Restored to Usefulness

Part of the reason we are here this morning is because of our sense of how much we need

the Lord and how inadequate we are in our own selves.

It's normal for any human being to want one's life to matter.

I mean, it shows up early on.

What do you ask a kid?

What do you want to be when you grow up?

And then there's the years later, the proverbial midlife crisis.

Why is it proverbial?

Because it seems like everybody hits that point where you've lived a certain number

of decades and you look back and you kind of say, is that all I've accomplished?

Is that it?

And then as we go on to life, through life, as we survive and we finish out our work career,

it's not uncommon to find ourselves depressed, that we're no longer working in the job or

career where we found our identity and found our meaning.

And we might be asking ourselves, you know, what use am I?

What is my purpose anymore?

The reality is that all of us need that sense of purpose.

All of us need a reason to get up in the morning, a reason to pursue life.

We don't want to just be biding our time.

We don't want to just be biding our time until it's all over.

Well, last time in John 21, we looked at God's really restoring the disciples and helping

them begin again.

A risen Lord revealed Himself for the third time.

He revealed Himself as the Lord who called them in the first place by having that large

catch of fish, just like at the beginning.

And then He provides for them in ways they can't provide for themselves.

And then they know that He is a Lord that they know, that it's the same Lord that they

had walked with for three and a half years.

It was exactly the encouragement that the disciples needed to begin again.

But the reality is that Peter would need more.

When a leader fails the way Peter did the night that Jesus was tried and condemned,

the damage comes.

The damage can cripple him as well as disillusioning others.

Peter's self-confidence has been humbled, and that's a good thing.

But the courage and resolve that once was characteristic of him will need to be revived

if he's to take up ministry again.

His restoration to usefulness requires the personal attention and care that Jesus takes

up in the second half of John 21.

And that's what we're going to talk about in the second half of John 21.

And that's our text for this morning, beginning in verse 15, John 21.

And 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.

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.

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.

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?

And Jesus said to him, I love you.

When Jesus saw him, He said to Jesus, Lord, what about this man?

Jesus said to him, If it is My will that he remain until I come, what is that to you?

You follow Me.

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 he come, what is that to you?

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.

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.

Peter needs to be restored to usefulness.

And this is how Jesus is going to do it.

The instruction that He gives, if I'm going to be useful for the Lord, the number one

requirement, verses 15.

through 17, is to love Jesus.

Love Jesus.

Also in those verses intertwined with those questions about Peter's love for the Lord

is his command to care for his people.

Love Jesus, care for His people.

Then in verses 18 through 23, we learn that we must follow Him.

And then in verse 24, as John wraps up his gospel, we must believe the apostolic gospel.

And then finally, verse 25, we must make much of Jesus.

These five things necessary to being useful in our service to the Lord, I believe we'll

find plenty of connection to our own lives.

So first, let's consider this very basic, foundational, profound requirement.

We must love Jesus.

And Jesus starts with a question.

A question that's foundational to everything, do you love me?

Do you love me?

Sometimes, you know, questions bring more conviction than statements because it makes

us probe our hearts.

He asks three times.

The first time says, Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?

He calls Peter, Simon, his original name before Jesus renamed him Peter, the rock, reminding

him of what he was.

Before Jesus met him.

And then he asks, do you love me more than these?

Now, some take these to refer to the things of the fishing trade.

And certainly, if Peter's going to follow Jesus, he's going to have to leave those things

behind.

He can't be a fisher of men and then spend all this time fishing for fish.

He has to let go of his old life.

His heart must not be divided.

He has to live for more than career and possessions, and so must you and so must I if we're

going to be useful to the Lord.

But it's also possible that Jesus is recalling Peter's confident boast that even if all the

other disciples abandoned the Lord, he would not do so, even if it cost him his life.

Jesus uses the verb form of agape.

You've heard that Greek term before of love, the kind of love that is self-sacrificing

for the good of the one loved.

And Peter's first answer, yes, Lord, you know that I love you.

He switches to phileo, the word for the filial affection, the family affection that we have

for one another.

The words are synonyms, so they have similarities, and there's some distinction as possible that

there's just a variation of word use between self-sacrificing love and the word for affectionate

family love.

