Lord of the "IFs"

, just a few days ago, October 5th was the birthday of Jonathan Edwards, a great pastor and Puritan. Some people say one of the five best minds that America has ever produced. And he had. In 1758 had been invited to be the new president.

Of what would become Princeton University and had moved to Princeton. His wife had not yet been able to move from Massachusetts and while there, he got a smallpox inoculation, the newest technology. but then died. Of of that smallpox inoculation.

And, but as he was dying, here's some of the words that he said to his daughter Lucy. It seems to me to be the will of God that I must shortly leave you. Therefore, give my kindest love to my dear wife and tell her that the uncommon union which has so long subsisted between us has been of such a nature as I trust is spiritual and therefore will continue forever, and I hope she will be supported under so great a trial and submit cheerfully to the will of God. And then he gave some instructions about his burial and his love to his daughter and other children.

but the doctor William Shipman, who gave him the inoculation also tended to him before his death and spoke of, of just the, the joy and the cheerfulness that Jonathan Edwards had in his death, even dying at the hands of this, then a new technology. and then he also gave a wonderful love and, and expressions to his children. One of the things that people would note about Edward's death is that he acknowledged that while this was tragic, it was completely within the will of God.

In his mind at the end of his life.

This was not an accident. This was not a question. This was when Christ was calling him home. And that partially brings us to this morning's passage and message that we've titled Lord of the ifs.

Lord of the ifs, this morning we're gonna be looking at John chapter 21. And last week, it's really from this very context that we examine the disciple whom Jesus loved, a term of endearment for the apostle John. Who is likely Jesus' best friend on earth and we suggested that last week that really all of us can think of ourselves as the disciple whom Jesus loved because Christ's love is limitless and particular. It's limitless in the sense that he is not restrained by the locations of his people because he is God after all and his love has been poured out into our hearts, the Holy Spirit which he has given to us and by virtue of the fact that we are his body so we have that spiritual connection to the head.

But it's particular his love is particular in the sense that he is not just in love with his bride generally, but he loves you as an individual just as Paul said that Christ loved me and gave himself up for me. So the idea of Christ's particular love actually gets tested right away in our context as Jesus calls Peter away to a private conference along the seashore and it seems that Peter's gonna have some alone time with the risen Christ when he turns around and sees one of the other six disciples or sees what the other six disciples are doing, you can look at verse 2 to see all the ones that are there.

And who does he see but the disciple whom Jesus loved. Great.

Why did Jesus turn around or why did Peter turn around in the first place? Was he turning around to gloat and say, I told you guys I was going to be the guy. Is that why he was turning around? Maybe I'm not so sure about that.

We'll come back to that question in a moment. Another question we could ask is what emboldened. John to thrust himself uncalled for in such a secret interview. was he just being noisy, nosy, or was he a little jealous?

I'm not sure about that either. the text does tell us, right, in our context that, Jesus is after all the disciple whom Jesus loved, so there's a particular relationship that he has with Christ. He was very close with Peter as we see in the pages of scripture. It seems to me more like that John is, is somewhat like Mary, that he just wanted to be wherever Jesus was.

And it seemed like he was so confident in Christ's love that he just knew this was not going to be an imposition. But back to the question, why did Peter turn around in verse 21 and ask the question, what about this man? Well, Jesus had just been affirmed by Christ. that he was going to tend his sheep in spite of Peter's more recent track record.

And I don't know, you can just put yourself in Peter's mind there are perhaps many regrets that he's still hampered by regarding his past. There's a lot of unknowns about the future. Perhaps he's thinking that Jesus should have chosen the disciple whom Jesus loved, he would be a better choice. perhaps Peter was actually worried about his friend, John.

He had just found out. Peter's just found out that his life is going to end in martyrdom. What about this man? Maybe he's concerned about John's future.

or would Peter be comforted if John was to be his companion with the exact same calling? would John share with Peter in the responsibilities and perils of the same task, to put it, in a movie vernacular, is John gonna be his Samwise Gamgee on this journey? Well, this morning's message that we've entitled Lord of the Ifs, we're gonna find out that the risen Christ. Is Lord of the ifs, life, death, and everything in between.

