Restoration And Discipleship

John 21:15–25 ESV

15 When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Feed my lambs.” 16 He said to him a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Tend my sheep.” 17 He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” and he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep. 18 Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.” 19 (This he said to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God.) And after saying this he said to him, “Follow me.” 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. 25 Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.

And that, my friends, is the end of the Gospel of John

And I must say, what a fitting way for John to end his account of the life of Christ!

John begins his Gospel in chapter 1 with introducing us to Jesus,

The Living Word, who came to give us light

and to give all who receive Him, to all who believe in Him, the right to be children of God.

In chapter 20, John reminds us that he has recorded all these things about Jesus in order that we might believe.

And in believing, we might find life. That we might become children of God

And now he finishes his gospel with a call to discipleship.

And this call to discipleship comes as Jesus is working to restore a broken relationship with Peter and with the other disciples

Last week, Jesus extended His grace to them, inviting them to a meal. Inviting them back into fellowship with Him.

They came, and ate with Jesus. Now, they, and in particular Peter, is asked to respond to the grace and love of Jesus

The motivation for discipleship: LOVE

Breakfast is over. The sun has come up. The disciples are lounging back on the beach, drowsy after a long night in the boat, and now with their stomachs full

It sure is good to be back with Jesus. There’s just 7 of them instead of 12…

But It’s almost like the good ol’ days.

I can imagine the disciples finishing their food, and as the talk and laughter dies down, Jesus wipes the last crumbs of fish and bread from His mouth,

And He gets to his feet, looks down at Peter, and beckons him to get up and walk with him.

They walk a little ways from the group. Jesus puts his hand on Peter’s shoulder and says

Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?

Do you love me more than these

Jesus has a mission for Peter

But first, He is going to probe Peter’s heart: Do you LOVE me more than these

Well, what would you say if Jesus came along side of you, put his hand on your shoulder and said, “Do you LOVE me?”

For Peter, and for all of us, the call to discipleship and following Jesus must start with Love

But this wasn’t just a revolutionary NT concept. This call to love started way back with the giving of the law.

Deut. 6:5 “5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.”

Deut. 10:12 “12 “And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul,”

John 14:15 “15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.”

Your love for me will be shown in keeping my commandments

LOVE is where it starts. Jesus starts His restoration of Peter and calling him to discipleship by finding out about his love

Jesus’ question for Peter, the other disciples there, and for us is: “What, or Who, do you love the most?”

Is it Jesus?

Or is it “These....”

Things, fishing nets and boats, other disciples,

What, Who, do you love the most

is it Jesus?

is it business, church, family, tradition?

Because it is in answering that question, that we will discover the motivation for why we do what we do.

Simon Peter, folks at Fairview, do you LOVE me more than anything else in the world?

Because this is where it must start in order to be a disciple of Jesus

A few years ago Heidi and I were in Lafayette, IN, for their course in biblical counseling

And there was this little sentence that they kept hammering home to us: We do what we do, because we want what we want.

This little sentence is simply getting to the heart of what I love

I want what I love

And the things that I want, and the things that I love, control the direction of my life. My decisions, what I spend my life doing, and how I do those things. The value that I place on those things

A lot of times, people go to counseling to get help with relationships, addictions, difficult and stressful situations in their lives

And it’s true. Our lives are complicated, and sometimes there is a lot of baggage in our hearts and lives that we need to sort and get rid of.

But so many times it simply boils down to what do I love? What am I willing to give up?

There are so many things that people love other things more than they love Jesus

2 Timothy 3:1-2 “1 But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. 2 For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy,”

And this is what Jesus is trying to find out from Peter.

“Peter, you talk pretty big. You declared that you would never leave me, never deny me. And I appreciated you saying that.

But the fact is, Simon, you did deny me. You did run away

(And btw, I think it’s significant that Jesus is calling him “Simon”. In chapter 1 when Jesus first met Simon Peter, He says, “You are Simon, the son of John, but I’m going to call you Cephas, Peter, which means ‘Rock’”

And now Jesus is calling Him “Simon” again.

Almost like taking him back to the beginning, right beside this very lake, the Sea of Galilee, and saying

Let’s start at the very beginning. Why did you follow me in the first place?

Simon, I need to know how much you love me

And you’ve heard sermons about Jesus asking Peter 3 times.

But just as a reminder, the first two times, Jesus asks, Simon, do you ἀγαπάω (agapaō) me?

This agape (noun) or agapaō (action) as you know is the kind of love that God has for us. The perfect, never ending love that is based on His character.

The kind of love that we as His image bearers, His followers, are called to exhibit. This is the highest form of love

It’s the kind of love that Jesus calls us to have for Him in John 14, and other places

But Peter answers, I believe realizing how weak he is and how far he had fallen.

Yes, Lord, you know that I φιλέω (phileō) you!

You know that I have a strong affection for you.

I certainly like you. And I’m trying to love you

And the third time, Jesus says, “Ok, Simon, do you phileō me? Do you really like me?

