Imagined Jesus #4: Self-Help Jesus
Joel Haldeman, Campus Pastor of Orchard Hill: Strip District, looks at Chapter 21, the epilogue of the Gospel of John, to learn about something Jesus says we should give our lives to, and how in this season, we can find something that truly matters.
Message Transcript
Hey, welcome once again, to Orchard Hill online. It's good to be together in this way. A few weeks ago, I was able to take my six-year-old daughter skiing for the very first time. And so, I love skiing. I did it a whole bunch when I was a kid and teenager. And we had a Monday where I took her and one of my other kids out of school for the day, and we drove over to Hidden Valley to just have a great day on the slopes, especially her learning how to ski.
Now, because I skied a whole bunch when I was a kid and a teenager, Hidden Valley is, let's say, maybe not the most challenging of mountains. I was once a part of this competition when I was in high school, where I was on this team with four other people and the competition was all of these teams competing against each other to see who could get the most vertical elevation in a 24 hour window. And so yes, you're hearing that correctly. The competition actually existed for high schoolers to stay up all night and to see how much they could ski in a 24-hour window. So needless to say, our team did not win. Two people on our team actually got injured halfway through the night. And I think one of them slept in the back of my minivan through the rest of the competition.
But so, I got to do a whole bunch of skiing and snowboarding as a kid and teenager, both in Pennsylvania and in some other places. And so, going to Hidden Valley a couple weeks ago, if it were just for the mountain, wasn't the most inspiring idea. But because I got to see it through the eyes of my six-year-old, it was so much more fun. It was totally awesome to be able to have the opportunity to teach her how to ski for the first time. By the way, I gave her a pop quiz just yesterday. I want you to see how she did. Okay, pop quiz. What is rule number one when you go to Skiing? Don't crash into a tree. What's rule number two? Come on. You remember rule number two? Don't let your skis cross remember? Okay, you did a good job. You remembered rule number one, which is don’t crash. She got the important one, what can I say? So, we had so much fun on that day. I'm never going to forget that day skiing because I had the opportunity to help her learn how to ski for the first time.
Parenting is sometimes really difficult because parenting involves a lot of sacrifices. But there's this strange thing that keeps happening to our society. And it's that we keep procreating over and over again, our population just continues to go on, we exist, people keep having babies. There's a lot of jokes going around about how there's going to be a lot of babies that are born in December, thanks to this quarantine. My favorite version of this is really a correction to it. And it says yes, there will be a lot of babies born, but they will all be firstborns because those of us who are trying to work from home, while homeschooling our kids, are taking a lot of more protective measures.
Here's what we know. And you know this, whether you're a parent or not, that when we give ourselves to something that's greater than us, we can find so much meaning and joy in it. That's not unique to parenting. Some of you have experienced that in the work that you do, like because you in your work or in the business that you work for, because you believe in that mission so strongly, you're willing to work your butt off to help that company succeed. You believe in it. It's bigger than you are and you're willing to make sacrifices in order to make that thing come about. And some of you have already experienced how filling that can be. And of course, it's certainly possible to overdo that as well.
I just watched the movie, Return of the King again, and that's part of Lord of the Rings series. And basically, throughout this movie, there's the series of battles that are, you know, these wars between good and evil. And over and over again, they're these examples of courageous people charging into battle against an enemy that seems too strong. People giving their lives for the sake of their brothers and sisters for the sake of future generations.
Even though it's fictional, I found a couple moments in it so incredibly inspiring. There's a scene at the very end of the movie. And after multiple battles, there's just a remnant of the army left, and they go against the gates of the antagonist. And they're there merely as this diversion to help Frodo, the main character who's inside the enemy's gates, take the ring to the volcano and drop it in the fire, and, you know, fulfill the quest. And so, this army gathers as this diversion, and as they do, the gate opens, and the enemy armies pour out. And there's this epic moment where the enemy surrounds entirely their army. And it becomes obvious to all that they have no chance.
Aragorn who's leading this army of men to bring freedom to the world has this speech. “Sons of Gondor, of Rohan, my brothers, I see in your eyes the same fear that would take the heart of me. A day may come when courage of men fails, when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship. But it is not this day, an hour of wolves and shattered shields when the age of men comes crashing down. But it is not this day. This day we fight by all that you hold dear and on this good earth, I bid you stand, men of the West.” And Aragorn turns with a sword and a look of confidence on his face and he charges straight into that army with all of his soldiers following after him. It's a fictional story. And there are plenty of examples from our own history where people have done the exact same thing but it's so inspiring to see someone give their life for something that they believed was bigger than they were.
