Introducing Jesus: The One Who Calls Us to Die and Live
John 12:1-8, 20-26
Throughout our series in John this fall, I have repeatedly said that we want “to know Jesus so that we can make him known.” Now, I must tell you as simply and clearly as possible that Jesus said, “The only way to know me is to commit to me.” “Commit how much?” you may ask. And Jesus says over and over, “All you have and all you are.” That’s all.
- “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny himself, take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self? (Luke 9:23-25)
- Very 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. Anyone who loves his life will lose it, while anyone who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.
It is clear to me that if Jesus says that this kind of faith-commitment to him is the only way to know him, then if I care about you as your pastor, I had better try to make it as clear as Jesus did.
So, today, I want to talk about three things: 1) why this kind of commitment runs counter to everything we are told in our world about living well (so you’ll have to decide who is right – the world or Jesus); 2) how this commitment includes everything we have; 3) how this commitment includes everything we are. I’ll say upfront that we haven’t really found anything worth living for until we’ve found something worth dying for. And I tell you: Jesus is someone worth dying and living for.
#1: Why Jesus’ call will clash with the world’s usual messages and (sometimes) our own short-term desires and (always) the tug of the evil one.
I don’t want to overly-intellectualize this but I want to show you how even secular sociologists are seeing that it’s becoming harder and harder to make commitment that benefit others. Peter Berger is a famous Austrian-born sociologist who focused on how individuals live in society. He said that in recent years, he has seen a major shift in the kinds of commitments people think are worth making. According to Berger, it used to be that people made commitments based on “honor.” People were willing to make personal sacrifices to bring honor to their family or nation. This is what President John Kennedy was tapping into when he declared in 1961, “Ask not what your country can do for you. Rather, ask what you can do for your country.”
Berger says that now in the post-modern world, people make commitments based not on honor but on their own personal dignity. He says we are taught that we can only find happiness by making a commitment to our own personal needs. People think, “I’m too bruised or scarred to make a commitment to someone or something else. My highest obligation is to meet my own needs.” He says this is the single greatest difference between the post-modern world and the world that has gone on before it.
To the extent that Berger is right: Do you see that this way of thinking in our world is on a clash collision course with the call of Jesus on our lives? Jesus says that we must deny selves – die to our own personal dignity – and in that to find life.
Make note of this: When you make a commitment, you make yourself vulnerable so you should always count the cost. This is true in all areas of life. It’s true in sports: Watch the Lakers and you’ll see other teams trying to isolate Kobe Bryant on one side of the court. They think no one can guard him one-on-one. The other team has to make a decision. Will someone come over and double-team him? If they do, they need to make a quick commitment. But, when a defensive player makes that commitment to double-team Kobe, he makes the team vulnerable. Somebody is going to be open.
It’s what’s called for in a marriage. I commit to love and cherish and be faithful to my fiance for better or worse, richer or poorer, in sickness and in health until death do us part.” You don’t say, “I want a 30 day trial.” I contend that it is society’s mantra that you should only commit to what actualizes yourself or fulfills yourself that is a major factor in marriages not lasting in our world. When we commit, we become vulnerable – so some only want to commit to themselves.
With that in mind, Jesus says that he is to be known through a commitment to him. He constantly says that he is not to be sampled. We entrust our sins to him and he takes them away. We entrust our lives to him and follow him wherever he leads us. We make ourselves vulnerable and trust him – dying to self and going wherever he leads us.
And when we stand before that commitment to follow Jesus, the world, the flesh and the devil will fight against it – but we won’t really live without it. So, what does this commitment entail?
#2: How a commitment to Jesus includes all we have (12:1-8).
I want to show you just one part of this “strange” story of Jesus having a meal at Lazarus, Mary and Martha’s home. That’s amazing itself – one day Lazarus was in the tomb and the next he’s involved in a dinner party! Martha was serving (as usual), when Mary comes in with her greatest treasure, over a pint of spikenard, a very rare oil grown in the Chinese Himalayas and in Northern India. It was used in temples only on the most sacred occasions and was supposed to have many medicinal purposes. Luke tells us it had a value of 300 denarii, which would have been a whole year’s salary of a fully employed person. But, Mary comes in pours it all out on Jesus’ feet and then wipes his feet with her hair.
I wonder – can you think of anything in your house that is worth whatever you would make for a full year of full employment? This had to be her family’s most precious possession. I wonder what some of them thought when they saw her bring it in and pour it on Jesus feet. We know how Judas, the treasurer of the disciples, thought. “What a waste! This could have funded our foundation for a long, long time. This could have financed the repairs we need in our children’s ministry building. This could have sent out four missionaries! Bad stewardship!” And, many of us would have agreed with him. But, Jesus did not.
