Sermon: The Post-Resurrection Last Words of Christ (Part Three)
6th and 7th Sayings; John 21:15-25
#1379
Martin G. Collins
Given 20-May-17; 76 minutes
summary: Christ's final post-Resurrection sayings, "Feed My sheep" (appearing thrice) and "Follow me" (appearing twice), apply to all of God's called-out ones. We have a mandate to study the Bible comprehensively and responsibly, not becoming self-proclaimed 'experts' in prophecy or esoteric mysteries. When we pray and study, we should be conscious we are meeting with God, allowing us to be sensitive to God's purpose for our lives. Like the apostle Peter, we are admonished not to compare our spiritual lot with that of our brethren, riveting our attention on Christ rather than on ourselves or on our spiritual siblings. God has called individuals with different temperaments (impetuous activists, contemplative thinkers, etc.), giving them a variety of spiritual gifts to work interdependently. If we take our eyes off Christ, we run the risk of bumping into someone else and becoming unprofitable. Following Christ involves self-denial and taking responsibility for what God has crafted in us through the power of Christ living in us through His Holy Spirit. John's Gospel provides a comprehensive witness from Christ's contemporaries. As the recipients of this reliable testimony, we are obligated to add our testimony, feeding God's sheep and following Jesus Christ.
transcript:
In the way of a reminder, in the closing chapters of John’s gospel, we have a series of last words or sayings of Christ, spoken after the resurrection and before His ascension. These seven sayings are: 1. “Peace be with you.” 2. “As the Father has sent Me, so I am sending you.” 3. “Receive the Holy Spirit.” 4. “Stop doubting and believe.” 5. “Blessed are those who have not seen but yet have believed.” 6. “Feed My sheep.” 7. “Follow Me.” Today we are going to look at the sixth and seventh of these sayings. The reason or purpose for them may be described as a great responsibility and a great invitation, respectively. As we draw to the end of John 21 to the sixth and seventh sayings, we notice something interesting about them. They are each repeated: “Feed My sheep” three times, in verses 16-17 and 15 in variation, and “Follow Me” repeated twice in verses 19 and 22. The repetition grows out of the narrative, but it is significant in itself. When God says something, we should listen, and when He says it more than once the words should command our prolonged, undivided, and obedient attention. John 21:15-17 So when they had eaten breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me more than these?” He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.” He said to him, “Feed My lambs.” He said to him again a second time, Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?” He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.” He said to him, “Tend My sheep.” He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?” Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, “Do you love Me?” And he said to Him, “Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You.” Jesus said to him, “Feed My sheep.”
We notice that the sheep mentioned here are Christ’s sheep, because He says, “Feed My sheep.” They are His in two ways: first by creation, He made them, and second and more important, they are His by redemption. On an earlier occasion Christ had said, in John 10: John 10:11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep.”
In speaking to the Ephesian elders just before his final departure to Jerusalem, Paul said in, Acts 20:28 “Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He [Jesus Christ] purchased with His own blood.”
Now if the flock were ours, we could do with it as we wished or as we thought best, but since it is Christ’s, as it is, then we must do as He wishes recognizing our responsibility to Him first and foremost. Peter understood this because years later when he came to give instructions to the leaders of the church, he spoke of their responsibility to the Chief Shepherd as a motivation for the faithful performance of their duties. We will read I Peter 5, verses 1-4. The caption in my Bible says “Shepherd the Flock.” I Peter 5:1-4 The elders who are among you I exhort, I who am a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that will be revealed: Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, serving as overseers, not by compulsion but willingly, not for dishonest gain but eagerly; nor as being lords over those entrusted to you [entrusted to you by Jesus Christ], but being examples to the flock; and when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that does not fade away.
