JUL 24 2022 | The Great Clarification: Eavesdropping on John & Peter with Jesus

Sea Change Church · JUL 24 2022 | The Great Clarification: Eavesdropping on John & Peter with Jesus
John 21:15-25
Automated transcript. Not reviewed for accuracy.

you dressed yourself and went where you wanted. But when you were 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. Peter turned and saw that the disciple whom Jesus loved was following them.

This is the one who had leaned back against Jesus at the supper and had said, Lord, who is going to betray you? When Peter saw him, he asked, Lord, what about him? Jesus answered, if I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You must follow me. Because of this, the rumor spread among the believers that this disciple would not die.

But Jesus did not say that he would not die. He only said, if I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? This is the disciple who testifies to these things and who wrote them down. We know that his testimony is true. Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.

The word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. Thank you so much for that reading. And can we give it up this morning for the worship team, all these who have just teamed up? Thank you so much. Wonderful to be here. And I will avoid staring over at the patio area to make eye contact. But I see you over there. A couple of you are waving. Thank you. Welcome to La Jolla Christian Fellowship.

I'm Dr. Jim Smith, Pastor Jim. I've been here for nine years. Came as interim pastor initially. And have just been blessed, as I shared, I think, last week reading scripture, at how the Lord continues to blossom this place with his grace and with his truth. And I am just so thankful for that. So when Pastor Adam asked if I would step up between the seven weeks he's been doing in Revelation and the studies in the book of Acts yet to come would step up kind of as a bridge this morning.

And some of you are saying, wow, that's, you know, are you old enough to have been with the apostles? No, I'm not. All right? But I can see it from here. So with that, he asked me to be a bridge between Revelation and the book of Acts and said, I'd like something out of one of the Gospels. And I said, what a delight, Lord. And out of that grew this morning's focus.

We are in John chapter 21. Why is that a good choice in addition to the prompting of the Holy Spirit? Why logically does it fit for us as we study God's word and God's ways? And my suggestion would be, let's do a quick quiz. Who is the author of the book of Revelation? Anybody? John. All right? So what a wonderful opportunity we've been spending this time in that book of prophecy to look back and to look into the Gospel that John wrote.

And the other part is that when we look at the book of Acts, many times we are tuned to look at a passage in Matthew 28, verses 16 through 20, which often is called the Great Commission, which says in Matthew's Gospel, Jesus' words, go and make disciples. Go and disciple people, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit and teaching them to follow all that I've commanded you to do.

And I am with you always, even to the very end of all these things. All right? Great Commission. What I want to suggest this morning is each of the four Gospels has a conclusion, duh. And what's John's conclusion? And that's where we are today. And I want to call that, for your consideration, the Great Clarification. The Great Clarification. All right?

So Great Commission, we'll leave that as the property of St. Matthew. But the Great Clarification is, what is it that Jesus says is foremost that should be kept in the mind, in the conscience, in the prayers of Peter and of all of us? And that clarification is going to be our focus today. We could all use a little better focus. I'm going to slip on my grandpa glasses.

We are grateful. My wife, Linda, she'll be here for second service, three kids, eight grandkids later. And we're just grateful for what the Lord's doing. And he continues to make us lifelong learners. Amen? Yeah. So the Great Clarification. Join me, if you will. You have the notes. And here we find. Let's start with a statement by one of my favorite New Testament scholars.

scholars, appropriate initials, N.T. Wright, Tom Wright, marvelous scholar. And he says, this scene, we've just heard read, this scene between Jesus and Peter is one of the most spectacular interchanges in the Bible. Most remarkable is that by way of forgiveness, Jesus gives Peter a job to do. Now, you might say, spectacular? I don't know, but we'll listen to you, Dr. Wright.

What about the emphasis on forgiveness and Peter being given a job to do? Well, from the very earliest commentators, my doctorate's in church history, so I teach church history at different schools. When the earliest commentators on this talked about this being a restoration, a reinstatement of Peter. I'm jumping ahead for a moment. Why is it, do you think, that Jesus, as early commentators would say, asked Peter three times, do you love me?