They're both good things.

But it could be that Peter is trying to be really honest after his failing.

Being honest that his love is not at the self-sacrificing level yet.

I mean, how could he claim that it was after his betraying, not betraying the Lord, but

denying the Lord for fear that he would be arrested himself by the Jewish authorities?

It would seem an empty boast.

Peter asked Peter again, Jesus asked Peter again, Simon, son of John, do you love me?

He sticks with the self-sacrificing.

Love, but he drops the comparison more than these.

Just do you love me?

Peter answers exactly as he did the first time.

Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.

He uses the family affection love again.

Jesus asks a third time.

This time he switches to Peter's words.

And he asks a third time, and he asks the third time in that way, grieves Peter.

So he answers, Lord, you know everything.

You know that I love you.

Again, using the word he's used all along.

Well, Jesus condescends to receive the love that Peter has to give.

He knows Peter even better than Peter knows himself.

He knows where we are in our relationship to him.

And Peter's love will grow, as should ours.

But Jesus receives the love we have to give.

In fact, I will almost guarantee you that most of you, as we sang, my Jesus, I love you,

we're thinking, yeah, but I'm not sure how much.

I love you, but I know you deserve more.

And it feels that way in this interchange between Jesus and Peter.

We know that Jesus is worth that self-abandoning, sacrificial kind of love that goes to the death for him.

And yet, most of the time, we're probably not there.

Most of the time.

Most of the time, it's more of an affection, a feeling of kinship and closeness to him at best.

And sometimes, sometimes it's not even that.

But we must not miss the foundational reality that serving Jesus and spreading his gospel to others,

fishers of men, has to come, has to flow from our love for him.

It can't be just a job.

It can't be just a duty.

Love.

Love empowers us to serve Jesus gladly and to make him known.

We talk about what we think about, and we think about what we love.

It's not hard for us to do.

On the other hand, we tend to ignore what we don't love.

We tend to forget about it.

If you don't actually love Jesus, you have little motivation to share him with others,

and you're probably not going to think about it.

If you're mainly focused on your fishing career,

you're probably not going to talk about Jesus.

You're not going to be focused on your love for him.

So, if we're going to be useful, one of the things we really have to do,

we need to take time often to meditate on who Jesus is,

on what Jesus has said, on what Jesus has done, and what he has promised.

And if you meditate on these things as you take those in,

there's a natural response that comes to that.

And that is a response of love.

We do this all the time.

If there's some pastime that we enjoy,

or there's some celebrity that we enjoy watching or hearing,

or playing ball or whatever, we'll even use terms like,

I love hearing that person sing.

I love seeing that person.

Why is that?

Because you're taking in who they are, what they're doing,

and it's compelling to you.

Well, Jesus is the most compelling person who ever lived.

And if you take the time to actually focus on him,

your heart will be warmed toward him so that you love him.

If you reject who he is, if you reject what he said and what he's done,

then you don't actually know who or what he actually is.

You'll find it impossible to love him.

We can't.

We can't actually love people we don't know.

Sometimes people say, oh, I love people.

You know, generic, like a stadium, football stadium full of people.

Oh, I love people.

Well, that's not really where it shows so much as when we interact with people

that we actually know.

And so as we come to know Jesus, we need to love him.

This is the starting point.

Love Jesus.

He's given you every reason to do so.

So all the things that are distracting you,

all the feelings,

all the feeling of failure,

all the transition points of life,

all the things that can make life feel unsteady,

if you can focus here, focus on him and your love for him,

you're at the place where you need to start.

So what qualities of Jesus have moved you to love him?

You're just saying, my Jesus, I love you.

Why?

Why do you love him?

Well, think on these things.

Think on these things.

And then what tends to interfere with your love for Jesus?

I mean, one of the obvious things is our own sin.

Jesus himself said in the last days,

lawlessness would increase so the love of many would grow cold.

You can't feel love for Jesus and express love for Jesus

while you're pursuing something that you know Jesus doesn't approve of.

You can't pursue sin.

You can't pursue sin and the Savior from sin at the same time.

You just can't go two directions at once.

And so maybe it's that,

or maybe it's just other kinds of things like fishing

that are getting in the way of your actually loving Jesus.

