To Seek And Serve — John 12

0:00 Let's just start with a word of prayer and let's speak to the Lord here. Heavenly Father, we we just commit ourselves to you now. We pray as we have this opportunity to look into the scripture. Pray that you would open our minds and our our hearts. Father, we wanna be sensitive to the things that you're trying to reveal to us today about yourself.

0:23 And so we we certainly wanna be keenly aware of these things. Help us not to dismiss them. Help us to grab hold of your truth and apply it to our lives. And so we ask this in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

0:39 I want to start this morning. I've got a little quotation or really something I want to read to you about George Mueller. George Mueller who lived in England several generations ago, he was known for founding orphanages. Once when he was asked what was the secret of his ministry, this was his reply. There there was a day when I died.

1:04 I died to George Mueller. I died to my opinions, my preferences, my taste, and my will. I died to the world, its approval, or its censure. I died to the approval or blame of my friends. And since then I have studied only to show myself approved unto God.

1:28 That was George Mueller as he gave testimony to how he turned his life over to God and was used of the Lord mightily. This morning I'd like for you to go in your Bibles and turn to John chapter 12, please. John chapter 12. As you get to John chapter 12, we'll be going to verse 23. I might just mention as you're flipping there that this is the course Jesus has been going through His earthly ministry.

2:09 He's coming toward the end of His earthly ministry and He's approached by this group of Greeks who are wanting to ask him questions. They want like audience with Jesus. But Jesus is going on his way to the cross in chapter 12, John chapter 12 verse 23. We read these words. And Jesus answered them saying, the hour is come that the Son of Man should be glorified.

2:37 Verily verily or truly truly I say to you, except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abide alone. But if it die, it brings forth much fruit. He that loves his life shall lose it and he that hates his life in this world shall keep it into eternal life. If a man serve me, let him follow me. And where I am, there shall also my servant be.

3:04 If any man serve me, him will my father honor. Now is my soul trouble troubled. And what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour, but for this very... But for this cause came I unto this hour.

3:21 Father, glorify thy name. Then came a voice from heaven saying, I have glorified it and will glorify it again. The people therefore that stood by and heard it said that it thundered. Others said, an angel must have spaken unto him. Jesus answered and said, the voice came not because of me, but for your sakes.

3:44 Now is the judgment of this world. Now shall the prince of this world be cast out. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, I will draw all men unto me. And this the Lord Jesus said, signifying what death he should die. This morning, I'd like to call our attention to a couple of different things that the Lord is saying in this particular passage of scripture.

4:12 There's four key words that we'll throw out there. Can you all tell I've been teaching for Vacation Bible School this week? I'm gonna give you some key words. But the first keyword is glory. This might make your outline.

4:25 Glory, seed, here's a phrase, love life, and servanthood. Glory, seed, love life and servanthood as we track through this. Howard Hendrix, was a teacher at Dallas Theological Seminary, used to tell his students that in Christendom today, we're kind of like bad photos or poor photos. We've been overexposed to the light and underdeveloped. Now what do you mean by that?

4:57 Well, us as Christians, we we live in our Christian community. We live in a... We've got our Bible. We got conferences. We got all these things available to us and we're taking in this information from the light, but we're underdeveloped.

5:11 Why would that happen? Why would there why would there not be growth? As I'm as I'm as I'm exposure to the light, why would there not be growth? And so we want to kind of think about that in our own life. Am I underdeveloped, overexposed to the light but not growing as a Christian?

5:30 Or am I on track? Am I growing? And as we look at these things, glory, seed, love life, and servanthood, well, we might might be able to evaluate. Look at look at verse 23. The Lord Jesus says, the hour is come that the Son of Man should be glorified.

5:50 You know what Jesus was doing? He was he was on his mission. Remember when we read about it quoted in... For us in in Hebrews, this quoting the Psalms that says, for I come to do my father's will. Lo in the book it is written of me, I come to do thy will.

