Whoever Loves His Life Loses It

John 12:20-26 ESV

“Now among those who went up to worship at the feast were some Greeks. So these came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, ‘Sir, we wish to see Jesus.’ Philip went and told Andrew; Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. And Jesus answered them, ‘The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 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.’”

Jesus Christ here was predicting his death which was at hand. He was soon to be arrested for no crime committed and for no wrongdoing, but only because he was God in the flesh, the only begotten Son of God, who came to earth with the express purpose to die on that cross for our sins. His enemies had been plotting his death and they were about to carry it out, hoping that would be the end of him and the end of his teachings, too.

And he was soon to be put on trial for no crime committed but only because he loved us enough to leave his throne in heaven and to come down to the earth and to take on human form and to suffer and die for us on that cross. He was soon to be mocked and spit on and beaten and have a crown of thorns placed on his head and then forced to carry his cross, and then put on that cross to die a horrible and painful death for you and for me.

He was only guilty of loving you and me so much that he was willing to take upon himself the sins of the entire world, even though he knew no sin, so that you and I could now, by God-given faith in him, die with him to sin and live to him and to his righteousness in the power of God, and according to the will of God. For in his death he put our sins to death with him so that we could be set free from our slavery to sin and now serve him with our lives.

And Jesus’ little parable illustrates for us, not only of the necessity of Jesus’ death on that cross, but also of our necessity to die with him to sin so that we might have new life in him and bear fruit for his eternal kingdom in keeping with repentance. For, in order for us to have new life in Christ we must first be crucified with Christ in death to sin and then raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, no longer as slaves to sin but to God.

Now, this next part reminds me of what Jesus said in Luke 9:23-26, where he said “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.” And I believe by that he means that to come after him we must deny self, die daily to sin and to self, and follow Jesus in obedience. For if we hold on to our old lives of living in sin and for self, we will lose them for eternity. But if for the sake of Jesus we die with Christ to sin and live to his righteousness, then we have eternal life.

So, this was a consistent message with Jesus. And his NT apostles taught the same thing, that faith in Jesus Christ requires that we die with him to sin, not just once, but daily, and that we now walk in obedience to his commands, and no longer in sin. For if sin is what we practice, and if righteousness and obedience to our Lord are not what we practice, the Scriptures teach that we will not inherit eternal life with God.

So, if we want to claim Jesus as our Lord and Savior, and forgiveness of sins, and heaven as our eternal home, we must die with Christ to sin and live to his righteousness, in the power of God, in practice. And we must no longer walk (in conduct, in practice) in sin and according to the flesh. But we must walk in obedience to our Lord and to his commands (New Covenant). For we don’t belong to God if we do not obey him, in practice.

[Matt 7:21-23; Matt 24:9-14; Lu 9:23-26; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14,24; Rom 12:1-2; Rom 13:11; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; 1 Co 1:18; 1 Co 15:1-2; 2 Tim 1:8-9; Heb 9:28; 1 Pet 1:5; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-17; 1 Pet 2:24; Tit 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 3:6,14-15; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15] 

My Sheep  

An Original Work / June 24, 2012  

Based off John 10:1-18 NIV

My sheep hear me. They know me.

They listen to my voice and obey.

I call them and lead them.

They know my voice, so they follow me.

They will never follow strangers.

They will run away from them.

The voice of a stranger they know not;

They do not follow him.

So, I tell you the truth that

I am the gate, so you enter in.

Whoever does enter

Will find forgiveness and will be saved.

Nonetheless whoever enters

Not by the gate; other way,

He is the thief and a robber.

Listen not, the sheep to him.

Oh, I am the Good Shepherd,

Who laid his own life down for the sheep.

I know them. They know me.

They will live with me eternally.

The thief only comes to steal and

Kill and to destroy the church.

I have come to give you life that

You may have it to the full… 

They know my voice, so they follow me.

https://vimeo.com/114938263