When you follow Jesus through the gospels, he had the ability ... In fact, he made it a habit to take an individual's entire story into account when he interacted with them. And there are several examples of this in the New Testament, but our tendency is the opposite. We don't take people's entire story into account, but for one reason, we can't. We don't know their whole story. But even if we did, we have a tendency to just size people up and just write them off based on a single event in their life, based on a habit in their life, based on something we've heard about them from their life. We size them up and write them off based on just a single chapter in their story, not their whole story. And if their decision or whatever it was, if their decision or that chapter impacted us directly or our family directly, it's hard not to see them any other way.
It's hard to see them in any other light. That thing that sort of just cast a negative shadow over them, it's the first thing and it's the only thing that comes to mind when they come to mind. But the problem, of course, is that goes both ways, right? That people size you up and they write you off as well. Sometimes you know, and sometimes you don't know. And to complicate matters even further, and here's what we're going to talk about for the next few minutes. We have the potential, in fact, perhaps you have the tendency to do this to yourself, that we have the potential and maybe the tendency to do this to ourselves, to define ourselves by a failure, to define ourselves by a failed relationship, an event in our life, a season in our life, a decision in our life, an addiction in our life.
And then our tendency is to project that onto God. In other words, if I see myself this way, then certainly that's how God sees me as well. But he doesn't. And we know he doesn't. This is so important because Jesus didn't. And the reason you can know with certainty that your heavenly Father doesn't size you up and write you off based on event in your life, a story in your life, a chapter in your life is because Jesus never did that. He did the opposite. And if Jesus did it, that's how your heavenly Father does it as well. Remember he said, "If you've seen me, you've seen the Father like Son, like Father." The implication is this. This is huge. That God takes your entire story into account. Your sin, your past, your failure, your behavior, that secret habit, it does not define you in the eyes of God, in the eyes of your heavenly Father.
He doesn't overlook it. He doesn't overlook sin because sin hurts you and it kills you and it kills relationships and it undermines your future. So God doesn't overlook sin because he loves you. And God doesn't overlook the harm you've caused yourself or others because he loves you and he loves others, but he does not define you by it. That's not how he sees you. Your sin is like a tree and your heavenly Father sees the whole forest. And he has the ability. He has the ability to do what most people won't do for you and what most people can't do for you. And in most cases, they won't even attempt to do for you. He does for you what in many cases you don't even attempt to do for other people to take into account the entire story of you. So your past, and my past, your past may always remind you, but it does not define you in the eyes of God.
And you are invited, whether you're a religious person or a different faith tradition or even a Christian or not, but you are invited to do for yourself what you may never be able to do for other people. And that is to accept God's estimation of you. And when you come to grips, and when we come to grips, when you come to grips with God's view of you, you may, not necessarily, but you may find it easier to extend that same full story grace to others. This is what it looks like to be a Christian, and this is what it looks like to live like a Christian, but it doesn't come natural. It doesn't come natural in terms of extending it to others, and it doesn't even come natural for many of us to extend it to ourselves. So I want to tell you a story.
Peter, as in the apostle Peter, Peter's most embarrassing chapter of his life illustrates this perfectly. Now, we know that for the most part, Mark, Matthew Mark, who wrote the gospel of Mark, got his information about Jesus and the life of Jesus from Peter. So there's a sense in which Peter not only knew this was going to be included for all time, but he actually wanted it included because it was his story. And the fact that he wanted his story told, even though it's the worst possible story he could tell, says something about what he understood about the grace of God that he wanted you to understand about the grace of God and the grace of his savior. So his situation is this. Jesus, on his way to Jerusalem, it's his date with faith. He knows he's going to be arrested and executed. He gets to the city.
He goes into the city, teaches in the temple, leaves the city at night, goes back into the city. The next day, teaches in the temple, leaves us that he's back and forth, back and forth for a week at the end of that week or so. He decides to celebrate the Passover meal with the disciples. He's 12. He does it privately. He does it secretly in the city. They celebrate the Passover meal. A lot's going on. Judas gets up and leaves in the middle. Everybody thinks he's going to go on an air and Jesus knows what he's up to. And as they're walking out the door, essentially, he turns to the 11 that are left and he says this, "Oh yeah, by the way, this very night, you will all fall away on account of me. " To kind of tease this out with the original language, basically he says, "You're going to trip and fall over me and fall away from me.
