A Lifelong Commitment

John 21:18-19

18 Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go." 19 (This he said to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God.) And after saying this he said to him, "Follow me."

ESV

A Lifelong Commitment

 (John 21:18-19)

Intro:

            A.  We call him “The Rich Young Ruler.”  I want you to understand the Bible never describes this man as has having evil motives when talking to Jesus.  In fact, Mark records for us, “that Jesus looking at him, loved him…”  Here was a man whom Luke calls a ruler, we assume of a synagogue. He wants what is right.  He wants what I want and you want.  He wants “eternal life.”  He also knows that Jesus has answers that no other religious leader has, and so he comes and asks Jesus, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

            B.  Many talk about his question centering upon himself, but be honestly, does any Jew understand salvation apart from keeping the Law? His question is not about his own greatness, but an admission that something still lacks within him and Jesus could help him discover what it was that caused him to feel the disconnect with God.  I have been there, have you?

            C.  Jesus gives not just the right Jewish answer, but the right answer period; keep the commandments.  If any Jew kept the commands of God, salvation was theirs.  Before we go any farther, I want you to notice something.  The commands that Jesus mentioned were the commands between man and man – Do not murder, commit adultery, steal, bear false witness, defraud, and honor father and mother.  They are the love your neighbor commandments.

            D.  But this man knows deep within that there is more to a relationship with God than just obedience.  He tells Jesus, “I have done all that since I was child.  What more do I lack?”  You know what Jesus said, “Go, sell all that you have and give it to the poor, then you will have treasure in heaven.” 

            E.  The answer was not one he expected to hear.  For that matter, the context tells me that it wasn’t one the disciples expected to hear from Jesus.  To them, being rich meant God was blessing you and therefore you must be right with God.  The man couldn’t do it. 

            F.  By the way, I left out something Jesus said to this man.  When he finished telling him to sell everything, he added, “and come, follow me.”  The man went away sorrowful at what Jesus said.  Jesus wanted this man’s life to change from that day forward.  He called this man to a lifelong commitment to God by denying self and this world to be a follower, but man just couldn’t go that far.

I.  A Life Long Commitment

            A.  When you and I came to the point in our life where we knew sin had separated us from God and we wanted eternal life, we, like that rich young ruler, came to Jesus wanting to know what to do.  Many of us grew up in faith based homes, grew up as good, moral people, but knew that we still lacked something.  For some of us, we even knew what it was that we lacked.  We lacked a willingness to give up what we loved most. 

            B.  Like Nicodemus, we were faced with the teaching of what it meant to be “born again.”  We wanted into the kingdom, but being born again, born from above, was a step we had to decide if we were willing to take.

            C.  We came to understand the words of Peter on the day of Pentecost recorded in Acts 2 and the writing of Paul to the church in Rome in Romans 6 and knew that being born again involved baptism.  That is was there that we let our old nature of sin die, that we were buried with Christ and when we rose up out of that water we were a new creation, born again into the family of God through blood of Jesus.

            D.  For us, following Jesus was following the commands he and the writers of the New Testament gave us as to how to be in relationship with God through Jesus.  We accepted that the only way to the Father was through the Son.  We wanted Jesus to be Lord of our life as well as our Savior.  We gave ourselves to him and he added us to his church.  The church family became our family.  We had brothers and sister we never realized would love us deeply and walk beside us. 

            E.  Christianity was not a religion, but a way of life. We committed to following Jesus for the rest of our life.  But…

II.  A Failed Commitment

            A.  Along our journey we have failed in keeping the commands and in living the way Jesus lived.  Some have failed morally and some have failed by sins of the heart.  Some of us have had secret sins that became our idol, while others openly rebelled against God by their lifestyle.  The bottom line is we have all fallen short of the glory of God.

            B.  So now what?  I want you to know you are not alone if you have felt the weight of guilt because of sin.  There is something we are called to do.  After Peter denied Jesus three times he went away and wept bitterly.  While Peter saw the empty tomb, while he was there when the resurrected Jesus stood in room that locked door that resurrection Sunday, while he knew Jesus was alive, life was not the same.

            C.  Peter did what his past told taught him – go fishing.  Peter and several others go back to where they were before Jesus called them.  They fished all night and caught nothing.  Along the shore was a person who told them to cast their nets out on the other side, they did and caught a huge amount of fish.  They realized it was Jesus and Peter jumped into the water and swam faster than they could get the boat and fish ashore.  There Jesus had a fire for them.

            D.  They ate some fish and Jesus asked Peter, in the presence of the others, “Do you love me?”  He asked him three times the same question.  Three times Peter answer in the affirmative.  Each time he answer, Jesus would tell Peter what to do – feed, tend, take care of my sheep.

            E.  Jesus was calling Peter to something greater than guilt.  Jesus was calling Peter to repentance, to change, to get back to the lifelong commitment he left those nets for a few years earlier.

            F.  Follow along with me (READ John 21:18-19).  Jesus looked ahead, to reset of Peter’s physical life, to the end of his physical life, and told him that his death would glorify God.  But it wasn’t just that when he was old he would be die a martyrs death, it was the last two words that are important – “Follow me.”

Conclusion:

            A.   If you are here today and have failed your Christian walk, understand that guilt can be good, be repentance is better.  If you know deep within you that you need to change, then keep in step with the Spirit and bring the change to your life that will honor God.

            B.  But don’t stop there.  Peter needed to be reminded that working in the kingdom was part of how God needed to us him as Jesus accepted Peter’s repentance.  Get to work doing God’s work.  It may be in leadership, it may be in service, it may be in evangelism or teaching.  However God uses you to help this body and share the saving news of Jesus, be the servant of God you want to be.

            C.  “Follow Me” was not just something Jesus said to Peter when he called him into being a fisher of men at the beginning of the ministry.  It was also the phrase Jesus used at the end his ministry to encourage Peter to keep on keeping on. Life was changing and that was difficult for Peter and other, but following Jesus is not something we do only when it is convenient to us. 

            D.  We sing “Just a closer walk with thee. Grant it Jesus, is my plea.  Daily walking close to Thee. Let it be, dear Lord, let it be.”  If we can help you in your daily walk with Jesus, then come as we stand and sing.