FOUNDRYcast

All summer, we've been reading the stories of Jesus' signs in the gospel of John. We've seen him turn water into wine, heal people, walk on water, time travel and all sorts of miracles. But these aren't just your garden variety miracle. With the crowds begging for party tricks, Jesus is consistently pointing people to believe in the glory of God and how it changes things.

This week, during our final sign, we don't find anything different.

The Raising of Lazarus 11 A man named Lazarus was sick. He lived in Bethany with his sisters, Mary and Martha. 2 This is the Mary who later poured the expensive perfume on the Lord's feet and wiped them with her hair. Her brother, Lazarus, was sick. 3 So the two sisters sent a message to Jesus telling him, "Lord, your dear friend is very sick."

4 But when Jesus heard about it he said, "Lazarus's sickness will not end in death. No, it happened for the glory of God so that the Son of God will receive glory from this." 5 So although Jesus loved Martha, Mary, and Lazarus, 6 he stayed where he was for the next two days. 7 Finally, he said to his disciples, "Let's go back to Judea."

8 But his disciples objected. "Rabbi," they said, "only a few days ago the people in Judea were trying to stone you. Are you going there again?"

9 Jesus replied, "There are twelve hours of daylight every day. During the day people can walk safely. They can see because they have the light of this world.10 But at night there is danger of stumbling because they have no light." 11 Then he said, "Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but now I will go and wake him up."

12 The disciples said, "Lord, if he is sleeping, he will soon get better!" 13 They thought Jesus meant Lazarus was simply sleeping, but Jesus meant Lazarus had died.

14 So he told them plainly, "Lazarus is dead. 15 And for your sakes, I'm glad I wasn't there, for nowyou will really believe. Come, let's go see him."

16 Thomas, nicknamed the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, "Let's go, too—and die with Jesus."

17 When Jesus arrived at Bethany, he was told that Lazarus had already been in his grave for four days. 18 Bethany was only a few miles down the road from Jerusalem, 19 and many of the people had come to console Martha and Mary in their loss. 20 When Martha got word that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him. But Mary stayed in the house. 21 Martha said to Jesus, "Lord, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask."

23 Jesus told her, "Your brother will rise again."

24 "Yes," Martha said, "he will rise when everyone else rises, at the last day."

25 Jesus told her, "I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying. 26 Everyone who lives in me and believes in me will never ever die. Do you believe this, Martha?"

27 "Yes, Lord," she told him. "I have always believed you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one who has come into the world from God." 28 Then she returned to Mary. She called Mary aside from the mourners and told her, "The Teacher is here and wants to see you." 29 So Mary immediately went to him.

30 Jesus had stayed outside the village, at the place where Martha met him.31 When the people who were at the house consoling Mary saw her leave so hastily, they assumed she was going to Lazarus's grave to weep. So they followed her there. 32 When Mary arrived and saw Jesus, she fell at his feet and said, "Lord, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died."

33 When Jesus saw her weeping and saw the other people wailing with her, a deep anger welled up within him, and he was deeply troubled. 34 "Where have you put him?" he asked them.

They told him, "Lord, come and see." 35 Then Jesus wept. 36 The people who were standing nearby said, "See how much he loved him!" 37 But some said, "This man healed a blind man. Couldn't he have kept Lazarus from dying?"

38 Jesus was still angry as he arrived at the tomb, a cave with a stone rolled across its entrance. 39 "Roll the stone aside," Jesus told them.

But Martha, the dead man's sister, protested, "Lord, he has been dead for four days. The smell will be terrible."

40 Jesus responded, "Didn't I tell you that you would see God's glory if you believe?" 41 So they rolled the stone aside. Then Jesus looked up to heaven and said, "Father, thank you for hearing me. 42 You always hear me, but I said it out loud for the sake of all these people standing here, so that they will believe you sent me." 43 Then Jesus shouted, "Lazarus, come out!" 44 And the dead man came out, his hands and feet bound in graveclothes, his face wrapped in a headcloth. Jesus told them, "Unwrap him and let him go!" John 11:11-44

In a story filled with grief, questioning and fear, we find the root love of Jesus. Fully God and fully man, Jesus expresses the totality of the glory of God into play.

