Watch & listen to every sermon on your favorite podcast software:
Information about this sermon:
Preacher: Pastor Chuck Holiday
Scripture: John 21:1-17
Peter is an example of how Jesus transforms spiritual leaders through a process of humbling and restoring us into the men and women he wants us to become.
Transcript
You know the whole the whole world is is asking the question now what does a spiritual leader look like And this morning we’re going to look at the first pope And uh we’re going to get a we’re going to get a vision of what God has in mind for spiritual leadership Whether you know you’re from a Catholic tradition or a Protestant tradition or no tradition um the Christian world all agrees that Peter was the first appointed leader of the Christian church Now we have differences of opinion as to how the succession goes after that and how God picks future leaders but we all agree on this that that Jesus picked Peter to be the first leader of the Christian church And so um what an opportunity for us to go and look at what what is spiritual leadership in Christ’s mind and um it’s really important for us to understand that number one all of us are leaders Jesus said if you follow me I will make you a fisher of men Now that doesn’t just mean evangelism That means influence And you know if you’re a mother you’re a leader If you’re a husband you’re a leader If you have a friend you’re a leader There’s always somebody that God’s put in your life that’s looking at you to show them the way Show them what are what’s next How can I find hope How can I find meaning How can I find forgiveness And most of the time we miss those people because we’re looking ahead trying to climb our own social ladder And you know it’s like in middle school when you’re you know you’re looking at the group of cool kids over there trying to figure out how to get in that group and and you you don’t see the kids at the other table that are looking at you wishing they could be in your group There’s there’s always a position of leadership in your life because God made put us in community And um sometimes the best leaders for little ones are middle schoolers You know the eight-year-olds just love looking at the 12y olds and trying to figure out how can I be like them How can how can I get them to like me how can I how can I get invited to their dodgeball game or whatever you know Uh but but the point is it’s simple but this isn’t just for people who are thinking God might want me to be a pastor or God might want me to take a ministry position vestry or this is for all of us but especially in this context Um it is important for us on to to say okay what did Jesus have in mind for people at the top of the pile the apostles the the Peter and specifically uh his role to lead the Christian church and what Jesus always has in mind for leadership is
transformation And just you know here’s the here’s the thing that we often miss For a for a natural leader to become a spiritual leader there has to be a death and a
resurrection Peter was always the leader Now did did Peter lead because Jesus appointed him or did Jesus appoint him because he could see that he’s already the leader I mean just a cursory reading through any of the gospels will tell you that Peter was the natural leader of the group Peter is almost always the first to speak He’s almost the first to jump out of the boat He’s almost the first to do whatever And in this passage again Peter’s confused They’re all confused They don’t know where to go They don’t know what to do U Jesus said “Meet me in Galilee.” And so they’re in Galilee but they don’t know where to find him And and Peter says “You know what I’m gonna do what I know how to do I’m going fishing.” I was interviewed by a group of uh fifth graders at a school close by here a week ago and and they asked me uh um how the definition of being cool has changed over my
lifetime you know and who are the cool kids And I said um well there’s two levels of cool Most of the cool kids are the kids that are watching somebody else and figured out how to dress and how to talk and how to do their hair and they they’re they’re the cool kids Said “But the really cool kid is the kid who never asked that question at all He he doesn’t care what other people think He just wears what he wants to wear and he does his hair the way he wants to do his hair.” I said “That’s the really cool kid It’s the kid that really just doesn’t care what you think That is the really cool kid Well that’s kind of like leadership I mean there’s a there’s a natural leader in every group And and the truth is God often appoints natural leaders to become spiritual leaders But the the the great mistake the church has made for 2,000 years is
thinking that it’s that natural leadership that the church needs And what we learn through this incident with Peter is exactly the opposite Yes God usually picks a natural leader from a group but he picks them for transformation There must be a death and a resurrection in his leadership If he’s going to be a spiritual leader just as Christ went through a death and a resurrection for our salvation there must be a death and a resurrection Now let’s take a look at how this plays out in the life of Peter Um this is this is an incredible encounter because you remember those of you who have been in church a while that Peter was the one who when Jesus was telling his disciples the night before he was arrested or the night he was arrested the night before his death Jesus said “You’re all going to desert me tonight and I’m having a hard time with that.” And and Peter said “Lord maybe the rest of them will because I don’t know about these guys but I promise you I will not I promise you I will not.” Which gives meaning to the words Jesus questioned “Peter do you really love me more than these other guys here?”
