Life in Death
Notes
Transcript
The well known pastor and author James Montgomery Boice was once reflecting on the many different pulpits he has had the privilege of preaching from in his travels around the world. He said from the outside most pulpits are beautifully carved, ornate, and striking in design. But from standing behind them you see a different story. Coffee cups lodged there, books over here, fans or heaters depending on the season. He said one even had a light on it with a note underneath that read ‘when light comes on you have 2 minutes left.’ Out of them all he said one pulpit always stood out. On the top of it where he placed his Bible, there was a little note on it that said “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” Boice commented on this saying, “That is a good word for any preacher. I wish that every preacher and teacher of the Word of God might have those words before him constantly as he prepares and preaches his sermons.”
And this morning we come to the place in scripture where this quote comes from. We come to the place where the Greeks are coming and they want to see Jesus. Remember, as a backup to this story, we have just walked away from Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. The Jewish leaders are looking at a way to kill him and have him put to death. And then last week we looked as Jesus is giving them their reason. He is coming into town proclaiming and showing that HE IS GOD. HE IS THE MESSIAH. And thats where this story is picked up.
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EXPOSITION
EXPOSITION
20 Now among those who went up to worship at the feast were some Greeks.
These greeks were greek speaking gentiles not Jews that spoke greek as some of them would have said. And as we are going to see this group of people are a representation of
the people of all the gentile world. And what we know is that there were often times these gentiles would go to Jerusalem during the festivals to take part.
What is interesting is Jesus life on Earth began with gentiles from the East visiting Jesus in what we like to say his manger, and now, as his life is drawing to a close, we see a visit with the gentiles from the west.
Most likely as we look at the gospels in chronological order, what you will see is it is probable Jesus has just cleansed the money changers from the court of the gentiles
15 And they came to Jerusalem. And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold and those who bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons.
16 And he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple.
17 And he was teaching them and saying to them, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it a den of robbers.”
And it could be they have just seen this and they want to get closer to him and see what he is saying and want to get a closer look. Surely, they have heard what has happened with Lazarus and they want to get close to him. They want to see what he is really capable of… and so they come to him.
21 So these came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.”
Not just see, but talk with, sit and understand. And this is important. There is so much more meaning here. They don’t want to just watch him. They want so much more.
It reminds me of growing up and when a buddy and I went to different concerts we would always go early because we hoped to see the band. And when we would say see the band, we didn’t just mean seee them standing around, we were going to see them in the concert, what we meant in these moments we had heard the stories of people running into them and being able to stand around and talk and share stories and pictures and get to hang out.
Surely, this is what they were meaning… they wanted to see him, to be close and hear stories and get to know him on a more personal level.
Think about what has happened here… they have heard the stories… they have heard what he can do and they come wanting to see Jesus. This is what happens, when people hear and learn about Jesus they come wanting to know more… they come wanting to see him.
22 Philip went and told Andrew; Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus.
And its very interesting, because its almost as if Philip had no idea what to do, so he goes to Andrew to ask for his help. And this isn’t the first time Andrew has brought someone to Jesus, the very first person he brought to Jesus was his brother, Peter, and the second was the boy who Jesus used his snack to feed the hungry crowd in John 6. And in the next verse we see the beginning of the change of everything in history. Look at the reply of Jesus
23 And Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.
EXPLANATION OF GLORIFY GOD
When we “give Him glory,” as all the world is told to do in Revelation 14:7, we direct our praise, adoration, thanksgiving, and worship to Him who alone is worthy.
And this is it, this is the moment, some scholars say this is what Jesus was waiting on… not that he didn;t know it was coming, but this was the moment he had seen the gentiles come to him and his mission was to call the world to himself and in this moment the entire world represented by these gentiles have come to him looking for answers for their life and he is about to give them the answers they really need.
And this idea that Jesus is to be glorified is not something new we have just heard for the first time, it is something that Jesus has talked about over and over again in the story we have just followed as lazarus was raised from the dead. Rembember, back in the last chapter, Jesus is standing there outside the tomb and he’s talking t Martha and he’s telling her lets do this, move that stone… and when I think about that moment I think about the old show Extreme makeover home edition, and they’d finish the house build for the week and the poor family would be standing next to the bus and they’d be waiting and anticipatory and Ty would shout Move that bus! And I almost feel like that was the anticipation that Jesus had in this moment, and Martha remember was like… Uh, Jesus, remember he’s been dead a while man, he’s going to stink it up in there… and Jesus says…
40 Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?”
