Alba 5-23-2021
JESUS SAYS, FOLLOW ME
John 21:18-24
I was looking at actuarial tables the other day. They predict that for a child born this year life expectatancy for a male is 75 years. And life expectancy for a female is 80 years.
But that is not the end of the story. The table continues. For example, if a man lives to be 75 years old the table gives a life expectancy of 85 and half years.
And if a woman lives to be 80 years old, the table gives a life expectancy of over 89 years. But there is even more on the actuarial table. If a man or woman lives to be 100, they give another two years.
It must work, because we celebrated my mother's 100th birthday on May 19, 2003. She lived two more fairly productive years.
The truth is, we will not know the day of our death until it comes. And, for the most part, we will not know the cause of death ahead of time. That is what makes what Jesus told Peter in John 21:18-24 quite interesting. Let's read that section of scripture.
18 Most assuredly, I say to you, when you were younger, you girded yourself and walked where you wished; but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish.”
19 This He spoke, signifying by what death he would glorify God. And when He had spoken this, He said to him, “Follow Me.”
20 Then Peter, turning around, saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following, who also had leaned on His breast at the supper, and said, “Lord, who is the one who betrays You?” 21 Peter, seeing him, said to Jesus, “But Lord, what about this man?”
22 Jesus said to him, “If I will that he remain till I come, what is that to you? You follow Me.”
23 Then this saying went out among the brethren that this disciple would not die. Yet Jesus did not say to him that he would not die, but, “If I will that he remain till I come, what is that to you?”
24 This is the disciple who testifies of these things, and wrote these things; and we know that his testimony is true.
25 And there are also many other things that Jesus did, which if they were written one by one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that would be written. Amen
What Jesus tells Peter says a lot about each of us. There may have been a time when we did pretty much as we pleased, but the time comes when that is no longer the case.
As we become more feeble with the infirmities of age, and we begin to lose control both of body and mind, like Jesus says, others will make our decisions for us.
We certainly will not like some of them, but we will not have our own way as we did when we were independent earlier in life. The more we become dependent upon others, the more they will decide our affairs.
No one likes to lose control. When we lived in Kansas, I was making a call on an elderly lady who at that very time the family had decided it was time for her to move to the resting home. They were taking her out of her home.
As they were trying to get the lady out the front door, she was grabbing at anything she could. It was difficult to watch this lady holding on to the walls of the house she had lived in so long, as the family kept moving her out the door.
Even if a person loses the use of a car, one can become depressed and sad. It tends to symbolize the loss of other things important in life.
Peter is told that such things will come to him, (of course not the loss of the use of a car). Jesus is also predicting Peter’s ultimate death … being taken captive and killed for his faith.
What Jesus is saying here is something like, “O, by the way Peter, you know how I died on that cross, now this is how you are going to die. So truly follow Me ~ now and always!”
When Jesus said, “Follow Me!”, the word literally means, “Keep on following Me.” And from then on, Peter began to follow Jesus just as he had done before his great denial.
Jesus had told Peter to feed his lambs, and to feed his sheep. To be completely obedient to Jesus, Peter must now just "follow" Him. Jesus says to each one of us, Follow Me.
Where He leads, we must follow. And in doing so, we must sign a blank page of commitment to the LORD.
We can not say what we will do, just that we will do whatever He says, and go wherever He leads.
Jesus had challenged Peter to love Him above all else. It was a challenge to sacrifice everything for the cause of Christ. From here on Peter did not back down.
He learned the lesson that following Jesus was to be the singularly supreme objective of his life and love.
Peter and his fellow apostles, empowered by the Holy Spirit, turned the world upside down through a fearless witness for Jesus Christ.
And in almost every case they died as martyrs for the love of Christ and the truth of the gospel. That raises the question. Are we willing to keep following Jesus no matter what?
When Jesus talked to Peter about his future, verse 19 says, This He spoke, signifying by what death he would glorify God.
Tradition has it that about 34 years after this incident, when Peter was about 75 years old, he and his wife were arrested because of their faith in Jesus.
After watching his wife being killed, Peter was placed on a cross. Thinking himself unworthy to die like Jesus, he asked that he be placed on the cross upside-down.
I know that most of us, if we are normal, shrink from the prospect of negative experiences. None of us welcome problems or trials. But the circumstances of our lives inevitably will change.
Will it still be our priority to be a follower of Jesus, to exalt and glorify His name? When Jesus says, Follow me, this could mean almost anything.
Following Jesus could lead us through the valley of death. Or it could lead us to fields of service requiring great sacrifice.
His path led to Calvary! Death to self is certainly required. It involves a cross!
Jonathan Edwards once said that the main business of believers is to seek after God. That is what a regenerated heart does: That heart and life seeks God.
It wants to know more of Him, desires more than anything to worship, trust and obey Him: That’s what Peter’s life would become to the Glory of God alone.
Everything that God allows to come into your life, is meant to “glorify God”. God wouldn’t allow it if He didn’t give you the ability to use it for His glory.
If your trials and troubles DON’T give God the glory, don’t blame God. He will ALWAYS make available the wisdom, strength, power and ability to turn whatever situation you’re in … for HIS GLORY.
