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)
One command, two promises–how like Jesus! The command: “Follow me.” The promises: “Where I am, my servant also will be,” and “My Father will honor the one who serves me.”
Just as the scholar follows the teacher; just as the sheep follows the shepherd; just as the soldier follows the commanding officer, so too, the professing believer in Christ follows the Lord Jesus. There is a consistent command in Scripture, given by Jesus to His disciples–both then and now–for believers to follow Him. Matthew tells us:
"Come, follow me," Jesus said. (Matthew 4:19)
Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” (Matthew 16:24)
“Obedience to Jesus’ command, Follow Me, is the key issue in every Christian’s life. As Jesus followed the Father’s will, so His disciples should follow their Lord whether the path leads to a cross or to some other difficult experience.” (Bible Knowledge Commentary)
The word follow carries with it a rich meaning. It is from the Greek word akoloutheo meaning: “To be an attendant, accompany, go with or follow; distinguished from the occasional and temporary following of Jesus by the crowds or individuals in general; the individual calling to follow Jesus involved abiding fellowship with Him, not only for the sake of learning as a student from his teacher but also for the sake of the salvation known or looked for, which presented itself in this fellowship; the first thing involved in following Jesus is a cleaving to Him in believing trust and obedience, those cleaving to Him also following His leading and acting according to His example.” (Hebrew-Greek Key Word Study Bible, New Testament Lexical Aids).
As we believe what Christ says and strive to do what He commands–even with the smallest amount of knowledge and perhaps great infirmity, with little grace and dim hope, weak as we may be–Jesus declares that His followers belong to Him!
However, to serve Christ in name alone is rather easy work–the world is full of those proclaiming faith while all the while living their lives for themselves. Costing little and satisfying most people, this claim to faith lacks power because it is not grounded in truth. Our world deems those who follow Jesus with whole-hearted devotion and a willing mind foolish and often rewards them with ridicule, laughter, or opposition. Yet as believers, we are not to seek the praise of man, but of God. Jesus tells us earlier in John:
How can you believe if you accept praise from one another, yet make no effort to obtain the praise that comes from the only God? (John 5:44)
As believers, we are called to do the things that Christ has said, walk as He walked, go where He leads. God honors the servant who serves His Son. God will make amends for our worldly pain and loss.
“The reward is honour, true lasting honour, the highest honour; it is the honour that comes from God. Those who wait on Christ, God will honour. Those who serve Christ must humble themselves, and are commonly vilified by the world, in recompense of both which they shall be exalted in due time.” (Matthew Henry)
Take It to Heart
Christ and His servants shall never be parted–we shall be with Christ wherever He is–in paradise and in His glorious kingdom. Whatever the Master has, the servant shall have also. This is why the apostle Paul could so boldly state:
I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. (Romans 8:18)
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.” (John 12:23-25)
Jesus presents to us a precious truth: In the spiritual realm, glorification follows death–the crown follows the cross. In Christ, death is the means of entry into glory. Jesus fleshed this truth out and as His followers, we are directed to do the same.
What is actually meant by these confusing statements? Seriously, are we to die to be glorified? Are we to be looking for a tree for our crucifixion? Figuratively, the answer is yes. Remember, Christ went to the cross before going to the throne. Paul clearly spells out in Philippians the order and humility of Christ’s life and beckons us to the same high calling:
Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death-- even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:5-11)
In the incarnation, Christ willingly surrendered His right to manifest Himself visibly as the God of all splendor and glory. This set an example of humility before honor. We fight humility with everything that we have! There is something about humility and meekness that we perceive as weakness. Nothing could be further from the truth. Christ-like humility and meekness exemplify great strength and power under control–a willing relinquishing of rights for a higher purpose.
Jesus repeatedly told His disciples:
"If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and
follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self?” (Luke 9:23-25)
“For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it.” (Mark 8:35)
When we selflessly and lovingly obey our Lord Jesus, the overflow of the Holy Spirit will flow through our life into the lives of others around us–often times without our awareness–because behind our obedience is the reality of almighty God. This is the whole point in denying self–our actions point to the power of Jesus. The daily crosses we are called to bear should be considered for the harvest they will bring. Our Lord considered the joy His actions would produce–bringing many to glory:
But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. In bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the author of their salvation perfect through suffering. Both the one who makes men holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers. (Hebrews 2:9-11)
This whole order of things was just as shocking to His disciples as it is to His followers today. They were expecting an earthly kingdom established and governed by Jesus. Excited by His triumphal entry into Jerusalem, their desire for an earthly kingdom was fanned into full blaze. Jesus was well aware that they were expecting a glorious kingdom to be immediately established where they would have high places of authority and power.
