Pastor Cameron Lloyd | March 30, 2025
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The Cost of Seeking Jesus
John 12:20-26
The older that I get the worse I am at finding stuff. I’m talking about anywhere. If you ask my wife she would confirm this tiny little flaw of mine. But it’s getting bad. I think the reason it’s getting so bad is that I expect the thing I am looking for to be in the first place I look for it. If I’m looking for my keys, I expect them to be on my bedside table. I don’t expect them to be tumbling around in the dryer. If I am looking for the jelly for my PB & J’s it should be beside all the sweet stuff in the door of our fridge and not behind the 3 week old taco meat. I didn’t even know that was still in there. Don’t be hiding stuff behind it. It’s getting worse y’all. I’m getting lazier and my expectations to find exactly what I’m looking for are making me increasingly frustrated. But such is life.
Humans are natural seekers. We are constantly on the hunt to fulfill our desires. A snack in the cabinet, a book on the latest diet trend, the next big investment, a job that gives me finally that sense of fulfillment and identity I have been longing for. And when we do seek out the next big thing for our lives we have a deep expectation that it is going to bring about some sense of satisfaction. But if you examine our perpetual seeking — something unique to us humans, we tend to take the path that costs us the least amount of time, attention, risk, and potential loss.
Let me ask you a question: is that how you approach the Christian life? Maybe you are sitting there this morning and you have been seeking and investing your time in this place or in Jesus and you’re discouraged because your return on investment isn’t what you expected. What are you seeking this morning? What do you want God to do for you? What are you asking Him for? Is it joy? Is it life unimaginable? Or is it tangible? Something trivial? Are you seeking Jesus this morning? He’s not what you might expect. Seeking after Him means more than you might know. Following after him costs you something. That’s my aim this morning, church. It’s to reveal to you, maybe for the first time that following after Jesus, truly seeking Jesus is a call to die so that you may live.
Why do I say that? It doesn’t seem joyful. That sounds like too much! This is where I want you to pay close attention to our text this morning. Because in it, my hope is, you will see three realities we must come to realize in seeking after Jesus. It’s costly, yes. It’s not what our humanness is expecting. But it is full of heavenly reward.
Read John 12: 20-26
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
BODY
Before we dive into our text, I want to give you a bit of context. We are in the final days of Jesus’ earthly ministry before he is taken into custody and beaten. Days before, Jesus rode into the city of Jerusalem to the cries of the people signing “Hosanna! Hosanna!” This man who performed miracles is here! And the people desired to make him king. And Jesus didn’t deny their cries for a king. He was, in fact, the rightful king. But his kingdom would not be what they were expecting.
You see, the Jews wanted so badly for a political king to end their suffering under Roman occupation. And they thought that Jesus could be that man. His words up to that point made them think so. But his action during the week would have them thinking twice. You see the animosity towards Jesus was rising. The cries to make him king would soon be replaced with cries to crucify him. It was the beginning of Passover, and just as the Israelites welcomed lambs into their homes to prepare them for a feast, the Lamb of God was walking into the house of Israel to be prepared for death.
The first reality check we see in this text is we must have the right heart when seeking after Jesus. What is the heart of seeking him?
- The Heart of Seeking Jesus (20-22)
Standing in stark contrast to Jesus’ opposition are these Greeks we read about in verse 20. That’s unusual. Now, the presence of these Greeks in Jersaulam during one of the most important festivals in the Jewish calendar was not all that uncommon. These Greeks were most likely not from Greece but were actually gentiles, possibly from the Decapolis, a region of cities in the southeast of Israel. This region was largely inhabited by many different foreigners from many different lands. And many of them had an appreciation for Judaism. It is clear in chapter 12, that these Greeks were among the gentiles who were interested because it says they came to Jerusalem to worship.
Again, this was not uncommon. These Greek gentiles were known for being seekers. Many Greeks would jump from one philosophical framework to another just to find a hint of truth. So, if you were wondering around the temple during Passover in the first century, you might indeed bump into one of these seekers. However, what is unusual is where these Greeks ended up.
Unexpected Guests
Verse 21 says that they came to Philip, one of Jesus’s disciples. These were unexpected guests seeking a different kind of truth. Now, it’s interesting that they came to Philip. He was one of the disciples who bore a Greek name, which might have some significance, but John provides details about Philip that probably gave these travelers a bit more comfort. John says he was from Bethsaida, which was close to the Decapolis. John might be hinting at that to these Greeks, this was a friendly face. Philip might be just they guy to help them find what they were looking. Now, once they found Philip, what was most surprising about these seekers was their request.
