John 21:15–19

0:00 Good morning, everybody. Welcome to Third Avenue. It's good to be here with you. Let me invite you to take a Bible and turn over to John chapter 21. That's where we're going to be this morning looking at five chapters, or not five chapters, five. I mean, you laugh, but you know I'll do that to you every once in a while. How many times we've done like 38 chapters? But we're not looking at chapters. We're looking at verses, five verses of this last chapter of the book of John. We are, you know, very much on the homestretch of the book of John. We've been working on this book for, I think, eight falls now. We're just kind of returning to it every autumn, and we are down to the last two sermons in the book. We're going to look today at chapter 21, verses 15 to 19, and then next week, Lord willing, we'll look at the last six verses, 20 through 25.

0:53 So we're really coming right to the end of the book as we've been studying chapter 21, which, as we said last week, forms a kind of epilogue to the gospel and a sort of postscript to the main action of the book. The whole of chapter 21, like we noted last week, takes place on the shores of the Sea of Galilee some weeks after the resurrection of Jesus and after Jesus has appeared to his disciples in several different places and several different times. John calls it the Sea of Tiberias, so don't get confused about that. This is the normal Sea of Galilee that Jesus spent a whole lot of time around. He probably did some fishing. He seems to have had a place of residence, not of his own, but he lived with probably Peter's mother-in-law actually, who he probably lodged with many of the times that he was in Galilee. So this was a familiar place to Jesus. And here the Gospel of John ends on the shores of that very sea. Chapter 21 really consists of three events that follow right on the heels of one another. So it doesn't jump around

1:56 in time. There's no chronological break or mismatch. These are three events that follow one right after the other. So last week we looked at the first of those, this huge catch of fish that Jesus gives the disciples. And from that, looking back to Ezekiel and several other places and thinking about the number 153, lots of different stuff, we drew this at least tentative conclusion that that huge catch of fish that they pulled in from the sea is a kind of symbolic working out of the Great Commission.

2:27 So the Great Commission comes in Matthew chapter 28 when Jesus says, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations. In other words, call in the elect from all the nations of the earth who are going to believe in me and repent of their sins and become Christians. And so we drew this tentative conclusion that this great catch of fish is probably a symbolic working out of that great commission. It's the command to the disciples to be about the work of drawing in the elect from all the nations of the earth, just like you would draw in fish from the sea with a net.

3:01 We also saw last week how Jesus wonderfully cares for his disciples on the shore of the sea there as they're pulling in the catch of fish. He cooks them breakfast, and he invites them to come sit down and eat the fish that he's cooked. And then when they won't come to breakfast because of their fear of this whole situation with the resurrected Jesus who's cooking them breakfast. I mean, it's a weird situation, and they seem to have some lingering fear of everything that's going on. When they won't come to breakfast, Jesus gets up and brings breakfast to them. It's really a beautiful picture of his love for his disciples and probably a symbolic acting out of the promise that he's going to make explicit a few days later.

3:40 Matthew tells us about it after the Great Commission, that behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. So the idea would be that as you're out fishing among men, as you're pulling in the elect from the nations of the world, the fish from the sea, Jesus is providing for you and caring for you. He is with you always, even until the end of the age. So that's what we talked about last week. Today, we're looking at this next section, five verses, 15 through 19, which contains this really just poignant, wonderful, heartfelt conversation between Jesus and Peter.

4:14 And it has so many layers of sort of what's going on and the interchange between Jesus and Peter and then the disciples all around. So many different layers of what's going on that it's just really nothing sort of fascinating. But it is so fascinating and it is so poignant and so important because it's a conversation that we've been waiting on for a very long time. You remember back in chapter 18, we would have studied that chapter about a year ago, I think.

4:45 Chapter 18, Peter had denied three times that he even knew Jesus. And just like Jesus predicted, the rooster crowed as soon as the third denial was made. And Jesus looked across the courtyard at Peter as he was going out of the high priest's house to his trial before the Romans. And since that time, we've heard about this event, nothing else, not a word. It's just kind of been hanging there since chapter 18. So that rift between Jesus and Peter, the fact that Peter denied Jesus and Jesus knew it and looked at him has been hanging over this story.

5:26 probably it's been hanging over Peter himself, if you think about it, ever since. We just don't know, at least so far, how it ends. By this time in the story, you've either sort of forgotten about it, or you're wondering, I mean, what happened? Did Peter ever get restored? Does he find forgiveness for that sin, or does this denial that he made of Jesus, does it just kind of hang like a millstone of guilt around his neck for the rest of his life? Well, you realize that if we didn't have John chapter 21, we would know nothing about it. I mean, other gospels tell us that after his resurrection, Jesus appeared to Peter alone a couple of times. But if we didn't have chapter 21 of John here, we'd never know what happened. But here in this text, John tells us what happened. And it happens in this conversation right here on the shores of the Sea of Galilee after breakfast. And that's where we'll pick it up. Look with me at John chapter 21, verse 15.

6:23 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. 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. 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.

6:55 You know that I love you. Jesus said to him, feed my sheep. 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. As he said, to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God. And after saying this, he said to him, follow me.

