Steve Gentry
[0:00] Welcome to the village once again. Happy Mother’s Day. I tell you it’s a day where [0:06] we celebrate mom and hopefully you’re not gonna be like me and make her cook [0:10] you lunch but you know it’s part of being my mom I guess I don’t know. I can’t [0:15] do it I have to preach so somebody’s got to do it. It’s Mother’s Day. I know for [0:20] those of you husbands out there this is kind of a weird day because you find [0:25] yourself woefully inadequate to thank your wives the mother of your children
[0:31] but I tell you work hard today to show her what she’s worth to you. If you [0:38] don’t have any children work hard husband to show your wife that she’s [0:42] almost kind of like your mom because let’s be honest your wife is kind of [0:46] like your mom a little bit she she keeps you from putting your foot in your mouth [0:49] all the time she she reminds you to shower I know that’s what my wife does [0:54] at least you know she tells me when I look terrible which is all the time so
[0:59] happy Mother’s Day to each and every one of you this morning this is a day of [1:03] great joy rejoice if this is a day of great sorrow for you as it is for so [1:11] many women find your worth in the gospel claim the promises of Jesus Christ find [1:17] your identity in him we’re not called this is the same on Father’s Day you’re [1:22] not called to find your identity as a mother or father and I know there’s some [1:27] great sadness for some of you in that you haven’t been able to do that but
[1:31] you’re called to find your identity in Jesus you’re called to worship him you’re [1:36] called to follow him so do that today find your worth in Jesus Christ today [1:43] though we will not be handing out any carnations for you to carry home and [1:48] we just want you to enjoy your day and worship of Jesus and hearing about the [1:54] gospel because honestly the greatest gift that I could give to all mothers [1:58] today is to teach their children how to love and follow Jesus Christ so that’s
[2:02] where we’re going to spend the remainder of today doing if you have your Bibles go [2:06] ahead and open up to John chapter 20 alive for mission what a strange [2:11] Mother’s Day sermon to give but it’s the most fitting of Mother’s Day sermons to [2:15] I’ll tell you I’ll give you a little bit transparent much of who I am today is [2:21] actually probably everything based on DNA is owed to my mother and father so [2:28] if you are a mother the greatest thing that you can do in your life is teach
[2:36] your children and show them exhibit to them example to them what we’re going to [2:41] talking about today if your children do not see this in your life then the [2:49] chances of them living this in theirs are small are small teach your children [2:58] to worship the Lord don’t teach your children to worship you that probably [3:04] sounded far more harsh than I thought it would I am sorry I guess it’s true [3:09] John chapter 20 verse 23 we’ve been talking over the past two weeks about
[3:13] what being alive in Jesus looks like we started out talking about what it means [3:18] to be alive in Jesus and then last week we showed what it starts to work out in [3:23] your lives when you find life in the resurrection of Jesus Christ and last [3:28] week we saw the first thing that we’re alive for is this worship where through [3:33] redemption we join together with God in showing his worth showing his might [3:39] revealing his glory to the rest of mankind through our actions and our
[3:44] attitudes that we are not alive to worship but we are alive as worshipers [3:50] because it is what we were created to be about it’s not just one facet of our [3:56] lives it’s the overarching theme of life it’s who we are we’re worshipers we’re [4:01] either alive for the worship of Jesus Christ or we are alive in death which is [4:06] the worship of other things and the truth is most of us are alive to the [4:11] worship of other things and we’re not alive as worshipers of Jesus Christ
[4:16] because other things are standing in the way of that great life that we have [4:21] where Jesus pours the Spirit onto us and he draws us into this amazing dynamic [4:27] relationship where we pour ourselves out to him as living sacrifices but [4:36] that’s one thing to say and it’s one thing to understand and if you need more [4:41] clarification go ahead to the website listen to the podcast from last week but [4:46] it’s one thing to kind of grasp that in our minds but it’s a wholly other thing
[4:51] actually begin to see the worship of Jesus come out in your life there’s [4:58] nothing more confusing than to try to figure out what worship should look like [5:03] what it should be like so what we typically do is we boil it down to a [5:07] couple of CDs or to a worship or to a praise set on Sunday mornings of music [5:12] where we feel like we’re connecting with God and so that must be what worship is [5:17] kind of about in its totality but without what we are going to talk about
