Basic Recap of Sunday’s Sermon: “Jesus = New Life" John 11:1-44

In the town of Bethany lived a family with whom Jesus was particularly close. One of the members of this family, Lazarus, gets a life threatening illness. And so the family sends a message to Jesus, knowing that if he can come see Lazarus he can heal him. Jesus however delays in coming. Why would Jesus do this? Jesus knew that his delay in dealing with Lazarus' illness would result in God's glory being displayed through Jesus, in a way that would change everyone's understanding about life and death.

When Jesus finally arrived in Bethany, Lazarus was already dead. Martha and Mary, his sisters, had been mourning him for four days. From their perspective, there was nothing else to be done, for death ultimately has the final word on all human beings. We all must pass through the valley of the shadow of death at some point. In many respects we make decisions in life with death operating as the subconscious influence on us. Consider for example how we pursue our various desires and dreams for our lives. We try very hard to shape and control our lives in order to achieve these things. And this is certainly pretty normal human behavior. The problem arises when we fail to fulfill those desires and dreams in the time or manner in which think we should. We end up becoming anxious, depressed, angry. Why? Well, if all of us must eventually die, and leave everything we have behind, then the whole point of life must be to control it and get as much out of it as quickly as we can. If we fail to do that, then our lives will seem like a total waste. We risk coming to the end of lives with a sense that we missed out on everything.

These desperate efforts to control lives that will eventually completely vanish into the grave led the writer of Ecclesiastes to say, "Vanity of vanities! All is vanity." He's not wrong to say that, if this life really is all that there is. But Jesus offers something different and better. What he offers is a way to be free from the power of death. What Jesus offers to give to all who believe in him is the one thing that can beat death – resurrection and life! (John 11:25-26). If you have this, then death is nothing to you. Your mortal life will end someday, yes, but the life you gain in Jesus Christ will never end.

Jesus knew this, and he went to Bethany to give Martha and Mary and the others gathered there early evidence that he would be able to give this kind of life to all who believe in him. Jesus went to the tomb of Lazarus and with a simple command orders Lazarus out from the tomb. And Lazarus comes out, alive. Jesus' actions here would set the stage for what he would later do – experience death himself by giving up his own life on the cross. In so doing Jesus was able to confront death face to face and bring the divine power of God down upon its neck, forever crushing it and providing the means by which now all who follow after Jesus might also crush death.

How does this new life that Jesus gives believers play out? I would suggest at least two ways:

1. Everything you do now has meaning. Every part of your life resonates with eternal significance.

Faith in Jesus means living a life that will never end. Death is just a door we go through, not a cage we fear will lock us away forever. This means then that the friendships we enjoy within Christian community will never end. They will only get deeper and richer, running all the way through eternity. The worship we offer up to the Lord will never end. It will get more passionate and vigorous until the day we join together into a multiethnic choir spanning across the centuries, dancing and singing together before the Lord forever. Most importantly, our relationship with God will never end. We gain an intimate connection with God when we believe in Jesus and what he accomplished at the cross. This connection with God will never end, it will only grow in increasing love and grace.

2. Everything you do now has hope. Every part of your life looks forward with eternal expectation.

All the things that degrade and deteriorate human life - things like illness, pain, fear, selfishness, envy, bitterness, and worst of all death - all such things can no longer do lasting damage. We now have the promise of forever life with God, which means that all of these things are just momentary afflictions, just minor speed bumps, that God will lead us through until all these things no longer exist. This gives us great hope and confidence as we live right now.

This is what life with Jesus is about. The key here of course is faith. To experience this life means believing that Jesus is truly the one and only Son of God who came into the world to save the world from the power of death.

Some parting questions: Do you have this faith in Jesus? If so, how can you live your life with more eternal significance and expectation? What choices and decisions should be influenced by the fact that Jesus has given you resurrection and life?