By Pastor Greg
A man hadn't been feeling well,
so he goes to his doctor for a complete checkup. Afterward, the doctor comes
out with the results. "I'm afraid I
have some dreadful news," the doctor
says. "You're dying, and you don't have much time left." "Oh, that's terrible!" says the
man. "Give it to me straight, Doc. How long have I got?" "Ten," the doctor says sadly. "Ten?" the man asks. "Ten
what? Months? Weeks? What?!" "Nine..."
Not only was this man’s time
very short, but the same could also be
said about any one of us. We have no
idea how much time we really have here on earth. We never know when we will take our last
breath. Even the Church has no idea when
the Lord will call us away. We don’t know when the Church will be raptured. It could be very soon. Which means our opportunity to share the Good
News with the people of this world is limited.
We don’t have all of eternity.
Jesus has said, “The harvest is plentiful,
but the workers are few”[1]
(Matthew 9:37). He also pointed out that
the time to minister in this world is limited (compare John 11:9); a lesson His
disciples needed to learn.
After Jesus rides into Jerusalem
on the young donkey, some people began asking for an opportunity to meet
Him. John says 20 Some Greeks who
had come to Jerusalem for the Passover celebration 21 paid a
visit to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee. They said, “Sir, we want to
meet Jesus.” 22 Philip told Andrew about it, and they went
together to ask Jesus.
23 Jesus replied, “Now
the time has come for the Son of Man to enter into his glory. 24 I
tell you the truth, unless a kernel of
wheat is planted in the soil and dies, it remains alone. But its death will
produce many new kernels—a plentiful harvest of new lives. 25 Those
who love their life in this world will lose it. Those who care nothing for
their life in this world will keep it for eternity. 26 Anyone
who wants to be my disciple must follow me,
because my servants must be where I am. And the Father will honor anyone who
serves me [2]
(John 12:20-26).
What Jesus says here seems way
out of place. You would expect Him to
say, “Sure, have them pop by sometime.” But instead, He starts talking about His
death, which just seems a bit odd.
Actually, Jesus was not answering the Greeks, nor was He answering
Philip and Andrew’s question. He was
teaching the disciples an important lesson.
He reminds them that soon He will
be gone, however, the people of this world are still going to come. They will still want to know what Jesus did
or what He said. The people of this
world will have questions, and very soon the disciples would need to answer
them on their own.
Jesus knew His death would do
far more than redeem humanity. Jesus
understood that through His death, the number of “kernel’s” (disciples) would
grow. History confirms this. From this small group of followers would come explosive growth. 3,000 people became believers in one day
(Acts 2:41). The New Testament ministry
of these “kernel’s” reached far more people than Jesus did while He walked this earth. None of this would have happened had Jesus
disobeyed the Father’s will.
Jesus turns to His disciples and
calls them to the same kind of obedience.
He looks at them and says, “If you are going to follow Me, then you will
need to lay down your life as well.”
Jesus teaches them that following Him will involve a cost.
Earlier in His ministry, Jesus
said, “If any of
you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your
cross daily, and follow me. 24 If you try to hang on to your
life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save
it”[3]
(Luke 9:23-24). This is not merely a
lesson for the disciples who lived back then, but a lesson for every follower
of Christ. It applies to individual
Christians and to each local church as well.
To bear much fruit (to lead the lost to Jesus), a Christian must be
willing to make sacrifices in their life.
Serving the Lord must become the greatest purpose in their life. Doing His work must become their highest priority. This is what it means to serve Jesus; to love
doing the work of the Lord greater than
life itself (compare John 12:25). To
make this kind of sacrifice is to honor the Lord. These are the disciples God will honor.
I know, I know. That kind of fanaticism troubles you. And I’m sure you will point out that God is
content with your 10%. I’ll agree that God is happy with what little of
ourselves we have to give. But, if you
want your life to be making a difference for the Lord, then you cannot be a
spectator. You don’t get to carry the
Stanley Cup just because you were in the arena that day. Fans don’t receive a Super Bowl ring. It is the participants who receive the
highest honor.
The Bible teaches us that “Whatever you do in
word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him
to God the Father”[4]
(Colossians 3:17). The Lord does not
expect all of us to do the same thing, not does He expect us to serve in the
same capacity. But to truly be a
disciple, He expects us to surrender our lives to Him, not just surrender our
heart. When we surrender our heart, we
become saved. When we surrender our
life, we become servants.
The Lord reminded the disciples
that soon He would be gone, and the ministry would continue only if they gave
their life to Jesus. Today, the Lord is
asking the same thing. Today, Jesus is
asking believers to surrender themselves to His will. The Lord is looking for Christians willing to
be used wherever they might be. He is
not asking all of us to give up our careers and become a pastor. However, He is looking for faithful followers
who put Jesus first in their life, ready and willing to give Him the glory
through their words and through their deeds.
Our time is short. We have a limited amount of time to reach our
classmates, coworkers, neighbors, and friends.
A believer who has surrendered their whole life to Jesus makes use of
every opportunity to serve the people of this world in the name of Jesus, to
help the people of this world meet Jesus, to answer their questions about
Jesus, and tell them about the grace of Jesus.
The clock is ticking down. Every day we draw closer and closer to the
Lord’s return. Then it will be too
late. When the Church is taken away, our
neighbors and friends who do not know Jesus will endure terrible trials and
tribulations. However, right now, the
harvest is plentiful. Will you and I
commit our lives to reaching these people
before it’s too late? Or will we sit
idly by and watch them wither and die. I
say, it’s time to get to work NOW!
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