John Chapter 21:15-25

Somehow, in an unbiblical fashion, we've embraced this, well, get people saved and then that's it.

No, no, no, no. That was never the Lord's intention. Yes, it was to see people come into the kingdom and it all starts there and obviously that's a big emphasis here, but do we just leave them there or should you be left there?

And I know as I talk about this, guys, I realize it gets uncomfortable, right? We're saved by grace and created for good works. That's what the Bible says. See, we think, well, you know, there's those select few that God appears visually, physically, audibly to that are called in the ministry.

No. Now, we have different things to do. God's called me as a pastor teacher here, but He's called you to perform some function, some service, some ministry, so that you can begin to grow and you can begin to be this disciple. Welcome to Cross the Bridge with David McGee. David is a senior pastor of The Bridge in Kernersville, North Carolina. Did you know there is no such thing as couch potato Christianity? Jesus said that we are all in ministry and should all be serving each other and sharing God's love. Today, Pastor David explains how we can get into ministry as he continues teaching in his message, A Great Question, from the Gospel of John chapter 21. Let's pick it up with verse 15 for context's sake. So when they'd eaten breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me more than these? And he said to him, yes, Lord, you know that I love you. And he said to him, feed my lambs. He said to him again a second time, Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me? He said to him, yes, Lord, you know that I love you. And he said to him, tend my sheep. He said to him the third time, Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me? And Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, do you love me? And he said to him, Lord, you know all things.

You know that I love you. And Jesus said to him, feed my sheep. Most assuredly, I say to you, when you were younger, you girded yourself and walked where you wished.

But when you are old, you will stretch out your hands and another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish. This he spoke, signifying by what death he would glorify God. And when he had spoken this, he said to him, follow me. Verse 20, then Peter turned around, saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following, who also had leaned on his breast at the supper and said, Lord, who is the one who betrays you?

That's kind of interesting, isn't it? Now, who is the disciple whom Jesus loved? John. How do we know that? John told us, that's right. Which is a good thing.

John knew that Jesus loved him. But notice Peter, Peter's publicly restored to ministry. What's the first thing he does? What about that guy? Oh, Peter. Is that what Peter should be worried about right now?

No. Is that what you should be worried about right now? See, we have this tendency to worry about what somebody else is doing.

Why? Well, because then we're not thinking about what's going on in our own heart and in our own lives. It makes us very comfortable to go, oh, look at them. Oh, look at them.

Look what they're doing. You know, it's like that old thing, oh, look over there. You know, that old distraction device. Because then we're not thinking about what's going on in our own lives. You know, at the men's meetings that we have sometimes, I warn at the men's meeting because, you know, sometimes guys will say, look, I'm struggling with this.

I'm struggling with that. And things come out. And I tell the guys, look, at the men's meeting, let's keep everything confidential. If you want to leave this place and go home and talk about somebody's sins to your wife, talk about your own. She'll love to sit and talk about those things.

She'll be interested in talking about theirs, but don't be talking about somebody else's sins. What should we be focusing on? We should be focusing on Jesus, but what do we do? Oh, look at him. Oh, look at that. Well, look, I can't believe she's doing that. I can't believe he's doing that. I can't believe he said that and it's convenient, isn't it? But we're supposed to be focusing on the Lord.

Way too often we're worried about what the other person's doing. Now, what's amazing. Okay, let's just stop and take a real quick glimpse of Peter at this point. Peter not only denied the Lord, but he was just forever saying the wrong thing at the wrong time. Jesus lays out the plan of salvation. Remember what Peter, the verse we just read? Peter began to rebuke him. Jesus has exposed this glorious plan involving the redemption of man and Peter rebukes him.

Guys, there's no way to gloss over that. Then you remember the upper room when Jesus is going to wash their feet and Peter says, absolutely not. Jesus says, well, if I don't wash your feet, you got no part of me.

Okay, wash my whole body. I mean, Peter was always making these missteps and then the denial. Pastor David, why are you pointing this out?

Nothing, not a thing in his past would point to the glorious success that he would have in ministry. As a matter of fact, if you looked at the life of Peter at this point, you said, hey, I'm not sure God can use somebody like that. God did use somebody like that to the point that most of the people in the world today know who Peter was. Acts 4, 13 records, now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled and they realized that they had been with Jesus.

What an awesome thing. If you remember the book of Acts talks about 3000 people coming to the Lord. And that doesn't even mention all the people that came to the Lord through Peter, but the life lesson here, your past does not condemn your future. Your past does not condemn your future. Wow, you understand that? I mean, I know you're hearing me.

