A Salvage Operation on the Sea of Life
Tom Shrader concludes his 12-session series on John's Gospel by examining chapter 21, where Jesus appears to the disciples at the Sea of Tiberias and restores Peter through a threefold questioning about love. He emphasizes that acceptance before God is never based on human performance but on Christ's finished work, and that every believer is called to full-time ministry as servants wherever God has placed them.
“You cannot make God love you any more than He loves you right now, and He'll never love you less than He loves you right now.”
— Tom Shrader
Series: John: The Essence of Life
Recorded: 2008
Duration: 42 min
Themes: restoration, forgiveness, love, service, ministry, calling, grace, acceptance, pastor struggling with failure, feeling unworthy of ministry, recovering from moral failure, new believer, church leader, mentor, questioning calling, seeking restoration
Scripture: John 21:1-25, Genesis 1-2, Genesis 3, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, James
Theological Themes: redemption, sanctification, justification by faith, pastoral restoration, divine calling, works righteousness, gospel of john, christology
Full Transcript
Today's session 12, 12-session series, so this is it. Just to give you a heads-up, I've been trying to figure out what we're going to do next. Starting next week, we're going to do something that we do periodically, but it's been a while. We're going to do a book study. We have not done this study in over five years. So we're going to study, beginning next week, the book of James. We're going to go chapter by chapter, verse by verse. So let me encourage you, if you have Bibles, to bring them. That'll be really helpful. I don't know that I'll print, maybe I'll do that. Maybe I'll just print the passages out, but it'd be helpful if you brought a Bible.
But we're going to finish up the Gospel of John. It's a series that we titled The Essence of Life. And today we look at chapter 21. So kind of put a bow on this.
The Unique Nature of John's Gospel
Let me just remind you of a couple of things. Of the four Gospels, if we put them chronologically, John is the one that was written last. Mark was written sometime in the 50's. And then Luke was written, we're pretty solid on the date, 60. And then Matthew was written in the 60's. And then John comes along, and there's now a gap here. John's about 25 years or so after Matthew's Gospel.
It's different than the other Gospels in a variety of ways. It has no parables in it. It is considered to be, and I don't know how you measure this stuff, the most theological of the Gospels. And it is a really unique first-hand account. So we'll even see in the passage today that John who wrote the Gospel is one of the key guys in Jesus' ministry.
So if you take the disciples, the apostles, John is one of those. And then within that context of the 12, he is one of the three, I'll use the term executive committee, Peter, James, and John are part of that committee that Jesus has this special relationship with. And then beyond that, John describes himself as the disciple whom Jesus loved. So we'll see some of that today. So a huge relationship between the Author and Christ Himself.
A First-Hand Account
So last week when we looked at that first Easter morning, we were getting a first-hand account. This is a guy that was there. This is an embedded reporter. This is somebody who was there. He experienced it. He saw it. He wasn't quoting other guys. His was a first-hand account. And then the same thing obviously is true today.
His purpose in writing, and this is where we left off last week, at the end of chapter 20, is that He's written these things. He's hand-selected these signs, wonders, miracles, so that you would look at them and believe that Jesus was the Christ. That is, that He was the Messiah. That you would look at Him and you would understand that He was not just a man. He was a God-man who came to earth to save His people from their sin.
So Jesus is very different. Was Jesus a great teacher? Yeah, He was. Was He a great role model? Yes, He was. Is that how we want to know Him primarily? No. We want to know Him primarily as Lord, Savior, Master, Redeemer of the race.
The Story of Redemption
So when we look at the Scripture story, we see in chapters 1 and 2 of Genesis, we see creation. In chapter 3, we see the fall. And the rest of this Bible is about redemption, which we see complete now here in Christ, and then restoration. The beginning of ushering in the Kingdom when Christ will rule again. To restore things in a sense to that pre-fall environment.
Now, are we going to get there in our life? No. But we are to be pushing toward that. This is really important. I'm going to hammer this. I'm working with a group of guys. I started something for some young business guys. I kind of gave up on my generation a long time ago. And then I gave up on the one under me. And so now I'm working primarily with seven guys in the old... and no one over 30. I'm the reverse. When I was in school, we didn't trust anybody over 30. Now I'm back in the same thing. I'm only trusting the 30 and younger.