Take It to Heart
We often have trouble realizing that it is not all about us–our ease, our comfort, our wants, our pleasures. The focus of the believer in Jesus Christ is to be on Him–willingly emptying ourselves of selfish ambitions and vain conceits–crucifying the flesh with its passions and desires–in order that the fullness of the Holy Spirit may be made manifest in us.
“Before we can pray ‘Thy kingdom come,’ we must be willing to pray, ‘My kingdom go.’” (Alan Redpath)
"Jesus said to her, 'I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?'" (John 11:25-26)
God has firmly established a plan of grace for all mankind which both begins and ends with Jesus. Jesus’ first two words in our verses for today–“I am”–are indicative of deity meaning: “I myself am He who is.” Our all-powerful Savior is mighty to save. Here He lovingly corrects Martha’s feeble faith by setting before her this high and exalted description of Himself. He needs no help. He possesses all capabilities. He is the all-sufficient One. He was and is not merely a human teacher, He was and is the divine author and perfecter of our faith. He is the answer to man’s dire dilemma of sin and death.
But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. (1 Corinthians 15:20-22)
I wonder, like Martha, do we place Jesus just a little above our own levels? Do we think of Him as merely a man without the all-achieving power to aid and comfort and encourage and heal and save us?
For believers in Jesus, the Lord has broken the bondage of sin, enabling us to no longer be held captive to its control. He lovingly cares for us, satisfying us in a sun-drenched land. Yet, like the Israelites, when we become satisfied, we often become proud, forgetting the one who delivered us. We fall into the pattern of seeking to be our own savior–taking things in our own hands–living life apart from His power when it is so readily ours for the asking.
Hosea puts it this way:
"But I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt. You shall acknowledge no God but me, no Savior except me. I cared for you in the desert, in the land of burning heat. When I fed them, they were satisfied; when they were satisfied, they became proud; then they forgot me. (Hosea 13:4-6)
Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life.”
This we can be assured of: No prophet or Apostle spoke such as this. Only the one who knew He was God could proclaim these words and subsequently provide proof for His claim. In a wondrous, loving act of God toward all mankind–when mankind had a right to expect nothing, but was given everything–Jesus bled and died for our sins and was raised again.
Take It to Heart
“On Calvary, the One from whom you and I have a right to expect nothing because of our disobedience and sin, nevertheless, has given us everything! This is the deep, indefinable grace of the God who loves us so much that He sent Jesus to die for us, so that if we confess our sins, turn from them and put our faith in Christ we can live with Him forever. This is the mystery of a love that cannot be contained, that we cannot even hope to speak. We are to love our enemies because God loved His enemies–us.” (Michael Card)
“Jesus! What a friend for sinners! Jesus lover of my soul! Friends may fail me, foes assail me; He, my Savior, makes me whole. Hallelujah! What a Savior! Hallelujah! What a Friend! Saving, helping, keeping, loving, He is with me to the end.” (Wilbur Chapman, “Jesus! What a Friend for Sinners”)
"We are not stoning you for any of these," replied the Jews, "but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God." (John 10:33)
In our verse for today, we see Jesus’ enemies attempting to vindicate their actions because of their zeal for the law. In an effort to gloss over their vile and murderous ways, they set forth a pretense of blasphemy.
