Hey friend, welcome back another week, another
episode of the Semi -Seminarian. This week it's
a little short homily that I did with our dinner
church when I talked about the difference between
filial love, earthly love, and the love that
God gives us, agape love. This is a story about
when Mary and Martha send the letter to Jesus
to let him know that their brother Lazarus is
sick. Anyway, I'll see you on the other side.
The story that we're going to look at tonight,
this is some of my favorite time of the year.
Just my favorite because we're right on the precipice
of the... easter season these last couple of
weeks two or three weeks in jesus's life scripturally
is very very uh interesting to me and so we're
going kind of from this moment forward we're
going to kind of uh look chronologically at stories
that would be consistent with the last part of
jesus's earthly life so tonight's story comes
to us from john chapter 11 and uh This would
have been a couple of weeks before Easter, resurrection,
those events, that final Passover. It's kind
of where we are in the story. That's where we
are tonight. We're going to see that Jesus is
going to spend quite a bit of time with his friends
Mary, Martha, and Lazarus over these last few
weeks of his life. If you come and join us on
Sunday morning, that will be an additional story
where we'll actually see. An event that takes
place with Mary in their home right before the
end of Jesus' life. So this is a story that kind
of takes place before that. Come on Sunday and
join us. And then you'll see this other story
of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. So tonight's story
comes to us from John chapter 11. I'm going to
read a brief story here. Just five verses and
we'll see if we can apply this to our lives tonight.
John chapter 11 verse 1 says this. Now a certain
man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, in the village
of Mary and her sister Martha. It was Mary who
anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his
feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was
ill. Now, time out. That story hadn't happened
yet in the story. He thinks you already know
the story. That story actually happens later.
So he's assuming, as John writes his gospel account,
you already know when I talk about Mary, it's
the one that did the anointing. We're going to
talk about that on Sunday, the anointing of Jesus
by Mary. Lord, he whom you love is ill. Now,
when Jesus heard it, he said, this illness does
not lead to death. It's for the glory of God,
so that the Son of God may be glorified through
it. Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and
Lazarus. That's where I'll stop the reading for
this evening. Have you ever heard anybody say
that in the heat of the moment that you end up
saying stuff that you don't mean? Ever heard
anybody say that? In the heat of the moment,
people say things that they just don't mean.
I fundamentally disagree with that. I think in
the heat of the moment, you actually say things
that you do mean. I think when things intensify
and circumstances get difficult and stressful
and complicated, I think what you really believe
about life, or perhaps what you really believe
about God, what you really believe about yourself,
somehow just seems to come to the surface and
oftentimes slips right through our lips. Let's
be honest. When life gets difficult or challenging,
when things intensify and situations escalate,
what ends up happening is what you really believe,
what you swore you would never say but you think
about a lot, ends up coming to the surface, does
it not? And if in fact that's true, then that
brings us back to these five short verses that
we read just a moment ago. Because Mary and Martha
are in the thick of it, right? Mary and Martha
are in a heated moment, to say the least. Their
little brother, Lazarus, their beloved little
brother, is on death's doorstep. He is just hours
from passing away into eternity. And it becomes
clear to me that in our portion of Scripture,
that they have attempted all other avenues to
save their little brother. And now, these two
sisters have concluded that there is only one
answer. And it's a miracle. And there's only
one miracle worker, and that's God. And they
need Jesus to come and heal Lazarus. They need
him to come and save their brother's life. And
they have this very logical plan. They're going
to write a note. They're going to put it in a
runner's hand. Jesus is just several miles down
the road. They're going to have the runner run
down those several miles and hand that note to
Jesus. And upon reading this note, this note
and its contents will compel God to come down
the road the several miles and save the little
brother's life. Now, we are about to discover
what Mary and Martha believe about God. When
push comes to shove, when it's a matter of life
and death, when the heat is on, what Mary and
Martha really believe about Jesus is about to
come to the surface. Now keep in mind, Mary and
Martha and Lazarus are the closest natural family
that Jesus has on the planet other than his literal
family. The second to last week in Jesus' life
is spent exclusively. With Mary and Martha and
Lazarus. They're close friends with Jesus. Lazarus
is one of Jesus' dudes. This is his guy. Lazarus
is one of his sidekicks. Now, have you ever read
the Bible and you just anticipate you know the
story and you anticipate what's going to be said
next? I do that all the time. I've read the Bible
a few times. And I'm reading this passage and
I'm reading this story and I'm like, oh yeah,
yeah, yeah, the note. And they send it and I
knew in my memory, I knew the note read something
like, Lord, the one that loves you is ill. And
I read it and it was the opposite. I misremembered
that part of the story. I didn't remember it
the correct way. I remembered it, the one that
loves you is ill. But that's not what's said.