A Profound Request
Verse 21 says, “[they] asked him, ‘Sir, we wish to see Jesus.’” We wish to see Jesus. What a profound request. I wonder, is this the cry of your heart? Do you wish to see Jesus? Because more and more I believe the cry of many of our hearts is “I want to see a win! I want to see some success. I want to see my account go from a measly four digits to five.” It’s a constant pursuit of worldly comforts and riches.
But the sinner who is desperate for life knows of only one source of comfort and satisfaction. Oh, that you all might wish to see Jesus! That’s what I want. I want to see Jesus so fully that the desire of my heart changes so dramatically that this world looks ugly in comparison to Him!
I wonder, do you so desire to see Jesus that you would sell all, give it all, risk it all so that you might know him more deeply and love him more passionately? This is the Christians’ greatest desire, brothers and sisters. It’s the central message of our preaching. To see Jesus!
I found this fascinating this week; these beautiful words uttered by seeking gentiles have found themselves traditionally inscribed on many pulpits around the world, just to set a reminder to the pastor, “we dont want to see you!” cries the sinner, “we want to see Him!”
Verse 22 tells us that Philip, probably more apprehensive to bring outsiders to Jesus during a time of rising opposition, he goes and tells Andrew. This is what I love about Andrew. We don’t know much about this disciple, but one thing we do know is that he is always found bringing people to Jesus. What an example to follow. He brings Simon, his brother, to him, who later becomes Peter, the rock. He brings the boy with a poor lunch of five loaves and two fish to Him, who Jesus uses to feed thousands. And now these Greeks. When he doesn’t know what to do or say, he brings people to Jesus. He knows who to take them to, no matter the question or the motivation.
It is true that we don’t quite know what motivated these Gentiles to want to seek Jesus. The fact is that many people seek Jesus for any number of reasons—for spiritual guidance or therapeutic morality. Some seek Jesus to analyze him for his historic significance. Many seek him because of his rebellious attitude towards leaders of the day and his humble lifestyle. He, more than most, “gets us.” Why do you want to see Jesus?
It’s not hard to try and guess why these men wanted to see him. Chronologically, a few days earlier to this strange and yet profound request, Jesus was found cracking whips and turning tables in the court of the Gentiles in the temple. Which is the only place these travelers were allow to go inside the temple. If you were there you too would wonder who is the man that calls the temple “His house” and that it should be “a house of prayer for all the nations (Mark 11:17).” You too would want words with the man that bestows more value on the outsiders than did the Jews.
The only question hanging over our heads is, did they get to see him? If so, what did he say? Interestingly, we don’t hear from these Greeks again in John’s Gospel. But Jesus is not silent after their request. What is to follow reveals that there is a great cost to seeking after Jesus.
- The Cost of Seeking Jesus (23-25)
Verse 23 says that Jesus answers them. It could have possibly been to just Philip and Andrew, but it also could have been a great crowd, as you can see Jesus speaking to one just a few verses later in chapter 12. If that’s the case, these greeks would have certainly seen and heard Jesus’ words recorded here.
Jesus says “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.” This hour Jesus is referencing, up to this point, has been something of a future event. If you look at John chapter 2, 7, & 8, Jesus says over and over that His “hour” or “time” has not yet come.
But now the request of these gentiles is some sort of trigger to this “hour,” one of which will result in Jesus’s glorification. With Jesus’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem and the people’s pursuit of him, you can imagine that Jesus’s words fell on his audience’s ears with great expectation. Many would have remembered Daniel’s words regarding the “One,” which would set up a dominion for the nations that would be eternal. “This is it!” They must have thought. “Jesus is not only going to throw down in the temple, he’s about to overthrow Rome!”
Having that in their minds, how disappointed they must have been at hearing Jesus’ succeeding words. Jesus is saying “my time to be glorified has come, everyone. Only I will not be glorified in the way you think I will be glorified.” He uses a picture they would have been very familiar to an agrarian society, such as theirs.
Jesus says in verse 24, “Truly, truly, I say to you,” He’s underscoring the importance of his words here. He says, “unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.”