I know it's going in your ears, but is this going in your heart? God's not counted you out. God hasn't looked at you, you know, past.

This morning he looks at you and says, oh, I got an awesome plan for that one. I know many of us have messed up. Many of us have done really silly, stupid things, but God does not count us out. And the wonderful thing about that is just like with Peter, he takes people out of these bondage places and dark places and he says, okay, I'm gonna change your life.

And part of that change is now you're gonna glorify me to others and help them to come out of that place of bondage. Now, I think there was more to this conversation that's not recorded in this place between Jesus and Peter, and here's the reasons I think that. The first verse I think is awesome because, you know, all the disciples had these problems and ran off, but Peter, I mean, Peter denied the Lord.

And you know that, boy, that spread like wildfire. Do you hear what Peter did? He denied the Lord. Mark 16, 7 says, but go tell his disciples and Peter, be sure you tell Peter, go tell Peter that he is going before you in the Galilee and there you will see him as he said to you.

I like that. Peter was called by name, even as we're called by name. And then we have a little verse in Luke 24, 34 saying, the Lord has risen indeed and has appeared to Simon. I think there was a conversation there. It's probably not like we would imagine. Jesus didn't come and hey, Peter, slap him around a little bit, yell at him, point the finger at him.

I imagine it was low-key but effective. Peter, I warned you and you didn't listen, but that's over now. Let it go. Let it go.

Don't cling to your past. Do you understand that our God is, and we often say He's the God of second chances. Boy, I'm glad it's not limited to that, aren't you?

He's the God of like third, fourth, fifth, seventh, 499th chance. And that was part of the good news, isn't it? And again, here's Peter's public restoration. And yet, you know, again, he looks at John, what about him? Don't do that, Peter.

And we shouldn't do that. Verse 21, Peter seeing him said to Jesus, but Lord, what about this man? In verse 22, Jesus said to him, if I will that he remain till I come, what is that to you? You follow me. Peter, that doesn't matter. Peter, you need to follow me. That's what you need to be focused on.

Too often, we're worried about what the other person's doing. Now, Peter and John had very different roles and it's interesting. Always watch what somebody's doing when you're first introduced to them in Scripture. It's very important.

It speaks volumes. What's David doing when we first meet David? David's out in the field watching the sheep, even though others have been called in. What's encouraging that he's going to be a good shepherd. What's Peter doing when we first meet him?

Peter is launching the nets out to catch fish. What's John doing? John's mending the nets. It's kind of interesting.

Why? Because Peter ended up to be, I think, more of an evangelist type. We need to be careful with categorizing people and John was obviously a discipler.

When you read through 1st, 2nd, 3rd John, he mends the nets. They wound up doing very different roles and they didn't need to worry about what the other one was doing. Now, I'm not talking about not being concerned about somebody else or not encouraging somebody else. I'm just, don't let that get in the way. The life lesson, real simple, follow Jesus. Follow Jesus and part of following Jesus is not being overly concerned with what Jesus is going to do with somebody else. You know, you don't have to be in the ministry very long before you begin to realize that God uses imperfect men and women on a holy calling. That's what God does and I've had the opportunity to be around people that are well known and in the ministry and whatnot and, you know, there usually is that moment where you realize that they don't pray 16 hours a day and, you know, that they actually might get upset every now and again and those sorts of things and, you know, that's part of life.

Never let that, oh my goodness, I can't, I'm walking out. I'm not serving God anymore because this guy did this or that guy didn't. No, you follow Jesus and see, Jesus right here is correcting Peter.

He said, Peter, don't worry about it. That's not of your concern. You follow me. You need to understand something. We don't understand the Judaism of the setting here and we've talked about this before but remember that children went to school and then the best of those were selected to go to the next school.

The best of those were selected to go to the next school, the Beit Talmud and the Beit Midrash and then at that point, the best of the best of the best were then given the opportunity to talk to a rabbi, a spiritual leader and at that point, many of the rabbis would say, you know what, you need to go learn your father's trade because you can't, you can't learn what I have to teach you. You can't do the things that I'm doing. You can't understand what I understand. You can't understand the things that I'm teaching you but Jesus here says, Peter, follow me.

I understand what he's really saying. Peter, you can understand what I have to teach you. Peter, you can do the things I'm talking about. Peter, you can follow me and Jesus said that a lot, didn't he?

Follow me, come on, follow me. Imagine the same, there were already some of the disciples and then Jesus went up to a tax collector and we don't really fully understand that. I know we feel weird about the IRS, some of us but that is nothing compared to what people used to think of tax collectors.

