going to take a break from First Corinthians, and I know it's in the bulletin that I'm in First Corinthians three, and you may wonder, why am I taking a break, or why am I getting out of First Corinthians? It's because in my personal reading of the Gospels, I've come across a passage that spoke to me in such a way that I saw some things I never saw before. And I couldn't get it off my heart, couldn't get it off my mind. And it was so real to me, I thought, I have to preach this. I have to share this to you guys. And it's a sermon that I need to hear. It's a sermon that I need. It's a message that's really glorious, but I need to be reminded of it. And it's really a message about Christ. and being a disciple of Christ. So, if you have your Bibles, turn with me to John chapter 12. John 12, we're going to be reading verses 20 through verses 26, and it's an account of a story that's only found in the Gospel of John. It's not in Matthew, Mark, or Luke. But it's taking place after the triumphant entry. So it's the last week. It's early in the last week of Christ. And Christ is preparing to die. He's preparing for the crucifixion. Start with me in verse 20. Now among those who went up to worship at the feast were some Greeks. So there came to Philip who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, sir, we wish to see Jesus. Philip went and told Andrew, and Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus, and Jesus answered them, the hour has come from the son of man to be glorified. 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. Whoever loves his life, loses it. And whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves me, he must follow me. And where I am, there will my servants be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him. This is a strange story because Throughout the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ, he really never really interacted with the Greeks. He never interacted with the Gentiles. After he sent the disciples out, two by two, he told them, after he formulated the disciples and sent them out, don't go to the Gentiles, only to the house of Israel. And throughout his ministry, he kind of sticks with the Jews. It's not until after the resurrection, he says, now, therefore, go into all the world. And so here's the only occasion that we see in the Gospels where Greeks, Gentiles, we don't know if these Gentiles were Protestants or were attached to the Jewish religion, or if they were just curious about Jesus. His fame had spread beyond the Jewish nation. We don't know for sure. But here they're coming to seek Jesus. And they have the most amazing request, a wonderful request. In the King James, it says, we would see Jesus. We want to see Jesus. And I pray that that's your heart. I pray that you're here this morning because you want to see the Lord Jesus. I want to see him. I want to know him. I want to follow him. I want to see his glory. I want to see his majesty. I'm here to see Jesus. And so here are the Greeks. They have heard of the Lord Jesus. They heard of his fame. They heard of his miracles. And now they're seeking him. They're searching him out. And they want to see Jesus. But what's amazing about this story is the response of the Lord Jesus. He did not tell Philip and Andrew, well, go tell them to come here. We don't even know if he ever actually saw the Greeks. We never really know if he actually communicated to them or if they ever got into the presence. They want to see Jesus. But Jesus' response to them was, my hour has come for me to be glorified. And he was speaking about his death. I'm about to die. And unless the seed dies, it remains alone. But if it dies, it will bear much fruit. Essentially, he's telling Philip and Andrew, go tell them that I'm about to die. If you want to see me, come back and look at the cross. Come back and look at me dead and buried. If you want to see me, see me suffering. This was his message back. And they wanted to be, if you would, potentially his disciples. They were curious enough to want to know him and potentially follow him. And so he gives them the cost of discipleship. If you want to follow me, this is what it's going to cost you. You too, like me, you must die. You must lose your life. If you love your life, you're going to lose it. But if you want to save your life, you must lose it. You must die to yourself. You must crucify yourself. This is what it's going to take to follow me. Is this what you want to look at? Or you just want the miracles? Do you just want the glory? You want the resurrection? Or do you want the crucifixion? Do you want to follow me? and have health, wealth, and prosperity? Or do you want to follow me unto death? Do you want to immolate me and die to yourself and lose your life? For this is what it's going to cost to be my disciple." So in this text, we see the cost of discipleship. And now this is true if we're not a Christian, if you're contemplating, do you want to be a child of God or not? Do you want to be a disciple? Do you want to be a Christian? Well, Christ would tell you, count the cost. Know the cost. And for us who are disciples, the cost remains the same. You see, it's not a one-time crucifixion. It's not a one-time laying our life down and surrendering ourselves to the Lord. To follow the Lord Jesus Christ is picking up our cross daily. It's mortification daily. We must deny ourselves to immolate the Lord Jesus Christ. We must suffer and be a servant and humble ourselves if we want