Let's take a little bit closer look at the contents
of the note. First, the length of the note is
shocking in and of itself. How short is the note?
If you had one note to save your loved one's
life, first of all, it's not going to be short.
If you only had one note to save your loved one's
life, one note to save my wife's life, I would
instantly begin writing down her resume. Resume.
I would start listing out her spiritual statistics.
Her average time in prayer daily, right? Because
this is life and death. But listen to what they
write. Lord, he, the one who you love is sick.
Say that again. The end. That's the end of the
story. And I remember reading that and thinking,
what? Right? This is what Mary and Martha believe.
They believe that what will move God most is
His love for Lazarus, not Lazarus' love for Him.
And whenever I had got that wrong, it was shocking
to me, because I started to think about the focus
of my relationship with God, and it started to
kind of alarm me, to be quite honest. I started
to think, wait, is the focus of the gospel, what
is the focus of the gospel? Which means the good
news of Jesus Christ. The good news of what God
has done for us through His Son. What is the
focus of the good news? Is it man loving God?
Or is it God loving man? And I had to come to
the obvious biblical conclusion that the essence
of the Gospel is overwhelmingly God loving mankind.
Now here's a thought. That it could actually
change your entire outlook on God and life, right?
Because guess what moves God the most? God. God
moves God the most. And it dawned on me, you
know John 3 .16, right? The scripture that Tim
Tebow wrote? It dawned on me that John 3 .16
doesn't read like this. For the world so loved,
or the world so served, or the world so worshipped
God, Then He gave His only begotten Son. That's
not how it reads. As if the Gospel story went
something like, you know, God is in heaven and
He's walking around on the gold -laden streets.
And then this dusty, small, little planet known
as Earth. And on that planet, there is this remnant
of people who are imploring, begging God because
of their passion and because of their desire
and their love and their intrigue. They were
so enraptured with God that they were saying,
God, come to us. We love you, please. And God
paced back and forth on those golden streets
and He considered their offer. Should I? Should
I not? I have so much to do up here because I'm
God, but boy, they're convincing. They sure want
me down there. Okay, I'll come. That's not the
gospel. For God so loved the world. And it's
got the so in front of it. It's not just loved.
It's so loved. Right? And I think it's fair that
we could maybe take so loved out and put the
word obsession. I think that's fair. God was
so obsessed with the world. That's John 3 .16.
And have you ever considered how ridiculous or
illogical this, our most famous verse is? For
God so loved the world, right? Because the world
means bad system. The world means sinful existence.
The world means bad people. So John 3 .16 reads
like this. God was so obsessed with bad people
that he put on skin and bone and came to the
earth and died. And listen, because it gets worse.
For whosoever. I mean, whoever. Right? Excuse
me. I feel like maybe if you're going to give
your life for whoever, I mean, look, if I give
you a car, The next time I see you, you better
be driving that car, right? Because I want to
be able to give you something that I know that
there's an expectation that you'll appreciate
it. Because that's how our world works. Whatever
I gave you as a present, are you wearing it?
Oh, you didn't like it? What, was it not nice
enough for you? Right? God is obsessed with bad
people. He gives His Son on the premise of whoever.
