What is That to Thee, Follow Thou Me - Joel Schrock

Good morning. I also want to greet you in the name of Jesus and

welcome the visitors make up for a few of those of us that are not

here. Glad to have you here. Maybe just mentioned I think there's something

in the bulletins that but our family is planning to leave in about a week

and be gone for roughly three months, and so that was that was mentioned

earlier. But I do bring it up just to if you could pray for

us while we're gone. And I think I don't know what all we're doing

there in Greece, but it is primarily working with refugees in different ways,

Bible studies and so forth, so a little intimidating in some ways. It's

one thing to speak you know, people we know can understand well. I

think these people are from Ethiopia, Pakistan, Iran, different places like that,

and so different challenges with communication so forth. So would appreciate your prayers

in that. A few of these thoughts may be familiar to a few people

from a different setting, but not many. So I'm not going to apologize.

But I like everyone and I know I did something similar last time,

but I'd like for everyone just to think a little bit. If it's helpful,

you can write it down, but you don't have to. And this

is something we don't usually do. We certainly don't tell anybody to do it,

and we usually, you know, try to tell ourselves not to do

this. But for just a minute, look look around, look over your

shoulder at brother, sister, a friend, a neighbor, and then think

about something in your own life that you think doesn't seem fair. I think

we try to train ourselves not to do that which is good. Could be

something painful, could be a death of a loved one, a parent,

sibling, child, a friend. Maybe you've been misunderstood, or maybe you've

been abused, or maybe you've been mistreated by those that you thought were your

friends. Mhm. It's probably multiple of those things are true for us at

some point in our life. But I believe that there is something, probably

more than something, in each one of our lives that it's difficult. Maybe

something your friend hasn't gone through, the person beside you on the bench hasn't

gone through something that doesn't seem to be fair, because we all have a

story. Now, another way to think about this, and I'll probably not

give the title till at least halfway through the message here. But another angle

that we could think about this besides just pain in various ways. Maybe God

is calling you to a different lifestyle or uh, you know, than some

of your friends. Maybe maybe it's a you know, you look at your

neighbor and you see their vehicle or their house, or their boat or something.

Maybe you can't afford it. Maybe you can, but you don't feel

good about buying that yourself. Maybe God hasn't given you peace about that.

Maybe he's given your neighbor piece about what he has. Maybe it's a hobby.

Maybe the time to keep up with that hobby turns it into the something

like the center of your life, which was just the devotions Dad had mentioned

idols. It's possible for hobby to become an idol. It's probably possible for

occupation to become an idol. Maybe we listen to unhealthy music or watch movies

that we shouldn't watch because, after all, our friends do and they're not

so bad. They might even seemed pretty sincere. Maybe you're disappointed in the

church. Maybe you've been disappointed by the ministry. Maybe you've been disappointed by

the older ones. Maybe you've been disappointed by the youth, the younger ones.

All sorts of things can hinder our peace when we're looking over our shoulder.

Now, before we get too far, I would also like to say

clarify that I believe the body of Christ and the form of a church that

gives and takes counsel provides some accountability is essential for a Christian walk and living

and growing and maturing. But that's not the focus of this message. But

I want to make that clear. At the outset the focus of this message,

and I believe the scripture that we'll look at they will give a little

bit of a purpose. Statement is that no matter what pain we face or

have faced, no matter what those around us are doing, no matter how

disappointed we might be in someone or some group of people, that we have

no excuse because each one of us is called to follow Christ. Now,

I also don't want any of this to come across as as just a harsh

reality unfeeling, because I think in this we see the compassion of Christ even

when we're asked to do hard things. So a short story here, probably

fairly parts of this as familiar. So there's an older man, he was

probably graying and Balding don't know all these details for sure, but he lived

a life to the fullest, and he had witnessed amazing events. He had

witnessed miracles. In fact, he'd seen the repentance of thousands of people.

