Father, we come now to study your word.
All of us have minds.
Some of us have really, really, really great minds.
Some of us just may be average minds or even below average.
But, Father, we ask that your Holy Spirit would help us to use our mind and our will
and our imagination and our heart to the very best of our ability to attend to your word.
And at the same time, Father, we ask that your Holy Spirit would humble us
so that we know that unless your Holy Spirit draws your word to our hearts,
our minds cannot truly grip your word.
So, Father, pour your Holy Spirit upon us and make your word alive to us at the very center of who we are.
And we ask this in the name of Jesus, your Son and our Savior. Amen.
Please be seated.
Every one of us know people who suck all of the oxygen out of the room.
You know the type of person I mean.
They have to be the center of attention.
They have to have their needs being met.
If the conversation starts to focus somewhere else, they get very, very uncomfortable
and they do something to try to bring the attention and the conversation back to themselves.
They just literally suck all of the oxygen out of relationships and out of the room.
And I'm not just talking about two-year-olds.
I'm talking about people who are vastly older than two.
And we all know people like that.
In fact, some of us might be that person without realizing it.
It's one of those things that our few remaining friends or our family just don't have the courage to tell us.
But we just, the people who just suck everything, all of the oxygen, all of the energy out of the room.
It's funny because on one level when we meet people like this, we tend not to like them.
Where we like them at first maybe because they're, I don't know, very witty, very charming,
seem to have lots of excellent qualities.
But once we spend some time with them and the fact that there's never any type of reciprocal thing going on,
they're just sucking all of the energy, all of the oxygen into themselves,
the room is empty, they're just sucking it, we tend not to like them.
But, you know, it's funny that our culture is a bit confused about this
because at the heart of a lot of our cultural advice, at a lot of the heart of our movies,
we actually encourage that behavior.
Without realizing that we both encourage the behavior,
yet when we actually meet people who suck all the oxygen out of life, we don't like them.
And by that I mean, I wrote a little blog this week and it sort of talks about this a little bit.
But if you think about it, much in our culture is taken up with what I call the three A's.
And that is with this quest for autonomy, a quest for authenticity, and a quest for affirmation.
And these three things are very, very closely connected.
Autonomy is this idea that at the end of the day, it has to be true for me, it has to be right for me.
I'm the only one who can know what's true for me.
I'm the only one who can know what's right for me.
In a sense, how dare you tell me what's right for me?
Like, how dare you do that?
Like, if we were at a party in a room and somebody was trying to tell somebody else what's right and what's true,
and you just, you know, everybody in the room, even if they weren't pointing their fingers,
you'd sense that they're pointing their fingers.
And it's a very, very funny thing.
We would say, how dare you point your finger at them while we're pointing our finger at them?
But we don't sort of realize that.
But it's a very, very common type of advice.
Only the individual, only I know what can be true, what is important, what is valuable, what is right, what is wrong for me.
And I need to be able to, in a sense, to live that and have that acknowledged.
And the thing which goes along often with autonomy is this quest for authenticity.
It's a very similar type of thing.
It's the idea that I'm the only one who can understand what I need to accomplish,
what's going to fulfill me, which is going to give my life meaning.
I'm the only one who knows that.
I'm the only one who can figure that out.
And how dare you try to impose your vision of happiness, your vision of the good life on me?
When I'm in coffee shops, I hear counseling advice between friends around this all of the time.
Like people saying, how on earth can your husband or how on earth can your sister or how on earth can your mother
or how on earth can your father be telling you you have to do these things?
Doesn't he know that that's not right for him to be doing those things that you need to make?
You need to have time for yourself.
You need to make space for yourself.
You have to put limits on what he or she is doing.
And you need to just grasp that only you can.
Like it's constant advice.
How many movies are based around this idea of you have maybe two friends?
And one of them, really, what they would love to do is they don't want to live under their father's rule
or their mother's influence or their wife or their husband or their circle or their coach.
You know, these people maybe want them to become a doctor or want them to become an engineer.
But in your own heart of hearts, you'd rather be a dancer or a poet or some type of an artist.
