An 85-year-old couple died in a car crash after having been married almost 60 years. They had been in good health the last ten years mainly due to the wife's interest in healthy food and exercise. When they reached the pearly gates, St. Peter took them to their mansion which was decked out with a beautiful kitchen and master bath suite and Jacuzzi. As they "oohed and aahed" the old man asked Peter how much all of this was going to cost. "It's free!" Peter replied, "this is Heaven!"

Next, they went out back to survey the championship golf course that the home backed up to. They would have golfing privileges every day and each week the course changed to a new one representing the great golf courses on earth. The old man asked, "What are the green fees?" Peter's reply, "This is heaven, you play for free." Next, they went to the club house and saw the lavish buffet lunch with the cuisines of the world laid out. "How much to eat?" asked the old man. "Don't you understand yet? This is heaven, it's free!" Peter replied with some exasperation.

"Well, where are the low-fat and low-cholesterol tables?" the old man asked timidly. Peter lectured, "That's the best part…you can eat as much as you like of whatever you like and you never get fat and you never get sick. This is Heaven!" With that, the old man went into a fit of anger, throwing down his hat and stomping on it, and shrieking wildly. Peter and his wife both tried to calm him down, asking him what was wrong. The old man looked at his wife and said, "This is all your fault. If it weren't for your blasted bran muffins, I could have been here ten years ago!"

We work hard at hanging on to our life here, don't we? We put off thinking about our own death. We avoid that kind of talk. And though we will chuckle from time to time at a heaven joke, or imagine the puffy clouded heaven pictured on TV, we probably don't spend a lot of time seeing ourselves there and looking forward to it. Not as much as we should. Now, I'm not suggesting that we go and live as recklessly as possible; eating, drinking, and smoking in such a way that we will see our Lord before the end of the year! But I am going to remind us this morning that there is something more to life than what we can see here in the world. There is something beyond our life. Jesus went to the cross for more than just helping us with our lives and relationships in this world. He went to the cross TO GIVE US ETERNAL GLORY!

In our text, a group of Greeks, Gentiles, came to Jesus' disciples and said, "We wish to see Jesus." Their request was a fulfillment of the messianic promise in Isaiah that Jesus would be the light for all nations. They had now come to see Him! And up to this point, we are used to hearing Jesus say, "My hour has not yet come." But now it had. He, true God and true man, had come to Jerusalem to die for lost humanity and rise again in glory. Jesus came to sacrifice Himself for the salvation of the Greeks as well as the Jews. And so his answer to them and to us was, "I have eternal life for you. Follow me!"

What Jesus came to do, He likened to a seed of grain. That seed remains nothing but a lonely seed unless it is planted. But when the seed is buried in the ground and dies there, a plant grows from it and bears fruit. Similarly, Jesus would not bear the fruit of his mission from God unless He first died. All his miraculous signs had no eternal benefit without the miracle of the cross and the empty tomb. The Son of Man had to die for a spiritual harvest to come, the harvest of souls for eternity. He had already glorified God with his perfect life He lived in our place, his teaching, and the miracles He performed. But now He would glorify God again with his death and resurrection. Those things were necessary for our life! The seed had to die first. Jesus had to go to the cross to give us eternal glory!

Maybe you have seen "Mr. Holland's Opus," starring Richard Dreyfus. It's a movie about the difficulties a man experiences as he struggles with adapting to the life he had instead of the one he wanted. Holland dreamed of being a composer, but a baby came along and expenses too. So he found a job teaching music. But in his spare time, he would also compose music. Throughout the story his teaching responsibilities forced him to make choices between the students and his dream symphony. And while it looked like the students kept winning over the symphony, still his life was a composer's life, as the independent composer slowly dies to the teacher who composes.

The "much fruit" he bore became clear in the finale, after many long years of touching young lives with his gifts. His "opus" was not the music marked on a sheet of paper, but a brilliant symphony composed of the individual lives that he encouraged and nurtured through his teaching. Is this not what Jesus was getting at? "When a grain of wheat falls to the earth and dies, it surrenders to new life and bears much fruit." Jesus had to die so that others might live! Jesus had to die so that you and I might live - eternally!

It was hard for Mr. Holland to give up so much, to die to his dream, in order to bear the fruit that he did. Well, Jesus is also human. And it was hard for Him to go to the cross. Because He is also human, he feared death. He feared the awful separation from his Father that was coming. He admitted, "My heart is troubled." But what was He going to do? Run from this trouble? Run from the cross? No, it was for this very reason, going to the cross, that Jesus came into this world! And He did this for you and me. What was the passion of Jesus? You are the passion of Jesus! Even if you were the only person in the whole world, He would still have died for you. He would rather go to hell for you than to heaven without you.

Remember that promise that God made to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden? He said He would remove the barrier between people and Himself by sending a Savior to crush the Devil's head. To defeat Satan. That time had come. Time for the "ruler of this world" to be cast out. And it is a good thing Jesus did that. It is a good thing He went to the cross - to give us eternal glory!

