A Journey Through Uncertainty and Faith

A Matter of Death & Life: "In the Wake"

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Summary

The Edmond Church of Christ presents a new sermon series, "A Matter of Death & Life," which explores the interplay between death and eternal life, anchoring the congregation in the reality of death but highlighting the promise of resurrection and life through Jesus Christ. By referring to biblical passages and personal anecdotes, this sermon illuminates how death is not an end, but rather a passage to eternal life. The pastor encourages embracing faith over fear, grieving with hope, and recognizing Jesus's power over death as exemplified in the raising of Lazarus. This thought-provoking series invites listeners to reflect on their understanding of life, death, and eternal hope.

Highlights

Kicking off a new sermon series, the Edmond Church of Christ dives deep into the subject of death and life, serving some real food for thought. 🍽️
The concept of 'A Matter of Death & Life' flips our usual thinking, focusing on life after death as the true essence of Christian faith. 🔄
Death's reality is addressed candidly, suggesting it's a step towards a grander narrative of life as intended by God. 🌌
Through personal stories and biblical teachings, the sermon compassionately tackles the fear and questions surrounding death. 🤔
Key biblical story: Jesus bringing Lazarus back to life, showcasing that God’s timing and plans are beyond human understanding. ⏳
The sermon assures that grief, while deeply personal and sometimes perplexing, is a shared journey with Jesus, who understands our pain. 🤗
Listeners are invited to embrace the hope that outshines the pain, as Jesus offers life beyond the grave. 🌅

Key Takeaways

Death is a natural part of the human journey, yet it is not to be feared; it is a transition to eternal life through Christ. ✨
The story of Lazarus serves as a powerful testament to Jesus's power over death, reminding us that God can be glorified through life's challenges. 🌟
Grief is a complex, messy process, but it is infused with hope when we place our faith in Jesus's resurrection. 🎈
In our darkest moments of questioning and pain, Jesus is with us, weeping, empathizing, and bringing hope. 🌈
We must not get stuck in the wake of death but move towards the promise of eternal life offered by Christ. 🚀

Overview

In this fascinating sermon series initiated by Edmond Church of Christ, we embark on a spiritual exploration of 'A Matter of Death & Life.' The concept challenges conventional expressions and flips the narrative, emphasizing how death precedes the ultimate life promised by faith. This journey is biblically anchored and designed to provoke thought and spiritual introspection.

Death and life, as discussed in the sermon, are intricately linked with faith and the understanding of eternal life. Key biblical figures, such as Lazarus, highlight the delicate dance between despair and hope, painting a picture of God's glorious promise beyond the grave. Real-world anecdotes intertwined with the teachings offer a grounding perspective on mortality.

Grief, mourning, and hope are addressed with sensitivity and depth, offering a path to navigate the inevitable sorrows of life. The message is clear and uplifting: grief may be a natural part of our journey, but with Jesus, it transforms into hope and assurance of eternal life. The sermon essentially invites us to live fully in the promise and passages of a faith-filled life.

