute we will be taking communion together and you can bring your sin to the cross for forgiveness. But maybe, just maybe, you may not be a subject of His righteous anger, but of His compassionate love, like Lazarus, and soon, you will see that love manifested in your prayers being answered.
B. Object of scorn. John 12:9-11 Now a great many of the Jews knew that He was there; and they came, not for Jesus' sake only, but that they might also see Lazarus, whom He had raised from the dead. 10 But the chief priests plotted to put Lazarus to death also, 11 because on account of him many of the Jews went away and believed in Jesus. NKJV
There will be more on this when we come to Chapter 12, but pay attention to this fact, just because you get your prayers answered, just because you’re smiling, doesn’t mean the “whole world smiles at you”.
C. Object of glory. Vs. 4, 38-44 Some could ask you, “How is God best glorified in you?” You may answer quite confidently: 1. Through signs and wonders, God power revealed and He is glorified. 2. Or you may say; Through faith, faith against all odds, troubles, difficulties, seing prayers answered glorifies God. 3. Others may add; Through good works - we need to preach, teach, give relief to the suffering, aid to the helpless, this is the mission of Christ and this glorifies God!
Do you know what I say? I say none of the above and all of the above! How’s that for ambivalence?
Look with me at Vs 15, 40, 42. If all our spiritual activities and good works are not done out of a right motive and relationship to the person and work of Christ, they cannot glorify God!
This is the reason for the sign of raising Lazarus from the dead, to bring the truths of Christ to bear upon His own so they would believe in Him.
Conclusion: I want to be like Martha, she is a wonderful person of character. I want to be like Mary, she is a trophy of the grace of God. But Lazarus, now there’s the best, not for what he did, but for how God could use him to glorify Himself.
There may be reasons you have to want to be in a different family than the one you were born into or are in right now. Maybe you wish you could be in the family of Martha, Mary and Lazarus?
I have good news for you - you can be! Jesus loved them and He loves you. You can join them in being part of His family!
If you understand this, if you hear God speaking to your heart now, look to Jesus and be saved…
(For further study)
John 11:25-27 Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me shall live even if he dies, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this? " NASB
Subject and predicate are again interchangeable. Jesus is the resurrection and the life; the resurrection and the life, that is Jesus. Both the resurrection and the life are rooted in him (Rom. 6:8, 9: 1 Cor. 15:20, 57; Col. 1:18; 1 Thess. 4:16)…
Jesus is the resurrection and the life in person, (John 1:3,4), the full, blessed life of God, all His glorious attributes: omniscience, wisdom, omnipotence, love, holiness, etc. As such He is also the cause, source, or fountain of the believers’ glorious resurrection and of their everlasting life. Because He lives we too shall live. With Him removed, nothing but death is left. With Him present, resurrection and life is assured. The Prince of Life is ever the conqueror of death. Not only is He this by and by in the resurrection on the last day; He is this always. Hendriksen
God moves in a mysterious way, His wonders to perform; He plants His footsteps in the sea, and rides upon the storm.
Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take; The clouds ye so much dread, Are big with mercy, and shall break, In blessing on your head.
His purposes will ripen fast, Unfolding every hour: The bud may have a bitter taste, But sweet will be the flower.
44 He who had died came forth, bound hand and foot with wrappings; and his face was wrapped around with a cloth. Jesus said to them, "Unbind him, and let him go."
I was wondering about this; think about it a minute w/me. If he were buried alive, wouldn’t he have been unwrapped and scratching around the opening and screaming and looking for help? How do we know he wasn’t? Because he was still all wrapped up in the strips of cloth! |