And the early comment was, because Peter denied him three times. Ever thought of that? Jesus is step by step with Peter, which is part of why Peter deeply feels this. After the third recounting, do you really love me? Let's get rid of denial number one. Do you really love me? I'm opening a door for you. Let's get rid of denial number two. And on to number three, the reinstatement of the apostle Peter.

So this scene is a scene of forgiveness and of Peter being given a job to do. Number one, may we? Verses 15 through 17 in our text. When Jesus had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon, son of John, do you truly love me more than these? We don't know if he means more than fish, because he had just pulled in a miraculous net of fish.

Guy must have been Hercules, right? So there he comes with this net of fish. Do you love me more than your habit of fishing, your safe drop back to this? Or do you love me more than these others that you see around you? Do you love me? Yes, Lord, you know I love you. Feed my lambs. Simon, do you truly love me? Yes, Lord. Well, take care of my sheep.

Simon, do you love me? Peter was hurt this third time. Do you love me? Lord, you know everything. You know that I love you. Then feed my sheep. I want to ask a very simple question this morning. Do you hear the Lord saying to you this morning, Do you love me? Do you love me? That's one of the messages the Lord is saying to you this morning. Softly and tenderly as the whole hymn goes.

Do you love me? At the bottom of our sheet, we list, for example, the best thing that Gary Chapman ever did, love languages. Have you ever heard of the love languages? Right. I think that's so useful in this passage. It's not only person to person, or my wife and I, for example, or the kids, the grandkids, others here, but it's to the Lord. How wonderful to do affirmation of words.

How wonderful to spend quality time. How wonderful to offer acts of service. You get the idea. That's why we give notes. Bottom of the sheet. The love languages. Jesus says, Peter, do you love me? And the Lord is saying this, may I suggest, to each one of us today. Okay. So if you'd like to tune me completely out this morning, you've got the notes, and just hear the Lord saying, do you love me?

And you get to say, I really do. Let's take this a step further. Let's take this a bit deeper. Let's take this into a different language, maybe, than I've been practicing in my love languages. Lord, here's how I love you. We have sung beautiful music this morning. I love you, Lord, and I lift my voice. May we hear him this morning. Do you love me?

And that word comes so powerfully. Now, let me say immediately, do you love me? Well, then, care for and feed these. There are several different Greek words there. Pastor Adam cautioned us a number of times in studying the book of Revelation to focus on the essentials. You remember that? Focus on the essentials. So what I can say to you, if I lapse into Greek for a moment this morning.

Do I have your permission to lapse into Greek? Here we go. Verse 15. Agape me? And Peter says, feed my lambs. Now, what's all Greek to me? All right? Let's go back. Agape. Classically, the Greek for agape. New Testament and in the historic language is essentially an unconditional love that actively desires the best for the other. Okay? I don't know if any of you take notes here.

This is LJCF. Some do, some don't. but an unconditional love that actively desires the best for the other. And in the case of God, to love God in that way, for example, is to desire the best recognition for God that as many as possible will come and with renewed life will say, I love you, Lord, and I lift my voice to worship you. Oh, my soul, rejoice, take joy, my king, in what you hear.

May it be a sweet, sweet sound to your ear. We can never flatter God, right? All the best we speak of God is telling the truth. It's not flattering. So to raise our voices in that way. So agape, the notes, an unconditional love actively desiring the best for the other. What about phileo? That's friendship love. That's love of the embrace. That's love of companionship.

That's love that walks together. Phileo. And will you see in your notes, please, that although some commentators, I heard a sermon once where the preacher, pretty good sermon overall, as I sensed it, it touched me, but the pastor said, you know, let's love in agape love because that's the only way God loves. And I said, not a chance. The texts are here in your notes that we find the core question, do you love me?

And that goes back to Deuteronomy. Love the Lord with all your heart and soul and mind. Love is the essence of God's character. It's revealed in agape, John 3, 16, God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son. As I've said several times from this pulpit, he loves us this much. That's what that cross is doing up there. And isn't it wonderful on a morning like this, we've got the shepherd behind us.

Amen? You see that? Anybody not seen that? Take a look. Again, you can tune me out if you want, but there's the shepherd embracing his sheep. What a marvelous example of our Lord and the Lord's charge to us. And Jesus also says, phileo love. I love you as friends, he says, John 16, 27. And in this, there is the great commandment, do you love me? God can say to us, do you love me agape with that unconditional love that's growing in you?

