Tag: teaching

DAILY PRAYERS FOR GUYS

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For Those Trapped in False Religions

Holy Redeemer,
You alone know the total number of those who are currently ensnared by false religions. Regardless of the cult, religion, belief, or practice, if it does not cling to you alone as the way, the truth, and the life by which we are saved, it will ultimately lead to death. By your almighty power, free all who are being led astray by twisted teachings and false teachers. Expose them to your Word, and through the work of the Holy Spirit, lead them out of darkness into your wonderful light. Replace misleading and destructive error with the delight of what is right and true. Discard doubt and uncertainty with the assurance of forgiveness and eternal life that come only through faith in you. Let them know and experience the stunning joy of salvation, and awaken them to the pleasure of a life of purpose in you.

In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen. 

DAILY PRAYERS FOR GUYS

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For Churches Facing Closure

Lord of the Church,
Thank you for establishing so many churches all over the world where your Word is proclaimed and the Sacraments are administered. While you promise that your Word will always endure, you make no such promise about individual churches. Like everything else in life, churches have a life cycle – they are planted and grow, they bear fruit for a time, and eventually they close their doors. Be with those churches near the end of their life cycle, as they struggle with difficult ministry decisions and limited resources. Comfort those carrying memories of a full church and active membership with the assurance that their ministry was never in vain, and that you used it to serve souls. Give pause to those inclined to make hasty decisions, so that they are sensitive to their fellow saints with treasured recollections of their church. Make them open to considering how they might still continue to bless other churches or ministries with their means or manpower, so that your kingdom still comes through their support of gospel efforts. Remember your people gathered in these sacred spaces, Lord, and the many years of faithful service they rendered to bring honor and glory to you.

In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen. 

Whoever’s Thirsty Clenches What Quenches

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(John 7:37-39)

You don’t need an app for it. There’s no take-home test to help you determine if you test positive for it. You don’t need to schedule an appointment with your doctor to confirm it for you. You know when you’re thirsty. It’s not difficult to tell. Your body recognizes its need to be hydrated because it can tell when you’re depleted. It knows when you’re lacking. 

You also know what to do when you’re getting those signals. When your sweaty body craves something to guzzle, when you’ve been snacking on something salty, or when something just feels off and you realize you have hardly had any water all day, you know just what to do: get a drink. You provide your body with what was lacking, and it is satisfied. The experience of thirst is common to all people. Everyone knows what it’s like to be thirsty, to lack hydration; everyone knows what it feels like to address that thirst; and everyone knows the satisfaction that comes along with getting a drink. 

So it doesn’t surprise us at all to see Jesus, the master Teacher, use a very well-known and very familiar experience, common to everyone, to teach a spiritual truth. It’s something we can connect to, an experience we’ve had, a feeling of lacking, the need to address it, and the feeling of being satisfied.

When he spoke the words in John 7, Jesus was already at a point in his ministry when he had become very divisive. Actually, it wasn’t Jesus who was divisive, but people were divided over how his message was being received. Jesus already had enemies wanting to kill him, but he also had disciples encouraging him to take the next step in putting himself out there so that more people would know who he was. As they saw it, if he was going to be a somebody, he had to make himself known. He needed more exposure. And they viewed the Feast of Tabernacles as a great opportunity for him to gain some recognition. People from all over would be in town for the religious fall harvest festival, where temporary tents and booths were put up for a week for people to live in as they remembered the Lord’s deliverance from slavery in Egypt. 

Although his disciples encouraged him to come along with them, Jesus told them to go on ahead to the Festival without him. However, he ended up attending shortly after anyway. He wanted to arrive under the radar, not in the public show the disciples had hoped for. Nevertheless, once he arrived, he couldn’t help but teach. After all, it’s why he came.

As divided as people were over his teaching, he offered a simple litmus test for people to apply in order to determine if his words and teaching should be trusted (and one that still works today!). He explained, “My teaching is not my own. It comes from the one who sent me. Anyone who chooses to do the will of God will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own” (John 7:16-17). Jesus was in essence saying, “If you’re not sure about what I’m saying, try it out. Believe what I say, do what I call you to, live as I call you to live, and you will find out for yourself if my teachings are just tall tales or if they’re really from God.”

