“He’s Amazing! He’s Just Plain Crazy!”
Mark 10:17031; John 12:24-33
Chippie the parakeet never saw it coming. The reporter reported the story this way. Chippie’s owner decided to clean Chippie’s cage with a vacuum cleaner. She removed the attachment from the end of the hose and stuck it in the cage. The phone rang, and she turned to pick it up. She’d barely said “Hello” when ”sssopp!” Chippie got sucked in. The owner gasped, put down the phone, turned off the vacuum, and opened the bag. There was Chippie – still alive, but stunned. Since the bird was covered with dust and soot, she grabbed him and raced to the bathroom, turned on the faucet, and held Chippie under the running water. Then, realizing that Chippie was soaked and shivering, she did what any compassionate bird owner would do – she reached for the hair dryer and blasted the bird with hot air. Poor Chippie never knew what hit him. A few days after the event, the reporter checked in to see how Chippie was doing. “Well,” said the owner, “Chippie doesn’t sing much anymore – he just sits and stares.” It’s not hard to see why. Sucked in, washed up, and blown over – that’s enough to steal the song from the stoutest heart.
Ever had your song of life stolen from your heart? Ever felt sucked in, washed up, or blown over? Have you ever wondered if life was worth living, if you could keep life on track? I have a hunch the rich young man who came to Jesus felt that way. Let’s follow his encounter.
This rich, young man came to Jesus with A PRESSING PROBLEM (17-20): “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” This young man had a deep need. He knew SOMETHING WAS MISSING. He certainly appeared to have his life together. He had it all, but it wasn’t enough. He did it all, lived religiously, but it wasn’t enough. He felt unfulfilled and inadequate. He saw Jesus as having the answer. Isn’t that why many people come to Jesus? Somewhere, deep inside, something is wrong, and something is missing. Life is a vacuum that sucks them in, and they feel washed up, and blown over by life. They think maybe Jesus has the answer. There’s just something about Him that attracts them and gives them hope. Is there something missing in your life? Do you have an emptiness you can’t seem to fill? Are you longing for something more meaningful than your current life and circumstances? You could try coming to Jesus.
In John’s Gospel we read about some Greeks who wanted to see Jesus. They wanted to be close to Him, to learn from Him, to check Him out, maybe to follow Him. There’s just something about Him that attracts them and gives them hope. It’s similar to Don Quixote’s sidekick, Sancho, in Man of LaMancha. Sancho is asked why he sticks with and follows Don Quixote in his fantasy world. Sancho replies, “I like him…I really like him.” The rich young ruler, the Greeks, and many others FOLLOW JESUS BECAUSE THEY REALLY LIKE HIM; something about Him gives them hope. Have you ever come to Jesus? Why? So He could meet your need or inspire your hope? Or is there just something about Him that appeals to you? Did you come to Jesus, or are you following Jesus, because you just really like Him?
I’m glad you’ve come to, and are perhaps following Jesus, but getting answers and having needs met, simply liking Jesus, are not reasons to follow Him. Rather, for those who follow Jesus there is A PREDICTABLE PATH. Jesus extended an invitation to the young man: “Come, follow me.” Following Jesus sounds exciting, doesn’t it? What could be more glorious? So Jesus told the young man to sell all his possessions. Is Jesus crazy or what? Who would ever do that? So not surprisingly, the young man “…went away sad.” Why? Everything the young man owned stood between him and Jesus. It was not some blatant sin, but rather some things he just valued too much. He went away because THERE IS A PRICE TO PAY FOR FOLLOWING JESUS. And he didn’t want to pay that price.
Jesus expanded on this when He spoke later to his followers. As always, Jesus looked to the world around him for an illustration. (Jn. 12:24-25): He said, “I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.” If the kernel remained a kernel there would be no plant. Think about buying a package of seeds. What good would it do if you simply put them on the shelf and admired them? None whatsoever. Seeds have but one purpose and that is to be buried, cease life as a seed, and give birth to greater life in the form of a plant. Only through the death of the seed will there be plant life; it’s a principle of nature. Only when the outer shell of the seed is broken open will the seed produce life.
LIFE COMES THROUGH DEATH. Is Jesus crazy, or what? The seed that seems to be dead, has lodged within it the possibility of an ever-expanding life. Imagine an acorn – what can come from it? An oak tree, a ship, a navy fleet. The acorn has a life-germ that is capable of increase and multiplication. Or Imagine a handful of seed-corn – what do you see? A package carried to a distant country, producing a nation’s food.
