John 12:20-26: The Gospel and Discipleship

Scripture Reading

1 John 2:1-3 My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world. And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments.

Intro

Jesus said Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. 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? (Luke 14:27-28).

Count the cost.

That’s a kind of discipleship that is not common today.

How many of us count the cost and live our lives in light of that cost?

For us… is the Gospel… The Kingdom of God… and Jesus Christ really something worth giving up all of our lives for?

Is it a Pearl of Great Price that upon finding it, we sell all that we have… lay down our lives… give up everything that we may have it? (Matthew 13:44).

And not just once but day after day after day?

Are we daily dying to ourselves to live all of our lives for Jesus Christ?

Our Big Idea for this sermon is actually a verse…

A well known verse.

Its a good summary of the Big Idea of this Passage and its a verse we would be wise to memorize and strive with all of our might to see worked out in every area of our life.

Galatians 2:20: I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

The Good News of the Gospel is that Christ died for us… He died in our place for our sins…

To save us from our sins and give us eternal life.

And the Call of the Gospel… this call of Eternal Life… is a call to radical, all or nothing discipleship no matter the cost… where we die to ourselves and lay down all of our lives for Him.

The Gospel and a Radical, All of Life Discipleship.

Those are the major two themes we are going to be looking at this morning because you can’t have one without the other.

They go together

Christ laid down His life for us and to follow Him we lay down our lives for Him.

And so to do that we are going to have three points today from John 12:20-26. all surrounding this theme of Gospel and Discipleship.

Number 1: we are going to have The Promise of the Gospel.

Number 2: The Grace of the Gospel.

And Number 3: The Call of the Gospel.

Let’s start with verse 20 in point number 1…

I. The Promise of the Gospel

John 12:20–22 Now among those who went up to worship at the feast were some Greeks. So these came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” Philip went and told Andrew; Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus.

Now on the front end, this might look like just an inconsequential detail.

Something to just move the story along.

But this moment marks a major shift in the History of Redemption and gives us a picture or a glimpse into God’s grace and God’s goodness to us in the Gospel.

For one thing… for Jesus at least… it marks a major shift in His ministry.

In the very next verse in response to these Greeks seeking Jesus, Jesus will say The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.

The hour throughout the gospel of John refers to Jesus’ death and crucifixion.

That’s clear from the context of this passage. Verse 27 What shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour.

But what’s interesting is that up until this point the hour was always still a long ways off.

My hour has not yet come… but now with these Greeks coming to Jesus, the hour was finally here because in Jesus’ death and resurrection, He would draw all nations to Himself.

In regards to the major shift in the History of Redemption, John uses these Greeks to say the Gospel is opening up, not just to the Jews, but to the Gentiles.

When Jesus first began His ministry He had “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” (Matthew 15:24).

And even told His disciples Go nowhere among the Gentiles and enter no town of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel (Matthew 10:5-6).

But now there was a shift happening.

God would not be just the God of the Jews only, but Gentiles also (Romans 3:29).

This is what Paul meant when He said in Romans 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

Jesus was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

Because of the Promises God made in the Old Covenant God sent the Gospel to them first.

But it was never meant to stay limited to them.

By the end of His ministry Jesus would instruct the Church All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations… in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth (Matthew 28:18-19, Acts 1:8).

In the Triumphal Entry, Jesus rode into Jerusalem on the foal of a donkey fulfilling Old Testament prophesy saying He was the King of Salvation and the King of the world who would have dominion from sea to sea and from the River to the ends of the earth (Zechariah 9:9-10).

And the Pharisees, seeing the celebration of the crowd, said to one another See, you are gaining nothing. Look, the world has gone after him.

And the very next verse John says there were some Greeks, some Gentile God-fearers… Gentile converts who worshiped the One True God, but did not convert to full blown Judaism… who were seeking Jesus to say, “Yes! The whole world was going after Him, and the Gentiles were starting to break in.”

Jew/Gentile

Like I said… A major shift in Redemptive History.

Now what made this such a major shift?

