This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

(upbeat music) - Welcome to day four of our look together through John chapter
21 in daily drive time devotions. 18 to 24 are the verses we're looking at
today. We're going to focus on a third command that Jesus gives to his disciples in
this passage.

Purpose in our lives and our daily lives is renewed in these three commands.
We've already looked at casting your net on the other side, recognizing that
Jesus is here and listening to him. Yesterday we talked about feed my sheep.

Jesus wants to use you to make a difference in other people's lives. And now
this third command. The third command is in two words.

John 21, 18 to 24, listen for these words. I tell you the truth, Jesus says to
Peter. When you were younger, you dressed yourself and you went where you
wanted.

But when you're old, you'll stretch out your hands and someone else will dress
you and lead you where you do not want to go. Jesus said this to indicate the
kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. And then he said to him, follow
me.

Peter turned and saw that the disciple whom Jesus loved was following them. This
is the one who leaned back against Jesus at the supper and said, Lord, who's
going to betray you? When Peter saw him, he asked Lord, what about him?

Jesus answered, if I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to
you? You must follow me. Because of this, the rumor spread among the brothers
that this disciple would not die.

But Jesus did not say that he would not die. He only said, if I want him to
remain alive until I return, what is that to you? This is the disciple who
testifies to these things and who wrote them down.

And we know that his testimony is true. In this passage, we see revealed the two
great questions. Did you pick up on that two word command?

It's the same command that has started the relationship of the disciples with
Jesus Christ. Follow me. And as you and I encounter that command, that's where
purpose is.

It's in following Jesus Christ. There is something incredibly challenging about
that because I know following Jesus Christ, that is a great challenge of life.
But there is also something incredibly empowering about that because I know
that's what I need to do, is follow him.

I don't have to worry about everything else in life, everyone else in life, all
the different pressures of life. And when you really boil it all down, it boils
down to two words, follow me. Now, as Peter encounters these two words, he's had
some years to live with them.

He's had three years to live with them, following Jesus. And what does that
mean? Maybe you've had some years to live with these words, follow me, or maybe
they're new to you.

In either case, in Peter's example here, we see revealed two great questions
that can turn followers into failures. Sometimes we've had too long to think
about it. And having too long to think about it, we lose our purpose.

And we get caught up in these questions. What are the two questions? It's the
why me question, and it's the what about him question.

First, why me? Jesus had said to Peter, Peter, when you're old, you're going to
stretch out your hands. You're going to go where you don't want to go.

And Peter had to be thinking in his mind, why would that happen to me? That's
the why me question. Why is this happening to me?

How could God let this happen to me? You see, why me quickly turns to poor me?
No one else is having to go through this.

No one else is having to face this. And the result of that is pity. And
self-pity is the great enemy of purpose.

People who feel sorry for themselves never make an impact on the world. Oh, they
might get a lot of notice, but they never make an impact on the world because
they're spending too much energy on themselves. I have to be honest, I don't
have a lot of patience with people who are filled with self-pity because I have
met so many people who had every reason to have self-pity, who had gone through
the most difficult and horrendous of life circumstances, but instead of focusing
on themselves, they were continuing to focus on other people.

Now, when we talk about life and following Jesus Christ, does following him mean
I'm not going to have difficulties in life? Of course I'm going to have
difficulties in life. Purpose includes difficulty.

It certainly can, it certainly will. But I would rather have in my life
difficulty than futility. I don't want the futility of trying to put all purpose
out of my life and just focus on myself and make life real comfortable and easy.

That's a futile life. And I'd rather have a life that has some difficulty in it.
And that's what comes with following him than have a life that has emptiness in
it.

Jesus helped Peter to deal with this why me question before he even asked it. He
said, I tell you the truth. You're going to die to glorify God.

Even in your death, you're going to glorify God. And that's God's purpose for
your life. Whatever he takes you through, even the most difficult of
circumstances, or even whatever Satan throws at you, which God did not intend in
your life.

It's a part of the fall. It's a part of the fact that we live in a sinful world.
Even what Satan throws at you, God can use for good.

He can use anything to glorify himself. Why me? Why am I going through this?

Here's the answer to glorify God. Even in this, to glorify God. That's the
answer to the why me question.

Now the second question that can turn followers into failures. What about him?
You notice the human psychology of what happened with Jesus and Peter here.

Jesus says, follow me. And he says, it's going to be difficult sometimes. And
immediately, Peter looks around for somebody else and he says, hey, what about
him?

Is he going to go through difficulties? And you can almost hear the wheels
turning. He's thinking, Jesus, it'd be great if it was worse for John.