7:29 It's just an incredibly heartfelt text, isn't it? It's an intimate conversation that's happening between Jesus and Peter. And it still has that kind of mysterious setting to it that we noted last week. You've got the early morning waves of the Sea of Galilee lapping on the shore. You've got the sky brightening as the sun rises over the water to the east. You have that charcoal fire crackling that would have reminded Peter of his denial and all the disciples sitting around and eating bits of fish for breakfast. And then right in the middle of all of that, Jesus, just kind of out of nowhere, looks at Peter and says, Simon, do you love me more than these?

8:07 Now, at the macro level, at the highest level, I think what's going on here is pretty clear. Jesus asks him, do you love me three times? And each one of those three times corresponds to one of the three times that Peter had denied Jesus. So I think it's pretty obvious that what's going on here is that Jesus is reinstating Peter as a faithful apostle, right? He's putting him back in place. He's saying, this one is not like Judas. If Judas walked out and it was night, Peter denied me and the rooster crowed to herald the morning.

8:38 Peter's not like Judas. He's reinstated. But even if that part's clear, even if you can read that and see immediately that that's kind of what's happening, I think there's still a lot of questions about this text. I mean, why does Jesus follow up each affirmation of Peter's love with some variation of feed my sheep? It's said in three different ways. First, it's feed my lambs, then tend or shepherd my sheep, then feed my sheep. It's three different things, but all the words kind of mean the same thing. We'll talk about that more later. What does that mean, though? Feed my sheep, shepherd my lambs.

9:08 What does that mean? And why is that the command that Jesus gives to Peter rather than something else? I mean, it's not, I don't think it's the most obvious thing that you would expect if you were just told the story, you'd never heard it before, and you were told, guess what Jesus said to Peter next. I don't know that you would come up with quite that. Also, here's a question. Is Peter here being given a unique place among the disciples? Is he being given a unique place among the disciples?

9:40 I mean, nobody else, not one of the other remaining ten apostles, gets this kind of special interaction with Jesus. So, when we read this text, are we to see Peter as being specially set aside by Jesus for some unique, special purpose? Maybe as the first pope, for instance. And then what's that last part where Jesus says that one day Peter will stretch out his arms, and be led where he does not want to go. And what does John mean when he says that that was referring to the kind of death Peter would die?

10:17 And what does he mean for that matter by saying that in his death, Peter would glorify God? What does that mean? Well, all those things are questions that we're going to talk about this morning. But in the midst of answering and asking all of those questions, I also don't want you to miss out on the main point of all this. Because what this text does, ultimately and most importantly, is that it tells us what lies at the very heart of what it means to be a follower of Jesus. So you ready? Here's the main idea. The main thing that this text is getting at is this right here.

10:48 The right response to being forgiven by Jesus is to love his people and to suffer for his glory. The right response to being forgiven by Jesus is to love his people and to suffer for his glory. So when Jesus pulls Peter back to his side, when he forgives him, when he launches him out into this mission that was going to define his life of fishing for men in the ocean of the nations of the world, this is what he tells him.

11:20 Peter, if you're going to love me, if you're going to follow me, if you're going to give your life to my service, that's what it will mean. You must give your life to loving my people and ultimately to suffering for the glory of God. That's what he tells him. In other words, forgiveness has legs. Forgiveness doesn't just drop with a thud into your life and then sit there. Forgiveness has legs. It goes somewhere. And when forgiveness lands in your life and you realize, my goodness, my sins have been taken away. I have eternity laid out before me.

11:51 You don't just sit. You move. And Jesus says the way that you move is by loving his people and ultimately accepting suffering when it comes for the glory of God. So I want to look at this text today in two points, considering each of those things. Number one, the right response to being forgiven by Jesus is to love his people. Number two, the right response to being forgiven by Jesus is to suffer for his glory. Those two things. The right response is to love his people and to suffer for his glory. So let me tell you what my prayer is for this morning, for you.

12:25 As we study this text today, I pray that you'll be reminded today, if you're a Christian, of the amazing fact that you have been forgiven of your sins. That is just a good thing for Christians to remember. It's a good thing in the muck and mire of this age to just be reminded that you and I, as believers in Jesus, have been forgiven. The accounts have been cleared. The slate is clean. In fact, it's actually filled up with Jesus' righteousness, not just clean. You have been forgiven of your sins. Just like Peter, you've been embraced by Jesus again.

13:00 And now, now, that's got to have legs in your life. If you're a Christian, that's what I pray you'll realize today. You've been forgiven, and that's got to have legs. If you're not a Christian, then I pray that maybe through studying this text today, you will come to know what it means to be forgiven. That you'll know just that the lightness of heart is the eternal joy that springs up from a heart that is clean and pure because it's been forgiven of its sin by Jesus. I want you to know that this morning. And I do hope, I'll just be straight up with you.

13:31 I hope that even today you'll come to Jesus for salvation and that you'll call yourself a Christian because you've repented of your sins and trusted in him. So let's look at the text. Point number one, the right response to being forgiven by Jesus is to love his people. So look down at the text with me, verse 15. We're going to look at this in quite a bit of detail, looking at various phrases. Verse 15 follows right on the heels, of course, of verse 14. You can see that because John flags it there, when they had finished breakfast, right? Breakfast was mentioned up in 12 through 14 or so, and so this is coming right on its heels, when they had finished breakfast. John doesn't always do that. He doesn't always time stamp the events that are happening in his gospel. Sometimes, in fact, he'll put events that are out of chronological order in a certain place in his gospel to make a theological point, but when he does that, he doesn't time stamp them.

