The Strange and Wonderful Love of Christ

0:03 Things get close. Yes, they do. And the Bible gets really close. Even at a moment like this, you will be surprised how relevant this text is this morning for what we just talked about. Thank you so much, wherever you went. It's a privilege to be with you. I do not take it for granted. I hardly ever wanted to give my pulpit to anybody. I love to preach. And so for him to do this for me is very gracious. And I don't presume upon it. So thank you.

0:44 I think the first time I ever remember anyone asking me if I had a life verse. was September of 1966. I was a junior in college and I was in the infirmary with mononucleosis for three weeks. And the chaplain of the school came to see me. And as he was leaving, I remember he stopped at the door and he looked over his shoulder and said, Johnny, what's your life verse? I don't think I'd ever thought of a life verse until that moment. And I remember that out of my mouth came Galatians 2.20. I am crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.

1:45 And the life that I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. Later, I went back and I looked in my old Bible that my folks had given me when I was 15, onion skin paper, King James Version, leather cover with my name on it. And Galatians 2.20 was really heavily marked up, though I couldn't even remember that. And to this day, that verse, which is not the text of the morning, by the way, it's just kind of moving toward the text. That verse has been extraordinarily precious to me. And the reason is this, it probably is to many of you. It's the only verse in the New Testament in which a writer says, he loved me.

2:43 Usually the writers, especially Paul, talks about God loved us. And in Galatians 2.20, He says, he loved me and gave himself for me. It's just an extraordinary moment in the life of the Apostle Paul where you hear him get really personal. He loves me. He loved me in dying for me. so the love of Christ for us for me is precious beyond imagination it's more precious than health it's more precious than life that's what the psalm says the steadfast love of the Lord is better than life So I want to talk about that. I want to talk about what it's like to be loved by Jesus.

3:39 And I invite you to turn with me now to John, the Gospel of John, chapter 11. And we're going to look at the first six verses, which are going to be so relevant for Louisiana, so relevant for Washington, and so relevant for your life and mine. because of the strange, underlined strange and wonderful love of Jesus.

4:08 You're gonna see a love of Jesus, a form of love that is alien to this world. Many of you would stumble over it probably. I hope by the end of the service you won't stumble over it, but embrace it. John chapter 11 and we're going to start at verse 1 and I'll read it and while I'm reading it you watch for three things Jesus brings love into connection with death and glory that's what you should watch for love, death, glory and how those three relate will make all the difference in how you understand the love of Jesus so verse 1 now a certain man was ill Lazarus of Bethany the village of Mary and her sister Martha it was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was ill.

5:32 Now what's remarkable about verse two is that that anointing hasn't happened yet in the gospel of John. It happens in chapter 12. So John is reaching forward to something that hasn't happened yet and is coming, draws it into this moment, in his writing and says, that's the Mary I'm talking about. Why would he do that?

6:01 Evidently, he's doing it because that moment, that anointing and then the washing or the wiping with her hair was so extraordinarily affectionate that it draws attention to the relationship now between Jesus and Mary, right? What else can you think is that if a woman weeps wipes his feet with her hair, that's really unusual. there's a love here and it's going, I'm sure, in both directions. She for him, he for her. So notice that Mary is loved and loves Jesus. Verse three. So the sisters sent to him saying,

6:51 Lord, he whom you love is ill. so now he makes it explicit it wasn't explicit it was my interpretation in verse 2 now it's explicit this is love he loves this family there's Martha there's Mary there's Lazarus Mary he loves her Lazarus he loves him Lord he whom you love is ill he's not a casual acquaintance verse 4 but when Jesus heard it He said, this illness does not lead to death. Now we've got death suddenly on the horizon here. So we've got love and we've got death. This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God.

7:46 And now we've got glory in the picture. So we've got love and death and glory. it is for the glory of God so that the son of God may be glorified through it so the first thing Jesus does when he hears that Lazarus is sick is put the sickness in relationship to the glory of God. This illness is about the glory of God. It's not about something less.

8:25 It's about the glory of the Son of God. It's not mainly about death. It's about God. It's about the glory of God. Jesus knows he's going to die. He knows it. How glorious is God is the question. How will it be seen? How will the greatness and the beauty and the worth of God be seen in this situation?

8:56 Verse 4 again, just let it sink in. This illness does not lead to death. The point of this illness is not death. It is for the glory of God so that the Son of God may be glorified through it. That probably in a few of your minds right now is reminding you of chapter 9, the man born blind, right? And the disciples see him and they say, well, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind? And Jesus says, it was not that he sinned or that his parents sinned, but that the works of God might be manifest in him. Same setup, right? Only there it was blindness.

9:49 Here it's Lazarus is going to die. This is not sickness. This is death. So John underlines now For the third time The love of Jesus for this family Verse 5 Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus So John evidently really wants us to see I'm talking to you about the love of Jesus Galatians 2.20, you can see with the connection in my own mind. I love to be loved by Jesus. I want to know what it looks like, feels like. And John is telling me this is about the love of Jesus. So verse 2, this woman is the one who anointed Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair. That's love between Jesus and her.