But I'm working with them and I'm so excited about today's session with them because it's all about stewardship. It's all about life. It's about living an integrated, holistic life. And we've let those terms be hijacked by kind of new age stuff. But what God is saying is all of your life is about pushing back the effects of the fall. Pushing back sin in our own life.
Our Mission in the World
So we said it, I think, I hope I said it here last week. Paradise Valley should be a better town because you live in it. Phoenix should be a better place because you live in it. This world ought to be a better place because we're here. So we're pushing back the effects of sin the best we can. We understand that's imperfect, right? But in our heart, that's the goal. It's on our own life. And it's true of the culture. We have a huge issue of stewardship.
Now the minute I say stewardship, you grab your wallet. Well, that's all fine and dandy and part of it, but that's a part of it. Stewardship is about understanding our whole life is about responding to and using all the gifts God's given us.
Rejecting the Pastor-Laity Division
One of the great mistakes we've made in the church, and it makes me sick when I hear it, is when you put together this pastor-laity division. I can't stand it. I met with some guy yesterday and he kept saying, Pastor Tom, Pastor Tom, Pastor Tom. I said, hey man, we're going nowhere if you don't get rid of that pastor thing. I don't like that division. I'm just like you. And you know why? I don't want to let you off the hook.
I'll tell you who's in full-time ministry. Everybody. Some people make a living at it. Some people get paid for it. But we're all in the full-time ministry. You better get that. That wherever you go and whatever you do, whether it's changing a baby's diaper, a grandchild, or a child's diaper, or you're helping a high schooler or a junior hire with math, or they're helping you figure out your iPhone, or you're figuring out life, whatever it is, that's all ministry. Ministry means serving, and that's all serving. You're here for one thing. And this runs counter to everything
You're here for one thing and that's to serve. You are here to serve, serve, serve. And when that happens, are people going to take advantage of you? They're going to screw you. Just know it's coming. But that's okay, because it's not about how it ends up with you, it's about your heart, which is a servant's heart. That's just a great truth.
We've screwed this up in the church, I think, making this delineation between pastors and laity and secular and sacred. It's all sacred. That's a huge deal.
Reading John 21: The Full Story
Let's read the text. When all else fails, read the Bible. Chapter 21. I want to do something a little bit different. I want to read it all the way through.
I had fun last week with that part on Thomas, kind of seeing him out there alone, seeing the plus, the danger. There's a whole bunch of questions in here today for which I do not have answers. They're just really interesting little questions. So we'll plow our way through it and put a bow on this study.
Chapter 21, verse one. "After these things, Jesus manifested Himself again to the disciples at the Sea of Tiberias, and He manifested Himself in this way. Simon Peter, Thomas, Nathanael, and the sons of Zebedee, and two others of the disciples were together. And Peter said to them, 'I'm going fishing.' And they said to him, 'We will also come with you.' And they went out, got into the boat, and that night they caught nothing."
"But when the day was now breaking, Jesus stood on the beach, yet the disciples didn't know it was Jesus. So Jesus said to them, 'Children, you do not have any fish, do you?' And they answered, 'No.' And He said to them, 'Cast the nets on the right side of the boat, and you'll find a catch.' So they cast the nets, and then they were not able to haul it in because of the great number of fish."
"Therefore, the disciple whom Jesus loved"—just to remind you, that's John himself, that's the one writing now—"said to Peter, 'It's the Lord.' So when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment, for he was stripped for work, and threw himself into the sea. But the other disciples came in a little boat, for they were not far from land, but about a hundred yards away, dragging the full nets."
"So when they got on land, they saw charcoal fire already, and fish being placed on it, and bread." So Jesus is making breakfast for them. "And Jesus said to them, 'Bring some of the fish that you've caught.' Simon Peter went up, drew the net to land, and full of large fish, 153. Although there were so many, the nets were not torn. Jesus said, 'Come and have breakfast.' None of the disciples ventured to ask, 'Who are you?' knowing that it was the Lord. And Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them and the fish likewise. This was now the third time that Jesus had manifested to the disciples after He was raised from the dead."
