Well, you've got to be careful what you throw away, haven't you?
Lest you throw away more than you thought you had.
The story goes of a couple in Las Vegas
who were queuing for too long
so they unwittingly tore up the winning lottery ticket
!
and bought an instant scratch card instead.
The ticket would have been worth $900,000.
And then a cleaner who was working in a modern art gallery
came across an art installation by the modern artist Paul Branca.
It looked like a couple of dustbins in the corner of the room.
That's no comment on modern art.
But she assumed it was literal rubbish
and got rid of it.
And it would have been worth an absolute fortune.
Or then there's the person who took an old computer
they found in their attic, took it to the local dump
and threw it in a skip.
They later discovered that it was one of Apple Corporation's originals
made by Steve Jobs himself.
And it was worth at least $200,000.
You have got to be careful what you throw away
and what you discard.
Lest you throw away more than you thought you had.
And in this passage that we read today
Jesus is concerned that his listeners do not make the same mistake with him
and with his message
of throwing away somebody who is worth more than they know.
In this section in John 12
we're in between the two main parts of John's Gospel.
It's separated into two halves.
And this is the interval in between those two halves.
The first half deals with the three years of Jesus' public ministry.
The second half deals with the last four days of his life.
And we're told, aren't we, in the interval
that Jesus' listeners have thrown him out.
They've rejected him.
And so Jesus here, he wants to make one last
proclamation to them.
These are Jesus' last parting words
before he removes himself from them
in his public ministry.
John tells us in verse 44
he cries out
to the people who've rejected him.
It just shows his patience, doesn't it?
And his compassion
for people who have turned their backs on him
who reject his wonderful message and his work.
That he doesn't finish the relationship
with one last jab at them
with a witty retort
that have put them in their place.
He is still, even now,
seeking to give skeptics one last chance
not to make the mistake of throwing him away
and his message.
And in these six verses here
he sets out, really, a summary.
It's his final sermon to them
of what he is about
and why skeptics should believe in him.
And really, they are the core elements
of his message
and of what Jesus is about.
And it's a really dense passage.
It's difficult to know what to leave out.
But I just want to highlight
three positive things
that Jesus tells them here.
And we need to think as well, don't we,
what Jesus is saying to us
lest we throw out
more than we thought we had in Jesus.
So he says to them,
don't reject me
because to receive me,
to believe in me
is to believe in the one who sent me.
That's the first thing.
To believe in Jesus
is to believe in the one
who sent Jesus.
Now most leaders we've seen in the world
are people who appeal to us
and they want our trust
and they want our belief
on the basis of their qualities,
aren't they?
They are better at this
and they're good at that.
They've got more YouTube subscribers
or whatever.
They are the reason
to talk themselves up, aren't they?
For our trust.
But oddly,
Jesus' appeal for belief and trust
comes not in himself
but in his relationship
to somebody else.
Did you see who that other person was?
If you look at verse 44 again,
whoever believes in me
believes not in me
but in him who sent me.
It's very, very humble, isn't it?
Jesus is not like many of the leaders.
He's not in it for his own ego.
He says,
come to me
and look at me
so that you can find
somebody else.
He's not in it to build popularity
for himself.
Actually, he says,
I am here
so that you might know
and believe in somebody else as well.
Namely,
in the one
who sent him.
He's saying, isn't it,
that you need to receive
Jesus,
you need to trust in me
because when you're doing that
you're not just dealing
with just me.
I am not a man
that you can take
or leave
in isolation.
You don't deal with me
simply as a man
who knows a lot.
I'm not simply
an expert
in the Jewish law.
I'm not simply
a wise and loving
compassionate person.
I'm not simply
a good preacher
or a good teacher.
You're not even dealing
with simply a man.
But a man
who has been sent
by God
the Father.
And so you need
to come to me
because of my relationship
to him,
Jesus says.
Now to use an illustration
you might think of it
a bit like
a king
sending an envoy
to a different country
or a land
or sending
an ambassador.
And the way
you treat
the ambassador
is the way
you treat
the sending king,
isn't it?
When you receive
the ambassador
you receive
the sovereign
that he represents.
And so Jesus
is making
a unique claim.
He is saying
that I
and my Father
in heaven
are so united
and so closely
related
that when you
treat one of us
one way
then the other one
feels it too.
When you believe
in me
and when you receive
in me
you receive
not just me
but my Father
in heaven as well.
Now that has
implications for us
doesn't it?
Just imagine
for a second
if you can
and the person
who is searching
for God
and for meaning
in life
perhaps it's a person
who wants to get
to know their
spiritual side
I've got friends
like that.
A person
asking the big
questions
like is there
a God
out there?
And you can look
into the world
can't you
and there are
all sorts of
answers around
all sorts of
cultures
and religions
that dress
God up
in different
costumes
and give
different answers
to the questions
that people
worship different
kinds of gods
don't they?
