April 14, 2013 "When God Doesn't Make Sense" Pastor Howard-John Wesley

i want you to hear a fresh what i'm certain is a familiar passage of scripture for many of us who've spent any amount of time in church it's so familiar that i know i need not read it in its entirety but to refresh our minds and for the sake of those who may not know it i invite you to journey with me to the 11th chapter of the gospel of john and allow me to read some extensive portions of one of the most famous moments in the life of jesus the raising of lazarus from the dead once you found the 11th chapter of john would you join us if you're able as we stand together to reverence the reading of god's holy word john the 11th chapter beginning in verse number one we're going to read this morning of the new king james version of the bible the 11th chapter of john beginning verse number one now a certain man was sick lazarus of bethany the town of mary and her sister martha it was that same mary who anointed the lord with fragrant oil and wiped his feet with her hair whose brother lazarus was sick therefore the sister sent to him saying lord behold he whom you love is sick when jesus heard that he said this sickness is not unto death but for the glory of god that the son of god may be glorified through it now jesus loved martha and her sister and lazarus so when he heard that he was sick he stayed two more days in the place where he was verse number 11 jesus then said our friend lazarus sleeps but i go that i may wake him up then his disciples said lord if he sleeps he'll get well however jesus spoke of his death they thought that he was speaking about taking rest and sleep then jesus said to them plainly lazarus is dead and i'm glad for your sakes that i was not there that you may believe nevertheless let us go to him then thomas who's called the twin said to his fellow disciples let us also go that we may die with him so when jesus came he found that he had already been in the tomb four days now bethany was near jerusalem only about two miles away and many of the jews had joined the women around marth and mary to comfort them concerning their brother now martha as soon as she heard that jesus was coming went out and met him but mary was sitting in the house martha said to jesus lord if you had been here my brother would not have died but even now i know that whatever you ask of god god will give you jesus said to her your brother will rise again martha said to him i know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day jesus said to her i am the resurrection and the life he who believes in me though he die he shall live and whoever lives and believes in me shall never die do you believe this she said to him yes lord i believe that you are the christ the son of god who has come into the world when she said these things she went away and secretly called mary her sister saying the teacher is cummins calling for you as soon as she heard that she arose quickly and came to him now jesus did not yet come into the town but it was in the place where martha met him then the jews who were with her in the house comforting her when they saw that mary rose up quickly and went out followed her thinking and saying she's going to the tomb to weep there then when mary came where jesus was and saw him she fell down at his feet saying him lord if you had been here my brother would not have died therefore when jesus saw her weeping and the jews who came with her weeping he groaned in the spirit and was troubled and he said where have you laid him and they said to him lord come see and then the verse of the bible everybody knows jesus wept then the jews said see how he loved him and some of them said could not this man who opened the eyes of the blind also have kept this man from dying then jesus again groaning in himself came to the tomb it was cave and a stone lay against it jesus said take away the stone martha the sister of him who was dead said to him lord by this time there's a stench for he has been dead four days jesus said to her did i not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of god and they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying and jesus lifted up his eyes and said father i thank you that you've heard me and i know that you always hear me but because of the people who are standing by i said this that they may believe that you sent me now when he said these things he cried with a loud voice lazarus come here and he who died came out bound hand and foot with grave clothes and his face was wrapped with a cloth jesus said to them loose him and let him go then many of the jews who had come to mary and had seen the things jesus did believed in him look at that sixth verse for just a little bit let's hang out there so when he heard that lazarus was sick he stayed two more days in the place where he was today i want to talk about when god doesn't make sense you may be seated in the presence of the lord when god doesn't make sense in full disclosure i need to let you know the day's sermon was birthed really on tuesday the midst of our bible study on bad girls and bad boys in the bible looking at the first three chapters of genesis and dealing with adam and eve when the questions that came up as we examine god's creation was a real relevant question the question was where did the serpent come from if everything god makes is good and eden is representative of paradise how and where does the serpent show up in the midst of something that god has created right the reason that's a relevant question my brother's sister