The Real Character Study: Peter's Restoration
Now starts a dialogue. So if I were to say to you, who's the main character of John 21? All of you that have been around church forever would say Jesus. Well, I got that, but that's always a good answer.
My administrative assistant—I always try to find her on Sunday because I love to teach and watch her because she has such a wonderful expression. When I talk, I try to lock in on three or four people that are going to give me a good vibe. I don't need all the dark, angry faces, especially at church. So I always look for Karen. Tuesday, I said, "I don't think I saw you Sunday in church." "Oh yeah, I was there." I said, "Really? What was your favorite part of the sermon?" She said, "The part about God." I said, "I don't think you were there." She said, "I don't think I was either." You can just always answer Jesus or God and you get half credit no matter what the question is.
But the real character study in here is really Peter at this point. There's like closure—that would be a term we would use now. Look at this dialogue beginning in verse 15.
"So when they finished breakfast, Jesus said to Peter, 'Simon, son of John, do you love Me more than these?' And he said to Him, 'Yes, Lord, You know that I love You.' And He said to him, 'Tend My lambs.' Jesus said to him a second time, 'Simon, son of John, do you love Me?' And he said to Him, 'Yes, You know I love You.' And He said to him, 'Shepherd My sheep.' And then verse 17, He said to him a third time, 'Simon, son of John, do you love Me?' And Peter was grieved because He had said to him a third time, 'Do you love Me?' And he said to Him, 'Lord, You know all things. You know that I love You.' Jesus said to him, 'Tend My sheep.'"
We'll come back to that. Obviously, something's going on there.
Peter's Future Prophesied
And then He winds down the book. "Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were younger, you used to gird yourself and walk wherever you wish. But when you grow old, you'll stretch out your hands and someone else will gird you and bring you where you do not wish to go."
Well, we could easily be going, what the heck's that? But we don't have to wonder because He tells us. "Now Jesus was saying, signifying by what kind of death he would glorify God. And when He had spoken this, He said to him, 'Follow Me.' Peter, turning around, saw the disciple whom Jesus loved." Now who's that? John.
John's talking. So John's telling you firsthand what's going on here. So there's this whole dialogue thing going on with Jesus. And then Jesus tells him, you're gonna die. This is gonna be the... And Peter starts to walk. He turns around and he says to Jesus, speaking of John, the one who, and this is the same one who had leaned against the bosom of Jesus at the Last Supper, Lord, who is the one who betrays you? Peter said to Jesus, Lord, what about Him? There's a real humanity here. There's really something we can learn about ourselves, I think, if we get to that.
And Jesus said to him, if you want Him to remain until I come, if I want Him to remain until I come, what is it to you? Follow me. Now, again, John gives us some really interesting insight here. Therefore, this saying went about all the believers that the disciple would not die. So remember now, John's writing 50 years after this, 60 years after this. So that saying of Jesus about John, I'm guessing John's living with this because now everybody picked up, oh, John's not gonna die. Jesus is gonna come back again or He's gonna Enoch him or something. Something different's gonna happen. So John's going around signing Bibles and answering questions about, is he gonna die? That's probably how this is going.
Yet Jesus did not say to him he wouldn't die, only if He wanted him to remain, he would. This is the disciple, and then he closes, and to me, really, the power verse is verse 24. This is the disciple who is testifying these things, wrote these things, and we know that his testimony's true. And there are also many other things which Jesus did, which if they were written in detail, I suppose, even the world itself could not contain the book that it would be.
The Disciples Return to Fishing
Well, let's get into the story. Jesus now appears to them a third time. The boys are there. They're professional fishermen. There's seven of them listed in verse two, five of them by name, so we got that. So you got Peter, Thomas, James, John, Nathanael, and then two others. And Peter says, I'm going fishing.
