Following Jesus

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.

Prayer:…Amen.

Introduction:

Well, we have made it to the end. The end of John’s gospel.

We began our study in John = GET THIS - on May 31, 2020 when we just opened church back up after COVID. Alot has happened since then.

And a little over 2 years later here we are.

I pray it has been as edifying and fruitful for you as it has been for me.

But I want to begin my message this morning by asking a question.

What would you do if you knew when you were going to die?

If somehow, you knew the exact day and time of your death, what would you do?

Do you think that would have an impact on how you live your life?

If it’s soon, you’d probably prepare, spend time with family.

But consider how this would impact you spiritually.

How much more faithful would you be to the Lord?

Well, that’s exactly what’s going on here in John 21.

Jesus cooks breakfast for the disciples.

He restores Peter.

Then he tells Peter in John 21:18 “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.”” John 21:19 “(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.””

Jesus you are going to for me.

And you are going to die for me on the cross.

And Jesus says to follow me.

And what I want us to see this morning in these final verses is four truths that will help us follow Jesus.

The first point I want us to consider about following Jesus is the Danger of Comparison

Danger of comparison

John 21:20 “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?””

John 21:21 “When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, “Lord, what about this man?””

So here Peter is.

Conversing with Jesus.

Jesus instructing him to feed and tend his sheep.

Jesus tells him about his death and to follow him.

So what does Peter do?

He turns to John - the disciple whom Jesus loved, and Peter says: Lord, what about this man?

I mean Peter and John had an interesting relationship anyways right.

These tomb ran to the tomb, and John outran him. Because he was faster.

But Peter went into the tomb first.

It seems like some healthy competition. Right? Maybe.

Then later at the beginning of this chapter, they were in the boat, and John is the one who recognizes Jesus.

But Peter is the one who jumps out of the boat and swims to shore.

So Peter, here is told by Jesus that he’s going to die.

And he says. What about John?

Could it be curiosity that he asked this? maybe.

But I think the correction of Jesus leads us to see that Peter’s issue with comparison.

I believe when we talk about what it means to follow Jesus. And following him well,

We need to consider the danger of comparison.

Now, what do we as a church and individuals struggle with in regards to comparison.

As a church, we compare ourselves to other churches.

And often when churches compare themselves to each other, it is to determine success.

This church has grown, has had baptisms, but we have not.

So something must be wrong. And they must be doing something right.

What other comparisons?

City Church - If our church was in the city, we could have a greater impact because there’s more people.

Country Church - If our church was in the country, we could have a good quiet neighborhood with no problems.

If we had a bigger church, we would be better with more funds and more people to serve the Lord.

If we were a smaller church, we wouldn’t have all the problems of big churches.

And there are two extreme dangers in this.

1. The sin of envy. If I was at that church, and in our hearts, envy creeps in

And people become more worried about comparison than the kingdom.

The second danger is pride.

2. The sin of pride. Oh, my church and my ministry is going so well, and there’s isn’t.

And pride builds and builds.

But this isn’t just in churches. Its individuals too.

We compare in regards to money and possessions.

Envy and pride.

We compare in regards to our health.

Envy and Pride.

But Jesus Corrects Peter in verse 22.

John 21:22 “Jesus said to him, “If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you?

So Jesus corrects Peter.

He says, if it be my will.

It’s all about Jesus and his sovereign will.

Basically, Jesus said - Mind your own business.

Friends, what a testament to the diety of Christ.

That all things are in his sovereign

God has prescribed the days of our birth.

God has our days numbered.

He knows the number of hairs on our head.

And God’s will has determined when we will die.

-What are we to do?

-Don’t worry about others and follow Jesus.

-That doesn’t mean we don’t interact with others or even in regards to church discipline.

-But don’t fall into the danger of comparison.

Keep your eyes on Jesus.

I’m sure you’ve watched horse races and noticed that some race horses or horses pulling carriages have blinders on the outside of their eyes.

Horse’s eyes are on the side of their heads and they have limited foreward vision.

And blinders can be used to help them focus on what’s ahead and block out what’s to the side.

The truth is we are like horses in this way.

We get so worried about the other things. other people, problems, our society, and what happens is when we worry about the other things we take take our eyes off of Jesus.

We need spiritual blinders or a spiritual focus.

Not worrying about things that distract us but focusing Jesus.

Jesus said , You follow me!””

The truth is Jesus is worthy of our undivided attention.

So as we think of Peter and John.

both of the men had the same calling.

They were called to follow Jesus.

But they had different roads they would go down.

Peter would follow Jesus and die when he is old on a cross turned upside down.

John would be exiled on the isle of Patmos.

They had different deaths. They had different ministries.

That’s a valuable lesson for all of us.

We all have the same calling, but we don’t all have the same road.

We are all called to follow Jesus.

But we all have different roads we go down.

We must remain faithful, focus on the Lord, and continue to follow him.

Illustration: There is a story of a young woman who wanted to go to college. On the application was the question “ARE YOU A LEADER”? Her heart sank and being honest, she answered NO and turned in the application. To her surprise, she recieved this letter from the college; “Dear applicant; a study of the application form reveals that this year our college will have 1,452 new leaders. We are accepting you because we feel it is imperative that they have at least one follower.”

The truth is that we all at times in life will lead and follow. But we must not forget our greatest responsibility is following Jesus. The only way that you can be a faithful Christian is to follow after Jesus.

Not only should we consider the danger of comparison.

