Waiting on God (John 11)

Good morning. Welcome. Peter, one of the pastors here. If you’ve been coming over the summer and this is our first time meeting, my family has been in the US over the last couple months visiting supporters and church partners. So it’s great to meet you – see a lot of new faces – and great to be back in KL with our Garden City family.

Behold and Believe. John 11. Remember – Easter. Website. But don’t get too excited to leave for lunch early. Same passage. Different message. Bibles. Turn. Screen.

Context: By this point in Jesus’ ministry, he’s already performed several miracles and healings demonstrating his power and he’s made claims about his identity as the Son of God and as God himself in the flesh. And in chp. 11, we have what may be the greatest proof of who Jesus is so far in John’s gospel.

John 11 1 Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 2 It was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was ill. 3 So the sisters sent to him, saying, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.” 4 But when Jesus heard it he said, “This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” (So far so good. Sounds like Jesus is going to heal again.)

5 Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6 So, when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was. (Maybe he’s going to come at the last second – just in time to save him.) 11 … he (Jesus) said to them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go to awaken him.” 12 The disciples said to him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover.” 13 Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that he meant taking rest in sleep. 14 Then Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus has died, 15 and for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.” 16 So Thomas, called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.” 

So Lazarus ends up dying. Not really what you expect to happen. If Jesus loved Lazaraus, why does he intentionally wait until it’s too late? 

That’s a question we can all relate to, isn’t it? Why does it seem like God waits and allows hard things to happen in our lives? Wouldn’t it just be better to do things to avoid suffering and hardship altogether? – What we see already from vvs. 4 and 15, is that God’s purposes are often different from our desires and how we think God should operate. God’s primary agenda is not our comfort but his glory and our belief in him. 

We usually think God is loving – and a loving God doesn’t want his children to suffer, therefore he should do everything possible as quickly as possible to keep us from suffering. The underlying problem – we chose this life of suffering. This is what we wanted. We walked away from God, away from a good and perfect life with him. And the good news is that, yes, God under no obligation to us – He doesn’t owe us anything, not a single good thing – is working to restore all things – but according to his ways, his plans, and his perfect timing. Not ours.

What this means is that our lives can be summed up in one phrase: Waiting on God. What does that mean?

Waiting on God is the acknowledgement that we cannot. Helpless. Completely helpless. – Newborn baby. Andrew Murrary (Pastor. Book) Pt. 1: “What He asks of us, in the way of surrender, and obedience, and desire, and trust, is all comprised in this one word: waiting on Him…It combines the deep sense of our entire helplessness of ourselves to work what is divinely good…”

Think – Of all the things that really matter in life, how much can we really control? Very little.

-Family – Parents/Siblings

-Uni/Jobs – Interviewed.

-Health – Genetic

-Kids/Loved Ones – Salvation

-Life – Lengthen/Death – God ordained

So much of life is out of our hands because we can’t make anything happen on our own. It’s waiting on God

Waiting (well) is not throwing a tantrum, complaining, wishing things were different. The hard part is, no one likes to wait. Anyone? Born with impatience. Babies – I want it now. (Don’t care.) Weddings – I hate weddings. Not the actual ceremony part. But the long part after the ceremony and before dinner. Why does it take 3 hours to take pictures? Can’t we eat first? Grace – Snacks for the kids, me. Miserable. Monster.

Life is full of waiting. Waiting:

-To get a phone

-To drive

-To go to university/be more independent

-To finish school

-To get married

-To have children

-To find a job

-For the next holiday

-For the kids to be out of diapers, to feed themselves, to leave the house (Any tired parents?)

-To retire

…And by this time you’re old and your body is broken. You’ve waited all your life to enjoy life and then you’re too old to enjoy or do anything. Waiting to die – tired of suffering. 

Everyone here is probably waiting on God for something – You could probably make a list of at least 3-5 things. Good things. You’d make happen right now if you had the ability.

Waiting is not just for what’s coming. There’s something in/during the waiting God is doing in you that he cannot do without the waiting.

Waiting – Gift. A tool that God uses to form us – to trust and believe in him. Our neediness/Our inabilities – Opportunities for God to work. To do what we cannot. Instead of becoming impatient or resentful – grateful/joyful. Times of waiting – prized possessions. May not seem/feel like it, but God is working. And the process of what God is doing in you, who he is making you into, is just as if not even more important than what you’re waiting for.

17 Now when Jesus came, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. 18 Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles off, 19 and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them concerning their brother. 20 So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, but Mary remained seated in the house. 21 Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.” 23 Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” 24 Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” 25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” 27 She said to him, “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.”