[5:22] today there is no worship once you divorce yourself from the mission of [5:28] Jesus in your life you are no longer a living sacrifice where you’re being [5:34] renewed in your mind to the constant incessant worship of Jesus the King can’t [5:42] but the sad truth is that most of us strive to do that in our lives we seek [5:51] another way and another form of worship that will almost excuse us from living [5:58] his mission what I want us to see today is that mission is not just some
[6:04] proposition it is not just some thing that we believe in or something that [6:10] Jesus is calling us to and making a demand on us it is that but it’s far [6:14] more than that it’s not a simple law for the New Testament Christian but rather [6:20] it’s the outpouring of what Jesus does in our lives into the lives of others it [6:28] is something that if it’s true in us if worship of God is true in us we will not [6:33] be able to keep this mission that Jesus came to do will not be able to keep it
[6:40] from pouring out into every single aspect every single facet every single [6:47] passion every single thing in our lives we can’t do it [6:52] well what does that mean glad you asked John chapter 20 it’s a interesting [7:00] story about the final days that the the Apostle John records of the life of [7:07] Jesus he records and this is why the four gospels are so amazing that they’re [7:11] completely concise completely parallel but then they they cover it from
[7:15] different angles and John’s gospel is kind of a different angle all together [7:20] than the other three gospels and that he focuses on the deity of Jesus he focuses [7:25] so much on the fact that Jesus is God and that he is this this God that has [7:31] stepped down and become a human being taken on human flesh walked among us and [7:37] he focuses on the just the deity of Jesus and what that looked like as it [7:42] just poured out of him all around him through healings through miracles
[7:46] through forgiveness of sins even in the cross and in the resurrection that’s [7:49] that’s the angle that he takes he’s not trying to get us to empathize with Jesus [7:54] as a human being he’s trying to get us to grasp this wasn’t just a human being [7:59] this is God and so when you come to Christ for the first time when you come [8:04] to him a lot of people will tell you the first book of the Bible that you should [8:07] read is the book of John and it’s because unlike any other book of the
[8:11] Bible it forecasts and shows us the deity of Jesus like no other it shows [8:16] that he’s not like us in every way that he is God and in John chapter 20 we find [8:22] ourselves after the resurrection and we get a great peek at what was going on in [8:27] the lives of the disciples right after the resurrection and we’re going to find [8:30] them in a really great place where they’re hiding in a locked room scared [8:34] to death that somebody’s going to crucify them and so they’re really being
[8:36] heroes at this point and in John chapter 20 I’m going to start reading in verse 23 [8:41] but what’s taking place and what’s so funny to me and I know when you read the [8:45] Bible you always get a good chuckle but what’s so funny and interesting to me is [8:49] that right before Jesus gives this amazing profound command or request I [8:56] guess you could call it to the disciples what he does is they’re in a locked room [9:01] and they’re literally cowering from Roman soldiers and from Jewish
[9:06] authorities scared to death that they’re going to be executed and then suddenly [9:10] Jesus is just there John points out that they’re in a locked house or room it is [9:18] the deadbolt is on the ADT security device has been turned on where you can [9:23] hear the beep when you open the door you know how annoying that is but Jesus just [9:28] shows up in the middle of them and he just looks in the first words of Jesus [9:32] to them as peace be with you and what’s so interesting about that is that this
[9:37] is a point where they had absolutely zero peace and then in the midst of this [9:42] great storm in their lives where they’re scared to death because their leaders [9:47] been put to death and some of them aren’t aware at that point that he’s [9:51] even risen from the dead is that they’re scared to death and the first thing that [9:54] Jesus does is reappears to me says peace be with you and then he shows them his [10:01] nail pierced hands he shows them his side where the spheres gone in he’s like
[10:06] hey guys it’s me I’m not dead could you imagine being in that room I mean you’re [10:14] and then you’re like huh the next but then what Jesus says next is the absolute [10:21] transformation of the Christian life when you come to the reality that Jesus [10:28] defeated death that he is God that he rose from the dead let’s start reading in [10:36] verse 20 actually when he had said this peace be with you he showed them his [10:42] hands and his side then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord I’m