But we should also see the importance of a true testimony.

The Importance of truth

John 21:23 “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?””

So what John does here is he tells about a rumor that spread.

The rumor goes like this, that Jesus said John wasn’t going to die.

And we know that’s not true. Jesus didn’t say that. Why?

Because John tells us he didn’t say that.

Oh. Have you ever had to deal with this.

Rumors or Gossip.

I think of the game called telephone.

Have you guys played telephone?

Basically, you get a big circle of people. The first person whispers a statement in the next person ear. and they keep it going down the line whispering, and by the end, you have to see how close what the last person says is to the first statement.

At VBS, the last day, we had the kids inside for recreation because it had rained.

So we played a couple rounds of telephone.

And one game, and all I remember is I was last and they were giggling as they were whispering in each others ears, and when they finally got around to me, they whispered brother Robert HAS A WEIRD MUSTACHE.

But I beleive John is pointing out something important. Not only does he correct the error.

He tells us the dangers a false rumor can have.

So I say this: As you follow Jesus.

If you here something, Test the information.

And don’t repeat it if you don’t know it’s true.

John not only talks about a rumor, but he also tell us about his testimony.

John 21:24 “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.”

John says this is true.

This is reliable.

I simply want to point out, the rumor is wrong, but what I say is right.

In following Jesus, we must hold to the belief that the Bible is inerrant. It is true.

But is also inspired by God, It is effective, and It is sufficient.

I encourage you, that If you want to be the best follower of Jesus you can be, study the Word.

Finally, Marvel at the Person and Work of Christ

John 21:25 “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.”

Uncontainable - I don’t know if that’s a word. My spell check didn’t fix it.

But we should marvel at what John writes here.

the world couldn’t contain books that would be written about the other things Jesus did.

That means, Jesus did many other things

2. Cursing of the Fig Tree3. Turning the Water into Wine4. Healing of the Nobleman’s Son5. Deliverance of the Demoniac in the Synagogue6. Healing of Peter’s Mother-in-law7. Cleansing the Leper9. Healing the Paralytic10. Healing of the Man at Bethesda11. Healing the Man with the Withered Hand12. Healing of the Centurion’s Servant13. Raising the Widow’s Son From Nain14. Casting out of the Dumb and Blind Spirit15. Stilling the Storm16. Healing the Demoniac at Gadara17. Healing the Woman with the Issue of Blood18. The Raising of Jairus’ Daughter19. Healing of the Two Blind Men20. Casting out the “Speech Impaired” Spirit21. Feeding of the 5000(+)22. Walking on the Water23. Delivering the Syrophoenician’s Daughter24. Healing the Deaf and Dumb Man25. Feeding the 4000(+)26. Healing the Blind Man of Bethsaida27. Casting the Demon out of the Boy28. The Coin in the Fish’s Mouth29. Healing of the Man Born Blind30. Healing of the Woman with the 18-Year Infirmity31. Healing the Man with Dropsy32. The Raising of Lazarus33. Cleansing of the Ten Lepers34. Healing of Blind Bartimeaus (+1)35. Healing of Malchus’ Ear Ear today and Gone tomorrow

But also we need to marvel at who Jesus is.

if we are going to follow Jesus, we need to know who we are following.

The Bible gives us many names of Jesus that describe who he is.

But these are from the New Testament.

God With Us (Matthew 1:23)

King of Jews (Matthew 2:2)

Master (Matthew 8:19)

Son of Man (Matthew 8:20)

Bridegroom (Matthew 9:15)

Son of the Most High (Luke 1:32) Risen Lord (Luke 24:34)

Living Word (John 1:1-14)

Lamb of God (John 1:29)

Messiah (John 1:41)

Miracle Worker (John 2:23)

Bread of Life (John 6:35)

Light of the World (John 8:12

Good Shepherd (John 10:11) The Door (John 10:9)

The Resurrection and Life (John 11:25) The way, the Truth, and the Life (John 14:6) Comforter (John 14:26)

My Friend (John 15:14)

Holy One and the Just (Acts 3:14)

Name Above All Names (Acts 4:12, Philippians 2:9) Patient God (Romans 15:5)

Consoler (Romans 15:5)

Head of the Church (Colossians 1:18)

Firstborn from the Dead (Colossians 1:18) Our Hope (1 Timothy 1:1) Mediator (1 Timothy 2:5)

High Priest (Hebrews 4:14)

Anchor (Hebrews 6:19)

Author and Finisher of Our Faith (Hebrews 12:2)

Advocate (1 John 2:1)

Propitiation for Our Sins ( 1 John 4:10) Alpha and Omega (Revelation 1:8, Revelation 22:13)

Beginning and the Ending (Revelation 1:8) (Revelation 22:13) The Almighty (Revelation 1:8)

Overcomer (Revelation 3:21)

Lion of Judah (Revelation 5:5)

Root of David (Revelation 5:5, 22:16)

King of Kings

Lord of Lords (Revelation 17:14)

Faithful and True (Revelation 19:11)

In closing:

Consider with me what it means to be a follower of Jesus.

When Jesus says follow me, it’s not a one time action.

It’s a continuous following.

In the beginning, it’s Peter follow me and I’ll make you fishers of men.

And Peter followed Jesus all the way to the cross.

Friends, let’s follow him.

With all our hearts.

Keeping our eyes on him. Having our spiritual blinders.

And the reality is this. That Jesus is still transforming lives today.

He is still calling people to follow him.

During the invitation, I invite you

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