So, Lord, may you graciously
help me. I'll turn your prayerful attention to John's Gospel, chapter
21, and reading verses 21 and 22. John's Gospel, chapter 21, and verses
21 and 22. Peter seeing him saith to Jesus,
that is, seeing John, Lord, and what shall this man
do? Jesus saith unto him, If I will
that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? Follow thou me. John's Gospel chapter 21
and verses 21 and 22. We've just been singing of the
hymn entitled Divine Compassion. And when we think of the treatment
that Jesus gave Peter, what a title that is, the Divine Compassion.
that Christ had on Peter. This one who thought that he
was stronger and more able to stand against all the troubles
on behalf of his Saviour. He genuinely believed that he
was stronger. He genuinely felt that though
all men would forsake Christ, yet Simon Peter would not. And yet, of course, the Lord
warned him that he had prayed for him, that his faith would
fail or not. Peter didn't really seem to think
that prayer was necessary. And yet, of course, it so definitely
was. And when he fell, then there
was this time when he, Jesus looked at him and he went out
and wept bitterly. But you see this divine compassion
that Christ had on Peter meant that Peter didn't go out and
hang himself. He came back by the mercy of
God to realize that Jesus was merciful. And he went back to
the one that he had denied, went back to the one that he had said
he didn't know. and you see he was graciously
restored. And really in this account that
we have read, we have the restoration of Peter to a position of preeminence
and authority in the apostolic time. He was an apostle, and
of course, he was used of God, particularly on the day of Pentecost,
but other times as well, he went to Cornelius and gave the gospel
there. to Cornelius in his household
and others too, he was used mightily of God. How the Lord had compassion
on Peter, this one who was close to him, the one who had been
one of the inner three. Peter, James and John were the
inner circle, as it were, around Christ amongst the twelve disciples. There was this inner circle of
Peter, James and John. They were the ones that went
up the Mount of Transfiguration. They were the ones that were
singled out to go when there was a raising from the dead of
that girl. And also when it came to Gethsemane,
it was Peter, James and John that were separated from the
rest of the disciples to be closest to our Lord in the Garden of
Gethsemane. But here we have Peter, the restoration
of Peter. And we know that Jesus visited
Peter separately. He hath appeared to them and
Peter, we read. Go tell my disciples and Peter. And then we're reading, I think
it's a Corinthians, that God, that Christ appeared separately
to Peter after the resurrection. But here we have this time when
the Lord Jesus comes and gives this commission to Peter that
he should feed his sheep and feed his lambs. Peter had gone
out with the others fishing. Perhaps he thought now that things
had died down and now he was perhaps going to go back to his
old ways of making money as a fisherman. But you see the Lord had further
work for Peter. And you see, though he had fell,
though he was in that difficult position, yet he was restored. And we see, therefore, that divine
compassion of Christ to his people. And we should take heart from
this, not that we should sin lightly, but that there is forgiveness
with God, that he may be feared, though he fall. Yet shall he
not be utterly forsaken. You see, there's a restoration. And here we have the restoration
of Peter and the fact that he was told to feed the lambs and
feed the sheep. And we realize here three times
he was asked, lovest thou me more than these? He had said
that he loved Christ more than the others. He was more able
to stay with him, so he thought. But Peter drops that. Thou knowest
that I love thee. He didn't claim whether he had
a greater love than the others. He stopped that. But he did love
his Lord and he could go back to God and say, Lord, Thou knowest
all things. Thou knowest that I love thee.
