Mind Your Calling

John 21:20-24

Fresh from his calling from Jesus, Peter immediately starts comparing his calling and purpose with that of other disciples.

Jesus says “eyes on me.”

What is it to us how someone else is called, gifted, blessed or shaped by God? We are called to encourage and equip one another, not to fall into the trap of comparing with one another. So our hands are out to help one another, but our eyes are only and ever on Jesus.

How to Ruin a Friendship

This morning we will examine an important question: how can I rob my life and ministry of both joy and effectiveness?

How can I rob my life and ministry of both joy and effectiveness?

I’ll give you an example.

In 2002 Anna and I had started saving up for a down-payment on our first house… and we had a couple that we hung out with a lot that also wanted to buy a house. And then the craziest thing happened. A developer bought his Mom’s house because he wanted the backyard as part of a big development project, didn’t want the house at all, and sold the house back to my friend for pocket change. It was this incredible gift of God to my friends and I was thrilled for them.

… but it turns out somewhere inside I was also ticked off. No magical house had landed in my lap. And I didn’t even know the comparison and the bitterness was there, but one day it burst out of me.

Sitting in the back of their car, some absolutely minor thing came up, like he was buying a new computer or something.

I said, “It must be nice being able to buy whatever you want!”

It’s like the bitterness leaked through, I didn’t even know I was playing that comparison game… but there was no question of the tone.

My friend was driving and let out a “WHAT???!” kind of flabbergasted. His wife turned around in her seat and stared. Anna reached over and hit me. It was this dead incredibly awkward silence.

And I tried to recover. I said something like “Just kidding…” But no one believed it. It was so weird…

And I don’t know if this is exactly right but this is the way I remember it. We kind of drifted apart after that. There was now that awkwardness between us, that comparison, instead of an easy and free friendship. We didn’t ever address it… we just did less and less together.

Theodore Roosevelt said, “comparison is the thief of joy.” I experienced that theft.

And I think what killed it was my comparison. I played the comparison game.

Life is Unfair – God is Unfair

We have this expectation that life is going to be fair. That things are going to be equal in some way. If he gets that, then I should get this. If she gets to go there, and I wait my turn, I should get to go there too. And we live in the land of opportunity, the whole idea of the “American Dream” is that that potential is there for everyone and you just have to reach out and take it.

And there is incredible opportunity. And there are many places in life where people work really hard to make things “fair”…

But life isn’t fair.

We don’t all get the same starting point.

And we don’t all get the same breaks or the same challenges in life. It isn’t equal, and there is no expectation that at the end of life everything will just end up evenly. It doesn’t all “balance” out in the end.

Life is unfair.

The world is unfair.

That’s all well and good when we think of it as the world. An impersonal universe and its all kind of random.

But we don’t actually believe that’s the way the world works. The world isn’t impersonal and, even though we use the phrase, I don’t believe anything is actually “Random”. The fundamental grounding of the universe is Personal: there is a God.

And that God is Sovereign, and he created the universe, and he created me, and he giveth and he taketh away. He blesses and he curses.

And unlike a Kindergarten teacher, he doesn’t appear to do so FAIRLY!

Life is unfair! God is unfair!

(In Jesus name, Amen)

Anyone ever have that conversation with God? Why did you let this happen to me… and meanwhile my friend over there is getting blessing after blessing?

Or, God, thank you for this gift you have given me… but I really wanted what they got!

We have this tendency: we play the comparison game.

We are comparing our situation with our friends and our family, with our brothers and sisters in Christ, we are comparing and our attention is always drawn to comparisons that we feel are unfair.

Life is unfair. God is unfair! And we play the comparison game with one another

Book / God

Recap

Peter has just had this intimate moment where Jesus restores him to ministry. Peter had denied him three times, and three times Jesus asks: “Do you love me?”. Three times Peter responds “Yes, you know I love you.”

And Jesus says “Feed my sheep.” “Tend my lambs.” “Feed my sheep”. “Show me your love for me by loving my people.” And finally “Follow me.”

And together they walk along the beach.

John 21:20-25

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 is going to betray you?” 21 When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, “Lord, what about this man?” 22 Jesus said to him, “If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow me!” 23 So the saying spread abroad among the brothers 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?”

24 This is the disciple who is bearing witness about these things, and who has written these things, and we know that his testimony is true.

… but Compared to John

Peter has been a comparison guy all along. He was one of the disciples fighting to first among them all. Even in verse 20 there is a sense of comparison, calling John not only “the disciple whom Jesus loved” but “who had leaned back against him during the supper…”

There is a comparison of intimacy there, it means John was the one who got to sit (or recline, rather) at the right hand of Jesus.

Peter has these habits of comparison and they rear their ugly head here.

Jesus has just beautifully restored Peter, calling him into his own shepherding ministry. And he has foretold Peter’s death by crucifixion which Peter will come to see as an incredible honor following in the footsteps of his Master.

