To Serve, One Must Follow

“If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honour.” (Joh 12:26 AV)

 

The context of this truth is Greeks came to where Jesus was to see some miracle by which they professed to believe.  The LORD gives a small parable wherein He speaks of a seed falling to the ground and dies.  The seed cannot produce fruit unless it first falls to the ground and dies.  Then it springs forth and produces fruit.  It is this dying of the seed which is the backdrop of following Christ where He is.  The Greeks physically came to where Christ was.  They kept company with Him.  They spoke with him.  However, just because they were physically in the same place as He did not mean they were where He was.  Jesus was heading to the feast with His disciples.  He would soon be taken and crucified.  Only John remained until the very end.  All others fled.  The Greeks would do the same.  Perhaps they would see Jesus.  But associating with His death and learning to die to self is something far more serious.  Of note here is no one can truly serve Christ and follow Him at the same time without sacrificing everything he or she is.  It is also interesting to note it is possible to serve Him without following Him.  It is also suggested that serving without following is only temporary.  Those who do not serve and follow will eventually cease to serve.

Serving our military men and women was a great honor.  One of the perks was getting to know some very special people along the way.  One of those men was Pete.  Pete was a Corpsman with the U.S. Navy attached to a Marine Unit from Camp Lejeune.  I had the privilege to attend his commissioning service when he made Chief.  It was a short ceremony, but profound nonetheless.  When he passed under the outstretched swords of his peers, it was something to behold.  I was truly honored.  When he was stationed at Great Lakes, Pete served as an instructor.  I can’t remember exactly what he taught, but what I do know is Pete never asked his students to do what he himself wouldn’t or couldn’t do.  This included PT.  Because of his age and tenure, the PT requirements of his rank were less than that of his students.  However, Pete would have none of that. He would join his class and match step for step;  mile for mile;  pushup for pushup; and pullup for pullup.  In fact, he would often exceed what his class could do to prove a point.  If someone twenty years older could do it, then they could.  Pete never asked them to push themselves beyond what he couldn’t do.  If they were going to be led by him, then they had to match his commitment and effort.

Jesus’ words were to His disciples.  The Greeks asked permission to see Jesus.  Andrew was the one who made the request.  We don’t know if they ever did see Jesus.  The words our LORD spoke He spoke to the group of men who were the most dedicated of all.  The suggestion is up to this point, they served Jesus but would be challenged to follow Him in ways they were never asked to before.  If we are truly going to serve Jesus faithfully, we have to go where He went.  We have to go to complete self-sacrifice.  If not, we will eventually bail as most of the disciples did at the cross.