Peter was a sincere believer. But then you see, after this
great commission of telling him that he was going to feed his
sheep and feed his lambs, Jesus tells Peter something about the
end that Peter was going to come to. And we read that in verse
18. Verily, verily, I say unto thee,
when thou wast young, thou didst gird thyself, and walkest whither
thou wouldest, but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch
forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry whither
thou wouldest not. This spake he, signifying by
what death he should glorify God. You see, and it's thought
that John's Gospel was written later than the other Gospels,
and by this time perhaps Peter had already died by the time
the Gospel of John was written, and so they could look in hindsight
to say that this was what it was really saying. It tells us
clearly that it was talking about Peter's death. This spake he
signifying what death he should glorify God. And when he had
spoken this, he saith unto him, follow me. So the Lord Jesus
gave Peter, first of all, a commission to feed his sheep and feed his
lambs, but he also told him that basically he was going to die
a martyr's death. Difficult thing to be told, no
doubt, to realize that you're going to die on behalf your master. Obviously before he'd said he
was willing to do that, but now he was confronted with what Christ
had said, that this is what his pathway should hold. But Jesus then says those simple
words which he often said. It's recorded many times that
he said this to different people, follow me. So this was the command. Peter, you're going to feed lambs,
you're going to feed sheep, Eventually, when it's my time, your life
will come to an end and you'll die a martyr's death on behalf
of your faith. But what you're to do is follow
me." This was the instruction that Peter was given. But you
see, Peter, though he had been restored, he still had that temperament
of Peter. Peter was always the spokesman,
the one who tended to speak, perhaps before he thought too
much. And here we have Peter again being speaking up and asking
questions at this time. Then Peter, sorry, in verse 20
we have, then Peter turning about seeth the disciple whom Jesus
loved. Following. You see, so he turned round and
saw John, and it tells us John doesn't, in his gospel he doesn't
refer to himself as John, but often as the disciple whom Jesus
loved. And also it clarifies this because
it's following, which also leaned on his breast at supper, and
we know that was John that did that, and said, Lord, which is
he that betrayeth thee? We know that that was in the
account of what John did at the last supper. So Peter had just
been told to follow the Lord, and the very next thing he does
is turn round and look at John. The very first thing he does
after Jesus has finished speaking to him, he told him some weighty
things. He told him that he would clearly
be involved in building up the kingdom of God, in feeding the
sheep and feeding the lamb. That's a pictorial language for
being a preacher or being an apostle, being a feeder of God's
people with the truth of God. But Peter turns around and looks
at John, and then asks this question. That's where we get to our text. Peter, seeing him, that is John,
saith to Jesus, Lord, and what shall this man do? Jesus saith
unto him, if I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to
thee? Follow. Thou me. So we think of these two verses,
we can say that they're split into three parts. We have first
of all a question raised by Peter to Jesus. Peter asked Jesus a
question. And then we have a gentle rebuke
from Christ. Christ gently rebukes Peter. This one who is just restored,
this one who has just been given a command, follow me, immediately
put Peter's off doing other things. And then we have, lastly, a reiteration
of the same truth. of Jesus says, follow me again,
reiterating what he'd already said a few verses earlier. So
let us look then at this, a question. Peter seeing him saith, Lord,
and what shall this man do? We are to Be concerned about
our brethren. We are to show concern for our
brethren in the ministry, at other churches, to know how they
do. Look not only on the things of
your own, but also on the things of others, we're told. In Philippians,
how the Lord Jesus lived a selfless life, caring for others. There
is that aspect. But there can also be an aspect
which is seeking to just look at what other people are doing
in perhaps a slightly nosy way and
possibly in a comparison way. See, Peter had just been told
that he was going to die a martyr's death. Well, is John going to
have to die a martyr's death? Is that what John's got to do
or what's John got to do? I think I'm just going to compare
what I've got to do with what John's got to do. Well, you see,
this was something behind, no doubt, what Peter was seeking
to do. Certainly as we see the way Jesus
responded to it, clearly Jesus was not encouraging this question. He did not encourage Peter in
asking such questions. You see, we can be like that
sometimes. If we're in a difficult situation,
we've been told some difficult news and perhaps Peter wanted
to shift the conversation, shift it away from him to other people. The woman at the well of Samaria
was somewhat like that. When Jesus had confronted her
that she had that she had had five husbands
and the one that she now had was not her husband, she started
saying, well, shall we worship in this mountain or another mountain?