[10:49] sure I mean could you imagine the relief and Jesus said to them again peace be [10:56] with you as the father has sent me so I am sending you a strange way to reunite [11:09] it’s almost as if he comes among them reunites with them and says now go and [11:14] get out of here because he’s informing them that life is not to be lived in [11:21] the same way ever again that the reality of his resurrection is going to change [11:28] everything and I put forward to you this morning that if it doesn’t then you
[11:37] don’t believe it if you could have been in that room that day if you could have [11:44] been one of the ten who’s sitting in that room Jesus who you saw on the cross [11:49] who you saw die shows back up physically alive shows you yeah it’s me yes and when [11:57] he shows the nail pierced hands when he shows his side what he’s doing is he’s [12:00] yeah I died you weren’t just imagining things if you can walk away from that [12:10] the same way as you were before that then you thought you were hallucinating
[12:19] you don’t believe it actually happened you either don’t believe he really died [12:25] or you don’t believe you actually saw the risen Savior but I know that if that [12:30] happens to me if I’ve got somebody that I’m following he dies then he just shows [12:35] up he doesn’t knock he just showed up being me up Scotty in the middle of the [12:41] room that’s going to change our relationship it won’t be the same I’m [12:47] going to do whatever he says so he looks at them and he says as the father has
[12:55] sent me even so I am sending you point number one this morning that I want you [13:00] to grasp is to know Jesus is to follow him last week we said to know God is to [13:08] worship him this is basically the same sentence just a little different I’ll be [13:14] honest with you to know him is to follow him if a man rises from the dead under [13:19] his own power shows up says hey I’m going to send you on this great journey [13:26] you’re not going to be like no I like this locked room we’ve got some troubles
[13:31] I don’t know if you know this or not but people are trying to kill us so we’re [13:35] going to stay here now it would have been a little bit emboldened me because [13:39] I’ll be like they can’t even kill us it’s going to change you otherwise you [13:48] don’t know him and so what he does is he gives them the Great Commission just [13:56] in a different way he says even so the father sent me I’m sending you feel [14:02] like in Matthew chapter 28 verses 19 through 20 and this is one of those
[14:05] verses that most of us know if you’ve been here for any period of time you’ve [14:08] probably heard me talk about it before but it’s what we call the Great [14:10] Commission in the church and in the Great Commission in Matthew 28 19 Jesus [14:16] looks to the disciples and it’s a different recording of a different day [14:20] not this day but when he’s got about 120 people probably gathered on top of a [14:24] mountain he’s about to ascend up into heaven to sit at the right hand of the
[14:27] father he gathers them around him and he says all authority in heaven and earth [14:31] has been given to me and we’re like how do we know and he’s like I rose from the [14:34] dead dummy he’s like clearly I have a little bit of authority and then he [14:40] leverages that authority and he says because I have this authority go make [14:48] disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son [14:51] and of the Holy Spirit teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you
[14:55] and behold I’m with you always to the end of the age now this week and next [14:58] week I want you to pay attention to three words and we’re only gonna talk [15:01] about one of them today go make disciples all right because what we do is [15:07] we try to so make what Jesus has made clear vague and try to make it [15:15] subjective well that’s gonna look a little different for me than it’s gonna [15:17] look for you all right so I want to sit make this as simple as possible and
[15:22] break it down and say on everything else that Jesus says in those two verses [15:27] depends these three words go make disciples he’s fleshing out those three [15:31] words through the rest of the command and today I want to focus on one go that [15:37] is probably in the scripture the clearest command ever one word go the [15:46] Christian life is made up beginning with that one word from Jesus to us where he [15:54] sums up that the action of following me is going to involve you going from one
[16:03] place to another and then keep going because at the end of this command he [16:09] says to the end of the age so when does the going stop at the end of the age [16:14] when does the end of the age happen Jesus and got the father and the Holy [16:19] Spirit are the only ones that know Jesus even kind of alludes to the fact that [16:22] he’s kind of fuzzy on it and the father’s the one that has that kind of [16:26] knowledge in one part that he’s kind of submitted himself to not knowing how