And we're gonna see that Peter was. not to concern himself with Christ's determinations and timings. but was to be instructed to give attention to himself and to keep on following Christ. Jesus as it were, he just tells Peter to put his focus on him, Christ first, and what Christ was calling him to do, not so much what he might be calling others to do, even if the other is the disciple whom Jesus loved.

So, in John 21:22, here's our purpose statement. We see Christ kindly expressing his divine prerogatives. Children, that's what you can fill in. We see Christ kindly expressing his divine prerogatives and admonishing Peter to stay in his lane.

This morning we will build upon 3 observations from this text and take aim at our own what ifs and lane straggling. So we're gonna look at 3 observations from this text in this context. Let's read the broader context and then we'll pray. I'm gonna read starting in verse 17 actually.

He said to him the 3rd time, Simon, son of Jonah or son of John, do you love me? Do you agape me? Peter was grieved because he said to him the 3rd time, Do you, Agape me? And he said to him, Lord, all things.

That I care about you. I filet owe you. Jesus said to him, feed my sheep. 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.

This he spoke signifying by what death he would glorify God. And when he had spoken this, he said to him, Follow me. 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?

Peter, seeing him, said to Jesus, But Lord, what about this man? Jesus said to him, If I will that he remain till I come, what is that to you? You follow me. 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 remained till I come, what is that to you? Let's bound in prayer Our Lord, we do love you, but our love is weak and frail. We thank you that your love is limitless and that you love each and every one of these sheep. We thank you, Lord, that all things.

Lord Jesus, please enable me this morning to feed your sheep. We ask that you would glorify. yourself in our lives, in our deaths. And in all the unknowns in between.

You are our risen Lord. Help us to trust and follow you this morning, for Christ's sake. Amen. Let's look at observation number one.

Observation number one, the risen Christ is Lord of the ifs. The risen Christ is Lord of the ifs, life, death, and everything in between. And here we're gonna focus particularly on Christ. Notice what our text says again in verse 22.

Jesus said to him, if I will that he remain till I come, if I. Will Let's think about that little word if. Peter knew some things for sure. He knew that he.

One day his arms would be stretched out and be carried away where he did not wish. Jesus had just revealed that to him. And by the time he writes, the epistle 2 Peter, he says in verse 14, Knowing shortly I must put off my tent just as our Lord Jesus Christ showed me. So he's reflecting back upon this time and he knows that he's gonna put off his tent eventually.

But there were a lot of unknowns, unknown to Peter. But not unknown to Christ. Jesus says, if I will. Christ expresses here that he has a will.

And he's taught his disciples previously to pray to the Father, thy will be done. But here he implies that his will will be done. He has the power to accomplish all his will. And consider for a moment what he's proposing that he is able to accomplish whatever he wishes merely by willing it.

Whether or not one of his disciples would remain until he comes again, which is an enigmatic reference to his second coming, or whether he determines that that disciple should die like James very early, he can accomplish all his will. Who does Jesus think he is? To think that he can just will things and will people to live and will people to die. this is either the height of blasphemy, or he really can assert his will as we pray thy will be done.

And let's remember what, where we are in the narrative here. This is in the life of Jesus Christ. This is after his resurrection. He's been raised from the dead.

They're meeting Christ on the seashore and, and eating with and walking with and talking with the risen Christ. Which reminds us, as, as Romans 1:4 says that he's been declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of Holiness, by the resurrection from the dead. Romans 14:9, for to this end, Christ died and rose and lived again, that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living. He is Lord of the dead and the living and has proved his lordship by his resurrection.

In John 5:21, Jesus says, for as the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to whom he will. This isn't some will that Jesus just happened upon after his resurrection. This is a will that Christ has always had in his incarnation and even from eternity past. We could actually say of Christ what is said of him in the Old Testament that the Lord brings death and gives life.

He brings down the Shaol and he raises up. So Christ possesses divine prerogative to order our affairs and the affairs of everyone else. If I will. Let's contrast Christ's will with the will of Peter.

In this context, Peter wanted to go fishing, so he went fishing. He wanted to put on his outer garment and jump into the sea, and so he did it. he wanted to drag fish to the shore and so he got out there and he dragged fish to the shore. He got up and he followed Jesus.

