If you were tuned into the news this week at all, you saw that, that
there's a new pope in town, well not here, uh, in the Vatican town.
Uh, Pope Leo the 14th, and he was inaugurated with
much pomp and circumstance.
Uh, but in between when he's introduced to the, the square there
in the Vatican, outside of St.
Peter's, uh, basilica there, um, before that, after he's nominated and accepts
the position, the senior Cardinal reads one of two passages to him.
One of the passages is from Matthew's Gospel after Peter's confession about
Jesus being the Christ, the son of God.
And Jesus says to Peter, you are Peter, and upon this
rock, I will build my church.
The other passage that is read from time to time is, is the one that is
before us this morning, and that's this text where Jesus, in a moment of
restoration, when Peter says to Peter multiple times, Hey, Peter, feed my
flock, tend my sheep feed my flock.
The problem with that is that this passage that we're coming to this morning
isn't about the exaltation of Peter.
It, it, it's not about the exaltation of a man.
Rather, this passage is about elevating and exalting the grace
and mercy of God that he uses in our lives for his own glory.
In fact, as we get into this passage, which is gonna be John
2115 through 17, uh, we're gonna find that God uses imperfect people
to accomplish his perfect plans.
God uses imperfect people to accomplish his perfect plans, and, and all of
us should say a big amen to that.
Because there was only one perfect person that walked the face of this earth, and
he is currently seated at the right hand of the throne of God, waiting for the
time he's coming back for his bride.
The rest of us, we fall into this category of fallen sinners imperfect.
But the good news of this text is that God is in the business of using imperfect
people to accomplish his perfect plan.
John 21, verses 15 through 17 says this, when he, they had
finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon, son of John.
Do you love me more than these?
And he said to him, yes, Lord, you know that I love you.
He said to him, feed my lambs.
He said to him a second time, Simon, son of John, do you love me?
He said to him, yes Lord.
You know that I love you.
And he said to him, 10 to my sheep.
He said to him the third time, Simon, son of John, 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 everything.
You know that I love you.
Jesus said to him, feed my sheep.
The, the scene before zooms in on, on Jesus and Peter, but
let's not forget the context.
The disciples remember were on the shore.
They had been out fishing.
They had caught nothing.
They had then caught a big hall of fish after Jesus said, throw
the net on the other side.
They came back to the shore.
Jesus had a charcoal fire.
They're all sitting down around, they're having some breakfast with Jesus.
It's in that moment in front of everybody else there that Jesus turns to Peter.
This is important for us.
Peter, remember, is the, the one that had boasted so much during the
three years of Jesus earthly ministry about, about his allegiance to Jesus.
Jesus, if everybody else denies you, I'm never gonna deny you.
Peter was the one in the garden when the, the whole Roman cohort
wa was there to arrest Jesus.
Peter was the one that that pulled the sword and was ready to go to war and
cut off the ear of the high priests servant in order to defend Jesus.
But then Peter was the one who denied Jesus, not once, not twice,
but three times the third time, even as the Synoptics record for us
calling down curses upon himself, saying, man, if this isn't true,
then may all these things happen to me.
And so Jesus turns to Peter.
Yet, what we need to understand about Peter at this point is that this is
not the Peter of the Book of Acts.
This is not the Peter of the earlier gospels.
This is the Peter of defeat.
This is the Peter of failure.
This is the Peter of of grief and shame and humiliation.
This is the Peter who's sitting there saying, I don't deserve to be here, and
this is the Peter that Jesus turns to.
He says, Peter.
Do you love me more than these?
More than what?
There's three options here.
Option one, do you love me more than the fish and the nets and the nets and
the boats and all this fishing stuff?
Do you have Peter?
Are you willing to follow me instead of going back fishing?
I don't think that's what Jesus was after here.
Second option is, Hey Peter, do you love me more than you love
these disciples that are here?
Peter probably would've said yes to that.
But what ratchets it up to this final level is I think what Jesus was
actually saying here is, Peter, do you love me more than they love me?
Do you love me Peter more than they love me?
And you think, well, that's weird.
Why would Jesus ask Peter that question?
Does he want all of us to love him to that same full blown amount?
Does he, doesn't he want all of us to be equally devoted to him?
And the answer is, is yes.
But we, again, this is where remembering.
Peter's past comes into being.
This is where we have to remember that, that this is a personal savior
who is going after Peter because of what Peter needed in that moment.
Peter, very publicly, in Matthew 26, right in front of everybody else, as
I alluded to just a moment ago, in front of these same disciples, had
told Jesus, Hey Jesus, they may all fall away, but I'm not going anywhere.
You and me are, are are.
We're ride or die.
I'm with you, Jesus, all the way.