Shifting the conversation away from that personal and what was
actually affecting her. But you see, Jesus, brought it back, and to deal
with souls. He dealt with people individually,
and he dealt with their never-dying souls. Jesus saith, so Peter
saith unto him, Lord, and what shall this man do? Well, you see, in our lives,
we need to be careful too, because we can be distracted with what
everybody else is doing, and what they've been told to do,
rather than getting on with what God has told us to do. And we
can compare their lot, their ministerial, the prosperity that
they're receiving, the church that they're pastoring, or the
position of eminence that they've been put in, or the workplace
that they've been given, or the wife that they've been given,
or the house that they've been given, or the children that they
have. We can compare in an unhealthy way, although I'm not saying
for a moment we shouldn't have right concern for one another
and pray for one another, that's right, but clearly there can
be a nosiness in other people's business which is much more of
a comparison to see whether they're getting on better or worse than
we are. And you see, this can be detrimental
to getting on. and doing what God has told us
to do. You see, if we're looking at
what everybody else is doing, we're comparing their lot with
ours, comparing their pathway with ours, comparing their joys
with ours, and saying, well, this is better, and that's not
so good, and so on. And therefore, there can be a
deviation from what God has told us to do. Peter seeing him, Seth,
And saith to Jesus, Lord, and what shall this man do? Of course,
we live in an age with many communications with the media and the mobile
phones and all the different systems for communicating. And
of course, there can be a lot of nosiness about other people's
business, which is readily available for all to see. And we do need
to be careful. as how we're looking at this
information. Are we looking in a right way
for their good, for their spiritual good, for their furtherance?
Or is it just a nosiness, more like Peter was doing here with
John? And Peter and John were good
friends. Peter and John had walked together as disciples of the
Lord for many years, or for three years. But you see, the point is that
Peter was given a commission now, and it was going to be different
than John's commission. Peter's commission was going
to be important. He was going to preach at the
Day of Pentecost. He was going to be mightily used.
The others would be with him, but he was going to be the lead
speaker. He was the one that was going to go to Cornelius.
He was the one that was going to write those epistles of Peter
to the churches. But John's role was different.
John was going to write a gospel, the Gospel of John, as we've
been reading. He was going to write some epistles as well. He was going to be, we believe,
the longest living of the disciples. And he was going to be in exile
on the Isle of Patmos. and he was going to be taken
up to see that revelation that we have as the last book of the
Bible, the revelation of the things that must shortly come
to pass. You see, they were both children
of God, they were both disciples, they were both in the inner circle
of the Lord, and yet they had a different task to do. And John was to get on with his
task, and Peter was to get on with his task. And they were
not to, in one sense, compare their tasks, but they were to
go and get on and do what God had told them to do. And that
is why we read together in the Corinthians. You see, I read
that chapter, or part of that chapter in Corinthians 12, regarding
the body. Paul uses this illustration and
really, when you think about it, you could almost say it's
foolish what he says. It's so obvious that you wouldn't
do this, that he makes it as if, however could you think like
this? And yet, of course, it is a perfect illustration of
how we do think at times and how foolish it is. You see, he
says if you've got one body, and you've got different members
in that body, you've got the eye, and you've got the hand,
and you've got the ear, and those items of the body, those faculties
of the body, are very, very different. The eye is not the hand, is it?
The eye has a completely different function than the hand. I can't
see you with my hands. I can't lift a glass up and drink
with my eyes. they have a different function.
But does that mean that the eye is of no use? Does that mean
my ear is of no use? Does that mean my hand is of
no use? You'd say, well, that's just foolishness. Of course,
of course, they've got different functions. I need my hands, I
need my ears, I need my eyes. They all do different things
and they all work together to make one purpose. Why do they
have to be the same? They're not made the same. They
have different functions. You see, and this is So, you
see, in each member of the body of Christ. And you see, we need
to realise that in our pathway, and a lack of realising this
can be very, very detrimental to the Church of God. Because
you see, if we're not all the same as one particular person,
then there can be a conclusion that there's no use. There's
no use of those people because you're not like that. Unless
you've got a certain set of gifts, you're of no use. No, that's
very, very contrary to the Word of God. There is an idea here
that we are many members with differing abilities, different
qualities, different talents, different mental capabilities,
and yet we've all been given something, and we've all been
given that something to use for the glory of God. And you see,
that's the point. Whether it's the eye or the ear
or the hand, all those things in a good functioning body are
all used together for the benefit of the whole. And yes, they're
different. Your feet are very different
than your eyes. They have a very different function,
but they're all exceedingly useful in their place. And so the encouragement
is here, you see, that we It should be amongst those who realize
there's a diversity. I guess it's something in our
day to day. It seems that in our society,
they cannot recognise diversity. There's differences. They seem
to think every human being is identical. Well, it's clearly
not. God has not made them identical.
