Scripture: Romans 8:5-11; Ezekiel 37:1-14; John 11:1-45 and Psalms 130 (Call to Worship)
Title: Hope Made Possible
Proposition: In all our passages we see God's Wonderful Message of HOPE - Hope that is founded on these facts 1. God is at work for us 2. God is at work with us 3. God is at work in us and 4. God is at work through us
INTRO:
Grace and peace from God our Father and from His Son Jesus Christ who came to take away the sin of the world.
All of our passages this morning starting with our Old Testament passage (Ezekiel 37:1-14) and going on to our Gospel passage (John 11:1-45) to then finishing with our Pauline passage (Romans 8:5-11) focus on the idea of Hope in the midst of sin, darkness and despair.
The Prophet Ezekiel being in the Spirit of the LORD, is taken out to a large valley where he finds himself surrounded in a valley of dead men's bones. Physically, we know that the prophet is in exile in Babylon, a captive of a foreign government. His people, the Children of Israel had likewise been captured, exiled and enslaved. His land, the Promise Land of God was now under the control of goys (Gentiles) and infidels. His Temple, the Holy Place where the LORD GOD ALMIGHTY made his name to dwell and where His glory was known was now a rubble of burnt bricks. The great bronze pillars, the plates of gold than lined the temple along with all the golden utensils were now sitting in the Nebuchadnezzar's store rooms. There was no son of David sitting high on the throne in Jerusalem. Instead, he and his family were living as defeated servants at the whim and wishes of King Nebuchadnezzar.
All around him all the prophet can see is dead man's dried out bones. Bones of people who once were full of life, hope and expectations. Bones that reminded him of His people, their land, their king and their faith. They too looked and felt like dead man's bones. All of their hopes, their expectations and even their faith had dried up like these bones. They no longer believed that they could be rescued, redeemed or even restored.
Our Evangelist John tells us that the city of Bethany was also in deep mourning. It had lost one of its leading citizens named Lazarus, who was the brother of Martha and Mary. Jesus and His disciples were coming to pay their final respects or at least it seemed that way. The scene John paints is one of overwhelming grief, sorrow and hopelessness. Even after four days the sisters emotions were still extremely raw and it seemed like their lives were paralyzed. As you read this story you get the feeling that they believed that life was over. You get the feeling that they don't know how to cope without their brother, Lazarus.
All around them people are whispering. The whispering gets louder once Jesus arrives on the scene. Our Evangelists lets us know that some begin to conjecture that if only Jesus had arrived earlier when he was summoned he could have done something to save Lazarus. They based their belief on what they had seen Jesus do earlier for the blind man. Surely, if Jesus could restore a man's sight then at the very least he could have prevented Lazarus premature death.
However, all of that is moot. The only hope now is their belief in the resurrection. Lazarus has died, his body has been prepared and it has been lying in a tomb for four days. The time for any other hope than the final resurrection is long past. The only thing that can happen now is a few hugs, a few kind words and at best some human comfort. No one is looking for Jesus to do any kind of miracle at all. All hope is lost.
In Romans 8 Paul shares with that if we are placing all our hope in the flesh we will only face sorrow, failure and death. Paul reveals us once more the impossibility of our flesh being able to live a holy life in and of itself. In Romans 5-7, our Apostle spends a great deal of time reminding us of how impossible it is for the flesh to please God and to lead us to a life of progressive holiness. The flesh, Paul tells us is hostile to God and can only lead us to physical and spiritual death.
On the surface it seems like all three passages focus on sin, hopelessness and death.
In Ezekiel 17 the exiled People of God are like the dry bones - they are absent life, hope and a future.
In John 11 the sisters of Lazarus and all their friends know that Lazarus' body is already decaying in his tomb. The time for hope is gone. All they can hope for is a final resurrection some day.
In Romans 8, the Apostle looks at the body and overwhelmingly realizes that the flesh of man cannot please the LORD. The flesh is hostile to the LORD and can only bring death.
