Father, we thank you for your great provision for us.
We ask that you would pour out the Holy Spirit upon us and make us a very generous people,
a people who desires to bless this city, bless other people groups right to the ends of the earth,
that you would help us, Father, not only to bless this city with the best of our talents and our gifts,
but also by the sharing of the gospel, by telling people of Jesus.
And we ask now, Father, as we pause to dig deep into your word, that you would dig deep into us,
that you would touch us at the level of our heart and shape us by the gospel.
And all these things we ask in the name of Jesus, your Son and our Savior. Amen.
Please be seated.
So we're going to talk today about something that Canadians aren't supposed to talk about.
We're going to talk about death, something that Canadians aren't supposed to talk about.
And like when I say that, some of you might say, well, no, no, George, we can talk about death.
But usually what that means is we can say a few flippant things about death.
But if you were ever at a party and you made some comment about we're all going to die,
and I don't know, the person who's the least drunk or the most drunk would make some type of a flippant comment,
another person makes a bit of a joke, and then we'd move on to another topic.
But if you said, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, time out here.
Like, what do you think death means?
Like, what do you think about the fact that you're going to die?
Like, you know, maybe tomorrow or tonight or like in a few years.
And if you were to try to press the topic, the room, the temperature, it would get very chilled very, very quickly.
Because we can make the odd flippant comment about death, but we're not really allowed to talk about death.
It's something which is not very Canadian.
And in fact, it would even be viewed in many churches as something depressing.
And we don't come to church to be depressed.
We come to church to get a few positive and uplifting thoughts to help us through the rest of the week or whatever it would be.
But we're going to talk a little bit about death this morning.
And I'm going to talk about it because the Bible talks about death.
Like, what is it?
Like, what?
I've, I mean, I don't know.
In heaven, I might find out more of the story.
I will find out the whole story of my life and the meaning of my life.
And maybe there's been many times when I've been very close to death.
I know there's been some times I've been in the car and, you know, somebody starts to go into my lane.
And, you know, we're all going 115 kilometers an hour.
And I don't know.
It could very well be that if that person had just been a tiny little bit more inattentive or I had been a tiny bit more inattentive, I would have died in that accident.
But I've never had an illness yet.
I had one time when I thought they diagnosed me with a heart trouble that would have drastically changed and probably shortened my life.
But that turned out to be a misdiagnosis.
But I haven't on one level had to be close to my own death.
I have in terms of family members, obviously.
And as a minister, I've done lots of funerals.
In fact, I felt really, really bad about it.
And during the Arise, a couple of weeks ago in December, we had the Arise dance group here.
And there was a person who came to the church.
And she came up and she said, do you remember me?
And I have to confess, I said, you look familiar, but I can't remember you.
And then she told me, you did the funeral for my baby.
And I felt really bad that I didn't remember her.
Although it had been about 10 years ago.
But what does death mean?
Like, we all are going to die.
Every single one of you here, unless Jesus comes back, you're going to die.
And what does it mean that we're all going to die?
That you're going to die?
It's not an abstraction.
It will be real someday.
Like, it's funny, you know.
Why is it that we Canadians don't even want to think about that?
That it would be viewed as, like many of you would already say, or maybe if you're a guest,
you're going to go, okay, George, let's move on to another topic.
Like, you're pushing this too far.
It might be getting a bit uncomfortable.
But why is it that we feel so uncomfortable about talking about death?
Like, if you think about it, in a sense, death, from one point of view, is completely and utterly natural.
Like, nobody gets upset if we talk about gravity or the sun rising.
But we get very upset talking about something which is natural.
Why is it that we find death which is natural?
Why is it that on one level it's natural, but on a very, very fundamental level, we don't think it's natural?
We think there's something just wrong with death.
Why is that?
And if we live in a world where everybody dies, doesn't it seem then as if death wins?
And if death wins, how is it that life has any meaning?
Like, if you think about it for a second, well, actually, you could just do a little experiment.
I mean, I'm guessing the Sunday school has something you can stack on top of something else.
If not, next Sunday, I just ask you for a simple experiment.
Bring a pile of blocks.
Find some young kids.
And if you put the blocks out where the young kids are, one young kid will start to pile the black blocks on top of another.
And what will also happen when the blocks are all tied, piled up on top of another?
What is just as certain as the sun will rise tomorrow, another kid will knock the blocks all down.
Right?
Isn't that how it works?
Trust me on this one.
If anybody has more than one kid, if one kid starts to make possum blocks on top of the other,
it's just a matter of time before another kid comes in.
In fact, sometimes when kids get really into knocking the blocks out,
the building kid gets maybe only three blocks up and some other kid with great glee comes and kicks it.
And the poor builder kid never knows if they're going to get three blocks up or eight blocks up or ten blocks up.
