Restored (John 21:15-25)

John 21, and we're gonna read uh fifteen verse fifteen through the end of the chapter.

It says, When they had eaten breakfast, Jesus asked Simon Peter, Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?

Yes, Lord, he said to him, you know that I love you.

Feed my lambs, he told him.

A second time he asked him, Simon, son of John, do you love me?

Yes, Lord, he said to him, you know that I love you.

Shepherd my sheep, he told him.

He asked him the third time, Simon, son of John, do you love me?

Peter was grieved that he asked him the third time, do you love me?

He said, Lord, you know everything.

You know that I love you.

Feed my sheep, Jesus said.

Truly I tell you, when you are were younger, you would tie your belt and walk wherever you wanted.

But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will tie you and carry you where you do not want to go.

He said this to indicate by what kind of death Peter would glorify God.

After saying this, he told him, Follow me.

So Peter turned around and saw the disciple Jesus loved following them, the one who had leaned back against Jesus at the last supper, and asked, Lord, who is the one that's going to betray you?

When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, Lord, what about him?

If I want him to remain until I come, Jesus answered, What is that to you?

As for you, follow me.

So this rumor spread to the brothers and sisters that this disciple would not die.

Yet Jesus did not tell him that he would not die, but if I want him to remain until I come, what is that to you?

This is the disciple who testifies to these things and who wrote them down.

We know that his testimony is true, and there are also many other things that Jesus did, which if every one of them were written down, I suppose not even the world itself could contain the books that would be written.

Let's pray.

Lord, we thank you so much, not only for your word, but specifically for the book of John and all of the things that you've revealed to us, that you've shown us through the study of this for over a year.

I pray that today as we close this off, that you would continue to do that work.

If there's anything that you want to do in us this morning, we pray that we would come before you with soft hearts, with open minds and ears to receive whatever it is that you want to do within us.

So may we be clay in your hands.

Mold us and shape us into the people that you want us to be, Lord, and we know that that's gonna look just like Jesus.

So make us more and more like Jesus as we follow him, we pray.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

So last week we saw Jesus on the shore of the Sea of Galilee.

He called out to his disciples, if you remember, while they were fishing in the boat out on the sea.

He told them to cast their nets on the right side of the boat.

At his direction, they did.

They had this huge catch.

John tells Peter that the guy on the shore, he says, Hey, that's the Lord.

If you remember, Peter jumps in the water, says he plunged into the water.

He swims or wades all the way to shore, about a hundred yards.

They end up having breakfast together, Jesus with all of his disciples, and Jesus hosts them.

And it says that they dared not ask, Who are you?

Because they knew it was the Lord.

And they knew because of what Jesus had done to reveal himself to them, which was really by reminding them of his past faithfulness to them.

And that's where we pick up this morning.

On that shore, around this charcoal fire, finishing up breakfast.

And I think something that might be helpful as we jump into this passage, I think it's safe to assume that this was not the first time that Jesus and Peter talked about Peter denying Jesus three times.

Luke tells us that Jesus appears to Peter on resurrection day before showing up to the disciples, though it doesn't say what they talked about.

And then in 1 Corinthians 15, 5 we see that Jesus appeared to Cephas, that's Peter, then to the 12.

So they had a one-on-one conversation already before this.

And I really can't imagine a scenario where Peter didn't break down and bring up the denial himself and Jesus forgiving him.

But Peter's denial was in public.

So I think Jesus wanted to do the restoration of Peter in public as well.

And John, our author, is there actually witnessing this.

He's giving a firsthand account of what happened that day.

You know, maybe the disciples were wondering, you know, after what Peter did, can Peter still be a disciple?

Can he still be a follower?

Can he still be an apostle?

You know, to that effect as well.

We don't know exactly, but Jesus intentionally does this in public so others can see it.

Now, one more thing before we jump in and we look at these verses, we're gonna be looking at a decent amount of Greek definitions this morning.

Way more than we normally do.

And I always, if I can just be honest with you, I always hesitate a little bit to throw too much of the Greek in there.

Because I don't ever want you to think that you can't study the Bible without being fluent in the Greek or the Hebrew, which I am not by any means.

I don't want you to ever think that you can't study the Bible without somebody teaching it to you, or without having a commentary or notes in your Bible or something like that.