Death cannot hold us. Plain and simple.

God Grows It.

Sometimes we get lucky and good things just fall into our lap. But for something truly great to happen in our lives, typically there is a huge amount of work involved. A flicker in our mind or a flutter in our heart that later becomes a huge part of who we are and what we're about is greatly dependent on our efforts to make it happen. Yet it seems we still need a little bit of that luck…

We strive to control environments while at the same time realizing that there is very little we can actually control. Sometimes in our struggle to rise above we miss one of the great mysteries of the Kingdom…

Growth can be manipulated, accelerated, or even halted, but it cannot be forced.

Jack and Chad sit down and have a conversation about sign 3, the healing at Bethesda. We figure out what Monty Python and the pool of Bethesda might look like, Chad tells a story about knife-fighting and we get into a big discussion over the issue of healing and the how and why of it scaring us.

Chad and Jack sit down to talk about the story of Jesus walking on water and how this story is told differently in the gospel of John. Chad shares influential resources from the summer. We end up having a long conversation on why the idea of time and location being part of the sign might be important.

What do you do with the impossible? The whole word and concept is funny. Some of us love the impossible. We will do whatever it takes to stretch our fitness, intelligence and work ethic towards anything described as impossible. Others love to speak in broad language, and "impossible" describes much of what we get excited about. Other people are analytical and love discovering new possibilities.

We do a lot of things with the impossible.

But when actually, and I mean actually, faced with the impossible-we typically come up short.

Much of the signs of Jesus can be considered impossible. But if I'm going to be honest, this is the one that freaks me out the most. Why? Because I can't explain it. And through study, we end up realizing there are two different Impossibles at work here.

That evening Jesus' disciples went down to the shore to wait for him. 17 But as darkness fell and Jesus still hadn't come back, they got into the boat and headed across the lake toward Capernaum. 18 Soon a gale swept down upon them, and the sea grew very rough. 19 They had rowed three or four miles when suddenly they saw Jesus walking on the water toward the boat. They were terrified, 20 but he called out to them, "Don't be afraid. I am here!" 21 Then they were eager to let him in the boat, and immediately they arrived at their destination! John 6:16-21

This is a parable told in several of the gospels. But John communicates to us something pretty specific about the presence of Jesus and how it is infinitely capable. These last few weeks we have spoken about how the signs show the glory of God, and when the glory of God is revealed…let's just say something different things can happen.

This week, Chad and Jack are joined by Lindsey Nadler. Lindsey, along with her husband Rich, lead the worship ministry at Foundry. Lindsey preached last week on the feeding of the 5,000. We talk about the message, dig into Lindsey's wider ministry and get pretty deep into what a relationship with the Father actually looks like.

Have you ever been picked last? You don't have to answer that out loud…because we all have. Getting picked last is one of the most frightening parts of childhood and it doesn't change in adulthood. What about the time your friend asked you to attend something in support and you realized you were sticking out because you weren't part of the culture of the event? Imagine being the fat guy at an Ironman!

Today's sign is the story of someone who had been picked last in life. And what happened when he met Jesus.

Afterward Jesus returned to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish holy days. 2 Inside the city, near the Sheep Gate, was the pool of Bethesda, with five covered porches. 3 Crowds of sick people—blind, lame, or paralyzed—lay on the porches.5 One of the men lying there had been sick for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him and knew he had been ill for a long time, he asked him, "Would you like to get well?"

7 "I can't, sir," the sick man said, "for I have no one to put me into the pool when the water bubbles up. Someone else always gets there ahead of me."

8 Jesus told him, "Stand up, pick up your mat, and walk!"

9 Instantly, the man was healed! He rolled up his sleeping mat and began walking! But this miracle happened on the Sabbath.

Chad and Jack sit down to have a conversation about John 4 and the healing of the officials son (check out the sermon here). We talk about several things.

• How many times Jesus was in Jerusalem.
• Galilee and the rebellion.
• you vs. y'all (the redneck plural)
• Pushing our own agenda into the Bible.
• What does it mean to believe "in" Jesus.
• Racial and Economic tension in the 1st century.
• Belonging and who is in/out.
• Monroe and post-apocalyptic scenarios
• All the Herods

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