Glory Through Suffering

Well, good morning. It's great to have all of you here in person and on the live stream.

And we're glad to worship this Sunday after Easter. We have been preaching through the

Gospel of John, and we will be continuing to preach through the Gospel of John in through

the summer. So we will be continuing the series for those of you who are wondering what comes

next. And today we'll be looking at John 12. John 12 is a unique chapter in the book of

John. It is the hinge chapter. It is the end of the first 12 chapters that talk about the

ministry of Jesus and His life. It covers approximately three years, and then the Gospel then transitions.

And the second half of the Gospel, 13 through 21, cover seven days. And the last seven days

of Jesus' life and His death and His resurrection. And so it is a critical hinge point in the book.

And I want to begin this morning by reminding ourselves of what we have seen in these past

few months as we've looked at John 1 through 11. We have seen Jesus turn water into wine so that the

celebration of a wedding would continue. We've seen a moral and ethnic outcast, a Samaritan woman,

brought to faith in Jesus. We've seen an invalid healed after 38 years of suffering. We've seen

thousands fed. We've seen a sinful woman forgiven. We've seen a blind man's sight restored. We've seen a

friend raised from the dead. And along the way, as Jesus has done these great signs pointing to who He is,

He's also explained Himself, this is who I am. He said, whoever believes in Me shall have eternal life.

He said, I can give you water so that your soul will never be thirsty again. He said, I am the bread of

life. If you eat of this bread, you will not die, but you will live. He said, whoever believes in Me will

have fountains of living water springing up in them. He said, before Abraham was, I am.

He said, I am the light of the world. I am the good shepherd who lays down His life for the sheep.

I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes though He dies, yet shall He live.

This is the glory of Jesus that we have seen. And imagine those who were with Jesus in John chapter 12.

John 12 · chapter mention

They've seen all of this. And some, in response to this, believed in Him and rejoiced that He has come

to see how He loves. He has come to love, to bring life, to welcome all to the kingdom of God. But others

in spiritual pride were threatened by Him, rejected Him. He breaks the rules, they said. He says outlandish

things, He usurps God. He takes power unto Himself. Many follow Him. But all of them saw His power. All of

them saw His life-giving power. All of them saw the steadfastness as one who taught with authority.

glory. This is the glory of Jesus' ministry, is it not? Is this not the Jesus we have seen?

And what more do we need to see of Jesus this morning? What more do we need to see of Jesus and

His glory? And yet, as we will read in our passage in just a minute, for Jesus, the hour had not yet come

for us to see the fullness of who He is and what He has done. Even in all these miracles, this was not

the end. Throughout the first part of the book of John, way back in Cana at the wedding in chapter 2,

verse 4, Jesus tells Mary, my hour has not yet come. After the healing of the man in Bethesda, He says,

the hour is coming but is not yet here. After the controversy in the festival of booths in chapter 7,

they could not arrest Him because His hour had not yet come. And then we come to our text this morning,

which answers the question, where and what is the greatest display of Jesus' glory?

So let's read that passage together to answer that question and to look at it. We're in John chapter 12.

John 12 · chapter mention

We're not going to cover the whole chapter, good heavens, no. There's far too much in it. But

we're going to focus on verses 20 through 28. So we're going to read this passage together,

then we're going to pray, and then we'll dive in and try to answer that question.

John 12, starting in verse 20.

Now among those who went up to worship at the feast were some Greeks. So these came to Philip,

who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, Sir, we wish to see Jesus.

Philip went and told Andrew, and Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus, and Jesus answered them,

the hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 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. Whoever loses his life,

whoever loves his life loses it. And whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.

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. Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say?

Father, save me from this hour. But for this purpose, I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name.

And then a voice came from heaven. I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.

Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for this morning and the chance to gather to worship you. We thank you

for your word that speaks to us clearly about who you are. And Lord, I pray this morning that by your

spirit, we would behold your glory. Lord, and that you would lay bare in our hearts the ways in which

we have wandered, the ways that we have misunderstood you, the ways that we have misperceived who you are

and what you've come to do. Lord, I pray that you would give me your strength this morning to speak

clearly. And Lord, that we would together sit under your word, and that you would do your transforming

word in our lives, that we might worship you in spirit and in truth. Lord, we pray these things in

Jesus' name. Amen.