because it is the question of theodicy let the church say theodicy theodicy is an attempt tied to kind of understand how evil can exist in a world where we also believe there's a god who's omnipotent how can a loving god who is sovereign and do everything god wants to do account for and allow the presence of evil doesn't it seem easier to suggest that an omnipotent god could prevent and prohibit some of the evil that goes down in the world how and why do bad things happen to good people in the midst of that discussion the brother came up to me afterwards and we began talking about the reality of evil in the world and these school shootings and some of the situations that we deal with the sickness that we go through as children of god the financial stress that finds us out the heartache that inevitably lands on our doorstep and at the end of the conversation the brother simply said this pastor sometimes god don't make sense to me and i couldn't shout a man as loud as i wanted to because i'm the pastor and there were people who were standing around but i just wanted to holler amen because as saved and sanctified as you want to be if the truth be told each and every one of us reaches some place in life when what you go through does not match the image and the faith that you have in god i'm not talking to the super saints in the house i'm talking to some real folk who know that there's been some situations that have come your way that have left you scratching your head wondering how in the world could god allow you to go through something if god is everything you say god is and if god can do what god wants to do if god can pop his finger and stop something if god can speak a word and bring something into existence how then can an omnipotent god allow such evil in your world i just believe that there's somebody on your pew today i know they go to sunday school and they get a big bible in their lap and you got it twisted thinking that they walk in faith every day of their life and every day is just sunshine and roses but there's somebody on your pew today who's been going through some things in life and they can't shout about it in church but when they get home in the quiet moments of their devotional life they want to ask god why can i talk to the real folk today i know we were raised say we never question god and i know that god's ways are higher than our ways i know that god is a mystery and his wonders to behold i know that we don't always understand god but sometimes what i experience in my walk with god don't make sense god if you are who i think you are and you love me like you say you do why didn't you stop this you ever been there when god didn't do what god could have done or better yet what you think god should have done it wasn't like you were asking for much lord i just need you to answer this prayer i need you to stop this evil i need you to remedy this situation i need you to heal this sickness and somehow some way what god decided to do didn't make sense now when you get there and you will there are one of two responses to take right for the super save sanctified saints have been talking in tongues since they were six days old they just sweep it under the rug and throw on church cliches well you don't question god and and and and god never makes a mistake and god knows what he's doing and and and they try to trivialize it as if it's always well with them i wish i could join that crowd i wish i could tell you that that i'm so saved and sanctified that i never questioned god well but i believe i ain't the only one that's been in some places where you and god in a private moment had to come to an understanding you had to have a come to jesus meeting with jesus to understand how in the world the lord would allow you to go through something like this the real folk in the house when we get there our faith is fractured just a little bit it's not that you stop believing in god it's not that you're ready to curse god and die it's not that you didn't think god was real but let's be honest some of what you went through diminished your faith in god just a little bit i know your sunday outfit doesn't show it the cross on your neck wants you to make people believe that you got super fortified faith in god but can we be honest that there are some things we go through that fracture our faith when you get there and you struggle with that place of theodicy of a god who doesn't always make sense a god who doesn't do what you think he should have done and could have done i need you to remember what goes down in the 11th chapter of the gospel of john it's probably the most famous miracle of jesus but marcy it also raises one of the great mysteries of jesus let me give the context appreciate the content jesus is somewhere in the vicinity of bethany and in bethany there's a brother by the name of lazarus lazarus has two sisters you know them mary and martha good bible students know lazarus gets sick apparently it's not just a common cold because whatever the sickness is it pushes him to the brink of dying right but nobody in bethany is too upset and worried about lazarus sickness because lazarus has a bff whose name is jesus and by now word is spread about this jesus that this jesus can open blinded eyes this jesus can walk on water this jesus can feed 5 000 folk with some bread and tuna fish this jesus can can do miraculous things so mary and martha send a word to jesus and this is what they tweet them they say jesus lazarus your bff who you love is dying now jesus is only about two miles away so when the message is sent