And then in the course of the movie, the person doesn't grasp their autonomy and their authenticity
and they bow to their father's rules or their coach's rules or expectations and they become that doctor.
And in the movie, or they become that lawyer or whatever, accountant.
And in the movie, the person's really good friend.
They're not rejoicing with them.
They're sad.
Why?
Because the person wasn't doing what was authentic to them.
And the movie will move and progress to the point that finally the person has the courage to leave law
or leave medicine or whatever it is to embrace dance or poetry or art or whatever it is
that really is going to make them authentic.
It's the constant advice and desire of our culture.
And often with all of this goes the third A, which can be called acclaim or applause or approval.
So, you know, once again, the same thing.
If I, you know, I'm sitting my own, I understand what's right.
I understand what's wrong for me.
And I understand what I need to do so that I will be the real me that I was meant to be.
The me that's really at the heart of my feelings and my sense of myself.
And only I have that proper sense of myself.
And I need to pursue it.
And you need to approve of it.
Like if you don't, how dare you not give me approval?
How dare you not applaud that?
How dare you not?
And in our culture, everybody would be with the person saying,
how dare you not give me that acclaim, that approval, that applause that I deserve
because I am pursuing authenticity and I am the captain of my own ship and my own soul
and I am doing that.
And you have to give me, must give me the acclaim and applause that I deserve.
The affirmation.
You see, it's a very, very funny thing.
That's the, sort of actually, by the way, the three things, the autonomy, authenticity,
and acclaim, applause, approval.
It's almost like the Trinity in Christian thought.
The three of them are separate, but they're one.
And they go in here with each other and all three of them have to be present, really,
for a person to really be a well-functioning Canadian.
But the problem is, if you think about it, that a person who really lives that
ends up having to be a person who sucks all the oxygen out of the room.
Because it's very funny in the type of advice that is found in so much counseling,
so much self-help books, that it's found in Hollywood, that's found in academia,
that's found just whether it's a Tim Hortons or a Starbucks or some other type of place
or not a coffee place at all, McDonald's or Subway or a high-end hipster place.
All of that advice is very similar.
But if you follow it, then how is it that, well, how is it that you relate to other people
in a good way?
If it's, in a sense, I'm the center and it's all about me and your life and your needs
and your autonomy and your authenticity and your need for applause,
it's very hard for those two things to fit in our culture.
Well, the text that we're going to look at today has some really interesting things to say about this dilemma.
And part of the thing which is also very interesting, not this dilemma,
just this whole cultural move of autonomy and authenticity and affirmation
and the problems with them.
And the text is easily misread and misunderstood, but it has very powerful wisdom to speak into this.
So it would be a great help with me if you could turn in your Bibles to John 15, verse 21.
There are Bibles up there at the front now.
The text will be up here as well, but it's really good just to have something in your hand that you can follow along.
So John chapter 15, sorry, John chapter 21, beginning at the 15th verse.
And many people are a bit confused by this text, especially if you're reading it as a new Christian or as an outsider.
It almost seems as if Jesus is trying to suck the oxygen out of the room.
I could easily imagine lots of people, if they were there, saying to Peter that Jesus is being out of line
in what he's asking Peter to do, that Peter needs to grasp his own autonomy, his own authenticity.
And so our culture helps us to not understand this and misread it.
So let's look at it.
John chapter 21, verse 15.
And what's happening here, the book of John is now coming to the end.
John is a very peculiar type of biography, but it is a biography about Jesus.
And what makes it peculiar is that an inordinate, far too much time compared to a modern biography
is spent with the last little bit of Jesus's life.
But that's because John understands that the last bit is so unbelievably important.
And John has shared how Jesus is condemned by the religious and political and cultural elites,
and he's sentenced to an unjust death, how he dies by crucifixion,
how his death is guaranteed by Rome, how he's put in a tomb,
how then the tomb is found empty with the grave clothes there.
And then John lays out a series of appearances, resurrection appearances,
where Jesus appears alive to people.
And this is the end part of a third time when he's appeared to all of the disciples.
And just before we start reading this on verse 15, if you have your Bibles,
just look up a tiny little bit to, it's not going to be able to be on the screen.
If you just put up a little bit to verse, I can't find it right now.
