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Lord’s Day 33
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Now there were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the Festival.
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Theycame to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, with a request. "Sir," they said, "we would liketo see Jesus."
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Philip went to tell Andrew; Andrew and Philip in turn told Jesus.
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Jesus replied, "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.
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Very truly I tell you,unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, itproduces many seeds.
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Those who love their life will lose it, while those who hate their life in thisworld will keep it for eternal life.
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Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, myservant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.
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"Now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say? 'Father, save me from this hour'? No, it wasfor this very reason I came to this hour.
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Father, glorify your name!"Then a voice came from heaven, "I have glorified it, and will glorify it again."
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The crowd thatwas there and heard it said it had thundered; others said an angel had spoken to him.
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Jesus said, "This voice was for your benefit, not mine.
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Now is the time for judgment on thisworld; now the prince of this world will be driven out.
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And I, when I am lifted up
[a]
from the earth,will draw all people to myself."
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He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die.
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The crowd spoke up, "We have heard from the Law that the Messiah will remain forever, sohow can you say, 'The Son of Man must be lifted up'? Who is this 'Son of Man'?"
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Then Jesus told them, "You are going to have the light just a little while longer. Walk whileyou have the light, before darkness overtakes you. Those who walk in the dark do not knowwhere they are going.
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Put your trust in the light while you have the light, so that you maybecome children of light." When he had finished speaking, Jesus left and hid himself from them.
Dying and Rising
IntroductionThis morning we heard the objection that some raise to church,faith and Christianity – it doesn’t apply to real life.A second objection: The church is filled with hypocrites. Peoplewho demand moral perfection and who in their very livesdemonstrate immorality.How do we respond to that charge?
I. What is the church really filled with?
Well – according to Jesus:
Seeds
 
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Jesus replied, "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.
24
Very truly I tell you, unless akernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remainsonly a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many
1
 
seeds.
25
Those who love their life will lose it, whilethose who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.
26
Whoever serves me must follow me; andwhere I am, my servant also will be. My Father willhonor the one who serves me.
o
Jesus uses the image of a kernel of wheat to describehimself and what he is about to do at the cross.
 Describe.
o
Verse 25: Those who love their life will lose it, whilethose who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.
– on the surface it seems like Jesus istalking about martyrs but when you combine verse 26it’s pretty clear that these seeds are all those who followhis program, his teaching in the world.
Let’s read together from Question and Answer 89
88 Q. What is involved in genuine repentanceor conversion?
A. Two things: the dying-away of the old self,and the coming-to-life of the new.
o
This is an important picture in our Christian thought.Dying and Rising with Christ: Think about Baptism – it’s symbolism is represented by a number of things thatwe find in the Bible: The salvation of humanity fromthe flood, deliverance through the Red Sea for Israel,the ceremonial washing away of sin, and most of all thedeath and resurrection of Christ or dying and risingwith him.
o
The church represents the seeds that have been produced from Jesus dying and rising. And it represents
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more than just our own dying and rising in the contextof our physical death – it represents the change thatgoes on in people from the day that they are saved byChrist until the time that they are reunited with him.
o
This image of dying and rising is one that is continuallyused to describe the Christian life. In fact it is one of Paul’s major metaphors that he uses when he talksabout just how we ought to shape our lives.
Which is why we find it here our Catechism as we talk aboutour understanding of good works.Let’s read together at Q&A 89
89 Q. What is the dying-away of the old self?
A. It is to be genuinely sorry for sin, to hate it more andmore, and to run away from it.The question itself is important: It reminds us of where wewere. If we look at it from the Catechism writer’s perspectivethen we can describe that Old Self as being the human beingin misery. Sinful. Fallen. Separated from God. Broken.Incapable of doing any good. This is the person that we havespent 28 Sundays worth of Catechism lessons getting awayfrom.So what does it mean to die away from this old person – thismiserable self: The Answer has 3 Very StraightforwardElements to it that are important to know.1.Dying-away of the old self means that we are genuinelysorry for sin.Illustration: There are a few kinds of sorry…
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