The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. What do we see the glory of Jesus in?

We see it in his loving, self-giving death. The sermon's going to be pretty simple this morning.

We're going to talk a little bit about misunderstanding and how we misunderstand glory and Jesus' glory,

and then we're going to talk a little bit about clarifying how Jesus clarifies what his glory is

about. So that's what we're going to do this morning as we look through it. So first, let's talk

about how we misunderstand Jesus' glory. It's fascinating as you read through chapter 12,

those around him misunderstood Jesus profoundly. In verse 4, you see Judas, the one who had betrayed

Jesus, commenting and complaining about the way Jesus is receiving worship from Mary and the breaking

of an ointment. You guys probably are familiar with that story. But he thought that Jesus was going to

bring a social revolution to care for the poor. And so he was offended when Jesus received such lavish

worship. Verse 16, a little bit further on, in the triumphal entry that we talked about two weeks

ago on Palm Sunday, even as Jesus rode in on a donkey, fulfilling the Old Testament Scriptures,

it says the disciples did not understand this. They did not understand the significance. They did not

understand what Jesus was doing coming in on a donkey until after the resurrection of Christ.

Verse 19, the religious leadership of the day, the Pharisees, saw Jesus as a threat to their political

and social power and their religious power. They saw him as one who was stealing away their following

and their position in society, and they were threatened by it. And therefore, they responded

violently towards him. And if we look on even in verse 34, as Jesus is teaching about himself,

the people are asking him, who is the Son of Man to be lifted up? Who are you talking about? The crowds,

nobody understood what Jesus was about to say in terms of why he had come.

Misunderstanding Jesus is easy, I believe. It's easy to misunderstand what Jesus has come to do.

Thinking about our world today, I can think of a couple of examples, and I'm sure there are many

more of ways in which we misunderstand Jesus and why he's come today. If we went to Houston,

we could go to Joel Osteen's church, and he could teach us about your best life now. How

Jesus has come to bring us glory by providing prosperity in our physical, earthly life.

That he has come to bring success in our careers. That he has become, he has come to bless us

by increasing our bank accounts. We ought not to suffer setback or trial or loss. Those would be

signs of faithless living or of distance from God. This is the message of the prosperity gospel,

and it's out there. It's out there in lots of churches in America and around the world.

And it's a misunderstanding. I believe there's also a misunderstanding that was laid bare on January 6th,

when people in the name of Christ, some, sought to, by force, impose an outcome on an election

in an attempt to promote the kingdom of God, and one that they saw as God's anointed leader

for our country. Now, friends, this is a complicated thing, and I want to be clear.

We did a great Sunday school on politics and how we ought to be properly engaged, and I'm not saying

that we ought not to do this. But if we think that Jesus has come to bring America into moral alignment,

or if we think that Jesus has come so that we, by political and social activism,

might usher in the kingdom of God, if we place Jesus, if we believe that Jesus has ordained particular

political leaders to save our society and to save our church and protect it,

we have misunderstood what Jesus has come to do.

Coming closer to home, maybe for some of us,

the story of the evangelical church has shown

many leaders who have failed to understand how Jesus has come

because they have shown by their actions and by the way that they have led their ministries

and their personal lives, ultimately, that they believe that Jesus has come for their own personal

gain and glory, not his. So I think of people from Mark Driscoll to Ravi Zacharias, people for whom

many of us may have been blessed at one time by their ministries, and yet who have shown in the end

that their position in ministry and religious leadership has been used for selfish gain and promotion.

How they have questioned and silenced others who have brought concerns to them,

how they used their power to hide from accountability and to excuse their sin.

How easily, even those who start out on a good path,

believe that Jesus has come ultimately,

and the sacrifices they have done for ministry,

therefore, entitle them

in ways to establish their own

commitment

commitment to comfort,

to pleasure, or to power.