Because we would be in a world of trouble without that. There was an old mountaineer who had lived a full life, but not exactly a saintly life, and was now on his deathbed. He summoned his weeping wife. "Sara," he said, "go to the fireplace and take out the third stone from the top." She did as instructed. "Reach in there," said her husband, "and bring out what you find." Her fingers touched a large Mason jar, and with some effort, she pulled it up. The jar was full of cash. "Sara," said the old man, "when I go, I'm going to take all that money with me. I want you to put that jar up in the attic by the window. I'll get it as I go by on my way to heaven." His wife followed his instructions. That night the old mountaineer died. After the funeral, his wife remembered the Mason jar and went to the attic. There was the jar still full of money by the window. "Oh," the widow sighed, "I knew I should have put it in the basement."

This cute little story reminds us of a couple things. First of all, without Jesus in our lives, without faith that He took our sins to the cross and lived the life that we couldn't live, the chances of us having eternal glory to look forward to are zero. We are absolutely dependent on Jesus to get us to heaven. The lives we have lived would fall far short of preparing us for eternal glory. That will only come by believing what Jesus did for us on the cross. The other thing this story reminds us of is how silly it is to try hanging on to the fleeting and temporary wealth of this world. You can't take it with you! And WHY would you want to?

Jesus says, "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." Jesus' dying would have its effect on all who follow Him. We too in a sense must die. We don't die as a substitute for others as Jesus did. But in believing in Him as our Substitute, we die with Him. When Jesus warns us against loving our lives, He means putting this earthly life first. It's a warning against self-centeredness. Those who put all their affection on this life and what they can get out of it will one day die and lose it all.

When Jesus speaks of hating our lives in this world, He means putting Him and the life He gives first. When we believe in Jesus and have eternal life in Him, worldly living loses its attraction. Everything worldly carries sin's taint and becomes hateful. Only in Jesus does the good life, eternal life, become ours! It would be better to lose this earthly life than to lose Jesus. We guard our spiritual lives when we follow Jesus. Our faith in Jesus, however, carries a price. We are his servants. We must follow where He leads. We face sacrifices. We risk the scorn of many human beings. But we do so with the promise of the heavenly Father's honor and out of praise and thanksgiving for his Son!

There is an old legend of a swan and a crane. A beautiful swan landed by the banks of the water in which a crane was wading about seeking snails. For a few moments, the crane viewed the swan in stupid wonder and then inquired: "Where do you come from?" "I come from heaven!" replied the swan. "And where is heaven?" asked the crane. "Heaven!" said the swan, "Have you never heard of heaven?" And the beautiful bird went on to describe the grandeur of the Eternal City. She told of the streets of gold and the river of life. In eloquent terms, the swan sought to describe the hosts who live in Heaven, but without arousing the slightest interest on the part of the crane.

Finally, the crane asked: "Are there any snails there?" "Snails!" repeated the swan, "No! Of course there are not!" "Then, said the crane, as it continued its search along the slimy banks of the pool, "you can have your heaven. I want snails!" This fable has a deep truth underlying it. How many a young person, to whom God has granted the advantages of a Christian home, has turned his back upon it and searched for snails! How many a man will sacrifice his wife, his family, his all, for the snails of sin! How many a girl has deliberately turned from the love of parents and home to learn too late that heaven has been forfeited for snails!

Why would we want "snails" when Jesus has given us Eternal Glory!? Just as it was hard for Jesus to approach his death, it is hard for us human beings to approach our "death to this world." It is hard to give up our snails. But friends, we have a most wonderful reason to let go of this world! Jesus has given us such a better world! He went to that cross and came out of that empty tomb To Give us Eternal Glory! Heaven is yours! That is a promise from God to you! Jesus said, "But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself." He was telling us that when He would be lifted up on to that cross, He would be dying a death that would reconcile us with God. And that would draw all people to Him. That is what is so awesome about heaven - we will be eternally in the presence of our loving God!

There is a story about a dying man who asked his Christian doctor to tell him something about the place to which he was going. "Doctor, what is heaven going to be like - really?" As the doctor fumbled for a reply, he heard the sound of scratching at the door, and he then had his answer. "Do you hear that?" he asked his patient. "It's my dog. I left him downstairs, but he has grown impatient, and has come up and hears my voice. He has no notion what is inside this door, but he knows that I am here. Isn't it the same with you? You don't know what lies beyond the Door, but you know that your Master is there." Friends, we cannot comprehend what heaven will be like. We are so caught up with our snails that we can't imagine anything better. But Jesus went to that cross to assure us that we would share eternal glory with Him! The "with Him" is what is most important! We will be with Him! In God's presence forever! How wonderful that will be we can only imagine until we are there with Him one day! Amen.

Back to the Lent page
Back to the Pastor's Messages page