<p> The Salvation Army: Australia Southern Territory 1 I AM… the Resurrection and the Life Sermon Outline</p><p>How to Use This Outline The emphasis of this outline is on the exegetical material for the chosen passage. The outline will need to be customised and contextualised by each Corps Officer for the congregation to whom the sermon will be preached:</p><p> Adding appropriate illustrations that will connect with the specific congregation</p><p> Modifying language to be appropriate to the socio-cultural setting of the Corps</p><p> Modifying sermon style if you prefer a topical rather than expository sermon style</p><p> You may also wish to make the application more specific to your context. The Salvation Army: Australia Southern Territory 2 I AM… the Resurrection and the Life Sermon Outline</p><p>Scripture </p><p>John 11:1-44 (TNIV) 1Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 2(This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair.) 3So the sisters sent word to Jesus, “Lord, the one you love is sick.”</p><p>4When he heard this, Jesus said, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.” 5Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6So when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days, 7and then he said to his disciples, “Let us go back to Judea.”</p><p>8“But Rabbi,” they said, “a short while ago the Jews there tried to stone you, and yet you are going back?”</p><p>9Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Those who walk in the daytime will not stumble, for they see by this world’s light. 10It is when people walk at night that they stumble, for they have no light.”</p><p>11After he had said this, he went on to tell them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up.”</p><p>12His disciples replied, “Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better.” 13Jesus had been speaking of his death, but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep.</p><p>14So then he told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead, 15and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.”</p><p>16Then Thomas (also known as Didymus) said to the rest of the disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”</p><p>17On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. 18Now Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem, 19and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother. 20When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home.</p><p>21“Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.”</p><p>23Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”</p><p>24Martha answered, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”</p><p>25Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even though they die; 26and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”</p><p>27“Yes, Lord,” she told him, “I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who was to come into the world.”</p><p>28After she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary aside. “The Teacher is here,” she said, “and is asking for you.” 29When Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him. 30Now Jesus had not yet entered the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. 31When the Jews who had been with Mary in the house, The Salvation Army: Australia Southern Territory 3 I AM… the Resurrection and the Life Sermon Outline comforting her, noticed how quickly she got up and went out, they followed her, supposing she was going to the tomb to mourn there.</p><p>32When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”</p><p>33When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. 34“Where have you laid him?” he asked.</p><p>“Come and see, Lord,” they replied.</p><p>35Jesus wept.</p><p>36Then the Jews said, “See how he loved him!”</p><p>37But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?”</p><p>38Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. 39“Take away the stone,” he said.</p><p>“But, Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.”</p><p>40Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?”</p><p>41So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 42I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.”</p><p>43When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” 44The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face.</p><p>Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.” The Salvation Army: Australia Southern Territory 4 I AM… the Resurrection and the Life Sermon Outline</p><p>Sermon Outline </p><p>Introduction 1. A good way to begin would be to tell a personal story about death. When your mother, brother, friend died perhaps. Or something that happened at a funeral you attended or took. Possibly speak of how death can suddenly occur and catch love ones unprepared and/or of the pain that a death can inflict.</p><p>2. Another possible sermon opener would be to speak of the almost universal belief in life after death but in many different forms. </p><p> a. The ancient Egyptians thought life after death simply involved moving into a parallel existence where you would need, food, cooking utensils, spears etc. These things they buried with the Pharaohs.</p><p> b. Eastern religions mainly Buddhism and Hinduism believe in reincarnation.</p><p> c. The Greeks though the soul was immortal, the body temporal. When you died the soul went off to a shadowing world where it rested.</p><p> d. Jesus spoke of the resurrection of the body.