Greater Performance

Hook

Think about a time when you played your best game at a sport. What sport was it, where were you, and what made it so great for you?

I’m guessing that you weren’t overwhelmed by the pressure at the moment. While you likely felt pressure, you can’t perform at your best when you are overwhelmed with pressure.

What causes pressure for you when you are playing a sport? Or, when do you feel the most pressure?

Pressure, in itself, isn’t necessarily bad. But we have to be very careful not to find our meaning in our performance of a sport. You are much more than your ability, or lack of ability, to perform on the court. And, too often, the pressure for us to succeed on the court doesn’t come from us, but from other people (fans, parents, coaches, friends, etc).

Why do you think we tend to feel pressure to succeed from outside of ourselves?

Today we are going to look at a passage in the Bible where Jesus teaches about finding true greatness is very different that what the world around us teaches.

Book:

Turn to John 12:20-26

Verses 20-22

An unnumbered group of Greek speaking people want to see Jesus...

They contact Philip first, possibly because he has a Greek name…

Philip talks with his ministry partner, Andrew, and they bring the request to Jesus.

Throughout the rest of this passage and the next, Jesus is responding to this request to “see” him.

Most interpret this as wanting to visit or interview Him. However, I suspect there is more than this because Jesus leads right into a teaching about true discipleship.

Go back to the wider context:

Jesus had raised Lazarus from the dead and everyone was talking about it.

Jesus had just been led by a procession into Jerusalem, many of whom anticipating that He was the Promised Messiah who would throw off the chains of the Roman oppressors.

And it’s even possible that He had thrown the money changers out at this time, as we see in the other Gospels.

So, it’s very possible that these Greek speaking Gentiles were wanting to see Jesus in order to try an attach themselves to this movement; to get close to this potential messianic figure. Or, to gain a little glory for themselves.

Thus, what Jesus does is tells them, and everyone else listening, that His path to glory is not through victories, conquests, or displays of power, but through death.

Therefore, if anyone wants to attach themselves with Jesus, they must follow His example of self-sacrifice and self-giving for the benefit of others.

That’s the person God the Father will honor.

Verse 23

Seemingly, Jesus ignores the request, but Jesus tells those listening to Him, particularly the disciples, that His time has finally come; He would now be glorified.‌

But, what does that mean?

For most people the path to glorification is through victory, conquest, and displays of power.

Thus, it’s a moment of anticipation for the people. It’s likely they were thinking, “Finally, He will reveal Himself as Messiah and the revolution against the Gentile oppressors is about to begin! God is about to give us victory over the Romans.”

However, Jesus will go on to tell all who will listen that He is a very different kind of Messiah that they were anticipating.

Verse 24

For starters, Jesus tells a mini parable from the world of agriculture that the listeners would have been familiar with.

When a grain of wheat falls to the ground it disintegrates, becoming something different. Jesus likens this to dying, and therefore bearing much fruit.

The seed must cease being a seed in order to become a plant and reach its full potential.

Though, at this point, they didn’t understand what He was speaking about, Jesus is telling them that His pathway to glorification isn’t through victory, conquest or displays of power. It was through death and resurrection.

Jesus would die and rise again, which would bear much fruit; for the Jews and even for the Gentiles!

For Jesus, the path of glorification is through death and resurrection.

Verses 25-26

Next, Jesus brings it back to personal discipleship. If they would “see” Jesus, they would need to follow the path that He walked.

Not becoming sin for others, that would be impossible and it would be unnecessary.

Jesus was the only one worthy to fulfill God’s salvation plan. And Jesus was the perfectly adequate payment for sins (meaning nothing more is required).

But, Jesus teaches what real discipleship looks like:

To love Christ Jesus more than the things of this world.

love of life/hatred of life...

Key phrase here is: “for eternal life”

The idea is we need to love eternal life more than our present life. Not in a rush to end this life, but living life like our eternal life matters more than even this life we live today.

Discipleship cannot start until we begin falling deeper in love with Jesus.

As we do, we will fall more and more out of love with the world.

To follow and serve Christ Jesus.

The Greek speakers likely wanted to follow Jesus because there was a lot of buzz around Him. They were fascinated by Him. Maybe they believed they would benefit greatly by attaching themselves to Him.

Jesus tells them, and the crowds, that to serve Him is to follow Him. And to follow Him is not a path of self-glorification. It’s a path stained with blood, where they will likely experience rejection, they will be mistreated. In short, they will be hated as He is hated.

But, this is the path to being honored by God.

So, what Jesus is saying to them is if you would come “see me” you need to understand that my path is one of glorification through death and resurrection. Therefore, a follower must be willing to walk a similar path of glory through self-sacrifice and self-giving servanthood.

Look:

That hasn’t changed. The truth spoken in Jerusalem one week before Jesus death and resurrection is just as true today.

The death and resurrection of Christ Jesus is the only path to eternal life and abundant life on earth.

Discipleship is a call to self-sacrifice.

Discipleship is a call to self-giving servanthood.

Self-sacrificing and self-giving servanthood is the pathway to being honored by the Father.