Sermon: John 12:20-36

John 12:20-36

In our passage today, we hear Jesus address the crowd around him for the last time, and he talks to them about death. It's a very timely topic for Jesus. After this, he will not see the ordinary people of the city of Jerusalem again until he is put on trial and crucified. Before this, he has raised Lazarus from the dead - the most amazing miracle people could imagine - and those who were with him when he did it are spreading news about it to everyone they meet.

Death is an important topic to everyone. Everybody dies, it's universal. Death is a scary thing. Dying for something is sometimes called the ultimate sacrifice, paying the greatest cost.  People respect death's finality. This is why the raising of Lazarus from the dead is so amazing. It breaks the mould! People don't come back from the dead - not after four days. This makes Jesus someone to listen to, and especially when he is talking about death.

But when Jesus is talking about death, he doesn't talk about it in the way it's normally talked about. Jesus talks about death as something fruitful, something that is not final, something that is a necessary step of obedience to God, something that is part of God's plan, but which is followed by more. For Jesus, death is the step before multiplication. He applies this truth about death to himself, and he applies it to his audience.

Jesus applies what he says about death to himself. Jesus says in "31Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out. 32And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” 33He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die." In God's economics, a sacrifice must be made first; then comes the good result of multiplication.

Jesus is talking about himself. God wants to save people from rightful punishment for their sin and rebellion. He wants to adopt people as his children, and include them in his family. And to do that, Jesus will die in their place. Without Jesus's death, others cannot be saved, cannot become God's children. But if God's son does die, if he does offer himself as the perfect, innocent replacement for us, then God's people will live forever with him as his children.

It is easy for us to think, "Why must Jesus die? This is not how it should work! It doesn't make sense! Surely there is a better way." That is in fact exactly what the people say, " 34The 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’?”"

Imagine if I said to you that if you wanted more of something, you should take what you have of it and bury it in your backyard. You might respond to me, "That is not how it works! If I want another phone, I don't bury my phone in the backyard. If I want another car, I don't bury my car in the ground. If I want more friends, or another child, or more money, I don't bury the ones I have!" That would be a terrible waste, a failure, something to be avoided. There must be a better way.

And you'd be absolutely right. None of those things would work. But what if you want more corn: will burying corn kernels work? I really like hot chillies. If I bury some chilli seeds in the dirt, will I get more chillies? Look for yourself! Of course it works. When you look at what I said generally, it seems crazy. But with the right understanding, if you want the right things, it suddenly makes sense. If you want more chillies, it is in fact the only way to get them - someone is going to have to plant some seeds. You have to give up some seeds to get more chillies. There is no other way.

In the same way, according to Jesus, his death is vital to God's plan.  To us, death is a failure, a terrible waste, something to be avoided. But Jesus's death is not a failure of God's plan. It is a fundamental part of the plan. And when he first says that, we can react by saying "Surely not. That's not how it works." So to help us understand, Jesus talks about farming grain, to show us something where his logic suddenly makes more sense.

23Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24Very 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." The only way to grow a crop to harvest is to bury some seeds; and the only way to make people into God's children is for God's son to die and be buried. There is no other way.

Jesus said that. Do you accept it? The crowd didn't! It's not always easy to accept God's truth. Many people think God's system is unfair. People say, "What kind of God lets anyone suffer, and especially his own innocent son?"  Richard Dawkins, a famous atheist, calls Jesus's sacrifice "cosmic child abuse". From a perspective where death is final, where it is scary, where we are powerless to change it, that makes sense.

But Jesus is saying that our understanding is wrong: death is not the end, it is a tool God uses for his glory, because God and God alone has power over death. If you trust God, you trust him to turn the death of his son into a great victory, in a way that only he can. And you can trust God, because Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, because God himself speaks at this moment in the passage to stamp authority on Jesus's words, and ultimately God raises Jesus from the dead himself to show that death is defeated.

Do you believe it? Do you believe that our God is in charge of everything, even death? Do you believe he can turn death into something good - so good that it means eternal life for his children, for us? I hope you do, because what Jesus has to say next is built on that.

