Let’s pray.
Father,
Open my eyes so I can see Your truth.
Open my ears so I can hear Your voice.
Open my mind so I can understand Your Word.
And open my heart so I may receive all that You want me to receive.
AMEN
Today and next Sunday we are going to look at the challenge Jesus issued Peter to be a leader.
My hope is to challenge each of you towards leadership. But I warn you that my definition of church leadership that I am challenging you with today is a little different from what you might be thinking leadership within the church is all about.
Today my definition of church leadership is people ministering to people.
Pastor Joel Comiskey is a top authority on church cell group development. I ran across this a couple of weeks ago.
He writes, “While the church has done a good job of training people to go directly to God, by and large, it has failed to train people to minister to others. The pastor is considered the priest, the only one fit to minister. This barrier, tied with a lack of mentoring, produces a church of spectators who watch the pastoral performance each Sunday.”
The point that Joel is making here is that the church has fallen far from the New Testament Christianity that the Apostle Peter wrote about when he described the church as “A chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God.” 1 Peter 2:9
The Apostle Peter understood the Biblical meaning of leadership in that it was all about people ministering to people.
So when I say today that I am challenging you to church leadership I am not saying that you are all going to be teachers, trustees, SAB members, youth workers, worship leaders, or pastors.
What I want to talk with you about today is much broader than those things. What I want to talk about is involvement. Your involvement. In other words, I am talking about each of you within the church becoming involved within the body of Christ by ministering to one another. This is one of our core values.
If you can do this then you are a leader within the church, one who is leading by example.
In John 21 we find an occurrence of Jesus appearing to the disciples during the time between His resurrection and His ascension to heaven.
Simon Peter is the man who is getting the attention of Jesus in this passage.
The disciples are out fishing on the lake in a boat and they are not having any luck. Jesus appears to them and tells them to put their nets on the other side of the boat and when they did that, they caught a huge amount of fish.
It was at this point John recognized that it was Jesus on shore and tells Peter. The impatient, impetuous man that Peter is forces him to jump out of the boat and swim to shore to see Jesus.
Peter is eager to be with Him, even after he had denied him three times the night Jesus was arrested.
READ John 21:15-22
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.”
16 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.”
17 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.
18 Very truly I tell you, when you were younger you dressed yourself and 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.”
19 Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, “Follow me!”
20 Peter turned and saw that the disciple whom Jesus loved was following them. (This was the one who had leaned back against Jesus at the supper and had said, “Lord, who is going to betray you?”) 21 When Peter saw him, he asked, “Lord, what about him?”
22 Jesus answered, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You must follow me.”
John 21:15-22
The Apostle Peter’s role in the history of the church is being defined right before our eyes in these Scriptures. He was no longer going to be known as Simon Peter who denied Christ.
From this moment on he was going to be known as the leader of the Church.
Jesus was giving the Apostle the marching orders he needed. In essence, Jesus was saying to Peter, “Get ready, get set, GO!”
No longer was Peter going to just be a disciple who is observing and learning. Now it was time for him to put it all into action.
In the same way, every person who is committed to following Jesus Christ needs to transition from being a spectator to being a participant.
We need to move from just being a viewer and a talker and become active and productive.
We really are “A chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God.” 1 Peter 2:9
Yes, there are times that we need to be ministered to but there are also times that we need to be ministering to the needs of others.
We cannot continue to take in and take in and not give any out. If we do, then we are not being the kind of leader or the kind of child that God intended for us to be.
We need to get ready, we need to get set, and we need to GO!
Get Ready
Jesus asked the Apostle Peter three times, “Do you love me?”
Remember, Peter denied Jesus three times not so long ago so I believe that Jesus was not just asking the Apostle if he loves him, but I believe that Jesus was asking Peter, “Are you ready?”
Jesus wants Peter to understand the challenge of being a leader within the body of Christ. In order to do this Jesus makes Peter think about the reason that we minister.
We minister to others because of our love for Jesus Christ.
Notice the question Jesus asks, “do you love me more than these?” There are two possible meanings to this question. “Peter, do you love me more than you love the rest of the disciples?” or “Peter is your love for me greater than the other disciples love for me?”
