"We would like to see Jesus" John 12:20-36

20 Now there were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the festival. 21 They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, with a request. "Sir," they said, "we would like to see 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. 24 Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel [or grain] of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed [alone]. But if it dies, it produces many seeds [bears much fruit]. 25 Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life [life that never ends]. 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. Intro: The portion of Scripture we just read happened about one week before Jesus' death on the cross. Ok, here's a question for you, would you believe a person who told you these words? Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?" Wouldn't you be tempted to say, he's mad! Or to say, prove it to us Jesus!? Well, soon after Jesus said these words to Martha, he raised her brother Lazarus from the dead, after he was dead for three days...and many believed in him, and everyone was amazed! After this Jesus walks away from there with his disciples into a region near a wilderness away from all commotion. But a few days later he walks about 4 hours back to the village where he raised Lazarus from the dead, and a dinner was given in Jesus' honor. (12:2a). Many Jewish religious leaders heard that Jesus was there and started to plan to kill him...obviously they didn't like that Jesus was becoming well known among the people and many believed in him and started to follow him, especially after raising Lazarus from the dead. So here's the irony, not only did they want to kill Jesus, but also they wanted to kill Lazarus and return him back into the grave from where Jesus has raised him just a few days before. What great evil is in human hearts, and if we're honest with ourselves even in our own hearts! 20-22 There were other religions already at the time of Jesus on earth. For instance, the Greeks were polytheists, that is they believed in many gods and goddesses, like zeus, poseidon, apollo, artemis, aphrodite, hermes...but these gods and goddesses acted like humans and had immoral behavior, having sexual relations with humans producing children, like Achilles, a demigod who was a child of Thetis a sea-goddess. And sometimes these gods and goddesses would even have wars among themselves. Even though these stories are just legends and superstition, they had a bad impact on the lives of those who believed and worshipped these gods. Now some Greeks came to see Jesus, and asked a couple of disciples to introduce them to Jesus to have a conversation with him. Maybe they have seen Jesus perform a miracle, preaching on an occasion, heard his wisdom, seen his kindness and saw how different he was from the Greek gods and goddesses. And perhaps they came because of Jesus' words which were recorded by another apostle Is it not written: 'My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations' (Mark 11:17), and wanted to claim him as their Messiah as well, since the house of God will be called a house of prayer for all nations. And the coming of the Greeks who were gentiles the non-Jews to see Jesus, would be an indication to Jesus that his time to die for the sins of the world has come. So Jesus must do something radical, something horrible must happen to him, which will affect the whole world.

23 so what is this hour for him to be glorified Jesus is talking about? He is saying that the time has come for him to finish what he came to do and go back to his Father, it was time for him to be taken back to his high position of authority as Lord and King! Jesus is God's Son, he left his glorious position with the Father. He came from perfect heaven to an imperfect and sinful world in the human form. He took our place and became an obedient servant so that he would fulfil all righteousness, or in others words so he would be obedient to God his Father even to the point of death. But why did he have to come? Because we needed him to. He alone could obey God perfectly, and he alone could take our punishment we deserved for our sins. The next verse illustrates what Jesus came to accomplish here on earth. 24 a grain of wheat which has not been used for sowing remains alone a single seed and is wasted. And it is like human life - perishable, it will die sooner or later. But the parallel between a grain of wheat dying and Jesus, is to his upcoming death on the cross. A grain of wheat when it's sown into the ground will produce a large crop. That is a picture of life out of death. So in the same way Jesus must die in order to give life to others. One dies, so many may live, now and forever. But you may ask, 'why would Jesus have to die for me, since I am quite alive, thank you!' Well, let me ask you another question, 'you may be alive physically for now, but how alive are you to God? Do you love God, his Son Jesus, his Word, God's people? Do you desire to please him and obey him as your creator and Lord and Savior? Do you thank him for your life? Family? Friends? Food? Clothing? The roof over your head? Are you alive to him and is he alive to you? You may say, 'I am a good person. I don't steel, murder, lie...' But do you love God? Do you just do good, or do you love good and hate evil?, BECAUSE you know Jesus and love him? It's not just what you do, but why you do it? God looks on the heart our motives and intentions are seriously important! You see, the Bible tells us that we are spiritually dead, dead in our sins and because of our sin. We are alive physically, but not spiritually. Do you know what paradox is? A paradox is a statement that is seemingly contradictory or opposed to common sense and yet is perhaps true. The first paradox Jesus speaks of is that life comes through death. If Jesus just lived a perfect life he would be only a good example, but by his death he has affected the whole world. 25 here's one of the absolute contrasts love and hate. It would be senseless if Jesus just died, but he wouldn't rise from the dead. What would be the point of his death? Meaningless. Maybe except as a nice heroic gesture of a good man dying for someone else. But we as sinners would still have to die, and face our Maker at the judgement seat on the last day, and answer for our sins. Jesus died, lost his life in this world, but he gained it back from the dead, to live and never die again, and to give life and hope to all those who put their trust in him. The self-giving and dying Jesus demonstrates what his servants will be like. To love God with all of my heart, mind, will and strength, to love him more than anyone or anything else in this world, creates the greatest contrast to the visible eye, of love and hate. Because I love God so much, it looks to others like I hate my life. Many years ago, I used to run after money, pleasure, things in life and women and God stopped me and showed me the better life, a new life an everlasting life in knowing and loving Jesus. I was young, strong, hard working, proud Eastern European, all to impress the girls. But God wasn't impressed, in fact he loved me so much he let me hit the rock bottom, I was on a bicycle and a car hit me. I flew over the car and fell straight on my feet from the air, and now for 18 years I have been in pain every day. I have never forgotten how easy was to be proud and live my own self-centred life, pleasing only myself. It is easy to forget God, especially when things are going well in life. So I beg you, don't forget God, for he hasn't forgotten you. His Spirit is peaking to you tonight. Do not lose your life by loving your life in this world. The Greek word for loosing your life is apoluo, which means to destroy. Have you ever had anything valuable lost, destroyed? Like spilling a pop on your laptop and everything was destroyed? Or like a someone speaking behind your back false things about you to your good friend, and destroying your

