Our three troubles

John 11:33; 12:27; 13:21

Trouble at the Grave, -Man's Ruin

In the news taken from the day's headlines, we read of barbaric tortures, grisly murders, and men careless of life and bereft of conscience.


Young men come to school like any other day with the exception of being heavily armed. Storing arms away secretly in cafeteria niches and supply rooms, two young men angry at the world begin randomly and wildly firing bullets into their classmates bodies and faces.


History gives us horrid descriptions of young men strung up by their wrists while their skin is stripped from their bodies and fed to wild dogs.

But this tells us only the end of sin. When conscience is seared, when hearts are hardened, then minds are tricked into believing evil to be good.

Yet the truest measure of sin lies in our ability to disguise ourselves as angels of light. Right now in each of our hearts sin causes us to think of ourselves as better than we truly are. For none of us can bear to see the true horror of the evil within each of our hearts. But God knows.


He sees the full extent of evil in our hearts and He is troubled.

Only in John's Gospel do we read of Jesus being troubled; 

1. At the grave of Lazarus, Jn 11:33; 
2. At the temple in the Court of the Gentiles, 12:27; 
3. In the upper room at the last Passover, 13:21

Why was Jesus so troubled here at the grave? 

Certainly, He was grieved by His friend, Lazarus' death. Likely too He was grieved at the unbelief of His disciples. These are all human emotions that we can identify with.  Yet how much greater is his grief when one considers the ruin of all that He created as represented in the grave of Lazarus. 

Nevertheless, even though it deeply troubles Him, it carried no sense of shock or surprise to Him...it was for this cause that He came into the world.

J. Sidlow Baxter penned these lines:

Wonder of wonders, vast surprise,

Could greater wonder be?

That He who made the starry skies

Once bled and died for me.

When we speak of how God so loved the world that He gave His unique Son, we usually think of the gift being given at His birth and at the cross. While this is amazing, what is still more amazing is that this gift was actually given before creation.

We often lament with hindsight that "if we had only known, we would have done things differently." Parents of teens may often be tempted to wish they had never had children. 


Some marriages are full of regret: Solomon records twice (Prov 21:9; 25:24) "[It is] better to dwell in a corner of the housetop, than with a brawling woman in a wide house." (Married men, this is not the time to say "Amen")

Yet, it was in the heart of God that creation would be handed over to a creature that would so abuse it that the death of the Son was required to redeem it.

God so loved the world even before it was created that He gave Himself from before the foundation of the world.

Trouble in the Garden, - God's Remedy

A garden is wonderful place to spend some quiet time. It causes us to reflect and fill our senses with pleasurable things apart from the din and drudgery of everyday life.

Yet, it takes a great deal of care to keep a garden healthy. In fact, we often give up on it because of the commitment of time and energy. (I made the mistake of placing a bird feeder full of thistle seed in my flower garden)

When we do tend to the garden, it is troubling to see disease invade various plants.  Various remedies may be applied sometimes with success and sometimes not. When no remedy can be found, the only recourse is to uproot the plant and prepare the ground to receive a new plant.

The only way God can impart new life to us is to destroy the old and create something new. But He cannot destroy sin without destroying sinners. One way or another, we must die.

His remedy is to provide resurrection to a new life, not merely reformation of the old life.

Is their trouble in your garden? Are their weeds of endless trouble crowding out what you desired in life? Are their threats of pests and disease ruining you well laid out plans for a beautiful life? Have you tried to tend to it, reform it only to be discouraged by the bitter fruit of it?

God's remedy is in the cross.

Why was He there as the bearer of sin

If on Him my sin was not laid?

Why from His side flowed the sin cleansing blood

If by dying, my debt was not paid?

His purpose in going to the cross was to do what had to be done by no other means. It meant great trouble for Him to provide an opportunity for great blessing to us.

Trouble in the Gathering - Man's Responsibility

           

They filed into the upper room from the dusty streets in anticipation of the feast that always brought a measure of joyful memory and anticipation to their hearts. They hurriedly found a place around the table and continued on in their lighthearted chatter.

The Lord Jesus comes in and removes His robes, puts on a servants towel and washes their feet telling them that they do not know what He is doing now, but they will understand later.

He puts on his outer tunic again and takes His place at the table. The chatter begins quietly at first and then grows a little more lively as they take in what the Lord has just done. 

They see that the Lord's face remains solemn and grows more troubled. The chatter dies down as they one by one look at Him. Then the Lord announces that one from among them will betray Him.

As the astonished disciples discuss it among themselves, a solemn final and gracious command is given to Judas. It is really an appeal to Judas to repent, but in vain.  Judas could have said, No, I think that I will just stay.

The expectation of the Jews, including Judas, was that Messiah would appear as the end Roman rule and oppression and usher in a glorious time for Israel. Judas had hoped that Jesus was He.

Perhaps it was in the mind of Judas to force a confrontation with the Roman authorities in order for Jesus to show His power. Surely, Jesus the Messiah would not allow Himself to be crucified. Whatever the reasoning of Judas, he was moved by Satan to betray Jesus.

Did Judas have a choice? Yes, but that choice was presented to him long before this Passover feast. He could have chosen differently at any time, but he did not.

What was that choice?

"I will follow Jesus - if." 

He put conditions on his faith. Judas's love and loyalty was conditional upon certain expectations being met.

Is our faith such that if God should take every earthly blessing and hope away from us, would we still love Him? Would we still trust Him?

Before this year is out, we may all be tested as to the true nature of our faith.

Will we trust Him when our earthly wealth has evaporated?

Will we trust Him when our earthly institutions are destroyed?

Will we trust Him when our close companions and loved ones are taken in death?

Will we trust Him when we learn of the disease that will take our own life?

There is but one remedy for our troubled faith and that is to trust Jesus completely, implicitly, without hesitation and without reservation. It is not a faith that we conjure up by force of will or reason.

Judas shows us that our will and our reason cause us to have certain expectations about God. When expectations are not met, we doubt God.

If He is God, then trust Him as if He is God.

The cross and His empty grave give us a reason to trust Him and not our expectations.

We would never as a matter of reason expect that God would create a world in which He would be required to sacrifice Himself to save it. 

Certainly not by means of a crucifixion.

Yet, He has done it. Our expectations be cursed. We can trust Him because He is God.

To trust Him only while things are well is 'little faith.'

Trusting Him when the world offers nothing but danger and loss makes faith great because it is placed in a Great Person.

God is not ignorant of the trouble at the grave, nor of the trouble in our garden and not even at the trouble of our little faith in our gathering unto Him.

The Cross and the Resurrection prove that Jesus is Lord, He is Messiah.

Let us trust Him as Lord and God.