Restored To Serve

In the mid-1980s, a conversation took place at a missions conference between two pastors. In that conversation, the topic was young men and women who had at one time or another felt called to serve as missionaries. These men and women, who at an earlier period in their lives dreamed of serving Christ with their life, ended up giving up that dream.

As these two men talked about this pattern — which I actually observed myself when I was in seminary — as these two men talked about this pattern, they focused in on what they thought was the root of the problem. The root of the problem, the reason why these young American students who once dreamed of a life spent reaching the lost for Christ, was, in many cases, shame.

Shame over some sin in their lives they had failed to conquer. Shame over some more failure at some point in their lives that they felt disqualified them permanently from doing what they at one time dreamed of doing.

One of the two pastors who had that conversation at a missions conference was John Piper. He returned home from that conference and wrote an article about it that later appeared in Christianity Today. This article was mainly about sexual sin, sexual failure, and the guilt that comes from that, but it applies to any sin.

“[Our] burden at that conference was the tragic number of young people who at one point in their lives dreamed of radical obedience to Jesus, but then faded away into useless American prosperity. A gnawing sense of guilt and unworthiness over sexual failure gradually gave way to spiritual powerlessness and the dead-end dream of middle-class security and comfort.

In other words, what [seems] so tragic…is that so many young people are being lost to the cause of Christ’s mission because they are not taught how to deal with the guilt of sexual failure. The problem is not just how not to fail. The problem is how to deal with failure so that it doesn’t sweep away your whole life into wasted mediocrity with no impact for Christ.” [https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2007/october/38.72.html, accessed July 24, 2021]

I wonder, church, how many of us would be more involved if we knew how to deal with our guilt and our shame. How many of us want to make our lives count for Jesus, to spend ourselves in serving Him and others, but long ago gave up that dream because we just concluded that we are unworthy!

There is nothing more crippling than shame. Satan uses it to keep you in the shadows and on the sidelines. He uses it to paralyze you. He uses it to strip away your joy and rob you of the knowledge that God can and will use you.

Jesus wants to help us with this. How He does that is the subject of this sermon and of the passage we’re looking at.

Peter was a man who was paralyzed with shame. He wasn’t always like this. Peter was the most outgoing and self-confident of the disciples. Peter didn’t struggle with low self-esteem! He had a very high regard for his own abilities. He had a very high opinion of his own moral strength.

How do we know that? Well, after the last supper, on the night Jesus was betrayed, Jesus takes his disciples out to the Mount of Olives. His hour is drawing near. What He has been trying to prepare His disciples for for many, many months is imminent. Jesus will be betrayed and arrested and tried and convicted. He will be beaten and tortured and left for dead on the cross. After that He will rise from the dead in glory, He assured them. But the pathway to glory is the suffering of the corss.

And not only that. Jesus also warns them that not only will all of this take place; in addition to this, “everyone of you,” Jesus says, “will fall away from me tonight.” That means you will cut and run. You won’t stand by my side.

Peter didn’t believe Jesus. Peter was horrified and shocked that Jesus though he would betray Him. Peter said, “Even though all may fall away because of you, I will never fall away” (Matt. 26:33 NASB). Jesus turns to address Peter directly. Jesus matter-of-factly says “Truly I say to you that this very night, before a rooster crows, you will deny me three times” (Matt. 26:34 NASB).

There’s no condemnation here, no guilt. Just the plain truth. But Peter can’t accept that He would possibly be capable of such a thing. “Even if I have to die with you,” Peter says, face turning red, pulse rising, “I will not deny you” (Matt. 26:35 NASB).

And yet, just a few hours later, Peter is standing outside the high priest court. Jesus has been arrested and now he’s being questioned. Peter’s standing outside the high priest court. A servant girl said, “Hey, you’re one of his disciples, are you not?” What does Peter say? “I am not.” I imagine Jesus’ words echo through Peter’s head.

Later Peter was standing with some others near the high priest court. He’s standing there warming himself with the others, standing by a fire made with charcoal (a charcoal fire - remember that). Some of the officers there with them standing around the fire start interrogating him. “Aren’t you one of his disciples?” Peter’s response: “I am not.”

But Peter can’t fool them. Another says “Did I not see you in the garden with him?” This guy was actually a relative of the man whose ear Peter sliced off with the sword in the garden when Jesus was being arrested. He’s well-qualified to know who Peter really is. But Peter again denied that he even knew Jesus, and right at that time a rooster crows.