" In other words, you're going to leave me because you trip over me. I'm going to be the reason you leave me. You're going to trip and fall away on account of me. And Peter immediately speaks up and he says, "Even if the rest of these losers..." This the implication. "Even if the rest of these losers fall away from you, even if I'll fall away on account of you, I never will. "Jesus, look at me. There is nothing you could do that would cause me to disassociate myself from you. I am forever yours. And everybody said faithfully, exactly. Then Jesus looks at Peter with this sad look and puts his hand on his shoulder and he says," Peter, this very night, before the sun rises, you're going to disown me. You're going to trip and roll away from me three times. You're going to deny any association with me.
"And Peter responds," No, no, no, no, no. "He says," Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you. I'm not just sticking by you because it's good times and we're about to rip off the rabbi robe and Messiah and take over. But if in the process of you becoming Messiah and us running the Romans out of town, if I got to die for you in that battle, if I've got to die in order to see you become the king, I'll die for you.
"Most of us know what happens. 20 verses later, not a whole chapter, 20 verses later. Jesus is arrested. This was the most embarrassing moment for the whole crowd, and then all the disciples deserted him and fled. Peter, I mean, in fact, Thomas leaves town, we think. Peter gets just far enough away to see what's happening, follows from a distance. He follows back into the city and he realizes they're taking Jesus to the home of Caiaphas, the high priest. That's not going to go well. He waits as far away as he can. It's cold. He steps into the courtyard. The courtyard is massive and there are fires, several fires out there to keep the guards and to keep the servants warm. And he's warming his hands by one of those fires and suddenly a servant girl, a young girl, walks up and stares at his face, lit up by the fire and says," You.
You also were with Jesus of Galilee, "she said. But he denied it before them. He said," No, no, no, no. I don't know what you're talking about. "Talk so loud. Peter steps away from the fire where another servant girl walks by and says to the people there," This fella, I'm sure she's right. This fellow was with Jesus of Nazareth and Peter immediately denies it again with an oath. I don't know the man. "Steps back even further. And after a while, the people who've heard this, they keep looking at him and looking at him and they wander over. The text says," And then a little while those standing there went up to Peter and said, "They're right. Surely you are one of them because when you shouted out that you weren't, we heard your accent. You are in fact a Galilean. You are not from here.
You are one of the followers of Jesus of Nazareth." And he began, the text tells us to call down curses and he swore to them.
"I don't know the guy. I don't even know the man. "And a rooster crowed in the distance. And Peter remembered the words of Jesus and he went outside and he wept bitterly. Don't answer this out loud, but have you ever wept with regret? I have. I bet we all have. That moment where you would go back, if I could go back and just take those words back, if I could just go back and relive that weekend, if I could just go back and say no instead of yes, if I could just go back to that season of my life, if I could have ... Have you ever felt ... Again, this is just between you and you. Have you ever felt like, okay, right, God may love me because God loves everybody I know, but he can't possibly like me because you don't like you.
Now, let me get real personal, okay? This is your first time. This is kind of heavy, but here's the thing. You've done some really bad stuff. You've done shameful stuff, painful stuff. You've caused yourself pain. You've caused people you love pain, you've done embarrassing stuff. You've hurt people who you love and who love you. You've lied. You've been to some level, to some degree, unfaithful in your life. But here's kind of the good news. You've never done what Peter did. You can't. To have seen what he saw and to have experienced what the Apostle Peter experienced and then deny you even know the man, the man who healed your mother-in-law, the man who basically almost sank your boat with fish, the man who calmed a storm with his words, a man who fed a small village out of a lunchbox, a man who two weeks earlier, two weeks earlier, raised one of your friends or somebody who had hosted you in their home, raised one of your friends from the dead after they'd already had the funeral, the man who selected you to be part of his inner circle that you camped with and ate with, laughed with and cried with.
I mean, you'd seen it all.
You'll never have the opportunity. I will never have the opportunity to offend the king like Peter did. And maybe to just twist the knife. Peter's final recorded words, the last words that are recorded for us before Jesus was arrested. Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you. And hours later, just hours later, he's in the back of a crowd, hoodie up so it can't be recognized. And he watches Jesus die and he does nothing. And then he and the rest of the apostles, they find out Judas is dead. They don't know why. Thomas still hadn't shown up. Maybe he was in on it with Judas. We don't know. They don't know. They go into hiding. What do we do? Where do we go? And a couple and two and a half days later or so, the first day of the week, the women bust into the room.
