Faith in the Power of God

Scripture: Ezek 37: 1-10; John 11: 17; 34-44

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None of us like death.

No man, woman or child has ever in their right mind,

actually longed for or not been bothered by

the thought of death.

It’s so scary; dark; void. We don’t know what to expect.

And I dare say any of us want to do something

Wherein we are not sure of the outcome.

That’s why so few of us would enter a dark room at night;

Travel alone to an unfamiliar place;

Or take on a new job in the church;

Or consent to surgery.

We’re afraid of death.

We don’t want death.

We don’t want to think about it.

We don’t know what to expect

And we don’t want to think about it.

Lazarus, too, was afraid of death. So was Martha and Mary. In fact, they were so afraid Lazarus would die that they sent a messenger to the Jordan River to find Jesus and ask him to come and be with them, in hope that Lazarus would not die.

They were afraid, because they did not know what to expect.

We know this already as we come to this story in John.

We heard it in similar situations as Jesus

Performed “smaller” miracles before this,

The last one that John recalls.

Only, in those situations, some persons did not know what to expect.

Mary expected Jesus to provide wine for the wedding at Cana.

The government official in Cana knew he could expect Jesus to heal his son.

The man by the pool of Bethzatha knew he could expect healing if he got put to the water first.

The multitudes expected to be fed, I think.

The disciples expected Jesus to come to them,

Although they had no idea he would walk on water to get there.

The man born blind expected to see after he followed Jesus’ instruction

To go and wash his face in the Pool of Siloam.

And Martha and Mary expected Jesus to heal Lazarus.

The expected him to come to Bethany right away.

He did not go.

Verse 6 says that when Jesus had heard the news of Lazarus’ illness

“He stayed where he was for two more days.”

“Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”

Isn’t it like us to underestimate the power of God?

Ezekiel, too, was confronted with the problem of expectation.

Here he was, a member of a nation in exile. He lived in the era of Babylonian captivity of Israel. The people were totally devasted. Their nation had been wiped out, their holy city destroyed, and the temple demolished. If God had let them down then, how could they ever expect him to deliver them now? He had let his temple be wiped out and his chosen people defeated; enslaved; close to being entirely forgotten.

Dry bones.

“Mortal man, can these bones come back to life?”

“Sovereign Lord, only you can answer that.”

Translated, Ezekiel was saying, “I expect not.”

Are you kidding? A dead, dry bone cannot have life, can it?

I expect not.

Well, how do you think he felt when the Sovereign Lord said for him to “Prophesy to the bones.” To “Tell these dry bones to listen to the Word of the Lord?”

I expect he felt pretty stupid.

Why prophesy to inanimate objects?

The Lord had a reason.

“Tell them that I, the Sovereign Lord, am saying to them: I am going to bring you back to life.”

“I will give you sinews and muscles and cover you with skin.”

Sinews as defined by Webster is “tendons or muscular power. Strength.”

Not only would he bring them back to life, but give them strength, muscles, and protection. (Skin)

“I will put breath into you and bring you back to life. Then you will know that I am the LORD.”

Well, Ezekiel could have backed out like we often do and said, “No, I don’t want to be embarrassed.” “Thanks, but no thanks.”

He didn’t say that.

The beginning of the story says Ezekiel felt “the powerful presence of the LORD.”

He had faith in the power of God.

It took a while but Ezekiel came to expect his prophesying to bring about the power of God’s action.

He expected God to act and bring life to those dry bones.

While he spoke, the bones began rattling

And they were covered with sinews, muscles, and skin.

God breathed into them the breath of life,

And “There was an exceeding great host of them.”

Such is the power of God.

Ezekiel took a faith risk and see what happened?

What do you expect?

A friend of mine goes to breakfast at Emory & Henry College about the same time everyday. He emerges from the stately Carriger Hall and strolls down the grassy midway which runs along side of the peaceful duck pond. I’m sure many of you have seen the duck pond. Isn’t it peaceful? Those sweet waterfoul floating quietly along, murmuring to themselves the way ducks and geese do. Well, geese are a little more underhanded than ducks, I guess. One morning as my friend walked his usual walk towards the cafeteria, just as he approached the duck pond, lo. Out of the bushes came two hungry geese eyeing the dear human as a cat does a bird. Wings spread, necks straight out, beaks near the ground, charging forth with the aim of a Russian Tank. One gets his right knee and the other his thigh. You bet we all heard his voice transform into soprano tones. Those geese had been used to him walking by at the same time every morning. They expected him to come. And he came. Now, if simple creatures like these can see the results of their expectations, I’m sure we intelligent beings can also.