“Will you lay down your life for me? Truly, truly I say to you, a rooster will not crow until you deny me three times” (John 13:38 NASB). Those words echo through Peter’s head and his blood runs cold. Shame and panic wash over him.

Just a few hours earlier Peter had basically claimed to be the disciple who loved Jesus the most, the one who was more committed than all the others. Remember that? Jesus had said “Look, all of you will fall away from me tonight.” Peter looks around at the others and then looks at Jesus and says, “Even if I fall away on account of you, I never well” (Matt. 26:33 NIV).

The man who earlier that same night had been full of confidence in his own moral ability, now has fallen as low as a disciple can fall. In Luke’s account, Luke tells us that Peter then found a place where he could be alone and “wept bitterly”.

Which leads us to our first point. Mark it down and be aware.

#1: Jesus will allow us to fall, to humble us

Any of you ever played the game Jenga? There’s 54 wooden pieces, placed on top of one another to make a tower. You gradually pull the pieces from the bottom of the tower and place them on the top. And of course what happens is that the tower becomes increasingly unstable. And finally, you make the fatal move. The unlucky player removes the one piece holding it all together and it comes crashing to the ground. That’s not unlike what happened to Peter.

“Peter’s denial of Jesus -- just as Jesus predicted -- shattered his false veneer of morality. Like pulling the final Jenga piece from the bottom of the tower, it caused his self-righteousness to come crashing down. That’s an experience we all need to have. We must come to the point where we realize that no lasting comfort can be found in our morality.” [Carter and Wredburg, p390]

Have you had a Peter moment? Have you ever sunk to the point at which you ask yourself the question, How did I get here? I never thought I would do this. I once heard a counselor say the most common question he’s asked by those who come to him for help with addictions is this: “How did I get here?” Proverbs 16L:18 tells us how we get there: pride.

The New International Version Chapter 16

Pride goes before destruction,

a haughty spirit before a fall.

Have you been humbled?

Why have I managed to avoid scandalous sin?

Either, I haven’t been faced with the temptation

Or, God has restrained me

Or, both

If not, you need to know that you’re not above it. It could happen to you. Forget the sin Peter committed. Think about addictions, adultery, theft, murder. You haven’t committed those things? It’s not because you’re a better person or a better Christian than everyone else. It’s either because you haven’t been faced with the same temptations as they have, or God has restrained you - or both.

Jesus will allow us to fall, to humble us. But when He does, Jesus is eager to restore us.

That’s what we see here with this scene on the beach. When this scene opens up in John 21, Peter and six other disciples were going fishing. Peter says, “I’m going out to fish”. The six other disciples with him say, “Hey, you know what, we’ll go with you.”

That’s actually kind of weird that Peter’s going fishing again. Think about it. Fishing is what the disciples did professionally before Jesus called them. It was their trade and their source of income. You remember that scene. It was also on a beach. Peter and Andrew are fishing and Jesus walks past saying, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.”

They didn’t miss a beat. Immediately they left their nets - their profession - their source of income - and followed Jesus. Fishing is good. Someone’s gotta do it.

But Jesus wants to train these men to become fishers of men - men who know how to reach the broken and hurting and lost and introduce them to Christ and help them grow up in Him. They got to witness Jesus do that. Then He sent them out to do it themselves. Then came His death and resurrection. That gave them courage and boldness like nothing else. They became fishers of men. They never went back to fishing. Until now. Why now? Why is Peter going fishing? What do you think?

Has Peter gone back to his old profession of fishing because he believes that he has disqualified himself from anything more?

I can’t be sure about this, and not everyone agrees with me, but here’s what I think, and it goes back to what I said at the beginning of the sermon. Peter, I think, is going fishing because he thinks that by his failure, by his denial of Christ, he has disqualified himself from doing anything more.

Well, that isn’t the case for Peter. Jesus still has a mission for Peter. This whole chapter, chapters 20 and 21, are about the continuation of the mission Jesus began. In John 20:20 we read that Jesus came to His disciples for the first time after His resurrection. He showed them the wounds in His hands and His side so they would know it was really Him. And He commissions them. He says, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent Me, I am sending you” (John 20:21 NIV).

