Why Do We Blame God When Life Falls Apart?

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Lazarus has passed away, and Jesus has hurt it, and he says this in verse chapter 4, actually he 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." So leading up to this, Jesus is about to come and visit Lazarus and the crew and whatever, and they think all hope is gone. Lazarus has passed away. He's gone. He's kicked the bucket. He ain't coming back. All right. Now, verse 17, it says, "Now when Jesus came, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. This is fancy language for he'd been dead a long time. That body has been decomposing or whatever. He's been in there. He's been dead as a doer now in that tomb." Verse 18, "Bethany was near Jerusalem about two miles off, and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them concerning their brother." So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, but Mary remained seated in the house. Martha said to Jesus, "Lord, if you had been there, my brother would not have died." So right off the bat, really, Jesus, he was your boy. You cared about him. If you knew he had been there, if you had been there, he wouldn't have died. And then she says, "But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you." Jesus again said, "Your brother will rise again." Verse 24, Martha said to him, "I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day." So let's stop right here there. Martha has this old view of Jewish tradition that there will be some future event on the last day, this interim period where basically bodies, people will rise from the dead. So she's believing in the Jewish old tradition of resurrection day. Oh, yeah, the resurrection, yeah, that'll happen as some future event long to happen like that'll happen. I get it. And Jesus totally flipped the script on her. He says, "I am the resurrection in life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?" She said to him, "Yes, Lord. I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God who is coming into the world." When you're reflecting on your circumstances, scratch your circumstances. When you're reflecting on other people's circumstances and you think they're too far gone. So you let Jesus transcend your predetermined categories about people. Will you let Jesus conquer those predetermined guarantees that you put all over that person's never going to change or owe that person's too foregone or yeah, that person's never going to get out of drug addiction and that person's never going to put down the bottle. That person's never going to stop having sex with their spouse outside of marriage or that person's never going to win or you going to stop putting God in a box. I mean, like, yeah, Martha believed in tradition, but he's like, no, no, I am the resurrection and the life, meaning that life begins now when we believe in Jesus. When I was 17 years old, I wanted to take my life not because I wanted to die because I thought it was the only, I thought that taking my own life at 17 years old was the only way to get the pain to go away. That meant death was my savior. If you think that life begins when you die, that death is your savior and not Jesus. Jesus makes a bold statement to this lady. You ain't got to wait for some future, you know, day of resurrection. Life begins now. I am the resurrection and the life Jesus says and that is true to you. That's true to me. I am the resurrection and the life Jesus says, whoever believes in me, though he died, yet he shall live. So he's like, yeah, physically, if you put trust in Jesus Christ, your physical body dies, but you actually live and you'll be more alive now than ever. So to all those people and your life that you've lost family members, loved ones, friends, people that have died to cancer, people that have been lost in tragedy, people that have been lost serving our country, people that have been lost in law enforcement, and they were believers in Christ. They are more alive now than ever and that should give you hope. And that same hope, Jesus Christ, that you've been given, you should want to give to other people. So the people that you see out there struggling with sin, drowning themselves in alcohol, drowning themselves in busyness and work, worshipping false idols like social media and food and other things, it should make you want to pass that on to them. But they don't have to wait till they're 60 years old to maybe get some relief. They don't have to wait till they die to get some relief. They don't have to do that. Jesus brings a relief now. He is the antidote because we all have a hole in our heart and it's God's size. If it wasn't a God's size, hold the heart, then it would only take him one self-help book to fix it. But why is it that we have thousands of self-help books being released every year and we don't have the cure to anxiety and depression? And Gen Z is the most anxious, depressed generation of all human history. Why is that? Why is that? That we have a phone and we have access to every human being on the planet and we can get access to things in large quantities and quick amounts of time yet we don't have the solution to our brokenness. And Jesus makes a bold claim here and says, "I'm the solution, I am the resurrection and the life." And he goes, "Do you believe it?" And that's the question today. Do you believe it? Do you believe he's the solution? Yeah, of course I believe he's the solution. Are you living like it? Are you living like he's the solution? You may say he's the solution with your mouth and you may wear your polo shirt to church on Sunday with your cacky pants, but as soon as 12 o'clock hits you go eat lunch after church and that you've completely forgotten what the pastor said because you ain't living for him. He ain't the solution in your life. You're still turning to the cigarettes. You're still turning to the sex. You're still turning to the alcohol. You're still turning to the porn. You're still turning to all these things and you're like, "Yeah, yeah, Bryce, I mean Jesus is my solution, then live like it." If your life doesn't look different before you claimed to have met Jesus until after you claimed to met Jesus, I would argue that he ain't the solution in your life. You think you're the solution and that's why your life is still miserable is because you think you're the solution. Jesus says, "I'm the solution. I'm the resurrection in the life. Whoever believes in me, though he died, yet shall he live." You know what has to die? He's, yes, he's talking about your physical body. Though your physical body would die, yet you shall live. You get real life right now. You know what has to die in order for Jesus to be the solution in your life. Do you know what has to die in order for Jesus to be the resurrection in the life in your life? Your ego, your pride, your sin, you have to lay it at the feet. You know what you ever wonder why in church, like the edge of the stage is called an altar, is because altars are where things die. And so when people physically walk up to the front, they're actually doing this like physical act of surrender, like this physical symbolism of going like, "I'm ready to lay this thing down at the feet of Jesus." Hey, quick pause. I have to tell you about something I've been looking forward to all year. It's called Open Heaven, and it's the biggest live event we've ever done. It's happening November 8th at the Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory in Irving, Texas. Picture a live podcast