The Call of Christ is Come and Die

John 12:12-50

Luke 14:28- For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’

Dietrich Bonheoffer- “When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.”

We are called to die when we are called to Christ

Die to self

Die to the world

Die to sin

The irony of the scene

The Greeks come while the Jews recoil

“Greek” doesn’t necessarily mean from Greece

This term is often used in the Bible to simply refer to Gentiles

These are people who have come from the nations

They are seeking to talking to Jesus, while the Jewish leaders recoil at Him

A New Covenant on the Horizon

The Old Covenant people are rejecting Him

The nations are about to be drawn to Him

The eternally existent plan of God is unfolding

A grain of wheat

Unless a grain of wheat dies

Jesus is using an agricultural picture to make His point

No seed sprouts and produces fruit unless it is first planted

When it is planted it decomposes while the plant grows from it

Jesus is the grain of wheat

Unless He dies, the peoples will not be saved

Sins wont be atoned for

The Old Covenant and Law won’t be fulfilled

The nations won’t be reached with the Good News

The promises of God will fail

Two primary things hinge on His obedience and death

The justice and righteousness of God

The salvation of sinners

The call of Jesus is made clear

Whoever hates his life will keep it

Matthew 10:39- Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

Mark 8:34-35- And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will save it.

What does it mean to hate your life?

Self-loathing?

Depression and dispondency about your life?

Asceticism (harsh self-discipline to the body for faithfulness)

No

It is not speaking of literal hate

It is the antithesis of love of self and the world

Matthew 6:24- No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.

Also, the love Jesus is calling for makes love for everything else so secondary that it makes it look like hate in comparison

Matthew 10:37-38- Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.

Luke 14:26- “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.

Whoever serves Him, follows Him

It is impossible to serve Jesus if you do not obey Him

Obedience to Jesus and service of Jesus always follows faith in Him

Whoever serves Him will be honored

God will honor all who walk in obedience

The reason is not because it is earned by serving, but because serving is the inevitable fruit of believing

John 3:36a- Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life

Colossianss 3:23-24- Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.

Those who don’t answer the call

They will lose their lives

John 3:36b- whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.

Revelation 20:11-15- Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

They will not be with God

2 Thessalonians 1:9- hey will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might,

They will be dishonored

Luke 9:26- For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.

Believe in the light that you may become sons of light

This call is a far cry from the standard of today

The gospel literally transforms your life

A new man is born and the old is gone

Why do we so often have such a minimalistic view of what it means to come to Jesus in faith?

2 Corinthians 5:17- Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

Do you really put your faith in Christ?

Do you love Him more than anything else?

Do you walk in the light of the Truth of who He is?

If not, trust Him today

Repent of your sin and cast yourself on Jesus in faith that His sacrifice is sufficient to wash all your sin away

But know this, that faith in Christ is more than the words “accepting Jesus” would convey. It is loving Jesus more than anything else, it is turning from sin and self to whole-hearted trust in Him who has lived the life you couldn’t and died the death you deserved

This changes everything

The call of Jesus is not to simply affirm some truth or agree with a statement

The call of Jesus is to deny yourself and follow Him with all of your heart

Follow Jesus for the glory of His great name!

Let us go and tell the lost

Let’s tell them of the unbelievably great love of God in Christ Jesus.

Lets tell them about His sacrifice for sin and offer of salvation for all who repent and believe.

Let us also be clear that, as Bonheoffer said: “When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.”