What I want us to do here is I want us to look at a chapter of the Bible at the very end of the book of John, where we're going to learn something that Jesus invites us to give our life to. And what I want us especially to be able to see is in this very unique season, that we're living in, how we can give our life to something that truly matters. What we're doing here is we're jumping forward to the last chapter of the book of John. And next week, we'll actually go backwards. And we'll go back and look at chapter 20, so that we can focus on the resurrection of Jesus on Easter Sunday. And so last Sunday, Kurt led us through chapter 19, which is the crucifixion of Jesus. Chapter 20 is where Jesus rises from the dead and appears to His disciples and then 21 is almost written as an epilogue to the book of John. And in it, what John does is he wraps up one important theme that has existed throughout his entire book, and he clears up one-misconception that he saw creeping into the fledgling church.
And so, what I'm going to do is I'm going to quickly summarize the first 14 verses, because that's going to give us the context for the conversation. That is really, I think, the key to John 21. So, John records that after all of the disciples had met the risen Jesus, they get up one day and they go out to their fishing boats. There's seven of them, and they set out all night long, fishing in their boat. And as the sun begins to rise, they see somebody standing on the shore of the lake. They're a great distance away and it's still dark out so they can't tell who this person is. But the person calls to them and says, have you caught any fish? They tell him no. So, he says, take your nets and cast it onto the right side of the boat. You'll catch fish there. And so, they do this and as soon as they do the net fills up with fish, it's so full that they can't even drag it back into the boat.
And there's this moment where John realizes something. In his mind, he has this flashback, it goes back about three years, to this moment where there were two boats, and Jesus was sitting in one of them. And he said to his disciples, throw the net onto the other side of the boat. And just like in this story the net comes up, they can't even bring it into the boat. And so just like that, John remembers, and he looks at Peter, and he says, it is the Lord. And Peter, who as we've come to see is very impulsive, dives into the water, swims to shore to be with Jesus while the rest of the disciples row the boat and bring the fish. 153 fish. That's what they catch. And so, Jesus has prepared a fire and all of these disciples join Jesus, they have breakfast together, and they sit around this fire and this is where the conversation takes place.
I want you to read, John, this is chapter 21 beginning in verse 15, “When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?” “Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.” Again, Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.” The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my sheep.
And so, three times Jesus asks Peter, this question, do you love me? Three times, Peter affirms his commitment to loving and following Jesus. But it's on the third moment that something clicks in Peters mind. You know, maybe as the conversation started, he just thought this was a normal conversation. But on the third time, it says that Peter was grieved, or Peter was hurt. Now, we don't know exactly what's going through Peters mind right now. But I think we can make a pretty accurate guess. Because you see just a few days prior. Jesus predicted, he told Peter, Peter, you're going to deny me three times. And sure enough, Peter does on three different occasions after Jesus was arrested, I don't know the man and I had nothing to do with them. And so, we have this moment where it's like Jesus is restoring Peter by saying to him three times but asking him to affirm his commitment three times.
Then he tells Peter, what to do. Feed my sheep. By the way, Luke records this and we just have to read Luke 22, reads like this. This is Luke 22, beginning of verse 31, and this is the conversation where Jesus tells Peter, you're going to betray me. “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.” But he replied, “Lord, I am ready to go with you to prison and to death.” Jesus answered, “I tell you, Peter, before the rooster crows today, you will deny three times that you know me.”
What I find incredible about these lines is that Jesus says two things. That your faith may not fail and when you have turned back, strengthen your brother's. Friends, this is incredible. I don't know what your past is. I don't know if you feel spiritually fit to be used by God. I don't know how you perceive your past. Peter failed Jesus. And Jesus knew it. He knew it was going to happen. And he says to him, when you turn back, here's what I want you to do. Strengthen your brothers or as he words in John 21, feed my sheep.
This is good news for you and me because Jesus knew about Peters denial long before it happened, and he still had unbelievably big plans to use Peter to do his work in the world. And the same message is true for you and I as it was true for Peter, that Jesus says to us, when you turn back, when you repent from failing me, here's what I want you to do.
The point here is that God still uses people in spite of their failures. This is actually a major theme throughout the Bible. The people that God used to do great things were not people who were perfect, were not people who had it all together. They were people that needed to repent, they needed to turn back. And so, the truth is, you have not done anything to disqualify yourself from doing the work of God.