And, and so very publicly, Peter had kinda lifted himself up above everybody
else and they then, very publicly Peter had fallen probably harder
than any of the others, minus Judas.
See, the other disciples ran, but Peter not only ran, he also denied him.
And so here with the other disciples in earshot, Peter is asked this question
because Jesus is moving towards Peter.
Who had denied him that public way three times to, in an act of great mercy and
grace, give him three opportunities to openly declare his love and allegiance
and devotion in front of these others because Jesus had a purpose.
For Peter, I talked about the Peter of the book, of Acts.
Peter's gonna go just kill it with planting churches.
He's gonna be one of the leaders of the early church.
He's gonna be preaching the gospel so powerfully that thousands of people
are gonna be coming to faith in Jesus.
And yet, first Peter had to be restored in the eyes of those
that he was gonna help lead.
And so that's what Jesus is doing here.
But let's talk about love for a second.
Jesus asks Peter, Hey Peter, do you love me?
Peter says, Lord, I love you in the English text.
That's what it is.
That's what it says in the Greek.
There's two different words that are used here.
Peter says, or Jesus asked Peter, Peter, do you agape me?
Do you love me with a divine fatherly, selfless, sacrificial
love, Peter says, Lord, I fello you.
I love you with a brotherly, warm, affectionate love.
Second time, Peter, do you agape me with this divine, selfless love?
Peter says, Jesus, I filet owe you with this brotherly, warm, affectionate love.
Third time, Peter, do you filet owe me?
Do you love me with this warm, brotherly, affectionate love?
Peter says, Lord, you know all things.
And that's true.
Jesus knew the answer to these questions.
He's drawing Peter out into confessing this.
Peter says, Lord, you know I love you.
I filet you.
Now, there's been a lot of angst filled on the significance of this.
Some see a massive significance here, and maybe there is a significance that Jesus
is, is, is saying, Hey, do you agape me?
And, and Peter's not wanting to, to measure up to that level
because he feels the shame.
He's saying, Lord, I, I, I filet owe you.
And so finally, Peter says, Jesus says, do you even filet owe me Peter?
Maybe o others though, have even argued the opposite.
That, that Jesus is, is suggesting with this agape love, kind of this frozen
chosen, you know, divine, sterile love that that is the love of God.
And, and Peter saying, Peter, Jesus, I, I love you warmly, affectionately, I'm
like a, almost like Peter's trying to ratchet it up when he's responding here.
I am gonna suggest to you this morning that, that I don't know that we need
to press the distinction between these two words here, rather, I think what
Jesus is doing and what John's trying to capture is Jesus is just trying to get
Peter to say, Lord, I'm all in with you.
I love you holistically.
I am fully devoted to you.
And I think this is more of a stylistic preference of John than it is anything
to overly press on the distinction.
Here's a few reasons why.
Uh, number one, this conversation between Jesus and Peter was actually not in Greek,
but in a different language altogether.
They would've been speaking Aramaic with one another, and so Jesus wouldn't
have actually said, Peter, do you agape mean whatever that is in Greek,
however you would pronounce that right.
He would've been speaking Aramaic.
I don't know Aramaic, so I'm not here to speak that to you this morning, but
these words would not have been there in the original verbal interaction there.
The second reason why I think it, it, we don't need to overly press the distinction
here, is there are other different words in this same interaction here that we
don't press the same distinction on.
For example, he uses, John does two different words for the word no in this
text when Peter says, you know, Lord.
He uses the word ginosko, which is an intimate, personal, relatable knowledge.
And then he also uses the word oda, which is you have an a comprehension,
you have an understanding of me, but we don't press that in our distinction.
Second, there's another different set of words here, and that is the,
the word for the word flock or sheep.
He uses arnia in the Greek and proba lambs and sheep and, and we're not
gonna press the distinction there to try to figure out, okay, who are the
lambs and who are the sheep in the fly?
Third, he uses two different words for the word, for the
concept of shepherding, intending.
When he says feed it, it, it's a word that can mean to tend or to shepherd.
And then he uses another word, porno, which which means to,
to actually shepherd, intend.
And we don't press the distinction there.
So the first reason why is they were speaking aramic.
The second reason why is there's other variances in and distinctions there.
The third reason why though, is when you look at the whole of the
gospel of John, John uses these two words for love intermittently.
Here's some examples of that.
In John 3 35 it says this, the father loves Agapao Agape, the son, and
has given all things into his hand.
The father's love for the Son Agapao there.
John five 20, though the father loves this is Philo, the father loves the son and
shows him all that he himself is doing.
So the father's love for the son is described both as agape
and Philo by John in the gospel.