And incredibly, Peter has a role to play in this. In fact, Peter will wind up being the lead apostle! But for right now, Peter’s shame over how he denied Jesus is paralyzing him. How can he possibly be part of this great mission of going to the nations to make disciples for Christ when just days earlier, He had pretended not even to know him? That has to be what Peter is thinking.

Which is why Peter needs to be restored.

Which brings us to the second thing we learn from this passage: Jesus will come to us in our shame, to restore us.

#2: Jesus will come to us in our shame, to restore us

I want you to read verses 15-19 with me.

The New International Version Chapter 21

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.”

16 Again Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”

He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”

Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.”

17 The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”

Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.”

Jesus said, “Feed my sheep. 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.” 19 Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, “Follow me!”

Now I want you to notice a couple of things.

Things to notice in verses 15-19:

Notice that Jesus initiates the dialogue with Peter

Notice that Jesus calls Peter by his old name

Notice the question Jesus asks Peter

Notice that Jesus gives Peter a do-over

First, I want you to notice that Jesus initiates this exchange with Peter, not the other way around. This is not Peter going to Jesus and saying, “Hey, I’m just really sorry about denying you. Can you please forgive me?” We know that if Peter had done that, Jesus would have forgiven him, right? But here’s the crazy thing: We have no record of Peter having any such conversation with Jesus. Have you ever done something to someone you love and you’re so ashamed of what you’ve done and how it hurt them that you can’t bring it up, not even to say you’re sorry? I suspect that’s what Peter’s feeling. Peter longs to be reconciled to Jesus whom He loves but shame has him completely crippled. Notice this, and here’s the point: Peter can’t go to Jesus, so Jesus, knowing Peter’s heart, goes to Peter.

Second, Jesus calls Peter by his old name. We know him as Peter, but Jesus gave Him that name. It means “rock”. It’s a picture of stability and steadfastness. Simon was the name Peter’s father gave him. I can’t put it better than what I read in a commentary this week studying for this sermon:

“Jesus is facing Peter with his own limitations so that he might entrust himself in a new way to Christ’s leadership. Simon on his own will always be Simon. He has no capacity to rise beyond that. But Simon trusting in Jesus is Peter-the-rock, from whose witness and leadership the church will receive its earliest foundation.” [Milne, p316]

Third, notice the question Jesus asks Peter. He doesn’t throw what Peter did back in Peter’s face. He had every reason too, right? And it’s what we would do, unfortunately.

But Jesus doesn’t. Jesus doesn’t say, “Peter, do you still believe in me?” He doesn’t say, “Peter, do you still think I’m who I say I am?” He doesn’t say “Peter, are you really and truly sorry?” He doesn’t ask him, “Peter, can you promise me today that what you did that night outside the high priest’s home you will never do again? Can you pledge your total and complete commitment to me?” No, he doesn’t ask any of that. What does he ask him? He simply asks him, “Do you love me?”

He asks each of us that same question this morning. “Do you love me?” It’s not meant to be a shaming question. None of us love Jesus as we should. Jesus is simply saying that while we are to strive for holiness, strive towards obedience, we will fail; the crucial thing, the most important thing, is that we love Jesus. If you love Jesus, if you have affection for Him in your heart, not the Jesus you want to exist but the Jesus that is actually revealed to us in the Bible - if you love Him, if you have affection for Him, that will be enough. All the rest will take care of itself.

Fourth, notice that Jesus gives Peter a do-over. How many times did Peter deny Jesus? Not two or four or five, but three. And how many times does Jesus ask Peter, “Do you love me?” Three. That’s why, if you look at verse 17, you’ll read this: “The third time he said to him, ‘Simon, son of John, do you love me?’ Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, ‘Do you love me?’” (John 21:17b NIV). Peter is hurt because now he knows what Jesus is doing. When Jesus asks Peter that question for the third time, he understands That, combined with the charcoal fire on the beach to match the charcoal fire outside the high priest’s court where Peter denied Jesus, is enough to make Peter understand that Jesus is he understands that Jesus is placing His hand in Peter’s wound. It hurts.

When I was a kid, and I would fall down and scrape my knee or my arm, what I dreaded was not so much the pain of scraping my knee; it was the pain of having the scrape cleaned out. My mom would pour hydrogen peroxide on it and clean it with a rag and then bandage it up. None of that is fun. But once we’ve hurt ourselves in some way, we usually have to go through a bit more pain in order to have the hurt healed.