Chapters

00:00 - 02:00: Introduction and Sermon Series Overview The chapter discusses the biblical perspective on death, emphasizing that it is an inevitable part of life that should not be feared. The Bible encourages confronting death with understanding, faith, and assurance because it anchors believers in the promise of life after death. The theme of eternity being a matter of 'death and life' is introduced as a focal point. Additionally, there's a mention of an update preceding a new sermon series, although details of this update are not provided.
02:00 - 03:30: Personal Anecdote about Ash Wednesday The chapter titled 'Personal Anecdote about Ash Wednesday' begins with the speaker reminiscing about planting grass seed with their son. They draw a parallel between the growth of grass on good soil and the teachings of Jesus, emphasizing the importance of good foundations for growth. The speaker then transitions into introducing a new sermon series, setting the stage for the following discussions.
03:30 - 06:00: Theme: Death and Life in Christianity Introduction to the series focusing on death and life within Christianity.
06:00 - 07:30: Introduction to the Lazarus Story The chapter introduces the concept of grappling with the idea of death from a Christian perspective. The speaker acknowledges the natural fear and concern surrounding death even with the belief in an afterlife according to Christian teachings. This underlying anxiety is contrasted with the inevitability of death, barring the return of Jesus during one's lifetime. The narrative shares a personal anecdote from many years ago, reflecting on the speaker's early career in ministry and a chance encounter at a gym, hinting at a deeper exploration of the themes of mortality and spirituality.
07:30 - 10:00: Jesus' Response and Intent The narrator describes an encounter with someone named Terry who they see regularly but are not close friends with. On this day, the narrator notices Terry has some smudged ink or something similar on his forehead. The narrator empathizes with Terry, recalling their own experiences with similar mishaps, and decides to inform Terry about the smudge. Upon informing him, Terry reveals that it's actually ash.
10:00 - 15:00: The Wake of Death: Doubts and Emotions The chapter titled 'The Wake of Death: Doubts and Emotions' discusses the theme of mortality and repentance. The narrator recalls a time from their youth when they didn't understand the significance of Ash Wednesday. As an adult, they recognize Ash Wednesday as the start of Lent, where ashes are placed on the forehead to remind participants of their mortality. This act serves as a call to repentance and confession, highlighting the deeper emotional and spiritual implications of the ritual.
15:00 - 19:00: Jesus' Empathy and Anger This chapter reflects on the biblical origin and significance of the phrase 'remember you are dust and to dust you will return.' It illustrates the reminder of human mortality and the consequences of sin as illustrated in Genesis 3, where it is depicted as God's discipline following the fall of Adam and Eve. The practice of putting ashes on one's forehead serves as a symbolic acknowledgment of eventual return to the earth, highlighting the transient nature of human life.
19:00 - 24:00: Lazarus Raised: Hope and Belief The chapter titled 'Lazarus Raised: Hope and Belief' begins with the notion that Christians understand death is not the end of the story. The narrative suggests there is a grander story beyond death, highlighting the belief that Jesus has secured an eternal existence beyond mortal life. This theme introduces a new series titled 'A Matter of Death and Life,' which seeks to explore this concept further over the course of four weeks.
24:00 - 30:00: Grief and Faith in the Wake of Death The chapter delves into the themes of grief and faith, exploring the idea that death is not the ultimate end but rather a transition to a new form of life that God intends for us. The narrative suggests that our common expression 'life and death' is inverted, proposing instead that there is death and then life. This perspective aligns with Christian beliefs that after death comes eternal life with God, offering a hopeful outlook on mortality.
30:00 - 35:00: Conclusion and Call to Faith The chapter titled 'Conclusion and Call to Faith' explores the concept of hope and the afterlife from a Christian perspective. It emphasizes that Christians should not grieve in the same way as non-believers because of the promise of resurrection through Jesus Christ. Paul’s writings in 1 Thessalonians are cited, reinforcing the belief that deceased Christians will be brought back to life with Jesus. The chapter concludes by reminding readers of the unique hope that Christianity offers through faith in Jesus.