When we read such passages we don't want to dwell on this message of hopelessness. Instead, we want to rush forward to the part in Ezekiel where the bones take on new life. Where they begin to be covered with muscle, flesh and blood are filled with the Spirit of the LORD. We want to rush ahead to Lazarus' tomb and hear Jesus cry out in a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out." We want to rush to Paul's words about the Spirit of the LORD bringing peace, healing and life.
I think it is because we don't want to think about exile, about disease, about the failures of our flesh or the multitudes of our sins. We don't want to think about being held captive body, mind and soul to a sinister force that is stronger than we are and that can make us do things that we know we shouldn't do. We don't want to think about how little power we do have in this life and even in the life to come. We don't want to think about our own hubris or our own mortality or even our own sin(s).
Instead, we want to rally and march with Ezekiel's new revived soldiers, we want to quickly unbind resurrected Lazarus and let him go and we want to experience a quick work of the Holy Spirit's transformation that will immediately end all of our spiritual troubles. We want to avoid the hard work of conviction, confession and consecration. We want to avoid the hard work of repentance and restitution. I believe so many times we want to experience revival and a new life and freedom in the Spirit without having to:
+Leave Babylon and start that long trip back to Jerusalem with all the hard work and dedication it will take to rebuild the city, the Temple and the faith
+Protect and defend Lazarus, Mary and Martha as now they are all under a death threat from the fanatical religious right of the Temple at Jerusalem who want nothing to do with any "resurrection" miracles done by Jesus.
+Live out a life of spiritual transformation that involves surrendering daily to the power and presence of the Holy Spirit. Living out a life of spiritual transformation that includes discipleship and living out the life of being a genuine human being.
I believe this morning that we moderns tend to have more difficulties in this area than our ancestors because we have been raised in a world in which instant gratification is the norm. Let me give an rather clumsy example. Let's say that I wake up one morning and I want a Toaster Strudel for breakfast. I don't have to mix the flour or prepare the filling or even the icing. In fact, the hardest thing I have to do is get out the Toaster and open up the little plastic bag that contains the Toaster Strudel. Then all I have to do is wait a few minutes and squeeze out some of the already prepared icing on the pastry and there I have it. One fantastic little Strudel that cost around 60 cents. Not bad.
Now, was it fantastic? No, but what do you expect with something that costs around 60 cents a strudel? What do you expect out of fast food?
Again, I didn't have to get up and get the flour out and begin making the bread. I didn't have to go out and mix up the filling or pick some fruit to make into the filling. I didn't have to mix up a topping. All I had to do was to open the box, get out the strudel, pop it in the toaster and wait. All for around 60 cents and that is including the electricity. And if I put it all on a paper towel then I don't have any clean up. All I have to do is throw the paper towel in the trash can.
That is the world we live in today. It's quick and if we don't have a lot of demands then we can simply adjust to living a life of microwave foods and fast food. Then every now and then we can decide to sit down and enjoy a real meal. We know it will cost us both time and money but once in a while that is okay. We all know that we need to eat healthy ever now and then. But for the most part we are always on the go so we have gotten use to fast food, processed food and microwave foods.
Because of all of that we are tempted to do the same in our spiritual lives. We go to a good sized church, we are entertained with a great music program, a well designed sermon and at the end we are given a few nice platitudes or challenges and off we go out for another week. We have checked Church off of our list and we feel that we can make it another week. More and more we are tempted to bypass small groups that may cause us to have to take some time to read, reflect and revise the way we are thinking and living. However, more and more of small groups are only taking time to skim the surface of a passage bypassing the need to dig deep. They are majoring more of human to human connection rather than human to divine connection and worship.
And so we come to these passages and we are tempted to rush through each of them. We don't want to sit down beside Ezekiel as he is overwhelmed with the loss of hope. We don't want to experience his feelings sitting some 700 miles away from his home back in Jerusalem. We don't want to join in his angst as he begins to realize that he will never again see or experience the life he had back in Israel. All he can do is to place his hope that one day that the LORD will rescue, redeem and restore His People.
