How Do You Experience Jesus?

This morning I want to start this message by sharing with you one of my earliest experiences of testifying, like Darnier said, of witnessing to someone that was a non-Christian about my faith. It was one of my first experiences outside of school. I had started working as a builder's labourer as I was studying theology, and we were on this massive building site. I was working there for two years in total, building this huge factory. And one day I was asked to help out one of the permanent workers on this factory site, a guy called Brad, and we were doing some welding.

Welding big steel cages for the factory itself. And you can imagine we were doing this hour after hour, the same old thing. And so it wasn't particularly stimulating. So we had plenty of time to talk, and so I took the opportunity. At one point I decided to change our conversation a little bit and start talking about spirituality, which obviously led us to talk about Jesus Christ and my faith in Him.

I was really surprised to see how open he was to talk about spirituality and even his philosophy or his idea of who Jesus was. But when it came to asking him, so is there a point where you would put your faith or your trust in Him? He gave me this answer: I would believe in Jesus if he would show himself to me. Sort of that ultimatum.

I would put my trust in him if I could see him. Perhaps you've heard it as well, some sort of version of that, and perhaps you've said it yourself at a low point in your journey with Him. I will have trust in him. I will put my faith in him if only he would appear and show himself to be real to me.

Last weekend on our camp, we had a workshop done by Pastor Obi, who led us through some of these issues, and it had made me think this week about this. As a Christian, how can we have the most intimate experience of Jesus Christ in our life? As a Christian, how can we experience the presence of Jesus most intimately? The reason I ask this is I think as a Christian, if you are a Christian, this is one of the greatest desires you will have: to be closest to Jesus. How can you experience Jesus' power and His realness today?

How can you see Him today? Well, this morning we find that Jesus actually gives an answer to this question to us. And as a text that we dealt with last weekend as well, so I'm hoping the people that were there will give me the opportunity to just flesh it out a little bit more this morning. But we're going to look at John 12, and we're going to read from verses 20 to verse 26. John chapter 12, verses 20 to 26.

John 12:20. Now there were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the feast. They came to Philip who was from Bethsaida in Galilee with a request. Sir, they said, we would like to see Jesus. Philip went to tell Andrew, and then Andrew and Philip in turn told Jesus.

Jesus replied, the hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. 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. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, my servant also will be.

My Father will honour the one who serves me. Just to give a bit of context of what's happening here in John 12, we see the ministry of Jesus at its highest peak. This is where Jesus had been ministering for about three years. His fame, or his infamy, had grown to the highest level, the highest crescendo of that three-year period. Just before this event, we see Jesus coming through into Jerusalem in the triumphal entry.

This is Palm Sunday we're talking about. This is the moment where people were throwing their cloaks and their clothes on the ground, on the mud, so Jesus would walk over it on his donkey. People had palm fronds waving. They simulated a king triumphantly entering his conquered city. This is the context of this conversation that Jesus had.

We see, in fact, in verse 19, just before we start our passage in verse 19, the enemies of Jesus seeing this take place. They see the crowd, they see people shouting, blessed be the king of Israel. Welcome. Hosanna, hosanna. And the Pharisees, the teachers of the Law, the enemies of Jesus say this to one another in verse 19: see, this is getting us nowhere.

Our plans to foil him are getting us nowhere. Look at how the whole world has gone after him. Everyone is celebrating. Everyone is listening to him. Everyone is praising him.

Now the apostle John writing his gospel account says that in this rabble of people, in this big crowd of people, there were some Greeks. So this was a Passover event, an annual event in Jerusalem where Jews from all over the world, literally the whole of the world, came to Jerusalem like Muslims will go to Mecca. Jews were coming to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover feast. But amongst these pilgrims, there were some Greek Jews, some Greek God-worshippers.

And they were part of this crowd, and they were new to this understanding of this Messiah, Jesus. And they hear about him in Jerusalem, and they follow the crowd to him, and they say to one of Jesus' disciples, Philip, sir, may we see this Jesus? And Philip, in turn, the Bible says, goes and shares with Andrew, and both Philip and Andrew go in and see Jesus and ask him, or give this request over to him: sir, we would like to see Jesus. Jesus' response is not a yes or no.

It's like, oh, I'm a bit busy. I can't take a selfie with you right now. Can't sign any autographs. Tell him to come and see me a bit later. Jesus doesn't say anything like that.

In fact, He always does this. He throws a curveball back at them. Jesus says this: a kernel of wheat must die. A man who loves his life will lose it, while he who hates his life will find it. To serve me, you must follow me. Wherever I am, you will also be.

My Father honours the one who serves me. Man, what on earth is going on? Why does He say that? A simple yes or no would have sufficed, surely. But there's much more going on here than meets the eye.

There's a subtext to this story. When we dig a little deeper, we understand that on the one hand, these Greeks, these worshippers of God, remember, they weren't fully Jews. If they were fully Jews, they would have been circumcised, but they did worship God. They did worship this Yahweh, the Jewish God. They were part of Judaism largely.