Today I am going to go with the latter of the two.
Jesus was asking Peter, “I know that all the disciples love me and I know that you love me, but do you love me more than the other disciples love me?”
It seems that Peter answers this question pretty fast, “Yes Lord, you know that I love you.” so Jesus asks the question again. “Do you love me?”
It is almost like Jesus is making Peter think about his first answer.
Once again, Peter says, “Yes Lord, you know that I love you.”
And then again, Jesus asks again, “Do you love me?”
Jesus wanted Peter to be sure about his answer. He wanted Peter to be truthful. Jesus did not want Peter to take it back or deny Him again.
I have to believe that there was a defining moment in Simon Peter when Jesus asked him the same question this third time. Jesus made him think it through and it was then that Peter understood where the source of our strength comes from.
It comes from our love for the Lord.
Simon Peter was broken and hurt and he was truly sorry for his past actions. Peter said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.”
Simon Peter loved Jesus.
What is it that enables us to take on the challenge of leadership within the church? What is the pre-requisite for leadership within the body of Christ?
It is our love for Jesus Christ.
Danielle did something the other day that did not make me happy and I called her on it.
I asked her, “Do you know that what you did was wrong?
She said, “Yes, I’m sorry.”
I said, “Are you sorry because I am talking to you about it or are you truly sorry?”
She said, “I’m sorry that I did it.”
To that I replied, “Are you really sorry because it was wrong and you aren’t going to do it again?”
And she said, “I said I was sorry.”
What was I looking for? I was looking for a change in her behavior. I wanted to see her change her actions.
This is the same thing that Jesus wanted. He wanted Peter to experience a changed life. He was challenging Peter to do something important and He was forcing Peter to realize that he could not minister the way he was. He had to become new.
Jesus was saying to Peter, “If you are going to be the one who feeds my lambs and builds my church then you are going to have to change and you are going to have to change because of your love for me.”
Now let me put this question to you because God is calling all of us to leadership within the body of Christ.
God’s desire is for all of us to minister to each other.
Child of God, do you truly love Jesus?
Don’t be like Simon Peter and answer that question too fast today. I want you to think about it for a minute.
I want you to think about the sinful condition you were in before you accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior.
I want you to think about the struggles you have had in your life since you came to Christ.
I want you to think about what your life would be like right now if Christ was not your Savior.
I want that feeling of brokenness to come over you, the feeling of being broken without Christ.
We need to understand how fragile we are without Jesus and how we can do nothing in our own strength.
Without Jesus we are nothing.
Don’t worry; I am not going to leave you there!
I bring those things up because we need to understand that without Christ we are without worth.
Once we understand what Christ has done for us while we were in the state of sin and we understand what He has done for us even though we did not have the ability to be perfect then we are able to understand the value that Christ has placed upon us.
Jesus sacrificed His own life for me.
Jesus sacrificed His own life for you.
7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:7-8 NIV
Do you understand that you have a changed life because of Jesus Christ!
It’s not you that makes you worthy; it is Jesus that makes you worthy. He makes us worthy to be a child of God and to be a minister or a leader in the Body of Christ.
Do you love Jesus?
If you can answer yes to that question then “Feed His sheep.” Take care of His lambs. Minister to each other.
Christ is laying out this challenge to you today. It is not only a challenge for the Apostle Peter. It is not only a challenge for those who are called to be pastors or teachers.
It is a challenge for every person who accepts Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.
The Apostle Peter knew it was not just a challenge for him, that is why he wrote, “Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, watching over them—not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not pursuing dishonest gain, but eager to serve;” 1 Peter 5:2 NIV
If you truly love the Lord today with all your heart then you will accept the challenge to be a leader in the body of Christ by ministering to others?
It is His challenge to the body of Christ to take care of each other. This is the way the church was intended to operate. It is the way they operated in the first century and there is no reason why it cannot operate the same way today.
Each person in the body of Christ needs to care for the rest of the body. We need to minister to each other. There will be times when we need to be ministered to but Jesus is wanting us to be leaders and to lead by example and to be actively involved in ministry within the body of Christ.
Do you love Jesus?
Next week we will finish by looking at Get set and Go and then I will give you a chance to accept this leadership challenge.
