Holy Week (John 12:20-26)
Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week.
Transcript
Happy Palm Sunday we are taking a break from Exodus feels like we're in the thick of the Ten Commandments it's been a lot it's been a lot to digest and we said you know what let's take three weeks to just celebrate this Holy Week to celebrate Palm Sunday today and the Triumph and entry into the City and we're going to be in the Gospel of John chapter 12 verses 20-26 we're going to look at a story that directly follows the triumphant entry and celebrate Palm Sunday.
Today and then we'll have good Friday which we would love to see you here for Good Friday for our worship night and then Easter Sunday and then we're even going to spend one extra week celebrating the season we're going to have we're going to look at the Ascension the week after uh Easter so three weeks to give us a little bit of a break from Exodus and celebrate uh this season's we'll be in John chapter 12 verses 20-26 the text will be on the screen in the Gospel of John there is this building anticipation.
For when Christ is going to complete his work there's this phrasing that Jesus says my hour has not yet come the hour has not yet come my hour has not yet come there's this building anticipation for the hour to come as you read the Gospel of John and then he rides into the city on Palm Sunday and he is celebrated like a king the people chant Hosanna Hosanna this is shades of of the of of a Messianic King who is coming in to save us and they were expecting this uh this political revolution that.
Jesus was going to breathe not bring not realizing that he was actually coming to save them from their sins and there's this joyous time as Jesus triumphly enters into the city treating him like a king and then directly after that story we get this story right here which only shows up in in the Gospel of John and we're going to see as we walk through this how this uh is a celebration of the ultimate work of Christ and really a celebration of the Gospel and we get to really.
Look at this and celebrate what Jesus has done for us and then following that there's kind of two two costs that Jesus gives to his people that if he's giving up his life this is what he expects in return so we're just gonna take a moment and celebrate that and celebrate the good news of the Gospel in our lives as we walk through this we're going to be starting in verse 20. I'll read it I'll pray and then we'll walk this together in.
Verse 20 it says now among those who went up to worship at the feast were some Greeks so these came to Philip who was from bethsaida and Galilee and asked him sir we wish to see Jesus Philip went and told Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus and Jesus answered them the hour has come for the son of man to be glorified 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 whoever loves his life loses it whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life if anyone serves me he must follow me and where I am there will my servant be also if anyone serves me the father will honor him let's pray thank you Jesus that you came and thank you for your work and I pray that you would help us receive your word this morning that you'd open our ears and our hearts to receive it and that we would celebrate and worship who you are with glad and generous hearts and we would respond in faith and In Worship and repentance and delighting.
In who you are as the God who saves thank you Jesus amen all right so this story follows right after okay Jesus rides into the city like a king verse 19 into verse 20. okay I know exactly when this story happens after the triumphant entry but this is the next story and it's significant verse 20 it says now among those who went up to worship at the feast were some Greeks now the word for Greeks there and the original Greek text is helenace.
So Greeks is what the ESV chooses because we're not really familiar with that term hellenists but the hellenists were not just Greeks they were just Greco-Roman background they were non-jewish Gentiles who were very much in Greco-Roman culture and it says that they're in town for the feast to worship at the feast which means from the context is that they seem to be as the biblical New Testament category would call them God fears these are non-jewish Gentiles that have abandoned Greco-Roman religion and the gods of greco-rominism and have seen.
God is the God of the Jews is the one true God but they're not Jewish they're Outsiders but if they're here to worship at the feast like they're they absolutely seem like God fears it's something the people that actually have abandoned their former ways and trust this is the one true God and they no doubt have heard of Jesus Jesus is a celebrity in the land at this point by the time he goes to the Cross everyone knows who Jesus is in the land of Israel and he came in like a king people chanting Hosanna Hosanna these Greeks probably either would have been there to.
See that they certainly would have heard about it because the whole city is abuzz the Rival of Jesus expecting what is this great prophet going to do and like many others they want to see Jesus in verse 21 it says so these came to Philip who was from bethsaida and Galilee and asked him sir we wish to see Jesus Philip went and told Andrew Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus so they they want to see Jesus but you can tell from the text they they can't there's some type of barrier that keeps them that they're going to fill up one of his followers to.