[16:31] that works don’t ask your head may explode mind did messy my mom had to [16:39] clean it up happy Mother’s Day but what we’re looking at here is this amazing [16:47] command of Jesus where he says following him is going to look like going [16:53] somewhere and what’s interesting in John chapter 20 is I think he makes it a [16:58] little bit clearer to us he says as a father sent me so I am sending you and [17:05] that’s funny because we’re following him but he’s telling us to go away that how
[17:11] does that work in your mind it’s like it’s like one of these beautiful things [17:15] and this a romantic comedy you know if it’s really love don’t come back you know [17:21] if you love him you gotta let him go it’s one of those things you tell [17:25] yourself and then years later you’re like that makes no sense man she really [17:30] got me on that one but Jesus is telling us this crazy thing that following him [17:36] is gonna look suspiciously like going away but what he’s doing in this great
[17:42] thing is like in when the disciples were gathered and they come before this huge [17:45] harvest field and he says the field is ripe for harvest but the laborers are [17:49] few and then he says so I’m sending you to be my laborers to reap my harvest [17:53] what Jesus is saying when he says as the father sent me so I am sending you [17:57] he’s basically saying you can’t leave me wherever you go I’m gonna be there I’m [18:04] sending you to take part in the work that I’m already involved in
[18:09] Jesus isn’t begging us to redeem people he’s doing that he’s just saying come [18:14] along and you’ll get to see the amazing things that I’m gonna do in redemption [18:20] and for a man that rose from the dead that’s a pretty tempting offer because [18:24] if he can rise from the dead I’m pretty certain he can do some other pretty [18:28] amazing things because he looks at the disciples at one point and he says [18:31] greater miracles than anything you’re gonna see me do while I’m here you’re
[18:35] gonna be able to see and say man Jesus you’ve healed the blind I don’t know if [18:40] I can see anything better than that and then he raises Lazarus up from the dead [18:43] and I’m like I don’t think I’ve seen anything better than that then he [18:45] himself raises up from the dead and he’s like okay I got you so you’re [18:51] telling me that there’s gonna be this interesting miracle that I’m gonna be [18:53] able to see throughout my entire life where I’m actually gonna see death come
[18:57] alive there’s no greater miracle no greater miracle the faith to believe [19:07] that death can come back to life there’s no greater miracle and when you’re a [19:11] follower of Jesus what’s interesting is you get to frequently see that happen [19:15] in people’s lives the problem is is that if you’re like well I’ve never seen [19:19] anybody rise from that then you don’t believe people are dead you don’t believe [19:24] in the truths of Scripture like people are dead in their sins and that we as
[19:29] Christians as follower of Jesus what we spend our time doing is looking at [19:33] people that are dead in their sins and saying you can have life that’s a great [19:39] miracle that those who are divorced from God those who have been separated from [19:44] him can then be turned again into reconciliation with God the Father what [19:49] a miracle and the person of Jesus the work of Jesus reveals that God will let [19:56] nothing stand in the way of him doing that miracle nothing because notice what
[20:02] Jesus says first he says as the Father sent me so that begs the question how [20:08] did the Father send the son why did he come because that’s what he’s telling us [20:17] if we’re going to have a mission for him in our lives the first thing that we [20:22] have to do is look at his life look at his birth John chapter one the very [20:28] beginning of this book is so interesting because it tells us that from the [20:31] beginning before anything else existed Jesus existed he’s just him the Father
[20:39] the Spirit they’ve just been there always self-sufficient never created [20:43] never gonna stop never gonna die they’re just always there and he says nothing [20:50] was created that was not created without him he’s with God he is God but then it [20:57] John chapter 1 verse 14 it says that the Son the Word the Logos the [21:02] revelation of God to all of creation took on flesh and dwelt among us that [21:10] word dwelt among us is this word that in the Greek is actually an Aramaic and
[21:15] stuff is tabernacle if you know anything about the Old Testament the [21:19] tabernacle in the Old Testament the Jews the Hebrews when they were going [21:24] had them build a tabernacle for their worship and the tabernacle was where [21:29] the presence of the God hovered over and God tabernacled with the Hebrews Jesus [21:36] John the Apostles actually writing here and he’s kind of taking our minds back [21:40] there and saying Jesus is God tabernacling with us or another way to
