We often speak and sing of God’s glory. To the shepherds in the Bethlehem fields, the angels declared, “Glory to God in the highest.” What is this glory of the Lord that the Bible talks so much about? To see and experience God’s glory is to experience God’s power that strengthens us, God’s provision that takes care of our every need, God’s love that assures us, God’s truth that stabilizes us, God’s peace that calms us, God’s holiness that convicts us, God’s righteousness that purifies us, God’s wisdom that guides us, and God’s forgiveness that liberates us. God’s glory is to experience God and that is revival.

It should be the desire of every Christian to experience God glory in his and her life. The question is how do we do that? John 11 tells the story of a family who experienced God’s glory in a powerful way. From their story we can glean some helpful insights into our own personal experience of God’s glory.

We see in verse 39 that when God wants to display His glory, He calls for a step of obedience. Lazarus had died. Standing in front of his tomb, Jesus gave a clear yet simple instruction: Remove the stone. Notice with me the aspects of this call to obedience. It was abundantly clear. There was no question about what they were to do, or that they were the ones responsible to do it. God is clear in His will for us. Usually any fuzziness about God’s will for our lives is on our part, not God’s! It is our hesitation, or unwillingness or inability to hear that causes our wavering in obedience. God’s will is clear because He wants us to obey Him more than we do.

Jesus’ call to obedience here was also seemingly ridiculous. How often have we faced God’s will for our lives and have said, “You want me to do WHAT?” Even for ancient Israel, this was a strange request by Jesus because it wasn’t normal to open up graves. Can you imagine the buzz Jesus generated: Surely, He’s not serious. Why didn’t He come sooner to heal Lazarus instead of waiting? Is Jesus nuts? Why?? I’ve seen stupid before, but this takes the cake. If you know anything about how God works, you know that God is in the habit of asking people to do some pretty ridiculous things: “Noah, build me a boat.” Joshua, take Jericho by walking around that fortified city for 6 days and then on the 7th day shout together and blow trumpets. Gideon, go up against a humungous army with 300 soldiers. David, use your slingshot and confront Goliath. Daniel, pray to me even though you will be thrown to the lions. Peter, cast your nets on the other side of the boat. A little boy offered Jesus a couple fish and some loaves of bread to feed 5,000 people. You see it is about trust. God’s glory is best seen against the backdrop of impossibilities that only God could solve.

In these past few months, I sometimes hear a little voice in me say something like, “Jerry, you are crazy. You better sign yourself into Ancora. There is no way this church is going to be able to build this Family Life Center. It is way too much money, and where is that money going to come from, anyway? Sicklerville is not exactly a wealthy community. Who do you think you are kidding?” Our Following the Vision may not rank up there with the Ark, or with Goliath, or even Jericho, but it’s not far behind! God sometimes asks us to do something that we think is downright foolish. Don’t open that grave!

Jesus’ command to move the stone was also emotionally difficult. Here’s the reality: 2 sisters grieving over their beloved brother and their sorrow beginning to heal. Now Jesus wants them to open those wounds again by opening the grave. Jesus was asking them to do something that went against the grain of their emotions. Perhaps God is asking you to do something that is emotionally difficult. Is Jesus poking you to forgive someone who has hurt you, to love someone who is unlovable, to be honest and transparent with a loved one or a friend, to confess a wrong, to endure something that is hard (maybe stay put when you want to run), to walk away from a sin you love, to sacrifice something dear to you to build a ministry to reach those in our community who do not know Jesus?

What is it that Jesus is giving you a clear command and asking you to obey? Here’s a clue: if Jesus is calling you for an act of obedience, it is a good indication that He wants to display His glory in and through you. God’s glory is revealed when we are obedient. It is our choice: to obey or not. Roger Staubach, famed quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys football team, admitted that it was at first difficult to play football under legendary coach, Tom Landry. You see the coach not by Staubach called every play. This rankled this graduate of the Naval Academy and born leader. His pride told him that he should be able to call his own plays and the coach should stay on the sidelines. Staubach later said, “I faced up to the issue of obedience. Once I learned to obey, there was harmony, fulfillment and victory.” God’s glory is displayed through our choosing to be obedient to His will.

In this New Testament story we see in verse 39-40 that whether or not you obey Jesus is dependant on whether or not you believe Him. Obedience is always dependant upon faith. At first Martha was incredulous. She had trouble-believing Jesus. Listen to her initial response: “Lord, by this time there will be a stench.” Most of our objections to God’s will are based in the practical. Sometimes God calls us to do something that is not logical and doesn’t make any sense to us. It might even border on ludicrous. In this case Lazarus had been dead for 4 days. The reality is that natural decomposition would have already begun. By all logic, it was nonsensical to open the tomb.

There are times in our Christian walk when God asks of us a faith which cannot be figured out in advance. Sometimes it is not possible to be both logical and faithful because God sometimes requires a response from us that transcends practicality. Our human nature says, “God, what you are asking me to do stinks. It is not right, it is not good, and it certainly doesn’t make any sense whatsoever.” Peter and the boys had fished all night and came up empty. Jesus told them to cast their nets on the other side of the boat. Peter protested but then said, “Okay, because You said so, I will do it!” What happened? They caught so many fish the boat was close to sinking! The rich, young ruler walked away from Jesus. Why? Because Jesus said, “Go, sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor and then come follow me.” He weighed the options: wealth or Jesus. He said, “This stinks” and chose his wealth over Jesus. He did not believe that what Christ had to offer was good.

Notice in verse 40 of our Scripture story that Jesus brought Martha back to the central focus, “Did I not say to you that if you believe you will see the glory of God?” Jesus reminds her (and us) that the key issue is faith.

If you are having a having a hard time obeying God in some area of your life, the real question is probably this: do I believe Him? Do I really believe that His will really is, as Paul describes in Romans 12, “good and acceptable and perfect?”

What happened when Mary and Martha chose to believe Christ and simply obey His clear command? They trusted and obeyed, and they saw the glory of the Lord. Verse 41-45 reveal what happened: Lazarus was brought back to life, many heard the gospel, many were saved, and God’s glory was displayed to a watching world.

When Noah obeyed, we saw the glory of God’s salvation. When Moses obeyed, we saw the glory of God’s power. When Joshua obeyed, we saw the glory of God’s deliverance. When Paul obeyed, we saw the glory of God’s ministry. When those around you obey, you see something of the glory of God. The bottom line is that if you trust and obey, you will see God’s glory displayed in your life—His love, forgiveness, power, provision, wisdom, peace, joy, et al. God is ready to give it all to us. He is simply waiting on us to obey.

What is it that we really need in our lives, family, church, and ministry? We need the glory of God! How will we see God’s glory unleashed? By trusting and obeying God’s will.

Let me ask you 3 questions for you to ponder as we go into our Advent and Christmas season. What would happen in this church if every single one of us chose to fully obey God? What is the simple, clear and perhaps emotionally difficult step of obedience that God is confronting you with today? What will you do about it?

Thank You for Taking The Time to Read This Message.
May God Use These Words to Help You and Strengthen You.