martha believes he'll be here within an hour so she goes out and stands waiting to see jesus coming down the road an hour passes no jesus well maybe he's tied up maybe the line at the miracle session is long and he'll be here after the benediction so she waits no jesus the sun begins to set well maybe he's gotten tied up and it's too late to travel surely he'll be here first thing in the morning he goes to bed that night wakes up before the sunrise stands outside believing that when the sun breaks the horizon surely the one she's called will make his way there she waits to look sun comes up no jesus stands there waiting throughout the day the day progresses noon time comes no jesus the day progresses on even further the sun begins to go down no jesus and now anticipation is replaced with anger lord where are you i called on you and you know what i'm going through you know what i need surely you should have shown up by now what martha and mary don't know is what we understand that shows up as the greatest mystery of the work of jesus and that is this that when jesus gets word that lazarus is dying the bible says in verse number six that when he knew the one he loved was dying he decided to hang out where he was for two more days not because there was ministry to be done not because he had committee meetings not because there was work that called upon him the bible seems to suggest that when he found out lazarus was dying he deliberately decided to hang out for two more he doesn't show up and that really doesn't make sense because you said you love lazarus and you care about lazarus lazarus is your boy and you've done more for strangers surely you should have shown up by now because the expectation is the closer we get to christ and the more we love him and he loves us back there's an anticipation that when we call on him he will answer and he's only two miles away you ain't got to show up do that centurion thing you did you wish i had some bible readers when jesus just spoke and his powerful words floated through the atmosphere and brought healing you ain't got to do much just speak a word you have been there when you really wasn't asking god to do a great miracle lord just handle this little issue lord just open this door lord just handle this evil lord just heal me of the sick i'm not asking to be a uh a millionaire i'm not asking to have a grand promotion i'm asking you to give me this and give me that all i need is for you to do a little thing and god don't make sense so here come jesus four days after lazarus done died and notice that when he gets to bethany melvin there's no crowd to cry out hosanna no no no no no ain't nobody gathered to holler when the praises go up the no there's there's no excitement about jesus showing up when he shows up he's met in two distinctly different ways on one hand there's mary who when she hears jesus is coming she decides to stay in the house i ain't talking to you i don't feel like talking to you and realize it's the same mary who broke open an alabaster box and washed jesus feet with her hair she says when you didn't make sense i don't feel like talking to you because when god doesn't make sense the first thing to be attacked is your prayer life why should i talk to god i've been doing all this praying and god ain't answering she stays at home she doesn't even want to go to the place where jesus is because when god doesn't make sense not only is your prayer life affected but eventually you'll stop going to church what's the point i'm loving the lord i'm tithing i'm reading my bible i'm nice to folk i don't even like and nothing there's mary then there's martha martha doesn't stay at home and martha and sasha ain't gonna talk to jesus martha runs to where jesus is but before you give her a trophy take a look at what she does when she gets there she puts up that ole miss silly finger in jesus face lord if you had been here let me give you how john what story say if you had come when i called you and if you did what i asked you to do none of this would have happened you know martha's got that attitude that sometimes i get you know when you have more than one child your children's just dramatically different um i got a problem one of my pet peeves with my youngest child cooper is that ed when i call him there's no sense of urgency for him to come to me i'll tell you that burns my behind when i call that boy and sometimes doesn't he don't even answer and then when he does show up five minutes later he's just walking like boy when i call you you get some pep in your step and you hightail yourself to see that's how martha approaches jesus i called you now you want to sashay up in here four days after after the funeral is already over and what jesus understands is that when you reach this moment when the work of god doesn't make sense in your life and god hasn't done what you think god should have done and what god could have done and god didn't answer the prayers the way you thought they should have been answered and god didn't move in a timely manner for you and what the lord has done does not make sense when the worst happens even after you prayed here's what jesus understands that it's all about what you believe what i want you to do when you go home and read john chapter 11 for your devotional time to check the factuality of what the preacher has said which is something you ought always do i i want you to notice how many times there's an emphasis on the word believe because what christ is trying to get it through here is that in moments when god doesn't make sense what