04/26/2017
Was the day after Easter any different from any other day? Was it filled with joy or just another Monday filled with errands, doctor’ appointments, phone calls, TV shows to watch, and news to shake your head over? Were you filled with the excitement of redemption and immortality?
In the closing of the Gospel of John we have two scenes. Jesus meets with Peter in both of them. In verses 15 to 19 we pick up the story after breakfast. There they are on the shore. They’re eating breakfast. The seven disciples are gathered around Jesus and Jesus begins to ask Peter a line of questions.
Then we’re taken to another scene. It seems that Jesus and Peter have left the others. They’ve gone for a walk along the beach. Peter turns around and he notices someone is following him. It’s the apostle John, the disciple whom Jesus loved. Peter has just heard Jesus prophecy his death. He’s going to die a violent death. He’s going to be crucified as Jesus was crucified. Looking back at John he says, “Lord, what about him? What’s going to come of him?” Jesus says to him gently but firmly, “Peter, you leave that to me. You follow me.” The last words we hear Jesus utter in the gospel according to John - “Follow me.” If you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, the apostle John is saying, then you will follow Him. But it’s not left to your imagination or mine what it is to follow Jesus Christ because in these verses we get a picture of following Jesus.
What is it that enables us, what is it that motivates us to follow Jesus Christ? In a word, it’s love. You see, before Jesus tells Peter, “Follow me,” Jesus comes to Peter and He shows unimaginable love to Peter and that love to Peter draws love from Peter to Jesus Christ. He meets Peter where he is - in the shame of his sin. He begins to probe Peter, our Lord begins to probe Peter with questions and it’s clear that Peter is pained by this exchange. This is not comfortable. This is not easy but it’s just what Peter needs. He asks a form of this question three times. Why did He ask him three times? Because Peter, before others, had denied the Lord Jesus Christ three times. Scripture tells us that in denying Jesus he invoked a curse on himself and he swore. Your ears would have burned to hear the words coming out of the mouth of the apostle Peter on that occasion.
Now why does Jesus put Peter through all this? It is because Jesus loves Peter that He asks him these questions. You see, love doesn’t ignore sin. Love doesn’t pretend sin is not there. Love doesn’t find ways to paper over or mask sin. We have many ways, sophisticated moderns we are, to try to cover and hide and conceal and push off sin.
How does he respond to this overwhelming display of love? He says, “Lord, you know everything. You know that I love you. Lord Jesus, you know everything. You know the world that you made. You know everything in it. You know the human heart and you know me down to my depths and I love you.” You see what Peter doesn’t say? Not once does Peter say, “I love you more than these.” It is enough for Peter to say, “Lord Jesus, you lived and died for me. By the power of your grace you have pursued me and reclaimed me. I love you.” It spills out of his heart.
What does this say to us this morning? I do not have my pompoms to celebrate the resurrection. Friends, I want to open the WORD to you that gives us the first step in following the Lord Jesus Christ. You understand that at the core of who you are that the Lord Jesus Christ came into this world to save sinners. You understand that the Lord Jesus Christ lived and died to restore sinners, to bring them to Himself, to put them in service not because they are worthy but because of His grace. This is the difference between the Gospel, between Christianity and everything else.
That’s what every Christian who has been affected by the love of Jesus Christ in the Gospel responds to the Lord Jesus. “Lord, here is my heart. Here is my life. Here is my all. Have you seen your sins the way that He sees your sins? Have you given up trying to hide and to cover them? Have you taken them to lay at the feet of Jesus only to find out that He has been pursuing you long before you pursued Him? Have you turned from those sins? Have you turned to Him? That’s what it is to belong to Jesus. That’s what it is to be a follower of Jesus Christ.
