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
Last week we took up the topic of being a leader. We are examining the challenge Jesus issued Peter and to us to be a leader.
My hope is to challenge each of you towards leadership. The definition of church leadership that I am challenging you with 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.
These messages are not intended to challenge you 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.
My intent is to help each of you within the church become involved within the body of Christ by ministering to one another.
Let’s review just a bit.
In John 21 we find an occurrence of Jesus appearing to the disciples during the time between His resurrection and His ascension to heaven.
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 who jumps out of the boat and swims 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.
What happened next was a defining moment for Simon Peter. It was an event that would define his leadership role in the church from that moment on.
It was when Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Get ready, Get set, GO!”
Last week we looked at the first point, “Get Ready.”
We learned that if you truly love the Lord with all your heart then you will accept the challenge to be a leader in the body of Christ by ministering to others?
This is His challenge to the body of Christ; 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.
Jesus asked Peter, “Do you love me?” It was something that we all have to decide in our own lives. And if we love Jesus then we are going to do what He says.
Jesus said in John 14, if we love Him we will obey His commands and His teaching.
Jesus is challenging us to do the same thing He challenged Peter to do, take care of each other.
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
Get ready by making sure you love Jesus. Today we are going to get set and go.
Get set.
What do I mean by get set?
Are you set? Are you prepared?
I am not talking about taking the classes, I am not talking about being disciples, I am not talking about hours of Bible study.
Those things are important but that is not what I mean by asking are you prepared.
If you love the Lord and if you are willing to follow Him and if you truly want to feed His sheep and minister to the body of Christ, you need understand what the outcome of your leadership will be.
Are you prepared for the final result?
Look carefully at verse 18-19 again.
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!” John 21:18-19
Jesus wanted Peter to be prepared for his earthly demise for following Christ.
Basically Jesus was telling him that he was going to lose his life because of his love for Jesus.
There are some pastors in this world who preach a gospel of health and wealth. They will tell you that when you are following Christ and being totally obedient to Him that you are going to be blessed in every way and in everything.
I’m afraid that doesn’t line up with the Word of God.
Jesus said to Peter, “If you love me and if you feed my sheep you are going to be killed for it.”
A lot of people hated the Apostle Peter because of his love for Jesus Christ and they persecuted him for it and threw him in jail and beat him for his love and service to Jesus Christ.
Eventually the Apostle Peter was crucified because he was a follower of Christ and a leader in the church.
We never hear sermons that say if you are really living your life for God then you are going to be poor and you are going to be sore.
We don’t hear those sermons because they don’t tickle our ears and make us feel good.
All we usually hear is the health and wealth sermons because they make us feel good. We find joy in the fact that we may be healthy and wealthy.
But as God’s children, our joy is not found in the same places that the culture tells us it is found. Our culture tells us it is found in health and wealth.
Please don’t misunderstand me here; we are supposed to walk in victory but our victory is not based upon our health and our wealth, our victory is based upon the fact that the enemy has been defeated in our lives.
Before I go any further let me just say that it is not the health and wealth gospel that is truth and neither is the poor and sore gospel the truth.
The truth is in the center of these two thoughts and that truth is that God is going to supply us with everything we need so that we can fight the good fight in a world that is fighting just as hard against our message.
If you say that you love Jesus and you mean it then you need to understand that you are going to battle the enemy and we need to be ready for this.
The enemy is always going to be against us, there are going to be those in the world who will hate us because of our message and in the end we all die.
But as we expend our lives for Jesus we learn that it’s not the end of our life that is the focus but rather it is the fact that we gain something of great worth.
We gain Christ. Jesus told Peter to follow Him because following Christ is gaining Christ and gaining Christ means eternal life.
Get set means being prepared for what is going to come.
When we respond to His love by accepting the responsibility to “feed His sheep” which is ministering to others then we are getting ready for the rougher road.
It is a road that the majority of the world refuses to take but it is the road that has the greatest benefit because it leads to Christ.
That is why the Apostle Paul said, 21 For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. 22 If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! 23 I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; 24 but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body. Phil. 1:21-24
If you are going to love Jesus and take this leadership role of one-anothering, then get ready because it is not always going to be peaches and cream or sunshine and daisies, there are going to be some challenges and some rough roads, but in the end there is a prize because you gain Christ.
Get Ready, Get Set, and GO!
GO.
There are a lot of people who are ready and there are a lot of people who are prepared, but for some reason there aren’t as many people that are out there doing what they are supposed to be doing.
Simon Peter was ready and he was set but he made a mistake here.
Look at verse 20-21.
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?” John 21:20-21
Simon Peter’s mistake was that he turned.
He took his focus off the One he should keep his focus on.
You would have thought that Peter would have learned this lesson already when he was walking on the water.
He took his eyes off Christ and said, “What about John?”
And Jesus says, “Don’t worry about John, worry about Peter by keeping your eyes focused on me. You must follow me.”
If you want to live up to the challenge of leadership that Christ is calling the church to and if you are ready to expend your life so that you will gain Christ then you better stay focused on Jesus.
Staying focused on Christ helps us stay focused on our challenge to lead.
Too many times we spend our time thinking about or talking about how others need to change or how others need to be impacted by the Gospel message and we don’t do anything to help except to think or talk about it.
As we focus on Christ we will be driven closer to Him. The closer we are to him will challenge us to do more than just think about helping others or just talk about helping others.
His love for us motivates us to respond and act. His love motivates us to go and to do.
As we go and as we do then we become more like Christ. We are being transformed into His image, becoming like Him.
We need to be a people who are concerned about following Christ. As we follow Him and as we lift Him up everything else falls into place.
As things fall into place other people are drawn to Christ because of our example.
If you are standing still, not doing the things you need to be doing, if you are not ministering to each other then you are failing to gain Christ.
You are like an airplane that just sits on a runway, full of fuel, engines are revving up, but you never take off. You never leave the ground. You never gain that which you were created for.
We need to be focused on Jesus because when you are focused on Him and looking to Him and His Words and His teachings then you are automatically motivated to lead within the body of Christ. Then you can do that which you were created to do.
Are you willing to accept the challenge to leadership?
The kind of leadership God is asking for?
Are you willing to minister to each other?
Do you love Jesus?
Are you ready for the rough road?
Are you ready to go and be the example of a ministering servant of God?
CLOSE