See if they can have access to Jesus now it's very possible the reason they can't is because at this moment Jesus might be teaching in one of the inner Temple courts so you have the temple and you have these Courtyards the three inner Temple courts are only for Jews and those who have been circumcised and then there's an outer court it's called the court of the Gentiles and that's where they could be as close they could get to the temple so it's very possible that we don't know.
If it's clear from the text that they are in the outer Temple courts Jesus was doing some teaching in the temple courts but they can't get to him and they wish to see him whatever the case we we don't know for sure they can't get to Jesus they go to Philip and I said we wish to see Jesus and here's what's peculiar about this story we don't know if they actually see Jesus that's the text doesn't tell us like it doesn't say that he met with them it's possible that he did it's possible that he didn't.
But in John's Gospel that's not what he's trying to focus on here he's not focusing on their meeting he is focusing on their request right next to how Jesus responds to this request and that's what's significant here 23 and Jesus answered them the hour has come for the son of man to be glorified Now's the Time this anticipation has been building my hour has not yet come the hour has not yet come the hour has not yet come John 2 4 John 7 30 John 8 20.
There's this theme of the hour has not yet come then Jesus triumphantly enters into the city as they chant Hosanna Hosanna what is he going to do next these hellenists want to see Jesus and in response to that he says the hour has come the son of mans be glorified what does he mean by that well he means Glory by Death the arrows come to be glorified by death it says in verse 24 truly truly Jesus says 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 the hour has come for Jesus to die and in just a few days on Good Friday he is going to the Cross now most of us aren't from the Midwest so that grain reference may be lost on our ears because we don't grow grain down here but it would not be lost on them what he is teaching there that a seed from the grain is growing and it's alive and is a part of the grain stalk the sheep.
And then it when it falls off it's lost its life source and it dies but when it goes into the ground and the rains come it will be reborn to something brand new and Jesus is referring to that as a way of speaking about his death and answering Gentile Outsiders like that you cannot miss the significance because what he is pointing to is the Pinnacle work of redemption that all of redemption history has been moving to this point where his hours come the Scriptures have been awaiting.
For the hour to come all the way back in Genesis when Adam and Eve sinned against God and broke Fellowship by trusting the word of the serpent in that moment when the curse of sin is being told by God that sin is going to corrupt every aspect of creation we get what theologians call the proto-evangelion that's a fancy Latin way of saying the first Declaration of the Gospel where he says one day one day the seed of Eve is going to come and he is going to crush the head of the serpent the one day someone is coming in the line of eve and he's going to crush the work of evil.
And then later on in Genesis in chapter 22 as Abraham is being called we see that God has chosen of specific people a specific tribe and he says in your Offspring shall all the all the nations of the earth be blessed that one day the seed of Eve is going to come through you Abraham and through you this seed of redemption is going to bless the Nations and then we've been in Exodus we've been walking through the law and we see that Israel was called to follow the law.
But we know that they cannot follow the law we know they break Commandments over and over and over again and then even Moses prophesies in Deuteronomy 18 he says I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers there is this growing expectation that someone is going to come from amongst our people the hour is going to come where this is going to get fixed and at the right time Jesus comes and he fulfills the Old Testament law by about banging it perfectly.
And then he heals the sick and he feeds the hungry he performs Miracles he raises the dead as we saw last week in the fourth Commandment he challenges the religious establishment and they're misrepresenting the heart of God he's going to establish a new people and then the time has come for him to die and after this statement in just a few days is going to be arrested it's going to be arrested and then I'll be ashamed and he'll be beaten and I'll be flogged he'll be mocked and his flesh will be torn apart and they will force a crown of thorns on his head and they will put a wooden cross on his mangled back.