So I said to you, I have a series of questions for which I don't have answers. This would be one. Why is Peter going fishing? I don't know. I don't know if Peter's going, you know what? We had a great run. We had three years. We saw deaf people could hear, blind people began to see, lame could walk, it was an amazing thing. And we didn't ever think we'd ever see anything like it, but you know, that gig's over. That was a great run. So back to the boats.
It could be that. And you might really be able to drive to that point based on Jesus' call again to say, follow me. So you might be able to drive there. It could be simply because he's a fisherman and that's what fishermen do. It could be because he's simply waiting, doesn't know what to do, and rather than sit idly, he's gonna go and they still have expenses and bills and things. I don't know. But he goes and he fishes.
Here's what's key in verse three. They caught nothing. It's not that they had slim pickings. It's not that they caught a whole bunch of little fish. They didn't catch anything. Now, I'm not a fisherman. I mean, I'm not a fisherman. But we have this cabin that we go to in the summer and they have a stock pond. So I don't, here's what I discovered. I don't like to fish, but I do like to catch. I'm not too into the fish. That just isn't my deal. I can stay, I'd rather watch Seinfeld than do that. But when the bobber goes under and this, but then I gotta figure out, man, I'm gonna have time for the story. But I figured I was gonna take it off the hook. That's a whole other issue. I don't like that part either. But even, I mean, if I go down there, I'm frustrated if I walk away and I don't have a fish or two.
Well, these guys are pros and they get shut up.
The Stranger on the Beach
So I'm gonna go beyond the text here and conjecture a bit. Because you see something amazing happen. Verse four, they see a guy on the beach. He says, you didn't catch any fish, did you? And they say, no. And he says, fish out of the right side of the boat and you'll catch some.
Now, I suspect that these disciples are very frustrated by the fish, very discouraged. And my sense is that their sense of life and worth and rightness and trust and confidence is at an all time low. And this is the reason I would say that. This is preposterous advice. Oh, you've been fishing on the left side. All the fish are on the right side. This makes no sense.
Well, then anybody goes, oh yes, but it's Jesus. But look at the key in verse four. They didn't know it was Him. They didn't know it was Jesus. This can be just some old schmuck standing on the shore. They don't know if the guy can fish or anything. He just barks this advice out. This, by the way, is not reel in and cast here and you just turn around and cast. They got to gather all these nets up. They got to drop. This is a lot of work.
So you see something there. Don't walk away, oh, this is incredible faith in Jesus. They didn't know it was Him. I think it's just a picture into the heart and mind of where these guys are at this point. And it may be where you are too.
The Vulnerability of Desperation
By the way, you're pretty vulnerable at that point because if the guy giving you advice is not rock solid, you got issues. So when you say, how does somebody lose all their money? Well, all of a sudden, you kind of become desperate. You become vulnerable.
When you get sick, I saw it with Larry. Larry would, people would come up to Larry and they'd say, you know, if you take this, this and this and then stand on one foot and spin around fast, the arthritis will go away. I mean, they would come up with these things and I would think, that's just nuts. And he would say, you know, I ought to try that. And I didn't understand until he was hurting so much.
And now I see it with Susan. You could say, last week, Susan went in for chemo and I wouldn't give it to her because her counts are too low. Well, that just killed her.
never get, Susan doesn't say anything. And I got a little text message saying, "I'm so disappointed."
Well, here's what I know. I know, like she told him the other day, she said, "I got a little pain in here." And he said, "We better reduce the medicine." And she said, "I'll never tell him I'm hurting again." And this is why. That's what I know about her, man. She would drink this chemo if they'd give it to her. She is so desirous of a cure, of something. Just something. "I want to do something. Even if it isn't working, it's something."
Well, that's kind of these guys. Well, then all of a sudden, they catch the fish, and John goes to Peter in verse 7: "It's Jesus."
Peter's Strange Response
And then Peter does something, again, that if you just read through it, and this is the beauty—hopefully, one of the things you learn about all of this is that you can observe and learn a lot just by reading. Peter does something bizarre in verse 7. What is it? What does Peter do that's really weird in verse 7?
He puts his clothes on to go swimming. It's really strange. He's there, ready for work, and he goes to get a cloak or his outer garment to go swimming.