But he immediately looks over and asks “Wait, how does that compare to what John gets?” “How long does John get to live? What kind of ministry does John get to do?”

He is falling into old habits of comparison.

Can you imagine if Peter and John continued to play the comparison game for the rest of their lives?

Every step of ministry, peeking over to see if they are “beating” the other guy. Each moment evaluated for worth, for points, for prestige, am I getting more than the other? More importantly, is he getting more than me, because that’s not fair and I am going to lodge a complaint!

Does John have more Jesus points than me? Is he going to live longer, be more blessed, or do more or better ministry?

There is no win here.

A More Favorable Comparison

And the way we usually hear people respond to the comparison game is actually not helpful.

“Oh, it’s okay… you have gifts too.” “You are blessed too!” “You each have your own gifts, and your own callings, and your own ministry.”

Now, this is kind of subtle, but do you see that that is still playing the comparison game? It’s just declaring it a tie. It is easy to accidentally imply that it all balances out in the end… and that’s just not true. It doesn’t all balance out on some impersonal cosmic scale… and God never promises that it will “all turn out equal”.

Life is unfair. God is unfair.

Jesus says “Eyes on Me”

That isn’t how Jesus responds to Peter. I find his words to be so powerful.

22 Jesus said to him, “If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow me!”

Jesus rebukes Peter! As if to say what happens with John is absolutely irrelevant to what happens with you! The two are not dependent on one another, independent variables, unrelated causation, really not your business!

Now of course people misunderstood what Jesus said and took it as this prophecy that Jesus would come back before John died, and John is very clear about what Jesus did and did not say. People took this to mean that Jesus would return before John died, but that is not actually what Jesus said.

Jesus point is that he could make John immortal… and that didn’t and shouldn’t affect Peter in any way. It doesn’t change Peter’s calling. It doesn’t change Peter’s ministry. It doesn’t change Peter’s death.

Peter, you have one focus, one purpose, one calling. Eyes on me.

Don’t look at John to see what he has. Eyes on me.

Don’t compare your gifts and ministry and length of life with John. Eyes on me.

You look at me. You follow me. The only time you look at my sheep is to feed them and tend them because I told you to. And then your eyes are back on me.

The only time you look in your neighbor’s bowl is to make sure they have enough, not to see if they have more than you got. Eyes on me. You follow me.

Life is Unfair – God is Unfair

Life is unfair. God is unfair. But God is unfair in the most beautiful way.

The rules are the same for everyone… and that actually means it is fair. The rules are “be perfect as God is perfect.” And yet all men have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. And the wages of sin is death. And all men live once and die and then face judgment.

That is fair. Everyone is given life and a sense of morality. Absolutely everyone falls short of even just the morality that they know, much less the full perfection of God… and everyone must pay the consequence of death.

That actually is fair.

God is unfair. God rewrote the rules… and that is what John has been about. God rewrote the rules and took on flesh, he intercepts our death, dies on our behalf… THAT WASN’T FAIR! It was radically unfair for the only righteous human ever to die in the place, on behalf of all the unrighteous humans. That was unfair.

And then with Peter, he makes it personal. Peter rejected him, and for Jesus to reject him back would be fair and just. Jesus is unfair. He restores Peter in relationship. He restores Peter in ministry.

Peter could have robbed his entire life of joy and ministry by playing the comparison game. But Jesus simplifies it.

What is that to you? You follow me!

Who and What are You Looking At

Who are you looking at? Do you find yourself comparing your blessings with someone else? Maybe someone else in this room?

Do you find yourself comparing misfortune with someone else?

Not only are you comparing your inside with their outside… your eyes are in the wrong place.

Eyes on Jesus. What is it to you what blessing or curses, what gifts and ministry, what future God has for him or her? The only time you need to know or care is the extent to which God calls you to support or extend or multiply their ministry!

Otherwise: what is it to you? You follow Jesus. Eyes on Jesus.

If you play the comparison game, it’s time to play a new game. When you find yourself comparing, by habit, maybe by reflex, play a new comparison game:

You without Jesus vs. you with Jesus. You without God vs. you with God.

Life is unfair. God is unfair. He is unfair for you, he is gracious and merciful to you, he has blessed you more than you know, given you more than you understand, and he is calling you into joyful ministry.

He is calling you into joyful ministry, even as he called Peter.

Looking to Jesus

Hebrews 12:1-2

Hebrews 11 lists off all these people who have been exemplars of faith… and if were to compare ourselves to them we would fall short. And we might be jealous of their blessings and gifts and rewards. Abraham was hugely wealthy and lived past 100. Awesome.

But instead of jealousy, the author of Hebrews call them a cloud of witnesses, like those cheering in the stands at a race, cheering us on, calling us on. We are surrounded by them… but even then, our focus is on one thing, one person, one goal, one direction.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

Next Step Church: With our eyes on Jesus, let’s run together with endurance the race that is set before us. We only look to one another to pick up those who stumble, to shout encouragement, to share water. We look to Jesus, the found and perfecter of our faith.