He exercised his will. But Jesus revealed to him in verse 18, and we find the interpretation in verse 19. The day was coming when Peter would not gird himself, but others would. The day was coming where others would carry him where he did not will to go.

Peter's will would be hindered. But guess whose will would never be injured. Christ will. His will would not be thwarted.

Peter would glorify God with his death in accordance with the will of Christ. So Peter's will and Christ's will are very different things. The way the risen Christ speaks of his will is dripping with evidence of his full and complete deity. Only God could make such a claim and fulfill it.

And so we see a a very, very direct evidence of Christ deity in this little phrase. Let's ask the question, how do we leave the ifs to the risen Christ? If he is the one who can exercise all of his will and it's clear that we cannot, how do we leave the ifs in his hands? I wanna make a couple suggestions here.

One is, is just simply to, to continue believing in Christ. It's simple as, as faith as we see in the pages of the Bible. Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness. We, we look at Christ and we believe that what he says he can accomplish and we rest in that.

We rest in the fact that while things may seem crazy and out of order that Christ is in control. I was reading an article just this morning from Pastor Darryl Dash. The article, the post was called Has Everyone Gone Crazy? And he's talking about just what's going on right now in our world and even in the church and just asking the question, has everyone gone mad?

But listen to his response. We don't need to panic. It's always been this way. It's a marvel that God uses any of us.

The solution is to look to our ultimate hope, not to human capability, but to God's sovereignty working through flawed individuals like you and me. Has everybody gone crazy? Yep, it's always been that way. Is Christ still in control?

Absolutely. So how do we leave the ifs to the risen Christ? I think our next two points actually get at that. So let's look at observation number 2.

We've seen that the risen Christ is the Lord of the ifs, life, death, and everything in between. Observation number 2 from our text is Peter was not to concern himself with Christ's determinations and timings. Children, you can ask your parents to help you spell that out. Determinations or timings.

Here Jesus is going to focus on John a little bit. Notice the text again it says, if I will that he remain till I come, what is that to you? Let's focus on that final part of the phrase. The question first, what is that to you?

If you were to look at this in the Greek, it's fun because it's, it's literally like, what's it to you? What's it to you? Some commentators would phrase it this way, that's none of your business. That's my business.

Stay in your lane. Stop lane straggling. Do not be consumed with what is not your business, but is God's business. We can be reminded that Christ has the wisdom, he has the power, he has the love to take care of others and the world.

But notice how, how Christ actually sets up this question. He says, if I will that he remain. If I will that such and such happened or I determine something to happen to John, if it's my will to will certain determinations. that's Christ's prerogative if John remains and if Peter is carried away.

It's Christ's prerogative if James is the first disciple to die and John is the last one to die. It's Christ's prerogative. What's it to you? Christ says.

What's it to you if I decide to allow John to survive until I return in my second coming and set up the kingdom? This would almost make early Christians think that maybe John's gonna be like Enoch. Or maybe he's gonna be like Elijah and just never die as John implies later that even though John does his best to explain this saying, the church still gets it wrong and they still start spreading rumors and these rumors actually spread all the way to the time of Augustine. At the time of Augustine, people are still thinking that John is in his grave, but he's breathing.

And so these rumors are still running around, but what Jesus is saying is if I want to do this, if I want to do that, that's really up to me. It's my determinations, and he says till I come at such and such a time, if I decide to do such and such a thing until such and such a time, those are my timings. What's it to you? Stay in your lane, it's none of your business.

You have other things to be concerned about. Notice, Paul, when he's preaching on Mars Hill in Acts 17, he says this 26 and following, and he has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on the face of the earth and has determined their pre-appointed times and boundaries of their dwellings so that they should seek the Lord. The Father, the Son, and the Spirit have determined times and boundaries so that people would seek Him. It's their prerogative when you were born, when you die, what country you're born in, what family you're born into.

Those are all his stuff, his things, his responsibilities that we could never control. There's this implication here that, well, if I will that he stay until I return. But we see in the book of Revelation that he hasn't returned yet and John is like, Lord, come quickly. Oh, I want you to come.

How do we stay in our lane and mind our own business as Jesus is suggesting here to Peter? I wanna make some, give some thoughts here. Here's what we don't mean by mind your own business. Here's what we don't mean by stay in your lane.