And again, I read, "Why would he do that?" Well, under Jewish law, to offer a greeting was a religious act. And to carry out a religious act, a man need to be clothed. So even in the midst of this, there is a reason for what's going on.
The Miraculous Catch
And then he goes. They all get there. Jesus is making breakfast for them. And we discover that they have this absolute huge catch of fish. And in verse 11, we're told there were 153 of them.
Now, why is that there? Why did He tell us there's 153? I read a whole bunch of explanations. One said that 100 is a number that is full, 50 is a number of something else, and 3 is the trinity. And I'm going, "Whatever." Saint Augustine had something that was like, if you add 1 plus 5 plus 3 and divide it by your zip code, you get—I mean, I was so weary, and I have no energy for any of that.
I give you two that are kind of interesting, one very pragmatic, one not so. Historians believe that at that time, there were 153 known species of fish in the sea, in that sea in that area, and that this was to represent the fact that this gospel was to go to all places and all peoples and all tribes and all. So that kind of preaches, well, I don't know.
Here's a pragmatic one. These guys got paid by the head, and I think they just kind of won 53 and knew they had to divide it by 7 and split the dough. But that's kind of how I flop on these things. You can see I'm not the spiritual giant you had hoped for. I mean, that's an odd deal. You must have something better to do. But somebody counted them. Somebody, again, think of this. In the middle of all that's going on, somebody's counting these fish. So I still go back to it. I think it's the dough. That's my answer.
Breakfast with the Risen Lord
So Jesus said, "Come and have breakfast." They have breakfast. But nobody's asking Him, "Who are you?" They know who He is.
Now the dialogue starts in verses 15, 16, 17 with Peter. Now we need to just get slightly technical here. And there's oftentimes a problem between the Greek and, for us, the English. In the Greek, the word that's translated in English, "love," in the Greek could have three or four or five possible variations. So that word that pops up in verses 15, 16, 17 that's translated "love," in the Greek, there are two different words being used here. And the two words are "agapo" or "agape," which is kind of this unconditional love, and "phileo," kind of this brotherly love.
So for purposes of illustration, and I love James Boyce, and so if this is good enough for Boyce, I'm okay with it. For purposes of reading our way through this, Boyce, when we're coming to agape, is saying, "Here's this 100% love." When we come to phileo, he's coming, "Here's this 60% love."
The Three Questions
So let me read it that way. Verse 15: "When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon, son of John, 'Do you love me 100% more than these?'" And Peter said to Him, "Lord, you know that I 60% love you." So they got it here. And He says, "Here's an assignment, go feed my sheep."
Interesting thing again, and these are all speculations, but just stuff for you to play with. "Do you love me more than these?" What are the "these" here? What are the "these" that He's referring to? Now again, if we had a video, it would be really helpful. Because it's possible that He's going, "Do you love me more than these?" And whatever He's talking about, He's pointing to, or there.
So you have two strong possibilities here. One, "Do you love me more than these" what? Fish. "Do you love me more than these fish? Do you love me more than these fish? Are you willing to follow me again? You made that commitment. You made that three year deal. We saw that. Do you love me more than you love these fish?"
The other possibility, which is pretty intriguing, is "Do you, Peter, love me more than these" what? These disciples. Because Peter's been meowing pretty strong about, "I love you more than them. I love you more than them. I'll die for you."
Either case, Peter gets that there's a gap here. "Do you love me 100%?" "I love you 60." "Tend my sheep."
The Second and Third Questions
The second time He said to him, "Simon, son of John, do you love me 100%?" And Peter said to Him, "Lord, you know. You know now. You know I love you 60%." And He said, "Shepherd my sheep."
Then He said to him a third time, "Do you love me?" Now there's a shift here. "Do you love me 60%?" Jesus has changed that. And Peter's grieved. I don't know if Peter's grieved—there's a whole bunch of reasons. It could be because, in a sense, he's getting a little called out here publicly by the other guys, in front of the other guys. It could have been kind of the brokenness that you realize that Jesus had asked this question at a level he was never going to get to. It could have been a bit of annoyance here.