6:27 And what was it? Justin used that word slaughter this morning in the breaking of bread. He's getting ready to be slaughtered and yet he uses this word glorify. And so you see what the Lord Jesus, he's got this in his mind that he is there to do the father's will and he knows his mission that it's gonna be... It's already been to live live his life sinless there among the disciples, to be about them, heal the sick, to teach them.

6:55 And now he's he's getting ready to go to the cross. He's getting ready to endure all this punishment, all this all this brutality, all this slaughter. He's gonna be buried and then raised again. And so Jesus, when he says this, my hour has come, let... I'm gonna I'm gonna the glorification.

7:17 He's speaking of glory here that the Son of Man shall be glorified. So in that one in that one word, glorified, we can think about his his life, his death, his burial, and his resurrection. His ascension and his coming again. Jesus Christ glorified. You know, he gives us kind of an example that you and I can live our Christian life.

7:46 We can kind of live our Christian life with this same emphasis in mind. That wait a minute, what's God's will for me? If I'm living my life, then I can say the hour has come. Conor and Gabe had a milestone. Their hour had come for graduation.

8:11 Jesus has this milestone event in his ministry. The hour had come for his his crucifixion. But he looks at the big picture and says, the glorification. Do you and I live our life with God's will in mind? That's the that's the example Jesus is setting.

8:31 I'm living my life with God's will in mind. I'm living my life with the Father's will in mind. I'm fulfilling my purpose. Then in verse 24, we have this little phrase, verily verily or truly truly. So he's kind of...

8:53 He's made reference to the fact that his hour has come. The son of man is gonna be glorified. There's there's things within that title, the son of man. There's things within the fact that he's he's on his way to the cross. I say to you...

9:09 Now Jesus is gonna give him this this illustration. I say to you except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abides alone. This week we've been on the farm. We've been on the farm and and hearing about the seeds and the germination process that it goes through. We've been hearing about fruit bearing.

9:32 There's a lot that can be said about that wonderful analogy. But, you know, when we we hear the parable of the farmer, that the seed is the word of God. This time, Jesus has used another analogy, but now the seed the seed is you and I. Hear hear what he says, except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die. He's actually referring to himself here.

9:56 Right? Because he said, the son of man is going to be glorified. And he's saying, truly, truly, I wanna give you this picture. A a seed... The seed is gonna fall into the ground and die.

10:11 He's speaking of the death that is getting ready to come. And he gives us this object lesson of a seed if it would remain on the shelf, if it would remain unplanted, if it would not go into the ground, it remains alone. But if the seed placed into the ground, buried, dies, roots spring, stem sprouts, leafs happen, blooms happen, fruit comes. What's in the fruit? More seeds.

10:53 There's an exponential thing that's happening there. Exponential growth. Exponential fruit. Exponential capacity for growth. The Lord Jesus Christ died so that you and I can live.

11:08 The Lord Jesus Christ died on the cross so that you and I could have newness of life. And so he says this phrase, except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it remains alone. But if it does if it does die, then it will bring forth much fruit. This, the Lord Jesus Christ speaking of Himself and what He's about to go through, but He's also given us another example. The first example was to live in light of doing the Father's will.

12:14 I'm giving it to God so that I am not in any respect my own, neither have I any right to this body and any of its members. No right to this tongue, no right to these hands, nor these feet, nor no right to the senses, the eyes, the ears, the smell, the taste. I have given myself clearly away and have not retained anything as my own. Lord, I am volunteering to be a seed in your hand even though I might want to be somewhere else and doing something else or becoming someone else. But Lord, here I am.

12:52 Bury me. Would you be willing to pray a prayer like that? Would you be willing to be the seed that goes into the ground and dies? Now listen. Here's what kinda happens.

13:09 And it happens to all of us. We remain alone. We don't put down root. There's not a little stem growing on our seed. There's not a leaf.

