1.
Grace,
mercy, and peace to you from God our Heavenly Father and our Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ. Amen. Well, here we are now in our beginning of the
observation of Holy Week to remember our Lord’s passion, death, and
resurrection from the dead for the forgiveness of our sins. And today, our confirmands Lindsay &
Justin, are making that solemn vow and promise that they believe in this Jesus
who was crucified and risen from the dead and they are willing to stake their
lives on this belief in Him as their Lord and Savior as Christians have done in
the past since the time of the Apostles.
The message from God’s word today comes to us from John 12:20-33,
specifically from verses 24-26, where Jesus says, “24Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls
into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.
25Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in
this world will keep it for eternal life. 26If anyone serves me, he
must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves
me, the Father will honor him.” The
message is entitled, “Faith’s Lenten
Plea,” dear brothers and sisters in Christ.
2.
We
live in an age that is conscious of the value of life, at least in some areas.
As a result, we have many devices for saving life. We have life preservers,
life belts, life rafts, lifeboats, lifelines, life nets, lifeguards, even life
insurance, which is a bit of a misnomer since it pays off only at death. And
there are also many courses on lifesaving. In all this emphasis upon the saving
of life, however, there is probably no instruction as strange as that of the
Lord Jesus Christ, who said to the people of his day, “The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his
life in this world will keep it for eternal life” (v. 25). We say, “The one who would save his life must save it.”
Jesus said, “The one who would save his
life must lose it, for only by losing it can he save it for the life to come.”
3.
Why
should we listen to advice that seems so foolish? For two reasons. First, the
One who spoke those words did exactly what he said. He gave up his life, yet in
such a way that we can hardly regard his having done so as foolish. Second, by
giving his life he was extraordinarily successful; he gained both his own life
and also a vast host of followers. This
is instruction that cannot easily be put aside. So, we turn to his words with
interest.
4.
To
begin with, our Lord Jesus illustrates a great principle drawn from nature. He
said, “Unless a kernel of wheat falls to
the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces
many seeds.” This is the principle
of death and denial, the truth that life comes only by death. Here Jesus
illustrated the principle by referring to a grain of wheat, which remains
unfruitful so long as it’s kept to itself but which becomes fruitful when
thrown into the ground and buried there.
Jesus is telling us that there are two kinds of life. There’s what is
known as the psychological life, the life of the psyche, life that enjoys the
things of this world and finds satisfaction in the gratification of the senses.
It’s the kind of life that really whoops it up down here. “He that loveth his life” refers to this physical life that we have.
You can really live it up, drink it up, take drugs, paint the town red, but do
you know what is going to happen? One day you are going to die. You’ll lose it.
5.
There
was a Pastor in Texas who was asked to preach at the funeral of a rich man of
the town who had been a church member but had broken every law of God and man
and was living in sin and in drunkenness. This was in the oil section of Texas
and a lot of rich people, the fast crowd, the jet set, came to the funeral.
This pastor preached a gospel message of Christ crucified for the forgiveness
of sins! Then he stepped down to the casket and he preached on what sin will do
for an individual and that it will finally send a man to hell. The people were
getting uneasy. Then when he invited them to view the remains, he said, “His life is past; he lived it up; he is
through. He despised God and he turned his back on Jesus Christ.” Then he
looked at that crowd and said, “This is
the way each one of you is going to end up unless you turn to Jesus Christ.”
6.
We
see this in many areas. The man who works only to put in time and receive a
paycheck is not worth much to his employer. On the other hand, the man who
gives himself to the work, who is seeking above all to do a good job and to get
it done, is invaluable. The family provides us with another application. If a
father or mother lives only for himself, or herself the family suffers and the
children go astray. On the other hand, if they give of themselves, the family
thrives and the children become an honor to their parents and multiply the
parents’ joy.
7.
Only
when we say no to ourselves do we become capable of saying yes to God and so
receive his fullest blessing. This is what Paul meant when he said, “I have been crucified with Christ” (Gal.
2:20). He meant that he had died to self in order that he might live for God.
Or again, “May I never boast except in
the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified
to me, and I to the world” (Gal. 6:14). In saying this Paul meant that his
identification with Christ in death made it possible for him to live for Christ
and by Christian values and not for the world and its values. FAITH’S LENTEN PLEA THEN IS: death and
denial. It is only by death that life comes. We can hardly miss the fact that
Jesus demonstrated the principle by his own death and subsequent resurrection.
8.