He's made them complementary. He's made them have different
functions, but they're not identical, and they have different purposes.
And if you try and squash Peter into John's mould, that's not
what God has appointed. You see, they're different. and
yet they're complementary. And you see, this is the great
thing of this argument that Paul is saying, that we have so many
members, that they have differing ability. And he says, for those members
of which the body we think to be less honorable, upon them
we show more abundant honor, and so on. Now ye are the body of Christ
and members in particular. And then he goes on to say, are
all apostles, are all teachers, and each has different functions,
you see. But there's one body. And I think this is really important
as we think of this word that we have before us with Peter.
And it's not just Peter. I mean, Peter now has gone to
glory. Peter now has done with his lower
life. He's now with his Lord in heaven. And yet the record of what he
did and what he said and the way he walked can be so helpful
to us today to learn from. Those who have gone before us,
we can learn from them and realize how they walked and how they
had to learn. And Peter was one that spoke
his mind so we know what he was thinking. That can be very helpful
in a sense, because if you have somebody that never says something,
you don't know whether they were thinking one thing or the other.
But Peter tells us very often what he is thinking, and we can
see where he was coming from. So Peter seeing him, that's John
saith to Jesus, Lord, and what shall this man do? Jesus saith
unto him, if I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to
thee? So this is the reply Jesus gives. If I will that he tarry till
I come, what is that to these? Jesus was really using a hypothetical
situation. He said, you're saying that you're
concerned that your life is going to end in martyrdom, but if it's
my purpose for John to live, the entire course of the rest
of this world until the second coming of Christ, what's that
to you? How does that change your remit?
How does that change what I've told you to do? You're to be
that honourable function in the position that I've put you. And
you see, Of course, and it's said later
on that people took that to mean that John wasn't going to die.
But that's corrected in this epistle. It wasn't that Jesus
meant that. He was just saying that if you give an extremely
long life to John, it would be now more than 2,000 years or
2,000 years-ish more to live from here to when that was spoken. But Jesus is saying, if I did
that, what does that change what I've told you to do? And you
see, we can be distracted, you think of it, with children sometimes,
the parents give them a task or a duty to do, but they're
more worried about what somebody else is doing. And therefore
they don't do what they've been told to do themselves. And of
course it's not just children, we can be like that too. And
of course Peter was being like that, adults can be like that.
we can be so fussing about others that we don't get on and worry
about ourselves. And of course, I mean, we have
that on the road network, don't we too? Often it's quite well
known that if you have, if you're on the motorway and you've got
a northbound carriageway accident, you often find that the southbound
carriageway is all blocked for no other reason than that they're
busy looking at the northbound carriageway. to see just how
the accident, and look on. In a sense it's not helpful,
it's just nosy generally. And often you can have accidents
on the opposite carriageway because they're looking over the central
reservation and not looking where they're going. And of course
we can each be like this. You see, and the Lord Jesus here
is correcting this in Peter. correcting this, and as it's
been corrected in Peter, surely we have a tendency too. We are
apt to look at others. We're apt to compare ourselves
among ourselves and to come to some conclusion. The disciples
did this, even in the upper room. Just when Jesus had said, with
desire, I have desired to eat this Passover with you before
I suffer. And there was amongst the disciples,
there was also a dispute amongst them, who should be the greatest. And we think, well, isn't that
terrible? And yet, the sad thing is, you see, we have the same
seed in ourselves. And we have to realize that we
are sinners, and we need a savior. We need one to forgive us our
sins. We need one to show us the right
way. And we need a merciful God, one
that will heal our backslidings, one that will love us freely. Jesus saith unto him, if I will
that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? What difference
will it make to your life? What difference will it make
to the fact that I have told you already to follow me? And
you see, so there's a singleness here of Jesus said in another
place, to his own Who art thou that judgest another man's servant?