And THE PRINCIPLE IS ILLUSTRATED IN THE LIFE OF CHRIST. Through His death new life has gone forth to millions. If He had not died, He would have been confined to one spot of earth, and the Spirit’s influences would have been confined to his own Person. But by His death His Spirit was sent forth into His people throughout the world. After Jesus’ death, the number of His disciples did not merely increase, but multiplied. His enemies had put Him to death; but in a few generations the Roman Empire acknowledged His supremacy. The world had cast Him out; yet the world was saved by Him.
That’s why John wrote that life is in Jesus. Just as a single tiny seed may produce that majestic oak tree, or a handful of seed corn can feed a nation, so Jesus produced, through His death, a whole race of people. TRUE LIFE COMES ONLY THROUGH THE DEATH OF JESUS CHRIST. We have received our life through Him. I need, therefore, to ask, “Where do you stand in relationship to Jesus Christ?” Are you experiencing true life?
Jesus’ also states that LIFE COMES THROUGH HATRED. (Verse 25): “The man who loves his life will lose it…” Is Jesus crazy? This poses a real problem. We may not always love ourselves but we love our lives. WE POSSESS A BASIC INSTINCT FOR SELF-PRESERVATION. In common with animals, we have a basic desire and drive to protect and save our own lives. Art Linkletter once asked a small boy what he wanted to be when he grew up. The little boy thought for a moment and then said, Alive!” We don’t want to die – we want to live! And we want to live abundantly. And there’s nothing wrong with preservation. But we, in the words of John Calvin, become over addicted to providing for our lives. We become the center of our world. WE LOSE OURSELVES IN OUR DESIRES AND WANTS. Things become important; our hopes and dreams become our top priority; our needs and wants become our driving force. We cling to that hour spent watching television when we could be reading the Bible or ministering at church. We treasure the trips to the restaurants and chafe when we’re challenged to forego just one of those meals and give the comparable cost to the weekly offering. We build our bigger barns to store up what we can’t take with us when we die. Yet over addiction to anything always produces disease and ultimately death.
So Jesus continued: “The man who loves his life will lose it…while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.” HATE YOUR LIFE AND SAVE YOUR LIFE – not quite the formula we expect, is it? Is Jesus crazy? What does it mean to hate your life? Jesus died long before He was crucified. He first died to –hated – Himself. He often said that He had come not to do His own will, but the will of His Father. In Gethsemane, as He wrestled with His impending crucifixion, He promised His Father, “Nevertheless, not my will but yours be done.”
So we are to hate our lives – we are to DIE TO OURSELVES. This means we major in letting go rather than in hanging on. In the words of Jesus, we are to love God first and then our neighbors. In the words of Paul we consider others more important than ourselves. It’s not that we neglect ourselves – it’s that our concern for ourselves must stand beneath a higher concern. You who have been or are parents – What happened when your children were born? Your needs, wants, and desires still existed. But they no longer took first place – your children took control! You became obsessed with their needs, wants, and desires. You did not hate yourself for having children (though there may have been moments when you wondered!) but you regarded yourself as less important. To hate your life, to die to yourself, is to prefer your life – your needs, wants, and desires – below something else.
Similarly, when we accept Jesus Christ as the Lord of life, WE LOSE OURSELVES IN JESUS CHRIST’S DESIRES AND WANTS. Remember that in many ages and in many lands some of Christ’s disciples have been called to seal their testimony to His cause with their own blood. Consider how fruitful their deaths have been. The blood of these martyrs has been called, from early times, the seed of the Church. They did not lay down their lives for nothing. “Fear not, brother Ridley,” said Latimer on the way to the stake; “we shall this day light a candle in England which will never be put out.”
Robert Kysar has pointed to elementary physics in an effort to draw a picture of his principle. “When an object moves rapidly around a center there are two resulting forces. The one is a centripetal force which tends to pull the object toward the center of the orbit. There is also a centrifugal force which tends to pull the object away from the center of the orbit. There are comparable forces in the orbits of our personalities. On the one hand, there is a selfish force which tends to pull us into ourselves. It tugs at us, constantly nudging us into the quest for self-love on its own. But there is also an equally strong force inviting us outward. It pulls us away from ourselves and into the lives of other people and ultimately into God’s life. It beckons us to reach beyond ourselves and into the lives of other people and ultimately into God’s life. It beckons us to reach beyond ourselves for our highest love. It is that second force – the centrifugal force of our personalities – which is the pull of the Holy Spirit. But we can yield to either force. It is our choice. We can seek first of all our own self-love, or we can seek above all else to love God through loving other people.” Which do you choose? Life comes through hatred.
