Unbound

 "Then Jesus shouted, 'Lazurus come out!' And Lazurus came out bound in graveclothes, his face wrapped in a headcloth. Jesus told them, "Unbind him and let him go.' " John 11:43

This is Easter week as we move steadily closer to another Resurrection Sunday celebration. Those who testify to a living experience of His resurrection life will be gathering throughout the world to celebrate not some past happening alone, but a now experience that is meant for everyone who, by faith in Jesus Christ and His resurrection, receives Him and His offer of life.

Not long before His own resurrection, Jesus traveled to the home of His beloved friends, the sisters Mary and Martha, and their brother Lazarus. Lazarus had fallen desperately ill and the sisters had sent for their Lord, believing He could and would heal their brother. Jesus purposefully delayed, and when He did come, Lazarus had died. More, it was the 4th day since his death, and Jewish belief was that no one could come back to life after three days, yet with Jesus Christ, all things really are possible. As most reading this know, Christ went to the tomb of Lazarus, and confronting death itself, called him back. A glorious happening, bringing joy and life not only to Lazarus, but to the sisters, and all who were present that day. But there is something else in this that we too often miss, and to our great harm. It is what Jesus directed those standing by to do as Lazarus came out of his tomb; He commanded that he be unbound from the graveclothes he'd been wrapped in.

Jewish burial ritual called for the body to be anointed with various oils and perfumes, and then tightly wrapped in strips of cloth. When Jesus called Lazarus forth, he was still bound by these cloths. His freedom of movement would have been severely limited by them. The first thing Christ commanded was that he be unbound and set free. This is what resurrection life is meant to bring, and for too many who have been called forth from their spiritual death by Him, it has yet to take place. Many, too many, still wear their "graveclothes," and though given resurrection life, they still live "bound" by so many of the effects of their previous spiritual death.

When we come to faith in Christ, He says that He makes "all things new," but to our sorrow, we allow so much of what is old to continue to define and confine us. Our past, our wounds, our fears and anxieties. Our addictions and habits, and our attitudes and anger. All of these act as graveclothes that seek to keep us in a deathlike state. We are bound up in graveclothes, but we need to know and experience that these graveclothes can't hold us, much as our enemy the devil wants us to believe that they can. Graveclothes could not hold the risen Christ, and in Him, neither can they hold us. As He ordered Lazarus to be unbound, so does He order this for us. Has His order been carried out in your life, or, do you still try to function while wearing your old graveclothes? Are you still bound by what has been done, said, about and to you. Have you believed the lies of the tomb or the truth of the risen Christ?

When we take Christ at His word, that all things really are new, that when we are free in Him we are truly free, these graveclothes simply fall off of us. This is a life process, as we confront the "strips of cloth" that seek to keep us bound. We confront the lies they represent with the Truth that is Jesus Christ. Sometimes we need help with this, as did Lazarus when Jesus ordered those beside him to unwrap him from his graveclothes. This is just one more example of the need for us to experience "body life," Life in the Body of Christ, His church. As His word says, we're to "sharpen" one another, helping each other, in the power of His resurrection, to grow more and more in the power of His risen life. He has given us victory over death and it's graveclothes, and very often that victory is carried out by His ministry through His Body of believers.

What graveclothes still bind us? If you have never received Him as your Savior, you are wrapped in those clothes whether you would believe it or not. He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. He alone breaks their power. He calls you, as He called Lazarus to come forth from your tomb of death and to His resurrection life. If you have heard and come to that call, what particular graveclothes may still bind and hold you? Be free of them. Reject their claim upon you. He commands that you be unbound and set free....fully free. By the power of His resurrection, they no longer have the power to hold you. Come forth, Be free. Into the resurrection life that He calls to you right now.

Blessings,

Pastor O