Jesus had described how his death will produce fruit - by defeating sin, death and the devil. But Jesus doesn't stop there. He then calls for those listening to him to give up their lives: "25Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me."

What does Jesus mean? If Jesus's death saved us, why do we need to hate our own lives? If we're going to live forever because of Jesus's death, why do we need to make a sacrifice too? If Jesus has died so that we don't have to, why must we give up our lives?

And the answer is this: because there are other people who have not heard this news. Now, Jesus expects us to go out and make disciples.

To understand what Jesus is talking about, we need to look at the first thing that happens in this passage; the event that leads Jesus to say what he says. 20Now there were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the festival. 21They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, with a request. “Sir,” they said, “we would like to see Jesus.” 22Philip went to tell Andrew; Andrew and Philip in turn told Jesus."

Jesus has spent three years on a mission, travelling around the Judaean countryside and telling people who he is:  the Son of Man, God come to earth as a human being. He's been preaching good news, performing miracles, and drawing people to himself, asking them to follow him.

But that time is nearly over. Jesus's mission was always going to culminate in him dying on the cross, because only by the death of the son of God could we be purchased back for our rebellion against God and made into his children. The focus of Jesus's work on earth was never to spread his good news around the world; it was to be the good news worth spreading! And so when these Greeks, who have travelled from far away to come to Jerusalem for the festival, ask if they can meet this Jesus they have heard so much about, Jesus uses that as a sign that his time of preaching is over. Now he begins his walk to the cross.

These aren't the first non-Jews Jesus has met. They aren't even the first Greeks to seek him out. But Jesus uses their request to clearly illustrate a divide - his time preaching to the crowds is over. It's time for him to make his sacrifice.

But it is also a sign for his followers, for God's people. Jesus isn't turning his back on the Greeks - he loves them! In the past he has healed them, revealed himself in the same way he did to Jews! But it is now no longer his role to spread God's message to people. That is now the job of God's people. That is now our job.

And that is what Jesus is talking about when he says we must hate our lives. He's not saying we must hate being alive instead of dead.  Jesus is not saying all who follow him must die like he did; he is saying following him is a way of life that requires giving up all other ways of life - it requires us to give up even the idea that we have a life of our own. And the life that comes from following Jesus is a life devoted to seeing his good news spread to all other people. We are called to bury the life we live that is focused on ourselves so that we can see the fruit of other people hearing God's good news about Jesus.

Paul the apostle discovered this truth for himself. In his letter to the Colossians he describes it as taking up in his own flesh what is lacking in Christ's afflictions. And in his letter to the Galatians he is even more stark, saying : "20I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." Paul's life was devoted to seeing Christ's good news made known to all other people. For Paul, the inescapable consequence of Jesus's sacrifice was that as his follower he must likewise sacrifice his life as he lived it to see God's kingdom grow.

 It doesn't mean everyone has to go overseas as a missionary, as Penny and I are doing. It doesn't mean everyone has to quit their jobs or leave their families or drop out of school or put off their retirement. In a way, those like me and Penny who go into full time ministry have it easy. We are almost cheating! It's easy to see how we are giving up our lives for Christ because we are doing it 9 to 5, because we're physically travelling elsewhere. I think it is so much harder to do this living a normal life of work and family in a place like Australia, where our culture drives us to live that normal life for ourselves.

But that's not what we are called to do. We are called to give up our lives; not necessarily in death, but absolutely to God and his plan of adopting people into his family.

And that is so hard! It's so hard to put Jesus first in our lives when that involves a daily grind of work, family, church, rinse, repeat. Sometimes we might think that it would be easier to die for Jesus than to live for him. And we're not alone in that either! Paul says in Philippians that to live is Christ and to die is gain: that he would rather die and be in heaven with Jesus, because that's better by far; but he knows God wants him to hang around because there is still plenty of work for him to do.