to follow the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the great cost of discipleship. But before we look at the cost in detail, let's look at what it means to be a disciple. What does it mean to be a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ? We see, first of all, to be a disciple of Christ is that you have to seek Christ. You must look for him. We see in verse 20 through 22, that these Greeks, they were searching out Christ. They were looking for Christ. They found a disciple. They found Philip. And Philip found Andrew. And they say, we need to see Christ. We're not here to see you, Philip. We're here to see your master. We're here to see your Lord. Show us Jesus. We're here to see the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, this is always the first step. If you're unconverted, may you least have the heart. I want to see him. I want to know him. Give me a glimpse of Jesus. The Bible says in Isaiah to seek the Lord while he may be found and call upon him while he is near. Proverbs 8 tells us, I love those who love me and those who seek me diligently will find me. And Jeremiah 29, you will seek me and find me when you seek me with all of your hearts. If you want to be a disciple, you never get past this, a search for Christ, a seeking for Christ, a longing for Christ. I want to see the Lord Jesus Christ. And again, this is not a one time pursuit. First Chronicles 1611, seek the Lord in his strength. Seek his presence continually. Or as Psalm 105 verse 4 says, seek his face always. This is what it is to be a disciple, to search for the Lord, to look for the Lord, to wake up in the morning and say, Lord, I don't want the rest of my day to happen until I've seen you, until I've been in your presence, until I got a good glimpse of your glory. This is the longing of every true disciple. Sir, we would see Jesus. Hopefully this morning that's your heart's desire, that's your longing. I wanna see Jesus this morning. The psalmist said, one thing I have asked of the Lord that I will seek after, that I might dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and inquire in his temple. Psalm 63, oh God, you are my God. Earnestly I seek you, my soul thirsts for you, my flesh faints for you, as in the dry and weary land where there is no water. When the Lord says, seek my face, is our response, Lord, your face I will seek? I want to see you. You know, this is, Christianity is not just about duties and commands and Living the right way, it's about seeing the Lord. So it's about delighting ourselves in Christ. Seeking his presence. You see, this is the first step of being a disciple of Christ. You know, it's only when we see the Lord will we be transformed into his likeness. 2 Corinthians 3, 18, and we with all unveiled face beholding the glory of the Lord are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. You say, I want to live a holy life. I want to be a disciple. I want transformation. I want to be holy. I want to be obedient. Well, you get that not from yourself. You get that from a glimpse of the Lord Jesus Christ. You've got to see him first before you can obey him. You must dwell with Him before you have strength to conquer with Him. Oh, that we would search Him out. Oh, that we would be like these Greeks, sir, we would see Jesus. Second, it's not just seeing the Lord Jesus Christ, it's being a beneficiary of Christ. This is what a disciple is. It's amazing Christ's response to these Greeks. It's not what we would expect. Jesus answered them in verse 23, you want to see me? Tell them this, the hour has come for the son of man to be glorified. He's talking about, you're going to see my, you want to see my glory? I'm about to be glorified. How's Christ about to be glorified in him laying down his life? Verse 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. Now, why would Christ respond in such a way? Why would not just say, hey, bring them here. Let me show them a miracle. Let me give them some wisdom. Let me impress them in some visible way. You know, that's what they wanted to see, or at least most people who see Christ, they want to see the majesty and the splendor. They want to see some spectacular event. Christ says, look at the cross. If you want to see me, look at the cross. In other words, if you want to see my glory, I'm about to be glorified. The Father's about to glorify me. And we think about the Father glorifying the Son, we always think about the resurrection. Or the announcement, all power in heaven and earth has been given to me. Or a name above all names has been given to me. We think of that victorious moment when he comes out of the grave. We think, well, there he's glorified. And we think of the cross as his humiliation. But we see here, Christ is talking about his death as a moment of his honor. How could this be? You see, Christ came to bring glory and honor to the Father. His whole life was not about selfish attention. His whole life was to reflect the very beauty and the majesty and the holiness, the love and the goodness and the kindness and the mercy and the splendor of God the Father. And he's telling us that the greatest manifestation of the glory of God is not the angels crying out, glory, glory, glory, or holy, holy, holy, holy. The greatest manifestation of the glory of God is that old rugged cross. In that cross, we see God's love most vividly displayed. At that cross, we see His kindness, His mercy, His long-suffering. All the goodness of God that we marvel