I AM. Part 4

Jesus couldn't attend a funeral.
Week 4 - Jesus called Himself the Resurrection and the Life.
I have something to share with you guys – if I can be serious with you for just a minute….. I have recently been diagnosed with a fatal disease called Senescence…. Actually, I've had this disease for all my life and just didn't know it. It is………………………. the advancing of age… and it's fatal! And sadly –worst of all is – even though I hate to be the one to break it to all of you…. you also have it. In fact all of us from the time we are born are on a crash course with death. Our cells from the time we are born until the day we die…continually break down; and if we don't die from senescence then we will die from something else… This fatal disease of death is still at 100%. There is no cure for it.

Death is not a fun topic though – is it?

It's a subject that we tend to avoid talking about; kind of like hiding our heads in the sand thinking that IF we don't think about it and talk about it – then it won't happen. We live our lives as though death is something that happens to other people and only when they've reached the ripe old age of ……..30?

(Maybe to all you young ones at least) However it doesn't take but a quick look at the obituary column of a paper to see that people die of ALL AGES die ; babies, kids, youth, adults and senior citizens – they all die. Death is kind of like the ultimate survivor…you can't outwit, outplay or outlast it. It will beat us every time.

There is a saying that goes…there are two things that you have to do in life…and that's to:

1. Die

2. Pay taxes.

People hate to talk about either; because both cost us something.

So, about this death thing…. What does Jesus have to say about it?

The fifth I am saying that Jesus spoke is:

John 11:25, I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies;

This is the story of Jesus and a man named Lazarus.

In JOHN 11 the bible gives an account of the situation. It is about the same two women that you may have heard about before… the same Martha and Mary who had Jesus over and Martha was upset because she was doing all the work while Mary sat at Jesus' feet. The bible also tells us in this scripture that this is also the same Mary who poured perfume on Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair. So, these sisters sent word to Jesus telling him… "Lord, the one you love is sick."

Jesus when He first hears this says, the really important thing to notice… "This sickness will not end in death; no it is for God's glory so that God's son may be glorified through it."

It goes on to say that Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. Yet when he heard this news he stayed where he was for two more days. Then after that time he told the disciples…let's go back to Judea; telling them that our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going there to wake him up.

The disciples replied to him, Lord if he sleeps he will get better. Jesus had been speaking of his death, but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep.

So, then and there He told them…"Lazarus is dead, and for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe, but let us go to him."

This is an amazing truthful statement… and most people tend to miss it…

That the resurrection power of Jesus is so strong; because He is God… that a person simply CANNOT die in His presence; this is proven not once but twice. There's this story of Lazarus and then there's this story also about the ruler's 12 year old daughter that died too.

In fact Jesus broke up every funeral that people were trying to have. When HE walked into one - the person came back to life and was resurrected… and it would instead turn into a celebration.

Death cannot exist where He is. When the dead heard Jesus' voice they all sprang to life. He is life and He is the resurrection, just like He said.

This is the same great hope that all of us need to recognize and grasp.

Like I said earlier… there is a reality to death. It is going to happen… but if you have faith and He truly lives inside of you - death does not exist… our bodies may die – but we will spring to life again. For a true believer in Christ the fear of death is diminished more and more as we grow in Him.

People who love this world CANNOT imagine not living in it; to them death is the end.

So they don't want to talk about it.

They avoid it in conversation…

How many people have you spoken to that when you talked about death have told you – "let's not talk about it?"

People even do drastic things to avoid death….

Right now, there are about 50 people who have been frozen in hopes of someday being brought back to life when there is technology to do so:

The cost of this process and then storage: $120,000

The price for freezing and storing just the head of the client: $41,000 –

Health, 1-2/93. "To Verify," Leadership.

All that and all that $$ and all they would have had to do is receive the free gift of Christ; who is the resurrection and the life!

The facts are staggering, 100% of everyone who is born will one day die! None of us are exempt….Even Jesus' best friends experienced sickness and death! Mary and Martha had sent word to Jesus about Lazarus being very sick and we can see that when Jesus heard that Lazarus was sick and in trouble, He purposefully stayed away insuring Lazarus' death!! And Mary and Martha even though they had faith in Jesus lost hope a bit…. Until Jesus reminded them again how IN CONTROL OF THINGS – HE WAS.

How many times in our lives have we wondered why God permitted such a terrible thing to happen? We have to understand:God's ways are not our ways and we cannot always judge the goodness of God by today's experiences and how we are feeling. Christ had a plan, that sickness and pain, and even death is not the final word on the subject for those who love Christ. And not even the disciples understood what Jesus was doing and saying here! They thought that Jesus was saying that Lazarus had "fallen asleep" as meaning the fever had broken and he was on the road to recovery! So, Jesus finally has to spell it out to them, saying… hello…."He's dead!" The purpose of letting Lazarus die was to show them and others during that time and even now as we read this chapter….that Christ has power over death. When Jesus finally arrives back in Judea - he finds exactly what He expected to have happened; Lazarus had been dead for 4 days! And He of course finds a grieving family and friends; everyone there having already accepted the fact of death, and also knowing that they were thinking about the fact that Jesus could have made all the difference if He had come sooner! And it's Martha who first approaches Jesus just before He actually arrives; meeting Him some ways from the tomb. She was if you remember again….the practical one in the family who was making the meal while her sister Mary was sitting at the feet of Jesus and she asks Jesus why he had not come earlier while there was still a chance to save her brother. And then Mary comes, and asks the very same question…."if you had been here our brother would not have died." It is interesting to note that BOTH the practical Martha and the devotional Mary were both thinking the exact same thing: We are more alike than different. In times of great anguish and pain…we can get our eyes off the solution and think only about the problem. And then we come across the shortest verse in the bible. John 11:35 Jesus wept. This statement shows us the deep sympathy that God feels for His people. And this points to the truth of who Jesus is: that He is the resurrection which shows that He is 100% God but in His weeping shows us His humanity…. that He is also 100% human. Death is not the victor, Christ is! Right after this Jesus asks those who are standing by to remove the stone barrier, and open up the tomb. And it's the practical Martha again that tells him how unpractical this move is…because her brother Lazarus had been dead for 4 days, and that his rotting body would smell badly; thinking again in terms of human limitation instead of Christ's power. Jesus reminds her and all those who were standing by that by faith anything can happen, and so they roll away the stone. And Jesus looks up and says…"Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I 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." And then He yells out in a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out!"….. And the bible says… not that Lazarus came out …. But that THE DEAD MAN CAME OUT, WITH HIS HANDS AND FEET WRAPPED WITH STRIPS OF LINEN AND A CLOTH AROUND HIS FACE. This of course was meant to raise the level of faith in the disciples for the coming weeks' events, because He was going willingly to die for each one of us very shortly. If Jesus can raise a man who had been dead 4 days, surely he can raise Himself after 3! In Revelation 1:18 He states it like this…. I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive forever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades. When Christ commanded Lazarus to come to life, there was no power in Hell that could have prevented it, because the RESURRECTION AND LIFE had spoken it! He holds the keys; and what He says… goes!