John 12:20-26 † Unless It Falls Into the Earth

John 12:20–26 ESV

20 Now among those who went up to worship at the feast were some Greeks. 21 So these came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” 22 Philip went and told Andrew; Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. 23 And Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 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. 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.

INTRODUCTION

Tapestry family, we have been talking this month about what it means to embrace the joy of being the stewards that God has called us to be. We've seen how God uses us to sow grace forward for his kingdom and the spread of the gospel. As we discussed this sermon series, the Lord led me to John 12:20-26. In this passage, Jesus has entered Jerusalem to conquer sin and death through his death, burial, and resurrection. In the middle of the excitement of Jesus' entry into the city and the feast of the Passover, we're told that some Greeks, possibly God-fearing Gentiles, want to see Jesus. Interestingly, upon hearing that the Greeks want to meet him, Jesus says something new. In John's gospel, up to this point, he has been telling the people that "his hour is coming. Now, Jesus says, "The hour has come." Those of us who have read John know what comes next. After Jesus says his hour has come, he immediately does two things: (1) he gives the illustration of the seed dying, and (2) he explains that serving him means following him on the path that he is about to take. My hope this morning is that we can look at Jesus' words with fresh eyes and be reminded of what it means to follow him. I invite you to consider with me that what Jesus asks you to give him is far more lasting than your time, far more costly than your talent, and far more valuable than your treasure. In this passage, Jesus calls us to come and find real life by surrendering everything we have and are to him. Let's pray.

UNDERSTAND GOD'S PLAN

One of the things we've talked about a lot in this series is how God's word confronts the "American Dream" of self-sufficiency and complete control. One of the most essential realities for us to embrace is that the American Dream is appealing for a reason. It isn't just a "dream" but a way to view what matters in life. It isn't wrong that we have deep desires for comfort, peace, and safety. The question is, where will we look to meet those desires, and can whatever we chase after really fulfill us. I invite you to consider the crowd around Jesus as he starts this speech. Like you and me, they have deep desires for their lives. They have an idea of what a good life should look like. You have the Jewish people who are looking for the good life in the restoration of Israel as the world power that it once was. You have some people wanting to kill Jesus because he's threatening the authority and power that keeps them comfortable. You have these Gentile Greeks who are searching for some ultimate meaning to life outside of their own culture's normative religions. You have the disciples who have begun to see that Jesus is offering a way of life that he calls complete and eternal. Deep in everyone's heart is a desire for some version of a good life. A heaven. Here is what I want to point out before we reread Jesus' words: could it be that the reason we struggle with the appeal of the American Dream is that we don't understand the dream of Jesus' Kingdom? Does your understanding of what it means to follow Jesus actually appeal to your vision of what "the Good life" looks like? I want to propose to us today that to understand what Jesus means when he says "follow me," we have to zoom out and understand the plan of God for redemption and restoration. We won't invest our lives in a kingdom we don't really understand; Jesus knows this. He knows our heart's desires and our deep-felt needs, and he offers us a better dream to hope in, but we need to think hard and see clearly how his better dream works itself out. To do this, I want to answer two questions: (1) what is God's plan? And (2) what makes it better?

What is God’s plan?

In verse 23, Jesus summarizes God's eternal plan and invites us into a better dream. He says, "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified." Everything in the history of humanity has led to "the hour" that Jesus is talking about. I would love to have the time to walk through all the Old Testament backgrounds and biblical cross-connections of verse 23. Still, to simplify it, we can say that God's plan since the foundation of the world was to display his glory through the gospel of Jesus. Immediately after announcing that "the hour has come," Jesus points us to a seed illustration. He points out that the seed has to "die" and be buried to produce any fruit. From this context, we know that Jesus means that he is the seed. His death, burial, and resurrection accomplish his victory over sin, and the resurrection is the beginning of the fruit of the seed he has planted. Jesus' path to the cross perfectly displays God's love for sinners and his just wrath toward sin. It accomplished salvation and reset the curse of the fall. When you read the gospels and the rest of the New Testament, you learn that the cross is the climax of God's plan but not the end of it. The New Testament continues after Jesus ascends to the Father's right hand. Sometimes, I think this is where we miss the reality of the totality of God's plan. We like the account of Easter, but it feels like old news that we've heard repeatedly. According to Scripture, God's plan post-resurrection is to display the glory of Jesus across the globe through the lives of his people until he returns in final glory to restore his forever kingdom. So, my challenge here is that to understand Jesus' words, we have to see the whole picture of God's eternal plan for his glory and our good. This leads me to question number two: why is God's plan better?

Why is God’s plan better?

I want to be honest with you, church; sometimes, I read the passages in the gospels and find myself wrestling with Jesus's pointed, clear, and relentless calls to follow him. Does he really mean I need to lose my life to really find it? I like my life! Imagine this morning if I looked out at you and said something like, "You guys have to hate yourselves if you really want to live forever." Or imagine if I said, "If you really want to get to the good life you'll go home right now and sell everything you have to come learn from me." The audacity! And yet, this is how Jesus talks throughout the gospels. If we look at verse 25 alone, we must admit some struggle over what Jesus is saying! If you don't struggle with it, you probably don't understand it! What is Jesus saying? And why do we believe that what Jesus invites us to is better than the American dream or any other dream? I want us to flip back a few pages in John where Jesus explains what he means when he offers people eternal life.

