Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me. John 12:26
I cannot say that this verse has been on my radar…ever. Certainly, I’ve read it before. But it is a rather unassuming verse that is easily passed over. Not so the verse which precedes it, “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” (John 12:25). Those words grab your attention! The words that follow…not so much. “Whoever serves me must follow me.” OK, I can handle that. I count myself a follower of Jesus. The thing is, when you read the verse in context, you see that by follow, here, Jesus means die. That’s where he was going…to the cross. So, if Christ’s servants must follow him, it means his servants also must die. In the case of the twelve disciples, it wasn’t some kind of metaphysical death either. Most of the twelve disciples would follow him into martyrdom. And yet, he doesn’t specify the twelve alone. WHOEVER serves me MUST follow me. “So, you’re saying that to serve Jesus means to give up my life? But I thought that following Jesus meant that he would solve all my problems, ‘bless’ my bank account, and get rid of all my pain.” Well, it’s true that he is the solution to life’s greatest problems, the source of heavenly riches and the one who’ll wipe every tear from our eyes. But as for this life…Jesus tells us that we must follow him to death. Truth be known, it seems somewhat unlikely that you or I will die a martyr’s death. Don’t get me wrong, there are many around the world dying every day for Christ. However, though the USA only seems to be growing increasingly hostile toward Christ followers, most of us do not live under the impending threat of physical harm for our faith, let alone death. Even so, the call Jesus gave to the first disciples is no different than the call he gives to us—a call to sacrifice our own self-interest for the sake of his kingdom, even unto death. Unto death? Sometimes I find it hard to get out of bed for Christ’s sake, let alone surrender my life. Reminds me of the words of that modern prophet, Keith Green, “Jesus rose from the grave, and you…you can't even get out of bed!” In some ways, I think it’s easier to die for Christ than it is to live for him. Granted, I might feel a little differently if I were Jan Hus, one of the early reformers, tied to a stake with kindling piled up against my body as the papist’s fire is lit. Yet, though I am hard pressed to imagine recanting my faith in Christ, even in the face of imminent death, what I can imagine is refusing to give up my wants in order to serve Christ’s purposes. I can imagine refusing to overcome my distaste for another person in order show hospitality. I can imagine refusing to give up my late-night entertainment so I can be up early to meet with God. I can imagine refusing to give up my right to put someone in their place, even though it dishonors my Lord. I can imagine refusing to sacrifice my wants for the sake of serving another. Here is the death that must be learned—death to my own self-interest for the sake of God’s glory. That’s a call that is difficult to heed! And yet, as great as Christ’s call might be in this verse, his promise is even greater, “and where I am, my servant also will be.” Where is Jesus going after the cross? To the Father! His promise continues, “My Father will honor the one who serves me.” What Jesus calls us to sacrifice is nothing compared to what he promises. He invites us to give up temporary, superficial wants on earth for honor from our heavenly Father forever! Here is the paradox of faith—that the path to greatest blessings is not putting self first, but putting Christ first. Yet, don’t think that in surrendering temporary self-interest that we are surrendering pleasure. In reality, we are simply choosing to pursue a more profound pleasure. As John Piper writes in Desiring God, “I find in the Bible a divine command to be a pleasure-seeker—that is, to forsake the two-bit, low-yield, short-term, never-satisfying, person-destroying, God-belittling pleasures of the world and to sell everything ‘with joy’ (Matthew 13:44) in order to have the kingdom of heaven and thus ‘enter into the joy of your master’ (Matthew 25:21, 23).” Learning to die leads to greatest joy!!! Believers, as we enter this season which culminates in the celebration of Christ’s death and resurrection, may we learn to increasingly die to self and live to Christ. As A.W. Tozer writes, “however the man may protest, the proof is in the choices he makes day after day throughout his life.” May we choose, in our daily existence, to put divine interests over self-interest, whether it means sacrificing our wants or life itself! “For,” as Paul so powerfully puts it, “to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21).
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Dan GannonDan has ministered at Renton Bible Church, with his wife Debbie, since 2003. Archives
June 2022
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