Peter was directing this directly to the ministry at that time, but it has a larger overall and larger principle in that it includes parents as well. We are responsible for doing the very same things with our children in raising them. Those that are leaders in the church, deacons, or even long-time members, also have the same responsibility, just not to the level of the ministry. Now there is nothing that will make us more diligent in Christ’s service than the firm recognition that we are only under-shepherds of that Chief Shepherd, to whom the flock belongs and to whom we are responsible. At this point we have a very large topic; we have the sheep which is the flock of Christ, we have the Shepherd, and we have ourselves as under-shepherds. Even if we would restrict our attention to our own role as under-shepherds, we could consider the many traits of character we must have to be effective in our assigned task or even the areas in which we must operate to fulfill it. As far as traits are concerned, we have the need for humility, hard work, self-control, and temperance, gentleness. The proper management of one’s own household, devotion, and many other things that the New Testament mentions explicitly. Under the second category we might consider being examples to the flock, exercising discipline and effective oversight. But the responsibility of this passage in John 21:15-17, while not excluding these other matters, is nevertheless more restricted. It tells us that our responsibility as under-shepherds is primarily to feed the sheep when have been entrusted to us. So how is this to be done? By teaching and sharing and in any other way of communication the Word of God. There is nothing else upon which Christians can feed, so our job is to teach the Bible both by word and example. The ministry has this responsibility to the church and we as parents have that responsibility to our children. At this point we must be very practical, because the difficulty is generally not one of ignorance of what we should do, but rather how the task should be done. The principles that should govern our responsibility in this area are the same as those that would govern our own personal study of God’s Scriptures. We much teach the Bible on a regular schedule. For example on the Sabbath and feast day we have services and the ministry teaches from God’s Word. We recognize this need in our own personal Bible study of God’s Word, because one of the things we rightly stress in this area is the need for daily Bible study. In the Lord’s sample prayer, we ask God to “give us this day our daily bread.” While we think of this as generally referring to all our daily physical needs, it certainly does not exclude our daily spiritual needs, which a daily feeding upon God’s Word helps provide. Our teaching or otherwise communicating the truths of the Bible should also be orderly and that is, instead of an occasional or random comment about the Bible of an occasional unrelated lesson, there should be an attempt to progress in a deliberate way though the Bible, but it is also necessary to teach doctrines by putting together related scriptures, here a little and there a little. There was lady that was questioning me concerning doctrine before leaving the Worldwide Church of God and she asked, “What’s so important about doctrine?” She had been attending since she was a baby, but she just never got just how important doctrine themselves really is. Many people do not really study the Bible, they do not know how. They merely read it, which is not bad, (it is wonderful!) but it does leave a special area of responsibility to leaders to teach those passages. The Bible should be taught as comprehensively as possible but we should not become unbalanced specialists in prophecy or of the Pauline studies, or the nature of the Flood to such a degree that we neglect the larger picture or neglect the doctrines (generally or specifically). The Bible is balanced in its many emphases. Christianity is meant to be balanced and if we do not study and teach the Bible comprehensively, we will become unbalanced, and the church will be warped as we see in mainstream Christianity which focuses almost entirely on the New Testament and love. Now do not get me wrong, love is a wonderful subject and an important foundational subject, but if that is all you talk about then you become unbalanced. So we have to a balanced approach to these things. We must teach the Bible prayerfully and we should not miss the point of Bible study by failing to ask God to speak to us through it. The scribes were great scholars, but they became mechanical in working out their method and so they missed the Bible’s main teaching and they failed to recognize the Christ when He came. They did not even know that He was the Messiah because they were so unbalanced and mechanical in their understanding of Scripture. In Psalm 119 the author gives an expression to the attitude we should have. Psalm 119:17-18 Deal bountifully with Your servant, that I may live and keep Your word. Open my eyes, that I may see wondrous things from Your law.
This is the attitude we should have when we pray to God before we approach our Bible study, or even before church services because it is a type of Bible study. Now what will happen if our study and teaching is preceded by a prayer like this? Several things. First it will make us conscience that we are actually meeting with God in our Bible study and not merely going through a prescribed religious ritual. Secondly, we will be sensitive to what God is saying to us and will be able to alter our lives and behavior accordingly. Third, it will make us conscience of the needs of others so that we will be able to teach them effectively. There is nothing more exciting in our fulfillment of Christ’s commission to feed His sheep than to know that God Himself is actually speaking through us to His people. Now we must also study the Word of God obediently. It does little good to study the Bible and not obey. When God speaks, He speaks with a purpose and He expects us to obey Him. If we do obey Him our lives and the lives of those for whom we are responsible will be changed. All of this applies quite broadly as there are very few of us that do not have some degree of responsibility for someone. We are all under-shepherds in some way. The task of teaching the Word of God is primarily a minister’s responsibility. However, as I mentioned before, parents have the same responsibility to teach and shepherd their children. So we are all priests in training. These are all basic fundamental principles here. The minister has many functions in the church; he must minister, council, visit brethren, and do scores of other things. But just as the primary responsibility of a carpenter is build, and a painter’s job is to paint, so the primary responsibility of a minister is to teach the Word of God. If he does not then how can he expect the under-shepherds of his flock to fulfill their share of their responsibility? Ministers, above all men, have been given the task of feeding Christ’s sheep by careful, regular, and faithful teaching of the bible, but we will never do this unless we are convinced of the truthfulness of every word we find there. It must be a conviction and not merely a preference! So settle this first, is the Holy Bible the very Word of God in the whole and in its parts? If you said yes, I ask then why does not every member in God’s church really and truly believe this by only picking and choosing which they are going to accept to obey? I think we have all done that in some way at some point in our lives. You go through the Bible and choose to ignore certain subjects. People think they find ways out of doing what is required. Now it is precisely this problem that the next section of Christ’s conversation with Peter is concerned. Jesus revealed something of what was in store for Peter in his service for Him and we will read here in, John 21:18-19 “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.”
This is a prophesy of Peter’s death by martyrdom, as John points out, and it as much as to say that Peter’s former boast which he had not been able to keep, that is, “I will lay my life down for you” (John 13:37), would be granted and Peter would die for Jesus. John 21:20-22 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?” [speaking of John] Jesus said to him, “If I will that he remain till I come, what is that to you? You follow Me.”