[21:46] put it it’s actually the word they would use for saying when you go camping and [21:50] it’s your dwelling place so Jesus is the dwelling place of God on earth but [21:58] what’s interesting is what does Jesus do with that because what I would think [22:02] God would do is he would set up a holy temple and say if you’re gonna come to [22:07] me which everybody must because he’s God come to me you got to clean up first [22:15] right you better clean yourself you’re going for a holy God he’ll kill you no
[22:22] that’s not what he does at all in John 1 14 when it says he tabernacled among us what he [22:28] does is his interesting thing is rather than calling people out he goes up to [22:33] people and says funny things like hey follow me come on he goes directly to [22:38] people and what’s interesting is that as these people begin to follow him as [22:44] he’s going to more people you start to see lives change you start to see him [22:54] do some very interesting things like upset the religious authority you start
[23:00] to see him doing some very interesting things like forgive sins but never do [23:06] you see him look at people and say clean yourself up if you want to be in my my [23:11] presence you peasant if I was God that’s what I do but that’s not what he does [23:18] he engages the culture with this ruthless irreverence as Alan Hirsch would [23:24] probably put it that shocks everyone because this man is claiming to be God [23:32] yet he’s surrounding himself with the most sinful elements of that day as the
[23:39] father has sent me because why did he come if he was coming just to show his [23:49] godness and show everybody how sinful they were logic will tell you he’s [23:53] wasting his time because that’s self evident and he comes from a whole other [23:59] for a whole other purpose he comes for the purpose of showing people that God [24:02] loves them he comes to the purpose of showing people that God wants to be in [24:07] lives because the purpose of showing that there is hope but it’s only in God
[24:13] and that all these religious practices that they’re doing all these attempts [24:17] that they’re making getting close to God are fruitless because God’s not waiting [24:21] God’s just coming straight to them and he’s not waiting for them to clean their [24:25] lives up either he’s coming straight to them in their sin and he’s telling [24:28] people interesting things like go and send no more in other words your [24:33] reality starts today forget what happened yesterday but then he says
[24:39] something very interesting he says so I am sending you you cannot follow Jesus [24:48] apart from mission you can’t do it you can’t do it at all and here’s where we [24:56] begin to make our mistake is we look to scripture and we want to be all about [25:01] the propositions all about the demands all about the commands we want to look [25:05] for the dues and the don’ts we want to look for what we are allowed to do or [25:09] not allowed to do in culture we want to look at all my goodness I don’t know can
[25:13] I go to the skating rink they play all that music can I go to the movie theater [25:17] can I drink can I smoke I guess I’ll go to the scripture that’s where all those [25:21] answers are and we’ve immediately lost it we’ve immediately lost what Jesus was [25:27] doing all together I’m not saying you never get to those questions but if [25:33] that’s where you start you’ve missed Jesus because Jesus came to a culture [25:41] that was doing that and he never really engaged those problems he engages with
[25:50] the real problems were in the real problems were that each and every one of [25:53] your sins are more sinful and if you’re in your sin at best you’re just going to [25:57] turn yourself into a self-righteous religious Pharisee and we all know if [26:03] you don’t read the Gospels he wasn’t a big fan they weren’t his favorite people [26:09] and those were the ones that actually in the end had him killed but what Jesus [26:15] does is he comes and he says as I was sent so you are sent so what he’s doing
[26:22] is he’s saying in light of my resurrection in light of the fact that [26:25] you can go from death to life go but then he says something that confuses us [26:30] he says in verse 22 he says and when he had said this he breathed on them and [26:35] said to them he breathed on them now I don’t don’t get too much into what that [26:40] actually looked like because you’re probably like imagining a really comical [26:44] scene from some film where Jesus is like going over top of them and everybody’s
[26:48] and he breathed on them new mosses is the kind of phrase there but the idea [26:55] is in verse the end of verse 22 into verse 23 where he says receive the Holy
[27:01] Spirit huh if you forgive the sins of any they are forgiven them if you [27:07] withhold forgiveness from any it is withheld and the way some have taken this [27:14] over the history of the church is that Jesus is setting up this elite group of