14:21 He doesn't say things like, when they had finished breakfast. But in this case, he's very specific. This is immediately after this miraculous catch of fish. It's immediately after breakfast. And right there, Jesus turns to Peter and says, Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these? Okay, now, several things to notice here in terms of the details. First of all, it is important, in fact, it's critical, I think, to see that apparently Jesus asks Peter this question right in front of all the other disciples.

14:59 And the text doesn't say otherwise. It doesn't say that they got up and moved somewhere else. They're all around. Jesus has brought breakfast to them from the charcoal fire. They're all sitting there picking fish out of their teeth. And Jesus looks up and just says it right in front of all of them. Simon, do you love me more than all of these? And the these there is actually pretty important because if Jesus and Peter were away somewhere alone, he would have said those, right? Greek works in exactly the same way as English in that sense. If something is right there next to you, you say this or these. If it's over there, you say that or those. Same thing in Greek.

15:31 So Jesus says, Simon, do you love me more than these who are around? You see why it's important that Jesus asks that question right in front of the other disciples? Do you see why it's important that he makes this a public thing? It's because Peter's sin of denying Jesus was public. Peter had publicly humiliated himself by his action. And so here Jesus publicly confronts him and publicly, as it were, cauterizes that wound.

16:07 I'm sure Peter didn't particularly like that at the time. I mean, nobody likes being called out and nobody certainly likes being called out publicly. He probably winced when Jesus said it. He may have had a thought initially of, Jesus, why do we have to do this in front of everybody? He probably would have very much preferred if Jesus had taken him aside and done this privately. But you've got to see that it's critical that the other disciples witness this act of Jesus reinstating Peter. I mean, think about it. The only other alternative would have been for Peter to have a private conversation with Jesus where all of this stuff happens.

16:42 Nobody else witnesses it. Only Peter knows what it is. Jesus ascends into heaven, and he's not going to say anything else about it. And then Peter would just spend his life with this cloud of doubt and suspicion hanging over his head. Every time he tried to exert leadership among the apostles of any kind, it would have been, Peter, you denied Jesus. What are you talking about? And all Peter would have if it were a private conversation was, no, bros, I swear, Jesus reinstated me. And it would just be like, okay, dude, whatever. I mean, nobody saw that.

17:12 What are you talking about? But that's not the case here. So even though it hurt Peter to be confronted publicly about this by Jesus, it was ultimately for his good. It was an act of love on Jesus' part. Peter had sinned publicly, and that self-inflicted wound would have to be cauterized publicly so that all of the apostles would realize that it was not just Peter trying to get past it, it was Jesus putting it behind him. That's why he did it. That was the only way. And I'm sure even the wording of Jesus' question stung Peter in the moment.

17:50 I mean, think about that. Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these? I'm sure that stung. I mean, there's the obvious sting of just, you know, the painful reminder of the denial itself, right? I mean, Peter probably had the charcoal fire stinging his nostrils already. He was already reminded of the charcoal fire in the courtyard of the high priest's house. He was already in that frame of mind. And now Jesus reminds him of it again. But it also goes deeper than that. Look how Jesus asks the question specifically.

18:22 He calls Peter Simon. Now, why does he do that? He does that because that is the name Peter had before he met Jesus. Remember that from chapter 1, Jesus, when he first met Peter, When he first met Simon, son of John. When they first met, he said, you are Simon, son of John. But you shall be called from here on out Peter, Cephas, the rock. He gave him a new name.

18:54 Changed his name from Simon to Peter. But here he reverts back to Peter's first name. The name he had before Jesus changed him. And that stings, doesn't it? I'm sure it stung Peter when Jesus called him Simon. He may not have even responded to it immediately. He's like, who's Simon? And then he realized it was him. But you see what Jesus is doing there? He's telling Peter, he's reminding Peter, he's pressing it deep into Peter's heart that his action of denying Jesus was a relic of his past, of the man that Peter used to be before, this rash, unthinking, selfish, impulsive man.

19:32 And Jesus wants him to understand more deeply and more profoundly than he's ever understood in his life that he's not that man anymore. He wants him to understand that. And he wants him to want not to be that man. And so he calls him by this former name with the intent of making it sting so that Peter will never want to be that man again. Friend, if you're a Christian, I wonder if there's anything like that in you as a Christian.

20:12 I wonder if there are any of the old patterns, any of the old actions and thoughts that really, by rights, are just relics of the old you that are just kind of sticking around and holding on in your Christian life. What do you think about those? Do you want those to be there? Do you not want them to be there? Or do you just kind of not care? Friend, by the time Jesus was finished with him, Peter did not want to be Simon anymore.

20:49 He never refers to himself as Simon. He refers to himself as Peter in his letters. He's embraced his identity as a Christian. I am Peter, the name that Jesus gave me. I'm not going to be that old man anymore. Do you have that desire when it comes to your sin, when it comes to the old relics of your past? that still show up in your life. Now, brother, sister, pray, pray that God would not just take those things away, but pray that he would cause your heart to want them to be taken away. It's actually far more important that you want that than that it actually happened.

21:23 Pray that the Lord would do that in your heart. I mean, notice too here that Jesus asks Peter specifically, not just do you love me, at least not in the first instance. He'll simplify the question in a second, too. But in the first one, he says it more specifically. Do you love me more than these? Okay, what does that mean? Well, people have actually interpreted that in various ways over the centuries. So some have said that what he's asking amounts to something like, do you love me, Simon, more than you love these other disciples?