Another thing we might think is that if we give up our own life for Jesus's life, we're going to lose out because of everything we might have to give up. This is, I think, the number one thing that stops people in the west from truly living their life for Jesus. People have asked me and Penny how we can possibly give up living in Australia for Africa, give up the time in our life when we are at our peak earning capacity, give up the chance of entering the property market in Sydney, give up friends and family and jobs and futures. Some struggle to give up even a few minutes of their day to pray for others, or a few dollars of their weekly income to support God's work. They think, "If I plant my time and money in God's dirt, they won't grow and multiply into more time and money!"

And of course they're right! Time and money, friends and careers and houses do not grow into a crop by burying them. But God's family does grow that way. And if God's act of burying his own son to welcome you into his family is something you believe and accept, then Jesus says the response you will have is to give up your own life to see that message spread.

Jesus makes it clear: unless you plant a seed in the ground, it will never sprout. But if you let it die and be buried, then many seeds will be produced. If you want a crop, if you want a harvest, you will only get it if you plant the seed. There is no other way. So it is with Jesus, and so it is with us.

If you want a new phone, or a nicer house, or a new car, or more friends, then Jesus does not guarantee you those things. Following his life is as likely to get you what you want as burying those things in the backyard.

But if you want to grow God's kingdom, then the only way is to plant your life as a seed, and watch it die. Only then will your life bear the fruit of many seeds. This is what Jesus means when he says that those who hate their life will keep it for eternal life: not that they somehow save themselves - if they did, then Jesus would not have to die - but that those who really understand what Jesus has done for them are going to hate the life of money and self and children and things, and love the life of growing God's family.

And Jesus brings this message home with an admonition at the end of this passage: "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.”"

If you have headlights on your car and you are driving down a dark road, why would you not turn your headlights on? Why would you risk that danger? The device you buy comes with instructions - why not read them to help you put it together? The meal you are making has a recipe - Why not follow it to make the meal properly? Usually we ignore the wisdom we've been given because we think we know better. Sometimes that works out, and sometimes it is a big failure.

In the same way, Jesus knows that there is a big temptation to ignore what he’s saying. The difference is Jesus is not giving us instructions for a television or a recipe for a cake. He is talking about life and death and life forever. He is the expert on death and life! We must rely on his message. He has given us the message of God's plan for life - for his own, how God will plant him like a seed so that in his death many will live.  It’s a message that many people don’t like. And he has given us the truth about our lives - that the only way to live a fruitful life is to spread his message. He says we are to devote our lives to that message, and spread it to all people.  And many people don’t like the thought of giving up what they actually want for what they should want – to see people join God’s family.

Not all of us are called to die for Christ. But all of us should be prepared to live for him. Just before Christmas last year I met a woman here in Sydney who was born a Muslim, married a Muslim, and then heard the good message about Jesus and became one of his children, and she has stuck to her guns even when her husband tried to kill her, even when he took her kids away.

She did not die, but now instead has to live a hard life for the sake of the message she believes. She could see her children again if she only dropped Jesus. She could live in the family house. She could be accepted. But that is no choice. Her life is not her own. She knows the truth. How can she live as if she doesn't know it?

And we all face the same situations. Living for Christ doesn't always mean death. But if we're prepared to die for Christ, we should be prepared to do anything else to live for him. Some of us get the call to go on the mission field, or into full-time ministry. Some are called into church leadership. Some are called to spread the message to strangers, some to friends, some to family. Some are called to raise money. Some are called to pray. Most of us are called to do several of these.

I don't know what you are called to specifically, but I do know what we are all called to generally - to love God and love our neighbour; to live and die for the good news of Jesus. If you don't know if you're called by God, then ask another Christian, especially a leader - they can be very perceptive. And pray for it to be revealed. And wait and listen for an answer.

But whether it's praying or donating money or involvement in a ministry or telling others the good news, if you do know God's call and you're not seeking to do it - if you're not prepared to put your life on the line to do it - then you are not living like someone who has the message. You are deliberately driving at night with your headlights turned off.

Now that we have the message, now that we have a calling to live for the message, we must live like that!  So don’t live like you didn't get the message.  You have the truth. Why live as if you do not have it?