That is a commission to each and every one of us no matter what happens to anyone else. In other words, John’s form of service will be different from yours but that is not to be your concern, is what Christ was saying to Peter. We may say on the basis of this incident that we are not to be overly concerned with, still less judge another Christian’s calling, but we are to get on with our own responsibility. There are several differences in these verses, either stated or implied. The first being the difference between youth and old age. Christ speaks of that in the case of Peter alone because He contrasts his youth in which he freely did what he wanted with his old age in which things would happen over which he would have no control. What are the characteristics of youth? One of them is confident preparation for action. Youth is a period of life in which bright plans are made, and first steps are taken to accomplish those plans. You have your whole life in front of you to accomplish the goal. Another characteristic of youth is self-reliance. Self-reliance is a gift and a stewardship given as all gifts are given as stewardships to the young. We all dream in our early days that we are going to become great at something and we are going to show everyone how it is done. That is how most of the youth think and that is how God created us as we mature though life. The older generations know all too well that disillusion will come, the disappointments that will deflate the bubble, but for the present this self-reliant confidence is in a sense one of the blessings of youthful days. Now there are weaknesses of youth, as we know. There is lack of experience and therefore often foolishness. There are passions of youth that need to be disciplined and challenged. But for all the weaknesses there are still dreams and energies without which we would all be much poorer for. Therefore, when we think of God’s gifts to the church, we should not forget the gifts of the youth, nor should we despise them. We should not attempt to put old heads on young shoulders. But we should put wisdom in foolish minds. Now the other side of this contrast is old age and the point about age that Jesus desires to bring out is that things will be done to us against our inclination. In this case, Jesus is speaking of Peter’s martyrdom presumably by crucifixion. This was not something Peter would have chosen for himself any more than we would chose sickness, limitations of opportunity, disillusionment, or other problems that frequently come with advancing years. Yet these were given to Peter, as to us, and are as necessary for the church as the dreams of the youth. There is one very significant thing about the way that John refers to the prophecy concerning Peter. He says: “Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God (verse 19).” John does not say this about the dreams of Peter’s youth, but about his suffering, for it is not only by acting but also by suffering that saints glorify God. When God spoke of Paul to Ananias he said, “I will show him how much he must suffer for My name (Act 9:16). It was in such suffering that Paul glorified God. And the differences between youth, young adulthood, middle age, older middle age, and old age are God-given. We need the experiences of all and should not attempt to force the patterns of one age upon another. Many of you have read the book The Fourth Turning and you know that there are cycles in life that automatically come from one generation to the next. There are differences and those differences teach lessons to each generation and to the generations before them and after them. So God’s intricate way of working with us extends in so many different ways. What God does in training each and every one of us, the complexity is awe inspiring! The second area of difference is temperaments. In John 21:18 there is a distinction between Peter the impetuous disciple, so to speak, and John. John 21:18 “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.”
Every time we see Peter we see him as a man of action. He is the first to speak and the first to act, not always wisely, but always first it seemed, at least in his earlier years. When Jesus asked,” Who do you say that I am?”(Matthew 16:16) it was Peter who answered. When Jesus was being arrested, it was Peter who drew his sword and cut off the ear of the servant of the high priest (John18:10). Here in John 21, after recognizing the voice of Jesus when he called from the shore, Peter immediately jumped into the water and made his way to Jesus and in a sense, Peter is a consistent activist. He was very active in everything he did and very enthusiastic and zealous. John, on the other hand, is rarely the one to speak. He owns no sword, cuts off no ears. When Jesus appeared on the shore and Peter jumped into the water to swim toward Him, John remained on the boat and landed the catch that Jesus had provided. John is the thinker, yet Jesus had a place for him just as surely as he had a place for rambunctious Peter. How does Jesus teach this? John 21:22 Jesus said to him, “If I will that he [speaking of John] remain till I come, what is that to you [Peter]? You follow Me.”
