Lazarus come out.

Lazarus come out!

Isn't that an effectual call? John 11:1-44 tells of something miraculous, of a dead man being resurrected. It is odd to think of John 11 as describing evangelism, but it is there. Predestination is there too.

Christ did not say to Lazarus, "Do you want to come out here?" and he didn't say to him "You'll feel much better if you come out of that tomb." There were no reasons given to Lazarus why he should come forth either. No theatrics, no emotional pleas, no threats, no promises that Lazarus would turn his life around. None of that. Just simply, "Lazarus come out."

Lazarus was dead. Christ said he was dead. Everyone knew he was dead. Outside of Christ we are all dead.

So then how is it that we expect evangelism to be all sorts of schemes and convincing speech? Do we expect the dead to decide they will live? Lazarus did not choose to come to life. There he was in that cold dark tomb unable to respond at all to anything. There was no life in him. His condition was no different than that of the average sinner who does not believe in Christ. It was Christ who came to him where he was hidden and brought him to life.

Before Lazarus was dead Christ had already chosen to resurrect him. In John 4:11 it hints to this as Christ says, "This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it." There was a purpose to it and the outcome was already determined. He even stayed a couple days longer where he was rather than traveling to where the ill Lazarus lay. By the time Christ went to him Lazarus was dead and Christ knew it. There were those who had doubts about Christ's words, those who thought it was too late and others who mocked Christ.

When we first hear the Gospel, are we alive or dead? Lazarus did not come to life because Christ told him to come out. How can the dead hear the gospel? There is the fallacy that people can choose to believe or that it is up to them whether they will belong to Christ. But the dead hear only silence. It's not a choice. Simply hearing a Gospel message does not make a person a believer. One cannot respond with faith unless it has been made possible that the heart is receptive to the Word. When the Word is preached we, like Lazarus, are called to come out. We can only respond if the Holy Spirit it has been given to us to enable us to hear.

John 15:16 "You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you."

All those who were gathered at the tomb saw a very much alive Lazarus walk out, not a dead man walking but a living person who walked because he heard Christ's call. The popular horrific image of mummified corpses exiting the grave was right there before them, in John 11:44 "The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth.” Did he make sounds? Maybe they were muffled and unintelligible as if right out of a horror movie. Perhaps the gathered crowd was frightened at the sight before them as Jesus said to them, "Unbind him, and let him go." There they saw the actions of a man made alive by Christ, not a dead mummified corpse stumbling about but a man walking about in the newness of life given to him. Lazarus bore "fruit" of his being chosen by Christ; dead men don't walk and Lazarus did.

You cannot have one foot in the grave and the other in life just as you cannot be an employee for two bosses at the same time. You are one or the other but not both. And what is it we have been called to? Perhaps what we read in Galatians 5 takes on more meaning when we see what we have been called out of and what we are to walk in. We are to walk by the Spirit just as Lazarus walked out of the tomb.

Gal 5:1-26 says, “For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. Look: I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you. I testify again to every man who
accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law. You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace.
For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love. You were running well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth? This persuasion is not from him who calls you. A little leaven leavens the whole lump. I have confidence in the Lord that you will take no other view than mine, and the one who is troubling you will bear the penalty, whoever he is. But if I, brothers, still preach circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been removed. I wish those who unsettle you would emasculate themselves!
For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another. But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are
opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of
anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions,†envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.”

We have been called out to walk in a new life, leaving behind the grave that those who remain dead in their sins inhabit. For at one time we were bound by our sins and destined for the depths of Hell having fallen short of God's glory with hearts turned against Him. No longer.... no longer to practice the deeds of darkness, but called to reflect his glory by living a life marked by the spirit of love. We are not alive because of the good we have done but our good works come from having been made alive.

To the sinner out there we can say "Come out of that tomb of sin" and if they have a heart receptive to that Word preached then they will leave that tomb and walk in newness before the Living God.