Behind the Scenes of Sacrifice

Technology to the rescue once again!  I was celebrating the licensing of Bible Study Brother as a minister on Sunday, so I missed fellowshipping with my church family.  No worries.  I watched the replay on Facebook.  Here’s your sermon recap!

Sunday’s sermon came from John 11:1-16.  Mary, Martha, and Lazarus were siblings who spent a lot of time with Jesus.  They loved Jesus, and He loved them.  Mary demonstrated her love for Jesus by anointing Him with fragrant oil and wiping His feet with her hair.  This family had a personal relationship with our Lord and Savior.

In the text used in the sermon, Lazarus is sick.  Not like how men act when they get a cold.  He was sick-sick.  He was so ill that Mary and Martha sent word to Jesus.  They knew of His healing power and wanted Him to come and make Lazarus well.  Jesus announced that Lazarus’ sickness was not unto death but would bring glory to God.  He stayed where He was for two more days, and then proclaimed that it was time to return to Judea.

Now the disciples know Lazarus is sick.  They know Jesus loves Lazarus.  But their response is to remind the Lord of how the Jews in Judea treated Jesus.  They’re all like, “Excuse me Jesus….but ummm….don’t you remember that they were looking to stone you.  You want us to go back there again??”  Well, all the disciples except for Thomas.

Thomas is often called doubting Thomas.  He is the disciple who missed out on seeing Jesus in His resurrected body the first time that Jesus appeared to the disciples after His resurrection.  At that time, Thomas tells them that He won’t believe that they got to spend time with Jesus until he can put his hands in Jesus’ side and touch Jesus’ nail pierced hands.  This statement has followed Thomas for centuries.  And given him a bad rap.  But let’s look at devotion before the cross.

See, the other disciples are worried about their own lives as well as the life of Jesus.  Surely, they had all interacted with Lazarus and had relationship with him too.  But in Lazarus’ time of need, the other disciples are looking out for self.  Thomas, on the other hand, is willing to follow Jesus into a very real possibility of death.  He has an exceptional willingness to go with Christ.

Thomas was willing to sacrifice even unto the point of death.  Following Christ is more than cute church sayings on your coffee mug and t-shirts.  It’s more than visiting the nursing home every quarter with your Sunday School class.  Following Christ comes with a price.  It requires that we sacrifice ALL that we are to the One who gave us life.  We deny ourselves and follow Him.  #wepreach