You know Jesus is bringing us right back to that scene isn’t he Jesus asked him three times How many times did Peter deny Jesus that night Three times It’s not a coincidence that Jesus asked him three times Peter are you sure you love me more than these other guys And by the time Jesus asks him the third time Peter is undone because he knows exactly now what we’re talking about Yeah you know we don’t have we don’t have any uh information on what was going on in Peter’s mind in the first two encounters when Jesus showed up in the upper room you know to to visit his disciples And uh it doesn’t appear to have been any particular personal dialogue between Jesus and Peter But that was that conversation that was just hanging in the air waiting to happen right Wasn’t it And Peter knew Jesus knew and all the disciples are wondering “Okay when’s this gonna when’s this going to happen?” They’d all They’d all abandon Jesus They’d all run They were all confused But but you know Peter was kind of ahead of the group in terms
of you know when Jesus is trying to say “Guys this is going to be a hard night for us.” Peter’s the one Lord not me I love you too much to ever abandon you Well let’s look at how Jesus uses this to transform Peter If the first of all isn’t it amazing that Jesus just doesn’t say “Okay John you’re up Peter you had your swing at the bat John you’re up I love you Peter I forgive you You’re going to be in heaven but you’re done in this organization You’re done Well that never seems to enter Jesus’ mind does it And I would suggest to you not only this is not Jesus just forgiving Peter and tolerating his insubordination and his weirdness you know in so many ways This is this is precisely why Jesus picked Peter He needs a failed leader who can be resurrected Not a natural leader who always does the right thing and always gets it right and continues to justify why Jesus picked me
No failure is essential to spiritual leadership Why Why can’t just Jesus just pick a good guy who who won’t fail Because the kryptonite to spiritual leadership is spiritual pride
No matter what other great qualities a spiritual leader has if if he is believes that he is the best guy in the group the most worthy
pick he can’t be a spiritual
leader because he is bringing into his into the culture of of the church the very essence of of wickedness which is spiritual pride and
self-reliance My friends this is the kryptonite This is the thing that will keep you from ever entering the kingdom of heaven This is the thing that will absolutely destroy the faith of those under your charge This is why we have a whole generation maybe now two generations that don’t care at all about going to church because they’ve been to
church And what they smell doesn’t doesn’t smell like what the message they hear They hear about Jesus humility They hear that that come as you are They hear that God loves us because he’s good not because we’re good But then they perceive spiritual leaders who act like they’re better than everybody else in the
place This is why kids go through 12 years of Christian school and never come back to church because they’ve witnessed the hypocrisy
They’re asking “Is this real for anybody or are these just words we speak?” What can make the difference Transformational leadership That means broken fallen sinful leaders who can admit
it That’s why Jesus picked Peter Yeah probably the natural leader But Jesus knew that Peter’s not going to be able to lead the
church unless he’s exposed and
restored Spiritual leadership is transformed leadership There must be a humbling There must be a humbling
you know um Peter was the head of the church He probably had a little influence on the writing of the gospels He probably could have convinced his his buddies to uh leave some of this
out to sanitize the history just a little bit This record of Peter’s denial is recorded in all four of the gospels in
detail Most of the gospels don’t all conclude every story Peter said we must tell the truth We must tell the truth One of one of the the men that’s authors that has influenced me a lot is is Brendan Manning um who lived and died as an