If all you have is your Bible with no notes, with no commentary, with nobody teaching it to you, you have everything that you need.

And if you want to study deeper, then grab a Greek or Hebrew dictionary.

They're easy to get online, or you can buy the physical copies.

That's what I use, the definitions you're gonna see here.

They just come straight out of the Greek and the Hebrew.

Um, and there's a ton frail on a ton of free resources.

So if you want to do what I'm doing, it's it's really not that hard.

It just takes some time and some energy to dig into that.

All that to say, don't think that you can't study your Bible on your own, that you need me or anybody else to tell you what it's actually saying.

That's not what we're doing at all.

It just kind of helps us to understand some of the work, the words in a deeper way.

So let's start explaining some of the Greek that we're gonna be looking at here this morning because we're gonna see the word love a lot in this chapter, especially uh in the first couple of verses here.

Now, in English, we have one word for love.

In Greek, there's a lot of different words that are translated into English just as love.

And we're gonna see two of those in our passage this morning.

You know, we have one word in English to distinguish between, you know, for me specifically, my love for my wife, my love for God, and my love for Ribbi.

Those are very different things, aren't they?

But we have one word to describe all of those things.

That's why we need to look at the Greek this morning.

And we mainly get these definitions that I'm gonna throw up there by the context in which they're used in Scripture.

So we're gonna throw up these definitions here.

So uh the noun is agape, the verb is agapeo.

We're gonna actually see agapas, that form of it this morning.

And it's used predominantly to describe God's love.

So it's a divine sacrificial, unconditional love that we're talking about when we see this word.

The next one is philea, or the verb is phileo, and it's used predominantly to describe brotherly love.

You know, that's where we get the word philadelphia from.

And it speaks of friendship and loyalty, really of being fond of somebody.

There's one more word that we see in the New Testament, and that's storge.

We're not gonna see it this morning, but it's only used in its compound form in the New Testament, and that's a familial love, but we're not gonna really cover that one this morning.

So today we're gonna be focusing on agape and philiah.

So we will leave that up there just as we're going through this, just as a frame of reference for you.

So let's jump into verse 15 here.

It says, When they had eaten breakfast, Jesus asked Simon Peter, Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?

First, I think we need to notice, John calls Peter Simon here.

And he has been this whole chapter, if you've noticed in chapter 21, this whole scene on the Sea of Galilee.

Simon was his birth name.

Peter was the name that God gave him, that Jesus gave him specifically, meaning rock.

And Jesus himself just used Simon here as well.

Jesus is using Peter's old name here in chapter 21.

But we'll see, John goes back to just playing Peter in verse 17.

After Jesus' third question of do you love me?

He goes back to using Peter in the process of restoration.

He goes back to using just Peter.

And I just find that interesting.

I wanted to point that out.

Back to verse 15 here, Jesus asked the first question.

Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?

Do you agape me more than these?

The agape form that we were talking about.

Peter, do you love me sacrificially and unconditionally more than these?

And before we look at Peter's response, we need to answer the question: who are the these that Jesus is referring to here?

There's really three schools of thought of what Jesus is referring to.

First, that he could be referring to the fish that are on the fire.

Basically saying, do you love me more than the fish you just caught?

Do you love me more really than your old life?

This was his old profession.

Do you love me more than your past?

And all that that entails.

The second school of thought is, do you love me more than you love these other guys?

The other disciples that are sitting around this fire, the people that are closest to Peter, his friends.

And then the third school of thought is, do you love me more than these other disciples love me?

Something that has happened previously makes me lean towards number three there.

Because we're in the context here of Peter's restoration.

And if you remember, Peter basically told Jesus that he loved him and was more faithful to Jesus than all of the other disciples.

Do you remember that in Matthew 26?

Jesus told his disciples, Tonight all of you are going to fall away because of me.

And then Peter told them, even if everyone else falls away, I will never fall away.

Basically saying, My devotion, my love for you is greater than all of these.

And that's when Jesus tells him, Before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.

So it makes me think that maybe this is part of the restoration because this is part of what Jesus had talked to him about previously and what was leading to those three denials of Peter.

So if I had to pick one school of thought, I would probably say it's maybe that last one.

But what if the Holy Spirit intentionally wrote this way so we could ask ourselves those same three questions?

So let's do it.

First, do we love Jesus more than our old life?

And everything that it entailed.