13:28 There's no blooms. Oh, exposed to the light but underdeveloped. If we hold on to self, you're not dying. If you hold on to my own ambition, you're not growing. Live in the light of the father's will.

13:50 Be willing to die to self. Let me read in Philippians. You don't have to turn there. I'll just read it. I'll read it fast for you because we're gonna come right back to John chapter 12.

14:13 Listen to what Paul says in this about dying dying to self. But what things I gained for me, I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, I count all things but loss for the exceeding excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, For whom I have suffered the loss of all things and do count them but dung that I may win Christ. I want to be found not having my own righteousness which is of the law, but but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness of God which is by... Which is of God by faith.

14:58 That I might know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his suffering being made conformable to his death. There it is. That's the seed going into the ground. Being made conformable to his death. Would I be willing to die to self?

15:25 The next verse there is verse 25. Jesus kind of builds on this teaching. First of all, he says, my hour has come. He's living in the light of the father's will. The second thing he does is he gives us this admonition to die to self.

15:41 And not only does he give the admonition, but the reality that if we will die to self, this is the true way to success, the true way to fruitfulness, dying to self. And the third thing he does in this is he talks about this phrase love life. He that loves his life shall lose it and he that hates his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal. We understand that Jesus is using a stark contrast here. He's...

16:30 A stark contrast. In comparison, the love for the object is so great in comparison, it's like you hate the other. The love for the Lord Jesus is so great that it's like you hate the other. And so here, we... He says, don't love your life because if you love your life, if you pursue the things of this life, you're gonna lose it.

16:52 But if you pursue the things that are of the Father, if you pursue the spiritual things, the eternal things, well that's where you're gonna keep it. We ask this question. What has the first place? The church the churches in Revelation, well, they were asked what was your first love and have you lost it? Colossians Colossians says this about what should take first place.

17:25 Colossians chapter three and verse one says, if if ye be then risen with Christ, okay, so you've been buried, you've been raised to newness of life, what should be what should be the love life? What what should it be? Seek those things which are above where Christ sits on the right hand of God. Set your affection, your love on things above, not on things of this earth. For you are dead and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

17:54 When Christ who is our life shall appear, then shall you also appear with him in glory. And I asked the question before, like why is there not fruit in our own life? Why is there not growth in our own life? Well, it might be because we're loving this present world more than we're loving the Lord. It might be because we're not seeking first the kingdom of God.

18:17 It might be that we don't have our heart set on the things above, but rather we've got it set on the things of this earth. If you set it on the things of this earth, the fruit is not gonna be there. You're not gonna develop. And so we're trying to bring this to the forefront. A.

18:36 C. Gaviline wrote these words. It is impossible not to see through this verse about loving loving... Our love life that the Lord's intention is to discourage the carnal and earthly expectations of his followers and yet encourage them by showing them what they might confidently look forward to following his example. Your love life.

19:08 We do... We live our life with the Lord's will in mind, God's will in mind. We follow Christ's example by being willing to die for self, and then we set our affections on the Lord Jesus Christ himself. We set our affections on things above. Notice verse 26, what's coming out here.

19:32 If any man serve me, let him follow me that where I am, there shall my servant be. If any man serve me, him will my father honor. You recognize there's a double blessing here. We've heard this term servant leadership, interesting even in the context, here's the Lord Jesus. Remember where he is.

20:04 He's at the end of his earthly ministry. He very much points out that I'm getting ready to be glorified. I'm gonna I'm gonna complete redemption's plan. And part of redemption's plan is to send disciples into the world to let every creature know that I love them, I died for them, I made a way of redemption for them. I want a love relationship with them.

20:27 That's part of his plan. And so he says he says that... He he gives the disciples, he's talking to these fellows and he says, look, here's the glorification. Now look, here's the seed. You all know what the seed is.

20:40 You all know like if die, there's gonna be this abundance that's gonna come. I to want see this. I want you to grab hold of this. I want you to understand this. And then I want you to love not the things of the world, but I want you to love me.