Do you love me in friendship love where we can just walk together in ways that are in good faith with one another and celebrate life and beauty and truth and goodness? Do you love me? We're going to pause for 30 seconds. I'm going to just invite you to pause and to bow and to hear the Lord saying to you freshly today, do you love me? Can we do that? Whatever your place is spiritually right now, God's got a word for all of us, including me.

Do you love me? Let's pause. We have a chance to respond. I have a chance to respond. to respond. to respond. to respond. to respond. to respond. to respond. to respond. to respond. to respond. to respond. to respond. to respond. to respond. . to respond. . to respond. . .... to respond. . to respond. ��i , and a d- . I do not fully love you the way I ought. Agape, phileo.

Lord, forgive me. Lord, restore me. And each one of us, teach us to follow more. Those ways of love. We all have favorite love songs, but yours is the sweetest of all. It is heavenly. Lord, teach us that language and that beauty in motion, which is grace. And we pray it now. We hear your words. We say yes, Lord. Draw us forward as great shepherd to your glory for our good and for our neighbors as well.

Amen. I hope it's all right to break into teaching in the middle of that and just pray. This isn't just data. This is building a relationship with our Lord. And we want to hear him. Do you love me? You know I love you. And then the Lord's direction. Feed my sheep. Those same verses. And Peter is reminded here that character is revealed in action. Character is revealed in our action.

And so with that, there is this sense, Peter, with that affection, let's put that into action. Do you love me? Take care of my sheep. Nourish my sheep. And again, back to the Greek. Verse 15 says, Bosque Arnia, feed my lambs. Verse 16 says, Poyame Probata, feed my sheep. Shepherd my sheep. And the third one is, Bosque Probata, feed my sheep. The language varies.

Is that because it's at odds with each other? Or it's confuido. Sorry, confused. No. It's because it's inclusive. It embraces. It says, I want you to both tend my sheep and also to feed my sheep. I want you to lead them forward. I want you to pause with them. I want you to imitate me, the Lord says, in your interactions with others, and ultimately, as you reach up and draw upon me for your power.

So feed them. Shepherd them. The little lambs, the grown-up sheep that have a mind of their own. And someone will say, yeah, the little ones have a mind of their own too, right? I understand that one. So with that, there's this variation in Greek. And much like Pastor Adam said about prophecy and revelation, there's all kinds of research that you can do in this area.

Whether you look up the dimensions of love, whether you look up shepherding, whatever it might be. I brought a book, Cleverly Stowed, back here. This is a classic, 1970. Philip Keller, A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23. And if you're interested in going deeper in this whole area of shepherding, both as God's gracious care for us, based on real-life illustrations, and also how we can turn and offer some of these attributes to others, it's a marvelous book.

Psalm 23 is the, Lord is my shepherd. I have everything I really need. He makes me to lie down in green pastures. Many of us will know that. It's a beauty. And in John chapter 10, Jesus reaffirms, I am the shepherd. I'm right here in front of you. I shepherd my sheep. And is that about only my kind of sheep, only my kind of insiders, only my kind of people?

No, he says, also other sheep I have. Notice in the notes. I have other sheep. And I want to call out to them. And my goal is that there might be one flock and one shepherd that we might be drawn together in this love, in this grace and truth. Feed my sheep. And this one lays down his life with this goal, one flock and one shepherd. We all do this in perfectly.

But there's ways we can study this. And among them, for example, there is this passage, you say, wait a minute, I think of sheep. And sheep means we go out into the fields. And that's kind of what we do. We lead out into fields and we take care of them, make sure they get enough grassy areas. But you know what? We lived nine years in Minnesota. There aren't a whole lot of sheep out there in the fields when the snow is this deep.

Well, what do you do then? What do you do when the weather of life turns against you? Well, that's a wonderful time to invite the sheep into the sheepfold. To invite them into the barn. What do sheep eat then? Well, they eat bales of hay, which is harvested, grassy nutrient, prepared by the one who cares for their lives. And he provides bales of hay. What else?

