“Dying” – John 12:23-26

I hope you are all registered to vote this Tuesday.  Some people feel like their vote doesn’t matter but I believe it is our duty, not only as citizens but as Christians, to vote every chance we get.  I won’t try to tell you which candidate to vote for but basic Christian values that often come up in elections are gay rights and abortion and the Democrat party is always going to fall short in both of those areas.

Also, did you hear that Hillary Clinton went to a psychic the other day?  I don’t remember what state she was in campaigning but evidently the psychic predicted that her husband, Bill, will soon be killed.  Hillary said, “Oh no!  Will I be indicted?”  So, you know she’s not the one to vote for.

When Bill Clinton heard the news, he immediately switched from being a Democrat to being a Republican.  When asked why he said "Well, I'd rather it was one of them that died and not one of us."  It’s sad, really.

I’ll tell you what really is sad.  Dying is sad.  Dying is sad but maybe not like you think I’m talking about.  We are all going to die if the Lord doesn’t return first and while there are any number of ways to die – old age, cancer, drowning, Hillary, whatever – the worst way to die is spiritually because spiritual death is for eternity.  One dies spiritually when one does not have Jesus in their life as Lord and Savior.

But there is also a good way to die and Jesus talks about it in John chapter 12 and it is not sad to die this way.  In fact, it has great benefits.  We are continuing in our sermon series entitled, “It’s All About Easter” by looking at how Jesus prepared His disciples for His death, burial and resurrection.  We looked last week at the story of Lazarus and how that taught the disciples about resurrection.  This week Jesus talks about dying.  He talks about His own death and He talks about ours as well but it’s not a morbid picture at all.

Now, the first few times I read this I was unclear what Jesus was trying to say but I finally realized that it was basically Jesus telling His disciples and us what His responsibility was and then what our responsibility is and then what the reward is for doing what we are supposed to do.  Let’s read John 12:23-26 and then we will see that verse by verse.

Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. ²⁴ Very truly I tell you, 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. ²⁵ Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. ²⁶ Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.

This is a fairly short passage but it is as deep and meaningful as anything ever written.  Do you ever feel like your life is without purpose or meaning?  Do you get distracted by doing life and miss out on living?  Do you ever feel like nothing ever goes right for you or that you don’t live a full and blessed life?  We all feel like that at some point in our lives and the reason is given right here by Jesus.

Let’s take it verse by verse.  Look at verse 23.  Here Jesus says something He has never said before.  Twice up to this point Jesus has said, for one reason or another, that His time has not yet come.  In John 2 when the wedding party runs out of wine: “My time has not yet come.”  In John 7 when the brothers of Jesus wanted Him to go to a feast: “My time has not yet come.”  He has predicted it several times but here Jesus finally says that His hour has come.

He is talking about the climactic event of Jesus' death and resurrection which will be the ultimate display of His glory.  Now, in verse 24, Jesus tells a short parable.  It’s an illustration of His death and why it is so meaningful but it tells us the responsibility that Jesus has.

The story is just how a kernel of wheat has to die in order that a stalk of wheat with many seeds can grow.  Jesus is telling this story to people who are very aware of the process by which wheat grows.  With bread being a staple of their diet, they knew what Jesus was talking about better than most of us do.  I learned that one stalk of wheat will produce from 20-100 little flowers at its top and it is from these little flowers that we get the edible grains.

Have you ever planted anything from a seed, whether it is wheat or anything else?  It’s a miracle.  It’s an everyday, ordinary miracle.  Think about a watermelon.  You take a watermelon seed that is only about the size of your pinky fingernail and plant it in the ground deep enough for it to die and it will grow a vine 20 feet long with a watermelon that weighs 10 pounds or more and that watermelon has 100 seeds in it!  How does that happen?  It amazes me.

Jesus here is talking about His own death.  He is saying that His responsibility is to die and be buried so that He can rise again and be glorified.  Now that’s a miracle!  Putting a seed in the ground and then watching it come to life and grow more seeds is amazing but Jesus is saying that He is about to do the same thing only with the lives of His followers as the fruit or the seeds He bears.

Can you imagine having that kind of responsibility?  Can you imagine knowing that you are going to die one of the cruelest ways to die imaginable but that it is going to be for the good of every person in the world?  Do you think knowing that it was for the good of the world made it any less painful?  Do you think it made it fair for Jesus knowing how many people would benefit?  No, of course not.  I can’t comprehend what he had to go through on the cross or even what He had to go through leading up to it.

The people Jesus was speaking to were Jews and some Greeks.  The Jews thought that zeal for the Law of Moses was the way to Heaven and the Greeks thought their good deeds would get them there.  Then in 1 Corinthians 1, Paul said, “Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, ²³ but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles.”

