This morning I want to address the topic of our identity in Christ, concerning how we are a people covered by grace, and how we are deeply loved and cherished. Many believers walk about feeling defeated. They come down hard on themselves and never accept the forgiveness that God wants to offer time and again. When a believer fails to accept God’s grace it can hinder that person from being of service to the Lord, for he becomes debilitated in feelings of condemnation. I want to share an excerpt from an article written by Neil T. Anderson, entitled “Distorted Identity.” He says,
If our identity in Christ is the key to wholeness, you may ask, “Why do so many believers have difficulty with self-worth, spiritual growth and maturity?” Because we have been deceived by the devil. Our true identity in Christ has been distorted by the great deceiver himself.
This deception was brought home to me a few years ago when I was counseling a Christian girl . . . I asked her, “Who are you?” “I’m evil,” she answered. “You’re not evil. How can a child of God be evil? Is that how you see yourself?” She nodded [yes].
Now she may have done some evil things, but she wasn’t evil. She was basing her identity on the wrong equation. She was letting Satan’s accusations of her behavior influence her perception of identity instead of letting her identity - as a child of God in Christ - influence her behavior.
Sadly, a great number of Christians are trapped in the same pit. We fail, so we see ourselves as failures, which only causes us to fail more. We sin, so we see ourselves as [evil] sinners, which only causes us to sin more. We’ve been sucked into the devil’s futile equation. We’ve been tricked into believing that what we do makes us what we are. And that false belief sends us into a tailspin of hopelessness and defeat.(1)
Whenever we fail to understand our identity in Christ as being a beloved child of God, then we start identifying ourselves by our shortcomings instead. We then lack confidence to tackle the things to which God has called us; and let me tell you, we can’t be of much use to the Lord in this state.
In our message this morning, we will see a disciple who came very close to viewing himself by his failures instead of seeing himself through the eyes of Christ. This disciple was Peter, and it would have been a travesty for him to have been rendered useless by his failures, for he was to become the leader of the New Testament church. We will discover today how Peter came to realize that he was a beloved disciple; and it’s my hope that you too will come to realize that Jesus sees you as cherished.
Having Feelings of Failure (vv. 15-17)
So when they had eaten breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me more than these?” He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.” He said to him, “Feed My lambs.”
He said to him again a second time, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?” He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.” He said to him, “Tend My sheep.”
He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?” Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, “Do you love Me?” And he said to Him, “Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You.” Jesus said to him, “Feed My sheep” (John 21:15-17).
We see here that Jesus asked Peter three separate times if he loved Him? How would you feel if Jesus asked you if you truly loved Him? You would probably feel that Jesus must doubt your love, and Peter probably felt the same way. If you recall, when Jesus was questioned before Pilate and tortured, Peter denied knowing Jesus three times before the morning rooster crowed (cf. Jn 18:15-18, 25-27). It’s been suggested that Jesus asked Peter about his love for Him three times in order to remind Peter that he had denied Him three times.
This must have been an extremely painful experience for Peter to recall how he had denied the Savior. Peter probably felt like a huge failure, and he probably felt condemned for what he had done. But I must ask, did Jesus remind Peter of his denial in order to make him feel guilty, or could there have been another reason?
Before we answer this question let me say that there will, unfortunately, be times when we’ll mess up. There will be occasions when we will deny Christ for fear of what other people think. There will be moments when we will fall prey to temptation; and like Peter we will probably hear Jesus whispering to our heart through the Holy Spirit, and asking, “Do you love Me?”
Whenever believers are reminded of their shortcomings, the most common way they respond is to beat themselves up and to condemn themselves for falling short. However, those who know Jesus can abide in God’s grace, and His grace covers all sins. The Lord no longer views those who believe in Him as slaves of sin, but as His own dear children.
Now, in light of the knowledge of God’s grace we cannot conclude that Jesus wanted to make Peter feel guilty. He was trying to help Peter overcome his feelings of failure and condemnation. Jesus wasn’t trying to make him feel as though he must not love Him, but He was trying to prompt Peter to realize that he did indeed love Jesus with all of his heart. He wanted Peter to understand that he wasn’t to be identified as a failure, but rather as someone who loves God.
The Lord may have lifted Peter’s chin, so as to look eye to eye and then replied, “Peter, look at Me. Do you remember when we were in the garden? I told you that you had a willing spirit. I see in you a cry to be a lover of God, Peter. Yes, you have weak flesh, but you have a willing spirit.”(2)
If we are to abide in God’s grace then we must understand that we are not to be identified as a failure or even as an evil sinner, but as a child of God and one who loves the Lord dearly.
In His heart, the Lord might have been thinking something like this: “Peter, you’ve denied Me three times, and I want to break the shame of those three denials over your life. That is why you must speak the truth - that you are [someone who loves] God - three times” . . . Jesus was breaking the power of shame related to Peter’s failure in order to reinstate him into a position of confidence in the throne of grace.(3)
Jesus had confidence in Peter’s heart for Him. Peter messed up; however, Jesus knew that his heart was sincere. He knew that Peter loved Him even though he had fallen short; and the Lord wanted Peter to have the same confidence in himself that He (or Jesus) had for him.
Jesus wanted Peter to live in the confidence of his true identity as one who loves God, and as a child of God. He didn’t want him to live with feelings of condemnation, failure and guilt, for that could have easily rendered Peter useless in God’s kingdom work. He wanted him to be in a position of confidence in the throne of God’s grace.
When we have been released from the bondage of sin through confidence in God’s unconditional love and mercy, then the Lord can use us much more effectively.
