Jesus Makes Suffering Understandable

Welcome to Living in the Light with Bible teacher Anne Graham Lotz and her introduction for today's message. He allows us to suffer to develop our faith, and it isn't so much growing up in this great big faith, is it? It's just narrowing it down until the object of our faith is Jesus and Jesus alone. You're listening to Anne Graham Lotz on this edition of Living in the Light and Anne's message called Jesus Makes Suffering Understandable.

Here's Anne. Several years, in fact it was quite a few years ago, Amsterdam, the Congress for our Tenant Evangelists, in 1986, I was invited to come and give a message. I took two of my children and one of their friends, and I had agreed with a friend before we went over, and another friend and her husband were going also, that after Amsterdam, we would take about four days and travel through Germany, and her husband would rent the van and drive us. So I told my children that they were to save the money that they had earned and made, and that they were to hold it, and afterwards we would go sightseeing and have some fun, because they were going over early. They went over about six weeks early to work in the Congress. So we got there the week of the Congress, and it was a wonderful experience, and I spoke the next to the last day, and I gave my message in the morning, and that afternoon, my friend called me, and she said, again, by the way, our plans have changed, and my husband and I are going to Switzerland, and I hope you have a nice week.

And she took off. First of all, I knelt down on the floor, and I cried, and I prayed, and I said, Lord, you know, my hotel reservations don't expand past the night, and this hotel is booked. Everybody will be leaving tomorrow when the Congress is over, and I'll have nobody in Amsterdam. I'll have three teenagers. I have nobody to help me.

I can't change my tickets because of the price of them and leave earlier. I'm stuck in Amsterdam without a hotel with three teenagers with nobody to help me for four days. And I said, Lord, all I have is you. And to my mind, he brought this verse, and I'm going to do for you more abundantly than you can think to ask. And I said, let's just see it, you know. So my daughter was taking a nap when she woke up. I told her what had happened, and she cried, and she was angry, and then I shared with her what I felt like God had said to me, that he was going to do something for us that we could only dream of. And so I said, we're not going to tell anybody.

You know, if God's going to do this, God's going to do it. And so we went to the meeting that night, and I got swamped because a lot of the people had recognized me from the message that morning, and it ended up I stayed to about 11.30 or 12, people just speaking to me. It was really precious, but I missed my ride, so my daughter and I had to walk the mile and a half back to the hotel through the rain. We got to the hotel. We hadn't had supper. We were going past the dining room, and there was my friend with about 12 people at this long table. They called out to me and asked us to join them, and I didn't want to eat there, and I didn't want to eat with my friend, but I was hungry, so I said, okay.

So I sat down at the table across from somebody I had met once before, but I didn't know him at all. It was just a strange man sitting across from the table, and he said, Anne, why don't you come to London? He said, we're having a wedding. Prince Andrew is marrying Sarah Ferguson, and it's a wonderful festive time, and why don't you come to London? And I just looked at him, and I said, I can't go to London.

So then after a moment, the man came back, and he said, Anne, he said, why won't you go to London? I said, I'll give you three reasons I'm not going to London. Number one is I'm responsible for three teenagers, and it would terrify me to take three teenagers to a strange place in a strange city. I wouldn't know how to get around.

I wouldn't know what to do. I said, I couldn't travel alone in Europe with three children by myself. Number two, I don't have the money. I can't buy the tickets for these three kids and myself. I don't have spending money. I don't have hotel money.

I can't do it. Number three, I'm too tired to talk about it. He said, I'll take care of the first two if you take care of the third.

And I said, I said, what? And he said, I will give you by 8 o'clock in the morning, now this is already midnight, I'll give you by 8 o'clock in the morning four prepaid round trip plane tickets to London. I'll give you spending money. I'll give you my chauffeur driven limousine. I'll give you my club to stay in.

I'll take care of your meals if you'll just go. I said, I could never accept a gift like that from a stranger. And then this is what he said to me, I promise you. He said, and God is wanting to do for you more abundantly than you can think to ask. I love to tell that story because it shows what he can do. We went to London. We saw the wedding.

We had a wonderful time. And I'll never get over the lesson that God taught me. That when we place our faith in him and him alone, he can work miracles.

