Carrie Baker – The Growth Collective

I want us to talk about something we don’t often name, and what it means to let something die.

Let me start with this passage in John 12:23-26;

“Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly I tell you, 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. Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their 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 honor the one who serves me.”

In this chapter, Jesus is using this picture of wheat to explain both His own death and resurrection, but is also revealing to us a spiritual principle. That sometimes something must be surrendered or “die” in order for greater life and fruit to come. 

We don’t often talk about surrendering things to the Lord and allowing them to die. Words like surrender feel uncomfortable. In a world that preaches comfort  – we want to avoid anything that is uncomfortable or painful, and surrendering something we may not want to – goes against everything the world tells us we should do.

But we know that the things Jesus preached in his own times, were seen as upside down. 

At the time of writing this, we have just celebrated Easter. We remember that Jesus himself surrendered his will to the will of the Father. He knew the pain he was about to face, and asked his Father if ‘the cup’ of what he had to do, to be taken away from him. But he surrendered to the will of God and was obedient to the worst and most shameful death, on a cross.

Jesus died so that our Father in heaven could begin the work of making all things new, through Jesus. Also, if Jesus hadn’t died, rose again and ascended – the Holy Spirit wouldn’t have come. Jesus was one man, one ‘seed’ to use the analogy, but what was possible after Jesus, through the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, was immeasurable. 

Let’s go back to this passage and what it says in verse 25; “Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.”

This verse is stating that those who love their life in this world, won’t be able to keep it. But those who long for the life Jesus promises us, the eternal life – will find it.

There are so many patterns in the natural world around us we can look to as examples of this idea of death bringing life; when fruit falls to the ground and dies, it holds within it a seed (or seeds) that will produce another tree that will produce more fruit that will also bring forth a multitude of seeds and so on.

When we say yes to following Jesus, we often express this by being baptised by full immersion. Baptism for those who follow Jesus, (by doing as he did) symbolises dying to the old life and being raised into new life.

I don’t know how many times you have had the privilege of attending a baptism, when hearing their testimony or how they came to know Jesus, and watching as they publicly leave their old life behind in the watery grave – it makes me cry tears of joy. Every. Single. Time. 

That first ‘death and new life’ after salvation, is followed by many more over the rest of our lives. In big and small ways, the Lord asks us to release things into the soil to die, so that our one seed can become many through Him. And a heart that loves the Lord will choose to be obedient to this, in trust that there will be more life from it.

Those moments or seasons of laying things down or surrendering them into the soil, can be painful and we won’t always understand the why. 

Sometimes surrender feels like failure, even though it isn’t.

Sometimes it takes the shape of laying down something we loved, built or thought we would see through to the end, but won’t.

In the last couple of years, I have metaphorically laid down some kernels of wheat in the soil to die, out of obedience, not always from a place of understanding, but in hope that the Lord had a plan in it. 

Each have been costly, some more than others. Some have been painful. And some of the things I have surrendered, I may never get to see the outcome of that obedience.

Maybe your surrender looks like stepping back from position instead of moving towards it. Maybe it’s handing over something you loved, to someone else to carry. For you it might be something in your life that doesn’t align with who you are called to be. Or perhaps it’s trusting God when a door closes or a new opportunity fails to appear. 

Sometimes the fruit of faithfully trusting God in those moments is obvious; pruning, shaping, or refining. Or perhaps it’s an open door in a direction we weren’t even looking. Maybe it looks like freedom from a sinful past that allows you to walk into each day unimpeded.

Or maybe we won’t see anything come from those times of surrender, with our natural eyes for a long time yet.

But we trust the Lord and know that He wants to produce many seeds through our life as is His promise, seeds that will bear much fruit, either for now, or for the generations to come.

The kind of death that equals life, can only be possible through the mighty power of the One who overcame death forever. Jesus. 

Let’s look again at verse 26; “Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.”

By serving Jesus, we follow, and when we follow we will be where Jesus is. Did you catch the promise? God the Father will honour those who serve Jesus.

Our obedience to following Jesus, including surrendering the things he asks us to lay in the soil to die, is seen and honoured by the Father.

Let me ask you a question to ponder for yourself:

• What is the Lord asking you to release right now?
• Where are you holding onto something that cannot multiply unless it is surrendered?

Sometimes we need to put aside our own will or desire – even when it feels that it’s aligned with what the Lord is doing, and choose to be obedient to what He is asking of us. 

Sometimes that looks like laying down something that feels unfinished, unresolved, or you had hoped to see through to the end.

I have learned to come to a place where I trust God enough to let things go, even if I never see the outcome I hoped for. 

Because I know His ways are higher than my ways, and His thoughts higher than my thoughts. And the Lord is working to restore all things.

And He invites us into that work with every kernel of wheat within us, that dies. Even when we don’t see the fruit, we can trust that nothing laid down in obedience is ever wasted in His hands.

Will you choose to trust the Lord, and surrender the kernels He is asking you to release into the soil?

Sending you love for the journey, 

Carrie x

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