Later on in his teaching, Jesus extended another invitation. Not only did he provide an additional reason to “test-drive” his teaching, but he also made the unique connection to the occasion that Christians still observe today, the Festival of Pentecost. “Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, ‘Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them’” (v.37-38). It was an invitation. And it was a promise.

While Jesus extended the invitation to everyone, it’s really only for some; it is only for those who acknowledge they are thirsty. It’s only for those who realize something is lacking. It’s only for those who realize something is missing.

And that’s most people. Most people look at their lives and feel that something is missing. That explains why contentment is so elusive. We may not be very good at identifying precisely what we’re lacking, but many will go their entire lives pursuing whatever it is, hoping they’ll know it when they find it. Relationships, recreation, or retirement. Vacation or volunteering. Career or kids. We can add endlessly to the list, which only underscores the general awareness many people have that something is, in fact, missing from life.

While they may be willing to spend the better part of their lives looking for it, many often refuse to look to the One who actually extends the invitation and attaches a promise to those who take him up on it. People are pretty willing to give anything a try if it might just possibly address what’s been missing in life. Yet some, for the life of them, refuse to be open to the possibility that the life they’re searching for, the satisfaction for their thirst, might just be found in Jesus. They permit any number of obstacles in their lives that keep them from finding living water in Jesus. Maybe one bad experience in church – or an entire childhood of it. Maybe a bitter interaction with a hypocritical believer turned them off to any further interest in Christ or Christianity. Maybe their own intelligence keeps the door shut to the humility necessary to consider the truth of Jesus’ words. Whatever it might be, there is no shortage of obstacles that stand in the way of receiving the living water Jesus offers.     

But see what Jesus offers to those who do thirst? “Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them” (v.38). Rivers! Jesus promises an abundance of living water, not just barely enough to get by on. Not a few drops, a slow leak, or a trickle, but rivers of living water!

And Jesus backed up his promises with Scripture. Did he have Isaiah 58:11 in mind? “The Lord will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.” Was he thinking of Zechariah 14:8? “On that day living water will flow out from Jerusalem…”

John explains for us exactly what Jesus had in mind with his invitation and promise. “By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified” (v.39). Jesus was promising the outpouring of the Spirit at Pentecost, the very event described in Acts 2. Until then, while the Spirit had certainly worked faith in countless believers throughout history, there had not been a special outpouring like the Day of Pentecost. It was the very event prophesied by Joel, as Peter pointed out in his Acts 2 sermon. It was the Spirit washing over believers like a rushing river, flowing and going with the gospel, providing living water for everyone dying of spiritual dehydration. The Spirit was poured into believers, and then flowed out of them as the church carried out its work of preaching and teaching the gospel, so that, as Peter stated in Acts 2, “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (v.21). 

So… why hasn’t the Church looked much like Act 2 since, well, the events of Acts 2 took place? Where are the mass conversions of thirsty people coming to faith because they’ve finally received the living water that is theirs through faith in Jesus?

What if… we’re contributing to the problem? Jesus said “rivers,” but isn’t it true that a drop or a leak or a trickle is maybe a more accurate description of how the Spirit flows out of me? And if so, why does that happen? Isn’t it because I’ve kinked the spiritual hose that is supposed to flow into me and fill me up? And if that happens, is it because we’ve forgotten how spiritually thirsty our sin leaves us, or is it because we’ve fallen back into thinking something else in this world can satisfy that thirst? 

Do we need to take to heart Jeremiah’s warning to God’s people in the Old Testament, so that we don’t suffer the same consequences? “My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water” (Jeremiah 2:13). Later on the prophet Jeremiah warns yet again, “Lord, you are the hope of Israel; all who forsake you will be put to shame. Those who turn away from you will be written in the dust because they have forsaken the Lord, the spring of living water” (Jeremiah 17:13).

We come to churches, to Christian schools, to Jesus, who naturally appeals to all who are thirsty, but then… we turn back to digging our own cisterns and thinking we can satisfy our thirst elsewhere. Something has changed in our job, in our kids’ schedules, in our social lives, etc. And it’s true – something has changed! But it’s not what we think.

