John 21:15-22

¹⁵ After breakfast Jesus asked Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?”“Yes, Lord,” Peter replied, “you know I love you.”“Then feed my lambs,” Jesus told him.¹⁶ Jesus repeated the question: “Simon son of John, do you love me?”“Yes, Lord,” Peter said, “you know I love you.”“Then take care of my sheep,” Jesus said.¹⁷ A third time he asked him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”Peter was hurt that Jesus asked the question a third time. He said, “Lord, you know everything. You know that I love you.”Jesus said, “Then feed my sheep.¹⁸ “I tell you the truth, when you were young, you were able to do as you liked; you dressed yourself and went wherever you wanted to go. But when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and others will dress you and take you where you don’t want to go.” ¹⁹ Jesus said this to let him know by what kind of death he would glorify God. Then Jesus told him, “Follow me.”²⁰ Peter turned around and saw behind them the disciple Jesus loved—the one who had leaned over to Jesus during supper and asked, “Lord, who will betray you?” ²¹ Peter asked Jesus, “What about him, Lord?”²² Jesus replied, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? As for you, follow me.”

Lastly we are called to:

3. Follow Faithfully

Verse 18 prophetically points to how Peter was going to die: “I tell you the truth, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.”Many commentators believe that the phrase, “you will stretch out your hands” is a reference to crucifixion. Tradition tells us that Peter was crucified with his hands stretched out on a cross. Verse 19 tells us that in his death Peter would “glorify God.” We are to follow no matter what happens and the command, “follow me” in verse 19 is a present imperative, which means “keep on following me.” Even knowing how he was going to die, Peter was called to faithfully follow Christ. What about you are you going to be a fair-weather fan or a faithful follower? Fans follow based on feelings, but followers make it about faith. Peter had been following his feelings because he was focused on his failure instead of Jesus faithfulness. The words follow me are the same words Jesus used when He called Peter the first time in Matthew 4:19-20. Are you going to focus on your feelings and follow your failures only to repeat them over and over or follow the Father? Jesus is calling us to leave our failures behind and follow Him. But notice Peters response, he immediately wants to know about John. We like to focus on what others are doing, don’t we? I love the answer Jesus gave in John 21:22: “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You must follow me.” Our responsibility is to make Jesus #1 in our lives, and not get distracted by what others are or are not doing. Our job is not to compare and contrast ourselves with others but to follow Christ. We always end up with a mess when we meddle in matters that don’t concern us. Our job is to be obedient to what God has already revealed. Jesus made it clear to Peter what he had called Him to do and yet look how quickly Peter got sidetracked. How much like Peter are we, he had been restored and recommissioned, and yet rather than getting busy with Gods business he got busy being a busybody. Right on the heels of Peters recommissioning Jesus is having to redirect him. While Peter is no longer focused on his failures now he is focused on others. You will never faithfully follow if you are not focused on Jesus. When you stop focusing on Jesus you falter and fall, and you end up right back at failure.  But were we fail God is faithful. You see its all really the gift of His grace. One of my favorite verse in this passage is verse 10 when Jesus says, “Bring some of the fish you have caught.”Jesus already had some fish frying but He invites the disciples to share what they have. He asked them to bring the fish they have caught but the disciples knew that they didn’t do anything to catch the fish, it was the Lord that had loaded up their nets. He calls us to serve and to share what we have but it’s not really ours that we are giving it’s God’s grace, the question is will we serve or be selfish? Jesus calls us to partner with Him and participate in the blessings. He longs to rebuild what is broken and the emphasis of this passage is not on the fish; it’s on the fishermen. They needed to be restored and the only way that was going to happen was through spending time with Jesus. Jesus invites us to come in our brokenness and failure and have breakfast on the beach. It’s in the presence of His forgiveness that our failures fade. Are you going to respond to God’s grace that calls you to come and deal with those areas of your life that limit and lead you to failure or ignore the Father and keep follow your feelings? This is an invitation to come and commune with Christ instead of continuing in your mess.

John 21:15-22

¹⁵ After breakfast Jesus asked Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?”“Yes, Lord,” Peter replied, “you know I love you.”“Then feed my lambs,” Jesus told him.¹⁶ Jesus repeated the question: “Simon son of John, do you love me?”“Yes, Lord,” Peter said, “you know I love you.”“Then take care of my sheep,” Jesus said.¹⁷ A third time he asked him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”Peter was hurt that Jesus asked the question a third time. He said, “Lord, you know everything. You know that I love you.”Jesus said, “Then feed my sheep.¹⁸ “I tell you the truth, when you were young, you were able to do as you liked; you dressed yourself and went wherever you wanted to go. But when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and others will dress you and take you where you don’t want to go.” ¹⁹ Jesus said this to let him know by what kind of death he would glorify God. Then Jesus told him, “Follow me.”²⁰ Peter turned around and saw behind them the disciple Jesus loved—the one who had leaned over to Jesus during supper and asked, “Lord, who will betray you?” ²¹ Peter asked Jesus, “What about him, Lord?”²² Jesus replied, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? As for you, follow me.”

At this lower level of love Peter probably wondered if Jesus could or would use him. But it’s here that we see Christ’s second call to:

2. Serve Selflessly.

To each of Peter’s replies Jesus responded by giving Peter a task to do because Jesus was not looking at Peter’s past, instead He was focused on what Peter would do in the future. If the ultimate commandment is to love God with everything we’ve got, then the second most important instruction is to love people. Notice, Jesus didn’t say, go to Bible study or church he said feed my lambs, care for my sheep and feed my sheep. Why because your Christianity isn’t about YOU. It’s not about your wants it’s about His Will, Jesus saved you, so you could become like Him. One of the ways that we demonstrate our fondness for Jesus is by loving and caring for people. Jesus saved us to serve not to be selfish. One of the deadliest diseases that is destroying the church is the Me monster, where we make everything about self instead of service. Instead of feeding the sheep the Me monster wants to fight with the sheep. Instead of showing up to serve it wants to soak. What about you are you serving in your local church? Our love for God will always show itself in our love and care for His people. If we say we love God lavishly then it will show in our selfless serving. As 1 John 3:18 says: “Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.”If you have been forgiven, then you need to stop focusing on your failure and start focusing on feeding the flock. Unfortunately, many of us are listening more to the voice of our failure than we are the Father and as a result we are letting the voice of our failure determine our future instead of the voice of our Father. But your failure is not final, not only can you be forgiven and experience fellowship with the Father, but you can serve His flock. The question is this, is how you are living being motivated by your failure or the Fathers forgiveness? Jesus starts by calling Peter to feed His lambs. Peter is reminded that children matter to God. Parents seek God’s forgiveness and don’t let your failures keep you from feeding your kids. Jesus starts with the lambs because they are the most vulnerable. Second, we see the care of the sheep, it is the word translated “shepherd” and implies much more than just feeding. A good shepherd makes sure all the needs of His sheep are taken care of and that they are protected. Third Jesus says, “Feed my sheep” The Greek word means, “Dear sheep.” Peter is called to see the value of others. People should matter to us because they matter to God. One of the reasons we tire of serving others is because we stop seeing their significance to God and start focusing on self. These are “doing words,” verbs that describe the function of all believers to feed the flock and shepherd the sheep. Unfortunately, we have turned the verbs into nouns as we often refer to the “ministers” or the “pastors” as the ones who are to do this, but we are all called to care. Why because these are His sheep and His lambs, not ours. Jesus refers to them as “my” lambs, “my” sheep, and “my” sheep. They belong to Him, but He entrusts them to us. Everyone has worth and dignity in His sight. What about you, how are you selflessly serving those around you?