He'd also seen people backsiding. He traveled the known world tirelessly told people about

the God that he knew and loved. And now he's probably anywhere from mid

sixties to seventy years old. It's not the robust, nearly invincible man he

once was. And he was falsely accused. He and others were falsely accused

of burning the most noble, powerful city of the day, and that was

Rome. And while he could be considered or called accurately in some way a

ring leader, he was no criminal ring leader. But that didn't matter because

the Emperor was a cruel, bloodthirsty authoritarian. There are even rumors that he

was the cause of the fire that burned so much of room. Emperor Nero

shed blood for sport, or had blood shed for sport. So the whipping

that this aging man likely endured, which would have broke open the skin on

his back, possibly broke broken bones, was routine business. The tiring March

to the place a crucifixion, likely carrying the roughly one pound cross beam that

he was to be nailed to. Wasn't too much out of the ordinary.

There's a place in the city for this type of operation, because I understand

that there would have been a place where there was always an upright bean just

ready for anybody that needed to be crucified, at least one. So as

he prepared, thought about most of the people in the day had witnessed this

type of thing, probably at some time or another. As he prepared himself

to die in the most agonizing, slow humiliating public death, he must have

remembered the words of the Master, his master, words that were given to

him that reminded that reminded him of his own failings, and he wasn't worthy.

He didn't think to die in the same manners as Lord, because he

had denied him. So, according to tradition, at least he requested to

be crucified upside down, so the once unbearably painful death became even more painful.

But there was a joy in his heart because he knew he was going

home. So if you have your Bible, so you can turn to John

twenty one and going to just not going to read this whole passage, but

going to kind of go through it, and you can follow along. It's

a very familiar account. So Peter and apparently six other disciples are gathered together.

The Jesus said had shown himself to his disciples on a couple occasions,

and they were unsure what to do next. And Peter and it seems like

ever the impulsive person says, and it must probably in the evening, he

says, I'm going fishing, and they have fished at night? So how

they did that? And the others said, well, we'll go along with

you, And it's interesting verse three. They entered into the ship immediately again

it seems kind of petersh here, and that night, as good as they

were fishing, they caught nothing. And as the sun came up, they

saw a man on the shore. And it looks like about they must have

been about three hundred feet off ashore. And why and how Jesus hid his

identity from people after his resurrection, I'm not sure. Maybe somebody here has

a good explanation. But if you look at Mary in the garden after his

resurrection, she didn't recognize him. First. The disciples, and the way

they mass didn't recognize him until you had broken bread and disappeared. And now

you have seven men who would have been as close as people could be,

as men, brothers and master and disciples could be on earth, and he's

there on shore and they didn't recognize it. And Jesus calls out, He

says, children, have you any meat? And they didn't, and he

instructed them to cast their nets on the other side, he says, and

ye shall find And if they didn't recognize him, and they knew how to

fish, and they probably fished all up and down that shore. I don't

know both sides of the boat or not. But for whatever reason they listened.

Maybe it was some compelling authority in his voice, maybe it was desperation,

maybe it was try anything, but they tried it. And now there

are so many fish that they couldn't pull the net in. And only then

did John, who's mentioned as a disciple of Jesus, loved closest to Jesus

in some ways, looked at Peter the impulsive fisherman, and said, it

is the Lord. And we see Peter puts on his fishure and his coat

and jumps in jumps into the water. He's heading ashore and left everyone else

to clean up the mess. But he got to shore and he saw that

although a miraculous event occurred and they got so many fish that they couldn't bring

it in hardly and the net didn't break, Jesus didn't actually need that.

He already was on the shore with the fire fish and bread ready to eat,

and he says, we'll bring the fish. So Peter goes and helps

him, and they bring in the fish, and then Jesus says, come

and dine. I don't know what they did with all these fish in the

meantime, but he says, come eat what I have prepared for you.