What has changed is our priorities, which have caused the kink in the hose of our connection to the Spirit. Sunday morning worship doesn’t work for us anymore. Small group conflicts with other family activities. Serving together with my fellow believers has run its course and been replaced by other responsibilities. The Spirit is no longer satisfying our thirst, we reason, when in reality, we don’t see that we’ve forgotten how thirsty our sin makes us – how damaging and destructive it really is. Maybe we’ve gotten too used to the gospel. We’ve taken forgiveness for granted. We know that we’ll always be welcome back here, so there’s no rush to return, and the spiritual dehydration has divided us from the source of living water. 

Friends, it’s not too late. The living water still flows. The gospel of forgiveness and the grace that satisfies your thirst is still here. Take Jesus up on his invitation. Again. And again. And as often as you need to, for the Spirit will not ever allow the well of God’s grace to run dry. Plug up those other cisterns you’re digging up to satisfy your thirst. They won’t cut it. They will fail. 

But Jesus doesn’t fail. The Holy Spirit, who gives us Jesus and points us to Jesus, will never cease. You know when you’re thirsty. Find what your soul thirsts for in Jesus, and cling to him to satisfy it.

DAILY PRAYERS FOR GUYS

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For Christian Schools

Lord God,
Thank you for the blessing of Christian schools, where students receive so much more than just an exceptional education; they flourish in faith. Through their Christian education, they learn and discover through the lens of faith, seeing the abundance of your goodness all around them. In addition to being prepared to thrive in the workplace and be solid citizens in their community, students grow emotionally and spiritually, finding their identity and purpose in you and your Word. They don’t simply learn lists of how to be better people, but are actually changed by the good news of you being the best for them, and sacrificially giving yourself in death so that they might live – here and eternally.

With that security and faith-fueled confidence, they are well-prepared to navigate the uncertainty of life, bear up under suffering, and find genuine joy in loving you by serving their neighbor. Thank you for those who teach selflessly in Christian schools, for those who support them financially and prayerfully, and for all who entrust their children to Christian schools as partners in providing the best possible education anyone can receive: one rooted in you.

In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen. 

DAILY PRAYERS FOR GUYS

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For Those Preparing for Ministry

Lord of the Church,
Thank you for all who are willing to pursue the path of public ministry. Those decisions aren’t made in a vacuum, but often come in connection with much support and encouragement from others. To serve others with your Word full-time is a noble calling. It is also one that you don’t take lightly, for you hold those in ministry to a higher standard as they handle your Word of truth and apply it as your representatives. Make future pastors, teachers, and staff ministers mindful of these realities as they give themselves fully to their studies. Grant them also the confidence that you always provide what is needed to those you call so that they can carry out their work faithfully. Bless their preparation and training, providing them with meaningful experience along the way that will reinforce their desire and commitment to serve you and your people in ministry. 

In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen. 

DAILY PRAYERS FOR GUYS

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For the Elderly in Worship

Heavenly Father,
Sundays are sacred. You gather people of all ages and every generation to breathe life into them through your Word. While everyone deals with different hindrances that could keep them away from worship, the elderly face challenges unique to their stage in life. Good sleep isn’t always a given, medications can have troubling side effects, and physical decline can slow everything down and result in frustrating limitations. When we consider all of these hurdles, we ought to beam with joy every time older believers faithfully fill a seat in your house. Continue to give them the strength and resilience to overcome their challenges and use them to encourage and model faith in action for younger generations by how they prioritize worship. Reward their time in worship with the treasures of Word and Sacrament, and let congregations show great honor and respect to these gifts to your church. 

In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen. 

DAILY PRAYERS FOR GUYS

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To Expose Error and Restore Truth

Heavenly Father,
Sundays are sacred. We rejoice that there are so many places of worship for believers to gather and be fed by your Word. However, we also know that not all of them stand faithfully on the Bible. Whether a church deviates from Scripture a lot or a little, no amount of false teaching is insignificant and always causes damage to souls. Bring rebuke and correction wherever they are needed, so that your people are not led astray, and the message of the gospel is not compromised. Equip your people with the discernment to identify false teaching and empower them to speak up when they become aware of it. Expose error and restore the truth so that your church continues to stand on the solid foundation of salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, revealed in Scripture alone. 

In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen. 