Well, there's grain. You can look it up on the internet. There's grains. They thrive on grains. And there are storage bins of grain. And as Jesus says to Peter, feed my sheep, Peter, who can visualize all this, very possibly is saying, you know what? Jesus, I really want, in loving you, to follow your example and to help lead others. Isn't it true that all we can ever do with others is give them an opportunity?

Isn't that right? We've all seen people try and strong arm or push or argue, whatever else, right? Let's just give opportunities. Let's give a hospitality. Let's meet people where they are in that and invite them to best next steps in growing in the Lord. and how I long for that in me. You know, I'm a thousand years old, but I still love the best next step the Lord is revealing as we go forward in this.

So sometimes, it's open pasture. And boy, have I had conversations like this. And other times, it is, boy, it's winter. It's under difficult circumstances. I'm a chaplain advisor over at Sharp Hospital and on the professional consultation committee. What a privilege that is as a long-time pastor. And the word pastor itself implies shepherd. So in that, pray for me in whatever role.

But in that, realize there are times in which you're not out in open pasture. Boy, you're there and the weather has turned against you. You're in a hospital bed. You've got COVID. There's issues that are being faced. And there we bring grain with us. And there we bring something to nourish. There we bring key passages from God's Word. There we bring an open heart and a mind and a listening ear to meet people where they are and to feed them with the strength they have to be able to feed from the grain or from the hay bale that we have harvested previously with them in mind.

Jesus says in Mark, excuse me, in John chapter 10 verses 9 and following, I will lead them in and out to find pasture. First time I read that it sounded strange. I mean, lead them in to find pasture. Well, behind that is the word nourishment. I will bring them into safe places. I will invite them into situations where I can help pasture and nourish them. Feed my lambs.

Now, I brought an object lesson. I'm wearing this not only because it might look okay on a Sunday morning, but it also provides a pocket. I was overseas mission several years ago and had taught some people and had tried to stretch culturally, being culturally sensitive, being true to the word and heart, mind, soul, and strength, right, to love God and to love the neighbor.

And at the close of that time, they gave me this. Now, some of you can see this and some of you can't, but they gave me this. It is a shepherd. They made it. It's handmade in that culture. And the shepherd has a sheep, a lamb, around its shoulders. And that lamb is being carried to safety. And they said, the best way we can give you thanks is by giving you this.

That's you. I keep this on my desk at home as one of the pieces on the desk as a reminder of who I'm called to be. We are called to be the ones who love him by shepherding those around us with the grace and truth that God gives us. Hmm? What a wonderful moment to rededicate ourselves to offering the best to others with that in heart and mind. Will you pause with me for 30 seconds and just say, Lord, I am both a sheep, but you've called me to be a shepherd too.

So I can understand what it's like in other people's positions. I can identify sympathy, empathy, whatever it might be. Let's rededicate ourselves to being shepherds. If you'd like to see this closer up later, we'll be out and around. Okay? Be a pleasure. Let's pray. You may have people in mind that you're shepherding in these days and sometimes it flows, sometimes it is a challenge, sometimes it's open field, sometimes it's in the grit of the barn.

Lord, today we rededicate ourselves, like Peter, to hearing your voice in the call of shepherding. O gracious Lord, great shepherd, how we thank you that even as you reached out to restore Peter, and give him this calling so you reach out, you forgive us, you heal us, you strengthen us, you refocus us, you are our screensaver, Lord, and you guide us into ways of shepherding.

Please, help us to be full as you were, Jesus, of grace and truth. Help us to be perceptive and may that love show through that you bestow upon us to your glory again for our good and for that of our neighbor for your kingdom's sake. Amen. I put a little insert here in the midst of our notes as we're doing the far turn. Playing off a 1992 presidential campaign slogan, I teach at Richmont University in Atlanta.

My wife Linda and I go out there every spring twice to teach in their graduate school. Actually, of course, on the Holy Trinity. And so with that, on the desk, above his desk, Dr. Josh Rice, who's the dean at Richmont Graduate U, has a sign and says, I checked with him this week, it's about the students, stupid. That's not a bad thing to have above your desk as an educator, right?

It's about the students. That's the focus. My little suggestion would be on this Sunday morning that if Peter, Simon Peter, had a desk, and remember, Peter was his rename, the rock. If Simon Peter had a desk, Jesus' sign might have been, it's about the sheep, Rocky. Lovingly offer my word to them to build upon. Now, I don't know if you think of Dwayne Johnson or Arnold Schwarzenegger or, you know, Sylvester Stallone when you think of Rocky.

