Life After Death

September 7, 2003 Preacher: Randy Smith Series: John

Scripture: John 12:20–26

Transcript

Life After Death

John 12:20-26
Sunday, September 7, 2003
Pastor Randy Smith



Could there be any greater compliment than if the great Prince of Preachers himself, C.H. Spurgeon, made these remarks about you? "Why, this man is a living Bible! Prick him anywhere; and you will find that his blood is Bibline, the very essence of the Bible flows from him. He cannot speak without quoting a text, for his soul is full of the Word of God. Read anything of his and you will see that it is almost like reading the Bible itself." The man Spurgeon spoke so favorably of was John Bunyan. And Bunyan's magnum opus was the classic he wrote in the late 1600's entitled, Pilgrim's Progress.

This past week my children and I have begun to read this masterpiece that some in the believing community have called the most significant book, second only to the Bible. The story chronicles a young man named Christian as he makes his journey to the Celestial City. The riveting novel is an allegory of the Christian life. Bunyan takes the reader through the numerous struggles, difficulties and trials that every Christian must encounter if they are to receive abundant life in this world and glory in the next.

The Theme of Pilgrim's Progress however finds itself in the account of John chapter 12. Verse 20 states that some Greeks (notably "God-fearing" Gentiles) were among the Jewish pilgrims going to Jerusalem for the Passover. In verse 21 it is recorded that these Greeks approached Philip (probably because of where he lived and the fact that he had a Greek name) and asked him (continuous tense), saying, "Sir, we wish to see Jesus."

Christian in Pilgrim's Progress also wished to see Jesus. Let me paraphrase the first chapter of his journey. "As I read the Book I realized the great burden on my back. I trembled, crying, 'What shall I do?' I needed immediate relief from this burden. I needed to know how to be saved. When I met Evangelist he told me to go directly toward the light. I began to run toward the light crying, 'Life! Life! Eternal life!"

Does this terminology sound familiar? As we have already learned, Jesus is the Light of this world (Jn. 8:12; 9:5). Jesus is the Life (Jn. 14:6). Jesus releases our burdens and provides salvation for our souls. But how? How does Christ release our burdens and provide salvation for our souls?

The answer is found in verse 23. The moment Jesus heard from the two disciples He replied, "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified." Throughout this gospel we've continually witnessed Jesus saying that His hour was still yet in the future (2:4; 4:21, 23; 7:30; 8:20). Now, the arrival of the Gentiles appears to trigger a response that the climatic hour has begun (possibly this foreshadows His death for the "world"-Jn. 3:17; 12:47). At last, it was time to be glorified. At last the hour had arrived. Additionally throughout the book of John, the "hour" represented Christ's death (12:27; 13:1; 17:1) and His glorification that would both be seen and accomplished at the cross (1:4; 8:50, 54; 12:28; 13:31-32).

In other words, for anybody to experience eternal life, deliverance from our burdens and salvation of our souls, the "hour" must arrive and Jesus must be glorified at the cross. Or simply put, our eternal life must be achieved through His death. No one will enter the Celestial City. No one will ever "see Jesus" in the ultimate sense. No one will experience eternal life unless the "hour" arrives and Jesus Christ accomplishes His work at Calvary.

Jesus had to die for us to receive life. But in order for us to receive life, every Christian likewise must be engaged in a form of death. Death is not a pleasant topic, but the spiritual life that results is truly divine. We will learn this morning that both Christ and the Christian must experience death before they experience life. Therefore I have entitled this sermon, "Life after Death"

1. THE DEATH OF CHRIST

Since we will never see spiritual life unless Christ dies, let's first begin with the death of Christ. Immediately after His response of the need to be glorified (remember I said that referred to His death), Jesus said in verse 24, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit."

Since early Palestine was largely an agrarian society, Jesus explains His death by way of an agricultural metaphor. In order for wheat to grow, a grain from a previous stalk must fall to the ground. As the grain takes in water and swells up, the outer "seed coat" (or bran) splits open or "dies" (1 Cor. 15:36) and new life begins to emerge from the embryo. This new stalk now has the potential to produce many more grains ("wheat berries") or "much fruit" as verse 24 indicates.

Jesus applied this metaphor to Himself. In the same way, He too must die if He wishes to impart life. Similar to the grain, the way to life is through death. Let's examine this by sticking with the wheat metaphor. John 1:4 says, "In Him (in Jesus) was life." But like the grain of wheat, His life could not be released to others unless the seed of Himself died. On the other hand, if it "remained alone" (vs. 24), if Jesus never would have went to the cross, none of us would have received His life and He would not have born "much fruit" (vs. 24) by generating a plentiful harvest of followers recreated in His image.