21:08 You are no longer your own, but you're being bought with a price and now you belong to me. I want you to serve. I came here among you and lived among you not to lord it over you but I came among you to serve. I'm going to give my life a ransom. I'm going to be like a seed and I'm going to jump in the ground and I'm going to die.

21:36 I'm going to serve you. He's getting ready to wash their feet. In the next chapter, He's going wash their feet. You know what? Serving others is such a remedy, an antidote for dying to self, isn't it?

22:04 Serving others. You wanna die to self? Serve others. Jesus is... He's laying it out here.

22:11 Servanthood. I put my brother or my sister before myself. I seek to serve them. Andy and I got into a deep conversation this week, if you can believe it. Alright?

22:30 But one of the things we were talking about was like when we go to engage others, it would be good for us to think where is that person coming from? Like what's going on right now? This morning, okay, I see Tim, like happy birthday Tim. I see Josh and I say, sorry about your grandfather. That's a hard situation.

22:55 Congratulations on getting married. I see Danny. I'm like, well, man, I haven't seen you in a long time. But if I could think like, where? Oh, there's my brother.

23:07 I wonder how he's doing. I wonder how I could be a help to him. See the mind shift there? There's things we're aware of or not aware of but how can we serve our brothers and sisters? How do we die to self and serve others?

23:26 And so we get this wonderful little example where in the book of John who performed the first miracle. Remember when Jesus turned water into wine and we get this little line, the governor of the feast knew not where the wine came, but the servant who drew the water knew. The double blessing, Where I am, there my servant be. And the servant gets to know, he gets to see what's going on. Some of you that served this week in VBS, you're like that servant.

24:05 The master's sitting up there. The master of the feast is sitting there saying, oh, how did this happen? But the servant which drew the water knew. Like you saw that kid memorize the verse. You saw the light bulb go on and like you knew that they understood that truth.

24:22 You saw them, you saw the the seed being planted into those little fertile soil, the little the good soil. You maybe saw a seed sprout. The servant which drew the water knew. You're with the... The servanthood brings you close to Christ.

24:41 You're serving him. You're with him. Where? If you serve me, I will be with you. Then the second thing, the second blessing is my father will honor you.

24:53 You want to be honored by God the father? Servanthood. Live life with God's will in mind. Die to self. Love.

25:06 Love the Lord Jesus Christ with all your heart, soul, mind. Love him first. Set your mind on things above. Serve others. That's that's a little...

25:18 I mean, this is kind of like Jesus... One of his messages on the way to the cross. You don't have to raise your hand. Just think about this. What or who sits on the throne of your heart?

25:44 What dictates to the decisions that you make? What's your level of passion for the gospel? Does my career pursuits determine my mission in life or does God's mission determine my career pursuits? If you were to write in your diary, would you have an entry like George Mueller, I die to self? Would you have an entry like Jonathan Edwards, I died to self.

26:28 Could you say like Paul? All things that I sought for in this life, counted as dung. I learned that I need to set my affections on things above. Live live your life... You wanna develop as a Christian?

26:49 You wanna be a fruit bearing Christian? Live your life with God's will in mind. Be willing to die to self, jump in the ground, say, Lord, bury me. I wanna see what happens. Hey, it's not too late to plant your seeds, you know.

27:04 We're in seed we're in seed, our garden growing season right now. Set your affections on things above your love life. Where's your heart? God wants your heart. Where's your relationship with him?

27:18 And serve. Seek to serve others. Seek to serve the Lord. Seek to serve others. Heavenly Father, we pray these things today as we've evaluated.

27:30 We've evaluated our own life, our own hearts. We're we're coming to grips with what you say in your word. What what what instructive analogies that you gave here with these things that are written for our learning. Father, I can't help but think when the Lord Jesus said, the hour is now come that the son of man might be glorified. Maybe we could take that and apply it in a little bit different way.