Loving and Hating Life (John 12:24-25) (Part 2)

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Loving and Hating Life (John 12:24-25) (Part 2)

“Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. 25 He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.” (John 12:24-25)

1. If a man loves his life, he will lose it (Joh 12:25).
   1. Loving one’s life is not wrong in all cases.
      1. A man is to love his wife as he loves his own body (Eph 5:28-29; Eph 5:33).
         1. He that loves his wife loves himself (Eph 5:28).
         2. These verses implicitly teach that it is normal for a man to love his own body and treat it well.
      2. David loved himself (Psa 35:17).
      3. Darling n. – 1. A person who is very dear to another; the object of a person’s love; one dearly loved.
      4. We are to love our neighbor as ourselves (Mat 22:39).
      5. This commandment assumes that we naturally love ourselves and should not mistreat ourselves.
      6. The Bible tells us what to do in order to love life and see good days (1Pe 3:10-11; Psa 34:12-14).
      7. These verses make it clear that it is not always wrong to love one’s life.
   2. Based on the second half of the verse, it is clear that the life that is loved is one’s life in this world (Joh 12:25b).
      1. What does it mean to love one’s life in this context?
         1. This world is characterized by fleshly desires and material pleasures of this life (Luk 8:14).
         2. This world is characterized by the things in this world which men lust after and are proud of (1Jo 2:15-16).
         3. To love one’s life in this world means to love the carnal and material things of this life and prioritize them over spiritual things.
      2. What does it mean to lose one’s life in this context?
         1. It can refer to physically losing one’s life (Luk 12:20).
         2. It can also refer to losing the things in this life which brought a man much pleasure, such as his health, wealth, prestige, social status, etc.
            1. Material things are sometimes referred to as “man’s life” (Deut 20:19).
            2. Money and possessions are referred to as one’s “living” (Mar 12:44; Luk 8:43; Luk 15:12).
         3. It can refer to losing the most important thing in this life, which is one’s fellowship with God.
            1. A person who lives in pleasure can appear to be living, but be dead to the things of God (1Ti 5:6).
            2. A church can have a reputation for being lively, but in God’s eyes be dead (Rev 3:1-2).
            3. A church can appear to be prospering, but be poor, blind, and naked in God’s estimation (Rev 3:17).
         4. A pastor must keep his body under subjection and deny his flesh if he is not to become a castaway (1Co 9:27).
   3. I knew a man who experienced what Jesus warned of in John 12:25.
      1. I sincerely believe that the man was/is a child of God who is now in heaven.
      2. He was in the church, but he had a foot in the world.
      3. The church was important to him, but it came behind his vacation home on the lake.
      4. In the summer time, he would frequently miss church to be at the lake.
      5. He had rationalized his decision and would repeat the same old story every time his poor attendance was addressed.
      6. After several years, things finally came to a head.
         1. After a very frank discussion with me on a Saturday, he decided he was going to make a change.
         2. He did not say what the change was going to be, but one thing was certain to me: the change was not going to be more time in church and less time at the lake.
      7. The next day (Sunday) in church, he took the opportunity he had to give an exhortation to rebuke me (although in a way that only I recognized) for having unrealistic expectations which led to unnecessary disappointment.
      8. On Wednesday, four days after the meeting about his poor church attendance, he, unbeknownst to me, had planned to head up to the lake again.
      9. He never woke up that Wednesday morning.
      10. He loved his life in this world and therefore lost it.
      11. This was a modern-day Ananias and Sapphira story (Act 5:1-11).
      12. This story should put the fear of God in us all (1Co 10:11-12; Rom 11:20-21).
2. If a man hates his life in this world, he shall keep it unto life eternal (Joh 12:25).
   1. What does it mean to hate one’s life in this context?
      1. A man who hates his life in this world hates:
         1. the pull this world has upon him.
         2. the vanity of this life (Ecc 1:2; Ecc 2:17).
         3. his vain thoughts (Psa 119:113).
         4. his false ways (Psa 119:128).
         5. his thoughts and imaginations which exalt themselves against the knowledge of God (2Co 10:5).
         6. his pride and foolishness (Job 42:3, 6; Pro 8:13).
         7. his sin (Eze 36:31; Rom 7:14-15, 24).
      2. If we don’t hate our lives in this world, we cannot be Jesus’ disciples (Luk 14:26).
   2. What does it mean to keep one’s life unto life eternal?
      1. If you hate your weak, sinful, foolish flesh, then your spiritual inward man is winning the battle for your mind (Gal 5:17; Rom 7:25).
      2. When you do that, you are living your life in the flesh by the faith of the Son God (Gal 2:20).
      3. When we live by faith, we have evidence that we have eternal life (Joh 6:47) and that we will live forever with Christ in a glorified body (Php 3:20-21).