Hating Your Life

We're back in John. And we find Jesus moving closer to the climax of His life: the Cross. In the bit of Scripture that we are going to work on today we're going to find Jesus talking some about His coming death. And it's in that context that He makes one of those over-the-top comments about being one of His disciples. Listen.

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. (John 12.20-26)

Jesus here responds to Andrew and Philip by speaking about Himself in a couple of brief proverbs. He talks about a dying grain of wheat and hating life in this world. What's interesting is that while Jesus begins by talking about Himself and the Father's call on His life, He makes a subtle transition and ends by talking about being a disciple and Jesus' call on that disciple's life. It's here that Jesus makes that over-the-top comment.

Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.

How odd! Does Jesus really want us to hate our lives? That can't be. So, what I'm supposed to do at this point is somehow explain how He didn't really mean that we should hate our lives. That's just code language for something else. I'm supposed to soften what He said. But there is a problem with my doing that. He really did say that loving your life results in losing it. He really did say that hating your life results in eternal life. To be sure, something is going on here, something we need to carefully work to understand. But we also need to be careful that we don't water down what Jesus is teaching to make it more acceptable.

So, what is He talking about? What is this hating your life? What is Jesus telling us to do? I think that the best way for us to get at this will be to actually look at its partner, loving your life. It's pretty clear that Jesus doesn't want us to do that. And I think that this will be easier to get a hold of so we can understand this ‘hating your life’.

So, what is not loving your life? This is where those biblical stories of long dead saints come in handy. I have three in mind. Let's start with the familiar. This first one is for you parents. It's about Abraham and Isaac. God says to Abraham, 'I want to take your kid away from you. I want him dead.' Now, it's no stretch to say that Abraham's life was tied up in his boy. And God knew that. That's why He referred to Isaac as, 'Your son, your only son, whom you love.' So, parents, what if God told you, 'I want your kid. I'm taking him away from you. I want him dead.' You don't have to hear a voice out of the sky. A state trooper at your door with news of a fatal car crash works just as well. Do you love your life and what it contains - in this case, your kid - in such a way that if something like this were to happen it would destroy you?

Here's another and this one is for those of you in high school and college. It's about Daniel. One day, when he was somewhere around your age, some soldiers show up and dramatically change his life. They rip him away from home and family and friends and everything familiar, and take him to some really strange place far away. And that's where he lives for the rest of his life, until he is an old man. All the plans that he had about his career, that young lady he had his eye on, his buddies - not to mention his ties to mom and dad - they all go up in smoke. They are gone not just for a little while but forever. His life is completely changed. So, do you love your life and what it contains - in this case, your plans and dreams and all the rest - so that if something like this were to happen - well, you would be so mad at God! What right does He have to mess with your life like that? Do you love your life so that you would get angry at your God for what He had done?

This last one is for those of you who are married. Think about Ezekiel. There he is being a faithful prophet, and God tells him that He is going to do something to make a point to those stubborn church folk he's been preaching to. This is what God says to His prophet.

Son of man, behold, I am about to take the delight of your eyes away from you at a stroke; yet you shall not mourn or weep, nor shall your tears run down.

And Ezekiel responds.

So I spoke to the people in the morning, and at evening my wife died. And on the next morning I did as I was commanded. 

God tells Ezekiel that He is going to kill his wife. Not because he was falling down on the job, like Jonah. Not to teach him important lessons, like Job. Ezekiel was doing fine. He was a faithful prophet. This was just another part of his ministry, a way to communicate some truth. So, for you marrieds, do you love your life and what it contains - in this case, your spouse - in such a way that if this were to happen to you - well, what would you do? What would you say to the God who did this to you?

This is what Jesus is talking about in our text. These are situations where what you love - what you really love - is revealed. These are situations where important choices need to be made. Jesus said if you love your life you will lose it. No eternal life for you.