I mean, I don't know why, but that would make me feel better if he even went
through a more difficult time. What about him? Once more, John is called here
the disciple whom Jesus loved.

We've seen it again and again in this passage. And I'm still getting questions
about it. Why does John call himself that?

Is it a prideful statement? Of course not. Love became the theme of John's life.

And so he focuses on, that's who I am. I'm somebody who Jesus loves. And Peter
is focusing on John instead of on the words, follow me.

That is the greatest trap of a disciple of Jesus Christ. You start to focus on
other disciples of Jesus Christ. How are they following?

How are they not following? What mistakes are they making in following? Is their
following me as difficult as my following me of Jesus Christ?

You see, Peter's a great example to us. His problems always came. They always
came.

When he took his eyes off Christ. He took his eyes off Christ and he put him on
the circumstances of the storms around him and he sank in the sea of Galilee
when he was trying to walk on the water. He took his eyes off Jesus and he put
his eyes on the material success, the political success that Jesus might have.

And he was chastised by Jesus. Get behind me, Satan. He took his eyes off Jesus
and he put his eyes on his fears and he betrayed Jesus in the courtyard.

And here, he takes his eyes off Jesus and he puts his eyes on another disciple
and he hesitates to commit. When Jesus had said, "Do you love me? " His first
answer had been, "You know that I love you.

" When Jesus says, "Follow me," his first answer should have been, "Jesus, you
know I will follow you. " But instead he says, "What about him? " As great a
disciple as Peter gets caught up in that, so you know you and I get caught up in
that as well.

Are you caught up in that? You're looking at another disciple letting that other
disciple keep you from following Christ. Jesus' answer is very clear.

What is that to you? What is it to you, what I want for him? You must follow me.

Now, John has to explain this here because he's the writer of this gospel.
There'd been this rumor that had risen because of this that somehow it meant
that John was going to live forever. And by the way, even in the rumor, people were
getting their eyes off of themselves and on John.

Wow, he's got some special privilege. And even in that rumor, they were missing
the point. Follow me.

Get your eyes on Jesus Christ. You want purpose to be a part of your daily life.
Keep your eyes on him.

And I'll admit, it is so easy to get your eyes on other things. It is so easy to
get your eyes on other disciples to get caught up in that. Let me invite you
right now to realize also that it is so easy to turn your eyes from those other
things to that which is even more powerful than those things, the person of
Jesus Christ, the resurrected person of Jesus Christ.

So turn your eyes right now from that which is smaller, that which is not going to
last, to him which is greater and who is going to last for all of eternity. With
eyes of commitment, look ahead to him and say, Jesus Christ, I'm sorry. I'm
sorry I got caught up in this other stuff.

I'm following you. And Jesus' message to Peter here, it could have been a
frightening message. He said, you're going to be led where you don't want to go.

Who wants to be led where you don't want to go? And even as I say to you right
now, say to Jesus, yes, I'll follow you. You may have some fears about where
Jesus might lead you.

Well, there are two words that'll help you to deal with those fears. Follow me.
You're following him.

He is with you. He is ahead of you all of the way. I will fear no evil for you
are with me.

Maybe you've been feeling lately, there's gotta be more to life. There is. It
doesn't mean that you're living a different life or even doing different things
in your life.

But in the life that you're living now, there is more to life as we follow the
resurrected Lord. And Peter and the other disciples, they learned that on the
Sea of Tiberius. Maybe you've learned it in a fresh new way these last few days.

It's interesting that all three of these commands of Jesus have in them
reminders of what happened before. Cast your nets on the other side. Well, they
cast their nets on the other side at the beginning of their relationship with
Jesus.

When Jesus says to Peter three times, do you love me? It's a reminder of the
threefold denial. When he says here, follow me, that's the way their
relationship with him had begun.

And maybe you, like Peter, like those other disciples, maybe what you need is
just a reminder of what Christ has already done and the promise in that of what
he wants to do in your life for the rest of your life. If Satan's been saying to
you, God really doesn't have a purpose for your life. God's purpose for your
life is over.

Satan is a liar. And Jesus Christ says to you, follow me. Let's talk to him.

Jesus, Jesus, I recognize that you're the Lord of my everyday circumstances.
Lord, I need you to give me the priority of life and loving you, to focus me on
the forgiveness that I need in my life and following you. I need you to clear up
the confusion in my life that comes from focusing on other things.

So in this moment, as best as I know how, I commit my life in a fresh new way
today to following you. In your name, Jesus, I pray. Amen.