But you know, the thing that was really the nail in the coffin for me was.
That when John refers to himself as the disciple whom Jesus loved,
he flip flops these, these words and uses them intermittently.
And so in John 13 23, 1 of his disciples whom Jesus loved, there's agapao.
That's by John.
Now notice John's making, not making an ex distinction here, aside from just
saying he's the one that Jesus loved.
That was how he identified himself.
But then later on in John 22, so she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other
disciple, the one whom Jesus loved.
There's philo.
And so John uses these two terms for himself as the one whom Jesus loved.
He uses them intermittently.
And so when we get into this scene between Jesus and Peter, I, I'm not saying it's,
it's necessarily off the table to press the distinction, but as I was studying
this, and I was reading up some of the other commentaries on this too, I, I
don't think it's necessary for us to press the distinction to get the point.
What's the point Jesus is asking Peter, Peter, do you love me?
Do you love me?
Are you, are you fully devoted to me
that that's the question that matters for us this morning?
Peter's grieved here.
You might say, well, why was Peter grieved then?
Well, he is grieved because he asked him three times.
That's what the text even says for us.
And, and he's, he's great because he doesn't understand what Jesus is doing,
the grace and the mercy of Jesus here.
Mercy is this, mercy is not getting what we deserve.
And, and, and what Peter deserved was to be a burn mark on the
ground after denial, number one,
just like the rest of us.
And, and yet what Peter got was Jesus in mercy coming to him and 1, 2, 3 times.
Peter, do you love me Peter?
Do you love me?
Peter, do you love me?
Yeah, just like in the courtyard outside the trial.
Hey, aren't you one of his followers?
No, I don't know him.
Aren't you one of his followers?
No, I don't know him.
Hey, don't you?
I recognize you.
Weren't you there in the garden?
No, I don't know him.
1, 2, 3 denials.
So in mercy, Jesus moves towards Peter to restore Peter in this moment, and,
and the reason being is Jesus had worked for Peter in front of him.
If Peter was gonna be who Peter becomes.
Then this was necessary, this act of restoration and repentance was necessary.
If God was gonna use an imperfect Peter to accomplish his perfect plans for the
church, then Peter had to go through this.
There was a, in other words, a, an end to the means of God's mercy.
The problem is, so often we think of mercy as an end rather than a means.
And so this morning I want us to, to pivot on that and begin to think of
mercy as a means to a greater end.
That greater end being ultimately the glory of God.
But point number one this morning, along those lines is this, don't miss
the purpose of God's mercy towards you.
Don't miss the purpose of God's mercy towards you.
This morning,
one Timothy chapter one, the apostle Paul is writing here in verse 12 through 16.
He says this, apostle says, I thank him who's given me strength, Christ
Jesus, our Lord, because he judged me, faithful appointing me to his service.
Paul was an apostle.
Before that
Paul was, as he goes on to say in verse 13, a blasphemer, a
persecutor and an insulate opponent.
I mean, if there's anybody you would look at and be like, that is the last
person I would pick to plant churches.
It's Paul as Saul.
And yet he's saying, here, God, I thank you that you judge me, faithful
and appointed me for your service.
Why?
How?
Well, Paul answers this, verse 13, he says, but I received mercy.
Yeah, I was an insulin opponent, but I received mercy.
I didn't get what I deserved.
I received mercy because I acted ignorantly in unbelief and the grace of
our Lord Jesus overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.
In other words, by His grace, I believe by His grace, I trusted by his grace, I
repented and surrendered my life to Jesus.
And then he goes on and says in verse 15, the saying is trustworthy and
deserving of full acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world to
save sinners of whom I am the foremost.
So again, we might say, so then why are you being used
to plant in pastor churches?
Because verse 16, this I received mercy.
Notice what he says next.
For this reason, for this reason.
For Paul, the mercy of God was not an ends, but a means to a greater ends.
And the the reason Paul received mercy was that he might as, as the foremost
Jesus Christ, might display his perfect patience as an example to those who
were to believe in him for eternal life.
In other words, that we might look at Paul and say, man, God, if you
could use Paul, then why not use me?
And also so that you can look at Paul's life and your loved one who's
walked away from the Lord or your loved one who doesn't wanna come
to church or your kid that doesn't want anything to do with Jesus.
And you can look at the life of Paul and go, okay, God, if you did it with
Paul, you can do it with him or her.
See, God's mercy is a means not an end, and we have to not miss the
purpose of God's mercy in our lives.
Uh, if you've ever gone into New York City, maybe you drove
through the Lincoln Tunnel.
The Lincoln Tunnel goes under the, uh, the, the Hudson River
there and the Lincoln Tunnel.
It's impressive in its own right.
