Take Off Your Grave Clothes: Finding Life Beyond Survival
Pastor Rich Dennison of Free Spirit Redeemer’s Chapel continues the Listen to Jesus series with a message centered on one of the most powerful declarations Jesus ever made: “I am the resurrection and the life.” Throughout this series, the focus has been on listening closely to Jesus—not just hearing His words, but understanding what they mean for how life is lived right now. This message walks through John 11 and the story of Lazarus, confronting a deeply personal question: is this really life, or just existence?
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Is This Really Life?
There are moments—and sometimes entire seasons—where life begins to feel like a cycle:
Work.
Eat.
Sleep.
Repeat.
Over and over again.
The busyness of life can feel like an uncontrollable treadmill of tasks. It leads to exhaustion, stress, and a reduced quality of life. And all the while, something incredibly valuable is slipping away:
Time.
Time cannot be controlled. The reality is certain—this life will come to an end. Yet the pace continues, often without pause.
What appears to be a “full life” on the outside can actually be masking something deeper. Constant activity can hide deeper struggles, damage relationships, and impact health.
So the question must be asked:
Is this life to the full?
Because none of that reflects a life that is meaningful, prosperous, or abundant.
There is a deeper longing—something placed within every person—for a life of purpose, joy, and freedom. Not just survival. Not just chasing happiness. But something more.
How Can the Way Be Known?
That same longing is reflected in a question found in Scripture:
Thomas said to Jesus, “Lord, we do not know where You are going. How can we know the way to get there?” Jesus said, “I am the Way and the Truth and the Life. No one can go to the Father except by Me.
John 14:5–6
“How can we know the way?”
Jesus responds:
“I am the way and the truth and the life.”
This is not presented as one option among many. It is a clear declaration.
Jesus is the only way to true life—the source of eternal, divine life. This life is not limited to what comes after death, but is a restored relationship with God that begins now and continues forever.
It is a life that is abundant, joyful, and filled with purpose.
Apart from Him, life may continue—but it is not truly lived.
Jesus came not merely to give something, but to establish connection. His life dwelling within those who believe.
The robber comes only to steal and to kill and to destroy. I came so they might have life, a great full life.
John 10:10
“I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”
The Question That Still Stands
Jesus makes a defining statement in John 11:
Jesus said to her, “I am the One Who raises the dead and gives them life. Anyone who puts his trust in Me will live again, even if he dies. Anyone who lives and has put his trust in Me will never die. Do you believe this?”
John 11:25–26
“I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die…”
This is more than a promise about the future.
It is a declaration about the present.
Resurrection is not only an event that will happen—it is a person.
Jesus is not just the one who resurrects.
He is the resurrection.
And the question remains:
Do you believe this?
When Jesus Delays
The story of Lazarus begins with urgency:
A man named Lazarus was sick. He lived in the town of Bethany with his sisters, Mary and Martha. 2 This was the Mary who put perfume on the Lord and dried His feet with her hair. It was her brother Lazarus who was sick. 3 The sisters sent word to Jesus, saying, “Lord, your friend is sick!” 4 When Jesus heard this, He said, “This sickness will not end in death. It has happened so that it will bring honor to God. And the Son of God will be honored by it also.”
Jesus Tells of the Death of Lazarus
5 Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6 But when He heard that Lazarus was sick, He stayed where He was two more days. 7 Then He said to His followers, “Let us go into the country of Judea again.”
John 11:1–7
Lazarus is sick. Word is sent to Jesus: “The one you love is sick.”
And yet—there is a delay.
Two more days pass.
This raises a difficult tension. Why wait? Why not respond immediately?
Jesus gives an answer that reframes the moment:
“This sickness will not end in death… it is for God’s glory.”
John 11:4
What feels like delay is not absence.
It is often preparation.
Faith in the Middle of Loss
By the time Jesus arrives:
When Jesus got there, He heard that Lazarus had been in the grave four days.
John 11:17
Lazarus has been in the tomb for four days.
Martha meets Him first:
Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died. I know even now God will give You whatever You ask.”
John 11:21–22
“Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But I know…”
Even in grief, there is faith.
Trust remains, even without understanding.
Mary arrives next:
Mary went to the place where Jesus was. When she saw Him, she got down at His feet. She said to Him, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.”
John 11:32
“Lord, if you had been here…”
The same words—but spoken from deep sorrow.
Then comes one of the most revealing moments in Scripture:
Jesus wept.
John 11:35
This is not distant compassion.
This is present, personal, emotional love.
Jesus enters fully into the pain.
The Moment of Glory
Jesus approaches the tomb:
Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. “Take away the stone,” he said.
“But, Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.”
Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?
John 11:38–40
“Take away the stone…”
There is hesitation.
“By this time there is a bad odor…”
The situation appears final. Too far gone. Too broken.
But Jesus responds:
“Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?”
Come Out
Then comes the moment everything has been building toward:
When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face.
Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.”
John 11:43–44
“Lazarus, come out!”
And the dead man walks out of the tomb.
Alive.
Still wrapped in grave clothes.
And Jesus gives a command:
“Take off the grave clothes and let him go.”
Take Off the Grave Clothes
This moment is not just about Lazarus.
It reveals something deeper.
Life has been given—but the remnants of death remain.
Grave clothes still cling.
The same can be true today.
Life has been spoken.
Resurrection has already begun.
But old patterns, old identities, shame, and sin can still linger.
The call is clear:
Take them off.
What no longer belongs must be removed.
Because life was never meant to be lived bound up in what has already been left behind.
Do You Believe This?
Jesus is the source of life.
Not only at the end—but right now.
He is the way.
He is the truth.
He is the life.
He is the resurrection.
And the question remains:
Do you believe this?
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This message is part of the Listen to Jesus series at Open Arms Community Church in Bradford, PA — a church where people can find hope, healing, and purpose.
Join us Sunday mornings at 71 Congress Street in Bradford, PA, and discover what it means to move from simply existing… to truly living.
