Atlanta Daily World

Sunday
THE CROSS AND CHRISTIAN DISCIPLESHIP.
International Sunday School Lesson for April 3, 1955.

MEMORY SELECTION:
"But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world."
Galatians 6:14.

LESSON TEXT: John 12:20-26; II Corinthians 5:14-19.

The lessons for this and next week will bring to a climaxing conclusion our series of studies on Christian teachings. It has been a wonderfully inspiring and informative series and will be brought to a fitting climax with the lesson for next week.

In order to fully understand the scriptural background for this lesson, we must trace the activities of Jesus just prior to it. After raising Lazarus from the dead, Jesus left Jerusalem and went northward to the borderline between Judea and Samaria, and thence over the Jordan into Perea. There he stayed a short time. Intending to attend the Passover Feast in Jerusalem, he again crossed the Jordan and returned to Bethany, to the home of Mary, Martha and Lazarus, a few miles out of Jerusalem. It was during this visit that Mary anointed the feet of Jesus with the very costly ointment.

While many were wondering if Jesus would attend the Passover Feast in Jerusalem, being aware of the intense hatred of the Pharisees, Jesus rode into the city on a donkey, receiving the tumultuous acclaim of the multitude. This was in fulfillment of prophecy and was the beginning of the end for Jesus. He was fully aware of this fact.

Among the multitude in the City of Jerusalem at that time were certain Greeks, who, not satisfied with their own religion, had accepted the Hebrew faith. Hearing of Jesus and his wonderful works, they wanted to see him for themselves. Whether they had the desired interview with him or not is not known, but what Jesus says in John 12:23 seems to be a reply to them.

DR. ERDMAN INTERPRETS
Dr. Erdman interprets his words thus: "You would see me, then you have arrived at exactly the right time, for the hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified." Not glorified in the sense we usually think of - pomp, fame, splendor but honored by God. It was not through the working of miracles nor through his wonderful teaching that he was to be so honored, but through his death and resurrection - through which he was revealed to the world and by the cross was the world drawn to him.

Jesus goes on, comparing himself to a grain of wheat which, in order to prove of greatest blessing, must be planted, lose its corporate identity as a grain, in order to send forth new life and bear fruit. The self-sacrifice of the grain was to him a parable of his own death and resurrection. "And the self-same law of sacrifice which reigns on the throne of heaven governs the dullest and darkest soul on earth. To be self-centered means, spiritually, to abide alone and, therefore, to perish."

Then Jesus uttered his great law of life through death: "He that loveth his life shall lose it: and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal."

George Reith says: "Self-love leads to destruction and death. The present and temporal must be sacrificed for the future and eternal - a truth peculiarly in place for Greeks whose essential conception of life in its fullness, beauty, vigor was assertion of self."

SERVE BY FOLLOWING
Jesus also reminded his hearers that if he would serve him, must be willing to follow him. Where? Anywhere, even to death. What is the reward offered for such service? Jesus says that he would thus serve him shall be "where I am and him will my Father honor." What more could be asked or desired?

In the portion of the letter of Paul to the Christians at Corinth which we are given for study, we find these words: "There, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: behold, old things are passed away: all things have become new." In these few words is concentrated the greatest thing that can happen to you in this life. When a man is "in Christ" (united to Christ in such a way that Christ becomes the dominating drive and influence in his life) then he is a completely new man. Under the compulsion of a tremendous inner spiritual experience, he has been rebuilt from the inside out. Paul knew, of his own experience, that this meant, for his experience on the road to Damascus had changed his life completely. He was not merely reformed, or improved, or altered - he was a "new man." He shed his old friends, as a snake sheds his skin: he dropped his old hatreds and bitterness and picked up a new life of love and kindness. Paul was "in Christ" and was, therefore, a "new creature." Only complete surrender to Christ can accomplish that change in any of us.

This "new life" comes from real faith in Christ as one's Savior and Lord and, as a result of this "new life" one goes forth to be a real follower and servant of his master. Evidence of this "new life" comes only through service to one's fellow men - that is the only way we can prove our discipleship.

(These comments are based on copyrighted outlines produced by the Division of Christian Education