“‘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.’ (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.’ Peter turned and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them, the one who also had leaned back against him during the supper and had said, ‘Lord, who is it that is going to betray you?’ When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, ‘Lord, what about this man?’ Jesus said to him, ‘If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow me!’ So the saying spread abroad among the brothers that this disciple was not to die; yet Jesus did not say to him that he was not to die, but, ‘If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you?’ This is the disciple who is bearing witness about these things, and who has written these things, and we know that his testimony is true. Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.”

The Purpose

On January 7^th of 2024, we began in John’s gospel. John 1:1–5 started us with,

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”

The section we covered on the first Sunday ended with John 1:18,

“No one has ever seen God; God the only Son, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.”

God, by His very nature, by the immensity of His holiness, is unknowable to us, we who are so limited by flesh and sin. Isaiah 55:8–9 tells us,

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

If you look at the closing chapters, 38-42 of Job, you can see as God gives example after example of His supremacy, and we can begin to see how infinitely high He is above us. But from what John wrote in verse 18, as we closed our first section, we see that there is a path to know the unknowable God. Jesus, the Son, the Christ, God made flesh. In Him, by Him, through Him the Father has been made known. This is then illustrated throughout John’s gospel account. He tells us from the very beginning that Jesus is God, but then through the words of Jesus Himself, we’re shown who He is. John 6:35, “I am the bread of life,” John 8:12, “I am the light of the world,” John 10:7, “I am the door of the sheep,” John 10:11, “I am the good shepherd,” John 11:25, “I am the resurrection and the life,” John 14:6, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life,” John 15:1, “I am the true vine.” Events, and teachings, and promises, and miracles that unfolded at the hand of the Father over the course of thousands of years are here condensed and displayed in one account of the life of one Man – Jesus Christ, who is God the Son. The two other times we hear “I am” from Jesus to affirm this same idea. John 8:28, “Before Abraham was, I am,” and before His arrest and crucifixion, when the guards and soldiers come to seize Jesus of Nazareth and He responds, “I am he.” Jesus is God. He is the Bread of Life that endures to eternity, the Light by which the darkness flees and we are given sight, He is the Door and our path to the Father forever, the Good and perfect Shepherd, He is our Way, the Word that is Truth, and the Vine to which we are grafted that allows us to produce true fruit – His fruit. But what does this mean, where does this take us, and how can we know that which is too great for us to know? As we look at the close of John’s gospel, the ending of this book in which we’ve spent so much time we can see a calling to the purpose we’re given, and a reminder of who we are in Christ, and who He is in all things.

1.      The Purpose of the Gospel

“‘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.’ (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.’”

Last week we looked at Peter’s reinstatement. Three times Jesus asks him and gives Peter the opportunity to respond to the question, “Do you love me?” Peter, grieved by the third time Jesus asks this, making the connection to his three denials of his Lord and Master, responds in the affirmative each time, confessing finally, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Each time Peter professes his love for Jesus, Jesus responds with a task, a responsibility as it relates to the care of His flock, to developing the lambs into sheep. Immediately after telling Peter, “Feed my sheep,” we pick up in today’s passage with Jesus saying, “Truly, truly.” All the words of Christ are true, but John’s gospel is the only one where we see Jesus say, “Truly, truly,” a phrase that is used a total of twenty-five times in this book. It translates as, “amen, amen.” We see it used to affirm things with great certainty, highlighting them as prophetic, or containing profound, divine knowledge that transcend earthly understanding. The last time we saw Jesus say these words was as He addressed His disciples in John 16:22–24,

“So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you. In that day you will ask nothing of me. Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you. Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.”

However there was a prior occurrence where we see Jesus say “truly, truly,” directly to Peter. John 13:36–38 says,

“Simon Peter said to him, ‘Lord, where are you going?’ Jesus answered him, ‘Where I am going you cannot follow me now, but you will follow afterward.’ Peter said to him, ‘Lord, why can I not follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.’ Jesus answered, ‘Will you lay down your life for me? Truly, truly, I say to you, the rooster will not crow till you have denied me three times.’”