Oh yeah, verse 9.
What's just gone on before that is that Jesus is, as I said,
he's made a nice breakfast for them of fresh fish and fresh bread.
He's cooking it over in verse 9, a charcoal fire with fish laid out on it and bread.
And now we're going to go to verse 15.
And the charcoal fire is very interesting because there's only one other place in all of the Gospels
where a charcoal fire is mentioned.
And that's the very night when Peter, when Jesus has been captured,
and Peter's going to deny Jesus three times around a charcoal fire.
And many of us know that, you know, we might think that we've gotten over something.
We might think that we've forgiven somebody.
Or we might think that we've gotten over feeling embarrassed or ashamed about something.
But then all of a sudden we're somewhere and it comes back to us all of a sudden with great power.
Something triggers a memory of what had gone on in the past.
And one of the most powerful triggers is smell.
And so the very distinctive smell of a charcoal fire,
you just have to wonder as Peter gets out of the water and comes to see Jesus,
and that charcoal fire is there.
And the last time Peter maybe was around a charcoal fire was when he was denying Jesus three times.
And here he is now, that smell in his nostrils.
Everybody would know about the fact that Peter denied Jesus three times.
And now after breakfast, the story continues, verse 15.
When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter,
Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?
Jesus said to Peter,
Verse 17, Jesus says to Peter the third time,
Simon, son of John, do you love me?
Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time,
Do you love me?
And Peter said to Jesus, Lord, you know everything.
You know that I love you.
And Jesus said to him, feed my sheep.
And just sort of pause there for a second.
Now, just before we get into sort of the big thing which is going on here,
sometimes pastors will talk about the significance that two different words for love were being used in this text.
Jesus uses the word agape, and Peter responds with the word philia.
And then the final time, Jesus finally switches the words.
And sometimes pastors will go out a long time talking about the significance of that.
There's probably no significance in the difference of the language.
You know, in the early centuries of the Christian church,
there was a lot, most people who, if they read, they read Greek.
And in the first four or five centuries, when people were still basically, were Greek speakers,
none of the original people who knew Greek, I mean, Greek was their native tongue,
none of the commentators on this text except origin, one person,
made a distinction between the two words, not one.
They just saw it as a stylistic difference that didn't have any substantive context.
So it's not as if Jesus is saying two times with this one word,
and Peter's not giving him the right answer,
and then finally, you know, Jesus switches and Peter gives the same answer.
It's nothing like that's going on in the text.
It's a very, very simple thing.
The English has captured it very well.
Do you love me? Do you love me? Do you love me?
And Peter says every time, you know that I love you, you know that I love you,
you know that I love you.
And every time, Jesus gives him a particular commission
to feed, in a sense, the young and the vulnerable,
to pastor people or be a shepherd to people,
and then to feed people who are more mature and more developed Christians.
The same, the English has captured it very well.
But here's the thing that's going on, which is very, very interesting.
If you found out that every time I met with one of my interns,
or if every time I met with the council, I began with it saying,
do you guys love me?
You'd all think that that was weird.
In fact, you'd say, why is George so needy?
Like, why is it that he has to ask his interns every time he meets with them,
do you guys love me? I hope you love me.
Sounds like it's sort of needy.
Or is Jesus actually doing something like what I described,
trying to suck all the oxygen up out of the room,
that he wants to make sure that Peter's given him all of the love,
because he's the center.
He has to be getting all of the attention.
That's what's going on here in the text.
Is Jesus needy?
Is Peter, in fact, not doing the right thing?
As I said earlier, should Peter have been saying,
listen, Jesus, it's so nice to see you,
but I have my own autonomy project.
I have my own authenticity project,
and I need some affirmation and acclaim as well.
I need you to tell me that you love me.
I need you to tell me doing really well.
Is that what's going on in the text?
One of the things which is so interesting about this text
is that it brings up at least three problems
with autonomy and authenticity and acclimation.
It brings up at least three types of problems.
One is it really brings to the fore
how if you see somebody wanting to get all of the attention,
all the oxygen,
that type of advice that we give people just so casually
that you have to be autonomous,
you have to be authentic,
you have to have affirmation,
it always ends up creating somebody
who is the center of attention,
and we don't like it.