The, the Lincoln Tunnel, the pressure on those walls, about
42 PSI pounds of pressure, okay?
Uh, per square inch, 42 pounds per square inch of pressure.
Okay?
Now, in Norway, there's a tunnel called the, I'm gonna butcher this.
Ry Ry Ilka.
Do I have any Nor Norwegians in the room?
Not rai Ilka, I think is the name.
Uh, this tunnel runs 958 feet under the ocean.
No thanks.
Nine miles, 958 feet under the ocean, almost a thousand feet under the ocean.
Okay, the pressure being exerted on this tunnel is this 435 pounds
of pressure per square inch.
435 pounds per square inch.
So every inch of that tunnel has 435 pounds of pressure of water pressing
in on it, wanting to crush it.
And so the cars that are traveling through that tunnel are only able to
travel through that tunnel because the walls of that tunnel hold up
and withhold and keep out the full pressure of that water that wants to
just crush them and overwhelm them.
Y'all, the mercy of God are the walls of that tunnel in your life.
The only thing that's allowing you and me to be here this morning, the only thing
that's allowing us to get from point A from the moment that you're saved to
when God calls you home to be with him is his mercy holding back his wrath and
his wrath is far greater than 4 35 PSI.
His just and perfect wrath against our sin that would crush us, that would
overwhelm us, and it rightly should crush us and rightly should overwhelm us.
But in his mercy, he withholds his wrath to keep us from being crushed.
Why?
Because we have a, a, a purpose, his mercy in our life.
Tho those walls are there to withhold the water so that that car
can get from point A to point B.
God's mercy is holding back his wrath so that you can get from point a.
To point B.
You may not have denied Jesus like Peter or persecuted Christians
like Paul, or maybe you have,
but everybody in this room has sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.
In other words, we all desperately need the mercy of God.
I should be a burn mark.
Like I said earlier, I should be a burn mark on the ground because of
the mercy of, but, but from the mercy of God, lightning bolt, boom, gone.
The first evil thought that I entertain, boom, gone.
But for the mercy of God.
See, God uses imperfect people to accomplish his perfect plan.
Now, this doesn't mean that we get a get outta jail free card.
With sin.
It doesn't mean like, well, great God's merciful, so I can just go on and sin.
No.
In fact, Romans six, one would say the opposite.
Paul says in Romans six, one, should we sin that Grace May abound?
We could say, should we sin?
Because hey, God's merciful.
Paul says, no way.
May it never be.
How can we who died to sin still live in it,
but all the same?
I want us to think about Peter and Paul and ask ourselves who
would've picked them to do what they did, but for the mercy of God.
But for the fact that they didn't get what they deserved.
Have you ever thought, man, who would've picked me?
But for the mercy of God, y'all, this is old news to you.
I'm preaching specifically to you this morning.
See, the era we need to avoid is thinking of mercy is something
we need to be saved, but not something we need to be sanctified.
You need God's mercy as much this morning as you ever have.
We're still traveling through that tunnel.
In fact, Peter was gonna need God's mercy again, because in Galatians chapter
two, Paul's gonna say this about Peter in Galatians two verses 11 through 12.
When Peter, when CFUs came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face because he
stood condemned for, before certain men came from James, he was eating
with Gentiles, but when they came, he drew back and separate himself
fearing the circumcision party.
So Paul is, is confronting Peter because Peter's being a hypocrite.
Peter's hanging out with Gentiles until the Jewish believers show up.
And then Peter's like, oh man, I need to go eat with the Jews.
Not you Gentiles.
'cause I'm worried about what they're gonna think about me.
Boom.
Peter should have been a burn mark in that moment, but for what the mercy of God,
see how we, we still need God's mercy.
Don't think, if someone asked Peter about mercy, who would've said, oh, well, there
was this one time on the beach after a bad night when Jesus was merciful to me.
He'd have been like, man, I need it every day.
I need God's mercy every day.
God's mercy is sustaining you today, Christian, for a purpose.
And I'm urging you not to miss the purpose of his mercy.
Not to look at mercy as the end, but a means to an end.
Have you ever run into a person who had a a near death experience
and afterwards they're like, man, I want my life to count for something.
Spiritually speaking.
That should be all of us.
When we consider the mercy of God, all of us should be able to
push back and say, man, I want my life to count for something.
In God's eyes, God's not looking for perfect people to accomplish his
perfect plan because they don't exist.
He's gonna use imperfect people to accomplish his perfect plan.
I received mercy for this reason.
So Christian, this morning, don't sideline yourself.
Don't sideline yourself this morning, Christian, thinking that
God's mercy may have been enough to forgive Peter and to to forgive Paul.