It’s the same today here in the United States.  Some people think that following laws or being very religious is the way and lots of people like to think that their good deeds just have to outweigh their bad deeds and everything will be cool with “the Man upstairs” but that is not the case. Those people don’t know God and they don’t know truth.  When it comes to your eternity, don’t you want to make sure that you know the truth?  Well, the truth is that Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life and no man comes to the Father but through Him (John 14:6) and the only reason we can go through Him is because He paid our sin debt on the cross.

Imagine if you went to the movies and you really wanted to see the latest show so you got there early and you can’t wait to get a big bowl of $42 popcorn and a $12 Dr. Pepper and you go through the front door and the guy taking the tickets asks for your ticket.  So you tell him that you’re friends with the guy down the street and he said to let you in.  The guy is going to refuse to let you in to see the movie because you don’t have a ticket.  It doesn’t matter how well you know some guy down the street or how much peace you have in that relationship.  You need a ticket or you will have to leave.

Jesus didn’t suffer and die on the cross so that you could sneak in the back door of Heaven.  Unless you have a life-changing relationship with Him, the Father will say, “Get away from Me.  I never knew you.”  (Matthew 7:23) Dying on the cross was a huge responsibility for Jesus and He took it very seriously and yet did it with joy.  Hebrews 12:2 says, “For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”  He had joy in His responsibility because He knew His glory would come from it.

Now, in verses 25 and 26, He starts telling us about our responsibility.  Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. ²⁶ Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be.  Let’s stop right there and look closer at what He is saying.

We are all glad that Jesus did His responsibility and died on the cross on our behalf but so many times we don’t really think about what our responsibility is when we are saved by that death, burial and resurrection.  Yes, thank you, Lord, that I don’t have to work for my salvation and I don’t have to be good enough to get to Heaven because none of us would make it.  But here Jesus says that we have a responsibility once we are saved and it is a call to radical discipleship.

Christianity is not for sissies.  That word “life” in verse 25 is the Greek word “psyche” and it refers not just to our physical life but our spiritual, mental and physical life.  It is one’s whole being – our “self” – and it is the love of this “self” that is the root of all sin.  When Jesus says we are to hate our lives, He is, of course, not saying we should despise who we are and have a poor self-esteem.  He is saying we should hate that “old man”, that sinful person we are saved from.

So, now, all of you are sitting there thinking, “Oh, okay.  I just won’t sin anymore.  No problem.”  Right?  Yes, we all wish.  The Apostle Paul was one of the greatest Christians who ever lived.  He told churches that they should be like him so we know that he surely didn’t know the struggle that we all have with sin, right?  It wasn’t near as hard for him, surely.

"For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin. For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate. So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?" (Romans 7:14-24).

Does that sound like somebody who didn’t struggle with sin?  No.  No, he struggled with it just like we all do but do you see his response to it?  He hated it!  He despised the “old man”.  He hated it spiritually, mentally and physically.  He hated it with his whole self, so much so that he was willing to do whatever it took to root that sinful man out and replace it with the servant of God that Jesus is calling us to be.

Jesus said in Matthew 5 that if your right eye makes you sin, gouge it out.  If your right hand makes you sin, cut it off and we know He’s not being literal and so we don’t take Him seriously enough.  Maybe we should take it to mean, if your TV causes you to sin, kick it to the curb!  If your computer causes you to sin, burn that thing!  If it’s a relationship that is the problem, get away and don’t go back.

Let me ask you a QUESTION (a strange one, but it helps make this point): If I were to ask you this morning to make a SOLEMN COMMITMENT to NOT KNOWINGLY EAT ANY INSECTS for an entire year...how many of you could sincerely raise your hand and say “Pastor...unless someone slips me one that I don’t know is there...I will eat NO INSECTS in the coming year! No more flies! No more spiders! I’m laying off on the ants! Not even one more cockroach!  Show of hands?  WHY, with confidence and enthusiasm, could you make that commitment?
—Because YOU DON’T WANT to eat insects!!! You don’t like them! The thought of eating them makes you feel ill!!!

SO HERE’S THE QUESTION: Why is it so hard to follow through on our spiritual CONVICTIONS and COMMITMENTS to stop a particular sinful behavior? Why do we have certain patterns of failure and weakness that plague us for years???  BECAUSE we don’t hate sin. In fact, we LIKE sin...we ENJOY sin...we CRAVE sinful pleasure.  “How to Hate Sin” by Craig Cramblet

Part of your responsibility is to hate that old sinful man or woman living inside of you and to do whatever it takes – whatever it takes – not to be that person just like you do whatever it takes not to eat nastiness.  You should think of sin as eating a spider.  The problem with that analogy is that sin is much worse for you and will hurt you much quicker.