We end up seeing them as being needy
and not, in a sense,
an admirable person,
but somebody that we feel almost pity for.
Just like, as I said,
if you found out that every time I met with my interns,
I asked them if they loved me.
If every time I met with counsel,
I asked them if they loved me.
If I made efforts to always be the center at all times,
you would start to not think more of me,
but less of me.
And the second thing which is going on in this text,
which is very, very interesting,
is that the very word love is used.
Because, you see,
one of the problems that we have in relationships nowadays
is if you have two people...
See, on one hand,
what we really want is love.
I was having a coffee the other day
at a local coffee place,
and the way they had organized the tips there,
it's a regular feature of that place,
is they always have two cups,
and you can put the tips in one of the two cups.
It's sort of like a little bit of a game.
Like one time it might be dogs,
and the other cup says cats.
So if you're going to give them a tip,
you put in whether you like dogs more than cats
or cats more than dogs.
And the other day,
the other day I was there,
and one of them was Lord of the Rings,
the other one was Star Wars.
But there was this time I was there getting coffee,
and the tip choice was between
Captain America and Iron Man.
And so I looked inside
to see how the vote was going,
and I couldn't believe it,
that Captain America had all of the tips,
and Iron Man didn't have a single tip put in the jar.
And I said to the baristas,
I said, that's just so surprising
that all the tips are going to Captain America,
and none of them are going to Iron Man.
And one of the two baristas said to me,
well, that's no surprise,
because Captain America is way better than Iron Man.
Now, I have to confess,
just given that Starbucks and baristas
and their culture and everything like that,
and these particular ones,
I would have thought they all were voting for Iron Man,
because Iron Man is filled with irony
and sort of rebellious against authority
and all of these things,
all of these sort of very Canadian types of virtues.
And I said to that,
well, I would have thought you guys
were all like Iron Man people.
And one of them instantly said,
no, no, like I'm a Captain America person,
because I mean, amongst other things,
Iron Man is arrogant.
And then this barista,
she actually put her hands,
she said she loves Captain America,
she actually put her hands around like this,
it's not only,
is he like a good guy,
but he does things for the love of a girl,
for the love of a woman.
And she put her arms on her chest like that
when she said it.
And it's so funny,
because I,
you know,
from the outside,
I wouldn't,
this is just me getting confused about things,
but,
like I can sometimes forget that,
you know,
beneath all the postures
and all the hardness
and all the edginess
that can go on in the world,
the fact of the matter is,
is that most of us,
what we really desire
is deep love relationships
with other people.
That's what we desire.
It's a common,
common human desire.
The problem is,
if we're getting all of this advice
about how we have to have autonomy,
that only I know
what's going to make me happy,
only I know what's right and wrong,
and only I know
that what's going to fulfill my desires
and what's going to,
what's going to actually make me be the me
that I was really meant to be
and I need to pursue it
and you need to,
and you need to applaud me.
If I'm saying this
and I'm trying to live this,
and at the same time
I want to be in a love relationship
with this other person
and she's saying
the exact same things
and how on earth
is marriage going to work?
Like, it's just going to cause
constant friction.
It's just going to mean
that it's constantly short term
because both want to have autonomy,
both want to have authenticity,
both want to have applause,
and nothing in that worldview
suggests reciprocity
or the importance
of serving the other person
or loving the other person.
So in a very, very interesting way,
this text,
where the language
is the language of love,
highlights part of the whole problem
with what's going on
in our culture
and the third way
that it really highlights the problem
is what's going on with Peter,
not what's going on with Jesus,
but what's going on with Peter.
You see, this is the hard part.
At a very, very, very, very significant,
in a very, very significant way,
in a very, very significant moment,
Peter was a public failure.
Not just a private failure,
but a public failure.
He denied his friend
and master in public.
He made claims and boasts
that he, everybody else,
all the other disciples,
they could all fall away,
they could all have their problems,
they would all be weak,
but he would be strong,
he would not bend,
he would not be broken,
he would stay with Jesus
and defend Jesus
right to the very end,
and after he makes
all these public promises,
he fails completely.
