Sermon by Pastor Brent Kompelien
April 30, 2023
INTRO
Os Guinness wrote a book a few years ago called Impossible People: Christian Courage and the Struggle for the Soul of Civilization. He is a Senior Fellow at the Oxford Center for Christian Apologetics.
He says that one of the central ironies of our cultural moment is that our secular society depends upon moral assumptions that itself cannot generate or guarantee. In other words, we have unmoored ourselves from eternal and unchanging truth that comes from a good and gracious God who designed us and revealed his ways. This is what Guinness wrote: “Belief in God as Creator has been replaced by confidence in Man as Creator.”
ILLUST — What is being lauded today as the greatest creation of mankind is artificial intelligence. I’m sure many of you have heard about the roll-out of new artificial intelligence software in the last few months.
The CBS news program 60-Minutes recently interviewed the CEO of Google. (SLIDE 3) He was raving about how AI technology can surpass human limitations.
Scott Pelley, the host of 60-Minutes, had an opportunity to test the AI software. He asked it to write a business plan. In less than 5 seconds, the computer wrote a business plan complete with recommendations for further reading and research. The only problem was that when Scott Pelley went to look for those resources, the books the AI recommended didn’t exist. It made them up. But it presented them as truth, as if they really existed.
AI programmers call these “hallucinations” and Google’s CEO said that no one in the industry has been able to solve the problem of AI hallucinations.
You see, AI is not only synthesizing human knowledge, but also extending beyond into uncharted territory that amplifies humanity. This is kinda scary. But what startled me most in this interview is that the CEO of Google literally said, “AI software will only be as good or as evil as human nature.”
I was listening to this program on the radio in my car and I literally said out loud, “We’re doomed!” Does this guy understand human nature at all?
You see, Scott Pelley asked the AI to create a story. In a few seconds, the computer crafted a tragic story of love, betrayal, grief, loss, and redemption. Google’s CEO sung the praises of a technology that could express the depths of human emotion with such vivid detail and such moving prose.
This did not sit well with me. Here’s why. This connects to our passage this morning: Human beings gain perspective on love and loss and grief and the need for redemption through real experiences of joy and pain, and through real relationships with other people. Specifically for us as Christians, walking faithfully in God’s grace through many years, submitting to Christ, dying to self, and pressing on toward God’s will in our lives is difficult and costly.
This computer did not, and cannot, experience any real joy or pain or real loss. Its expression of emotion is cheap. This program cannot feel the depths of the effects of sin, nor can it long for redemption or be revived in its soul or healed in its heart. For a computer to pretend to know the depth of the human experience violates something profound about our image-bearing and about God’s plan of redemption (SLIDE 4, blank)
You see, we have a precious gift: the very Son of God, in his incarnation in human flesh, fully human, walked the path of the Suffering Servant all the way to the cross, conquering sin and all its evil effects, not by superseding human experience in some cheap way, but as the very Son of Man living, dying, and rising from the grave with real flesh and blood to redeem us in flesh and blood to be free from sin, death, and evil forever in a resurrected bodily existence in the new heavens and new earth face-to-face with Jesus!
You see friends, the way of the cross of Christ is a demonstration that the answer for the ills of humanity is not a super-human disembodied intelligence that can find shortcuts to maturity or quick answers to life problems. No, the answer is the Incarnate Son, the Word made Flesh, a crucified Messiah, who has made a way for us to become new creations, to redeem our human nature, not amplify its evils, but transform us for his glory, and to enable us, by his Spirit, to walk in faithfulness to the very end.
ILLUST — One of Os Guinness’ best friends was the influential theologian John Stott. Os visited his good friend John three weeks before he died. This is what Guinness said about that experience, and it really captures the embodied reality of faithful discipleship: “After an unforgettable hour and more of sharing many memories over the many years, I asked him how he would like me to pray for him. Lying weakly on his back and barely able to speak, he answered in a horse whisper, ‘Pray that I will be faithful to Jesus until my last breath.’ Would that such a prayer be the passion of our generation too.”