The tomb is open. There's nobody. Peter runs and looks in the tomb and it's empty and he walks away bewildered. He has no idea what's happening or what has happened. And then that night, as we talked about, best day, worst day ever, Jesus appears very much alive.
He communicates to them, "I want you to meet me in Galilee." And so they eventually pack up and head north with safer in Galilee, two and a half, three days, depending on how they went. They get to Galilee, they get to an appointed spot. Actually, they go to the place where they had left their boats, back to that fishing environment, and they wait and there's no Jesus. And a day goes by and there's no Jesus. And finally, Peter's like, "Hey, let's go fishing. It's what we do. " So late that afternoon, they shoved off and they fished all night. And the next morning they're rowing back to shore, about a hundred yards off, and they see a figure walking down the beach. And John says to Peter, "It's the Lord." They pull their boat up on the shore and Jesus has started a campfire and he's cooking fish and he says, "Bring some fish." And they all have breakfast on the beach.
And the text tells us no one doubted it was their resurrected savior. And then this happens. Jesus looks at Peter and says, "Peter, let's me and you take a walk down the beach." They walk in silence for a while. Finally, Jesus breaks the silent. Simon says, kind of formal, "Simon, son of John, do you love me? " And then he points back over his shoulder. "Do you love me more than the rest of those guys? "Probably no eye contact looking forward. Yes. He says," Yes, Lord. "He said," You know that I love you. "And he could have said," Lord, seriously, remember the Samaritan woman, we come back from Sakar and you're talking to that Samaritan woman by the well. Okay, Lord, you knew she had five husbands. Of course you know I love you. You know everything. You know everything about everybody. You're the one that seems to be able to take people's entire story into account when you interact with them.
So I'm not going to make a case, but yes, you know I love you. You know everything about me and you know about the Caiaphas house of event. Jesus pauses and looks at Peter. He says, Okay, then feed my lambs. This means nothing to us. Here's what Peter heard, shepherd my sheep. "It's like, wait, wait. And he looks over at the rest of the guys.
"Wait, you're putting me in charge? Wait, you're giving me a promotion? After what I did, I thought this was an exit interview." They walk on. Again, Jesus said, "Simon, son of John, do you love me? " Peter says, "Yes." He says, "Yes, Lord, you know everything. You know I love you. " And Jesus said, "I want you to take care of my sheep." Points back. And on the third time he asked Peter this same question, "Do you love me? " The text tells us that Peter was hurt because Jesus kept asking him, asking him a third time, "Do you love me? " Maybe he's thinking, "Well, doesn't he believe me? " And he's thinking, "Well, I know he believes me because he knows what I'm thinking and who could blame him if he didn't believe me, but Peter didn't push him back. Self-righteous, Peter is gone.
Argumentative, got to make my point, have my way, Peter." He's gone. So he doesn't make a case for the fact that he loves Jesus. This is amazing. He simply appeals to the knowledge of his king.
He said, "Lord, you know all things and you know in spite of what I did, you know in spite of the fact that I betrayed you, you know in spite of the fact that I didn't come through for you. You know in spite of the fact that I didn't try to defend you. You know in spite of the fact that basically I lied to you that I love you. I have no defense. I have no case to make. You know I'm a broken man." And Jesus smiles and says, "Feed my sheep. Peter, I'm putting you in charge." Is that amazing? I want you to try to picture it.
At the end of their walk, they circle back around and then they come back. They're standing on the shore of the sea of Galilee with Peter and his family's boats and the nets are being stretched out and dried. The smell of cooked fish in the air. They're at the place where this all began. And with all that history and all that betrayal and all that doubt and all that fear and all the things that happened there, they're at the place where this all began and he looks Peter in the eye and he extends this very same invitation that he extended. On the first day, they had an interaction. Peter, he says. And he must have just had this huge grin because Peter can't even believe this is happening. Peter, he says, "I want you to follow me because we're not done." And Peter, you're not done.
You got a whole lot more people to catch.