And they will send him up the hill of Golgotha or they will nail him to a cross and they will raise him in shame most likely naked and exposed and he will slowly suffocate to death to atone for the sins of man and to purchase a people for himself and then like a grain of wheat he'll be placed in the earth in a borrowed man's tomb and the seed of our Redemption will be placed in the earth as we wait as we wait.
For death to meet its conqueror and then on the first Easter morning he rises and he defeats the power of death so that Hellenist so that Outsiders so that outcasts can finally have access to Christ so that there might not be any bear they won't have to go to Philip they won't have to go to anyone they have access to Jesus because through his death and his resurrection they now have access to Christ the hour has come and you will get to experience life with.
God forever you will get access to God the Father through Christ the son by the power of the Holy Spirit that ultimately what we see here is when the text tells us when Jesus says it remains alone but if it dies it Bears much fruit that ultimately the fruit of his Redemption is us that's every Outsider that did not know Christ who finally trusted in Christ and that now that we bear the fruit of righteousness that he provides within us like that that is the fruit of redemption.
So that response to a bunch of Greek hellst who want to see Jesus it previews the whole mission of God and Jesus answered them the hour has come for the son of man to be glorified 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 our hero is tipping his hand to where this is going but in just a few days he's going to die on the cross.
So that every tribe and every nation every tongue can experience God forever now the cost of redemption is his life is believing and what he has done for us following that Jesus gives a cost a cost that we bring to the table and the next two verses these two costs that he's going to outline are unbelievably important the first is your life and the second is your service so let's look at that first one in verse 25 he says whoever loves his life loses it and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it.
For eternal life what a provocative thing to say what a powerful thing the challenge us in I mean a lot of times people think of Jesus and he's they have this picture that he's just this wise Sage you as children tugging at him and he's picking them up and Swinging them around and that is our God that is Jesus but that's not the only picture of our Jesus he's a prophet and he drops prophetic truth bombs like this that mess us up he is absolutely attacking our approach to this life here on Earth.
And when he says lose in the original language in the Greek lose often means also destroy or ruin the idea here it's not just losing your life but destroying your life ruining your life if you want to ruin your life love it be about maximizing pleasure having your best life now cling to this life and you're ultimately going to lose what is truly important life with God if you love your life you will lose it you cannot have both you cannot have.
Jesus and this life is a one of the best scenes and what I would argue is the best Indiana Jones movie the Last Crusade Jenna some of you might think that's controversial we can have the argument about Raiders The Last Arc and all that stuff as long as you don't say the Crystal Skull movie which was nowhere in the stratosphere of the Last Crusade but in the Last Crusade the very end when they've been seeking the Holy Grail this treasure and in the end.
When they finally have it and the whole tomb begins to shake and this earthquake happens and it falls out of the hands of that lady and the chasm divides the the Holy Grail this treasure and her and she falls and then Indiana Jones grabs her and she's off the she's off hanging off the cliff about to fall into the abyss but she sees that treasure she sees that Holy Grail that means eternity it means life all the things that in this story it means and she sees it and she begins to reach.
For it and he's like no take my hand I can't hold you can't hold you in you grab this take my hand and she can't help herself she wants the treasure so bad and then she slips through his hands and falls into the abyss and dies and then the whole earthquake shakes it again shakes and then Indiana Jones Falls and he falls in the exact same situation but this time Sean Connery is there his dad it grabs him by the hands and Indiana Jones has the exact same Temptation he sees the Holy Grail he's it's with an Arms Reach he's just he just tries to reach he wants it and Sean Connery looks at Harrison.
Ford and he says Indiana Let It Go Let It Go you you're gonna die if you do this don't do this take my hand and he's the hero and he makes the right choice but that's us y'all that we see this life and what it has to offer and we think if we that if I cling to this life I can get pleasure and joy but we got one hand on Jesus and one hand on this life and thinking we can have both.
Jesus is saying you can't have both that if you try to cling to this life you're going to lose it you're going to ruin it don't do this ultimately Jesus wants us for himself and clinging to him is our only hope you cannot have this life and everything that it offers in comparison to Christ who offers so much more Jesus says if you love this life you're going to lose it but if you want to save your life he says you need to hate your life in this world try selling that on a t-shirt in the Etsy Marketplace Bedazzled as a provocative thing to say you need to hate this life hate is a very.
