Follow Me - April 30, 2017 sermon

By Pastor Greg

Some years ago, there was a Mensa convention in San Francisco. Mensa, as you know, is a national organization for people who have an IQ of 140 or higher. Several of the Mensa members went out for lunch at a local cafe. When they sat down, one of them discovered that their salt shaker contained pepper, and their pepper shaker was full of salt. How could they swap the contents of the two bottles, without spilling anything, using only the implements at hand? Clearly, this was a job for Mensa minds.

The group debated the problem and discussed ideas, but finally settled on an ingenious solution involving a napkin, a straw, and an empty saucer. They called the waitress over, ready to dazzle her with their brilliance.

"Ma'am," they said, "we couldn't help but notice that the pepper shaker contains salt and the salt shaker …" But before they could finish, the waitress interrupted; "Oh, sorry about that." She leaned over the table, unscrewed the caps of both bottles and switched them.

According to the Apostle Paul, God has made the wisdom of this world look foolish (1 Corinthians 1:20).  How true, how true.  He does it today, and He did it in the past.  God will continue to confound the wise.  God will continue to offer grace where we would not.  He will continue to bless where we would curse.  He will continue to use the weak while we search for the strong.

Consider the Apostle Peter.  Despite his failure during a crucial moment in Jesus’ life, the Lord still called Peter to “Feed My sheep”; He still insisted that Peter could do great things, even though his life was far from perfect.  And this is one of the last lessons John teaches in his Gospel; The Lord can do great things through broken and imperfect people.

(John 21:1-17)  Later, Jesus appeared again to the disciples beside the Sea of Galilee. This is how it happened. ² Several of the disciples were there—Simon Peter, Thomas (nicknamed the Twin), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples. ³ Simon Peter said, “I’m going fishing.” “We’ll come, too,” they all said. So they went out in the boat, but they caught nothing all night.

⁴ At dawn Jesus was standing on the beach, but the disciples couldn’t see who he was. ⁵ He called out, “Fellows, have you caught any fish?” “No,” they replied. ⁶ Then he said, “Throw out your net on the right-hand side of the boat, and you’ll get some!” So they did, and they couldn’t haul in the net because there were so many fish in it. ⁷ Then the disciple Jesus loved said to Peter, “It’s the Lord!” When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his tunic (for he had stripped for work), jumped into the water, and headed to shore. ⁸ The others stayed with the boat and pulled the loaded net to the shore, for they were only about a hundred yards from shore. ⁹ When they got there, they found breakfast waiting for them—fish cooking over a charcoal fire, and some bread.

¹⁰ “Bring some of the fish you’ve just caught,” Jesus said. ¹¹ So Simon Peter went aboard and dragged the net to the shore. There were 153 large fish, and yet the net hadn’t torn.  ¹² “Now come and have some breakfast!” Jesus said. None of the disciples dared to ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord. ¹³ Then Jesus served them the bread and the fish. ¹⁴ This was the third time Jesus had appeared to his disciples since he had been raised from the dead.

¹⁵ After breakfast Jesus asked Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?” “Yes, Lord,” Peter replied, “you know I love you.” “Then feed my lambs,” Jesus told him. ¹⁶ Jesus repeated the question: “Simon son of John, do you love me?” “Yes, Lord,” Peter said, “you know I love you.” “Then take care of my sheep,” Jesus said. ¹⁷ A third time he asked him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter was hurt that Jesus asked the question a third time. He said, “Lord, you know everything. You know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Then feed my sheep.”

Peter had a family to support.  Perhaps this is why he went back out on the lake.  However, I think it had more to do with his sense of failure than anything else.  I think Peter was still wrestling with guilt from his denial of Jesus back in Jerusalem.  But despite this denial, Jesus insists that Peter is still loved and still useful.  In fact, this whole lakeside fishing failure takes Peter back to the first time he was called by the Lord (Matthew 4:19).  Instead of fishing for fish, Jesus insists that Peter should continue to “Fish for Men.” 

Peter’s calling is our calling. 

We too may sin, yet that sin does not disqualify us for service.

The Wisdom of God confounds us.  It makes no sense to us (1 Corinthians 3:19).  You see, in our world, a person is unfit for service once they fail.  Actually, the world searches for failures in others.  It looks for weaknesses.  Yet those failures are why God calls.  God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful. ²⁸ God chose things despised by the world, things counted as nothing at all, and used them to bring to nothing what the world considers important (1 Corinthians 1:27-28). 

According to the world’s wisdom, Peter should have been disqualified; his denial of Jesus made him unfit for duty.  Yet Jesus knew what this man could accomplish if only he would stop allowing his past to determine his future.

This failure would lead more than 3,000 people to Christ (Acts 2:41), heal the lame (Acts 3:7), and be one of the fist Apostles to take the Good News to the Gentiles (non-Jews who were despised by the Jewish people).  It was Peter who entered the home of Cornelius and brought an entire family to Christ.  It was Peter who said, “I see very clearly that God shows no favoritism.  In every nation he accepts those who fear him and do what is right” (Acts 10:34-35).  And considering that he experienced this along the shore of Galilee, who better to teach this than Peter? 

Yet the world would disqualify this man because of his sin. 

Just as the Lord stood before Peter, He stands before you and me.  The Lord stands before us, His followers, and encourages us to “Care for His sheep.”  But how will we respond?  Will we make excuses why we are disqualified; why we are unfit for duty?  In what ways do you feel unqualified to serve the Lord?  Have you refused to get involved with church work because you once did something wrong?  Have you allowed the world to determine your worth and value?  I tell you the truth, if your heart is broken because of what you did or said, the Lord can use that brokenness to bring wholeness into the life of someone else.  Just as Jesus knew what He was doing when He looked at Peter and said, “Follow Me,” He knew what He was doing when He said the same thing to you.