Each of us has the opportunity to turn back but the story gets so much better than this. Verse 18, back in John 21, this is again Jesus, speaking after he said to him, feed my sheep, “Very truly I tell you, when you were younger, you dressed yourself and you went where you wanted. But when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you, where you do not want to go.” And now John, inserts his own editorial aside, he interrupts this, the flow of Jesus speech. This is verse 19, Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, back to Jesus, “follow me.”
Now, many people have said that what Jesus saying here about you know, when you're old people are going to stretch out your hands and lead you where you do not want to go, that this is actually a reference to somebody being crucified. And that was exactly what happened. Your arms were stretched out, you had to carry this cross beam and you had to walk to a place that you did not want to go. That could be the case. It was actually in 64 A.D., according to tradition, that Peter, he was crucified, he was crucified upside down for his faith.
And so, what's happening here is that John is one of the later books of the Bible that was written probably after 64 A.D. after Peter was crucified. And the fact that John is a is a later book shouldn't be any of a concern to you because when we look at New Testament books, we're looking at books that are ridiculously close to when the events actually took place. And so, when we compare books, ancient literature, oftentimes we see events that take place and hundreds of years that go by before the actual works describing those events, come about. But we have in the Bible is in the same generation, in the same lifetime of the people who were eyewitnesses to the events that are recorded. These books are being written. And even before that there's an oral tradition that's being passed around.
And so, what's happening here is that John is probably coming to later in his life after the oral tradition about Jesus has been passed around. And John is realizing, I need to put this into writing so that people have it forever. And so, he writes it down.
I think sometimes we forget that the Gospel accounts are really multi-dimensional. Sometimes we sort of think of it in this two-dimensional framework and that it's that they're the events. Then there's us viewing the events, but we really need to see it sort of three dimensionally. There are the events that John is recording. There's John writing it down for a purpose as he looks at the church in his day. Then there's us trying to understand why John chose the stories that he picked to put in his book.
And so, what's probably going on here is that John is looking at the early church. And they're probably panicking, because they're seeing that Peter, like one of the hallmarks of the faith, one of the most important leaders in the church is now dead. So, John finds it valuable to say, verse 19, Jesus said this, to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God.
So, I think what this does is, this helps us see two things. One is that Jesus knew that Peter was going to die. He knew it. And he still, the very next words out of his mouth, were follow me. Could you imagine knowing, looking into somebody else's future, and knowing that if they take this path, if they continue down the path that they're going, it's going to lead to their death, knowing that and not intervening. But that's exactly what Jesus does. He says, stay on this path, keep going this direction, follow me.
And the second reason that john writes us is to tell you and I, that Peter’s death will be for the glory of God. Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter will glorify God. Jesus can tell Peter, you're going to die, but your death will be well worth it.
You know, it is so easy for you and me to get distracted from what really matters. I will say personally that I'm a person who gets distracted super easily. A few weeks ago, I was working on a project, we were doing this renovation and had a short list of things that I needed to get done. And it was an apartment that we wanted to rent out. And so, the goal was to get it done as quickly as possible so that we could have it rented out. And I had my list and I was looking at it one morning. And this apartment has really small kitchen and kind of smallish dining room. And I kept looking at this wall in between them and thinking this would be really cool if we just put a giant hole in this wall. And I had this list, but the list was so uninspiring even though the list was so important, and the next thing I knew, I'm punching a hole through this wall. We cut this huge, six-foot-high by six-foot-wide hole in this wall. And that's just the way my life works. Like I just get distracted, I have a list of important things that I need to do and all of a sudden, my attention is going someplace else because I want to do something different.
I think that the same is true for you and me when it comes to the mission of God, it's so easy to get distracted from the mission of God. But here we're reminded that there's one thing that matters and it's the glory of God. And it matters so much that it was worth the death of Peter that Jesus could look Peter in the eye and say confidently, follow me. Actually, the very next words that come out of Peter’s mouth, as we'll see is Peter getting distracted.
I actually love this. Peter is one of those guys in the Bible whose personality just really shines through. And so, a little while back there was this conversation, Jesus teaching his disciples and he says to him, hey, I'm going to Jerusalem and I'm going to be handed over and I'm going to be put to death. And Peter gets all fired up and he gets in Jesus face and he says to Jesus, no, you're not going to die. I'm not going to let that happen. I mean, if you know the enneagram Peter, I'm putting money on he's an eight, okay? But Jesus gets in his face and says, “Get behind me, Satan. You don't have in mind the things of God.” I mean, think of Peter. He's trying to talk Jesus out of the cross.
