How God Loves Us In Our Pain 2 Corinthians 1:8-9 w/ John 11 Message #6

The following is the sermon transcript from a sermon Mark preached 8/4/13 at Northshire Baptist Church in Manchester, Vermont.

A man once found a cocoon of an emperor moth and took it home so he could watch the magnificently colored moth come out of the cocoon. 

One day a small opening appeared.  The man sat and watched the moth for several minutes as it struggled to try to force its body through that little hole. 

Then it seemed to stop making any progress.  To the man it appeared as if the moth had gotten as far as it could in breaking out of the cocoon and was stuck.

Out of kindness, the man decided to help the moth.  He took a pair of scissors and snipped off the remaining bit of the cocoon so that the moth could get out. 

Soon the moth emerged, but it had a swollen body and small-shriveled wings. 

The man continued to watch the moth, expecting that in time the wings would enlarge and expand to be able to support the body, which would simultaneously, contract to its proper size.

Neither happened.  In fact, that little moth spent the rest of its life crawling around with a swollen body and shriveled wings.  It was never able to fly.

The man in his kindness didn't understand that the restricting cocoon and the struggle required for the moth to get though the tiny opening were God's way of forcing fluid from the body into the wings so that the moth would be ready for flight once it achieved its freedom from the cocoon.

In other words, the moth couldn’t become the glorious creature it was meant to become apart from persevering and working through the struggle God had designed for it.

And just as the moth could only achieve the glory of freedom and flight as a result of struggling, we too need to struggle through trials to become all that God intends for us to be.

In fact, the Bible makes the point in Acts 14:22 that “Through many tribulations we must enter the Kingdom of God.”

Sometimes, we wish that God would remove our struggles and take away all the obstacles; but just as the man crippled the emperor moth, so we would be crippled if God did that for us. 

God doesn't love us best by not letting us struggle.

And if that is true—How Does God Love Us In Our Pain?

With that in mind, let’s go to 2 Corinthians 1:8-10 which is where we left off last week.

Now, last week we saw that Paul makes the point that there was a purpose in his and Timothy’s severe suffering—whatever that suffering was all about.

And I made the point that if there is a purpose in something then there must also be someone behind the purpose and in Paul’s case the One behind his suffering is God Himself.

And in reading the verse, we see that the purpose for which God brings the suffering into Paul and Timothy’s lives is that they would not trust in themselves but in God Who raises the dead.

Therefore, we can conclude that from God’s point of view, Paul and Timothy’s being to experience a severe trial so as to learn to trust in God rather than themselves was of greater value and a greater expression of divine love than not having suffered.

In applying this to us, God’s love for us is oftentimes best manifested when He brings trials into our lives that force us to trust and rely upon Him rather than upon ourselves—

Because going through tough times in which God’s presence and power is seen and experienced in extraordinary ways is far more valuable and far more loving than allowing us to stay in our comfort zones where we don’t even sense or realize our need for God let alone see and experience Him in extraordinary ways.

Now, let me show another place in Scripture where I think you will see this even more clearly than here in 2 Corinthians.

Turn to John 11 where we have recorded for us an account of Jesus’ involvement with dear friends who were dealing with a very sick family member who finally died

Let’s read John 11:1-7.

Jesus had a special relationship with this family made up of three siblings who lived together—Lazarus, Martha, and Mary.

Their special friendship apparently started months before when Martha invited Jesus, who was traveling, into their home in Bethany which, was just a couple miles east of Jerusalem.

Again, it is apparent from reading this account in John 11 that Jesus enjoyed a special and intimate relationship with this family.

When Lazarus became ill, the sisters felt perfectly at home with sending a messenger to tell Jesus about it in verse 3.

Then in verse 5, we see John making the point that Jesus did indeed love Martha, her sister, Mary, and Lazarus.

Then in verse 11, Jesus refers to Lazarus, as “our friend Lazarus”.

When you also consider the account in Luke 10 of Jesus accepting Martha’s invitation to stay in their home and then in John 12 of Mary anointing His feet with very costly perfume and then drying His feet with her hair, you can see the depth of friendship between this family and the Lord.

And I find it interesting that this depth of intimacy and fellowship with the Lord did not prevent this family from experiencing trials and specifically, the loss of a special loved one.