And then why, I want you to think about this,

why is love a more fruitful motivation for serving the Lord

than just a sense of duty?

Like if you're serving the Lord

because you're afraid he's going to zap you if you don't,

what kind of service do you get for that?

I mean, think about your kids as you teach them,

you have chores to do

and you're trying to teach them how to live life.

If the only reason they do it

is they're afraid they'll get in trouble if they don't,

are they going to give the kind of service?

Are they going to do their work the way they ought to?

Well, of course not.

Okay, the things we do out of love,

there's something about those things

that are far more effective.

So to be restored to usefulness, we must love Jesus.

The second thing related to it

is we must care for his people.

Each time Peter answers that he loves Jesus,

the Lord gives him a command.

And the connection is clear.

Those who truly love Jesus are to care for his people.

I mean, don't talk about loving Jesus

if you don't love his people.

Jesus has already taught his disciples as much.

In John 13, he says,

a new commandment,

I give to you that you love one another.

Just as I have loved you,

you also are to love one another.

By this, all people will know,

here's the proof that you are my disciples.

You're following me.

You're learning from me

if you have love for one another.

So if we say we're a Jesus follower

and we don't love people,

we're not a Jesus follower, okay?

Later, John's going to write in 1 John 4,

if anyone says I love God and hates his brother,

and that doesn't have to be at the level of loathing.

That can just be the level of ignoring him.

He is a liar.

For he who does not love his brother whom he has seen

cannot love God whom he's not seen.

And this commandment we have from him,

whoever loves God must also love his brother.

If we love God, then we love those made in his image.

That's just the reality.

The love for others flows out of our love for God.

Jesus says in John 13,

John 21, 15,

he said to him,

feed my lambs.

Here's how Jesus is showing this care for his people.

Feed the little ones, the vulnerable,

the new converts.

They belong to Jesus.

They are, as he puts it, my lambs.

In Matthew 18, 5 through 6,

after setting up a child in their midst

and saying the kingdom of heaven was like this child

who had humbled himself,

he says,

whoever receives one such child in my name receives me.

But whoever calls,

causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin,

it would be better for him to have a great millstone

fastened around his neck.

Think of those giant stones

that sometimes took a donkey or an ox to turn it

and it grinds the grain in between the two stones.

It would be better for a great millstone

fastened around his neck

and for him to be drowned in the depth of the sea.

That's how much Jesus cares about little ones.

He cares about them.

And people who love Jesus care about them.

Jesus cared about kids.

He feeds them.

He guards them.

He calls his servants to take good care of them.

In verse 16, he said to Peter,

tend my sheep, literally shepherd my sheep.

In other words, tend them, care for them

in a way a shepherd does sheep.

A shepherd feeds the sheep, yes,

but more, he protects them from the wolves.

He searches for them.

He binds up their wounds.

He tends to their need.

He leads them.

He provides for the sheep

what the sheep can't provide for themselves.

And this shepherd imagery is throughout the scriptures.

Jeremiah 23, 4,

I will set shepherds over them who will care for them

and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed.

Neither shall be any missing, declares the Lord.

Jesus himself calls himself the good shepherd.

In John 10, I'm the good shepherd.

I know my own and my own.

Know me.

You can't care for people that you don't even know.

You know, one of the first steps,

you know, this is the time of year

where we see many new faces, people we haven't,

well, the first thing you gotta do to care for anybody

is you gotta go ask their name.

You gotta know them.

You gotta start to get to know them.

And one of the advantages of our meeting together

on any given Sunday is that we have a chance

to reconnect or to connect for the first time

and start to actually get to know people.

So as I'm the good shepherd,

I know my own and my own know me

just as a father knows me and I know the father.

I lay down my life for the sheep

and I have other sheep that are not of this fold.

I must bring them also and they will listen to my voice

so there'll be one flock and one shepherd.

One day, all ethnicities, people from all ethnicities

will be trusting Jesus Christ, the good shepherd.

Indeed, in this day, it's already happening.

In Acts 20, 28, Paul talking to,

to the shepherd leaders at Ephesus said,

pay careful attention to yourselves

because you're a sheep too and you can get in trouble.

Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock

in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers.

Those are to supervise and manage and to care for,

literally to shepherd the church of God,

which he obtained with his own blood.

Look, the people that you know,

brothers and sisters in Christ, young and old,

Jesus bought with his own lifeblood.

That's how much he cares about them.

If Jesus cares that much about these people,

then you ought to care that much about them too.

If you love Jesus, you're gonna love the people

that belong to him.

And this is true in whatever role that we serve.

In Hebrews 13, 17, he says to the flock,

obey your leaders and submit to them.

And that,

really goes down hard for, you know, American ears.

It's hard to hear that at all.

Why should we do that?

Well, they're keeping watch, like shepherds do,

over your souls as those that will have to give an account.

They're gonna answer to God for you.

And they're losing sleep

in order to care for you properly.

Let them do this with joy and not with groaning,

for that would be of no advantage to you.

It's to your advantage to follow the under shepherds

God has given.

And to you, as they fulfill their role

of watching out for your souls,

as those that will give account to God.

And Peter was gonna be in that kind of role.

He was gonna be a shepherd.

He was gonna be fishing for men.

He was gonna be leading men.

And as such, if he loves Jesus,

he must care for them well.

Third, Jesus says to him in John 21, 17,

feed my sheep.

Lambs need food.

You remember the first time he said, feed my lambs.

But that need doesn't stop as they develop.

We need to be fed with the pure word of God.

In both places that Jesus refers to sheep,

he uses a diminutive form, little sheep or dear sheep.

It reflects his tender care for his flock,

whatever age they are,

whatever stage of life that they're in.

And this is really what Jesus expresses here,

what Jesus expresses in John,

10, we also find in the Old Testament.

In fact, we're gonna be looking this evening

into Ezekiel 34 and looking at God's word to shepherds

and also to sheep in the flock,

how we're supposed to treat one another.

But in Exodus 34, thus says the Lord God,

ah, shepherds of Israel who have been feeding yourselves.

And the shepherds could be not just a preacher,

not just a prophet, but could be a priest.

It could be a civil leader, anybody that is leading people.

Should not shepherds feed the sheep?

You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool,

you slaughter the fat ones, but you do not feed the sheep.

The weak you've not strengthened,

the sick you've not healed,

the injured you've not bound up,

the strayed you've not brought back,

the lost have not been sought,

but with force and harshness you have ruled them.

So if you think leadership is just about telling other people

what to do, you don't understand biblical leadership,

not at all.

It's not about making other people,

it's not about making other people,

do what you want them to do.

That's Gentile leadership.

That's unsaved leadership.

That's lording it over people.

Biblical leaders are to be shepherds

that are caring for the people that they lead.

A father who leads his family,

he's the one that makes the family safe.

He's the one that defends the family.

He's the one that leads the family,

that cares for the family.

He's not just the boss.

Sometimes when we're trying to push back

against the family,

against false teaching in our day,

we overemphasize some things to the level

that we fail to understand what our role is as leaders.

And so God goes on to say,

so they were scattered because there was no shepherd,

and they became food for all the wild beasts.

Instead of you feeding them,

now they end up being food for the wild beasts.

And you know, I know enough of you,

and I know enough of your histories

to know that some of you have actually encountered

this kind of shepherding.

You've been through it.

You've seen the damage.

It's common enough because it's a worldly,

sinful kind of leadership.

But Jesus calls us to care for his people.

In Jeremiah 3.15,

I will give you shepherds after my own heart

who will feed you with knowledge and understanding.

Amen.

This is the kind of shepherding that God's people need.

And even if you're not a leader,

you still have influence on other people.

You still have impact on other people.

There are those you need to be caring for.

I mean, I can be five years old,

and I can care for my brother or my sister.

It doesn't matter what age I am.

There are people that need me to have a heart for them

and to care for them and to look for ways

that I can serve their needs.

And they need me not to put them at risk,

but I need to put them at risk.

So, it leads to the question then,

how do you view your fellow Christians in God's flock?

And I don't mean generally or generically.

You know, there's that.

But what about the specific people you know,

the people with names and faces,

the people that you have a history with?

How do you view them?

And what about your treatment of them

reflects the tendency to be a Christian?