We may not want to allow ourselves to enter into the world of Mary and Martha. We may not want to hear their cries or see their grief stricken faces. We may not want to join them in experiencing what it means to have your whole world turned upside down. We may not want to think about what it means to experience a life of their new normal - a life without Lazarus. We don't want to join them in having to think about what all this will mean. Will they have to leave their home and who will provide for their basic needs now that Lazarus lies cold in his tomb?
We may not even want to hear Paul's words of how we humans don't have the physical power to please the LORD or live a holy life. We may not want to join him in all this reflection and introspection. Instead, we may want to merely continue to put on a happy face for others on Sunday morning knowing how we are tempted to live Monday through Saturday.
After all we all know the struggles of having to deal with things like anger, holding a grudge after someone does us wrong, thinking wrong thoughts or even doing or saying wrong things. We all know the struggles we have in keeping it all together in the midst of some trials and tribulations. We all know how we are tempted to act when push comes to shove in the mix of our dog eat dog world. We all know the struggles of when people test us and how are tempted to allow the flesh to overpower the spirit and really tell people what we truly feel at times in our hearts and minds.
However, before we get to the "great sections" of each of our passages we must be honest with the Word and allow the pain, the angst and the hopelessness of all our passages to touch us. We must physically, emotionally and most importantly spiritually experience the pain and the hopelessness each passage shares with this morning. We have to sit among those bones with the Prophet Ezekiel. We must join Mary and Martha and their friends as they look at that closed tomb and hear their cries of grief. We must hear and acknowledge Paul's words that we humans bring nothing to the table of holiness and righteousness. We must acknowledge the bankruptcy of our flesh and the depth of our sinfulness.
It is important for us to experience all of that pain. But it is just as important that we embrace the victory, the joy and the holiness of each of our passages this morning. It is important that we go on and experience the Good News. The Good News that we have a LORD that wants seeks to work for us, with us, in us and through us this morning.
Let's go back to God's conversation with Ezekiel. We see that there are a series of vital questions that God asks Ezekiel that start off with the one that we find in verse 3 where the LORD asks Ezekiel - "Son of man, can these bones live?"
You just got to love Ezekiel's answer. It is not flippant but it is one that is full of humility, reason and faith. "O Lord God, you know."
Ezekiel was no fool. He knew two things and learned some new things:
a. He knew was that dry bones stay dry bones. At best they are only reminders of lives past lived. They contain no power or life.
b. He knew that when the LORD said something it was possible. Ezekiel was smart enough to know that if God said that they could come to life then they could come back to life.
And Ezekiel learned something far more important and vital. Ezekiel learned that God wanted him to be a part of a wonderful miracle. Ezekiel learned that God wanted him to share the wonderful news of God's rescue, renewal and restoration.
The LORD did not need Ezekiel to put life back into those bones. The LORD could have merely shown Ezekiel a vision of the bones coming back to life with no words being spoken, no questions being asked and no commitment being made. But that is not how our LORD works. God loves and desires a relationship with us and He loves for us to have a vital part of rescuing, redeeming and renewing us and everyone around us.
We see this in the fact that the LORD allowed Ezekiel to prophesy the words to those bones. He allowed Ezekiel to speak the words that enabled the bones to come together and begin the process of being alive again. We even see that the LORD allows the Prophet to join Him in speaking the words of life into the Bones - of bring back the "Spirit" into the reconstituted flesh.
Now, this was not a vision of merely allowing some dried out bones to come to life. It was the message of what God sought to do through the Prophet and other obedient and spirit filled people for His glory and honor. It would be through the Prophet and others like him who choose to have a relationship with the LORD and who chose to be committed to obeying and listening to the LORD that God's miracles will be accomplished. The LORD will lead His people back from the state of being spiritual dry and dead to being His People - filled with His Spirit and life. The LORD was telling the Prophet that He would bring His People back out of slavery. The LORD was telling His Prophet to tell others that God would rescue them, redeem then and restore them again. The LORD would do this because He said He would do this.
