3/16/03 L-2 INI John 12:20-26

Dear Fellow Redeemed by the blood of God,

Do you really want to see Jesus? Many think they do. but Jesus isn't a hollow, Hollywood celebrity. It's Holy Week. Jerusalem is full of Jewish pilgrims Also among the Jews who came to worship at the Passover Festival were "certain Greeks."

Apparently, these Greeks had come to believe that Jesus was a great teacher of the Jewish faith, and possibly even the promised Messiah. Their desire to see Jesus was more than idle curiosity. The word they used suggests that they wanted to get to know Jesus. They wanted to become Jesus' disciples and share His glory.

What did this mean? Our Lord explains: "the hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified. Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain (or kernel) of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain."

Like grain-seed, which cannot produce fruit unless it is buried as something dead, so also Jesus must become dead and buried. Like the wheat which sprouts and grows green, bearing a great increase of fruit, so Jesus would arise from the belly of the earth as the living Savior of mankind. So, one dying Christ would produce thousands of living Christians!

The salvation of sinners up to that point and to the end of time is due to the dying of this kernel of wheat, Jesus Christ. And when all the believing saints are gathered in heaven, it will be clear that the whole glorified Church of Christ is the fruit of the grain that was buried in the tomb! So, the multiplying of the redeemed was to bring about the magnifying of the Redeemer! But this glorification of the Son of Man would come to Him at great cost! For it would be as Isaiah had prophesied concerning Jesus: "After He had offered His soul for sin, He would see those born of Him and enjoy long life."

If you really want to see Jesus, then, you must know of His route to glory!"

Why did the Son of God take on human flesh, live under the law, and die for our sins? Why did the Holy Spirit create faith in Jesus in our hearts through the power of His gospel? From beginning to end God has been trying to wean us away from our life in this world, and direct our attention toward the eternal life to come, which He has purchased for us and given to us.

Yet we are tempted every day to love this life to excess. It is suggested to us that we are letting "life" slip by if we don't experience all that this life has to offer -- exotic foods, drinks, travel, as many "fun things" as we can possibly afford. But our Lord says the opposite in v. 25. He says, If you love your own earthly life to such an extent that you are not willing to let go of any part of it -- whether sins, money, goods, pleasures, health, or whatever -- for my sake, then you will lose true life -- life everlasting.

When it comes to preserving life in this world, the law of SELF-preservation is also the law of SELF-destruction. What happens when a small child puts its hands around a flower to protect its tender petals from the wind? The petals are crushed. What happens when loving, but over-protective parents always shield their children from taking responsibility for their mistakes, or refuse to correct them? Many children lose their lives in the streets, in jails, and drug-abuse centers.

What happens in the natural world, also happens in the spiritual realm. The one who loves himself so much he refuses to kill his fleshly lusts, or humble himself before God as a sinner, or make sacrifices in order to share and confess Christ's saving Word; such a one may preserve the life of the flesh, but each day he is weakening or destroying eternal life. The temptation is for us to hug ourselves to death by over-loving life in this world. But answer this question: "Is Jesus in eternal glory now because He loved His life in this world?" No! Jesus walked the opposite direction; He surrendered His life for us. That was His route to eternal glory.

And this is what is required of those who would serve Him. Jesus says in v. 26: "If anyone would serve Me, let him follow Me." In other words, Jesus says, "If you follow my example by "hating" your "life in this world," as I did, you "will keep it for eternal life." Does this mean that we are to go around with the scowls of the puritans on our faces, denying every pleasure in life as if everything is sinful? Not at all! That's not what our Lord did, and we are to follow Him. Further the Holy Spirit tells us in Eccles. 5 that "It is good and fitting to eat, to drink and enjoy oneself in all one's labor in which one toils under the sun during the few years of his life which God has given him."

But if we are Jesus' servants, then we are to follow Him at all times -- Not only in joy and prosperity, but also in sadness, sorrow and battle; not only when it is easy to obey His Word, but especially when it isn't! When you walk through those doors into the church it's no struggle. You should take note that when you do, you are also following the path of the cross. Do you think it is an accident that our wood-workers crafted our new church doors with a cross in the middle of the panels? No. The carpenters who belonged to the early Christian builders' guilds chose the words of Christ, "I am the door," (Jn. 10:9) for their motto, and they made all doors so that the space between the two smaller upper panels and the two larger lower panels would form a cross. This custom continues.

Our Lord knows how easy it is to settle for a little Christianity in our lives, a little testimony, a little offering, a little worship, a little time and service -- as long as it is convenient for us and our living of this life is not hampered too much. That's why Jesus uses such a strong word when He says, "If you will follow Me, you must HATE your life in this world." "Take up your cross and follow Me."

So we must be willing to despise and give up whatever comes into competition with our eternal life in Christ and our service to Him -- whether money, possessions, pleasures, the praises of men, or even friends and family.

Do you see what our Lord is saying here? He is saying that the greatest wisdom we can possess on earth through a living faith in Jesus Christ ought to make us hate our own lives in this world. Now this is a very hard saying! Who can hear it today without stumbling and being offended by the cross of Christ as he runs to get out of its way? Who really wants to see this Savior's glory? It costs too much! Dear friends, there are no cheap crosses!

Yet we should not despair at this point. For in another passage Jesus promises: "Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me . . . For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light." We all know how the heaviest burden is made lighter when we are able to see the reward of our labors.

As a young man I worked on a three-man silo crew one hot summer. I've never worked harder physically in my life. Hand-digging a silo footing, hand-mixing the cement and then hauling it by wheelbarrow for 14 hours every day was hard and heavy work on the road. But the burden was made much lighter whenever I thought of the shower and steak supper I would get at the end of the day, and of the money earned at the end of the summer. So also if we would finally see Jesus, we must know the blessing of those who follow Him.

First Jesus says, "Where I am, there My servant will be also." Obviously, the Master goes first and His servants follow. Jesus had just spoken of His glorification in v. 23. His servants shall partake of that glory! Later, in John 14, Jesus speaks of the "many mansions: of His "Father's house," promising to "go and prepare a place" for us, so that when He comes again he will receive us to Himself so that where He is, there we may be also.

Further, Jesus promises, "if anyone serves Me, him My Father will honor." The Father of Jesus places a high value on every Christian who serves His beloved Son in this life. Already now, every day and throughout eternity God the Father regards those who serve His son as very precious to Him. What a reward for the faithful Christian to look forward to each day!

Is it worth it to hate one's life in this world -- to give up ease, comfort, riches, or whatever is necessary to follow and serve Him on our way to glory? May we all be granted the

grace to say, "Yes! I STILL want to see Jesus!" Amen.