Maybe we could get a few more guarantees, God,
before you give yourself. No. Whoever, whenever,
however, what kind of love is this? Because this
is not earthly love. God is a mystery. That's
what makes him God. And if you understand God,
then that's not God you're understanding. God's
ways are higher than our ways. How His love is
higher than our love. God loves bad people. God
is obsessed with bad people. Even bad people
who stay bad. God stays in love with them. But
what is love without choice? Without choice,
we've lost the definition of love. Because in
our culture, in our society, forced love is how
you end up in jail. Right? That's abuse. And
God's not abusive. He gives us choice. And you
can either acknowledge the obsession towards
you, or you can ignore it. It's your choice,
but God's obsession remains nonetheless. 1 John
4, verse 10 says this, This is love. For it even
tells you what love is. It tells you what love
is not. It says, this is love. Not that you loved
God because you didn't, but that God loved us.
God's first. God's the initiator. The Bible is
about God. And I realized, I have been so busy
obsessing over my love, I've got this thing out
of order. And I wondered, have I missed the whole
focus of everything about being obsessed, rather
not God's obsession with me, but my obsession
with my performance and my deeds and my efforts?
And I end with this, my conclusion. 65 % of your
audience re -engages upon hearing the word conclusion,
so I shall conclude with this. Again, this is
where I'll conclude. Mary and Martha, we've made
it abundantly clear that they use the word love
in their note. Lord, the one you love is ill.
That word love they use there. That word is the
word that's most often used to refer in the Bible
when we talk about love. It's what our songs
are sung about. The word is philio. Philio. Those
familiar with Greek, philio is the word used
here by Mary and Martha. Philio is earthly love.
Philio is how people get married. Philio is how
people have best friends. Philio is love that
is based upon reciprocation. Mary and Martha
write a note to Jesus and they go, the one you
love and loves you back is sick. Oh, Mary and
Martha. You think this love is filio? You think
God filios you? I'm here to tell you God does
not filio you. He never has and He never will.
Because God has a love that is exclusively His.
It flows from His being. The essence of who He
is is not filio. It's an otherworldly love. It's
from another realm and dimension. It is from
His essence, the core of God's existence. God
does not feel love. God does not merely express
love. God is love. And God always acts in consistency
with the contents of His character. God cannot
deny Himself. But God is not filio. God is agape.
What is agape? Agape is love that absolutely
does not need reciprocation whatsoever. It is
unconditional. It is relentless. It is persistent.
And it is aggressive. And it will not take no
for an answer. It will remain. This is God. This
is how God functions. He has agape for every
human being that has ever lived. God does not...
Filio, humanity. God, agapes, humanity. And I'm
all for dolphins, and I'm for whales, and I'm
for dogs. I'm not for cats, but I am for hills,
and I'm for mountains, and I'm for lakes, and
I'm for oceans. But there is only one being created
in the image of God. In all of creation, in that
being, is the human being. And that being is
the object of God's relentless obsession. He
will not stop loving you. He cannot. In this
instance, biblically, we have to understand that
God can't help himself. How ridiculous is this
love? How extensive and extraordinary is this
love? And we, as Christians, we've got to get
this message out. That if you're bad, God is
still obsessed with you. He can't help himself.
You can't shake him. You can run, but you cannot
hide. God's love remains. And I pray today that
as we go from this place, from where we are,
and we get in our cars, and we go about the rest
of our week, I pray that the preoccupation of
your mind and your thoughts would not be your
love, your performance, your success, your weaknesses,
but you would be preoccupied with God's love.
extraordinary and extensive and expansive love
for you. Well, there you have it. I think that
is a radical Christian concept, but it is a true
concept nonetheless, that God is obsessed with
bad people. He loves us so much. Hey, listen,
if you like what we're doing here at the semi
-seminary, and if you take a few moments just
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I hope that you be blessed and be a blessing.