28 When she had said this, she went and called her sister Mary, saying in private, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.” 29 And when she heard it, she rose quickly and went to him. 30 Now Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was still in the place where Martha had met him. 31 When the Jews who were with her in the house, consoling her, saw Mary rise quickly and go out, they followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb to weep there. 32 Now when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet, saying to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” 33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled. 34 And he said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” 35 Jesus wept. 36 So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” 37 But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man also have kept this man from dying?”

Two sisters who are grieving differently have the same response to Jesus’ tardiness: If you had been here, my brother would not have died. 

If. If you’d been here. Meaning – (Question:) Where were you? Why did you let this happen? Have you ever asked that of God? Why did you let this thing happen to me. Why haven’t you provided yet? Why am I still dealing with this same problem/hurt/addiction/need? And notice Jesus’ response to both sisters is also the same. He doesn’t scold them. He doesn’t tell them to stop crying. It’s one of…

Compassion – Jesus weeps. – He gets down to meet them at their level – where they are in their sorrow. Some would say – weakness. How could God bring himself that low to cry? But it’s not weakness, it’s love. His heart breaks for Mary and Martha, and the community that is grieving the loss of a brother. His heart breaks for his friend Lazarus who has died. Because his heart breaks over sin and its consequences. How could it not? Out of the overflow of the eternal, perfect love of the Trinity – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – He created his children. To know and love and experience his love and goodness. And sin destroyed that loving relationship between God and man – life filled with brokenness.

Saying – No pain like kid pain. Timo and A. Broken his heart. Admit – I went to a dark place for a quick moment. – I’m going to have to go to school and hurt this kid. (Didn’t do that.) Hit a nerve to see my child hurting. Smallest picture of the pain God the Father feels for his children living broken by sin.

The biggest proof of God’s compassion – His presence – God came to do something about it…

38 Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. 39 Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days.” 40 Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?” 41 So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 42 I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me.” 43 When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.” 44 The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”

Waiting on God is the acknowledgement that we cannot…Waiting on God is the confidence that God will work. According to his power, his purposes, and his timing.

Andrew Murray Pt. 2: “What He asks of us, in the way of surrender, and obedience, and desire, and trust, is all comprised in this one word: waiting on Him…It combines the deep sense of our entire helplessness of ourselves to work what is divinely good…and our perfect confidence that our God will work it all in His divine power.”

The sisters, initially, had this expectation. It’s why they called for Jesus when Lazarus was ill. Jesus had the ability to heal Lazarus. Their timing and the scope of how big his work would be was just off. They thought with death, it was all over.

Let me ask you this: Is Jesus who you turn to? I need help – Let me turn to Jesus. OR Try I got this. – Try to figure things out and make them happen for yourself? Think. Strategize. Self-sufficient. OR Worry. OR You just lose all hope. You stop believing. No hope.

Doesn’t mean whatever you ask for, God will give it to you. It’s not you name it and claim it. But, it is trusting in his character, his goodness, his love, and his promises. 

Disappointment – What about when he seemingly doesn’t ever show up?

Have you ever considered that what you’re asking from God, how you want him to provide and work in your life, may not actually be what you need? It’s not what’s best for you? The timing is off and is actually too small? (Kids asking)

The biggest thing God may be up to in your life and the greatest gift he can give to you may not be the answer to the prayer you’re praying. Could he get glory if he provides for you, heals you, makes a way out for you? Yes. But I think it’s easy to forget that God’s greatest gift to us is not his blessings, but it is God himself. It’s his presence. God himself is the treasure. Not what he can give to us. Andrew Murray – “ (Waiting – ) It is the ascribing to Him the glory of being All; it is the experiencing that He is All to us.” 

God’s love for you is not based on the absence of suffering. And God’s primary goal is not to keep you from hardship. – His glory and your belief in him. His proof of his compassion towards you and the power to sustain you is his faithful presence with you through it all. 

God never fails and is always right on time for his exact purposes. Question: Can he be trusted? Will you trust him? Here’s why we can…

If you’re in a season of waiting, maybe you have been for a long time. Good news for you. What Jesus did in John 11 is what makes everything fall into right perspective. This is the main point. Why Jesus waited until his perfect time to come. To show his power over our greatest enemy – not just for one person, Lazarus, but for everyone. He came to get rid of the root problem – the problem where all our problems come from. To reverse the curse of sin and all its effects in the world and in your life. To save his children from sin and death to life back to him. To bring you into relationship with himself. 

In. Ge. 3, we walked away from relationship with God. We walked away from life into death. Jesus came to us to make a way back. By believing in him – He is the resurrection and the life. 

That’s an exclusive claim – I am the resurrection and the life. That means there is no life, no salvation, apart from him. Joy, fulfillment – only found in him. Jn. 14:6 (Similarly) I am the way, and the truth , and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 

The only person who gets a say about eternal life – how you get eternal life or what eternal life looks like – is the person who has power over death. What business or authority does someone who dies have any claim on what it takes to live forever if they are powerless to defeat the grave? If your god, your prophet, your religious leader… has not proven someway or another they have that power, then how do you know you can trust them? That they know the way?

