The content of this blog post was given as a sermon for St Denys Church, Evington for the Zoom service on Sunday 21st March 2021. A link to the audio service can be found here.
The heart of the gospel, the good news, is an invitation to all humanity, an invitation to YOU. An invitation to see and know, believe and trust, obey and follow God, who became human and dwelt amongst us.
YOU are invited to see and know, believe and trust, obey and follow the Miracle Worker, the One who healed the sick, raised the dead and set people free from the power of evil, and still does.
YOU are invited to see and know, believe and trust, obey and follow the One who gave up His position, gave up His life and suffered the most excruciating death, in order to bear much fruit – in order to reconcile the whole world, including you, to Himself.
At the start of our gospel passage, we are told that some Greeks wanted to see Jesus. As they are in Jerusalem for a Jewish festival, we can presume that they are God-fearing, even if they haven’t formally converted to Judaism. In John’s gospel to “see” is to seek, to desire, to know, to understand, to follow Jesus. Jesus doesn’t actually appear to grant their request, or even respond to them directly. Instead, their request becomes a symbol of the request of those of any background who seek to see and know Jesus. Jesus’ answer is rather cryptic, even bizarre.
Jesus states that “his hour” has come, and offers 3 distinct sayings expanding on this:
1) That a seed/grain cannot produce fruit without falling to the ground and dying. This appears to refer directly to Jesus – it is implied that he will die, in order to be fruitful.
2) Those who love their life will lose it, those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.
3) Any servant/disciple of Christ “must follow [Jesus], and where [Jesus is] , there will [the servant/disciple] be also.”
Jesus then returns to talking about ‘his hour’, and in response to His prayer to glorify the Father, a voice comes from heaven – a significant moment for the Jewish leaders, who can’t quite agree on what it is they are hearing – for it to be the voice of God means that this is the Messiah, for God’s voice hasn’t been heard since the last recognised prophets died. The passage concludes with Jesus declaring that the time for the judgement of the world, the time for the ruler of the world to be driven out, the time for Jesus to prepare for death, is near.
As theologian Ian Paul said about this passage, If Jesus will lose His life in order to gain it and be fruitful, and if being a disciple means following Him and going where he goes, then every disciple of Jesus will lose their life, and, by losing it will keep it.
So, is it worth it? That’s for you to decide. This is the God of the Universe who gave His life so that you can have life, and have it to the full. Jesus isn’t a harsh task master unwilling to go where He calls us to go. He is a rabbi, and we are called to be His disciples – we are called to follow so closely to Him that we go where He has already gone. We are gifted, by His grace, a relationship with Him by which we gain eternal life with Him.
If we want to accept the invitation to see and know, believe and trust, obey and follow this Jesus, how do we do this? How do we, as the psalmist asks, ‘stay on the path of purity’? Psalm 119 is the longest psalm, and it is an ode to, a celebration of, God’s Law. As I noted in the bulletin questions, many folk today describe Christianity as a ‘relationship’ rather than following a bunch of rules. If that’s true, how does God’s Law fit in with our faith, and how is it relevant?
Both the Old and New Testaments are clear that obedience to God’s Law is not the ‘key’ that unlocks a relationship with God – which is at the heart of both the Jewish and Christian faiths. This relationship with God is only available as a gift of God’s grace. What God’s law does is reveal who God is, what God’s character is, who it is that we have a relationship with and worship. It reveals to us his will for how we should lead our lives.
The invitation to a relationship with God is available to all without restriction or limit, but to accept the invitation is to accept the cost of being a disciple of Christ. It is to accept that it is not our way that matters, but God’s way. It is to die to self and to give up our lives to God and to others. In consequence, we receive eternal life, just as a seed planted in the ground must die so that it can bear fruit.
The second stanza of Psalm 119 uses 7 of the 8 different Hebrew words for the ‘law’, and highlights 3 key choices that a follower of God needs to make in relation to God’s law:
1) Guard your heart
As fallen human beings, we have a tendency to ‘wander off’, to stray from God’s commands and to live life the way we think we should live. In Hebrew, the heart is where human thoughts occur, the decisions we take about our life, both small and big. There needs to be an intentionality about following God’s ways, actively choosing to know God’s laws, His ways and His will, so that we can actively choose to follow Him. Discipleship doesn’t come naturally. In Luke 9:23, we find another saying of Jesus that sums this up:
“If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.”
This isn’t a one-off decision, it is a repeated, daily, decision to guard your heart, and choosing to follow Jesus whether we know the precise cost or not.
2) Treasure God’s word
God’s word, God’s law, shows us the character of God. Therefore, the psalmist realises that this is to be treasured in his heart, so that he does not sin against God. The NIV puts this as “having hidden” God’s word in his heart. These descriptions together remind me of a precious memory that we might keep, and internalise. Think about the most precious, treasured object or memory that you have. We know it so well that we can draw on it at every moment of every day, and we never want to let go of it, ever, because it is so precious to us. The Hebrew word used in v11 to refer to God’s word can also be translated as “promise”. Memorise God’s promises. They will sustain you when everything else falls away. Our feelings towards our self, our motivation for reading or listening to God’s written word, and even our feelings towards God may wax and wane as our emotions and experiences change, but when we hide and treasure God’s promises in our hearts, we will know God’s character, know who God is and what He is like, and those are like a candle in a darkened room.
If you are struggling with this at the moment, perhaps ask a trusted Christian friend to remind you of God’s promises.
Start with the promises made to the whole of humanity throughout the Bible. They remain true. Some of you will also have specific, very personal memories of promises made to you by God at particular moments and occasions in your life, directly or through prayer ministry. Hold onto those, too.
3) Delight in God’s ways
In a similar vein, the psalmist twice says that he will ‘delight’ in God’s law – specifically, God’s decrees and statutes. Interestingly, these are two of the words for ‘law’ which most have the sense of a ‘bunch of rules’ – statutes refer to written legislation, decrees are an official order that has legal force. Particularly given that no human being manages to remain sinless, manages not to break God’s law, it might seem strange to delight in them! What is it about these decrees and statutes that might be delight-full? Just as God’s promises show us God’s character, God’s statutes and decrees show us His will, His ways. They express how this God, whose character we have come to know and love and trust wants, us to live. As we know God’s character and His love for us, we can delight in the ways God calls us to live, even though they will require us to die to ourselves and the ways we want to live, because when we know the God who knows us, when we know the God who died for us, we know that we can trust that the way God calls us to live is the best way for us to live. That doesn’t mean it’s easy, not at all. But it is the most fruitful way. It is the way in which our seeds fall to the ground, are buried in soil, die, and grow as seeds of God’s Kingdom to bear much fruit.
Today, YOU are invited to see and know, believe and trust, obey and follow Jesus. You are called to guard your heart, treasure God’s word and delight in God’s ways.
Are you in? Will you “say yes”?
We used the following song as a response. It is a song of surrender. Before you play it, I invite you to spend as much time as you need to consider carefully your answer to this question.
It is not a decision to be taken lightly. It is a decision to die to self, deny yourself and take up your cross, daily. Jesus promises that such a decision will produce much fruit. The choice is yours.
repairerofwalls 