Sermon Discussion Questions:

1. The sermon defined worldliness as cultural assumptions that make holiness seem strange and sin seem normal. Of the three named forms of invisible worldliness—productivity & efficiency; safety & security; comfort & convenience. Which one most shapes your daily decisions? How can you tell?

2. Can you think of a recent decision where you justified something primarily because it was efficient, safe, or comfortable? What might faithfulness have looked like instead?

3. The sermon asked: Is there anything in your life right now that requires faithful risk? If not, why do you think that is?

4. Where do you confuse security with faithfulness—assuming that if something feels stable, it must be God’s will?

5. Where is God calling you to "die" right now?

The sins that have the most power over you are the ones you are least aware of.

You all have sins that you are aware of. Maybe you have a temper. Maybe you struggle with forgiveness, gluttony, overspending, or making yourself the center of everything.

But you know about it. You have those sins tagged with GPS markers and monitor them closely.

But what about the sins that lurk and creep in the dark that you aren’t aware of? Or maybe only have a hovering suspicion that maybe you struggle with greed or maybe you are vain?

The vices that hide best are usually tucked in a thicket of virtue. They know how to wear virtue’s clothes.

Folly and thoughtlessness can look like courage…and cowardice can look prudence and discernment.

Irresponsibility can look like generosity…and greed can look like frugality.

Those are the kind that are the most dangerous. And like a dog running through the brush to kick a pheasant up, Jesus comes along and flushes these hidden sins out into the open. The Church carries on this mission of Jesus by bringing into the light what is hidden in the dark. Mark Dever often describes the community of the church like those who splash buckets of paint on the invisible man. As an individual, we can’t see ourselves very clearly. We have blindspots. We are invisible to ourselves. But when my brother or sister in Christ sees my life, how I talk to my children, what I do with my time, what I get angry at, they can splash paint on me and help me see…Oh, I didn’t realize that was there. This is the ministry of the church that all Christians are called to: to help one another grow in Christ through speaking the truth in love to one another.

And my prayer as I have been preparing this sermon is for this sermon not to stay here in this sermon, but for you to take it out and to help one another. So, my prayer is that this sermon will grow legs and walk out of this room with you and it will lead to fruitful discussions, not just stay in your own mind. Why not turn and talk with each other after the service about what convicted you? Maybe invite someone out to lunch and invite their feedback? If you are not in a Discipleship Group, why not make this week the week that you seek one out so that you can have a community to help apply this sermon together?

In our text today, we are going to come across an opportunity for Jesus to flush out some of the most powerful, pervasive, and invisible forms of worldliness at work in the Church today. What is “worldliness”? Worldliness is the assumptions that our culture generates that makes holiness seem strange or difficult, and sin seem attractive and normal. So, worldliness can look like something “out there,” something that typical church-going Christians are not familiar with, but it also can look like something in here. It is a mood, a feeling, an unquestioned assumption that makes obedience to God’s Word seem bizarre, unrealistic, counter-intuitive. So what are some of the most powerful, pervasive, and invisible forms of worldliness at work in the Church today?

productivity and efficiency; safety and security; comfort and convenience.

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23 And Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24 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. 25 Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26 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 12:23-26

The hour has come. Jesus knows that His death is imminent. In a few days, maybe even one (the timeline can be difficult to discern exactly), Jesus will be crucified. How would you describe the moment that one of your friends betrays you, your other friends abandon you, and your most loyal deny they even know you? You are arrested, beaten, falsely accused, humiliated, flogged, stripped naked, mocked, and then have nails driven through your ankles and wrists into a crossbeam, where you will hang till you suffocate to death? Here is how Jesus describes it: “glory.” The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.

If that is what “glory” is, then count me out, right? No, thank you!

But it is the moment of glory. In that ugly moment of shame and pain, Jesus conquers and wins. Sin, death, the devil—they are defeated. And there is the paradox of Christianity.

There is nothing more shameful and ghastly, nothing more powerful and beautiful than the death of the Son of God.

Why?

Because through His death He saves us, and through His death He shows us. Through his death He…

• Saves us from our own sin and death.
• Shows us how to live in this world.