A Matter of Death & Life: "In the Wake" Transcription

00:00 - 00:30 the bible says there is a time to be born and a time to die death is a reality we must face while we often avoid the topic the bible embraces the reality of death while anchoring us in the promise of life after death death is not something to fear but to face with understanding faith and assurance eternity is a matter of death and life we are starting a new sermon series today but before we get into that i feel like maybe i need to give an update on
00:30 - 01:00 the grass that's a that's a comment you you need context for right if you were here last sunday i talked about planting grass seed and my son jar we worked really hard and did everything well that's a picture of where it is today or yesterday so we have grass that is growing just like jesus said some of that seed it falls on good soil and it grows so there you go we have we have grass we are starting a new sermon series today and it's a uh a sermon
01:00 - 01:30 series that i think will be important for us to look at the scriptures that are involved in this series and it has to do with death and life now death is one of those topics that we often avoid ecclesiastes reminds us of something we already know and that is there is a time to be born and there is a time to die but if you're like me i i'd much rather celebrate a time to be born than to think about the time to
01:30 - 02:00 die if you're like me you don't want to think about death even though we know as christians what's on the other side of death there's still something inside of us that is concerned and worried but death is a reality we must face unless jesus comes back while we're still living we are all going to die many many years ago i was i think i was in my 20s just started out in ministry and one day i was i was at the gym and i saw a guy that i i saw
02:00 - 02:30 regularly there but i wouldn't say we were friends but we talked to each other when we saw each other and on that day i noticed he had some ink or something smudged on his face on his forehead and i i thought man i i would want to know um if that was if that was me and i thought how did he get ink up there you know a battle with the copy machine that morning i don't know i've had some mornings like that but i thought if you know if it were me i would want to know so i said "hey terry you got a little something up there." he said "it's ash
02:30 - 03:00 wednesday." i said "oh remember i was young i didn't know what that was at the time." now of course i know what ash wednesday is and and for many for for catholics for other denominations they sometimes celebrate the beginning of lent season by putting ashes on their forehead and the ashes on the forehead is a reminder of their own mortality it's also an invitation to repentance and confession and when they wear these ashes on their forehead that
03:00 - 03:30 day they repeat this phrase and the phrase is "remember that you are dust and you will return to dust." remember you are dust and to dust you will return that actually comes from the bible from genesis 3 when god brings his discipline and the consequences of the fall and the sin of adam and eve and it is a reminder to us we don't need to put ashes on our forehead to know that one day our bodies will be put back into this earth but as
03:30 - 04:00 i said as christians we know that's not the end of the story that's such a depressing story we know there's more to the story there's a grand narrative at work here and it doesn't end at death it doesn't end with us becoming dust once again that jesus has secured eternity for us and so we're starting this series it's a short four-week series we're calling it a matter of death and life it
04:00 - 04:30 sounds a little odd doesn't it because usually we say that expression a little bit differently we say this is a matter of life and death but maybe we have it backwards because there is death and then there is life you see it's the life that comes after death that is the life that god always intended for us to live eternal life new life life with him as christians we know that death is not the end it is the beginning of the
04:30 - 05:00 life that god always desired for us paul writes in 1 thessalonians 4:13 "brothers and sisters we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind who have no hope." for we believe that jesus died and rose again and so we believe that god will bring with jesus those who have fallen asleep in him he says "as christians we're going to grieve."
05:00 - 05:30 that's what death does it incites grief it prompts us on the grief journey that is normal that is natural but we don't grieve like those who don't have eternity in their hearts we don't grieve like those who don't know jesus we don't grieve like the world grieavves you see grieving is natural the space in between physical death and eternal life can be painful not necessarily for the one who is passing
05:30 - 06:00 from this life to the next but for those who are left behind in the wake of death there's so many mixed emotions so many big emotions you know it's kind of interesting that word wake it refers to a vigil held by family and friends when one of their loved ones has has died now we would probably i guess in our terms today we probably would call that visitation at the funeral home when the family is there the body is there and people come up and pay their respects
06:00 - 06:30 and view the body if they want to but that word wake also means something else doesn't it you see it also refers to what is left behind there's a wake behind a boat a wake of a storm and certainly in this case there's a wake behind death we are left in the wake of death and it can be painful and it can be confusing and so this morning i want us to look at a scene in the gospel of