It's not enough for what I've done.
Some of y'all this morning need to respond to God's mercy by confessing your sin,
by acknowledging your sin, repenting from your sin, and asking for
forgiveness, and then also asking that God would restore you to his service.
I'm talking to Christians there,
and some of you Christians have done steps one and two on that.
You've confessed your sin and, and you've asked God to forgive your sin,
but you haven't gone to that next level.
To ask God to restore you, to, to service of him, to use you now to serve him.
And my question this morning is, why not God's mercy that's there to withhold his
wrath from you, has a purpose for you.
He's merciful towards you because he is not done with you.
He's got a reason for you to be here.
Yeah.
Every single one of us in this room are dependent upon the mercy of God
To even be sitting here this morning, back in our passage, Jesus was not
only merciful to Peter in pursuing him, in not kicking him out of the group.
Not saying, Peter, I'm done with you.
You denied me.
Go away.
But moving towards him in love, restoring him this way, who's not only merciful that
way, but he was also gracious to Peter in equipping him and commissioning him
for the work that he had for him to do.
Look back at the text.
Jesus says to him, John Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?
And Peter said, yes, Lord.
You know that I love you.
So Jesus said, feed my lambs.
Verse 16, he said to him a second time, Simon, son of John, do you love me?
He said to him, yes Lord.
You know that I love you.
Jesus said to him, Simon, son of John 10, my sheep, he said to him the third
time, Simon, son of John, do you love me?
Uh, Peter was grieved because he said to him, this the third time, do you love me?
And he said to him, Lord, you know everything.
You know that I love you.
Jesus said to him, feed my sheep.
And so here, what I want us to see this time is this commissioning
from Jesus, feed my lambs.
The word feed can mean herd or tend to them, and then
tend my sheep shepherd them.
In other words, Peter, not only am I gonna be merciful to you
to restore your devotion to me saying, Hey, do you love me?
But I've got work for you now and I'm gonna equip you to go do that work.
I'm gonna commission you to go do that work.
And Peter got the message because in one Peter chapter five, as Peter's writing
to the, the, uh, the church there and to the exiles, he says, I exhort the
elders among you as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as
well as a partaker in the glory that's to be revealed, shepherd the flock of God.
That's among you.
Peter uses that terminology in one Peter chapter five, and I have to imagine
that he's penning that or dictating that he's thinking about the beach
with Jesus shepherd, the flock of God.
Look this morning, you may not be shepherding a flock.
You may not have that responsibility, but I wanna encourage you this morning and,
and challenge you this morning that God's given you grace, nonetheless, to be useful
to him in serving him in companionship with the mercy that he's given you.
And so God has equipped you, God has given you a, a, a gift and
grace to be useful to him in the service of him just like he did.
With Peter Point number two this week is this, put God's
grace to work in your life.
Put God's grace to work in your life.
Again, if, if mercy is not getting what we deserve, grace
is getting what we don't deserve.
And so God has been gracious to you.
Peter didn't deserve to be used in the way that God was gonna use him.
Peter didn't deserve to be sitting on that beach with Jesus.
Paul didn't deserve to be used the way that God was gonna use him.
I don't deserve to be used in whatever way that God is gonna use me, but for the
grace of God, does any of that happen?
Paul, in First Corinthians, or sorry, second Corinthians, chapter 12, talks
about having a thorn in the flesh.
And, and listen, here's the thing.
Paul's got this thorn in the flesh and he's looking at the ministry that he's
doing and he's, he's praying to the Lord.
He's praying to God three times over.
He prays and I imagine he's praying God.
If you would just take this thorn away from me, I feel like I could
be so much more useful to you.
I feel like I would be stronger.
I feel like I'd be more healthy.
Whatever the thorn was, we're not exactly sure what it was,
but we know it was hindering him.
He felt it was hindering him.
At least he felt it was slowing him down.
And guess what y'all, that's exactly where God wanted him.
Because you know what?
What Paul hears in response to his prayer, Lord, remove the thorn.
Paul hears from the Lord, my grace, Paul, it's about my grace.
It's not about you.
It's not about your efforts.
It's not about you being stronger, healthier, wealthier, wiser, whatever.
It's about my grace showing up big in your life.
And Paul, guess what?
Man?
My grace is sufficient for you.
For my power is made perfect and weakness.
And so Paul is praying, God, if you would just remove my thorn, think about
all the things I could do for you.
God's going, Paul, you don't understand, man.
The fact that you have the thorn in your flesh is showing my grace
and my glory way more than if I took that thorn away from you.
And so Christian, maybe you this morning are thinking to yourself and you have
been thinking, God, if you would just get me outta this trial, God, if, if
you would just fix my marriage, God, if you would just save my spouse.
