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Well, good morning, North Gates. How are we? You guys get there already nervous back there because I don't have a table. And I warned them that if I don't have a table, I don't promise not to leave the stage entirely so online. I apologize already if I just disappeared because there's no table to put me down here, guys. I'm so excited to be with you. My name is Kayla. I'm one of the pastors here at North gate, where we envisioned transforming our homes, communities, and world by pursuing God, building community and unleashing compassion. I am so glad that you chose to come and worship with us today. And hopefully we together can learn from God's word today. Like Vanessa said, we are in the middle right in the middle of our series called journey with stones where we're taking a journey. Since it says that we're taking a journey through Jesus' life, using these stories about stones all throughout, kind of like as mile markers for us. And today we're going to be in the book of John. John is actually in the second half of the Bible. We call that the new Testament. It's one of the first four books of the new Testament. The fourth, actually in those first four books are called the gospels, which means good news. They are four books from four different perspectives, all about Jesus' life, his birth, his, his ministry, his death, and his resurrection. And so we're kind of getting to move all throughout the gospels during this series to talk about these stories of stones. And today I get to tell you one of my favorites, which I think I say every time. So I apologize. I'm not lying. It's just that every time I read one, I'm like, man, no , this one's my favorite. So this week, this one is my favorite. And I'm really excited to share that with you today. We're going to be in John chapter 11. You will be here on the screen. We're going to start in verse one now, sorry. At this point, Jesus, in his ministry, he's been in the public for a while . In fact, he's been in the public long enough that the Pharisees are already kind of ticked. Like they don't like them . They're always trying to trap him. They've got their eye on him. And so that will play into our story today, starting in verse one, John chapter 11, verse one. Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister, Martha, this Mary whose brother Lazarus. Now lay sick was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair. So the sisters sent word to Jesus, Lord, the one you love is sick. Now see that parentheses is actually John's. That's not mine. He's reminding us that this Mary, the Mary in this story, sister of Martha, big sister of Lazarus is the same Mary that they tell the story of when she came to Jesus and in worship poured perfume on his feet and wiped his feet with her tears and her hair. It was an amazing act of worship. And in fact, in that story, it says, Jesus says, we will tell the story of you. So John's keeping Jesus' word right here and saying, this is the lady. This was the one we were talking about. Now Jesus had really close friends outside of the disciples. Sometimes when I read the new Testament and read the story of Jesus and his 12 apostles, I think of it as like Jesus and his 12 buddies. And that's it. And then there was the crowd, but just like all of our lives, we have more friends than the ones that people would point out for us. Jesus has really dear, dear friends and this family, Mary, Martha, and Lazarus is one of those families. In fact, you can see it whenever John says, the one you love is sick. That's how they referred to their brother. Now, cool note on that, John, the author of this book actually refers to himself as the one Jesus loves. And so he's sharing that title with Lazarus today. They have a long history, Jesus, and this family, and after Jesus gets this message,

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You hear Jesus bold response.

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Now it's bold because he's saying it in front of the messenger and in front of his disciples, verse four, when he heard this, Jesus said, this sickness will not end in death. And then he quickly adds no , it is for God's glory. So that God's son may be glorified through it. Now this is really important because Jesus, from the very beginning is setting himself up to show off. Like he is setting himself up to say, listen, this isn't about what you think it's about. God's going to show off his glory and power. And so you just wait. So from the very first thing Jesus says about his friend Lazarus already, knowing what he's going to do. He says God's glory is going to be shown to you. I'm going to be glorified through it. Verse five. Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was for two more days. And then he said to his disciples, let us go back to Judea. Now, I don't know if you caught that or not, but this one doesn't make a ton of sense to me. It says Jesus loved them. So he stayed for two more days. This is usually how those stories go. Like if someone I love is sick, my first response is to run, right? Like you just get there. How many of you guys have friends like that? There are friends that you don't even have to tell your partner, your kids, that you got to go. If you got a phone call from them, you'd just be gone. But you just go to them. Every piece of evidence suggests that Jesus is like that with Lazarus, but here it says Jesus loved them. So he stayed where he was for two more days.