Strong word and it's also a nuanced word my my children when they were my oldest when they were three and four they would use the word hate that hear us use it and they would use it we would say don't say hate because three and four years old they weren't ready for that word they want them going in the preschool saying I hate you to a kid that took their toys like this is not no you're not ready for that word.
But that put in their mind that this was a naughty word like it was a bad word so now they're a little bit older and we've said hate and they'll say don't say hey it's a bad word and I said well it's not I've had to explain to them we've told you early on this is a word that wasn't for you but now you're getting older and you're getting a little bit of wisdom and learning the English language and now we're teaching them the hate actually is a Biblical word we're supposed to hate sin we're supposed to hate evil we're supposed to hate Injustice and I'm trying to teach that.
But it's a nuanced word and Jesus is clearly nuancing his use of the word hate here and really hate is an opposition to love here and he's doing something with that word Jesus is not literally saying you need to hate this life in the same way like he's not saying you should hate your job and hate your wife and your husband or your friends you should hate your kids you should hate your family you should hate everything you've got he's not saying it literally like that.
But while he's not using that word literally he certainly means it very seriously and how he's using hate here and the way that it's being used on opposite in the opposite of love is that you should so love Christ that you should so love the things of God love Jesus love his people love what is good that your love in comparison to the world that your approach would look like hatred of the world indifference to the world I love how one commentator puts it he says people whose priorities are right have such an attitude of love.
For the things of God that all interest in the Affairs of this life appear by comparison as hatred let me read that again people whose priorities are right have such an attitude of love for the things of God that all interest in the Affairs of this life appear by comparison as hatred that you would so love God and the things of God by comparison look like hatred you know a lot of folks don't know this the restaurant that sells the most T-bone steaks in the world is Waffle House it's Waffle House Awful Waffle Wahoo they sell the most T-bone steaks and you might think by that logic.
If you've never had a steak well if they sell the most they must be the best and you go to Waffle House the first time and you need to stay and you'd be like oh this is what it means to have a steak and you'd be so wrong you'd be so utterly mistaken you'll know a wonderful place to get a steak Raz Bradley's house as Bradley is one of our pastors and he makes wonderful steaks he makes the steak called pecania it's the steak you get at a Brazilian steakhouse that's just.
So good he makes even what uh it's called wagyu steaks okay it's fancy Japanese beef and he makes these steaks and they're so good and y'all it's one thing I love about Raz he's so hospitable he would love for every one of you to come to his house and have Wagyu steak in fact I think you should today he's out there doing security for us or whatever it's called safety for us I would love for you to go and ask him I want to come to your house and have wagyu beef make me this glorious steak.
Because once you put that in your mouth you will experience what true steak is supposed to be and you would look at Waffle House and go I hate that I don't want that I'm never eating that again because you've actually experienced what ultimately is good God wants to ruin your taste for this world by his great love he wants to ruin your taste for this world he wants you to taste and see but the Lord is good blessed is the man who takes refuge in him Psalm 34 he wants you to taste of him.
See that he's ultimately as we say all the time so much better than everything else because he is what a prayer what a prayer to pray Lord ruin my love for the ruin it because I want you and I want you alone because what he offers it is so much greater we should invite God to ruin our love for this world Jesus wants that for us that we'd so deeply love God the thanks of God that our approach to this world would be no it's not even close.
So that's the first thing it costs your life and your approach this life and the second cost is your service your service in verse 26 he says if anyone serves me he must follow me and where I am there will my servant be also if anyone serves me the father will honor him one of the problems of American Christianity is that faith in Christian faith is treated like a mere function of your life that it's a social aspect of your life as.