Your King Comes to You

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(Zechariah 9:9-10)

Rejoice and shout – two things that weren’t very prominent during the six weeks of the season of Lent. Even with the additional services on Wednesday evenings, the spirit of worship was not so much one of rejoicing and shouting, but rather repenting and sorrow. While this is an appropriate attitude and approach during a season marked by penitence and confession, Zechariah now implores us to turn the frowns upside down and rejoice and shout. And Palm Sunday, marking the start of Holy Week, certainly sets the tone for such exuberance, amidst processions of palms accompanied by shouts of Hosanna. 

Indeed, isn’t it always true that God’s people can rejoice and shout? Whether times are good or bad, the believer has every reason to rejoice and shout, doesn’t he… doesn’t she?

Or not? Is there too much gloom in our lives, clouding our view and keeping us from rejoicing or shouting? Does some past sin with its present consequences still haunt you today? Or does it trouble you that your sins don’t bother you more? Are you right now dealing with something so heavy that it feels like you’re in a fog and life just continues, not slowing down to wait for you to catch up? Is life in general just really putting the squeeze on you right now, so that one thing just seems to keep piling on another?

We often feel like this because we’re not so great at keeping the spiritual at the forefront of our lives. I tell people I have the easiest job in the world, which is true, but at times it’s also the most frustrating, because of how easily overlooked the spiritual side of things is in our lives. I get to listen a lot, so I hear lots of struggles and challenges. And, while I don’t want to diminish the role of pastoral care of discernment, as important as they are, I will say that an awful lot of what I do and say as a pastor is simply asking questions like, “Does the Bible say anything about that?” “Did Jesus provide us with any promises that might apply to that?” So what is the frustrating part? That we sometimes seem to be so incapable as believers of incorporating such questions and considerations into our day-to-day lives. 

Others may be better at looking to their Savior and his Word during such times… and still struggle to find reason to rejoice and shout. When we feel that way, it is probably for one of two reasons: 1) we’re trying too hard, or 2) we’re not trying hard enough.

We’re trying too hard when we imagine that Jesus came to make heaven possible, but that it now depends on us to get there. This can show itself when our own perfectionist tendencies don’t allow us to live in the joy of unconditional grace. We want the both/and of grace and rule following, and procedure, and policy, and consequences, and… etc. What may really get under our skin is our constant observation of others not really measuring up as Christians. “A Christian shouldn’t… a Christian should… that’s not very Christian… etc.” We know the Bible says Jesus did it all, but what that really means in my mind is that he’s now watching to see if I do my part. We’re trying too hard, and insist that the joy of Christianity is not found mostly in what Jesus did, but mostly in what he calls me to do. No wonder such Christians seem to lack joy in their lives!

We’re not trying hard enough when we treat forgiveness as an endless commodity that frees us to be lazy and unconcerned about living good lives. So, rather than allowing grace to spur us on and drive us to live stand-up lives, we’re quick to gloss over our sins with, “It’s OK, we’re forgiven.”

No, it’s not OK! Yes, we are forgiven, but sin is never OK, and never should we be OK with it or even comfortable with it. That’s not at all why God extends his grace to us. And when we try so little in our Christian living, and our effort is so minimal, should we wonder why grace and forgiveness have lost their luster? We no longer stand in awe of how loving and gracious our forgiving God is because we’ve lowered the bar so much in our Christian living. We don’t even realize how much we’re dragging God down and diminishing him when we do that. So why would a believer in that case find reason to rejoice or shout?  

God’s people at the time of Zechariah didn’t see much reason to rejoice or shout, either. They had already been centuries removed from their golden age under King David. Their nation had split in two, with the Northern Kingdom going into exile first, followed by the Southern Kingdom being transplanted to Babylon. Now that a contingent had been allowed to return back to their homeland, it was a far cry from what they had recalled. Not only did their homes need rebuilding, but what was left of the temple, their place of worship, only served as a painful reminder of how far from glory they had fallen. What was there to rejoice about? Why shout anything other than laments and cries of despair? 

Zechariah gave them a good reason to rejoice and shout. “See, your king comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey” (v.9). With remarkable precision, Zechariah brought into focus the blurry image of the future, the time when God’s people would experience a glory that wouldn’t simply rival that of King David, but would surpass it. That time would be when David’s greater Son, the Messiah, would arrive to fight the most important battle ever to be fought – the battle that would determine where souls spend eternity.