And it's exciting. And so sometimes when we suffer, he allows us to suffer to develop our faith. And it isn't so much growing up in this great big faith, is it?

It's just narrowing it down until the object of our faith is Jesus and Jesus alone. Because when we're suffering, we need Jesus. And when we're suffering, we have Jesus. But we have to look to him and him alone and stop looking to parents or husband or pastor or doctor or lawyer or counselor or banker or all these other things. And we just say, Jesus, I need you. And Jesus, I have you. And I place my faith in you and you alone. And at that point, you're exactly where he wants you to be. And that's why he's allowed you to suffer. Do you understand?

Suffering is to develop our faith or to channel it to him and him alone and also that we might be to the display of his glory. Martha runs off and she calls her sister Mary. In verse 28, she says, the teacher is here and he's asking for you. When Mary heard this, she got up quickly and she went to him. And now Jesus had not yet entered the village but was still at the place where Martha had met him. And when the Jews who had been with Mary in the house comforting her noticed how quickly she got up and went out, they followed her, supposing she was going to the tomb to mourn there.

And when Mary reached the gate where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and she said, Lord, if you had been here, my brother wouldn't have died. God, don't you care? I thought you loved us.

Where were you when we needed you? And I just sense a little resentment in Mary's voice. There's no evidence of faith at all. She doesn't say anything like, but even now you could do something. She's just saying, God, if you had come when he was a little bit sick, maybe you could have healed him. But now he's dead.

Nobody can do anything. And she just crumbles in a heap. Her faith just disintegrating.

In Jesus, verse 33, he saw her weeping and the Jews who had come along with her weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and troubled and he said, where have you laid him? Come and see, they said. Come and see the pain. Come and see the hurt. Come and see the feelings of our affliction. Come and see the consequences of sin and death. Come and see what we're going through.

Would you invite the Lord to come and see? Why is it we build a shield around our hearts? You know, we build a shield. We're so afraid.

Why? To let him see. Just pour out our hearts. When have you cried out to God?

What's holding you back? Are you afraid if you cry out to God and admit how helpless you are that somehow you'll really be helpless and he'll blame you for not getting it together, for getting in this situation or whatever? Why don't you invite him to come and see?

God, come and see my pain. Jesus knew where Lazarus was. He knew where the tomb was. He didn't need anybody to show him. He wanted them to show him. And he wants you to open up your heart and show him your pain and your grief.

Don't hide it. I believe in going to Jesus and you pour it all out to him in prayer. What would have happened to David if he had had Prozac, you know? We'd be missing half of our Psalms, wouldn't we? And I know I've made enemies of half of you. For you're going to Jesus and pouring out your heart to him and say, Jesus, come and see. Come and see the pain.

And there may be some resentment. Come and see the pain you've inflicted. You know, if you'd answered my prayer last week I wouldn't be hurting like that this week. Come and see what's happened. Come and see how I hurt. Come and see my frustration and my loneliness.

Come and see. And so Jesus did. Verse 35. Jesus wept. He's the creator. He's the Lord of life.

He's the Son of God. And he knew he was going to raise Lazarus from the dead. And he wept. And Isaiah says in all of your affliction he's afflicted. And Hebrews says we don't have a high priest who can't be touched with the feelings of our infirmities, but in every way he understands the feeling of our suffering. And he wept.

I've told my son Jonathan, God's on your side. He puts his arm around you and he weeps with you and he hurts with you. And I almost hesitate to use the phrase he feels your pain because I get so mocked, but Jesus does feel your pain. Your pain is his pain.

What hurts you hurts him, except it hurts him more. And so Jesus wept. Don't ever think he's indifferent. Don't ever think he's somehow detached.

Don't ever think he's way high lifted up somewhere in heaven and you're down here and he's right here with you. And Jesus wept with Mary and wept with Martha and wept with all of these Jews and they said see how he loved him. Some of them said, ha, if he loved him. Could not he who opened the eyes of a blind man have kept him from dying? I mean if Jesus really loved Lazarus he wouldn't have let this happen to him.