at is most demonstrated and made manifested so clearly, not at the resurrection, and there's glory at the resurrection, amen, but at that death of His Son. You want to see the God of Israel? Come look at him laying down his life. Take a hard, long look at his sacrificial humility. You see, he says, my glory, the hour has come for the son of man to be glorified. How is Christ glorified by his death? How is he glorified by the cross? It's one thing for the Almighty to be worshiped, rightly so, but what type of God who is that glorious and deserves all majesty, all glory, all splendor, who is a God like that to take on your shame, to serve you, to bow down and put a towel around His waist and care for you. That is glory. Who does that? You and I don't do that and we're nothing. But for God of glory to love you, to serve you, to sacrificially give everything for you and to take your guilt, to take your shame, to take your disgrace and bear that on your behalf. That is love. That is mercy. That is grace. That is goodness. That is kindness. Everything God is, is displayed in the humiliation of the Son. Christ says, I did not come to be served. I come to show who the Father is. And the Father is one who serves. Think about God. He has nothing He needs from you. He needs nothing. He's complete. He's absolute. He's perfect. He did not create you because he's lonely. He did not need you because he's lacking something. You see, God is a God of giving. He's a God who gives and doesn't need anything in return. This is the very nature of who God is. And the cross, the personal life of Jesus Christ, the fact that he lived a whole life of sacrifice, a whole life of giving, a whole life of humiliation and service to the point of giving all that he has, that demonstrates the very nature of God. And that is a glorious God. That God is worthy of worship. worthy of seeking out. I want to see God. If you want to see God, go look at Jesus. Jesus says, if you've seen me, you've seen the Father. Don't think it's just Jesus that's humble. Jesus was humble even before he was incarnate. He, being in the form of God, didn't think it was robbery to be equal of God, but condescended and made himself of no reputation. He did this as the second person of the Trinity, and he reflects the very nature of the Father. God the Father is as humble as God the Son. God the Father is just as giving. The Father gave up his own Son. You see, the life of Jesus represents the goodness of God the Father and God the Son. You see, Christ is glorifying the Father in his humility. Don't just think, well, the humility is not glory, but then the honor that comes after the humility, only the honor is glory. No, Christ is saying, my humility shows you my glory. My humility shows you the glory of the Father. This is the hour that I will be glorified. You say, well, he's not glorified when everybody spits upon him. No, but the Father's glorified. He glorifies the Father in his humiliation. And I know God was angry at us and poured out his wrath on his son because of us. But when he looked at the person of Jesus Christ, he was proud. He was satisfied. That's my son. I'm well pleased with him. And he was never more pleased with the son than on the cross. Made him a perfect substitute for you and I, who we displeased him in our life. but He took our shame, our guilt. And for the joy that was set before Him, He died for you, He served you, He loved you. This is self-sacrificial love. You see, when He's died on the cross, He was glorified. John 12, 27, now is my soul troubled. Jesus says, and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour. But for this purpose, I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name. I come principally to show the world your glory. And I'll show the world your glory by dying. John 13, 31. When he had gone out, Jesus said, now the Son of Man is glorified, and God is glorified in him. For God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself, and glorify him at once. Talking about his death. You see, The cross is the most vivid manifestation of the nature and the goodness and the glory and the majesty and the splendor of God. Nothing captures the love of God more than the cross. Nothing captures the humility of God more than the cross. Nothing captures the glory and the greatness of his love and all the other attributes more than the cross. And it's not just the fact that he died. It'd be one thing for him to serve good people, but it's greater glory that he humbled himself to serve sinners. Who does that? He served us and gave to us while we had nothing to give to him. Again, do you want to see Jesus? The Greek says we want to see Jesus. Jesus couldn't have responded any better than to say, look at the cross, see me there. We see, if we're beneficiaries of the death of Christ, we see in verse 24 that all of our spiritual fruit, everything that we become as disciples of Christ, justification, sanctification, Everything comes from the fact that he died for us. Look at verse 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. Christ is saying if I'm going to bear fruit and he came to bear fruit. His whole life was on mission to to please the Lord and to serve the Lord and glorify the father. And to bear much fruit, and he says, For me to bear fruit, I must die. And it gives an illustration of a seed. And I don't understand how this works in biology, but a seed must die. But if it doesn't die, it remains alone, Jesus says. But if it does