But one thing they know for certain is that the blocks will be kicked out.
But isn't that like life?
Like, don't every single one of us not know if we've just built three blocks and then we're going to die on our way home,
or whether we might get to build 20 blocks or 30 blocks high, but they will all be knocked down.
And if you see any kid who's trying to be the builder, building those blocks,
the one thing you know for certain is they start to scream in anguish and anger.
And if their mommy or their daddy is nearby, they scream for their mommy and daddy to come and fix it.
And if it's not fixed, they stop building because it's meaningless to stack blocks on top of another.
If some other kid at any random moment is going to come and knock the blocks down,
but isn't that life?
Like, is that one of the reasons we don't like talking about it?
That if at the end of our life, all that's going to happen is we die and death wins,
then, like, what is the point of having children, those of us who are able to have children?
Like, what is the point of bank balances and careers if it can just be taken away in a moment?
And why is it that, well, I guess we can start to see why it is that we don't want to think and talk about that.
See, it's very, very funny.
One of the things that many people would say about the Christian faith is that it's very, very impractical,
that it's sort of airy-fairy.
Yet, the fact of the matter is, is the Bible talks about things which go right to the very, very heart.
In fact, something like talking about death is far more practical than all sorts of other stuff.
And the Bible actually forces us, or tries to force us, to deal with these very, very fundamental issues
and what it means for the meaning of our life.
So, if you take your Bibles and turn to John chapter 12, we'll see why it is that I'm talking about this,
because Jesus talks about it.
John chapter 12, verse 20.
And actually, those of you who don't have Bibles with you, we're going to put it up here on the screen.
And we're just going to read through the text again.
Maybe you didn't notice that it talks about life and death, but it does talk about life and death.
One of the references is sort of hard to get.
And so, just remember I said that the context of this, just as we're starting to turn to it,
is this book is written by a man by the name of John.
He was one of Jesus' very early disciples,
and he was one of Jesus' most intimate disciples.
And so, for three years, this fellow, three years and a bit,
this fellow, he traveled with Jesus all the time.
They camped together.
They ate together.
He would have known everything there is to know about Jesus for those three plus years.
And after Jesus' death and resurrection,
there were four biographies written, all based on eyewitness accounts.
And John writes his own eyewitness testimony of Jesus.
And John's testimony of Jesus is different than the others.
It really shows more the intimate side of Jesus.
It has far more of the intimate conversations that Jesus probably had with his disciples
than the other ones show.
And that's why the sermon series is called Knowing Jesus,
an intimate, John's intimate biography of Jesus.
And the way John, one of the ways that John organized his story of Jesus
is he wasn't concerned by chronology.
What he did is he sort of introduced who Jesus is.
And then for basically ten chapters,
he organized all of the chapters around remarkable miracles that Jesus did.
And he calls the miracles signs,
because signs communicate something.
And so John wanted to make sure that we understood that Jesus was communicating something
about the nature of reality, about who he is,
about what the real world is.
And these miracles are an attempt by Jesus to get us to stop,
to notice something, to see where it's being pointed to.
And so for the big, over half the book,
it's all sort of an unfolding of these remarkable miracles.
And then there's this sort of chapter of transition,
which we're in right now.
And then the next big section will be
the intimate conversation that Jesus has with his disciples
in that about five or six hour period
when he's in the upper room,
and he knows he's going to die the next day.
And that's the next big section.
Then there's the account of his death and resurrection.
So that's where we are.
And here's how it continues.
I've already told you about how the triumphal entry,
and now we have verse 20.
Now among those who went up to worship at the feast
were some pagans, some Greeks.
So these came to Philip, one of Jesus' disciples,
who was from Bethsaida in Galilee.
And they asked him,
Sir, we wish to see Jesus.
Let's sort of pause there for a second.
Some of you Christians will know this is a very, very, very, very famous phrase.
What you might not know is that in churches that still have pulpits,
and there are churches that still have pulpits,
it's not uncommon that that phrase will be written on the pulpit.
So if, for instance, if you go to a very famous church,
All Souls Langham Place in England,
and there's a pulpit,
and usually with the pulpit there's a little bit of a,
you know, like a thing over here.
And what you might or might not know is it's very common in pulpits
to put right there so the minister sees it,
Sir, we wish to see Jesus.
As a reminder of what my task is as a preacher.
That the room, they want to see Jesus.
They don't want to hear my thoughts on debt,
or the transit way, or bicycle lanes.
I have views on all of those things, by the way.
You don't want to hear any of those things.
The congregation should be coming,
and I should be opening the Bible to tell you about Jesus.
It's this very, very famous phrase.
And so there's these pagans, again,
they've come to Philip, they'd like to meet Jesus.