And what about the tender love and care

that the great shepherd of the sheep has for them?

I mean, would people characterize

your interaction with other people

as Jesus-like interaction?

Would people see in you

kind of a compassionate care for others

that characterize Jesus' life

and that reflects the kind of commands

he's given to Peter?

Peter is headstrong.

He's a type A personality.

He's a get-it-done guy.

And Jesus says, whoa, wait a minute.

While you're getting it done,

make sure you care for people.

Care for my people.

Look out for the vulnerable.

Take care of them.

So, who are some of the vulnerable and weak ones

that you know that you can nourish and care for?

Good for you to think about this.

You don't live to yourself.

You don't die to yourself.

I don't care.

I don't care what age you are.

You don't have to be a grown-up.

Who are some of the people

that you need to be caring for?

What are their names?

In fact, it might be something

that you pray about regularly.

Like, you know, I want to pray for this person

and that person and the other person.

And God, help me as I interact with these people

to interact in a way that actually helps them

and cares for them,

that feeds them, that nourishes them,

that doesn't leave them vulnerable.

And the third thing,

that Jesus told Peter to do

that's very obvious here,

command was to follow him.

Verses 18 and following.

Truly, truly, I say to you,

when you were young,

you used to dress yourself

and walk wherever you wanted.

But when you were 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

he was to glorify God.

And after saying this, he said to him,

follow me.

Now, this is something that really helps us

in our lives, in life or in death.

Our purpose is to glorify God.

You want to live in a way that points people to God

and makes them think highly of him

because they know that you belong to him

and you want to die that way too.

You know, some of the most precious moments

on earth are at the bedside of someone

who's getting ready to pass into glory

and to watch God's grace alive in their life

and they're anticipating seeing their savior

and they die well.

They die in a way that turns your heart toward the Lord.

You go there to encourage them

and they encourage you by the peace

and the trust that have

as the Lord's about to take them home.

According to church history,

Peter was executed around the same time Paul was.

It was really devastating to the church.

And Paul was beheaded,

but Peter was said to have been crucified upside down,

stretched out his hands.

Peter finally made good on his vow to die

rather than to turn away from the Lord.

So we want to follow Jesus to the death.

Even if it means losing control of your life,

completely, even if it means being martyred for him,

because the reality is he's worth it.

You know, part of the way we establish value

is what we're willing to pay.

And what are you willing to pay to follow Jesus?

Jesus' description of Peter's old age

sounds a lot like old age

for most people who survived that long.

Gradually, we lose,

our independence.

More and more, we have to rely on other people

to get us where we need to go.

And it's not uncommon to be taken

wherever we do not want to be.

But no matter.

Just follow Jesus.

Follow him whatever stage of a life you find yourself.

Look, you can follow him

when you're a seven-year-old child.

Dependent on your parents and family.

Just follow Jesus.

You can follow him if you're a 17-year-old

making that sometimes difficult transition

from childhood to adulthood.

Follow Jesus.

You can follow him if you're a 97-year-old shut-in

or a bedridden saint waiting for your call home.

The fact is you're not as in control of your life

as you imagine anyway.

If you're resting in the Lord's love for you,

you can follow him

through all the changing seasons and terrains of life.

His goodness, his steadfast love

will pursue you all the days of your life,

according to Psalm 23.

He will get you safely home

and you will enjoy his house forever.

Just follow him.

You know, he's actually,

he's actually the only one you can trust

with that level of abandon.

No matter what happens, you can follow him.

John 21 and 20 and following,

Peter turned and saw the disciple

whom Jesus loved following them,

the one who also had leaned back against him

during the supper and he said,

Lord, who is it that is going to betray you?

When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus,

Lord, what about this?

What about this man?

Jesus said to him,

if it's my will that he remain until I come,

what is that to you?

You follow me.

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?

And so besides following Jesus even to the death,

we need to follow him ourselves

no matter how Christ may be leading

another one of his servants.

And that's what these verses underscore.

You know, Peter and John apparently had

some kind of friendly rivalry going on.

You remember how John seemed to take some special delight

in mentioning that he outran Peter to the tomb?

Remember that?

Okay.