die, then it's going to bear fruit. It's going to bear a tree, and that tree will bear a lot of fruit. spiritual gift in this world, every fruit that we see from Genesis to Revelation, all of human history, any goodness in your life, any spiritual work in your life, anything you say, hey, this is good in my life, has sprouted out and sprung from the very death of Jesus Christ. You see, he died for you. Being a disciple of Christ is not earning your salvation, it's receiving salvation. It's his death that makes you a disciple. It's not your seeking. It's not you giving. It's not your dying that produces fruit. It's Christ's death that produces fruit. And of course, the fruit that he'll produce in you is that you too will die. You too will seek the Lord and follow his example. So the first point of what is a disciple? It's one who seeks Christ. And if you would see Jesus, Look at his tears and his blood he spilt for you. Look at the humiliation that he endured on your behalf. Look at his death. This is the ultimate cost of salvation. The second, we're followers of Christ. I mean, second, we're the beneficiary of Christ. To be a disciple, we're followers of Christ. We see this in verse 25. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves me, he must follow me. That is, if you're going to be a disciple, you don't just seek him initially, you find him, then follow him. You follow him all the days of your life. If none will go with you, you will continue to follow Jesus Christ. You're called to follow him, to follow his example, to be imitators of Christ. As he has done, you're called to do likewise. Thus, as the disciples were called to love like Christ, Ephesians 5.1, therefore be imitators of God as beloved children and walk in love as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us. a fragrant offering, a sacrifice to God. We're to love like Christ, we're to be humble like Christ. Philippians 2.5, have this mind among yourselves, which is also in Christ Jesus. He humbled himself. We're to think better of others than we think of ourselves. This is to be like Christ as his disciples. To follow him is to serve others like Christ. After he washed the disciples' feet, he says, if then your Lord and teachers have washed your feet, you also are to wash one another's feet, for I've given you example that you also should do as I have done to you. Here to serve people sacrificially, 1 Peter 2.21, for this You have been called because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example so that you might follow in his steps. You see, a disciple is a seeker, a beneficiary, a follower. And we see in verse 26, a disciple is a servant. Verse 26, if anyone serves me, the Father will honor him. To be a disciple of Christ, you've got to serve Christ. You have to be like Christ, emulate Him, what He does, you do. And He was a servant, He came to serve the Father, He come to serve us, and we too are called to serve Christ. But this brings us to the cost of discipleship. What will it cost you to follow Christ, to seek Christ, to follow Christ, to be a beneficiary of Christ? to be a servant of Christ. What's that going to cost you? It's going to cost you everything. What is the cost of discipleship? Death. Look at verse 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. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Bonhoeffer said in his book, The Cost of Discipleship, whenever Christ calls you, he bids you to come and die. We're told in Romans 12.1 that we're called to be living sacrifices. Our life is to be a sacrifice unto God. We have to die. This is the cost of discipleship. If you're not a Christian this morning, and you're wondering, I wanna be a Christian, well, count the cost. You have to die to yourself. You have to surrender everything to the Lord. Jesus put it this way, Matthew 16, if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow me. Now, how do we die to ourselves now? We all hopefully we want to see Christ lifted up on the cross and see his glory and how he served and how he died. And we we are most amazed at God by looking at Christ's service and love and death for us. Now, how do we die if we want to emulate Christ? How do we do it? I was thinking about this in my sermon. I didn't want to just preach a sermon and not do it myself. I said, Lord, I want to die. I want to die to myself. How? I was asking myself, how do I die to myself? Well, first we must die to our self-centeredness. Man, we wake up and it's like it creeps back in. Selfishness just creeps in automatically. Before we know it, we're self-centered, self-focused, worried about our problems, worried about our glory, worry about our needs, worry about self. And that's so easy for us to fall into selfishness and self-centeredness. Selfishness is the heart of sin. The Bible identifies selfishness as the lust of the flesh. But we must die to self and the passions of the self. The Bible tells us in Galatians 5, 24, those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. We have to die to self and to this world. I mean, this world's calling out to us. All the shiny object says, come and get me. You know, you can't be content or happy until you get the new possessions. You need more of this world. You need more entertainment. You need more sports. fun, pleasure. You need more of this world. Come get me, the world says. But if you're going to be disciples of Christ, you have to say, I have to die to that. That can't be my life. That can't be the