by Brett Jacobsen

…The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honour. Now my soul is troubled. And what should I say? Father, save me from this hour? No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name… (John 12:23-28)

Though Jesus had many different facets to His earthly calling, surely the primary purpose of His incarnation was to lay His life down for the previous generations and those to come thereafter. His teaching, preaching, healing and other ministry appointments, as momentous as they were, were relatively insignificant in comparison to His costly self sacrifice. That very sacrifice was the vehicle which brought real breakthrough for all who will put their hope, trust and faith in Him.

Jesus said, while speaking of His death, “it is for this reason that I have come to this hour”. If Jesus hadn’t fallen into the ground and died, like a grain of wheat, He would remain alone and we would remain dead in our sin. However, He did and as a result was able to say “Father, glorify your name”. 

Now, notice that Jesus went straight from prophetically decreeing His imminent fate (His death for our life) to instructing His disciples how they ought to serve Him. He linked the two together because they are synonymous in purpose and in operation. We cannot serve Jesus without following His lead, without accompanying Him into death.

Too many modern Christians are trying to sidestep the imperative ‘living death’ as they seek a wonderful life in the world.

Of course there is a balance in scripture which allows us to enjoy the “all things” which God gives us richly for that purpose (1 Tim 6:17). However, He did state in our main text that “Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world [kosmos] will keep it for eternal life.” We are to despise living our life, for ourself, according to what we want and what we presume to be significant. We must “hate [our] life in this world”. The word “world” in the above scripture is kosmos, not ge. We are not to hate our life on earth (ge), however, we are to hate our life in the world (kosmos) - our life which continues to desire to succeed and prosper according to what the spirit, system and people of the world dictate. Paul gave us a practical picture of how to be dead to the world:

For you see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: But God has chosen the foolish things of the world [kosmos] to confound the wise; and God has chosen the weak things of the world [kosmos] to confound the things which are mighty; And base things of the world [kosmos], and things which are despised, has God chosen, yes, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: That no flesh should glory in his presence. (1 Cor 1:26-29)

We will need to daily “lay aside” the temptation of wisdom, might and nobility in our flesh (our natural person) and choose abasement in these central aspects of our lives (Heb 12:1). If “no flesh” will “glory in His presence” then His presence will abide in and upon that sacrificed flesh. It is only then that God will move through and for us, not a moment sooner. When we choose to lean back on our fleshly wisdom, might and nobility (when we love our life in this world) we do not operate in our true life in Christ. 

Not only does a worldly world-view produce anything but the genuine peace and presence of God, it will rob you of “[bearing] much fruit” for God’s Kingdom. Our eternal state, and other peoples’, is at stake according to whether we love our life in this world, or whether we hate it and choose His life instead. Yes, that’s right: whether people are eternally affected towards heaven or hell has a lot to do with our obedience to Christ… or lack thereof. 

Now, of course, we can’t die literally to atone for people’s sin, but we can identify with His death which allows the breakthrough for Him to bring His atonement. Because God is a covenant God who makes the rules and then abides by them, He seems to respond to our willingness. When outworking His plan to bring the Messiah to save mankind, it appears that He needed a man to be willing to give up his son for God in order for God to give up His son for man. Therefore, because Abraham was willing to kill his son Isaac for God, God, in covenant terms, was legally able to kill His son for man.

In a similar sense, although Jesus has already died and paid a full ransom for all who will call upon Him, God is still seeking those who are willing to give up their life so He can give His up for others. I do not presume to fully know the ins and outs of the mind and ways of God, but I do see plainly in the scriptures that God uses those who sacrifice their own life for Him to possess and permeate. I also see that He overlooks those who operate in their own wisdom, might, and nobility: ones who rely on their natural self- who live and love their life in this world. The only hope for us and the people of the world is that we, the saints of God, follow Christ by sowing our lives in death in order to see great harvests of people enter and remain in the Kingdom of God.    

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This entry was posted on Thursday, January 17th, 2008 at 12:01 pm and is filed under Brett Jacobsen's teachings, Evangelism / Discipleship, Living Christianity, Reformation/ Revival. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.