Sermon Tone Analysis

*The Demonstration*

*John 11:1-53       July 1, 2001*

* *

*Scripture Reading:*

 

*Introduction:*

 

          How many people here have ever been involved in a demonstration?

Perhaps like us you have experienced the vacuum cleaner salesman who showed up at your house, invited himself in, and promptly proceeded to demonstrate how his product worked by throwing dirt on your living room carpet just to show how well his vacuum cleaner worked.

He wasn't taking a chance with his product because he knew how well it worked even though we didn't.

What he was taking a chance on was us.

But he made his point.

He showed us how good his product was.

We bought the vacuum cleaner and demonstrated it ourselves every week on our carpet for the next 25 years.

We had a demonstration with the 5-8 grade boys in VBS on Tuesday night.

They were learning how to saw a board, and like one of them said, "This is real man stuff."

Almost without exception, each one wanted to "muscle" the saw too hard instead of letting the saw do its work, but we got them through it with a halfway decent looking craft project.

We demonstrated the art of sawing a board.

I'm sure that the other groups also had their time of demonstrating one particular art or another.

We have often heard of political demonstrations – even those that get out of hand and cause great destruction.

There have been recent demonstrations in the news like the one in Sweden protesting President Bush's environmental policies.

There have also been demonstrations concerning World Trade Organization practices in places like Seattle.

There have been demonstrations in Israel between the Jews and the Palestinian Arabs over acts of violence.

It is an interesting process we use to demonstrate against violence by demonstrating violence.

Chicago recently experienced thousands of cars driving around the city flying the Puerto Rican flag.

We also have times of the year when we see mass displays of Polish flags and Mexican flags as people demonstrate pride of ethnic or national origin.

And if we stop to think about it, each of us who walked in the CareFirst Hike for Life along the lakefront this May were involved in a demonstration for the right to life.

A demonstration "puts our money where our mouth is" so to speak.

A demonstration is an action that proves our words or values or makes a statement or sells a product or teaches a skill.

Now Jesus had made some striking claims and taught some amazing truths.

Back in John 5, Jesus had claimed to be equal with God, to have the life of God within himself, and to be able to give it whomever he wished as the eternal judge of all mankind.

So in John 5 we heard what Jesus had to say about himself.

Then we heard also in John 5 about the evidence that supported what Jesus had to say about himself.

Last week in John 6 we heard about the application Jesus made about the truth of all this that we might believe in him when he multiplied the loaves and fishes and fed the 5,000.

An application helps us to see truth by relating it to something we can readily understand, like when Jesus said his body was real food and his blood was real drink.

Now that one separated the men from the boys and the women from the girls when many of his disciples left him.

The application was that if you wanted life, real life, spiritual life, you must feed on Jesus – you must take him in.

Many were not ready for such radically effective religion.

But the next step past application is demonstration.

It puts the application to the test and makes it real.

Like the application of the dirt on the carpet, the removal makes the claim real.

If Jesus says he himself is real life just like food and drink, we must see his power to prove it.

So now in John 11:1-53 we will see a marvelous demonstration of the truth of Jesus' love for those who have chosen to believe in him.

*Big Question:*

 

/          How does Jesus demonstrate his love for those who believe in him?/

Jesus demonstrates his love for us by allowing delay in the face of death.

Jesus demonstrates his love for us by giving hope in the face of death.

Jesus demonstrates his love for us by his moral outrage in the face of death.

Jesus demonstrates his love for us by his moral authority in the face of death.

Jesus demonstrates his love for us by offering himself as the resurrection and the life in the face of death.

*I.

Cycle One*

 

*          A.

Narrative (vv.

1-16)*

 

          This Mary is the one who responds in heartfelt love to Jesus later in 12:3 by anointing his feet with expensive perfume and drying them with her hair.

This account is noted with similarity in all four gospels, but the one in Luke is different.

That account in Luke is by a sinful woman who also wipes Jesus' feet with her tears, and it is at an earlier time and different place.

That leads me to wonder if her example of humble and sacrificial love is something that Mary had heard about and does likewise in the time drawing close for Jesus' crucifixion.

She sees herself as a sinner in need of grace and she worships with her whole heart, soul, and body, as well as her possessions.

At any rate, it is quite obvious that she and her sister and brother love Jesus deeply.

They have responded to his love for them deeply.

And isn't this the prerequisite for eternal life as we know it in the gospels?

John is telling us about a beautiful love relationship with Jesus that any of us can respond to by faith in him.

The right things are in place here for the perfect and ultimate demonstration of Jesus' love for us, and that is that we must respond to his love for us.

"The one you love" is the expression by Mary and Martha of the personal closeness they feel from Jesus.

Have you ever been around one of those truly gifted senior saints who is so gracious in Spirit that each one that knows them could truly say that they are loved by them the best?

The result of all this is that God's glory will be displayed or demonstrated.

And it will be for our benefit.

Lazarus was dead even as the messenger was telling Jesus of the emergency regarding his sickness (v.

17).

They had seen Jesus heal the sick, but raising the dead would be a new phenomenon.

Jesus was going to demonstrate his love in this new and perfect way, and so to leave no room for doubt, he waited for two more days on purpose.

This was not a lack of concern on his part since Lazarus was already dead.

By the time he got there he had been dead for 4 days: 1 day journey for the messenger, 2 days wait by Jesus, and 1 day journey by Jesus equals 4 days.

Jewish superstition claimed that the departed soul hovers around the body for three days looking to re-enter it until it sees the body start to decompose, and then it leaves.

So Jesus would wait four days to leave no room for doubt that Lazarus was indeed dead.

It was out of love that Jesus waited so that God the Father and the Son may glorified through it and their own faith might be enhanced by the demonstration of that love they were about to witness.

How much might we miss God's blessings by our propensity to insist on what we can get "now."

But notice how much Jesus is willing to face imminent danger in order to give us those blessings, but also notice his confidence in God to face that danger for us (vv.

10-11).

He walks in the light with time enough for his works of righteousness with nothing to hide.

We see death here for the believer as a picture of sleep from which Jesus will awaken us.

*          B.

Implication*

 

/          How does Jesus demonstrate his love for those who believe in him?/

Jesus demonstrates his love for us by allowing delay in the face of death.

*          C.

Illustration*

 

The following is a wonderful prayer by Norwegian Theologian Ole Hallesby:

   "Lord, if it will be to Your glory, heal suddenly.

If it will glorify You more, heal gradually; if it will glorify You even more, may your servant remain sick awhile; and if it will glorify Your name still more, take him to Yourself in heaven."

Christ -- was never in a hurry, never impressed by numbers, never a slave to the clock.

(but we live among people who are)

   -- J.B. Phillips

 

Faith is not the way around pain, it is the way through pain.

Faith doesn't get rid of the opposition, it invites it over for dinner.

Faith doesn't give you the winning point at the last second, it ties the game and sends you into overtime.

Faith doesn't give you the solution, it forces you to find it.

Faith doesn't teach you at the moment, it teaches in retrospect.

Faith doesn't provide a net to fall into when your fingers are about to give way as you hang suspended over the cliff, faith gives your finger the strength to hang on just a little longer.

In other words, faith doesn't do anything when it's doing something.

-- Mike Yaconelli

 

*          D.

Application*

 

*II.