Great Sayings of Jesus

Except A Grain of Wheat Die. . .

Hopewell Church of Christ

December 12, 1999

Introduction

"And Jesus answered them, saying, The hour is come that the Son of man should be glorified. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abides alone. But if it dies, it brings forth much fruit. He that loves his life shall lose it, and he that hates his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal. If any man serve me, let him follow me, and where I am, there shall also my servant be. If any man serve me, him will my Father honor. Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour, but for this cause came I unto this hour. Father, glorify thy name." (John 12:23-28.)

This should be included in any list of the great sayings of Jesus. Often Jesus began a significant statement by the using the words, verily, verily, which mean truly, truly. (John 3:3; 5:25; 8:34; 12:24.) These words will stand for all eternity. No one can overturn them or successfully deny them. No one can go to heaven while disregarding His words.

The analogy

In Jesus' superb way of teaching so that everyone might understand, he used the simple truth about planting seeds. In order for a bountiful harvest to come, seeds must be planted in the heart of the earth and die. If they do not die, a plant cannot spring forth with many seeds. The seed dies in order for life to continue. A seed cannot talk or resist. But if a seed were like a human being, it might say, No, I do not want to die. I do not want to be planted in the ground. But the farmer, on the other hand, wants many seeds to be planted in the field. He knows the necessity of some seed dying in order for many to come forth. A stingy, ignorant farmer might try to save his seed or plant only a few. But he cannot disregard the truth of planting, sowing and reaping. He must soon learn the lesson. Here Jesus' point is not the truth of sowing bountifully or sparingly (as Paul taught in 2 Cor. 9:6), but the necessity of the seed dying in the germination process.

The application

The first application of this analogy is concerning Jesus' life. He will be planted in the heart of the earth and then come forth bringing much fruit eternally. "The hour is come that the Son of man should be glorified." (12:23.) And, "Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour. But for this cause came I unto this hour. Father, glorify thy name." (12:27-28.) These two statements before and after verse 24 show that Jesus was first talking about his own death and resurrection being like planting a seed and then a new plant coming forth.

Though Jesus submitted to the Father's will in this eternal plan of redemption, many passages show that it was difficult for Jesus to face death. This might help us when we have trouble with denying ourselves and dying to the world. Jesus said, "Now is my soul troubled." When the time of the cross drew near, He said, "My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death. Tarry ye here and watch with me. And he went a little further and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt." (Matt. 26:38-39.)

If it was difficult for Jesus with him knowing that he would be raised on the third day, how much more reluctant man will be to give up the world if he doubts that a good harvest will result from his doing so! Unless there are strong convictions, he will be like seed resisting the planting season.

This Is The Gospel !

The Gospel story is the story of Jesus remaining separated from "the world." He said that the world hated him. The "world" that he was referring to is the world of sin, the dark world controlled by Satan and evil. Jesus did no sin. Jesus was the light in this dark world of sin.

"In him was life and his life was the light of men. And the light shines in darkness and the darkness comprehended it not." (The darkness does not understand it or is not able to overcome it.) (John 1:4-5.)

He was as one dead to this world and the world was dead to him. This was his spiritual relationship to the world. There was simply no agreement nor reconciliation. Our redemption and hope is based upon this story of Jesus' purity of life. Yet, there is also Jesus' physical death on the cross. His death has power to cleanse and atone for us because of his purity of life and death to this world.

This great message is true only of Jesus of Nazareth. It is not true of anyone else. No other being can atone for our sins; take our place before God; ransom us from eternal loss; be an acceptable sacrifice for sin; live with total purity before God; be described as "God with us." This is the uniqueness and exclusiveness of Christianity.

Our Death

Secondly, Jesus made an application to all of us by saying, "He that loves his life shall lose it; and he that hates his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal." (12:25.) Oh, the difficulty of being like a seed dying in the ground! Jesus is here referring to another kind of death other than our physical death at the end. He is referring to our death to the world, dying to ourselves, being united with him in the likeness of his death, burial, and resurrection.

Paul called this "the form of doctrine." "But God be thanked that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you." (Romans 6:17.) "I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live. Yet not I but Christ lives in me and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me." (Gal. 2:20.) "What? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price; therefore, glorify God in your body and in your spirit which are God's." (1 Cor. 6:19-20.)

This process of dying with Christ is conversion. We seek to become a new creature (2 Cor. 5:17) or a new man (Eph. 4:24) when the seed is planted in the ground. We lose our identity by taking on the identity of Jesus. He became like us (Phil. 2:7) so that we could become like Him (Phil. 2:12). We seek to have the mind of Christ (2:5).