Now, there is another responsibility that Jesus talks about.  Look at verse 26.  Jesus says our responsibility as a disciple is, first, not to sin and then in 26 He says, “Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be.”  He says something similar in Matthew 16:24. “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.”

To really get to the heart of this, I want us to think about the options that Jesus had at this point.  He knew that He would be denied and abandoned and lied about and wrongfully convicted.  He was facing death on a cruel cross.  He knew that.  But He had options.  A lot of the people really loved Him at this point and were ready to make Him their king.

As God, He could have called down angels and wiped out all of His enemies and had all the glory that earth could possibly provide and all of that makes good sense, doesn’t it?  I mean, that would the advice I would give Him, if He were to ask me.  That’s what I would do.  Avoid the harshness and the difficulties and do what makes sense.  But I’m so glad He didn’t ask me because I am reminded of the verse in Proverbs 14 that says, “There is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.”

When Jesus says, “Whoever serves me must follow me” it means to keep on following and we sound just like Peter who said, “Oh, Lord, I will follow you even to death” and then before the rooster crowed he denied him 3 times.  We do pretty good most of the time until it gets really, really hard and then we think that while we know what the Bible says and we know what Jesus wants from us but that is going to be really, really hard and it’s going to cause more problems if I do it that way so I’m just going to have to do it my way because I know best.

Jesus said follow me and keep following me even when it makes no sense.  Follow me when nobody else does.  Follow me when it is going to cost you everything and it’s going to be painful and it’s not going to be fair.  Do what God says to do no matter what.  When He said don’t worry, don’t worry.  When He said to forgive that means to forgive.  When he said husbands love your wives and wives submit to your husbands it means unless it leads to sin to do it always, all the time, no matter what!

You know, sometimes I dislike the Bible.  Seriously.  Just this week I was talking to a lady and I told her that if it were up to me, I would say that you should do such and such but unfortunately the Bible says you should do this and not that so I’m afraid I have to tell you to do what the Bible says – even though it is going to be hard – even though it is going to make you uncomfortable and it is not fair and it is not fun and I wish it were different.

I dislike the Bible sometimes because it makes me uncomfortable but I love it because it leads me in the right path always, all the time, no matter what!  “Whoever serves me must follow me.”  That is our responsibility and just like Jesus’ responsibility was painful and hard, sometimes ours will be as well.  But just like Jesus was honored and glorified by the Father for His submission, His following of the Father’s will, so too, will we be honored.  Look at the end of verse 26.  Jesus says it right there.  “My Father will honor the one who serves me.”   (Repeat)

Have you ever done something difficult and in the end you thought, “Well, that wasn’t worth it”?  Maybe you stood in a long line at Six Flags or you went on a blind date or sat through another boring sermon and when it was over you thought, “What a waste of time.  That was not worth the hassle.”

In Matthew 19:27, Peter asks Jesus what I think is a great question.  It’s a question we probably all wonder but rarely have the guts to ask so leave it to Peter to ask Jesus, "We have left everything to follow you! What then will there be for us?"  What’s in it for me, Jesus?  Don’t you know the other disciples were glad Peter was there to ask Jesus questions like that?

Some people are not too sure if it’s really going to be worth it serving Jesus all the time.  Do you remember what Huckleberry Finn said?  Huck lived with the old spinster, Miss Watson, and this is what his impression was:  She went on and told me about the good place. She said all a body would have to do there was go around all day long with a harp and sing, forever and ever. So I didn’t think much of it…. I asked her if she reckoned Tom Sawyer would go there, and she said, not by a considerable sight. I was glad about that, because I wanted him and me to be together.

When Peter asked Jesus what was in it for him and the disciples, Jesus’ answer first was strictly for the disciples but He added a promise that we can all claim and that was, “And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life.”

I’ll be honest and say I don’t know what all the rewards will be but Jesus says they will be great and I trust Him.  I trust Him to give us a full life here in this world like He promises in John 10:10 and I trust Him to make inheriting eternal life worth it as well.

Jesus has done and continues to do what he has been responsible for and this life is but a vapor; a wisp of smoke so we can, through the power of Jesus, do what our responsibility is.  We can hate sin like we hate eating spiders and we can follow Him always, all the time, no matter what.  However he chooses to reward us, I know it will be worth it. 

Ask Him into your life today to be Lord of your life and your Savior.  Ask Him for forgiveness as you repent or turn away from that sin and accept the peace and joy that he gives even in the most difficult times of your life.  It won’t always be easy but it will be worth it.