See vv. 7-8. Many people have misunderstood this passage. Jesus is not speaking about poverty being unimportant. Quite to the contrary: He’s taking one thing that he has repeatedly shown to be important to him, i.e., care for the poor and saying, “Mary has seen something even more important than that.” If Jesus is saying that Mary has seen something even more important in this world than caring for the poor, then we need to ask what she saw. And Jesus says that Mary had understood something about the death he would experience in just a few days. “This perfume was meant for my burial,” he said.
I don’t know how she did it or how much she had grasped but Mary perceived that this same Jesus who had just raised her brother from the grave would soon die – for her, for the poor, for the rich – indeed, for all those who would follow him. In her mind, any temporary thing that would be poured out for this death of Jesus was a small thing in comparison. Mary is saying, “I sense what you are about to do for me. Jesus, here’s the best I have to give to you. It’s small but it’s the best I have.”
What is the most precious thing you have in your life? Is it too precious to give Jesus? If it is too precious, then you should go ahead and live for that thing. If there are things in our lives too valuable to give Jesus, then we should not claim to be his followers. The Bible is telling you, “That thing is your god. Don’t claim to know truly who Jesus is if other things are put in his place.”
There are so many places in which Jesus talks about this. Read through the Gospels and you will see them over and over again. Let me show you just one:
“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field. “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it (Mt 13:44-46).”
If you find something worth thousands of times all you possess in this world, and all you have to do is give up what you have for it, you’ve made a wise decision. Let me summarize it this way: “If you see something that is the ultimate treasure, that is the very thing – indeed, the only thing – that can satisfy your soul, and all you have to do is give up something that won’t last, then you should jump at the chance. This is especially true when we realize that the One we give up the temporary stuff to is the same one who entrusted it to us in the first place.” In other words, it’s His anyway!!
The closest thing I could think of to illustrate this (and it’s about as close as we can get in an earthly relationship), is when I bought an engagement ring for Chris. I was both a missionary in Germany and a student at Wheaton Graduate School at the time and had almost no money. The man who provided housing for me when I would come home from school was a buyer for the nation’s largest retail jewelry distributer at the time. He went to the owner of the company and told him about my story and told him what kind of ring I was looking for. The owner told him he would offer me a ring at the company’s cost – no profit whatsoever. When my friend told me about it, I looked at what I had in both my savings and checking account – and at the bills I knew I had to pay – and what I needed to get back to Germany… When I was done reckoning, I figured I had $1.37 left and a two-pound bag of frozen spinach that had to last until I flew back to Hamburg. What did I do? I bought the ring. It brought me great joy. And… I’m sure you know that I didn’t leave that ring sitting in the front seat of an unlocked car when I went to class.
When we have Jesus, do we know we have the most valuable relationship in the world? The old Puritans used to say, “Have you found the pearl?” In Jesus, have you found the pearl that is worth more to you than anything in this world? We often don’t act like it? Instead, so many of us live with the kind of attitude that says, “Oh, why is it so hard to be a Christian? Why should I have to go and speak with unpopular people? Why should I have to run my business different from others? Why should I give up something I enjoy simply because it wouldn’t please Jesus?” If you ever feel that way, I tell you, “You don’t know who Jesus is! You don’t know what you have in Jesus!
And I’m not just talking about commitment of things we have. Jesus takes this much deeper in 12:23-26. It’s not just, “Oh, I’ll give up chocolate for Lent.” He may not even ask us to give chocolate up. He didn’t come to ruin our lives but to make us live! I’m tlking about a way of life that affects every decision we make. We must be willing to give up anything if we sense Jesus calls for it. That’s what Mary did. And Jesus took her and all of us deeper into this understanding of commitment in v. 23.
#3: How a commitment to Jesus involves all we are (12:23-26).
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. Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life (12:24-25).
This chapter started with Jesus sitting at a feat with a man who had been dead for four days! Jesus could have ridden that triumphant miracle into his own kingship. In fact, in 12:12ff, people were still trying to make him king as we see in his “triumphal entry” into Jerusalem. But, Jesus denied his own human gain to die – and that death, freely chosen and carried through, has brought countless people life. His body went into the ground and became the seed for a family that has people in it worshipping in Pasadena in 2010! Jesus says, “I give my life for you so you can live. Now, you give your life to me – and then you will live.”
What faith in Jesus means is not simply to believe that the message is true – the devil does that and is not a follower of Jesus! It is to trust him – to entrust our sins to him and have him take them away. To entrust our lives to him and to live for him instead of for ourselves.
So, you come to LAC today and say, “This is the great pearl I know I’ve been made for. I will follow Jesus.” Then you go home and your family says, “It’s great that you had a religious experience. But, don’t go overboard with this. Still become a doctor or lawyer or engineer – and add Jesus to it.” Jesus may want you to go into one of those professions but what if you sense he does not? Do you think, “Well, I’ll just get into that and then, if this doesn’t work out with following Jesus, I’ll have something to fall back on.” Jesus would say, “Then don’t pretend to follow me. Those who know me commit to me.”