Do we love him more than the sin that we were so caught up in and that God saved us from?

Do we love him more than all of that that entailed, whatever that might be for you?

The second question we can ask ourselves is do we love Jesus more than we love those that are closest to us in our life?

You know, it's easy to idolize our kids or our spouse or our friends or parents or extended family or our grandkids, whatever it might be.

It's easy to place those things higher than God in our life and not even realize it.

If you remember, that was the number one idol God had to make sure that Abraham did not have was his own child.

He made Abraham prove that his son Isaac was not an idol in his life.

God saw that that might be something that Abraham was holding higher than him in his life, so he made him prove that that was not an idol in his life.

And then the third thing, the question we can ask ourselves are are we loving God with everything that we have?

Do we love Jesus and are we devoted to him more than anything, more than anyone?

Are we loving him with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength with nothing reserved, but with everything that we have?

You know, I think all three of those are great questions for all of us to ask to help root out what those idols might be in our life.

So Jesus asked him straight up at the beginning of this restoration, in front of these other disciples, do you sacrificially, unconditionally love me more than these?

And Peter answers, look at the second half of verse 15.

Yes, Lord, he said to him, you know that I love you.

So he responds, You know that I feel you.

This is the phileophile form of love.

You know, I want to put a chart up here to hopefully help us keep track of these words as we go down these three conversations that Peter and uh and Jesus have together.

So this is gonna be the type of love Jesus is using, the type of love Peter's using, and then we're gonna talk about Jesus' response.

And so this is gonna be the care, the word that Jesus is using for care, and then the word that Jesus is using for sheep, just so we can kind of keep track of all of these different words uh that we're talking about.

So we'll keep that up as we go.

Peter can't use the Agapeo form in return to Jesus.

Peter's probably thinking as Jesus said this, you were there when I denied you three times.

I obviously can't love you unconditionally, Jesus.

When my life was threatened, I denied you.

When the cards were on the table, Jesus, I folded.

Peter had found a condition in which he did not demonstrate his love when his own life was on the line.

Which by definition makes his love conditional, doesn't it?

So when Jesus says, Do you love me unconditionally?

Peter says, I love you like a brother and a friend.

I'm so fond of you, Jesus, was his response to him.

So Jesus responds, look at the end of it, verse 15.

Feed my lambs, he told him.

You know, I think we need to define the word feed here.

To feed, portraying the duty of a Christian teacher to promote in every way the spiritual welfare of the members of the church.

That's straight out of the Greek dictionary.

Jesus is reinstating Peter into ministry here.

He's asking Peter to be an under-shepherd to him.

Remember, Jesus is the good shepherd.

So he's asking Peter to be an under-shepherd to him.

It's like Jesus is saying, Peter, I've not cast you off.

You are not disqualified from ministry.

I still love you.

I still desire you.

Desire you.

I've already forgiven you of the sin that you had against me in your denial.

Now, Peter, go feed my lambs.

And lambs, it means young sheep.

And I think we get the idea here of a tenderness from Jesus.

Feed my little children, Peter.

Feed them by providing the diet that they need for health.

Jesus goes on, verse 16.

A second time he asks him, Simon, son of John, do you love me?

So Jesus comes back a second time, but this time it's not comparative.

It doesn't say more than these.

He just says, Simon, do you agape me?

Do you love me sacrificially and unconditionally?

And Peter responds, second half of verse 16.

Yes, Lord, he said to him, You know that I love you.

You know that I feel you.

You know I love you like a friend, like a brother.

You know that I am fond of you, Jesus.

And Jesus responds this time, Shepherd my sheep, he told him.

Shepherd my sheep.

The idea of sheep here being a whole flock of sheep.

So these are different words.

Jesus first said, feed my lambs.

And the word we have for shepherd here includes feeding, but it also includes tending to the flock, keeping livestock in particular, and particularly sheep.

This is the same root word that we get the word pastor for.

So Jesus expands the definition the second time here in inviting Peter into pastoring Jesus' flock.

Now look at verse 17 with me.

He asks them a third time, Simon, son of John, do you love me?

This time Jesus says, Do you phileus me?

This is the philea, phileo form.

Peter, do you love me like a friend and a brother?

Peter, are you fond of me?

Jesus meets Peter where he has been this whole time.

And look at how Peter responds here at the second half of 17.