That is a statement to each and every one of us—You follow Jesus Christ! Now this leads to a third area of difference among Christians, namely our calling or forms of service. These involve our spiritual gifts. Because the ministries vary so also will the gifts of those who are called by God to fill them. As a demonstration of this point, notice that Peter’s calling is highlighted by the phrase “fishers of men.” Peter’s calling was to bring men urgently and in great numbers into the Kingdom. He was called to proclaim and to teach the good news of the coming Kingdom of God. It is true that all of Christ’s disciples are called to witness in this way, but not all have this gift preeminently. But Peter did. Therefore, we find him being used to bring 3,000 people to faith in Christ at Pentecost, then later 5,000 people believed as a result of his preaching. Next notice the apostle Paul. Paul’s calling is described as that of a “tent maker,” This includes the task of building up or ordering up the church of God. Whereas Peter initiated things, Paul’s task was to construct. God entrusted to him in a special way the work of building up His church, or in other words, the task of presenting Christ in His fullness to those who God calls, and the task of bringing the called as one body into all that God had willed for them in Christ. Paul had glimpsed that divine will and all its greatness, and his commission was to build together the gathered people of God according to God’s will. Now there are advantages of the various distinctions already mentioned, the advantages of youth and age; those who are activists and those who are thinkers; restorers and builders, but to be balanced we must also notice that each has its problems as well. Those who are young tend to be headstrong, foolish, and self-reliant. The old tend to be concerned with their own affairs and therefore somewhat selfish in some ways. The weakness of the activist is insensitive to others who move at slower paces. The thinker can become lazy. The builder/restorer can become critical of those whom he regards as inferior. The advantages of each age, temperament, or calling can easily be marred by sin. But there is a solution. It is the solution Jesus told Peter and presumably John as well: “Follow Me.” That is the solution, always follow Jesus Christ! First, because if we are following Jesus Christ then our eyes will be on Christ and He will be seen as the standard of Christian service. We have all heard the saying “what would Jesus do,” and that is a good thing to ask ourselves before we are about to do something that we are doubting. We will avoid following our own imperfect form of it. If we have our eyes on ourselves, we expect people to measure up to us and we judge them to be inferior if they do not. With your eyes on Christ He becomes the standard for both us and them and He actually draws us together as brethren rather than allowing us to be driven apart. In the way of illustration, while walking down the street following a friend, if you turn aside to look at another person or another way the distraction will cause you to bump into someone or something else, because wherever your eyes go is the direction you are going to go yourself. Do not take your eyes off Jesus Christ as Peter did while he asked about John’s future. In doing so he forgot about what he should be doing. Secondly, if we have our eyes on Christ we will see not only something about Him, but something about ourselves as well. What we will see about ourselves is that we are at best unprofitable servants. There will be no room for boasting, no room for arrogant self-sufficiency, we are inadequate and unprofitable, and what we need is Christ first of all and also one another as brethren. Iron sharpens iron and we can help build one another up in helping to grow in grace and knowledge. The very last recorded words that Jesus spoke before His ascension recorded by Luke is found at the beginning of the book of Acts. They contain the promise of power through the Holy Spirit and the command to go into all the world with the gospel. But these are not the last words of Christ as recorded in John’s gospel. In Acts it does not give the time sequence of when He actually gave that command, but it was sometime during those 40 days between His resurrection and His ascension. So what we have been talking about in the last three sermons has been those last words found in John’s gospel which are in chronological order. It is not that John did not know of Christ’s teaching on these other points. The fourth gospel contains more instructions about the Holy Spirit than any other gospel and it contains its own version of the great commission. John 20:21 Jesus said to them again, “Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.”
It is rather that John wished to emphasize Christ’s call to discipleship or Christian duty as this gospel he wrote closes. In John’s gospel the last words of Christ are “Follow Me.” John 21:22-23 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 remain till I come, what is that to you?”
Amazingly in verse 22 these are also nearly the first words of Christ in John’s gospel. John first quotes Christ in connection with the episode in which Andrew and the other unnamed disciples follow Jesus at the direction of John the Baptist. John 1:38-39 Then Jesus turned, and seeing them following, said to them, “What do you seek?” They said to Him, “Rabbi” (which is to say, when translated, Teacher), “where are You staying?” [But as soon as they reply by asking where He is spending the night, He answers by the first of His great invitations of discipleship in verse 29.] He said to them, “Come and see.” They came and saw where He was staying, and remained with Him that day (now it was about the tenth hour).
This is an invitation to discipleship, but lest we should miss this, Christ’s next utterance, an invitation to Philip, is literally in, John 1:43 The following day Jesus wanted to go to Galilee, and He found Philip and said to him, “Follow Me.”
Right from the beginning of the book of John and ending the book of John is that commission to each and every one of us in God’s church: “Follow Me.” So in a very real sense, then, these are the first and last words of Christ in John’s gospel and they are a reminder that Jesus Christ is the only way to the Father and salvation, not just believing in some abstract sense, but believing in Him to the point of turning your back on all else to follow Him. Now the seventh and last words of Christ may be difficult to obey as we will see. But they are not difficult to interpret, if for no other reason than that Jesus Himself supplies the interpretation in other places. The key passage is in Luke 9:23-26 and the parallel in Mark 8:34-38. Luke 9:23-26 Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost? For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, of him the Son of Man will be ashamed when He comes in His own glory, and in His Father’s, and of the holy angels.”