Well, here, having heard the prediction of Jesus

regarding how he would die,

Peter wants to know if John's going to get special treatment

as the one identified as the disciple Jesus loved.

And Jesus said,

Jesus basically says to Peter,

that's not for you to worry about.

Whatever I choose for John is my choice.

You just follow me yourself.

We sometimes get hung up comparing ourselves

with other servants of the Lord, don't we?

Some die young.

Some die old.

And even if we don't voice it,

we think it.

Questions like these.

Why did they get a large family and we're childless?

Why do they have so much money and we have so little?

Why do they get to serve in this position or that

and I have to serve where I am?

Why are they so gifted and I'm just ordinary?

Why do some believers have to go through

very difficult trials while others seem to have it easy?

These questions and a thousand others like them

can distract us from the issue that really matters.

Are you following Jesus or not?

You are you.

You follow him.

Trust him to lead you wherever he wants you to be.

Don't covet what others have.

By the way, you know the grass is greener on the other side anyway.

It always looks that way.

They don't have it quite as easy as you might think.

Don't covet what others have.

Don't fret that there are differences.

I mean, hello, there are differences.

We talk about the variety.

We love the variety.

There are differences.

As individual members of the body of Christ,

we all have our function to fulfill

for the good of others and the glory of Jesus.

And as Paul teaches the Corinthian believers

in 1 Corinthians 12, we can't say of ourselves,

I'm no value.

I'm no use.

We can't say of any other believer,

I have no need of you.

Because God places us in the body as he wills

for the common good.

So we shouldn't be gloating over it

or griping about it.

Because we actually didn't make the choice.

You know, there are some things we make choices about.

But a lot of the things that bug us the most,

we don't make a choice.

In fact, that's what bugs us.

I didn't even get to make a choice.

Well, guess what?

Somebody smarter than you, wiser than you,

and that loves you more than you even love yourself,

made the choice.

Is that okay?

You know, Jesus makes good choices.

And you say, well, I just don't see how.

Well, do you actually think that you could see

as clearly as God sees?

I mean, do you have all of time

within the scope of your life?

Do you have all of your knowledge?

Do you understand all the ways that things intertwine?

Do you know what kinds of hard things will be helpful

and what kinds of hard things won't?

I mean, that's way beyond our pay grade.

That's way beyond our capacity.

We just need to follow Jesus

and not worry about what other people

have been assigned to do.

I mean, we can appreciate what God is doing in their life

and rejoice with them.

We can weep.

We can weep with them.

But these are God's things to do.

John ended up surviving longer

than any of the other apostles.

Most of them were martyred.

John suffered torture and exile.

It's amazing that he didn't die under that torture,

but he survived.

And it's a good thing.

Where would we be without the gospel of John?

Because he wrote this late in life.

Where would we be without the epistles of John,

the letters that he wrote?

Where would we be without the book of Revelation?

Maybe fewer disagreements about eschatology,

but in time, though, when all that's fulfilled,

we go, oh, I get it.

But think about the loss if John had died

when Peter and Paul died.

Because it was decades later that he wrote these things.

Peter would die sooner,

but even a long life on earth

looks short compared to eternity.

Think how long John has been with Jesus.

And eternity belongs to all who are in Christ.

So what are ways that you can appreciate the lives

of other disciples of Jesus

without the epistles of John?

Without the epistles of John,

without the epistles of John,

without resenting what they have compared to yourself?

And how is the Lord leading you in your life right now?

And how do you know that he's the one actually leading?

And what are some things that tend to interfere

with your following Jesus faithfully?

And what can you do to overcome them?

Finally, John's gonna wrap up his book,

and we're gonna look at it briefly just as he does.

Believe the apostolic testimony.

This is the disciple, verse 24,

who is bearing witness

about these things,

and who has written these things,

and we know that his testimony is true.

And John, you know,

John keeps underscoring

that what he's sharing is reliable,

that it's true,

that it's eyewitness testimony.

Why does he do this?

Well, he's writing at the end of the first century

to people who've never laid eyes on Jesus,

people like you and like me.

How can we possibly love Jesus

and follow him if we don't even know him?

And the only way,

the only way to know him now

is through the testimony of those who knew him then.

That is the only way.