Peter glorified God in his life, and in his death. Too often we don’t think much about having to “glorify God” by dying for our faith.
We think more about “glorifying God” by “counting our many blessings” and giving God the glory. But we often fail to do that.
We become distracted by other things around us. So did Peter.
In verse 21 Peter notices John (referred to as the apostle whom Jesus loved). When Peter realizes that He is being told of his future, he looks at John and asks, “But Lord, what about this man?”
Jesus gives a rather sharp response to Peter’s question saying, What is that to you? Why did it concern Peter? We could speculate and say that Peter was just curious.
We could say that Peter and John were close, so Peter just wondered what would happen to his good friend John. But considering the context, I don’t think Peter’s question can be considered just a curiosity.
Peter had just been told that he would die a martyr’s death. John says that this death would glorify God, but it still had to be somewhat of a shock to Peter.
When thinking about it, we may say that it glorifies God to earn a martyr’s crown. But in practical terms, no one could possibly be excited when first hearing they were destined to die on a cross.
So, when Peter, looking at John, asked Jesus, “What about him?” Jesus was basically saying, “That’s really none of your business.”
Well for whatever reason, Peter was distracted by John and took his eye off of Jesus. But this was not the first time. Remember when he tried to walk on water?
We need to keep our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith. We get into trouble when we look at other people, at what God is doing in their lives, don't we?
Trouble comes when we look at how God is blessing someone else and wonder why God isn’t blessing us that much. Or if we look at someone else and wonder why they have it so much better than we do.
“It’s just not fair!” we may say. “I’m just as good or even a better Christian than they are. God’s not treating me as good as I deserve.”
When the Lord said to Peter, What is that to you, He reminded Peter that his job was to follow, not to compare his life with the life of John.
Romans 14:12 says that, each one of us will give an account of himself to God. This does not mean that we ignore others, because we do have the responsibility of caring for one another.
Instead, it means that we must not permit our curiosity about others to distract us from following the Lord. God has His plan for us.
He also has plans for our Christian friends. How He works in their lives is His business.
Our business is to follow Him as He leads us. In Hebrews chapter 12 it says we are to run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith.
And Romans 14:7-8 says, 7 For none of us lives to himself, and no one dies to himself. 8 For if we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s.
Jesus is telling Peter here to be single minded. In other words, “Don’t worry about what you cannot fully understand. Your job is to follow me. Don't lose your focus.”
You know what blinders are. Blinders restrict a horse's vision to the rear and somewhat to the side. Many racehorse trainers believe blinders keep the horse focused on what is in front of him, encouraging him to pay attention to the race rather than other distractions, such as the crowds.
Jesus essentially told Peter to put blinders on. Focus on me, Jesus said. When we have blinders on, we don’t notice that God is dealing with someone else in a different way than He’s dealing with us. So, Jesus says, simply, Follow me.
And Peter did. Peter spent the last three decades of his life serving the Lord and anticipating his martyrdom.
Yet he faced that prospect with confidence, comforted by the knowledge that he would not deny the Lord again. But instead he would glorify Him in his life and death.
Peter himself tells us in 1 Peter 4:14-16, 14 If you are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. On their part He is blasphemed, but on your part He is glorified.
15 But let none of you suffer as a murderer, a thief, an evildoer, or as a busybody in other people’s matters. 16 Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in this matter.
The Lord has a unique plan for each of us.
And like Peter, Jesus calls us to follow Him.
It is a personal call by Jesus to you and to me to be faithful to His call to “Follow Me,” to focus on the Savior.
His call to “FOLLOW ME” is a call Worth Dying For because Jesus is the ONLY KING worth Living for.
CONCLUSION:
I have a little story for you today that illustrates this idea. Matilda was a 95 year old widow living in a nursing home. She had been a faithful Christian for many years.
She had been a loving faithful wife to her husband. She had been a good mother to her 3 children. Now her husband was dead and her three children lived far away.
Unable to take good care of herself she had moved into the nursing home. Living now in a nursing home, Maltilda missed going to church every Sunday like she had always done before.
One day, Matilda received a visit from one of her fellow church members. The visitor asked, 'How are you feeling Matilda?'
'Oh,' said Matilda, 'I'm just worried sick!' 'What are you worried about, dear?' her friend asked. 'You look like you're in good health.
They are taking good care of you, aren't they?'
Matilda replied, 'Yes, they are taking very good care of me.' 'Are you in any pain?' asked the visitor. 'No, I have never had a pain in my life.'
Finally, the visitor asked Matilda, 'Well, what are you worried about?' Matilda leaned back in her rocking chair and slowly explained her major worry.
'Every close friend I ever had has already died and gone on to heaven. I'm afraid they're all wondering where I went.'
All of us have lost loved ones and close friends. They are in heaven today if they have Jesus, waiting for us to join them.
They will see us again because we have faith in Jesus. For reasons that only God knows, we are still alive. God has a purpose and plan for each of us.
He simply wants us to follow Him.
I craft my sermons using Sermon Central. Most of the material has already been published on this site. I have borrowed, changed and rearranged the material for my own needs. I thank all who submit their messages here.