This is Peter's version here. We all can grow into this way. It's about the sheep. Peter's on the spot. Many of us don't enjoy being on the spot. I very often don't enjoy being on the spot in the crosshairs. Right here, pressure's on, and John says, no doubt in Aramaic, b'dee, b'dee, b'dee, b'dee, b'dee, what about him? Ever done that? Ever done that? Hey, this, you know, I'm feeling some responsibility here, but this person's got a better deal.

They got more gifts. They're getting more support. They got an easier job, or they got better numbers, or they look better, or more hair, or whatever it is, right? What about them? That is one of the most ready-go-tos in life when I want to slip away, when I want to say, well, you know, they got more going for them, or they better. John's turns this into a beautiful gospel account.

Peter, in being recorded, says, what about John? We can do comparisons all we want. One of the things Pastor Adam said, well, I will always be grateful for, he says, this church will be attentive to numbers, attentive to those things, but this is not about the numbers. This is not about, I want this number, and I will manipulate any way I have to to get this kind of a number.

It's not where it's at. Hmm? I love that. This is about bringing it to the essentials of our Lord. So, with that, Paul would say, as this citation goes here, those who compare themselves among themselves are not wise. John says, as he looks at this, I want to record this. My dear friend Peter goes, what about John? Jesus says, what's that to you? It's not irrelevant, but it's not decisive.

Hmm? What's decisive is, you follow me. All of us in this room are tempted to think somebody else got a better deal, or an easier shot, or more gifts, or more credit, aren't we? And often, that's pumped in contemporary society. Winners and losers, or who's the loudest, so forth. Let's pause for a moment, 30 seconds, and pray the Lord will relieve us of a competitive, from a spirit of rivalry, and will give us a spirit of being strengthened in faithfulness to him.

Does that make sense this morning? I'm seeing heads nod all over the sanctuary. Yeah, I get jealous. Yeah, I get scrappy. Yeah, you know the story. Let's just pray that God will heal those attitudes, those relationships. Much like he desired Peter to be healed, he simply says, you follow me. O Lord, how we thank you that you didn't call Peter or John, or don't call us to self-centeredness, but you do call us to a self-esteem based on our identity, who we are in you.

We're not beggars, we're children, daughters and sons of yours through faith in your good news. So relieve us, Lord, of a sense of rivalry. Relieve us, Lord, of a sense of jealousy when they emerge. And Lord, help us to sense that we are totally plugged into you in our focus, our heart, our mind, our soul, our strength. And in that, Lord, we'll celebrate that deliverance and we'll, grow in the process.

Glory to you once again in your holy name. Amen. Did Peter get the message? In this third, one more point to go. Did Peter get the message? Yes. I would suggest to you as the notes say, 1 Peter 4.10. Beautiful verse. One of my life verses. As each one has received the gift. We didn't all get the same gift. We didn't all get the same quantity. As each one has received their gift.

Let them use it to serve one another. As faithful stewards of the, one more Greek word, poikilos, grace of our Lord. What does poikilos mean? Multicolored. Multidimensional. Multibeneficial. As each one has received the gift, let them use it to serve one another as faithful stewards of the multidimensional, multicolored grace of our Lord. Peter got it. And so, what's our ultimate mission?

Witness to God's glory. Let me say this just briefly as a historian as we draw toward a close. Peter and John shaped by this grace and truth. They team up. We're going into the book of Acts and we'll, we can notice in these passages and others where Peter and John are teamed up in the book of Acts. They both were strengthened by this moment with Jesus. They went forward together.

As with any good team, there are different ways, different balances, different attributes, but they team up together, but also their paths in the future varied. Not unlike this La Jolla Fellowship family. We are teamed up, but our gifts, our callings vary. And that's teamwork I'm so blessed by, and we are together. Each witnessed Jesus' ministry. They witnessed, that's the past.

They also were activists in mission, that's the present. And they were visionaries for a future that drew them forward, past, present, and future. That's how John begins the book of Revelation. He hears the voice that says, I am the one who is and the one who was and the one who is to come, says the Lord.