A life of unqualified productivity and efficiency, safety and security, comfort and convenience is simultaneously the most attractive siren song in the world…and the most deadly. If you devote yourself to the species of worldliness that leads you to prostitutes and drugs, to stealing from your company and running from the cops, you will know that you are in danger. But if your life is committed to…advancing in your company, paying off your mortgage early, maxing out your 401K contributions, and retiring with a large enough nest egg that you can travel the world…will any of us have any concerns about that?

My burden for this sermon: There are two equal and opposite dangers that we can fall into when we think about prosperity.

First, we can view it as absolutely evil, a sign of compromise. So, anything that is hard or uncomfortable is automatically good. This is the life of an ascetic. In the past, this would look like a monk who sleeps on a stone floor because the comfort of a bed was too indulgent. For us today, this can look like the person who is suspicious of comfort and pleasure.

Second, we can view it as absolutely good, a sign of blessing. So, anything that is hard or painful is automatically evil. This is the life of self-indulgence. In the recent past, this looked like the prosperity gospel found in old school Pentecostal churches: God’s will is for you to be happy, healthy, and wealthy, so have enough faith, and God will bless you with prosperity—and if you are unhappy, sick, and poor, that is a sign that you are doing something wrong. For us today, this looks more like a belief that life should get better as it goes—more comfortable, more secure, more productive—and if I begin to feel stressed out, stretched, unhappy, that is a sign that I am outside of God’s will.

I don’t think our church is more in danger of the first error than it is the second. I think we all, far more than we realize, are likely to embrace the second.

Brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death, 22 and you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. - Matt 10:21-22

You Must Die To Bear Fruit

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. - John 12:24

Surely, the disciples are a bit in the dark at this point (Why are you suddenly talking about wheat dying?), but later, this will all make sense to them (see John 12:16). Jesus stares off into that future day when His disciples will understand…into our very own day so that we may understand why Jesus did what He did, and why we must follow.

The principle makes all the sense in the world, and no sense at the same time.

If a head of wheat refused to break off from the life-giving stalk (and die), it would never grow new grain. But if it will die, it will bear much fruit. I looked it up, and a single head of wheat has about 50 kernels packed into it, 50 seeds to grow into new stalks of grain. This is how seed-bearing plants work. The fruit, the tree, the flower—it must have a funeral for new life to come.

That makes all the sense in the world. That’s how plants work.

But that isn’t how everything works. If I destroy a statue, it doesn’t start growing fifty new ones. If I hop onto your computer at night and delete all of your work, you do not have a harvest of new work growing the next day. Not everything works like a plant. And, most importantly, this isn’t how human beings work. Every time a human dies and we bury them in the ground, that’s where they stay, right?

Wrong. Jesus is the grain of wheat who dies and comes back with abundant life. Because He had not sinned and His own power was too great, death could not hold, and Jesus resurrects. Further, Jesus’ death and resurrection doesn’t only end with Him emerging from the grave, but in “leading a host of captives in His train,” (Ps 68:18)—Jesus plunders the grave! His death leads to “many being made righteous” (Isa 53:11). He dies without His own sin, but for the sins of His Church, so that now we too have the hope of the resurrection.

Jesus death saves us from our own sins.

Jesus shows us.

Our life isn’t limited to this world. There is real life on the other side of the grave.

Paul follows Jesus’ model by comparing our bodies to a kernel of wheat buried in the ground in his letter to the Corinthians (1 Cor 15:35-37). But instead of there being a numerical increase, the abundance of the resurrection is on the quality, not quantity: “What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. 43 It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power,” (1 Cor 15:42-43).

The conclusion: what comes on the other side of the resurrection is immeasurably better. The joys of heaven far outstrip what this world has to offer. So, we don’t live like this world is our one shot at joy or happiness or comfort. We just follow the Lord where He leads us. And, often, that will look hard. Here is how Jesus puts it elsewhere: ““If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me,” (Luke 9:23).

Notice that little word: daily. The apostle Paul tells the Corinthians: “I die every day!” (1 Cor 15:31).