21:56 See the difference there? Do you love me more than you love these other disciples? Some people have said that, but if you think about it, I mean, Peter's great love for the disciples, if that's even a thing, it just never really shows up as a theme in this book at all. And it would be a strange thing to bring in here at the very end. So I don't think it's that. I don't think he's saying, do you love me more than you love these disciples? Other people have suggested a little more, I think, far-fetched, that maybe Jesus pointed to the fishing gear when he said this. And he said, do you love me more than you love these things over here?

22:28 But that depends on a presupposition that when Peter went fishing, last week that that was sinful it was a kind of abandonment of Jesus and that Jesus is now rebuking him for going fishing do you do you love me more than your fishing gear Peter do you love me more than your your career but the story just doesn't seem to suggest that it doesn't cast any aspersion on Peter at all for for going fishing like we said he was just he was just waiting on Jesus in Galilee just like Jesus said and he went fishing to pass the time so I don't think it's that either what makes the most sense is probably what all of you anyway most of you were thinking when you read it for the very first time, and that is that Jesus is asking, Simon, do you love me more than these men love me? Do you love me more than these men love me? Now, what kind of answer is Jesus expecting there? I mean, is he challenging Peter? Is he saying, Peter, you're the big man.

23:18 You're the leader. You should love me more than these people out here love me. Do you? Is that what he's doing? No, I don't think so. I think he's asking the question for an entirely different reason. I think the reason that he's asking that question, Simon, do you love me more than these men love me, is because Peter, before the denial, had insisted that he did. Over and over and over, he insisted that he loved Jesus more than they did. So back in chapter 13, you remember Jesus was in the upper room with his disciples, and he was telling the disciples that he was about to be crucified, and as the others were kind of growing quiet in the realization that Jesus was about to be executed, Peter leaned in over the table and said, Lord, why can't I follow you now?

24:07 Why can't I go with you to the cross? I will lay down my life for you. I mean, notice the, notice the pronouns there. It's not, it's not Lord. Lord, we will lay down our lives for you. It's, Lord, I will lay down my life for you. And you remember what happens next? Jesus, I, you know, as I think about it, I imagine him with this kind of Peter, you know, look on his face. He says to him, will you, Peter, will you lay down your life for me? Do you really think that you're going to do that? I tell you the truth. The rooster will not crow until you have denied me three times.

24:50 And then the story goes silent about Peter. Peter doesn't say another word. He's been an active participant in the conversation up until then. But after Jesus says, you're going to deny me, Peter goes silent, probably into his own head. What does that mean? What does that mean? And why is Jesus saying that? I will lay down my life for him, won't I? Why would Jesus say I'm going to deny him? I've never denied him. Maybe even how dare he say that about me.

25:27 And it must have stung him. He must have brooded on it for the rest of the night. Because even after they leave the upper room and they make this walk through the city streets out toward the gate, Peter never says another word. It's other disciples that pick up the conversation from there. Matthew tells us that he brings up the whole thing again. Once they'd gone out of the city and out to the Mount of Olives, to the Garden of Gethsemane. Because Jesus turns when they reach the garden and he says to them, you're all going to fall away.

25:58 Zechariah 9, the shepherd is going to be stricken and you're all going to fall away. And Peter jumps in again and says, though they all fall away, I will never fall away. You see the point? You see the point that Jesus is getting at when he asks that question? Peter was deeply confident in his love for Jesus. He was deeply confident in his determination and ability to stay by Jesus' side, even unto death. Right until the moment he crumbled, when the real possibility of that presented itself.

26:32 And so Jesus goes right at it. He looks him in the eye, right across that charcoal fire, and he says, Simon, do you love me more than these now? It's an amazing moment, isn't it? Because even in the midst of restoring him, even in the midst of reinstating him as a faithful apostle, Jesus reminds him of his sin. He reminds him of his former arrogance. I wonder if you notice the kind of weirdness at the end of the scripture reading today.

27:06 You have this story, this beautiful story of Mephibosheth, this guy who's lame in both of his feet. He's the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul. So David and Jonathan were very good friends together. And David finds out that there's a lame son of Jonathan named Mephibosheth. And he brings him into his house and he feasts him. And he gives him everything he could ever want. He allows him to live in Jerusalem and come to the palace every day to feast with the king. And the story just swells and swells and swells with the glories that David is pouring out on Mephibosheth. But did you notice how it ends? Now, Mephibosheth was lame in both his feet.

27:42 I mean, why does it do that? Why does it do that? Because it doesn't want you to confuse the glories that Mephibosheth receives for the glories that he deserves. What Mephibosheth deserves, he's the son of the deposed king. He deserves to be cast out of the kingdom forever. He deserves to be banished. And not only that, but he can't even defend himself because he can't walk. He doesn't deserve anything. He can't earn anything for himself.

28:14 He's not going to win any battles. And even as he's being showered in gifts and gold and rich food and all the rest of the king's table, the text wants you to remember that he didn't deserve any of it. He was lame in both his feet. The same thing going on here. Same exact thing going on here. Even as Jesus is about to reinstate Peter as one of the remaining 11 apostles who are going to take the gospel to the nations, He reminds them, Peter, you are lame in both your feet.