We don't mean it, that you shouldn't pray for one another. That's clearly not what. We're talking about. It doesn't mean that we should avoid coming alongside someone that's overtaken in a trespass, Galatians 6.

It doesn't mean we just ignore sin in one another's lives. It doesn't mean that you should not love one another and care about each other. We should care about one another and be involved in each other's lives. But I think part of what this does mean is that.

You can't dictate Christ's timing of salvation or repentance, and us getting mad is not going to speed things up. Us guilt tripping people is not going to somehow usher in the kingdom. I don't know about you, but I have this temptation. to guilt trip or I, I feel like somehow that I can manipulate spiritual growth out of my children.

Somehow if I do things just right or if I, if I guilt trip it this way or I guilt trip it that way, that somehow I can get them to grow up quicker and love Christ more and what I often hear Christ telling me through his word is stay in your lane. You've got your own growing up to do and remember what you were doing at that age, by the way, remember how long it took you to come to know Christ and that even well into your walk with me how you were stumbling and falling and how I was faithful to you stay in your lane.

Our anger, our guilt, our, our tactics are not going to hurry things up. Some passages of scripture that minister to me, 1 Timothy 4:15, where Paul says to Timothy, this young pastor, meditate on these things that is the gospel and the other things he's been talking about in the context.

Give yourself entirely to them that your progress may be evident to all. Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine. Continue in them, for in doing so you will save both yourself and those who hear you. There's a lot of like focus on yourself first, get yourself growing up in the gospel, drink of Christ for yourself, and then guess what?

You'll have something to give to other people. So there's every reason for us to take heed to ourselves. How about 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 verse 11, as the Thessalonians were really getting excited about Christ's return and starting to get busy body-ish and, and, and doing, getting out of their lane. It says in strive earnestly to, to what?

What would he say? OK, here's what I really want you guys to focus on. This is what I want you to be really lasered into, strive earnestly to live quietly, attend to your own matters, and work with your hands just as I commanded you to. I don't, is that really what Paul's commanding the Thessalonians to do, is to mind your own business, be quiet.

And work with your hands. Yeah. Mind your own business. So let's ask a question.

How do we stay in our lane and mind our own business? Well, By following Christ. Let's look at our next point. How do we stay in our lane?

Let's look at observation number 3. I think from this text we've established that the risen Christ is Lord of the ifs that Peter's not to be concerning himself with what Christ has determined and his timings, but thirdly, Peter was admonished to give attention to himself and to keep on following Christ. Give attention to yourself. Keep on following Christ.

Again, look at the text. You follow me. The you in the Greek text is put forward for emphasis. You underline, italicized, capitalized you follow me, and the word follow is a present tense active imperative for all of you, grammarian people, you like that stuff or if you're in the women's study, I know all the women love the little present active indicatives and all that stuff.

Some of the guys do too, but I've noticed that it seems like a lot of our gals are more into the grammar, but I'm sorry that I shouldn't have said that. Scratch that from the, please don't let that go on the internet., yeah, amen. You continually follow me. It's a command.

You follow me. Now remember when, when Jesus called Peter, Peter at the very first, that was the initial command, follow me and I'm gonna make you what fishers of men. And here he is again telling them, follow me. What is your business, Peter?

You follow, keep on following me. Jesus had just given Peter an opportunity in our context to humbly reaffirm his love for Christ without any of the previous braggadocio, and, and that's exactly what Peter does. If you, if you do any, I know a lot of you guys have studied this passage. Jesus says, hey, do you agape me more than these?

In other words, are you the best? Are you the one who loves me more than any of the other disciples? And you can just see Peter hanging his head like, yeah, I care about you, Lord. I fully owe you.

He's not, hey, I'm gonna die for you, bro. That season, no more, not any of that after his denial of Christ. And so, but Jesus gives him 3 opportunities to match the three denials to affirm his, his love for Christ. And then Jesus said, just added to Peter's job description here.

He had been called a fisher of men. Now he's gonna be called the shepherd of my sheep. Jesus calls him feed my lambs, tend my sheep, feed my sheep. So Peter is going to be a fisherman slash shepherd in his job description.