These words, like John 21:19-22, are an invitation to follow Jesus Christ, but unlike the verses in John they explain what such discipleship means. Specifically, they teach that discipleship means 1) self-denial and 2) taking up one’s cross in Christ’s service. The first point, self-denial, should not be difficult for any true Christian to understand because this is where Christianity begins in a sense. To be a Christian means to have turned our back on our sinful lives and the world, repented of our sins, and to have accepted by faith what God has done in Christ for our salvation. Any attempt to please God through our own human abilities and efforts without the indwelling of His Spirit will fail. And salvation is God’s free gift. We cannot save ourselves. Saying no to our past horrible habits is our necessary responsibility and it requires self-denial. We are surrounded by a world that says no to nothing, it tells us that saying yes to every desire and whim we have is not only good for us, but also good for others because we will seem to be nicer people for them to know. And for the economy, because the world thrives on self-indulgence. Take away this philosophy of the world, “if it feels good, do it,” and what happens? You get rid of most of the economy. What does it mean to deny oneself in order to be Christ’s disciple? The first thing it means is that we must renounce sin, meaning we must repent of sin and determine to live God’s righteous way of life which Christ before us. Repentance and faith belong together, and we cannot follow Christ without forsaking sin. Furthermore, repentance is a definite turn from every thought, word, deed, habit which is known to be wrong. It is not sufficient to feel pangs of remorse or to make some kind of apology to God without some change. That is what overcoming sin is, it is a change. Fundamentally, repentance is a matter neither of emotion nor of speech, it is an inward change of mind and attitude toward sin which leads to a change of behavior. There can be no compromise here, this change must be a conviction. If it is merely a preference, there will be no lasting change whatsoever. There may be sins in our lives that we do not think we ever could renounce, but we must be willing to let them go as we ask God for deliverance from them. This is not a general renunciation; it is as specific as specific sins. It is a renunciation of anything that is contrary to God’s revelation of Himself that is, anything contrary to the Holy Bible. Take the Ten Commandments as one area in which renunciation of sin may be tested. The first commandment in Exodus 3 says: “You shall have no other gods before Me.” How many times in our lives, even as Christians, have we put something before God? Could be anything, our house, our jobs, even our children, in fact this society idolizes children. They murder babies and then out of the other side of their mouth they let them do whatever they want, and they idolize them. Here is an obvious negative, it tells us that we are to say no to anything that takes God’s rightful place in our lives. Is it an actual idol? We must say no to the idol, we must burn and destroy it. If your children are your idol, you must change the way you deal with them, because you do not want to hurt your children. If the idol is money, then get rid of it, because it is better to be poor and a close follower of Christ than rich in money but far from Him. Money is not something that necessarily takes the place of God in a person’s life. It is possible to be a devoted and deeply spiritual Christian and rich at the same time. But if money has become a god to you then you must say no to it. Has another person taken the place of God? How about your business; notoriety; ambition; achievement? Whatever it is we must say no to it if it is keeping us from obeying God or interfering with what we should be doing in worshipping Him. We must test ourselves on each of the other commandments. “You shall not murder,” this means that you are to say no to the desire to take another life or slander another’s reputation. Facebook exposes so much slander. “You shall not commit adultery.” You are to say no to any desire to take another man’s wife or another woman's husband. “You shall not steal.” We must say no to the desire to take anyone else's property. If we have not said no at these points, we can hardly pretend that we are living in the newness of Christ’s life. We may be partially, but if you break one of the commands you break them all. A second thing self-denial involves is renunciation of anything that is not God’s will for our lives. This is related to the previous point about sin, because sin is not God’s will and therefore must be rejected, but there are things that are not contrary to the Bible’s moral code, yet because they are not God’s will for us personally they must be renounced too in order that we might do His will for us. I Corinthians 6:12 [Paul speaking here] All things are lawful for me, but all things are not helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.
For instance, there is nothing wrong with marriage, it has been established by God and has His blessing. But marriage may not be the will of God for you and if it is not, you must say no to marriage consciously and deliberately. If you have been divorced two or three times, it is definitely not for you. Either you have made horrible choices or you are just not getting it right and probably never will. The same thing holds true for a profession. God has a plan for each life, our duty is to discover it and fulfill it. On the other hand, God may want you to change professions at some point. Some people have come into the church and they have been working for a manufacture of armaments or something like that. Can you justify doing that? Under things that may not be God’s will for our lives, we must give special emphasis to our possessions. And this is true for two reasons. First, a love of possessions is something Jesus specifically warned about in His dealings with those who said they wish to follow Him. Second, love of possessions is a particular snare for today's affluent Christians. On one occasion a rich young ruler came to Jesus and asked what he might do to inherit eternal life, and Jesus told him to keep the commandments. Not that it would ever be possible for him to keep them perfectly and receive eternal life thereby, but in order to show him his need. Luke 18:18-23 Now a certain ruler asked Him, saying, “Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” So Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery,’ ‘Do not murder,’ ‘Do not steal,’ ‘Do not bear false witness,’ ‘Honor your father and your mother.’” And he said, “All these things I have kept from my youth.” So when Jesus heard these things, He said to him, “You still lack one thing. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” But when he heard this, he became very sorrowful, for he was very rich.