They were betrayals of the national allegiance. They would rip somebody off at every point and every curve and Jesus goes up to the tax collectors and you know those disciples are going, oh, it's going to be good. It's going to be good. He might make a whip and turn the table over.

It's going to be great. And much to their surprise and chagrin, he walks up to a tax collector and says, follow me. You can do the things I'm doing. You can understand what I have to teach you. There was a saying as you followed your rabbi, your leader, your teacher and there were dry and dusty trails.

If you've ever been over there, you know. And as they followed him along the path, the dust would get stirred up and the dust would get on them and in their eyes and stuff and so there was a saying, may you be covered in the dust of your rabbi. May you begin to follow him. And Jesus says to people here this morning, follow me. You can understand the things I'm trying to teach you. You can do the things I'm asking you to do. And I think that saying holds even more special significance for us because our teacher, our master, our rabbi is Jesus. May you be covered in the dust of your rabbi. He says to you, follow me. What a glorious invitation. We'll be right back with more from David McGee on Cross the Bridge. Right now, here's a word from Associate Pastor D.A.

Brown. Hey, we want to pray for a few cities in our listening audience right now, specifically Seneca Falls, Windsor, New York, and also Brown Summit, Burlington, Eden and Elizabeth City, North Carolina. God, we thank you for the people tuning in right now in these cities. We pray that you would pour your Holy Spirit out on them. Lord, we pray for those who are not listening but who live in those cities.

God, I pray that they would trust in you. Lord, that they would hear your gospel and that they would say yes to Jesus. Lord, we pray that people will get plugged in Bible-teaching churches. And Lord, we pray for those in leadership positions in these cities, that you give them wisdom and discernment, and they also will look to your Bible for answers on how to lead.

Lord, please bless these cities, and may there be revival. In Jesus' name, Amen. Amen.

Thank you, brother. And now, let's get back to David McGee as he continues teaching verse by verse. Verse 23. Then this saying went out among the brethren that this disciple would not die. Yet Jesus did not say to him that he would not die, but if I will, that he remain till I come.

What is that to you? Now, John's gospel was written later, and what started, because this had been said, is that John was still going to be alive at the second coming of Jesus. And people started talking about this and going, well, he's still going to be alive. And because Jesus said, you know, if I will, that he remains till I come.

What is that to you? And so everybody said, well, John's still going to be alive when Jesus comes back. So I'm sure every time John got sick, everybody got really excited.

And verse 24. This is the disciple who testifies of these things and wrote these things, and we know that his testimony is true. John was there. John was there. John was there. He can testify of what is true.

What does he mean by that? He can show the stuff that Jesus was talking about. We're told that the fruit of the Spirit is love. A lot of people have misunderstood that passage. It goes on to say love and mercy and grace and all these other things. But notice the language that's used there. It doesn't say the fruits of the Spirit are. It says the fruit, singular, of the Spirit is love. How does this love express itself? Well, first of all, it looks for ways to express itself. It looks for ways to pour itself out. And I'm not ashamed or embarrassed that we talk about serving a lot here.

Why? Because the Bible talks about serving. And somehow, end of the church has crept this thing, well, you know, let's just get them saved, and then that's it.

Our responsibility is over. Jesus didn't say, go get everybody saved. He said, go make disciples. Part of making disciples, and we've talked about this a lot, but we want to see people go from being unbelievers to believers to disciples. Believers believe, disciples do. See, and in that transition, you begin to pour yourself out for others.

The Bible talks about this so much. I'm going to run through several verses real quick. Titus chapter 2 verse 7 says, in all things, showing yourself to be a pattern of good works and doctrine showing integrity, reverence, incorruptibility. Titus 2 14, who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for himself his own special people, zealous for good works. Not kicking, not being drug kicking and screaming, although, you know, that'll get you involved and start serving.

I'm willing to drag you in kicking and screaming. That's what it takes. But zealous for good works. Titus 3 one says, remind them to be subject to rulers and authorities to obey, to be ready for every good word. Titus 3 eight, and most of these are pulled from Titus. This is a faithful saying, and these things I want to affirm constantly, that those who have believed in God should be careful to maintain good works.

These things are good and profitable to men. Titus 3 14, and let our people also learn to maintain good works, to meet urgent needs, that they may not be unfruitful. See, the Bible talks about this a lot. 2 Corinthians 4 one encourages us in these things, and so since God in his mercy has given us this wonderful ministry, we never give up. The New King James says we never lose heart. We do not lose heart. It's important for us to remember.