Some people
worship the sun
or stars
or ancestors
or Allah
or Buddha
or they worship
no gods at all.
And so on your
search for God
you might go
into the world
you might travel
the world
you might go
to China
or India
to visit some
temples
or you might
go to the
Wailing Wall
in Jerusalem
to find out
who this
God is
who is out
there somewhere.
But the
audacious claim
that Jesus
makes is that
you don't need
to do any
of that
and you don't
need to listen
to any of that
at all
to know God.
Notice what
he says in
verse 45
Whoever
sees me
sees him
who sent me.
So actually
the illustration
of the ambassador
is a bit
weak really
because Jesus
is claiming
here to be
much much
more than
just the
messenger boy.
He is saying
I am the
embodiment
of this God.
The God
that you
cannot ordinarily
see
is now made
visible to you
in me.
I am more
than just a
messenger boy.
I am the
one who
allows you
to see
the unseeable
God.
But just
pause to
ask what
that actually
means.
I received
a note in
the post
a while ago
it was a
sales leaflet
advertising
a statue
of Jesus
Christ that
they wanted
me to buy
and put on
my shelf
at home.
And the
company that
was selling
these statues
thought they
had worked
out what
Jesus of
Nazareth
looked like
using
records and
things.
And so
they made
a representation
out of
stone so
that I
could see
Jesus'
face and
kind of be
inspired by
it.
Now is that
what Jesus
means when
he says
when you
see me
you see
the Father?
I don't
think it
is.
Because the
way that
Jesus reveals
himself is
not through
pictures and
images and
statues but
through words.
John ends
his gospel
doesn't he
not by
saying these
things are
painted or
drawn or
sculptured but
he says these
things are
written that
you may believe
in Jesus.
And actually
the whole
Bible is
written so
that we can
see who
Jesus is.
That we can
see what
he is like
as a person.
We can learn
about his
character and
his ways.
His
sovereignty,
his
compassion,
his
justice.
He wants
us to do
more than
simply
recognise a
picture but
to get to
know a
person.
And as we
do that, as
we see him
and get to
know him in
the scripture,
in the Bible,
we are getting
to know this
God who is
behind everything.
As the saying
goes, like
father, like
son.
God, like
man.
So you
don't need to
travel the
world on a
pilgrimage or
read endless
books on the
religions of
the world.
You can come
to know this
God right now
in Ealing.
As you see
Jesus in the
pages of the
Bible, you
will find this
God.
The one true
spiritual God
who is behind
everything.
And so if you
throw away
Jesus, you are
throwing him
away more than
you thought
you had.
It would be
to throw away
the only way
of knowing the
glory and
wonder of the
God who made
the universe.
It is to
receive the
one who sent
him.
So to believe
in Jesus is
to receive the
father, to
receive the
God who sent
him.
But secondly,
to believe in
Jesus is to
have light.
This is the
second thing he
says to the
skeptics.
Look at verse
46.
I have come
into the
world as
light so
that whoever
believes in
me may not
remain in
darkness.
Now it's
similar to
something that
he said earlier
in John 8
where he says
I am the
light of the
world.
Whoever
follows me
will not
walk in
darkness but
will have
the light
of life.
As you
get to know
me, Jesus
says, you
will get to
know God
and it
will be
like a
light
shining on
your life.
A light
that enables
you to do
what you're
meant to
do as a
human being
and to
not walk
in darkness.
The idea
there is of
everyday living
and of
walking,
being a
human.
You'll
know that
we've got a
seven-month-old
at home at
the moment.
He's getting
pretty good at
night but he'll
wake up and
quite often
it falls for
me to try
and calm
him down.
So I'll
go in the
room where
he is and
get his
teddy, put
his dummy
in, move
him around
a bit, try
and make
him feel
better.
The only
problem is
when I go
in the
room it's
always dark.
We've got
those black
out blinds so
it's pitch
black in
there.
And if I
try and do
what I'm
supposed to
do in the
dark it
always goes
very, very
badly.
I'll kick
a toy and
it'll make a
noise, stub
my toe on
the chair
leg, shove
the dummy
in his
eye and
I'll just
be fumbling
around.
See when it
is dark we
cannot act
confidently or
appropriately can
we in what
we're supposed
to be doing.
And Jesus is
saying here the
same goes for
life in
general.
Where of
course in
John darkness
darkness for
him is
synonymous
with things
that are
much more
sinister than
what goes
on in my
living room
at night.
That darkness
is what we
experience before
we get to
know Jesus.
It is our
confusion and
blindness
morally.
It is our
proneness to
living in a
way that is
muddled and
inappropriate and
that has many
many falls in
the dark.
As if we
were living as
blind people
needing to
know where
to go but
not being able
to find the
way.