And it'd be hard not to imagine
that it means
that he loses face
and that he feels guilt
and that he feels some shame.
But how would you counsel Peter,
if you're a good Canadian,
how to be his own authentic self
within that?
See, that's the whole problem
with seeking to be authentic
and seeking to be autonomous.
It doesn't help us
when we go through things
in our lives
which are just really broken.
It doesn't help us
when we go through things
that cause us shame.
It doesn't help us
when we do things that,
you know,
it doesn't matter
what people tell us about,
but we actually feel
significant guilt about.
And if it's part of who we are
is a mixture of shame
and guilt
and failure
and desires
and strength
and maybe anger
at the situation
that's caused us guilt
or maybe a wish
that we could somehow repair it,
the fact of the matter is
is that our inner life
is very, very confused
and all full of bits and pieces.
And to think that somehow or another
out of all of this brokenness
and all of the shame
and all of the guilt
that we can somehow form
an identity out of that,
well, how does that actually
make any sense?
And how does it actually deal
with the real guilt
that we feel
and the real shame
that we feel?
And so much of what passes
for wisdom in the world
doesn't actually deal
with the significant shame
or guilt that we feel
or the broken relationships
and the regrets that we feel.
Even lots of the current advice
around things like mindfulness
and stuff,
it's really just a type of a way
to give ourselves a pass
and to numb
the deep feelings
that we have.
And I guess what I'm just
trying to say is
if you're just thinking
of Peter there,
Peter is a mass of emotions.
He's really happy
that Jesus is alive.
He's excited.
He's pumped.
At the same time,
he feels shame.
He feels guilt.
He feels uncomfortable.
And almost all of the advice
that the Canadian culture goes
implies that somehow
or another human beings
are just this simple,
singular thing
that we can build
an identity on
and don't come to grips
with the deep complexity
and brokenness
and strength
that makes up
real human beings.
And so the advice
of autonomy
and authenticity
is inherently unstable
because it doesn't deal
with what's really
going on in a person.
So if you could put up
the first point.
Jesus does not suck
all of the oxygen
out of your life.
He is pure oxygen
and eternal life
so that you can live
whole and free.
Jesus does not suck
all of the oxygen
out of your life.
In fact,
he is pure oxygen
and eternal life
so that you can live
whole and free.
You see,
that's what's going on here
in this particular text.
This is happening
after Jesus has died
on the cross.
And what that means,
and he's risen from the dead,
and at the very,
very center of the gospel,
time and time
and time and time again
is this simple idea
that God
in the person
of his son
has given
his life
for yours.
The way we human beings
keep being pulled
to try to live
is to try to be
self-centered
and be selfish.
That in a sense,
it's my,
you know,
you have to sacrifice
your life
for me.
You have to sacrifice
your life for me.
And in a sense,
lots of Canadian advice
is all centered around that.
You need to give me
the applause.
You need to give me
the approval.
You need to give me
the acclaim.
You need to give
your life
for mine.
What people often want
nowadays in marriage
is they want to find
a soul friend.
And what they often
really mean by a soul friend
is really what they mean
as a person
who as we change
and go through
the different stages
and phases of our life
that you will always
give me
your approval,
your acclaim,
your,
you will always
give that to me.
But that's not a recipe
for a marriage
or a relationship
or a friendship
that's going to be
enduring
or last,
which is really
what we want.
And what we see
in the person of Jesus
is that God,
the light
that made all things
came and took on flesh
and he gave,
in a sense,
his lightness
to take upon himself
our darkness.
The life
that has created
all things
takes on flesh
and he takes upon himself
our death
and illness
and gives us
his life.
The love
that has created
all things
comes and takes
on flesh
and he takes
upon himself
our hatred
and indifference
and gives us,
in a sense,
a way to be connected
to love.
Jesus describes himself
as the bread
of life.
He describes himself
as the light
of the world.
He describes himself
as the one
by whom,
when you have faith,
springs of living water
will well up
from within you
when you drink
of him
and partake
of him
when you are
connected to him.
