MIDWEEK
LENT 5
March
18, 2015
Pastor
Timothy J. Spaude
Text:
John 12:23-27
“I TELL YOU THE TRUTH”
“IF ONE DIES IT PRODUCES LIFE FOR MANY!”
John 12:23-27 (NIV
1984)
“Jesus replied, "The hour has
come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24 I tell you the truth, 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 The man who loves his life
will lose it, while the man who hates his 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. 27 "Now
my heart 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.”
I’m going to be a little mean right
now and get you thinking about sweet corn. Corn on the cob. Oh that’s a summer
favorite in Wisconsin, isn’t it?
Can’t you just taste it, that first bite of
locally grown sweet corn doused in butter and with just the right amount of
salt? The kernels popping in your mouth! How do you eat yours? Do you go across
the cob like a typewriter? Do you start in one spot and eat it all around? Do
you how many kernels of corn are on the average cob? The average cob has about
16 rows with 40 kernels in each row. Do the math and you are over 600. All of
those kernels came from one. Maybe that picture will help you grab Jesus’
picture as the “I tell you the truth” statement of Jesus that we look at today
is “If one dies it produces life for many.”
A little background to our text. It’s
during Holy Week, after Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem. News about that
must have spread because some Greeks, probably converted to the Old Testament
faith, were in town for the Passover festival. They came to Jesus’ disciples
with a request. “We would like to see Jesus.” The message was passed to Him.
But instead of directly addressing that request Jesus replied, "The
hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24 I tell you the
truth, 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.” While that might seem like a strange answer to a request
for an audience it actually makes perfect sense. If these Greeks wanted to see
Jesus then they would see Him for the reason He came, to die. But that death would
not be random and meaningless but planned and with purpose and results. “I tell
you the truth,” Jesus said, “if one dies it means life for many.” That’s the
point of his picture. He used a kernel of wheat. I used a kernel of corn. If
just one cob grows on a stalk the “death” of one kernel produces life for 600
more. But Jesus wasn’t talking about corn or wheat and seed producing. He was
talking about Himself and giving spiritual life.
As the holy innocent Son of God Jesus
deserved to live and never die. The wages of sin is death. No sin means no
death. But if Jesus didn’t die in the place of sinners then no sinners could
live spiritually and eternally. Unless a kernel falls to the ground and dies,
it remains a single seed. Let that kernel, fall, “die” and be buried then it
produces many seeds. Think of what that means! Jesus could have avoided the
cross and lived in perfect harmony with the Father and the Spirit but He chose
you. Jesus could have avoided Hell but He wanted you next to Him, with Him, now
and forever. Can we appreciate that people of God rejoice in it and live it and
not just on our terms? You know our weakness. We want Jesus there at our
wedding and to have those weddings in Jesus’ house but then later don’t want
Him around as we mistreat, ignore or yell at our spouse. We want our kids to be
joined with Jesus in baptism but then later teach them that fellowship with a
mattress, or a hobby or a sport is more important. We want Him there at our
side in time of trouble, but pretend He’s not there when we are getting
ourselves in trouble. Jesus didn’t die for us to be our part time Lord. He wasn’t
temping. He came to give us life and He didn’t shy away. "Now my heart 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.” Out
of death came life.
And now that life for us means death,
death to our sinful natures. “The man who
loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world
will keep it for eternal life.” Let’s be honest. We love our lives. We may
not like everything about our lives. We may not like our health or our jobs but
we love our lives. Let me rephrase that. We love ourselves. We may not like our
height or weight or looks but we love ourselves. It’s all about me. What is in
my best interest is what matters most. That’s what we are by nature. Selfish.
You see that right away in babies. “Wah—I’m hungry. Feed me. Wah—I’m messy.
Change me. Wah—I’m uncomfortable. Hold me.” Hold a naked baby after giving them
and bath and you know what they will do? They will pee all over you without
even blinking an eye. Might even laugh. They don’t care that they messed you.
Their need came first. I remember one
time when our daughter Jamie was just under a year old we took our first family
vacation to Port Aransas, Texas, a little place on the Gulf of Mexico. I was
holding Jamie in our little rental. All of the sudden she throws up all over
me. Warm and sour on my face, my neck, my chest. Does she apologize? No. And
Chris, Chris just starts laughing. I’m covered in vomit and she’s laughing. What
about me? Did you notice something? Real easily each of us was about ourselves.
I suppose Jamie couldn’t help it but I’m wasn’t worried about why she’s sick
just that it’s all over me. And why is it always so easy to find humor in
someone else’s discomfort. We do that all the time. We do that in much worse
ways. We want others to like us so we make snide remarks to tear others down.
We criticize what others do or don’t do and justify our own weaknesses. The
measure of what is good and right is what I like, what I want. It’s all about
me. That’s life according to the sinful nature.
But things change with Jesus. By
giving us new life we have the ability, yes the responsibility to put to death
our sinful nature each and every day. New life means death. New life in Jesus
helps us to see that living life all about me isn’t living at all, it’s dying,
separating ourselves from the one who loved us. Living life that’s all about
Jesus is real living. Imagine living your life with the ability to shoo away
the Devil and his temptations as easily as a fly. Imagine living where you celebrated,
cheered and whooped louder than your chosen team winning in March madness at
the death of a believer because your only thought was for their joy at being
with Jesus and you didn’t have to deal with your own sorrow. Imagine living
each day with that “I served someone and it makes me feel good” feeling all the
time. Wouldn’t that be awesome? We get that when we put to death our sinful
nature. Now we know it likes to come back. We know it will try to exert its
influence again and again but the day is coming when the Lord will kill it off
for good. To keep us fighting the battle while we wait for that day Jesus said,
“Whoever serves me must follow me; and
where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves
me.” With life comes death.
Now I know I began today whetting your
appetite for fresh sweet corn. Maybe I made your mouth water or teased you a
little bit with the thoughts of summer. Jesus’ words have us thinking about
something much better, something that won’t end like summer does and sweet corn
season does. He’s got our eyes on heaven. I tell you the truth. One has died
and that means eternal life for us. Thank you Jesus. Amen!
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