I don't want to, again, read too much into it. But Peter could have been having some flashbacks here, right? Flashbacks to what? The denial. Remember the denial? "I never knew Him. I
never knew Him. And Peter, or John, as he writes, makes a huge point that it's the first time, the second time, the third time. Whatever this is, Peter's grieved. And He said to Him, "Lord, You know all things. You know I love You 60%." And Jesus said to Him, "Tend My sheep."
Now there's a whole bunch of interesting things to me. One, it's not like Jesus is lowering a standard here. Peter's acceptance before Jesus is never based on Peter. Do you get that about you and God? Your acceptance before God is never based on you.
I think this is another thing we screw up. We somehow think—I met with a guy the other day, and he's talking about how he's disappointed God, how he sinned. He didn't tell me what it was, but he made it clear it wasn't drugs or alcohol, but we're running out of options. And so it doesn't matter. I couldn't care less. It doesn't matter to me. You don't need to confess it to me. But he's saying, "I just got to make this right. And I really, you know, I really, I'm reading my Bible."
Your Acceptance Before God
You're not—this is so good—you're not made acceptable before God based on your reading the Bible or going to church. That's not what makes you acceptable to God. What makes you acceptable to God is Christ's finished work on the cross. You can't get any more acceptable. This is gigantic.
I say this all the time, and I don't get near enough reaction which tells me either it's so good that you're pondering it or you don't get it. So we got two, and they look the same. So I don't have that ability to look in your heart. But this is big, men and women. You cannot make God love you any more than He loves you right now. And He'll never love you less than He loves you right now.
This is not about you. Doggone it, can you get that? It's not about you. It's all about Him. You're acceptable based on Him. You're acceptable based on Him, what He's done, who He is. He's not lowering the standard. He knows you're never going to agape Him.
Love me with all, love God with all your heart, soul, mind. Have you ever done that? Have you ever done that for a day? No. Ever done it for an hour? No. Ever done it for a minute? No. Ever done it for a second? Not even sniffing it.
The Purpose of the Law
That's just like the whole law. That was the whole point of the Ten Commandments. The whole point of the Ten Commandments was never that you kept them, though you can strive to that. The whole point of the Ten Commandments was to expose how lost you are.
So this whole striving, and that's what religion is. Now does that mean I don't do all the things? You know why we don't want to talk about that? Because we're scared to death somehow that if we say that, everybody will quit the things we think are important. Just the opposite. If I know I'm accepted by Him, then I ought to want to know Him more and love Him more.
What does that mean? Well, for me to know Him and love Him, I've got to be into His Word. For me to really demonstrate the love that Christ talks about, I've got to be with other believers. For me to fulfill that great commission because now I ought to want to do that. You sharing what Jesus has done in your life and who He is should become just a natural part of who you are.
You know, I had last night, I had some chicken tacos. And I don't know if it's because I haven't eaten much lately or whatever, but they were incredible chicken tacos. And two people I ran into last night, I said, "You know what, I had some great chicken tacos." And I told them where it was, and I'm walking away, and He goes, "It's really interesting. I'm very comfortable telling near strangers about chicken tacos, which haven't exactly radically changed my life. But I'm very hesitant to tell them about Jesus, who's the only thing that can radically change my life." It's just interesting. Why?
The Reality of Our Condition
Why is all that, by the way? And I'm telling you, there's another thing that's huge. We're just all screwed up. We're just all screwed up, and we're sinners, and we struggle. We do all right, then we don't do all right, and that's all within the same conversation. We're doing well, and then we fall, and then all of a sudden, then we get in and get discouraged.
That's the great accuser too. It's not just that Satan and his demons accused you before God. It's not that they're in there with God going, "Look at him, look at him, look at him." They're in there with you, accusing you before you, saying you're not worthy. Well, I knew that at the beginning. That was the whole basis of the relationship.
You weren't worthy at the beginning. You aren't worthy in the middle. You aren't worthy at the end. And the minute you think you're worthy, you've got this whole thing turned upside down. This is not about you.