Zechariah gives us a good reason to rejoice and shout. Let’s avoid either extreme of trying too hard or not trying hard enough and look with fresh eyes and ears at what the prophet Zechariah is actually telling us. “See, your king comes to you…” (v.9). Pause. Let it sink in. Take note of the careful word choice the Spirit led Zechariah to use. This is not just any king, but “your” king. This is not some foreign superpower coming for conquest, coming to conquer you and subject you to his wrath or oppression; he is your king. 

And he is coming to you. That’s not the way it’s supposed to work! If there is a need or a request, it’s brought to the king. The people of the kingdom go to the king and humbly beg an audience with him to plead their case. They hope their request is not unwarranted or out of order, so that it doesn’t result in punishment or wrath. That’s how the relationship is supposed to work. The king sits atop his throne and hears this case and that as they are brought before him.

But the king Zechariah speaks of comes to us! What does that say about you and me? What does that say about him? How highly the king must think of his people to approach them and not the other way around (as it is with all other religions)!

And, how does he come? Backed by an army to destroy us and make us his subjects? Not at all, but righteous and victorious. To those trying too hard to stake a claim in their salvation by earning it, what is left to earn or work for if the king of righteousness – your king of righteousness – comes for you? He brings his righteousness with him, for you. He has no need of your attempts at righteousness. Ours will never measure up to his anyway. He alone is perfect. Holy. Righteous before God. Stop trying so hard to earn the righteousness he alone has secured and which he alone freely gives. Instead, rejoice! Shout! 

And to you not trying hard enough, can you really go about your life unaffected and unfazed by the victory he came to win for you? Can you treat it so casually and with such indifference that it doesn’t cause you to want to eagerly be his subject and serve and thank him in every way possible? Can we be so unresponsive and uncaring toward our king who came to bring us security and safety by his victory? Can we go through so much of this life without a yearning desire to know this king better and to prioritize our relationship with our victorious and righteous king?

Especially when we know him by name. We have the unique and blessed privilege of seeing Zechariah’s depiction come to life in Matthew’s Gospel. In chapter 21, Matthew tells us the crowds shouted (cf. v.9) and that the whole city was stirred (cf. v.10). Zechariah’s prophecy was unfolding on the first Palm Sunday! Yes, it was Jesus on the first Palm Sunday who entered Jerusalem “lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey” (v.9). Rejoice! Shout!

We know that Zechariah was talking about Jesus, and we know that Jesus came just as Zechariah said he would. And, we know why Jesus came into Jerusalem. It was to fulfill the rest of what Zechariah promised God’s people. Our king promised, “I will take away the chariots from Ephraim and the warhorses from Jerusalem, and the battle bow will be broken. He will proclaim peace to the nations. His rule will extend from sea to sea and from the River to the ends of the earth” (v.10). But for Jesus to proclaim peace, he had to first secure it.

For those in Zechariah’s day, nor even in Jesus’ day, our king didn’t come to us to secure that peace on a battlefield or by some ground-breaking military strategy. It wasn’t a peace from worldly rulers like Pilate. It wasn’t to overthrow Rome. The peace he came to bring would require a cross and a sacrifice – his own.

You sense the crowd’s disappointment over the course of Holy Week as this reality sank in. The king of righteousness and victory rode into Jerusalem to finally restore Israel to its former glory, only to end up in what looked like defeat at the hands of Rome, hoisted up on display like so many others who tried to challenge Rome’s mighty power. 

Little did they know, and little do far too many still today know, he was victorious! He did secure peace! By the very cross that looked like failure, he extended not just his arms to die, but his very life to forgive the sins of all people, bringing reconciliation between rebel sinners and their righteous God. Yes, the events that unfold this Holy Week are why he is – and we are – able to proclaim peace to the nations. Rejoice! Shout!

Let that peace first dwell in your own heart. It will, when you take your foot off the gas and stop trying to manufacture the perfect life/marriage/family. It will, when you stop pretending that what you’re really looking for is on the other side of overspending, over-scheduling, over-working, and over-exerting yourself. You’ll find that peace when you stop looking for it and realize that in Jesus, it has already found you. “See, your king comes to you…” (v.9).