For us, it can be hard to see this because most of us are Gentiles, and we just assume well of course God would be the God of the nations.

But under the Old Covenant there was what Paul called a dividing wall of hostility between the Gentiles and the Jews (Ephesians 2:14).

Not just in a spirit of animosity between one another, but in the Law and the ordinances of the Old Covenant (Ephesians 2:15).

Circumcision… food laws… all the God ordained separation between God’s people and the rest of the world that was necessary to preserve the promise of the Messiah to Abraham and to David from the people of Israel…

But at the same time kept the Gentiles out and at arms length.

As Paul says to the Gentiles in Ephesians 2 you at that time were separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world (Ephesians 2:12).

But now in Christ, the Gentiles who were once far off have been brought near.

That’s Ephesians 2:13–16 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one [that’s Jew and Gentile] and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances…

He abolishes them by fulfilling them… circumcision and all the righteous requirements of the Law in His perfect and sinless life.

And all the penalties and curses of the Law that our sins deserved by His sacrificial death.

…that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross.

Jew and Gentile… One Man… One people of God.

One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all (Ephesians 4:5-6).

That’s what these Greeks seeking Jesus are meant to show us.

Sir, we wish to see Jesus.

The Gentiles… the nations are welcomed in.

A Picture of Grace

Now from this, I want to make three observations.

Because with these Greeks and the grafting in of the Gentiles we can see the Promise of the Gospel and get a wonderful picture of God’s grace…

Not just for Gentiles in General but for every single one of us.

Scope

First… we see the Scope of God’s Grace.

We’ve touched on this already… but God’s grace is not narrow and limited… its not doled out in thimble-fulls as if God were afraid to waste a precious drop.

It is a lavish grace… a rich grace… abundant grace.

It is not limited to one nation… one ethnicity… one people… it is an ocean of grace that goes out to all nations.

Paul calls it a mystery that the Gentiles were grafted in (Ephesians 3:6).

The early church was amazed that God would be so kind to the Gentiles.

Remember how Peter went to Cornelius, another Gentile God-fearer, after having a vision and said in Acts 10:28 You yourselves know how unlawful it is for a Jew to associate with or to visit anyone of another nation…

That dividing wall of Hostility…

but God has shown me that I should not call any person common or unclean.

And Peter preaches the Gospel and then all these Gentiles get saved.

And when it happened some of the Jewish believers who were with Peter were amazed… that’s the word the Bible uses… because the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out even on the Gentiles (Acts 10:45).

As Gentiles we were far off… ignorant of God… enslaved to our idolatry… and alienated form the life of God because of the ignorance that [was] in [us] due to [our] hardness of heart (Ephesians 2:12, 1 Corinthians 12:2, Ephesians 4:17-18).

That’s the picture the Bible gives.

And God’s grace came even for us.

And that takes us to the second observation the Gentiles grafted in give us of God’s grace.

First, we see the Scope of God’s Grace…

Kindness

Second, we see the Kindness of God’s Grace.

Remember, the Gentiles were far off kept at arms length… alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world (Ephesians 2:12).

Even in the Temple, Gentiles could not draw near.

While we were welcomed to draw near and worship God we were restricted to the outer courts forbidden to enter the inner courts of the Temple where the worship and sacrifices were offered on the pain of death (Carson, The Gospel According to John, 436).

This was the same place Jesus cleansed of all the Money Changers in the week of His Passion.

John records the first time He cleansed the Temple early on in His ministry, the other Gospels record the second time the last week of His life.

We don’t know when this conversation happened but this could be what prompted the Greeks to seek Jesus in the first place because when Jesus cleansed the Temple He quoted Isaiah 56 and said Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? (Mark 11:17).

A Passage that in the Old Testament looks forward and promises God grafting the Gentiles in and accepting their worship and sacrifices in His Temple fulfilled, ultimately of course, in the True Temple Jesus Christ (Isaiah 56:3-8).

The True place we draw near to worship God and have our sins forgiven.

And now because of Christ, we who were far off have been brought near.