There's this other moment where they're in the Garden of Gethsemane just a couple chapters back. And the soldiers all come to arrest Jesus. These are professional Roman soldiers, trained people. And Peter's got a little dagger on his side and he pulls it out, swings at one of their head, and you know, nearly misses, cuts off an ear. Jesus picks up the ear and heals the guy. Peter, he has such a tendency to lose focus on what really matters.
And then in this episode, Jesus literally just gets done telling him, “do you love me? Feed my sheep. Do you love me? Tend to my lambs. Peter, you're going to die. But don't worry. Follow me.” And the very next words out of Peters mouth, “what about that guy?” Listen to how this reads, “Peter turned and saw that the disciple whom Jesus loved (that's John, as we'll find out in a second) was following them. (This was the one who had leaned back against Jesus at the supper and had said, asked him “Lord, who is going to betray you?”) When Peter saw him, he asked, “Lord, what about him?” Jesus answered, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you?” You must follow me. Because of this, the rumor spread among the believers (this is John's editorial aside again), that this disciple would not die. But Jesus did not say that he would not die; he only said “If I want him to remain alive until I've returned. What is that to you? This is the disciple who testifies to these things and who wrote them down. We know that his testimony is true.” So again, Jesus says, Peter, don't worry about John, worry about this, follow me.
You know, you think about the message of Jesus to Peter in this chapter. He says, I know you failed me. Follow me. He says, I know you distract easy. Follow me. Peter, here's the goal, take care of my sheep. You're going to die for my glory. Follow me. It's like he's saying, set your failures aside, stay focused, and follow me. Friends, the good news of John 21 is that you and I are just like Peter. We failed Jesus. We're easily distracted. And Jesus words to you and I, just as it was to Peter, follow me. It might get you killed. Follow me.
Yeah, this Imagined Jesus series is all about us, confronting our misconceptions of who Jesus is. See our misconceptions is that we tend to turn Jesus into sort of this self-help Jesus. We invent this kind of Jesus that is here to just improve your life, to make you a little bit better. You know, whatever it is, whatever dreams you have, whatever goals lie in the future, you know, grab on to buddy Jesus, and he's going to come along and he's going to help you get there. He's going to teach you how to treat people, right. He's going to help you be a good leader. He's going to help you be confident in yourself, and Jesus will get you there. But what that very subtly does, in some cases, is it takes Jesus and it turns him into the servant and it turns you and I into the God. And so, what we see in John 21 is not a self-help Jesus. Jesus is not interested in coming along your side and helping you fulfill your wishes and dreams. We see a purposeful Jesus in John 21, a Jesus who has a purpose, a purpose for the world, a purpose for the church, a purpose for you, and a purpose, that is so much better than any purpose that you can come up with.
I was 17 years old. It was summertime, school had just ended. It was my junior year of high school. And I was driving with my parents to this place right outside Washington DC. I signed up for this summer program. I don't know why I signed up for it. And it was this eight-week program where I was going to be a part of this team that would travel from church to church and do ministry along the way.
At that moment, I already had my post High School plans all carved out in my mind. But as we drove there, I had this sinking feeling in my stomach that something was going to change. That God was going to wreck my plans and it made me uncomfortable. But I also knew that it was good. I'm sure enough, that was exactly what happened. That was the summer that I felt like God was leading me for the first time to become a pastor. And, you know, forget about the plans that I had previous to that.
Friends, that is exactly the way the purposeful Jesus operates. He has a purpose for you. And his purpose for you is so much better than any purpose that you can come up with for yourself, and it makes us uncomfortable, and it's sometimes difficult. But when we surrender to his purpose, there is so much joy that we can find in it. And so what I want you to see here in this chapter is, that just like Peter, in the first century, you have a purpose that is bigger than anything that you are going through right now. You have a purpose that is so much bigger than any personal or societal crises that are going on. And this is a difficult season for many of you. And probably at this stage, there's not a lot of us who know somebody who's felt the effects of the sickness itself, maybe some of you have. I think all of us together are feeling the effects in different ways. As time goes on, more and more of us are going to know people that can't get the medical help that they need and it's going to be tragic.