friendship as a result? There is something worse than this. Please do not destroy your life by loving it, loving to pursue after what I have been pursuing after. But if you pursue after God, he promises to look after you and bless you with what you need. The heart of all sin stems from the idolatrous focus on ourselves. The one who hates his life, is the one who denies himself, or to put it another way, it`s someone who takes up his cross daily, that is, he or she chooses not to gratify or indulge their selfinterest but at the deepest level of their being they ``decline`` to make themselves the focus of attention, and in this way dying to their self-interest, and in this way experiencing life which is in Jesus. Here's Jesus' second paradox: Loving and hating your life. Loving your life and things in this evil world more than him will make you loose it and all things in the end, and you'll destroy your life, forever. But hating your life in this evil world, by loving God more than your life or whatever this world may offer, you will save your life, forever. The difference is drastic: it's between the temporary and the eternal. 26 it is not simply saying I will not think of myself, I will not be selfish, I will not be self-centred, I will deny myself things. It is not like fasting during the Lent, from facebook, video games or chocolate. It is radically much more. Jesus is the supreme example, but he's even more. When you put your trust in Jesus as your Savior and Lord, he comes to live in your heart by his Spirit. The Spirit of Jesus in you will be your new power, strength and energy of a new life. It is in his strength that you will be able to say no to your selfishness and saying yes to Jesus, in everything you think, say and do. Though not perfectly you will be able to love God and the people around you, from your heart. In such a life the focus is turned from ourselves on Jesus. Because it is Jesus in whom God takes full pleasure and delight. He is the one who is the supreme focus and revelation of God the Father. So Jesus and the good he wants to do in us and through us ought to be the focus for us as well. When Jesus says, where I am my servant will be also he's referring to the two next stages in his life: his going to the cross and his going to be with his Father. His death is the pathway to his glorification, that is, by his dying for our sins on the cross and his resurrection from the dead, Jesus will receive the highest honor as God's Son, the rightful position as the King and a royal welcome as the Lord of all. So the parallel between Jesus' life and ours is in his death on the cross and our death to self-life. The entrance to life is always death. Something had to die so that we could be nourished. We kill animal life and plant life so we can eat it and be nourished and live. In the same way Christ had to die so we could live forever, by faith in him. And so as those who chose to believe in Jesus and serve him, we must follow Jesus in his steps. But we cannot follow him in dying to our selfish desires in our own strength. The good news is that he promised that those who put their trust in Jesus and serve him, they will be where he is. Because of Jesus making us right with God through his death, and him living in us we will be able to choose and love what is pleasing to God, and hate what is selfish and displeasing to God. Only as we relive the self-giving life of Jesus in us, will we bring the world around us to an encounter with the new life that is in Jesus Christ. And so we will be honored by the Father, and will receive a joyful welcome into his presence forever. WHAT WILL YOU DO WITH JESUS? WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE JESUS WORK IN YOUR LIFE, AND IN THE LIVES OF OTHERS? WILL YOU CALL OUT TO HIM? DO YOU FEEL HE IS WORTH PURSUING? OR WILL YOU JUST DISMISS HIM AND KILL ANY THOUGHT OF HIM IN YOUR MINDS? HE IS GOD! HE BECAME MAN! HE LIVED AND DIED IN YOUR PLACE, BECAUSE HE LOVED AND LOVES YOU! HE WAS RAISED FROM THE DEAD, SO WE MAY LIVE BY FAITH IN A LIVING LORD AND SAVIOR! AND RIGHT NOW HE IS WITH THE FATHER, AND IS COMING BACK TO TAKE HIS OWN TO BE WITH HIM FOREVER. SO, DO YOU WANT YOUR OWN LIFE AND YOUR OWN WILL, OR DO YOU WANT JESUS AND HIS GOOD AND PERFECT WILL FOR YOU LIFE? REJECTION OF JESUS = DESTROYED LIFE. ACCEPTANCE OF JESUS = PRESERVATION OF LIFE AND MORE, LIFE FORVER WITH

JESUS, STARTING NOW AND LASTING TO ALL ETERNITY. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Matthew 6:21).