28:45 You don't deserve any of this. And then look at Peter's response because he seems to know it now. All that arrogance, all that bravado, all that pull the sword and cut off the high priest's servant's ears, all that stuff doesn't seem to be there anymore. And when Jesus says, Peter or Simon, do you love me more than these love me? He's not willing to say that anymore. He's done with the whole, I will lay down my life. He knows his failing. He knows his weakness. He knows his sin. So he doesn't look Jesus in the eye anymore and say, yes, Lord, I love you more than they do.

29:20 And I will lay down my life for you. All he can say is, yes, Lord, you know that I love you. He doesn't say, yes, Lord, you know that I love you more than they do. He just says, Lord, you know that I love you. I mean, this is a much humbled Peter, isn't it? This is a Peter who's been broken. This is a Peter who's seen his sin. It's a chastened Peter, but it is a stronger Peter because of that. This is a Peter who's not leaning on his own strength anymore.

29:54 He's not leaning on his own comparison of himself with his brothers, but all he can say, he just says it flatly and plainly, Lord, you know that I love you. You know that I do. I wonder if that kind of flat, humble confession of love for Jesus is enough for you too. You know, one of the great marks of Christian maturity is that you come to the point of giving up on comparing yourself to other Christians. You despair of the absolutely hopeless game of trying to love Jesus more than other people or serve Jesus more than other people.

30:32 And you just learn to rest on the only thing that matters. Yes, I do love you, Lord. You know that I love you. If you've come to that point in your Christian life, then you know how wonderfully freeing it is to be there. You know how the treadmill stops spinning underneath your feet. You know how the comparisons with other people stop screaming in your ears. And you're just able to be quiet and rest on the bedrock of you, yourself, your own heart loving Jesus and Jesus loving you too and if your if your heart if your heart is still striving to be better than others to love Jesus more than others to serve him more than others pray the Lord would teach you this lesson that Peter had learned it's a simple lesson but it's deep and it is deeply freeing pray that the Lord would quiet your heart and bring you to a place where you can be content with a simple, yes, Lord, you know that I love you. More than these?

31:34 Do I love you more than these? I have no idea. It doesn't even matter. I love you, and you know that. Well, the next few verses, Jesus goes on and asks Peter that same question two more times. It's slightly different. It doesn't have the more than these anymore. That seems to have been dealt with, but he says, Simon, son of John, do you love me? Two more times, and Peter answers two more times, yes, Lord, you know that I do. In verse 17, he's even grieving when Jesus asks the third time.

32:04 You see that? 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. What's going on there? Why is Peter grieved? I think there's a way you can read that text and you can say, well, he's just, he's irritated. Like, he's like, I've already answered that question. Why are you asking me the third time? I don't think that's it though. As I've thought about it, as I've kind of run the, you know, I'll run the story through my mind, run the sort of movie of this thing through my mind. I don't know that Peter was entirely clear on what was going on.

32:35 I don't know that he was entirely clear that Jesus was lining up these three confessions with the three denials until he asked it the third time. And when he did, it all clicked for Peter. It all clicked. He's asking me this, to fill in the holes of my sin of denying him. He's given me a chance to affirm that I love him instead of denying him. And so I think Peter finally realized what was happening, and that's what he was grieving. His sin was laid bare, and so he grieved.

33:09 And look, too, at how Jesus responds each time Peter answers. Each time, it's three different times, 15, 16, and 17. Jesus says some variation of the phrase, the sentence, the command, feed my sheep. Feed my sheep. Now, there are several different words that Jesus uses in that formulation. And people have often tried to make a big deal of the word changes there. So you've got feed and tend. Do you see that? So basically you've got feed, tend, feed. The word tend there is just the word to shepherd, right? It's a verb form of the word shepherd.

33:40 It got translated as tend. So there's feed, tend, and then feed. And then you've got lambs, sheep, and sheep, right? So two different words for, you know, feeding, shepherding, and two different words for who you're feeding and shepherding, lambs and sheep. And some people have tried to make a big deal out of the word changes there. But the thing is, you can't really do that because John characteristically loves to use synonyms in his writing. It's just a stylistic thing for him. And as you read John, you'll notice that all the time. He just does not like to use the same word to describe something in close proximity to each other.

34:13 so he'll use different words just to make the writing more interesting. That's the case here, too. He doesn't mean some profound difference between feeding and tending. He doesn't mean a profound difference between lambs and sheep. They're just synonyms. And to make the point clear, he also doesn't mean any profound difference between the two words that he uses for love. And he uses two different Greek words, agape and phileo, and people have made a huge deal about that. Why is he using two different words? And they have all kinds of theories for why that is. It probably doesn't mean anything, Because John uses agape and phileo all the time in his gospel interchangeably.