And Jesus has enigmatically revealed to Peter that he will endure to the end and will give his life for Christ, which actually must have been quite a comfort to Peter to know that he's going to make it. Yeah, my life is going to end, but it's gonna end for Christ, and I'm going to get to the end he's promised, he would glorify God with his death. Now Jesus says, you just come over here and keep on following me. Follow me.

Jesus was urging Peter to take his attention off of his colleague and just focus on Christ himself. Well, how do we do that? How do we follow Christ? And I wanna make some personal suggestions that have helped me and.

I want to suggest to you that there is one thing that is necessary. One thing. And we've, we get reminded of that one thing all over the Bible, but one of my favorite narratives in the Gospels that reminds us of that one thing is Luke chapter 10 when we see Mary sitting at the feet of Christ where the men were supposed to be, by the way, and she's there just like the other disciples getting the teaching and hearing from the Lord and. and Martha's up serving and the text says that she's distracted with much serving.

She's worried and troubled. This is not, a criticism of serving, it's a criticism of Mary's criticism of, of Martha's criticism of Mary that Mary wanted to sit at the feet of Christ and Martha's not happy about that. Why are you just being so lazy sitting at the feet of Christ and Martha, as you, as you guys probably remember the context, actually impugns the Lord. Lord, do you not care?

Don't you care? Don't you see what's going on here that my sister has left me and to serve alone and, and you need to tell her to come over here and help me. And so Jesus very gently says Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things, but one thing is needed and Mary has chosen that good part which will not be taken away from her. This time of her just sitting with me and spending time with me is not gonna be taken away from her.

I, I'm not going to tell her to go over there and get busy helping you. She's spending time with me and that's the one thing. If you don't do anything else, that's the one thing that's necessary is to sit low before Christ and to fellowship with him. That's what we need.

That's the foundation for all other activity. Paul says to Timothy, give attention to yourself. You give attention to yourself first. We've used this analogy before, but when you get on an airplane and they're going through all the instructions at the beginning and they say if, if the air, if the pressure decreases in the airplane and all of a sudden there's no oxygen, you're gonna see a mask and you put it on yourself first or you put it on your child first.

You put it on yourself first because they've learned by experience that parents that get agitated and want to help their kids, they pass out and die and they can't help anybody. And so you put it on yourself, you're breathing in the oxygen. Now you can help your child. and this is so easy.

Every day I forget it. But it's something I have to be reminded of every day. I've really, as a, as a dad, as a husband, as a pastor, I got nothing. If you come down, you wanna meet with me, you wanna have an appointment, you wanna spend some time, guess what?

I got nothing. I don't have anything to give you. Except for the sandbag right here. But I'll tell you what, as the love of Christ is being poured into me and I'm being reminded of who I am in Christ, and as I am sitting low at the feet of Christ, now I got something.

I got something I can give and share. And it's amazing to me how every day I'll, I'll sometimes just be reading random passages in the scripture that just, I don't see how it's gonna apply to anybody. And then later on I'm using it in a counseling session. just something I read in the Book of Leviticus, or Numbers, or whatever, which actually, I like those books, by the way, but, But where do we find Christ?

OK, it's one thing to say sit low at the feet of Christ, but where do we find Christ? And we tend to think that, OK, well I find Christ in my personal devotions. And this is no, I don't wanna make any attack on personal devotions. I encourage you to have personal devotions and read the Bible.

But when we look on the pages of scripture, where do we find Christ? Christ doesn't hide from people. in, in the garden, he was in the garden with Adam and Eve. If you want to find Christ, during the time of after the Exodus, you went to the tabernacle.

If you want to find Christ during the time of Solomon, you went to the temple, and if you want to find Christ in the time of the New Testament, you go to the New Testament temple, you go to the church. This is where Christ's spirit is dwelling. He dwells among us. Wherever two or three are gathered in my name, there I was.

I I'm, I'm there. And we have, we don't have time to develop it, but we have the doctrine of the corporate indwelling of the spirit, which happens when his people gather together. Guess what? Mike Barry can go off on an island by himself with his Bible, his journal, his prayer journal, and all kinds of stuff, and I can spend 24 hours in the word of God.

