2006-05-28 Communion Dedication – Baldwin Christian Church

When Jesus heard that His friend Lazarus was ill, He waited two days before starting the journey to Bethany.  By the time Jesus arrived, Lazarus had already been in the grave four days.  Jesus was teaching an important lesson.  If we truly believe that Jesus has power over death, then we cannot die unless He says so.  If we believe in Jesus, we walk in His steps, not by what our eyes tell us.  The world, my friends, my family, and even my own body may all try to tell me that I’m getting older, that I’m dying, but because of Jesus, I believe that I’m being renewed from the inside each and every day (1 Corinthians 4:16).  He told Lazarus’ grieving sister Martha, “whosoever lives and believes in Me shall never die” (John 11:26), and then He asked her if she believed this.  Like most of us do, Martha gave Jesus a half-hearted answer, and walked away.  She believed Lazarus would rise again at the last day, but she lacked the kind of faith that would renew her today.  When Jesus commanded the people roll away the stone covering the entrance to Lazarus’ tomb, of course, Martha had something negative to say about that.  How it must have grieved Jesus to see the lack of faith in the people mourning for Lazarus, and how must we trouble Him when we believe less in Him than in what we see with our eyes.  Fortunately, there is grace for us “show me” types, so Jesus brought Lazarus back from the grave that day.  Word of this event came back to Jerusalem, and…

John 11:47-53

Then gathered the chief priests and the Pharisees a council, and said, What do we? for this man doeth many miracles.  If we let him thus alone, all men will believe on him: and the Romans shall come and take away both our place and nation.  And one of them, named Caiaphas, being the high priest that same year, said unto them, Ye know nothing at all, Nor consider that it is expedient for us, that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not.  And this spake he not of himself: but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus should die for that nation; And not for that nation only, but that also he should gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad.  Then from that day forth they took counsel together for to put him to death.

Jesus knew that He would be in trouble if He came back to Judea, but He went anyways.  Jesus knew that the miracle of Lazarus’ resurrection would be the last straw for the jealous religious leaders in Jerusalem, but He prayed for the miracle anyways.  Jesus knew that if He raised His beloved friend from the dead, Lazarus would also become a target for the murderous religious leaders, but He raised him anyways.  Jesus knew He was in a war, and that war is still going on today.

Over 42 million men and women have served in this nation’s armed forces, and more than 650,000 of them lost their lives in combat.  Many more have received wounds, and many more have died outside of combat.  They all knew they would be in trouble when they signed up, but they did it anyways.  Jesus knew that our freedom came with a price, and He asked His Father if there was any other way.  There was no other way, so Jesus set aside His own interests for the good of the people, something our men and women in uniform do everyday.   We take our freedom for granted, there is so much in this country today, but we must remember the price our armed forces pay for this freedom.  We owe them a great debt of thanksgiving, and we owe Jesus everything.