There are many seed in the storage bin waiting for the spring planting. The question today is, among all the seed in the bin, Have I been planted and died? If not, I abide alone with no fruit to come forth unto eternal life.

How may I know ?

The story of the Gospel has been told. I understand the message. The application comes down to me, one seed. Since this death is a spiritual one, even a figurative one that cannot be seen with the eye, how can I know that I have been planted and that I have died. You see this goes beyond just the act of immersion in water. Without this death, we mock the meaning of our immersion in water! No one should be buried unless one has died. It is this death to sin that must be understood.

#1: Representatively, in Christ, we have died. In order to appreciate the meaning of this, we must go back to Adam. Something has passed upon all men because of Adam's sin. Paul wrote, "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered the world, and death by sin, so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned." (Rom. 5:12.) Two things are stated here: one is that all have sinned; another is that Adam brought it into the world. Because of this entrance of sin into the world, death as a consequence has passed upon all men.

Paul's point in this section (Romans 5:12-21) is his contrast of Adam and Christ. Jesus did the opposite. "The gift is not like the trespass." (5:15.) But there is something that is similar. Just as we have been affected by what Adam and Eve did, so also are we affected by what Jesus did. Whether you like it or not, you will be raised from the dead. (John 5:28-29.) This is because of the work of Jesus. We die because of what Adam did.

Our spiritual death to the world and to sin is done representatively in Christ. It is something claimed by your faith in Christ and love for what he has done for you. It is sufficient and complete because of his work.

"For the love of Christ constrains us because we thus judge that if one died for all, then were all dead." (2 Cor. 5:14, KJV.) "For Christ's love compels us because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died." (2 Cor. 5:14, NIV.) This is an important declaration!

There is first of all, before we reach our own death to the world and to sin, a death that is found in what Jesus did. Just as we die physically because of what Adam did, we also die spiritually in the act of Jesus dying for the sins of the world. We die, representatively, in Him. We are convinced that if one died for all, then all are dead! All who desire it are dead in Christ! It does not depend so much upon how well you do it, but upon how well he did it!

Illustration. There is a difference between individual acts and federal ones. Adam and Christ stand as federal heads of the human family. What they did affects everyone. The Hebrew writer said that the Levites paid tithes to another priest! How and when did they do that?? Through Abraham who paid tithes to Melchisedec, the Levites (not yet born) are said to have done so. "Levi, also, who receives tithes, payed tithes in Abraham." (Heb. 7:9.)

Paul wrote, "Likewise reckon (or count) yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord." (Romans 6:11.) This is the beginning point of our death to sin. We must count ourselves as being dead to sin and alive to God through Jesus. When he died for sin, we all died to sin in our hearts.

#2: We must experience this death to sin

Often we go to this first. When we do, we experience untold difficulty and still feel lost in sin. The reasons are: 1) We have by-passed our only real hope of life with God. 2) And we by-pass the only real power to help us change our lives.

The very next verse in Romans 5, Paul added this second point. After counting yourself dead to sin and alive to God in Jesus, then he wrote, "Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin, but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto God. . . But God be thanked that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed that form of doctrine which was delivered you, being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness." (Romans 6:12-17.)

"If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth: fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness which is idolatry." (Col. 3:1-5.)

Difficulty in Having Assurance

I am convinced that the real so many Christians have difficulty with having a confident assurance before God is two-fold. One comes when we fail to understand our death with Christ by faith. The second comes when we fail to really make a real, genuine commitment to Christ ceasing our being a servant to sin. One is a matter of understand justification; the other is a failure to repent or die to sin. This does not mean that we will ever be able to live completely above sin, but it does mean that we no longer love the practice of sin.

We Live by Dying !

The great paradox and truth of Christianity is that man can live only by dying; we really gain our lives and know ourselves by self-denial. This death and resurrection is a spiritual one that can be and must be experienced before our physical death and resurrection.

"Man is unique among other creatures in that he has the ability to stand outside and above himself to survey the world, contemplate his existence, meditate upon the past, present and future. This essential homelessness of the human spirit if the ground of all religion. (Neibuhr, The Nature of Man, 14.)

"Human personality is so constructed that it must be possessed if it is to escape the prison of self-possession. . . The self must be possessed from beyond itself. Yet such possession of the self is destructive if the possessing spirit is anything less than the Holy Spirit." (Vol. 2, 111-12.)

We are possessed by another; yet only then can we truly learn to live. "I, yet not I" is how Paul expressed it. (1 Cor. 15:10.) Only when Christ lives within can we truly live as God planned it to be. This is "living above yourself."