And it's not going to have the impact, if I understand the Bible correctly, of me gathering together where Christ is especially present. In the fellowship of his people as the word is being preached, as baptisms are occurring and as the Lord's Supper is being partaken of, Christ doesn't hide himself in this dispensation. He's right here with us today. In the preaching, in the Lord's supper, in baptism, in the use of gifts.

I love a quote that I heard recently in one of my favorite podcasts. Christ uses ordinary means practice over a lifetime to accomplish extraordinary things. We're always looking for the radical thing. We wanna find out what, what's the one, what's the radical thing I can do to go out and really knock it out for Christ?

And then you look on the pages of scripture and largely what you see is people gathering together. Hearing the word preached, partaking of communion. Baptizing people, and then going home and going back to work and minding their own business and living quiet lives. And sharing the gospel.

How boring is that? How boring is that? But that is how we follow Christ. We have seen, I think in this text that Christ is very kindly.

sharing about his divine prerogatives, he's admonishing Peter and I, and I think admonishing us, reminding us that he's the risen Lord of the ifs, and we're not to get overly concerned about his prerogatives and his determinations and his timings, but we're to give ourselves to what he's given us to do, which is primarily to keep on following him and we find Christ right here in the gathered body. Now, let's, let's do some application. I'm, I'm calling this taking aim at our own what ifs and our own lane straggling.

Let's get some suggestions here.

Number one, leave the ifs to the risen Christ. Leave the ifs to the risen Christ. We see in Deuteronomy 29:29, the secret things belong to the Lord, but the things revealed belong to us and our children that we may keep them. There's things that are revealed in scripture.

One of the main things that's revealed in Scripture is for us to follow Christ. That's the one thing that you can give yourself to. And there are so many ifs that our minds, my mind can just run down the rabbit hole every day. I can think about my past.

What if I would have done this? What if I'd have done that? What if I wouldn't have done? What if we wouldn't have homeschooled our children, we would put them in Christian school.

Well, maybe we should have put them in public school. Maybe we should, maybe we spanked them too much. Maybe we didn't spank them enough. maybe if we had, if I wouldn't have sinned in this great way during this time period of my life, then things would have turned out better.

What's gonna happen in the future? it, we've had so many people get sick here lately. is it gonna, is this gonna go on for 10 years? Are we gonna be 10 years out?

We're all still dealing with COVID and masks? I don't know. I can't tell you that. These are things that are in his prerogative, and I can, I don't know about you, but I can just, I just grind and grind and grind, and, that's why, I, I'll tell you this, the flat out truth.

I just gotta get up out of pure desperation every morning and just say, Lord, I'm a mess without you, and I'm gonna try to get to the cross as quickly as I can while I feel like the devil's trying to hamper me the whole way there. I have to sit down and open my journal and actually remember what God did yesterday that I've already forgotten because I'm already worrying about today. And I start writing out what I'm thankful for and suddenly I'm like, whoa, God did a lot yesterday.

I forgot about that.

And then I start writing out all of my worries. That's the way I pray. I just pray through my worries. I'm worried about this.

And then you just cry out to the Lord. And then you go to his word and you just read it and you don't feel like this big zing every day, right? But what happens is God does extraordinary things through very ordinary means done over a lifetime. You, you just get up and you sit low at his feet and then you, and then you go and you, and you meet with his people.

We leave the ifs to Christ. Let me make another suggestion as far as our takeaways or taking aim at our what ifs and lane straggling. Christ has given every member of the of this body different gifts, callings, and duties. And we can encourage one another and love one another but stay in our own lane and mind our own affairs.

Everyone is not called to do what I'm called to do and everyone's not called to do what you're called to do, so we need to resist the urge to guilt people into our own personal passions. At the same time, do not covet the callings of other members of the body. That's why the Bible says things like let not many of you be teachers. be careful what you wish for.

You might look up and be like, man, I'd love to be a pastor. Be, be careful what you wish for. I can tell you. there's some challenges.

With, with, and with everybody's job, right? There are things that pastors and flock need to be careful of. Just think of Peter and John and their different colleagues. Peter was the guy who just always wanted to do something.

He just could not sit around, Jesus shows up on the mountain of configuration. It's like, I know we'll make 3 tabernacles. Let's do that. And then Jesus comes walking along water and he's like, I'm gonna come on out and I wanna walk on the water and then he sinks.