Come and dine. And after they ate, it seems like maybe I don't

know, if they were on a walk. They're standing by the sea shore,

but it doesn't seem like they're all in a group anymore. If you

read through this, Peter and Jesus are talking. Peter knew he had denied

Jesus, and he knew he was unworthy to be in the full, but

he also loved Jesus. So read verses fifteen through seventeen here. So again

this is really familiar there's a lot in here. We'll just pick out a

couple of things. So, when they had dined, Jesus said to Simon

Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, love us, Thou me more than

these. He saith unto him, yea, Lord, thou knowest I love

thee? He said, unto him, Feed my lambs. He saith unto

him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, love us,

thou me, He saith unto him, yea, Lord, thou knowest that

I love thee. He saith unto him. Feed my sheep. He saith

into him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, love ust thou

meet. Peter was grieved because he said, unto him the third time,

love ust thou me, And he said, unto him, Lord, thou

knowest all things. Thou knowest that I love THEE. Jesus saith unto him,

feed my sheep. And so this is the account where Jesus asks Peter

three times do you love me? And Peter answered three times as he if

we remember, he denied Jesus three times, and each time Jesus instruct some

feed my sheep, feed my lambs. Now the last time says Peter is

grieved. How can he get through to Jesus that he loves him? Says

he was grieved, and he said, Lord, thou knowest all things,

says you know that I love you. Now, there's all sorts of comparisons

in here. We could compare, you know, the three questions to the

three d niles. We could look at the sheep lambs, could look at

the different words for love used. One that we will just for a little

bit here is Jesus doesn't use the name Peter the rock. He uses the

name Simon. And I think I've heard somewhere that has to do with unstable.

I think one of the meanings of Simon is to hear. Simon needed

to hear. He had not been that rock recently. But now I'd like

to focus on what I'd like to focus on here. His next couple verses

eighteen nineteen, and this is Jesus speaking very so. Right after he says

my sheep again, he says, verily barely. I said to THEE,

when thou wast young, thou girdest myself and walkest whether thou wouldest. But

when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thine hands, and another

shall gird thee and carry thee whither thou wouldest not. And this Spakey signifying

by what death he should glorify God. And when he had spoken this,

he said, unto him, follow me. So he's saying, Peter,

when you were young, you dressed yourself, you went wherever you wanted to

go. You could go wherever you wanted to go. In fact, just

last night Peter decided to go fishing, and he went fishing. But he

says, someday, when you are old, you will stretch out your hands

and another person will power over you to clothe you or not. Someone else

will have power over you to take you where you don't want to go.

And well, Jesus didn't say explicitly, Peter, you will be crucified when

you're old. Seems that Peter understood what Jesus meant now. Earlier, face

with the prospect of death, Peter said, I'm ready. I'm gonna go

with you. I will go with you, even if it means death.

That's what he told. He told Jesus, but he clearly wasn't ready.

Instead, he den'tid Jesus. Now, he didn't make that claim again,

he didn't jump to a quick claim, but neither did he say, Lord,

increase my faith my strength, like maybe he should have. What he

did was interesting because it's so human and so much like us. He looked

over his shoulder twenty Verse twenty. Then Peter, turning about, Seeth,

the disciple whom Jesus loved, following which also leaned on his breast at supper,

and said and said, Lord, what'd you he that betrayeth? He

says John, he's offering this. Peter, seeing him, saith to Jesus,

and Lord, what shall this man do? So he looks over his

shoulder. You know, what about my neighbor? What about my brother?

What about John does? What does he have to do? And notice Peter

didn't complain about what Jesus said here. He simply looked around to make sure

that things were fair. So verse twenty two this is the last recorded words

of Jesus in the Gospel of John. And I think that's I think that's

significant. And this verse has the title of the message in it. Jesus

saith unto him, if I will that he tarry till I come? What

is that? To thee? Follow thou me and That's what I like to

think about. What is that to thee? Follow thou me? So you

see what's happening here. Jesus is saying, Peter, if it is my

will that you die in the most humiliating, excuciating, prolonged public death and

John lives on the earth in peace until I come again. He's given the

possible saying this would happen. He's giving the possibility that John might never taste

to death. He says, what is that to you? You follow me?

