²⁶ If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honor.

The choices of verse 25 are more than simple abnegation of self; it is a life displaced by honoring another. Our life should focus on Jesus Christ. What Jesus implied implicitly in verse 25 He now explains explicitly in verse 26.

²⁶ If anyone serves Me,

The outcome of verse 25 is service to Christ.

let him follow Me;

Following Jesus implied both pain and blessing. He was about to go to His death, and believers are to follow Him with sacrificial commitment. It is a matter of relationship to the Lord; a servant follows His Lord.

and where I am, there My servant will be also.

Jesus’ path of sacrifice for others is the same as that of the believer. We will arrive at the same goals that Jesus did if we sacrificially follow Him. Personal relationship with Christ produces goals matching His. That may entail loss and suffering.

If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honor.

The Father will honor the person who serves Jesus. The follower of Christ seeks honor from the Father as his or her primary value.

Note the emphasis on “Me, Me, Me” in this verse. Our Lord is the object of true devotion. He trod the path that we need to follow. He set the example for us. If Jesus gave up His life for us, we should give our lives for others. The most important value in this life is our relationship to Jesus.

But for this purpose I came to this hour.

Jesus came with the purpose of self-sacrifice for God and others.

PRINCIPLE:

To be a follower of Jesus requires sacrificial service to Him.

APPLICATION:

A seed produces grain of its own kind. Christ produces men and women who are like Him. The seed that Christ sowed lives in His people. Fruitful believers yield themselves in sacrifice for others. We cannot live for self and become fruitful with our lives. To live for self is to undermine who we are in Christ. There is a joy in willing sacrificial service for others.

Believers need to hold the same perspective as Jesus, that the paradox of death brings life. Christians are to follow Jesus’ model of a self-giving life. They are to be His “servants,” self-giving servants. Faithful followers of Jesus divest themselves of the imperious authority of their own plans. They integrate everything they are and have to the Lord. They follow Jesus in doing so.

1 Pe 2: ²¹ For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps . . .