Love = Reach : DAY 1

READ:

John 11:35: it’s the shortest verse in the entire Bible. Most of us know it by heart. “Jesus wept.”

Let’s take a closer look at the verses following this simple, dramatic and emotional verse.

John 11:36-43

“Then the Jews said, ‘See how Jesus loved Lazarus!’ And some of them said, ‘Could not have Jesus, the One who opened the eyes of the blind, also kept this man’” – concerning Lazarus – “‘from dying?’ And then, Jesus was groaning in Himself. He came to the tomb. It was a cave” – it was a cave – “and a stone was laid against it. And Jesus said, ‘Take away the stone,’ to Martha, the sister of Lazarus, and she said, ‘Lord, by this time, there is a stench, for he has been dead four days.’ And Jesus said to her, ‘Did I not say to you that if you would believe, you would see the glory of God?’ So they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying. And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, ‘Father, I thank You for You have heard Me. And I know that You always hear Me, but because of the people who are standing by I said this, that they may believe that You have sent Me.’ And He said these things, and He cried out with a loud voice, ‘Lazarus, come forth!’ And he who had died came out bound hand and foot with graveclothes, and his face was wrapped with a cloth. And Jesus said to them, ‘Loose him, and let him go.’”

 

Let’s take a moment and focus on verse 35: “Jesus wept.” Everything you need to know about God can be experienced and reveled in those two words, Jesus wept.

The story, here, of Lazarus is a picture of someone that is too far gone. It is a picture of a situation that has no hope. Jesus is too late. His involvement, at this point, is, without any question, insufficient. This is a scene of sickness. It’s a scene of disease. It is a scene where there are funerals, and graves, and death. And not just death, but the Bible uses the phrase “the stench of death.”

It’s one thing to watch death on TV. It’s another thing to hear about death on the evening news. It’s a whole different thing to actually smell death. Nothing brings all the senses into the reality, the finality, of what’s going on than the smell of death. The statistics here would be overwhelming. The odds are stacked against Him. The chances that anything would be any different than what it was at that moment was – without any question, they are facing an impossibility.

Yet, today we face overwhelming situations everyday. Family and friends who are struggling with massive family issues, financial problems, sex trafficking, drug addiction, divorce, depression, mental illness, and empathy. And so, statistically speaking, we are facing something that’s too far-gone. It’s too late, and the stench of this deadly disease is everywhere. Yet, we must decide to reach beyond the situation that is full of death, hopelessness, we must move back the stone in front of the tomb and believe for a Lazarus-sized miracle.

Only a few places we see in all the Bible that Jesus is weeping, and here, Jesus is weeping not because He has a generic relationship with Lazarus. It does not say that he is a disciple. It does not say that he is a follower of Christ. It does not refer to Lazarus as a Christian. It refers to Lazarus as a “friend” of Jesus.

And so, they are very close. The Bible says, multiple times, that Jesus loved Lazarus, not just any kind of love, but that word translates a deep yearning. It is a personal love. But Jesus has a deep, personal connection with Lazarus, to the extent that when it comes to His mourning, He’s not just shedding tears, but the Bible says He’s groaning. That word, groaning, means there’s intense anger and intense rage on the inside of Him. Jesus is experiencing real grief. He is devastated for His friend.

One of the reasons Jesus was hated so much, and that they murdered Him, is because He was considered a friend to the sinner, which means it does not matter how far gone you think that you are. When Jesus looks at us, our friends, and neighbors — He considers them a friend – again, not in a generic sense of the word, but there is a deep longing and yearning.

The heart of God for people is personal. It is intimate. It is REACHING into the grave. This is the kind of love that, “I’ll fight you, if I have to. But I will not let you stay in the same place that you are without Me giving you everything that I got.”

In verse 38 Jesus instructs them to move the stone covering Lazarus tomb. In verse 43 we see that Jesus called out to Lazarus to come out of the tomb. In verse 44 we see Jesus give instructions for them to take the grave clothes off. There was action involved. Hands had to reach to move the stone, the voice was required to speak life, and a team of people had to help remove the dead clothes that were on Lazarus and help him into His new garment. Love required people to REACH. It meant people would get involved to see Lazarus walk in freedom.

We know God can do the impossible. He can heal. However, He expects us to be involved in REACHING those who are facing impossible situations and speak LIFE!

Over these next 40-days we join together and pray that we love people the way that Jesus did. We pray that we will REACH those who are hopeless. And….let’s face it; people who do not know Jesus personally are facing a hopeless situation. LOVE = REACH. If we love people we will REACH them. We will speak hope to them. We will fight for them. We will move the stone that is keeping them from Jesus. We will help them take the grave clothes off! Will you take this challenge and ask God to lead you to people who need you to speak life into them?

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ACT:

We encourage all Lake Hills Church attenders to read the book LOVE DOES by Bob Goff with us during this season.