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And then you see

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His disciples response. They say,

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But rabbi

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Short while ago, the Jews there tried to stone. You and yet you're going back. Now. I like to give the disciples voices when I talk about them in the Bible, because you know, this is like a real story that really happened. And so often we read the Bible in like a monotone voice, but rabbi, they said a short while ago, the Jews there tried to stone. You and yet you are going back. No, no, no. I'm pretty sure. And it doesn't say it here, but I'm pretty sure it says, but rabbi a short while ago, the Jews there

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Tried to stone. You, why are you going back? That's how I think they said it.

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Not a great idea. They're like, listen, boss, maybe we avoid that area for now. But Jesus answered. Are there not 12 hours of daylight? Anyone who walks in the daytime will not stumble for they see by this world flight it's when a person walks at night that they stumble for. They have no

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Light.

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Jesus speaks in a little bit of a riddle there, which I think is a perfect response to such a sassy attitude, right? Jesus saying things happen when they need to happen. When it's supposed to be light outside, it's light outside. When it's supposed to be dark outside, it'll be dark outside. And just a couple chapters back. He refers to this same idea. Jesus says, as long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me night

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Coming when no one can work while I am in the world, I am the light of the day

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World. So he's already told them, listen, guys, I kind of know what's happening. I feel pretty good about it. We can go where I need to go. I'm the light of the world. Let's, let's walk in that light. He still has more

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Daylight left. Jesus

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Has his eye on what God is asking him to do. And in obedience, he'll walk wherever he's supposed to go. So he has no fear of what will come because he knows his time hasn't come yet. Can you imagine living with that kind of purpose with that kind of confidence, keeping our eyes on what God is asking us to do, knowing for sure that we are a son or daughter of the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, the creator of the universe. When we really internalize that kind of truth, we just walk a little different. We can walk more confidently knowing that we are walking in step with God. Let's go back to our passage here. Verse 11. It says, after Jesus had said this, he went on to tell them our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I'm going there to wake him up.

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Okay? Catch this falling off

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Sleep is, was often used in scripture to talk about people that had died had had physical death. So what we're saying here is that Jesus knew already at this point, Lazarus had died. He hadn't been given that message yet,

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But he knew,

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He knew that Lazarus had already died. His disciples replied Lord. If he sleeps, he's going to get better. See that sassy attitude again. I know you can just read it in there. Jesus had been speaking of his death, but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep. I love that. So John was one of the apostles that was there and it's like, he's not sure if you get it either. So he's like

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He wasn't talking about natural sleep. Super fun .

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I like getting this, like behind the scenes. Look, Seibles totally didn't get it. So then he told them, plainly Lazarus is dead. And for your sake, I'm glad I was not there so that you may believe, but let us go to him. He finally gives up on them, getting it all together and he just tells them the plan. Lazarus is dead. We're going okay. And then he does this like silver lining attempt here where he says, but it's good for you. It's good for you that we weren't there because something's going to happen. That you may believe he's reminding them once again, reminding them before they knew God is going to show off his power

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Here. So get ready

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Laying the foundation. So there is no question about why he is doing what he is about to do. Jesus wasn't cold. He just had his eyes on a bigger picture. Verse 16. Then Thomas also known, as Didymus said to the rest of the disciples, let it, okay. Here's the voice for this guy. You're ready. Let us also go. So we may die with him. You know the guy, right? Except that Thomas, interestingly enough is the guy we'll find out later is doubting Thomas. After Jesus has died, has been risen from the dead and , and shows himself to the disciples. They tell this guy, khaki pants right here. They tell him, we saw Jesus he's risen. And Thomas is like, nah , I'll believe it. When I see it. In fact, I don't just need to see it. I need to put my hand in his,

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I need to feel the hole in his hands.

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This guy has a bit of an attitude, but I do applaud for like zealous team player. All right . Verse 17 on his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had been in the tomb for four days. Now. Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem. And many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them. And the loss of their brother. A couple of really important things in this passage. First, the four days thing. Now four days to us, like one day dead would be a really big deal. If somebody raised somebody from the dead, right? Like one day dead is big. But after three days, Jewish culture really considered them dead. Dead.