He is the source
of life
and light
and love
and to be connected
to him
is not
our love for him,
our desire
and affection
and moving
towards him
is never going
to suck all the oxygen
out of my life.
It will actually
begin to give me
oxygen
that I might be whole
and I might be free.
And if you could put up
the second point,
Jesus is also
dealing here
with another
very, very common
problem
which is that
we cut off
people who hurt us
and we never want
to see them again.
Or if we begin
to have a friend
that seems to be
very, very filled
with shame
and very, very filled
with need,
often what we do
is we want to shoot
them, we want to
just have nothing
to do with them,
we cut them off.
And so Peter
has publicly fallen
and he has
this shame
and the guilt
that he doesn't
entirely know
what to do with.
And Jesus
walks right
towards it.
Jesus always
walks towards
your sin
and your shame
to save
and restore you.
Jesus always
walks towards
your sin
and your shame
to save
and restore you.
I mean,
that's what the
whole gospel
is all about.
It's all about
God with us.
That God,
the Son of God
sets aside
his glory
and divine splendor
and he becomes
flesh.
God comes
and is with us
in the midst
of our sin,
in the midst
of our shame,
in the midst
of our death,
in the midst
of our illness,
in the midst
of our hatred,
in the midst
of our indifference,
in the midst
of our strengths,
in the midst
of our glories,
in the midst
of all of the things,
all of the complicated
mess that makes
human beings,
Jesus comes
and lives
among us.
And then
that path
continues
because when
Jesus dies
on the cross,
if you might
remember in the story,
it's very clear
just before Jesus
is captured
by a mere mention
of who he is,
all of the soldiers
fall down
and it helps us
to remember
that when Jesus
is on the cross,
what is holding
him on the cross
is not the nails,
is not the threat
of soldiers,
is not the condemnation,
but it's love
that holds him
on the cross.
And as he dies
upon the cross,
he is taking
into himself
our darkness,
our death,
and our hatred.
He takes that
all upon himself.
He walks
towards our sin
and shame
not only to live
amongst us
but to also bear it.
And then
by bearing it,
he defeats it
for us.
But once we
are his,
like to be a Christian
is to understand
that every single
thing that
every single thing
that I have ever
done that is wrong,
all that which
causes me shame,
all of that
was laid upon him.
And he died
for me.
He died
in my place.
and his
life
and love,
his light
and love
and life
is given
to me.
He takes
my darkness,
my death,
my hatred
and indifference.
He takes that
and he gives me
life and love
and light.
Amen.
And all
that would be
against me
is borne by him
and all
that I need
to stand
in God's
presence
is given
to me.
And so
when Jesus
is talking
to Peter,
Jesus isn't
saying,
by the way,
what you did
doesn't matter.
It matters.
But what he's
doing is he's
giving Peter
an opportunity
to be restored
because Jesus
has already
paid
for Peter's
failure.
He's already
dealt with it.
But you know
what it's like.
It's hard
to be really
gripped by the
gospel and
understand that
my sin and
my shame
has been dealt
with by Jesus.
And so even
though when I
put my faith
and trust in
Jesus,
I am his
forever because
it's his
righteousness
and his
sin bearing
that makes
me right
with God.
But he
wants me
to start
to become
more like
him in my
daily life.
And so
Jesus will
always walk
towards your
sin and
he always
will walk
towards your
shame.
That's what
discipleship is.
He'll always
walk towards
it because
he already
knows about
it and he's
paid for it
and he walks
towards it
and he walks
towards it
so you can
begin to be
gripped by the
gospel and
understand that
the price has
already been
paid.
And you can
be gripped by
the gospel to
understand that
all Jesus wants
to do is always
to restore
you, to
restore you, to
restore you.
He doesn't
shoot the
wounded.
He saves and
restores.
And that's what
Jesus is doing
here with Peter
for every one
of his denials.
Every one of
his denials.
Jesus gives
him a commission.
Now if this
was just where
the gospel ended
it would be
really, really
good.
But Peter,
John wants to
deal with a
couple of
final things
that Jesus
does which
really matter
because he
talks about
the significance
of dark
times in our
life and
of death.
And so if we
just would
continue reading
on, if you
could put the
text back up
on the screen,
let's continue
reading at
verse 18.