You know why? Because we can lose heart. We can't get tired of doing what is right and doing things that are good and doing things that the Lord has called us to do. That's why in Galatians 6 9 and 10 it says, and let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith. In the life of every person who's asked Jesus to forgive them of their sins, we have to have this conversation that Peter had where Jesus says, okay, you love me? And we have to admit our frailties and our weaknesses and say, Lord, I'm trying to love you. And Jesus said, okay, give your life away. And again, somehow, in an unbiblical fashion, we've embraced this, well, get people saved and then that's it.

No, no, no, no. That was never the Lord's intention. Yes, it was to see people come into the kingdom and it all starts there and obviously that's a big emphasis here, but do we just leave them there or should you be left there?

And I know as I talk about this, guys, I realize it gets uncomfortable, right? We're saved by grace and created for good works. That's what the Bible says. See, we think, well, there's those select few that God appears visually, physically, audibly to that are called in the ministry. No. Now, we have different things to do.

God's called me as a pastor teacher here, but he's called you to perform some function, some service, some ministry so that you can begin to grow and you can begin to be this disciple and you can be transformed. Metamorpho is the Greek word where we get our word for metamorphosis. If you've ever watched those superhero things, you know, they begin to have these superpowers come on them. Yeah. Yeah, every guy that's ever watched any of those things, you watch Superman go into the booth, yeah.

There's something that resonates in that in our hearts. Well, guys, it's much better than that. Ladies, you probably remember the story of the little girl who's transformed through that glass slipper, becomes this beautiful woman.

Glass slipper becomes this beautiful woman. Oh, it's better than that. I'm sure some of you've looked at that and thought, oh, I wish that was me.

Oh, it's better than that. He wants to give you gladness for your morning and turn your ashes into beauty. John finishes verse 25 and says, and there are also many other things that Jesus did, which if they were written one by one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that would be written. Again, this is a meeting that Jesus is having with his disciples.

He's not speaking to the public at this point. He's speaking to those who have already said, Lord, forgive me of my sins. They've already said, Lord, we're with you. And Jesus speaks in this confidential meeting, if you will, speaks a challenge to them and says, follow me.

There's a passage in John chapter six where Jesus turns to the disciples. He said, okay, everybody's leaving. Are you guys going to leave too? Peter says something interesting. He says, Lord, where are we going to go?

Where are we going to go? You alone have the words for eternal life. There's a quiet desperation about what Peter says there that I think we need to adopt because sometimes we think, well, follow the Lord, not follow the Lord, straddle the fence. No, let's follow Jesus, guys, because we've got nowhere else to go. Nothing else holds the love, the forgiveness, the purpose, the meaning to life that Jesus is willing to give us this morning.

And he says, follow me, follow me. You can do this. May you be covered in the dust of your rabbi. Friend, do you know for sure that your sins have been forgiven?

You can know right now. I want to lead you in a short, simple prayer, simply telling God you're sorry and asking him to help you to live for him. Please pray this prayer with me out loud right now. Dear Jesus, I believe you died for me, that I could be forgiven. And I believe you were raised from the dead, that I could have a new life and I've done wrong things. I have sinned and I'm sorry. Please forgive me of all those things. Please give me the power to live for you all of my days. In Jesus' name.

Amen. Friend, if you prayed that prayer according to the Bible, you've been forgiven. You've been born again. So congratulations, friend.

You just made the greatest decision that you will ever make. God bless you. If you prayed that prayer with David for the first time, we'd love to hear from you. You can visit crossthebridge.com to receive our First Steps package with helpful resources to help you begin your walk with Christ.

Or you can write to Cross the Bridge at P.O. Box 12515, Winston-Salem, North Carolina 27117, and share how God is working in your life. You know, the Bible tells us that the free gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord. But it does cost for us to come and bring that message to you and to others in your neighborhood through radio, through the internet, and through the mobile technologies that God has gifted us to be able to use. So if you'd like to support this ministry, please go to crossthebridge.com, click on the donate button, and ask God how much he would have you give either on a one-time basis or a continuing basis each month to help ensure that the teaching of God's Word continues to go out through Cross the Bridge. Thank you so much. Well, DA, before we go, what are some ways that we can bless our listeners? Each day you can wake up with encouragement from Pastor David through the Word of God with his email devotional, life lessons to consider, a daily reading plan, and a thought to meditate on throughout your day from the heart of David McGee. Those are terrific, and it's easy and it's free. So folks, sign up today at crossthebridge.com. Thanks again for listening, and join us next time as David McGee continues teaching verse by verse in the book of Acts.