06:30 - 07:00 john and in this scene jeep jesus steps into the wake of death and when he does so he shows us what is normal what is natural but he also gives us hope this scene is infused with hope and life and then i want us after we look at the story to zoom out a little bit and see how this story becomes a metaphor for our lives as we live life in this fallen world in this postfall world and so if you have your bible the
07:00 - 07:30 story is in john 11 we read just a little bit of it a moment ago if you want to turn there john 11 jesus's close friend lazarus is deathly ill and his sisters mary and martha who jesus also loved sent word to jesus about the condition of their brother he's very sick you see they knew jesus could do something and they expected him to do something but i want you to see how jesus responds verse four when he heard this
07:30 - 08:00 jesus said "this sickness will not end in death no it is for god's glory so that god's son may be glorified through it now jesus loved martha and her sister and lazarus so when he heard that lazarus was sick he stayed where he was two more days and then he said to his disciples "let us go back to judea." so i want you to notice how jesus reacts how he responds to the news that his good friend lazarus is sick he doesn't
08:00 - 08:30 respond like most of us would probably respond most of us would put our logical brain on and we would say something like "okay what's going on with him what are his symptoms did you go to the doctor what's the prognosis what's going on?" or we would turn spiritual and we would look to heaven and we say "god why did you do this god why we are good people lazarus is a good person why would you make him suffer why would you make him so sick why would you allow this to happen?" or we would turn it on ourselves
08:30 - 09:00 internalize it god this is not a good time for this to happen jesus knew he needed to go back and help his friend but you know what awaited him back there in bethany in jerusalem in that area they tried to kill him he was run out of town narrowly escaped with his life he doesn't want to go back there i wouldn't want to go back there and so that's what most of us would do god do you know how this impacts me do you know what this does to
09:00 - 09:30 me and yet jesus doesn't respond that way when he steps into this situation what is his first thought his first thought is this is an opportunity for god to be glorified did you catch that that's what jesus said what if that was our go-to thought what if that was our first response when something even something bad was happening it's a little bit easier when something good is happening right let's glorify god let's celebrate but what about when there's
09:30 - 10:00 sickness what about when there's conflict what about when you're in the middle of a very stressful situation how can god be glorified in this moment in this season in this situation that takes a level of faith that i certainly don't always possess i don't know about you but jesus did he was so in sync he was so in step with his father and with his father's
10:00 - 10:30 will his first thought was not "did god make this happen why is this happening how does this affect me what do we need to do?" his first thought was "how can god be glorified?" and then he waited he didn't jump into action he stayed a couple of more days don't you know his disciples were probably thinking "hey jesus do you remember the news we got did you did you forget about that shouldn't we do something shouldn't we send flowers or
10:30 - 11:00 something of course because they were threatened there maybe they were thinking "hey let's just not bring it up maybe jesus did forget and that's better for us." but then suddenly jesus says "it's time." verse 11 after he had said this he went on to tell them "our friend lazarus has fallen asleep but i am going there to wake him up." his disciples who again were probably more concerned about their own life than lazarus's life are thinking "well if he's asleep and he's
11:00 - 11:30 sick that's probably good he needs to get his rest get some chicken noodle soup he'll be fine just give him a few days." look what jesus says verse 14 so then he told them plainly "lazarus is dead." plain talk sometimes is the best talk for he uh for your sake i am glad i was not there jesus said so that you may believe but let us go to him and so remember jesus said god can be glorified
11:30 - 12:00 in this and so we begin to get a glimpse on how god is going to be glorified specifically how jesus is going to be glorified as the son of god something is going to happen that will cause people to believe to put their faith in jesus you see lazarus's death and life would become a platform for faith let me say that again lazarus's death and his ensuing new life would
12:00 - 12:30 become a platform for other people's faith and god would be glorified in that when jesus finally gets there it seems too late lazarus he's not sick anymore he's dead he'd been in the grave for four days and after four days there was no question this wasn't a nap this was a dirt nap he was dead he was his body was probably already starting to smell a little bit and maybe that's why jesus waited because he wanted to leave no
12:30 - 13:00 doubt in anyone's mind that lazarus was in fact dead now again think about the disciples think about the disciples hearing jesus say two days before this sickness will not end in death and they show up and what is the news they get lazarus is dead how do you think they wrap their minds around that fact that knowledge our brains are so literal so logical we do this all the time with
13:00 - 13:30 god god you said god i don't see how this can work god this doesn't make sense do you think they doubted do you think they questioned they couldn't understand jesus said something very clearly and the opposite is what is in front of them if they didn't doubt certainly others did look at verse 37 but some of them the people nearby said "could not