Gentiles have been welcomed in no longer strangers and aliens, to use Paul’s language again from Ephesians 2, but fellow heirs and members of the household of God and fellow partakers of the promise with all who trust in Christ (Ephesians 2:19, 3:6).

Because of this the Gentiles as a whole are a picture of the kindness of grace for every individual because we were all far off and separated from God in our sin but brought near and reconciled to God by the blood of Jesus.

Hope

And finally, with the Gentiles being grafted in, we see the Hope of God’s Grace.

Paul says For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him (Romans 10:12).

Galatians 3:28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

The fact that in Christ there is no distinction between Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female means that there is no distinction but all are welcome to Christ.

It doesn’t matter your past… It doesn’t matter your family… it doesn’t matter your finances… education level or cultural status…

And the ultimate hope… it doesn’t even matter your sins all are welcome and forgiven in Christ Jesus.

Summary

With the grafting in of the Gentiles we see the Promise of the Gospel for every single one of us.

The inclusion of the Gentiles when we look at it on an individual level celebrates God’s grace for each and every one of us because:

God’s grace included me.

God’s grace drew me near when I was still far off.

And God’s grace still welcomed me despite all my sin, all my past, all my weakness, and all my failures.

The inclusion of the Gentiles shows us the Scope, Kindness, and Hope of God’s grace to save every person who trusts in Christ… by the death of Christ who died in our place for our sins.

And that’s point number 2…

II. The Grace of the Gospel

John 12:23–24 And Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Truly, 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.”

The hour, as we’ve already seen, is the hour of Jesus’ death and crucifixion.

And Jesus says that this hour… His death and crucifixion… would ultimately lead to His glory in the salvation of sinners.

That’s verse 24.

Truly, 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.

Jesus here uses a common agricultural metaphor to describe His death and what His death would ultimately accomplish.

He’s the grain of wheat.

He’s the one who falls into the earth and dies… His body lay in the tomb for three days.

But just as with a grain of wheat that falls into the dirt… His death would ultimately bear much fruit.

That fruit being salvation and eternal life for everyone who believes in Him.

And here’s where we see the grace of the Gospel.

Christ died in our place for our sins.

He gave His life to give us eternal life.

He died that we might live.

This has been a prominent theme in the Gospel of John.

In John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

In John 6, Jesus said I am the Bread of Life… And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh. (John 6:35, 51).

And finally John 10, I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

And in laying down His life Jesus says I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will [ever] snatch them out of my hand (John 10:11, 18).

On the cross, Jesus gave His life as a substitute for our sins… and the fruit of His life is Eternal Life for everyone who believe in Him.

Justification

This is the Doctrine of Justification.

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23).

And all who have sinned under God’s Law are under a curse… that curse being death and the condemnation of our sin.

As the Bible says For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it (James 2:10).

Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them (Galatians 3:10).

But in Christ we receive grace upon grace.

John 1:14, 16–17 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth…For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

When it says for the Law was given through Moses that For explains what grace upon grace actually means.

We were all condemned and guilty under the Law doomed to perish in our sin.

But from His fullness we have all receive grace upon grace.

In other words, all the grace necessary to answer all the righteous requirements of the Law for all our sin.

The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.

Jesus lived a perfect and sinless life on our behalf.

He fulfilled all the righteous requirements of the Law we failed to live.

And then He suffered the penalty of the Law for our sin.

Galatians 3:13 He redeemed us from the curse of the Law by becoming a curse for us—[as] it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”.

Not only did Christ lived the perfect and sinless life that we failed to live…

He also died the death we deserved to die.

He died in our place for our sins and suffered the wrath and condemnation of God our sins deserved.

He died as our substitute

Thats the Doctrine of Justification.

Its two things.

All our sins are paid for.

All our sins are forgiven.

And we are declared positively righteous in Christ.

He takes our sin and clothes us in His own perfect righteousness.

And how?

By the Grace of the Gospel.

By laying down His life and dying in our place for our sins.

Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.

And this Justification is in the finished work of Jesus Christ.