John 10:7–11 ESV

7 So Jesus again said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. 8 All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. 9 I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. 11 I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

Here's what Jesus invites us into: (1) salvation from what will ultimately kill us, (2) abundance of real life, and (3) a relationship with our Creator. If we think that Jesus is offering us an alternative to other paths that are equally enjoyable, we won't be able to make sense of his call to complete surrender. Only when we have the clarity to see Jesus' words in contrast to the reality and brokenness of the world do we understand that the gospel is the best news ever and the only path to true life. This leads me to our next major point. After understanding God's plan, we must embrace God's pattern.

EMBRACE GOD'S PATTERN

In verses 25-26, Jesus moves from explaining what he is about to do to inviting those around him (and you and I) to follow his pattern. The person who truly loves their life sees the value of serving and following Jesus. Jesus says that if we want to serve him, we will follow him to where he is going. It is helpful here to be reminded of where he is about to go. In verses 27-32, Jesus explains that he is going to the cross but that through the cross he is going to display the glory and light of God that leads to resurrection. Jesus' suffering, death, burial, and resurrection are the markers of the path of God's eternal glory being displayed. Now, here is what I want you to see and connect to: Jesus says, "follow me," and then walks toward death. Jesus says that the seed has to die for fruit to be produced. At this point in the message, what does this have to do with giving and stewardship? Here is where I want to meet us with a challenging thought: do we understand that it is the pattern of the cross displayed through Jesus' followers is still the way God intends to display the light and glory of God to the world? In John 14:12, Jesus says that those who believe in him will "do the works that he does." Consider our last sermon series in light of what we're talking about. Remember all that Paul taught us about the godly path. The truth is that the godly path is the path of the cross. As God's people, we surrender our wills to the will of the Father, and we joyfully walk toward displaying the light of God to the world. As we die to ourselves, we find abundant life in Christ. This passage has everything to do with stewardship because Jesus' words are more profound and shocking than any call or invitation to anything you've ever been asked or could be asked to give. He is saying to us, "Will you be the seed that dies and is planted so that the fruit can come?"Jesus doesn't want or need our money! He wants our hearts and souls. He invites us to see that really gaining abundant life means surrendering ourselves to the path of the cross. But how do we do it? How do we embrace the pattern of surrender as the normative Christian life? I want us to consider four principles here:

1. Recognize that Jesus already walked the path for us when we were helpless.

If you read the rest of John 12 and John's account of the passion narrative, you might expect people to believe in Jesus. Though there are signs that people are beginning to understand Jesus' ministry, we know that no one actually follows Jesus to the cross. Even his closest followers, who swear their allegiance, ultimately leave him to face the cross alone.

This helps us see that to begin the path of the cross, we must start with humility, recognizing that we can't save ourselves or survive on our own. This humility opens us to receive the grace of Jesus. We must trust that Jesus has overcome for us and that following him is a response to his grace, not what earns it.

2. Understand the source of power that will guide you on the path.

Between declaring that the hour had come and dying on the cross, Jesus promised his disciples to send them the Holy Spirit. Understand that the Bible teaches us that no effort we show void of the Spirit's enabling power will help us shine the light of God's glory. As we walk the path of the cross, we recognize that each step is empowered by God's presence and power.

3. Start walking. (Prioritize God's glory in your decision-making.)

For me, the most challenging aspect of our faith is the balance between trusting in God's work and the Holy Spirit's power, and our responsibility to stand up and obey Jesus' call to follow him. It's not easy to put into words, but we are called to activate our trust. I believe the quickest way to understand what it means to 'start walking' is to examine where in our lives we are not prioritizing God's glory above all else. This introspection is crucial for our spiritual growth. Jesus' example for us is that he submitted to his Father's will in every way. This is our pursuit as well; empowered by the Spirit, ask yourself where God's glory is not a priority in your life right now.

4. Don't grow weary and don't give up.

Sometimes, we never pursue obedience because it doesn't even feel possible. Sometimes, the circumstances of our lives beat us down, and God feels distant from us. I want to encourage us to persevere with two statements. 1: Remember to see the pain that you're dealing with as God's plan and not God's punishment. If Jesus path is the glory of God displayed through the dying seed, we should expect pain to be a part of our pursuit of obedience. Yet, we shouldn't be discouraged by the presence of that pain and convince ourselves that God has left us. See Jesus' words in John 12:27: “Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour.” What if our pain is what God will use to sharpen us and show his glory to the world around us? 2. Define failure as no belief rather than weak belief. There are times and seasons when we are weary and broken, and the thought of obedience only leads us into deeper pain. We begin think "how could God love someone like me?" We might even convince ourselves that God's grace is for others but not for us. Please see and understand that we are not failures in following Jesus as long as true belief exists in our hearts. Failure is the complete absence of faith. Our ability to trust and obey is impacted by many factors inside and outside of us. Are you able to say with even a tiny part of your heart, "I know that my Redeemer lives?" Then, you are not a failure but a child of God. So be encouraged, and don't give up.

CONCLUSION

This morning, I want you to consider what it means to follow Jesus. I want you to ask: Do I see God's whole restoration plan in the gospel? Am I convinced and delighted in the fact that God's plan is truly better than all the world can offer? Am I embracing the path of Jesus? This morning, I want to leave you with this challenge: give your life and nothing less to Jesus. If we commit to this surrender, no obstacle before us will stop us. Amen.