Friends, these are some of the ways

that Jesus has been misunderstood

in our culture today.

We may be able to see them

from afar, if we feel

like those are far off from us,

and denounce them as being misunderstandings.

Friends, we need to look

into our own hearts as well.

How easily do we

think that Jesus has come

for us,

for our pleasure,

for our comfort,

to lessen our suffering

and increase our joy?

Here's some diagnostic questions

that I want you to ask

as you think about this question.

What do you pray for?

How do you pray for God's work

in your life?

Here's another one.

What do you invest in?

For where your money is,

there will your heart be also.

What stirs your passion?

What energizes your efforts

and your energy?

As you lie in bed

before you fall off to sleep at night,

what consumes your heart

in worry and fear?

And what do these questions

reveal about what you think

Jesus has actually come

to do for you?

Because we love a glory

that is here and now,

that is visible and easy,

that will be seen by others

and praised.

But as we come to this text,

Jesus says,

the hour has come

for the Son of Man

to be glorified.

And he goes on,

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.

Friends, this is even more

clearly explicated

in verses 32 and 33,

where it says,

where it refers to Jesus

being lifted up,

that when Jesus is lifted up,

he will draw him into himself.

We have seen that this refers

to his crucifixion

in the Gospel of On.

This refers to his death.

Jesus says,

the hour has now come

for me to be glorified,

and it is not in the resurrection,

though there is glory

and the resurrection too,

but it is in the crucifixion itself.

The gruesome,

bloody, tortured cross.

The humiliating,

shameful death of Jesus,

where those standing around him

reviled him and mocked him.

By the measure of any human standard,

at that moment,

Jesus had failed in his death.

His followers had abandoned.

He was betrayed by his inner circle.

He left no texts to pass on,

no schools,

no institutions.

He did a terrible job

of beginning a religion.

where is glory in that death?

But friends,

of course,

we've been living with this

for 2,000 years now,

that we know that there is glory

in it,

isn't there?

That there is glory

in the upside-down nature

of God's kingdom.

Glory not in power achieved,

but in power surrendered.

Glory not in self-promotion

or preservation,

but by self-denial

and sacrificial,

loving action towards others.

Glory not in victorious triumph,

but in selfless death.

This is the way of the cross.

This is the way that Jesus says,

I am going to glorify myself.

Because on the cross,

you will see the fullness

of grace and truth.

You will see where justice

and mercy meets.

You will see where God's hatred of sin

and His love for sinners

will be merged in a way

that you wouldn't even imagine

if it hadn't happened.

Jesus says,

the doctrine of a full atonement is made.

The ultimate ransom is paid.

Christ has redeemed us

from the curse of the law,

being made a curse for us.

For it is written,

cursed is everyone

who hangs on a tree.

In Christ,

upon the cross,

we see the just dying

for the unjust,

that He might bring us to God,

the innocent bearing

the crimes of the guilty,

that they might be forgiven

and accepted.

And friends,

it is in this shameful,

terrifyingly horrible death

that the greatness of Jesus

is seen.

The depth of His love

is seen that He would not

save His life,

but offer it up for us.

We see the breadth of His grace,

that He would do this,

that all would come

to Him in faith,

that any could come

to Him in faith

from every tribe

and tongue and nation,

that we would see

in this,

the source of His power,

that in His weakness,

God's power is made manifest.

And we would see

the irresistible beauty.

Have you thought,

friends,

of how often we wear

a cross around our neck

and how odd that is

and how much it speaks

to how much our culture

has embraced this gospel story

even in the background?

How many movies

have this great story

of a sacrificial one

who gives their lives

for others

that is honored

and glorified?

glorified.

From Dickens

and Sidney Carton

and dying

for Charles Darnay

to Tony Stark

for heaven's sakes

or Anna in Frozen,

depending on your movie choices.

Glory and sacrifice

is a theme

in our culture

because of what happened

at the cross.

And we do it

in real life too

when we see examples

of people

who lay down their lives

for others.