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I'm

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Really not sure what the difference is . We're just like, it's dead. But the Jews were like, well, there's dead. And then there's dead dead. And that was three

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Days , three days later. Okay. I know it's silly, but you need to know that. Okay.

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And then we see that Bethany was two miles from Jerusalem. Now they're giving us a geography lesson because they wanted us to understand just how many people were probably there with Mary and Martha, because in Jewish culture, it was a whole community that came around to mourn with a family. It wasn't just their close family and friends. It wasn't just their acquaintances. When someone lost their life, the whole community came and mourned. And so being just two miles away from Jerusalem meant that there was a lot of Jews that likely came to Bethany to be with Mary and Martha

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Verse 20. When Martha

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Heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him. But Mary stayed at home. Lord Martha said to Jesus, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. Now we'll see her sister say the same thing in just a minute. But Martha actually goes on and says, but I know that even now, God will give you whatever you ask. And Jesus said to her, your brother will rise again. And Martha answered. I know he'll rise again in the resurrection at the last day, Jesus is telling her Lazarus about to walk out that tomb. And she's like, I know that he'll resurrect on the last day. Like she's being the good Sunday school. I believe in you. This was a , this was a statement of real faith and a statement that a lot of the people around her probably would not have agreed with. But she in faith says, I know that you will resurrect him on the last day. I know that that's what's going to happen, but we hear Jesus gentle response. As he starts to shift her focus a little bit. Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me

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Live, even though they die. And whoever

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Lives by believing in me

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Will never die. Do you believe this?

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Even in this moment, Jesus has his mind on the kingdom of heaven, but he's reframing, everyone's view of the kingdom of heaven. And I think some of us in this room, I know I did need to have a reframe of it as well. When I think of the kingdom of heaven, I think about one day when I get to escape this place and go and see the pearly Gates, the golden streets, the crystal sea. Yeah. And maybe like little babies running around with just diapers on and wings and stuff. Okay. We all know that's not real. Right? I hope so. Now I've always said that the very best thing about heaven is that Jesus is there. That we are 100% in his presence and that's true, but we need to shift our vision even more. What Jesus is saying here

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As a , you don't have to wait. You don't have to wait for heaven. You don't have to

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For this resurrection one day. At the end of time, I am the resurrection and the life Jesus is saying, I am. It's one of those, one of those beautiful. I am statements. Just like we heard him say, I am the light of the world. We heard him say, I am the living water. And right here, we see, hear him saying, I am the resurrection and the life. She doesn't have to trust in some far off vague one day kind of resurrection. She can trust in the person of Jesus, someone that she knows and trusts and loves and who is

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Right there.

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And that's a lesson for each one of us as well, resurrection and life. And Jesus. Those things can not be separated. There is no resurrection of anybody

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Without Jesus. It's just not there. And then I love how he puts it back in her court. Do you believe this? Do you believe it? And she responds. Yes, Lord.

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I believe that you are the Messiah. The son of God, who is to come into the world. Now, I don't know if you remember pastor Ken sermon a couple of weeks ago where he talked about Peter's good confession. The one we always quote where he says, I believe that you are the Christ, the Messiah. Well, just so you know a lady

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That at first Martha said at first, I know it's good. Right?

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I remember that part. You don't remember anything else, but you're gonna remember that. I believe that you are the Messiah, the Messiah, that is a big word. Then it's one we use in church, especially around Easter, but she is saying it back to Jesus. She's like, no , no, no, no, no, no. I know who you are. You are the Messiah. You are the one who has come to save. She uses the title Lord there at the beginning. Yes, Lord Lord is a title of boss, right? Lord is who's in charge. So she's acknowledging you are in charge and you are the one that we have been waiting for. I believe in you, you are in control. And then she goes and gets her sister verse 28. After she had said this, she went back and called her sister, Mary

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Aside , the teacher is here. She said, and he's asking for you,

