The Death and Resurrection of Jesus: The Restoration - SERMON NOTES

Intro: (1) the Christian life is one restoration after another (cf. man rescued from same mountain twice) (2) what are marks of a life restored from sin by Christ?

Service that is grateful (15-17): (1) breakfast from “charcoal fire” in v.9 (cf. 18:18) (2) three rounds of question, response, command → different forms/words used for “love” (3) first clue → “do you love me more than these?” (cf. Mt. 26:30-35) (4) second clue → three rounds for Peter’s three denials (5) “Simon” instead of “Peter” (cf. Mt. 16:13-19) → salvation precedes service (6) LESSON → following Jesus is serving him/others out of gratitude for being restored by him (cf. Nick B)

Suffering that is consistent (18-19): (1) v.19 → “follow me” → context of suffering (2) Peter’s suffering changes in different seasons (3) v.18a → in youth his impetuousness got him in trouble (4) v.18b-19a → his deepening devotion to Christ as he aged would result in a martyr’s death (6) suffering looks different in different seasons of life (cf. teenager, young married or single, house full of kids, empty nester, retiree, aging body) (7) LESSON → following Jesus is trusting him in face of suffering (cf. 1 Peter 4:12)

Story that is unique (20-22): (1) v.20-21 → instead of chewing on what Jesus just said, Peter abruptly turns attention to John and becomes hyper-interested in John’s path (2) v.22 → second “follow me” command in context of paying attention to what God is doing in our own life, rather than comparing our life with others (3) Jesus seems to mess with Peter in saying John could live until his return if he wanted him to (4) LESSON → following Jesus means he is writing a story uniquely for us (cf. Shasta, Carol)

Security that is lasting (22-24): (1) v.23 → focus shifts from Peter to John and the return of Christ (2) v.24 → zooms out, starts sounding like future letters, emphasizes truthfulness of his account (cf. 1 John 1:1-3) → perhaps a reference to his church (3) John is writing these things many years later, indicating Christ’s ongoing faithfulness to him (5) this is a faithfulness that stretches to future generations until Christ’s return (6) following Jesus means trusting our future to him (cf. uncertainty = unhappiness)

Conclusion: we have only begun to experience restorations (cf. tetrachromats)