And we're
full of
anxieties of
things that we
can't see in
the darkness.
And we're
morally confused
as to what is
right and to
what is wrong.
And as we
look at society
that is a
really accurate
picture isn't
it?
But then when
we come to
meet Jesus
it's as if
this great big
floodlight is
switched on in
the living room
and we begin
to see the
obstacles and
the dangers and
the things to
avoid in life.
And we begin
to see what is
right and what
is wrong.
And what is
deceitful and
what is true and
what is good.
And we become
morally cited.
And so he is
the person who
claims to bring
us to God
and to give us
true enlightenment
to our
questions and
to our
speculations.
And he will
keep us from
falling over in
the darkest
places in our
lives.
To believe in
him is to
have the
father, to
believe the
father and
it's to have
this light, the
light of life.
But thirdly and
lastly the third
thing he says is
that to believe in
Jesus, to believe
in me is to
have life.
It's to have the
father, to have
light, it is to
have life.
Just drop your
eye to verse
49, just at the
bottom.
He says, for I
have not spoken
on my own
authority, but
the father who
sent me has
himself given
me a commandment,
what to say and
what to speak.
And I know that
his commandment
is eternal
life.
Now, again, we
see, don't we,
the link between
the person of
Jesus and his
father in heaven.
That not only in
his works, but in
his words, Jesus'
message isn't
stuff that he's
just made up, or
things that he
wants to say.
No, he's been
given what to say,
hasn't he, by the
father.
It's very humble
again, isn't it,
that the last thing
that he says to
people in his
public ministry is
to discredit any
claim that he is
only speaking for
himself.
He says, no, no,
it's not my
message, it's my
father's message
that I'm giving
to you.
But what is, what
is the foundational
word that the
father speaks
through him?
Well, we see this
word coming up
twice, don't we,
in the words that
Jesus speaks.
And it says, he
says there that the
father has given
him a commandment.
See, once in
verse 49, and
then in verse 50,
he has come to
give his father's
commandment.
And what is that
commandment?
Verse 50,
eternal life.
Now, that is
strange, isn't it?
What is strange
about the way that
he describes this
life?
Jesus says, I've
come that people
might have life,
but notice he
doesn't say, the
father has sent
me to give the
promise of eternal
life, or the
offer of eternal
life.
But he's given me
a commandment, the
commandment of
eternal life.
And what Jesus is
doing here is he is
showing us a God
who is so concerned
for his listeners
and for people,
that he doesn't
send Jesus to
merely suggest the
way to life, or
to offer the way
to life, but to
command that we
believe in Jesus
and receive life in
his name.
That is the most
loving thing to do,
isn't it?
When God the
Father knows what
we need.
This is the
message of God
the Father, I
command you to
trust in Jesus
and to receive
life in his
name.
They are the
words of a God
who loves us
enough to
command what is
best for us, to
command life.
And so Jesus, in
his humility, he
is being extremely
positive, isn't
he, with these
people who have
rejected him.
He is humble and
gentle and
compassionate.
He gives people
another chance.
He even says,
doesn't he, I've
not come to
judge you.
I've come to
save you, people
who have
rejected me.
But, I think
there is a note
of warning that
we need to see
before we finish,
before we close.
For there is a
warning for those
who still don't
receive him,
isn't there?
And he speaks
to a person who
still rejects.
Jesus, if you
look at verse
48, there's
the person, the
one who rejects
me and does
not receive my
words, has a
judge.
The word that I
have spoken will
judge him on the
last day.
One of my old
tutors at college
pictures the scene
in heaven.
I think it
describes this
really well.
He says, imagine
the person who
comes before God
says, I'm not
going to
judge him on
judgment day.
And God says
to him, why
haven't you
believed in
Jesus?
And the person
says, well I
didn't want to
stop doing the
things that I
wanted to do in
my life, I
just wanted to
live for myself.
And God will
reply, well did
you hear the
command that I
gave through
Jesus for
eternal life?
And the man
said, well I
did hear it, but
I wanted to
spend my money
and my time
and my life
my own way.
And God
says to him,
you mean to
say that you
chose death and
have rejected
the glorious
message of
Jesus for
those stupid
reasons?
And the man
says, yes I
did.
And God
replies, well
the message
that you have
heard stands
as witness
against you
today.
And so to
throw Jesus
out may not
feel like much
of a big
deal, but
there will
come a day
when we will
realise just
how valuable
he and his
message is to
us.
And how
wonderful his
message is.
And that we've
thrown out much
more than we
knew we had
in him.
And so God's
command to us
today, through
Jesus, is that
we do not get
to that point.
And that we
receive him,
the only way
to God, and
to light in
our lives, and
to eternal
life forever
with God.
And so let
us do that,
shall we, in a
prayer as we
close.
That's great.
Amen.