pulls you through is not what you understand it's what you believe so watch the subtle difference because jesus says on the way to the tomb he tells martha i said to you that if you believe you would see the glory of god paul's rewind press play if you believe you would see the glory of god what's going to get you through this season when you don't understand the work of god and what's going to hold you when god doesn't do what you want god to do and what's going to pull you through when the mystery of god is not what you desired in your life is not what you can understand with your mind but what you believe in your heart is what carries you through the storms of life do you believe now let me tell you why that's difficult for us to digest because we live in a world that says seeing is believing but here's how jesus flips it listen in some seasons of your life if you want to see it you got to first believe in it you've got to hold on to some beliefs that allow you to make it through it's what i believe so so quickly saints here this here's what jesus says you got to believe in moments when god doesn't make sense in moments when the lord doesn't do what you want god to do in moments when evil has found you out with your righteous and holy self in moments when the bottom of your life drops out despite how many consecutive sundays you've gone to church in those moments when god doesn't make sense here's what jesus says you've got to believe in my presence and my promise notice if you will the interaction jesus has with martha beginning around verse number 21 he says to martha and when she shows up martha says to him lord if you had been here my brother would not have died but even now i know that whatever you ask god god will do jesus says your brother will rise again now judy martha has been trained in jewish apocalyptic thought and understanding of what happens on the last day so she gives jesus the common religious cliche i know that he will rise in the resurrection at the last day because sometimes that's what we get when we struggle with god common cliches i know the lord and never put more on you than you can bear i know that weeping endures for a night but joy will kind know that god knows what's best but that ain't helping me right now come on man have you ever been there when you know church folk meant well but what they said did not minister to the depth of the pain that you were dealing with that doesn't help me so then jesus pushes it he says martha am the resurrection and i am the life here's what he says i need to know do you believe in who i am even though your brother is dead even though what i did doesn't make sense do you believe in who i am do you know that i'm still god do you believe that i'm still loving do you trust that i still have a plan for you do you understand that no matter what you've gone through i am the same god i was before the worst happened do you believe in who i am my brothers and my sisters here is the point that when you don't understand god don't let what you don't understand about god cause you to doubt what you do understand about god the paul's rewind so you tweet that right don't let what you don't understand about god cause you to doubt what god has proven repeatedly of who he is in your life don't let one situation make you doubt that god still loves you that god is still sovereign that god is still omnipotent that god is still gracious god has done too much for you to doubt the character of who he is he says do you believe in me and he says that your brother will rise again because whoever believes in me though he died he shall live again so then jesus says this do you believe this do you believe the word i just gave you do you believe the promise i just i know it doesn't look like it now but do you believe the word i just gave you how many bad things have to happen before you lose your faith in the permanence of the promises of god in god's word jesus says i need to know that if the worst should happen you still believe that all things work together for the good of them that love the lord you still believe that the lord is my light and my salvation you still believe that no weapon formed against me shall prosper you still believe that whatever you meant for evil god can work it for my good do you still believe his word she says i need i need you to believe that i am who you knew me to be before this happened and that everything i've promised you in my word i am able to perform do you believe this that that's not all he says you got to believe not only do you have to believe in my presence and my promise watch this is going to teach a little teaching do you believe in my powerful perspective watch watch what happens when jesus begins to dialogue with the disciples dean tom it's amazing he says to the disciples lazarus is sleep and i'm gonna wake him up now the disciples thought jesus was using sleep as a metaphor for a non-terminal illness they said well if he ain't really dying he's going to get better then jesus comes back around and this way he says my bad he's dead don't miss it jesus says he's sleep and i'ma wake him up disciples said well if he ain't gonna die he'll get better jesus says he's dead why does he first say he sleep and then says my bad he's dead was jesus mixed up was he confused was his diagnosis off jesus speaks of lazarus being dead as lazarus sleeping because he's seeing the condition to the perspective of his power so he begins by saying he's sleep and all i got to do is show up and i'm going wake him up the disciples get it wrong so he says