Is that what somebody's telling you? If Jesus really loved you he wouldn't let that bad thing happen. If he really loved your loved one he would never let that thing happen. But you see suffering gives you and me the opportunity to display the glory of his love. Because in our suffering we know his presence. We know his empathy and we have an identification with him because listen to me he suffered too. And there's no human suffering you will ever go through. No physical suffering, emotional suffering, spiritual suffering. There's nothing that you and I will ever experience that he hasn't experienced to the nth degree. And when we suffer we just display the glory of his love because he's there with us and he weeps with us and he loves us and he comes and sees our pain and he wants to be involved in it and walk with us through it.

See how he loved them. I wonder if somebody will say that about Jesus after watching you suffer. Look at how Jesus loves you right in your suffering in your pain. Look how Jesus loves her. And we display the glory of his love right in our suffering.

And we display the glory of his lordship as Jesus comes to the tomb. Verse 38 Jesus once more deeply moved came to the tomb. And let me just stop for a moment before we look at his lordship because he came to the tomb deeply moved and I passed over that in verse 33 when it says he was deeply moved in spirit and trouble and I want to pick up on that because it was more than just being disturbed. Deeply moved meant that he was angry.

He was agitated. I think his anger was because of the temporary victory that Satan seemed to have. That victory that was given Satan because of the consequence of our sin because you understand something that when God created you and me he did not create you and me to die. We were created to live forever with him in his heavenly home and to enjoy his presence and to experience eternal life. But it was sin that came into our lives that broke our relationship with God and the consequence of the wage of sin is death. Physical death but God originally had not intended it to be. And if you ever stand at the grave of a loved one and you go through those cycles you know of grief and then anger don't be angry at God he's angry too.

Angry at sin and angry at Satan and angry at this temporary victory that Satan seems to have and the suffering that's inflicted on you and me and he was deeply moved because he loves you. So Jesus deeply moved comes to the tomb and it was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance and either it was a natural cave with a stone across or just a hand hewn cave out of rock. But there would be a groove in the front of it that would slope downward and at the lowest point of the groove would be the entrance to the cave and so a great big round stone would be situated in that groove so it could be rolled down across the mouth of the tomb. And of course then it rested there to roll it away took a lot of effort because you would have to push it uphill but the tomb was there the stone was across the entrance and he comes to the tomb and he says in verse 39 roll away the stone. Now the stone was keeping Lazarus inside the stone was keeping people from seeing Lazarus inside the stone was hindering Jesus and what he wanted to do the stone was preventing people from seeing the glory of God and Jesus says take away the stone. And what stone is Jesus telling you to take away before you can experience a miracle before you can see his glory displayed in your life the life of your loved one before Jesus can do what he wants to do in your life is he telling you that you have to remove the stone of that unforgiving spirit? You have to remove the stone of bitterness you have to remove the stone of jealousy you have to remove the stone of pride or unbelief roll away the stone.

In verse 39 Martha says but Lord it's an oxymoron isn't it you know but Lord I mean if he's Lord you don't say but but anyway she said but Lord by this time there's a bad odor for he's been there four days I mean God he's been dead so long it's impossible to do anything in his life you know his whole life stinks. And I wonder if there's somebody on your prayer list like that somebody who's dead and trespasses and sin they've been dead so long you say you've even dropped them off the prayer list because you know they've been dead so long it's impossible to raise them and their whole life is a mess and God I don't want to be embarrassed and I don't want to roll away the stone in front of my friends and have all of them see the mess in his life and roll away the stone Martha. What stone?

Would God have you roll away before he can work in the life of your husband? Is it your nagging tongue? The stone of your critical spirit? The stone of your judgmental attitude?

The stone of being sort of self-righteous always telling him what he's doing wrong he needs to go to church he needs to read his Bible he needs to go to this group and that group and you know how we do and roll away the stone. Martha was there arguing with the Lord afraid that she would make a fool of herself if she stepped out in faith before there was any evidence or any reason to do so except the Word of God. Are you arguing with Jesus?

Why? You say Jesus but Jesus if I submit to him he'll walk all over me. But Jesus if I witness to my neighbor she might ask me a question and I can't answer it and I'll be made a fool of. But Jesus if I forgive that person then they're going to get by with their sin.

But Jesus if I deny myself I'll never get what I want. You know as long as Martha argued she delayed his blessing in her life didn't she? As long as she was standing there resisting she was hindering God from doing what he wanted to do in the life of her loved one.