Jesus is the only one who has clearly demonstrated multiple times over that he has authority over death. He brings the dead to life. And after he laid down his own life and was buried in the tomb for three days, he himself took his life back up again. The tomb is empty. See the one who can raise people from the dead and rise from the dead himself, he’s the only one who can say…I am the resurrection and the life.

Means – Every single other religion. All other religions. Wrong. False. Lead not to life, but to death. Because they reject Jesus. So, no, all religions do not lead to the same place. They’re not all the same. – Confusion/X Work.

Why the mission is so urgent. There is no other way for people to be saved except by the gospel, by believing in Jesus. There is no in between. So people have to hear which means we have to go and tell them the good news of life in Jesus.

Now you would think, after having witnessed this incredible miracle, that everyone would believe…but that’s not the case. Look…

45 Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what he did, believed in him, 46 but some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. 47 So the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the council and said, “What are we to do? For this man performs many signs. 48 If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.” 49 But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all. 50 Nor do you understand that it is better for you that one man should die for the people, not that the whole nation should perish.” 51 He did not say this of his own accord, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, 52 and not for the nation only, but also to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad. 53 So from that day on they made plans to put him to death.

Waiting – Complete and utter, unceasing, dependence on God for everything. Gal. 4:4 – “Fullness of time” – God waited until the perfect time to send Jesus to save us. Thousands of years after Gen. 3. Jesus would come to die to free us from the penalty of our sin. Jesus, God’s Son, would suffer and die in our place. Our salvation – Our victory over the grave came at the greatest cost. And it’s only in his life and resurrection, his victory over death, that we have ours through faith in him.

A good life – Not a life free from suffering on this earth. – Doesn’t exist. Knowing Jesus and his love even in suffering. Knowing the one who has power over the grave and is with you in suffering, is the one who can give you eternal life – fullness of joy and pleasures forevermore.

Waiting on God – Confidence – His love. His power. His promise – If he did it before. He will do it again as he said. Lazarus a foreshadow for all believers who put their faith in Jesus. In the end, no matter how hard our lives have been, we will experience Jesus’ resurrection and its power in our lives…Jesus’ desire is to restore all that sin has broken.

(Believer:) Death is not something for believers to fear. Because death is not the end for believers. Death, the worst thing that could happen to us in this life, is just the transition to the best thing that could bring us the greatest joy – eternal life with Jesus.

3 Simple Things…because waiting is not passive living. Sitting back doing nothing. Invitation to engage with God. 

In the waiting – be in community. Oftentimes the way God works and speaks to us and provides for us is through his people in the church. Waiting? – Lacking community? So get engaged with people in real community. Where people know you and you know them. Relationships where you’ll grow in your love for Jesus. When something happens…people who will come and sit and cry with you. Call – Not just me. Not first. One of your last calls. Oh yeah. But reach out if you need something- pray. 

In the waiting – keep your eyes on Jesus. Patience. Perseverance. Hoping. Faithful to him. Can’t happen unless your eyes are on Jesus. See – Patience of God – He does not treat us as our sins deserve. He’s faithful, steadfast, long-suffering, slow to anger, merciful, gracious, and bears with us. And the more you look at him and study him, the more you become like him.

Jn. 16:33. Jesus – I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. (Great) In the world you will have tribulation. (That doesn’t give me much peace. But…) But take heart; I have overcome the world. If you’re so focused and overwhelmed by the raging storms and crashing waves of life, your problems – you’re going to be overwhelmed, discouraged, anxious, and fearful. EOJ – Doesn’t make all your pain go away. But it’ll give you the confidence that Jesus has already won and he sees you and will see you through. 

In the waiting – pray. Boldly. Expectation. Sometimes, our prayers are too safe and too small. “God, if it’s your will.” – The heart is good. Submission. But oftentimes it reveals a lack of faith and belief than it does submission. Prayers in the bible are bold and expectant – almost irreverent. – “God, if you don’t do this, that’s on you and you won’t get the glory you deserve. And people will think you’re not God and you don’t have the power.” We pray to a God who is able to do far more than we can ever ask or imagine. So we need to pray big.

Nonbeliever/EV: Only two responses – You believe. Or you reject him. Who/what are you waiting for? Who will you call on for help? Can your “god” deliver? Can they deliver you from suffering and death? On what basis? How have they proven it?

Idols and false gods create suffering and misery in your life. You become a slave to them. They promise but cannot deliver you…

Tired of being disappointed? Put your faith in Jesus. You can do that right here right now….