Lord, do you care?

Introduction

1. Sometimes we feel that nobody understands us. Our story is so unique that no one can truly appreciate what we have gone through or are going through.
2. But when we read the Bible, we will be surprised to see people experiencing what we have experienced, or sometimes even worse than what we have experienced.
3. Moreover, when they encountered God, particularly through Jesus, their lives were transformed.
4. This is Good News for us because Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Just as they were transformed, we also can be transformed.
5. What we will discover when we read the Bible is that their story can also be our story, too.

THE STORY OF LAZARUS (John 11:1-44)

1.Many people in the Bible have experienced personal tragedies (i.e., sickness, dying, and death), including Jesus Himself.

¹ Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. ² (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.) ³ So the sisters sent word to Jesus, “Lord, the one you love is sick.”

⁵ Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 

¹¹ After he had said this, he went on to tell them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up.”

³⁶ Then the Jews said, “See how he loved him!”

2. When personal tragedies happen to us, it hurts us deeply.

¹⁹ …and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother.

³¹ When the Jews who had been with Mary in the house, comforting her, noticed how quickly she got up and went out, they followed her, supposing she was going to the tomb to mourn there.

³³ When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping…

3. Often it’s confusing the way God responds to our personal tragedies. Sometimes He doesn’t act immediately, or sometimes He doesn’t act at all!

⁶ So when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days, ⁷ and then he said to his disciples, “Let us go back to Judea.”

¹⁷ On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days.

²¹ “Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”

³² 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.”

³⁷ But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?”

4. People, especially believers, will try to cope with this crisis of faith by not facing the real issue or by coming up with cliche answers to comfort themselves.

¹² His disciples replied, “Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better.” ¹³ Jesus had been speaking of his death, but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep. ¹⁴ So then he told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead, ¹⁵ and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.”

¹⁶ Then Thomas (also known as Didymus) said to the rest of the disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”

²⁰ When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home. ²¹ “Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died. ²² But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.” ²³ Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” ²⁴ Martha answered, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”

5. But the only way to face personal tragedies is to have personal convictions resulting from personal revelation.

⁴ When he heard this, Jesus said, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.”

⁶ So when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days… (¹⁸ Now Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem…)

⁷ …and then he said to his disciples, “Let us go back to Judea.” ⁸ “But Rabbi,” they said, “a short while ago the Jews there tried to stone you, and yet you are going back?” ⁹ Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Anyone who walks in the daytime will not stumble, for they see by this world’s light. ¹⁰ It is when a person walks at night that they stumble, for they have no light.”

Truth: “To overcome personal tragedy, believe in Jesus truthfully and personally.”

²⁴ Martha answered, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”  ²⁵ Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; ²⁶ and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?” ²⁷ “Yes, Lord,” she replied, “I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.”

³⁸ Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. ³⁹ “Take away the stone,” he said. “But, Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.” ⁴⁰ Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?”

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. ³⁴ “Where have you laid him?” he asked. “Come and see, Lord,” they replied. ³⁵ Jesus wept.

³⁸ Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance.

⁴¹ So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. ⁴² 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.” ⁴³ When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” ⁴⁴ 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.”

Application: Trust that Jesus cares for you even though His actions may not make sense to you.

GIVING