Thus, their closeness—their intimacy with the Lord did not keep them out of the line of fire when it came to having to deal with trials and again, in particular, death.

I also find it interesting that when this trial of serious sickness enters this family’s life, they immediately send word to Jesus.

It is as though their first instinct is to contact Jesus and then notice what they say.

They sent word to Jesus saying:  “Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick.”

Wow, a prayer to God of only eight words.

Notice, they don’t give God all the background info on the sickness.

They don’t even inform Jesus on who is sick because they know He will know.

They don’t feel it is necessary to tell God how to answer their request.

And note too, that they didn’t tell Jesus that Lazarus was worthy of help or healing.

They didn’t appeal to Lazarus’ goodness, usefulness for ministry, or even his love for the Lord as reasons why Jesus should come and help.

What they did—was to appeal to the fact that Jesus loved him—“Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick.”

Now, according to John 10:40 Jesus was on the other side of the Jordan in the place where John the Baptist had been baptizing which, was called Bethany Beyond The Jordan.

Mary, Martha, and Lazarus are in another village called Bethany about 17 to 20 miles away and so it would take a messenger at least a day to get the message to Jesus.

Now this sickness that Lazarus had must have been pretty serious to dispatch a messenger 17 to 20 miles through some pretty rough country in order to tell Jesus.

Thus, when Jesus gets the message, he knows it’s serious and he knows that the expectation Martha and Mary have for him is to immediately drop everything and rush to Lazarus’ side.

I mean that’s what you do when you love someone—right?!

Well, that’s not what Jesus did.

In verse 4, he makes the point after receiving the message about Lazarus that the sickness was not going to end in death—but for the glory of God so that Jesus the Son of God would be glorified by it.

Well, we know that Lazarus’ sickness did end up taking his life so that it would appear it did end up bringing about his death.

So, why did Jesus say it wouldn’t end up that way when it did?

Because death was not going to be the final outcome or result of this sickness.

Rather, the final outcome and culmination of Lazarus’ sickness would end in God being glorified.

So, note, that the first thing Jesus does when he hears the news of Lazarus’ illness is put it in relation to the glory of God and his own glory. This illness is about God’s glory.

In other words, this critically serious illness is not about Lazarus, Mary, or Martha even though they are in the middle of it—it is about the glory of God and the glory of Christ.

And this is the case with every act of suffering we as believers find ourselves involved in—it’s not primarily about us—it’s about God and His being glorified in it and through us.

Now, when Jesus says in verse 4 that, “this sickness is not to end in death”, it is apparent that He knew that at that moment Lazarus was still alive.

Then in verse 11, Jesus knowing without anyone telling Him that Lazarus is dead tells His disciples that He is going to bring him back to life.

In other words, He already knew the end of the story.

In fact, there was no need for Mary and Martha to have even sent Him the message about Lazarus being sick.  Jesus already knew that just as He knew that at this point in verse 4 Lazarus was not yet dead but would soon be and that He would raise Lazarus from the dead.

And Jesus knew all this because He as God had planned all this for His glory.

But Mary, Martha, and Lazarus didn’t know what God had planned.

So, when they receive the message back that Jesus’ reply was:  “This sickness is not to end in death, but for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified by it”----

What do you think they were thinking?????

I think, they thought that their brother wasn’t going to die because Jesus was going to come and heal him resulting in Jesus being glorified as God.

I mean, they would be no different than us in this kind of situation where when a loved one is dying—we hear what we want to hear which is, he or she will be fine—they’ll pull out of it.

So, once they receive the message back—which probably took a day or more to get back to them they are thinking Lazarus is going to be healed as soon as Jesus gets there.

This helps to explain why, in verses 21 and 32, when as soon as both Martha and Mary see Jesus, they say the same thing—“Lord, if you would have been here my brother would not have died.”

Now, let’s take a really good look at verse 5.

Note that John under the direction of the Holy Spirit makes a point of emphasizing that Jesus loved Martha, Mary, and Lazarus.

John doesn’t want us to miss this—He wants us to know that everything Jesus is doing—He is doing because He loves this family.

Surely John is stressing Jesus’ love for this family because he knows that what Jesus is about to do here will not look like love to most people.