We do not know freedom, and we do not have purpose until we are surrendered to and reconciled by Christ. In John 13, Peter boldly declares that he will follow Jesus no matter what, even to death. But his surrender isn’t complete, his understanding is not fully vested in Christ, and so Jesus says to him with absolute, divine certainty, that he will fail, that he’s not ready or able to follow Him. In today’s passage, Jesus says, “When you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted…” This is what earthly freedom looks like. I think most of us get to experience this kind of “satisfaction” at some point in our lives, as we gain a sense of freedom and self-governance. Maybe it comes when you get your license and can come and go as you please. Maybe it’s when you get your first job and can spend your money as you see fit. While this was never really my particular vice, for many people, it’s when they hit the legal drinking age and are free (or freer than they may have been in the past), to overindulge. Sometimes the liberties we’re given in life are used to simply express some unwise behavior as we trial and error our way through immaturity, while other times this sense of “freedom” is used to pursue rampant sin. But whether it was meeting your friends at a fast-food joint for a 2:00 am milkshake, blowing through your paycheck because you finally had your own money to spend, or drinking yourself into a complete stupor because the weekend was finally here, most of these behaviors don’t endure. Whether you’re looking at your local Cookout parking lot, or nearest frat rager, the percentage of twenty somethings is significantly higher than thirty somethings. To quote Jordan Peterson, “No one wants to be the oldest guy at the frat party.” But why? Why do these expressions of individual, worldly freedom peter out for most people? In many cases, the worldly assumption is that that age is equated with wisdom, and that as we get older we learn better and weed out bad practices. This is foolish thinking. 1 Corinthians 3:18–20 says,

“Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is folly with God. For it is written, ‘He catches the wise in their craftiness,’ and again, ‘The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.’”

In our flesh, we grow obsessed with, we worship novelty. When the novelty fades, we find something to replace it with, a new novel idea, because the things of the world do nothing but fade. Is it better to worship the things you’ve squandered your money on, or to learn to be frugal, and worship the money in your bank account that sits “wisely” unspent? Is it better to idolize the chemical elation and abandon that you may find in drugs or alcohol, or to prize diet, exercise, and physical fitness to the point that your health becomes your god? None of these options are good, because any path that lacks Christ is a path leading to death. Jesus tells Peter, “When you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted,” you had your sense of freedom, you had your bodily autonomy – and where did this lead you? When Jesus called him, Peter was a career fisherman, someone occupying a lowerish rung of society. He was a man who, when first witnessing a miracle of Jesus, fell to his knees and said in Luke 5:8,

“…Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.”

With this freedom Peter was bold in word, but weak in action, fiercely declaring his loyalty to Jesus, then crumbling under the immense pressure and denying his Lord not once, but three times. In short, the freedom of his youth, the agency and ability to dress himself and go as he pleased, was worthless. However, Jesus goes on to tell Peter in today’s passage,

“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.”

This on its own sounds strange, but then we get this parenthetical clarification from John,

“(This he said to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God.)”

The freedom that the world offers you is worthless – it’s not even freedom. Jesus says in John 8:34–36,

“… Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”

It doesn’t matter if you’re rich or poor, young or old, sick or healthy – if you lack Christ, you are a slave to your sin, and you cannot know freedom. Conversely, if you have Christ, then you know freedom beyond your circumstances. Philippians 3:7–11 tells us,

“But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.”

This is the message and the purpose of the gospel, the good news of Christ – freedom and purpose for your life. Not just for today or tomorrow, but for eternity. Jesus told the disciples in John 16:33,

“I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”

This is how Jesus can tell Peter how the end of his life will unfold in comparison to his earlier days, and yet we get this clarification from John that this isn’t just how Peter will die, but how he will die to glorify God. We are infinitely better to suffer the world, to face persecution, to hang on a cross in the joy and freedom of the Truth of Christ, than we are to indulge in our own path and forsake Him.

“And after saying this he said to him, ‘Follow me.’”

Jesus told Peter in John 13:36,

“… Where I am going you cannot follow me now, but you will follow afterward.”

We do not follow Jesus on our own terms. Jesus is God, God is supreme – in love, and righteousness, and authority. Partial submission to the One who is absolute is no submission at all. Galatians 5:24 says,

“And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.”