They wanted to see what was going on. They wanted to experience Jesus. They wanted to understand who he is, what he sums up about God. And in fact, this is communicated in the original Greek that this is written in. The word to see used here is much more aligned with perceive.

We want to understand. We want to grapple with. We want to understand. It was something along the lines of we've heard about this Jesus. We've heard that he says he can offer hope, that he can fill deep longing in our soul.

So we want to see him. We want to experience this peace. Will he share with us his knowledge of God? Can he preach to us this message of salvation? Can we experience something of him, please?

This is what is going on here. But we find Jesus' response to this: three different phrases, three different responses to this. Firstly, He says that despite this glorious triumphal entry with all the praise and the hallelujahs and the hosannas, the Son of Man, which was always a reference to Himself, the Son of Man was going to die.

The Son of Man was going to die soon, but this death would have significant meaning. He must die, He says, like a kernel of wheat must die so that His death may produce much fruit. We have the word seeds here again in the NIV. I'm sure in another Bible translation it would be different. It literally is fruit, not seeds.

It must produce fruit. Jesus must die. He must ascend to the right hand of God the Father for the explosion of Christianity to take place. For believers to be born, He must die. Secondly, Jesus introduces the fact that if the Master would die for the kingdom, if the King must die for the kingdom, so too would the servants of this Master experience or undergo sacrifice and suffering for this kingdom.

The servants are not above the master, He said elsewhere. And He introduces the paradox of what it means to be a follower of Christ, to be a disciple of Christ. He says, love your life and you will lose it. Lose your life for my sake and you will find it. You can gain stuff.

You can accumulate knowledge and friends and family and status. You can even have a giant following on Instagram. But in order to find Jesus, you will probably be asked to forego some of that stuff. If you put that stuff first, you will lose Him.

But if you put Him first, you will find life. Life with a capital L. A few chapters later on in John 14, Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the what? Life. I am the life.

Friend, are you confusing your priorities in life? Is popularity causing you to sacrifice obedience to Christ? And think hard about that one because it's very subversive. It's an undercurrent in our life. In order to maintain a right image, are you going down a track you know deep down is wrong? Jesus is saying this morning, you will not find life there.

You won't find lasting joy there, friend. Lose that. Lose that and you will find life. Jesus then says this third thing: He says, whoever serves me must follow me.

And then where I am, my servant will also be. Losing your life and following Jesus doesn't simply mean you say no to a lot of things. No to status, no to friends, and no to Instagram following or whatever. No is not the characteristic trait of what it means to be a Christian. Yes is a characteristic trait.

It means saying yes to being busy with what Jesus is busy with. Yes to being busy with what Jesus is busy with. Losing your life and following Jesus means serving and being where Jesus is. It's as simple as that. That is what Christianity is.

Losing your life, forsaking aspects of it, following Jesus, and being where He is. It means saying yes to what Jesus is doing. But hang on. Jesus is saying that he's going to die here. Jesus is saying He's going to die.

Jesus hints at, however, the resurrection, the great ascension where He would give the Great Commission, the mission of the church to go out into the world, to make disciples, to teach them to obey Jesus. He's talking about a Christianity that explodes when there would be a church of people who didn't even have the opportunity to see Him in the flesh and yet would follow Him. John 20, again, just a few chapters later, Doubting Thomas says, I cannot believe in this Jesus unless I put my fingers in the holes in His hands and in His side. This is what Jesus says to him when He does appear to this doubting Thomas. He says, You have seen me, and therefore you believed.

Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed. Jesus is talking about us. Jesus is talking about the mission of the church here. Jesus gave the Greeks who asked the question, we want to see Jesus, we want to experience a little bit of Him, an answer that didn't seem to fit the question.

He says, follow me. What I do, you do. And in doing that, you will be with me. That's why I believe the verb to see that the Greeks used has got more to it than meets the eye. Jesus knew that they wanted to experience something deeper somehow.

They wanted a taste of His presence. They were intrigued by Him. The deepest question you may ask as a Christian: experience Jesus more deeply than I am at the moment? And Jesus says, yes, but this is how: follow me.

Do what I do, and you will experience me. The deepest communion with Jesus is found in the place where Jesus is working. And friends, anything else will be disappointing. Jesus cannot bless your sinful lifestyle. Jesus cannot commune with someone who is doing something completely contradictory to Him.

Where are we closest to Jesus? That deepest desire in a Christian's heart, it is working. It is doing what He is most actively doing. Do you want to be exhilarated by His power?

Do you want to be touched by His grace? Do you want to cast off the complacency of your Christianity? Then be present where He is active. It's as simple as that. If you're tired of your following of Jesus, of your discipleship, of it being forced, of being unfulfilling, of being guilt-ridden, if you want to see the majesty and the power of God come through magnificently in and around you, then be at the coalface of the kingdom and its advance.