He came to you. He comes to us in baptism. He comes to us with his body and blood. He comes to us through his Word. Peace isn’t found in pretending our own self-righteousness gets you closer to him; it’s found in realizing he brought his righteousness and victory to you. That peace in Jesus, your king, is yours right now. Isn’t it time you started actually living in it? 

DAILY PRAYERS FOR GUYS

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For Focused Worship

Heavenly Father,
Sundays are sacred. Nevertheless, they can also be filled with distractions. On their own, such distractions would pose difficult enough challenges for us, but when coupled with our short attention span and inability to focus, worship requires work! Minimize distractions for us while also sharpening our focus and attention. Let the texts of our songs and hymns touch our hearts. When the Word of God is read and preached, enable us to dial in with both our ears and our minds, giving thought to what you are revealing to us. Draw us into a deeper dialogue with you when praying. Make us mindful of the gifts we bring as offerings to you. Take hold of our hearts this morning in worship, and fill them richly with your divine grace and blessing.

In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen. 

Life

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(John 11:17-45)

If you’re familiar with John chapter 11, then you have already stood in awe of the rock-solid faith of both Mary & Martha. Martha professed to Jesus her confidence in the Resurrection when she stated that she knew her brother would be raised on the last day. “Martha answered, ‘I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day’” (v.24). In one beautiful confession, she acknowledged believing both that Jesus would return on the last day and that when he did, all believers would rise again, including her brother. 

Yet her faith was not just a forward-looking faith; in looking backward, it also assured her of how differently her brother’s sickness could have ended. “‘Lord,’ Martha said to Jesus, ‘if you had been here, my brother would not have died’” (v.21). We see Mary demonstrate the exact same confidence. “When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, ‘Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died’” (v.32). Subtle as it might be, notice they don’t express mere optimism that it could have gone differently if Jesus had arrived earlier, saving Lazarus from death, but complete confidence that it would have gone differently because Jesus would have healed him. 

First of all, where does this kind of faith come from? To get the full picture, I think that any time we come across John 11, it should always be read with Luke 10 in mind. That’s where Luke records for us the account of Jesus at the home of Mary and Martha, long before Lazarus had even been sick. At that time, Martha was busying herself tidying up the house and preparing food for Jesus. In her mind, Mary was just sitting around doing nothing while she did all the work.

But Jesus saw it differently. He used that opportunity not to rebuke Martha for her loving service, but to remind her that Mary had made the better choice: to prioritize hearing the Word. Whenever we have the opportunity to listen to Jesus, take it.

Why does that account fit so well with what we have here in John 11? Because it would appear that over the course of time between that visit from Jesus and the death of Lazarus, the sisters took Jesus’ encouragement to heart, prioritized his teachings in their lives, and their faith was strengthened as a result. That would explain the sisters’ beautiful expression of confident faith that Jesus would have healed Lazarus if he had arrived earlier. 

Of course, that kind of faith comes with a catch, doesn’t it? When we know what God can do, it can lead us to struggle when he doesn’t. Some who were present expressed that very struggle when they witnessed all of the grieving and sadness caused by the death of Lazarus. “But some of them said, ‘Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?’” (v.37). If he was able to act, then why didn’t he?

As you faced the ugly, gut-wrenching reality of the death of someone close to you, perhaps you’ve had similar questions weigh heavily on you. You’ve wondered it previously: why didn’t Jesus, who reveals in Scripture both that he can heal disease and raise others from the dead, why didn’t he intervene when it came to my father, my mother, my spouse, my loved one? He could have, but instead, he did nothing. Why? Well-intentioned fellow Christians have tried to provide every possible response to appease this frustration, but their answers don’t satisfy us. We still come back to this: “if God could have, then why didn’t he?”

Or, like Martha, you’ve both confessed and struggled with the reality of a Savior who was capable of healing and holding off death, but did not. “But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask” (v.22). Do you hear the confident trust in her words, coupled with the longing of what her heart truly desires? She both expresses confidence that Jesus had the power to save her brother from dying, but also that, “it’s not too late, Lord – and I am optimistic that even now you can choose to grant my heart’s desire and raise my brother from the dead.”