If that you could put on this Christian faith like a uniform on Sundays only a few times throughout the week and exchange it for whatever setting you're in that Faith Becomes of your function in our social aspect of your life and not what it's supposed to be the guiding Compass of our life that we're meant to be servants and that service is displayed through following him that we be followers of Christ who serve him like that one of the when I'm talking with people in the South about faith and I'm doing evangelism most Christians in the South are going to answer the question are you a Christian they're going to say yes most people are.
Going to claim to be Christians in the south but what I'm asking what I'm looking for what I'm seeking for and someone is not just identifying with Christ not not talking about him as he's just like a part of their life or who they identify with I'm looking for the language of the follower I'm looking for the language of a servant that Jesus they've so loved him and so believe that he is good that it changes the way they live their life they seek to serve Christ do you merely identify with Christ is it merely someone you can put on or put off given the social setting that you're in or are you a servant.
Of Christ because don't miss this he's saying this on the way to the Cross when he says where I am there will my servant be also he's on his way to the Cross as he says that so this service for for some is even unto death which we we at America are so insulated from them we have brothers and sisters across the world who are being persecuted and they take that literally that it may cost their life and serve in Christ there will my servant be also.
But I fear that many Christians in America would not be willing to serve Christ if it meant even having an uncomfortable conversation with a co-worker let alone unto death and he's calling to a deeper service and I feel this that the American part of me wants Comfort it wants it doesn't want suffering for the sake of the Gospel it doesn't want to serve in a way that would make me uncomfortable but a prayer to grow in would be Lord Where You Are there your servant will be also what a prayer to pray where you are.
God is where I want to be are you willing to serve Christ and do whatever he tells you to do that language of servant for us is difficult because we're so far removed from the New Testament world in the context of a servant class where the closest parallel I can think of is military service if you're in the military you belong to the military and your commanding officer says do something you do it you serve wherever he wants you to go or he will are we willing to have that approach to.
God that we'd serve him at a minimum that's going to be the things he tells us to do in the Scriptures at a minimum that's going to be everything from work and prayer and the disciplines all the way down to where is the Holy Spirit leading you what is he leading you to serve where is God at that you need to be at in your service to him I'm growing in as a Christian not sidestepping the Holy Spirit and it's nudging it is leading in my life.
Because there are times where God says I want you to do something and I just go well but I what kind of qualifications do we have for that as opposed to just being someone say okay no God where you are is where I want to be where you want to surf where do you want me to be are you willing to pray boldly and ask the Lord where do you want me to be Lord what do you want me to serve what do you want me to be doing.
For some of you that may be as simple as serving in Kid City or serving as a leader in training or a group leader for some of you that may be stepping in to pastoral Ministry or being a missionary and going to the ends of the Earth but here the costs that he has for us that he costs our life and it cost your service and then don't mess what he says to follow it up with he says if you do this the.
Father will honor him father will honor you which means that if you look at this in the context of the rest of the New Testament that speaks like this that it is good to be motivated to receive honor from God but that's actually a Godly motivation which is weird for for many of us I know it's weird for me it throws me off because it shouldn't I have the I don't know the internal intrinsic value of just serving Christ is it wrong to seek honor from him as.
If in some way we're robbing God of Glory it messes with because we're so we in our Church we so preach and live that we're saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone to the glory of God Alone there's so much of Who We Are and you hear very clearly this isn't for your salvation he's not you're not doing these things unto me to be saved safe being saved by Jesus is by believing in what he has done alone.
But once you are a Christian this is for you and what's being held out for you is in your service to Christ that you'll be honored and you should desire that and C.S Lewis's weight of Glory essay he talks about this he talks about uses the phrase I love it he says the undisguised pleasure in being praised that we should have undisguised pleasure in being praised by God and he Compares us to a dog I don't know somebody like I'm not a dog in comparison to.
God you're much worse but C.S Lewis he talks about us like we're a dog I have a dog her name is Piper she's a big Labradoodle which some of you want to know yes we did name her after John Piper it's a pastoral nerd that's what happened but her name is Piper and when I drive home and I pull up in the driveway and she hears my car pulling up which is impressive because I draw the Prius and it's real quiet and she she hears it she runs to the front of the house she gets on the couch she looks out the out the window she waits.