[27:20] priests who hold the keys of forgiveness and if you don’t get it from them man [27:24] you’re in trouble that’s not what Jesus is doing at all what Jesus is doing is [27:28] he’s showing them what being sent by him looks like he’s saying you have the [27:36] spirit don’t underestimate my power what I was capable of in this life you’re [27:46] capable of in your life because you have my life I was the sent one the [27:53] Messiah now you’re the sent ones you’re to be my followers because here’s the
[27:59] thing what is a Christian a follower of Jesus outside of following Jesus the [28:04] Messiah the sent one there’s no identity of Christianity so if you’re not being [28:10] sent by Jesus you’re not a Christian bluntly put that as much as I can because [28:22] being sent by Jesus looks like something and we have this culture that thinks that [28:28] we have the right we have the authority to redefine that as many ways as makes [28:35] us feel comfortable no being a Christian looks like something it looks like you’ve
[28:40] been with Jesus so you’re gonna start doing the things he did you’re gonna start [28:47] being about the things he did and then your response might say but I’m not Jesus [28:51] exactly you’re not a Christian because to have been with him it means where you [29:03] end and he begins is a line that you can’t find your life in Jesus right so where is [29:15] your identity coming from Jesus it’s funny I feel like in Sunday school one time I feel [29:22] like being a Christian was something about being like Christ it’s funny how Jesus never
[29:29] talked to the disciples about what they weren’t capable of he spends all his time saying what [29:35] they are capable of so much so that he boils it down and says on your shoulders now rests [29:42] the responsibility of taking forgiveness of sins to the world he didn’t really put it easy on us [29:48] does he he’s not saying if you want to hold a grudge you can hold a grudge they if oh good I [29:55] can withhold forgiveness fantastic if we could wouldn’t he did he he’s on the cross and he says [30:03] forgive them now what he’s saying is you have the gospel you have the truth go use it to take
[30:15] forgiveness everywhere if you don’t they won’t get it he’s saying that we as Christians as [30:27] followers of Jesus we hold the gospel in ourselves and our lives are to be spent unleashing it on [30:36] the world which is why it’s so strange that in most of our churches we have so many grudges
[30:51] so much lack of forgiveness we have so many people that all they know is who they don’t like
[31:04] we’re not really being the sent ones apart from him we have nothing in Titus chapter 3 which is [31:15] a text that we kind of looked at last week I think it helps us again understand it’s a shorter [31:20] version this week he says brothers I do not consider that I have excuse me he says Paul’s [31:25] whoops he says he saved us not because of works done by us in righteousness but according to his [31:32] own mercy by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit whom he poured out [31:36] on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior remember last week when we made the comment
[31:41] about worship that inside of the Trinity is this constant outpouring between the three parts of [31:46] the Trinity and then what Jesus does through redemption is he pours the Spirit out on us and [31:51] we live our lives towards God in worship of him what Jesus is saying right here in chapter 20 is [31:59] what that looks like because what happens is our lives begin to just become this incessant [32:05] outpouring of the Holy Spirit onto everything around us you know like I’m not seeing much of [32:11] that I know because you’re probably not following Jesus that much and and he tells us he says he’s
[32:19] poured out on you and what you need to do when he breathes on us he gives us the Spirit this is [32:23] where the disciples get the Spirit and he gives them the Spirit and then he says go forgive sins [32:28] because that’s what the outpouring of the Holy Spirit is gonna look like in your life because [32:32] you have the gospel you have it now give it but the thing is is the way Jesus says that it’s as [32:37] if there is there’s no other way it’s as if if you just have the Spirit that’s just what’s gonna [32:43] start happening there’s no if and if or statement here there’s just this is what’s gonna happen
[32:52] go do it and the best way to really explain this is to understand sin because the question that I [33:05] have to ask myself is how in God’s name is this possible if I’m a sinner because I am and if you [33:12] tell me you know that and I know some of you not all of you but the ones of you that I know your [33:18] sinners worse than you think you are all right how is this possible if I’m a sinner and I think [33:28] that’s the greatest question ever is that living the mission of Jesus living and this is the thing [33:34] living my life with the identity of someone that just takes everything in their lives and leverage