Now I want you to listen. If you've been fiddling with your phone at home, I want you to listen to this part, okay? Because somebody needs to hear this. Probably most of us don't need to hear this, but those of you who need to hear this, you really need to hear this. And I don't want you to hear it from me. I hope something lights up in your heart because this is so true. No matter what you've done, you're not done. And more importantly, God is not done with you. And you think you've sunk too low, you've fallen too far, you've strayed too far away. You burned too many bridges. You've broken too many promises to God and other people. And there's something in you that says, "I don't know God. I feel like God has kind of sized me up and written me off and I don't blame him because to some extent I've sort of sized myself up and written myself off." Do you know what Peter would do if he heard you?
He would take you by the shoulders, look you in the eye and assure you that's a lie. Then he may say this. Don't Pharisee yourself. This is what the Pharisees have been doing the whole time. We've been traipsing around with Jesus. They walk up to us and they draw a circle around an event. They draw a circle around a conversation. They draw a circle around a sin. They draw a circle around a habit. They draw a circle around a reputation and say, "You're out. " It doesn't matter what else you've done. It doesn't matter what your childhood was like. It doesn't matter what you've been told, doesn't matter what your family of origin is, doesn't matter what your illness is, you're out because we draw circles around little bitty parts of a person's life and they're out. And Peter would say to you, "Don't do that to yourself because your heavenly Father doesn't." If you've learned anything from following Jesus, I mean, Peter would say, "If you've learned anything from following me as I follow Jesus, you would learn that Jesus never does that to anybody.
So don't do it to yourself." The invitation to follow Jesus is a standing invitation. This is amazing. Peter lives a long life. He's an old man now. He was probably illiterate. The Book of Acts seems to indicate that the four fishermen, Peter, Andrew, James, and John, they were probably illiterate men who had time to learn to read and write only about 5% or two and a half percent of the Galileans could read or write. These are day laborers. They work with their hands and he dictates some letters to first century Christians. I mean, this is Peter. It's like if Peter sends you a letter or sends your church a letter, it's like, "This is from Peter." And two of those have survived. They're part of our New Testament. Did you know that? Listen to these words with his story in mind and with your story of mind.
Here's what he writes. Talking about Jesus. He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross. And Peter would say, "I didn't read about it. I was there for it.
" So that we might also die to sins and live for righteousness, for justice, a different kind of life. In other words, Peter says, "Because of what Jesus did for me and what Jesus did for you, you no longer have to be controlled by sin and you no longer have to be defined by it. " And then he considers its own story perhaps. And he dictates these words to a scribe. This is so amazing. For you, he's writing. He has not even met these people. He's just writing to Christians to whom it might concern. Anybody in a church, anywhere, us, any generation.
He says this, he says, "For you, I haven't heard your story." He would say, "But I know enough about human race. I know about human nature. I know enough about myself. For you were like a sheep." Again, it means nothing to us. They all knew this, understood this. You were like sheep, just scattered. You were like sheep that you weren't even following a shepherd. You were like sheep who would abandon the flock and abandoned everything you've been taught and abandoned the shepherd. You were like a sheep who just went off on its own, just gone astray. And Peter's like, "Let me tell you, I know about going astray. I followed for three and a half years the good shepherd and I still went astray." And then this, for all of us, you are like chief, you've gone astray. But now, he says to them, "But now you have returned and he took you back.
But now you have returned with all of your sin that he paid for and all of the brands that people have given you and that you've given yourself that he's removed, but you have returned to the shepherd and the overseer of your souls and your shepherd and overseer celebrates your return." And then Peter would say to you, so get going and follow. Your king would say, "You're not done because I'm not done with you. And if you'll allow me to, I'll use your story as bait to attract more people to my kingdom." Isn't it true the people who are most attractive to God's kingdom are not the wrinkle-free, did it all right people? They're the people who had massive failures, experienced the grace of God, and they're not proud of what they did, but they're not afraid to tell you about it because they are trophies of God's grace.
And they would tell you like Peter would tell you, "You can't fall too far and you can't wander off too far away from the shepherd of your soul, but he won't take you back." Hey, thanks so much for watching. If you enjoyed this video, please make sure you check out the links on your screen for what to watch next and check out the description below where we are going to provide you with free resources designed to help you make better decisions and live with fewer regrets. And again, thanks for watching.