Is it too much to ask of God to somehow have asked even this sort of miracle in the life of my loved one? Why not a miracle? Why not my loved one? Was my loved one not worthy of this type of death-defying miracle that Lazarus received? Am I not worthy of it? 

Before we allow Jesus to address and answer these questions, we want to remember how God himself feels about death. And, like no other account in Scripture, this event provides us with a powerful example.

At the beginning of this whole narrative, we see the risk Jesus was willing to take to deal with death: his disciples were afraid for his own life! When Jesus shared his desire to go to Lazarus, they were shocked. “‘But Rabbi,’ they said, ‘a short while ago the Jews there tried to stone you, and yet you are going back?’” (v.8). They realized Jesus was putting himself in danger by going anywhere near Lazarus, where he would be putting himself right back in the thick of those trying to kill him. Is there really any question if Jesus cares about people dying when he’s willing to put his own life on the line to do something about it???

We also experience Lazarus’ death from Jesus’ perspective. “When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. ‘Where have you laid him?’ he asked. ‘Come and see, Lord,’ they replied. Jesus wept. Then the Jews said, ‘See how he loved him!’ (v.33-36). “Jesus wept!” And it wasn’t just because he missed his friend – the one he was going to raise back to life in just a moment! – but also because he personally witnessed firsthand the devastating effect death has on people in this world. 

How much does God care? Since Jesus came into this broken world, let’s not presume he doesn’t care about death or loss. He’s actually the One person able to do something about it. And he showed it powerfully with Lazarus. “So 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.’ When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, ‘Lazarus, come out!’ The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, ‘Take off the grave clothes and let him go’” (John 11:41-44). Can we question if God really cares about people dying after a miracle like this? Hardly!

But we must go further, because Jesus also knows what happens to those who die physically who are also spiritually dead at the same time: that they are lost forever to hell. God expressed this concern through the prophet Ezekiel, saying, “As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! Why will you die, people of Israel?” (Ezekiel 33:11). So yes, God certainly cares about death, and far more than we could imagine, as his heart is concerned not just about the pain of needing to plan a funeral, but the possibility of being lost eternally. 

But we must go further still. Why did Jesus raise Lazarus? Was it simply to dry the tears of mourning loved ones? To undo the sting of death?

He revealed it by his own words when he spoke to his Father, explaining the deeper intent behind this miraculous occasion, “that they may believe you sent me” (v.42). God knows our greatest need: faith in him! God knows there is no hope for anyone who does not believe.

Even before Jesus arrived at the gravesite, he had already said the same thing to his disciples. “[Jesus] told them plainly, ‘Lazarus is dead, and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe” (v.14-15). God knows our greatest need: faith in him! God can do so much more than raise a corpse to be alive again; he can bring dead souls to be spiritually alive, guaranteeing not just an extension of a longer life here on earth for a few more years, but for an eternity! 

And his raising of Lazarus from the dead didn’t just bring Lazarus back for a few years, but rescued souls for eternity. “Therefore many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him” (v.45).

Isn’t that how God operates? We have tunnel vision, focusing on the one thing, and all the while God is thinking of the bigger picture. He gave sisters back their dead brother, but he gave who-knows-how-many onlookers the greatest gift of all: saving faith in him. They heard Jesus’ powerful words and saw them in action with their own eyes, and through it, the Holy Spirit gifted them with faith and eternal life. Jesus gave so much more than just life to the dead!

The resurrection of Lazarus was not a promise that God will miraculously raise our loved ones from the dead here and now.

It’s a promise much greater than that.

God WILL raise all those in Christ on the Last Day, and it will be forever. God knows our desire and exceeds what we could ask for by promising not just a few more years together in this short blip of life that barely even registers on the timeline of eternity, but he promises forever together for all who believe in him. 

Lazarus died again. You will die. I will die. We will all have our own John 11 story. But it’s not the dying that sets us apart. We have that in common with all people. Everyone dies.

But what sets us apart, what is uniquely shared among us and all believers, is that we know the One who lived again. We know the One who still lives. We know the One who will live forever. And through faith in him, we know that we, too, will live with him forever, together with all of our loved ones who in faith fall asleep in Jesus.