But all of us together, are losing other things. You've lost money, you've lost security, you've lost comfort, you've lost entertainment, you've lost freedom. We don't know how to plan. Our workplaces are chaotic. We're having to change daily. Our personal and family economies are tumultuous. And there's no end in sight. But in the midst of all of that, we need to remember that health and prosperity and comfort were never the goal. You can have all of those things and still be miserable. And some of you have already experienced that. But what Jesus offers you and I, is the ability to find satisfaction and contentment regardless of what is happening around us. This is what led Paul in Philippians 4, later in the New Testament to write down these words. He said, “I know what it is to be a need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation.”
And so, here's how I think this plays out for you and me right now. You were created for a purpose. And just like Peter, that purpose is ultimately to bring about God's glory. And so, in this season, instead of focusing on our own comfort and sulking around about how hard all of this is, we have the opportunity to give ourselves to other people. Who can you have an impact on under these circumstances? Who needs to see your joy rise above your hardship? Who can you encourage? Who do you have the opportunity to invite?
Next weekend is Easter Sunday, a day when probably across our country twice as many people will tune in to Church Online. And what you have in front of you, is an invitation opportunity that you've never had before. Because we often say that one of the hardest steps in exploring who Jesus is, is taking that first step through a church’s front door, right? Because to walk through those doors, you don't know what lies ahead, you don't know what it's going to be like, you don't know how long that time is going to last in there. And so, we often try to mitigate that by inviting a friend to come along with us, right? But all of that's gone. I mean, you have the opportunity to invite somebody into something that is so easy for them to tune into.
You've already heard Kurt talk about how we want to ask you to share your story. What an awesome way to turn the camera around at yourself, record a one-minute video of how Jesus has changed your life. If you're one of those people that has begun to follow Him, post that to your social media and that does two things; you get to invite people to come explore who Jesus is on Easter and you get to be a testimony to how God has worked in your own life and point people towards the resurrected Jesus.
Maybe you invite people by hosting a watch party on Facebook or just getting the word out on social media. You have an opportunity to invite people that don't live anywhere near this place. Now, you wouldn't ordinarily invite somebody to a church that you've never been to, right, that's, you know, down the street from your friend that lives 1000 miles away. But in this season, you have exactly that opportunity to invite someone to be a part of something that you're already a part of.
But don't just invite people. You have an opportunity to be the church to people. Look for ways to serve people in this unique season. Just as an example, as I told you about renovating that apartment, literally last night, somebody moved into that unit. And their story is a long story, but they're moving back to Pittsburgh from Hawaii. And you can imagine how challenging that would be to be hopping through airports, to have multiple flights canceled. And so this morning, my wife ran out of the house, you know, at the crack of dawn, just to pick up a bunch of groceries and to have some food ready for them just because she was thinking of how much of a pain it would be to be hopping through airports, to land, to you know, have no sleep at all, and then to think now I have to go find food.
You know, you have an opportunity in this season to think creatively. But how can I serve another person? How can I help someone without, you know, crossing social boundaries in this season? Maybe that means checking in on people and just asking how you can pray for them. Maybe it means getting on the phone, and just being kind to people and loving them. You have opportunities to do good that will outlast you. And you know, the beautiful truth here is that even if you're not a Christian, maybe you're somebody who's just exploring Christianity for the first time. You have the opportunity to follow in the footsteps of Jesus and still do what he told Peter to do. Take care of other people.
This Friday is Good Friday, and every year on Good Friday, there's an event that takes place in the Colosseum or outside the Colosseum in Rome that's called the Via Croesus, the way of the cross. And so, what happens normally, although I see this is not happening this Friday, thousands of people gather outside of the Colosseum to worship Jesus.
You know, Peter, and many believers were executed during the reign of Nero in the 60’s AD. And we don't know where that took place. We don't know if Peter died in the Colosseum or someplace else. Certainly, many people were executed in the Colosseum, including believers. But the Colosseum, it's a symbol first century Rome, isn't it? The very place where Nero would sit for his entertainment. And yet now, today, a cross stands on the ground in the Colosseum. You know, people don't gather around in large celebrations to remember Nero. But we gather to celebrate Christ.
Friends don't waste your life. You have an opportunity to impact people, to serve something that is bigger than yourself ,to join in on a mission that has been served by countless people, over thousands of years, including people like Peter, who have laid down their life for something that truly matters. And it all begins with two words. Follow me.
Let me pray for us. God, we are so thankful that you invite us into something that is bigger than we are. Help us take it up. Give us the courage to turn our eyes off of ourselves and to see the glory of Jesus, in your name, amen.
