INCARNATION 11: A STUDY IN THE BOOK OF JOHN JOHN 21:1-19 December 13, 2015

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Julius Reynolds
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1 INCARNATION 11: A STUDY IN THE BOOK OF JOHN JOHN 21:1-19 December 13, 2015 I don t know if you have seen it before but there is a whole community in the pet world focused on dog competitions. Specifically, something called agility competitions. In these competitions, the goal is speed. Through training and obedience to the master, the dog races through a course of hurdles, ramps and hoops. It s really impressive stuff. For an example, here is the 2015 agility competition champion, Tex. That s how it s done! That is really impressive. You re seeing the dog do something they wouldn t normally do. It makes you look over at your dog and ask them what they have done with their lives. But overall, when you see the master guiding this dog, it blows you away. You think about the skills and the ability and the training. Now let me show you another competitor who wasn t quite as successful. That is Zeus the mastiff. It took him about three times as long to do what the champion pulled off. In Zeus defense, he did finish the course, but you can t help but think he wasn t built for this. In fact, almost all of the winners are 25- pound border collies. They just seemed designed to do it well. On the other hand, one hundred and fifty pound mastiffs? Not so much. You can kind of see that in Zeus performance. He is taking it at his own pace and he looks winded. In fact, you start to think, he wouldn t even be doing it if the master didn t keep pushing him onward. Begging. Cajoling. Pleading for Zeus to keep going. At the end of the day, you have to imagine Zeus is thinking, Agility competitions aren t for me. You want me to lift something heavy? I can do that. You want me to fight off wild

2 animals? I can do that. You want me to lie on your bed and take up all the space? I can do that. But I wasn t built for this. I m not designed that way, it doesn t come easy to me, the only reason I am even doing it is because the master is prodding me onwards. As silly as that is, I can sympathize with Zeus. Sometimes, when it comes to following Jesus, I feel a bit like Zeus. I wasn t built for this. I m not designed for this. It doesn t come easy to me. In fact, the only reason I am doing this is because the master said so. When it comes to obedience, this is true. When it comes to devotional living and daily intentionality, this is true. When it comes to loving people well, this is definitely true. For some people, loving people seemingly comes easy. Those people always see the good in people. They are always ready to help. There isn t a drop of skepticism or cynicism in their body. They are effervescent and kind, long- suffering and extremely patient. Then there is the other 99% of us who have a hard time with loving people because we know what they are like. People are hard to love. People are complicated and messy. They can be duplicitous and moody. They can take advantage of you or just rub you the wrong way. When Jesus says love one another, you can feel a bit like Zeus. I ll try it. I won t be very good at it, and I am really only doing it because the master asked me to. I ve told some of you before about my encounter with a beggar at a fast food establishment. He wore a bright yellow hat. I drove up for breakfast, and he had a great story that he needed a few bucks for gasoline. In a bit of compassion, I was reminded that I had disposable income enough to buy fast food, so I should help this guy. He had a specific number that he needed to fill up his tank, so I gave it to him. I was feeling extra generous. Whether he was lying to me or not, I knew I should help him. Later on that day, we stopped by that same place (don t judge me) on our way out of town, and who should I see but Old Yellow Hat, with the same story, asking for the same amount. That is a small version of a big conundrum we all face. Whether it is a beggar on the street or a wayward child or a negligent spouse. There are moments where you think, I have

3 heard this story before. I ve experienced this behavior before. I have tried to help before and nothing changes. Loving people is hard. If I was guessing, I think Peter would know exactly what we are talking about. Peter would sympathize with Zeus. Peter would sympathize with us. Peter spoke first and asked questions later. Peter was quick- tempered and impatient. He s the guy who cut off a man s ear in last week s passage. Peter is the one who argues about who the greatest is in the kingdom because he wants to be number one. Peter is the one who gets cornered by a crowd and interrogated about whether he knows Jesus. Three times he denies Jesus and ends up yelling and cussing at everyone who says otherwise. This is not a momentary slip, this is who Peter was. Peter was a fisherman. I m guessing he enjoyed it. He enjoyed being away from people. He enjoyed the simplicity of the task, but then he starts to follow this man named Jesus, and Jesus completely flips his world upside down. He says things like, If you love me, you ll love one another. If you love me, you ll serve one another. Peter probably feels a bit like Zeus. Peter loves Jesus. Jesus is the exception to the rule. Peter can t get enough of being around Jesus, but Jesus says, That s not enough. To love me, to follow me, means to love other people. If you re new here or haven t been here in awhile, we have been doing a specific study in the Gospel of John. John s Gospel has a few threads to follow, but one of the most glaring is the complicated idea of the vicarious economy of love. Simply put, the way we love other people is vicariously how we love God. The way we love God and people is deeply interconnected. Time and again, Jesus has refuted the idea that all that matters in a divine/human relationship is your vertical connection to God. It is not enough to study the Bible, pray and be moral. You have to love people well. It s not how you earn your way into a relationship with God, but it might prove you have one. All of this brings us back to this big quandary, what if you feel more like Zeus? On the other hand, you have John. John is often called the love disciple. More than any other gospel, he