There is a dress rehearsal, so to speak, day by day that a Christian is to undergo of death. When we deny ourselves from what the world tells us we must have, it feels like we are dying. The apostle Paul tells the Colossians to “put to death” what is “worldly” in us (Col 3:5).

To be brave means to be ready to sustain a wound…Every wound…tends toward death. Thus every brave deed draws sustenance from preparedness for death.

One of the reasons our culture is fixated on productivity and efficiency is because we don’t believe in heaven, we are not ready to die. Choosing to accept limits, to prioritize our commitments to Sabbath, to family, to friends, to daily prayer, to the members of our church, feels like dying. And, of course, we could always be a little bit more productive, more efficient. There is no end.

But Jesus teaches that “abundant fruit” only comes from dying. When we submit to God’s plan, when we deny ourselves and take up our cross, that’s the way to real productivity—at least the kind that God cares about.

But you can’t game the system—you can’t say, Ah, I see, if I take a Sabbath and get eight hours of sleep and spend time with friends, I’ll be even more productive! Not necessarily. Maybe you’ll do less and the promotion or deal will pass you by. Maybe you choose to pray and read in the morning instead of getting a headstart on cleaning your house and when the dinner guests show up that night, you just have a dirty house. But there will be better fruit that God ultimately cares about, that will last into heaven. This is the path to real life. You must die to bear fruit.

You Must Lose Your Life To Keep It

Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. - John 12:25

If you live as if this life is all that you have, you will lose it forever. ****If you live this life like your life and all your earthly desires are number one, the main thing, the best thing…just watch, and in time, you will see it slip through your fingers. Your career will diminish, your body will weaken, your mind will dull, your children will move away, your spouse will get sick and the fragile chalice you have poured your hope into will crack. And in a panic of anxiety, you will double-down, you will work harder to keep everything together, but you won’t be able to stop it from falling apart. And then you will fall apart.

(Example): Tim Keller shares a story about two marriages that went through a hard time….

CS Lewis summarizes this idea succinctly: “You can’t get second things by putting them first. You get second things only by putting first things first.”

Your life was meant more than this life. What you do in this life will go on for eternity, for good or for ill. So live with eternity in mind.

But…hate your life? What does that mean?

And now, behold, I am going to Jerusalem, constrained by the Spirit, not knowing what will happen to me there, 23 except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and afflictions await me. 24 But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God. - Acts 20:22-24

On my first trip to visit our missionaries working in a relatively dangerous country in Central America, I was speaking with the husband and wife about the risks they were facing serving in this context, when the wife explained: “I think American Christians assume safety is the most important thing in the world, when it isn’t.”

“Safety” is the feeling of immediate protection from harm. “Security” is the feeling of long-term protection. Both of these are not inherently bad. But neither are they inherently good. They are relatively good. Meaning, they are good so long as they are subordinated underneath what is better. If a child is drowning in the water, it will not be safe for you to jump in and help, but if you stay on the shore because safetyism keeps you there, it is abundantly clear that you have made the wrong choice. But we live in a day where we don’t experience much “risk” or “danger” and so have very little appetite for it, don’t know what to do with it.

I wonder if our deepest fantasy of the “good life” is a world where we would never need to exercise faith? Is there anything in your life that requires faithful risk right now?

But, in a sense, Jesus is making it clear: the safest thing in the world is to live so that your life is kept for eternity! If you hate your life in this world, you will keep it for eternal life.

The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom. To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen. - 2 Tim 4:18

You Must Serve To Be Honored

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 12:26

At one point, in Matthew’s gospel, we are told: And a scribe came up and said to him, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.” 20 And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” - Matt 8:19-20

Why does Jesus say that? Because following Him is hard.

“If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. 27 Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. 28 For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? - Luke 14:26-28

Why does Jesus say that? Because following Jesus will cost you.

Jesus never promised us that following Him would be comfortable or convenient, He promised it would be joyful and meaningful.

“My joy shall be in you and that your joy may be full” - John 15:11

…we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope - Rom 5:2-4

What if the very difficulty that God is intending to cultivate hopeful joy in us is what we are running from?

How much of your anxiety comes from precisely what Jesus told you was the path to life?

Remember the concluding promise: The Father will honor you.