A Grain of Wheat must Die 2025-04-06
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Someone Important wants to Hear from you.
Someone Important wants to Hear from you.
EINSTEIN AND EMMY
When Einstein fled Nazi Germany, he came to America and bought an old two-story house within walking distance of Princeton University.
There he entertained some of the most distinguished people of his day and discussed with them issues as far ranging as physics to human rights.
But Einstein had another frequent visitor.
She was not, in the world’s eyes, an important person like his other guests.
She was a ten-year-old girl named Emmy.
Emmy heard that a very kind man who knew a lot about mathematics had moved into her neighborhood.
Since she was having trouble with her fifth-grade arithmetic, she decided to visit the man down the block and see if he would help her with her problems.
Einstein was very willing and explained everything to her so that she could understand it. He also told her she was welcome to come anytime she needed help.
A few weeks later, one of the neighbors told Emmy’s mother that Emmy was often seen entering the house of the world-famous physicist.
Horrified, she told her daughter that Einstein was a very important man, whose time was very valuable, and he couldn’t be bothered with the problems of a little schoolgirl.
And then she rushed over to Einstein’s house, and when Einstein answered the door, she started trying to blurt out an apology for her daughter’s intrusion – for being such a bother. But Einstein cut her off.
He said,
“She has not been bothering me!”
“When a child finds such joy in learning, then it is my joy to help her learn!
Please don’t stop Emmy from coming to me with her school problems.
She is welcome in this house anytime.”
Some people
Feel God
is so big and so important,
that we shouldn’t bother Him.
But, His Word reveals
He loves His children and
loves to hear from us.
Dying to Live
Dying to Live
Greek Worshipers
Greek Worshipers
20 Now there were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the festival.
what kind of worshippers?
what kind of worshippers?
Jewish Greeks
Jewish Greeks
Greek speaking Jews
Converted Greeks
Converted Greeks
Former pagans
Total Pagans
Total Pagans
There were pagans who would give money to the temple,
paying homage to everyone's gods,
homage to all religions.
They would come to the Jewish festivals,
enjoy the scene and
they would give to support the temple
We’re seeking Jesus
We’re seeking Jesus
21 They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, with a request. “Sir,” they said, “we would like to see Jesus.”
Asked Philip
Asked Philip
Who had a Greek name asked
Who asked Andrew
Who asked Andrew
Who also had a Greek name
if they could meet Jesus.
I thought for a minute,
are these two guys with Greek names, brother?
But no, Philip and Simon Peter are brother
and Andrew does not have a brother among the 12 disciples.
They asked Jesus
They asked Jesus
22 Philip went to tell Andrew; Andrew and Philip in turn told Jesus.
23 Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.
Did you catch that?
Jesus says it’s Glory time.
Jesus says it’s Glory time.
Not exactly
he said
The New International Version Chapter 12
The hour has come for the Son of Man to be
This is a shift in Jesus ministry.
He was keep His ministry as quiet as possible
He primarily ministered to the lost sheep of Isreal but
Now we see He is Less Guarded
His full ministry includes everyone
Soon he will say that all men will be
“drawn to him,”
All men!
not just the Jews.
I can just see Jesus motioning/ welcoming the Greeks into his audience and going on with this message He really wanted to give right then.
It’t about service
Serving like Jesus
Serving like Jesus
He doesn’t miss a beat, he just goes on
24 Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.
25 Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.
26 Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.
Call to serve
Call to serve
Jesus just put a heavy call on his followers.
He is build a picture of dying to self and serving others
He is also making reference to his own death,
which is coming real soon.
Does he know that it can be hard to serve others,
as God might ask you or I to do.
You bet he does.
He shares with them His own struggle
Jesus service to us & the Father
Jesus service to us & the Father
27 “Now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour.
As a man,
He was not looking forward to the brutal whippings
He was not looking forward to the crown of thorns
He was not looking forward to the mocking and shaming
He would have preferred to just step into heavens Glory.
But that would defeat the whole purpose of His coming.
He came to die for your sins and mine.
as it says in Phil2.6-8
6 Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
7 rather, he made himself nothing
by taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
8 And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
by becoming obedient to death—
even death on a cross!
After sharing with the crowd his own feelings he announced at the end of verse 27 his resolve
The New International Version Chapter 12
No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour.
And here is another sign that Jesus is no longer hiding who he is
he goes on to say
Glory from God
Glory from God
28 Father, glorify your name!”
Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and will glorify it again.”
Jesus knew exactly what the Father said!
I wonder if any of the disciples understood God’s voice?
The crowd hear God’s voice and wondered, they speculated
what was that noise?