Peter is the guy that's called the rock and he prays like a rock. His head is thick as a rock and he sinks like a rock, right? Jesus tells the guys to meet up with him in Galilee. Jesus, Peter's sitting around for a while.

He's like, I'm going fishing. You just cannot sit around and just enjoy the moment, right? And, by the way, we do see John and Peter together for a while in the early chapters of Acts. John's there in the upper room.

We see John with them at the healing of the paralytic. We see John there in Acts 8, when they're bringing, the, the good news to the Samaritans, and then John just disappears. And it's now the Peter show for a big part of the Book of Acts, and then Paul comes on the scene, but commentators ask, it's like, what happened to John? it's like you just don't, it's almost like he just dropped off the map from a missionary standpoint.

He just, maybe he just wasn't radical enough. I don't know. But I do have some suggestions, and a lot of people make the suggestion that one of the things that John was probably doing is taking care of Jesus' mom. Is that important?

Yeah, I think so. Taking care of somebody's mother. maybe that's why he dropped off the scene is because she had gotten older and he just didn't have time to travel around like the apostle Paul. And, and that's what he was being called to.

And by the way, the spirit happens to be preparing him for his old age when he's going to write 3 epistles in the book of Revelation. After the Lord's done a lot of work on his heart, sitting probably low at the feet of Christ, his spirit. We all have different callings. I know I I'm sure our pastors would all agree with this, but as a pastor, as pastors, we need to be careful that we don't lay upon the flock burdens that are exclusively the burdens of pastors, and that is a temptation for any church for preachers to lay it on thick as if the flock is supposed to be doing what the pastor is called to do.

And that can roll the other way too. Well, sometimes as pastors, you're like, I'm called, really, what am I called to do? Our elders were we're called largely to give ourselves to what. The word of God and prayer.

That's what we're to give ourselves to the Word of God and prayer, we see in Acts 6, and then we're to tend the flock, care for the sheep. Well, If, if I'm getting paid, now think about this, folks, you guys pay us, right? So I don't have to go work an extra job and I'm working approximately 50, I won't tell you how many hours a week or I might get in trouble, about the overage, but I, I'm working so many hours a week and guess what I do a big chunk of my time. I read the Bible and I pray.

Now, if I bring that burden out on you and I try to say you should read the Bible. As much as I read the Bible, what are you gonna do? Quit your job? I get paid to do this, right?

And so it's inappropriate and wrong for pastors to lay burdens on people that they were never meant to bear. We're supposed to feed the flock so that you can get fed and then when you're done working your 60 hours a week, a lot of you guys, and, and commuting on the freeway. Then you come home and you have a little Bible time with your family and you've, you're rehearsing what you heard in the word preached, but never should you feel guilty that you weren't in the word like our pastors who get paid to do this.

Does this make sense?

And so we have to be careful that we aren't letting ourselves feel guilty or that we're trying to move people out of their lanes. but the same would be true, when it comes to the sheep and their expectations of pastors, and, and I don't, I don't want anybody to get any wrong impression that we feel this here at Cornerstone, but I know a lot of pastors feel this in the church at large. Let me just say that pastors are not CEOs, pastors are not doctors, pastors are not financial advisors.

We're not even marriage or parent experts we're not logistics experts we're not communication specialists we're not politicians we're not social justice warriors.

We're not called to lead the next crusade against the newest things that Hollywood or the media says that we should be all amped up about. We are those who have been called to give our attention to the word of God and prayer and the shepherd this flock. Not that flock. This flock and we're very thankful that Cornerstone agrees that you guys aren't trying to push us into the next cause and that you guys are allowing us to do what God has called us to do and that is to give our attention to the word of God and prayer and to shepherd the flock of God and may God continue to give us that philosophy.

Here because I I have friends at other churches that do not have that privilege and who feel the pressure that they've got to be out there being a social justice warrior or they've got to be out there trumpeting the next cause and be all up in the political business. We all have circles of responsibility that God has given us. As a pastor, I, I have first a responsibility for myself. And then I have a responsibility to care for my number one bride, Katie.