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No one Mary heard this. So she got up quickly and went to him. Now Jesus had not yet entered the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. And when the Jews who had been with Mary in the house, comforting her notice how quickly she got up and went out. They followed her supposing. She was going to the tomb to mourn there . Now, again, this is one of those ancient Jewish mourning traditions. All of those people would be at the tomb as the immediate family placed the body in the tomb. And they would say words, they would sing songs. They would weep loudly all alongside the family. And then once that stone was rolled away, once the funeral was over and the stone was rolled to seal the tomb, the family would go back to the home and the crowd would go with them and they would stay there for days. For days, this whole community would stay in this home to be with the family. In fact, they would stay so close to home that anytime one of the family members got up to leave, they just assumed, Oh, they must be going back. They must be back to the grave site. They must go back to mourn. So we need to go with them so we can mourn with them. That's our whole job. It's our whole job as the community is to go back and mourn with them. And so they didn't go cause they were nosy. They went because they thought they were doing their job. And that's why there was a crowd. When Mary talked to Jesus, verse 32, when Mary reached the place where Jay , sorry. When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him,

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You fell at his feet, she's at his feet again.

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Remember this is the same Mary who fell at his feet in worship and poured expensive perfume on him and cried on his feet and washed them with her hair. And here she,

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He is again at his feet, likely crying. She fell at his

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Speed . And we see, we see this posture that I think is so important because it's the same posture in worship as it is in lament. When she is at her most sorrowful, her darkest day, ever

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Likely she falls at Jesus' feet and worship that teaches us something about how we can lament about

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What we can do with our sadness

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Around Jesus

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And her posture. And both occasions, both in sorrow and worse

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Is F is appropriate. She said, when she fell at

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His feet, Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.

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Now

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We can't read tone of voice. I told you that. And there's really no indication of how she said it. She could have said it in sadness. She could have said it and frustration or anger. I mean, can you hear it? She would. If she knew, if she knew that if Jesus had been there, then her brother wouldn't have died. Don't you think there would be some frustration there mixed with sadness, mixed with confusion, mixed with I'm so glad you're here right now, whatever voice she used. It certainly included desperation, but friends. This is a takeaway for us, whether it's sadness, frustration, disappointment ,

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Mint , anger. We go straight to Jesus' feet.

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That's what we do in our darkest day. We go straight to Jesus' feet. But listen to what she says. She said, if you had been here, do you hear the faith in that? If you had been here, Jesus, my brother wouldn't have died. I'm not sure that all the Jews standing around her could say such a thing. If you had been here, Jesus, I know that you would have stopped this from happening.

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Maybe

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You've been in a similar place. Maybe, maybe you've asked a similar thing. Maybe you've said out loud, Jesus, if you had been here for you to shown up, my family member wouldn't have died. Jesus. If you would have shown up, I wouldn't have lost my job. Jesus. If you had been here, I would be pregnant by now. Jesus. If you had been here and maybe you have been made to feel guilty, or maybe there's a nagging shame in there. And I want you to know, you can lay that down because this frustration and this anger, this deep sorrow and sadness with Jesus, because if you had just been here is such a statement of faith and it was acceptable to Jesus here from Mary and Martha. And it is acceptable to God's ears from,

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From us. It is, it is a statement of worship. It is a statement full of faith.

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You are saying, I believe you can do something. I believe there is power in you. And here we see Jesus' response. Verse 33, when Jesus saw her weeping and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping. He was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. And he said, where have you laid him?

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Come and see Lord. They replied Jesus wept

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More than the verse that every kid hopes that they get assigned in Sunday school. Cause that's the smallest one ever more than that. That's a profound statement. Jesus wept. When he saw his friend weeping, when he saw the community around her weeping, alongside her, it moved him so deeply that Jesus wept. And then he asked the question. He already knew the answer to where have you laid him? Where have you laid him? Friends? When you lament, when you come to Jesus in your sorrow, he is present. He is present with you and he's inviting us. He's inviting us to say Jesus, come and see, come and see my pain. Can I show you where it hurts really bad? Can I show you what happened? He already knows,

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But he wants you

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To tell him where have you laid him through tears? He says, where have you made him? We can know this about Jesus. We can know that when Jesus weeps, he is weeping with them and he is weeping with us. When we wait , when we weep, we can know that about him and it brings us great comfort, but friends, it is also, we can learn from him. It's an important thing we can learn from him. It's how we sit with others in their grief. Jesus already knew what he was about to do. He knew there was no reason for their tears. He was about to go raise the man from the dead that they were crying over. And instead of rushing to fix it, he stopped. And he,