alcoholic He never beat it And I don’t know what that does to your theology It it kind of shook me a little the first time I realized Oh my goodness He was a wonderful wonderful man who led thousands of people to Christ who absolutely adored and loved his savior Jesus Christ but he died an alcoholic And his last book was called All is Grace And one of his one of his friends that I knew a little bit um pleaded with him as she got the manuscript of the book before it was published “Brennan you don’t have to tell everything You don’t have to tell everything.” And he said ‘They must know it’s all grace They must know It’s all grace My friends I don’t know what your condition will be when you die I’m pretty sure there’s going to be some sin left in my life when I meet Jesus I’m I’m trying you know I’m better than I used to be but I thought I’d be a whole lot better by now in my in my walk with Jesus to be honest with you Peter could have rewritten the story He He made sure that everybody for every generation to come knew that God did not pick him because he was a good
man God picked him because he was going to transform him Now it’s also important to realize this wasn’t the last time Peter sinned In in in Acts 10 uh the resurrected Christ says “Peter I want you to go eat with the Gentiles.” And Peter said “No Lord.” Now those two words don’t go together do they But we do that all the time No Lord
In Galatians Paul said “When when uh when I got when when Peter came he he pretend you know he was eating with the Gentiles but when the Jews showed from Jerusalem showed up all of a sudden he he distanced himself He he sat at another table with the Jews who weren’t eating pork and all that such stuff you know.” And Paul called him out publicly and he said “Peter you’re a hypocrite.” Now my this my friends is to transform Peter that my point is you don’t just get transformed once in your life What God is calling us to is continual repentance God says I define a leader as somebody who leads in repentance I don’t pick them because they’re better than everybody else I pick them because they’re willing to admit it what they are and live out the repentance Doesn’t make sin indifferent Not at all We’ll see that Okay There must be a humbling And it happens again and again and again if you’re if you’re wanting Now this is true not just for pastors of churches It’s true for
mothers What makes a godly mother A repentant mother Somebody who is constantly asking for feedback constantly coming back to Jesus and to her kids asking for forgiveness not abandoning her role I’m still the mother You still have to listen to me But it’s different when when you’re a leader in repentance You realize that I don’t lead because I’m better I don’t lead because um I’m smarter I lead because God asked me to lead and people need a leader That means you didn’t earn it and you can’t lose it Leadership is a gift you receive from God for the sake of others I I’ve seen so many husbands who failed morally in their marriage who then refuse to ever try to lead again They spend the rest of their marriage saying “Yes ma’am No ma’am Where do you want to go to dinner honey Where do you think we should live What how do you think we should raise the kids?” Because they feel like they have failed And many of them will say it No I blew it God appointed me to lead and I blew it So my job now is to just serve my wife They’re spending the rest of their life in penance trying to make up for having blown it having abandoned their calling to lead And I have to say to those men guys look you’re you’re doing more harm now God wants you to be a restored leader He didn’t ask you to give up your leadership Your wife and your kids still need a leader So step up and lead But I but what if I mess up again You will You didn’t earn it It was God gave it to you for the sake of others It’s not about you Well Peter was learning that lesson There has to be a
humbling You know this is interesting Um gosh am I out of time already getting close I just looked back at that clock
I got five minutes I see it
now Peter sometimes we miss this Peter did have the courage to die for Jesus You remember what he did in the garden when they came to arrest Jesus He’s the one who took out his sword to fight There are many people leaders natural leaders in this world who are not spiritual at all who have the courage to die in a blaze of glory trying to cement their legacy of heroism into the annals of history Right There’s plenty of leaders who will die for their cause because it’ll make them look great heroic What what Peter was not willing to do is die in obscurity for a lost cause
He wasn’t willing to die the way he saw Jesus dying No not like not that Lord That doesn’t make any sense to