And then I have a responsibility to care for my number one flock, my kids, and then I have a responsibility to care for this flock. in that order, by the way. And you all have your responsibility as well. You have your circles of responsibility to care for yourselves.

If you have a spouse, your spouse, your family, and then to really give yourself to this church as your identity, right? Not just a place you attend, but a place where you are a member in the sense that you, you have an identity. You can always tell when somebody has an identity at their church, when they come and they talk to you, if they say stuff like this, the church really needs to do this. That person doesn't identify with Cornerstone yet.

But when they come up and they're like, what we should do? Or how we could really grow. Or even sometimes when some of the flock gets a little bit offended when there's criticisms lobbed at the body, now that they identify. This is their church.

It's not just that place I go. It's my family. Very, very important. Let's talk finally, I think of a, a third thing in some of these, applications of taking aim at our own what ifs and lane struggling, we've talked about leave the ifs to the risen Christ.

We've talked about recognizing that we have different gifts, different members, so let's not try to get people out of their lane. Let's let them go in their lane that Christ has given for them. But finally, keep on following Christ. Let's just keep on doing it.

Let's keep following him. He has called Peter to keep on following. He's calling you to keep on following, and he had promised Peter that, hey, you're going to get there and but guess what? You are actually, you are going to glorify me with your death and church tradition tells us in 8064 that under Nero, Jesus did die.

And we, there's some indication in 2 212, Tertullian says he died on a cross. Some of the other stuff seems not really well known, but we know that, that Peter did die for his lord. And Christ has promised that he who begun a good work in you will complete it. He's going to get it done.

We focus on him and we trust in him that it's on his broad shoulders and we come as, as, as weak ones we come those who are, are, are, are poor of spirit and we say Lord I got nothing but you've got it all. I, I can't do anything without you, but I can do all things through you. And so we, like the writer, like of Hebrews 12, we, we come and we're looking onto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who the joy set before him, decided, said he was gonna go endure the cross for our sins, and then he's seated at the right hand of the Father, interceding for us.

That's the good news that he's he's begun this work and so we can lay aside the weight of sin that very easily ensnares us and then we can run with confidence of the race that is set before us.

Why? Because Christ is the one that's holding us in his hands. He's the one. you think back to Jonathan Edwards.

And as he was passing away. He could have been like, oh man, I should not have taken that inoculation. That's what science said that that was the best thing to do at the time. He could have been that doctor.

I'm gonna strangle him. The doctor comes in and he just, he's ministering to his conscience and just saying, hey, this is in the Lord's Lord's hands. This is my time to go. He could have been sitting there thinking, man, I was just about ready to be the president.

I am the president of Princeton University, but I'm never gonna get to do anything. What's gonna happen in the future of this university? I'm never gonna see my wife again. She's in Massachusetts.

It'd be great if my wife could be here. But I'm not gonna see her What's gonna happen to my children? A lot of what ifs. But the fact is, is, is God used Jonathan Edwards for a particular period of time in the colonies before the revolution.

He died before 1776. A lot of political turmoil going on when he died. A lot of people were hoping that he would be somebody that would help. In the American cause.

Turns out his doctor actually was one of the guys who was on in Congress. for the United States. And the Lord keeps working his will through things that seem to be crazy and chaotic, and we can trust Him in the what ifs stay in our lane. And understand that he is the risen Christ.

Let's pray. Lord, we thank you so much for the opportunity for us to look at this beautiful text and just to be reminded of Lord Jesus, of your sovereign power, of your great love and tenderness towards Peter. Lord of your friendship with people like John and with us. We ask God that you would help us to learn these lessons.

We thank you, Lord, that you've allowed, characters like Peter to be on the page of scripture and all of the good, the bad and the ugly. We, we see his ups and downs and we relate. But, we know that we are so weak, but we pray, Father, that by your spirit that you would help us to To lay at your feet daily, Lord, that you would bring us regularly to this church to hear the word preached, which in the eyes of the world seems so silly. To sing of the good news, Lord, to participate in baptisms like we will today and to partake of the Lord's supper, we thank you Lord, that you are with us every time we gather and Lord, as we continue to gather by faith, we trust Lord that in the craziness of our world that you are in control, that you love us, just help us to keep on following you.

We pray this in Christ's name. Amen.