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I don't do that. Well,

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I don't know it's personality. It's, it's something. And I don't know about some of you, but I think that in general, we all have this. Let me fix it right. Let me at least go make you dinner. Let me go do something. I got to fix it. I got to say something. I got to do something when Jesus is modeling for us right here,

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Be present,

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Weep with them. I remember it when I was a brand new pastor, I was a children's pastor, but at the church, I was out as a small little church. And we each had to take a day of hospital calls every week. And I was super nervous about it because I hadn't ever done it before. And there was this string of times that I would go, and this is not funny when it's kind of funny. Every time I would go and pray with someone the next day they would die. Thank you. It was horrible. But there's another thing that would happen every time I would go, I would cry. And after a couple of weeks of this, I went to my boss and I said, listen, I don't think you want me to go anymore for several reasons. Right? I don't think you want me to go because all I ever do is cry

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And I couldn't

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Picture him going in and crying. I pictured him going in and being like Jesus wept and then like lay hands and pray on them. But when I went in, I saw the sorrow of other people and I couldn't,

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I hope it. I just cried. And

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So lucky that I had the boss that I did because he looked at me and he was like,

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Right. That's why you're going. That's why you'll be good at this. That's what they need is someone to come weep with them,

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To be sad with them, someone to be confused and be frustrated with them. You're not there to answer their questions. Kayla, you're there to be present with them. You're there to weep with them. I wonder if there isn't something we can learn as a community, a community of faith who walks in the steps of Jesus, right? I wonder if there isn't something we can learn. Even this week, this season, we have brothers and sisters who are weeping.

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We have Asian-American

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Friends who are scared and they're weeping.

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And maybe instead of giving them a reason, not to maybe

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Of giving them reason to reason it all away explanation that they'll be fine. Maybe instead we're present. Maybe instead,

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Weep, maybe instead we say, show me, show me the pain. Let me walk with you. There. I'll stand with you there.

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Maybe you have a friend who lost their job. And man, what you really want to do is just take dinners over to them. Also do that and gift cards. But maybe what you can do is weep with them and be present. Don't be afraid of the discomfort. Maybe a friend of yours just lost a baby. They were so excited to be pregnant. And now they have lost their baby. The thing that they had hoped for so much, and frankly, it makes you a little uncomfortable because they're so sad and you're never really sure what's going to trigger it.

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And so gift cards, dinner, but maybe your presence, maybe your tears

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Is the very best gift that you can give. Then we see their reactions. We see these Jews reactions to Jesus behavior, verse 36. Then the Jews said, see how he loved him. But some of them said could not. He who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying. They really need a new font

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For that.

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See some saw the tenderness of Jesus. Some saw how he reacted and was like, man, he must really loved that guy. But the other one said, you know, I suspected this guy wasn't as good as he said he was. In fact, I bet that's why he didn't come earlier because he knew he couldn't keep him from dying. So now he's just crying and make it okay. Verse 38, Jesus. Once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance, take away the stone. Some versions say remove the stone. And then Martha pipes up always the good housekeeper, always worried about everybody else. She says,

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By this time there is a bad odor

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For he's been in there for days.

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She wasn't wrong. Like

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Four days, they didn't have the modern technology we do. That was not a good smell. And it had been closed up for four days. So you can use your imagination, but this wasn't going to be pleasant. It wasn't gonna be pleasant for anybody within well,

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And it's going to be bad,

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But Martha didn't know that Jesus was about to raise her brother from the dead. She might've thought he just wanted to walk in and get some closure and see his friends .

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And , and she's like, no ,

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Maybe we don't do that. But Jesus responds this way. Did I not tell you that? If you believe you will see the glory of God, he asks her, do you want to hide the stink? Or do you want to see God's power?

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Do you want to keep all that closed up and hidden?

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Or do you want to see God show off here? I told

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You, I told you it's coming. How often do we do that? We shut her away. Our stink.

