Lent 5
Devotional
Pause Before The Pulpit
Personal Reflections For Pastors On The Lectionary Readings
John 12:20-33
This text contains a hard truth -- hard in the sense that it goes against our human nature. Few people want to die, and especially not to their selfish desires and self-interests. But that is what Jesus challenged his disciples and us to do.
May I ask: What was your attitude when you went into the ministry? Had you hoped it would make you feel more alive, more spiritual, more worthwhile? Jesus portrayed service to him as being quite different from what we might think. Certainly it was different from what the disciples had in mind.
Some Greeks had come to them, wanting to see Jesus, but Jesus seemed to be warning the disciples about what they would really end up seeing. If they had come wanting to see someone glorious, the glory might not look like what they were expecting. Jesus acknowledged that he would be glorified; in fact the time had come for that. But the glorification would come by way of the ugliness of suffering and death. In the latter part of this text, Jesus foretold his death and the kind of death it would be. Nothing too appealing to look at there! But Jesus used an illustration to help the disciples (and us) understand what glorification through death really is: unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.
Unless Jesus died and rose again, he would remain a single, solitary man (albeit the God/man who could do miracles). However, he would not have been able to pay the required price for our sins, if he had not died. The Holy Spirit would not have come to earth, and would not move and work throughout it today, if Jesus had not died, risen again, and ascended into heaven. The fruit of his death, which became his ultimate glorification, would never have come to pass without his death.
Now Jesus was not only talking about the importance of his own death, but he wove through this passage the sobering truth about the necessity of our own death. This truth applied to the disciples, the Greeks, and you and me today. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also.
If we truly want to serve Jesus and experience his glory, it must involve death. To follow Jesus involves following him to the cross. It means suffering for his name. It means undergoing ridicule and persecution, as Jesus experienced. The disciples learned this truth firsthand. We, too, must be willing to face the same scenario of dying, like wheat, if there is going to be any fruit.
What are we to die to? We are to die to any grandiose ideas of being great and famous. We are to die to the desire to be rich and comfortable. We are to die to insisting that things always go our way. We are to die to the habit of giving our time and emotions only to people we like or feel comfortable with, or who seem to have something to offer us in return. We are to die to anything and everything that would stand in the way of us being effective for Christ in his kingdom work. The apostles did this, and out of it grew the Christian church.
We, in America, have little idea of what it means to suffer. We are far too comfortable; and we do as much as we can, and dare, to keep it that way. I'm appalled by pastors who, due to pride and a selfish agenda, destroy one congregation after another. I'm disgusted with pastors who don't want to go out of their way to minister to, and be inconvenienced by, broken people.
Who did these Greeks think they had come to see -- someone glorious? They were about to see his death, which would give way to something more glorious than they could ever have imagined.
Who did you go into the ministry to be -- someone glorious? If so (and if you haven't been through this yet), you are about to face death -- death of selfish desires and self-interests. But in the process, if you obediently submit to that death, you will find that God will glorify you and honor you in the eyes of people and himself.
A Pastor's Prayer:
Dear Lord,
Help me to grasp and accept these truths by faith. I desire to die to my selfish desires and self-interests, like a grain of wheat that is planted; that out of that death, you might bear much fruit through me. I ask this, not so I can receive honor and glory, but that you might be honored and glorified through my life of service for you. Thank you. Amen.
Hebrews 5:5-10
This text is a wonderful companion text to the gospel for this Sunday. I have already stressed the importance of death for true glorification, and I touched on the importance of being willing to suffer as Christ suffered. However, it is good for us to hear these themes again from the perspective of another author who wrote a commentary, of sorts, on the life of Christ, that we might understand the significance of that life better.
There are at least three points in this text that I feel are very significant for us as pastors to notice. The first is that Jesus was appointed by and designated by God to be a high priest. God had his finger on Jesus from the beginning to carry out this high priestly work of not only interceding on our behalf, but actually being the sacrifice as well, which no other high priest ever did. Christ came and did the work that he was appointed and designated to do, and then returned to the Father. We, however, have been left with the commission to be "priests" in Christ's place. We will never function in the exact same way, but we do have a very vital ministry which God has appointed and designated us to do. May we never underestimate or downplay this high calling that God has laid upon the hearts of each of us. It is a great honor to serve him in the ministry.