Peter is now,
I mean Jesus
is still speaking
to Peter and
he says,
truly, truly I
say to you
when you were
young, you
used to dress
yourself and
walk wherever
you wanted.
But when you
are old, you
will stretch
out your
hands and
another will
dress you and
carry you where
you do not
want to go.
This Jesus
said to show
by what kind
of death
Peter was to
glorify God.
And after
saying this,
he said to
Peter, follow
me.
And just sort
of pause before
I read the
next little bit.
I, when I
read the
commentaries and
I talk about
the original
language, at
the level of
the original
language,
it's obvious
to all of
the people who
know the
original language
that Jesus
is referring to
Peter being
crucified, that
that's how
Peter's going
to die.
The English
can't capture
it.
I'm just
telling you
what smarter,
wiser people
who know
Greek know.
And so
Jesus has
revealed to
Peter that
how he's going
to die will
be by
crucifixion.
he will be
captured by
the Roman
authorities and
he will be
condemned and
he will die a
death of
crucifixion.
It's a very
hard thing that
Jesus shares
with Peter.
And
let's just
see what
happens after
this.
So Peter,
verse 20,
Peter turned
and saw the
disciple whom
Jesus loved
following them,
the one who
also had leaned
back against
him during the
supper and had
said,
Lord,
who is it
that's going
to betray
you?
When Peter
saw him,
he said to
Jesus,
Lord,
what about
this man?
It's very
natural,
right?
I can well
imagine if I
was walking
along with
Matt and
Jesus showed
up and
said,
by the way,
George,
I want you
to know that
you're going
to die a
terrible,
painful,
horrible
death.
It would
be very
natural for
me to say,
what about
Matt?
And that's
what Peter
does.
He says,
what about
John?
And Jesus
said to him,
verse 22,
if it is my
will that he
remain until I
come,
what is that
to you?
You follow
me.
So the
saying spread
abroad among
the brothers and
sisters that
this disciple
was not to
die,
yet Jesus
did not
say to him
that he
was not
to die.
But if
it is my
will that he
remain until
I come,
what is that
to you?
basically what
Jesus says
is I
will sometimes
reveal things
to you about
what's going
to be happening
in your
life.
And the
main thing
is that even
if I reveal
them to you,
you follow
me.
I'm not
going to
reveal to
you necessarily
things that
are going
on in other
people's
life.
I'm
speaking to
you,
you follow
me.
You follow
me.
And he
doesn't satisfy
our curiosity
necessarily about
what happens
to others.
The other
thing that's
interesting
here is
that twice
Jesus says
very clearly
that he's
going to
come a
second time
which is
an important
doctrine for
us as
Christians to
understand.
And then
Peter,
John wraps
it up,
verse 24,
this is the
disciple who's
bearing witness
about these
things and
who has
written these
things and
we know that
his testimony
is true.
So John
is saying,
listen,
this is an
eyewitness
biography.
I've given
you names of
lots of other
people who are
also eyewitnesses.
You can check
it out with
him and I
want you to
know everything I
say is true.
Verse 25,
now there are
also many
other things
that Jesus
did where
every one of
them to be
written,
I suppose,
that the
world itself
could not
contain the
books that
would be
written.
If you could
put up the
third point,
that would be
very helpful.
Just to wrap
it up,
a Christian
is an
ordinary
person who
trusts Jesus
as their
Savior and
follows him
as their
Lord.
As John's
Gospel comes
to an end,
it's very,
very interesting.
If you go
back and read
John's Gospel
again,
you'll see
the very,
very first
words Jesus
says.
The very
first words
that Jesus
is recorded
as saying
is a
question.
What are
you seeking?
See,
every human
being is
seeking
something all
the time,
seeking meaning,
seeking love,
seeking food,
seeking prosperity,
seeking fame,
seeking success,
and Jesus,
the very first
words of Jesus
are,
what are you
seeking?
And the people
give the answer
and he says,
come and see,
come and see.
And that's what
John's done with
the whole book.
He begins
by saying
to each
one of you,
you're coming
to Jesus,
the first thing
you have to
ask yourself
as you're
trying to
understand Jesus
is,
what are you
seeking?