If you would just save my kids, then man, think about God.
Think about all the things I could do for you.
Think about how great my life would be if you took away the cancer.
God, Lord, if, if you would just give me a better job so I could support my
family and we weren't living paycheck to paycheck, God, think about how, how
much better I could serve you then.
And Christian this morning, maybe God is saying to you, my grace is sufficient
for you because in my grace to you, in your weakness, in all those things that
you're saying, God, please take this away.
You are having to be dependent upon me in a way that I get all the glory here.
And so Paul's telling or us that, that God had told him, Hey Paul,
my grace is sufficient for you.
Th there's a, a thing, this, this guardian XO company, uh, I think
Sarcos is the, the, the parent company.
They've created a, a robot suit that if you're old enough to remember Robocop,
then uh, hopefully you took some ibuprofen this morning when you got outta bed.
Robocop has, it's almost like that, except it's not fully enclosed, but you get into
this robot suit, right in this robot suit.
It's designed to help you lift heavy things.
It's got mechanics in the legs and in the arms and in the back, and it says
that you can lift up to 200 pounds and it, it feels like nothing in this suit.
And so they're designing this and they're trying to roll it out so that
it's gonna be helpful in warehouses and everything else like that.
But, but here's the thing, y'all with that robot suit, it's this,
it's your body, but the robot's power
God's grace at work in your life.
It's you, but his power, okay?
It's your intellect, it's your personality, it's your body.
It's your actual serving.
It's your compassion, it's your love.
It's your ability to preach and teach.
Uh, God's using you, but it's what?
It's his power doing it.
That's grace.
And that's what God was gonna do through Peter, is Peter's gonna stand
up and preach and thousands of people are gonna come to faith in Jesus.
It's not about Peter, it's why it's not about with the Pope going, Ted, my sheep,
this is about the exaltation of you.
Just like the exalt.
No, it's not.
It's about the exaltation of the grace of God.
But for the grace of God, we've got nothing to bring to the table.
It's God's power working in and through us.
And Paul got that.
'cause later on in one Corinthians 1510, he says, but by the
grace of God, I am what I am.
He doesn't say, look at who I am.
He doesn't say my pedigree.
In fact, he'd already said, that's a bunch of garbage back in Philippians, didn't he?
No.
He says, but by the grace of God is why I am who I am.
Period.
And yet he says this on the contrary.
He said, I, I worked harder than any of them.
God's grace was not in vain because it was working through me.
He says, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but
the grace of God that is with me.
Paul wanted us to know something that we need others to know and that is
this any good that you saw in Paul Paul's like, that's just God's grace.
Christian, any good you see in me is just the grace of God.
Any good that you get from my labors for you is just the grace of God.
Every single room, one of us in this room can say the same.
Thing.
God's not looking for perfectly equipped people to accomplish this
perfect plan because they don't exist.
They don't exist.
There's the old saying in the church, God doesn't call the equipped.
He equips the called.
That's what we're talking about here, y'all.
God's grace coming into your life saying, Hey, here's what I wanna do with you.
I'm gonna be using my power through your life.
Here's the thing, y'all, if I go out and try out for the Texas Rangers,
they're not gonna gimme the time of day.
Why?
Because the last time I played baseball.
On any organized team was when I was a freshman in high school and I,
my position was warming the bench.
I literally made the team, 'cause the coach was like,
burner, you're a good cheerer.
It's like, what does that even mean, coach?
Am I gonna be able to bat?
No.
Okay, cool.
I'll just hang out here.
The last time I played any form of of baseball was softball in our
church team back in California.
You know what I did?
I tripped over first base and broke my shoulder.
Needless to say, I'm not making the rangers.
They're gonna look at me and they're gonna say, get outta here.
Why?
Because I don't have the prerequisites to make the team y'all.
There's no prereq prerequisites to God's grace.
That's what makes it grace.
It's gonna be given to us to be used in his service.
And so here's Peter and Jesus on the beach, and Peter saying to
Jesus, Hey, Lord, I, I love you.
And Jesus saying, great Peter, if you love me, get to work for me.
Serve me.
10 my flock, shepherd the sheep.
Peter, I'm gonna equip you to go do great things for me.
In fact, that was gonna be the expression of Peter's love.
And so I wanna encourage you this morning if you're going, okay, I, I love Jesus.
I love Jesus.
Where do I go from here?
What do I do from here?
Uh, part of it's gonna look like serving.
Part of, it's gonna look like getting involved in the church and, and serving
in the body of Christ, putting the gifts that he's given you to work for him.
Here's some of the different ways that you can serve here at our church.
We've got set up and tear down greeters and welcome hospitality
ushers, our new facility.
