Iconic Jesus | Part 6

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Overview

69 min

Pastor Bill Bush · Mar 4, 2019 · 5 min read · 69 min listen

Jesus is the resurrection and the life — the only one who can unleash us from death and unwrap us to actually live.

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Scripture in this message

Big Idea

Jesus wants to relate to us the way He related to Mary, Martha, and Lazarus: responding to us with His own purpose, connecting with us personally in our pain, and then unleashing His resurrection power in our lives. But being unleashed from death is only half the story — He also wants to unwrap us so we can live free, and that means letting others help pull off the grave clothes we're still used to wearing.

Key points

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1Jesus always responds to us with His purpose, not ours
Pastor Bill walks through John 11 where Mary and Martha send word that Lazarus is sick, expecting Jesus to rush and heal him, but Jesus deliberately delays two days. The disciples are equally confused when He insists on going back to dangerous Judea. He uses the Galileo/heliocentric illustration to show that we act like the son of God should revolve around us, when really we revolve around Him.
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2Jesus declares Himself the resurrection and the life
Pastor Bill unpacks the I AM statement to Martha, stressing that Jesus said 'I am the resurrection and the life,' not merely a way to it — He is life itself, the one who created it and the one who can fix it. Martha's faith is real but limited to dogma about a future resurrection, and Jesus pushes her to trust Him personally.
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3Jesus connects with us personally even while pursuing His purpose
When Jesus arrives and Martha and then Mary both tell Him, 'if only you had been here,' He doesn't just push past their grief. He gets angry at death and sin, not at the people, and then weeps with Mary and the mourners even though He knows Lazarus is about to rise. Pastor Bill compares this to a parent crying alongside a child who needs a painful but necessary shot.
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4Trust has to come before you see the power
When Martha protests opening the tomb because of the smell, Jesus reminds her that He already told her she would see God's glory if she believed. Pastor Bill presses the room to ask what they want God's power to touch that they still won't trust Him with first.
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5Jesus calls Lazarus out of death, then commands he be unwrapped for life
Lazarus emerges still bound in grave clothes and unable to free himself, so Jesus tells the crowd to unwrap him and let him go. Pastor Bill treats this as literal and symbolic at once: Jesus unleashes us from death by our faith, but we still need to be unwrapped to actually live free, and that unwrapping is often awkward and vulnerable.
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6The unwrapping is the work of real community
Pastor Bill connects the unwrapping to small groups, fellowship, and recovery ministry like CR, arguing that being unleashed is a moment but being unwrapped is a process that requires people who know you, accept you, support you, and develop you rather than let you re-wrap yourself in grave clothes.
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7The Lazarus story foreshadows the cross and resurrection, remembered in communion
Pastor Bill ties the miracle forward to Jesus calling His own name out of the tomb and to the Last Supper, where Jesus told His disciples to eat the bread and drink the cup in remembrance of Him. Communion becomes the moment to ask whether we've quietly put the grave clothes back on.

Application

Pastor Bill frames the charge around the two halves of the miracle: being unleashed from death and being unwrapped for life.

Trust His purpose before you see His power
When Jesus' response doesn't make sense, resist the urge to reject Him; recognize He's always working from His purpose rather than yours, and trust Him before, not after, He shows up.
Let yourself be vulnerable with Him in the pain
Bring the confusing, painful moments to Jesus honestly rather than pretending, trusting that He grieves with you even when He already knows the outcome.
Stop wearing your grave clothes
If you've already put your faith in Jesus, ask where you've quietly gone back to living like you're still dead and bring that to Him this week.
Get into real community to be unwrapped
Step into small group or recovery ministry relationships that know you, accept you, support you, and won't let you re-wrap yourself, even though it's awkward and vulnerable.
Respond before taking communion
If you've never put your faith in Jesus as the resurrection and the life, pray the prayer of surrender first; if you have, use communion to reflect on where you've drifted back to doubt.

Take it into your week

Scripture in this message

From the transcript
“So that's where we're at in John chapter 11. And as I go through this, here's kind of the what I want us to go. What can we take away as a big idea for this”
From the transcript
“So I'm in John 11. Like I said, if you have your Bibles, pull it out, and here we go. It says a man named Lazarus was sick. He lived in Bethany with his sisters, Mary and Martha”
From the transcript
“But when Jesus heard about it, verse four, Laz he said, Lazarus' sickness will not end in death. Nope. It happened for the glory of God so that the son of God will receive glory from this”
From the transcript
“Verse nine, Jesus replied, there are twelve hours a day, daylight every day. During the day, people can walk safely. They can see because they have the light of the world”
From the transcript
“He's trying to get her to to go from a dogma, a faith in dogma, in teaching, in belief, to a faith in Jesus. Because he says, I am the resurrection and the life”
From the transcript
“When he says to to Martha, he goes, I'm the resurrection life. Anyone who believes in me will live even after dying. Everyone who lives in me and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this, Martha”
From the transcript
“Yes, Lord, she told him. I've always believed you're the Messiah, the son of God, the one who has come into the world from God. Then she returned to Mary”
From the transcript
“They told him, Lord, come and see. Verse 35, shortest verse in the Bible. Then Jesus wept”
From the transcript
“Verse 39, he says, roll the stone aside, Jesus told him. I imagine since he says he's still angry and he's snorting like a horse, he didn't say, excuse me”
From the transcript
“he prayed, but he says in verse 40, you always hear me, but I said it out loud for the sake of all the people standing here so that they will believe you sent me”
From the transcript
“Says then Jesus shouted, Lazarus, come out. I love it. Lot a theologian I I read once, a commentator on this passage, it's good that he specified Lazarus”
From the transcript
“Like it did in the book of Matthew, there's a little story that talks about after Jesus, you know, dies on the cross and he gives up his life and the temple, the curtain tears that separates the holy and holy”
From the transcript
“his hands and feet were bound in grave clothes, his face wrapped in a head cloth. And here's where they get the big idea from, and Jesus said, unwrap him and let him go”