For me and then when I open the door she's standing in front of it and she's so excited she's got a full body waggle just just going for it just prancing her feet are prancing she just wants to be praised she has she has this uh undisguised pleasure and being praised she seeks that she wants it she wants that type of praise and love and affirmation we we should have that approach to God that in eternity we should have this undisguised pleasure in being praised it does not Rob.
God of Glory for him to honor you I mean think about the language of the parable of the talents and the parable of talents what's the language that Jesus uses the phrase that we long to hear well done good and faithful servant boy oh boy we should long for that type of Honor we should live our Christian lives longing for the day when Jesus says well done good and faithful servant where he bestows that type of on or upon us and we don't know all we don't have great vivid pictures of what that is in the New Testament of what type of Honor that is of the storing up riches in heaven that he speaks.
About we don't have the most vivid pictures of that but if Jesus says it's honor we certainly should believe that and that we shall live our lives in light of them cost your life and it costs your service but boy oh boy you will be honored I so appreciate this brief story in John's Gospel that on his way to Good Friday and on his way to Calvary colonists they just they wish to see Jesus and then we get this response that shows exactly what his work is.
For we see what it's all about that the hour has come where he will go to the cross for us because of his great love for us so that we might have our love for this life ruined by his great love and serve them into eternity and at the end of the week he takes all of our sin to the cross and he walks out of the grave and he makes a way for Outsiders like you and me to experience Our.
God forever many of you have said and expressed the same desires as these Outsiders I wish to see Jesus I wish to see Jesus I want to know him I want to be with him I longed to see him this is how let God ruin your love for this world let him ruin your love for this world serve him with all of your heart so that you might be honored that is the path that he's forging at Calvary as we head into Good Friday and we sing songs about the death of.
Jesus this is what it is for a people that he has purchased for himself that do not love the world but love him deeply and serve him and to Eternity Matt's going to come up and we get to worship and we get to take the Lord's Supper as we remember the good news of the Gospel but on the night that he was betrayed he took he took bread and he took one he took the cup of the New Covenant he took the bread he said this is my body that was broken.
For you he says often as you eat this you remember Jesus death on the cross that we take the cup the cup the New Covenant this is my blood that was shed for you he says that as often as you eat and drink this we get to proclaim the death of Jesus until he returns Christians as you come to the table you'd remember what happened on Good Friday and what Jesus did for us and that the seed of redemption was placed in the Earth and that on Easter mourn he burst forth into life making a way.
For us to experience Jesus into eternity when he says Proclaim my death until I return when he returns all things are made new and that day for those of us that have trusted in Jesus as our only hope and have laid down our lives to follow him and have served him there's an honor that is coming that we can't quite understand but it's very good and we should aim our Christian lives for that day but there are some of you there are some of you that have not actually had your love.
For this world ruined by God you have not tasted and seen that the Lord is good you have not believed in him you have not given up your life to him your life is not in service to him and it's because you don't know him and I so deeply we don't want you to come to this table I wish for you to see Jesus I want you to meet him I want you to know him I want you for the first time to lay down your life friend I want you to pray a prayer that says.
God ruin my love for this world I want you to experience the love that he poured out for us on the cross and say I want you Christ pray a prayer that says ruined for this world so that I might live for you so that you might one day experience the unmerited grace of his honor that he bestows on his people so don't come to the table right now come to Jesus heavenly father I pray that you would help us be.
So captivated by your sacrifice of the crossed it would be so overwhelmed by how you were placed like a seed in the Tomb the Obesity overjoyed by the resurrection we get to celebrate one week from now that we respond in faith that there's anyone here that does not know you I pray that they'd wish to see you and they would give their life to you God ruined their love for this world so that they might love you God there are so many of us who trust you who follow you they want one hand on this life and everything it has to offer and one hand on you.
God I pray that we cling to you ruin our love for this world over and over and over again help us die to ourselves so that we might live to you and service of you and worshiping you For Your Glory.