We're gonna have parking needs to, to help direct people into
where we're meeting there, right?
These are ways that you can put God's grace to work, where again, it's,
it's gonna be your body, especially if you're on set and tear down,
but God's power in and through you.
Other ways you can serve tech, worship it gatekeepers, students, kids ministry.
Gatekeepers is our security team, our our medical teams.
Those are ways that you can serve, that you can get plugged in.
And, and, and can I just talk with you for just a second, I know that
there are, are men and women in the church who are immensely gifted
with different, different gifts.
And here's the thing.
Maybe you're sitting out there and what's keeping you from serving
in one of these ways this morning is you're thinking, yeah, but I
want to lead a community group.
I don't wanna set up stage pieces.
I want to teach because I feel like I've been gifted towards that end.
And I'm not saying that you're not.
But I will also tell you this, we don't go from zero to a hundred
with anybody in this church, okay?
We are very slow to lay hands on anyone and put them in a position where
somebody in our flock could get hurt.
So we want to get to know you and we wanna see you first say,
Hey, we're we're, let me jump on.
Lemme set up stage pieces.
Let me tear down the piping drape.
Lemme tow a trailer.
Let me serve back on the, the soundboard.
We love to see you get involved in that, but I don't wanna just narrow
the, the grace of God at working our lives down to Sunday mornings.
God's grace shows up and equips us outside the church too.
Does God's grace help you love your spouse?
Some of y'all are nodding too hard on that one.
Absolutely it does.
Parents, everybody can nod hard on this one.
Does God's grace help you?
Love your kids?
Uhhuh right church.
Does God's grace help you battle and fight temptation?
It does see God's grace that equips us to be useful to him is
not just about Sunday morning.
It's about our whole life.
He's merciful towards us 'cause he has a purpose and that purpose is realizing
how he equips us with his grace.
Just like he's done here with Peter.
If God's been gracious to you, the reason is, is that he wants to use
you, an imperfect person to accomplish his perfect plan, which leads to
our, our final point, which is really the culmination of all these things.
Listen, if, if my existence is because of the mercy of God and the grace of
God, then it only makes sense that it's for the glory of God, right?
And that's our final point this morning.
Be a billboard for God's glory.
One Corinthians chapter one.
The Apostle Paul there says this.
He says, God chose what is low and despised in the world.
Even the things that are not to bring to nothing.
The things that are, here's the kicker so that no human being
might boast in the presence of God.
That's it right there, y'all.
That's why we need to be quick to say, man, anything good you
see in me is only in me because of the mercy and grace of God.
It's him.
It's not me, it's him.
It's him.
How many times do you think Peter told this story after
this, I imagine quite a bit.
I mean, Peter died in in the sixties Ad John, he's writing this 60
years later and it stuck with him.
It was that impactful.
He's the only gospel writer that puts this in because this was so impactful to him.
Imagine back to the robot suit, right?
I, I imagine going to a presentation and, and they're gonna show the robot
suit off, and they're gonna try to convince you why you should buy it.
But imagine the guy that's wearing the suit walks up and they've, they've
got a 200 pound deadlift there.
I don't lift, so I don't know if that's heavy.
So if it's not heavy and you're like, bro, come on, do you even lift?
I don't.
So I don't know.
But the robot's supposed to lift 200 pounds.
So he comes up to this 200 pound deadlift.
He goes down and he does this 200 pound deadlift, and he puts it down.
Then imagine the guy gets outta the robot suit and just starts
flexing in front of the crowd.
Imagine being like, oh, look, did you see?
Look at me.
Did you see what I just did there?
Did you see how easy that was for me?
I just made that look like nothing.
Look how awesome I am.
What's the problem with that?
It's twofold.
One, you're gonna look at him and say, what are you talking about?
You didn't do it.
And two, that company's gonna fire that guy real fast.
Why?
Because he's not making the robots who look very good is he?
He's taken the glory that's due, the one that made it possible in the first place.
Church,
we can't boast in such a way that the grace of God seems like it's
totally unnecessary in our lives.
If somebody looks at the way that we serve and is more impressed
with us than they are with the God that we serve, there's a problem.
We're not being vocal enough.
God's not looking for people who put out a front that they've got it all together.
God's not looking for people who look perfect.
He's looking for people like Peter and Paul who are all too aware of
their brokenness and thus all the more aware of his glorious enabling
presence and power in their lives.
That's who he wants to use this morning.
And that's all of us in this room.
If we'll get there,
y'all.
Does the, the world know.
That any good they get from us is only because of the grace and mercy of God.
Matthew five 14 through 16, Jesus said this, you are the light of the world.