okay let's make this clear if it's left up to you he's dead but if he's left up to me he's just sleeping if it's within your power he's dead but if it's in my power he's just sleeping if it's all in your hands it's over but if you put it in my hands it's something i can handle easily jesus says you gotta see it from my perspective what you see as enemies i see his footstools what you see is terminal i see it's just beginning what you see is hell i see it's heaven on the way what you see is pain i see a sufficient grace i see it differently than you says you got to know that from my vantage point with the power i have this is easy now i know it looks impossible to you i know you don't know how you can get through it i know you don't know how you're going to make it but here's the good news it ain't on you hey it's not in your hands hey it's not up to you but if you give it to me i've you gotta trust my power now now can i teach for a minute and then we get on out of here um so when jesus shows up most famous verse of all the bible jesus will i laugh when people tell me that's their favorite scripture that's the only one you know how can that be your favorite scripture jesus wept and i found that most folk misunderstand why jesus weeps because common thought has been that he weeps because lazarus is dead he didn't weep when he got the tweet that lazarus was dying he didn't weep when he got the text that lazarus was dead he doesn't weep when martha gets in his face he doesn't weep when he gets there why does jesus weep okay here it is you've got to notice judy in verse 33 and verse 38 you're going to find a specific term that jesus groaned in his spirit okay watch this he he groans in his spirit and it is the groaning that precipitates the weeping there's something going on in jesus spirit that causes him to be troubled well what is it it's not that lazarus is dead because that's easy i got that here's what makes him groan the bible says two things happen that make jesus grow number one mary is crying and there's a crowd around her that has endorsed and enabled the weeping as if this thing is over and then there's a crowd that's standing with mary who says this well if you could open blinded eyes then why didn't you handle this obviously you can't and what causes jesus to groan is that there's a crowd around him who doubts his ability to handle a situation like this and because they don't believe he knows they won't see the glory of what god is about to reveal stay with me so here it is when he goes to the grave notice mary and the crowd are not with him only martha jesus said listen the fact that you don't believe i can handle this means that you aren't equipped to stand and watch what god is about to do because if you believe you can see but if you don't believe you cannot see and your unbelief will block the glory that god is going to reveal so he cries because you're not believing it's gonna cause you to miss what god's gonna do wow what god's gonna do is so great all i need you to do is believe all i need you to do is trust that i've got enough power that i'm strong enough that i'm omnipotent enough i know he's dead i know this is a bad situation i know this didn't go down the way you wanted it to but believe that i am still able and that i can handle this unless you miss it yeah okay i got to go y'all it's time for communion in sunday school he said listen you've got to believe in my in my presence and my promise you got to believe in my powerful perspective and then finally says and i need you to believe in my plan and my path yeah yeah yeah yeah okay the whole story comes to a climax early in verse four when jesus simply says this lazarus is sick but his sickness is not unto death but for the glory of god jesus throws out one word that changes the whole scenario anybody here cook know that there's some ingredients that are so strong just put a little of it in in your recipe and it'll change everything i'll make some peach cobbler the other day and uh yeah yes sir and i decided i was gonna try a little something different i put a little vanilla extract in in the mix and it changed the whole cobbler for the better for the better for the better the better that's what jesus he throws out one ingredient that changes the whole perspective of this sick thing one word that changes the whole dynamic of what's going down one word that elevates them above what they don't understand to what they ought to shout about glory i know there's sickness but there will be glory i know you don't understand it but there will be glory i know it hurts right now but there will be glory i know this isn't what you asked for but if you hold on there will be glory now adam let me tell you why why folk don't shout when they hear the word glory i'm gonna tell you tell you why half your pew still sitting down right here because most of us have walked with the lord long enough to understand one fundamental reality that oftentimes what brings god glory doesn't bring us pleasure come on come on come here that god is glorified when those who don't believe in him see something go down that's so amazing and phenomenal that they have to lift up their eyes and acknowledge the reality of god that's why the bible says that when jesus raised his lazarus the jews who did not believe now started to believe cause god got glory now he here's the here's the press the mute button where the praise is gonna go down a little bit because what gives god glory is not your prosperity all right come here come here the new lexus in the driveway that lets your