We see a very similar conversation happening between Mary, Martha and Jesus. Once again we it is full of some questions and statements. While Jesus deals with Martha and Mary individually in the end our LORD asks them both to believe that He is in fact the Resurrection and the LIFE. He asks them to believe that He is not only the Resurrection of the LIFE one day out in the distant future but that He is the Resurrection and the Life TODAY. He wants them to believe that in His a person can experience the Resurrected Life in the here and now.
Once again Jesus looks to co-partner with us humans. Surely, this same Jesus who can call forth the dead does not need anyone to move the stone. Surely, Jesus does not need anyone to unbind Lazarus. We all know this morning that our LORD does not need any help at all. With the wave of His hand the Stone could have been moved or pulverized. With the sound of his voice the bindings could have vanished or being swept away by the wind.
So, why did and does Jesus ask for help? Why did the Son of God, the Messiah look at those around him and say - "Take away the stone" "Unbind him" ? Does God really need our help? Does the LORD need us to be complete? Of course, no. Where were we when the worlds were being created? Where were we when the heavens and the earth were being put in their place? Where were we when the LORD started speaking the plants and animals into existence?
God does not need us but God does desire us to be with Him. All of us were created in His Image from Adam and Eve on down. We were created to share life with Him. We were created to enjoy His presence as He enjoys our presence. We were created to be One with Him heart, mind and soul. We were created to live in a love relationship.
Like Ezekiel, all those around Mary and Martha were invited to be a part of the miracle. They were invited to join in the story. Because they joined in, years later they can still tell the story of the day when they took a hold of the stone and helped move it out the way. Years later they can tell of the story of how they help pull away all the cloth that bound Lazarus. Years later they can tell of the story of seeing Lazarus reopen his eyes and look at them with wonder and amazement. Years later they can share Lazarus' first words, remember his first smile and the joy that came upon the faces of Mary and Martha. That all was made possible because the LORD invited them and us this morning to be a part of His miracles and salvation.
Finally, we see the same thing in Paul's writing to the Romans. Rome took so much pride in her physical might. She took so much pride in the power of her intellect, her government and in her military. She had flexed her mighty muscles and brought the world to its knees. She was the #1 Superpower of the ancient world. Her armies were better equipped with the latest technologies and the best training. Her government was founded on the best that humanity could offer at the time. Her education was the best that humanity could provide. She was the envy of the ancient world.
But at her core there was a growing cancer of decay, degradation and disintegration. At her core, Rome knew that even with all of its military might, its political might and its educational systems that there was a systemic evil that ran rampant throughout her kingdom. Rome knew that underneath all that it tried to portray there was a terminal sickness that was sucking the life out of her military, her government and her families. Rome knew something was wrong no matter how hard she tried to stamp it out with brute force or more education or even better roads and social programs.
Paul shares in his writings that the answer to all of Rome problems and the hopelessness was the LORD JESUS CHRIST. Paul reveals to the Romans that the same God who brings dry bones to life and the same Messiah that can by mere words bring back the dead can enable her and her people to live a life of hope, of expectation and of promise.
Paul shares that the deepest problems a person can face can be defeated and transformed through the power and presence of God's Holy Spirit. Paul shares that the Holy Spirit can give one a new heart, a renewed mind and a transformed life. Paul shares that in Christ Jesus one can go from decay, disintegration and death to experiencing salvation, new life and spiritual formation. Paul shares that the LORD of the Universe has made a way through Jesus of Nazareth and His Holy Spirit for everyone to experience new life from above.
Paul also makes a point to for us to understand that God's salvation is for today. Paul does speak of a future resurrection but his major focus is on what is possible for us today. He wants us to understand that in Christ we can have a new life today and tomorrow as well.
I don't know about you but at times I think that we in the Church focus too much on our final resurrection. We focus too much on the fact that one day we will have a new body and a new life. We focus too much on the fact that one day we will no longer have pain and suffering. And while those things are true and just we at times forget what we can experience in the here and now.