We don’t push off the flesh, we don’t make a separate space for it, we don’t keep it at arm’s length – we crucify it, and we surrender ourselves to the right path of Christ. We looked last week as Peter was asked again and again if he loved Jesus, and allowed to affirm his faith to his Lord, in front of his brothers as witnesses. But it is this final statement from Jesus, “Follow me,” that seems to seal this restoration of Peter. If you like Jesus, if you think He said some good things, made some solid points, and find yourself in a generalized agreement with the morality of His teachings, you’re not a follower of Christ. If you love Jesus, then the Spirit is at work in you. If you love Him, then you have crucified your flesh, you’ve been Spiritually delivered to the point of forsaking all else to the freedom, joy, purpose, and contentment of the gospel. If you love Jesus, then you are blessed to receive the same words as Peter – this invitation, this command, “follow me.”

2.      The Purpose of the Individual

“Peter turned and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them, the one who also had leaned back against him during the supper and had said, ‘Lord, who is it that is going to betray you?’ When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, ‘Lord, what about this man?’ Jesus said to him, ‘If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow me!’”

Looking all the contextual pieces (which we see come later in this same passage), we know that this disciple, the one following after Peter and Jesus, and the one who sat beside Jesus and questioned Him concerning the identity of the betrayer, is John. It makes sense that Peter would inquire about one of his fellow disciples, it makes even more sense that he would ask about John. Before being called to be disciples of Jesus, Peter and his brother Andrew were fishermen in the same region, and seemingly working alongside John and his brother James. In Acts 3, we see Peter and John entering the temple together. After Peter heals a lame beggar in the name of Jesus, and declares the gospel to those who marvel in the temple, it is Peter and John who are first brought before the Sanhedrin to be chastised for sharing the gospel. The two men share the most important element in being followers of Jesus, but adding to that is their shared past. But as we see from Jesus’ response, this isn’t the time for Peter to turn his attention to John, or to concern himself for what God has in store for his fellow disciple. In Luke 14:26–27 Jesus says,

“If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.”

And Galatians 6:2–5 tells us,

“Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself. But let each one test his own work, and then his reason to boast will be in himself alone and not in his neighbor. For each will have to bear his own load.”

We are called to unity in Christ, and yet we are called as individuals. We all serve the same purpose, and yet we do not all serve the same way. There are two things to consider here, one being to not belittle or underestimate your calling. Maybe you’ve heard a sermon and thought that you’d love to be able to speak to people about Christ in such a bold or confident way, but felt like it was beyond you. Maybe you’ve heard someone sing or play an instrument in praise and thought that you’d love to worship and glorify God that way, but lack the talent. In these things I caution and encourage you to not limit yourself in what God may allow you to do in serving Him. When God first spoke to Moses, giving him signs and instructing him to lead the Jews from captivity in Egypt, Exodus 4:10–12 says,

“But Moses said to the LORD, ‘Oh, my Lord, I am not eloquent, either in the past or since you have spoken to your servant, but I am slow of speech and of tongue.’ Then the LORD said to him, ‘Who has made man’s mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the LORD? Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak.’”

So in this regard, do not think to limit yourself in your service of the Lord. However also remember that we were all made uniformly in God’s image, and uniquely in His purposes for us as individuals. Paul writes in Romans 12:3–8,

“For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.”

Peter and John were both fishermen from Galilee. Both men were disciples of Christ, raised to Apostles, and prominent figures of the early church. Both contributed to the writings of the New Testament. Both served God and the church faithfully, but not in the same way. When Peter asks, Jesus tells him, “If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow me!” When we are called to follow Christ, we are called to follow Christ – God’s will is perfect, and pours out on the individual as He sees fit to use them to His glory. Romans 8:28 tells us,

“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.”

So whether it is Peter’s sermon at Pentecost, or John’s Revelation, whether it’s Peter’s crucifixion, or John’s exile, there is good to be found in the service of the Lord. But it is not for us to worry about anything – much less the talents, gifts, blessings, or pursuits of a brother or sister. We should love and care for our brothers and sisters in the church, but at the same time, we are called to Christ as individuals, and what He has willed for others should not distract us from what He has willed for us.