That's what it means, see.
They can obviously, they've seen him,
rioting, but they want to meet Jesus.
They want to meet him and to get to know him.
And they say, once again, verse 21,
Sir, we wish to see Jesus.
So Philip went and told Andrew.
Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus.
And Jesus answered them.
So they make their request, and Jesus answers them.
The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.
Now just sort of pause here.
On one hand, this is a very unsatisfactory story.
He doesn't say, like what we would expect,
said, yeah, sure, come on, love to meet him.
Let's go over, tell him to come over here,
you know, get through the crowd.
So just before you, you know, because it puzzles people.
First of all, at the end of the story,
we don't know at the end of the conversation
whether Jesus met with him or not.
John, on one hand, ignores that particular part of the story.
We don't know whether he said yes or no later on.
What John records is something different,
because you see, in a sense, you and I are those pagans.
Jesus, John isn't writing his biography
so that all the people who were, you know,
he's writing the biography of Jesus
for people like us who want to see Jesus.
And so what John does is he records part of Jesus' answer.
He never ends up telling us, like, we're all maybe curious.
Well, did he meet Jesus?
Like, what did he say?
Like, John doesn't say anything.
He's not concerned about that part of the story.
But he's concerned that, you know, in a sense,
every single one of us, I mean, I think maybe apart
from Daniel Avitan, who's in the room, who's Jewish,
the rest of us are pagans.
And maybe there's another one or two of us here
who are Jewish.
We're pagans.
We're the pagans wanting to actually see
and try to get to know who Jesus is.
And so what John does is that John gives us part of Jesus' answer
that's very, very, very important.
You see, what he's going to say is we have to understand
something about Jesus is that Jesus isn't just a rabbi.
He's not just a miracle worker.
He's not going to be like an earthly king.
He's not a philosopher.
He's not intellectual.
He's not a mighty military commander.
He's not somebody with all sorts of degrees.
And his purpose isn't any of the things that go along
with those types of things.
If you want to see Jesus, well, Jesus actually, in a sense,
tells his disciples something really important about himself
so that when the disciples are telling others about Jesus,
they can communicate the part about Jesus
which is most important.
And so just go back and look at that thing,
the beginning of Jesus' answer.
We're going to read it.
I'm going to unpack it a bit more later on.
But the first thing he says then in verse 23 is,
the hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.
And, you know, this, just as a bit of an aside,
Jesus knows, we don't know if this happened immediately
after the triumphal entry or the Monday or the Tuesday
or the Wednesday, but Jesus knows that on Friday
he will be hanging on a cross after having been whipped.
He's stripped naked and he's hanging on a cross
and he's going to die.
And he says, my life has an overarching purpose.
That's what it means by the hour.
My life has an overarching purpose.
My life, and because it's true of my life,
it will be true of every other human life,
my life is not one dang thing after another and then you die.
My life is not just one succession of moments
measured by teaspoons.
My life has a purpose.
And my, the culmination of the purpose has now come.
And, and it's going to be very interesting later on
when he says it's going to reveal God's glory.
And what we need to understand is that,
I mean, how would Hollywood try to display God's glory?
Hollywood tried to describe God's glory by,
I don't know, by maybe psychedelic visions
or by just the things which are unbelievably bright
that you can't look at.
It might try to describe it by glory and majesty,
by a mighty army, by a man with huge muscles,
by a woman who's unbelievably beautiful,
by any sorts of things.
But what Jesus is saying is that the most perfect illustration
of the glory of God will be me being naked,
nailed to a cross,
with my blood dripping down and my labored breath
and then me giving up my spirit and dying.
And it is in my dying upon the cross
that God's glory is most perfectly revealed.
And that is an offense to every system of thought.
And it is an offense to religion.
And it is an offense to spirituality.
But this is what Jesus says shortly before he dies.
Let's continue to look at that verse 24.
When the Bible has the word truly, truly,
another way to translate it would be amen, amen.
It's John, it's Jesus communicating to his disciples,
okay, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa,
you might have fallen asleep,
you might be nodding off,
you might be thinking about, you know,
the cute woman who just walked by
or the handsome guy who just walked by
or whatever it is.
But whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa,
this is really, really, really, really important.
That's what he's doing.
Whoa, whoa, whoa.
So, 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.
And 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.
You know, it's almost creed-like in its simplicity.
And I have to think that not only, of course,
in an oral culture like that
would they have remembered words very well,
but I wonder, I mean,
this would probably be on one level easy enough to memorize,
and you wonder if Jesus said it over and over and over again
to his disciples when he was walking from one spot to another.
Because there's a rhythm and a balance to it.
I tried to illustrate that right with my hands.
Whoever loses his life,
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.