There again we see the emphasis of following Jesus Christ. The young man was evidently a self-satisfied individual because after Jesus had listed the commandments for him, the man replied ignorantly that he had done all these things his whole life. So this is a message to every one of us who have grown up in the church that we take things for granted and we think that we have been living it our whole life and it has become our way of life, but are we dedicated to it? Are we convicted of it or is it just a preference? Is it just our family life? Is it just that we are used to it or are we committed? We have to ask ourselves that on a regular basis. So the rich young man could not imagine what else he needed to do and he could not see that he needed to deny himself the affluent life he had been living if he was going to receive true spiritual blessings that would last for eternity. Jesus showed that he loved his material blessings too much and that it clouded his mind. That was obvious because he could not give them up. The possession of things is in the same category as marriage and career in the sense that they are not wrong in themselves. Our possessions may well be the gift of God to us to be used rightly. Still although possessions are not wrong in themselves, they are a special snare for American Christians because they so easily blind us to the needs of others, occupy our time exclusively, and make us self-satisfied and selfish. Americans have more than anyone else in the world, but it has not made us more compassionate, it has made us indulgent. Now there are some people who have immense talent but they are useless in serving the church because they are completely wrapped up in either managing or enjoying their possessions or their talent/skill. Now we are back to the phrase which with we started, “Follow Me.” How do we learn the kind of self-denial and personal responsibility with which Jesus charges us? The answer is by following Him and constantly keeping our eyes on Him. Does this seem like circular reasoning? In order to follow Jesus, we must deny ourselves and take up our responsibility but we learn these by following. So it is by degrees and by continuous discipleship that we learn to follow, and by following we learn. How could it be otherwise? If Jesus is our supreme example in all things, where else can we learn self-denial but from Him who said no even to the glory of heaven in order to become man and die for our salvation? Philippians 2:5-11 Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. [I think quite often in the church we look at this scripture and we see the humility but we do not always see the obedience.]Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Following the Lord’s example, the Old Testament heroes and New Testament Christians humbly witness to their faith by their words and their faithful lives. Also, they are like spectators watching an athletic contest in an arena, they watched or witnessed the lives of the other faithful individuals that they are associated with and of the historical facts of those faithful listed in Hebrews 11. The author of Hebrews captures this when in the verses immediately following his memorable chapter on the heroes of faith, he writes regarding the race of faith. Hebrews 12:1-2 Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us [Who has set that before us? Jesus Christ has, so what should we do?], looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Christ is our perfect example, we cannot say this enough. It is an example of self-denial, of taking up the responsibility with which we have been appointed. We are not to have a grim determination to do the undesirable will of God, but by contrast to do it joyfully. It was for the joy that was set before Him that Christ endured the cross. So we cannot go through life agonizingly paying God’s tithes, we cannot unhappily forcing ourselves to come to Sabbath services to fulfill our duty to fellowship with one another, we cannot have the attitude of “I’m too tired to go to church.” I do not know how many times I have heard people say over the last 40-50 years, “I was too tired to go to church so I stayed home to rest.” That is an insane statement! It is no less than insanity. This is where you come to rest spiritually and spiritual rest is far more important than just physical rest. Jesus did something else too, although the disciples did not understand it at the time. He spoke of His resurrection thereby teaching that discipleship, though it involves a true and sometimes painful death to our own desires, is nevertheless the way to the fullness of living, both now and hereafter. We find this throughout the New Testament. The apostle Paul writes in Romans 6, Romans 6:5-6 For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection [so we die to self but we do so in order that we might live to Christ], knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.
We read the same thing in Paul’s letter to the Galatians. Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.
In the biblical scheme of things, death is always followed by life; crucifixion by resurrection. This is truly exciting and should make us thrilled to follow Jesus Christ, to come and worship God on the Sabbath and the holy days, and to tithe and so on. Self-denial means that we give up something and when we give up trying to run our own lives or when we give up something that seems so precious and so entirely indispensable to us, it is then and only then that we suddenly find the true joy of following Christ and enter into a life so freed from the obsession that we can hardly understand how it could have had such a hold on us. This is the primary difference between a joyless/defeated and a joyful/victorious Christian. The joyless Christian may have followed Jesus in some general sense, he may have died in Christ abstractly, but he has certainly never known these truths in practice. On the other hand, the joyful Christian has found satisfaction in whatever God dispenses to him and is truly satisfied, because he has said no to anything that might keep him from the richness of God’s own presence and life. John 21:24 This is the disciple who testifies of these things, and wrote these things; and we know that his testimony is true.
Now here we are at the end of the book of John, and it does not sound like John wrote this. The final words of John’s book are a closing attestation that identifies himself and declares his writing trustworthy, then comes the interesting edition that we just read in verse 25. John 21:25 And there are also many other things that Jesus did, which if they were written one by one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that would be written. Amen.