That is what Jesus is saying. How can we see the powerful working of and Jesus Christ, the now-glorified King of this universe? The Bible over and over says, and you can go and look at it yourself, the Bible over and over again shows that the power of God is often made most manifest, most visible at the preaching of the kingdom of God. Just go and read Acts.

Where were people saved? Where were demons driven out? Where were amazing miracles happening? It was in conjunction with repent and believe that Jesus Christ is Lord and you will be saved. Each and every one of you, that's where it happened.

Your volunteering work, you being salt and light in this world, your service to this church, your hard work in discipling others, your teaching of catechism classes, your teaching of Sunday school, you're serving on the music team, you're visiting the sick. All of this is not simply hard work and sacrifice, guys. This is the opportunity where you will see God.

This is where you will see God. It is in that moment where you have the greatest opportunity to have deep intimacy with Him. The power of the gospel at work and God's presence go hand in hand. And so we can't waste our life in second-rate discipleship, in trying to remove ourselves from society or praying on a little mountain somewhere or meditation or whatever. Be busy with what God is busy with.

And in doing that, you will experience Him at its most pure. Anything less, friends, will be disappointing. And I can only testify to that. I can only speak from experience. The moments where I felt the driest, moments where I felt the most distant from God is when I, in hindsight, realised that I wasn't doing what God was wanting me to do.

Where is Jesus working? We might wonder. Where is Jesus working? Well, the Bible doesn't limit Him to some mission field, you know, in dark Africa. It's not anything less than that.

You know, it's not saying that that is not where Jesus is working, but it's definitely also more than that. We know from one Corinthians 15 that Jesus is in the process of building His kingdom in every facet of this world, every facet of this world. One Corinthians 15 talks about the enemies of God being made a footstool for His feet and Jesus being the one to do this. The kingdom is advancing.

There's not a square inch under heaven and earth where Jesus Christ does not say that is mine. That is mine. That is mine. And He uses us to proclaim that, to claim that, to redeem that for Him. As Christians, our task is in the furthering of this kingdom, where He will use our gifts, our talents, the passions that God has given us to establish this kingdom, whether it be as a mechanic who has employees that he will treat with dignity and patience, whether it be a doctor praying for their patient, whether you're a retiree that refuses to retire from the kingdom of God, whether you're a vet, an accountant, an engineer, a pharmacist, a nurse, or a lawyer, it is all part of God's kingdom.

But do you experience Christ in the workplace? That is a question you have to ask yourself. Do you want to experience Christ in your context? How often are you praying for your colleagues? Can they be invited to join a church community?

Can they be invited to join your small group? Are you seeking to instil in your workplace work practices and ethics that are more aligned with Christ than the world? Are you able to fight for that? Can you be more environmentally friendly in this creation God has given us? Can you promote the welfare of your employees better holistically, not just profit-making?

Can the profits of your business be used to help the community? These are all questions that are worthwhile asking. They're all questions that build this kingdom. Don't you realise the limitless mission field to which you have been called? If we seek Christ to lead us, if we ask Him to show us where He is working in our sphere of influence, and if we enter into that mission with Him, He will show you intimacy that you have never experienced.

Joy overflowing from your heart that you have never experienced. Friends, I can guarantee you that. Whoever serves me must follow me. Where I am busy, you will find me. And then when you find me, you will experience me.

That is what Jesus was saying to these Greeks. And that is what Jesus is saying to His disciples. The amazing thing that Pastor Obi also showed last weekend was the response to this. The end result of this in that last verse, verse 26, is: My Father will honour the one who serves me. And Obi said his mind just melted when he realised this is the God of the universe whose praises we've been singing this morning.

Who am I that He would honour me? Who am I that He would honour me? But this is the promise: be doing what He is doing and the Father will say, well done, good and faithful servant. I will honour promise for your life, friend, with joy and thankfulness that will not be comparable to anything you can experience in this life.

If you want to be with Jesus, to experience deep intimacy with Him, it is simple. Serve Him. Serve Him in this church. Serve Him in your workplace. Serve Him at your university.

Serve Him in your life and with your life. Whoever serves me will find me, says Jesus. Let's pray. God, we want you. Lord Jesus, we need you.

It is not enough to simply go through this life as fair-weather Christians experiencing a nice little service on a Sunday. Father, that is not enough. That is not our hope. That is not our assurance. That is not of any lasting satisfaction.

Lord Jesus, you challenge us this morning that if we want to be with you, if we want to see you, then we must be where you are, and we must be sharing in what you are already doing. Father, help us to repent of selfishness in our lives. Help us to change our lifestyles to suit your calling on our life. Father, thank you also for the grace that we will now celebrate in the Lord's Supper that neither our self-righteousness nor our deep ineptitude will ever frustrate your plans for us or this world. Thank you, Lord, that you are abounding in love, slow to anger, that you are rich in forgiveness.

But, Father, this morning we rededicate our lives to you. We come and bring them as living sacrifices to you, and we ask, Lord, that you will do what is necessary in us to bring about the greatest glory of your majestic name. We ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.