God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Jesus. The same way He shows Himself to us, with truth about Himself that becomes a truth about us. Therefore, the clarity of our vision desiring God will reveal the clarity of our message of truth about Jesus.
Question: do we have the same desiring God? How can we glorify Jesus and how will the Father honor us? We all want to be rapture but most of us don't want the crucifixion. Paul said, I die daily. Meaning he crucify his flesh daily. Dying to self, to the lustful, worldly or selfish desires of this life to live in Christ. Tell your neighbor: Are you dead yet? Dying is a means of loving.
I. Introduction: First things first. Our age is being polluted by self-lover people. Their pursuit is very differently, led away with selfish desires. Men of corrupt minds and are disqualified in the faith as they opposed the truth. The beginning of sorrows as prophesied by Jesus are being ignored as they continue in their pursuit in life of ungodliness. There is something common to all this people who are trying to live and let die. They lost what they tried to keep. It is a paradox evident in the teaching of Jesus. "He that loveth his life shall lose it, and he that hateth his life in this world, shall keep it unto life eternal." (v.25) Evidently, what is now happening worldwide starting the pandemic, war at ukraine, and earthquake at turkey and syria, thousand and thousands were dead in ungodliness, without desiring God. Think about it!
II. Message: Our key verses in John 12:20-26 , specifically teaches us the dynamics on how the Son of man should be glorified and in any man serves Jesus, that man will His Father honor. Here observe:
A. Three things that are right: Summer is described as a time of harvest when crops are gathered and the world is filled with abundance. It is also a time of labor when people must work hard to bring in the harvest. It's a time to enjoy the fruits of our labor. Herewith are right thing in the right time:
1. Right pursuit: "We wish to see Jesus" (v21) Summer is for doing what these Greeks wanted to do. Summer is for seeing and showing Christ at a right time.
a.) Truth about Jesus. We all need to see Jesus so clearly and so powerfully that we changed from one degree of His glory & into his image, so we can show him to others more compellingly.
b.) Truth about us. This is the way Jesus appears in power. He gives truth about Himself that becomes truth about us.
2. Right Provision. "The hour has come" (v23) He took this seeking interest of Gentiles as the signal that now the hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified.
a.) Jesus' final sacrifice. The glorification Jesus pointing here was being glorified on the cross. Something the world could only see as disgraceful humiliation. Jesus saw as being glorified.
b.) Jesus gives them unexpected truth. My pathway to glory is through death. (v24) That I will indeed bear much fruit including Greeks. But i won't & can't bear this fruit but through dying.
b-1) Jesus' promised - Tell the Greeks that I will not come to them now, as I have a hard work to do so that I might bear them as the fruit of my life and ministry.
b-2) Without the cross - If Jesus leave the road of calvary and be seen by men, He will remain alone and the Greeks will not be saved. No cross, no glorification, therefore no salvation.
b-3) Bear much fruit - But if I go & die on my way to glory, then I will bear much fruit, you will be saved and the Greeks will be saved, and all who believe in me will be saved.
b-4) A wish to see Jesus - This is what I want them to see. See me dying. See me bearing fruit.
c) The Father's command about everlasting life (v50) - Therefore, fruitfulness is a lifestyle that will strengthen our faith to be an overcomer & to live in the light of eternity in Christ Jesus.
3. Right priority - and that he that hateth his life." (v25) The truth that Jesus reveals to the Greeks becomes a truth about them, and about us.. Jesus' self revelation is always confrontation.
a) Jesus design for imitation. It becomes a truth about them and us. My dying for salvation is also my design for imitation . If you want to see me, be prepared to become like me.
b) We wish to see Jesus - Do we truly mean it today? Jesus says, if you really mean it, if you want to see me, be prepared to become like me. Prepare to follow me on the road I am going.
c) Let him follow Me - but where? to Gethsemane and to Calvary, to the grave, and where I am, there shall my servant also be, in the presence of my Father in glory.
d) If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him - Then Jesus makes the truth about himself & truth about his followers. Will we hate our lives in this world? Will we follow him on the path to calvary? Will we serve the Son in this way? Will we let the truth about the Son of Man become truth about us?
B. The way is hard and glorious.
1. That's what we see - This is the way we can see Jesus and the way we show Him to others.
a) Jesus' glorification - He reveals himself to us who goes to glory and bears much fruit by dying, by hating his life in this world, and then he says,
b) Let him follow Me - die with me. Hate your life in this world with me.
c) If any man serves me - If we do, we show Christ to the world. He means to be seen by the Greeks and by every other people group in our world.
d) Jesus manifest in us - The way He means for it to happen is by our becoming like him in his dying so that others may see him in us (2 Cor. 4:10) "Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body"
2. Two things are unmistakable here - One is - it is hard and the other is - it is glorious. Do not miss either of these. If you see the hard part only, you will miss the power & the freedom. If you see the glorious part only, you will minimize the sacrifice. So let me show you the four-hard things & four glorious things.
a) The way is hard (John 12:24-26) First the hard things:
a-1) A corn of wheat must die v24 - "Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground & die"
a-2) Jesus calls us to hate our lives in this world v25 - He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world..
a-3) Jesus calls us to follow Him - on His Calvary road, leading to death "v26a, If anyone serves me let him follow Me..."
a-4) He calls us to serve Him - v26b "if any man serve me, him will my Father honor" to take the role of a waiter at His table to do his bidding, no matter what the demand or how lowly the status.
*Now that is what is meant to be a Christian, a disciple of Jesus. and it is hard. Jesus knew it would be hard. That's why he said in Matt. 7:14 "The gate is narrow & the way is hard, that leads to life and those who find it are few." It is hard to die. It is hard to take role of a servant in a world of power.
b) The way is glorious - And the glory compensates for the hardness of it all. The glory turns the hardness into the most significant. It bears fruit.
b-1) v24, Yes, the seed must die, but "if it dies, it bears much fruit" Dying to self, is a kind of death that is not in vain. It is significant. It bears fruit.
b-2) v25, Yes, if we love our lives, we will lose them, and yes, we must hate our lives in this world that we may keep it to eternal life. He who hates life in this world, shall keep it to life eternal. We cannot outsacrifice Jesus' resurrection generosity.
b-3) v26a, Yes, we must follow him to Calvary, But with what outcome? "And where I am, there shall my servant be" Jesus used those words one other time, (John 4:13) and he meant heaven. "I go to prepare a place for you that where I am, there you may be also" If we follow Him to Calvary, we will be with Him in heaven.
b-4) v26b, Yes, we must become His servants. But what does the Father do to his servants? If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him" as we are highly favor in His sight. So don't miss the glory in this hard life of being a Christian.
III. Conclusion: before Revival and Fruit bearing, Death must come first!
Are we praying for revival in our fellowship that God would come in great self-evidencing power & make His church vibrant, strong, bold, joyful, and radical in allegiance to Him?
the Way forward, so what I am asking myself and you are this:
1. Is there something God is calling me to die so that I might experience more fully my position in Christ that I might see Christ more clearly and show Him more compellingly?
2. Am I striving against my nature as a Christian by trying to keep alive something that God sentenced to death when i became a Christian?
3. Are my weaknesses as a father or a husband, or a witness owing to something that needs to die in me some old habit, some secret sin, some root of pride, some fear of looking silly, some desperate need for approval, some desire for wealth?
TO GOD BE THE GLORY!