This morning, we are going to hear Jesus predict his death. We’ve been going through the Gospel of John, and now everything is turning towards the cross. Here Jesus reveals what faithfulness looks like as he is obedient to the Father’s will that he would die as a sacrifice for our sin, and that he calls us to follow him in faithful obedience and full surrender to the end.
Open with me to John 12:20-36. (SLIDE 5) We are going to read this account that happened just days before Jesus was to be arrested and crucified. READ John 12:20-36.
ORG SENT — Let’s walk through what is happening here. There are two significant things happening in this account: First, we see the signal that the hour has come for Jesus to be glorified (vv. 20-26). Then Jesus calls us to faithfulness as we walk in His light (vv. 27-36).
MAIN 1 — The Hour Has Come (vv. 20-26). (SLIDE 6a)
If you go back to verse 20, do you remember what had just happened in the previous section? The Pharisees were frustrated with the crowds that had come to see Jesus, and they plotted to kill Jesus and his friend Lazarus whom he had raised from the dead. They ended in verse 19 saying, “See, this is getting us nowhere. Look how the whole world has gone after him.”
Now John captures the irony of this statement by immediately reporting how some Greeks came to seek Jesus. (SLIDE 6b) The world is coming! Now the nations are seeking him!
These Greeks stand in contrast to the Jewish Pharisees. The Pharisees are complaining that Jesus is gaining influence. But these Greeks simply ask: “Sir, we would like to see Jesus.”
Background:
These were likely God-fearing Gentiles who were from somewhere in the Greek-speaking world, possibly as close as the Decapolis (modern-day Jordan), maybe a couple days walk from Jerusalem.
It was common for God-fearing Greeks to come to the major festivals in Jerusalem, but they were not allowed to enter the inner courts of the Temple, on pain of death, and they could not participate in the official ceremonies, unless they were full converts to Judaism.
They could be in the Court of the Gentiles, but there were signs clearly posted on the barrier between the Court of the Gentiles and the Inner Courts. This is what Paul refers to in Ephesians 2 when we talks about “the dividing wall of hostility”.
But now these Greeks are seeking the Jewish Messiah. For a devout Jew in the 1st century, this would be scandalous!
KEY — The request of these Greeks is a foreshadowing of the inclusion of the Gentiles (SLIDE 6c), along with the remnant of the Jews, under Christ through his one sacrifice once for all. It is an allusion to the fulfillment of God’s overall mission: (SLIDE 6d) That under Christ, God will form a family from every nation, tribe, people, and language (Rev. 7:9)
Jesus explains this reality by using an analogy of seeds and plants in verse 24.
The illustration of seeds and crops was very accessible for an agrarian society.
This is Jesus’ metaphor: The “vindication” or “exalting” of a seed is in the fruitfulness of the plant that grows out of the sprout in the soil! In other words, the glory of a seed is that it must die in order to live. But not just to live; to bear fruit that produces a multitude of seeds!
ILLUST — In our region, the dominant crop is corn. Let me give you some ballpark numbers of how prolific these plants can be to produce seeds:
One ear of corn has as average of 800 kernels.
One bushel of corn averages about 112 ears.
In 2022, one acre produced 178 bushels of corn on average across the US.
If my abacus is calibrated right, that comes out to almost 16 million kernels per acre!
Here’s the point: One kernel has the potential to yield one or two ears of corn with 800 more kernels each! Jesus’ example of wheat is similar, the one seed can produce unbelievable fruitfulness! (SLIDE 6e)
KEY — Jesus wants us to see that he will be glorified through death (SLIDE 6f), and exalted through his resurrection to be like the first shoot of the new creation that produces an exponential harvest!
This is why Jesus immediately connects the principle of his own sacrifice to his expectations of his followers in verse 25-26. Let me make this very clear about this: If you want to follow Jesus, you must walk the path Jesus walked. (SLIDE 7a)
There are two statements here, and then a promise:
First statement (v. 25a) — (SLIDE 7b) The person who loves their life will lose it.
Second statement (v. 25b) — (SLIDE 7c) The one who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.
IMPORTANT — It is a figure of speech in Jewish culture to make statements of contrast like “love/hate” — this contrast reflects the difference between two ways of living in light of eternity: You either live for yourself and lose everything, or you give up your life and you gain everything.
