Giving Over, Not Giving Up

John 12:20-33

Becoming a Jesus-follower does not mean losing your passions, hopes and dreams. It means that you allow God to re-purpose them, all of them. I may seem like an uncomfortable proposal but no one who has ever fully committed their life to Jesus has ever regretted the decision. Following Jesus gives you freedom like you've never had before. Giving your life over to Jesus brings peace to your spirit and joy to your heart. Being a disciple of Christ gives you a whole new perspective.

Here's an example. The NCAA Tournament: has anyone filled out a bracket? How's it going with that? Min e is terrible, let's talk about football.

Jon Pohl, High school Freshman. I weighed around 90...95 pounds tops. Gettin' ready for the first game of my High School football career. I may have shared with you before that I was not exactly a talented athlete. I spent a lot of time at football practice getting knocked around, but I was okay with that because it meant I was on the team.

The first game came and I was doing my part, standing on the sideline encouraging my teammates. We gained a significant lead so the coach put me in. I was a running back. I was in the game for 3 or 4 plays before the call from the sideline was for a play that I got to run the ball. All right. I know my rout. I have seen the other team they don't look any bigger than my teammates so they wont likely do any more damage than I have already experienced. We are playing on the game field which is softer than the practice field so hitting the ground wont hurt as much. When I get pasted I think I will be all right.

We line up for the play, the ball is snapped I take the hand off and in front of me a way opens as if the red sea was being parted. It seemed I could see for miles I couldn't believe it. Then suddenly I was on the ground and the play was over.

Monday came and the team got together to watch the game film. I was secretly distracted during all the discussion about the first 4/5ths of the game waiting to see video tape proof of my athletic glory. Then my play came up. I saw myself take the hand off. I saw the amazingly large hole that opened up before me, I saw myself run but not full speed but sort of all tense as if I was waiting to get tackled. My mindset was not hat I wanted to get as many yards down field as possible rather I already had the assumption that I was going to be stopped and was just trying to minimize the discomfort.

Remember when Peter said to Jesus that he shouldn't go to Jerusalem to die as Jesus said he must. And Jesus said “Get behind me Satan, for your mind is on earthly things not on heavenly things.”? Peter was runnin' the ball to minimize the hurt rather than trying to gain yardage.

When we become followers of Jesus, he asks us to give ourselves completely. When he called Peter and Andrew, James and John they left their boats and their work behind and followed Jesus for probably three years.

They had simple lives. They knew their work. They fished. They sold the fish. They lived on what they earned. They followed Jesus and things changed. They lived with purpose. How could anyone endure what they endured and how could they tell the story that we have today in Holy Scriptures unless Jesus was exactly who he said he was.

On the day that Jesus called his disciples, it may have appeared that they were giving up their lives. That they were actually losing something. But in reality they were gaining everything. It took them a while to get it but then it takes us all a while to get it even when we have it here in black and white and we have 2000 years of church history to support this truth.

The problem is that we often face life with the perspective that we are giving up something rather than giving over to something. There are many of you who have been through some pretty serious challenges in your lifetimes. You have been challenged spiritually, emotionally and physically. But you have made it through. You have endured the worst events of your life and you are here to worship God. Today is a good day. However There is someone that is probably sitting near you this morning that is about to go though one of those challenges or is in the midst of one right now. So what I want you to do is to turn to the person on your right and then to your left. Then if there is someone in front of you or behind you I want you to tell them that they are going to make it through. Go ahead and do that now.

We find ourselves dealing with all kinds of unexpected challenges and obstacles. The challenge and the obstacle is the path that we are on. We should travel that path well.

In the Gospel Lesson today the path that Jesus was on was not an attractive one. But he knew he had to travel it.

“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.” “Now my heart it troubled, And what should I say-'Father, save me from this hour?' No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour.”

Jesus knew that the path before him as difficult and undesirable as it was, was the right way to go. He knew that when he would be executed by the Romans that his death would mean defeat to the Adversary and would also draw all people to him.

Jesus has won the victory. In Jesus there is no division. There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus (Galatians 3:28). So in the big game of life we are about to get the hand off. The thing is the game is already won. If the game is already won that means that doesn't mean that god picked a winner and a loser among us. Jesus says in our scripture today that, “Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out.” and just because the victory has been won doesn't mean that God wants us to give up. We are still getting the ball on the next play and we still need to get it down the field. The question is are we going to give up trying because not everyone knows we are on the same team and we might get smeared.? Are we going to give up because we know that the victory is won? Or are we going to be faithful and obedient and strive to the best of our talents and ability to follow God through what ever may come?

So we need not strive against one another but rather we need to convince everybody that we are indeed on the same team.  We do that by continually proclaiming the Good News about Jesus Christ.  

So how is it with you today, knowing that, come what may, Jesus has already won the victory and our task is to give over our lives to the One that loves us.