1 John 1, 1 through 4,

that which was from the beginning,

which we have heard,

which we've seen with our eyes,

we've looked upon,

touched with our hands,

concerning the word of life,

the life which was made manifest,

it was revealed,

we've seen it,

we testified to it,

we proclaim to you the eternal life,

which is with the Father,

was made manifest to us,

that which we have seen and heard,

we proclaim to you,

so that you too may have fellowship with us.

You may have encouragement,

a common, the same experience.

Indeed, our fellowship,

our common experience is with the Father

and with his Son, Jesus Christ.

We are writing these things so that our joy,

your joy and ours may be complete.

There are those who follow Jesus,

a Jesus of their own imagination.

You must follow the Jesus who actually is.

And to do that,

you need completely reliable eyewitness testimony,

and that's exactly what John has given us.

Think about it.

If his testimony is not true,

then John is a liar,

and Jesus is a complete mystery.

Who knows if he can save anybody?

Who knows what he actually taught or did?

Without the testimony of the apostles like John,

we have nothing.

We're rendered fools chasing phantoms and fictions.

So if you're ever going to be useful in Christ's kingdom,

you have to love him,

obey his call to care for his sheep and follow him,

but to do any of these things,

you first have to know him.

And the apostles have given us that privilege.

So what are your strategies

for giving regular attention to the testimony of the apostles

so that you know Jesus?

And what tempts you to doubt

that what they've written is actually true?

And if you go down that perilous path,

if you throw away their testimony,

what are you putting in its place?

I mean, I ask you what Peter said.

Where else should we go, Lord?

I mean, have you actually found something that's better?

Or you just think you can live without it?

Number five, make much of Jesus.

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.

So if all the books in the world

could not capture all that Jesus said and did,

there is no way that we could live without it.

There is no way that we could live without it.

There is no danger

that you will make too much of Jesus.

Beware of those who make Jesus less

than what is recorded about Him,

who strip Him of His authority and power and deity,

who deny His revealed identity,

His teachings, His miracles, His resurrection,

His promise to return.

Their Jesus is fictional.

And watch out for those

who make much of their own ministries

and programs and movements

but have little to say about Jesus.

They tend to demand adherence

to their man-made codes

and their little kingdoms

while they make little of His saving power

and His amazing grace.

We talk about what we think about.

We think about what we love.

Make sure Jesus is number one.

Because He deserves it.

His words are like no other.

His works are like no other.

His salvation is the only deliverance

that works stronger than sin and death

and it lasts forever.

Make much of Jesus.

So how much

do you actually think about Jesus

in a given week,

in a given day?

Usually what we think about,

we talk about.

How much do you talk about Him?

In fact, sometimes it can,

help us to talk about Him more,

you'll be thinking about Him more.

For some people talk without thinking

but if you can put the two together,

that's good.

Jesus is the hero of the gospel story.

He's really the hero of all human history.

So in what ways has He become

the hero of your story?

Is Jesus your hero?

Is He the one you live for?

Is He the one that has your love?

Is He the one that you hold?

He's the one you're following hard after.

Any normal human being

wants his or her life to count for something

and any healthy Christian

wants to be useful for Jesus.

Here's how.

Love Jesus.

Care for His people.

Follow Him.

Believe the apostolic testimony

and make much of Jesus.

Let's pray.

God,

we thank You for the Lord Jesus.

We thank You for how compelling He is.

Lord, we get disillusioned

when we see those who say

they follow Him

and their faults and failings.

But Lord,

that's always been the case.

That was the case with Peter.

That was the case with the other disciples too.

And there's always those false disciples

like Judas.

But Lord,

You've revealed to us

the most beautiful person

that ever walked the planet.

And I thank You for that.

And He's our Savior.

He's our God.

He's the one that makes intercession for us.

He's the one that's coming back.

He's the one that's prepared a place for us.

He's the one that,

as the Good Shepherd,

will get us safely home to You.

Oh God,

help us all,

young and old,

to follow Him.

Whatever it costs us,

no matter what He's doing

in the lives of other people,

help us follow Him

and abandon control of our own lives

and cede it to Him

for His glory and our good.

For it's in Christ's name we pray.

Amen.