Peter's Restoration and Closure
So Peter gets it. And here's what I love too. There has to be somewhat of a sense of closure to this. Because Peter's got to be just going, even at this point going, "Even if somehow He forgives me, do you think He'll ever use me?" And I love it. He says it three times. "Tend My sheep. Shepherd My sheep. Tend My sheep."
Listen, when I sin, this is so important, and when I blow it, failure is never fatal. God only—if God didn't deal with failures, there'd be nobody in the church. You are all a bunch of losers. I mean, I don't know why this is so hard to figure out. It's not—you know what, you know the problem is, you see that in everybody else. You just haven't been able to see it in yourself yet. But you're a giant loser. I mean, it's just who we are. Our value's in Christ and who He is. So that's huge. You get all that? There's a bunch more there, but you get it there.
Peter's Future and Death
Then this thing starts to wind down. And again, Peter just—I love it—is typically human. So Jesus says to Peter, "Here's the deal. You used to be kind of your own guy, gird yourself up, walk away. Well, you're going to not do that. They're going to take you, they're going to bind you," and this is about how you're going to die. Now, tradition says that of these disciples, of these...
Peter's Human Response
That 10 of them were martyred. The only one that wasn't was John, the one who's writing the book. That's kind of interesting too. But that's how Peter dies. Tradition says that he was crucified, and as they were getting ready to crucify him, he said, "I'm not worthy to be crucified right side up like my Lord," and was crucified upside down. Now, that's tradition.
But even in the midst of this, here's what I love. I mean, it's just so human. Even in the midst of this, so he's walking along, and Jesus has said to him, "This is what's going to happen, this kind of death." He's walking along, and he turns around, and he says, "What about that guy? What about him?" Because if I'm going to die this way, shouldn't he die this way too? Like he's a Democrat—everybody has to be exactly the same, treated exactly the same way.
Isn't that so beautifully human? He doesn't absorb the moment. He's going, "But what about him? What about him? What about him?"
God Doesn't Treat Everyone the Same
Man, here you go. I'm going to give you some helpful advice: just worry about you. God doesn't treat everybody equal, the same. Nor should you, by the way. My assumption is, like parenting. If you get, let's say you get three kids, four kids—do you treat all four kids the same? Not unless you're stupid. You don't treat all four kids the same, because they're four different kids.
I remember, I read a ton in my life about John Wooden. I remember one of the keys that he talked about, and at first blush, this doesn't sound right, but he would always talk about he would never treat his players the same. So if you go back to his first championship team in 64, he's got Gale Goodrich and Walt Hazard. Well, as you read through, when he's dealing with Gale Goodrich, he's dealing with somebody who is fairly fragile. So it's "Okay, you know, come on, Gale. You can do this, Gale. Play a little defense, Gale." And with Hazard, and obviously he's never going to swear, but he's going to say, "Walter, that's it. If you do that again, it's to the showers. You go."
You don't treat people, you don't treat kids equally. You're a boss? Here you go. You're a boss, you got 10 people working for you. Do you treat them all the same? Now, I understand the values. You understand what I'm saying there. I mean, I understand the fairness and all of that.
Different People, Different Motivations
But some guy, like you could dangle, you know, "Work real hard and you get a trip to, you know, the Dominican Republic or something." None of those things, none of that ever worked for me. Pens and plaques, they never worked for me. You could throw a thousand pens at me, I couldn't care less. I couldn't care less whether you gave me a ring—I don't wear jewelry, I don't like it. So that wasn't going to work.
You could tell me I could have my picture taken with the president of the company in Vegas—couldn't care less. Give me a plaque, none of that, just none of that. And yet I had guys, I'm telling you, that had walls covered with plaques and it was really important to them. And I would get these plaques and put, and it would drive this guy nuts. I'd like put them in a box or something or I don't even know where they were. Sort of motivate me with a pen or a plaque? It's like, why are we sitting through this meeting?
But to come around and talk about how you're going to have an opportunity to make a difference and influence somebody—now that lights my fire. But it's so human. We want to all be treated identical. Well, you're not identical. Now you understand the greater principle of fairness in terms of judging sin and all that—we're not talking about that. But you see that, right? So what stokes some of you just doesn't work in others. But humanly, man, we want that. And Jesus essentially says to him, "Quit worrying about that."