Secondly, notice what was an important aspect of Christ's earthly ministry: In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to the one who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. Immediately the scene from Gethsemane comes to mind, but I think there is more to this than just that night. When Lazarus died, Jesus wept. When he rode into Jerusalem that first Palm Sunday, Jesus wept over Jerusalem. We are not given the details of most of his prayers, whether those prayed publicly or privately, but it is safe to assume that many of those prayers may well have been offered with loud cries and tears.
Such prayers are the prayers of someone who feels deeply and passionately, not only about life and death, but about their ministry and the people to whom they minister. This was certainly true of Jesus, but is it true of us? How deeply and passionately do we feel about the life we live and what we accomplish in this life? How deeply and passionately do we feel about our ministry and the people to whom we minister? When was the last time you cried out in a loud voice and in tears, whether publicly or privately, about anything? I believe we are called to a passionate ministry, where we are moved to tears, both in our preaching and in our praying, due to the great needs around us. The alternative is to become callous and cynical. All too many seasoned pastors have become this, for the pain of feeling deeply and passionately for others can be more than we can bear at times, especially if we have a history of being hurt by people and seemingly ignored by God.
Last of all, Jesus learned obedience through what he suffered; and having been made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him. Clearly, when applying this to us, I'm in no way implying that we will be made perfect in this life or become the source of salvation for all who obey us! However, please consider this with me: Since we do suffer, as I pointed out in the devotional on the Gospel Lesson, we have multiple opportunities to learn obedience through what we suffer. When we learn obedience, we will not become perfect, but we will mature in faith, character, and wisdom. When we do mature in this way, we will become more effective in our ministries for Christ's sake. We will increasingly become a source, not of eternal salvation, but of wisdom and knowledge about how to live the Christian life. People will have greater respect for us (provided we share this wisdom and knowledge humbly) and the outcome will be a ripple of spiritual growth and maturity in the church that may not have happened in any other way.
A Pastor's Prayer:
Dear Lord,
Thank you for appointing and designating me to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ. Please give me a love for my people and a passion for their souls. Lord, when you permit me to suffer, may I suffer graciously, and through that suffering learn obedience which will have a positive influence on others. Amen.
This text contains a hard truth -- hard in the sense that it goes against our human nature. Few people want to die, and especially not to their selfish desires and self-interests. But that is what Jesus challenged his disciples and us to do.
May I ask: What was your attitude when you went into the ministry? Had you hoped it would make you feel more alive, more spiritual, more worthwhile? Jesus portrayed service to him as being quite different from what we might think. Certainly it was different from what the disciples had in mind.
Some Greeks had come to them, wanting to see Jesus, but Jesus seemed to be warning the disciples about what they would really end up seeing. If they had come wanting to see someone glorious, the glory might not look like what they were expecting. Jesus acknowledged that he would be glorified; in fact the time had come for that. But the glorification would come by way of the ugliness of suffering and death. In the latter part of this text, Jesus foretold his death and the kind of death it would be. Nothing too appealing to look at there! But Jesus used an illustration to help the disciples (and us) understand what glorification through death really is: unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.
Unless Jesus died and rose again, he would remain a single, solitary man (albeit the God/man who could do miracles). However, he would not have been able to pay the required price for our sins, if he had not died. The Holy Spirit would not have come to earth, and would not move and work throughout it today, if Jesus had not died, risen again, and ascended into heaven. The fruit of his death, which became his ultimate glorification, would never have come to pass without his death.
Now Jesus was not only talking about the importance of his own death, but he wove through this passage the sobering truth about the necessity of our own death. This truth applied to the disciples, the Greeks, and you and me today. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also.
If we truly want to serve Jesus and experience his glory, it must involve death. To follow Jesus involves following him to the cross. It means suffering for his name. It means undergoing ridicule and persecution, as Jesus experienced. The disciples learned this truth firsthand. We, too, must be willing to face the same scenario of dying, like wheat, if there is going to be any fruit.
What are we to die to? We are to die to any grandiose ideas of being great and famous. We are to die to the desire to be rich and comfortable. We are to die to insisting that things always go our way. We are to die to the habit of giving our time and emotions only to people we like or feel comfortable with, or who seem to have something to offer us in return. We are to die to anything and everything that would stand in the way of us being effective for Christ in his kingdom work. The apostles did this, and out of it grew the Christian church.