passions of my soul. That can't be my idol. That can't be my God. I have to die to this world. Remember the rich young ruler. Lord, what must I do to be saved? Keep the commandments. Well, I've done all that. What else? Sell all that you have. Wait a minute, that's a price too high. That's a price too high. What do you mean, sell all that I have? I'm rich. If it would be one thing if I was poor, but I'm rich. You're telling me to be a disciple, I have to sacrifice all that I have? And disciples like hearing this, well, who can be saved? Who can be saved if this is the cost of discipleship? Who can do this? Jesus says, well, you can't. With man, it's impossible. It's impossible to deny all that you have, to give all that you have. But with God, all things are possible. You cannot serve money and God at the same time. Jesus said that you cannot serve two masters for you hate the one and love the other. You cannot serve God and wealth, Jesus said. We must die to the love of pleasure. And it's like. That seems crazy. Well, let me tell you, notch it up a bit. Especially for parents. This seems too high of a cost. You have to be willing to sacrifice your Isaac. You have to be willing to not make your little ones, your precious ones, an idol of your life. Jesus said, whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever does not take up his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. He says in Luke 14, 33, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has can't be my disciple. What is the cost of discipleship? It's everything. It's everything. It's your whole life. Not just your mother, your father, your brother and sisters. Jesus says, yes, yea, even your own self. Are you ready to follow the Lord Jesus Christ? Are you ready to give up everything? You can have my life, you can have my gold, my silver, you can have my family. Can any of you say, if the Lord Jesus, if you wanna take me home to heaven today, I know that I'm gonna have to leave my mother, I'm gonna leave my father, I'm gonna leave my wife, I'm gonna leave my children, I'm gonna leave everything, my pursuits, my job, my career, my ministry, I'll leave everything, but for the joy of that treasure, The joy of Christ. I counted joy to sell all that I have. What is this world? What is this life? What is your possessions? What is your money? What is this life compared to Jesus? It's nothing. It's nothing. We'll find out these things, if they're not in its proper place, take you to hell. And they won't surely make you happy. Most of you are miserable. You unbelievers who are not disciples of Christ, you're miserable because you're seeking the wrong thing. You're chasing pleasure to pleasure. You're chasing one prideful thing to the next prideful thing. You've made life about yourself. You're wondering why you're so discontent and miserable. Oh, if you could just see Christ, if you could just see the glory of Christ lifted up, if you have to see him first before you can die, you have to see him dying for you and see all the glory of his love for you. Then it is nothing to give all to him. You see, this is a lifelong calling. And Luke, it says we must pick up our cross daily. and follow him. This is why this is a message for unbelievers and for believers, for those who want to be disciples and those who are already disciples. Today, we must pick up our cross. How do we do that? We become servants of all. We emulate the Lord Jesus, who came not to be served, but to serve, who came not for self-attention, but to give attention to others. Hebrews 13, 6, do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God. Do you realize, brothers and sisters, this would transform your marriage? There's a lot of marriage problems in our churches. And all of us deal with issues in our marriages, all of us who are married. Men. This would change your marriage if you would love your wife like Christ loved the church. That you gave yourself to your wife, served your wife. Don't look at your wife as there to serve you. You're here to serve your wife and love her. So I don't feel like it. I don't want to. I'm interested in my career. I'm interested in my own pursuits. I'm too busy to pay attention to my wife. Christ is not too busy to pay attention to you. Wives, oh how this would change your marriages if you would honor your husband. You would love your husband. Love the one that God has placed you with. Well, I'm discontent. I'm not happy in my marriage. I'm unsatisfied. What does that have to do with it? You're called to die to yourself. Die to self-interest. Oh, I won't be happy until I get what I want. No, that will make you miserable. Love your husband. Serve your husband. This would change our marriages if we would just follow the steps of discipleship. If we would die to self and self-centeredness and self-focus and self-pleasure. Christ lived his whole life not for himself. He gave, he gave, he gave, he sacrificed, he sacrificed. And it was the joy of honoring the Father. And let me tell you, when you give yourselves to others and serve others, You represent Jesus. You show the world the love of Christ. Not only do we need to die to self-centeredness, we need to die to self-righteousness. Remember the Pharisee and the tax collector heard most wonderful sermon this last Wednesday that I've ever heard. It was the man, Ron Shields, I think is his name, came and spoke to us. It was just a clear exposition of the Pharisee coming into the temple with the tax collector. And