Peter was grieved that he asked him the third time, Do you love me?

He said, Lord, you know everything.

You know that I love you.

You know that I feel you.

So finally they're using the same word in this third interaction.

But it says that it grieved Peter that Jesus asked him this third time.

Peter knows what's going on here.

Jesus told him he would deny him three times.

Peter does deny him three times, and now he's being restored three times.

And it grieves Peter.

The beautiful thing here though is that Jesus doesn't leave him here in this place of grief.

Jesus has already forgiven him.

And Jesus isn't interested in Peter feeling guilty.

He doesn't want him to stay in this place of guilt and shame.

Jesus is interested in restoration.

So once again, he says at the end of 17, feed my sheep, Jesus said.

Feed my sheep flock.

So Jesus went back to the first word that he used for feed, but the second word that he used for sheep.

So it's feed my sheep flock, basically is what he's saying.

And it's never the same combination, if you notice behind me, that Jesus uses when he's restoring Peter back into ministry here.

There's so much more to tending to God's flock than just feeding.

You know, that's a big part of it.

But tending, shepherding, pasturing has to do with the health of the sheep far beyond a good diet.

You know, a good diet's very important to help with the overall health of the sheep and the sheep flock.

But it's really about leading, feeding, and protecting the flock of God.

And if you're hearing this today and you're thinking, well, you know, I'm not an apostle, I'm not Peter, or I'm not a pastor, you know, this doesn't apply to me.

If you're a husband, Scripture says to lead your household and to care for and to govern it well.

If you're a father or a mother, you have a flock of lambs at home to care for.

Those kids are your number one disciples.

And you're not just called to feed them, just to keep them alive physically, but to tend to and to care for them in every way, including spiritually, to help make them like Jesus as you become more like Jesus.

If you're leading a ministry or really if you're serving the Christian body in any capacity, which you should be, we should all be serving the body of God together.

God has called you to care for the people of his flock.

Jesus cares for his sheep and he wants us to care for each other.

You know, even if you're not formally called into a ministry or Have the position of a pastor within a church.

The body of Christ is called to care for and support each other in so many different ways.

If you're a follower of Jesus, you are a part of this body of believers here today.

The body of Christ, and the Lord has called all of us to care for each other.

So I think in a way this applies to every single one of us here this morning.

Now Jesus goes on, giving a bit of prophecy over Peter's life here.

Look at verse 18.

Truly I tell you, when you were younger, you would tie your belt and walk wherever you wanted.

So Jesus is saying you were independent.

You did things on your own, Peter.

And I think this is the life of Simon that we're seeing.

But Jesus is about to tell him what awaits for Peter.

Look at the second half of verse 18.

But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will tie you and carry you where you don't want to go.

He said this to indicate by what kind of death Peter would glorify God.

So early church tradition tells us that Peter was crucified upside down.

You know, those traditions state that Peter was about to be crucified, but asked if he could be crucified upside down because he didn't feel worthy to die in the same manner that Jesus did.

And here's Jesus preparing Peter for death through the hands of others.

You know, I would think for Peter that this would be both frightening and comforting at the same time.

I mean, put yourself in his shoes if you just learn that you're gonna die a martyr.

That would be very uncomfortable and frightening, but there's some comforting things that Jesus throws in here as well.

You know, so frightening in the sense that you're going to die a martyr at the hands of others.

They're gonna bind you, they're gonna take you where you don't want to go, they're gonna stretch out your hands.

But I think it's comforting because unlike his denial, this time Jesus is telling him he's gonna die faithfully.

He just went from denial to Jesus saying, but you will die faithfully for me.

Also, it says he's gonna be old.

So Peter knows he's not gonna die the next day.

He has some years to go before he's gonna die.

And I only say the last one is comforting because he knows the manner in which he's going to die.

So if people ever pick up stones to stone him or threaten to behead him, he's gonna know this isn't my time.

Jesus said, you know, this is how my death's gonna look, and this isn't the right circumstance.

So it might be comforting in that sense as well.

But Peter's head must be spinning at this time.

Just think of all the emotions and everything that's taking place, and now Jesus tells him the manner in which he's gonna die.

There's a lot to take in all at once.

So look at the second half of 19.

It says, after saying this, he told him, follow me.

So about three years prior to this, Jesus said the exact same thing to Peter.

