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FOLLOW JESUS
FOLLOW JESUS John 21:15-22 Key Verse: 21:18,19 “Very truly I tell you, 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.” Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, “Follow me!” Once again, we have come to Easter, which many will argue is the most important time of the year for Christians. I would disagree with this because I believe that every day God enables us to live is the most important day we have. However, I will agree that Easter is the most important Christian holiday. It is the one day a year we set aside to specifically remember our Lord Jesus’ ultimate victory over sin, death and Satan. In fact, without the very first Easter, there would never be Christianity. Therefore, Easter is a very important day for Christians to remember what our Lord did for us, but, as I hope to show you through our Lord’s words to Peter, this only makes every other day more important for Christians. Before I get into the message, I think we need to take a moment to reflect on the deep meaning of what we are celebrating each Easter. In order to do this, we need to go all the way back to beginning of the Bible. In the beginning, God gave man paradise and a chose. Unfortunately, one man, Adam and his wife, chose to listen to Satan instead of God. According to God’s word, we chose death over paradise. Sin so infected mankind that death ruled everything since that moment. That is, until Jesus came. Just a few weeks ago, we studied Mark 2 where Jesus demonstrated that He had the authority to forgive sins while He was on earth by completely healing a paralyzed man. But it was at that first Easter about 2000 years ago that Jesus demonstrated His complete victory over sin, death and Satan. Jesus completely overcame the plague of all mankind and conquered the price of our sins. In fact, Jesus completely paid off all our debt to sin and Satan. He forgave us. He did even more than that, He promised a new life for all those who simply believe in Him. In today’s message I want to focus on what that new life means. All of you are probably familiar with this story here in John’s Gospel. Jesus had risen from the dead and had appeared to Mary Magdalene and to the 12 disciples on two occasions in Jerusalem. Peter and six other disciples had returned to Galilee and were returning to their old profession of fishing. Jesus showed up on the shore as they were fishing and instructed them to throw the net on the other side of the boat. When they did so the catch of fish was so great that John immediately recognized the man on the beach was Jesus. When John told this to Peter, he was so overcome with emotion that he quickly put on his shirt and dove into the water to get Jesus as fast as possible. One would think that just by doing this, Peter was revealing his absolute love for Jesus, but let’s see what happens after all the disciples arrive at shore and had breakfast with Jesus. Look at verse 15. “When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?” “Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.” As I mentioned before, this seems like a silly question to be asking Peter. After all, he was the only one of the seven to dive into the water to get to Jesus more quickly. This would seem to indicate that Peter did indeed love Jesus more than the others. However, Peter did not mention this, he simply answered Jesus saying, “Yes Lord, you know that I love you.” I think we all know that Peter loved Jesus and I think Jesus knew that also. What I think Jesus was doing was teaching Peter and all Christians a very important lesson. A lesson that I think many Christians either forget or worse yet never even think about. Let’s look at Jesus response to Peter’s answer. “Feed my lambs.” Jesus said if you love me Peter take care of those that I love – my flock. Jesus was going back to heaven, but he still had a lot of people here on earth whom He had given His life for. Just as Peter and the other disciples needed Jesus to take care of them as they were getting to know Jesus and were growing in their faith, other young, and even older, Christians need someone to care for them and have fellowship with them. This lesson was so important to Jesus, that He asked Peter the same question three times to drive the point home. Let’s take a moment to think about what it means to take care of Jesus flock or feed His sheep. What exactly does Jesus want us to do. Well, let’s look at what Jesus said right after He asked Peter the same question three times. Look at verse 18. “Very truly I tell you, 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.” Now that Peter had affirmed his love for Jesus, his life was going to completely change. Before he met Jesus, he was free to do what ever he liked, but now that he knew Jesus and said that he loved Jesus, he was no longer free to go on living like this. Now he must surrender himself to the Holy Spirit and let himself be led wherever God wanted him to go. His life was no longer his own. In fact, it was a completely new life. He was born again into God’s family. He was now a child of God which meant that he had to live as Jesus lived. Jesus never lived for Himself. He gave His life for God’s mission and for other people. Jesus lived and died to serve God and others and that is what He is saying to Peter and to all Christians. As Christians, our life is not our own. It belongs to God to be used by Him to bring others to Jesus. That is why every day that God gives us is the most important day. Today, is the day that God wants to use us to carry on the world salvation work that Jesus began by completely fulfilling all that was written in the scripture – by paying off the price for our sins and overcoming the death that it took to do this. It is truly amazing and humbling to think that God wants to use us in this way, but it may not be as glamorous as we might imagine. Let’s think about Jesus’ final words to Peter. “Follow me.” He says it in verse 18 and repeats it again in verse 22. These are two very simple words, but they may be the hardest words to actually accept. Let’s think about what it means to follow Jesus. Jesus told Peter that he was going to be led where he did not want to go and John said this was to indicate the type of death Peter was to undergo. Peter knew exactly how Jesus had lived and exactly how He died. Peter knew that Jesus had not lived His life for His own enjoyment or comfort, but instead had suffered a lot to teach people about the kingdom of God. Jesus had given His life completely to serve and care for the needs of others, and Peter knew that this is what Jesus was calling him to do. More than that, Peter knew the end result of this for Jesus; it was an agonizing death being nailed to a cross. Peter also knew that following Jesus would likely result in a similar end for himself. Peter looked back and wondered if his friend John would have to suffer the same fate as himself, but Jesus said it didn’t matter what His plans for John were, all that mattered was for Peter to follow Jesus. Likewise, it does not matter how God wants to use other Christians, all that matters is that we surrender ourselves to Jesus and the control of the Holy Spirti. We must know that following Jesus may not glamorous or comfortable. It may even result in a horrible death in some foreign land. However, we must also remember that in the end it is a life of true victory and ultimately eternal life together with Him in heaven. Jesus life was not easy here on earth. He did not live it for Himself and He got nothing out of it. But now He is crowned the King of kings and Lord of lords with all the glory He had with the Father before the creation of the world. The most amazing part is that He has promised to share all this with everyone who chooses to believe in Him and follow him. May God grant us a new decision this Easter to surrender everything and let the Holy Spirit lead us to wherever God wants to use us. |
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