We have been empowered to do great things. Paul tells us that “those who obey their human nature cannot please God.” We’ve been empowered by the Spirit. Like Lazarus, we have died to human nature. We must expect great things. With God, nothing is impossible.

But faith comes slowly. “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” Or “I expected a lot. You didn’t come when I expected, so I know there’s nothing to do now but weep.” “What can I expect now?”

“What use is there?”

“Why even hope?”

“Whoever believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

What do you expect?

I consider it a unique opportunity to preach my first sermon of my Christian ministry here at Ebenezer United Methodist Church.

Originating out of a small membership church myself, I can understand how the people of such faith communities as this can get disappointed and stagnate. Our institutional Church governmental policy is not always fair towards churches of this size. They don’t expect much to come of a church with only a handful of members. All they can think of is merger or abandonment. It soon makes the church feel the same way. Especially an ethnic minority church. God heal our blindness. Open our eyes that we may see.

I believe God has a purpose for Ebenezer Church. I expect God to use you to meet some need either here, immediately in Glade Spring, or through a mission agency to needy people somewhere else. It only took 12 to change the world.

If you expect, you can believe.

Jesus said “Didn’t I tell you that you would see God’s glory if you believed?”

God’s glory.

I’m sure we all know somewhere, or someone, or some thing that can be aided tremendously by God’s glory.

The folks who hang around downtown Glade after hours.

The sick, the imprisoned, the shut-in, the hungry, the poor,

The lonely, the unemployed, the naked or those with only rags

The unsaved, the unchurched, the alcoholic, the drug addict

You will see the glory of God if you believe.

What do you expect?

Jesus, whose life we celebrate, as Christians,

Jesus came to earth not to see the problems around us and complain,

He didn’t come to weep only

He came to show us the power of God

The love of God

The compassion of God

the ability of humans who believe.

“If we believe in the power of God, physical death is no threat.” In fact Christ said that we shall never die. This assurance is grounded in the belief we have in the power of God expressed in the raising of Christ from the dead.

Not only do we believe in immortality, but we believe also that through God’s power our own lives can and will be transformed and we will be new creatures.

We can take God’s power to the people who have needs in our community, and transform their lives too. If we believe.

What do you expect?

Jesus took the occasion of Lazarus’ death to show God’s glory to a host of persons. Mary and Martha didn’t know what to expect. The mourners didn’t know what to expect.

He had the stone taken away.

He prayed, “that they will believe.”

He shouted:

“Lazarus, come out!”

He came out.

His hands and feet wrapped in grave clothes,

And a cloth around his face.

“Untie him,” Jesus told them.

“And let him go.”

And so may the Spirit transform us.

So may God’s power release us of the burden of disbelief.

So may God’s power let us go.

That we might expect

The power of God.

And as we go about prophesying

We too will hear the rattling of the bones.

Bones no longer dry.

Covered with sinews and muscles and skin.

And filled with the breath of life.

And “Exceeding great host.”

Dead people, transformed to new life

Through the awesome glory of God.

And faith in his power.

Expect.

Feel the powerful presence of the Lord.

Prayer:

Our redeeming Savior, we thy humble servants bow at the throne of thine eternal grace, asking that we may be made deserving of thy mercy. Empower us by your Holy Spirit to go into all the world making disciples for you. Show us the needs of Glade Spring community. Give us faith to believe that with your power we may see your glory in our midst. May we see lives changed, needs fulfilled. Our own faith strengthened. We are ever in need of your loving kindness. Bless us, and keep us as your children. Through Christ Jesus we pray. Amen.

—Brad Scott

Emory & Henry College

Class of ‘86

Preached Sunday, April 8, 1984

Ebenezer United Methodist Church, Glade Spring, VA

3:00 pm

NOTE: this was my very first attempt to preach. It went by very fast. About 5 minutes in fact. But the encouraging words of the members of the congregation gathered that afternoon were: “Keep on keeping on.”