And its amazing… because the same thing is about to happen… don’t you see it… we are about to see the Glory of God in the resurrection… and these are the words we will see shortly before Jesus’ crucifixation
1 When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you,
Father Glorify me, that I may glorify you. And this work he was about to complete on the cross was about to be what glorified and showed God to people. And here is the amazing thing… every single time a life is turned over to God it is God that is glorified. A few weeks ago Michael was baptized here on a Wednesday night, and in that moment as a he makes a public declaration of what God is doing inside of him to the world and the change God has made inside of him, it isn’t the church or the person baptizing that gets the glory, it isn’t even Micheal for that matter, in that moment it is the glory of God that is being put on display… we are displaying the life, the death, and the resurrection of Christ in those moments… and it is God who is glorified it is he that is getting the glory… and God wants the glory… he is a jealous God… it is all for Him… and that is put on display in those moments…
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.
I have some wheat berries here for you to see… and these things are amazing… you can mill them down and make flour… and we can make some really cool stuff out of them… we can make bread… and I used to love me some bread… and we can use it to make cakes… and there are a lot of things you can do… but if you run out you are out…
And again, this is one of those references that many in our society today just can’t see clearly. Remember, Jesus is speaking to this first century audience who were farmers and this agricultural community, and they are used to growing things and they understand what happens when you are growing stuff… And here is where we will get some skeptics that step in and they will say, well it can’t die and then produce fruit… if a seed dies it can no longer do anything… but I think that comes from a very careful examination of the words that we are using here for life and death…
Throughout the Bible when we are talking about death and life. Most times in the Bible when we are talking about death what we mean is a separation of some sort…
For instance, our spiritual death happens when we commit sin, and that sin is what separates us from God.
1 Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear;
2 but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.
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23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
And this sin causes a death in our lives… this separation from God…
We also know that our faith without obedience is dead from James 2:26… So we know that he isn’t always talking about death in the same way humans die… so what is this death or separation that Jesus is talking about with the grain… when the grain falls to the ground it dies… because it has become separated from the stalk that it was once attached to. It is no longer receiving the nourishment it needs from the one that it was clinging on to and it has really this form of death as it lies on the ground. And as it lays and decays it forms a new plant from the seed, from that death it has the ability to bear more fruit. It is the death that gives it new life… and this is such an amazing picture of what we see in our lives… and it is what Paul confirms in his letter to the Ephesians in Eph 2:5
5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—
Before Christ, we were dead… we were like the seed, separated from God, lying life less through life, but he comes and gives us new life and allows us to live again… it is through him we are raised to life…
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And so the question becomes, what does this mean for you and me, and for some of you in ths room what this means is for the first time in your life you need to make a decision to follow Jesus, you need to look to him to give life to the dead that you are as you are apart from him and allow him to call you to himself so that you may truly live. But for the rest of us, those in this room who have called ourselves Christians for a while… who have allowed Christ to raise us and give us life we have an even more practical example that we can carry out when we look at this scripture… and it comes in the last two verse we are looking at together this morning…
25 Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.
26 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.
Every day you and I have the opportunity to exchange our life, for the life that he has called us to… to quit living for ourselves and to live for him… to quit living for the things of man, for the likes of man, for money, for approval, for status… and to live the life that he has called us to… to live on mission for the gospel… and this is what Jesus is telling us before he even gave us the great commission… if anyone serves me.. he must follow me… he must imitate me… he must do what I did…. he must share the message… he must care about the gospel more than himself and share it with others leading them back to me… calling everyone out of the depths of death into life…..and that is how we serve Jesus…. and the end of that scripture is so good… if you follow him… if you do as he did, the Father will Honor you… I’m not exactly sure what that means… and I don’t want to try to make up something to make myself sound smart, because it will fall short of whatever it is God really means by honoring a person… but it is scripture that should cause you to pause and think…. and if we do that… we see that by following him in death the natural result is there is fruit….
Just like this wheat… if you plant it… the head will produce many more wheatberries… and he is saying if we follow him and do as he did the fruit will be abundant…
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Can you imagine a world… where you and I realized there is life in death… a world where if we died to ourselves and served others as Jesus did that there would be more and more people taht come to see the glory of God… the famous quote that is always given to John Wesley is “If you set a man on fire for God, people will come for miles to see him burn…” and can you imagine what would happen to this church if when we went into the world, to lunch after this, to work tomorrow, heck in the car ride on the way home…. if we died to ourselves… and lived for him… how much fruit would be borne all around us.