Like,
know yourself.
And then
Jesus says,
well,
come and see,
and that's
how John
organizes the
Gospel,
around the
miracles,
around the
I am
statements,
about the
trial,
about the
death,
about the
empty tomb,
about the
resurrection,
and then the
final words
are a very,
very similar
thing.
If the first
thing is,
listen,
figure out what
you're seeking,
but come and see,
from me.
And then the
very final words
of Jesus are,
follow me,
follow me.
And a
Christian is an
ordinary person
who wants to
follow Jesus,
because he trusts
him as his
Savior and wants
to follow him
as Lord.
You can't have
him as your
Savior without
having him as
your Lord,
and it makes
no sense to
have him as
your Lord if
he isn't your
Savior, but
that's what a
Christian is.
Next point,
please.
When you
follow Jesus,
even your
suffering and
death can
bring glory
to God.
When you
follow Jesus,
even your
suffering and
death can
bring glory
to God.
This would
be a whole
sermon in
and of
itself.
In the
eyes of the
world,
suffering and
death can
bring nobody
glory and
nobody any
type of
significance.
And in a
world where
there are
suicide
bombers,
the whole
idea of
death glorifying
God can
be very,
very,
very frightening.
But,
you know,
Muhammad died
as a result
of poisoning
of one of
the family
members of
his hundreds
and thousands
of victims.
And Jesus
dies on the
cross because
he loves you.
God's
and Jesus
is not
pardoning
suicide
bombers.
It's a
completely
and radically
opposite
different
religion.
Jesus is
saying that
even in your
suffering and
death, there
is a way to
suffer and
die when you
are following
Jesus that
can bring
God glory.
God's
and
if you
could put
up the
final point,
Jesus is
speaking to
you this
morning as
Savior and
Lord.
He is the
Savior and
Lord and
he is saying
to every
single one of
you,
follow me.
Follow me.
I can't say
follow me.
I don't want
you to follow
me.
Only follow
me if I'm
following Jesus
because we
need to
follow Jesus.
And this
invitation is
given to
every person
who is here
this morning.
That's how
the gospel
basically ends.
Follow me.
Every one of
us will go
through the
valley of
the shadow
of death.
And unless
Jesus comes
before we
die, we
will all
die.
But when
we follow
Jesus, he
will lead us
in the valley
of the shadow
of death.
He will lead
us right into
death and
beyond, which
is the new
heaven and
the new
earth.
We can
follow him
in success.
We can
follow him
in failure.
We can
follow him
when we are
ashamed.
We can
follow him
when we
have sinned.
We can
follow him
when times
are hard
and when
times are
good.
We can
follow him.
He wants
to be our
savior and
he wants
to be our
Lord.
He wants
you and
me to
follow him.
Please
stand.
Let's just
bow our heads
in prayer.
Father, we
thank you
for Jesus.
We thank
you, Father,
that when we
come to
Jesus, we
are coming
to a person
who knows
everything there
is to know
about us,
that he
knows every
sin, every
shame, everything
which is really
good about us,
everything which
is whole,
everything which
is broken.
We thank you
that when we
come to Jesus,
he knew us in
the womb,
he knew us as
babies, that he
knows even our
future, what will
happen in the days
and weeks and
months or years
ahead.
We thank you,
Father, that
when we come
to Jesus, he
knows every
mask, every
thought, everything
there is to know
about us, he
knew and he
knows.
And still he
loves us and
still he died
for us.
And still when
we put our
faith and trust
in him, he
accepted us in
all of who we
are with nothing
left over.
and we thank
you that he
died for all
that makes us
us without
anything left
over.
And that he
has paid for
all that makes
us us with
nothing left
over.
And that he
has covered us
with his
righteousness in
all that is
with us with
nothing left
over.
And we ask,
Father, that you
would grip us
with this deep
truth of the
deep knowledge
and love of
Jesus for us,
that he is
water, he is
oxygen, he is
life, he is
love, he is
light that makes
us whole and
free.
And Father, help
us to follow
Jesus.
And all God's
people said,
Amen.