[33:41] it for going and making disciples I leverage everything so that I’m not held back from going [33:48] going going but I’m a sinner and that’s why I included some verses in John chapter 21 because [34:00] your past does not determine your future mission your past believe it your past does not determine [34:14] your future mission and most of you will believe for a great portion of your lives that my life [34:23] is going to be dictated by the things that I’ve screwed up my life is going to be dictated by the [34:32] relationships that I’ve ruined you don’t understand Steve they won’t believe that I’m a follower of
[34:37] Jesus because I’ve been a terrible person to them it’s a good thing that doesn’t matter it’s a good [34:45] thing because look in John chapter 21 starting in verse 15 this is after what we just saw when [34:58] they had finished breakfast Jesus said to Simon Peter Simon son of John do you love me more than
[35:09] he said to him yes Lord you know that I love you he said to him feed my lambs he said to him a [35:16] second time Simon son of John do you love me he said to him yes Lord you know that I love you [35:24] he said to him tend my sheep he said to him the third time Simon son of John do you love me Peter [35:36] was great I’m gonna stop there Peter was great what we do here is we look at this text and we [35:48] kind of read it but with his life that Jesus is asking Peter if you love me a certain way and [35:59] Peter responds I love you a little bit of a different way right and so he keeps asking him
[36:05] Jesus is calling Peter to a different type of love than Peter’s expressing okay forget you [36:13] ever heard that because it’s wrong it’s not what’s going on here all right I know you’ve [36:16] probably heard that and you’re like are you saying my pastor is a liar no I’m not saying [36:20] that I’m just saying he didn’t get it so if that’s different right tell him to call me we’ll have a [36:27] talk because what’s happening here is is that Jesus is saying do you agape me and Peter’s [36:34] you but in the scriptures at this point in culture those two words are completely interchangeable
[36:41] so the point is not in those words there may be some significance I’m not saying there’s no [36:46] significance but the significance in the language is actually and I know I’m losing time but this [36:52] is important the significance of the language is less drastic than you think because the way [36:56] Peter’s responding Falao was more of an action-oriented word than what Jesus was talking about [37:04] so what Peter’s actually saying is Jesus I actually love you so much I want to live my [37:08] life for you because when we look at Falao it’s like this brotherly love almost erotic type of
[37:14] thing and it’s not quite that but uh Peter’s actually saying I love you with an with an action [37:21] love from a brother it’s a kiss it’s a love of a kiss but that’s not what’s happening what’s [37:32] happening here is Jesus is beleaguering a point to make a point and you were like what’s that [37:38] point well how many times did Peter deny Jesus three times Jesus is on trial about to be crucified [37:48] and and people are like hey you’re one of them right nope I don’t know I think you’re one of [37:53] them I am NOT I don’t know and there’s like this and Peter’s like curse Jesus he does he blasphemes
[38:01] the name of Jesus when Jesus gets to that third time it says Peter was grieved the word there [38:10] in the original language is this idea of an irritated sadness have you ever had something [38:17] in your life that you wanted to forget about because it’s so painful you know the feeling [38:22] when someone brings it up it’s not like this feeling you want to punch him in the face it’s [38:29] like you want to go and cry for a little while that’s what Jesus does to Peter he does it on [38:34] purpose and you’re like that was cruel it’s actually the most loving thing Jesus ever could
[38:39] have done to Peter most loving thing here’s why because Jesus is reminding Peter of the sin [38:47] he’s reminding Peter that he does not deserve Jesus in his life he’s reminding Peter of what [38:54] a despicable person and then he’s telling Peter Peter I don’t care
[39:05] he’s looking at him and he’s saying Peter your sin doesn’t matter feed my sheep Peter [39:14] I’ve forgiven you tend my sheep Peter your life is to be based on me feed my sheep Peter [39:33] I know you can’t possibly love me perfectly I know that it’s always going to be a little [39:43] less than what I can give you actually a whole lot less than what I can possibly and already [39:49] have given you feed my sheep Peter you’re mine it’s not about your sin it’s about me [40:01] it’s about the fact that I love you so much that even in the face that you blasphemed
[40:07] the God of the universe in his darkest hour Jesus is telling Peter who he is and he belongs to Jesus [40:32] see because when we boil it down to Peter’s loving Jesus with the wrong kind of love what [40:36] we’re doing is we’re saying that Jesus is looking at him saying you need to love me better Peter