Now apparently the author(s) of verse 24 felt the immensity of what could be written about Jesus and knew that the writer had recorded only a small part. There is a perfection or wholeness of the book of John expressed in a satisfying rounding off of its material. It begins with Jesus in John 1:1, “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God,” and then it ends with Jesus in John 21:25, “There are also many other things that Jesus did.” It begins with the impressive testimony of John the Baptist in John 1:15. John 1:15-16 John bore witness of Him and cried out, saying, “This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me is preferred before me, for He was before me.’” And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace.
It ends with an equally impressive testimony concerning the other John, the son of Zebedee who wrote the gospel. John 21:24 This is the disciple who testifies of these things, and wrote these things; and we know that his testimony is true.
There are two ways biblical commentators regard the plural “we” of verse 24. Some have taken it as mealy as an indirect reference by the author to himself. Others see the word “we’ as pointing to some official body of Christians who are adding their attestation to John’s testimony. The issue is not a big deal, but the second point of view seems best. Conceivably the author of the gospel wrote the words, yet this is improbable. If the author composed John 21:24-25, then he is identifying himself as the beloved disciple, which he has avoided doing earlier in the gospel and up to this point he has been careful to remain anonymous. Also, the first-person plural of the final phrase of verse 4 is different from John’s own way of referring to himself. For example in John 19, he says: John 19:35 And he who has seen has testified, and his testimony is true; and he knows that he is telling the truth, so that you may believe.
John is referring to himself in the third person. But there in John 21:24 it is “we” referring to John himself. So the earlier verse is like these concluding verses in that it refers to the witness of the beloved disciple and affirms that it is reliable. But there the author refers to himself to “he who has seen” and “who therefore knows is telling the truth.” Now these last verses distinguish between the writer(s) and the witness. “We know that His testimony is true.” So these facts suggest that the “we” in verse 24 should be understood as representing some official body, perhaps the church(s) John served, capable of identifying the author with the beloved disciple, an eyewitness of many if not all of the events described, and of attesting his character and the inherent reliability of his testimony. So verses 24-25 teach that the doctrines of Christianity rest not on the unstable foundation of mere wishful thinking or speculation, but on facts observed by and duly authenticated by eyewitnesses of Christ’s ministry. They say three things about this foundation of facts. First, they affirm that the men who recorded the life and teaching of Jesus Christ, in this case John the beloved disciple, were eyewitnesses of the events they described. Remember that the book of John we probably written in the 90s AD, within the first century, when all the other apostles were already dead, but some in the church that John pastored to may very well have still been alive, a few of them anyway. The first phrase of John 21:24 points to this by identifying the author of the gospel with the beloved disciple. He is described as being present with the Lord in Galilee in the preceding verses and this is of great importance in establishing fact. It would be important in any attempt to establish fact as it would be for an example in a criminal trial. In such trials such facts must be established by eyewitness testimony, not by hearsay. And this issue of fact is especially important for Christianity more so than virtually any other world religion. In other religions it is usually the founder’s ideas that count. In Christianity it is the facts, it is the truth that counts, not the founder’s ideas. In this case if we go all the way back, yes, Jesus Christ is the founder, but we are talking about human beings who were not God. Is Jesus who He is declared to be? Did He do what He was reported to have done? Did He teach what He is claimed to have taught? Did He actually rise from the dead? Other religions may be content to live by ideas alone, but Christians readily confess that if Jesus is not the Son of God and did not speak with the authority of God, then His ideas have no more validity than any other teachers’ and are in fact worse, because He claimed divinity for Himself and was therefore either insanely mistaken or deliberately misleading at this point. However, what do we read in I Corinthians 15? I Corinthians 15:12-17 Now if Christ is preached that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? [obviously talking to those who did not believe in the resurrection] But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty. Yes, and we are found false witnesses of God [Paul speaking of himself and the other apostles], because we have testified of God that He raised up Christ, whom He did not raise up—if in fact the dead do not rise. For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins!
That is pretty powerful, Paul coming from that angle. Of course expressing that there is no way that Christ was not risen and there is every way that we will be. On the other hand, if Jesus is God and did rise from the dead, He deserves and certainly deserves our allegiance, and it is the height of folly and even rebellion against God to neglect Him. There is salvation in no one else! Acts 4:12 “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
How can these facts be established? By eyewitness testimony of those representatives of Christ especially appointed to bear such testimony. These are the apostles, the authority of the fourth gospel being one of them. No one knew the importance of such testimony more than John because in his first epistle, he says of the apostles’ testimony in, I John 1:1-3 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life—the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us—that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.
Powerful words by John who wrote that wonderful gospel. Why was John in particular concerned with such testimony? The answer lies in the fact that John, writing in the latter years of the first century Christian, was among the last of the New Testament writers and was therefore addressing a generation unfamiliar with the eyewitnesses testimony to Christ’s life. And when Paul wrote back in the middle of that century, he could refer almost in passing to 500 people who had seen the resurrected Christ, most of whom were still living. But John could not. I Corinthians 15:6 After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep.