According to Jesus LIFE ALSO COMES THROUGH FOLLOWING. “Whoever serves me must follow me…” (26). How do we follow Jesus? We live as servants. John repeatedly shows Jesus teaching that WE HAVE A GOD-GIVEN PURPOSE OF SERVANTHOOD. Do you want to know the will of God for your life? Be a servant. Give up trying to be who you want to be or what others want you to be – be who God wants you to be – a servant. After Jesus washed His disciples’ feet (13:16) “”I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him.”” Jesus said He was their Master – they were servants who should serve. No matter what their image or concept of Jesus, He was in charge and they were subject to Him. He was the leader and they were the followers - He would give the directions and they were to obey.
Things have not changed. WE ARE UNDER ANOTHER. We are to serve Him. We are to get our guidance, our knowledge, and our directions from Him. We must keep Jesus in focus at all times. Yet keep in mind that Jesus said, without hesitation, that yes, He was Master and Lord - but He also said He was a servant to the disciples. He came not “To be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Matthew 20:28). He undertook a dual role. It’s a divine paradox – the way to be a master is to be a servant. It was a basic theme of Jesus’ ministry. Jesus is just plain crazy.
Yet we are to do what Jesus did. As Jesus gave himself for the salvation and spiritual well being of others so are we to give ourselves. There is no action too humiliating or self-denying, if it promotes the spiritual well being of another. If Jesus could wash the disciples’ feet – and could die for us – then we can give ourselves away for others. As evangelist D. L. Moody once said, “The measure of a man is not how many servants he has, but how many men he serves.”
In 1903, a young, bright man named William Borden graduated from high school – a millionaire. He was the heir to the Borden Dairy fortune. Following graduation William traveled around the world. Everywhere he went he was touched by the needs of people. He eventually wrote his parents to announce he would give p his fortune and devote his life to missionary service. In his Bible he wrote two words: NO RESERVES. After enrolling in Yale in 1905, William quickly became the spiritual leader of the entire campus. He spearheaded a revival movement that led, by his graduation, to 1,000 of Yale’s 1,300 students becoming involved in weekly Bible fellowships. He led off campus, inner-city ministries as well. Upon graduating from Yale he repeated his intention to be a missionary and enrolled in seminary. Upon receiving his ministerial degree he decided to take a one-way trip to Egypt where he would learn Arabic in order to reach Muslims with the Gospel. Leaving all his fortune behind, he set sail. On the way he wrote two more words in his Bible: NO RETREATS. He arrived in Egypt full of anticipation and immersed himself in the tasks at hand. But within days of his arrival he became very weak and was soon diagnosed with spinal meningitis. A short time later, William Whiting Borden died at the age of 25. Human logic can never understand his death, yet an ocean away hundreds were impacted because of his joyful, willing, sacrifice. That’s the way William would have wanted it. During the last fleeting days of his life, in labored handwriting, he had penned two more words in his Bible: NO REGRETS. No reserves, no retreats, no regrets.
Mark says that Jesus confronted the rich young man because He loved him. Jesus knew that the basic problem of the young man, the one thing he lacked, was trust. So Jesus promised him that if he would give up everything and follow Jesus, he would receive treasure in heaven. This was a promise of Jesus! But the young man was so enamored by what he could see, he could not trust Jesus for what he could not see. All he saw was what he thought he had to lose, not what Jesus said he had to gain. He simply lacked trust in Jesus. Jesus demands and confronts because He loves. So because Jesus loves you, He also confronts you this morning. Can you say of your life, “No reserves, no retreats, no regrets?” DO YOU REALLY TRUST HIM? Are you willing to face opposition, to let go of friends, family, security, job, possessions – whatever is most precious to you – and trust that following Jesus leads to greater treasure than you can imagine? To you, this moment, Jesus says, “Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me. (But)… One thing you lack. Go and sell…then come follow me…and you will have treasure in heaven.” Do you really trust Him? If not, why not? If so, what are you going to do with your trust? Will you be just plain crazy like Jesus?