ILLUST — C.S. Lewis put it this way: “Aim at heaven and you will get the earth thrown in. Aim at earth and you will get neither.”
So, this contrast describes dying to self! It means: Are you willing to step off the throne of your life, to see the temptations of this world as hollow and unfulfilling, and are you willing to enthrone him as King of your life, and then to take up your cross to follow in his footsteps?
Promise (v. 26) — (SLIDE 7d) You will be with Jesus where he is, and the Father will honor those who serve Jesus. We will be raised up at the Last Day to resurrection life, join in the resurrection that Jesus achieved as the pioneer of our salvation.
ILLUST — We just talked about this at our men’s group yesterday. We looked at how Peter looks ahead to the Last Day when evil and sin will be destroyed forever, and when we are raised to resurrection life, he spoke these words to the church about living in light of eternity: “Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming.”
In other words, walk in faithfulness. Strive for godliness. Not to earn God’s favor so he can pat you on the head at the end and say, “Good job doing all those good things for me.” No! So that God will look on us, and by his grace, see the image of his Beloved Son as we’ve been saved and sanctified in faithfulness as we die to self and walk the way of the cross.
This doesn’t mean it will be easy. And that’s where we turn now, to see the implications of what it means to walk in faithfulness like Jesus did.
MAIN 2 — Walking in Faithfulness (vv. 27-36). (SLIDE 8a)
READ vv. 27-29.
Dying is why Jesus came. Yet, this is not a cake-walk. Jesus is in real agony at the prospect of the cross. (SLIDE 8b)
Remember, he has a full human nature. Facing the cross would have been very troubling.
The verb “troubled” = (SLIDE 8c) to cause inward turmoil, disturbed, unsettled, frightened, terrified.
APPLY — Jesus did not find the path of death easy. So, we shouldn’t be surprised when we find the path of dying to self difficult!
Jesus could have called upon his angels to put a stop to everything so that would escape suffering. We see this temptation in two other places that reveal how Jesus is faithful where others have failed:
The Israelites failed in the wilderness of Sinai to be obedient to God. But when Jesus is tempted in the wilderness of Judah in Matthew 4, he says to Satan, “Worship the Lord your God and serve him only!” He was faithful where the Israelites were faithless. (SLIDE 8d) He is the new Israel!
Likewise, Adam and Eve failed in the garden to be obedient to God. But when Jesus is in another garden, in Gethsemane, he says, “Not my will, but yours be done.” He resists sin where Adam and Eve failed. (SLIDE 8e) He is the new Adam!
You see, Jesus’ most fundamental concern was to bring glory to the Father. Even through the agony of death! And not only does the Father affirm this with a voice from heaven, but Jesus explains the purpose of his death: (SLIDE 9a) READ vv. 30-33.
There are three things happening here:
FIRST — (SLIDE 9b) It is time for judgment on this world.
The world thought it was passing judgment on Jesus. In reality, the cross was passing judgment on them! Another way to say this: The verdict is in!
Jesus’ death and resurrection signifies judgment both positively and negatively. THIS IS THE DIVIDING LINE!
Positively, those who trust in Christ by faith are declared righteous, and the just punishment for their sin has been fully atoned for, and their future is secure in the new creation.
Negatively, those who reject Christ have no other hope, no other option, and no other fate than to be under God’s wrath for their sin.
SECOND — (SLIDE 9c) The prince of this world will be driven out.
Although the cross may look like a triumph for Satan, it is in fact his defeat!
When Jesus is glorified, ‘lifted up’ to heaven by means of the cross, enthroned, then Satan was dethroned!
It is game-over for Satan. Jesus has already won!
THIRD — (SLIDE 9d) When Jesus is lifted up, he will draw all people to himself.
“Lifted up” has a double-meaning:
It refers to the “kind of death” he will die: Jesus is about to be literally nailed to a cross while it is laying on the ground. Then the Roman soldiers will lift up the cross with ropes so that Jesus is raised upright on the cross for public mockery as the “King of the Jews”.