Think of it this way if you will. Picture in your mind one tiny grain of wheat. Plant it in the ground and watch it sprout. Witness the stalk maturing into a full-grown plant. Harvest the head consisting of multiple grains and plant them in the ground as well. Imagine the process repeating itself many times over. Soon you will observe a beautiful field of golden wheat whose lineage could be traced back to that one seed which needed to die.

Now take Jesus Christ. A man with no stately appearance, a vision contrary to the majority and only a few committed followers. There appears no potential for future growth. But go to the cross and watch Him die and observe how that act would produce a harvest whereby millions of Christians would be produced in His image. Interestingly, the title Christian simply means "Little Christs."

Again, Jesus said, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit" (Jn. 12:25). Jesus was speaking of His death. Looking backwards, last week we learned that He came to Jerusalem to die (Jn. 12:12-19). Looking forward seven verses He said, "And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself" (Jn. 12:32). In order for Jesus to impart life and purchase the church, He needed to die. The writer to the Hebrews put it like this: "But we do see Him who was made for a little while lower than the angels, namely, Jesus, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone. For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to perfect the author of their salvation through sufferings" (Heb. 2:9-10; c.f. Rom. 14:9).

2. THE DEATH OF THE CHRISTIAN

This first point probably does not come as a surprise to many of us. We are aware of the sacrificial and substitutionary atonement of Christ. We know as Christians that Jesus needed to die for us to receive life. However, as we move to the second point, some of you may be in for something new. Not only does Jesus need to die for us to receive life, but Jesus clearly stated in verses 25 and 26 that we too need to die in order to receive life. In other words, the principle of verse 24, life after death, is extended to the followers of Christ as well.

Follow along as I read these two important verses. Beginning in verse 25. "He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it to life eternal. If anyone serves Me, he must follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also; if anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him" (Jn. 12:25-26).

Let's begin with the first clause of verse 25. We'll call this option number 1. "He who loves his life loses it." Now we need to ask the text two very important questions. "What does it mean to love our life?" and "What does it mean to lose our life?"

If we stay within the context, loving our life means an unwillingness to die. Did Jesus love His life? No! He laid it down at the cross. Jesus did not value His life more than the result His death would produce. And that result was the ability to glorify God and impart eternal life to others. If Jesus never had given His life, we never would have received His life. Jesus was selfless. He loved others more than He loved Himself and was willing to die for the Father's plan whereby millions could receive life.

Now, how does this apply to us? How do we love our life? We love our life when we refuse to die to self. When the will of God in meeting the needs of others is not achieved because of our selfish agendas. When our self-esteem becomes greater than our God-esteem. When we buy into the world's mentality that teaches: to look out for number one, to live life as I please, to do it my way. Such a love is not only worshipping the idol of "self," but it is also not emulating the pattern of our "Master Seed" who died to self by embracing the cross.

Therefore the verse clearly spells out the result of self-love. "He who loves his life loses it." D.L. Moody once said, "God sends no one away empty except those who are full of themselves." Reason being because such people are idolaters. They worship themselves and bear no fruit for Christ by following in the footsteps of their Lord. Ironically, the very life that these individuals seek to preserve gets lost. Their self-love has become a self-defeating process and they have failed to retain the life so desperately desired. And I ask you the question, "How loving can you be to yourself if you send yourself to hell forever."

Option one is obviously a losing proposition. How about option two, the second clause of verse 25? "And he who hates his life in this world will keep it to life eternal." Do you want "life eternal?" Do you want true, satisfying, meaningful, abundant life on this planet and then eternity with Christ in heaven? If so the admonition is clear, you must "hate (your) life in this world."

The word "hate," though it sounds very harsh, is only a Semitic idiom, a figure of speech which is intended to portray an exaggerated contrast with the previous clause (c.f. Lk. 14:26). God is not calling for self-abasement (Col. 2:18, 23) or an absolute hatred of our lives. The hatred is not a call for a masochist mentality. If anything, the verse teaches that we are to love our life by seeking the best way to preserve it (c.f. Eph. 5:29). And that is accomplished by "hating our life (qualified by the following phrase) in this world."

In other words, to hate our life in this world is a call to forsake a worldly mindset and, rather, die to self and completely yield to Christ. It is a call to crucify all self-centeredness and personal pride. It's a call to daily death (1 Cor. 15:31) and daily surrender to the lordship of Christ. It is a call to "Deny (your)self and take up (your) cross daily and follow (Christ)" Lk. 9:23. It's a call to follow in the footsteps of Jesus who, motivated by His love for the Father's will, went to the cross and died.