To his own master he standeth or falleth. It's a relationship
between the servant and the master. And if that master is content
with that behavior of that servant, then that's between the master
and the servant. And it's not for a third party
to come along and say whether it's right or not. It's between
the master and the servant. Here we have a master in heaven
and he has given commands in his word of what he will have
his people do. And you see it's our place to
be obedient to what God has told us to do in our lives. not our next door neighbour,
not the person in front, not the person behind, but us. We must all stand before the
judgement seat of God. We must each give an account,
what we have done, what we have said, and what we have done with
what God has told us to do in our lives. Jesus said unto him,
If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? And then We come on to the last
part of our text, which is a reiteration of what Jesus had already said
in verse 19. In verse 19, he said, After he had told him that he
would die a martyr's death, he said, follow me, in verse 19. Well, you see, Peter immediately
had turned round and looked at John and then asked what John's
pathway was going to be, what was going to happen to John.
But Jesus didn't want a comparison between the disciples and one
saying, well, why has he got this role and why have I got
that role? Why do I have to preach here and why does he have to
preach there? No, that's not what God wanted.
You see, we are to be obedient to him as our master. And you
see, it's so contrary to the way we often think. You see, in careers we're often
encouraged to plan out our pathway and where we're going to be in
so many years' time, and which companies we want to work for,
and how we want to progress, and so on. And I remember having
to fill in a form some years back regarding that sort of thing
and I was rather unsure at all what to do because I had on my
mind that in due time I would be sent into the ministry and
I couldn't see that I would be progressing that amazingly in
my secular career. And the inference was that, well,
if you don't know where you're going, you're not going to go
anywhere far. You're not going to be able to be much good in
life at all. That was the sort of the underlying
agenda or thoughts that came my way. But I came across this
verse a little while later in John's Gospel, chapter six and
verse 38. And it was profoundly sweet to
me. John's gospel chapter 6 and verse 38. These are the words
of Jesus. For I came down from heaven,
not to do mine own will, but the will of Him that sent me. When you think of it, if anybody
had a right to do his own will, surely it was the Lord Jesus,
who was holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners. Surely
he could plan his career. Surely he could do his own will.
But even he pleased not himself. He was obedient to his Father
in heaven. We think we should be master
of our own career, we should be making our own decisions,
we should know what we want to do in five years' time, where
we want to live, what we want to do, and we should have all
those ideas ourselves. And yet, rather than saying,
Lord, what wilt thou do? have me to do. Paul was like
that, or Saul of Tarsus. He was rounding up men and women,
putting them into prison for their Christian faith. And he
had it all worked out. He was going to Damascus to that
very purpose, for that very purpose. But God stopped him, you see.
Stopped him in his mad career with that light shining above
the brightness of the midday sun. Stopped him. And then he
suddenly changed. Totally. to be able to say, Lord,
what will thou have me to do? A complete reversal. I verily
thought I did God's service. He thought that he was pleasing
God with his way of rounding up men and women and putting
them into prison. But when God opened his understanding, opened
his eyes, he realized how wrong he was. And he realized that
he was going the wrong way. And you see, we live in a day
and You children no doubt are subjected to this idea that it's
all about you, it's about what you want to do. No, I'm not saying
we are not to realise and understand that we have certain skill sets
and certain talents and to ignore that I think would be wrong.
We are to see what the Lord has given us in natural talents and
seek to use them in an appropriate way in our lives and in our businesses
and so on. But we should be surely doing
it. What wilt thou have me to do? We should be seeking to follow
him. We should not be masters of our
own destiny. We should be seeking to know
his will, his way, and content, you see. Godliness with contentment
is great gain. I think it wasn't so long ago
in the Friendly Companion there was a story that was printed
regarding a little girl. And she was, I believe she was
blind and dumb. I think that was what it was.