For
some reason the idea is current today that, because God is gracious and loving,
a Christian can enjoy the fullness of God’s blessing without at the same time
accepting the lordship of the Lord Jesus Christ in his or her life. This isn’t
biblical. Those who have convinced themselves of this flout God’s laws. They
disregard his instructions about the permanency of marriage, for instance. So
they get divorces or they live together with someone outside of marriage or
they get involved in a homosexual relationship. They ignore his instructions
about continuing to meet together with other Christians in worship. They ignore the unbeliever around them,
forgetting that Jesus has sent them as witnesses into the world. They don’t
live by the highest of moral standards. So they’re not happy, and they don’t
know why. Well, this is why. They’ve not died to their own desires in order
that they might live for Christ. They have not been crucified with him. They
have not obeyed him. Jesus is their Savior, but he is not truly their Lord.
9.
If
this is true of you, I encourage you to learn this lesson. It’s not pleasant to
be crucified, I know. But you’ll never truly live in the full spiritual sense
until you are. George Mueller could be your example. He lived in England
several generations ago and founded many great orphanages, maintaining them
solely through prayer. He was extremely effective. But when asked the secret of
his effective service, he replied, “There
was a day when I died—died to George Mueller, his opinions, preferences, tastes
and will; died to the world, its approval or censure; died to the approval or
blame of my brethren or friends; and since then I have studied only to show
myself approved unto God.”
10.
To
lose your own life in order to gain it unto life eternal doesn’t mean you must
do what Mueller did. But it does mean you must be willing to do anything for Christ, if he directs it.
It will not be a sad and gloomy thing either. Do not think that. The sad thing
is to disobey him. To obey is a joy. Remember that it was “for the joy set before him”
that our Lord endured the cross and scorned the shame (Heb. 12:2).
11.
The
third element in our Lord’s teaching about life through death is an invitation.
He has stated the principle and applied it. Now he invites each of us to put it
into practice by following him. He says, “Whoever
serves me must follow me.” How can
we follow him? First, you can follow him in the same kind of self-denial about which I have been
speaking. That is, you can take up your cross and follow him. Are you willing
to do whatever Christ calls you to do? To be poor in his service? To be
despised? To surrender a cherished
hobby, sin, or pastime? Will you obey him? Will you serve Christ by following
him in self-denial? Second, you can
follow him in service. Jesus said, “Whatever you did for one of the least of
these brothers of mine, you did for me” (Matt. 25:40)? Jesus was talking about those who fed the
hungry, welcomed the stranger, clothed the naked, and visited the sick and
those in prison. Third, you may serve
Christ by following him in holiness.
He lived a perfectly holy life. If you would serve him, you must strive to be
like him in that. To do that you must put aside all you know to be sin, spend
time with him in order to grow in him, and then seek to practice what you
already know.
12.
Having
given his invitation, our Lord Jesus Christ offered two incentives to help us
respond. First, he promised that he would be with anyone who followed him;
second, he promised that God would himself honor such a one. He said, “Where I am, my servant also will be. My
Father will honor the one who serves me.”
The first half of this phrase, containing the first promise, may be
understood in two ways. On the one hand, it can apply to this life. If we
follow Christ here, we can be sure that wherever we are, he will be with us.
For if we are with him, then obviously he is also with us. To me this is a
great promise. “What is better?” “To be in the best of circumstances without
Jesus? Or to be with Jesus even if being with him means being with him in
persecution or suffering?” To be with Jesus whatever the circumstances or
whatever the cost. He is worth any cost.
13.
The
second way Christ’s promise that we will be with him may be taken is in
reference to the fact that he was going to be with the Father. I know that he
said, “Where I am,” using the present
tense. But this can refer to something in the immediate future and often does.
Here it likely refers to his soon return to heaven. It means that if we are
with Jesus here, identifying with him in his suffering and sorrow, we will also
be with him in glory. It is the equivalent of Paul’s statement, “If we died with him, we will also live with
him; if we endure, we will also reign with him. If we disown him, he will also
disown us” (2 Tim. 2:11–12).
14.
This
leads to Christ’s second promise: “My
Father will honor the one who serves me.”
Jesus tells us that God will honor those who follow him in this life. In
this life his way often involves suffering. Sometimes it involves death for his
sake. It always involves self-denial. But, says Christ, the suffering will be followed
by honor and the self-denial by praise.
15.
Can
we not hear it? I think I hear the King’s voice. “Stand back, you angels! Make room, you seraphim! Make way! For here
comes the man, here comes the woman, who was with my Son. He was only a poor
sinful man. He was born in an ungodly time in the midst of an ungodly people.
He did not know much. But he was with my Son. He was like him. He stood by him.
Now I will honor him. Come up here. Here, take this crown, and then sit there
with my Son on his throne and reign with him. For you shall indeed be with my
Son in his glory, even as you were with him in his shame.” God grant that
this might one day be true for all of us who truly call upon his name as our
Lord and Savior from sin, death and the power of the devil. This is faith’s Lenten plea, that we would
see Jesus and spend the rest of our lives with Him. Amen.
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