Where I am, there will my servant be also.
If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.
So we don't know whether the pagans wanted to come to see Jesus
because they were impressed by his teaching or his miracles or whatever.
We don't know if they wanted to really just become his followers
or if they were going to try to squeeze Jesus into their categories of thought
and their systems of thought.
And what we can see here is that whatever type of,
no system of thought that's developed purely by human beings
will culminate in a place whereby God hanging on a cross,
a man hanging on a cross,
God hanging on a cross is a sign of the glory of God.
No system of thought will say,
okay, we begin here, we begin here, we begin here, we begin here,
we come to there.
No system of thought leads to that.
And Jesus said,
everything about me you need to understand is about the fact that I'm going to die.
And my death is accomplishing a very particular thing.
And then many people are puzzled by,
okay, well, look at verse 25.
What do you mean by whoever loves his life loses it?
Like, shouldn't we be teaching people to love their life?
You know, like, on one hand, what's a very common expression in Canada
and in North America, maybe even in England, probably,
in the English-speaking world?
Usually when they say it, it's in an ironic sense because it's not,
they don't mean it, it's ironic,
but they say, I'm living the life, right?
You could just imagine, you know,
somebody who's doing something really boring at work
and they're stuck in their cubicle
and somebody says, how's life going?
And they say, I'm living the life.
Not, right?
Because there's this sense that we are, like, living the life.
Like, that's what we value in Canada.
And living the life might be rock climbing or, I don't know, crocheting
or doing anything other than doing something boring
and sacrificial and monotonous.
And so why is it, he says, whoever loses his life,
loves his life, loses it,
and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life?
Like, is the Bible telling us we should hate our life?
Some of you say, I already have that mastered.
I hate my life, so this is the text for me.
But that's not what it's referring to.
Well, this gets us back a little bit about death
to help us understand why it is that Jesus would say something like that.
And, you see, for many, many, many, many systems of thought
throughout the entire world,
the way that they would understand death
is that it's part of the cycle of life.
It's just a cycle.
You're born as a baby, and you live your life, and then you die.
And, you know, we all know from plants and stuff
is the death of plants helps with the soil and et cetera
and helps new plants to grow,
and it's just the cycle of life.
And we often say that
almost as if it's a good type of thing,
but for the ancients
and for people who really are enmeshed in that system,
it's a terrible thing.
You're trapped.
There's a movie that was very popular in the 60s
amongst the hippies called The Graduate,
The Counterculture.
And there's a scene in there.
It's all about a young guy back then who was young,
and he finishes his degree,
but he doesn't want to go on with life.
And he asks his parents, like,
what's the purpose of, you know, going...
It's basic...
Part of it is,
what's the purpose of going to university?
Well, the purpose of going to university is to make money.
Well, what's the purpose of making money?
Well, the purpose of making money is so that you can have a house
and so you can marry and you can have kids.
And what's the purpose of having all of those types of things,
having the money and the kids?
Well, the purpose of all of that is
that when they can go,
they can go to university.
And he says,
well, what's the sense of that
if it's just all like this circle?
And they didn't even bring in death,
but death is all part of it.
And so once again, we ask this,
like, what is it about death?
Why is it that on one hand,
death is unbelievably natural
and it seems as if it wins?
And yet on the other hand,
in our deepest longings and yearnings,
we think to ourselves that death isn't natural,
that life is natural.
Nobody in Canada would say,
I'm living the death.
No, I'm living the life.
That's what we want to live.
We want to live the life.
We don't want to live the death.
And so you see,
even, and for these pagans,
in all pagan religions,
this image of the seed that dies
and bears fruit
is part of that very imagery
of the cycle,
which is a cycle of fate
and you're trapped.
Because the fact of the matter is,
and the two movies that have come out
over the last years
that talk about this cycle,
one of them was the Tom Cruise one.
I can't remember the name of it right now.
And he gets that alien blood on him
and now he starts living this cycle.
He can't die.
He just comes back
and keeps going over and over and over again.
And of course,
the famous Bill Murray movie,
Groundhog Day.
And for people who are trapped,
even in this cycle
of coming back to life and death
and back to life and death,
it's experience as a prison,
not as something rewarding.
And their goal is to escape it.
And you see,
that's what the gospel does.
We're going to talk about it in a moment.
It's both,
what Jesus is doing right now,
he's going to explain in a moment,
and he's even doing it a little bit
by using this image of hating this life,
to try to help us to understand
why it is that on one hand,
death appears to be
completely and utterly natural.
On the other hand,
we think it's profoundly unnatural.
And why it is that our hearts
do not long to be told
about the cycle of we live
and then we die
and then somebody else lives
and they die
and somebody else lives
and somebody else dies
and then they die
and it goes over and over
and over and over and over again.