34:48 I mean, even when he says that the father loves the son, sometimes it's the father agapes the son, and other times it's the father phileo's the son, right? So there's no difference in the meaning, really. They're just overlapping words. So Jesus' response to Peter is, okay, if it's true that you love me, whether agape or phileo, if that's true, then feed my sheep. Tend them. Shepherd them. now I don't know if it strikes you this way but honestly I think that's kind of a surprising response from Jesus because what I would have expected if I didn't know the story and somebody asked me to guess what Jesus was going to say what I would have expected was something more like okay great now go and tell the nations about me all authority has been given to me now go and baptize them in the name of the father that's what I would expect but Jesus has already made that point in the text above I think and here he turns to the other part of Peter's calling to shepherd the flock of God as a leader in the church particularly by teaching or what Jesus here metaphorizes that to

35:49 in feeding the sheep. Now let's pause for just a second and deal with with with one little one little issue. There are times where the case has been made that Peter is specifically and personally being given a unique calling here. A calling that's different and higher than the calling that's given to others' disciples. In other words, there's some case that's been made through history that Peter is being made kind of the chief under-shepherd of God's flock, the singular one who is the leader, or even the first pope, as the Roman Catholics put it.

36:23 But that just doesn't seem to be the case here. Because the act of shepherding Christ's sheep, of feeding them, it turns out in the rest of the New Testament, is the task given to literally everyone who is set aside as leaders of the church. So for example, Paul's going to tell the elders of the church in Ephesus, shepherd the flock of God. And Peter himself, probably remembering this episode in 1 Peter 5, is going to say to all elders in all local churches, shepherd the flock of God that is among you. It's the exact same word.

36:54 So this isn't something unique to Peter. Jesus is just filling him back up. He's reinstating him into the leadership of the church, into the apostolic band, right? and the reason that nobody else gets this kind of special treatment from Jesus is because nobody else had fallen quite so far. He doesn't get the special treatment because he's specially good. He gets it because he's specially bad. And Jesus reinstates him. I think it's worth thinking for a minute, too, about exactly what Jesus is telling Peter, and by extension all elders in all local churches.

37:26 It's just worth thinking about what he's telling them to do in particular. So the two verbs that he uses there are to feed and to tend, which I told you a minute ago is literally the word to shepherd. So it's the verb form of the noun shepherd. You should shepherd the flock of God. Not just be a shepherd, but shepherd the flock of God. So what does that mean? Let's talk about that one first. What does shepherding the flock of God mean? Well, shepherding is a rich and complex concept in the Bible. It's a beautiful concept.

37:57 You can write books about what the Bible says about shepherding. I mean, obviously it finds its origin just in the normal practice of tending or shepherding a flock of sheep, making sure that the sheep have water and food and protection and all the rest of it. It's a very normal word. But what happens is that in the Old Testament, fascinatingly, of all the professions in the ancient world, God chooses the image of the shepherd to describe himself and the Messiah's work of being the shepherd king of his people. And it becomes this rich complex imagery where shepherd is connected to not only care for the sheep but authority over the sheep. It's a kind of kingly image by the end of the Old Testament. So when that idea gets picked up in the New Testament, based in large part on Jesus's words right here where he says, you know, Peter, you and the other disciples, you and the Elders of my churches in the future are to take on this role of shepherd.

38:53 When that idea gets picked up in the New Testament as one of these words to describe the work of elders, it winds up encompassing a huge number of functions and actions that elders do in the life of the church. It's not just one thing. You can't just line it up as one of the things that a pastor does is shepherd. You can't do that. It's an overarching term that gets connected to all kinds of actions. So church shepherds or pastors or elders are said specifically to do. I mean, this is kind of a quick look. There would be more than this.

39:24 But I got nine things that I could give you right here with scripture references. I mean, I'm not going to do that. But here's some of the things that shepherds are said specifically to do in the life of the church. To exercise oversight. That's Acts 5, 1 Peter 5, Matthew 2, Revelation 2, 12, and 19. To feed and nourish right here, John 21, but also Revelation chapter 7. To teach, Ephesians chapter 4. To equip the saints for the work of a ministry, the very next verse in Ephesians chapter 4. To encourage, that's Matthew 9.

39:56 To protect, that's John 10. To comfort, that's Revelation 7. To help, that's Acts 20. To preserve unity in the church, that's Mark 14. It's just a huge array of stuff that shepherds do. It's not just one thing. So all of that, all of that that comes out in the teaching of the apostles is what Jesus ultimately is calling Peter to do as a leader in the church. And all of that is what elders are called to do here. But I want you to notice what Jesus says twice here. He says shepherd once.

40:28 He says feed twice. So what does that mean? What does it mean to feed his sheep? Well, obviously it's a metaphor. It doesn't mean that, you know, The elders are literally supposed to feed you, right? Like, you know, here comes a plane. You know, we're not, that's, you know, here's some food, little sheepy sheepy. Come get it out of my hand. That's not what it means. It's obviously a metaphor. And it refers to a very specific kind of feeding. It refers to teaching the word of God.

41:00 That's what it refers to. So you can look through the rest of the New Testament. You can see that this metaphor of feeding shows up in many, many places. And it was a common usage in Judaism too. To teach the scriptures was to feed the flock. And when the Bible, both old and new, talks about feeding the flock, it means to teach the scriptures so that the flock is nourished and grows strong. So you see the point of that? See the point of what Jesus is saying here about what it means to be a leader in the church?

41:31 Two times Jesus says it, and he connects it very tightly to the idea of shepherding. And what he's saying is that the main and most important role of shepherds, pastors, elders in the church is to teach the word of God to Jesus' people. Ever thought about that? The main and most important role of shepherds, pastors, elders in the church is to teach the word of God to Jesus' people. And that plays out all over the New Testament.