We, in America, have little idea of what it means to suffer. We are far too comfortable; and we do as much as we can, and dare, to keep it that way. I'm appalled by pastors who, due to pride and a selfish agenda, destroy one congregation after another. I'm disgusted with pastors who don't want to go out of their way to minister to, and be inconvenienced by, broken people.
Who did these Greeks think they had come to see -- someone glorious? They were about to see his death, which would give way to something more glorious than they could ever have imagined.
Who did you go into the ministry to be -- someone glorious? If so (and if you haven't been through this yet), you are about to face death -- death of selfish desires and self-interests. But in the process, if you obediently submit to that death, you will find that God will glorify you and honor you in the eyes of people and himself.
A Pastor's Prayer:
Dear Lord,
Help me to grasp and accept these truths by faith. I desire to die to my selfish desires and self-interests, like a grain of wheat that is planted; that out of that death, you might bear much fruit through me. I ask this, not so I can receive honor and glory, but that you might be honored and glorified through my life of service for you. Thank you. Amen.
Hebrews 5:5-10
This text is a wonderful companion text to the gospel for this Sunday. I have already stressed the importance of death for true glorification, and I touched on the importance of being willing to suffer as Christ suffered. However, it is good for us to hear these themes again from the perspective of another author who wrote a commentary, of sorts, on the life of Christ, that we might understand the significance of that life better.
There are at least three points in this text that I feel are very significant for us as pastors to notice. The first is that Jesus was appointed by and designated by God to be a high priest. God had his finger on Jesus from the beginning to carry out this high priestly work of not only interceding on our behalf, but actually being the sacrifice as well, which no other high priest ever did. Christ came and did the work that he was appointed and designated to do, and then returned to the Father. We, however, have been left with the commission to be "priests" in Christ's place. We will never function in the exact same way, but we do have a very vital ministry which God has appointed and designated us to do. May we never underestimate or downplay this high calling that God has laid upon the hearts of each of us. It is a great honor to serve him in the ministry.
Secondly, notice what was an important aspect of Christ's earthly ministry: In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to the one who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. Immediately the scene from Gethsemane comes to mind, but I think there is more to this than just that night. When Lazarus died, Jesus wept. When he rode into Jerusalem that first Palm Sunday, Jesus wept over Jerusalem. We are not given the details of most of his prayers, whether those prayed publicly or privately, but it is safe to assume that many of those prayers may well have been offered with loud cries and tears.
Such prayers are the prayers of someone who feels deeply and passionately, not only about life and death, but about their ministry and the people to whom they minister. This was certainly true of Jesus, but is it true of us? How deeply and passionately do we feel about the life we live and what we accomplish in this life? How deeply and passionately do we feel about our ministry and the people to whom we minister? When was the last time you cried out in a loud voice and in tears, whether publicly or privately, about anything? I believe we are called to a passionate ministry, where we are moved to tears, both in our preaching and in our praying, due to the great needs around us. The alternative is to become callous and cynical. All too many seasoned pastors have become this, for the pain of feeling deeply and passionately for others can be more than we can bear at times, especially if we have a history of being hurt by people and seemingly ignored by God.
Last of all, Jesus learned obedience through what he suffered; and having been made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him. Clearly, when applying this to us, I'm in no way implying that we will be made perfect in this life or become the source of salvation for all who obey us! However, please consider this with me: Since we do suffer, as I pointed out in the devotional on the Gospel Lesson, we have multiple opportunities to learn obedience through what we suffer. When we learn obedience, we will not become perfect, but we will mature in faith, character, and wisdom. When we do mature in this way, we will become more effective in our ministries for Christ's sake. We will increasingly become a source, not of eternal salvation, but of wisdom and knowledge about how to live the Christian life. People will have greater respect for us (provided we share this wisdom and knowledge humbly) and the outcome will be a ripple of spiritual growth and maturity in the church that may not have happened in any other way.
A Pastor's Prayer:
Dear Lord,
Thank you for appointing and designating me to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ. Please give me a love for my people and a passion for their souls. Lord, when you permit me to suffer, may I suffer graciously, and through that suffering learn obedience which will have a positive influence on others. Amen.