You could leave the wound alone and not clean it. It would get dirty and infected, but you would at least be spared the pain of having it cleaned. Then again, it’s going to hurt a whole lot worse once the infection sets in and you have to have it cleaned out then. Jesus loves us too much to let us leave our wounds unhealed. Jesus does not mind causing us some temporary pain if it means that we experience healing. And oh, is the healing worth it!

Peter is having his wound cleaned out. And quickly Peter’s pain turns to relief and joy and release when he realizes what else Jesus is doing. Jesus asked him the question three times to remind him of what Peter had done, it’s true. But there’s another reason He asked him the question three times: Just as Peter denied Jesus three times, Jesus wanted to give Peter three chances to affirm His love for Jesus. Three times to say, “Yes, Lord, I love you.” One “I love you” for every denial.

John—That You May Believe Complete Restoration

The restoration was accomplished, and they had all seen it. And now they probably understood that the Lord had planned it all. Peter’s denials happened before a fire, and now Peter’s confessions were before a charcoal fire. There were three denials, and now three confessions, as well as three gracious commissions.

Jesus will come to us in our shame, to restore us. But Jesus will also restore us, that we might serve Him.

#3: Jesus will restore us, that we might serve Him

Jesus asks Peter three times “do you love me?” And each time, after Peter says “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you,” Jesus gives Peter a task.

Peter’s commission:

Do you love me? Then feed my lambs

Do you love me? Then shepherd my sheep

Do you love me? Then feed my sheep

Notice the pattern. “Do you love me, Peter? Then feed my lambs. Do you love me, Peter? Then shepherd my sheep. Do you love me, Peter? Then feed my sheep.” Feed my lambs, shepherd my sheep, feed my sheep - these are pictures of ministry.

Church, do not miss what is happening here! Jesus is doing more than merely forgiving Peter. Jesus is saying, “I’m not done with you, Peter.” Jesus is not merely saying, “Let’s let bygones be bygones.” No, He is saying, “Peter, not only do I forgive you, but I still want to use you in a powerful way.” Jesus is taking the man who disowned him repeatedly and entrusting His church to Him. This is what Jesus always said Peter would do.

The New International Version Chapter 16

And I tell you that you are Peter, e and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”

I love this quote I came across this week.

“You ask me what forgiveness means; it is the wonder of being trusted again by God in the place where I disgraced him.” [Rita Snowden, quoted in Milne, p317]

Jesus will allow us to fall, to humble us; Jesus will come to us in our shame, that He might restore us; and Jesus will restore us, that we might serve Him.

Conclusion and call for response

Now listen, the last few Sundays we’ve been talking about serving. Stepping up. All hands on deck.

All hands on deck!

“Can I serve?” Yes, b/c you are spiritually gifted

“Am I needed?” Yes, you are necessary.

“Am I qualified?” Yes, because of the cross.

We’ve talked about the issue of giftedness. You can serve Christ, you can be on mission for Jesus, because you have spiritual gifts. We’ve talked about the issue of feeling valued and useful. We need you here at Buffalo.

But this sermon deals with your sense of feeling worthy. Am I qualified? Have I disqualified myself?

But I wonder if there are some of you this morning who aren’t serving actively here at Buffalo because you think that at some point in your life you have disqualified yourself from doing so.

Do you feel that way, men? Ladies, can you relate to this? How about you young people, teenagers?

You have an enemy who wants you to believe that that thing you’re ashamed of renders you too defiled to serve Christ with your life. That could not be further from the truth.

So here’s what I want you to do this morning. Two things.

How to move forward:

Release your shame to Jesus

Read Colossians 3:14 every morning

First, release your shame to Jesus. Go to Him in prayer. Do this daily. Thank Him for forgiving you and ask Him to help you live in His love.

Second, commit to read Colossians 3:14 every morning. Here’s what it says

The New International Version Chapter 2

He forgave us all our sins, 14 having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross.

That’s your weapon against guilt. Are you worthy to serve? Yes, not because of your own goodness, but because those sins that you think disqualify you, those are the very sins Jesus died to forgive. Jesus took your punishment for you, and that means you don’t have to be crippled guilt or paralyzed by shame.

And then, figure out where you want to serve and let’s go on mission for Jesus.