Its not the result of works so that no one may boast (Ephesians 2:8-9).

It is a free and gracious gift for all those who trust in Him.

Grace upon Grace.

So the Grace of the Gospel is not just that Christ died in our place for our sins… but its also that He gives this grace freely and generously to all those that come to Him and trust in Him with simple, humble faith.

Repent and believe the Gospel.

Pray God be merciful to me a sinner.

Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved.

That grace will bring you near forgive all of your sin and justify you in Jesus Christ.

And that takes us to point number three.

In the Promise of the Gospel we saw the free and amazing grace of God towards far off sinners in Jesus Christ.

And in the Grace of the Gospel we saw how the eternal Son of God died in our place for our sins to give us eternal life freely as a gift by grace through faith in Him.

But then what?

What’s the response of the Gospel?

What’s your life supposed to look like once you put your faith in Him?

This is where we get into the cost of discipleship.

Because the Gospel doesn’t just proclaim the death of Christ in our stead…

It calls us to a death of our own in a death to self and radical discipleship to the Lord.

Point number 3…

III. The Call of the Gospel

John 12:25–26 Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If 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.

So after proclaiming His own death, Christ calls us to a death of our own.

Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.

This is similar to Jesus’ other teachings on the Cost of Discipleship.

Mark 8:34–35 If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. [hate his own life] For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it.

And Luke 14:27 Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple…So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.

No matter where you find it, the cost of discipleship is essentially the same.

The call to follow Christ is a call to come and die.

Die to self… Die to sin… Die to the world.

Its a call to deny yourself… lay down your life… and live all of your life for Him.

In the Gospel Christ died to save us and in saving us Christ calls us to die to ourselves.

And the question for us today is very simple…

Does that describe your discipleship?

Have you died to yourself… laid down your life… renounced all that you have to follow Him?

Loving your life does not mean enjoying life or being happy.

It means loving your life apart from God.

Running the show.

Being the Boss.

Its living your life in such a way where no one else gets a say… Not even God.

You live for you and no one else.

This was the same temptation that led Adam and Eve into sin.

You don’t need God! You don’t need to listen to Him.

You will be like God knowing good and evil.

You can live independently determining good and evil for yourselves.

But here’s the irony. Whoever loves his life loses it.

Loses it can be translated as perish or destroy.

So what Jesus is saying whoever loves his life ultimately destroys it.

I tell my kids all the time, sin brings death.

If you live for yourself you will ultimately perish in your sins.

In contrast, whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.

You must die to yourself and live for Him.

Hating your life is this idea of loving less or giving preference to one thing over another.

A good illustration of that is in 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.

So when we talk about hating your life in this world what we are talking about is your ultimate allegiance?

Who is your loyalty to?

Christ or yourself?

Who are you ultimately living for?

Who’s in charge? Who has the final say?

In our culture of Easy-Believism the cost of discipleship isn’t something that gets talked about very much.

If you start calling for obedience people immediately say you’re a legalist.

But then Christ is a legalist!

If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also.

Do you know how Christ defines following Him?

Being His disciple?

John 8:31 So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples.”

True Disciples follow Christ. Abide in His Word. Live for His glory.

Legalism/Antinomianism

This is not Legalism.

Legalism does either one of two things.

The first way to have Legalism is to look to good works for salvation…

Of saying I’m righteous by my works and not the finished work of Christ.

The other way you can have legalism is to be like the Pharisees who held other men to man-made self righteous standards teaching the commandments of men as doctrines of God (Matthew 15:9).

You have the classics like you can’t drink, you can’t smoke, you can’t dance.

Or you hold others to your religious scruples and peculiarities as the standard of what it means to be a real Christian.

That’s Legalism.

The other side of the ditch is Antinomianism based off the Greek word nomos which is the Greek word for Law.

So Anti-law.

This is the idea that is so prevalent in the church today.

We are saved by grace, grace, grace, grace, grace so there is no need for any kind of Christian obedience.

And listen I agree. We are saved by grace and not by works.

I could not be a minister of the Gospel if I did not affirm that.

