John 12:20-26 SERVANTS WHO FOLLOW There are many people in this world who are outwardly religious, but inwardly they are uncertain of their relationship with God, and look in all the wrong places to find answers to their fears. Greeks prided themselves on their philosophical approach to the questions of "Who am I?"; "Why am I here?"; "Is there life after death?"; "Is there a God?" People today ask those questions, and even though answers are given the from the scriptures, they reject them because they consider themselves their own god, and the God of the Bible is a god of imagination to them. However, when confronted with the evidence of who Jesus is, they stop to consider whether their opinions are right or not.
The Greeks, Jewish proselytes, who came to see Jesus had been searching in Judaism for what was missing in their philosophical search. When confronted with evidence of One who did miracles even to the extent of raising Lazarus from the dead, and seeing the response of the people to Jesus, they wanted to see Jesus for themselves. The evidence today of changed lives often creates an interest in those who were previously disinterested. A drunk man who becomes sober; an immoral woman whose life is changed and so she lives with respect and modesty; a person with an attitude of malice and anger who becomes a loving and caring person - these are evidence of the reality of faith in Christ. Proofs of the Gospel message have great impact on bystanders when inward lasting change takes place.
With anticipation, those Greeks came to Philip. Sometimes those who serve the Lord in the background, are those who inquirers find more approachable. Both Philip and Andrew were not men who were out in front of the activities of the disciples. Those brothers who are more reticent, often connect with those like themselves than those whose personalities set them in the middle of things. We do not need to copy each other, nor should we envy those who are more gifted than we. God has placed us in the body to be what He wants, and where He wants. It is important that we are willing to serve God without prejudice, and with dignity, honor and respect.
Those Greeks looked with anticipation to seeing Jesus. For us, we see the willing condescension of the Lord Jesus Christ when He was for a little time made lower that the angels for the suffering of death, now crowned with glory and honor. The day is coming in the future when "we shall see Him and be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is." That day of revelation will be the culmination of all our hopes and dreams that motivate us to serve Him with honor today.
That last public incident in the ministry of the Lord Jesus opened up the hour He had been speaking of that should come. That hour would be the one in which the Lord would be glorified in His death as the Lamb of God John the Baptist had prophesied would bear away the sin of the world. Most people want a comfortable life and try to avoid anything that brings pain and suffering. Greeks were like that in their philosophical outlook on life. Now that the hour had come for the Lord Jesus Christ to be glorified by His death, burial and resurrection, He explained how this would happen.
A grain of wheat remains a single grain until it is put into the ground where the life-source within it is nurtured by water and heat that opens the seed to produce many more seeds of the same kind. The water of the Word of God and the warmth of the Spirit of God combine to produce the life hidden in the seed of the word of God. The Lord Jesus Christ buy His death on the cross for us has brought multiplied millions to experience new life in Him. This eternal life we received as a gift comes not as a labor in our part but as the result of the life-principle that the Seed alone produces. Remarkably the seeds that come from that One, are like the Original Seed in looks, character and use. "I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me."
The same principle holds true for us. If we hold back our life from dying to sin from the fruitfulness it can produce because we love the world, or at least the things if offers, we will lose all that is worthwhile from the years of our living on earth. If we are willing to lose our life for the Lord's sake and the Gospel's. we will save it. Not only will our years of living be saved for an eternal purpose, but the Father will honor that person. I can honor God by going where He want me to go and doing what He wants me to do.
There may be the times of reproach and/or suffering in life, but when we follow Christ wherever He leads us, to serve Him by doing whatever His will for us is, the Father will honor His servant. More importantly, the Lord Jesus Christ will be honored and glorified through the faithful service of those who follow Him.