29 The crowd that was there and heard it said it had thundered; others said an angel had spoken to him.
30 Jesus said, “This voice was for your benefit, not mine.
Jesus didn’t need to hear a voice from the sky, to hear and follow His Fathers voice but this was for them.
Just as at the transfiguration, when Peter was struggling for something to say or do
God the Father spoke from the clouds
35 A voice came from the cloud, saying, “This is my Son, whom I have chosen; listen to him.”
That voice, the the voice in Jerusalem on as Jesus taught was not to give Jesus any reasurance that
the Father was there or
that the Father was listening
or that the Father cared.
The voice on the Mountain was for the 3 disciples to hear.
The voice during Holy Week in Jerusalem was not for Jesus
reassurance, but for the crowds to hear.
Foreshadowing His Death
Foreshadowing His Death
30 Jesus said, “This voice was for your benefit, not mine. 31 Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out. 32 And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” 33 He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die.
This was after Jesus triumphal entry.
Despite what the Jewish leaders thought,
the crowd was pretty sure,
he was the Messiah
the conquring heroe
who would usher in the new age with
Israel on top and in charge of the world.
It blew their minds
to hear Jesus talk about his death.
And so they ask him
34 The crowd spoke up, “We have heard from the Law that the Messiah will remain forever, so how can you say, ‘The Son of Man must be lifted up’? Who is this ‘Son of Man’?”
They thought in their pre-conceived notions
that the Messiah would never die and would be a conquering hero
And they had some scriptures to back that up
44 “In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever.
That’s a good start
13 “In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. 14 He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all nations and peoples of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.
Wow, never be destroyed.
Doesn’t sound like a suffering hero
But the crowd was ignorant or ignoring suffering servant scriptures like Isaiah 53.
Are you familiar with Isaiah 53?
1 Who has believed our message
and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
2 He grew up before him like a tender shoot,
and like a root out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
3 He was despised and rejected by mankind,
a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.
Like one from whom people hide their faces
he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.
4 Surely he took up our pain
and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
stricken by him, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to our own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
7 He was oppressed and afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.
8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away.
Yet who of his generation protested?
For he was cut off from the land of the living;
for the transgression of my people he was punished.
9 He was assigned a grave with the wicked,
and with the rich in his death,
though he had done no violence,
nor was any deceit in his mouth.
10 Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
and though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin,
he will see his offspring and prolong his days,
and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.
11 After he has suffered,
he will see the light of life and be satisfied;
by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many,
and he will bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,
and he will divide the spoils with the strong,
because he poured out his life unto death,
and was numbered with the transgressors.
For he bore the sin of many,
and made intercession for the transgressors.
Clearly, that is a part of the Messiah’s ministry they didn’t know or chose to ignore.
Perhaps most people didn’t know it at all, because the rabi’s didn’t like to read it to them.
So, getting back to our text, the crowd wanted to know
if Jesus was going to Die on a Cross, then who was He?
That was there question!
But Jesus didn’t address their pre-conceived ideas about the Messiah
He just went on to admonish them.
Focus on the big picture
I am not going to be with you much longer
to teach you directly.
35 Then Jesus told them, “You are going to have the light just a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, before darkness overtakes you. Whoever walks in the dark does not know where they are going. 36 Believe in the light while you have the light, so that you may become children of light.” When he had finished speaking, Jesus left and hid himself from them.
Pulling it all together
Pulling it all together
If you have ever struggle with low self worth keeping you from talking to God
Remember God cares so much about us,
He sent his son to die for us.
All of human history is full of miserable people living for self
and happy people give back to God
who serve others
who are servants of God.
Jesus said
26 Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.
The key to a good life,
is following Jesus
The Good News came to the Jews first, but is also for people like you and me.
Is there anything, God is speaking to you about giving up,
is it hurting your daily life
is it hindering your growth as a Christian.
We all have to die to some desires,
to live the best life we can and to
have a hope of eternal life.
Jesus gave 2 great example of sacrificial service.
First the grain of wheat, dying and being burried in the ground to produce a crop
Second, His own sacrificial service to the Father.
It wasn’t easy, that why it’s called dying to oneself.
He was conflicted,
He desired to avoid the pain
but to please the Father and
and to save us
He endured the cross and all that lead up to it.
Do you know Jesus?
Have you made the step to begin your walk with Christ.
You can do it today!
Have you been a believer and a follow of Christ for a while?
How is your walk going?
Are you growing more Christ like?
Let’s Close Singing the beginning of blessing song.
If you need to come to the altar to pray,
please come.
The Lord bless you and keep you
Make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you
The Lord turn His face toward you
And give you peace
Amen, amen, amen
Amen, amen, amen
And all God’s people said
Amen.