We are saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.

But do you know what Paul goes on to say?

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

So far so good.

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them (Ephesians 2:8-10).

So the Biblical teaching is clear.

We are not saved by good works but we are saved to good works.

As Jesus said If you love me, you will keep my commandments (John 14:15).

And as John says Whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked (1 John 2:6).

Or in other words abide in His Word.

Here’s the Big Idea.

The one who hates his life is the one who thinks so little of his life… and so much of the glory of God and Jesus Christ that He is willing to give up everything for Him.

To offer themselves as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God (Romans 12:1).

That’s Christian discipleship…

Dying to self and following Christ.

Not just where its convenient…

Not just where it is easy...

But in all things.

Its saying everywhere my life is yours.

Increase/Decrease

Let me tell you how I’ve been thinking about this more and more in my own life.

Because we can talk about all or nothing Christianity… dying to self… and following Christ no matter the cost and what we are actually talking about starts to get a little fuzzy.

What does that actually look like.

I’ll tell you a passage I can’t get out of my mind is…

John 3:29–30 Therefore this joy of mine is now complete. He must increase, but I must decrease.

These are the words of John the Baptist and I think they give us such a clear picture of Christian Discipleship.

The secret to the Christian life is an ever increasing of Christ and an ever decreasing of ourselves.

This is the great paradox of living out our faith.

Life comes through death.

Eternal life by Christ’s death on the cross.

And the abundance of life and fullness of joy by dying to ourselves and living all of our lives wholly for Him

He must increase… I must decrease.

Does that describe your Christian life?

And not just in a general sense but are you denying yourself and submitting to Christ in each and every area of your life?

Applications

Marriage

We could be talking about your marriage.

Men do you love your wife like Christ loves the church giving Himself up for her?

Women do you respect and obey your husbands.

How many marriages are drowning right now because we refuse to submit to Christ?

Parenting

Parenting.

Getting short and impatient with the kids instead of parenting them with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, and most of our biggest struggle… self control.

Again men, do you lead your family in family discipleship.

Are you just raising kids or are you making disciples and raising your children in the fear and admonition of the Lord.

And its not just family relationships.

Its personal submission to Christ.

Sexual Immorality

How’s your inner life?

Are sexually pure or are you giving into lustful thoughts, sexual temptation or sexual immorality with another person?

Ephesians 5:3 But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints.

Food/Alcohol/Modesty

Submission to Christ even goes down to food or alcohol or even the way we dress.

Are we self-controlled?

Do we give into drunkeness?

Are we modest and godly in the way we dress?

Words

Even our words must be submitted to Christ.

Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks and Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths (Luke 6:45, Ephesians 4:29).

Summary

We could go on and on.

But the important thing whether we are talking about the Big Things in life or down to the smallest details…

The call to follow Christ is a call to total obedience everywhere in our life.

He must increase… I must decrease.

Where is Christ asking you to die to yourself and live for Him?

That’s the call of Christian Discipleship.

An ever increasing of Christ and an ever decreasing of ourselves.

Counting the cost means denying yourself and abiding in His Word.

Daily submitting all of our lives to Him

Following Christ all or nothing no matter the cost.

Conclusion

The Good News of the Gospel says that Jesus laid down His life to save us from our sins.

And near the end of His life some Greeks came seeking Jesus.

And with the grafting in of the Gentiles we saw the Promise of the Gospel.

How all of us were far off and separated from God in our sin with no hope and without God in the world.

But God, in Christ drew us near by His free, benevolent, and merciful Grace.

Likewise in Christ, we saw the Grace of the Gospel.

He died in our place for our sins and fulfilled all the righteous requirements of the Law on our behalf so that now there is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1).

And in Christ’s call of Discipleship we see the Call of the Gospel.

The call to follow Christ is a call to come and die…

To die to ourselves… our sin… and the world… and live all of our lives for Him… all or nothing no matter the cost.

Or as Paul said…

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Will you answer the call?

Will you die to yourself and live all of your life for Christ?

Let’s Pray