4 talks about the primacy of love. He s just got that disposition. It comes easy to him. He s built for it. But what if it s hard for you? How can you love people well? I have a simple solution for you today, and its actually counterintuitive. Loving others requires us to love others less. John 21:15-17 If you have heard this passage before, you probably remember it like this, three times Jesus says, Do you love me? Three times he tells Peter some version of feed my sheep. Just as a reminder, Jesus often uses shepherd imagery including calling his followers sheep. Jesus here is saying, Peter, you need to take care of the sheep, the other followers. Essentially, you need to practice life for others. If you love me, you will care for other sheep/followers. Remember we introduced this theme a few weeks ago, but there is essentially a symbiotic/intertwined relationship between our life in God and our life with others. You can picture the cross as an image of this; the intersection of our relationship with God is exhibited in our vertical relationship with God and our horizontal relationship with one another. John actually in one of his letters says, If you say you love God but do not help a brother in need (a hungry sheep), you are worse than an unbeliever. You cannot love God and hate your neighbor. You cannot hate your neighbor and love God. It is an unnatural bifurcation to say you love Jesus and follow him, but you do nothing for his people. Here is the part that I really want you to see, Jesus doesn t simply say, Do you love me? He says it three times. His first question sets the stage, Peter, do you love me more than these? referring to other disciples he has been fishing with. Now, it is easy to read this and miss something very powerful here. He is going to tell Peter to love other people, to faithfully feed and tend to his flock, and it is all predicated on loving others less. Life for God requires you to love others less. This is the paradigm shift I want to remind you of and share with you today. It is very easy to get motivated to serve after we see a video of the helpless, the sick and the

5 impoverished. We think because of how moved I am, because of how much I love these people, I will serve them. Here is the problem, your service to others cannot be primarily rooted in your love for others, it must primarily be rooted in your love for God. If you serve others based on their need and their lovability, you will burn out really quickly. You will be overlooked, underappreciated and disappointed by the people you serve. When that happens, it is easy to say, I am going to stop serving, because I am frustrated or hurt by those I loved enough to serve. Jesus shifts that paradigm. Your service for others must be rooted in your love for him. Life for others requires you to love others less, less than Jesus. He must be your motivation and your motivator. Matthew 25: When you do these things, you are serving me. Jesus is the reason you serve and the recipient of your service. When this begins to set in, it is going to lead you to great freedom when it comes to your service. You will no longer be working for the approval of others. You are serving Jesus and because of Jesus, you will no longer serve to be successful. You will serve because of Jesus. Illustration - John Piper- Love Her Less poem. Yes, love her, love her, more than life; O, love the woman called your wife. Go love her as your earthly best. Beyond this venture not. But, lest your love become a fool's facade, be sure to love her less than God. It is not wise or kind to call an idol by sweet names and fall. As in humility, before a likeness of your God. Adore above your best beloved on earth the God alone who gives her worth. And she will know in second place that your great love is also grace, and that your high affections now are flowing freely from a vow beneath these promises, first made to you by God. Nor will they fade for being rooted by the stream of heaven's joy, which you esteem and cherish more than breath and life, that you may give it to your wife. The greatest gift you give your wife is loving God above her life. And thus I bid you now to

6 bless. Go love her more by loving less. This is counterintuitive but our best service comes when we love others less. When our primary love is for God, then we can happily serve out of the overflow. When we serve for the pleasure of our maker, everything begins to change. If you are involved in ministry in one form or another, the best thing you can do is find time to commune with God. No amount of training, no amount of self- motivation will do more for you than the love of Jesus flowing in, through and out of you. Life for others requires you to love yourself less. John 21:16-17 There are two parts to this, first and foremost, the call to love others quickly moves you down the hierarchy. If you are called to love God, then love others, you have been quickly demoted to third in the order of priorities. Conversely, it is very difficult to serve others when you are convinced you are the most important thing on the planet. If you want to serve others, to do life for others, you have to love yourself less. Listen to the call of Jesus here, feed my sheep, tend my sheep, feed my sheep. Life for others is all about feeding others, but many people when they talk about church and church life, it s about getting fed. Now hear me out, a certain level of self- care, self- love and being fed are important for your own endurance and ability to follow Jesus, but make sure and return to this passage, If you love me, you will feed my sheep. You will prioritize the growth and flourishing of others. That is an important point, but an easy point to comprehend. For many of us, that is something we just need to practice. The second part might be something you haven t considered before and something I have been convicted of several times. You see, loving yourself less is about moving down the priority list, your time, your money, etc. It is also about your idea of success. Many times our willingness to love is rooted in our desire to be a success, to change the person being loved, to defeat poverty, to end hunger, to get someone out of addiction, to help them find a job. These are all goal- oriented acts of love.