The Final Call: Follow Me
And then here's the call and we end with it: "Follow Me."
So if we were to put a bow on our end of this for this lesson and our time really here in the Gospel of John, we would be remiss if we didn't go back and identify the key word in the book is believe. So for us to not ask this question would be a problem. And that is, do you believe?
The Central Question: Do You Believe?
What does that mean? That means, do you believe Jesus is who He said He was? Do you look at these miracles and go, "There's something different here, man"? He's turning water into wine—that's a big one. You got deaf people who are hearing. You got blind people who can see. You got lepers who are cleansed. You got dead guys that are raised. And now He Himself is crucified and is dead and rises from the dead.
That ought to get our attention. That's John's point in writing. That stuff should grab you by the throat. If that does not get your attention, then literally John's saying, "I don't know what to do."
Signs Point to Something Greater
When you look at that, the mistake you can make is to get focused on the miracle or the sign and miss what the sign's pointing to. It's not for us to now go around looking for the sign. A sign does nothing more than point us to the direction. So when they put a big billboard up—Larry used to use this all the time—that says "Coke, the real thing," they don't want you to go to the billboard and stand there and look at the billboard. They want you to go and get a Coke and drink the real thing.
The sign is not about us worshiping the sign. The sign is about pointing us to—and John tells us—Jesus and who He is. Do you know Him in an intimate, personal way?
It's Not About Religion
And I'm not asking whether you go to church or not. Whatever. I'm not asking if you read your Bible. There's going to be a whole bunch of people in hell who go to church and memorize Bible verses and sing in choirs and teach in churches. I mean, hell's going to have a whole bunch of those people in them.
This is not about that. This is about do you know Him? Have you put your faith and trust in Him? Are you trusting Him and Him alone for your salvation? Not about religion. Not about a church. Let me help you out: there's no right church. There's no single church that saved. It isn't happening.
No matter what Jamie tells you, that ain't happening. There's no single church. Maybe East Valley, but other than that, there ain't no single church that's gonna save you. There's no person that's gonna save you. There's no act that you can perform that's gonna save you. It's coming to Christ in repentance and faith, which is the result of God's grace in your life.
Now, the call is, follow me. Now, the call is, saddle up. Now, the call is, you are a minister. You are a servant of the one true God, wherever He places you.
God Places You Strategically
I started with this on a tangent. Let me end again. He's placed you strategically. I run into so many guys, like God gets a hold of their life, and let's say they're business guys. They're in successful businesses, and all of a sudden, they want to go to seminary and teach and become a pastor or something. I go, why would you do that? Now, I did it, so it sounds a bit hypocritical. But I think I'm gifted in that area, and I think that's my gift, and I think God uses it.
But God's put you in this place. Do you understand what a cathedral your office can be? Where you have people all day long, where you're going to minister to them? This is a huge place. I don't want to hear from anybody who says priority living is something that's important to me. I never want to hear that division between sacred and secular. I never want to hear you're in the ministry. We're in the ministry.
The Book of James
Now, there's probably no better... And that's all grace, right? You get that? That's all grace. Well, if you go the other way in Scripture from that, you get to the book of James.
Martin Luther hated the book of James. Martin Luther wanted to rip James, the book of James, out of the Bible. He hated it, despised it. And the reason is, I think, because the book of James talks about now that God's done that in your life, what does this life start to look like?
So we gotta be careful, but that's where we're going for like the next, that's gonna take us, that'll take us a while. That may be another 10 or 12 weeks or something, but whatever, we'll just work our way through that.
Let's pray. Father, thank You for these amazing, wonderful truths. We thank You that You love us and care for us. And the evidence is that You have allowed us to be here today. You have shared truth with us. God, thank You for Your grace and Your mercy, for Your love. God, I pray that as we leave this place, You would use us in a powerful way, right where You've placed us, that we would be salt and light the minute we leave it. Well, not even when we leave this place, the minute that we say amen. Father, will You begin that work in our life? We ask it in Christ's name. Amen.
Have a great week. See you next week.