She was clouding the display of his glory. So I wonder when Jesus seeks to do a miracle in the life of your Lazarus if your argument with him is delaying what he's wanting to do. And you're arguing about his methods you know we're good about that especially when it comes to trying to win an unsaved husband and we call it specific prayer and we say Jesus you know I think it would be good if you just bring this person into his life and get him to that meeting and if you would just do this and do that and we're there telling him what to do. And he's saying Martha don't tell me what to do.

You just roll away the stone. And the glory of his lordship is displayed in our obedience. There's no other reason to be obedient except God says so. And you place your faith remember in him and in him alone and you just do it yes sir because he says so. The glory of his lordship is also seen in our dependence because in verse 40 Jesus said didn't I tell you if you believed you would see the glory of God. Look back in verse 25. Jesus had said to her I am the resurrection and the life and he who believes in me will live even though he dies and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.

Do you believe this? And Martha had said yes Lord I believe. And now Jesus is saying Martha put your money where your mouth is. You know you've said you believe but that's meaningless unless you back it up with obedience. And if you truly believe obedience is not an option is it? If you say you believe and you don't obey then you don't really believe. That's why James says that faith without works is dead.

It's not real faith because real faith obeys. It's like the man, the blind man, he was born blind and Jesus smeared mud on his eyes. Do you remember? And then he said go wash. And the man had to crawl I guess to the pool to the water and fumble around and splash the water on his face before he could see. He had to obey before he could receive the answer to prayer and the miracle. Do you remember the man who was paralyzed for 38 years lying there on his pallet. Jesus said do you want to be made well? Are you kidding?

You know of course I do. And Jesus said then get up. Pick up your bed and walk. And he had to get up before he realized the strength to do it. Do you remember the man with the withered hand? And Jesus said stretch it out.

Well I mean if he could stretch it out it wouldn't be withered but the man just like that he stretched it out and it was healed. And faith, real faith is demonstrated through our obedience and our dependence on Jesus alone. Martha roll away the stone. But Lord Martha you said you believed now prove it.

Just obey me. Roll away the stone. And so Martha did. Verse 41 they took away the stone.

Now of course she couldn't do it by herself because you had to roll it uphill so she gave the word and her team of people came over and they pushed that stone up and you can imagine the people now. I mean they'd all followed Mary out of the house and so he's surrounded, the courtyard is surrounded by hostile Jews, unbelieving Jews, some friendly Jews, friends of the family, Mary and Martha and everybody staring at Jesus. And Jesus does a very bold thing. Verse 41 he looked up and he said Father I thank you that you've heard me. I knew that you always hear me but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here that they might believe that you sent me. And he's going to display the glory of his life giving power but he makes sure that everybody there knows the power comes from God.

And so he takes the time he says I don't need to pray I've been praying all night I pray all day you know but I'm going to pray out loud so everybody here will know that I'm dependent upon you. And he prays publicly and he lifted up his voice in verse 43 when it said this he called out in a loud voice Lazarus come out. This is the same voice that went out in Genesis chapter 1 verse 3 and God said let there be light and there was. And all the way through Genesis chapter 1 and God said until he comes to John chapter 11 and God said Lazarus come forth and Lazarus has been raised into life. He has been called from death into life from darkness to light. Lazarus has been raised from the dead through nothing more than the power of the word of God. And it was an answer to Mary and Martha's prayer.

I don't think Jesus would have done this had those women not prayed. Make sure you're praying for your loved one and then you just trust Jesus in his timing. And then dear Jesus give us the thrill of seeing your glory displayed in our lives. The glory of your love that other people can see. The glory of your lordship as we obey you and depend upon you for no other reason than you say so. The glory of your life giving power setting us free from our suffering setting us free from our bonding giving us victory right there in the midst of our circumstances. Lord God thank you for giving us Jesus who helps us understand something of the big picture when we suffer. Now here's Anne with this final word. How pathetic it would have been had Lazarus been raised from the dead but remained bound because his sister Martha didn't help to unwrap him. Don't blame or criticize a formerly dead person who's just been raised into life for not walking. Start unwrapping then rejoice in the glorious display of God's life giving power. You've been listening to living in the light. And when you go to AnneGramlottes.org there are free resources to help you in your study of God's word. Anne's desire is that you embrace a God filled life step by step choice by choice living in the light.