And Peter starts to get a little worked up, just like he did by the third time when the servants were asking him if he identified with Jesus

And Peter calls on the omniscience of Jesus…the “all-knowingness” of Jesus

Lord, you know all things. You KNOW that I love you

You know, some people have talked about their discomfort with a God who knows all things. Who sees into our hearts and from whom nothing is hidden.

But I find it a comfort. You know why? It’s because there are times when I’m not really sure myself if I love Jesus or not

I doubt my actions, I doubt my heart.

But Jesus knows that I do love Him. Even in times when I’m finding it difficult to show Him. He still knows.

That is how our Jesus is. When we pray and we aren’t sure how to pray, the Spirit fills in for us. He helps us in our weakness

Jesus knows if we love Him or not

And I think He knew Peter’s heart. Jesus comes down to his level and says, “Ok, Simon, do you Phileo me? Good. Then take care of my sheep.

Don’t go fishing any more. You have a new job. That is to take care of my flock

So, in the call to discipleship, Jesus probes Peter’s heart about what he loves.

And He would ask us the same thing: “What do you love the most? Is it me? Or is it....something else?”

And even if all we can muster is, “Yes, Lord, you know that I phileo you,”

I believe Jesus would say, “Ok, I accept that. But is it more than anything else. That’s what I need from you.”

The Cost of Discipleship

And then Jesus reveals what this love is going to cost Peter and what it could cost all of His followers

Peter, even if all you can muster is phileo love right now, that’s fine

I still have a mission for you, and it is going to cost you everything.

It will cost you your life.

Yes, you used to just think about yourself. You used to take care of yourself, go wherever you wanted to go

But there is coming a day when you will stretch out your hands

and be led where you don’t want to go

You are going to die. And tradition has it that Peter was crucified for the cause of the Gospel.

But he didn’t feel worthy to die like Jesus did so he asked to be crucified up side down

But isn’t this the kind of cost that Jesus spoke of in Matt. 16:24, Mark 8:34, and Luke 9:23 when He said, “If anyone wants to be my disciple, he needs to

Deny himself—think about what or whom he loves

If you love yourself, which most people do, you need to put yourself on the back burner and love me more.

I need to take “king me” off the throne and allow Jesus to take His rightful place

Take up his cross—

When a person took up his cross, as Jesus was made to do, that meant at that point, he had absolutely no more right to his own life

He was being taken out to be executed

He might get a last second pardon, but he didn’t know that

His right to say what was going to happen to him from that point on was completely out of his hands

He could not bargain, he could not argue

And this is the picture of total commitment that Jesus asks of His followers

#1: Do you love me? #2: Do I get to have complete say-so in your life? And #3

And follow me—this is exactly what Jesus says to Peter in verse 19: follow me

The Call of Discipleship

Now finally, Jesus talks to Peter about who this call is for. He talks to him about commitment

The reason that we, or I, love Peter so much is that he is so much like me

Jesus has just finished challenging Peter like he may have never been challenged before

But Peter is still Peter. So easily distracted. Still struggling to grasp what Jesus is asking of him.

Because He turns and sees John (the disciple whom Jesus loved) following them

And he says, “Hey, what about this guy, Lord.”

Jesus immediately says, “Don’t worry about him. I’m talking to YOU. It’s none of your business what I want to do with him. You on the other hand, follow me.

In C.S. Lewis’s books, the Chronicles of Narnia, Aslan the Lion often echos Jesus word’s here.

the characters will ask what will happen to so and so

And Aslan says, “I am telling you YOUR story, not theirs. I only tell people their own story.”

basically saying, don’t worry about what I choose to do with them.

I’m asking for a response from you. You are only responsible for your response, not theirs

Are you going to follow, or are you not

I don’t know about you, but I have such a temptation to look around at other folks and wonder, why aren’t they following Jesus when they know Him. Or at least knew Him at one point

And I want to say, “Hey, come on folks

Or maybe I feel a bit intimidated by some folks because they just seem to be following Him so well

And then I feel bad about myself

And Jesus says, “Hey, eyes on me, my friend. What are YOU going to do?”

Regardless of what folks around you are doing

Regardless of how well life seems to be going for people, or if you think they are getting what they deserve, are YOU going to follow me?

Well, are you? Are you going to follow Him? That’s the question in front of all of us today

Do you love Jesus more than anything or anyone else?

Have you considered the high cost of being His disciple?

And are you committed to following Him regardless of what anyone else is doing?

This is the end of our study of John, after over 4 years and 60 sermons

I wonder what you are taking away from this?

I know that I have probably had the greatest benefit because of all the hours have I have needed to spend being immersed in this story.

But my desire for us is that

That His glory has been revealed to you

if you didn’t believe in Him before, that you do now

If you didn’t love Him before, you that you do now

If you loved him before, I hope you love Him even more now

And out of that love, your life is wrapped up in being His disciple