Unwrapped: Finding Freedom Outside the Tomb

In one paragraph

On April 29, 2024, Brian walked Tribe fam through the story of Lazarus in John 11, using it to look at what it means to be set free from the things that still try to hold us down after Jesus has already called us to life. The central image was simple: grave clothes belong on dead people, not on people who have been raised. Brian opened by asking the room to read the Lazarus story as if it were...

Read together

1. John 11:11-44 main passage read aloud by congregation members, the story of Lazarus raised from the dead
2. John 8:36 quoted to show that whom the son sets free is free indeed
3. John 10:10 quoted as Jesus saying he came that they may have life and have it more abundantly
4. 2 Corinthians 5:17 quoted to show that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new creation, the old life gone
5. Romans 12:2 quoted on being transformed by the renewing of the mind rather than conforming to the world
6. Romans 6:6-11 quoted to show the old sinful self was crucified with Christ and believers should reckon themselves dead to sin and alive to God
7. Romans 6:14 quoted to show sin is no longer master and believers live under the freedom of grace
8. Revelation 19:8 quoted to describe the new wardrobe given to believers, fine white linen representing the good deeds of God's holy people
9. Isaiah 61:3 referenced by a congregation member as the garment of praise for a spirit of heaviness

What was said

• When a thought tells you that you are a failure, damaged goods, or too far gone, name it out loud as a grave cloth and reject it as something that belongs on a dead person, not on you.
• Pick one old mental rut you keep sliding back into and speak Romans 6:11 over yourself this week: consider yourself dead to sin and alive to God through Christ Jesus.
• If anxious or condemning thoughts crowd in, try what was suggested in the conversation: ask Jesus to let you see yourself from his perspective rather than from your own soul or the enemy's voice.
• Ask someone you trust to pray with you this week over whatever grave cloth feels tightest right now, the way people gathered around each other at the end of the service.
• If you are not already in a regular Bible study, look into the Wednesday evening Galatians study Lissa is leading starting May 8, or the Tuesday night young adult gathering at the TMC.

Talk about it

1. Brian asked us to read the Lazarus story through fresh eyes, imagining ourselves as Mary, Martha, Lazarus, or even Jesus. Which perspective felt most uncomfortable or surprising to sit with, and why?
2. When Mary said 'Lord, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died,' Brian noted that Jesus did not rebuke her for whatever emotions were behind those words. Is there something you have been holding back from bringing honestly to God, and what would it look like to lay it in front of him the way Mary did?
3. Brian pointed out that grave clothes are only appropriate for dead people, but that the world constantly tries to put them back on those who are alive in Christ. What form do those grave clothes most often take in your own life, whether it is guilt, shame, comparison, fear, or something else?
4. The congregation wrestled with why the mind has to be renewed separately even after a person becomes a new creation in their heart. Romans 12:2 came up, along with the idea of taking thoughts captive. What does that renewal actually look like in a practical Monday-morning way for you?
5. At the end of the sermon, Brian read from Romans 6 that we should 'consider ourselves dead to sin and alive to God through Christ Jesus.' He said we have to reckon and speak that truth over ourselves. What would change in your week if you started each day by saying that out loud rather than just knowing it in your head?