A city set on a hill cannot be hidden, nor do people light a lamp and put it
under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house.
In the same way, let your light shine before others so that they
may see your good works and give glory to your father in heaven.
Man, if, if people look at us again and say, man, how great we are,
instead of, man, how great is God, then we are not boasting in the
glory and mercy of God nearly enough.
This is where we have to be.
Vocal.
Church, this is where we gotta, we gotta talk.
We gotta give God the glory and the praise more than just passively going.
Well, of course he gets the glory and the praise.
Listen.
I, I, I think that's something that, that we could all excel
so more in and do better.
If a running back crosses the plane of the end zone and points up to give
glory to God, how much more should we, as the church be praising God for the
promotion, praising God for the birth of that baby, praising God for the way that
he came through in that relationship, praising God for the reconciliation,
the healing of the cancer in our bodies?
How much more should we be praising God?
Be verbal and vocal about all of those things.
We need to be praising God out loud, talking about how he took a wretch and
made him a son or made her a daughter.
Man, God came through, God took the cancer away, or maybe he didn't
and we're still gonna praise God.
'cause we're gonna say, you know what?
God comforted me and gave me a peace right now that surpasses understanding.
So when you're looking at me right now going, how are you not losing it?
It's only because of God and His grace and his mercy in my life.
We need to be praising God saying, and you know what?
My marriage was on the ropes for a while, but God was so
kind to us and gracious to us.
He restored our marriage.
We need to be transparent.
We need to say, Hey, you know what?
God was so kind to show me my pride, to show me my anger, to show me my
lust, and, and God was so gracious to me to help me overcome those things
and to find true freedom in Christ.
God was so merciful to, to me, not to just wipe me off the face of the earth.
Even though I deserved it, countless times over and over and over again,
y'all, we need to open up and not try to look like we've got it all together.
'cause when we're broken, God gets the glory.
When people look at us and they go, man, you, you, I wouldn't choose you.
You say, I wouldn't choose me either, but praise God, he did.
Y'all be, sometimes we ask a question in the church, Hey, how are you doing?
And there's this response that's kind of taken root in
the church, better than I, what?
Yeah, a few of you got it.
Better than I deserve.
Right?
Better than I deserve.
Which is always hard to respond to that after somebody says that.
It's like, you're right.
I totally think that you've got it better than you deserve.
You don't deserve anything that you have right now.
I don't even know why I'm talking to you.
You don't even deserve this conversation.
No.
Maybe we should normalize though, when somebody comes up to us, I,
we've, it's been a common refrain that, that Pastor Rod and I have been
asked this question a couple times.
Hey, we don't know what to do when somebody comes up
and says, thank you to us.
A any y'all in the room feel awkward when somebody thankss you for something.
A couple of you are honest.
The rest of you, you can repent from being lying liars later.
It's awkward, isn't it?
I mean, let's just be honest.
It's awkward.
Because why?
Because you, you don't want to come across as well.
You're welcome.
You, you, you want to, you want to receive it graciously, right?
What if we normalized it this way?
What if when somebody said, Hey, thank you for such and such.
You said, Hey, you know what?
You're welcome, but any good that you've received from me is only
because of the grace and mercy of God.
Man, that'd be awesome,
especially in the secular environment.
Imagine one of your coworkers.
It says, Hey, thanks for helping me out with that project.
That was, that was super helpful for, for you to chip in like that.
Hey, you know what?
You're welcome.
But can I just tell you any good that you've gotten from me at any point in time
in our relationship as as coworkers, I just need you to know it's only because
of God's grace and mercy in my life.
We should certainly normalize it with each other.
There's a song that we sing all sufficient merit, and one
of the verses there says this.
Speaking of being a billboard for God's glory, he says, I lay down my
garments in any empty boast, good works, now, all corrupted by the sinful
host, meaning anything that I would do, that I would consider is good
in myself, is corrupted by who I am,
but I'm dressed in my Lord Jesus.
A crimson robe made white.
No more fear of judgment.
His righteousness is mine.
And Peter knew that in such a palpable, tangible way on that
beach with Jesus that morning.
He didn't deserve restoration.
He deserved obliteration.
But he received God's mercy and he received God's grace for God's glory.
Jesus uses imperfect people to accomplish his perfect plan.
Jesus asks that question, Peter, do you love me more than anyone else loves me?
How could Peter say yes to that question?
How can I say yes to that question?
None of us are perfect in this room, so how can we dare say, God, I love
you more than anyone else does.
I love you to the fullest.
The only answer is God's mercy and God's grace for God's glory.
Because of those things.
God takes imperfect people like us and uses us to accomplish his
perfect plan for his eternal glory.
Will you stand with me as we pray together?