Through this picture Jesus is saying, “you want to seek me? You wish to follow after me? This is where I am going.” You see the cost of seeking after Jesus is a call to die. And Jesus doesn’t just ask this of us and all of his followers. Jesus leads by example.
The Example of Jesus
He is saying, “just like a seed, I am about to die and be buried.” This is the road Jesus is about to walk down. Because in about 2 more days Jesus would be handed over to be beaten and crucified on a Roman cross. If you’re not a Christian this morning, you might have wondered this about Jesus, what kind of glory is that? That’s humiliating! Why on earth would he just die like that? Bloodied and naked like a common criminal. What glory is there in that? And I bet the people, even the disciples, were thinking the same thing.
But I’ll tell you why Jesus walked the road to Calvary, to take up a cross that you so deserved. It wasn’t so he could receive the greatest amount of humiliation, it was so that he would receive the greatest glory! If the grain does not die there is nothing for you and me, but if the grain dies there is fruit! You see, Jesus was not simply going to glorify himself through death but also resurrection. When a dead seed is buried in its dirt tomb, with time it sprouts and it brings forth life. That is the fruit! Resurrected fruit. This is the beauty of the gospel — that resurrection always succeeds death, but death is required. There is no life if there is no death.
This is why Paul was able to say “for to me to live is Christ, to die is gain. (Phil. 1:21)” Dying is gain in Jesus Christ. We love that so much we put it on a youth ministry t-shirt. And over half the teenagers that bought it have no idea what it means! They bought it because of the color. But because I am a firm believer in what Isaiah 55 says, which is that God’s word does not return to him void, I am praying for the morning that one of these teenager puts on that shirt and while they are brushing their teeth and when they read those words in the mirror, the truth of that verse that dying in Christ is gain, smacks them so hard between the eyes that the entire trajectory of their lives are changed.
But this is hard. I know it’s hard. Seeking and following Jesus means dying. That’s hard. And yet it’s the application Jesus is giving to all that would come after Him.
The Application of His Followers
Verse 25 says “whoever loves his life will lose it. AND whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.” This is the invitation of Jesus. A right heart posture to seek after him, means counting the cost. For those that have received his free gift of salvation means we prefer one life over the other. In fact those words love and hate found in this verse are saying just that; The Christian that is seeking after Jesus looks at his or her life on earth as a momentary blip compared to life everlasting.
You know what’s so hard about this teaching — It’s not that eternal life doesn’t sound good; it’s that we love this life so much. You see, the reason we walk around with perpetual fears of this or that is because we love this world far too much. We don’t want to lose what it has to offer us. And what does it offer us?
Have you been satisfied with this world yet? With that new car you just bought or house. Are you satisfied with that unexpected check you received in the mail? Are you feeling satisfied? I bet not! We are people who constantly want more. And if you’re feeling dissatisfied in this world, stagnant in your faith, you might need to check what life you love most. You might need to die. To lay your life down so that you don’t waste it. So that you can really count! Nothing in this world offers that!
In the mid to late 19th century, there lived a mighty man of God named George Mueller. This was a man that understood what Jesus is saying here. The Lord did many things through this man and his ministry, from evangelizing his town of Bristol to saving orphans young and old.
When asked “What has been the secret of your life?” George hung his head and said, “There was a day that I died.” He hung his head lower and said, “Died to George Muller, his opinions, preferences, tastes, and will; died to the world, its approval or censure; died to the approval or blame of brethren or friends.” Brothers and sisters, the kind of power that comes from dying to this world will make the pretenders of this world green with envy. Maybe even some in the church.
Have you spent much time around a missionary? Man, every time I hang around a brother or sister that has given much to see Jesus’ name known in the world, I grow sick with envy. Isn’t what Jesus is saying the truth of their life? That they have forsaken this world for the reward of another?
One of my favorite Missionaries was John G. Paton. Paton was a contemporary of George Muller and one of my preaching heroes, Charles Spurgeon. Paton longed to take the gospel of Jesus to the dark parts of the world. In fact, he would be tormented with the phantom cries of tribal men and women going to hell because they never got a chance to hear about salvation through the cross.
When an opportunity came during his days in seminary to go to the New Habrides, a collection of islands in the South Pacific, now known as Vanuatu (Van-OO-a-too), he couldn’t pass it up. He knew he must go. But not everyone thought as he did. In fact, most people were against him.