neighbor know that god is real anybody with good credit can get a lexus promotion on your job that let your co-workers know that god is real anybody with a good worth echo can get the promotion what gives god glory is when you go through hell and are at the bottom and the lord still holds your life together hey that's when i know he's real the lord says in order to get glory i've got to let the worst happen i've got to let the bottom drop out i can let all hell break loose and in the midst of that i'll still wake you up in the morning i'll still give you joy i still make ways out of no ways so that there are those around you who wonder how you're still making it and the only answer has to be that there's a god somewhere okay okay y'all sit down you're scaring me like i gotta preach this morning hey hey hey so watch watch what jesus says this is it it's done he says this sickness is not unto death but leslie the problem is that lazarus dies you said the sickness is not unto death but lazarus died yeah yeah come come come in the trouble some waters with me you said the sickness is not unto death but lazarus dies she said you you missed what i said i just said the sickness was to death i said it just had to go through that but the destination was glory i didn't say you wouldn't go through it i said you're not going to it that the destination is glory death is just on the itinerary okay okay kevin let me help you some of y'all slow on sunday um i need to let you know i'm a foodie i'm a bona fide foodie i like to eat and i like to eat well matter of fact when i go out of town i'm always on open table trying to find the best rated restaurant in the city because when i go out of town i want mcdonald i want somebody to get here i want i want the best of the best i want somebody bring me my food i want white linen that cause i want five forks up there i want the one where they come to clean the table off in between i like to eat well so i was in nashville a few weeks ago at the national baptist board meeting and as my custom i looked up best restaurant in nashville found out what it was and at the conference i bumped into one of my friends a pastor who's now pastoring in nashville and when conference over talking he said man what you're about to do and i told him about this restaurant watermark that i've been looking up and i want to go to i want to eat in nashville he said man that's a great restaurant i take my wife there all the time he said let's go get some grub i said cool i said what are you about to do he said well i got to go get my kids and drop them off at home i said that's cool i got to go to the hotel and get out this suit and then we'll go eat and i said well where is it why don't you come pick me up he said well no your hotel's on the other side of town uh why don't you just meet me there that's what friends do um i said all right all right i have he said you have a rental car i say yeah he says you got a navigation system i said yeah he said well just plug the address in and i'll meet you at the restaurant so i get in the car i have to change some clothes plug in the address to the restaurant and you know how gps works i've never been in nashville i don't know where i'm going but gps tells you where to go two miles make a right up next corner make a left i'm i'm following the navigation to the restaurant that i plugged in the destination where i'm trying to go yeah so so the navigation is leading me to the destination the restaurant that i plugged in where i want to go i'm following the navigation because it's leading me to the destination that's plugged in where i want to go but while following the navigation it took me into a neighborhood that looked familiar to me i said this must be the south side of nashville cause y'all i'm in the hood i i mean the neighborhood with the brotherhood i was in the hood brothers walking around with house shoes and wife beaters on i'm i'm in the hood but i'm trying to get to the best restaurant in nashville i called my friend i said man i don't think i'm going right cause i don't look like this is the area for the restaurant he said where are you i gave him the cross streets he said man you in the hood i said i know this looks familiar to me he said did you put in the destination i said yes he said well from the side of town you are on the best way to get there is that you have to go through the hood but don't stop driving in the hood because the destination is already programmed you got to go through the hood to get to where you're trying to go goodbye saints may the lord bless your mighty good but sometimes you got to go through pain to get to glory got to go through hell to get to glory but if you trust god and follow god the lord will yes he will he'll guide you all the way do me a favor would you just nurse somebody and ask him do you believe this do you believe in who god is and what god said do you believe he's got enough power to handle this situation do you believe he has a plan and a path you've got to go through i might have to cry sometimes it might hurt sometimes i may not like it all the time but if you trust god jesus says it's not unto death it's just through death do you believe this it's what you believe not what you understand it carries you through the moments when god doesn't make sense somebody holler i believe this

Channel: Alfred Street Baptist Church

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Keywords: Pastor Wesley

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Length: 47min 8sec (2828 seconds)

Published: Tue Apr 16 2013