And our hearts long for that to break
and there not to be a circle
and there not to be a sort of a line
that just goes a short length
and then something or other cuts it
so that we die,
but there's something that endures,
that we break from the prison,
we break from fate,
that fate is not to be our destiny.
There's something within us
that longs for that,
that tries to help us
to understand why it is
that death seems more like an enemy
than the something
that is just merely a natural thing.
And he starts to catch our attention with it
by this little phrase
about hating our life.
And that will become
a little bit more clear
if we just go on
with what he says next in verse 27.
Now is my soul trouble.
Verse 27,
now is my soul trouble.
He's just talked about the fact
that he's going to die.
And he says he's troubled by it.
This has been commented on
by many people
over many, many years.
There's all sorts of people
throughout history
who have gone to the firing squad
or execution like this.
The person who's,
humanly speaking,
most responsible
for the book of common prayer
under torture,
he had renounced
the Christian faith
and then he renounced
his renouncing
of the Christian faith.
And he,
because he renounced
his renouncing
of the Christian faith
by embracing
the Christian faith,
he was going to be burned
in the stake.
And he asked
that when he was burned
in the stake,
he reached out his hand,
the hand that had signed
the letter
to renounce the faith,
he reached that out
that that would burn first.
And why is it
that so many human beings
have faced death
and not been troubled?
And Jesus is troubled.
Look at verse 27.
Now is my soul troubled.
And what shall I say?
Father, save me from this hour?
And then he responds,
but for this purpose
I have come to this hour.
Father,
glorify your name.
Hallowed be your name.
So,
what's going on here?
Well, let's just start
to unpack all of this
in our last few minutes.
If you could put up
the first point,
that would be really,
really great.
And the first point
is this,
is Jesus,
Jesus is the seed
that died
to bear much fruit.
That's the point
of the story here.
It's,
if you look at it,
he says it very,
very clearly.
Truly, truly,
remember I said that means,
whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa,
even if you're falling asleep,
whoa, whoa, whoa,
don't,
even if that's all you remember,
just remember this.
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.
And Jesus is that seed.
He is that true
and greater seed.
On one level,
you see,
here's the thing,
is if Jesus is in fact
what he claims to be
and we believe it's true,
why?
Because he defeats death,
which we're going to talk
about that in a moment.
He is the one
who rose from the dead.
He has defeated death.
He has defeated that
which causes death.
He has done it
not as a way
to show how powerful God is,
although it does show
how powerful God is,
but he does it
for human beings,
ordinary human beings
like you and me.
And that's what he's saying here.
He did not come
to not die.
He came precisely to die.
And his death
isn't just some type
of an illustration.
It's not something
that bears fruit
by inspiring all of us
as to how remarkable it is
that he died in such a way.
It's not about that
because the image here
isn't that just,
the image is that
because the seed dies,
there is fruit,
much fruit.
Without,
you see,
the death of the seed
means fruit
comes into existence
with life.
That's the point
of the analogy.
It isn't that this inspires.
It isn't that this
can be used to teach.
It is,
although it can,
it is that the death
of Jesus
will bring life
and existence
into existence
for others.
You see,
the fact of the matter is
is that death wins.
you and I
are a cut flower.
We are a cut flower.
And what this text
is saying
is that as a result
of what Jesus
will do
by his death
and his resurrection,
when we put our faith
and trust in him,
we have a life
that comes from him
that gives us
life and existence
in a way
that we did not have
and could not have
without our faith
and trust in him.
So it's not a matter
of an example.
It's a matter
of actual fruit.
The fruit,
without the seed dying,
and if it's a coin
that dies,
no fruit happens.
If it's a rock that you,
sorry,
if you put a rock
in the ground,
nothing happens.
You put a coin,
you put a $1,000 bill,
a $10,000 bill.
I don't know how big
a bill,
you know,
you put that
in the ground,
nothing happens.
It just stays there,
but the seed dies
and fruit comes
into existence
that wasn't
in existence before
and would not
be in existence
without the death
of the seed.
So that's what
Jesus means
when he 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.
But what is this
about him being troubled
and what is it
about,
well,
if you could put up
the next point,
death is a sign
and instrument
of the Lord's judgment
on the bent
human desire
to be God.
Death is a sign
and instrument
of the Lord's judgment
on sin,
on you and me
who are sinners,
who cling to our sin
and cannot leave our sin,
who have this human,
this desire to be God,
which sort of explains
all sin,
and we've bent
our nature
and our world,
and death
is a sign
and an instrument
of the Lord's judgment.
See,
when the Lord made us,
if you read the whole
overarching story
of the Bible,
God made all things good
and he made human beings
to be at home
in this world
that he had made good.