Paul was writing in the middle of the century, probably about 30-40 years before John wrote. These had died in the meantime and John therefore found it necessary to stress this eyewitness testimony as Christianity’s foundation. Besides when John was writing, a form of Gnosticism was beginning to infiltrate God’s church which denied the need for historical facts as a basis for religious beliefs. That is exactly what the mainstream Christian churches have done today. They think, “well they’re nice stories” and that is why they pick and choose what they are going to obey, listen to, or even read. Gnosticism denies that Christ had come in the flesh. Sadly, it considers human reasoning superior to the facts of history and it spiritualized them, and this threatened true faith. So John, more than other writers, wants to emphasize Christianity’s historical foundations. John guarded the truth by stressing the roll of eyewitnesses in establishing the historical claims of Christianity. These writers in John 21:24 affirm a second thing, and that is the author of the gospel not only was an eyewitness of the events he described but actually wrote these things down himself. We have in this gospel and the others an accurate account of what the companions of Jesus, led by the Holy Spirit, considered necessary for us to know concerning Him. Therefore, we can read these words with the confidence that Jesus was indeed as they described Him. These authors affirm a third thing. It is said that the author of the gospel was an eyewitness of the events of Christ’s ministry. They have added that he actually wrote the gospel, that is, he not only communicated these stories verbally while allowing someone else to record them, whether accurate or not, but he himself actually did the writing. And this said, however, they now add (the writers of the last two verses) that the one who has written these things is trustworthy. Their specific words in John are: John 21:24 This is the disciple who testifies of these things, and wrote these things; and we know that his testimony [that is, John’s testimony] is true.
Now why should it be necessary to add this statement? For this reason: it is possible that a person could be an eyewitness of the life of Jesus and then sit down to write a gospel about it but for whatever reasons decide to write something other than what he actually witnessed. This happens with human nature all the time. He might hate Jesus and therefore invent stories to cast a shadow over His name. We see that firsthand in what is happening to our president today in the U.S. These things are speculations and lies and designed to do one thing, to take down the presidency. On the other hand, this writer might admire Jesus to the point of blind faith and therefore eliminate anything that could be thought derogatory and instead invent stories or teachings to enhance His image. Such things are possible theoretically, but the authors of these verses declare that this was not the case. They say instead that John was a man of integrity, that his words can be trusted and that so far as they were able to verify, his teaching whether by testimony of other witnesses or by personal interrogation, they have found it to be absolutely trustworthy. Can we not say the same thing from what we have found? We are in no position to verify the facts of Christ’s life as they did. We live close to 2,000 years after the events, but we can note that many of these witnesses sealed their testimony by their own blood, many being martyrs. Would they give their lives for what they knew to be a farce? To ask such questions is to answer them, of course not. If ever there were men of integrity it was these men. If ever a series of events of history has been ruthlessly verified, it is these events. We recall that John himself said of his own writing in, John 20:31 But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.
In the last verse of John, the author seems to be saying that Jesus did many things all of which are now past and we could almost interpret that as suggesting that the life of Jesus is over. Of course nothing could be farther from the truth. On the contrary, the whole last chapter, which does not even end with an ascension, is meant to show the living Christ in fellowship with His people within the ongoing life of His church. Of course, the church was established a little later, but it was continued by the men that were called and who were faithful all the way from the beginning of the Old Testament on to this point. Due to this union with the elect there is a sense in which Jesus’ life and works are not ended, but rather continue in the church as He accomplishes God’s will through us. Although this gospel of John ends with a reference to the things Jesus did (in past tense), the very first verse of the next book in the Bible speaks of all that Jesus began to do and teach. Acts 1:1-2 [Luke is writing and he is referring to the previous account] The former account I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, until the day in which He was taken up, after He through the Holy Spirit had given commandments to the apostles whom He had chosen.
In one sense it means that Jesus’ life, important and unique as it was, was only the beginning. It lives on in the life, deeds, words, and teachings of His church and the work that He is doing through us. You are a member of that Family if you have faith in Christ as your Savior, have repented of your sins, and have been baptized and have received God’s Holy Spirit. You are a part of God’s church if you continue Christ’s work. Christ's work is still going on and it is our privilege and duty to be a channel for it. John 14:12 “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father.”
Jesus begins that saying with the words “most assuredly,” “verily, verily,” “amen, amen,” or “truly, truly” depending on the translation you are reading and it means, “What I am about to say to you is so important.” Jesus often began important sayings in this way. Though the works we do are not greater in themselves compared with the magnitude of Jesus’ and the apostles, yet in a sense they are greater in how many people are reached at this time due to the technology that is available. Christ, through His church, has been able to reach more people and receive more extensive results and the church has been the means of the conversion of more sinners compared with what Christ and the apostles did during their lifetime on earth. So we must continue to obey Jesus’ commands to His church to “Feed His sheep,” and to “Follow Him.” May God enable us to carry out this responsibility.
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