Maintaining Kingdom Consciousness
by Rev. Kirby Williams
Approaching life and faith from a Kingdom perspective.
Text: John 11:11-16
Date: 06/24/2018, the Traditional service.
Series: "John: Encountering Love" Part 96
Description:
The drama in Perea continues as Jesus informs His disciples that Lazarus has "fallen asleep" and that it is finally time for them to return to Judea so He can "awaken him." When the disciples continue to misunderstand this ironic and highly symbolic language, Jesus informs them bluntly that Lazarus has died. He goes on to shock them (and us) by saying He is glad He was not there to heal Lazarus so that they "may believe". We will delve into the mystery of how our Lord, (who John has clearly told us loves Lazarus), can rejoice that He was not present to keep Him from dying. We will discover as the disciples did that everything looks different from a Kingdom perspective and that faith (or "belief" as John calls it) is the primary Kingdom objective. Ultimately we will find that both in and out of periods of testing, life is better and faith grows when we maintain a Kingdom Consciousness.
View:
Options:
I. Introduction, Matt. 6:33.
II. Exposition of the text, John 11:11-16.
A. Context
B. Preparing to return to Judea.
1. The disciples' misunderstanding, vs. 11-13.
a. Lazarus "asleep", vs. 11.
i. A mutual friend.
ii. "Sleep" as a metaphor for death.
• A common occurrence, 1Kings 2:10, Matt. 27:52, Acts 7:60, 1Th. 4:13.
• A supernatural revelation.
iii. "Sleep" as a metaphor of hope, John 11:25-26, Rom. 8:11.
iv. Excursus: The biblical view of human existence.
• Foreknown in the mind of God.
• Born with a body and a soul.
• Death of the body.
• The continued life of the soul.
• Conquering death, 1Cor. 15:54,55.
b. Another calculated misunderstanding, vs. 12.
i. Missing the irony.
ii. The danger of one-sided hermeneutics.
• An over-literal interpretation.
• An over-symbolic interpretation.
c. John's editorial note, vs. 13.
i. A disciple's confession.
ii. Excursus: The dilema of perspective.
• Swayed by the world.
• Swayed by the Kingdom.
• Seeking a Kingdom perspective, Phil. 1:27, Matt. 6:33.
2. Jesus' shocking explanation, vs. 14-15.
a. Jesus speaks plainly, vs. 14.
b. The importance of perspective, vs. 15.
i. The earthbound perspective.
ii. The Kingdom perspective, Rom. 8:18, 2Cor. 4:17.
iii. Taking a closer look.
iv. The centrality of belief.
v. The stage is set.
3. Thomas' devotion, vs. 16.
a. Introducing Thomas Didymus.
b. An unexpected leader.
c. A window in to Thomas' character.
d. The pitfall of "blind faith and devotion".
III. Application
A. Faith is the objective.
B. How do we gain a deeper faith?
1. Faith through testing.
2. Faith through Kingdom Consciousness, Matt. 6:33, Col. 3:23.
IV. Conclusion