And he made human beings
to be able to be naked
and unashamed
with each other
and to be naked
and unashamed
not only with each other,
but to be with each other
naked and unashamed
while they are naked
and unashamed with God,
who could walk with them
in the cool of the garden,
in the cool of the day,
in a place that he had called
for them to learn
how to tend
and to manage
and to work
and to cultivate
and to make even more beautiful.
And that is how God
made human beings to live
and there would have been
no death.
And death
comes into the world
when human beings
decide that they are
no longer going to trust God,
that they are no longer
going to, in a sense,
allow God to be God
and them to be creatures,
but that we human beings
want to be the center ourselves.
We want to be
the maker of our own lives.
We want to be the definer
of our own lives.
We want to be God.
Whatever happens to God,
we don't care,
but we all know
that there can only
ultimately be one God
and that explains
so much conflict
that goes in families
and schools
and businesses
and in this world
and the United States
right now,
the Congress wants to be God
and President Trump
wants to be God
and the Republicans
and the Democrats
and they all want to be God
and there's fighting
and it's not all fighting
but it comes up so much
and so often with ambition
and whether it's sexual sins
or intellectual sins
or greed or whatever,
all of it comes
from our human desire
which is a bending
of who we were,
a breaking of who we are
that we desire to be God
and what we see it
is that desire
that brings to be God
to disconnect ourselves
from God
and be our own God.
It is as a result of that
that death
comes into the world
and all death
is a sign of the fact
that we are under God's judgment
and in fact
is the instrument
of God's judgment
and that's why
on one level
death is completely
and utterly unnatural
but we understand
and experience it
as not something
that we want.
Our culture
because we don't want
to talk about it
it doesn't give us
any language
so only the Christian faith
only the Christian faith
I think gives an account
of this fundamental
human experience
of death
being natural
yet us not feeling
it's natural
and somehow wanting
to avoid it
because we want
to avoid
the Lord's judgment.
So why is it
that Jesus
understanding this
why that helps us
to understand
something about
why it is
that Jesus did not
on one level
he did not want
to come to this
point of death
because you see
if Jesus is going
to deal with death
in a way
that you and I
can have life
and existence
in life
Jesus can't
just sort of
somehow both
defeat death
he has to
defeat that
which causes
the death
if you could
put up the next
point
that would be
very helpful
when Jesus
died
he bore
every reason
that you have
been judged
and the judgment
itself
when Jesus
died
he bore
every reason
that you have
been judged
and the judgment
itself
see the fact
of the matter
is that in
many many many
many things
if we think
about it
for a second
on one level
sin is its own
judgment
its own punishment
and we understand
that there's a type
of a fitness
between it
I just finished
reading a novel
and in the novel
the bad character
because I like
novels where
there's like
you know
murders and all
that type of
stuff and
justice at the
end
but you have
this sense
it's written
by a non-Christian
it's just a
very very common
type of novel
and in a sense
the big evil
of the man
in his life
is that he
kills people
and the
particular
protagonist
the way he
killed the
protagonist's
loved one
was by
throwing them
out of a
window
on the
20th floor
of a
building
and the
person died
to their
death
and he's
an evil
man
and he's
a bad
man
and when
the judgment
finally comes
for this
bad fellow
how does
he die
he dies
by being
pushed out
of a window
to his
death
and the
reader goes
yes
there's
something
fitting
that the
sin that
he committed
is the
faith that
he endures
so you see
there's two
different images
in John
I'll give you
John's gospel
in a moment
but in
and so why
is it that
Jesus in a
sense is
hesitant
it's not
that he's
lacking
courage
but Jesus
is going
to experience
something that
he has never
experienced in
his entire
life
he is going
to drink
something that
he has never
drunk in
his entire
life
something is
going to
touch his
lips
and touch
his heart
and touch
his body
that has
never touched
his entire
life
because you
see
while I
have not
been able
to live
my life
without being
bent
and out
being in
rebellion
against God
and not
without being
able to
sin
the Bible
tells us
that Jesus
lives the
life that
I could