Jesus spoke this parable because of those who took pride in their righteousness and their self-confidence. You know, to be saved, we think, well, we've got to deny our sin and say, hey, Lord, I'm a sinner. But, you know, you realize to be saved, you've got to say, I've got to give you and sacrifice my righteousness. I have nothing. I die to everything. I can't even hang on to my good works or my perceived good works. Remember the Apostle Paul? He looked back over his life and he was excelling as a Pharisee and he was rising up the ranks and he was, from his perspective and other people's perspective, he was a righteous man, a zealous man. He says, all that I gain, all that I accomplish, I look back and I count that as rubbish, as trash. I give all that up. I don't want that. I don't have any claims. I just sacrifice everything. I have nothing. be a disciples of Christ, you have to go to Christ empty handed. You're not going to bargain with him. My Lord, you do this, I do that. No. You come to God. He's a giver, remember? He's already proven that he gives. And he needs nothing in return. He loves you. He will give to you. He died for you. And you have to accept that. And you have nothing to give him back. You just die and come to him empty handed. Lord, here I am. Nothing else to give you, but I give you all that I have, which is nothing. You must die, and we must continuously die to our self-sufficiency. John 15, Jesus says, apart from me, you can do nothing. Even us in the ministry, we begin to think, well, I'm doing this, and I've done that, and I've got some talents, and I've got some education, and I've got some wisdom, and I've got something to offer. And then we think, well, in these things that I have now, I can serve the Lord. No, you and I can do nothing. We must die to any thought that we can serve the Lord in our own strength. This is all about God's grace given to us. We don't have nothing that we can turn to give back to him. And if we do have fruit, it'll be through our death. If we're going to bear fruit, we must die to ourself first. It's only when we die that we can bear fruit. It's not in our living that we can be fruitful. It's not in our self-confidence. We should become more humble and more weak and more dependent. And by becoming less, we become more. By becoming weak, we become strong. By becoming nothing, we become something. The way to life is through death. We must die to self-ambition, the desires to be great in this world, desire to build a platform, desire to be seen and be notable and be famous. All this we must die to. Jesus said, remember when John and James, the son of Zebedee, came with their mother and said, hey, we want to be first and second in your kingdom. I mean, you can be first, but we want the second and third place, the right and left hand. And Jesus gives them a speech. He's like, if you want to be great, you've got to be like me. You've got to be the least. If you want to be great, you've got to lower yourself. If you want to be great, you've got to be the servant of all. The servant of all the servants. You know who are the greatest in the kingdom of God? The greatest in the kingdom of God are the servants, the ones who serve humbly without seeking attention, without looking for recognition, who are sacrificially serving, often behind the scenes. Oh, those are the great ones. The first shall be last and last shall be first. I think when we get to heaven, we're going to be running to the unknown widowers. We're going to be running to the unknown servants of the Lord. And it's like, hey, tell me more about your greatness. So what greatness? Oh, the greatness of living and serving and giving all that you have to the Lord. You are a poor widow and you gave that might. Tell me more about that might being all that you have. And by that, she gave more than all the rich people. You see, Jesus says, if you want to be great, you've got to be the youngest. Matthew 18, at that time, the disciples came to Jesus saying, who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them and said, truly, truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like a child, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. This corresponds with what he said a couple chapters later, the greatest among you shall be your servants. You see, the older you get, the less serving you do. Kids have to run around, serve, do this, do that, do this, do this, do that. And surely when you get a senior citizen, you can sit down and be served. See, this is the way of the kingdoms of this world. If you want to be great, You climb the ladder of honor and everybody else serves you, but in the kingdom of God, you go down and you go down. You see, you must die to your self-glory and self-importance. Philippians 2, 3, do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourself. Let each one of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Because God opposes the proud, but He gives grace to the humble. You see, this is the cost of discipleship. You want to be a Christian, you want to follow the Lord Jesus Christ, well, follow Him to the cross. Give all that you have to serve Him. Now, let me close by giving you the payoff, the reward, the glory of discipleship. This is amazing. First of all, those who die to self will bear much fruit. We see that in verse 24. And if you haven't noticed, I'm walking through this text three times. Going back, pulling another perspective out of it. And this is the glory of discipleship. A