In fact, this text may turn your perspective on God and what is really “love” upside down.

So, making sure we know that Jesus loves them, John then drops the bombshell in verse 6.

And the key word that unlocks the shock is the word “so” at the beginning of verse 6.

It’s really there in the original, and it means “therefore.”

So verses 5 and 6 read like this: “Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So [therefore], when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.”

Are you getting this?

Jesus, the one who loved Mary, Martha, and Lazarus—“When He heard that He was sick, He stayed two days longer in the place where He was.”

Do you see what Jesus did.  Jesus purposely did not go to Lazarus so as to heal him but instead purposely and intentionally delayed going so as to let him die and this He did because He loved this family.

In other words, Jesus’ love for Lazarus was best seen and experienced in letting him die.

And furthermore, Jesus’ love for Martha and Mary was best demonstrated and experienced in letting their brother die.

Now that is a stretch for us—isn’t it?!

To think that it was love that moved Jesus to let Lazarus die is a hard thing for us to swallow.

But that is what the Bible is saying--It was the love of Jesus for this family and for his disciples—and for you and I who are reading this text—that caused him to choose to let Lazarus die.

But not only that.  Look at verses 14 and 15. 

After Jesus explains to His disciples that Lazarus is dead—He then says, “And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there so that you may believe.”

The inference Jesus is making is—I am glad for your sakes that I was not there to heal Lazarus because it is better for you to see my great power and believe even more deeply in Me.

So, here is Jesus saying He is glad Lazarus died because there is something more important and more valuable than preventing death and that is that people see the power of God and trust Him even more.

So How Is This Love?

That is the question the Spirit of God Who inspired this text wants us all to ask.

It’s the question Jesus intends—for everyone seeing this to ask: How is this love?

John has gone out of his way to set this up. Jesus loves them. He loves them. He loves them. Therefore, he does not heal him but lets him die.

How can this be love?

And the answer to this question is that Lazarus’ illness and subsequent death and all the grief experienced by his family over losing him to death will end up bringing great glory to God as Jesus’ glory, authority, power, and divine majesty are put on display.

Therefore, love lets Lazarus die because his death will help him and his family see, in more ways than they know, the glory of God.

Listen, love is not always about giving us what we want most—it is giving us what we need most.

And what we need most is not healing, but a full and endless experience of the presence, power, and glory of God.

Love means giving us what will bring us the fullest and longest joy.

And that which will give the believer full and eternal joy deep down in his or her soul is experiencing, seeing, marveling at, being in awe of, and savoring the glory, presence, and power of God in Jesus Christ.

Love is doing whatever you have to do to help people see and treasure God as their supreme joy—because He is!

And when God is willing to let you suffer temporary pain such as the losing of a loved one—to give you an experience of Himself and His sustaining grace, and then one day enable you to have that person back at your side again through His omnipotent resurrection power—he really loves you.

The aim of divine love is to progressively bring people to the fullest knowledge, the greatest experience, and the fullest enjoyment of the glory of God which, culminates in our finally going Home to Heaven to be with the Lord and have all things which we have lost restored to us.

But, keep this in mind—between the death of Lazarus and his resurrection four days later his family could not see how God would be glorified in it or how they could experience joy in it.

Look at John 11:33-38.

Jesus was with the mourners and He mourned with them not because He did not know what He was going to do in just a moment but because they did not know what He was going to do and really could not know until He did it.

Therefore, if that is where you stand today—not able to see why you have to hurt and not really able to see how God can make it better—know this that Jesus understands your dilemma and weeps with you until He can show you the end of the story!

And as we close, let’s look at the end of the story in John 11.

Look at verses 39-44.

Jesus did not do what Mary and Martha had hoped He would do—He did not heal their brother—He did not keep him from dying.

He did far more!  He did what they did not know He could do and this brought Him great glory and them great joy!

And God will do the same for you in all of your trials—perhaps in this life—but if not—for sure in the next—at the Resurrection—when He restores to you all that you have lost that was good, makes all things right, all things beautiful, all things new, and all things more wonderful than you can imagine.

In the meantime, trust him, learn to interpret your circumstances by the love of Christ rather than interpret Christ’s love by your circumstances, and then above all else—treasure him above all things.