THE OTHER SHEEP
Text: John 12:20 - 33
“Someone (Ernest A. Fitzgerald) tells the story about Lou Gehrig who one day during his famed baseball career came to bat. He swung at two balls and missed. The third ball passed and the umpire called him out. Gehrig threw down the bat in disgust, and muttered something to the umpire, all of which was totally out character for Gehrig. News reporters afterward asked him what he was complaining about. “I didn’t complain, said Gehrig. “I simply said to the umpire, ‘I’d give a thousand dollars for a chance at that last ball again!” (Ernest A. Fitzgerald. Keeping Pace: Inspirations In The Air. Greensboro: Pace Communications, Inc. 1988, p. 61). In baseball, three strikes and you're out. In most video games you get three chances before the game is over. In life, we get one shot. God’s plans never fail! Jesus Christ is the only way to heaven!
Jesus knew the plans that God had for Him (John 3:16; Jeremiah 29:11) but He also knew how to make the time for His ministry on earth count (Psalm 90:12). Jesus our Good Shepherd reminds us that we have other sheep that are not yet part of His fold (John 10:16). It has been said that these Greeks were some of those “other sheep”. (Richard Burridge. Daily Bible Commentary: John . Peabody, Massachusetts: Hendrickson Publishers, 1998, p. 156). Jesus tells these Greeks to make the best of their time by planting their lives in God’s plan and will for their lives.
Every person is like a seed with unlocked potential for doing God’s will until it gets planted. God’s design for true life comes from being planted. The death of the seed is a metaphor for how we must -offer ourselves in sacrificial love and service. How well are we managing our time to do God’s will? How well are we ministering to those who are like sheep without a shepherd?
PLANTING
Are planting and investing the same thing? Spiritually, the two are related because they both involve surrender.
1) Investing: Recalling the parable of the talents (Matthew 25:14 - 30), we are reminded that in order to be successful with what God has given we must be obedient in how we use that opportunity.
2) Planting: In John 12:24-26 Jesus tells these two Greeks [proselytes] advice that seems to echo the advice on talents. We have to be obedient to God’s marching orders in order to be fruitful!
How many of us like to negotiate for control?
1) Apprehensive: How can we obediently serve God claiming to surrender all while refusing to let go and let God? There is the story about a granddaughter who was boiling eggs with her grandmother as she said to her grandmother, “Pity we can’t open them to see how they are doing.” That led the conversation to other things like tomorrow. “Too bad we can’t crack open tomorrow ... to see if it is the way we would like it.” … We have to learn to trust God and leave tomorrow in God’s hands”. (Joanie Yoder. God Alone. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Discovery House Publishers, 2006, p. 97). That is always easier said than done.
2) Faith required: We cannot let go and let God unless we surrender!
Were these Greeks fans or followers? Jesus did not come to be served but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many (Mark 10:45).
1) Deciphering question: Is there a difference between fans and followers? What separates one from the other? Fans are always fair-weather unlike followers who are “semper fi” which is Latin for always faithful. As one theologian put it, “He [Jesus] came not to entertain but to redeem. Jesus does not offer us a spotlight and gold slippers; he offers us a crown of thorns and a bloody stake”. (Calvin Miller. Once Upon A Tree. West Monroe, Louisiana: Howard Publishing, 2002, p. 78). “… God offers life through the Cross; it is only complete when we accept it.” (ibid. P. 38).
2) Defining question: Which one are you a fan or a follower? In John 6:67 Jesus addressed those in the crowd who wanted to abandon Him because they thought His teaching was too harsh! His teaching separated the fans from the followers.
SERVICE
How can we obey God’s will by hoarding His grace?
1) Reckless versus cautious: Consider how the religious leaders of Jesus day responded to God’s grace. The Pharisees, the chief priest and the high priest Caiaphas were a religious elite. They were conspirators who wanted to kill Jesus. Their opposition for Jesus grew and built up pressure like a volcano that was getting ready to erupt. Consider the list of their complaints …
A) They spied on John the Baptist (John 1:19, 22,24) and wanted an answer about his identity.
B) They harassed Jesus for healing a lame man on the Sabbath (John 5:16)
C) They (the Jewish opposition) grumbled when Jesus said that He was the Bread of Heaven---that came don from heaven that gives life unlike the physical bread their ancestors ate and died Him (John 6:41 - 59 paraphrased).
D) In John 8:1 - 11 the Pharisees and legal experts who wanted to stone a woman caught in adultery to death. Jesus angered them when He told them let Him who is without sin cats the first stone (John 8:7).
E) In John 9 Jesus angered the Jewish opposition because He healed a blind man.
F) In John 11: 47 - 57, the “Jewish opposition” complained about Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. They wanted to arrest and kill Jesus because they feared that the Romans would take away “their temple, and their people (John 11:48).”
G) In John 12:10 -11 the chief priests decide that they want to kill Lazarus also.
H) In John 12:19, “The Pharisees then said to one another, "You see, we are not succeeding at all! Look, the whole world is following him!" (GNB).
I) By John 18 they arrest Jesus and in John 19 they crucified Jesus.
2) Contradiction: Is there any other conclusion that we can make other than the fact that the religious leaders were gate keepers instead of the religious leaders that they were supposed to be?
Were Jesus’s words to the Greeks harsh?
1) Sacrificial service: Jesus was telling those Greek young men that self-service always ends in death (John 12:25) because we have to die to ourselves.
2) Character: The Greeks loved knowledge and there were always Greeks who were pursuing knowledge and wisdom (I Corinthians 1:22).
3) Consequences: There are consequences for following Jesus or failing to follow Jesus. Jesus told the Greeks what He told them in a way that seems blunt and harsh because it seems that He wanted them to worship in Spirit and truth John 4:24.
How many people have we led to the Lord Jesus Christ?
1) Track record of the Jewish opposition: They did not like that Jesus reached out to sinners and yet they were sinners themselves! They seemed to forget about those who came after them.
2) Their fruit: They (The Jewish opposition) failed to be fruitful and were known by their lack of fruit. Recalling the boiling egg story, “they were worried about tomorrow to see if it would be the way they liked it.”
3) Following: They complained worried that the whole world was going to follow Jesus (John 12:19). Is that not why Jesus died according to John 3:16?
4) Docket: Their case is closed and our is still pending! Again, those two Greek proselytes represent the other sheep that Jesus wants us to bring into the fold. So how are we doing? Do angels rejoice in heaven because we are bringing people to Jesus or do they yawn with boredom because of our lack of bearing fruit? Are we not all called to go and make disciples (Matthew 28:19)? Which is better to burn out from working too hard or rust out because of inactivity? Which one describes us?
Remember the story about Lou Gehrig at bat? We are at bat for the kingdom of God right now! There are lost sheep on base who need Jesus Christ as their savior. Their souls are literally at stake. The bases are more than loaded because there are people who are like sheep without a shepherd! The religious elite of Jesus’s day wanted to witness with walls and we all know that is not how God calls us t to witness! Jesus went to the cross because he wanted to welcome those the religious elite of His day rejected. If today were our last day, would God be able to say “Well done” to us? In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
