Your Life, A Seed In The Ground
(8 minutes)
Before we look at this story, it's important to remember something that Pastor Tim mentioned on Sunday. This story appears in all four gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Not only does it appear in each gospel, but it's mentioned six times across those gospels. This is significant and it shows us just how important this story is to Abba's heart.
Now there were a number of foreigners from among the nations who were worshipers at the feast. They went to Philip (who came from the village of Bethsaida in Galilee) and they asked him, "Would you take us to see Jesus? We want to see him." So Philip went to find Andrew, and then they both went to inform Jesus. He replied to them, "Now is the time for the Son of Man to be glorified. Let me make this clear: A single grain of wheat will never be more than a single grain of wheat unless it drops into the ground and dies. Because then it sprouts and produces a great harvest of wheat - all because one grain died. The person who loves his life and pampers himself will miss true life! But the one who detaches his life from this world and abandons himself to me, will find true life and enjoy it forever! If you want to be my disciple, follow me and you will go where I am going. And if you truly follow me as my disciple, the Father will shower his favor upon your life. (John 12:20-26)
What is Jesus trying to say? What is Jesus trying to tell his disciples, these foreigners, and all of us? What does this have to do with Lordship?
“He's teaching His disciples and these foreigners what it's going to take to see Him in the future. To be His disciple, to be favored by the Father...He's telling them it's much more than following me around, seeing miracles be done. It's much more than coming to me for what you can get. He's telling them, 'If you want to be my disciple, if you want to know Me, you're going to have to lay your life down.'" (Pastor Tim)
This scripture is telling us what it's going to take to be in life-union with Jesus. What it's going to take to abide in Him. So many of us start with the right desires, to see Jesus, but Jesus is showing us that our desires have to lead us to the place where we lay ourselves down. We can't take our own point of view and our own plans for life into this life-union with Him. Maybe this is why we feel stuck. Because we keep coming to Jesus with our own plans, and He's trying to talk to us about something completely different.
"Every time we go to Him and ask for what we think we want, He shows us what we need. Every time I go to Jesus, He wants to talk about something that I don't want to talk about. What He's telling me is, 'The things you don't want to talk about are the things that's keeping you from what you want.' The things that we fear, that we think we already know, and that we've already settled in our lives, He's telling us those things you don't want to hear, the things that are offensive to you, is actually what we need to deal with to get you to where your heart desires." (Pastor Tim)
How many times are we circling the same mountain, all because we're unwilling to talk about what Jesus is wanting to talk about? Our avoiding His voice in these areas could be the thing that's keeping us from getting what our heart has been crying out for. What is Jesus saying that you can't hear? Because you're unwilling to hear.
Here's an even deeper question: what are we afraid of?
Jesus could not be any clearer as to what He's after: life-union. "I will lay My life down to be joined to you. Will you lay your life down to be joined to Me?"
"It's going to take a covenant. It's going to take a union. It's going to take an exchange, your life for mine. That's what He's saying. You're going to have to lay down your concerns for your life. You're going to have to let your life be a seed in the ground." (Pastor Tim)
It all comes down to what we're really after: a real relationship with Yeshua, or the illusion of a relationship where we're calling the shots and dressing up our decisions with His name. A covenant marriage is two people willing to lay down their lives to be joined to one another. Is this what our relationship with Jesus looks like?
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Worship: "Once And For All" by Lauren Daigle
Honor: Give Online to The Wilderness Place
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