Sermon at First Presbyterian
Church Lockhart
Psalm 71:1-18, I Corinthians 1:18-31, John 12:20-33
We
see cars speeding down the Interstate
doing 85-90 miles per hour and know that the person driving is
breaking the law, but sometimes we forget that those are not the only laws. In the modern world of technology, and
electronic gadgets we often forget
and many times ignore God’s Laws, God’s commands, or God’s rules. The person driving 90 MPH forgets that at that speed, with sudden turns and swerving
in and out of traffic, can and often
does break the laws of physics. They only realize the problem when the
tires loose traction, and the car that is going straight, is now doing it sideways.
We all remember the law – “a body in
motion will continue in motion unless acted upon by another force” – like the back end of a slow moving dump truck, or a stationary tree.
There are laws of agriculture
– water always seeks the lowest level (because of gravity) - unless it’s
frozen, or when you put a seed into the ground, and it has
sun, water, and soil it will grow. It seems a miracle to
us. Something that looks dead and
dormant is buried in the ground, but it brings forth
abundant life that gives back 100’s
of seeds, because of the spirit
hidden inside. The seed has to die to be fruitful. Just look at
any stalks of corn, cotton,
or sorghum. It’s part of God’s Law, and part of God’s
Physics.
He
declares that God is also our hope
and confidence for the Future.
In the end
it is the realization,
that we praise God in all times - Past,
Present, and Future.
God
is the reason for him to always
have hope, and be the source
of his salvation. Looking at the Psalm from a New Testament
point of view we can see an overlay of Christ’s anointing call. How in
both his and our own humanity, we call upon God to deliver and save
us. The psalmist is shown in his
willingness to praise, and declare, that God will always be his strength
and refuge. Just as this
church remembers its history, the psalmist remembers his history and relationship to, and with - God.
In
I Corinthians we see how God has
made the wisdom of this world
foolishness because they did not know God.
God has chosen foolish and weak things to disprove the wise and the strong of this world. It is part
of God’s physics. It is part of God’s wisdom displayed through Christ who is our righteousness,
holiness and redemption.
In reading of John this morning, the Greek’s came to worship at the feast and seeking Jesus. These are Gentiles coming to worship Jesus and to see Lazarus
after he
1
was raised
from the dead. Jesus tells them
that the hour has come for the Son
Of Man to be glorified. He then
describes a Hebraic Parallelism in dying to be
fruitful. It deals with loss and faithfulness in his parable
about the grain of wheat. He demonstrates how, in being faithful, we must experience loss, to be fruitful. V 24-25 "I tell you the truth,
unless a kernel of wheat falls
to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.
The man who loves his life
will lose it, while the man who
hates his life in this world, will keep it for eternal life." Here a seed, by itself, is only one seed. But if it dies, when it goes into the ground, it produces many seeds. The man that loves this life is like
that single kernel. He only dies. But if the man who
hates this life (dies to sin in
faithfulness) he is like the seed that dies in the ground. He becomes fruitful
in eternal life. So his loss becomes a gain, through his faithfulness.
Jesus (The
Word) reverently submitted to the Word (the commands) of the Father, to be fruitful, like the seed planted in the ground. He had to submit his will (die to himself) in order to live in abundance, and be fruitful like the seed. He was following God’s Law by allowing that
law and spirit to dwell in him, it allow him to live into his call, to serve, in the Father's Will. This was to fulfill God’s covenant and promise to bring about the salvation of all.
This
is the way it will be in the resurrection.
It will be the fruitful gaining
of what we have lost, in the bounty of reunion, with all of those in Christ. Just like the gain and loss that we experience in life. We can see a modern expression of this emotion in
Kahlil Gibran's book "The Prophet" on “Joy and Sorrow”(P.29) "Your
joy is your sorrow unmasked." ..."Is not the cup that holds your
wine the very cup that was burned in the potter's oven?" ...
When you are joyous, look deep
into your heart and you shall find it is only that which has given
you sorrow that is giving you
joy.
When you are sorrowful look
again in your heart, and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your
delight."
We find the answers, for the text, in the good news of the Gospel. We all
in dying unto sin, and living unto Christ,
experience that Loss, and Gain.
But through faith, we are
reassured, that we all will
eventually meet again, so that
our greatest Loss will also be the seeds and planting of
our greatest joy.
(Our greatest gain)
Just like being at a family reunion, we will see all of our ancestors and friends in The Kingdom. V-26
Who ever serves Jesus, "must"
follow Jesus. We must die to sin
in this world, to be fruitful and live abundantly in eternity. We must "Take up our cross" (dying unto sin) and follow Jesus. This is
what he means when he says Where 'I am'
- - my servant will be also. My father will honor the one who serves me.
The one who dies to sin - lives to Christ, will be honored
by the Father) Jesus in his human
condition, is committed to his cause in wrestling with his duty/destiny/mission to save humanity.
V-31 "Now is the time for judgment
on this world; Now the prince
of this world will be driven
out." In this verse, Jesus is completing the prophesy of his ministry.
2
Remember when he started his ministry - in the synagogue (Luke 4:18-19) and read from Isaiah
61:2 "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed
me to preach gospel to the poor; He
has sent me to heal the broken hearted, to preach
deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are
bruised. To preach the acceptable year of the Lord."
He stopped in the
middle of V-2. Now,
near the end of his ministry
he finishes that prophetic verse from Isaiah in this V-31. Jesus is now
completing and fulfilling
the prophesy in Isaiah 61:2
-following on in V-3. Isaiah
61:2-3 "To proclaim the acceptable
year of the Lord,
and the 'vengeance' of our God; to comfort all who mourn; Now is the
time for the Judgment
of this world; Now the prince of
this world will be driven out.
To appoint for them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, and oil of joy
for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord,
-- that He might be glorified."
Again reference back
to John 12:28 "Father glorify your name!" "I
have glorified it, and will
glorify it again." Jesus glorified God's name in dying
for the sins of mankind. Those who submit, to God’s
Will; Those who die
to sin: those who are righteous, - are the trees
of righteousness. They are - the planting of the Lord. They are - dying to sin to be fruitful in
righteousness: to bear fruit in
resurrection that ‘He’ (The
Lord) might be glorified.
Jesus will go to death,
and beyond and overcomes death
in resurrection. He must die
to be fruitful in redeeming
God’s people.
In the last V-32 -33
Jesus is lifted
up over the earth - draws all men to him. In his death
he over comes the death in this world. This
verse comes from the verses in Psalm 80:14-15 "the son of man you
have raised up for yourself." The word Vine is a metaphor and symbol for
In
the light of the New Testament, we
see Jesus (the “son of man”) raised up for God in the message of
the gospels. We see, how God is called upon by the people. In their call to be saved. It is a blue print of the coming of Christ and his purpose to redeem not
just the people of
(His commands) to be in us – in our hearts and minds.
Through this, God’s presence is reflected in us, to those around us. In this manner, we bring the
Finally, like the laws of the seed, God
is putting His Spirit within
his people. It tells us that, - we will all know the Lord. We like that seed, will grow and follow
God’s Law. We will know
what the Lord commands us to
do. We will be apart of God’s plan and purpose, but we must die to our sin,
to be fruitful
in His will and Righteousness to be saved … In
the Name of … the Father, the Son,
and the Holy Spirit. Amen
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