7-day devotional

A personal reading plan from this message — scripture, reflection, and prayer for each day.

Day 1

When Jesus heard that Lazarus was sick, He did not rush. He stayed two more days where He was — and the sermon made something clear about that pause: it was not neglect. It was purpose. Jesus said plainly that this illness would not end in death but would display the glory of God. He already knew where the story was going. He just was not on Lazarus's schedule, or Mary's, or Martha's — and He is not on ours either. That is genuinely hard to sit with, especially when you are in the middle of a painful wait. The silence of God can feel like absence. The delay can feel like indifference. But the sermon drew a sharp distinction: Jesus orbiting around our agenda versus us learning to orbit around His. That is not a small shift in thinking — it reshapes how we pray, how we grieve, and how we hold our expectations. What the story of Lazarus shows us is that the bigger plan was always in motion, even when it looked like nothing was happening. His purposeful plan does not erase the pain of waiting. But it does mean that when He seems quiet, He has not forgotten you. He is moving — just not the way you expected, and probably toward something more than you asked for.

For reflection

Is there a situation in your life right now where God's silence has felt like absence? What would it look like to trust that He is still purposefully at work in it?

Pray

Pray for the grace to release your timeline and trust that God's plan — even when it feels slow — is moving with purpose toward something good.

Small-group discussion guide

For leading a group conversation about this message.

Open

Think about a time you were sure you knew the best solution to a problem — and then things went a completely different direction. This message from John 11 explores what it looks like when Jesus shows up with His plan instead of ours.

Discussion questions

1
In John 11:4-6, Jesus hears that Lazarus is gravely ill, says the situation is 'for the glory of God,' and then deliberately waits two more days before going. What do you think the people closest to Lazarus made of that delay — and what does it suggest about the gap between how Jesus sees a situation and how we tend to see it?
2
When Jesus says 'I am the resurrection and the life' in John 11:25-26, He isn't simply saying He can lead someone to life — He is claiming to be life itself. What difference does that distinction make for how we understand what we are actually trusting Him with?
3
John 11:33-35 describes Jesus as deeply troubled and weeping — even though He already knows He is about to raise Lazarus. What does that tell us about how Jesus relates to people in the middle of their grief, before the outcome is clear to them?
4
In John 11:39-40, Jesus tells the crowd to roll away the stone before anything miraculous has happened, and Martha pushes back. What does this moment reveal about the relationship between trust and seeing God move — and how might that pattern show up in everyday life?
5
After Lazarus walks out of the tomb in John 11:43-44, Jesus tells the people standing there to unwrap him and let him go. The message pointed to this as a picture of what the church is meant to do for one another. What does that kind of community actually look like in practice — what makes it possible, and what tends to get in the way?
6
The message described a pattern of people who have been freed from death but have quietly pulled the grave clothes back on — still bound by old patterns rather than walking in resurrection freedom. What do you think makes it so easy to drift back into those old patterns, and how might honest engagement with community and Scripture help loosen what still binds us?

Pray together

Jesus as the resurrection and the life — that He would meet us in our grief, reorient us around His purposes, and use this community to help one another walk in the freedom He purchased

Ask Rewind about this message

Scripture in this message

Iconic Jesus | Part 6

Big Idea

Key points

Application

Take it into your week

Scripture in this message

7-day devotional

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5

Day 6

Day 7

Small-group discussion guide

Open

Discussion questions

Pray together

Go deeper

The Road To Easter | Week 2 | Full Service

Evidence of Eternity | Week 6 | Message

The Light Shines In The Darkness | Message

Easter at Rock Point 2025 | Message

Love Defined | Week 7

Love Defined | Week 6

Iconic Jesus | Part 6

The big idea

Ask Rewind about this message

Scripture in this message

Big Idea

Key points

Application

Take it into your week

Scripture in this message

7-day devotional

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5

Day 6

Day 7

Small-group discussion guide

Open

Discussion questions

Pray together

Go deeper

The Road To Easter | Week 2 | Full Service

Evidence of Eternity | Week 6 | Message

The Light Shines In The Darkness | Message

Easter at Rock Point 2025 | Message

Love Defined | Week 7

Love Defined | Week 6