Yes, there is the final resurrection and it will be glorious. Just take a moment and read Revelation chapters 21 and 22. However, that is in the future. Right now we are not dead. We are alive here on planet earth in the 21st Century. Are we to merely bide our time until finally the moment of death takes us and then we wake up in our new bodies to live on the New Heaven and New Earth? Is that all we can look forward to this morning? Are we to be saved and then simply mark time? Saved but still living in a world condemned to be under the penalty and power of sin?
No, that is not the message of any of our passages this morning. They are messages of hope. They are messages of the reality that our LORD wants to work for us, in us, with us and through us. They are messages of rescue, renewal, revival and restoration. They are messages that tell us that our Lord seeks to step in and help us in our times of struggles, heart aches and grief. They are messages of hope that tell us that:
"I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live" That is not merely for some day in the future but for TODAY!
"I am the Resurrection and the Life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die." That is not merely for some day in the future but for TODAY!
"If the Spirit of him who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you." That is not merely for some day in the future but for TODAY!
"O Israel, hope in the LORD! For with the LORD there is steadfast love, and with Him is plentiful redemption." That is not merely for some day in the future but for TODAY!
+This morning, there are some of us that may feel like dried out dead bones.
+We may feel that all hope is gone and our plans, our hopes and our expectations are lying dead in some tomb.
+We may have come to believe that no matter how hard we try our flesh is going to win out each and every time. That we are going to always end up defeated and in despair.
+We may even feel that our life pages in Heaven are only full of line after line of our sin and iniquities.
But we need to understand this morning that we serve a God who wants to work for us, who wants to work in us, who wants to work with us and who wants to work through us. We serve a God who can this morning:
+In Christ, take those dead dried out bones of our broken lives and broken promises and breathe new life in them
+In Christ, take those things that we thought were condemned to decay and disintegration and breathe new life into them. We need to understand that God can call all that we thought was gone back into existence just as He called Lazarus from the tomb.
+In Christ, enable us to accomplish in the flesh a life of righteousness and holiness. We need to understand that we can be filled and transformed by His Holy Spirit.
Yes, it is important and I would say vital for us to experience the angst, the hubris, the pain and hopelessness that we see Ezekiel and his fellow exiles experiencing. It is important for us to experience the angst, the grief, the pain that we see Mary and Martha and their friends are experiencing. It is important for us to understand the bankruptcy of our flesh and spirit without Christ.
But I believe it is more important for us to focus this morning on the Good News made possible through our LORD JESUS.
+Dry bones can come alive
+Stones can be rolled back and new life emerge
+God's Holy Spirit can lead us to a life of redemption, renewal and restoration.
I believe it is time that we spend some time with the LORD and place our sins, our burdens our sorrows into His hands. It is time that we surrender our control and our puny thoughts and strength and be amazed at what God can do.
If God can raise dried bones, raised dead bodies and place His Spirit into sinful flesh then God can
+Save our souls
+Reach out to our families and friends
+Co-partner with us in transforming our world, our towns, our places of work, our homes and our own lives.
+Do the impossible
This morning, as we close you may be here and believe that no one cares for you or that what you are going through cannot be transformed or changed. You may believe that you are condemned to live a life of pain and suffering all alone. You may believe that there is no power that is strong enough to change your life or the lives of those around you. You may believe that you have to live a life of constant failure and disappointment.
Let me share with you that this morning the LORD is looking for some
+Dry bones to breathe new life into. He is looking for anyone who needs a renewed sense of hope and joy
+Dead dreams and hopes so that He can call them back into new life. He wants to revive your dreams and hopes this morning.
+People who no longer desire to walk by or in the flesh and instead want to walk and live in the Holy Spirit. People who will surrender their lives over to the LORD so that He can infill and anoint you anew with His Holy Spirit.
As we close we want to spend some time in God's Presence - praying, reaching out, obeying, receiving and rejoicing. We want to be quiet before the LORD and allow Him to bring healing and wholeness into our lives. We want to give any the opportunity to come to the altar of the LORD and receive new life, refreshing and anointing this morning. Let us all come before His Presence in quietness and allow His Holy Spirit to lead us as we join in singing and prayer this morning.
Closing song and open altar time