One day, when John was raising support for his mission wor,k an old man in the congregation cried out, “They are cannibals! And you’ll be eaten by cannibals!” “Mr. Dixon,” replied the young missionary, “you are advanced in years now, and your own prospect is soon to be laid in the grave, there to be eaten by worms. I confess to you that if I can but live and die serving and honoring the Lord Jesus, it will make no difference to me whether my body is eaten by cannibals or by worms.” Ha! In other words, “I might die, yes, but I have already died to this world. I am going to go to tell those people about Jesus, and they can’t kill a dead man.”
What a testimony of faith. To see ordinary saints that get it. That life and service to Christ is far better than anything this world offers. And better yet, the world to come offers more than we could ever imagine. Look at verse 26 to see the reward of seeking after Jesus.
- The Reward of Seeking Jesus (26)
It says, “If anyone serves me, he must follow me;” In other words, the one that is seeking Jesus, the one that seeks him for salvation, who understands that we must die to this world in order to live, grows in the affections to serve him. But true salvation is not only affection but it is direction. Serving Jesus means following Jesus.
Serving Means Following
And following Jesus means understanding His celebrated coronation that happened a few verses earlier as he rode into Jerusalem, leads to crucifixion. “You want to see me, you want to serve me, you must follow me. And where I am going is on the road to Calvary.” You might be thinking, this sounds a lot like Luke 9, to take up our cross. You bet it sounds like Luke 9! Brothers and sisters, if you don’t understand that the Christian life is cross-shaped, you will never know and experience true fellowship in His kingdom. Following Jesus means heavenly fellowship with him.
Following Means Fellowship
Verse 26 continues, “and where I am, there will my servant be also.” As pastor Kent Hughes records in his commentary, “Someone has said that “follow me” sums up our duty and “where I am” sums up our reward.”
2 Corinthians 4:17 says, “For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.” That might sound like foolishness to believe in a future hope such as that. And to that, Paul would say, “None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 9 But, as it is written, / “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, / nor the heart of man imagined, / what God has prepared for those who love him”
Our future with Jesus is far better than we can ever imagine. That puts our earthly afflictions to shame. It doesn’t matter what they are when it is compared to Christ’s heavenly kingdom, that ultimately frees us from our sin tainted circumstances on this earth. We get Jesus! And it gets better. Look how verse 26 ends.
Fellowship Means Honor
It says, “If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.” The glory and honor of this world pales in comparison to our future glory that we will receive, from who of all people? The Father! Make no mistake, this last verse speaks of our reward in heaven. First, we will have fellowship with Jesus, where all of our desires in earthly companionship are fulfilled in unimaginable pleasure. Not only that,, the Father seeks to bestow on us honor for laying our lives down to follow Jesus.
CLOSE
How amazing is that! Hunter reminded me this week, so helpfully, that being in Christ means that this earth is as close to hell as we will ever get. Praise God, because I definitely don’t want this world to be the closest I get to heaven. Church, this should cause your heart to burn to know Christ more. If this is that case, I want to close with a question. What in your life must die so that you see Jesus?
Earlier this week, I met with a few high school guys and another brother. These guys wake up early every week — well, most weeks — to sit and confess sin and to talk about how to honor God in their lives. No high schooler is doing that. They wake up early to confess sin and have all the dark parts of their lives exposed right before school. It’s because they really believe Jesus when he said, “Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God.” They do it because they want Jesus. And I’m proud of them.
But this week one student confessed that he was still struggling with sin, and my question to them was “what privileges are in your life are you holding on to as rights?” In a sense, what are you willing to lay down? What are you willing to crucify in order to receive life?
Is it your plans? Either for your finances, home, or your kid’s pre-planned futures? Is it your addiction? Your alone time? Maybe to some secret sin that is a result of your alone time. What is it? Do you still need to die to this world? Church, don’t forget who you belong to. Who you could belong to if you believed by faith. Don’t forget what Jesus has done for you so that you can have life. He has given you access to a life — a life of royalty.
There is a story of a group of slaves that were being lead along in Northern Africa, chain at the neck. As they walked along, the Arab slave traders noticed that all the slaves were bent over under the burned of the heavy iron collars, except for one. There was one slave that stood and walked fully upright with dignity. Asking why, a trader was told, “He is the son of king, and he cannot forget it.”
Church if you have truly sought him and died to this world, don’t forget you belong to him, the king of kings. No matter what this world offer you or does to you. You are His. So let us walk the road He walked, to life everlasting.