7 Sometimes, our love of self, our image, our reputation can lead us to misunderstand the call to service. Jesus in this passage simply says, Feed my sheep, tend my sheep, feed my sheep. He doesn t give Peter a grand vision for grouping the sheep, raising successful sheep, building a great congregation of thriving sheep. He calls him to the humble, ongoing task of feeding them and tending them. Just as a side note, tend is an easy word to gloss over and miss the implications. This is cleaning them, protecting them, cleaning up after them. It is easy to make this a much grander vision to build up sheep that will change the world, to create Peter s Astounding Circus of Traveling Sheep, because that would have been great for Peter s ego, his love of self. Jesus says feed them, tend them, care for them. The implication is of course that God alone is the author of success and growth in the kingdom. He says this time and again, but it is God alone who gives the growth. Jesus says, I will make you fishers of men. I will build my church. Your job is to think less of yourself, to love yourself less, including your agenda and your pride that wants to have a successful ministry. Lay all of that down and feed my sheep. Tend my sheep. I was reminded of this recently with some titles I heard for people in ministry around the country. Just as a reminder, pastor is rooted in the word shepherd, who is a sheep feeder and tender. Some people around the country have forsaken pastor for Leadership Coach or Chief Visionary or Creative Arts Architect. What is buried in this title is the aspiration to more, bigger, better. It is all rooted in success which is ultimately rooted in self. I ll admit that my personal happiness can sometimes be affected as a pastor by how many people show up in the pew. I want to quantify the effect of my service and love. I had an epiphany when I was in seminary, and I started a college program for the church I was involved with. Numerous people had previously tried and failed. I was wrestling with this gamble. Would I fail like everyone else? Would I be a success? Thus earning the praise and recognition of those around me, and in that moment God spoke to me. I didn t call you to be successful, I called you to be faithful. If I ask you to do something, I call you to do something; success is found in your obedience. Then I remembered a question posed in my

8 heart that I will probably never forget: Are you willing to be a beautiful disaster for me? Will you obediently serve no matter what the quantifiable results? Then it began to click, the Bible is full of beautiful disasters. Jeremiah preached for years and never saw a convert. The deacon, Stephen, ended up dead in a pile of rocks in the book of Acts. Peter ended up crucified upside down. All of this is built upon the most beautiful disaster of all. The long awaited Messiah hung naked and humiliated from a cross. Executed as a traitor to the state. In all of these instances, the short- term human idea of success was missed, but these are all portraits of faithfulness. Feed my sheep. Tend my sheep. This should be obvious, but loving others is not about you. Your success. Your happiness. Your validation or the accomplishment of your vision. Loving others is exactly that, devoting yourself to the care of sheep, who by their very nature are animals who fall in holes, are stalked by countless predators and are inclined to leave the flock. They are not animals that usually follow a vision or thank you for your service. That is why you serve in his name and for his glory. That is why you are reminded that your service is to Jesus and he receives it as worship, so none of it is wasted. Even if people don t thank you. Even if no one responds to your efforts. Even if you aren t successful. None of it is wasted because it is all worship that makes it to the feet of Jesus. We often call what we are doing here a worship service, but I want to encourage you to see your love as worship. The story of the man at the gas station was so depressing to me for several reasons. You feel duped. You feel depressed about the state of our country. You feel anger. How could this man do this to me? I gave him a free gift, and now he is trying to take advantage of it. How dare he? This man was given a free gift that he did not deserve, and now he doesn t even appreciate it and he wants more. How dare he! Then God got a hold of me yet again. You are that man. Grace is that free gift, but you still ask for more. You still take advantage of it sometimes. If I can continue to show you grace, then you definitely need to show it to others. Just remember, when you do it for them, you are doing it for me. None of it is wasted. Loving others requires you to love less. Love others less. Love yourself less, and always love Jesus more. Are you in need of his grace today?

The Shepherd Tends His Sheep Mark 6:34. What does it mean to be like sheep without a shepherd? The meaning may not be as

1 The Shepherd Tends His Sheep Mark 6:34 What does it mean to be like sheep without a shepherd? The meaning may not be as obvious as we think, particularly in a culture that encourages individualism, choice,