Do you know the famous quote from Jim Elliot, the brilliant thinker and leader who obeyed Jesus’ call to carry the Gospel to one people group in rural Ecuador? "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose." There is such a fearlessness that comes to us when we follow Jesus in this way. We know the things in this world cannot last and that those already have been given to God anyway. We want to make wise choices – but there really is nothing that we can lose – not when it’s all his. Business people: We always talk about ROI – return on investment. “I want a return on MY money!” But it isn’t really mine. Our question in decision-making is so different from the world’s. We ask, “Lord my life and savior of my eternal soul, what would you have me do with all you have entrusted to me?”
What motivates this kind of commitment? This kind of commitment comes out of an honest assessment of our own temporariness and our own sinfulness in the light of the love of Jesus. Mary saw Jesus getting ready to die for her so her gift seemed like nothing in comparison. Commitment always comes out of a glimpse of Jesus love.
Do you see it? Jesus is saying that he is not to be sampled. We don’t say to him, “Well, I’ll give this a shot but I want a money-back trial period.”
Is this my works earning Jesus’ approval? Jesus is not saying, “You obey me perfectly and I’ll give you life. No, we won’t be able to do that. He says, “Get up every morning and say, ‘My life is yours, Jesus. How would you have me live it today? Who should I speak to today? Who should I pray for today? What would really honor you this evening?’” And we will sometimes fail – but we’re not earning our salvation. No, we are following Jesus and when we fail, he gives us the privilege of standing up and getting on the path with him again – in fact, he will do that over and over and over… until he’s remade us.
Will this be easy? No, but nothing worthwhile is easy. How can the pearl of ultimate value be easy? Some of you know that one of church family members, Davita Maharaj, is serving now in the midst of disease and poverty in urban India. Davita grew up in beautiful Switzerland and then cam to equally beautiful Southern California, and then went to beautiful Wheaton College and then on to graduate work at Oxford University. What’s she doing choosing to serve where she is? I wrote her recently to ask if John 12 had been a part of her leading. Sent me a part of her journal from May 5, 2007 that said, A few days before my great aunt died, I stuck a little handwritten verse and drawing on the inside of my door. It read, "...But if a grain of wheat dies, it produces many seeds." John 12:24. This led to an opportunity in her family to trust the Lord.
In her Sept. 5 2007 entry she referenced Jim Elliot’s willingness to deny self and commit to Christ: Jim may have become a ‘Billy Graham’ of sorts, had he stayed on in the US. Or perhaps he would have gone on to become the president of Wheaton College, or a pastor of a growing, thriving church with a powerful ministry…. Perhaps all these things and more, would have come to pass had Elliot taken the advice of his friends and stayed in the US. But he was listening to another, softer voice, much more important than all the other loud ones he had known. He heard Christ calling him to Ecuador, so all promises of US ministry meant nothing to him.
But, her own journey in this is important: Growing up in beautiful Southern California and Switzerland, I always assumed that I’d grow up to live in a big, beautiful home with lots of money! At the same time, I also assumed that I’d naturally grow up to exhibit great virtues and Christ-like-ness(!) But John 12 makes it clear that unless I’m willing to give up the things I treasure most for Jesus’ sake, I simply cannot bear fruit. There came a time when my two childhood assumptions started to butt heads. And they still do; almost every day I am faced with decisions to either make Jesus great, or to make myself great.
And, it’s still a struggle: Today was the first time that I was tempted to shake a fist at God. Instead I found myself arguing with him out loud, "Why me? Why couldn't I just stay in America, have a normal life with stability, live in a beautiful home with a white picket fence, start a family, sink my roots deep...or at least live somewhere with clean, running water?" We haven’t had running water for a week now, and my roommate’s dengue fever is getting worse... But, on Oct. 13, 2010, she remembered the song: When I was sinking down beneath God’s righteous frown, Christ laid aside His crown for my soul for my soul..
Christ laid aside His crown. So I too should lay aside my “crown” – and any pride that comes from being of a regal, Brahmin background, or from being American, or from my education, for the sake of the precious people of India.
This is not the testimony of a “super-Christian” but of one who simply is following Jesus – trusting Jesus – and finding her life count for him.
Is there any joy in this dying to Jesus? I contend it is the only place joy can be found. For, when we give our lives to him, we find life. When two wills clash, one has to die. Jesus says, “Die to yourself and find life in me!” Do you believe him? Does a seed say, “Oh no, what will I do in that dirt? Keep me out of there? The truth is that it’s only in that kind of death that the seed thrives. When the seed of ourselves dies, we find our life multiplies and brings blessing to others.
Jesus said, “The only way to know me is to commit to me.” When you commit to Jesus, then and only then do you truly begin to live – eternal life, life to the full.
Greg Waybright • Copyright 2010, Lake Avenue Church