But this “lifting up” is in reality his exaltation as the Savior-King, the Lamb who was slain, the One who is worthy to open the scroll, who is triumphing over sin, death, and evil by his willing sinless sacrifice as a substitute for us!
IMPORTANT — This is the glory of Christ! This is the shining moment when he is glorified and when the glory of the Father is displayed through his death and resurrection!
This is why Jesus talks about light at the end this passage! (SLIDE 9e) He is the Light of the World. He is the Son of Man, the TRUE Messiah who will endure forever.
This is his challenge to his followers: His death, resurrection, and ascension will take him bodily away from them. But if they walk by his light now, and continue to walk by his light when he is gone, the darkness will not overtake them!
APPLY — We need to live in the reality that we are secure in Christ! When we face difficulty, we need to be firmly rooted in the fact that through Jesus’ death and resurrection, the verdict is in, the prince of this world is defeated, and all people will bend the knee to King Jesus!
Oh, that we would walk the way of the cross, dying to self, faithful to the end.
ILLUST — Os Guinness put it starkly. He said, “Jesus is Lord, and he is Lord of every last part of our lives and Lord until our very last breath.”
APPLY
ILLUST — Let me share what this looks like from one of the earliest examples in church history.
Polycarp was the Bishop of Smyrna, a large city on the west coast of modern-day Turkey. (SLIDE 10) He was born in A.D. 69. He was a student of the Apostle John, the writer of the Gospel of John. He was one of the last remaining people who personally knew the Apostles of Jesus.
Toward the end of Polycarp’s life, persecution had became intense and in Rome Christians were being brought to the Coliseum to be executed for their faith.
At the age of 86 on a visit to Rome, Polycarp had a vision that he would be burned at the stake, but he refused to leave Rome even though his friends and colleagues begged him. He simply said, “God’s will be done,” Three days later he was arrested.
The Roman guards came prepared with horses and weapons, but when they arrived at Polycarp’s home, he called for food and drinks for the soldiers, and he asked them if he could have some time to pray. They agreed, and Polycarp spent the next two hours in constant prayer, and these soldiers were amazed at his steadfastness and faith.
He was taken to the Coliseum and dragged before the Proconsul, who threatened him with death if he didn’t renounce his faith. The Proconsul said, “Have respect for your old age, swear by the fortune of Caesar. Repent, and say, ‘Down with the Atheists!’” (Christians were called “atheists” by the Romans because they didn’t believe in the Roman pantheon.)
Instead, Polycarp gestured to the large crowds, pointing to the throngs of people clamoring for his execution, and said, “Down with the Atheists!” This certainly agitated the Proconsul! He said again, “Swear, renounce Christ and I will set you free!”
Then Polycarp declared, “86 years have I have served him and he has done me no wrong. How can I blaspheme my King and my Savior?…You threaten me with fire which burns for an hour, and is then extinguished, but you know nothing of the fire of the coming judgment and eternal punishment, reserved for the ungodly. What are you waiting for? Bring on whatever you want.”
They prepared the stake. And as the Roman soldiers went to fix his hands to the stake with nails, which was common to prevent someone from trying to escape, Polycarp simply said, “Leave me as I am, for he that gives me strength to endure the fire, will enable me not to struggle, without the help of your nails.”
As they were striking the match to light the fire, Polycarp cried out, “I give you thanks, Lord God Almighty, that you count me worthy to be numbered among your martyrs, sharing the cup of Christ and the resurrection to eternal life!”
When the flames roared from the piles of wood around Polycarp, something miraculous happened: Those who watched said that the fire rose like the shape of an arch around him, like a sail that is full of wind, surrounding him but not touching him! After the fire burned awhile, the soldiers saw that the flames had not killed Polycarp, so they commanded the executioner to pierce him with a spear. The eyewitnesses say that from his pierced side a dove emerged and flew into the sky, and the blood that flowed from his body extinguished all the flames! And the crowd was amazed.
Oh, that we would be faithful to the end with such steadfastness and courage! That we would says with every fiber of our being, no matter what we face in this life, “Father, glorify your name!” Let us walk in the Light of Christ, centered on his gospel, as children of light in a dark world.