10:50 Then the second statement, verse 3, the one whom you love is ill. And then the third statement, verse 5, Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. Surely, Jesus is stressing the love of Jesus, or John is stressing the love of Jesus, because he knows that what's about to happen doesn't look like love. And he wants to say, come on now, don't give up on me. Don't react to me in a way that thinks, I don't know what love is.

11:32 I know what love is, so I'm going to show it to you. Nobody thinks about love this way, though, unless the Holy Spirit has been working your life to turn your world upside down so that the values and treasures of the world are here and the preciousness and beauty and greatness of God is here as the supreme value and treasure of your life. If God has turned your world upside down like that, this might make sense. If he hasn't, this is not going to look good. then comes the shocking striking utterly unexpected logic of verse 6 that starts with the word so I checked the Bible in the chair rack just before I came up here just to make sure it was there because some translations are goofy Don't worry.

12:38 And another word for so is therefore. And when I first read it, I thought, that just, that cannot be. He cannot be saying therefore. So I went to the Greek and I checked it. I went to Don Carson's commentary. Yes, yes, it's really there. It really works like a therefore is supposed to work. so let's read verses 5 and 6 and the therefore now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus so or therefore when he heard that Lazarus was ill he stayed two days longer in the place where he was All right.

13:31 That's what love did. Right? I mean, that's what it says. Verse 5, he loved them. He loved them. He loved them. So he didn't go. And you just kind of throw up your hands and say, That's very strange. That's why I call it a strange, a strange kind of love. Now, Jesus knows he's going to die because he isn't going. He is letting Lazarus die intentionally. Verse 14, then Jesus told them plainly, Lazarus has died. he's choosing to let Lazarus die.

14:26 Indeed, he's choosing to wait so long that he makes sure he's dead, and when he gets there, as it turns out, he will have been dead four days. Now, suppose you are thinking right now, like I did, well, this isn't so bad because he's going to raise him from the dead.

14:52 It's not like my death. Like, I don't want to die. You don't want to die. But ours would be worse because he's probably not going to show up four days later and raise us from the dead. So it's not so bad. If you're thinking that way, I want you to consider two things. One, Lazarus died. Have you ever been with anybody when they die?

15:24 Pastors who serve long enough sit with a lot of dying people. It's not easy to die. He didn't know Jesus was going to come Four days later Mary and Martha didn't know He was going to come four days later They sat beside a dying Cherished, probably younger Brother Where is Jesus? and everything in Lazarus is saying he didn't show up, I'm gone, and they're saying he didn't show up. This is not easy. I don't want you to go there. I don't want you to say, oh, it's no big deal to die. It was a big deal to die, a very big deal. That's the first thing you should consider. The second thing you should consider is that, yes, Jesus will say later he in fact does want you to think of Lazarus' death and your death together.

16:32 He does. Look at verses 23 to 26. Jesus said to her, your brother will rise again. Martha said to him, I know that he'll rise again in the resurrection at the last day on the last day and Jesus said to her I'm the resurrection and the life whoever that's you and me Kristen whoever believes in me though he die yet shall he live and everyone who believes lives and believes in me shall never die in other words what has happened to your brother is going to happen to everybody and as he is raised you will be raised which means that the way to think about your relationship to Lazarus is the death of Lazarus was real and terrible, just as terrible as yours will be.

17:45 because Jesus raised him from the dead and he's going to raise you from the dead and for him it was four days for you it might be when do you think Jesus is coming? 40 years, 400 years but think about it we may not even in that dimension with Jesus between our death and resurrection, we may not even know time the way we know it here, which means maybe it will be four days, like in our heads. Who knows?

18:26 At any rate, 40 years for 100 years is as nothing compared to eternity, and therefore the comparison between your death and Lazarus' death is not that great. I'm saying all that just to say, don't minimize the death of Lazarus. Don't say, oh, it's no big deal. Jesus let him die. Ke sarah sarah. It doesn't really, it's no big deal. It's a huge deal. because you're going to have to reckon with the fact that Jesus let somebody you love die.

19:04 He's God, right? He's God. All he has to do is speak. He didn't have to even need to go to visit Lazarus. The centurion's servant, boom. He is well with a word. He's God. He's still God. Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever. This is an incredibly relevant text for what you're about to walk through or maybe are in the middle of right now because of whom Jesus let die in your life. The connection between five and six is simply staggering. and surely the connection is intended to make us pause and say, what then is love?

20:05 Let's read it again. Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. Therefore, because he loved them, when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was and he let this precious loved friend die. And we are to ask, what is love?

20:39 Do you know what love is? Do you have a good definition, a working definition of love in your mind that handles this makes sense of this this is why it's in the Bible to help us decide what love is He loves him, therefore he does not heal him. He loves him, therefore he lets him die. He loves him, therefore he lets his sisters grieve. He loves him, therefore he brings that whole family through these horrible days. what is it what is love and I think verse 4 gives the answer this illness does not lead to death it's not about death he is going to die but it's not about death The point is not death, it's for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.