And Peter lived for probably another thirty some years. He would have worked

with John, I'm sure, over the decades, and he could have rightly

thought, and maybe he did. He could have said, no, John

cannot understand me. John has no idea what I'm going through. You can't

because he's not living with what I'm living with. John cannot empathize with me.

And it's not fair. Now is Jesus unsympathetic and unfeeling? And what

he said to Peter, you know, was it like a hurried, impatient

parent that hollers over their shoulders, they're heading out the door, and put

your shoes on and come just follow after me? Right? Is that the

picture that we get here because he said, well, you know what is

it to you? You follow me? But Jesus, since we know the

story, we know that Jesus himself was beat until his back was broken and

bleeding. Jesus himself had to carry his cross. Jesus himself stretched out his

hands, was nailed to a cross and carried where he did not want to

go. And Jesus himself suffered the most cruel torture that the heart in Romans

could come up with, such a hideous method of death that there were distinguished

Romans writing against the practice at the time. Jesus could not only sympathize,

he could empathize. But John's whack of facing what Peter had to face was

no excuse for Peter to falter. Now I'd like to read some verses,

mostly from First Peter. I finders stand right. First, Second Peter would

have been written shortly before Peter was executed, And First Peter was only written

a couple of years before that kind of all in the eighty sixties, as

far as as far as I don't know that that's for sure, but that's

that's what it's thought. So these are these verses would all be late in

Peter's life, and he's lived with this thought for about half of his life

at this point, probably. So keep Peter's experience in mind as you read

these. Keep in mind that when he looked over his shoulder at John,

at other people, life wasn't fair. God called him to a different experience

than many others. Now, if he was honest, John probably didn't have

that Christiy of a life. And while John was suffering later in life,

Peter was in glory. So you know, that's kind of the eternal view,

and you can see that eternal view coming through here. Peter was now

the rock that Christ said he'd built his church on. He could see past

the current trouble he faced, and he focused instead on Christ's suffering, not

his own. And he could see past that end of life sentence he had

received from Jesus, and he could see that we need to live graciously with

our brothers and sisters in the present. He could see things eternal, the

resurrection of Christ and the resurrection of the saints, and that changed everything for

him. I don't know that I give many more thoughts on these verses,

but that Peter's view of life and eternity to turn to verse Peter verse.

You can follow along if you want. I'm going to go through and read

a few verses here. So one Peter one, starting with verse one,

this is just him. We'll read, we'll read uh to verse seven,

and then we'll jump down further. So this is him intro introducing first Peter

an apostle, and again just while we're reading this. It's so easy.

It's easy for the reader of scriptures just to start reading and speed up and

run through it. It's easy for us to start tuning it out. Think

of Peter, his life, what he's facing towards the end of life.

As I read that Peter an Apostle of Jesus Christ to the strangers scattered throughout

Pontus, Glacia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Mythenia elect according to the foreknowledge

of God the Father, through sanctification of the spirit unto obedience and sprinkling of

the blood of Jesus Christ. So he's focusing on Jesus. Grace unto you

and peace be multiplied. We think could be hard for him to come with

peace. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which

according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us unto a lively hope by the resurrection

of Jesus Christ from the dead. Is focus on the resurrection to inherit an

inheritance in Christ uptible and undefiled, that fateth not away, reserved in heaven

for you who are kept by the power of God through faith, and too

salvation ready to be revealed in the last time, wherein you greatly rejoice,

though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness to

manifold temptations, that the trial of your faith, being much more precious than

of gold, that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be

found, and too praise and honor and glory at the peering of Jesus Christ.

I go down to verse eighteen. For as much as ye know that

you are not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold, from your vain

conversation received by tradition from your father's, but again with the precious blood of

Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, who verily was

forordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times.