Using the symbol of the cross, A.W. Tozer vividly clarifies the concept of dying to self. "The cross is the symbol of death. It stands for the abrupt, violent end of the human being. The man in Roman times who took up his cross and started down the road had already said goodbye to his friends. He was not coming back. He was not going out to have his life redirected. He was going out to have it ended. The cross made no compromise, modified nothing, spared nothing. It slew all of the man completely and for good. It did not try to keep on good terms with its victim. It struck swift and hard and when it had finished its work the man was no more." Tozer goes on to say, "That evangelism which draws friendly parallels between the ways of God and the ways of (the world) is false to the Bible and cruel to the soul of the hearers. The faith of Christ does not parallel the world. It intersects it. In coming to Christ we do not bring our life up on to a higher plane. We leave it at a cross. The grain of wheat must fall into the ground and die. That is the beginning of the gospel."

Jesus put it like this in Mark's gospel. "For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel's will save it" (Mk. 8:35). In John 12:25 there were two options. Option one states that if we love our life, we will lose it. Option two states that if we hate our life in this world we will keep it to life eternal. Choose for yourself. You can live for yourself and lose your life or you can live for Christ and get heaven with this life thrown in as well. Option one or option two? There is no option three.

Finally, verse 26 helps to solidify this point. "If anyone serves Me, he must follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also; if anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him."

Simply put, the ultimate call of every Christian is to serve Christ (mentioned three times in this verse). And in order to serve Christ we must forever be weaned from the natural desire to serve self. Our self-love must be replaced with Christ-love. How does this happen? Well, the second clause in verse 26 says we must follow Him. We will only properly love Christ if we follow His example. His example of what? His example of dying to self and living for God. We must follow Christ to the cross. We must lose our life for His sake. And if this is our mentality we will give evidence that we really are a child of God. For in the third clause Jesus said, "Where I am, there My servant will be also." We will then show ourselves to be with Christ. We will follow Him everywhere His Spirit leads. Ultimately we will follow Him to where He has gone to be in the presence of the Holy Father in heaven (Jn. 14:3). In other words, if we follow His pattern of self-denial we will follow His path to the Father. If being called a Servant of Christ doesn't excite you and if joining Christ in heaven is not rewarding enough, look at the final clause of verse 26. "If anyone serves Me, the Father will honor Him." Honored by the Creator of the universe! Who could ask for anything more than that!

There's no doubt that this morning's text is a difficult teaching to accept. It is instruction like this that caused many of Christ's disciples to depart. Remember in John 6 when His disciples said, "This is a difficult statement; who can listen to it" (Jn. 6:60). Six verses later we read, "As a result of this many of His disciples withdrew and were not walking with Him anymore."

Is this a hard teaching to accept? Yes it is. Only through the Spirit of God will we understand and fulfill this command. But I don't want those of you who have the mind of Christ to miss the glorious truth behind it. If we understand this truth rightly, the benefits far outweigh the sacrifice. And ultimately, if we understand the benefits rightly, there is no sacrifice. Yes we must die to self, but the life we gain is the joyous, peaceful life we've always wanted. Yes we must hate our life in this world, but the life we receive in eternity is beyond comparison. Yes we must follow Christ's Calvary path, but the journey leads us to where He went in glory. Yes we must serve Christ, but the one who serves Christ will be honored by God the Father.

I conclude where I began. As Christian approached the gates of the Celestial City in Pilgrim's Progress he said, "I now see myself at my journey's end; my days of toil are over. I am going now to see that Head that was crowned with thorns and that Face that was spit upon for me. I have formerly lived by hearing and by faith, but now I am going to where I will live by sight and will be with Him in whose company I delight. I have always loved to hear my Lord spoken of, and wherever I have seen the print of His shoe on the earth, I have desired to set my foot, too. His name has been to me a priceless treasure - sweeter than all perfumes. His voice has been music to my ears, and I have more earnestly desired to see His face than those who would most desire to see the light of the sun. I have gathered His word which became my food, and used it as a remedy against fainting along the way. He has held my course steady, and I have forsaken all my sins. Yes, He has strengthened my steps in His way."

As you can see, the elements are before us as we prepare for the Lord's Supper. This is a time to remember our Lord's death and proclaim it until He comes, but it is also a time for sober self-examination. Please bow your head and take a moment to reflect on our Lord's instruction given personally to you this morning.

  • Does your heart accept this teaching? Does your faith operate in the realm of that which is humanly impossible? Are you demonstrating your faith in Christ everyday?
  • Have you forsaken the teaching of this world? Do you find your contentment in favorable circumstances? Or do you believe that in hating your life Christ has a far better design for contentment?
  • Are you really dying to self? Is your desire for God's will or are you more concerned over the fear of people, maintaining your secret sin, accumulating your worldly wealth? Do you love Christ more than your possessions? Do you love Christ more than you love yourself?
  • Does God govern the religious things of your life or all of your life? Do you see your Christian life in bits and pieces or as a whole living sacrifice to God?

More in John

May 9, 2004

The Priority of A Disciple

May 2, 2004

From Fishermen To Shepherds

April 25, 2004

Fishing For Men