never
live
that Jesus
lived his
life and
he never
sinned
he never
fell prey
to envy
he never
fell prey
to the
form of
sin
that is
anger
that he
never
felt
he was
never
prone
to
pride
that he
never
was
prone
to
wishing
murder
for other
people
or being
selfish
that he
was
tempted
by all
of these
things
and he
was able
to resist
the
temptations
another
sermon
as to
all this
means
about the
depth
of human
experience
but he
was able
to
experience
these
temptations
without
ever
partaking
of them
and in
several of
the
gospels
the
image
which
is
given
upon
the
time
of
Jesus
death
when he's
in the
garden
of
Gethsemane
and he's
struggling
with what
he's about
to do
the next
day
die on
the cross
and they
use this
biblical image
of the
cup
and in the
biblical image
of the
cup
it's this
old image
that it's
as if
and we can
just sort of
think of it
as a
sorcerer
or something
like that
in a
fantasy
novel
that takes
the evil
out of a
person's
heart
and the
evil deeds
that have
been done
and they
take it
out
and they
turn it
into a
type of
a
liquid
that all
goes into
the cup
and then
somebody
has to
drink
that
cup
and so
the
image
is as if
all of
George's
pride
all of
his
anger
all of
his
envy
all of
his
sexual
sins
all of
his
desires
at times
that he
wanted
that
wished
that
somebody
would
die
or
that
they
would
be
obliterated
and all
of
those
things
that
are so
cling
to me
they are
drawn
out by
God
and as
they are
drawn
out by
God
they are
distilled
into a
liquid
that goes
into an
unbelievably
foul cup
and in
that
unbelievably
foul cup
is not
just
George
there's
Louise
and there's
Jason
and there's
Shirley
and there's
Ross
and there's
Daniel
and there's
Christine
and all
of their
foul
stuff
and the
image
is
that when
Jesus
is dying
on the
cross
that he
takes
that
cup
and his
lips
have never
touched
that
and he
drinks
that
cup
and that's
what he
bears
when he
dies
John's
gospel
doesn't
use this
image
but if
you go
back
and you
read
John
from the
beginning
you'll
see that
the first
way that
Jesus
is
introduced
is the
same
image
but a
different
one
behold
the Lamb
of God
who takes
away the
sin of
the world
it's the
same
image
the image
is of
as if
God
brings
one of
a
you know
that I
lay my
hands
on a
lamb
and the
image
is that
as I
lay my
hands
on the
lamb
all of
those
things
I've
just
described
my
pride
my
anger
my
arrogance
all of
those
things
they
come out
of me
and they
go on
the
lamb
and it
dies
and the
image
is as
the
son of
man
is in
a
sense
every
human
being
who's
ever
existed
we
one
after
another
put our
hands
on
Jesus
on
his
head
and all
those
things
that we
have done
are on
him
and he's
been
tempted
by pride
but never
been tempted
by sexual
sin
but never
succumbed
he's been
tempted
by anger
but never
succumbed
tempted
by greed
but never
succumbed
and now
he will
taste and
experience
not
the whole
worlds
and that's
why he
hesitates
before his
death
you see
when Jesus
died
he bore
every reason
that you
have
been judged
and the
judgment
itself
if you
could put
up the
next slide
that would
be very
helpful
the good
news of
who Jesus
is and
what he
accomplished
for you
calls you
to hate
your life
in this
world
and follow
and serve
him
the good
news of
who Jesus
is and
what he
accomplished
for you
calls you
to hate
in quotes
your life
in this
world
and to
follow
and serve
him
some of
you have
heard me
if you've
heard me
speak
there's
what we
call
idioms
and I
use the
example
you know
a person's
a few
bricks shy
of a
load
or they
have a
screw
loose
or you
know
and they're
not really
meant literally
and hate
here in the
biblical text
is an idiom
and it's
an idiom
it's a way
of expressing
something
very starkly
which basically
says to
completely reject
or to
completely give
a failing
grade
and so
what Jesus
is saying
listen
how do you
respond
I am going
to accomplish
something
that you
cannot
accomplish
for yourself
I am going
to accomplish
the death
of death
in my
death
and I am
not only
going to
accomplish
the death
of death
in my
death
but the
death
of that
which causes
death
will be
dealt
with in
my
death
as I
drink
that
cup
as I
bear
in myself
as the
Lamb of
God
that which
you cannot
deal with
for yourself
and I'm
going to
do this
all for
you
how are
you to
respond
you're
to respond
by saying
and I
cannot do
this by
myself
father
but I
know
that my
life
my
life
capital
M
capital
Y
my
life
in this
world
where I
am
bent
where I
am
far
from
you
I
reject
that
I
that
fails
a life
where
death
wins
that
fails
I
reject
that
and I
come to
you
and I
follow
you
and the
language of
service is
the language
of ownership
you serve
who you
belong to