Blind and dumb. Or was it deaf and dumb? I think
it was deaf and dumb, sorry, yes, deaf and dumb. And so, but
she was in this class, this Sunday school class, and the teacher
was, she was good at lip reading, I think, and so the teacher was
asking questions to the children, and the teacher noticed that
whatever question was asked, this little girl would go up
and write up a text on the board to answer the question. It was
a text that she would write out. And such an appropriate one. I can't remember the exact examples,
but it was a very appropriate text. And in the end this teacher
felt, well I'm sure this is a godly little girl. And she asked, or
this teacher asked this little girl a very hard question. A very hard question. She asked
this little girl, Why has God made you deaf and dumb? It's a very tough question for
a little girl. Anyway, this girl understood
the question and she went up and wrote on the board, Even
so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight. And you see,
that's submission. That's doing the Father's will. That's very different in the
spirit of this world. Very different than the spirit
of I must be equal and I must do what I must have, I must have
equal rights. No, the sweet submission that
even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight. So different
and yet so beautiful. You see, but Christ was humble,
Christ who created everything out of nothing. He was heaven's
glory. He came to this earth and I came
not to do my own will, but the will of him that sent me. Such
submission, the incarnation, the God of the universe contracted
to a span, such humiliation. and yet such glory to bring about
the plan of salvation for his people. Well, Peter, seeing him, saith,
Jesus, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? Jesus saith unto him,
if I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee?
And then Jesus gives this command, follow thou me. We're to be followers
of Christ. We're to be followers of Christ
without distraction. We're to be followers of Christ
independent of those people who are around us. You see, this
was what the issue was. Peter wanted to know what John
was doing. Peter wanted to compare what
he was doing with what John was doing. But Jesus said, no, John's
got a work to be done. John's got his work to do, and
you've got your work to do. John's work's important. He's
got a great work to do for the kingdom of God. But it's different
than your work, Peter. And that doesn't mean that your
work, Peter, is not of any value. It's still valuable. It's still
right. You're to follow me. And you
see, that's a tremendous help to us each. Because if you look
around this chapel and you look around your friends and loved
ones, you'll see a diversity of ability, a diversity of of skills and talents. And you
have that when you have the exam results come out. You have some
that excel at very, very high levels and some are not quite
so high. You see there's a diversity.
But the Lord is able to use each in their different capacities,
with their different strengths and weaknesses. We're to be diligent
and labor for the Lord in the place where the Lord would have
us be, even so farther. for so it seemed good in thy
sight. There's that submission, that
following the Lord, following what he has said, what he has
said in his word. If any man will follow me, let
him take up his cross and follow me. And the cross that you need
to take up will probably be very different than the cross that
I need to take up to follow God. You see, the cross is what's
involved in doing God's will in our lives. And you see, we're
subjected in our lives to different problems in different areas.
So what I might be tempted or asked to do in my work, which
would break one of the God's laws and be wrong against God,
may be completely different than what you'll have in your life
to be tempted and to be tried over. It may be very, very different.
So my cross may be very different than your cross, but we are to
follow him and to take up that cross and not say, well, if I
had this ability, then I could follow God. Or if I had that
talent, if I got these grades in my GCSEs, then I could be
useful. No, we are to use what God has
given us for the glory of God. Jesus saith unto him, What is
that to thee? Follow thou me. So we are to
follow the Lord. I remember in my pathway, when
I was exercised about baptism, there was somebody in my life
that was, at that time, acting wrongly. And I thought, well
if that's how a member acts and that's what they do, that's wrong
and I'm sure that can't be right. And I was using it as an excuse. I couldn't follow the law because
of this person. But this word came powerfully. What is that to thee? Follow thou me. And of course
it's completely, Foolish, isn't it, to say, well, I didn't follow
the Lord because of this person over there. They said this to
me, or that church said something else that was wrong, and therefore
I didn't follow the Lord. How would you stand at the judgment
seat of Christ and give that sort of reason for not following
the Lord? No, you see, these things fall
down. We are to We are without excuse. What is that to thee? What are
the reasons? What are all the things that
you may find excuses? What are they? Follow thou me. There's a willingness, you see,
to put aside everything. The apostle describes it perhaps
in another figure, but a similar thing really. Let us run the
race. which is set before us, looking
unto Jesus. Let us lay aside every weight,
and the sin that doth so easily beset us, and let us run with
patience the race that is set before us. Not John's race. Peter is to run Peter's race. John is to run John's race. I have to run my race, you have
to run your race, looking unto Jesus, following him, realising
that our pathways will be different, different members, different
abilities, one body to glorify one saviour forever and ever. Amen.