experience, real conversations about faith and purpose and the stuff we actually talk about on this show, but in a room full of people altogether. And it's not just talk. We've got a live worship band that's coming alongside, being led by Aaron Tedesky and Upper Room Worship. If you know, you know, it's going to be a night full of faith and power, and we really believe that Jesus is going to be in the room. Think it's our on sale right now at BryceCrofford.org/tour, links in the description. Just do me a favor, only buy through the official site because there's a ton of resellers and scammers out there. So make sure you get your tickets at BryceCrofford.org/tour. All right. Back to the episode. We have to lay our pride down, our ego down, our sin down, our idols down. Maybe it's your money. Maybe it's sex. Maybe it's a relationship. You're putting God's eyes expectations on a spouse, a girlfriend, a boyfriend, a husband or wife, whatever it may be. You've got to lay it down on his feet because what will rise when you are given the antidote, Jesus Christ, the resurrection in the life, that's what satisfies you. That's what satisfies your soul. Because when you don't have Jesus as the answer, and you go to bed at night stressed, confused, anxious about the next day, pressures of work, pressures of home life, pressures of circumstances, your parents don't understand you. You didn't get accepted in the university you applied to. You're wondering why you just got broken up with, you're wondering why you're losing all these friends. You just, you were a star football player and you tore your ACL and you don't understand why it didn't work out. Like you're trying to figure it out. It's because those things are trying to be the solution in your life. Let me just tell you something. If you haven't figured out a life experience, they'll never be the solution and they never will. And in fact, if your marriage is struggling, your relationships are struggling, your struggling with poor or whatever, you are going to be bound and you can't shake yourself free. And that may sound hopeless and helpless, but when are we going to learn in all of human history, even looking back at society trying to fix their problems? When are we going to realize that we have never been able to come up with the solution? We will never. There is no solution that you and I can come up with to fix the problems of the world, to fix the marriages, to fix the things. It's we need Jesus. We need him now more than ever. You don't think we need Jesus now. Look at society. Look at us turning on each other. We're finding each other. Not even just different denominations. I mean, we're arguing over with each other. We hate each other. Based on if we believe certain things are not about about life, reality, worldview. Countries are at war with each other. I mean, they're suffering and people are starving. I mean, you don't think we need Jesus now more than ever? I mean, he is the solution. And the beauty about Jesus Christ, is Jesus Christ isn't like, oh, yeah, here's your ticket and then when you die, you punch the ticket and then that's where we'll meet. No, Jesus has already met us where we're at by dying on the cross. And so because he's the resurrection and the life, when we trust in Jesus, when we surrender everything, he then begins the pursuit of relationship and we pursue as well. Like that night at Waffle House, the thing that changed my perspective was that man that was sitting next to me, he was complaining about his wife and he was like, I love my wife and she doesn't feel the same about me. He said, there's no growth in a relationship if the love isn't mutual. And when he said that, it was like all of time stopping for the first time in my life as the Bible versus I had learned growing up, like a film real flashing before my eyes. It was like time was frozen. And for the first time in my life, the 18 inches between my head and my heart finally connected and I asked myself this question, maybe I don't know God loves me because I haven't given myself a chance to love him back. We put all these presuppositions on Jesus that are so unfair. We blame God for suffering. He's our scapegoat when we screw up and we blame God for problems in our lives or we get mad at God when he doesn't give us what he wants. It's like we like to make God the scapegoat for our problems and our sin and our suffering and our struggle. But let me ask you this, if I asked 100 people right now to tell me their opinions on you watching or listening right now, someone have good things to say, someone have bad things to say, embarrassing things, maybe ways that you've hurt them or maybe they're lying on you. But the only way I can actually get to know you is if I come and hang out with you. If we get a meal together, we do things that you like, we do things that I like and we grow relationship, that's when I'll get to know you in the same way. We can't put these presuppositions on God that are false. Why don't you meet with him? Why don't you search him out? He's right here saying, no, I'm the resurrection and the life, I'm the answer. But then you're blaming him for the suffering that you're enduring. Well, maybe if you ran to him, you would realize he's the solution to your suffering and not the scapegoat for your suffering. Maybe you would realize that you're looking for the answer to your suffering and your problems everywhere else, but in him, but he's the easy option to blame. So maybe for a split second, stop blaming God for the scenarios that you're putting yourself and take accountability. But why don't you run to him instead of run away from him? Or as a matter of fact, let me challenge you further. Why don't you run to him, not even just in the highs of life, but in the lows of life. Don't just run to him when your life's going to crap. You need to run him, run to him in the highs of life and give him the glory in the highs, run him in the lows of life. And in the Monday and you need him because he is the resurrection and the life. And he says, do you believe this? And you know what? This is the greatest one of the greatest confessions in the gospel of John. He said, Lord, I believe it. I believe you're the Christ, the Son of God who is coming into the world. That's a powerful proclamation because it is transcendent. This idea of like, oh, I gotta wait, I gotta wait. So the comfort was even if Lazarus didn't physically get raised from the dead in that passage. Jesus is like, yeah, but I'm the resurrection in the life. So even if someone physically passes away in their body, they're alive because of me. I'm the bridge, Jesus says, but even now in this life, you can experience the resurrection from your suffering, your sin and your shame and your guilt through the blood of Jesus. And I want to pray just a simple prayer that you would trust Jesus as the resurrection, the solution. Because he is the life, Lord Jesus, we thank you. That's what you've done on the cross. That is the solution and resurrection to our lives. Lord Jesus, not only do we want to be united with you spiritually, when our physical body passes away, but Lord would death not be our savior, but would you be our savior and would life begin with today? We're committing like, Lord, I want you. God, we don't want to wait for you. Lord, we get the invitation that we get to be with you now. Lord, would you be that don't let us rob you of your reward on the cross, Lord Jesus. We want you. We care about you. We love you, Jesus. And it's in your name. We pray, amen.