</p><p>3. Joke: You may have heard there are only two certainties in life death and taxes. This is not true. Death is certain but thousands pay no tax. </p><p>John Chapter 11 1. The ‘I am’ saying we are thinking about today is another explanatory comment that is related to a miracle story, this time, the raising of Lazarus. The earlier miracle parallel is found in John chapter 6 where Jesus says, ‘I am the bread of life’ following the miracle of the feeding of the 5000. </p><p>2. Mary, Martha and Lazarus were siblings and friends of Jesus. When Lazarus got ill the sisters sent Jesus a message and in effect he said, don’t worry and did not come (11:1-6). However after two days Jesus said to his disciples we must go to Judea for Lazarus has died (vv. 7-16).</p><p>3. When Jesus arrived Lazarus had been put in a tomb. In addressing Mary and Martha in this sad context Jesus says, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me even though they die will live’ (vv. 17-27). The Salvation Army: Australia Southern Territory 5 I AM… the Resurrection and the Life Sermon Outline</p><p>4. In the next scene in this chapter, Mary, Martha and Jesus all weep. The death of someone ‘near’ to us almost always brings great sadness (vv. 28-36).</p><p>5. Finally, Jesus comes to the tomb, asking that the stone across the entrance be removed. He then calls out, ‘Lazarus, come out’ and the dead man gets up and walks out of the tomb. (vv. 38-44). The Salvation Army: Australia Southern Territory 6 I AM… the Resurrection and the Life Sermon Outline</p><p>I am the Resurrection and the Life 1. Most Christians are not too sure what happens when you die, despite the fact that they know Christianity teaches life after death. </p><p> a. Some are not sure that this is true in any sense. I vividly remember talking to a man I knew well after a funeral who said to me, ‘I must admit, I think when you die that’s it. There is nothing more.’ He was in in church almost every Sunday, he was a member of a home group, and he spoke openly of his faith in Christ. At this point his faith faltered. He had come to accept the materialistic fallacy that once one dies that is the end of everything.</p><p> b. I have even heard people who say they are Christians suggesting that the Indian doctrine of reincarnation may be true. They have said, ‘I think if you live a good life you come back to a happier existence next time.’ They are poorly taught or have Hinduism or Buddhism mixed up with Christianity.</p><p> c. Most Christians, however, seem to think that when you die your soul leaves the body and goes off to live an ethereal (shadowy) existence in bliss in heaven and in unhappiness or torment in hell. Basic to this view is the belief that there is an immaterial part of our existence called, ‘the soul’ that is real but cannot be seen. </p><p> d. Jesus and all the apostolic writers accept none of these opinions. They speak of the resurrection of the body, as a supernatural gift, given to believers in Christ. As Paul makes clear in 1 Corinthians chapter 15 death for the believer means the end of this earthly existence and a new bodily existence in the presence of Christ. He speaks not of the immortality of the soul but of the resurrection when we are given a new ‘spiritual body’ (See 1 Cor. 15:35-55). The Christian idea is that our body expresses who we are; it is the outward form of the inner reality. To live with Christ in heaven we cannot be less than who we were on earth, that is bodiless. We are rather perfected. This amazing gift of resurrection life is given, Jesus makes clear, to those who believe and are given the gift of eternal life. So Jesus says, ‘I am the resurrection and the life’ and by ‘life’ he means ‘eternal life (see Jn 3:16). </p><p>2. Perhaps you have heard the illustration. A fish is made to live in the water, put it in a tree and it will die. A bird is made to fly in the sky. Put it under water and leave it there and it will die. Each is made for its own environment. Human beings are given physically life at birth which is all we need for live in this material world. To be ready for life in heaven we need to be given a new kind of life, which Jesus calls ‘eternal life.’ He thus speaks a ‘second birth’ (Jn 3:1-9). The Salvation Army: Australia Southern Territory 7 I AM… the Resurrection and the Life Sermon Outline</p><p>Resurrection Life Illustrated and Proven 1. It is hard for us modern Christians for whom this physical world as a general rule is so comfortable and pleasant to believe there is something better after death. Like my church friend I mentioned above, in my most unbelieving moments I too wonder if there is anything more than what we have in this world. I need to believe what the Bible says to keep faith alive in this as all other matters.</p><p>2. What helps is that there are two powerful illustrations, even proofs, of resurrection in the scriptures. The first is the raising of Lazarus. Jesus resurrected him. He had died and been buried for four days (Jn 11:39), when Jesus raised him from death. This story is given to illustrate the fact that Jesus has power over death. ‘I am the resurrection and the life’, he says.</p><p>3. But there is a more important proof. Jesus own resurrection after his death on the cross and three days in the tomb. Paul quotes all the witnesses to this event (1 Cor. 15:3-11). After this he says, ‘If Christ has not been raised then your faith is futile … but in fact Christ has been raised from the dead’ (1 Cor. 15:17-20).</p><p>4. I quote Jesus words again, this time more fully. ‘I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Martha do you believe this?’</p><p>Martha replied, ‘Yes, Lord, I believe.’</p><p>I say to you all this today and to myself, Do you believe this?</p>