This is where seeing that Jesus began by talking about Himself is significant. It's actually quite helpful. Jesus did not love His life. Many miss seeing this as clearly as they might because they don't see that Jesus was a regular guy. He was this young man who, for one thing, would have enjoyed being married. I wouldn't be surprised to find out that He noticed a particular young lady while He was growing up. He would have enjoyed bouncing His youngest on His knee while telling Bible stories to the rest of His kids. Snuggling with His wife would have felt good to Him. A life with family would have worked quite nicely. But the Father called Him to give all of that up. Don't think that that was easy. Why would it be easy? And, for sure, He didn't want to die, especially on some Cross. And He made that clear to the Father. But the Father's call for Him was also clear. And so, He didn't love His life. He became the grain of wheat that falls to the earth and dies. And He calls each of you to do the same. Jesus takes the lead and calls you to follow Him. The attitude of every disciple is to be the same as Jesus' attitude. He didn't love His life.

So, the persistent prayer of a disciple goes something like this. 'Father, my life is Yours, to do with as You wish. I want to obey Your will for my life, whatever that might be. Help me to do that.' The particular words of your prayer might be different but not the attitude. It is not possible to be a disciple of Jesus and refuse to offer this kind of prayer. This is what following Jesus is about. It's about not loving your life.

Now, why would anyone want to live this kind of life? Jesus tells us.

If that grain of wheat dies, it bears much fruit.

Jesus' dying to His love of this life bore much fruit. One bit of that fruit is you. You enjoy the benefits of being a Christian - the affectionate love of the Father, the forgiveness of all your sins, the powerful presence of the Spirit - because Jesus, the grain of wheat, died. And what you need to see is that your dying to your love of this life will also bear much fruit. Each day I pray the Lord's Prayer. And the first half goes like this: 'Hallowed by Thy Name, Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.' Each day I am praying that things here on earth change so that, bit by bit, they become more like heaven. But it will take more than my praying for that to happen. It will also take my living as a disciple, a disciple as Jesus has defined that, for those prayers to become a reality. And they will become a reality. That's the fruitfulness that Jesus promises to all His disciples who follow Him in the way that He describes.

Now, for the last bit of what Jesus said in our text.

If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also.

So, what is this 'where I am'? Where will a servant of Jesus be? What shall we call it? Heaven, eternity, the age to come? Whatever label you want to use, Jesus promises a glorious life to all who serve Him, who follow Him in dying to their love of this life. Once again you can see the importance of a lively hope in what happens later. Later is important for now. Later gives hope for now. Later gives a reason for living this way now. The best part of following Jesus is not now. The best part is later. And yes, you have to wade through a lot of garbage to get there. But it's worth it. After all, think about it. Jesus will be there with all the saints who have gone before us! And you will be there with Him - if you serve Him in the way He describes.

But, as if that's not enough, there's this.

If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.

To be totally honest with you, I cannot imagine what this would feel like. The Father honoring a sinner like me? Get real! Can't happen. I'd be happy if He just barely notices me. And I'd actually settle for being tolerated. But Jesus disagrees. The Father, the eternal God who needs nothing from us, will honor all who serve Jesus. Now, there's something that's really over-the-top.

There are many things that I have appreciated about Jesus as I've gotten to know Him. Here's one. When He calls people to follow Him, there is no fine print added later. He's very up front. Following Him will be hard. It will be really painful at times. And it will cost you. It might even cost you everything you love about your life. You will need to hate your life in this world. Jesus is clear about all of this. But He's also clear about something else. He's also clear that it's totally worth it.

So, what do you do now? Some could misunderstand what I've said. They might think that they need to find some hard thing to do for Jesus. Fortunately, that's not the case. And I say 'fortunately' because we'd probably choose the wrong thing. No, what you need to do is to pray. Pray and then wait for His response. Wait for Him to tell you what He wants you to do. And while the words may be very different, the kind of prayer that I'm thinking about goes something like this.

Father, my life is Yours, to do with as You wish. I want to obey Your will for my life, whatever that might be. Help me to do that.

I think that works. What do you think?