and it's
the
Jesus says
you need
to say to
your life
in this
world
it fails
I
reject it
it is
past
I
come
to
you
I
will
follow
you
I
will
serve
you
because
I
am
yours
and that's
how we
respond
just in
closing
you know
there's
this very
look back
I don't
know
if you
can put
it back
up on
the
screen
Rebecca
verse 25
and 26
it says
whoever loves
his life
loses it
and whoever
hates his
life in
this world
will keep
it for
eternal
life
see how
that
excuse me
what that
means
and then it
says if
anyone serves
me he
must follow
me
so you
begin by
following
and then
the serving
is it
and where
I am
there will
my servant
be also
if anyone
serves me
the father
will honor
him
it's an
image of
what it
means to
be in the
Christian life
and for
all eternity
I am
with
Jesus
and I
am
with
Jesus
being
honored
by my
father
my
father
in
heaven
that
is the
Christian
life
that
begins
now
and goes
for all
of
eternity
we'll only
be on the
far side
of death
that once
again we
can be
naked
and unashamed
with one
another
and naked
and unashamed
with our
father
and walk
with him
in the
cool of
the day
and we
walk
with
Jesus
but that
begins
now
the life
I live
now
is with
Jesus
honored
by my
father
as I
follow
and serve
Jesus
and just
in closing
you know that
phrase
I will
follow
how does it
go again
sorry
if anyone
serves me
he must
follow me
Jesus says
you know
wherever you
are
it's very
simple
isn't it
but it's very
profound
and hard
to know
what it
means
like if
you are
an assistant
deputy
minister
and you
are a
follower
of
Jesus
what
Jesus
says
is
as
an
assistant
deputy
minister
follow
me
if
you're
a
stay-at-home
mom
or stay-at-home
dad
follow me
if
you're
retired
follow me
if
you're
a teenager
trying to
navigate
high school
follow me
if
you're
in med
school
follow me
if
you work
in
construction
follow me
if
you're
unemployed
follow me
it
doesn't
tell you
exactly
what
it's
going
to
mean
but
on
one
hand
it
is
a
very
simple
profound
thing
that we
can
call out
to the
Lord
about
what
it
means
you know
if
the
Bible
tried
to
say
something
about
exactly
what
that
looked
like
for
both
the
assistant
deputy
minister
and
the
unemployed
person
it
would
be
ridiculous
but
we
deal
with
the
living
savior
and
we
can
begin
each
day
and
throughout
the
day
Jesus
what
does
it
mean
to
follow
you
right
here
where
I
am
right
now
and
I
know
I'm
with
you
and
you're
with
me
and
being
honored
by
the
father
because
you
did
everything
that
needed
to
be
done
that
I
might
have
life
and
you
drank
that
cup
I
could
not
drink
and
died
that
death
I
could
not
die
and
gave
me
your
perfect
life
that
I
could
not
live
please
stand
just
in
closing
you know
for every
single
one of
us
it
gets
very
easy
to
start
to
think
as
if
we're
doing
this
all
on
our
own
that
somehow
or
another
we're
earning
brownie
points
and
that
it's
not
just
a
matter
of
grace
that
Jesus
has
given
us
life
he's
given
us
existence
and
so
it
is
a
time
when
we
gather
on
a
Sunday
morning
in
the
presence
of
Jesus
to
once
again
say
Jesus
you
are
my
savior
I
will
follow
you
I
will
serve
you
help
me
to
do
that
better
help
me
to
know
what
it
means
as
a
single
person
or
a
husband
or
a
wife
or
a
person
who's
widowed
help
me
to
know
what
it
means
and
for
those
of
you
who
are
here
who
have
not
yet
taken
that
step
there
is
no
better
time
than
right
now
that
you
say
to
Jesus
I
hate
my
life
I
hate
identifying
with
my
sin
and
my
rebellion
my
idols
it
will
all
just
end
in
death
I
hate
that
Jesus
I
will
follow
you
I
will
belong
to
you
thank
you
that
you
will
always
take
me
there
is
no
better
time
with
the
Lord
right
now
let's
pray
father
I
stand
here
at the
front
opening
your
word
but
I
too
have
problems
following
you
I
know
father
I
need
to
remember
in
every
area
of
my
life
that
I
am
to
follow
Jesus
and
I
ask
father
I
commit
myself
again
to
that
and
I'm
so
glad
I
can
do
that
with
my
brothers
and
sisters
here
on a
Sunday
morning
I
ask
that
you
help
me
to
follow
you
that
you
would
help
me
to
trust
that
Jesus
is
the
one
who
has
made
me
right
with
you
that
even
though
I
stumble
and fall
as
following
you
I
am
honored
by
you
and
I
will
be
for
all
eternity
and
I
ask
that
you
grow
that
truth
in
me
and
grip
me
with
that
truth
and
I
ask
that
for
each
person
who
is
here
and
if
there
is
any
here
who
has
not
yet
father
made
that
your
Holy
Spirit
would
move
them
towards
giving
themselves
to
Jesus
or
if
there
is
any
here
who
has
done
that
this
morning
that
your
Holy
Spirit
would
flood
upon
them
with
might
and
power
and
deep
conviction
and
seal
that
as
their
new
identity
for
today
and
forever
into
eternity
and
all
these
things
we
ask
in
the
Amen