42:01 So that's why in Acts 6, for instance, the apostles tell the church, You guys in the church need to elect some deacons to help us with some administrative matters so that we, the apostles and elders, can devote ourselves to the ministry of the word and prayer. That's their job. That's why Paul is going to charge Timothy in 2 Timothy, above all, and in the sight of the angels themselves. I mean, there is hardly another wind-up as big as the one Peter or Paul gives to Timothy right here in 2 Timothy 4. He winds it up in the sight of Christ and the angels themselves.

42:35 I charge you, Timothy, to preach the word. That's what he tells him. I mean, look, that's critically important for the life of a church. Critically important for the life of a church. Because there are so many good things that elders can get involved in. There are so many good things that elders can do and can fill up their hours with and can burn up time in their lives. So many good things. that can distract from the main thing.

43:09 But above all, that's the charge and task of being a pastor. It's to feed the people of Jesus, to teach the Word of God. Look, I mean, it's this teaching right here, along with 2 Timothy 4 and Acts 6 and several other places, this is why we organize our church life like we do. This is why we center the public services of worship here at 3rd Avenue like this one. We center the whole thing around the preaching of the Word. It's why we as, you know, the 13 current elders want to be sure that every man we nominate to be an elder is able to handle the word of God well.

43:42 And we ask them questions in the process of a nomination process. We ask them questions to make sure that they can handle the word of God well and apply it to things going on in people's lives. And teaching the flock, teaching the sheep, feeding the sheep, it doesn't necessarily mean that you've got to be a superstar at public speaking. That's not the point. But it does mean that you've got to be able to understand the Word, handle it well, and bring it to bear on people's lives accurately. And straight up, I mean, you know, that's the main thing you've called me to do.

44:13 As the senior pastor of the church, you have called me. You set me aside. You pulled me out of, you know, what would have been some sort of secular career. You pulled me out of that. And you pay me to teach and feed you as a local flock of Christ. There's so many things. So many things that could eat up elders' time. But the main thing elders must be about is the ministry of the word and prayer. We have to be about learning the word of God and then feeding you with it day in and day out, week in and week out.

44:47 Pray for us in that. So that's point one. The right response to being forgiven by Jesus is to feed his sheep, shepherd his people. Second point, right response to being forgiven by Jesus is to suffer for his glory. It's to suffer for his glory, and that's the point of verses 18 and 19. Look down at those. After Jesus gives that last command in 17, feed my sheep for the third time, he says, Truly, truly, I say to you, Peter, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted.

45:18 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. This he said to show by what kind of death Peter was to glorify God. And after saying this, he said to him, follow me. Okay, why does Jesus say that? And he's made his point, right? He says, Peter, if you love me, if you're telling the truth that you actually do love me, then feed my sheep. He's made the point. So why does he say this about Peter first being young and being able to go where he wants and then being old and having to stretch out his arms and being led where he doesn't want to go?

45:55 Why does he say it? I mean, is that just a bare prediction? Like, is it just like Jesus goes into, you know, genie mode? Just, now I have something to tell you about the future, right? Well, no, it's not a bare prediction. It actually follows logically from this task that Jesus has given Peter of feeding the flock, teaching the flock. Because what's going to happen, and Jesus knows it, is that as Peter speaks the truth about Jesus, as he proclaims the lordship of the resurrected Christ in a fallen world, he's inevitably going to draw opposition.

46:27 And Jesus knows that. So some people have suggested that Jesus is just kind of using a common proverb about the difference between being young and being old, right? So when you're young, you get to dress yourself and go where you want to. When you're old, somebody else dresses you and takes you where you don't necessarily want to go. And people have said, that's just an ancient proverb that was used all the time, and Jesus is just telling Peter that that's what's going to happen to him as he grows old. That's kind of all it is. But there's no evidence that a saying like that ever existed. I mean, it kind of sounds like there should be, but there's no evidence that that kind of saying ever existed.

47:00 And even that sort of thing doesn't explain the you will stretch out your hands part, does it? I mean, what is it about just being old that would say you're going to stretch out your hands? What would that mean in just a proverb about growing old? So it's not that. And besides, John tells us in that parenthetical statement there what it means. It indicates what kind of death Peter is going to die. And on top of that, everybody knew that stretching out your hands was a picture of crucifixion. It was a kind of, well, long hand for being crucified.

47:30 You will stretch out your hands. The Bible doesn't actually tell us how Peter died. But the tradition is pretty solid that he was ultimately crucified, probably in Rome. And he was certainly crucified and dead by the time John wrote this book. There's some later traditions in Christian history that say he asked to be crucified upside down because he thought he was unworthy to die as Jesus had died, but those traditions are really late to be very reliable, and probably we shouldn't put a whole lot of stock in them. Look at that last verse, though.

48:04 Verse 19. This he said to show by what kind of death he was going to glorify God. And after saying this, he said to him, follow me. Follow me. Probably there's several layers of meaning to that. I mean, on the one hand, it just looks like Jesus is just inviting Peter to, you know, go join him on a walk down the beach, right? And by the time you get to verse 20, that's exactly what seems to be happening. Peter turned and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them. So now they're going somewhere, right? So follow me. It may just be, come on, follow me. And they head off down the beach.