Literally, follow me when he called him to be a disciple of his.

And that literally meant follow me around.

Learn from me, do as I do, learn from my example so you can be like me.

And this was a specific term in this time and culture that was used as an invitation of a rabbi to formally invite someone to be their disciple, to be their literal follower.

Remember our passage from last week that we covered, and it had Peter's calling in it when Jesus told him to fish in the deep and to do it during the day, and that was after a night of not catching anything.

And then when Peter obeyed, there was this crazy catch that they were able to bring in, and the nets were breaking.

And Jesus did almost the exact same thing once again when he calls Peter this time.

You know, this is one of the reasons I think Jesus wanted to find Peter in the boat here on the Sea of Galilee because he's really mirroring Peter's first call as he restores him here into the next phase of his ministry.

You know, once again, you know, after telling Peter he will die a faithful martyr, he says the same thing he did the last time all of this stuff happened three years ago.

He says, follow me.

And after telling him that he's gonna be a martyr, I think Jesus is saying, follow me all the way to your death.

As I died, Peter, you die as well.

Peter, learn from me and my example.

Lay down your life as you have seen me lay down my life, follow me all the way to your death for the kingdom of God and for the glory of God.

Jesus already told all of his disciples in all three of the other gospels if anyone wants to follow after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me.

And I think there's a second thing Jesus might be communicating here.

I think there might be a sort of renewal of vows here between the two of them, so to speak.

A new invitation for Peter to be a part of what God does next through the church, through the body of Christ.

Peter has a clean slate, and he also has a new invitation.

A restored Peter has this new invitation from Jesus to follow me.

And at some point they got up and they started walking because look at verse 20.

So Peter turned around and saw the disciple Jesus loved following them.

The one who had leaned back against Jesus at the supper and asked, Lord, who is the one that's going to betray you?

John's just here, our author describing himself.

He's remembering this as an old man, though.

And I love how John remembers his relationship with Jesus with that fondness, with that love that they had for one another.

He goes on in verse 21.

He says, When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, Lord, what about him?

So Peter's like, what about John?

What's gonna happen to John?

Why he picked John, I don't know.

I think they had this ribbing relationship, I'm not exactly sure.

But John needs to debunk a rumor here, so he brings up this part of the part of the story, he adds this portion.

He goes on in verse 22.

If I want him to remain until I come, Jesus answered.

What is that to you?

As for you, follow me.

Isn't that the temptation, though?

We get instruction, we're asked to do something, maybe we're asked to sacrifice something for the kingdom of God, and our first thought is, well, what about everybody else?

You know, that's kind of what kids do, too, like siblings especially.

You know, well, what about him?

You know, and I kind of see that with Peter and John.

But Jesus quickly tells Peter, we're talking about you right now, not John.

That's between me and him, is what Jesus is telling him.

As for you, Peter, follow me.

This is a great reminder that first Peter needed to be a sheep before worrying about any other sheep.

First, Peter needed to follow the good shepherd for himself.

And his calling to be an under-shepherd of Jesus that Jesus called him into needed to be a distant second.

Before we worry about anyone else, as for you, follow me, is what Jesus wants us to hear and act on.

That has to be our first concern.

Now, John tells us why he includes this.

Remember, he's writing this gospel last.

The other three have already been written.

Um, most likely all of the other disciples are martyred at this point.

So he can address some of these things to squash some of these rumors.

So look at verse 23.

So this rumor spread to the brothers and sisters that this disciple, John, would not die.

Yet Jesus did not tell him that he would not die.

But if I want him to remain until I come, that what is that to you?

If Jesus wanted him to live forever, he can do that, obviously.

He's God.

But it had no bearing on Peter's calling.

Then that was all that Jesus was conveying through this back and forth.

So John lets his readers know, I'm going to die.

Jesus never promised me anything else.

But you could see how this rumor would start to gain circulation because John is the last surviving apostle, and you can see why that rumor would gain traction.

Um, they, you know, most people think John was in his 90s, maybe, when he wrote this or when he died, and the average lifespan of this time was about 45 years old.

So if you have this really old guy, and you're like, oh, that's what that meant, and these rumors going.

So John's just squashing that.

He's like, nope, I'm gonna die.

That's not what Jesus meant at all.

Look at verse 24.

This is the disciple who testifies to these things and who wrote them down.