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I want to hide all of the dead things in our lives, away from Jesus. We don't want anyone else to get a whiff of it. We don't even want him to get a whiff of it. So we hide it away. We close it up. We seal it up. And I wonder if Jesus isn't saying, do you want to avoid stink? Or do you want to see? God's

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Sorry , maybe you were moved the stone and the stink won't matter so much

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Because there's something good coming. Sometimes we would rather mask the stench of our sin than open ourselves up to God and the work he wants to do and

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Why we're embarrassed, right?

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We don't think Jesus can do something with it. We don't want anybody else to see it. We will . We want to hide it away. Those, those, those reasons make sense. But it is a part of our theology here, right? We can't hide from our theology that says there is nothing so dead that God cannot resurrect it. But friends, resurrection starts out stinky. There wouldn't be much to resurrect if there wasn't stinky,

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But this is Jesus. He is the resurrection. He is the life.

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He's the light of the world that makes light from darkness. He brings beauty from ashes and life from death. No matter how far we've buried ourselves in our sin, Jesus is saying, remove the stone, remove the stone. Not only would resurrection become Jesus' greatest achievement when he Rose his own self up from the dead. But resurrection is what he does. And each one of us every day, it's what he's going to do for some of you. The very first time today, resurrection is Jesus' business and it's what he did for Lazarus to verse 41. They took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, 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. You want to hear me do the Jesus voice. Here we go, 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. When he said this, Jesus called out in a loud voice. Lazarus come

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Out. The dead

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Man came out. His hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen and a cloth around his face. And Jesus said to them, take off the grave clothes and let

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Go friends. He is calling you out of your grave. He is

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Calling me out of my grave. He's calling you out of your loneliness. He's calling you out of your self-loathing. He's calling you out of your rebellion, your arrogance, your greed. He's calling you out of your anger. He's calling you out of your sadness. He's calling you out of your fears. He's calling you out of your need for control. He's calling you out of your addictions, your religious pride, your selfish ways, your nose turning up to everybody else. He is calling you out of your shame. And I don't know what you think he's calling you out of, but I assure you. He is saying, remove the stone. Come out of your grave. I am the resurrection. I am the life. There is nothing so dead that Jesus cannot resurrect it. There's nothing you have dug your, your Tim's so deep with that. He isn't ready to call you out

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Of it. He

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Wants you to take off those grave clothes and live. You know, those grave clothes. They probably stunk. They'd been on a dead man for 40 .

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Yes . And I think some of us are walking around like that too. We're walking around a dead man's clothes.

Speaker 2 35:18

We're walking around as if Jesus had not called us out of the stink and what Jesus says, take off those clothes and let

Speaker 5 35:27

I can go because it's just like, Jesus loved Lazarus. He loves you. He loves. And he is calling to all of us, come out of your grave and live. If your heart is hearing that call right now, I want to know about it.

Speaker 2 35:50

I want to know about it. I want to hear what it is that Jesus is saying

Speaker 5 35:53

To you, friends, that it's

Speaker 2 35:55

Your first time. If you have, if you've never allowed Jesus to bring you up out of something, today is the day we want to walk alongside you with it . We , we do friends of your online. You can text TCE one, two nine, four zero zero, zero, or you can call it out in the chat room. There's a team of people that want to walk alongside you. As you make this decision. As you walk out of the grave and live in the room, friends, we have a spot

Speaker 5 36:26

For you. There are couches and everything, right?

Speaker 2 36:29

Get out there in the lobby. There's a, this changes everything area. And there is a team of people ready to show you that Jesus is calling you out. We have a gift for you. There. Something that'll help you take those first

Speaker 5 36:42

Steps out of the grave to

Speaker 2 36:44

Show you how to take those grave clothes off and truly live and friends. Maybe you have.

Speaker 5 36:50

I have made that decision a long time ago, but you're a resurrected person walking around with dead man's clothes. Today is your day to let those clothes go to walk out of the grave and live like a person who is alive. Don't say another moment in the grave friends, don't do it. Jesus is calling to you. Every one of you, he's calling to you come out of your grave and the live we stand with me as we worship and that Jesus.