“So the saying spread abroad among the brothers that this disciple was not to die; yet Jesus did not say to him that he was not to die, but, ‘If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you?’”

Largely missing the point of what Jesus just said to Peter, we see the rumor that spread among some early followers that John was not to see death. John, now writing his gospel account so many years after the others seems to use this as a moment to clarify that this is not what Jesus said. In researching the topic, it seems that there are no Christian denominations that teach this belief today. Church history primarily teaches that John died of old age, most likely in Ephesus, and that he was the only Apostle to not be martyred. It seems the only group that clings to John still being alive today is the Mormon church, which given their heretical teachings on a number of things (chiefly the deity of Christ), is not counted as a Christian denomination, but an entirely separate religious practice. The point of this statement seems to be, not to declare that John will not die, but rather to remind us of Christ’s divine nature, and that the will of God is absolute. Romans 9:20–24 says,

“But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, ‘Why have you made me like this?’ Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use? What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory—even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles?”

There is a significant difference between asking God questions, which Scripture answers in abundance, and questioning God, which we have no basis or authority to do. His will for one person should not be a worry or offense to another, but each of us should live uniformly in our obedience, and joyfully in the individual calling He has laid before us all.

3.      The Purpose of this Book

“This is the disciple who is bearing witness about these things, and who has written these things, and we know that his testimony is true. Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.”

This, as I mentioned before, ties the given context together and shows us that the writer of this gospel is the Apostle John, who has repeatedly identified himself as, “the disciple whom Jesus loved.” It’s interesting that, especially with this coming in his later years, John could have used a title that focused on his authority in the church. He’s John the Apostle, one of the original twelve, witness to the transfiguration, to the crucifixion, and to the risen Christ. He’s been beaten, and persecuted, and exiled for the name of Jesus. He was given the Revelation of the end of days, and of the coming, eternal kingdom, falling on his face before the glorified Jesus. And so with so much prominence in the movement of the church, and with a number of titles and means of address as his disposal, what’s the most powerful thing John can say? How will he identify himself, what’s the greatest thing he can boast of in his authority in the church? “Jesus loved me.” What more can any of us hope to say? What greater accolade could be added to any of our names than to say that we are one who is loved by Christ? John told us his purpose for writing his gospel account in John 20:30–31,

“Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”

I recently heard the Biblical scholar Wes Huff say, “Scripture tells you everything you need to know, not everything you want to know,” and John’s words affirm that here. He has written his account, led by the Spirit, not so that we may know every detail of the life and ministry of Jesus, but so that we may believe, and in that belief have life. The enormity of the Gospel, of Scripture in its entirety is too much to take in, too much for our human minds to fully perceive. 1 Corinthians 13:9–10 tells us,

“For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away.”

We know in part, see in part by the revelation of the Spirit, but we also have to understand that the glory and righteousness of God is found within the Bible, but it’s not contained in the text. I mean that while we may know God by His Word, we cannot limit God to Scripture. I’m not saying that we need to look outside of the Word to understand God, but simply remember that God, by His very nature is unknowable. As we read earlier in Isaiah 55 His ways are higher than our ways, as the heavens are above the earth – so while, by the image of the Son, and the revelation of the Spirit we may know God, the Bible doesn’t detail everything He’s ever done, the Gospels don’t detail every event of the life of Christ, because the world itself cannot contain all of that information, and it’s not necessary for us to know the Truth. There’s a hymn called, “The Love of God is Great and Far,” that provides a poetic illustration of the Love of God. The final verse says,

“Could we with ink the ocean fill – And were the skies of parchment made – Were every stalk on earth a quill – And every man a scribe by trade – To write the love of God above – Would drain the ocean dry – Nor could the scroll contain the whole – Though stretched from sky to sky.”

Scripture may not contain every detail you want to know – more often it simply doesn’t provide the answers we want. But it is more than enough. More than enough to tell the Truth. More than enough to display Love. More than enough to save the lost – to foster belief, that you might know the One who is Life.

Pastor Chris’ sermon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcSubCABO_w