Their allegation was that Jesus claimed to be God. The problem was that what Christ had stated of Himself was true! He had said He was One with the Father. He had said He would give eternal life. We find Jesus giving a clear statement of His deity in Matthew:
The high priest said to him, "I charge you under oath by the living God: Tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God." "Yes, it is as you say," Jesus replied. "But I say to all of you: In the future you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven." Then the high priest tore his clothes and said, "He has spoken blasphemy! Why do we need any more witnesses? Look, now you have heard the blasphemy. What do you think?" "He is worthy of death," they answered. (Matthew 26:63-66)
The fact that eluded these Jews was that Jesus was no ordinary man. While He was fully man, He was also fully God. Paul gives us an unrivaled description of our Messiah in Colossians:
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. (Colossians 1:15-20)
For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form. (Colossians 2:9)
Paul also writes:
Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death–even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:5-11)
The writer of Hebrews also gives us the following:
The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he
sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven. (Hebrews 1:3)
The Jewish leaders could not prove any evil against His miraculous works and therefore clung to the shreds of pretense of honoring the law. They did themselves great harm.
Take It to Heart
These Jews did not want to believe because they did not want to change. When confronted with truth, we must always do something with it–embrace and apply it or refute and deny it.
“It costs much to obtain the power of the Spirit: It costs self-surrender and humiliation and a yielding up of our most precious things to God; it costs the perseverance of long waiting, and the faith of strong trust. But when we are really in that power, we shall find this difference, that whereas before, it was hard for us to do the easiest things, now it is easy for us to do the hard things.” (A. J. Gordon)
“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” (John 10:11)
Our Jesus is the good Shepherd–the chief of all shepherds. None are so faithful, so gentle, so loving, so skillful, so tender, so kind as He. I am reminded of the words in Isaiah picturing God as the compassionate Shepherd, gently caring for His flock:
He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young. (Isaiah 40:11)
Certainly, King David’s 23rd Psalm comes to mind as he writes of the abundant provisions of the Lord–his great shepherd:
The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want. (Psalm 23:1)
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. (Psalm 23:5)
Jesus, our good Shepherd, is both our sufficiency and our strength–withholding no good thing from His sheep. The psalmist proclaims:
For the LORD God is a sun and shield; the LORD bestows favor and honor; no good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless. O LORD Almighty, blessed is the man who trusts in you. (Psalm 84:11-12)
One of the principal offices Jesus fills for every believer is this one of Shepherd. He leads and guides and comforts and protects all the sheep of His pasture. This title would have been particularly rich in meaning to those following our Lord in His day–His hearers understanding both the comfort and instruction the term carried. Just like a good shepherd, Jesus knows all of His sheep–each one of us. He is intimately familiar with the details of each one of our lives–knowing our names, families, circumstances, and trials. He is acquainted with our history, where we live, our experiences. Nothing is a surprise–or a secret–to Him. We are ever before Him as He tenderly watches over and guides us.
A few verses later in John 10, Jesus tells us that no one can snatch us out of His hand:
My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. (John 10:27-28)
“Like a good shepherd, Christ cares tenderly for all His believing people. He provides for all their wants in the wilderness of this world, and leads them by the right way to a city of habitation. He bears patiently with their many weaknesses and infirmities, and does not cast them off because they are wayward, erring, sick, footsore, or lame. He guards and protects them against all their enemies, as Jacob did the flock of Laban; and of those that the father has given Him He will be found at last to have lost none.” (J.C. Ryle)
Jesus--He willingly laid down His life for His sheep. Aware that nothing but His blood could save us, He offered His body on the cross for our sins. He offers all for all. Believers are saved forevermore because the good Shepherd died for us.
Take It to Heart
May Jesus’ death for us not be in vain. It will not profit us anything on the last day if we never heard His voice during our lifetime or followed Him. Paul tells us:
We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:20-21)
As God's fellow workers we urge you not to receive God's grace in vain. For he says, "In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you." I tell you, now is the time of God's favor, now is the day of salvation. (2 Corinthians 6:1-2)
“Is the Lord Jesus thy Shepherd? Has He called thee out of the wilderness? Called thy heart from the love of sin and the world, and brought thee into His fold and pastures; brought thee into a close attendance on His ordinances? And does He feed and refresh thy soul with His Word? Canst thou distinguish the Shepherd’s voice from the voice of an hireling? And does thy heart cleave to the Shepherd in faith and love; adoring His person, and approving His laws, as well as admiring His doctrines? Then fear not; the Lord is with thee; Jesus is thy Shepherd: thou shalt want nothing that is really good. Follow thy Shepherd till He bring thee to glory.” (K. H. Von Bogatzky)
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