Title: Noble Sacrifice (John 12:24 26)
It is all too often heard that a friend's priceless sacrifice helped a friend's success, a firefighter's priceless sacrifice saved a dying citizen, and a mother's priceless sacrifice saved her young son.
Valuable sacrifices inevitably bear valuable fruit. The noble sacrifice of Jesus became a great hope for mankind. Today, we want to receive grace together about the three noble sacrifices through Jesus' words about the grain of wheat.
1. It means that we grow when we serve. (Spiritual)
Verse 26 says, “If anyone wants to serve me, follow me; where I am, there will also be those who serve me.
A farmer treats each grain of wheat with care. Even the seeds of a crab cannot be arbitrarily treated. It is because you can get a lot of fruit if you treat it with care. This is because you can get a lot of fruit if you wash it carefully. It is because you can get a lot of fruit if you store it carefully. I can't speak, so can I do it carelessly? You must serve well, you must serve well. Are you rude to say you can't talk? no. It should be cleaned well. If your shoes are dirty, you are cutting your own face. The reason the clothes are well-groomed is because it shows the status of the person. Why are you washing, washing, painting, and scolding your face like that? Why do you spend money, time, and energy? Everything is there for a reason. It's about making the 'me' get better and the 'me' bigger.
The greatness of Jesus is that he did not come to be served, but to serve, and gave up his body for many people on the cross.
The grain of wheat you serve is great. You grow when you serve. The rotting grain of wheat shows the spirit of the minister Jesus Christ. Let us possess the blessing that increases through service.
2. You have to throw it away to get it. (material)
It is said that when a single grain of wheat is thrown on the ground, much fruit is obtained.
“Give, and it will be given to you; and it will be given to you, pressed down, pressed down, shaking, and overflowing, and given to you. With the measure that you measure, it will be measured to you again” (Luke 6:38).
Abraham abandoned the fertile soil of Sodom, but God gave him a better land. How was Abraham, who gave up the good land that he could see? Or did Lot do well, who made the good land he saw his own? look. Lot, who chose the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah because it was good to live, lost his wife. He lost his good faith. He ended his embarrassing life in a crypt. He became a man who did not gain much and became a loser, but the fact is that Abraham, who knew how to give up no matter how good, became a refusal to have 318 soldiers. Instead of being a person who lives with help, he has come to live a life of abundance and help.
The woman of Zarephath, who could give up a handful of flour and only a few drops of oil, did not lose much of the flour and oil. I was blessed to be saved from a miserable situation in which other people clamor for hunger.
Because of the alabaster jar and the perfume that Mary had thrown away, Mary was praised as a woman who will never be forgotten. If he had brought it in front of him without throwing it away, Mary's existence would not have been remembered and he would not have been able to receive Jesus' fervent love and praise.
Saints! It is a fact that the Christian view of economics is an economic view that is built on the basis of holy waste and bears fruit.
The Bible says in Acts 230:35 that it is more blessed to give than to receive.
If the farmer doesn't throw his seeds on the ground because it's a waste, the farmer will become a beggar. For this time, the farmer trimmed and managed the seeds and kept them well. A single grain of wheat teaches us the truth that we have to throw away the lessons we learn today.
3. You must die to live. (life, external)
“He who loves him will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for ever” (25).
“Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it” (Matt 10:39; Matt 16:25; Mark 8:35; Luke 9:24, 17:33)
It is saying that when the body called self, the body called self, the individual feelings called me, and the sensuous image of life are broken, crumbled and melted, the spirit lives in me and Christ lives and works.
When the seed falls to the ground and rots, the hull is rotting. The outer appearance, the kernel, is that the inner kernel becomes active when the things that were wrapped are broken and rotted.
It is said that the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church, and because of the sacrifices and deaths of the martyrs, the church of today has been developed. Because of our ancestors of faith who were prepared to die and were not afraid to die, we came to believe in Jesus in a comfortable environment.
When Esther went to King Ahasuerus while fasting and praying with the conviction that she would die if she died, there was a history of Esther living and Mordecai and the people living there.
Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were prepared to die when they kept their faith even when they broke the Babylonian ban. Even if they are thrown into the furnace, even if they are imprisoned in a lion's den, when they give their lives for God and for faith, they believe that they did not die and came back to life.
There is a meat called Saimon in North America. They live in the sea and when the spawning season comes, they come back up to the river where they were born, lay eggs and live until they hatch, and the mother fish soon dies. It is said that only when the mother dies can the young fish survive. It is said that the cubs attach to the body of the dead mother and feed on the mother's flesh to grow. The mother dies because the mother fish must die so that the young do not die and survive and breed more fish.
By the crucifixion, Jesus gave the light of salvation to countless human beings living in the coming generations. The Lord became dark to give bright light to the dark people who live in darkness, and the Lord died to give the light of life to the poor people who live in death. The Lord became poor to give riches to the poor.
The lesson that grains of wheat can teach grows only when we serve. You have to let go to get it. It teaches you that you have to die to live.
1996. 3. 31.