13:30 - 14:00 he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying couldn't jesus have done something i thought he was supposed to be powerful i thought he did these miracles couldn't he have done something to keep this from happening?" boy we can relate to that question can't we that's what death does that's what grief does that's what pain and sorrow do they open the door to our questions and our
14:00 - 14:30 doubts in the wake of death we're often plagued by doubt and confusion death shatters our theology sometimes and it prompts this questioning of our faith in this questions of god we ask god big questions god why didn't you answer my prayer why did you make this happen why do good people like me have to suffer like this where where are you god maybe you've asked those questions before
14:30 - 15:00 maybe you're in the midst of asking those questions right now if the disciples were thinking about all of this they didn't express it but the sisters certainly had something to say martha and mary verse 21 lord martha said to jesus "if you had been here my brother would not have died but i know that even now god will do whatever you ask." her sister says something very similar verse 32 when mary reached the place where jesus was and saw him she
15:00 - 15:30 fell at his feet and said "lord if you had been here my brother would not have died." you can hear the regret you can hear the disappointment you can hear the sorrow in their voices they have almost the same response to each other don't they you think they've been talking about this over the past three or four days where is jesus didn't he get our message why isn't he here if he was here he could do something the
15:30 - 16:00 ifonies jesus if only you had been here jesus if only we were important enough to you if only you knew how sad how desperate we were i don't know about you but i've launched a lot of ifonies up into heaven you see not only is this a time marked by doubt and confusion but it is saturated with the sorrow and
16:00 - 16:30 disappointment of unmet expectations and broken hearts death is a loss we lose important things because we lose important people and it hurts sadness and expressing that sadness like mary and martha did is natural it's normal in fact look at jesus he had an emotional response verse 33 when jesus saw her weeping and the jews who had come along with her also weeping he was
16:30 - 17:00 deeply moved in spirit and troubled where have you laid him he asked come and see lord they replied jesus wept then the jews said "see how he loved him." there's that little verse that we always memorized when we were children because it was the easiest verse in the bible to memorize jesus wept why did jesus weep why was he moved emotionally the people watching assumed it was because he was grieving the loss of his friend lazarus see how he loved him and maybe that's partly
17:00 - 17:30 true but i don't think it was his own grief for lazarus that caused him to weep i think jesus wept in empathy for these sisters he saw their pain and rather than rush ahead because he knew what he was about to do but rather than rush ahead he stayed in the moment and he sat with them in their pain i heard someone say that empathy is getting down in the hole with someone feeling what they
17:30 - 18:00 feel jesus wept i believe because he was feeling what they were feeling what does that do for you how does it make you feel knowing that jesus understands and feels what you are feeling that he doesn't just stand above the hole look down on you and say "man i sure hope you get better." he crawls down into that hole with you and says "i get it i
18:00 - 18:30 understand i know how this feels i know this is tough." and he weeps with you jesus wept the text also says that he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled that's an odd phrase translated into english but the original language actually means or refers to anger and outrage in fact sometimes it's translated as groan like jesus
18:30 - 19:00 groaned why was jesus angry why was he groaning some scholars suggest that he's he's upset or he's angry about some of the people there that that should be believers but they were more focused on the reality of death than the promise of life in him others say that he is angry at death itself at the injustice of death at the pain at the pain that it causes and the
19:00 - 19:30 devastation that it brings maybe you can relate to that have you ever been angry at death yeah in the classic stages of grief and loss anger is certainly present in fact it is a major part of the grief journey and you probably need to know and if you don't already know maybe you do that those stages you don't just typically move in a linear fashion and a cleancut
19:30 - 20:00 stage one stage two and then nicely through it sometimes you camp out in one stage sometimes you are in two at one time sometimes you go back and forth bottom line is grief is messy it's messy anger isn't bad as long as it's expressed in healthy ways not in unhealthy ways or damaging ways and as long as you don't stay in it in the wake of death jesus was deeply moved and
20:00 - 20:30 troubled some of you know what that's like for us in the wake of death there is often anger and pain so there it is this story not only vividly paints the picture of this dramatic scene as it unfolds in front of us at least part of the picture we haven't gotten to all of it yet but i think it also paints the picture of what many of us feel when we experience death of a loved one but not just death when we
20:30 - 21:00 experience loss and grief and conflict and strife in those difficult times difficult seasons you know what that's like because there are those elements those forces we just talked about confusion questions doubt sorrow regret disappointment even anger philip yansy says "in grief love and pain converge." love and pain