I Am a Friend of God
I want to share a biblical concept before we move into verse 20; the concept of “the friend of God.” Abraham was “called the friend of God,” because he believed in the Lord (Jas 2:23). Moses was an individual with whom God spoke “as a man speaks to his friend” (Ex 33:11). Jesus declared, “You are My friends if you do whatever I command you” (Jn 15:14). To believe the Lord and obey His commands requires faith, and faith is what’s necessary to be considered a friend of God.
When we believe in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord and receive Him into our heart, it’s because of our faith in Him. Once we’re saved by grace through faith (Eph 2:8-9), Jesus considers us to be a “friend of the bridegroom” (Mt 9:15; Mk 2:19; Lk 5:34; Jn 3:29). Our faith has made us a friend of God, and nothing can ever take that away from us (cf. Rom 8:38-39).
No matter what we’ve done to fall short, the Lord’s grace will meet us where we are and pull us through. We will always be considered a friend of God, and we will never lose our identity as His friend and as one who really loves the Lord. This is the truth that Jesus was hoping to convey to Peter in verse 20.
The One God Loves (v. 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?” (John 21:20).
I’m not going to focus on the last segment of the verse concerning the betrayal. The part that’s significant to our understanding of Peter finding his identity as “someone who loves God” is where it says, “Then Peter, turning around, saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following.”
Jesus had just been prompting Peter to see himself as a person who truly loved Him, and then he turned around and saw someone known as “the disciple whom Jesus loved.” I do not see this as being a coincidence. I believe Jesus was reinforcing how Peter’s identity was not to be found in his failures or sins; but rather, in his heart-devotion to Christ.
If our heart belongs to Jesus and we seek to obey Him, then Jesus sees us as someone who loves Him; and He sees those who truly love Him as disciples whom He loves in return. When we look at ourselves, we should never see ourselves as a rejected sinner, but as someone cherished by the Lord. If we can learn to see through His eyes, we won’t be so hard on ourselves.
So, who was the disciple whom Jesus loved? Though he’s never named, many Bible commentators speculate that it was John. It’s easy to see why they feel this way for, in the gospel of John and the Johannine epistles, the apostle John spoke frequently about God’s love.
John was a disciple who understood God’s grace and his identity in God’s love. Have you ever thought about how John referred to himself, when he wrote about himself? Take a moment to consider a few more examples from the book of John:
John 13:23 - Now there was leaning on Jesus’ bosom one of His disciples, whom Jesus loved.
John 19:26 - When Jesus therefore saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing by, He said to His mother, “Woman, behold your son!”
John 20:2 - Then she ran and came to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid Him.”
John 21:7 - Therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!”
So, when John wrote about himself, he spoke of “the disciple whom Jesus loved.” Instead of saying, “Peter and John said to the Lord,” he said, “Peter and the one God loves.” He didn’t call himself by his own name. John basically said, “I don’t know about these other disciples and why they don’t know they’re loved by God. But as for me, I know that I am the one God loves,” and “I am not ashamed to say so!”(4)
John was the only disciple who ever referred to himself as the one God loves, and he did so five times in the gospel of John. Can you imagine writing about yourself five times in a book included in the Bible and saying, for example, “Sam and the one God loves went to the meeting,” instead of “Sam and I went to the meeting?” John didn’t seem to have a problem with referring to himself as being loved by God.
We might look at John and think he was being arrogant for saying this, but the Lord wants His children to enjoy being loved by Him and to live with the realization that He loves them in return. He wants believers to live with confidence in their identity as being genuine lovers of God and lovers of His Son, Jesus Christ.
When Peter turned and saw “the disciple whom Jesus loved,” Jesus wanted him to see the kind of confidence that every believer should have in God’s grace. He wanted Peter to realize that he too was “a disciple whom Jesus loved.”
Now, perhaps you’ve disappointed Christ in one way or another; but if you have a heart of love for Him, then you too are seen only for that love. You too are seen by Jesus as a disciple He loves.
Think about King David for a moment. He had Bathsheba’s husband Uriah killed, and committed adultery with Bathsheba, but David was said to have been a man after God’s own heart (Acts 13:22). If your heart towards God is true, then no matter what you’ve done, His love for you never changes.
Peter denied Jesus three times; however, he still loved Jesus with all of his heart, for he confessed his love three times to counter those denials.
Time of Reflection
John is usually known by the title “the beloved disciple,” but we’ve seen that he wasn’t the only one. Peter was a beloved disciple too; however, he just didn’t know it until Jesus pointed it out; and if you truly love the Lord with all of your heart, then you too are considered to be a beloved disciple.
If you’ll take the knowledge that God loves you to heart, then you will live in victory and freedom. So many believers live in defeat because they fear that God is looking down on them ready to strike them dead when they mess up. They refuse to draw near to the Lord, because they’re afraid of Him.
If you want peace and confidence in your life, then you must admit that you are the one God loves, and you must accept the gift of love the Lord gave you; His one and only Son, Jesus Christ. The disciple John said, “This is real love. It is not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins” (1 Jn 4:10 NLT).
God loves you so much that He sent His only Son to step in and take your place; to accept the punishment for all the bad things that you have done. If you wish to receive God’s mercy and grace, and His forgiveness for your sins, then you need to say something like this: “God, I know I am the one You love. I accept Your love and the gift of Your Son, Jesus Christ. I receive You into my heart and I want to live in Your love all the days of my life. Therefore, today I confess Jesus as my Savior and Lord.”
NOTES
(1) Neil T. Anderson, “Distorted Identity,” Sermon Illustrator: www.sermonillustrator.org/illustrator/sermon3/distorted_identity.htm (Accessed January 27, 2010).
(2) Mike Bickle, The Pleasures of Loving God (Lake Mary, FL: Charisma House), p. 18.
(3) Ibid., p. 19.
(4) Ibid., p. 21.