We think

of those who died

in Flight 93

to bring down a plane

so it wouldn't crash

into a building

and kill many people.

We think of Mother Teresa

living selflessly

for her whole life

in the slums of Calcutta

and so on

and so forth.

Friends,

the way of the cross

will still seem foolish

to some.

They will believe

that glory is found

in another path.

They will strive

for power,

for control

and domination

over their opponents.

They will seek

to promote themselves

at the expense

of others.

But Jesus says,

my glory

is in the cross.

This is where

you will see

who I am

and what I have come

to do.

So what about you?

What do you think

of Jesus?

Is this surprising

glory of Jesus foolish

or is it marvelous?

The upside down kingdom

is not merely

what Jesus has done

but it is then

as we see

in verses 25 and 26.

It is the pattern

for those

who follow him.

It produces a church

that knows

the fellowship

of suffering

with Jesus.

As the apostle

Peter writes later,

we read from

1 Peter 1,

1 Peter 4,

he writes

verse 12,

beloved,

do not be surprised

at the fiery trial

when it comes upon you

to test you

as though something strange

were happening to you

but rejoice

in so far

as you share

Christ's sufferings

that you may also

rejoice and be glad

when his glory

is revealed.

If you are insulted

for the name of Christ

you are blessed

because the spirit

of glory and of God

rests upon you.

Yet if anyone suffers

as a Christian

let him not be ashamed

but let him glorify God

in that name.

Friends,

there are many

who are living

today

in this pattern.

It is the missionary

who chooses

to stay in China

when the pandemic hits

in order to shepherd

their flock

and to love

those brothers and sisters

that they have

been ministering to

to stay

and to suffer with them.

It is in the Christian

executive

who is fired

from his high-powered job

high-profile job

because he has shared

his faith in Jesus

with a colleague.

It is with Christians

who welcome

foster children

into their homes

and love

these broken children

at great cost

to themselves.

It is seen

in those

even in our congregation

facing degenerative

and terminal illness

who suffer

great trial

and great loss

and yet continue

continue to know

that Christ

has set a pattern

for them to follow

and a path

for them to walk.

one of humility

not pride

one of service

not triumph

one of self-denial

not self-promotion

and friends

look

we know

Pastor Greg

preached eloquently

about it last week

so go back

and listen

if you didn't listen

to last week's sermon

that Jesus

did not just die

but he rose again

on the third day.

There is a great hope

that the glory

of the cross

is married

with the glory

of the resurrection

and that we know

that he is now

ascended into heaven

promising to return again

and he will one day

come to finish

the work of redemption

he will finish

the work of redeeming souls

and he will come

and he will renew

the world

and make it the way

it is supposed to be

and he will come

bearing the scars

of that cross

to say

this is my glory

this is how

I have achieved this

and he will gather

his people in

and he will make

all things new

friends

this glory

that we long for

that our hearts

were made for

that we strive

and so often

misunderstand

how we are going

to get it

this glory

is ours

for those who

have faith in Christ

but it will be ours

only when Jesus

returns

and when Jesus

comes

to bring

the fullness

of it

when we are

caught up

with him

and so now

we suffer

with him

so that

in that day

we will be

raised with him

and we will have

his glory

and be caught up

in it

and what a great

thing

that will be

friends

this is the glory

of Christ

that he suffered

and died

for us

at the cross

let's pray

Lord we thank you

this morning

for this message

Lord thank you

that your ways

are not our ways

and your thoughts

are not our ways

our thoughts

Lord

thank you

that you

have come

to do the

unthinkable

of forgiving

sinful people

like us

pardoning

our sin

Lord you

have come

to wash

away the

evil

of our

hearts

and ultimately

of this

world

to redeem

it

and Lord

you have

done so

by entering

into it

and taking

it upon

yourself

oh Lord

will you

help us

to see

this pattern

of the cross

that we

might glorify

you

for the

greatness

of all

that you

have done

for us

and so

that we

might put

our hope

in the

glory

that is

ours

with you

when by

faith

we will be

raised with

you in

that day

we pray

these things

in Jesus

name

amen

nie

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to

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