48:35 But I think there's a deeper meaning to it too, or else John probably wouldn't have put it in his book. It's got this deeper meaning of a call from Jesus to Peter to follow him in the sense of obeying him, being his disciple, serving Jesus through all the years of his life, even if that following were going to lead to his death. And it's as if Jesus is saying, I'm telling you right now that as you feed my sheep, as you tend my lambs, it's going to lead to such opposition that they will ultimately crucify you and stretch out your hands.

49:10 Nevertheless, follow me. And it's amazing to think about, isn't it? I think it's incredible to think about it, that Peter knew what his following after Jesus was going to lead him to. It was going to lead him to an excruciating death on a cross, and yet he followed Jesus anyway. Why did he do that? I mean, how did he do that? How did he know what this was all going to end in, And yet for 30 years, he followed Jesus anyway.

49:44 Would you do that? Would you do that? If you got an email from heaven that just said, you know, dear so-and-so, if you follow Jesus, what's going to happen to you 30 years from now is that you are going to be crucified in the most excruciating way imaginable. That would be the result of you following Jesus. My guess is you'd have a second thought about it. You might write back and say, is there any way I can avoid this? peter just followed jesus how did he do it what was it that was so deep down in his heart that even the threat of crucifixion did not deter him from following jesus well i think it's two things that you can you can sort of see in this passage first peter followed jesus even unto death because he knew the glories of having been forgiven he followed jesus even to death because he knew the glories of having been forgiven.

50:36 He knew other things too, right? He knew his betrayal of his master. He knew the pain and shame of that sin. And he also knew the joy of having that pain and shame lifted off of him. And of Jesus looking him in the eye and saying, yes, you do love me. Now go feed my sheep. He knew the joy of that. And that forgiveness, that eternal, unbreakable joy of having a clean heart drove him to follow Jesus all the way to the cross. All the way to the nails. All the way to his own crucifixion.

51:08 I wonder if you know that joy. I wonder if you've ever felt that joy of being forgiven. You can. You can. You've got to feel the shame of the sin first. You've got to understand that you are a sinner before God. You've got to understand that you have rebelled against God. But once that settles deep down and heavy on your soul, the relief of knowing that your sins have been forgiven because Jesus died for them, is enormous. I hope you know that. And I hope that if you don't yet, I hope it's dawning on your soul that you are a sinner in need of forgiveness.

51:44 And I hope that even by the end of today, you'll know this joy that drove Peter all the way to the cross. That's the first thing. He knew the glories of being forgiven. And so he followed Jesus even to his death. But second, Peter also knew that his suffering was ultimately going to glorify God. He knew that his suffering was ultimately going to glorify God. He may not have understood that yet at the time that this conversation was happening, but certainly by the end of his life, he knew it. And so did John. You look at verse 19 there.

52:16 By the time this book was written, Peter was already dead. But John says that little phrase there. He said this to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God. It doesn't just say to show by what kind of death he was to die, right? It's by what kind of death he was to glorify God. It's almost a second thought to John, right? He just kind of flips it out there nonchalantly. It's almost as if the idea of suffering leading to the glory of God was just sort of a well-understood teaching in the church by this time. It probably took them some time to get it, but they did.

52:49 And we have no idea how long it took Peter to learn that, that suffering leads to the glory of God. But he did learn it. In fact, he wrote about it in 1 Peter chapter 4. If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed because the spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or a meddler. Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name. You see what he's saying there? If you suffer as a Christian, as one who has taken the name of Christ, if you suffer because of that, then don't shrink away from it.

53:29 Glorify God in the name that you've taken on. I am a Christian, and therefore I suffer. Do you see why that is? Do you see why the suffering of Christ's people leads to the glory of God? There's a very tight logical connection between the suffering of Christ's people and the glory of God. Do you see what it is? It's because when you suffer as a Christian, whether it's insult, as Peter puts it there in 1 Peter 4, right? He's not even talking about death. He's talking about insult, mockery, reviling. When you suffer as a Christian, whether it's that kind of thing or whether it's people laughing at you because it's a Christian or a professor at the university scoffing at you because you're standing on the truth, whether it's you getting fired from your job because you're holding on to some conviction about the reality of men and women in God's creation, Whatever it is, when you endure all of those things for the sake and the name of Jesus, do you know what you're saying to the universe?

54:23 What you're saying to the universe is this. What Jesus has done for me, who Jesus is, is worth more to me than my very life. It's worth more to me than my job. It's worth more to me than my reputation. Who Jesus is and what he's done is worth everything to me. And I will lay everything else down if I can but hold on to him. And so I suffer everything the world has to throw at me. If only I can hold on to him.

54:57 Look, I don't know how much any of you as individuals will be called to suffer in the name of Jesus. But I do know what's required of you as a child of the king. It is to stand firm in knowing that even that suffering, even the insults, even the reviling, even the loss of your job, even the scoffing of the professor or your friends or your neighbors, it is all for Jesus' glory. Hold tight to him. Friends, we're not there yet, but we are on our way home.

55:32 Hold tight to him, even when the going gets tough. Let's pray. our lord jesus we praise you and honor you today as the great head of the church the great king of your people and we thank you lord that you care for your people so much that you gave elders and teachers and pastors and shepherds to lead and to teach and to feed our father we pray for ourselves as a church that you would bless us always with with good leadership with godly the elders and pastors and shepherds.

56:11 And Lord, we pray that in all of that, you would honor and glorify Jesus Christ. We ask that in his name and always to his glory. Amen.