me So God had to transform his leadership And uh look how beautifully he does it when he comes to Jesus He first first he asks them Peter do you love me more than these Now some people think he’s referring to the fisherman the the fisher and the the boats the you know the nets Do you love me more than fishing Peter And and it honestly the Greek could be translated either way We don’t know it The neutral u these and the the the masculine me these is the same word in Greek So context has to tell you I can’t help but think you know the parallels between the three denials I I you know these other guys may abandon you but not me I think Jesus is saying Peter look do you love me more than these other guys Really Do you realize now you’re I didn’t pick you because you’re better You realize that now And he asked him three times And the third time what’s it say Peter was hurt The root word in Greek is just the word pain There was pain all over Peter’s face when Jesus asked him the third time because Jes Peter knew exactly what he was talking about Now this is this is really important because for for a leader to be transformed he’s got to see that his sin is not just an ethical I did something wrong He’s got to understand how it hurts people
you’ll you’ll never you’ll never be freed of the sin that that holds you down if you don’t see it in a relational context If your battles with drinking if your battles with pornography if your battle is like I can’t stop yelling at the at my kids Um if your if your battle and leadership is your passivity I just can’t step into disruption whenever I just want everything to be peaceful at home and harmonious Whatever your battle is maybe you talk down to people around you You just make people feel small um whatever your battle is until you see how it actually is hurting people you you won’t have the power to be freed of it If you’re just seeing it in an ethical category of “Oh I know that’s wrong I should stop doing that.” That’s not going to free you And and Jesus is graciously doing this to Peter He’s he’s not just making this about Peter You were wrong I was right Peter would have easily said “I’ve you’re right Jesus I please forgive me.” But when Jesus turned it into a relational thing when when when Jesus helped Peter understand how that hurt him Peter that hurt me Peter was crushed There was something in him that said “I don’t want to hurt Jesus like that He’s the only one who’s ever really loved me.” And it began to transform him The transformation it transformed his you know most of us start leading because we’re it’s it’s not for the sake of others It’s because we like it It makes us feel important Uh it gives us a sense of worth in our life You know truthfully mostly it’s about us Many spiritual leaders in the church just like being the leader It’s got to be transformed to something deeper And what does Jesus do He transforms that First of all Peter you don’t need to prove anything I already love you I didn’t pick you because I needed you I didn’t pick you because you were better I I just love you And your failure can’t change that I still love you I love that song we sang When I’m lost he will come to me Peter didn’t know how to find Jesus right now But Jesus found him didn’t he And Jesus will find you when you fail His excitement to lead turned into a what Jesus said “Peter now that everything’s straight between us now that you don’t need to be the leader now that you know you’re not deserving to be the leader now now Peter I want you to feed my sheep That’s what leadership is about I want you to feed my sheep It’s not a You have You have everything I could give you is already yours through my death and resurrection Now you’re free to love me and to love people Follow me He says “This is a resurrection from Peter’s grave of despair
Peter has disqualified himself in every way and Jesus is resurrecting him to lead again with a new power a new identity a new confidence The resurrected Jesus Christ who has died on a cross and come back to life said “Peter I love you Now follow me again.” This is what he said the first time he met him fishing He said “Peter follow me and I’ll make you a fisher of men.” Here he comes back to reinstate Peter And he said “Nothing’s changed Peter except now you’re ready because you know now what I’ve always known about
you It’s not about you Peter It’s about the power of the spirit that I’m going to put on you to lead the Christian church.” Well um has the resurrected Jesus come to
you and said ‘I know you’re a mess I know you
failed That’s never been a doubt in my mind Jesus said “You just had to find out But will you lead the people that I put in your charge Will you step up and do what I ask you to do for the sake of the lost
lambs You’re going to you’re going to mess up again You’re not going to always look great But I’m gonna keep forgiving you and I’m gonna use you as a broken honest humble man or woman to lead people to Jesus Who is worthy to open the
scroll Only one right Praise God