We know that his testimony is true.

Basically, it's me, John.

I'm writing these things.

I was there when Jesus said these things.

I'm an eyewitness.

I promise he did not say I wouldn't die, you know, and what I'm writing is true.

I was an eyewitness of these events.

Verse 25.

And there are also many other things that Jesus did, which if every one of them were written down, I suppose not even the world itself could contain the books that would be written.

So we only see a sliver of Jesus' life.

Even if we read all four of the Gospels, we just see this sliver of Jesus' life.

But why did John write this sliver?

Why did he write these specific things and these specific events and these specific conversations?

He already told us in chapter 20, verse 30, he said, Jesus performed many things, I mean, many other signs in the presence of his disciples that are not written in this book.

But these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

The last 64 Sundays have been all about this.

Why did John write?

So that the reader may believe that Jesus is the Messiah and hear that same call that Peter heard from Jesus.

Follow me.

If you've never heard that call until this morning, Jesus says, follow me.

If you've heard that call and then you've turned back, if you've denied him like Peter, Jesus says, follow me.

If you heard that call and you answered it and you've been faithful, Jesus says, continue following me.

He's the good shepherd.

He cares for his sheep.

He leads his sheep into green pastures and beside still waters and through the valley of the shadow of death.

Not into, through, to the other side of the valley of the shadow of death.

You know, we have absolutely nothing to worry about when we're in step with Jesus.

When we're following him.

He provides everything that we need when we simply follow him.

Peter had a history of taking his eyes off of Jesus and trying to take things into his own hands that he was never intended to carry.

You know, from, as we saw, rebuking Jesus, not a good idea.

To fighting Romans, again, not another good idea.

You know, when he stepped out of the boat, his focus went from Jesus to the circumstances around him.

That's when he started to sink.

When he thought he might be killed with Jesus, he took things into his own hands and did everything he could to try and save himself.

And we do the exact same thing.

We look at the circumstance, we become paralyzed with fear.

We start doubting the Good Shepherd, doubting that he's big enough, doubting that he's strong enough, doubting that he cares enough about us to walk us through the valley of the shadow of death and to the other side.

So we end up taking those things and placing them on our own shoulders, carrying those burdens for ourselves.

But Jesus says that his yoke is easy and his burden is light.

Because he's the good shepherd that carries those things for us.

And he just simply says, follow me.

Stay close, abide in me, because I have everything that you need.

So we just need, I think, to stop struggling and simply follow Jesus.

For me, that's the biggest thing that I got out of the book of John was to follow Jesus.

It's everything that we need.

Let's pray.

Again, Lord, we thank you so much for the book of John.

We thank you for these last 64 Sundays.

I guess today's 65 Sundays.

But Lord, help us to not get through this and move on, but to really apply all the things that we've learned, all the things that you've given us through this, all the things that you've given us today, and to apply these things to our lives.

Show us how to do that individually and as a church as a whole.

Show us how to follow you.

We know that you are the good shepherd.

Show us how to be faithful sheep that are not wandering off, that are not fighting each other, that are not mixing with the neighbor's herd, Lord, but are simply following you, being faithful to you, looking to you for everything, keeping our eyes fixed on you at all times and realizing that you're gonna take care of every life circumstance around us.

We just simply need to keep our eyes fixed on you, stay close, stay in step with you.

So show us how to do that faithfully.

Lord, we know as uh as shortly here in the book of Acts, you send the Holy Spirit to be our helper.

Because we need we need that help.

We know that we can't do this on our own.

We saw the disciples struggle through this whole book of John without the power of the Holy Spirit and the things they fell into and the ridiculous things that they did, and but then we see that transformation of what happens when they are indwelled by the Holy Spirit, and we have that gift now, so help us to walk by the Spirit.

That's how we stay in step with you, Jesus.

Show us how to depend upon you for everything and to allow you through your Holy Spirit to live through us.

Lord, we desire to become more like you because that's what you desire for us.

So help us in that.

Show us what it means to truly follow you.

Whatever idols we may have that we hold up ahead of you as more important, whatever things that we are afraid to surrender to you because we're afraid of what you're gonna do with them.

Lord, help us to lay those things down at your feet and stop carrying burdens that you never intended it for us to carry.

Help us to simply follow you.

We pray.

In Jesus' mighty and precious name.

Amen.