21:50 This illness is going to turn out to make God look great, to make the glory of God the supreme reality, the supreme value in your life. it will make Jesus, the Son of God, look great and beautiful and valuable. Therefore, verse 6, he lets him die. So how should we define love? Here's my effort. Taking all that into account, so you've got death, you've got love, you've got the glory of God, which is being pursued through the death by love. Love means giving us what we need most.

22:49 And what we need most is not healing. And what we need most is not life. Right? We're Christians. We don't prize life above all. We prize Christ above all. The glory of God above all. That's the point of the text. Are you a Christian? Or are you still worldly? I want my life. Don't take my life. Don't take my wife. Don't take my child. Those are my gods. or is God your God? Is his glory your treasure above all? love means giving us what we need most bringing us the fullest and longest joy what gives you the fullest and longest joy what is that it's the revelation the display of the glory of God seeing God, admiring God, marveling at God, savoring God.

24:07 an everlasting experience of joy in God. Love is doing, I'm still trying to define love, love is doing whatever you have to do at any cost to yourself to help people see and treasure the glory of God supremely above all.

24:34 That's what love does. help people see and be satisfied with the glory of God above all that's Jesus is doing I'm gonna let him die I've got something to show you I've got some priorities to adjust in your life look at verse 14 then Jesus told them plainly Lazarus has died this is before he even goes Lazarus has died and for your sake I am glad that I was not there so that you may believe. What's more important than life? Believing is more important than life. Infinitely more important than human earthly life. What is believing then?

25:34 John 1 14 We beheld his glory Glory as of the only Son from the Father full of grace and truth Jesus said in John 6.35 or John wrote in John 6.35 I am the bread of life whoever comes to me will not hunger and whoever believes in me shall never thirst so coming to Jesus to eat unto soul satisfaction and believing in Jesus to drink unto soul satisfaction is faith. That's what believing is. Believing is a coming to Jesus as the all satisfying fountain of water and living bread.

26:32 It is the revelation of the glory of God in Jesus that is what our souls were made for. And only he will satisfy that. Not life and not health. Christ, God, his glory is what will satisfy the soul. And therefore, whatever Jesus has to do in order to satisfy your soul with him above health, with him above life, that's love.

27:06 That's what love is. there are two great purposes that God has evidently in the world in the universe in creating and running the world two great purposes one is the demonstration the display of his glory he made the world to show his glory and the other is that we might see it and savor it and treasure it above everything. Those two things. That his glory would be displayed and that we would believe or drink or eat or be satisfied or be enthralled with him above life and above health and above family and above nation.

28:03 Anything. He is supreme. Love does whatever it must to get us there. If he has to let Lazarus die in order to do it for this family, he will do it. 1 Peter 3, 18 says,

28:27 Christ suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God. And what do you find when you come to God through Jesus, who died to get you there. Psalm 1611, in your presence is fullness of joy. At your right hand are pleasures forevermore. Love does whatever it must, even at the cost of its own life, in order to enthrall the beloved with what will satisfy them forever, namely, God. and if you're still in love with the world, or your life, or your health, or your family, above God, he'll do what he has to do in order to get your heart holy for him.

29:25 So what is love? Love is the longing. It's my best effort. You can provide your own definition from these verses if you think this one doesn't get it quite right. Love is the desire or the longing that labors and suffers to enthrall others with what is infinitely and eternally satisfying, namely the glory of God. One last exhortation, I'll pray.

30:00 Notice the time frame here. So the word comes to Jesus. Lazarus whom you love is ill he waits, he lets him die he goes and four days later he raises him from the dead and everybody's amazed at the power and the glory of Jesus I wonder where you live right now do you live before the word comes Lazarus whom you love is ill or do you live after the glorious resolution and you see it all it makes sense or do you live here between the words Lazarus whom you love is ill he dies and he will be raised and you live here and it is not yet looking glorious and my guess is that's the world we live in That's the Louisiana world.

31:03 That's the Washington, D.C. world. and this text is in the Bible to help us get our priorities sorted so that we prioritize the glory of God above health, above life, above safety, above security so that the way we live I think the last words Pastor Greg said were be different the way you live in view of that crazy definition of love is going to be so wonderful, so beautiful, so different, so distinct that the world just might say, wow, there must be something better. There must be something better.

31:57 So Father, we're shaken by the world and we're shaken by Jesus who defines love so differently than we ordinarily do. So please, take this precious congregation, get your arms around them, and adjust, oh God, adjust whatever thinking needs to be adjusted. Whatever priorities need to be changed, whatever world needs to be turned upside down so that the supreme value of your glory is at the top of their treasures. And all the other good things that you provide are lower down so that you may take them or give them as you please.

32:49 You are God. We trust you. Have mercy upon us. Bless this church, Lord. Thank you for it.