21:00 - 21:30 converge cs lewis said "for in grief nothing stays put one keeps on emerging from a phase but it always recurs round and round everything repeats am i going in circles or dare i say am i on a spiral but if a spiral am i going up or down it that's the confusion you see grief is real it's
21:30 - 22:00 powerful and it's normal but we aren't meant to stay there in the wake of death there is uncertainty and pain but remember there is also hope there is hope like the verse we read earlier we do not grieve like the rest of humankind who have no hope for we believe that jesus died and rose again and we have hope that was the entire point of jesus going back there
22:00 - 22:30 and bringing lazarus back to life it was to show his power over death it was to show us that with jesus there is hope remember god will be glorified when people believe death does not have the final word yes death is a reality we must face but then there is life and so what does jesus do in the wake of death he
22:30 - 23:00 brings himself and who did he say he is i am the resurrection and the life back in the text verse 39 take away the stone he said "but lord," said martha the sister of the dead man "by this time there is a bad odor for he has been in there for 4 days." then jesus said "did i not tell you that if you believe you will see the glory of god?" so they took away the stone then jesus
23:00 - 23:30 looked up and he saidf "father i thank you that you have heard me i knew that you always hear me but i said this for the benefit of the people standing here that they may believe that you sent me." when he had said this jesus called in a loud voice "lazarus come out." the dead man came out his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen and a cloth around his face and can you imagine the reaction of those
23:30 - 24:00 eyewitnesses those standing there watching all of this unfold you can just almost see them locked in on lazarus see him step out of the grave with the linen cloth and the the burial wrapped around him like a mummy like a ghost but then you know you know they took their eyes off him because they had to look at jesus as they tried to understand what
24:00 - 24:30 they just witnessed god would be glorified when we believe you see jesus didn't just say he is the resurrection and the life he showed it jesus brought lazarus back to life and he reversed all those painful forces we just talked about doubt went to belief disappointment gave over to amazement anger to wonder sorrow to joy and
24:30 - 25:00 everything changed that's what jesus does he changes everything so what is the message pretty simple don't get stuck in the wake of death don't get stuck in the wake of death but this message applies not just to when we lose someone we love to death it is our overarching story it is the
25:00 - 25:30 narrative of the bible so step back for a moment and see the bigger picture go all the way back to the garden life was as god intended his creation was perfect there was adam and eve there was humankind living in this beautiful intimacy with each other and between god and themselves it was good it was good but satan came along and remember
25:30 - 26:00 satan is the deceiver and they believed satan's lie when he said "you will not surely die." and they chose to disobey god and sin entered the world and death entered the picture and since then we have found ourselves living in the wake of death uncertainty confusion questions
26:00 - 26:30 sorrow disappointment pain anger injustice all of these and so many more are symptoms of a fallen world all things that we feel as we live in this space between death and new life paul describes it this way in romans chapter 8 22 we know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present
26:30 - 27:00 time all creation groans do you remember that word we said jesus was groaning that's how it was translated sometimes jesus groaned we groan we feel the weight of this world as we live in the shadow of death and so today i want to acknowledge that life is challenging you don't need me to tell you that you know that there is pain and
27:00 - 27:30 sorrow there is uncertainty and anxiety there is darkness and death but that is not the end of the story jesus is the resurrection and the life as we will see next week death could not keep jesus down he has conquered death he has reversed the curse of the garden and he
27:30 - 28:00 has given us what he gave lazarus life and so our groans yeah they're real they're painful they come from deep within us but our groans are filtered through the grace of god and ultimately will be redeemed for the glory of god do you believe that does that give you perspective on your
28:00 - 28:30 pain and jesus gets down in the hole with you and he groans with you he weeps with you your groans are real but they are filtered through the grace of god one day your story your pain your sorrow it will be redeemed for the glory of god god will be glorified and so as you live in the wake of death take your pain to
28:30 - 29:00 jesus take your ifonies to god god if only if only you had been here if only you had done something sit in your grief and in your sorrow and express your anger in healthy ways ask your big questions but remember jesus has the power over death in the middle of it all remember you will see the glory of god and we praise him for
29:00 - 29:30 that if we can walk with you in the wake of death let us do that a couple of our shepherds and their wives will be in the parlor that little room right back here you can exit make your way there and they'll encourage you and pray for you or you can come down to the front we'll do that as a church family maybe today you're ready to surrender your life to christ be baptized into christ be clothed with christ so that you can live the life that he created you to live not just now but for all of
29:30 - 30:00 eternity if you're looking for hope if you're looking for peace it's only found in jesus he's calling you today let's stand and sing when peace like a rare