And I was going to mention that Jesus was foreordained before the foundation of

the world, and I presume he was talking about it in the context of

the precious blood of Christ. Peter had this hanging over him for a few

decades. Well, Jesus knew what that was like too, both on earth

and I It's hard to think about him coming from eternity to time, but

certainly there was that Christ knew what he was facing and was alone in that

as well. So twenty one who by him do believe in God that raised

him up from the dead and gave him glory, that your faith and hope

might be in God. Seeing you have purified your souls in obeying the truth

through the spirit unto unfail love of the brethren, See that ye love one

another with a pure heart, fervently being born again, not of corruptible seed,

but of incorruptible by the Word of God, which liveth and abideth forever.

And so we have the resurrection we have loving the brother and now.

And I believe this was mentioned in Isaiah that Dad ed as well for all

flesh as as grass, and all the glory of man is a flower of

grass, the grass witheth and the flower thereof falleth away, and that's such

a short time compared to eternity. But the Word of the Lord endureth forever.

And this is the word which by the Gospels preached unto you. Then

we'll read the first three verses of chapter two. It's all. There's more

in chapter two, but that's all I read of chapter two. Wherefore,

laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies and envies, and

all evil speakings, as new born babes desire the sincere milk of the Word,

ye may grow thereby, if so be ye have tasted. The Lord

is gracious just talking about the eternal Word. Wherefore you lay aside all malice,

guile, all these evil speakings, the things that we have to say

negative chapter three. Will read verses fourteen through eighteen. But an, if

ye suffer for righteousness, sake happy or ye, and be not afraid of

their terror. Neither be troubled, but sanctify the Lord God in your hearts,

and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you

a reason of the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear,

having a good conscience, that whereas they speak evil of you, as evil

doers, they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ.

For it is better if the will of God be so that you suffer for

well doing, then for evil doing. And this is the verse, especially

this four verse eighteen. For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the

just, for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being

put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the spirit. Again,

he's focusing on Christ, not his own troubles. Chapter four, verse one.

For as much then as Christ hath suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves

likewise with the same mind. For he that has suffered in the flesh has

ceased from sins. Verse eight Again, just what our focus is. Let's

see and above all things, have fervent charity among yourselves, so as we

look, instead of looking over our shoulder and seeing, I'll have fervent charity.

For charity shall cover the multitude of sins. Use hospitality one to another

without grudging. Just a couple more verses yet, verse one of chapter five.

The elders, which are among you, I exhort, who am also

an elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, back to the sufferings

of Christ, and a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed. So

he's going from he's thinking the suffering of Christ and the glory right, not

mentioning his suffering in between and verse ten. But the God of all grace,

who hath called us undo his eternal glory by Christ Jesus. After that

you have suffered a while, make you perfect, established, strengthen settle you.

Just a good exercise if you get a chance to think about what Peter

faced in his life, and just read through First Peter and second Peter with

that in mind. I'm not going to read any verses from tewod Peter.

Here verses thirteen and fourteen. It looks like he's you know, Christ,

Lord Jesus has showed him. You know, he's about ready to die now,

if you can remember that. It's to kind of to the beginning of

this message. The thing something that is a a pain, some pain,

something unfair, some disappointment in our life. We all have that, the

pain that we might be facing, the disappointment in our hearts, and sometimes

a critical spirit that comes from that. How does your situation, my situation

of unfairness stack up in comparison to what Peter was facing and face for all

those years. John didn't have to face in such an explicit way, at

least that complete, seemingly unfair thing. Peter guaranteed to die by the most

horrible means imaginable. John, He's not given that, In fact, Jesus

leaving it open that he may not die. He did, But and does

Jesus care. Jesus care absolutely. But if you look at if you look

at this story, this account is the problem, the unfairness, the disappointment

in our life. Is that reason? Is that reason to give up?

There's no excuse for Peter. And so as we look, as as we

tempted to look over our shoulders and our friends and wonder if it's fair,

I imagine that the Master's answer, with kindness, understanding, empathy that only

a true shepherd heart had, says, what is that? To thee follow

thou me? That's all