Sermon Text: John 12: 20-33
I make my plans for the day first thing in the morning. Now, that doesn’t mean that I achieve everything on my list. I think my list is more a “wish list”. We can plan for vacations, for big life events such as weddings, to accomplish those things on our “bucket lists”. Planning is a good thing.
One man recounts that his coach at school invited him over for dinner. After dinner, the coach took the young man aside, pulled out a notebook with the young man’s name on it, turned to the back page and showed him the date written on it which was 3 and ½ years away. Coach said: “Gordon, these are the races I’m going to schedule you to run about 4 years from now. Here are the times you will achieve.” Gordon, the young man, looked at the times. They were light years away from where he currently was as a runner. Then the Coach began turning back the pages of the book showing the 42 months he had scheduled for workouts. These were graduated, accelerated plans for the young man to increase his skill on the track in the coming months. Coaches and leaders know the necessity of strategic, long-range planning. Similarly, a wise and all-knowing God has a plan for our lives, as down through the years we gradually become more like Jesus. (Gordon MacDonald, 2000)
We have been talking about God’s covenants such as with Noah signified by the rainbow, and with Abraham. We also have been talking about the Ten Commandments. God made the covenants to show that he cared about his people, that he loved them and wanted them to relate to Him and to each other in loving ways. After looking at our society, we can surmise that happiness and a peaceful co-existence cannot happen without restraint, without laws.
According to Jeremiah, a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah was coming. Did you ever notice that God doesn’t just stop? He reached one item on His checklist, checked it off as achieved and moved on to His next goal. This new goal of God’s was to put His law within us, written on our hearts. He will be our God, we will be His people. We will all know Him.
To make it even more bolder---God promises that He will forgive our sins and remember them no more. A fresh start. It’s one thing to start a relationship but if you start it with baggage from the previous relationship, you’ve already damaged it. One must put aside what happened before (oh yes, learn from it but don’t dwell on it), and begin with openness, with a new heart. Perhaps that’s why our Psalmist of psalm 51 (David in fact), asks for God to “create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me.”
The phrase “new covenant” occurs only this once in the Old Testament. Early Christians made an interpretive bridge between the proclamation of the prophet and the content of the gospel of God set forth in Jesus Christ. One sees this understanding as well within the pages of the New Testament. At the Last Supper Jesus describes the cup as the representation of the “new covenant in my blood”.
Here is some insight into the “law written on our hearts” from theologian Fred Craddock:
“What then is new about the new covenant? That God initiates the covenant, that God forgives sins, and that Israel will “know” God intimately had been features of older covenants. What is without precedent is the law written on the heart, the covenant at the core of one’s being. The newness is a special gift, the capacity to be faithful and obedient. In the Old Testament, the heart is the seat of the will…consequently, the special gift here is a will with the capacity to be faithful. God thus promises to change the people from the inside out, to give them a center. This covenant will overcome the conflict between knowing and wanting one thing and doing another. In the new covenant the people will act as if they are owned by God without even reflecting upon it.”
As second insight from Fred Craddock is this: “Which laws, then, are written on the heart? All the laws of Moses? Just the Decalogue? The answer is all of these things, and none of them. Just these words will suffice: “I am yours, and you are mine,” says God. That is the language of love and faithfulness.”
John wrote of Jesus’ words to his disciples: “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” God’s plan revolved around His Son not in living his life on earth but in giving his life for the people of the earth. In this way His name would be glorified as would that of His Son and the word would spread—as we know it did!
One missionary named J. W. Tucker stayed in the country of Zaire (which is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo) in 1964 despite the danger to his life. A mob attacked him and killed him. They threw his body in the Bomokande River. Some time later during a civil war, the tribe that lives along the river appealed to the government in the capital city of Kinshasa for help. The Brigadier came to the tribe. This man had met Tucker two months before Tucker had died and was converted by him. The Brigadier had heard of the tribe’s tradition that said: “If the blood of any man flows in the Bomokande River, you must listen to his message.” So the Brigadier called the tribe together and said to them: “Some time ago, a man was killed, and his body was thrown into your river. Crocodiles ate him up. His blood flowed in your river. But before he died, he gave me a message. This message concerns God’s Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, who came into this world to save people who were sinners. He died for the sins of the world; he died for my sins and for yours. I received this message and it changed my life.” As the Brigadier preached, the Spirit of God descended. Many were converted. (Marshall Shelley, “A Missionary’s Sacrifice Was Worth the Cost”)
God’s plan was further revealed in what Jesus said: “And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” As Fred Craddock pointed out: “I am yours, and you are mine,” says God. That is the language of love and faithfulness.”
Could it be as powerful as this example of love?: When Northwest Airlines flight 225 crashed just after takeoff from Detroit on August 16, 1987, killing 155 people, only one person survived: Cecilia aged 4 of Tempe, Arizona. At first, when Cecilia was found, it was thought that she had been a passenger in one of the cars on the highway onto which the plane had crashed. But after checking the passenger list, Cecilia’s name was found on the list. How had she survived? Her mother had unbuckled her own seatbelt, knelt in front of her daughter, wrapped her arms and body around her daughter and did not let go. Nothing could separate that child from her mother’s love—not tragedy nor fall nor the flames that followed. Such is the love of our Savior for us. He left heaven, lowered himself to us, and covered us with the sacrifice of his own body to save us.” (Bryan Chapell, In the Grip of Grace)
God’s plan is further revealed in Hebrews: “In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to the One who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. Although He was a Son, he learned obedience through what he suffered;…”
Author Mitch Albom in his book Tuesdays with Morrie, wrote about a time when he asked his favorite college professor, why he bothered to watch the news on TV when he wouldn’t be around to see how things turned out. Morrie responded: “It’s hard to explain, Mitch. Now that I’m suffering (he was dying from Lou Gehrig’s disease), I feel closer to people who suffer that I ever did before. The other night on TV, I saw people in Bosnia running across the street and getting fired upon. I just started to cry. I feel their anguish as if it were my own. I don’t know any of these people. But I’m almost drawn to them.” Jesus understands our sufferings too, but it’s more than empathy; he has suffered and is with us when we suffer.
This is the thing that draws us close to God—because He suffered death for us. That should motivate us to “become a seed that dies and then bears much fruit.” In this, we die to self---selfishness and self-aggrandisement—and empty ourselves so that we can be filled with Him.
And the plan: “Although He was a Son, he learned obedience through what he suffered; and having been made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all WHO OBEY HIM, having been designated by God a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek.” The seed of God died to bear fruit—our salvation so that we may live with God forever. He obeyed because of love. It remains that we learn from this---obedience means “dying to self in order to bear fruit.” The fruit of love.