seed, he says in verse 24, does not bear fruit until it dies. But if it does die, it doesn't bear some fruit. It bears much fruit. Christ bore fruit by his death. Think about his whole life was sacrificial, prepared, was a preparation for death. But in dying, he brought life. He brought grace. He brought fruit. Same way for us to be fruitful. We must die. Those who die will live. Jesus put it this way, whoever loves this life loses it. And whoever hates this life in this world will keep it for eternal life. It's backwards. You know, people want to live forever. We live in an age of people are freezing themselves, hoping that they get the cure of longevity or eternal life in the future. So they freeze themselves. It's crazy. People want to live, live. They seek life. But in seeking life, seeking this world, they lose everything they have. And they don't realize they're miserable in the process of it all. But to have life and life more abundantly, we must die. First Corinthians 1536, what you sow will not come to life unless it dies. And this is the nature of the Christian life. We have life because we've died. We were buried with him by baptism into his death in order that just as Christ raised from the dead by the glory of the father, we too might walk in the newness of life. This is why Paul says, I've been crucified with Christ, but nevertheless I live. Yet it's not I who lives, but the life of Christ in me. Those who die will not only live forever, they'll live forever with Christ. Look at verse 26. If anyone serves me, he must follow me and where I'm there, my servants will be also. Now, look at this last phrase. If anyone serves me, the father will honor him. That is, those who die, those who humble themselves, the Father honors. James 4, 6, God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. 1 Peter 5, 5, clothe yourself, all of you, with humility towards one another, for God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. We get not just grace, but we get wisdom. Proverbs 11, 2, with humility comes wisdom. We get honor, humility comes before honor. Before honor is humility, Proverbs 18, 12, and Proverbs 15, 23. Proverbs 29, 23, a man's pride will bring him low, but humble spirit will obtain honor. Even we will be exalted. Luke 14, 11, for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humble himself will be exalted. 1 Peter 5, 6, humble yourself therefore under the mighty hand of God. So at the proper time, he may exalt you. You see, I believe when Christ died, he humbled himself to the greatest extent. He could not have poured himself out more. He could not have been any more humble than he was. He could not have been more sacrificial because he gave everything he had. But in that moment, it demonstrated the very honor, glory, and majesty of the father. It demonstrated the glory of the son. And so, yes, we often think of humility, then some time passes, then honor comes. But I want you to see the honor of humility. I want you to see the glory of dying to self. I want you to see the life of dying. I want you to see the majesty of being a servant. How glorious that is in God's perspective. If you want majesty and honor, and you want to be exalted, then outdo others and showing honors to others. Put yourself last. Go to a table and sit at the lowest seat. Be a servant of all. That's the way of Christ. That's the way of the master. That is the way of discipleship. That is what it is to be a disciple of Christ. You see, the glory of discipleship is found in the cost of discipleship. The cost is really no cost at all. The only value we have as disciples of Christ is the degree that we reflect and mirror The humility, the sacrifice and the love of God. Now, think about this. Jesus represented the love, the mercy, the patience, the humility of the father in his death. And that was made Jesus glorious. What makes you glorious? What makes you so wonderful? And when you think of the great Christians among us and from church history, what makes them so great? It's what they gave up. It's what they sacrificed. It's what they did without. Because what it does, when you see that, you see Jesus. You don't represent Jesus when you're self-centered and you're proudful and you're arrogant and you're serving yourself. That doesn't represent, that doesn't show the love of Christ. But it does show who Christ is when you live as disciples, as imitators of him. If people can see the kindness and the grace and the forgiveness, the sacrificial service in you, then they can see the love of God in you. And if they can see the love of God in you, then they can see Christ shining through you. It is his death that leads to our death. It's because he died first that we can die and give our lives to him. Let me close by appealing to you all to die. I don't know if you're a Christian or not a Christian. Many of you are believers. Let us re-die. Let's pick up our cross again today. And if you don't know the Lord Jesus Christ, he will receive you. He died for you. It's not your death that saves you. It's his death that saves you. But he saved you from sin and selfishness so that you can die to self and live to God. Let's pray. Lord, what an amazing word. What an amazing message that there's life and death, there's honor and humility. Lord, help us to be like Jesus Christ. Truly, he's worthy of worship and honor. He's the best man we've ever known. Thank you for showing us a glimpse of him this morning. This we pray in your son's name. Amen.