Listen, Serve, Love: Jesus' Call to Family

John 12 finds Jesus with death heavy on his mind. Lazarus has already been raised, and Jesus knows his own death and resurrection are coming, along with the trial, the beating, the betrayal, and the denial. The Greeks who come looking for Philip and Andrew do not simply want a glimpse of Jesus. Their request means, “How can they know Jesus?” and Jesus receives that moment as a sign that the hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.

Jesus does not ask the Father to save him from the hour, because this hour is the very reason he came. His soul is troubled, but his purpose is clear. The Father’s voice comes from heaven and says that he has glorified the Son and will glorify him again. Some people hear only thunder, and some think an angel has spoken, but Jesus says the voice was not for his benefit. The voice was for the people, so they would know that he is the Son of God who is going to die for them.

The cross says what Jesus wants remembered: Christ loves, Christ forgives, and Christ gives the gift of eternal life. Sin has separated people from God, but Jesus goes to the cross to reconcile people back to God. The love of Jesus is not just a feeling in the air. The love of Jesus is seen in his death, his resurrection, and his call to follow him.

The call to follow Jesus means service, love, humility, and sacrifice. Serving Christ may mean doing something inconvenient, tiring, or hard. It may mean visiting somebody, going to a nursing home, giving someone a ride, cleaning up a sick person, or sitting down long enough to listen. Jesus does not call for a faith that only talks. Jesus calls for a faith that hears and obeys.

God still speaks today, though not always with an audible voice. God may speak through Scripture, through a song, through a stranger, through conscience, through a friend at the door at just the right time. The trouble is that people can be so preoccupied with life that thunder is all they hear. The call of God asks for stillness, prayer, and real listening.

The memory of Odessa Whitmire gives the church a plain picture of what matters when a life is remembered: love for family and faith in God. Jesus gives his family the same kind of lasting word. God’s people belong to the family of God, and that family is called to love him, serve him, listen to him, and teach the next generation to have faith in him.

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Key Takeaways

• 1. Jesus came for this hour Jesus does not treat the cross as an interruption to his life, but as the reason he came. His troubled soul shows that obedience is not the absence of anguish. The glory of Christ is revealed not by escaping suffering, but by giving himself through it for the salvation of sinners. [41:05]
• 2. God’s voice requires listening The same sound from heaven becomes thunder to some and revelation to others. God can speak, and a heart can still miss him because it is distracted, hurried, or spiritually dull. Listening to God often begins with enough quiet to stop calling his voice “noise.” [45:05]
• 3. Service proves a living faith Jesus connects following him with serving him, and that service often comes in ordinary, uncomfortable forms. Faith may be tested in a nursing home visit, a ride to the doctor, or the patience to sit and listen. Love becomes real when it costs time, pride, comfort, or convenience. [43:44]
• 4. God may send a friend God’s care may arrive through a knock on the door from someone who could not shake a name from the heart. The Lord’s voice can move through another person’s obedience before the hurting person even knows help is coming. Small promptings should not be treated lightly, because they may be mercy on assignment. [46:10]
• 5. Faith must be handed down Odessa’s family remembered not possessions or achievements first, but love for family and faith in God. A life leaves its deepest mark through repeated patterns of prayer, care, worship, and presence. The family of God is called to leave behind that kind of memory, one that teaches children and grandchildren what truly sustains a life.
  
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Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [38:39] - Odessa’s legacy of family and faith
• [39:55] - Jesus thinks about his death
• [40:43] - Greeks ask to know Jesus
• [41:05] - The hour for glory arrives
• [41:28] - The Father speaks from heaven
• [42:39] - The voice was for the people
• [43:22] - The cross gives salvation
• [43:44] - Following Jesus means sacrifice
• [45:05] - God still speaks today
• [46:10] - A friend answers prayer
• [49:11] - Joan of Arc and listening
• [50:18] - Listening, loving, and serving

Bible Reading

John 12:20-33
“Now among those who went up to worship at the feast were some Greeks. So these came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, ‘Sir, we wish to see Jesus.’ Philip went and told Andrew; Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. And Jesus answered them, ‘The hour has come for 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 servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him. Now is my soul troubled. 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.” Then a voice came from heaven: “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” The crowd that stood there and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.” Jesus answered, “This voice has come for your sake, not mine. Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” He said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die.” [40:43] [41:05] [41:16] [41:28] [41:38] [42:39]

Matthew 16:24
“Then Jesus told his disciples, ‘If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.’”

James 2:17
“So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.”

Deuteronomy 6:6-7
“And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.”

Observation questions

1. In John 12, what happens right after the Greeks ask to see Jesus, and how does Jesus describe that moment? [41:05]
2. What are the different ways the crowd explains the voice from heaven, and what does Jesus say the voice was actually for? [42:39]
3. According to John 12:20-33, what does Jesus connect with following him besides simply believing in him?
4. What two things were remembered most clearly about Odessa’s life? [39:33]

Interpretation questions

1. Jesus says, “for this purpose I have come to this hour,” even while his soul is troubled. What does that show about obedience when a person is afraid, grieving, or under pressure? [41:28]
2. Some people heard God’s voice as thunder, while others thought an angel had spoken. What might keep a person from recognizing that God is speaking? [45:05]
3. Jesus says that serving him means following him. What does that suggest about the difference between a faith that talks and a faith that truly lives under his lordship? [43:44]
4. Deuteronomy 6:6-7 calls God’s people to teach the next generation faithfully. How do love for family and faith in God work together in shaping what children and grandchildren remember? [48:15]

Application questions

1. Jesus did not run from the hour he came to face. Where is there a hard responsibility, burden, or act of obedience in life right now that may be tempting to avoid? What might it look like to face it with faith instead of delay? [41:28]
2. Following Jesus includes service, sacrifice, and humility. What is one ordinary act of service that has been hard to do lately—visiting someone, giving a ride, listening well, helping when it is messy or inconvenient? [44:10]
3. God still speaks, but people can be so preoccupied that all they hear is thunder. What distractions most often drown out God’s voice, and what kind of quiet or prayer is needed this week to listen better? [47:22]
4. God may answer need through another person’s obedience. Has there been a time when a name stayed on the heart and it seemed easier to ignore it? What would help in taking that nudge more seriously next time? [46:10]
5. Jesus gives love, forgiveness, and eternal life through the cross. When guilt, shame, or regret rises up, which of those truths is hardest to receive personally, and why? [43:22]
6. The family of God is called to pass faith along. What do children, grandchildren, or younger believers see most clearly in daily life right now—stress, busyness, kindness, prayer, worship, trust, or something else? What kind of memory is being left behind? [48:34]
7. Listening is not only about hearing God but also about hearing people. Who in life right now may need patient attention instead of a quick answer, and what would it take to truly listen to them? [50:25]