Winning by losing or opposites
John 12:25
[25] Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.
If you had to give someone one bit (and only one bit) of advice for life…what would it be? Would it be something profound?
“That which does not kill us makes us stronger.” Friedrich Nietzsche
Life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans. John Lennon
When the going gets tough, the tough get going. Joe Kennedy
You must be the change you wish to see in the world. Mahatma Gandhi
You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough. Mae West
Tough times never last but tough people do. Robert H. Schuller
Get busy living or get busy dying. Stephen King
Whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right. Henry Ford
Tis better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all. Lord Tennyson
You miss 100 percent of the shots you never take. Wayne Gretzky
Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value. Albert Einstein
Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. Mark Twain
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people. Eleanor Roosevelt
Those who dare to fail miserably can achieve greatly. John F. Kennedy
The opposite of love is not hate; it’s indifference. Elie Wiesel
As a pastor, husband, dad, brother, friend and knowing what I’ve seen I think my advice would be “die to self”. You might say why? And what does that mean exactly? Why? I believe the Bible teaches it. Meaning…..if I spend my time centered upon myself then I’m not loving those around me. That’s why relationships fail and the people I know who have caused the most pain and destruction are those who think (worship) themselves and not others. That’s from Hitler down to the common man who thinks more about his job than he does his wife and the common lady who thinks more about how she’s perceived than her husband. It’s also the child, youth or teen who thinks more about themselves and their immediate desires than the long term consequences. Suicide rates continue to escalate, more and more among our young people? If the world was delivering all on what it says it can…..wouldn’t everyone be great? If you go in the opposite direction of what the world says….most of the time you’re headed in the right direction.
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John 12:12-26
The Triumphal Entry
[12] The next day the large crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. [13] So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying out, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!” [14] And Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, just as it is written,
[15] “Fear not, daughter of Zion;
behold, your king is coming,
sitting on a donkey’s colt!”
[16] His disciples did not understand these things at first, but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written about him and had been done to him. [17] The crowd that had been with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to bear witness. [18] The reason why the crowd went to meet him was that they heard he had done this sign. [19] So the Pharisees said to one another, “You see that you are gaining nothing. Look, the world has gone after him.”
Some Greeks Seek Jesus
[20] Now among those who went up to worship at the feast were some Greeks. [21] So these came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” [22] Philip went and told Andrew; Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. [23] And Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. [24] 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. [25] Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. [26] 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.
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2 Things (Who and what?) Much of the Bible breaks down this way. It tells us Who God is….and it tells us what to do in light of that
- The Triumphal Entry (Who)
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- John 12:12-19
- Passover time Jerusalem (normal population 40,000/during Passover maybe 2.7 million) Nashville today is around 700k Gallatin around 40-50k
- hōsanna, literally in Hebrew, “O Lord, save”/ give salvation now
- Blessed is he – Psalm 118:25-26
- Sitting on a donkey, why? Zechariah 9:9
- John 12:12-19
“I imagine that some of the Roman soldiers must have smiled at the ‘Triumphal Entry,’ because it was nothing like their own ‘Roman triumph’ celebrations in the city of Rome.
“Whenever a Roman general was victorious on foreign soil, killing at least 5,000 of the enemy, and gaining new territory, he was given a ‘Roman triumph’ when he returned to the city. It was the Roman equivalent of the American ‘ticker-tape parade,’ only with much more splendor. The victor would be permitted to display the trophies he had won and the enemy leaders he had captured. The parade ended at the arena where some of the captives entertained the people by fighting wild beasts. Compared to a ‘Roman triumph,’ our Lord’s entry into Jerusalem was nothing.” – opposites
- The hour has come:
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- The time or hour is said 9 times in the NT the first 3 are not yet…this is the first reference to “it’s time”
John 12:23
[23] And Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.
Remember previously the time had not come.
John 2:3-4
[3] When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” [4] And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.”
John 7:28-30 (Jesus had stood up at the Feast)
[28] So Jesus proclaimed, as he taught in the temple, “You know me, and you know where I come from. But I have not come of my own accord. He who sent me is true, and him you do not know. [29] I know him, for I come from him, and he sent me.” [30] So they were seeking to arrest him, but no one laid a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come.
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The answer to “Who” is right here: He’s God. He’s the Christ. He’s the Messiah. He’s the King. He’s the Savior.
John 12:13
[13] So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying out, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!”
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Application:
- Opposites (the “what” to do)
John 12:25
[25] Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.
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1 Corinthians 1:18
“The word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God”
“God chooses to give us freedom, victory, and success in ways opposite of what would seem natural to us. It’s what I like to call the paradox of the gospel.
According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, the word paradox means “a tenet contrary to received opinion” or “a statement that is seemingly contradictory or opposed to common sense and yet is perhaps true.”
Basically, what seems foolish in the eyes of most of our friends, family, and coworkers who don’t have a relationship with God is often the thing that is most important to us. What seems silly to the world is the very thing that ushers in the power of God.” – Shane Pruitt
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“Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you” (James 4:10, ESV). (NOTE: in our passage Jesus uses “Son of Man” a humble title)
“Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you” (1 Peter 5:6, ESV).
“He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:9–10, ESV).
“In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive’” (Acts 20:35, ESV).
“If you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live” (Romans 8:13, ESV).
“He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30, ESV).
“If Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness” (Romans 8:10, ESV).
Proverbs 14:12
[12]
There is a way that seems right to a man,
but its end is the way to death.
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The world will tell you what all it can provide, but never back it up, it can never deliver.
Jesus always delivers. He’s the alpha and omega.
John 12:25
[25] Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.
You don’t have to know a lot of things for your life to make a lasting difference in the world. But you do have to know the few great things that matter, and then be willing to live for them and die for them. The people that make a durable difference in the world are not the people who have mastered many things, but who have been mastered by a few great things.
If you want your life to count, if you want the ripple effect of the pebbles you drop to become waves that reach the ends of the earth and roll on for centuries and into eternity, you don’t have to have a high IQ or a high EQ. You don’t have to have good looks or riches. You don’t have to come from a fine family or a fine school. You just have to know a few great, majestic, unchanging, obvious, simple, glorious things, and be set on fire by them. – John Piper Sermon