[40:44] I’m calling you to a better standard of love because your love’s not good enough for me that’s [40:51] not the Messiah the Messiah says your love could never possibly be good enough and so I’m not really [40:58] worried about it because I’m gonna pour myself out in you and you just love me back with the strength [41:03] that I give you that’s mine and that’s why I give you the spirit pastor brother named Tim Keller [41:11] gives this amazing example it actually belongs to another pastor by the name of Martin Lloyd [41:15] Jones and it probably belonged to another pastor before that and before that we’re just all
[41:20] plagiarists he gives this amazing example and it’s old school Martin Lloyd Jones from another [41:25] generation and he says if you had been gone on a vacation for a long time and I’ll close with this
[41:34] if you’ve been on vacation for a very long time and you come home and you find that there was [41:39] this great debt that you owed or just a debt and they came in the mail and one of your friends [41:46] found that letter of debt and your friend paid that debt for you you know how thankful would [41:53] you possibly be and and most of us are like I’d be really thankful but what if the debt was only [41:57] like a quarter well you wouldn’t really be that thankful you’d probably just give him a quarter [42:01] and say thanks for paying my debt off for me here’s the money I owe you but what if you come to find
[42:08] out that the debt is more than a quarter what if you find out that the debt is something that you [42:15] could have never repaid because you didn’t have that kind of money what if you found out that the [42:19] debt was worth more than every possession that you own that the the debt that came due was this [42:23] amazing debt that you would have been condemned and spent years in prison if it had not been paid [42:29] and your friend pays it for you you’d probably drop to your knees and say command me Lord
[42:40] you see the point of that example is if the proportion to which you find joy in your [42:47] forgiveness is based on how much you think you’ve been forgiven if you’re anything like Peter
[43:02] it’s so huge that you say command me Lord whatever you want I’m yours and you go and [43:15] you’re the sent one and you follow him into death but if you think you haven’t been forgiven that [43:25] much you might show up to church every once in a while you might even go to a Bible study but [43:34] you won’t be sent because you don’t think you’ve been forgiven that much as I’ve grown in my my [43:43] walk with the Lord and I haven’t grown that much I’ve come to realize that I’m much like Peter in my [43:52] set
[43:59] I’ve been forgiven a debt and I couldn’t have ever repaid my love for him is nothing like his [44:08] and so the natural reaction to when he says receive the Spirit I’ve forgiven you I love you now go
[44:22] go tell the word natural word that he’s gonna use in most of the scriptures go tell the nations [44:29] I’ve transformed Jeffrey Jerry go any answer less than my whole life for his mission
[44:46] is unthinkable it’s unthinkable
[44:54] so just ask you this this morning what is standing between you and this absolutely wild [45:06] Messiah that says I’m gonna go and I’m gonna forgive and I’m gonna redeem and I want you to [45:14] and I want you to take this journey where your best is not gonna be good enough but that’s okay [45:23] because my best is because I’m God whatever standing between you and that life is your God
[45:38] it’s what you’re worshiping because that’s what your mission is
[45:47] and I don’t cry out to you today with this proposition of guilt
[45:56] follow Jesus love him with a greater love
[46:01] I don’t think it would do you any good because it didn’t do Peter any good because he kept [46:05] I just come to you with this be forgiven experience the forgiveness of Jesus and [46:33] today be the day where you forget all those reasons why not you say Jesus paid for those
[46:44] I don’t care what it is look how great the sin or the self-righteousness Jesus paid for both [46:49] because they’re both simple and be sent by him so that you can follow him today
[47:01] while Josh comes up what we’re gonna do is we’re gonna take a few moments
[47:09] we’re just gonna spend some time taking some inventory quietly
[47:15] are you living the mission of Jesus really so you’re the only one that can answer that
[47:25] if not like most of us maybe you should take a walk with Jesus like Peter did
[47:37] not so that you can live in guilt but so that you can be liberated read Acts 1 & 2 Peter was [47:44] and then come up and partake of communion and be liberated from your sin be liberated from [47:53] your self-righteousness be liberated from everything that’s keeping you from living [47:58] for mission and then when you leave today enter the culture as Jesus did and go and watch people’s [48:08] sins be forgiven because they can’t help but see Jesus working